I’ve posted about this Redding band last year. They’re playing out tonight at Bombay’s, so go support a local band working it. Here’s a recent video. Tight tight tight:
Redding connection to Vostok
Redding musician Craig Padilla recorded lovely, evocative, longform organic/electronic music in his studio on West Street in Redding. Vostok was one of his major works. It went on to become his highly regarded release on the artist-run Spotted Peccary label. Lately, Vostok itself has been in the news.
You can listen to some of Vostok at the link. Hard to believe it was 10 years ago!
I was teasing Craig that the low droning sound that is heard on the recording was only Russians drilling on orders from Vladimir Putin to get him a really cold glass of water.
When DEVO came to Redding in December 1982
Wow, was it thirty years ago? Looking through an old box in the closet, I ran across these photographs I took at the Redding Civic when DEVO came to town in 1982.
Are we not men? We are DEVO!
Sure, it looks like the singer is wearing a flower pot hat, but DEVO fans know them as “Energy Domes.” I was a fan back then, but not enough to have bought a ticket. A friend gave me the ticket. Her 15 year old daughter won the seats from a radio promotion, and mom really didn’t want to go. Front row! Hence, the good shots. The show was much better than I expected.
This was the era of the “It’s a Beautiful World” single, which was a show highlight.
It’s a beautiful world we live in,
A sweet romantic place,
Beautiful people everywhere,
The way they show they care
Makes me want to say,It’s a wonderful time to be here,
It’s nice to be alive,
Wonderful people everywhere,
The way they comb their hair(Chorus)
It’s a beautiful world (three times)
For you (three times)
Everything I’d heard by DEVO was sort-of deliberately sterile sounding, I think. Art music. Almost a parody of itself. Certainly a sarcastic reflection of pop culture.
The funny thing about pop culture is that even self-parody acknowledgement of its own banality becomes more pop culture, perhaps even the best of it.
What I wouldn’t have guessed was how hard they rocked. Obviously, having risen through the punk clubscene, they’d learned to move an audience. This wasn’t studio music played live. They engaged the crowd, playing it hard with abandon. Up front, and hearing mostly the stage monitors, I was impressed. A tight rock band.
Devo singer Mark Mothersbaugh has gone on to become an accomplished artist in both film scores and visual arts. An extremely impressive list of accomplishments by any measure.
They still play as a band too. The DEVO webiste had recent video from a SF show at the Fillmore.
Amazing.
I like the final image in my series. You can tell this was taken some time ago. Outstretched arms aren’t holding up cell phones recording the moment. They were just in the moment.
All photos by Skip Murphy, 1982. Below, I wanted to post one of their many online videos, but it was so hard to pick one. This one was recorded just few days ago, 1-13-12 @The Fillmore. Impressive longevity for any band!
Nature by Numbers beautiful short movie
I’ve been a little surprised by just how many people recognize the mathematical illustration we used in our logo for our new venture, The Address Realty. I thought it a somewhat obscure figure of beauty in numbers. But a quick search of Fibonacci Sequence in Google or YouTube turns up a lot of hits. Definitely not obscure. Check out this beautiful visual work by Spanish artist and tutorialist Cristóbal Vila, set to Often a Bird by Wim Mertens.
Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.
Music and Racing set for Redding this weekend
Redding art music fans will be pleased to learn SCO is playing Bombays. I got this note:
“Name change and a show on September 15th at Bombay’s. I just got a flyer for an upcoming show by these “warlocks.” They’ve changed their name to Symbiotic Cacophony Orchestra (like the status listed below).”
So, you can log in over at Facebook to Like the Symbiotic Cacophony Orchestra at the link.
If original Redding style music isn’t enough to keep you entertained this weekend, you can head over to the Redding Dragstip for the combined Pacific National Open Series and National Dragster Challenge. 3 days of racing. One of the biggest races of the season. Just 10 bucks gets you in. More at the Redding Dragstrip website, or just click on the flaming shifter knob, of course.
Contemplative music video for a morning meditation
Ran across this on You Tube. A prolific poster going by 10zen10 has created a music video with pretty bird images taken by photographer Daniel O’Byrne. It’s set to the music I helped create along with Craig Padilla and Zero Ohms a few years back, a piece called Realm of the Spirit, from the CD Beyond the Portal, released on the Lotuspike label. A nice meditation moment to begin the day today.
Interesting, how these video pieces using our music that turn up, unannounced. Released into the wild, the music finds it’s own path.
Download free music from Still Married today.
Just got a tweet from Cottonwood’s Erin Friedman that she’s posted a few of her authentic local original songs on her website for free listening or download today, Sunday. Check it out by clicking on the image above, or the link.
And forever begins with a kiss
Under the Sundial Bridge
Thanks Erin! Still Married, that’s Really Redding.
Relax -new old music
Relax2011 by SkipMurphy
The Redding Warlocks
The Redding Warlocks seem to be a psychedelic style jam band playing out around here. Below, “Ale House Dub” is an oddly hypnotic video with an appropriate live soundtrack that was apparently recorded at Redding’s Ale House.
I like it. There’s more about this original local band at their Redding Warlocks Reverbnation page. But not much more. Looks like you’ll need to see them live. Check out the video they have titled “Six Crap Shootin’ Pall Bearers.” A disjointed night road trip done Redding style. Status: Symbiotic Cacophony Orchestra? Play on, Redding Warlocks.
Manifestations -new unreleased old Redding music
Here’s another work from Craig Padilla that I performed with him back in the mid-1990s. I pulled this from the archives along with the piece I shared a few days ago, Snowfall. This Craig composition music is more symphonic electronica, although it builds gradually from a very spare rhythmic improvisation. It picks up with a perky bass line and breaks through with a very cinematic crescendo and overture. At 24 minutes long, it’s more typical of our work together at the time than the last piece. I adjusted the overall levels to conform to modern expectations of relative volume, but aside from that, it’s just like we played it around here back in ’94 or so. Very nice. Please enjoy. 
Manifestations2011 by SkipMurphy
Image of a Barn in Eastern Shasta County by Skip