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Robbie Basho News: LIVE / TV / TRIBUTE ALBUM / TWILIGHT PEAKS / MORE
Basho Heads,
Sorry to have dropped off the radar here — I’ve been very, very busy, mainly with good things (touring, production, my new album) and some not so good.
I owe messages to Ryan (congrats on the infink!), Rich Osborne and Robbie Ward (fear not, your cassettes are safe, RW!). I’ll try to get to you guys as time allows, but I’ll need to pull a couple email all-nighters to properly catch up.
LIVE DATES:
I went through Basho’s letters to me (30 or 40 or so) and ephemera (reviews, articles, guitar lessons, etc.,) tonight, inspired by the recent spate of emails. I have a couple pages listing various of Robbie’s live performance, taken from press kits he mailed out in the ‘80s. I’ll check those against what’s been uploaded and fill in any blanks, as time allows.
I also have scads of live tapes which may add something to the picture, too, also a number of flyers for live shows, including an absolutely beautiful poster for a show that Basho and John Fahey did together, designed by Takoma cover artist, Tom Weller / Joyful Wisdom Enterprises.
TELEVISION APPEARANCE:
Interestingly, in his press kit Robbie mentions that he appeared on television! On KQED, no date when it was aired, but he says he performed on the same program as Marcel Marceau(!).
That’s the only Basho film I’ve ever heard of. Whether it still survives in ‘QED’s archives — if they have archives -- would be worth finding out. Maybe some of you Bay Area guys / gals (are there any gals on here?!) can sleuth into it.
ROBBIE BASHO TRIBUTE ALBUM:
Important Records’ Robbie Basho tribute album, produced by Buck Curran, is finally done. That is, all the finished tracks have been rec’d, and the album is sequenced and ready to be mastered. (It’s about an hour long.) Buck’s still getting the artwork together and is considering a couple different possible titles. But it should be out this year (more info when I know more), and looks very promising. Includes both “tributes to” and “covers of” Basho.
THE FATE OF TWILIGHT PEAKS:
I tracked down the folks who ran Vital Body, the cassette-only label which issued Twilight Peaks. The master studio tapes are lost / destroyed, sad to say, but I have two demo versions of the album which Robbie sent to me, both first generation, and I’m in discussion with a label about possibly issuing these as a CD. Someone said they found a copy of the album on some internet file-share space, which I think is taken from my copy of the cassette. If people haven’t heard it, they should. (Does anyone have the link?) It’s all solo guitar, and is one of my favorite Basho albums.
BBQBIFT
My new album, Barbecue Bob in Fishtown, will be released in July or so, again on Strange Attractors of Portland, OR. Basho related tracks include “1337 Shattuck Avenue, Apartment D,” my tribute piece to Robbie (a very different live version will appear on the Important album), and an approximate cover of Robbie’s “Redwood Ramble” (from Rainbow Thunder) called “Redwood Ramble Misremembered.”
ROBBIE’S RUFFLED TUX:
Guitarist and running buddy, Jack Rose, has a fantastic piece he’s written in honor of Robbie, and is performing live, titled “The World Has Let Me Down,” which I believe will be on his next studio album. (Originally it was titled “Robbie’s Ruffled Tux,” after the outfit Robbie’s wearing in his Windham Hill album promo photo. Jack changed the title because the song was too serious and deep for such a silly title!)
BONN IST SUPREME:
Has gotten some nice press. I hope fans of Basho have latched onto copies by this time. Many Bo’ Weavil releases are limited pressings — not sure how many of copies of this album were made, but it’s pretty readily available.
Cheers all,
Glenn Jones
Cambridge, MA
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Glenn Jones <gkjones1@...>
gkjones1953
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