An online review of our LAST DAYS OF BALLARD SAGA CYCLE (otherwise Live On KEXP), from ExMogul Music

ExMogul Music, run by Susan White, has given our live-on-KEXP downloadable album ("The Last Days Of Ballard Saga Cycle") a short and glowing notice:

http://exmogulmusic.blogspot.com/2008/12/snoose-junction.html

Somebody likes us! Thanks, Susan.


np: Zinnia is singing to the cat

FREEEEELLLAAAAAAABBBBBB!!!!!

Neon Brown Presents has moved, and may now be found and listened to at:

http://ffrreeeellaabb.blogspot.com


The current entry includes contributions by Snoose Commander John Leighton Beezer:
http://ffrreeeellaabb.blogspot.com/2008/12/neon-brown-presents-full-of-life-and.html


Check back there for a constant stream of semi-biweekly improvised goodies from Andrew Woods and company...

Snoose-related video treat

a short video introduction to: "The Naturalization Of The Cetacean Nation" by 5-Track & Abalone Sandwich

directed by Christian Peet

musicians you can hear on this video include Andrew Woods (electric guitar), Donovan Raymond (electric bass guitar), 5-Track (electric guitar)

cd available here: www.5-Track.com

Resolution

Alright, the sounds and the images are back, y'all can crawl back out from wherever you were hiding in a panic of tremors and bask once again in the soothing balm of SNOOSE JUNCTION

Minor Technical Issues

Yeah, so maybe or maybe not you noticed, none of the mp3s or pictures are working right? Hmm? No? Well, don't be alarmed whatever. They'll be back in the near now. The site on which most of the media files are stored has just moved full-time to www.5-Track.com, and I gots to update a MESS of links!

FREE Album Download - Sonarchy Radio (5's mix)

www.5-Track.com/CDSonarchy.html

Personnel = John Leighton Beezer, Evan Strauss, Wesley Amundsen, Vince Amandes, 5-Track, John Foss

Not to take away from Doug Haire's broadcast mix of this same material, but I wanted to hear it the way I wanted to hear it. So click up above or on the image and you can check it out.

dig it

5

(we had a) Big Skunk Ape Party @ Chromasound, featuring Snoose Junction & Consider The Source

Wow, that was just exactly what I needed in my life!

At 8pm on Wednesday August 27 2008 I arrived with Gerry Amandes (Greenwood Posse) and John Foss (Greenwood Posse, Cantenna, Snoose Ringleader: The Iron Stomach) at ChromaSound Studios in Seattle, WA, Earth. John Leighton Beezer (The Thrown-Ups, Stomach Pump, Cantenna, El Grande Conquistadore, Snoose Commander) was already there, and so were the guys from Consider The Source, an instrumental trio from New York whose genre might be best-described as belly-dance-funk-fusion (or something). Usually they play songs, but we told them they weren't allowed.

Michael Faulhaber (Thrown-Ups, Snoose Admiral, Cantenna) was there, and Steve Turnidge. So were a few other folks including the studio techs and some short-term visitors, and in short order the jamming began with me on bass, JohnLeightonBeezer on guitar, Mr Faulhaber on drums, Mr Turnidge on the Hammond B-3, and lo - we brought forth a mellifluous shag-carpet of luminous groove.

Not sure if that one made it to tape, but most of the rest of the night did. Next set was me on bass again with Michael F still on the drums but with the addition of Gerry Amandes on the nightmare/wet-dream feedback guitar. Sounded like Les Rallizes Denudes without the songs or the bile. Possibly my favorite part of the night, certainly the bit I most look forward to hearing back!

It may have been around this time that Whiting Tennis (El Grande Conquistadore) played some drums, also. And Chavon sang at some point, as did John Foss.

Then came a MAD PHAT UNACCOUNTABLY AMAZING set by Consider The Source, during the course of which we received attendees straight from Neon Brown Presents @ Mr Spot's Chai House: Andrew Woods (Neon Brown), Evan Strauss, Woody Frank, Patrick Lenon, Zack The Orginal Guitar Player For Variety Pack Who Now Plays Saxophone (all 4 from Variety Pack), and several beautiful friends. Damn, they got there at a good time. We all boogied like mad with our jaws hanging down to our navels while Consider The Source altered the consistency of the walls of our mutual universe!

I believe the surprisingly funky round after that one belonged to JohnLeightonBeezer (bass), Davey B (drums), and Andrew Woods (guitar and sing). They were gradually augmented / replaced with myself (guitar), Woody (guitar), Evan (bass), Zack (horn) and Patrick (drums). Fun fun fun fun fun. Again, I can't wait to hear it back, though I suspect it was more fun to play that particular set than it will be to listen to it.

More from Consider The Source with JohnLeighton Beezer on 2nd guitar, then more from Evan, Woody, etc and me. Think that was it. Six hours worth, and most of it got recorded, live to 2-track digital.

Tracks should be forthcoming, um, a good healthy while from now when you've just about forgotten it ever happened - look forward to it!

Thanks to everyone involved - that was possibly the most fun I've had all year!

love
5

Late date: Snoose On Sonarchy KEXP

I just discovered, quite some time after the fact, that our performance on KEXP Sonarchy Radio can be listened to on Archive.org:

http://www.archive.org/details/KEXPSonarchyRadio_SnooseJunction

check it out - it's a good one, and the sound quality is GREAT.

I put together my own mix of this, by the way, and will probably post it somewhere eventually... If that interests anyone!

rite on
5 out

brand new Snoose-related CDs and thangs

5 sez:

There are 3 new CDs with which you may desire to occupy your attention.

None of them are officially "Snoose Junction" titles,
but every one includes musicians who you may know and dig
from our live shows or from existing Snoose Junction recordings.

Firstly, we have
Abalone Sandwich: The Naturalization Of The Cetacean Nation
This disc contains oceanic and largely drumless guitar drones,
plus a prose paean to interspecies comunication
and a genuinely global peace. I have never heard anything
quite like it. Dedicated to Dr John C Lilly.
Musicians =
Andrew Woods (Neon Brown) - guitar
Donovan Raymond (Midway Orchestra) - bass
5-Track - guitar
Andrew McInnis (Lemons & Stallions) - drums (track 3)

Secondly there is the mighty
Zoomsquad: Interstellar Mating Rituals
Zoomsquad opened up both of the Snoose Junction events
which took place at the excellent
Jewelbox Theater in the Rendezvous, downtown.
Parts of the first of those shows are on this disc,
along with many artifacts from the
Luxxe-house basement studio.
The music is improvised, ambient, heavy, groovy, tripped out
and genuinely democratic.
Musicians =
Zack, guitar
Danny, bass
N8, drums
5-Track, guitar

And thirdly, but by no means leastly,
Evan & The Modern Human Show: A Moose Supreme
Evan wrote all the tunes and lyrics,
played the bass and the kaoss pad
and he sang.
The results are notable.
Musicians =
Evan Strauss - bass, kaoss pad, sing
Pat Lenon - drums
5-Track - guitar
Charles Wicklander - intermittent keys



...and if that isn't enough for you,
go dig the Greenwood Posse:
www.myspace.com/greenwoodposse
Musicians =
John Foss - sing
Gerry Amandes - guitar
Vince Amandes - drums
Reyza - bass
...and cameos from the usual gang of idiots



more info on at least some of this stuff can be found at
http://www.5-Track.com


good luck
5T

LISTEN HERE: Clips from our CDs

I thought it might be for the common good to have all this stuff listenable to in one place...

So this is going to be that place!


Starting with two segments from our recent issue, VOLUME 3:
1 - Light (excerpt) - juicy groove with guitar and saxophone
2 - Dark and/or Heavy (excerpt) - clearly the devil has taken over


...moving on to the equally-creatively-named but somewhat more hypnotic VOLUME 2:
Part 1 (excerpt) - trance groove
Part 2 (excerpt) - total madness


...and lastly, as a special bonus, here is the elusive SNOOSE JUNCTION VOLUME ONE, in its entirety:
Part 1 - a long groovy jam with a preponderance of rhythmic ideas and not a whole lot of excessive ego-distortion
Part 2 - more of the same, but more people on the stage and somewhat less formal coherence. Not only is this Volume One, this is SHOW #1, and there is some debate as to exactly whose fault it was

All of these were recorded live to minidisc at Mr Spot's. Personnel tend to include John Beezer, John Foss, 5-Track, Evan Strauss, Donovan Raymond, Knute Jordan, Andrew McInnis, Sammy Lett, Gerry Amandes, Vince Amandes, Ian McKagan, Andrew Woods, Charles Wicklander etc etc.

Free Album Download from We're Late For Class

looks like this:


and sounds like this:
massmirror
or
divshare

and you can find out more about it
here.

Hint: think "spaced-out stoner improv"


5 sez:
I am not in this band, but I like them.
I also like free download albums in general.
here is another one by someone else

CD: SNOOSE JUNCTION volume 3

SNOOSE JUNCTION volume 3





This music was recorded on March 5 2007 at Mr Spot's Chai House, Ballard, Seattle, USA, Earth. Musicians featured include John Foss, Ian McKagan, 5-Track, Joe Reno, Michael Faulhaber, Gerry Amandes, Vince Amandes, John Leighton Beezer, Evan-S, Donovan, Knute Jordan, Sammy Lett, and maybe some other folks. The cover is from that month's original poster art by Sarah Francis Rosenfeld. I have cut the music down to about 79 and a half minutes.


1 - Light 40:56
2 - You Don't Have To Worry Anymore 8:29
3 - Dark &/or Heavy 30:25


post a comment, send an email, or click on the CD cover to obtain your very own copy...

Hmm...

Not a whole lot to add here, but it doesn't seem right that there's been no post since July, wouldn't want anyone thinking this was a DEFUNCT CONCERN, nonononono...

Speaking from the L.A. Office, I miss you guys a ton, was slicing-and-dicing the show from 3-5-07 yesterday (almost done, CD in the future) and it was SO NICE, music aside, to hear everybody's voices hovering around and swooping past the mic and trying to figure out just who the hell was playing what anyway

see yas in the future
5-Track

Ballard Seafood Festival

Foss sez:

Well,
I'm calling Snoose on ya all.

It's Seafood Fest in Ballard and I feel it is Snoose Junction's right to play on OUR stage.

No Badges needed.

Sat. Night we are going to snake a cord out of the Chai House or just plug in in the park that is Bergen.

We will try to go on as soon as we can after the o-fish-ul activities wind down, and the Glass shop closes and puts their displays inside.

So 7 p.m.? until we get shut down. Last year the cops let us go to 10.
My badge goes to 11.

Is Foss really going to Alaska?

Coastal Rovers Episode 1 says he is...

Check out the music at the beginning and end of the spot, BTW, that's Gerry Amandes and Snoose Junction: Greenwood Posse tearing up the Magna Freak (you can hear the whole track at our MurdochSpace Page!) I was in the room for the recording session, playing along even, but no mic on 5 so no hear me... But trust that I exerted an influence...? However slight or profound


np: Walter Wegmuller, "Tarot"

Summer Solstice 2007

Well, not the solstice proper, but the evening of the Fremont Solstice Parade to be sure.



Rain on and off... No word from MC Foss... People calling my phone asking what's going on, and me not answer... Closing on midnight...

Finally Foss checks in. Yes, on his walk from Ballard to Fremont he did encounter some drizzling rain, and no he has not yet been able to raise certain principle characters on the telephone, but we can play under this overhang provided we bring a million feet of extension cable and...

Alright, I'm there. Call Ian. Call Muscles. Call Danny (but she doesn't answer). Draft erstwhile Tom to help lug erstwhile bass rig to erstwhile pickup truck. Swing by frame store for PA head and a million feet of extension cable. Make Fremont.

The now-requisite Snoose Prelude of Cadet N8 playing as loud as possible on a drum kit somewhere, well, that's in full swing as I'm pulling up and the security people are looking nervous but Foss and Peter Beavis are talking them down and I can't tell if it helps or hurts to have another freak park and start hauling gear, especially since without electricity I can't join in. Chef Joe and some friends appear and one of them spells N8 - he sounds good and I want to play, but no outlet. Eventually Snoose Admiral Faulhaber makes the drum kit (which is his) ring not out for a time til I get plugged in and Snoose Commander John Leighton Beezer arrives with guitar and rig and Lo! There is music!

We are on the opposite side of the street from usual, in the past we have been tucked into a crevice between two awnings (subtle) and directed our amps more-or-less into the side of the building in front of which we are now playing - broadcasting the sounds rather up the hillside and into Fremont proper. Whee!

The jams are good, the sky is clear, I have a fish I like to hold... Wait... That's the library talking!

It's been slow on the Snoose scene since we quit the House of Chai, and although I've played with Evan a fair bit I hadn't seen JLB or Michael F in weeks. It sounded really good... And then Snoose Captain Gerry Amandes checked in with a guitar rig and something to put Foss through and we had vocals! Foss and Cadet Ian traded off, and then I took over drums until some random rude punk brit chased me off, but he sucked and left pretty quick (after all that) to be replaced eventually by a Columbia City veteran whose name I missed - he was terrific! I was on guitar by then, but I switched to bass when Beezer (showing more sense than anyone in sight) decided he didn't want to play an electric instrument in the rain.

N8 took the drums again, we lay down some slick and amorphous grooves and the cops came by (2 cars worth) to tell us to chill it out. Foss talked them down and they left, but they were back in fifteen minutes (3 cars this time, 4 by the time I left) around 3:30am. "It's our 31st noise complaint," Foss explained. "I told them to give us one more and they did and this is it. OK?"

And with a boom, N8 and I managed (miraculously) to stop at once on the beat.

That was Saturday/Sunday. Today is Monday. I slept 12 hours last night... Message from Foss this morning that came in while I was out: "Best... Snoose... EVER!"

CHAISTOCK in review

Technically it started on Wednesday night, the 25th of April, 2007, with a performance from Neon Brown Presents - The Woodsland Acoustic Orchestra, led and presented by Andrew Woods and featuring in this case Evan Strauss, 5 Philpin, David Smith and Bill Wolford on acoustic guitars, and Andrew Woods on a home-made but highly superior thing called a BassBox.

There was a touring folksinger-type-artist beforehand, but he wasn't technically a part of Chaistock. You could tell, if you hang around the Chai House a lot, in two different ways. 1) You hadn't seen this guy hanging around the Chai House a lot. 2) Foss wasn't working the door yet.

Part of the theme of Chaistock, to Foss' chagrin, involves him (in his capacity as M.C. Snoose Junction) standing at the front door all night trying to get a $5 donation out of everyone. This might be a Chai House first, to ask for even a donation at entry. Many musicians could talk their way past him, most regulars couldn't ("It's going toward a new P.A. This is for you, 'cos you're here every night!") and everyone else either coughed it up or ignored him completely.

The Woodsland Acoustic Orchestra is something that has been evolving slowly over the course of about 5 years of Neon Brown Presents. Andrew has wanted for some time to create something like it, and has gone so far as to assemble acoustic musicians for spontaneous improvised performances and module-based rehearsals, but only lately has he begun to organize it as an autonomous entity - with a name, even! The membership is loose but always of high quality, and the ideas being dealt with so far include an amorphous fractal improvised and "acoustic" response to electronic dance music, and a body of mutually understood spontaneous and unplanned verbal signals from various members of the group which lead us in an array of directions at the whim of the signaller.

In this specific case we threw down key-related changes, time-related changes, cohesiveness-related changes and we attempted to channel the energy of a guy in a baseball-type cap who was sitting at the big table with some friends. He had no idea, but he seemed to enjoy what we played.

Dancing to us on this particular night would have to have been for joy and not for much in the way of innate dancability to a lot of what we were playing. If you don't believe me or think that sounds like it might be amusing, check out www.neonbrown.com and visit the Jam Of The Week page.

Chaistock continued on Thursday night with the Scratching Post Open Mic All-Stars. I wasn't there, but I can attest that the amazing Operadisiac performed at some point.

Friday night began with Bob & Sheldon, followed by Local Comedy Night (it has a name, can't recall what it is) which had to contend with two Chai Protesters who arrived during their set. The protesters shouted things like: "T(ea) is for terrorists!" and waved signs and marched around.

After that was all over with, Glass Goblins played a set. Glass Goblins in this case was 5-Track (guitar and sing), Patrick Lenon (drums) and Evan Strauss (bass guitar). We played 3 long songs with few changes and lots of group-mind activity, plus a Guitoracle wherein we answered a psychic-type question for an audience member in the language of improvised earth music - can't remember the question or who asked it, does anyone else remember? Also we played "Season Of The Witch," and Foss sat in.

After Glass Goblins came JAPANDA consisting in this case of James (guitar), Donovan (bass guitar), Rob (bass guitar), N8 (drums) and Chris St Peters (sing). They blew everybody's mind, that's all. It was some LOUD, and it was some CHAOTIC, and it was totally unpredictable, and it even had dramatic coherency. (Did you read Rob's t-shirt?)

A band called The Scene played after that, who were probably not tehcnically part of Chaistock as measured by either factor, but they came all the way from California for reasons best known to them to play on this night and that has to stand for something, maybe a clue to the secret dark matter which describes physically the order of the universe... Or maybe not. Thanks, The Scene, for passing through our strange attractor.

The next day was the epicenter of Chaistock, the nexus or maybe even the crux, at least from my position as the center of my own universe. I showed up with gear around noon-thirty, went to breakfast and when I got back Foss was on the drums (!) and Donovan was playing bass. They'd been going for a while, so I spelled Foss on the kit and played for 45 minutes with Donovan. Shades of OM - great way to get in a zone, start the day with some primal rhythm section activity.

Evan showed up next. I switched to guitar and we made some of what Denali has called "guitar goo" until Chris Hogan showed up with... Who started us off on drums? Paul Turner, I think... Cos I think I remember him setting up his kit while Evan, Chris and I were still playing... But I'm not sure, it starts to get hazy there.

Most of the usual Snoose configurations (the what?) played for the next 3 or 4 hours without a pause, including stints by John Beezer (guitar), 5-Track (guitar), Evan (bass guitar), Donovan (guitar, bass guitar), Chris Hogan (guitar), various players of the electronic drum thingy, Chavon (sing) and, um, some other people. Special random guest for the afternoon was Jeremy Lightfoot (drums) who has played awesome bass with Danny Barnes, Siamese and Jive Turkey and sings with The Droneys.

Outside, and at the same time, rotating lineups of N8 (drums) were playing on the sidewalk. Allison (bass) played for a while, but I'm not sure who else exactly because I was inside playing for most of it.

Later on we had a visit from Noah (drums) of the groups Xenghaia and Falcon Engineers. He played with N8 (bass) and 5-Track (guitar) until Funklove materialized on the outdoor drumkit, then found his way to the indoor mic. He did his thing, wherein he sang us some grooves to chew on, then hit the mic with the right thing to sing, direct from the cosmic channel. A few minutes in, N8 swapped out for Donovan and swapped out for Paul T. This was nice, because Donovan, Paul, Funk and myself have a natural chemistry from having been vaguely around each other and sporadically sitting in with one another's muses for about 5 years now. We hit a flow that lasted for a while.

I took a break after that. I think I played the drums when I got back, and I think I remember ending the evening with a big goofy 2-chord jam. But that could have been last Monday... Which was also fun, by the way... The tape will surface when it needs air. Yeah, maybe I wasn't in the last jam on Saturday... We'll find out when I play it back!

Thus endeth the nexus of Chaistock... But Sunday was alright, too. The first band was, I am told, unexpected... But it worked out OK since Variety Pack was supposed to open and only 1/4 of the band was there. Evan, Ian, and N8 set up camp on the sidewalk and played to the traffic. They were louder than the outside jams had been on Saturday, mainly 'cos the amps were bigger and better on Sunday.

Did I mention that Sunday was under-21-musicians-only day? Part of Foss' gig was to kick anyone over 21 off the stage. Since that meant no jams for 5, I left after an hour or so... But I want to tell you that the outdoor jams on Sunday made me really happy, good-sounding amps ricocheting tone off the walls of downtown Ballard on a Sunday afternoon on a sunny sidewalk, a heavy electric improvising trio that understood how to use that space and work with its other occupants: busses, passersby, self phones, car horns, sirens and etc.

I didn't catch the end but I understand N8 moved his drums into Bergen Park after a while and played there until the "condo people" made him cool it.

Final Chai House SNOOSE JUNCTION Monday

Good morning!

Tonight
Monday April 23rd 2007
will be the final SNOOSE JUNCTION Monday
at
Mr Spot's Chai House
Market & Leary, Ballard, Seattle, Earth
8-10pm, all ages, free

For those who may not be aware
we play Non-Hierarchical Improvised Music For Your Life

This particular night is expected to feature
CANTENNA (Foss, Beezer, 5-Track and Sarah On The Drums)
PAWN COUNCIL AND FRIENDS (Turner, Donovan, 5, maybe others)
THE EVAN STRAUSS EXPERIENCE (lineup yet to be fully determined)
and also Happy Birthday Chavon!!

SNOOSE JUNCTION
will continue to perform:
on the radio
at house parties
where they keep boats
and other venues of various sorts


If you would like to be kept well-informed on the
future of SNOOSE JUNCTION
please reply to this email
and let me know!
We will add you to the SNOOSE JUNCTION emailing list

The current list will continue to feature vague and sporadic updates on
SNOOSE JUNCTION
as well as detailed information on everything else I do...


__
www.5-track.com
www.myspace.com/snoosejunction

Alternatives to Snoose Junction

Y'all may be aware that in the wake of the epic
CHAISTOCK event at the end of this month
(April 2007)
we will be terminating our residency at Mr Spot's Chai House

Until we find ourselves a new clubhouse, may I humbly suggest that you dig
Neon Brown Presents
every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Mr Spot's

This consists of mildly conceptual improv with a rotating cast of musicians
(sound familiar?)
and has been going on for 4 or 5 years now...

The show is hosted by Andrew Woods
I am nearly always in attendance and often on the stage
as will be the case this Wednesday, April 11 2007
with additional guests:
Terry Parks (bass) and David Smith (drums)

see yas
-5-

Progress...

Alright, the MP3s are back...