July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

OFF THE REC RDmusic48MUSIC NEWS by Austin PowellSky SaxonThe eccentric, charismatic founder of garage-psych pioneersthe Seeds, Sky Sunlight Saxon, passed away onThursday, June 25, at St. David’s South Austin Hospitalof heart and kidney failure, due to an undiagnosed internalinfection. He was thought to be 71, though no officialbirth record could be obtained. Inspired by the recent resurrectionof fellow psychedelic survivor Roky Ericksonafter headlining the Black Angels’ Psych Fest 2 in March, Saxon –born Richard Elvern Marsh – announced his permanent residency inAustin merely two weeks before his death. He was scheduled to takepart in the California ’66 Revue Tour this summer with members ofLove and the Electric Prunes, and, as recently as Saturday, June 20,performed a short set backed by locals Shapes Have Fangs, asWorld Spirits, at Antone’s. “I don’t believe in death,” Saxon told OTRthe previous Thursday as part of an afternoonlong conversation – ashort, strange trip to say the least. “In a higher understanding, none ofus die; we leave our body. We’re going from one room to anotherroom.” A memorial service is scheduled for Sunday at the Scoot Inn,6pm. In lieu of flowers, his wife, Sabrina, asks that donations bemade through www.skysaxon.com to assist in the burial traditions ofYa Ho Wha/Father Yod & the Source Family.HarlemSaxon,March 2009JOHN ANDERSONJOHN ANDERSONStyler/Scarborough 52 Phases & Stages 78 Music ListingsIt Came From the BasementExplosions in the Sky played its first show asBreaker Morant on July 4, 1999, for an audience ofone – Erik Wofford, who engineered the instrumentalists’Local Live session on KVRX. “Nobody had everheard them; no one wanted to do it,” laughs Wofford,who later produced the band’s CD-R debut, How Strange,Innocence. “I could see this glimmer of hope.” Thequartet changed its name after the taping, and“Remember Me as a Time of Day” wound up on Volume4 of KVRX’s longstanding Local Live series. A decadelater, Explosions brings out the fireworks at a sold-outBack in the day: Explosions in theSky’s first promo photo, circa 1999Down by the RiverIn preparation for last month’s feature on RyanBingham (“The Cowboy Song,” June 5), OTR floateddown to Whitewater on the Horseshoe, a naturalamphitheater set on 460 acres on the banksof the Guadalupe River just outside Canyon Lake,where Bingham and his Dead Horses stomped amud hole for the better part of 75 minutes. Alongwith operating a successful tubing and campingbusiness, Whitewater has stacked an impressivelineup for its second full season, including DwightYoakam (July 9), Reckless Kelly (July 11),Delbert McClinton (Aug. 1), and a two-night stand from GhostlandObservatory (July 17-18), not to mention a free weekly live music serieswith local favorites the Band of Heathens (tonight, July 2) and GuyForsyth (July 23). While the 4,000-capacity venue could use some delayspeakers in the back and overcharges for parking ($10), the scenic atmospheremore than offsets the inconvenience. “We sell the experience,”enthuses co-owner Will Korioth, who plans to expand in October with theaddition of 50 more cabins, a restaurant operated by Wahoo’s Fish Tacos,and proper bathroom facilities. “The theory is that when they park their caron Friday, they’re done. It’s a true destination.”Here Comes the SunIt certainly pays to have Matador Records co-headGerard Cosloy prowling Red River regularly. Localgarage-pop trio Harlem recently signed to the indie titan,which is digitally re-releasing the band’s gloriously shambled2008 debut, Free Drugs. “I thought the songs werefantastic,” relates Cosloy. “I really like the interplaybetween [Michael] Coomers and Curtis [O’Mara], theback-and-forth banter and shit. They each have pretty distinctstyles, and every time I saw them I thought they justgot better and better.” Harlem kicks off a brief WestCoast tour tonight (Thursday, July 2) at Club de Ville,leading up to a recording session at the Distillery in LosAngeles. “We’re going to try and swim in the ocean everymorning and then record at night,” cracks Coomers. “Thewhole point of going out to L.A. is to get a sun-bleachedalbum out of it, so it’s not necessarily Texas roachescrawling over the tape – not that that wouldn’t make anawesome record.”Stubb’s on Saturday with the Octopus Project and theWooden Birds, though not literally – that display atSouth by Southwest 09 was paid for by the city.Percussive catalyst Christopher Hrasky says EITS isdusting off a few never-before-played songs for the occasionand, after a brief run with the Flaming Lips, plansto hit the studio: “At this point we’re still going with thisidea of putting these pieces together to form one longsuite of music where there’s individual songs, but worksbest when taken as a whole.”RyanBinghamJOHN ANDERSONRandom PlayThe SIMS Foundation, a localnonprofit that offers low-cost mentalhealth services to Austin musicians,received a $4,000 donation thisweek from Ashley Welch, the sisterof the late songsmith Elliott Smith,via the sale of his used ’99 PassatGLX. “He’d be happy to know thatthe sale of his car will help othermusicians in need,” Welch postedas part of the Craigslist ad.Jon Bessent, the beloved vintagespecialist and owner ofTonecraft Amp Repair, died onJune 23 from a heart attack. Hewas 56. “He was a true craftsman,”recalls Paul Minor. “I can’t beginto quantify the value of all the freeadvice and quick repairs that got myailing gear back up and running.”Off the WallTex-Mex purveyor Joe King Carrasco holds the rare distinctionof having the late Michael Jackson as a backupsinger. In 1981, the King of Pop was mixing The JacksonsLive! at Studio 55 in Los Angeles as Carrasco & the Crownswere cutting their major label debut for MCA, 1982’s SynapseGap. “I loaned him a Walkman, because he had never heardOff the Wall on one before; he spent like three days listeningto it,” recalls Carrasco, who currently resides in PuertoVallarta, Mexico, and recently released the soundtrack for hisself-proclaimed and directed “trailer-trash epic” Rancho NoTengo. In return, the iconic thriller recorded harmonies for thereggae-tinged single “Don’t Let a Woman (Make a Fool Out ofYou).” Jackson was paid union scale for the session – $100.“When he did the session, his dad came in and kind offreaked out because he caught him in a different studio withus,” Carrasco laughs in fond remembrance. “He had reallyincredible mic techniques for certain words and phrasings.He was really a perfectionist. It was neat to brush up againstthat level of greatness.”a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m JULY 3, 2009 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 47