This afternoon I was driving around listening to an old Sir
Douglas Quintet CD. Yes, it was a
CD. One of the compromises I have
made in driving a car with too much everything is that I could only afford an
older version of this beast. The
Germans were extremely hesitant to provide any electronic creature comforts in
this car, and allegedly only provided drink holders very begrudgingly. Sometimes when you turn the car off and
sit in the silence, you can hear a German accented voice say “Why would we
provide distracting electronics when the experience of driving this automobile
is absolutely perfect?”. Hence, I
have to listen to CDs.
The Sir Douglas Quintet is one of Doug Sahm’s old bands, and
they are great. You are likely
familiar with “She’s About A Mover” and “Mendocino”, but each of the hard to
find albums is packed with meat. I
particularly like the records after Sahm arrived and set down roots in San
Francisco in the late 60s. The
language is awesome. “I’m Not That
Kat Anymore”, “Lord I’m Just A Country Boy Living In This Freaky City”, “Can
You Dig My Vibrations” and “You Can’t Hide A Redneck (Underneath That Hippie
Hair)” come to mind. He made the
kind of music I like, which is mashing together all of your influences to make
a distinctive voice. He manages to
take all his Texas home influences of rock, country and Mexican music and
became a pioneer of what was later called “Tex Mex”. Go out and get yourself some of this music.
The lyrics of this late 60s period are filled with songs
about “grooving” and things that are “heavy”. Almost every song has a mention about having your “mind
blown”. It was then I realized I
have not spent nearly enough time in my lyrics discussing having your “mind
blown”. I then reached out to
Krusty and Bobby Lanphier with this epiphany via text, asking them if I needed
to heavy up on “mind blowing”.
Krusty attached the photo of Sahm in full cosmic cowboy regalia and then
contrasted that with me in a suit holding a bottle of Krug champagne. “You’re going to have to do a lot of
work on your look before you can seem credible talking about “blown
minds”.” He then noted the photo
of me from last week. “This guy is
going to talk to me about “blown minds”?
C’mon.” At that point
Lanphier weighed in with “more like a guy talking to me about blown investment
opportunities”.
Those were both valid points. As much as I would like to insert an occasional “blown mind”
reference, it just might ring hollow.
That’s a damn shame as I have had my “mind blown” a few times. Don’t even make me reference back to
that ill-fated space cake episode prior to a Swiss border cross while on
tour. Oh yes, my mind was
blown. My mind was mostly blown
because I thought a German TV program I was watching was about a man pimping
out his girlfriend so she could succeed in show business. In a number of scenes the boyfriend
offered her up for sex to strange men so he could advance his own agenda. It was a sick tale of betrayal and life
in the abyss. That's when Krusty turned me onto what it was all about. I was a little off. It turned out it was a home improvement program.
Consider my mind blown!
I will just have to temper my desire to pepper in references
to “Sunday Groovers” and “freaks” in Daredevils songs.
I don’t think I can make it sound organic. That’s a shame.
What isn’t a shame is that the Daredevils will likely move ahead with
two new releases this year. We
have the record we recorded with Gary last summer, and before long the band is
going to have to get in the studio to record all the new material we have been
writing. We are also going to make
our return to Europe, as a plan is afoot right now for the end of
September/start of October to hit The Old Country. As I stated in my New Year’s Resolutions, I wanted to A)
make playing music fun again (check with the addition of Hector), B) lose 7
pounds (check as I knocked off 10), pass the WSET Diploma (check), and travel
to Burgundy. Ideally I would like
to get to France before the end of June thereby achieving all my goals in 6
months. We are getting shit done
and moving forward over here. If
you sit and think about it, it really sort of blows your mind. Damn. I guess I can't say that.
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