Happy Birthday to Agent HH, 12/26/2006

This has been a test of our emergency Snoose Junction Hotline...

Wherein, with little advance warning and only 15 minutes notice to convene, we were able to raise a quorum and then some, with which to converge upon the Center Of The Known Universe, aka Mr Spot's Chai House, at or around 8:15 pm local time and commence to BRING THE HOLY NOISE

In the service, as it were, of commemoration of an adjunct unit, the organism known as Agent HH. Let it never be said that Snoose Junction does not take care of its own!

Time restrictions, though established with firm clarity early in the proceedings, proceeded to warp and bend ala tube-driven Dali. Snoose Cadet Evan Strauss provided the low end with able assistance from Donovan. John Beezer and myself brought in the guitar amplification and accompanying axes (bold as rain) with assistance from Chris Hogan in the P.A. and guitaristics department. Big Stephen sang the boogie and in deference to the Agent no one called a foul on the non-improv state of his boogie - especially since half the room was dancing!

And the benevolent deity Reverend Betty, she who walks between the Chai jugs, she who presides over the evening's wave/fractal incursion, not only allowed this all to continue well past the prophesized Time Of The Closing (and on a Tuesday no less - ain't that supposed to be Chess Night?) but instigated in full complicity the conncluding James Brown Memorial Funk Jam, for our fallen Soul Brother #1... I'm not saying it was great, but we tried, and the whole room boogied down this time at the command of latecomer John Freakin' Foss: "This is a dance party, everyone!"

Props from the 5 to everyone who made it out to play, sing, dance, or otherwise pay tribute to the birthday girl. Had this been a genuine emergency, casualties would likely have been nil. A night that requires Snoose Action will not catch us napping

Snoose Junction & Musical Channelling, 12/22/06

So far in Snoose Junction, nearly all the music has been of an intentional but entirely freeform character. The only exceptions I can think of (in 6 months of weekly performance) are a) John Foss’ “Superbarristas” closing theme, which itself most likely originated as an improvisation, and b) an instance of Guitoracle which took place in December 2006, although the purely improvisational nature of El Grande Conquistadore (November 2006: Beezer, Iverson, Tennis, Van Yserloo) has been debated, mainly the contribution of singer / guitarist / visual artist Whiting Tennis.

The set by El Grande Conquistadore was nonetheless one of my favorite sets to date, and if Tennis is in fact bringing preconceived material to the stage, the results are still largely intentional freeform channelling with Whiting's contribution serving as a catalyst, since I know John Beezer won't play in bands that rehearse or play songs...

Snoose Junction improvisations are characterized less by form or preconception - most consisting of stream-of-consciousness themes and variations which arise from musical dialogue between the players - than by juxtaposition of different energies in the form of different combinations of musicians. In this sense we are all the composer, and an absence from the stage is as much a part of the picture as a presence.

-5-

SNOOSE LOG re: 12/18/06

Separate reports label this the Best Snoose Ever!

We had Andrew Woods from Neon Brown playing the oddly-tuned and often-tapped 6-string guitar with a hidden microphone in the volume pot, all night...

And we had Michael Faulhaber on the drums, followed perhaps too quickly by Dave Foley (he was walking by and we flagged him down) who played GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT, followed I think by N8, followed by Paul T (and that's just the first 4 drummers!) by which time I had switched from guitar to bass. Evan had started off on the bass but took a breather and graciously allowed me to play his fretless 4-string bundle of joy while... Thomas "The Cat" Nelson I think picked up the guitar at this point, and Chavon came up to help John Foss out with the singing, then Amy came up to help out Chavon, and left-handed Woody turned Evan's bass upside-down and played a great coupla jams with Evan on the Kaoss Pad and John Beezer on the 2nd guitar and Chris Hogan on the 3rd guitar, and then Woody and Evan swapped places, and then... I'm not sure what exactly happened but then this girl I've never seen before played some terrific guitar and Michael was back on the drums and it all wrapped up around 11:30 with a big fat heavy groove that went on for DAYS! And I think it ended with a trio of myself and Chris Hogan on guitars, no bass, Michael on the drums, and Foss singing "SuperBarrista" to the chords from "Stand By Me" ... Some monday night!

see yas
-5-

Snoose Log re:11/27/06

'scuse the same post as m-sp-c- page, still ironing out the details of the overarching concept...
-5-

Last night:

Jason Dennie came out to play keys and sing in a band with John Leighton Beezer, Soctt Boggan and Michael Faulhaber... Very excellent, pswampy psoul psych... The rest of the night involved 5-Track on guitar, Spencer on the drums, Nate on the drums, Evan on the bass, 5-Track on the bass (for a minute, and the drums for even less), and Paul Turner on the drums. Have I forgotten anyone? Oh yeah: Chris Hogan on the guitar!

np: Thunder Before Dawn (south african compilation on vinyl)

Let It Snow... Chai House Monday Night

re: 11/27/06
Beezer Sez:

"Hi,

I’m pretty psyched about the line-up for the Chai House tonight ... and even though the weather may make it tough to get around, I can’t think of a better place for a warm drink (cider, tea, hot chocolate, chai ...). Or a cold beer, for that matter.

Come by if you can make it ... here’s the starting line-up:

Drums, Mike Faulhaber. The original guitar player in the Thrown Ups, who has somehow morphed into a subtle and totally tasteful jazz drummer (?!).

Bass, Scott Boggan. A musician who earned my undying respect freakin’ 20 years ago in Room 9 ... still astonishing and a natural at improv. Scott’s latest ensemble is Down With People. Here’s their MySpace page:

Down With People!

Guitar. Yours truly ... and as an added bonus, we’ll rotate 5-Track in as early as I can stand to let go of the axe, Eugene.

Vocals & Keyboards, Jason Dennie. The man behind the Columbia City jams makes the trek out to Ballard. Jason will be playing his new Nord keyboard which is said to be capable of emulating the classic Hammond B3 sound, which I kind of have a thing for. To hear what Jason has been doing lately, here’s a link to the MySpace page for The Western Shore, where he’s on keys and vocals ...

The Western Shore!

We have also invited Michael Uxa to rotate in on saxophone. I’ve never heard him play sax, but he’s an incredible drummer, so we’ll see what happens. If you’re jonesing to play tonight, send me an e-mail and I’ll try to rotate you in, too.

As usual, the music starts at 8:00 and goes to 10:00. Feel free to forward ...

JLB"