Thinking about our shared history I decided to put on paper some of the memories we both share. Been thinking about doing this for awhile.
Sometimes I think about the time when I showed up on your doorstep having been awake and walking for who-knows-how-many hours/miles. I know WHY I was there...your house just happened to be in the area that I wound up being. I don't remember what time it was. The thing that always boggles my mind is that I don't remember knowing you all that well before. Now, I could be wrong. We may have hung out in the same circles, I may have known you well. But I just don't remember anything before that. You were in the same church youth group, I think. I knew you were in the school band but were so many grades before me that I don't recall any interaction. But somehow I knew you well enough to a.) know where you lived and b.) want to visit. I honestly did not plan on falling asleep on your couch. I can't even fathom how that all seemed to you and your family. I was dead tired though. If you only knew what I'd gone through during the past 72 hours.
Then there was the time between then and my residence at Burns Flat. That's pretty much all a blur to me. I don't even know how I wound up in the Big Sleep circle. I do remember getting your letters at BF. I don't recall if it was before or after that I put all of my songs on tape and sent it to you guys. I certainly had no idea the band would take one and cover it. I can't even describe how awesome it was to get the tape and hear "No Music". I appreciated how faithful it was to the original. I especially liked Jerry's guitar solo because the version I'd done didn't have one. I always too the credit for that song, but in retrospect it's only fair that Dobbs get a little too. The guitar style was his. I wrote the chord structure, the melody, the lyrics, pretty much everything BUT the way he played guitar on it. But you know what? I thought the way he played guitar on it was one of the absolute best parts of the song. So hey, Dobbs, you fucker. You got your pat on the back.
I remember when you and Floyd Howell came to Burns Flat to move me out. I don't remember why I was in such a toot to leave. It wasn't such a bad place to be. Some of the people were a little freaky but I guess some would call me just as freaky. What was I going back to? Floyd was his usual likeable self. It was a good trip.
So many things about my days in Big Sleep that I remember. Not the least of which was the day I was asked to join. I remember how my nervous and manic I was at my first gig with them (at Nitro) and how my playing was so fast you couldn't reel me in. I'm not sure that I ever settled in with a solid groove with you simply because my playing was too forceful, I wasn't able to give-and-take. I didn't understand that concept until much later when I started getting high. Nevertheless there was still a lot of good music being made.
I remember when your bass drum pedal broke towards the end of the night at SRO. I remember when your seat broke at Rome and how the drum line ended so abruptly at the same time. And how we used to roam the alleys and stuff during breaks talking about "important stuff".
One memory I have that will stick with me all of my life is the night you, Dobbs and I took over the upstairs studio, jamming and drinking. That may have been the same night the three of us went to see "The Doors" movie. The theater was PACKED and I could swear that the three seats, all together in the first row, were the only empty ones. It was as if we were meant to be there. Earlier you had gone to Tennessee Joe's and found this really old, rusty goblet and you were making a big deal about how it was "the Holy Grail", that you'd been searching for it all your life and finally found it, of all places, at TJs. Which was pretty cool and all, but then you began drinking Buschmills Irish Whiskey from it and man, that seemed really nasty. Maybe it was the nastiness of "the Holy Grail" or maybe it was just way too much whiskey but you got drunk drunk drunk off your ass. I found you kneeling on the floor, crying and you poured your heart out to me, unfortunately I have no recollection of what you said that night. It was woeful though. That much I can tell you.
Psycho-Relix was Psycho-Relix. Not much really you can say about that. Of course I remember that you and Jessica Cross were off in a field somewhere when Champ and I almost came to blows. You missed it. That's all...you missed it.
And of course I enjoyed your tenure with Head. Can still see you hunched over those bongos in Gary Smalleys studio laying down a track for "It Goes On". That bongo line really gave the song an extra dimension that served it well. I don't know that ever appreciated the stuff you did on the congas both in rehearsal and the two or three times you played live shows with us. Honestly I don't think I could hear you. But it may just have been the same "give-and-take" problem we had in Big Sleep.
Next major memory was when you freaked out at the Black Crowes concert and vowed to give up marijuana. A resolution that happened at roughly the same time I began using it. You gave me your little aluminum one-hitter...I loved that thing. Definitely made it worth the charity. By the time my tolerance reached the point where one hit wasn't enough I had given it away or lost it, and moved on to a pipe. I never liked one hitters after that, but the one you gave me was a treasure.
Before that was the REM concert we went to...I don't know who you got the extra ticket for...probably some girl, surely not me...but I wound up being the one who went. Your car wouldn't start when it was over and we were ready to leave. That's all I remember about that.
Lots of little memories...like the time Sigur Ros' "Takk" was released and I was so smitten with it that I made you listen to it with me from start to finish without interruption. Watching "My Dinner With Andre" with you and knowing that there was no one else in this town who would appreciate it besides you. Or maybe it wasn't "My Dinner With Andre"...could have been a different film...the same held true with most of all of them we watched. I remember driving to OKC to see Little League Hero and Mad Laugh at VZDs, listening to Sun Kil Moon's most recent disc, "Tiny Cities" and drawing special attention to the melancholy closing track "Ocean Breathes Salty". You didn't want to associate with anyone there. We'd started out in the balcony area and somehow I eventually wound up on the floor socializing with a couple of peope I knew from that scene. You stayed in the balcony and said something like how it was were Big Sleep used to congregate when they played there. Then, on the way back, driving down I-40 I saw the biggest, lowest moon I've ever witnessed.
Who could forget the wedding gig where you forgot your hi-hats? Or was it the snare drum? Or both? All I know is that it took some guts to go on with the show, but we did. This after getting so lost on the way up there we didn't even know what town/city we were in.
There are lots more. I know there are. But the battery in this laptop is getting very low on juice so I should wrap it up and send it out. Just wanted to dig down into my memory banks and tie together a few that we shared. Hope you enjoyed them.
jac
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