El Buzzard || Flying Off With The Scraps || Hidden Rock'n'Roll p. 9

 
I had been contemplating why I wanted to write about El Buzzard since the inception of Lofi San Jose.  They have always been on the short list of 408 bands that I wanted to document.  I couldn't  really put my finger on it.  I only saw them once, about 8 years ago.  They opened for someone at the Blank Club; but they were the main attraction.  Then I found out that Josh Santaga was throwing himself a 40th birthday party and his two former bands, Curbside and El Buzzard were going to play.  I was stoked. Beyond stoked.  I wanted to re-evaluate El Buzzard in a new perspective.  Last night they played and they kicked some major ass.  What a treat to see them again.

check out that drum kit!

A few months back I started to write this piece.  I began to re-evaluate why I was writing this post.  El Buzzard must be explored deeper.  Why does this band resonate in my consciousness?  I only saw them once.  Why?  I must dig deeper.  Upon digging deeper into the thoughts concepts and perspectives of El Buzzard I found their simply, yet informative website.  A place where you can download all of their music for free.  I did just that and then placed it on heavy rotation in my Ipod.  The low fidelity music was great.  A chanting tribal blast of adrenaline.  Gringa is a must, however they all have some hits and some misses.  The misses basically fall into the category of background static, however the hits are a true onslaught of tone.  And what better way to see & feel the tone than in a live performance.  They are a POWERFUL band.  Big and bad.  That is what rang the truest in my memories and was re-awakened again last night.  They came out of the gates like a seasoned band who just wrapped up a 50 date tour, not one that has been sitting idle for the last 5 years.  What a true joy to see them.  I captured a video, but it doesn't do the live show justice.  It just allows a glimpse into what El Buzzard is/was.  My advice, if you see that they are playing go out and check the live show.  I'll be there!


Let me wrap up this post with an evaluation of the whole show last night.  It was Josh's birthday bash, so in regards to that he brought Curbside out of retirement as well as a band called 4Banger.  Both bands had not played in a while either but they sounded great.  Curbside has a lively frontman in Sean Bjordahl, and really got the crowd going.  They were before my time moving to the southbay, however it seemed like the veteran crowd really really dug the noise.  Shawn Packer was filling in on Bass and their drummer was a sheer join to see live.  You wanna talk about a live, snappy, quick punk drum sound....this dude was the backbone in Curbside.  Truly amazing that he still has the tightness after 20 years.   Here are a couple of videos of the other players.  All and all a really good night!

  4Banger

CURBSIDE

Rev. Horton Heat & Supersuckers || Always a hit || The Blank Club, SJ, CA July 18, 2012

Photo by Jeff Okubo

 I am not getting any younger.  With that age comes the dread of a bad nights sleep....especially mid-week.  Still, some things are worth rallying for on a week night.  One of those would be either of these two bands.  They got their shtick down tight and they are fun to see live.  It was my fifth time seeing the Supersuckers and my fourth time seeing the Rev.  Still, good as always and having fun rocking the crowd.  The last two times I saw the bands was at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz and the now defunct Voodoo Lounge in San Jose.  It was good to see them back in a much more intimate setting like the Blank Club.  I feel so lucky to see such good musicians so up close and personal.  Ah, all on a Wednesday Night.  Enjoy the videos.....

Nels Cline is God!!! || Wilco || January 28, 2012

Jeff, I kid. But seriously, has anyone seen this dude live? I have a little crush on the mind blowing work of the sideman for Jeff Tweedy's pet project of the last twenty years, Wilco.  I have seen Clapton, I have seen Frusciante and I have seen Van Halen...this guy tops the bill in overall playing tonality and attitude.  The only person that I can think that may come close to getting tones from his amp may be Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo. Another Repeater (Definition of a Repeater: Guitarists and bands that I have no problem seeing over and over again).

It's funny because because the night was summed up by just another wonderful evening cruising through downtown San Jose on bikes with some good friends. I had an idea that I wanted to write a review of Wilco's first performance in the Bay Area.  My biggest concern was to either do it on my regular Blog or this one that is specific to that "underground" scene in San Jose.  My answer became apparent as I walked into the San Jose Civic Auditorium and saw nicely framed pictures of live performances there by many of my idols; Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, Jeff Beck, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds....the list just goes on.  This place is a unique  San Jose shrine and should be worshiped as such.  Well, last night surely didn't disappoint by the legend of Wilco.  This band had been on my list of "must sees before I die" since my daughter was born.  I missed their last bay area appearance with Jeff & Steve at The Mountain Winery.  They described their experience as like one from another world.  And these boys have seen some live music in their past.  I had to go. Little did I know that they were going to play 10 minutes from my doorstep, on a Saturday Night and at a legendary auditorium that I had been waiting to visit for the first time.

The opening act was beyond proficient.  One would figure that would be as natural as soft skin on a newborn with the expertise musicianship in Wilco.  These boys ain't gonna be no hacks!  White Denim caught ya.  I have seen a lot of mediocre openers and I am for some lame reason I am always on precaution about it.  They had a jazzy little Pat Metheny thing going on and then the main dude would explode into a Ted Nugent raged solo.  Pretty cool.  My only real critique of them is that the bass tone needed to be a little fuller.  I blame it on his Rickenbacker 4001.  Those things rate high on extremely cool looking, however unless you are going for the Lemmy in Motorhead sound (which is a thing of beauty), don't bring it to a chili cook off.

Then Wilco came out.  They started slow then built about every song into a towering crescendo.  They are the best at writing hot, catchy hooks. Then they develop a complete and total wall of wonderful tones around those hooks.  Usually lighting them on fire with an incredibly insane solo from Nels Cline like this one here:


As Steve noted about Nels, "He was like a mad professor over there."  But he was quick to follow up with how good the entire band is at making the entire entire band sound so good.  It is definitely a sum of the parts.

I can go on and on telling you what songs I thought were brilliant and what not.  When I write one of these I always try to add a little video.  Last night I had the perfect seat (Thanks Koobs!) to sit there and document so much of the evening all the while not get in the way.  I sat next to this dude who, like me, was a "first timer" on the Wilco train.  I'll bet he'll be seeing them again too by the way he was getting into the performance.  At one time I said "look out at the crowd", everyone was just grooving along to a Wilco song.

Here's a heavy amount of Wilco footage to quench a hearty thirst.  There will be more posted on at my youtube account if you are in need of even more.  And I apologize to others who are yet to see them on this tour.  I would wait on the video, or maybe just watch one or two to get yourself amped up for the show ;-)




To make it align up in the Lofi San Jose category, we did end up going on down to visit Rachel at The Caravan.  We did see a performance of a band that name slips me at this time, but I did catch a little video of one of their songs.  Not bad, though their setlist started getting weak halfway through.  Probably just another new band in downtown San Jose.


The night began at a beer festival at the Women's Club and a cocktail at Original Joe's.  Peeked at Wilco. It ended with a nice ride on down to the local Jack in the Box by the college, which was loaded with characters that time of night, for a little late night, sobering snack.  Koobs was so proud to have ordered the  jumbaco all the while the dude behind the counter didn't even flinch.  Brilliant marketing, Jack!


"They are the best American band we got!" -Steve Laflen on Wilco

Inspiring...|| 74 yr. Dick Dale rocking The Blank Club || January 6, 2012

There was nothing more I needed Friday night than to roll into The Blank Club and hear the legendary Dick Dale blast through his setlist with his son, Jimmy Dale on Drums and Sammy Bolle from Agent Orange & Slacktone.  It was a thing of beauty and the exact therapy my little brain needed.  My good friend and artistic sage, Joe Izzo, succumbed to his long battle with cancer the day before.  Seeing a man who himself has been battling cancer for the last 3 years of his life get up on stage and totally and completely rock it (like no other 74 year old I know could ) was very inspirational.  And I believe it was an inspiration that was felt throughout the packed crowd that night.  It is good to see a sold out show at The Blank Club.  It is even better when the artist is deep into his golden years.

60s Dick Dale

The show was phenomenal.  Me and my buddies (thanks guys for dragging me off the couch) sidewinded right up to the front side of the stage and enjoyed a man who was truly in his element. Heck, he has been doing this the majority of his time on earth and I am sure he will be doing it even more where he is going.  It was great seeing Jimmy rocking it out on drums and really expanding as a musician too.  A while back he was playing guitar with his father and really learning the ropes.  Dick Dale is known for being a task master to his band.  Never a set list and always keeps the band guessing.  I saw Jimmy look over at Sammy several times and give a big sigh of relief while wiping his brow after nailing the untold direction that his father was heading into; a true jam.  It was brilliant. 
But I noticed something else in Jimmy's eyes.  This twenty year old kid was enjoying the moment.  He knows that these live performances with his father are a gift and that they will not go on forever.  He is seizing the opportunity that is in front of him and making the most of it.  Truly inspirational.

It was an energetic show and the crowd ate up every last moment of it.  They did not wander home after catching half the set.  Even the ones who were mostly grey on the head were still front and center watching history unfold in front of their eyes.  Life has only one direction; death.  We are all going to be there some day.  The only thing we can do until we find ourselves knocking on the gates is enjoy ourselves.  The men on the stage that night were doing just that.  To quote Dick Dale up on stage that night, "a while back I had tubes coming out of me, doctors opening me up and radiation shooting through my body...but I'm still here."  And if you are reading this, so are you...

To sum up the performance, the last thing Dick screamed into the mic while closing out his set is...

"You people are my medicine.  Thank you!"