“A turtle walked into a police station and reported he’d been mugged by a snail. When the detective asked for the details, the turtle replied, “it all happened so fast I can’t remember what happened.”
-- A Joke, as told by George Bedard
As some of you may know, there is information on the Walrus at a couple of websites. There is an Escanabian, goes by the name of Steve Seymour (rocknrollgraffiti.blogspot.com) who has a site devoted to Yooper Rock & Roll, as well as a facebook group site Julie F. put up with photos and such, called, I think, Walrus. In general, there is scant documentation of early Walrus doings.
Now comes Mr. Les Bloom. As it happens, B. was looking at the site origins of various blog hits and came across a website created only two days ago by Les. The link at right will take you there. What it is, is two songs originally meant to be on the Walrus’s first album. The year was 1972.
As you may or may not recall, the Walleye moved to the Republic of Ann Arbor in 1971 after their bass player was told to either leave town or go to prison. While in Ann Arbor we added Jim Bowers on keyboards and Les Bloom on sax. I like to call him Lester, after the great Lester Young.
And so it was that the Walrus expanded to six members: Bill Etten, Mike Mckelvy, Don Kuhli, Randy Tessier, Jim Bowers, and Les Bloom. To make a long story short, Jim became not only an integral part of the band, but a patron saint and benefactor who bailed us out of a variety of crises too numerous to mention. Les brought an eclectic, hard charging reed sound to the band that is self evident on the recordings included at right.
What’s really cool about Les’s recordings is that they survey the playing of a circle of fine local Ann Arbor musicians who intermingled and played together in the seventies and eighties.
Kuhli and I, who stayed behind when the Walrus first disbanded, play on a number of these tunes. As I write this, I should say there are songs and musicians here I’ve never heard of, but fully intend to listen to later today.
Check out “Incognito.” I loved us. The music is frenetic, complicated, and difficult, and we only played a handful of gigs and radio appearances, but for us, and perhaps only a tightly drawn coterie of jazz-fusion Nazis, it was cathartically transcendent. RJ’s (Rick Jacobi) and Les’s playing is relentless. I’m playing an electric fretless on these grooves. Aside from RJ’s superb guitar work, he also plays the clarinet, on which he is also phenomenal. If his name sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve seen his most excellent art work here at various times (see illustration at right).
And, oh yes, I did hear back this morning from Dr. L. Here tis!
To:
Randall Tessier
Subject:
Re: IMPORTANT
I understand where you are coming from. In my earlier note, I indicated that in general, we do not recommend hepatitis C patients to take marijuana because the benefits do not outweigh the risks. However, each patient is different. Not knowing your individual circumstances, I cannot comment on your case and would encourage you to discuss with your physicians. Dr. L.
Best - Randy
-- A Joke, as told by George Bedard
As some of you may know, there is information on the Walrus at a couple of websites. There is an Escanabian, goes by the name of Steve Seymour (rocknrollgraffiti.blogspot.com) who has a site devoted to Yooper Rock & Roll, as well as a facebook group site Julie F. put up with photos and such, called, I think, Walrus. In general, there is scant documentation of early Walrus doings.
Now comes Mr. Les Bloom. As it happens, B. was looking at the site origins of various blog hits and came across a website created only two days ago by Les. The link at right will take you there. What it is, is two songs originally meant to be on the Walrus’s first album. The year was 1972.
As you may or may not recall, the Walleye moved to the Republic of Ann Arbor in 1971 after their bass player was told to either leave town or go to prison. While in Ann Arbor we added Jim Bowers on keyboards and Les Bloom on sax. I like to call him Lester, after the great Lester Young.
And so it was that the Walrus expanded to six members: Bill Etten, Mike Mckelvy, Don Kuhli, Randy Tessier, Jim Bowers, and Les Bloom. To make a long story short, Jim became not only an integral part of the band, but a patron saint and benefactor who bailed us out of a variety of crises too numerous to mention. Les brought an eclectic, hard charging reed sound to the band that is self evident on the recordings included at right.
What’s really cool about Les’s recordings is that they survey the playing of a circle of fine local Ann Arbor musicians who intermingled and played together in the seventies and eighties.
Kuhli and I, who stayed behind when the Walrus first disbanded, play on a number of these tunes. As I write this, I should say there are songs and musicians here I’ve never heard of, but fully intend to listen to later today.
Check out “Incognito.” I loved us. The music is frenetic, complicated, and difficult, and we only played a handful of gigs and radio appearances, but for us, and perhaps only a tightly drawn coterie of jazz-fusion Nazis, it was cathartically transcendent. RJ’s (Rick Jacobi) and Les’s playing is relentless. I’m playing an electric fretless on these grooves. Aside from RJ’s superb guitar work, he also plays the clarinet, on which he is also phenomenal. If his name sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve seen his most excellent art work here at various times (see illustration at right).
And, oh yes, I did hear back this morning from Dr. L. Here tis!
To:
Randall Tessier
Subject:
Re: IMPORTANT
I understand where you are coming from. In my earlier note, I indicated that in general, we do not recommend hepatitis C patients to take marijuana because the benefits do not outweigh the risks. However, each patient is different. Not knowing your individual circumstances, I cannot comment on your case and would encourage you to discuss with your physicians. Dr. L.
Best - Randy
1 comment:
Curious, I took the link to LE Bloom site and had a listen to the early tracks. No medical marijuana involved in those days, right? Also enjoyed the French, Tessier, and Kuhli "ïnterview" - one chord salsa.
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