If you were me you would yell a lot too...Here's few musical connections for your aural entertainment. Tales of Call Me Bwana, Bon Tempe, El Kabong and other musical musings...
Quick links to listen, download and/or purchase music:
www.myspace.com/callmebwanaband
www.myspace.com/bontempe
www.myspace.com/thehumanities
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As Steve Solder so aptly wrote in BAM magazine around 1988, "file this one under hyphen music, as in rockabilly-TexMex-surf-ska-bubblegum-country-cajun-pop". For about four years Call Me Bwana was a hot band on the SF club-circuit and college radio stations around the country - "Rodeo Girls", off our first album "Big Fat Fun", even went to number one at the Sonoma State University station, right above Sting and David Lindley. We performed at the Fillmore, we we're invited to Austin to play the Continental Club, we made our own records, we got love letter from DJs from Steven's Point, WI to Mallorca. Yet, though we came close, we never got that big record deal. But the music still sounds great.
Bwana was formed when Frank Anderson and his brother Pete got together with myself and former Bon Tempe drummer Dave Casini (herinafter known as Sleepy Hacienda). Frank, a multi-instrumentalist with fantastic pedal steel chops, and I had been writing songs together for several years, so we pulled in Pete on bass and Hacienda on drums and started playing local clubs as "Jeb Stewart and the Crazy Beets". Around 1983 we went into the studio and laid down several tracks, direct to two track. Then my wife and I moved to Arizona for a couple of years, while Frank, Pete and Slee continued to write and record. When I returned to Marin we went into the studio again and laid down several more tracks - enough to put out on vinyl - and, shortly before release, Frank saw this wacky Bob Hope movie - "Call Me Bwana" - and thus we changed the name and put out our first album, "Big Fat Fun". (Pictured above L to R: Frank Anderson, Sleepy Hacienda, Moi, Pete Anderson)
Before the album was even released Frank and his wife had to return home to Wisconsin, and, as we watched the album gain popularity, we wondered what the hell we were gonna do. So, we moved Slee onto the marimba, and Paul Revelli joined the band on drums, and we put ourselves out there. Two years later we made another CD, entitled "Pigs in a Blanket", and, with manager Jean Greendyke at the helm, rode the wave all the way to the big stage at the Fillmore and the record company audition at Club Lingerie in LA.
Eventually we lost steam and Revelli got busy playing better-paying gigs, so we re-formed again, this time with Ned Selfe on the digital pedal steel, and Hacienda back on the drums. We put ourselves out there once again and even got invited down to Austin to play the revered Continental Club for a three night stand. Meanwhile we went back into the studio and made "Bowlegged". Today, Bwana has reformed (so to speak) with Ted O' Connell on guitar, Sleepy Hacienda on vibes and percussion, Paul Revelli on drums, and Pete Anderson on bass/vocals, and yours truly caterwauling away as usual.
To listen, download or purchase Bwana music visit: www.myspace.com/callmebwanaband
see also:
For itunes visit:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=266430976
For real CDs, visit:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/callmebwana
Bon Tempe was, is, and always will be the quintessential unknown Marin cult band. Named after the reservoir in the Marin watershed where everybody went to get high, the band was formed at Redwood High School in Larkspur, CA, around 1972, '73 or thereabouts and consisted of Bill Nelson on guitar, John Albritton on tenor sax, Bob Akers on alto sax and flute, Ken Corsiglia on drums and myself on bass and vocals. Our heroes when we started up were the Sons of Champlin, Cold Blood, and any number of jazz artists - Kenny Burrell, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Milt Jackson et al. We also were pretty into James Brown and all sorts of other funky sounds. I think one of the first numbers we played as a group was "Chitlin's Con Carne" by Kenny Burrell. Soon we were penning our own songs, one of which - "Vegedibles" - became sort of an underground organic anthem for our small band of followers. (Photo L to R: Bob Akers, John Albritton, Moi, Bill Nelson, Scott Kohler.)
So, we were unusual when we started - not a lot of seventeen year olds were playing swing and latin groove at the time - then and got even more unusual as time went on. Some time in '74 Ken Corsiglia split and Scott Kohler joined the band on drums. Shortly there after we recorded our one and only album, live at the Tiburon Peninsula Club with David Brown at the controls of a Teac 4-track. The tape has recently been remastered and digitized and is now available on CD.
Then I went to college in Colorado for a couple of years and Scott Tunis took over on bass. In 1976 I came back and the band rented a house for the summer in San Anselmo, Scott Kohler left the band and was replaced by Dave Casini. We rehearsed our asses off and tried to get as many legitimate gigs as we could. As a result we covered a lot of the current popular schlock like "Sarah Smile", "Shining Star", "Moonlight Feels Right", "My Love is Alive" -- we were probably one of the worst top-forty bands on the planet. We also wrote a bunch of great new songs, most of which were never recorded until our 2004 reunion gig at the Sleepy Hollow Clubhouse.
Although Nelson now lives in Manhattan, and Albritton is down in Laguna Canyon, we can get together "on demand" if you're looking to relive some funky Marin music. We also have several classic recordings on CD, including the original Bon Tempe album (1975), a rare party tape from 1973 with Mark Cummings on keyboards, and a CD of our reunion gig in 2004. We can be reached at bontempeband@comcast.net or give me a call at 415-454-8520.
To listen, download or purchase Bon Tempe music visit: www.myspace.com/bontempe
Looking for the world's greatest party band? We've got a network of musical pals around these parts that will satisfy the sixties in you and your friends 'til the proverbial cows come home. We've got a reputation for turning the most sedate, sophisticated, mature individuals into twitching, slobbering, teenage idiots. It's something about all those great songs by those great bands - Stones, Beatles, CCR, Van Morrison, Allmans, James Brown - that puts the boogie in the collective butt, I guess. We're definitely the ideal band for those half-century birthday parties. Give me a call at 415-454-8520 or send a note to jebh@comcast.net. We'll put together the right 5-piece 4-piece, 3-piece, 2-piece, 1-piece or no-piece band for your soiree. Sometimes we're able to get Bonnie Hayes to join us, and, thusly on such occasions become the "solar system's greatest party band".
Of course that's not all. There was Tye, Mad Jack, The Sky Blue Band, and The Old School Revue back in CT. One of these days I'll buy more web pages and tell all these stories in the proper style. There's tapes, videos, posters, and all sorts of embarrassing pictures. So stay tuned...
