The Sky Is Crying - Sobbing, Really

Went on a little road trip last weekend - to the Earth Day 2012 festivities on the national mall in Washington, DC. My friends The Explorers Club played, followed by former Traffic member Dave Mason and then closer Cheap Trick.

Unfortunately, inclement weather (OK, a drownpour) pushed attendance waaaay down - like, 50 people instead of 50,000. It also made the stage a dangerous place to be handling anything electrical (at least one band member had a brief encounter with unexpected electricity).

Here's my wandering-around-the-stage video of their set:

The Explorers Club - Earth Day April 22 2012

Childcraft? Is That Like Witchcraft for Children?

Mercury Records, through its Childcraft label, put out a large number of children's discs in conjunction with the fifteen-volume Childcraft child development plan (see graphic below).

This disc is no better or worse than any other in the series, I expect, though it is ripe for sampling by those with a twisted double-entendre-seeking mind.

Childcraft - Concert in the Park CLP-1203

The Band Played On
In The Good Old Summertime
My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean
Yankee Doodle Boy
The Wedding Of The Painted Doll
The Owl and the Pussy Cat
Showboat [medley]
Little Willie, The leader of the band
march of the Toys
My Favorite Toy
The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

Mercury (Theatre) Rising/Band Falling

Here's the final gig (barring a reunion of some sort) by The Thirteenth Generation from the summer of 1993 at the Mercury Theatre on Market Square. Videography was not by Daniel Harris, our regular documentarian, but by Hope Chambers, who abandoned us mid-show, thus missing the grand finale which featured horizontally-played beer-filled trumpet (which I then forgot to clean out for a decade or so).

The Thirteenth Generation @ The Mercury Theatre July 1993

No Outside Food or Drink...Don't Try to be Sneaky! No beer allowed to take out building. No slam dancing!

Above: Jon Parker and Kevin Crothers of Sea 7 States at The China King

The China King on Knoxville's strip has a storied history as a music venue, though not originally under that name. Sea 7 States became the first band to play there under Mr Lu's ownership in the late 1980's.* This is a combination board and room mic recording made to four-track cassette recorder (the Cutec of previous-posts legend) though at this point in time only three channels were working. I think the room mics were an amazingly-cheap Realistic stereo mic. Based on who is in the crowd, I'm guessing that the Taoist Cowboys might have been the opener - this was sometime in 1988 (Sea 7 States Mark II) and to my ears is the sound of a band falling apart. Shortly after this we took a long sabbatical and regrouped after replacing departed drummer Todd Eaton. I do like the "Oh Darling" cover, and it's nice to hear the first performance of "Shiva Shuffle", which was one of mine (with Jon). Heck, I've got five songs in this batch!

A big thank you to Bob McCluskey for the intro!

A technical note: apparently the direct channel disappeared on the third tape, so it's just the room mics.

Sea+7+States+China+King+4-tracks+tape+01
Sea+7+States+China+King+4-tracks+tape+02
Sea+7+States+China+King+4-tracks+tape+03
Sea+7+States+China+King+4-tracks+tape+04

Set List:
The Beauty of Fire/Calypso
(Just Before The) Break of Day
Winterset
Broken Guitar String Jazz Groove/George Bush Rap
Spinetingler [partial]

Spinetingler (con't)
Choice
Wild Wild West
Sake Of Me
Life In A Love
Easterlies
Where The Wild Things Are (partial)

Distant and Narrow (partial)
88
Schizophrenia
Swan [this is the "Trainwreck Special Version"]
Modern As Summer
The Incline [just barely partial]

The Ice Age
Calendar
Oh Darling
Shiva Shuffle
Beating
Salvation [tiny partial]

*from a Philip Wolff-penned bio of the band:

That same summer, Mr. Lu, owner of the Strip’s China King, approached Wolff, who lived just behind the restaurant in a typical-of-the time Ft. Sanders subdivided house on 19^th Street. China King had decided to host bands, Mr. Lu told him, and wanted Sea 7 States to break the ice. Wolff tried repeatedly to warn Mr. Lu that the band scene would nothing but heartache for his restaurant. But Mr. Lu saw only potential revenue.

As the bands and their followings got rowdier and rougher, new hand-written signs would appear from time to time taped to China King’s walls. You could read entire unfortunate scenarios between the lines of these signs. “No Outside Food or Drink...Don't Try to be Sneaky!” was one of the first to appear, followed soon after by, "No beer allowed to take out building," and "No slam dancing!" (posted on the ceiling above the dance floor).