ABOUT RAR: For those of
you new to this site, "RAR" is Rick Alan Rice, the publisher
of the RARWRITER Publishing Group websites.
Use this link to visit the
RAR music page, which features original music
compositions and other.
ATWOOD - "A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance"-AVAILABLE
NOW FOR KINDLE (INCLUDING KINDLE COMPUTER APPS) FROM
AMAZON.COM.Use
this link.
CCJ Publisher Rick Alan Rice dissects
the building of America in a trilogy of novels
collectively calledATWOOD. Book One explores
the development of the American West through the
lens of public policy, land planning, municipal
development, and governance as it played out in one
of the new counties of Kansas in the latter half of
the 19th Century. The novel focuses on the religious
and cultural traditions that imbued the American
Midwest with a special character that continues to
have a profound effect on American politics to this
day. Book One creates an understanding about
America's cultural foundations that is further
explored in books two and three that further trace
the historical-cultural-spiritual development of one
isolated county on the Great Plains that stands as
an icon in the development of a certain brand of
American character. That's the serious stuff viewed
from high altitude. The story itself gets down and
dirty with the supernatural, which inATWOOD
- A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliveranceis the
outfall of misfires in human interactions, from the
monumental to the sublime.The
book features the epic poem"The
Toiler"as
well as artwork by New Mexico artist Richard
Padilla.
Elmore Leonard
Meets Larry McMurtry
Western Crime
Novel
I am offering another
novel through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Cooksin is the story of a criminal syndicate that sets its
sights on a ranching/farming community in Weld County, Colorado,
1950. The perpetrators of the criminal enterprise steal farm
equipment, slaughter cattle, and rob the personal property of
individuals whose assets have been inventoried in advance and
distributed through a vast system of illegal commerce.
It is a ripping good yarn, filled
with suspense and intrigue. This was designed intentionally to
pay homage to the type of creative works being produced in 1950,
when the story is set. Richard Padilla
has done his usually brilliant work in capturing the look and feel of
a certain type of crime fiction being produced in that era. The
whole thing has the feel of those black & white films you see on
Turner Movie Classics, and the writing will remind you a little
of Elmore Leonard, whose earliest works were westerns.
Use this link.
EXPLORE THE KINDLE
BOOK LIBRARY
If you have not explored the books
available from Amazon.com's Kindle Publishing
division you would do yourself a favor to do so. You
will find classic literature there, as well as tons
of privately published books of every kind. A lot of
it is awful, like a lot of traditionally published
books are awful, but some are truly classics. You
can get the entire collection of Shakespeare's works
for two bucks.
Amazon is the largest,
but far from the only digital publisher. You can
find similar treasure troves atNOOK
Press(the
Barnes & Noble site),Lulu,
and others.
"I don't think Barry ever loved himself..." - Longtime business partner
Chuck Morris on the sad end of Denver's legendary concert and venue
promoter and artist manager. Read More
Sweet
Lunacy - Music Documentary
The Boulder Arts Commission's 2001 video documentary on
the history of music in Boulder, Colorado is a real gem that contributes
in all kinds of ways. Not the least of those is that it perfectly
captures the zeitgeist of an era, through the lens of a unique
university town, at a hinge-point in musical time after which
nothing would ever swing that same way again. Read More
Navarro Rising?
What
Did Zephyr and Navarro Have in Common?
This picture of the
original rock band "Zephyr" was taken for Warner Brothers
Records, in New York City in the early '70's; it includes
members from left to right: Jock Bartley (guitar); John Alfonse
(percussion); Michael Wooten (drums & percussion); Candy Givens
(vocals, keyboards & harmonica); David Givens (bass); and Danny
Smith (keyboards).
____________________________
The caption above was written by the
adorable dude in the center of the photo, drummer
Michael Wooten, who apparently carried his charm from The
Shire more than 40 years ago and hasn't really changed much
since. He remains active on the Colorado music scene to this
day, performing with Lucky Me and probably others.
Wooten's resume includes what was perhaps Colorado's greatest
edge-of-fame act (Zephyr, above),
Leftover Salmon, and
the marginally successful but locally-popular country rock confection
Navarro. Navarro, probably few still live to remember, was
the subject of a minor lightning strike when songwriting legend
Carole King, who was for a time in residence in Colorado
while recording her Simple Things album at Caribou Ranch,
caught them at a local tavern. This is circa 1977, and Navarro
had been a Boulder-area band off and on for much of the decade.
Needing a band, King liked what she heard in Navarro and so they
became her opening act and show band, performing studio duties
as well. All of this history is detailed in a Rolling Stone
interview,
available here.
The photograph above adds a wrinkle
to this story due to the fellow on the far left, the talented
guitarist (and painter)
Jock Bartley, whose post-Zephyr
days included a stint with
Gram Parsons
and a much longer
stint with
Firefall, which he leads to this day. Through
his own musical contributions and through association with those
seminal country-rock acts, Jock Bartley has been an important
figure in the development of the Country-Rock sound as it emerged in the
1970s. (And consider how far different it was than was the sound of
the acid-blues fueled Zephyr!)
Anyway, Navarro was caught in the
undertow of the Colorado country-rock phenomenon and managed a
marginal existence on the scene, finally calling it quits until
Carole King happened to tap them for another bout of temporary
renewal. It was probably a curse, in retrospect, for seven years
following the humongous success of King's classic Tapestry LP,
and nearly 20 since she wrote with former-husband Gerry Goffin
at the Brill Building, she was "old" and sort of lost. Never a
strong performer, she was flailing and probably
felt reassured by the presence of youngsters like Michael
Wooten and Mark Hallman. (Hallman has
operated the successful Congress House recording studio in
Austin, Texas since shortly after this Carole King episode in
his career.) King's fans, however, were flummoxed by her
choice of compatriots, having known her previously to have kept musical company with
industry heavyweights Danny Kotchmar, Leland Sklar, and Tom Scott. Why
Navarro, this little band from Colorado? They wondered.
While the Carole King-Navarro hookup
would turn out to be short term and of no particular
distinction, there are people who remember the
band fondly, enough so that talk of a reunion has begun to
emerge and stir
interests.
Blues vocalist and harmonicat
Judy Rudin, a long-time L.A. resident, provided the great
Zephyr photo above on her Facebook page, which is what allowed
us to work Michael Wooten into this whole narrative. Rudin was a Boulder-area
stalwart during the Navarro period, and she is among those who would be
excited about a Navarro reunion. She seems to have found
serendipity in that she had only just posted this Zephyr
photo when she received the following email message.
Michael Wooten writes:
FYI; lovers of waterfalls, mountains, and
fall-colors; there is going to be a Navarro band re-union this
Fall, in TELLURIDE, Colorado! The fun will begin around the last
weekend of September, with one show (possibly a large,
house-concert, outside, on private land) on Saturday, September
29th! I talked to Richard Hardy
today (who is in Telluride doing some recording) and he told me
that our old friend Jim Lincoln came up with the idea and wants
to finance it. We (the Navarro band) did a benefit for Jim when
he broke his back in a hang-gliding accident in the early '70's.
Miguel Rivera
sent me
a text today, from Los Angeles, and said he would do it. Richard
contacted Mark Hallman, in Austin, who said he would be into it,
and Robert McEntee, also in Austin, who said he "might be up for
it, if you get it in writing". <]:O)) what a kidder. Rob
Galloway is out of town, helping with a sick relative, but
should return soon, and I'm certain he will want to be involved.
Deborah Schmitt-Lobis said she would try to be there, but might
already have a booking. James Tuttle said he will tie her up and
carry her (gently but firmly).
RARWRITER.com assumes that Michael Wooten is fine
with us publishing his personal email. Why not, it's good news, right? It's
Navarro! - RAR
_________________________
SIGNEL-Z
Smart Stuff from the Flat Irons
RAR NOTE:
Signel-Z is the brainchild of bassist/guitarist Steve
Ignelzi, who has recently released his jazz collective's first CD
io Rise, available on iTunes and elsewhere.
The techie allusion within the
title of the CD should be a tip-off to what you are dealing with here, which is
stuff too smart for some rooms. (It is not, however, the sort of electrical
switch open/switch closed product implied by the title - it is all real
musicians on real instruments.) This is a jazz fusion, which won't appeal to
those who don't appreciate that form, but for those who do this is a real
pleasure. It is a series of wonderful original compositions, performed with a
live energy, feel and sound that is unusually anarchic for a form that really
exists as a tribute to the traditional jazz forms that came before. There is a
thing going on with East Coast underground jazz that seems to be captured in the
horn work of this band from Boulder, a sort of revolutionary vibe played out
through the bleat of sculpted brass and the peppery accents of 16th-note bursts
of jazz guitar.
Steve Ignelzi is one of the more
interesting artists at work anywhere today, in part because he does so much.
Rather like a model for Buckaroo Bonzai, Ignelzi is a chemist by day - a
discipline he has now maintained for decades - and a working musician by night,
playing in Signel-Z, the adventurous Martian Acres, Girls on Top, and
from time to time a big show band with horn section. And somehow he has raised a
family, and sent a kid to college, while another son performs on drums with
Signel-Z. He has maintained a long marriage, often working with his wife Chris,
who is an excellent vocalist. And Ignelzi does all this with a disarming charm,
a sort of low profile boyishness that seems outwardly void of any personal
obsessions, other than enjoying the most minute details of musical expression,
production and engineering. Just read the marketing promo below and you'll get a
good feel for the Steve Ignelzi approach, which is smart without pretension.
"Signel-Z has been evolving as a band, as composers and players. The ability
to listen hard is valued as highly as the ability to play dramatically. The
balance between structure and improvisation is the playing field upon which the
original compositions are expressed at each live performance. The album was
tracked live with very little use of modern studio trickery in order to capture
the human element and the artists performance. Several of the band members
provided original music compositions for the album. The compatibility of the
composers and players really comes across nicely in the progression of the sound
from the start to the finish of the CD lending greater depth and diversity to
the music than what would have been possible with a less collaborative approach.
"The approach to the mixing and mastering was meant to emphasize the
complexity of the sounds and to couch them in a full bodied mix that describes
the perfect live soundstage. Perhaps an evening concert in the desert, the
Arcosanti amphitheater or the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado. A sensual
sound that would be ideal if driving or meditating late at night results. The
group can perform jazz, funk and other genres, but prefers to develop each piece
as distinct from the others such that a distinct character is achieved in each
piece as well as a great progression of the overall set."
_____________________
Apropos of Nothing and Everything
Coming Down from
Sam's
"Anyway, I had told my dad I was
going bowling one night and I went up to Sam's instead with a friend
named Nick Tolve. Nick and I tried our damnedest to pick up some girls,
but we crapped out, and headed down the mountain several hours later,
with God knows how many pitchers under our belts. It's one of those
incidents you cannot forget. We were listening to "All Day and All of
the Night," by The Kinks, as Nick entered an inside right hairpin doing
maybe fifty. Everything slowed down in my mind. There was The Kinks and
the seemingly endless skidding out across the oncoming lane and then the
wide turnout, bordered by the blackest abyss. All of the windows were
filling up with the billion lights of Denver. We came to a merciful stop
with one tire over the edge and a hubcap loudly pinging off the rocks
for what seemed like ten minutes. Then it was dead quiet . . . except
for The Kinks, which now seemed to fill up the entire night."
- Dennis Wanebo
_______________
Lawyers are expected to be good writers, though
reading a John Grisham novel may persuade you otherwise. A great deal of
lawyering is about constructing word arguments, communicating in
effectively selective ways to support a narrative theme. In this sense,
the practice of law is also closely related to the "art" of sales,
marketing and to commercial journalism. Journalism students, at least
back in my day, were often encouraged to stay in school for a law degree
if they seemed research oriented and suited to writing briefs and legal
arguments. If they were more imaginative, possibly less technical by
nature, they were still encouraged to stay in school and get a
law degree because journalists with that credential were coveted.
College seniors may be excused for missing the hidden message in those
admonitions to stay in school: a journalism degree alone is about as
valuable as a degree in drama. In fact, my experience as one of those
clowns who ventured into the working world armed with only a journalism
degree has been nothing but drama! Or possibly trauma.
I'm not sure where retired lawyer Dennis Wanebo fits
into all of that, I just know that I enjoy his writing. The descriptive
paragraph above, of his journey down the Rocky Mountains from a tavern
high in the pines, is an entertaining example of his style. Wanebo's
recently released solo acoustic album, Running On Gravity, is
reviewed in this edition of RARWRITER.com, and the story above relates
directly to the title tune.
Writes Wanebo - "The final song (and the album
namesake) "Running On Gravity" is a semi-autobiographical glance at the
days when Colorado was a 3.2 beer state--the days when there were only
two major targets on life's calendar as an adolescent: sixteen to drive;
and eighteen to drink. And, sweet Jesus, didn't we abuse them both,
especially when we could put them together.
"Anyway, you may remember that some thoughtful
businessmen decided to put a big 3.2 beer hall at the tippy top of
Lookout Mountain, just west of Golden. "Sam's" was the name. They would
bring in decent dance bands and the place would really rock on Friday
and Saturday nights . . . jam-packed with kids like me who had been
driving for two years or less, all of them guzzling pitchers of fresh
Coors in order to work up the nerve to meet some chicks.
"I assume that you've driven the road up the face of
Lookout Mountain, to the top, way past the lighted "M" (Colorado School
of Mines' logo visible across half of the metropolitan Denver area).
It's a nice place to bring out of state visitors, like grandparents and
the like. It was guaranteed that the uninitiated (and many times the
fully initiated) would be white-knuckling the car seats all the way
down, even under the best of conditions. It's an insane road.
"But: did you ever come down drunk? Huge numbers of
kids did. It seemed like once a year, a car full of kids would miss one
of those unforgiving hairpins. Then there would be the dutiful shaking
of various parents' heads over the morning Rocky Mountain News,
and the breakfast table lectures about "Jesus, take a good look at what
happened to that car! Stay away from that place for God's sake."
THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
FROM RARWRITER.COM: KIDS, DON'T GO
TO SAM'S!
Wanebo's Running On Gravity is a wonderful
album, released to a market that probably can't appreciate it but should
if they could. It seems like the work of someone who is here to help.
- RAR092912
_____________________
Above: Robb Candler, Grant McIntosh and Devon Bailey
Wild Road Colorado
Classic Country
Grant
McIntosh, Devon Bailey, Dean Field, Howard Palmer, and
Robb Candler are Wild Road Colorado,
a classic country outfit from the Boulder area. They are a group
right after the heart of old school country fans everywhere, a
road house devotional to Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Merle
Haggard and George Strait. They also list the Sons of the
Pioneers, the great vocal backing group that was founded in the
1930s by an Ohio-to-California transplant with the suspicious
name of "Leonard Slye". Leonard Slye eventually changed his
awful name to Roy Rogers, which was much more befitting his
movie star bearing, which was gentle and kindly, as one might
expect from a cowboy who used quick hands and quick wit, rather
than a gun, to keep peace in the Hollywood Hills of the Old
West. And along the way to becoming one of the great Hollywood
singing cowboys, Rogers created the Sons of the Pioneers and set
the standard for vocal harmony acts. "We" - the Baby Boomer
Generation - grew up with their soundtracks wafting from movie
scores, Country LPs and Christmas albums, training our ears to
what it sounds like when men sing gorgeously together. Somehow
it was much less gay than that sounds; in fact, covered every
generic male fascination from Happy Trails to Tumblin'
Tumbleweed to Cool Water, and did all that banal
observational stuff in a pre-creepy way. (America later
succumbed to the Statler Brothers and the Louvin Brothers and
other more Nashville-oriented sounds from the school of greater
psychological disturbance.)
What all that Sons of the Pioneers stuff has
to do with Wild Road Colorado is that these are guys who are
steeped in this American cultural heritage, authentic in their
emotional connection to this earlier time in America's cultural
development. As a person from their age group, I appreciate what
they do. Use this link to stream their tune
"Amarillo" and then
use this link to go to their Facebook to hear more. -
RAR
EDITOR'S NOTE: Seeing Robb Candler, who is associated with the Mary
Russell Blues Band as well as the Wild Road Colorado, reminded
me of Robb's Music, the music store that Robb Candler has
operated in Boulder, Colorado since 1978. To musicians who were
around Boulder in the late '70s and '80s, Robb's was the
greatest music store that ever existed anywhere, largely because
Robb himself was such a pillar of the Boulder creative
community. There is just no way to over-emphasize how important
some operations are to the lifeblood of a community, and Robb's
was always one such place, rather like an immediate institution.
In these tough times, it is truly inspirational to know that
Robb's is still vital and active. (I say this as someone who
hasn't been back to Boulder in almost 30 years.) Congratulations
and best wishes to Robb Candler and Robb's music!
Lee Trees Makes Rare Appearance
If for 20 years a guy just plays out
in public only once a year or so, one might tend to assume that
he just had other priorities. This is made more interesting by
the fact that when singer-songwriter Lee Trees does make a rare
pilgrimage to the public arena, he always kills, as he did
earlier this month when Lee Trees And
The Commoners -- featuring
Eric Gunnison on keys,
Christian Teele on drums, and
Kirwan Brown on bass -- played
the Rock'n Soul Cafe in Boulder. One finally must conclude that
Lee just has his life ordered a certain way, and while clearly
music is a big part of it, pursuing the career aspects of a
working musician are not. That's a decision of the soul, as
soulful as his Samba. Catch him if you can.-
RAR
________
Ash Ganley Signs
Publishing Deals
Colorado
- Multi-threat musician/singer/songwriter Ash Ganley
reports that he has signed a number of publishing deals aimed at
breaking him beyond the regional popularity he presently enjoys
in the Rocky Mountain States.
"Well....I have lots of news. After
several months of cold calls, warm emails and hot coffee, I
have signed with two publishing/licensing companies and a
fantastic, forward-thinking and successful indie label. Two of
these companies have been on my radar for years, and have
basically been my focus, my 'dream' partners during this time. I
wanted to wait until I had all three records done at Summit Road
Studios before I approached them. In December, I did- and have
signed with both.
"The first company I signed with in
late December is
NOMA Music, a major music licensing and publishing company
is Los Angeles. NOMA has taken on all of my recorded material,
staring with 2006 release "Dark Fuel" all the way up to my
upcoming Feb. 2011 release "Magic Season". They have an amazing
track record of getting their signed artist's music placed in
some of the biggest television shows and movies out there.
Within two weeks of signing, NOMA had two of my songs- 'Elysian
Fields' and 'Only In Our Dreams'- picked up by hit Canadian
television series "Heartland",
for use in back-to-back episodes to be aired later this month.
Currently, NOMA is submitting my material to the FX series
"Justified" for use this season. If this early action is any
sign of things to come, NOMA clearly delivers.
I am also signing this week with San
Rafael, CA based
Magnatune Records. This label is a unique, forward-thinking
success story in adaptation to the digital market place. Check
out their website if you can- they are like a breath of fresh
air and a welcome change from the "old" way of doing business in
music. They have a number of innovative and creative outlets for
marketing their artists and I am really excited to be partnering
with Magnatune.
"I have also signed another deal
with Germany-based licensing/publishing company
Goldentraxx. They are another innovative company that
promotes their artist roster to European and world media markets
in televsion, film etc..
"In the coming weeks I am expecting
to complete another non-exclusive deal with UK-based
licensing/publishing company
Mango Reel.
James Geisler
Former
Boulder Resident Producing Musical Theater Productions
Along the lines of the story
we have on the Music page on Phillip Rauls
and his relationship with the late music industry
personality Buddy Zoloth
(various management capacities with Stephen Stills,
Manassas, Blues Image, others), I was pleased recently to
hear from another Zoloth associate, James Geisler, who back
in the day I knew as "Jimmy".
Jimmy is 61 years old now, which
seems odd because I'm still 29, and still in the
entertainment industry. He works with the Florida-based
musical production company Cirque Productions (http://www.cirqueproductions.com),
which describes its mission as "combining the European
cirque-style of performance artistry with American circus
arts and Broadway theatrics".
Rather like Cirque de Soleil,
Cirque Productions presents a number of shows in venues
ranging from Broadway to theater tours to cruise line
productions. Their Website says that 50 million people have
seen their shows.
This would be right up Jimmy's
alley as he had a long history with production companies,
mostly as an event manager and promoter. He did some artist
management, including work with singer-songwriter
Willis Alan Ramsey
("Muskrat Love").
Jimmy and I inadvertently
conspired to undermine Colorado Senator Gary Hart's 1982 bid
for the presidency, an odd bit of treachery for a couple
liberal Democrats (at least at that time).
Jimmy Geisler's vocations have
always been entertainment-business oriented, and it is
something he is quite good at, but his real passion is for
his art. He is a talented sculptor, who when I met him was
working primarily in metals.
He once tried to give me a
fanciful metal work that I loved called "King Rat", this in
lieu of money he owed me, which I foolishly didn't accept at
the time. "King Rat" is probably worth a fortune now, or at
least it should be. Cool stuff.
Jimmy
Geisler has lived in Santa Fe for the past 20 years, has
been married since 1987, and has a 20-year old daughter, a
biology major in college who is currently studying in Japan.
"Nothing to do with Biology, just spending Dad's money,"
writes Jimmy.
Below is a video of one of the
productions presented by Cirque Productions.-RAR