The players of the parts

Go Van Gogh has a story, but most of it, I have been persuaded, is not for consumption by the public at large. Being a participant in this drama, I have a biased, and some say jaundiced, view of the proceedings. What I am allowed to impart is but the small left hand bones that are stuck half out the closet door. The harmless facts of time and place, lacking the gruesome pot boiler of this turgid romance between people power and the music they worship.

The story starts just before Halloween many years ago. Three disparate individuals find each other through bulletin boards, networks of friends, and happenstance. They seem to be moving in a similar direction, just from far flung origins. Over the next 3 years they build a machine, adding and discarding parts as this vessel is buffeted by the forces of time culture and personality. They finally run aground on a Brussels sidewalk. One fleeing the scene, fleeing music, never to be heard again. The other two pick themselves up, brush off their fabulous raiments, and continue down the road towards now.

Flash forward, San Francisco. 3 years of opening the way for original instrumental music to blossom in their home town, a critically acclaimed debut album under the name Comic Book Opera. Cut to a long hot summer busking from the green Aegean to the murky Seine. New York City for three more years wandering in the wilderness. A shiny automatic, a half eaten donut, a brief tussle on the subway stairs and our friends are back again.

And then there was Go Van Gogh.

While I had been on top of Mount Sinai arranging things with god, those who had followed us out of Egypt had rushed headlong into idolatry. Replacing there own creativity with the wonderful ideas of Miles Davis and Django Reinhardt. How could I hear the thoughts in my own head, I said, if I was busy thinking the thoughts of another. We could no more play their music , than we could have lived their lives. The door we had helped open in the previous decade was now leading nowhere. Rather than bow to the conventions of those times we opened ourselves to the interesting potentials of modal eastern melodicism, married to the pump it up possibilities of our roots in American culture. The results were many fine records consisting of an ever changing kaleidoscope of instrumental aggregations and the mixing of musical landscapes, starting with the euphonious "Go Van Gogh" on the Accretions label, and ending in some unforeseen future, where we are inducted into some planetary hall of fame for the ground breaking work in which we are now involved.

Quite a roster of players flowed through the band over those years. First Sax chair and main compositional duties were completely filled by Connie Walkershaw on Alto and Soprano.

At some previous juncture we were joined by Brad Bechtel on Steel Guitar. Brad has returned for a second round, so can’t complain as things progress. Besides playing in Hawaiian roots band The Faux Hawaiians, Brad is one of our nation foremost authorities on the plank he plays with such dexterity. Visit him online atwww.well.com/user/wellvis/steel.html

Guitar duties are appealingly handled by Jesse Jackson of "The Cool Night Air". Jesse Jackson in his own words " I am strong guitar player, (lead and rhythm) but I also play lap steel /dobro (fairly well), and am a fair banjo and mandolin player. I am comfortable in most American idioms including, blues, finger style rags, western swing, bluegrass, mountain music, etc. but also jazz, metal and surf. I have Experience playing playing eastern european folk music (klezmer/polkas, waltzes, etc) I played in a live band for a shadow puppet troupe, which featured, performing Russian/ gypsy and klezmer music, as well as surfed out interpretations of Mussirgsky and Rimsky Korsakov tunes. I have experience performing in choirs and barbershop quartets. I know all the words to "The Man On the Flying Trapeze." What more could anyone need to know?

Drummers come, and drummers go. So we have switched to percussionists. In this case two percussionists. Dane Pryce on Congas and Joe Chavez on Bongos. Dane was a self taught conganero, until a chance encounter turned him into a disciple of Marco Reyes (Latin Percussionist of the legendary band WAR since 1998), and San Francisco percussion guru Michael Bittinger. Growing up in the Bay Area Danes mix tilted heavily towards west coast latin rock groups such as Santana, WAR, EL CHINO and Malo, so it came as no surprise when Dane and his friends founded Latin Rock band "Los Cochinos", which tore up dance halls and clubs around town. Dane has continued to expand his reach, and deep knowledge of Afro Cuban percussion, which has made him a sought after addition to many rhythm section. including sitting in with his youthful favorites WAR on several occasions. Joe on the other hand, was brought into the GVG mix by Dane. An original member of the afore mentioned Latin Rock band "Los Cochinos", Joe helps complete the rhythmic circle, and due to their shared musical history, brings a solid familiarity to the section., Besides Percussion Joe plays several different instruments and has been a long time student of Mexican Jarocho music (Classical Music from Veracruz Mexico)., An accomplished Jarana musician, Joe has shared the stage with some of the top Latin Rock, Pop, and Jarocho musicians (he prefers not to name drop, but I was quite impressed).

Oh... and of course my own minor role in this story, Jesse Walkershaw as the Bass player.