Feb 2012, Issue 2
delicious, steaming cup of Black Kicking back and enjoying thisstruck by just how Horse coffee (Iet’s try and play nice), I’m
supportive the community has been when it comes to this silly little
art project.
and partook in the Thanks to all who attended the release party last month at Dr. Cain’s and didn’t immeed advertis who ses busines the all to Thanks . jungle juice and rejoicing abyss.” flier local diately fling this rag into the trash or gingerly delegate it to “the indeed reading, In all seriousness, I’m downright energized to see that people are s full-page generou your for Starkey (Thanks Swap to ting contribu and talking about local artist, and friend my to you e shout-out in New Times)! Now, I’m itching to introduc 6. page on as well as cover the on see you artwork Morgan Condict. It’s his radical thanks neat, ing someth drew or band a wed intervie poem, a ed Whether you compos for sharing your point of view. You made this happen.
Keep the contributions coming! Hayley ‘Haybails’ Thomas
Morgan Condict
is a Paso Robles native who recently returned from a 7 year sojourn in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. When he’s not drawing or painting, Morgan can be found in his living room or back yard excitedly doing nothing. He cares most for his wife and pets and his preferred mediums are ink and watercolor. Check out his blog at
www.mrgnsphere.blogspot.com Hayley Thomas, editor
Morgan Condict Pat Hayes Jon Bartel Dan Wityak Leah St. James Reid Cain Greg Cherry Ben Simon Brandon Tokunaga Send writing, art & ads to SWAPZINESLO@GMAIL.COM
Do you want to swap too? E-mail SwapZineSlo@gmail.com!
Where’s your show? Before you get pissy, send us an e-mail. We’ll get you in. Fri, Feb 3 The Z: Deathtower and Naked Walrus 8pm/ Camozzi’s Saloon: Idiosyncratic Rabbit $5 / Boar’s Hole: Son’s of KD Elder, Hayburner
Thurs, Feb 9: Pour House: Ashes to Light - 8pm
Magazine Dirty $3/ Linnaea’s: Owen Plant 8pm
Fri, Feb 10 Bee Goat House: The Diatoms, Soy MLK, Quick Attack, $5 donation to Justice to Bryan Brady fund
Fri, Feb. 24 The Z: Graham Lindsey, James Hunnicutt & The Luck, $6
Sat, Feb 4 Camozzi’s Saloon: Warner Drive, American Dirt, Acidic
Sat, Feb 11 Camozzi’s Saloon: Facinorous, Depths of Kaos
Mon, Feb. 6 The Spot (AG): Water Tower Bucket Boys, Old Time Fiddle & Banjo Show, Amber Cross, Kenny Blackwell, Stuart Mason
Fri, Feb 17 Pour House: The Mother Corn Shuckers 8 p.m. Sat, Feb 18 Camozzi’s Saloon: Antique Scream,
Ongoing Mondays: Frog and Peach: Toan’s Open Jam, 9 p.m/ Tuesdays: Creekside: Open Mic 9pm Slo Down Pub: Blues Jam 7pm/Wednesdays (1st and 3rd) Sanitarium: Local Variety 7pm $5 */Thursdays: Creekside: Gypsy Jazz 10pm* Wednesdays (every third of the month), Oldtime musicjam at Linnaeas.
with Greg Cherry
B
ack in the day...before cell phones, pocket video cameras, and YouTube viral videos, a lot of cool shit happened in SLO county. I’m trying my best to resurrect some brain cells and tell ya a few of the good stories I remember. Disclaimer: The dates, times and general flow of events could be entirely inaccurate, but this how I remember it. It was 1985 and punk rock was in its heyday. We had a few good local punks bands: No Remorse, Critic Eyes, Social Dead, Wimpy Dicks, Cold Thoughts (my band at the time), and we were all playing when we could. Community centers, Grange Greg “Cherry Bomb” Cherry circa 1980s. halls, and some brave souls’ houses were the only venues. But He owns 3Ink Silk Screening in Morro SLO Vets Hall was where the big shows were happening. Bands Bay and plays bass for punk rejects like Black Flag, 7 Seconds, Social D, Stalag 13 and D.I. (just to Magazine Dirty. His dog, Jack, is the name a few) all came through there. Finally, Dead Kennedys were ‘saddest’ dog in the world. booked to play with Special Forces. I can’t even remember who else was on the bill, but honestly, who cares? It was DK we wanted! I had just turned 16, just got my drivers license, finagled an extension on my curfew and broke out my finest punk rock attire (consisting of a TSOL T-shirt, flannel, some bleached-stained jeans and half a can of Aqua Net). I was ready to get in the pit with all my friends singing “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” at the top my lungs. So we loaded up our leather jackets with grenades - you know, the old little green Mickey big mouths - they fit perfect in leather jacket pockets, opened up a fresh pack of Djarum cloves and headed out to the show we’d been waiting for. It was packed. Punks all the way from Santa Barbara showed up. We pounded our Mickeys in the parking lot and got in line. Special Forces was playing when we came in and I noticed a disturbance in the bathroom. There was a guy who had hit his head on the floor from a botched stage dive and blood was everywhere. ‘Cool! This is punk rock!’ I thought. I hadn’t been there 15 minutes when I heard someone saying that the “promoter” didn’t know about “slam dancing.” He saw all the blood in the bathroom and wanted to shut the show down. They proceeded to shut the power to the stage off and this didn’t make the crowd happy. The drummer said ‘Fuck it,’ and just kept playing. All we needed was a fast steady beat to keep the pit going. That lasted another 15 minutes or so. Then came the riot cops. I had only seen this shit on punk flyers or in movies: Helmets, shields and billy clubs. Some of the cops didn’t look much older than us. They lined the staged and someone got on a microphone saying that the show was over and we were all to leave. Yeah right! I had just paid 10 bucks of my hard earned lawn mowing money and we weren’t going anywhere till Dead Kennedys played. Of course, people started spitting and throwing things at the cops for awhile then finally they were over it and jumped off swinging. I saw lots of people, most of ‘em kids, getting whacked and thrown to the ground. My uncle grabbed me by the scruff and dragged me out the front door along with about 350 other angry punks and the doors slammed shut. See CHERRY, page 11
The DEATHTOWER to rock They’re not metal, but they do know how
Facebook friends - Do you “like” The Death Tower? Please check one: __ Maybe. __ YES! __ Heck, No! Pictured, drummer Evan Fox (left) and singer/guitarist Jesse Peay. Their selfrecorded E.P., “The Legend of Jaron” is out now. A full-length album is in the works. Hayley T. If you were flipping through a record bin, The Deathtower would logically be a metal band, but their sound has more to do with The Beatles than Berzum. In a weird twist of fate, the name was borne from guitar/front man Jesse Peay’s Joahovas Witness upbringing. You know those creepy Watch Tower leaflets? Young Jesse used to deface them as a kid, much to his church’s
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chagrin. One look at their logo – a tower emblazoned with devil horns – makes sense. They’re masters of fusing dark, catchy lyrics with driving alt. rock rhythms. It’s a sound that’s deceivingly dark, but infectiously rock ‘n’ roll. Just listen (I mean really listen) to their tune Georgia Peach. Jesse, songwriter and guitarist for the band, grew up on a steady dose of Nirvana and Beatles. They describe their
sound is “alternative rock” with a solid core of song writing. “It’s not jammy,” said drummer Evan Fox. “There’s some jam-out parts and there’s moments where it’s a little off or weird and spacey, but for the most part, it’s very direct song writing.” For Jesse, songs tend to explode in his head. “It’s all at once, words and melody and music. I press record and just go, then refine later,” he said.
Evan is the other half of the band, proudly manning the electric drums. “Some people get self conscious about [playing electric drums] but I really don’t give a fuck. It takes five seconds to load and unload and we plug it straight into the PA. We don’t have to mic a bunch of drums. Also, another added bonus is that it has a million settings,” he said. One of those setting is an electric rain stick, and whenever you hear it playing at Death Tower Show, you’re expected to take a drink. “You may get drunk. That’s the warning at all our shows,” said Evan. The Tower started laying bricks last June, when Jesse met Evan, his downThe Death Tower’s five-song E.P. is available onstairs neighbor. line. Find out more about the band on facebook. “It’s been a short, fruitful relationship,” said Evan. “Jesse saw me carrying willing to lose a little sleep and sanity). in all the gear, and one of the first days They’ve played about 20 shows and he was like, ‘Let’s jam.’’ I bought some counting. Chances are, if you haven’t seen electronic drums, and while they were the band play Frog or The Z yet, you’ll shipping, I was like, ‘How ‘bout when the notice them on the bill soon enough. drums get here we do an album and make The boys are shameless when it comes a band?’” to self-promotion. No one is too hip to It was an instant friendship and the “like” their band on facebook. The guys pair did exactly what they set out to do, themselves are big fans of Oh My Land recording their 5 song E.P. soon after. and Fresno outfit Fierce Creatures. Bassist Oren Ben-Josphef played spo“’Like’ us and you’ll get all the radically with the group, and later, Scott updates and free music” said Evan. “It’s Conroy (a crazed fan who started fiddling the best medium right now for reaching with the guys’ sound at shows ) filled in. people.” And when it comes to getting Currently, the band is back to its original people into the band, it doesn’t hurt that two-piece line up. their moniker’s tougher than nails, al“We’ve played shows as long as we’ve though Glen Starkey has said “they’re not been a band,” said Evan. “We busted out as scary as their name.” an album quick, invested in it, recorded “People are like ‘Oh, it’s another at the apartment. We plugged in the thrash metal band, but we still want to get drums with Jesse doing scratch guitars, hammered,’” said Evan. “So they all show then plugged right into ProTools with the up and we start playing and take our first electronic kit and mixed it that way. Then break and they’re like ‘hey, thanks for not Jesse went upstairs and did all the rest.” being another metal band.’” They shelled out some cash to print a The boys have about 20 more un-metpretty legit CD with a cool, eerie photo of al, totally rocking, melodic, weird tracks the guys looking in dire need of a haircut ready to unleash upon SLO. A full-length and a nap. It’s a testament to what you can album is slated for this fall. do when you go your own route (if you’re
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Multiple Meats
fornia ow Outside Lompoc, Cali View from a Train Wind
By Ben Simon
I remember those crisp college days when Jennifer and I would tour Thursday’s Farmers Market for all the latest steaks
By John Bartel Little valley of death,
But she’d always find herself slave to the sausages, sifting through Polish dogs for something elusive
I’ve seen wildflowers peeking out from under your jowls, blooming lupine-fields of ligature, purple along the collaring bones of the railroad tracks. Old men with cigarettes rot like shreds of meat in trailer teeth bared wide for picking by rust-gutted Volkswagens— squat scarabs creeping across yards stubbled
Ben Simon is a poet, writer, musician, cartoonist and comedian from San Luis Obispo. His poems have previously appeared in Beatdom Magazine, Another Type of Groove, and SLOHS Expressions. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his first novel, All the Wrong Dudes.
And one night, the entire high school tennis team, who all knew her, dropped by on some haphazard reunion The former champion, an enterer of Brown, introduced her to a zestier hunk of beef So I once again became acquainted with Miles, reluctantly striking up a conversation with the vendor while nibbling a
small slice of pepperoni He informed me of a life I didn’t care about behind the best of “Flamenco Sketches” And right about then, Jennifer finally finished her meat & greet, and I left downtown for her car And long after she lost my love to her appetite, I walked past her on yet another Thursday night on a dissimilar Central Coast Finding her in the arms of a petite, ambiguously brown friend she used to play poker with And taking pleasure in a vegetarian shepherd’s pie.
red with rebar and mattress coils. One lone heifer
i can be a poet too
mourns your passing, pissing a long, hard stream
Dan Wityak
into an arroyo dammed up with bones.
Jon Bartel is a sometime poet who lives in Atascadero, mostly because it’s more or less legal to drink in the street there. He also teaches Composition and Rhetoric at Cal Poly. His writing focuses on the darker, less palatable aspects of everyday existence, a tendency that didn’t really earn him good grades in school but he couldn’t really care less. Besides the written word, he enjoys woodworking, playing music, being a fair to middlin’ family man and whiskey. Pen and ink drawing by Morgan Condict.
Dan Wityak is a local musician, KCPR DJ, and a fourth year Political Science student at Cal Poly. Turn ons include vinyl records, beat-up guitars, and disposable cameras. Turn offs include computers, reggae, and not getting hit on constantly. Dan also likes wearing corduroy pants and going on long drives in his ‘78 Mercedes 300d.
i want nothing to do with you. you make me sick. you make me want to throw up. i had a dream a few nights ago. we were in sf. we were walking on the same sidewalk but going in different directions. we made brief eye contact as we continued to walk towards each other. right as you were about to turn to me and say something i spit at your feet. i’m a raccoon and you’re a cow. true story. the end.
He can ‘Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House’ Proof? Catch Mike D. next month at Boo Boos and the Z (with his big ass band in tow)
I
Pat Hayes
wouldn’t say the bartender, Ruckus, was rude just a bit distant. Nice enough guy for the most part, but we just weren’t bonding. We were at the Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas on a Sunday night. Just one of the 20 or 30 bands that play there on any given week. Why should this guy pay any extra attention to me? Whiskey and time have clouded the exact reason why, but eventually the name “Mike D.” came up. After that, Ruckus and I were as thick as thieves. This has happened to me in other cities and other bars. Mike D. is a legend in my corner of the music world. Once his name is brought Pictured, Mike D. According to Haye up, everyone seems to have a story. s, (who plays in local band The Dead Michael Dean Damron is a hell of a performer and a hell of a guy. He Volts), Mike D is the kin d of frontman holds a room like very few other people I’ve seen. In the same set he will he’s trying to be: “B ig and sweaty, spit out the angry chorus of his song “West Boro Baptist Church”, “Fuck but still badass.” Fred Phelps and the West Boro Baptist Church”, and tenderly deliver a nakedly earnest cover of Guy Clark’s “Always Trust Your Cape”. Both manage to come across as honest. Just like the man himself. Mike is doing a solo set at Boo Boo Records on Tuesday March 6 at 5:30 p.m. and then burning down the Z –Club with his big badass band I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House later that evening. Mike submitted to some of my questions for Swap! Here’s what transpired:
Swap: When Sub Home released “The Sounds of Dying” from SOB it was a record you guys had in the can for awhile. So should we expect another SOB record at some point? Mike D: We are starting to write a new album as we speak. I have a batch of songs ready to go now but I opt’d to make another solo album to tour behind. It will be out in April it’s titled, “Nah Mr Death...Ima coming for you!!!”, Suburban Homes will be putting it out. The new SOB record will be out in the Fall, I’m hoping by Oct.
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SWAP: What dictates if you focus on a solo or band record? M: Well solo stuff always comes first because that’s how I make my living since SOB came off our 4 year break we play sparingly. Only a handful of shows a year. So we are stoked on this tour. We will probably hit ID,UT and CO sometime in the Fall. S: Which is harder to tour behind? M: It was and is easier to tour with a band. The overhead is way more but you get the
people you love watching your back. It makes the hardships of the life on this level so much more bearable. We care about each other a lot. S: On the subject of all the places you’ve played which ones are the best? M: The best? They are all the best,there are no bad gigs . I always have a great time in SLC and San Francisco , Little Rock is killer . Buffalo,fuck yeah!! Denver/ Ft Collins and Colorado Springs are all like a second home to me.
traditionaltat2.com DON’T MISS MARCH 6! Mike D. performs a solo set at Boo Boo’S at 5:30 p.m. – followed by a show at the Z with I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House later that night. S: Any idea why some areas dig you more than others might?
disagreeing with your political songs? Do you engage them?
M: If there is any area I’m not hitting good draw with , it’s my fault. I haven’t been working hard enough and getting back enough...., the formula for success is simple...first, be good at what your are doing. Keep banging away...and be willing to sacrifice everything you have and love to do this life in music . It is not a easy ride. I’m still trying to figure shit out
M: As far as folks not digging my politics, I am all good with that. I’m over all the shouting matches and trying to get people on board with my bullshit. I’m all about human beings... ism’s are killing us as a country and a species...I’m working on being less divisive. My world is simple . I don’t care for bullies/war or greed . All the evil going on in this world revolves around bullies and greed.
S: Do you run into people
S: For the folks that haven’t heard you and SOB yet what would suggest they check out first? M: Our best album is the Suburban Home release , “Sounds of Dying”. It pretty much sums us up in a nutshell S: Lastly and perhaps most importantly, what are you guys drinking from the stage? M: We drink cheap beer. At our advanced ages, we go a bit slower.
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Break out the boom box!
KCPR wants to make you a mix tape of local beats
Since I’ve moved into “The Crossroads” house about a month ago, KCPR has become the unofficial soundtrack to my commute over the grade each morning as well as a late-night guilty pleasure (DJ Pickles is the queen of deadpan humor and if you’re awake from 4 to 7 a.m. Fridays, let Dan Wityak keep you company). My roommates (mostly DJs) live, breathe and poop out KCPR with gusto. The guys and gals at the station are currently working on getting their own record label off the ground dubbed Constellation Tatsu. I recently interviewed DJ Belloqsh on all the sparkly, synthy details. Swap: How long have you been a DJ and what shows do you do? KCPR: I’ve been doing it for about four years. I do Voltage Control Generations, a synthesizer show, and we feature a sythnasizer of the week and we talk about the synths we play. Swap:Do you have a synth fetish?
KCPR: Yeah, I guess! They’re synthesizers you can’t buy anymore. I also do a show with the general manager, Ross, called Disco? No. Disco. It’s very dancey. Swap: Where did the idea for the label come from? What’s your goal? KCPR: We have a radio station, we have shows where artists come in and we host shows. With those three resources, it puts us in a good position to start a record label. The main idea is to support local musicians and the DIY scene. We have music submitted to us and our music directors listen to more than 300 albums a week. Not all of it’s on a label, and a lot of it is selfpromoted. With those resources, we think we could help musicians release physical copies.
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Swap: How and what would you distribute? KCPR: We would distribute the music online probably for free and then we’d try to sell physical copies of cassettes or LPs. We wouldn’t make CDS. The bands don’t need help producing those – they’re already doing it. Producing cassettes requires a certain amount of finesse. We’d get someone to dub them for now, but we have the [college resources] to help with artwork and inserts. Swap: Where is the funding coming from? KCPR: Right now, we’re looking at getting grants and we do various fundraisers for the radio station. Some of our auction money and some funds we have left over at the end of the year - we hope to use that to kickstart the label. Our main goal is to be completely self-sustaining. For example, you can sell cassettes for $5, but you buy them for like a dollar. You get 300 cassettes, then we’d try to give 50 percent or more of the tapes to the artists for free, then with the other amount, we’d use them for promotional purposes, giving them to friends, Boo Boo’s and Cheap Thrills. The rest we’ll try to sell on the web site, which would become almost like a tape distro. Swap: Do you think you’re taking a
risk with the cassettes? Do you think everyone ‘gets’ that? KCPR: Are cassettes taking a risk? I don’t particularly think so, especially if you use the online web site and blogs that promote that sort of music. It’s sort of like a limited release of a band’s material. In the future, it would be really cool to do LPs and 7-inch records. That’s our future goal, doing very wellproduced albums and being able to release advanced material, but with cas-
KCPR
DIY LABEL - KCPR is working toward gaining funding for their label, Constellation Tatsu, which will feature local bands. Cheap, fast and arguably more antiquated than records but less than 8-tracks, the goal is to start with cassettes. That’s right! Your 1981 Ford Fiesta’s is rockin’ once again.
settes you can throw it together a little bit faster. There’s also a niche for it right now. All those resources and produce our own material would be really fun and it would also give DJ’s opportunities to get involved with something other than just being a DJ. They can get involved in an industry that’s independent and self-made.
LOCAL TATSU PICKS: Reuben Sawyer -
Rainbathv.tumblr.com www.Hollowsunshine. bandcamp.com
Guisher/Scantily Clad
www.Hungrier.blogspot.com
Check out www.ctatsu.com Hear Disco?No.Disco on Mondays from 9 to 10 p.m. & Voltage Control Generations on Tuesdays from 11 p.m. to midnight. For a full schedule, visit www.kcpr.org.
contact us about rates and specials
swapzineslo@gmail.com
we’re downtown and local like you. From pg 3 - CHERRY
Ok, so hundreds of angry punks thrown out by the cops were left to their own devices. People started lifting up the fake cannon and throwing it about, kicking in windows and causing general mayhem. Police were gathering quickly in lines to start to clear the streets. They marched through, swinging at anyone in their path while telling us to go home over a loud speaker. No one left. I saw kids being chased by 3 or 4 cops down the street, just like the now-famous “don’t taze me bro” viral video. Kids gave themselves up only to be beaten by billy clubs until they couldn’t run anymore. After watching that, it was time to retaliate. We took our empty Mickeys bottles and filled them
with dirt for a better throwing weight and started fighting back. It was at that moment that I realized this had become a full-blown riot. After a good hour of this, the cops brought in the big guns – a fire truck with a guy mounted on the top wielding a water cannon. Blasting away, I saw car doors dented and shingles flying off the roofs of nearby apartments as they tried to take out young punks. One guy was laying down in the fetal position being pushed across the street like the concrete was an ice skating rink. We had heard that Jello Biafra was somewhere preaching about police brutality and how we need to stand up against it. I mean seriously, all we wanted was to do a little dancing to one of our favorite bands, not fight or destroy property. We
searched for Jello, but he was nowhere to be found. Looking back on it all as an adult, am I proud of throwing stuff at cops? Not really. They were just doing what they were told, like sheep. However, to quote Jello himself, “Throwing a brick never felt so damn good, Smash more glass, scream with a laugh and wallow with the crowds, watch them kicking peoples’ ass.” It was fun to be part of the only Dead Kennedys riot to break out in the US. On a sad and funny note, the Adam Ant show scheduled for the following week at the Fremont Theatre was canceled beacuse he was “punk rock.” Ha! * NOTE: Are you old, cool and cranky? Swap! wants you to write the next “Back in the Day” intsallment. You know your nephew is tired of hearing about your past.
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Grinners, pickers and ‘critter crackers’ at the 48-hour Bakersfield
K
Hayley Thomas
bluegrass jam
atelen and I arrive in Bakersfield and check into our room, provided by the Bluegrass Music Society of the Central Coast. We’re greeted by past festival organizer Joe Quealy, who actually shakes his cane at us and tells us to “get drunk and be somebody.” Walking through the hotel we hear snippits of well-worn folk songs and the sweet, unsteady sound of first-time harmonies. Passing open doorways, whole groups are gathered in circles laughing and asking, “Do you know this one?” The entire wing of the hotel is alive with the sounds of a long-dead era. We head down to the ballroom for the only “scheduled concert” of the event. There’s four bands on the lineup and we get there for the second band. It’s good, straightforward bluegrass, but kind of musty. Katelen and I giggle at the fact that the median age in the room is about 60. We sip from her flask. Everyone is seated in chairs, but we sit on the floor. We are like giddy school children. L.A. band The Get Down Boys end the show with a fiery performance. They’re the only other young people there, with their members ranging from late teens to about 30. Dressed in their impecible old time garb, the boys kill it with a youthful, energetic performance. Their fiddle player, who looks a bit like the chubby character from Super Bad, wails and shows all the old folks a thing or two. The guys have a room near us and they’re polite, but standoffish. I tell the bassist he has a Hitler youth mustache, but he just tells me “his girlfriend likes it.” We discover the hospitality suite, miraculously located right next to our room. We’re showered with free beer, food and bluegrass society board member Ed Alston even offers to make Katelen a quesadilla. She blushes and says she can make it herself, but the jesture successfully encompasses the entire feel of the event. As Ed told me last year at the Parkfield festival, there’s two kinds of people you find at such events: Grinners and pickers. Both camps are always incredibly welcoming and at least a little buzzed. Little Jocko’s chili is cooking in a crock pot and Joe offers us some “critter crackers.” I eat five. When we ask what’s in them, we instantly regret it. It’s the contents of his freezer, all ground up: Bologna, salami, pastrami, olive loaf etc. He’s got a meat grinder and he likes to go to town “before the freezer burn sinks in.” It’s actually quite tasty. I ask his darling wife if there’s tuna in it, but she waves me away, saying he never tells her anything. I still think there was tuna in it. She opens up his old flute case and it’s brimming with tiny booze bottles Joe’s collected over the years. He’s also got a pre WW II bass that is a true piec eof American history. Katelen brings out her own standup bass and I frail my open backed banjo. A host of jammers - mostly old guys in overalls or Hawaiian shirts and ladies with big, friendly smiles - come by and we play till our fingers are raw. We finish an entire bottle of Jim Beam. A grinner named Slim offers us some corn moonshine out of a mason jar. He’s wearing a suede and leather shirt, bolo tie, boots and cowboy hat. He’s impressive. I make the mistake of saying that his hooch smells funny, but it doesn’t taste horrible. One swill will get the job done. Joe explains to me that moonshiners invented Nascar - the bootleggers had to think up creative ways to outrun the law. We crash at 4 a.m. with throbbing fingers. It’s a rough morning, but we somehow make it out the door by noon. My friend (and Swap #1 contributor) Ashley Raenbow picks us up for some chow. We go to Moo Creamery, a magical place where you can order bacon ice cream with a straight face. It’s in a strip mall – no surprise there. I order a pulled pork sandwich laden with ham and bacon. It’s downright delicious. Ashley writes down all of the best bars and thrift stores on a napkin and kisses it with her red lipstick. The sun is going down and it’s reassuring to know that the constant jamming won’t even peak till the wee hours. We venture out to different rooms and people stop by ours. Everyone’s an old friend with a yarn to spin and a tune to try. Bluegrass master Jared Levinway arrives with mandolin, guitar and banjo in tow. We rejoice, starting our own boisterous jam out by the soda machine in the hall. While playing Angeline the Baker at about 3 a.m., I look down and see a big red splotch on the drum head of the banjo Jared’s super fancy golden-gilded resonator. He just laughs and approves my battle wound. Thanks to the Bluegrass Music Society of the Central Coast for their support. *Looking for SLOgrass? Grinners and pickers are welcomed to check out local bluegrass at The Kilt, 1865 Monterey St. every Wednesday 6-9pm. The The Fiddle and Banjo Show ranges from old-time fiddle tunes to country blues and Irish jigs , no cover. Call 543-5458 for more information. For more local bluegrass jams, check out www.bmcc.org. tesy of Mr. Brandon Tokunaga –> A Swap! first: Enjoy the free “poster,” cour
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“Godfathers of Hardcore,” by Brandon Tokunaga
Blood on the banjo