Clavius Productions presents two interesting blasts from the past this weekend: legendary DC mavericks 9353 and infamous loner folkie Gary Higgins. After years on hiatus, 9353 have regrouped recently, and tonight will be playing with always-excellent MD doom band Unorthodox. Tomorrow, however, will be Higgins' first DC show ever, as he went to jail when 1973's Red Hash was released, disappearing into obscurity for 32 years until Drag City re-issued the record. Anyone who hears Red Hash quickly comes under its mystical, highly personal spell. I saw him in November 2005 and the songs sound as fresh and haunting as ever. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see some original psych-folk in action!
Friday, April 18
Velvet Lounge
915 U St NW WDC
http://www.velvetloungedc.com 202-462-3213
$10, doors at 9:30pm, 21+
9353
Unorthodox
Yell County
Back in the '80s Washington DC underground was a hardcore-dominated scene (remember Minor Threat and Governement Issue?). There were a few bands with a substantially different sound, like the legendary Crippled Pilgrims and Hyaa!, but these were the exceptions to the rule. And...there were 9353.
more info:
http://lost-intyme.blogspot.com/2008/02/9353-1985-we-are-absolutely-sure-there.html http://www.myspace.com/144146670 http://www.chunq.com/9353/index.shtml ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Saturday, April 19
$10, doors at 9pm, 21+
Gary Higgins (Drag City)
Brandon Butler (ex-Canyon)
Stella Schindler
Mike Pursley (of Xeper)
Gary Higgins "During one forty-hour period in 1973, folk musician Gary Higgins and his band of five -- guitarist Jake Bell, cellist Maureen Wells, keyboardist Terry Fenton, mandolin/flutist Paul Tierney and bass player Dave Beaujon -- laid down one of the saddest, loveliest acoustic recordings you'll ever hear, the now semi-legendary Red Hash. Time was tight because Higgins had recently been arrested on drug charges and was facing years, maybe decades in jail. Money, too, was in short supply. The entire album was recorded on four-track, giving it the warmth and immediacy of live performance, but making it hard to hear instruments like bass and drums. Even so, its haunting harmonies and wistful mood are amazing; in addition to being an absolute distillation of 1960s and 1970s folk, it hints at the skewed purity of contemporary psyche folk.
Higgins disappeared after Red Hash was released, first serving out his sentence and later marrying, having a child and spending his time as many of us do, making a living rather than pursuing his dreams. Although Higgins and his friends recorded a few more songs together -- two of them appear on the Red Hash reissue as bonus tracks -- there was never another record. The whole unlikely experience seemed likely to drop into the black hole of lost albums.
Then, during the 1990s, word began to spread about Red Hash. Pirated copies appeared for sale on the Internet. Tracks were played on influential freeform radio stations like WFMU. Musicians, most notably Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance and Comets on Fire, cited the forgotten disc as an influence; Chasny even covered "Thicker than a Smokey" on his 2005 album School of the Flower. Zach Cowie, then negotiating to bring Comets on Fire to Sub Pop, received a burned copy from Chasny and immediately became fascinated with the album. He embarked on a quixotic quest to find its author, mailing off hundreds of letters and calling every Gary Higgins he could find in Connecticut phone books. Finally, he located that Gary Higgins -- still in northwest Connecticut, still writing and playing songs in his spare time, still holding the master tapes to his one and only full-length album. The album was remastered and reissued on Drag City in 2005.
I caught up with Gary Higgins in early July of 2005 as he and his band were preparing for their first concert in decades -- all original members except the guitar player (replaced by Higgins's son) practicing for a gig at Tonic in New York City. We talked about his extraordinary album, plagued by bad luck in the 1970s but now recognized as one of the original texts of the psyche-folk movement, an inspiration to many and a thing of beauty in itself." -http://www.splendidezine.com
Interview:
http://www.splendidezine.com/features/higgins/
