The Mutaytor - 7/30/05 - The Fillmore, San Francisco
destination san francisco, the fillmore… a van of mutaynts, bright sky, tribal drums, empty redbull cans… cibbo matto comes on and steve tells us secrets of the sounds. “gee, my life’s a funny thing” i sing along with the cure covering ‘young american’, tapping toes on the dashboard, rolling hills, brittle trees. churning arches, sprinklers weaving over rows of plants just grown. a stop at taco bell in cowschwitz and we’re half way to san fran. pastures filled with black & white bovine ignorance. we all inhale and turn away the vents. steve’s hair glows pink in the late afternoon sun as he leans against the window.
golden hour now… rubber siding on truckloads shimmy against the wind and speed. sunset makes the ends of my eyelashes blurry like birthday candles. sylvie sifts thru my ipod finding treasures. a granola bar sticks to the nether regions of my cheeks and the sun continues its rapid descent. sigur ros’ agaetis byrjun comes on… “this song reminds me of childhoood,” i tell them and we all smile and they turn it up… watching the golden road laid out in front of us. more cows, more smiling silence, rolling smooth terrain melts away like day. deep shadows, hazy and blue. i squint to the horizon and wonder how far the ocean is…
soundcheck at the fillmore… an audience of lone handdrums and me… everyone else went back to the satan house for proper glittering and gettin their rockstar on. instinctively earplugs go in and i watch these eight boys drumming their talents and i look out into the lobby and i see the history of this venue. 1967 jefferson airplane, janis joplin, jim morrison… and i look back to the stage… mutaytor is playing the fillmore tonight!
while downloading this morning’s photo shoot, i joined in on a jam session with stark raving brad, hambone and brady. eric laughed when we were thru and yelled from the audience to twirl my sticks. ah, the chaos of ride, crash and snare… good times… it was the fillmore! i HAD to~
i lay down now on historic wooden benches and drift off with these songs that are now burned into my memory, along with the movements on stage, the cues in the songs and i flip thru my 40+ shows of images i shot of mutaytor so far and play a game to pass time, matching them up to the songs being played at soundcheck. emiliano from bat makumba shows up. john avila slides in just in time for his soundcheck, hair all tweaked and proud childlike eyes. visuals go off in a kaleidescope frenzy and our san fran horn section blares out their playful interpretations of some new songs. lighting is checked and the chandeliers switch on. john looks more boyish than ever… with cut off pants and white socks. on the last song for soundcheck i squish brady’s head and gather my stuff to leave… 3 hours before showtime…
Read Moresoundcheck at the fillmore… an audience of lone handdrums and me… everyone else went back to the satan house for proper glittering and gettin their rockstar on. instinctively earplugs go in and i watch these eight boys drumming their talents and i look out into the lobby and i see the history of this venue. 1967 jefferson airplane, janis joplin, jim morrison… and i look back to the stage… mutaytor is playing the fillmore tonight!
while downloading this morning’s photo shoot, i joined in on a jam session with stark raving brad, hambone and brady. eric laughed when we were thru and yelled from the audience to twirl my sticks. ah, the chaos of ride, crash and snare… good times… it was the fillmore! i HAD to~
i lay down now on historic wooden benches and drift off with these songs that are now burned into my memory, along with the movements on stage, the cues in the songs and i flip thru my 40+ shows of images i shot of mutaytor so far and play a game to pass time, matching them up to the songs being played at soundcheck. emiliano from bat makumba shows up. john avila slides in just in time for his soundcheck, hair all tweaked and proud childlike eyes. visuals go off in a kaleidescope frenzy and our san fran horn section blares out their playful interpretations of some new songs. lighting is checked and the chandeliers switch on. john looks more boyish than ever… with cut off pants and white socks. on the last song for soundcheck i squish brady’s head and gather my stuff to leave… 3 hours before showtime…