Wassup?
It’s July and this month we salute the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, or to put it another way (as the Firesign Theater once stated), “How can you be in two places at once when you’re not anywhere at all?”
Item #1. Cabeza – Freedumb Reigns
Some months ago I mentioned this was heading your way, then it just disappeared – vanished – abracadabra! Suddenly here it is. Released! Boise’s finest! To make it even more exciting, the drummer, my nephew Ray (pictured above), just got hauled off to the hospital with appendicitis (he’s fine). Send him a get well note when you buy the album. And no, Dick Dyer, the new bass player and Ray are not related.
Here’s what they have to say for themselves.
Ray – Craig – Dick
Cabeza sez: Our new album, Freedumb Reigns, is our scream into the night air. Craig, Dick, and Ray weaved together a collection of experiences and feelings: grief, fear, anger, and apathy and let our passion for music help us express ourselves. Songs like “Skinner’s Rat” and “Devices” speak to the constant desire to seek validation from others and to assimilate to a society that is split between those that are happy with the status quo and those that are tired of a system that equates financial value to the human experience .
Freedumb Reigns is full of moody lyrics and spicy guitar licks that are tethered to the ground with heavy drums and bass. The album has a reminiscent vibe of 2000 era alt rock with a twist of post punk and low fi energy. Be sure to listen to this album, your life might just depend on it.
Craig Lodis: vocal, guitar, keys; Dick Dyer: bass; Ray Dyer: drums
Recorded by Cabeza in Boise Mastered by Tom Dyer in Olympia June 2024
Item #2. As previously announced, we are releasing Ze Whiz Kids & Doily Bros. – Puttin’ Out Is Dreamsville (Live at the Paramount 1971), recorded off KISW by Howie in 1971 – completely FREE. We still don’t own any rights to these recordings and never will. We simply present them free to the public as a historical document. We are only going to make this available on our bandcamp site. No Spotify or any of that stuff. Anyone owning the rights to this material may request we take it down at any time and we will comply. We are not asking for money. It’s free as long as our allotment of free downloads lasts. Enjoy!
“Ze Whiz Kidz were a drag cabaret and performance art troupe founded in Seattle circa 1969 by the legendary West Coast punk provocateur Tomata du Plenty (birth name: David Xavier Harrigan, 1948-2000). While the troupe’s name remains absurdly obscure today, much of the past five decades of Seattle’s counterculture can be traced back influentially to Ze Whiz Kidz…” Seattle Star
KEXP did a big thing on them a couple years ago.. https://www.kexp.org/read/2019/7/1/sound-vision-lasting-legacy-ze-whiz-kidz/
Howie: The full performance of “Puttin’ Out is Dreamsville” is released for the first time anywhere. This is the only known recording of Ze Whiz Kidz. It was originally recorded from a radio broadcast on reel to reel at 3 3/4 IPS. While technically not perfect and heavily censored, it’s better than nothing at all. Parental Guidance is suggested.
Ze Whiz Kidz were fast and loose with the English language. The radio censors were trying their hardest to delete all the nasties, but quite a few slipped by their nimble fingers. As a result, those aren’t tape dropouts… They are the censors trying to do their job.
TD: On a personal note, I saw these folks twice, first up in Bellingham at Western in ‘71, basically doing this show and then later a revised hard rockin’ version of the band, accompanied by Ze Fabulous Pickle Sisters, who opened for the New York Dolls at the Moore in during Seattle’s first Gay Pride Week in ‘74. The late Tony Bortko of The Rocket’s 1988 new artist of the year The Life was a member of the band (yes, we still have their great remastered album available!).
(Tony on the right)
Item #3. The Green Pajamas. I told you last month there would be an August PJ’s release. Well, there is a spanner in the works! A mystery card has been played. Actually two! Watson, the game is afoot! I think August looks iffy at best, but I will update you with the latest developments when I can.
Item #4. Next month, we are releasing Tacoma geniuses Mr. Blackwatch’s “Mary, Me”, an unapologetic Concept Album/Rock Opera ala The Who’s “Quadrophenia” and “Animals” by Pink Floyd, which could well have been released in 1973, though its story is set firmly in the present. Spanning 16 songs in 2 acts, the deluxe package includes two CDs, a forward by U of Iowa Writers Workshop alum Craig Awmiller, and a 24-page illustrated booklet of lyrics. More news to follow.
Item #5. Capping Day is out being mastered by the redoubtable Jack Endino for fall release. More news to follow.
Item #6. Grrrizzly is playing a bunch of summer shows for ya! Get mountain fresh Sat. July 6th – Longmire Springs Brewing, Packwood, WA. “Explosive Independence – A Punk Grunge Bash at Longmire Springs.” They play from 7-9pm, fireworks at 9:30pm. Klondike Kate from Tacoma opens at 5:30pm.
Then on Thurs. July 18th 3:45-4:30pm they are playing right in downtown Oly on the glorious Lakefair Mainstage (all ages/free). Pretty damn cool.
Then Weirdofest 2 at Darryl’s Tavern in Shoreline at 2:30!
Item #7. Jim of Seattle is powering along toward his September release. Hear the latest preview by scanning the code in the picture! or got to https://jimofseattle-postcards.s3.amazonaws.com/Beta12-A/story.html
Item # 8. My “Irish Tour 2024” album is spinning along. (Of course I know Rory Gallagher had an album titled Irish Tour) An October release still seems in the cards.Here’s some info to whet your appetite.
I wrote these songs (except one) in one hour the morning I got back from Ireland, starting at 5:00AM. They are all about my trip. Just to be clear, I did not finish them in that hour. I just started them, but I basically knew how they went and what they were all about. Verses, choruses, sometimes bridges, some of the lyrics. There were even another 2-3 songs I did not even finish that were started in that song deluge. One song, “Half Irish-Half Tiger”, a song about my family history was written the next day to provide a historical framework for the album.
The Songs:
Bog Man
Dan Lafferty/Crane Bar
Driving On The Wrong Side of The Road
Half Irish – Half Tiger
Have Ya Got It In Ya?
I went to Ireland
My Brother Bought A Carving From Michael Quirke
Newgrange
She Was Getting Married
St Patrick’s Day In Galway
The Best Damn Record Store In Ireland
The Cliffs of Ireland
I’ve assembled three different combos to record these songs, the smashing song-batch with True Olympians drummer Michael Stein and bassist Gene Tveden, the perhaps more country-esqe numbers with Austin bassist David Carroll and GMR solo artist Jeff Parkhust on drums and then a couple nearly-Irish tunes done with Irish Contra Band members Julie Bennet and Steve Cifka, plus GMR artist Eros Faulk on the fiddle and Gene T. on the guitar. True Olympian Joe Cason adds his keyboarding madness to the album and we have Accordion Queen Amy Denio appearing on three songs. We still have a few saucy bits to record with guest performers.
I think you are quite likely to enjoy this album.
Steve – Gene – Julie
That is all. Whew.
Tom