A Lifetime Spent in Love with Music Well, He Blew Into Pine Valley Recently, Taking Advantage of a Clause Giving Him Quite a Bit of Artistic Control
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90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 15 10 C M Y K 50 40 30 20 15 10 C YA N P L AT E MAGENTA PLATE YELLOW PLATE BLACK PLATE PAGE 2A 01/01/2006 03:36 pm Updated ACCENT TEXARKANA GAZETTE ★ SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2007 1D REMOTE POSSIBILITIES “I regard music as a common language I have been blessed to AMC’s Zarf/Zoe learn. Anytime something bothered me I went to my storyline surprises room and picked up Zarf. Zoe. Zarf. Zoe. Zarf. Zoe. the guitar. It was my Yes, I like the name Zoe better. Much bet- ter. sanctuary. Music is And while I do not love the name Zarf, a growing process. I have to yell from the The music takes me Jodi rooftops, that I do love the character Zarf. And Zoe, in many different Sheridan his female being. Columnist Zarf, if you can’t remem- directions, I don’t ber one of my previous columns, is a character on necessarily set the “All My Children.” direction.” A transgender character. —Mike Hubrel The first major transgen- Staff photo by Aaron Street der in daytime. With a Mike Hubrel major story. Zarf was first intro- duced to AMC watchers last year as a rocker lend- ing a song to the fictional company Fusion. A lifetime spent in love with music Well, he blew into PIne Valley recently, taking advantage of a clause giving him quite a bit of artistic control. Immediately, he fell for Bianca, the show’s Local musician’s song preserved for posterity on Website archive lesbian character, and finally figured out why. “Rock is so much fun. That’s what it’s all been popular locally, as many were just high area of San Francisco called “South City.” (as in He’s really Zoe. The story that AMC has weaved with the about—filling up the chest cavity and empty school friends with bands or garage bands like “South City Midnight Lady” by the Doobies). telling of Zoe’s tale has been wonderful. kneecaps and elbows.”—Jimi Hendrix DOA. It was ‘the’ band from Ashdown,” Ott After a few lessons, the music store owner, Amazing. And it surprises me. said in a telephone interview. Mr. Bronstein, had Hubrel sit in the showroom I had no idea Zarf or Zoe would com- By Anthony Davis “Most of the music we focus on is prior to window and play his guitar. No reason was mand this much presence and story. Texarkana Gazette the British Invasion in about 1963-64. There given, but being an apt pupil, he was not about The scenes where Zoe made her first When Mike Hubrel, Texarkana, Ark., song- were a lot of frat bands, surf bands, garage and to object. appearance on Bianca’s doorstep and the writer/guitarist, picks up his flat-top Martin psychedelic bands up until about 1971. We even “I suppose I got my first love of music from subsequent reveal to a stunned Bianca were guitar and begins to play, Hendrix’s words researched newspapers and found the amount the radio,” Hubrel mused. “It’s been my whole outstanding scenes. Better than I thought become more easily understood. of coverage of local music declined after the life since I was 7. My guitar and my music are AMC could ever pull off. Hubrel’s entire presence and sense of being mid-’60s.” extensions of me, whether playing quietly to I’ve read message boards and listened to seems to inflate as his fingers find notes and Ott and company maintain an “Open Call” to myself or performing. fans tell of how they could feel the emo- chords easily and efficiently, animating his musicians who were members of bands in that “I regard music as a common language I have tions and were captivated by Zoe’s words. movements and demeanor. era and encourage them to make themselves been blessed to learn. Anytime something Count me in as captivated. It is evident Hubrel maintains a lifelong love known as part of their labor of love. bothered me I went to my room and picked But Bianca doesn’t understand. And Zoe affair with his guitar and his music. For Hubrel, being “discovered” again up the guitar. It was my sanctuary. Music is a was left heartbroken and humiliated. And unlocked a vault of memories of his own musi- growing process. The music takes me in many now, Zarf has re-emerged with the inten- But, like many young guitarists in the early cal path from San Francisco to Ashdown, from different directions, I don’t necessarily set the tion to leave Pine Valley. 1960s, heeding the siren call of the muses However, and here’s a spoiler, so stop meant being in the right place at the right time. Ashdown back to San Francisco for a time and direction.” reading if you don’t want to know: Zarf is At age 12, Hubrel found himself stand- finally back to his “home” in Texarkana. The sense of culture shock at his arrival going to become a prime suspect in the ing on the stage of the famed San Francisco Along the way Hubrel has jammed, prac- in Southwest Arkansas initially dampened show’s Satin Slayer killings. Cow Palace as a winner of a South City (San ticed, performed and generally hung around Hubrel’s enthusiasm. The residents of Pine Valley should be Francisco) battle of the bands contest. His with some of Texarkana’s old-school rock ’n’ “There were still outhouses in Ashdown,” prepared to be knocked off their feet next instrument was tuned and handed to him by roll heads and country crooners. As a member Hubrel said with a shudder of reminiscence. week as Zarf is set to explain his story to union stagehands and to his back was a moun- of The Pines house band he backed up major He couldn’t find many kids his age and into those who suspect him of murder. tain of amplifiers. country music performers and shared the stage music who were aware of West Coast groups I’m positive that I wouldn’t love the char- But it was short-lived attention for the young with an array of Texarkana and area musicians. such as Moby Grape, The Seeds, Frank Zappa, acters Zarf and Zoe this much if it weren’t musician. But long before Hubrel found his way to local Grateful Dead or Buffalo Springfield. for the talents of actor Jeffrey Carlson. Just when this teen gunslinger with a head performance venues, he continued to live and But he could turn them on to some new stuff. He is stunning in his delivery and a true full of lyrics and a blossoming set of skills was breathe playing guitar and toying with song And some were eager to learn. gem that AMC was lucky to find. contemplating ways to make his mark on the ideas. “Not many people were doing Hendrix. It Shortly after my initial column on this San Francisco, Calif., music scene, his family Hubrel was bitten by the guitar bug at about was mostly country western around here. But I subject ran, I received several e-mails from age 6. His uncle presented him with an F-hole had a Fender guitar, a Fender amp and a distor- transgenders—all of them looking forward moved “lock, stock and barrel” to Ashdown, Harmony guitar he accommodated by laying tion booster, so I could do it,” said Hubrel. to their story finally being told. Ark. One, Marti Abernathey, who has a blog, “I literally broke down and cried,” Hubrel is the instrument flat on a bed and strumming it. With the opportunities for playing the music is holding her judgment, but thinks the heard saying in a video interview conducted Hubrel had his first guitar lessons he craved to perform still relatively few and storyline was “sheer genius” on the part of recently by Harold Ott, founder of “Psych of in an far between in Texarkana, Hubrel elected to AMC. the South,” a rather new Website focusing on See HUBREL on Page 3D “I think it could be a great thing to edu- psychedelic, rock and garage bands of the early cate people to our plight,” said Marti. “One 1960s. thing that has been impressed upon me is “I left all the glamour and the glitter and so how much misinformation/misunderstand- many more opportunities to play. When we ing there is about the lives of transgender moved to Ashdown, I didn’t know anyone into folk.” rock music. But we recorded the song “Run, Another transgender believes telling this Hide, Getaway” shortly after that.” story could benefit the community as a “We” in this case meaning bandmates for a whole. time—Hubrel, Paco Ritter, Roger Snead and Leigh Smythe, another transgender, fears Steve “Wildman” Adams performing under the there may be a little sensationalism about the life of transgenders, but is still hopeful. name Dead On Arrival. “ I hope they have a whole episode about That particular song was literally “dug up” by Zarf getting kicked out of a ladies rest Ott and his partners, sister Rachel and music room!!! And some of the other bigotry that obsessed friend Cliff Farmer, while searching we commonly face,” said Leigh. for material for psychofthesouth.com. Leigh summed it up nicely in an e-mail: This trio of rock hounds and treasure-seek- “The most wonderful result that could ers developed the Internet site in 2006, “when happen is to get the public incensed at the a few kids from Arkansas decided to research discrimination that happens.