Brandon Burke

Friends, It is my pleasure to announce that the brand new issue of Wax Poetics features photos and an interview with, beloved board member, brownie! We did the interviewed last June, actually, and he was also kind enough to send a selection photos for me to digitze for inclusion in the issue. Normally, I'd shy away from this kind of self-promotion but, in all honesty, all I did was scan some images and ask some questions...this is his work I'm writing about now. For the record, issues of Wax Poetics do not remain in print for very long. The first few issues even fetch good money on eBay now. (Crazy.) That said, I recommend picking one up sooner than later. (And yes, Dusty Groove has it.) Big thanks to brownie for his kindness, cooperation, and fascinating stories! happy reading, Brandon

just watched this last week. best thing i've seen in years...

is this directed toward me? if so, no. do tell... secondly: interesting, your take on the Animal Collective. Sung Tongs was really godamned good. acidic enough to burn your retinas yet definitively NY. as psychedelic records go, i'll say that's the most wildly original thing since Mercury Rev Boces. and i don't particularly like Mercury Rev, by the way...i just want to give credit where its due. (let's be honest, Boces is a seriously f*cked up record, man.) back to AC: i'm embarrased to say that i already wish they we're "like they used to be"...and it's only been two years since ST. like you say, though, they're still figuring out who they are, then again, they also seem to change their approach every two weeks. personally, i prefer the acoustic stuff with the Carl Wilson overdubs. (any Joe Electroharmonix can run guitars through 900 effects. f*ck that.) your Sun City Girls point is well taken. they obviously get a lot from those dudes but i think i prefer the SCG more in theory than in practice. much of it -- the show i saw in SF last year, for example -- seems awfuly hokey to me. the Rick Bishop solo guit stuf i love but the SCG can come across as -- and i hate to use the dreaded "W" word -- wacky. (let's face it, there's really nothing worse than wacky music...) -- B

agreed.

C, a used LP shop opened up shortly before i moved called Sound on Sound. it's on North Loop and, yes, also named after one of Tim's old band's songs. anyway, it's alright. beats the hell out of Waterloo. that town, for all its music this-and-that, is pretty dry as far as used LP are concerned. nothin'..

a friend and i watched the Beefheart performance on SNL last weekend, as i had recently rummaged through my old VHS tapes. there's a link to an admittedly poor dub here. quite a performance, really. one has to feel for the poor innocent souls who thought they were *just going to see a comedy show* because that's some seriously unsettling shit right there...

that's a fun record. also features a great version of the seven dwarves' "Heigh Ho" by Tom Waits.

awful news. Pickett was my favorite Stax vocalist.

One of many un-used band names listed in the recent Guided By Voices bio: Richard Flavor and the Flavors (featuring Robert Flavor)

100%! (apologies for any confusion.) -- B

yeah, not so much. i see used LP copies all the time for less than ten bucks...making it not unlike John Cale & Terry Riley's Church of Anthrax in that both records are too abstract to win over fans of the pop side of the collabo (TH/Cale) yet, at the same time, not quite abstract enough for the "experimental" (Eno/Riley) camp.

Good talkin' yesterday, as always. Glad to hear things are going well, happy b-day, and don't forget to hit Jim Jim's once the heat returns to Austin. It's a lifesaver... talk soon, buddy. -- Brandon

listen, i'm not arguing that DA saved music or anything. all the same, i hardly think he "stinks". by this are you saying that he ruined more sessions than he aided? i'm curious why you feel this way... also, i believe it's worth mentioning that most folks deep into the Axelrod funk camp are there for the beats and not the solos. in fact, i'd be willing to argue that MOST fans of the funky Axelrod dates are there for the beats and not the solos. (this makes you neither right nor wrong, of course. just an observation.) the same can probably be said for Ozzie as well, i think...

those are two of my favorite LPs in the world...but i'm not sure they're what DA is most "known for". rather, i'd say it's his funk dates on Capitol featuring Adderley (and Co.). there's a good interview/article on him in the last Wax Poetics. i'd recommend getting it. it's a good publication and those things go OOP pretty quickly. (issue #1 regularly goes for $100 on ebay...and it's only a couple years old!!)

Fellas, very kind...thanks a bunch. will try to participate more in the future, schedule forbids it now. be on the lookout for a cool project coming out in in january featuring artwork and words from (what has to be) one of your favorite board members. details on that to follow as well... cheers, Brandon P.S. Clifford, funny you say that. it's the same as Emily's dad too.

FYI: The Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University has begun digitization of the Monterey Jazz Festival Collection and I was involved in quality control for the first batch we got back from the vendor. It is perhaps common knowledge by now that Fantasy Studios in Berkeley is doing the work. Kind of a no-brainer since they're local and already familiar with this kind of material. The recordings -- what we got back so far, anyway -- sound great. Almost too great for archival perservation masters. I'm wondering if they sneaked some noise reduction in there because there's absolutely no tape hiss whatsoever. This is all fine and good, of course, since this material will eventually see commercial release. Problem is, only *raw* transfers qualify as archival preservation masters so there's a chance we'll have to go back and make sure they're not "cleaning them up" as they go. (That can always be done later from said *raw transfer* file.) No time to get into detail about what sessions were heard. It's late. Just a general heads-up. More later as things develop... best, Brandon

Maker's Mark in a cheap imitation Jack. Manhattans are good on pancakes. ← Upon further review: Jack Daniels is great if you're into the "cool because the American popular culture canon has deemed it to be a tough guy drink" thing. Other than that, it sucks. (See also cheap black coffee.)

Maker's Mark in a cheap imitation Jack. Manhattans are good on pancakes. ← There must not be any folks from the Bluegrass State on here because, in Kentucky, them's fightin' words. I remember going into a liquor store in Louisville (sometime around the 1997 Derby) and noticing that they, quite deliberately, left weeks and weeks of dust only on the Jack Daniels section. Hilarious...

I can honestly say that i never expected to see a jazz record dedicated to The Volcano Suns. That sounds like something I would do... BTW: Cliff, you were almost right..!

Earlier today... * Tran Quang Hai & Hoang Mong Thuy - Music of Vietnam (Lyrichord) * Zelia Barbosa - Brazil: Songs of Protest (Monitor) * Rashied Ali - New Directions in Modern Music (Survival) * Philly Joe Jones - Showcase (Riverside) * Thelonious Monk - Plus Two at the Blackhawk (Riverside)

My favorite cocktail is a Maker's Mark manhattan. My martini of choice, however, is Ketel One with only a "wash" of vermouth and one big fat olive.

I passed on a clean LP copy of this today. Maybe I'll go back and check it out tomorrow...