The Bigger Picture
Furthur for Psychedelic Cinema
by Bob Moses
The magic bus has found its way to Boston, where we're preparing for an out-of-town Psychedelic Cinema experience.
The marquee
Monday, September 22
The cast of characters has changed as local Boston musicians join the tribe. Chris Butler and I arrived Monday night and immediately set to work with Boston rock eminence Willie Alexander, who will play keyboards and utter poetic non sequiturs, Andy Willis on guitar, turntablist and DJ Pacey Foster supplying a cosmic/rhythmic layer, and our host Ken Winokur, the guiding light of silent-film music superstars Alloy Orchestra, on various percussion and Dada declarations. Ken has been recording some of our early explorations, so we'll post the results here, along with video from the event. We're doing a radio show with old friend Ken Field (Birdsongs of the Mesozoic) this afternoon, along with Ken Brown.
More to come from the Psychedelic Cinema road circus.
Chris warms up
Thursday, September 25
The Coolidge Corner Cinema is still ringing with the sound and color of Psychedelic Cinema. There were few seats left as the lights went down but lots of smiles (illegal or otherwise) when the lights went up.
Willie AlexanderAfter rehearsing three nights in order to integrate our Boston-based comrades, the show evolved, grew richer and more textured. DJ Pace set the tone with period samples, and the band picked up the thread. The challenge from the beginning is to be authentic to the original experience and Ken Brown's work from the 60s, yet not end up as a nostalgic cover band. Our goal is to create original work in the moment of each show that has echoes of the time, yet stays fresh with the addition of different players and ideas. My personal highlight? Playing with Willie Alexander as he added his 60s-era song "PTC" to the proceedings - classic Willie blend of barrelhouse, rolling rock piano with lyric poetry. Chris came up with a new song on Tuesday morning and it turned out to be a favorite, with a jangling Byrds/Airplane/Velvets/Television sound. We'll check the recording and post it soon. Thanks to the Boston producers, Alla Kovgan and Jeff Silva at Balagan, the curator Jane Gillooly, and our host, percussionist and master chef, Ken Winokur. Look for more on future Psychedelic Cinema shows here.
Our audience: Wayne
From the audience: Thanks to Bill T. Miller
Friday, October 2
We've posted a new song from the performance in the playlist at Head Lights. (Thanks, Andy). Tuesday morning last week, I came into the bright white room where Chris was playing his 12-string guitar. A great chiming riff, perfectly in tune with what we were after for the show. We worked on it a bit in Ken's recording studio, adding descending scales, building a structure. Chris showed it to the band that night, and by Thursday's show it was my favorite piece (aside from inserting "Reach Out of the Darkness" whenever possible).
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