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Hacienda Bridge no. 15

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"Hacienda Bridge #15" (subtitled "Heir Guitar") is an issue of Hardy Fox and Charles Bobuck's Hacienda Bridge newsletter, sent to mailing list subscribers on May 1st 2017.

In this issue, Fox presents a detailed list of guitarists who had worked with The Residents over the course of their long career, including long-time collaborators Snakefinger and Nolan Cook and lesser known figures such as James Aaron and Pavers. It also features the fourth chapter of Fox's serialized novella "The Stone".

This issue is the earliest issue of the newsletter to have been preserved by the Mailchimp archive; it (and all subsequent issues) is archived via the Internet Archive.

The newsletter

Note: Some format changes have been made to create an easily readable version of this newsletter within the restrictions of this wiki. Such changes have been made as infrequently as possible to present the closest possible representation of the text and images as originally published. Typographical errors featured in the original text have not been corrected.

Heir Guitar

Hacienda Bridge has been publishing lists. And every time we do it we get messages that we left someone off the list. The message senders are always right because the lists are made from memory and enevitably faulty. But, none the less, here is another list. The PICKERS.

Cook

Nolan Cook has been playing with The Residents so long that he could be considered a member, were it not for his decision at some point to play with The Residents rather than play in The Residents.

While the difference might seem arbitrary, it is that difference that allows me to publish his picture and name rather than treat him as part of a masked group. For him, it means he can work with his own band, Dimesland, fully acknowledging that as a side gig... playing guitar with The Residents. He also plays guitar with Charles Bobuck as a result of their long relationship working together in The Residents.

I do say "side gig" with a bit of a satire as his seventeen year history with Bobuck and The Residents has given him quite a discography.

In 2000, we were needing a guitar player for the Wormwood tour. Molly Harvey said she had a friend who was fantastic. He was.

A partial discography with Bobuck and The Residents:
2000 - Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions (The Residents) (CD)
2002 - Demons Dance Alone (The Residents)
2004 - 12 Days of Brumalia (The Residents)
2005 - Animal Lover (The Residents)
2006 - The River of Crime (The Residents)
2006 - Tweedles (The Residents) (CD)
2007 - Voice of Midnight, The (The Residents)
2008 - The Bunny Boy (The Residents)
2010 - Talking Light (The Residents)
2010 - Brava (The Residents)
2011 - Lonely Teenager (The Residents)
2011 - Coochie Brake (Sonidos de la Noche)
2012 - Lying Horse Rock (Bobuck)
2014 - The Wonder of Weird (The Residents)
2014 - Marching to the See (The Residents)
2015 - Shadowland (The Residents)
2015 - What Was Left of Grandpa (Bobuck)
2016 - Bobuck plays The Residents (Bobuck)
2017 - Eggs for Breakfast (Bobuck)
2017 - The Ghost of Hope (The Residents)
Tours with The Residents
1999 - Wormwood
2001 - Icky Flix
2002 - Demons Dance Alone
2008 - The Bunny Boy
2010 - Talking Light
2013 - Wonder of Weird
2014 - Shadowland
2017 - In Between Dreams

https://www.facebook.com/DIMESLAND/

Lithman

Similarly, Philip Lithman chose to focus on his band, The Vestal Virgins and stay outside The Residents core. Though he worked more deeply on a couple of projects, he would usually pop into the studio and lay down a wild solo and leave. Philip also toured once with The Residents. We were introduced to him by the singer, Zeibek.

Philiip Lithman died in 1987.

Discography with The Residents
1977 - Fingerprince (The Residents) (lp)
1978 - Duck Stab (The Residents) (lp)
1979 - Eskimo (The Residents) (lp)
1980 - Commercial Album (The Residents) (lp)
1980 - Diskomo / Goosebump (The Residents) (ep)
1982 - The Tunes Of Two Cities (The Residents) (lp)
1983 - Title In Limbo (The Residents/Renaldo & The Loaf) (lp)
1986 - 13th Anniversary Show / Eyeball Show (The Residents) (lp)
Tour with The Residents
1986 - The 13th Anniversary Show

Others

Bobby Tangney
Meet The Residents
An original pre-Residents member and the very first guitar player on a Residents album. We knew his older brother.
J. Aaron
Meet The Residents
We wanted a waa-waa guitar part on Infant Tango. He came to the studio and played it. Never heard from him again.
Gary Philliips
The Third Reich 'n Roll
Gary was the guitar player for Greg Kihn's band. We borrowed him from Beserkley Records.
Fred Frith
The Commercial Album
We met Fred through Chris Cutler and Henry Cow. Became immediate friends. Still are.
Tom Timony
Mark of the Mole
Tom worked at Ralph Records. We needed a guitar part, he dropped what he was doing, went in the studio and played it.
Bruce Anderson
The King & Eye
We met Bruce when Ralph signed MX-80 Sound. He played power guitar. For The King & Eye, he came into the studio and did not even want to hear tracks before playing with them. He improvised through the whole album with great focus and intensity.
Pavers
Disfigured Night
A guy come to the office and wondered if we needed a bass player. We said, "No, we need a guitar player." He said he rather play guitar anyway. So he played guitar for a short time. Then he disappeared. Don't know where he came from, don't know where he went.
Charles Bobuck
Resitar on bunches of stuff
The Resitar is an electric guitar that was altered to use three sets of 2 strings. Low strings an octave apart, middle strings a fifth apart, high strings the same pitch but slightly out of tune. The pitches are determined by the song it is being used for. Charles played it live in The Mole show. He played it on The Bunny Boy album too.

The music store

CLANK CLANK CLANK

A collection of 9 demos of Charles Bobuck's reworking of Meet The Residents from 2014. EP CD (2017)

Klanggalerie

A TOOK Limited Edition (300 copies)

coming May 15

EGGS FOR BREAKFAST

26 of Charles Bobuck's finest Tiny Tunes, including the infamous BLACK TAR collection. CD (2017)

Klanggalerie

MVD

BOBUCK PLAYS THE RESIDENTS

Charles Bobuck's radical arrangements of music he co-wrote for The Residents over their 40 year history. CD (2016)

Klanggalerie

MVD

WHAT WAS LEFT OF GRANDPA

Charles Bobuck's tribute to his jazz loving Grandpa. CD (2015)

Klanggalerie

MVD

File:Hb15-this.jpg

THIS

Charles Bobuck compilation of non-Residents work while still with Residents CD (2015)

Klanggalerie

MVD

Two classic CDs that should be in your collection. Available from MVD.

Roman de la Rose

Codgers on the Moon

THE STONE - Hardy Fox's serialized novella

◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ THE STONE

ch. 4

Hardy Fox

Previously....

Charlie Bobuck awakens to a different life with no memory of his past.

----------

Then, without warning, that awful voice returned, the voice which kept asking me where the stone was that looked like a piece of liver.

Unless the feeling I have is mistaken, someone is following me up the stairs to my apartment, always staying the same distance behind.

Now he is climbing the worn stone stairs and stepping out onto my landing, with its floor of red brick.

Now he is feeling his way along the wall, and now, right now, he must be reading my name on the door-plate, laboriously deciphering each letter in the dark.

I positioned myself in the middle of the room, looking towards the door.

Without knocking, he came in.

He took only a few steps towards me not saying a word.

That was the way one behaved when feeling at home. Oddly, I found it quite natural that he acted as he did.

He put his hand into his case and took out a book. He spent a long time leafing through its pages as though saying goodbye.

The cover of the book was of metal, with indentations shaped like mystical symbols filled with enamel and small stones.

I could make out the title: IBBUR.

I automatically looked over the cover. Half of it was taken up with the large initial “I” in red and gold which was damaged at one edge.

He passed the book to me. I was to repair it.

The initial was not attached as I had previously seen in old books; rather, it seemed to consist of two thin pieces of gold leaf welded together in the middle with their ends wrapped around the edges.

I opened the book and without thinking, began to read. I read on and on.

The book was speaking to me, just as dreams can speak, only more clearly.

Words streamed from an invisible mouth, took on life and came towards me. They twisted and turned, changing their shapes like dancing girls in brightly colored dresses made of tissue paper. Each word, in turn, sank into the ground or turned into an iridescent haze in the air and vanished. Each hoped I would choose it and not bother to look at the next one. Some words strutted around like peacocks in shimmering garments, and their steps were slow and measured. Others were like aged and tired drag queens, their eyelids painted purple and their wrinkles covered with an thick layer of greasy paint.

I looked past them to four grey figures with faces so ordinary, so devoid of expression, that it was impossible to remember them. I could only see them as my own eyes.

They accompanied a woman who was naked and the size of a bronze colossus. For a moment the woman stopped and bent down to study me. She quietly pointed to the pulse in her left breast. Its throb was like an earthquake, and I sensed within her the life of a whole world awakening.

From the distance a wild, drunken procession was charging towards me. Among them was a man and a woman with their bodies clasped in ecstasy. As I watched the entwined couple they transformed into a single figure, a hermaphrodite, male and female, sitting on a throne decorated with mother-of-pearl. The hermaphrodite wore a wooden crown with a red square at the front into which a worm had eaten a mysterious icon.

In a cloud of dust, a herd of small blind sheep trotted behind the hermaphrodite. The majestic creature kept the animals to feed the dancing horde.

Shapes came streaming from the invisible mouth which had arisen from graves, shrouds hiding their faces. They halted before me, suddenly letting their drapes fall to the ground. Fixating greedily on my heart they sent an icy shock through my brain that dammed my blood like a river into which huge boulders have fallen.

A man floated past. I could not see his face, but he was wearing nothing but flowing teardrops.

Strings of people danced past, laughing, ignoring me. An oddly dressed old man gave me a thoughtful passing look, then stepped back to stare at me as if I were a mirror. There was an eerie force in his contorted face that filled me with an irresistible urge to imitate him, to wink as he did, to shrug my shoulders and turn down the corners of my mouth. This man smelled of camphor and had the word, Randy, tattooed on his neck. He took me by the chin and shook me as though the oldness in me needed to be eradicated. I was sad when he was pushed aside by other figures impatient to show themselves to me.

The final display was a squadron of soldiers that I can only describe, based on the their dress, shields and spears, as Roman. They marched in a tight formation lead by a solitary figure. He was a handsome man no more than 25. He stopped before me and cupping my face with his hands, kissed me deeply. All fear dissolved from my being. His message was that I was home, that he would always protect me. Looking into me with his green eyes, he said his name was Argol.

The parade had been like a strings of pearls slipping along a silk thread, notes of a melody pouring from the invisible saxophone. It was no longer a book speaking to me, it was a chant. A chant that wanted something from me which I could not understand, however hard I tried. A chant that tormented me with burning, incomprehensible questions.

I had read the entire book and was still holding it in my hands, and yet I felt as if I had been searching through my brain rather than through a book.

I understood everything the book revealed within myself all my life, only it had been obscured and forgotten. My knowledge had kept itself hidden from my conscious mind until this day.

I looked up. Where was the man who had brought me the book?

Will he return when it’s repaired? I could not remember him saying where he lived. I tried to recall his appearance, but failed.

What had he been wearing? Was he old, was he young? What had been the color of his hair?

I could not remember anything. Every image I tried to conjure up disintegrated, even before it properly fixed in my mind. I closed my eyes and pressed my hand against my lids in an attempt to catch just one tiny scrap of his face.

Nothing, nothing.

I glanced at the book on the table and tried to remember the hand that went with it, that had taken it out of his case and handed it to me. I could not even remember whether it was a young or old hand.

I no longer remembered who I was. A priest seemed to hold me and I wanted to touch him with my hand, but my hand would not obey me. Instead it reached for the book, it touched IBBUR.

-

Then, without warning, I was shocked to discovered I was myself again, Charles Bobuck. What a strange name.

I was shaking with terror, my heart was pounding and I knew that fingers had been poking through the crevices of my brain. Those fingers were gone now, but I could still feel the chill of their touch at the back of my head.

I realized that man was a negative, an invisible mold into which I could slip.

In the drawer of the desk I kept a safe box for valuable jewelry I was repairing. I decided to lock the book away and only take it out again when this uncomfortable mental derangement had passed. Only then would I set about repairing the broken “I.”

- to be continued

Mord+Musik

WALTER ROBOTKA

Fred Frith - a personal appreciation

If you ask me about my favorite guitar players, the first name to come to mind will always be Fred Frith. Now as you know, Fred has a Residents connection, he played on The Commercial Album. Reason enough to write a few words about him.....

The first time I saw Fred perform live was when he toured with the Skeleton Crew. They were a trio at the time - Fred, Tom Cora and Zeena Parkins. Their gig in Vienna left a lasting impression on young me. I'd never seen such virtuosity before. Each of the three played several instruments at the same time. And Fred didn't just play guitar like other people do, no, he had the guitar on his lap, threw things into it, scratched it, played drums on it, sang into it. Of course, The Skeleton Crew wasn't Fred's first band. His career goes back a very long way.

Fred Frith was born in Sussex, England in 1949. He became a member of the legendary art rock group Henry Cow that was founded in Cambridge in 1968. All its members have become quite legendary figures in music later on, but none of them has been as prolific as Frith. Fred has played with nearly every musician from the jazz/impro/avantgarde scene. The Art Bears, a trio consisting of Fred, Chris Cutler and Dagmar Krause, had a single on Ralph Records. Massacre, which is an experimental rock band, consisted of Bill Laswell, Fred Maher, Charles Hayward and Fred.

But Fred also records as a solo artist. His first three albums were released by Ralph Records. When The Residents signed him, they told him they wanted Fred the song writer and not Fred the improviser. So these records are among the most easily accessible ones in Frith's vast catalogue. People will have different opinions, but for me, Speechless is the ultimate Frith solo album. It's as pop as Fred ever got. It shows what a great composer and songwriter he is.

The other side to his music is the improvisation. I cannot even remember how many times I saw Fred play with different people. Fred played in rock venues, in galleries, at jazz festivals, in theaters. Sometimes, such improv gigs can be very special. Sometimes, they can be terribly pretentious and utterly boring. I can't recall ever seeing Fred perform and thinking it was dull. Fred's way of playing is just very exciting to watch. Even if you don't like the music, you will enjoy the entertainment of seeing him play and wrangling his instrument.

One of his most recent groups is the Fred Frith Trio. They've toured Europe twice over the last few years. I saw both gigs. The first time, it was nearly a rock concert. They quickly found their way into songs, and I regretted being seated in a jazz club. The second time, same band, was more experimental and very playful. The music was much more abstract and much more avantgarde. The CD is a totally different beast altogether. Instead of getting long pieces that keep evolving like in their live shows, you get a whole bunch of short tracks. Sometimes wild, sometimes mellow.

For those of you that love Fred's songwriting skills, I recommend his band Cosa Brava. The group consists of Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, Matthias Bossi, Norman Teale and Shahzad Ismaily. Fred also sings which is something I really like him do. if you ever have the chance to see a Fred Frith show, don't hesitate to go. You'll never know what to expect, but I assure you it will be worth it.

A good starting point is also the wonderful award-winning film Step across the Border from 1990. It’s one of my all-time favorite music related films. Shot entirely in black and white, it is a portrait of Fred as a musician and has lots of music from his early albums in it. You can see him compose, rehearse and perform. You also get a glimpse of Fred Frith the person. Through him I also discovered one of my favorite guys in the fine arts. I was in Berlin many years ago and had a look at the cinema program. I saw a film listed as Rivers and Tides - soundtrack by Fred Frith. I thought a film with Fred’s music would be interesting and went. Rivers and Tides is a portrait of British sculptor and photographer Andy Goldsworthy who creates sculptures out of nature. Sculptures that do not last very long. I left the cinema completely overwhelmed and have followed Goldsworthy’s art ever since.

Fred Frith currently works as professor of composition in America and Switzerland. He was awarded several prices and an honorary doctorate for his contribution to music. Check out the links to get glimpses of Fred at work.

Step across the Border trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es21B30bD6c

Rivers and Tides trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT3lveJmjY8&list=PLM0E94F7M4dw6Y9jIVnarUflFSvkYXe9l

Fred Frith trio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd0WgqRlgkU

Henry Cow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfpq11-sRVQ

Massacre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABCrJsDijHI

Cosa Brava

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Q6cuqMHZk

Fred Frith solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2WSeZZV6iQ

Bob Uck and the Tooth Decay

MATCH

Ask Hardy shit

Q: It seems Residents/Bobuck have had mixed satisfaction in scoring soundtrack music for other creators' projects. Have you considered creating soundtracks for silent films, most of which have fallen into the Public Domain?

This is a similar idea to the Mutts with Mustaches concept. Bobuck wanted to make "new" avant guarde films by remixing and combining classic silent avant garde films and adding a new score. We took the idea to MoMA in NY to see if we could get access to their film collection. They just laughed and said, "no way." I think they might have been a bit offended at the Mutts with Mustaches proof of concept video we had made.

Q: What was the impact of Sgt. Pepper on you, or was there any?

As I recall, when Sgt. Pepper came out I was in college and managing a cover style rock band playing high school dances and such. So I heard pretty much all the new albums from that period, since my band was picking out songs to learn and play. As I recall, we did not cover The Beatles. More likely to cover The Rolling Stones, Love, or Kinks. I liked Sgt. Pepper, but I never bought the album. I appreciated that The Beatles were trying new things, but we were all trying new things in the flower power days. That was what the era meant. It was bigger than the Beatles. Counterculture became culture.

Q: Which Residents album was hardest to finish?

Eskimo was the most difficult because while working on the project it seemed so boring and pretentious. I kept thinking that this could end up an album that people have in their collection but don't enjoy playing. An important aspect was that the album pay off at the end. A good ending can make or break a concept album. It is much like a movie that way.

Once we accepted that leaving the wind and sound effects for a more orchestrated ending made sense, the album finally came into focus. This process took a few years of working on and off to get to that point.

I will mention that Mark of the Mole had a similar problem. We had a hard time realizing an ending for the album, again being story driven meant it needed something that gave a feeling of completion. In my mind, we failed to find that. Our solution was to extend the project into a trilogy to further develop the story line.

Basically we failed that too because life got in the way. Cryptic Corporation split in half, we lost our home at 444 Grove and had to relocate. We tried to tour to disastrous financial results. The whole Residents thing could have ended at that point. It took the 13th Anniversary Tour a few years later to get the group back on a track, but it was a different track than the one that recorded Mark of the Mole. The trilogy was already passé.

Q: Why has Bobuck decided to drop the "Charles" from his name? Is there a specific reason or does it just sound cooler?

Is there any better reason that sounding cooler? Though, actually, it has not been dropped so much as evolving. Partly, he says, it is that he left The Residents as an individual, but now he is feeling more like a group. Also, that it sounds cooler.

Q: If I were to pin you down to name your favorite record right now, what would you say?

I'm certain I have a reputation for weird music. But my favorite album right now is a folk / country album from 1971.

Karen Dalton was a Cherokee Native American singer and guitar player. She recorded the album In My Own Time, her second, to high expectations that were not met. The album was a commercial failure and Dalton disappeared. She’d always had issues with drugs and alcohol. She ended up on the streets for years, lost most of her teeth, her friends, and her life by 1993.

I like the album because it has a great presence, like maybe hearing early Aretha Franklin. I keep thinking of Amy Winehouse too. She breaks my heart.

Anyone curious can hear the album on the YouTube link below.

[YouTube video: Karen Dalton - In My Own Time]

In My Own Time

Karen Dalton

Next time we meet on Hacienda Bridge,

we explore automatic music

Copyright © 2017 Hacienda Bridge, All rights reserved.

See also

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