OREGON MUSIC / FEBRUARY 2002 REPLICATION/LABEL GUIDE photo Buko REWIND Hitting Birth 1992. photo Tom Robinson n 1988 drummer Daniel Riddle came to to add to his standard kit and joined Con-Con. The Hitting Birth Family Circus created sen- Portland with a San Francisco punk trio They got a gig and renamed the new band Hitting sory overload. “It was theater and it was rock, but I“for the cheap rent” discovering Satyricon Birth. “We didn’t want anything with ‘death’ in the it was also a very effective ritual, not dissimilar to a voodoo ceremony, or an ancient Bacchanalia rite” Hitting Birth shows were orgies of production with costumes, elaborate sets, dancers, smoke, lights and olfactory assaults of incense, flowers, candles, smudge sticks and even grinding metal. HB ruled through sound reinforced bass and percussion. and performance art project Con-Con, featuring name.” Says Riddle. David Parks joined on drums In late 1994, Daniel Riddle left Hitting Birth poets Stephen Spyrit and Kristen Kohl reading and became a focus of the act. “Crucibob” played to form King Black Acid. This month Riddle’s while accompanied by “Alpo” playing percussion bass and Keith Bornzin joined on percussion while musical vision is in theaters coast to coast via Ri- on an amplified shopping cart with a guitar pickup Rev. Rob Roy offered samples and played Wah-wah chard Gere’s new thriller “The Mothman Prophe- and an assortment of effects pedals. pedal shopping cart. cies” (See As The World Turntables) Inspired, Riddle built a junk metal drum set LL ister an editorial protest but I see they were club. Be well and thank you again. back in January with a half page. They might Duane Jarvis LETTERS hate you but they know which rag the players PO 160626 Dear Editor read. I just pick it up to see what the lawyer Nashville, TN 37216 You should sleep with Bob Olsen’s letter dude says anyway. under your pillow. (Two Dufuses Living In Matt McWherter Dear Two Louies, The Past-Letters-Jan. ’02) Portland, OR I was a bit taken aback last month read- David Corboy ing in your letters column an editor’s response Portland Dear Editor, to a reader who wrote, “Billy Rancher was at Glad Two Louies rocks on and on! Thank best a mediocre writer and player.” Your Dear Editor, you for giving me some ink in the new issue. editor’s response was “I’d have to say you’re Don’t think we readers weren’t paying at- Great to hang with Scott Gillies I must say. full of shit on that one.” Although I wouldn’t tention to that Guitar Center Pulls Their Ad Loved the piece on Greg Sage & The Wipers. I have said it like that, I agree completely. Drama in Letters (December). The corpora- have many wonderful memories of checking Betsy Hay tion fines free speech. That’s one way to reg- them out at the Earth and the Urban Noize Milwaukie, Oregon LL TWO LOUIES, February 2002 - Page 3 bodies came from Epiphone. Fender was at NAMM in a big way with more Strats and Teles and J & P basses than you could shake a stick at. If Leo Fender could decorate heaven it would look a little something like this. And let me tell you, they brought the “ A players”, the starting squad for the jam sessions that were happening in the Fender room, well, let’s just say swell just doesn’t cover the who’s who of folks who would swing by to lay down some Git-tar playing. If Fender and Gibson aren’t your cup of tea, By Steven Landsberg how about the incredible instruments and amaz- ing art guitars of Paul Reed Smith? I could spend pages telling you about the dragon inlays, but my he National Association of Music Mer way, buyers only you know. Anyway, check it out lack of eloquence with words prohibits me from chants’ trade-show. Where musical in at the web page or your local Gibson dealer. sharing how cool these guitars ARE, you need to Tstrument manufacturers schmooze retailers and superstar musicians press the flesh. I ran around NAMM this year with my buddy Tom Childs of StoneWater recording in Sherwood. We both had badges from NARAS representing the Northwest Chapter. Tom does recording, produc- ing, engineering, and he plays drums, and let ‘s just say he has “ the ear”. As we wandered from booth to booth in the Anaheim Convention Center, we ran into quite a few long time acquaintances, and met many new people. First off let me say that the NAMM show is really for the wonderful folks that own / staff / run Epiphone has many cool variations on the Les check them out, whenever, wherever can, just see your favorite local music store. It doesn’t matter if Paul including The Jack Cassady (Airplane-Hot these guitars. that store is a locally owned store that has been a Tuna) model Les Paul Signature Bass with a change Overall at NAMM acoustic fretted instru- fixture forever, or if it’s a new store that just opened or two from the Les Paul Signature Bass. Here is a ments (guitars, mandolins, things like that) were to serve the local music scene. Heck, it very well represented, The NAMM might even be a large national chain that directory showed 6 pages of opened a Portland location or two. NAMM luthiers; names like Martin, Santa is put on by those great folks that actually Cruz, Gibson, Fender, Guild, MAKE the gear that we use in our day to Takamine, Tacoma, Taylor. Speak- day lives, be it the amps to drive our speak- ing of Guitars, I scored a GRIP er- ers, the mics to record / amplify our voices gonomic (bent) pick, these picks / instruments, or even the instruments are so cool, and I have to find a themselves! Portland and the great Pacific Portland shop that stocks them! Northwest is home to some of the best And slides; glass, steel all kinds of products in the whole world, from amps slides. to guitars to boards, consoles Amps were also big news, and keyboards. And I haven’t first guitar amps, Built in model- even started to cover computer ing amps (ie: Line6 ) were all the software and hardware. From rage with the players, whether as the land of the strong coffee and outboard gear, stomp-boxes, or yummy dark beers! built into the amps or even the But the real purpose of the guitars themselves, everybody it NAMM show is to let sellers seems was showing some sort of show off their new products. modeling amp. The big boys as always have all Also big at NAMM was the groovy new toys we all love. Big pic; Jason Fineberg (NARAS-LA), Bobby Landsberg tubes. In amps, pre-amps, mics, Gibson has many new Les Paul’s photos Uncle Steve (Portland musician) and Carey Christensen (NARAS- everything had tubes. Some of the but my favorite new Les Paul, the LA) schmoozing in the Grammy booth. amps I had the good fortune to Les Paul acoustic (not to be con- Small pic; Drummer Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Smashing enjoy were (in no particular or- fused with the Les Paul jumbo) Pumpkins) with Portland engineer Tom Childs. der) Kustom, Marshall (Jim the new Paul has no traditional pickups in between tidbit that you already know, the first two Les Paul Marshall was there ), Tube Works, Peavey, Yamaha, the neck and the bridge. The bridge is the pickup! solid bodies (the “log” and the “beast”) were chunks Gallien-Krueger, Vox, Hartke, Fat Cat, Gibson, The flame on this beauty was not to be believed. I of trees (4x4’s) and made with parts from the HiWatt , Sunn, Pignose, Carvin, Orange, Fender was not supposed to be in the Gibson room any- Epiphone factory! Necks and “wings” for Les’s solid Continued on page 18 Page 4 - TWO LOUIES, February 2002 TWO LOUIES, February 2002 - Page 5 for the moody duet between Cramer’s muted gui- heart/Your wallet feels just right.” tar and Kaffer’s dark electric piano pads— faintly Andrew Kaffer and Kissing Book offer intel- reminiscent of latter day Talk Talk. ligent, thoughtful music that is a testament to A rubbery piano/bass figure bounces repeti- musical austerity and prudence. While the gravity tively, motivating “Selfish” through thick waves of of Kaffer’s sphere is still inwardly directed, there is languid guitars. Hypnotic. The two instrumental evidence that his gaze has begun to be directed pieces “Set Of Numbers” and “Another Set Of outward where new impressions await him, like a Numbers” allow the band members to explore their million stars in the sky. impressive Jazz sensibilities. Especially splendid are The Holidays— The Holidays Bayer’s spectacularly subtle chops. Acoustic and Self-Produced electric guitars, reflect and refract each other in ere’s a fine new foursome who have interesting variations on “Of Nativity,” creating an spent the past several years honing anxious atmosphere of disassociation. Reske and H their material to acute sharpness, Cramer create sparkling layers of guitars on tiny before releasing this debut, seven song CD. Hav- gem “The Times Between The Times.” ing been friends nearly all their lives and musicians Bayer sets a frenetic pace on “Your Melancholy for nearly half of that time, in some ways, their Ways,” as Kaffer details the mudanities of neurosis sound would seem to be a natural extension of their upon the loss of a significant other.