Thursday, August 18, 2005

Ah well, here we go … THE RAGE OF PASSION TOUR …“Tour: a journey made for pleasure, especially as a holiday, visiting several different places in an area: a planned visit to several places in a country or area made for a special purpose”. So off we went … Linda, Mikee, Erika, and I… around 10:30-11 a.m. ... early for us … in the tie-dyed Luvermobile. My new car seat lift made the trip much much easier on everyone’s bodies. As cars passed us on I-5 there was a lot of thumbs-up, smiles, chuckles for the brightly LaBash painted Luvermobile! How we travel to L.A. is a sacred ritual. Drive for about three hours. Then eat a big meal at HARRIS RANCH … eating for three hours … Mikee and I load up on MEAT! Then drive for another three hours. Needless to say, we ran out of sunlight when we were on the Grapevine … driving on the L.A. freeways in the dark … which we wanted to avoid! Hey it is THE RITUAL! Then going winding curving through Laurel Canyon. Linda and I kept focused on her rubbing my cock, remaining calm even when cars crashed in front of us on Sunset Strip. (Linda wasn’t driving!) We just had time to make it to our favorite organic vegan restaurant REAL FOOD DAILY to get a lot of food to go before they closed. Then on to our fancy hotel that we are forced to stay at because of my rented hospital bed. The bellboys and car valets remembered us … maybe because of the car paint job! In the roomy room, Linda and Erika laid out the feast as Mikee set up the laptop, cams, LUVER, and the chat room so that we were completely connected to Da Boyz at home. After the feast, it was time for the shower ritual and getting ready for bed rituals. The four of us merged deeper together into our combined “homebody”. This would allow us to go much deeper into infusion in the two up-coming jams than has been possible before in public performances, explicitly going into one another’s bodies and beings within inter- and inner- penetrations. It is hard to capture the dynamics of infusion using language because in reality we are always physically within one another’s bodies. But Friday Erika rubbed me deep inside Linda through the aroused rings of orgasms as Linda rocked on my lap. And Saturday Linda rubbed me deep into Erika. This was so small as to be physically invisible. But it sucked the music deeper into intimacy aroused calm tribal ritual on Friday, and rooted the grinding throbbing lust on Saturday which was going on all around us three … rooted it in our warm liquid being together inside one another instead of being pulled into hot wet passion raging outside. A music jam is a perfect medium for infusion because everybody is playing off of everyone else, merging, following the music wherever it leads without pictures or frames. But enough of this philosophizing.

When we got back to our hotel after breakfast and clothes shopping to get ready to go to IL CORRAL, my shits came back [I had had the shits for the last month!]! Enough to say that I didn’t make it to the bathroom. Once we left the hotel, I wouldn’t meet another bathroom until we got back to the hotel about 9 hours later. There was a lot of activity in my bowels during the evening…every time they lifted me [in my miniskirt without underwear] out of my chair, IT WAS A HIGH RISK SITUATION! I know this is way more than you would like to know. But it gives you the inner context of that night’s performance. Btw, I made it back to the hotel, exploding on the toilet! Everybody was impressed that I held it in. Erika said that proved I am a shaman.

Il CORRAL is an underground live-in performance space that is in danger of being “discovered”…L.A. Weekly just labeled it the best place to listen to music. This has the small communal group who run it nervous because it may bring legal heat and limits. But for now it’s gloriously funky. It’s a brick building. The performance space is just a living room with sofas and easy chairs. It turned out that Bob who lives in the back has seen some of our performances over the years. I feel so lucky to be playing at such live community spaces! THANK YOU, STEVE DAVIS, FOR SETTING THE GIG UP! It was a very full night of cutting edge noise … from very subtle moving crystals in cups around the room ritualistically, changing the sounds … to the painful in-your bones bleeding eardrums grindings of THE HATER…to the strangely beautiful all-out (well, not really all-out for them!) attack of +DOG+ ... to intellectual playing of laptops by David Kendall. It was an ideal space for playing at because the audience was extremely focused in listening and Bob, who did the sound, took care that everything was clear and crisp…which isn’t often the case at most clubs.

The Cherotic All-stars was a big band that night … although we added even more members the next night at Suzy’s SPEAKEASY GALLERY. Friday the band included Steve Davis on bass, Vinnie Spit on drums, Jackie Spit on percussion, Dr. Gruve blowing his brains out on harmonica, Oren Karpovsky on guitar, and Mikee on video … Erika, Linda and I on erotic infusion and vocals. Actually Erika made her début on the clarinet in this jam. To begin, I sat alone doing noise vocalizings, setting the base for the jam, for several minutes. Then the band slowly formed in a semi-circle so I could eye-lock with everyone (especially with Dr. Gruve, Vinnie and Jackie), playing off of them. It quickly dropped into a tribal groove of many layers, slides and strobes playing on nude skin, the music falling into the infusion created by the rubbing bodies, going into hidden valleys and climbing up holy mountains. At one point Erika and Linda left me to “get” (cuddle) with each member of the band … and to dance with each other, singing, playing the clarinet. Meanwhile I was wailing with the band! We jammed for an hour. EXTREMELY SATISFYING!

Then it was 2 am. The rumblings of my bowels were playing a duet with the churnings of hunger in my belly. Hunger won out. We went to MEL’S, a 24 hour scene on Sunset Strip, for breakfast. But it looked like we wouldn’t get in … a long line to just park, and equally long lines to get in … unless you had big tits in a plunging neckline or had on a lot of gold chains! But my wheelchair [or was it my mini?] got us right in! A lot of cleavage, butt cracks, and other exposed body parts … and the food was more than passable also!

Then finally my date with the toilet!

The “tour” was really visiting two very different underground scenes in L.A. Friday was the noise scene. Saturday was the underground sex scene at The Speakeasy Gallery of Suzy Block in deep downtown L.A. The last time we were there 3 years ago, they just had moved in to the third floor of a huge warehouse. Then they just had time to carve out a studio space for Suzy’s t.v./web show within a chaos of moving crates, etc. This time the space was multi-rooms of impressive erotic beauty. The backdrop of the stage where our band played was a huge, surreal painting of nudes…that added a fourth visual dimension to our jam. Suzy, David, Kim, and Theron are family to us. So it’s always like being home with them … even within the tornado of sexual craziness. Linda, Erika [wearing just beads and bright boas … and slippers and cowboy boots] and I made our cameo appearance on Suzy’s big show bed. Well, I did have to help Suzy get an inhibited porn actress (there are a lot of them!) take most, but not all!, of her clothes off…the kind who says she just loves nudity and liberated sex…but then says she is “too tired” tonight to remove her clothes! But I like a challenge!

Then it was time for us to disappear from the bed to get ready with the band. We maxed Suzy’s mics and cables out. But Theron, her tech wizard, is the kind who gets the show on with duct tape and chewing gum … all the while telling me it would be great … and IT WAS!

The band was basically the same, but expanded, line-up as Friday. Steve added a keyboard to his pallet with his bass. Leo Coronado, a friend of Steve, joined us on guitar.

The other addition to the band was Liberty. He came to the show to just watch even though he was a casualty of my “firing” a nameless asshole who was Liberty’s connection to me. But he brought his bass just in case! Of course, I had him go get his bass from his car.

I made a serious mistake of placing Vinnie and Jackie on my blind spot of the performance area so I couldn’t eye-lock with them as I had on Friday. But I could see the rest of the band. It was a much more hard core grinding sound than Friday … maybe to match the bumping grinding in the audience and in the next room! But the intimate deep infusion rubbing/dancing of Linda, Erika, and I gave the grinding a soft warm human core…as Steve, Liberty, and the Spits provided the base for the guitars, for Dr. Gruve, and I to soar in and out of. In fact, for a long period of the 45 minute jam, Linda and Erika just lay together on the stage, cuddling nude into each other. At another point I had Erika on my lap rocking, Linda rubbing me deep between Erika’s legs, Suzy humping my arm, Kim caressing my knees as Liberty totally blissed out smiles Buddha-like and then lets out screams of passion as Dr. Gruve scatted in my ear as Mikee and at least 3 other video cameras zoomed in and out. Linda and Erika got/cuddled with each of the band…and David (Suzy was occupied in the next room!).
After the jam, a topless young performance artist … who turned out to be a student of our good friend Rachel Rosenthal … said “that was the most surreal pleasurable, chaotic performance I’ve ever seen!”

My dessert was Suzy rubbing herself into my lap! The only distraction was that dammed vibrator! When you have women like Suzy, Kim, Linda, and Erika a vibrator is like eating a Big Mac during a seven-course gourmet feast! But you don’t nitpick when Suzy is on your lap!

After my dessert, it was time to make an extremely emotional journey of departure. Everybody crowded onto the freight elevator with us to go down to the Luvermobile. There was a lot of hugging and kissing between our two groups of sexual [r]evolutionaries! FAMILY! And of course my miniskirt fell down as I was getting into the car as a fitting finale! (It fell down again when I got out of the car at the hotel!)

So the plan was to eat vegan take-out in our hotel … sleep a few hours, drive a few hours, eat a big meal at Harris Ranch, sleep there, get up and eat another big meal before driving home. But Vinnie made me an offer that I could not refuse. He wanted me to come to his recording studio at his home in the Valley to record a free jazz duet of me vocalizing and him playing the sax! Hey, that has been one of my dreams! So after $50 worth of tiny bowls of room service oatmeal in the morning, we headed to Vinnie’s. We two cooked together, soulfully wailing, infused in the groove! So we laid the track down fast! Then he did a short but deep interview with me. But then we went into their house to see his collection of custom art guitars. And then time slipped away as it does when 6 people with a lot in common find one another! We barely made it to Harris’s before the dining room closed! Ah! That prime rib!
Such an intense trip has opened a new depth in our tribal body!

Frank Moore
August 18, 2005

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From: VinnieSPIT@aol.com
To: fmoore@eroplay.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 8:07 PM
Subject: From Vinnie

Hey Frank,

Thanks again for including us in your live performance and taking the time to do some studio recording with me. It was a great weekend. We had a blast.

I mixed the piece we did togther. It came out awesome. Killer recording quality. You come through crystal clear. You can hear every nuance in your voice. I'm thrilled with the performance. You'll be amazed how in synch we are. We did a great job.

I've made 20 solo albums, another dozen with other bands, and pile of other recordings and I think this is one of the best things I've ever recorded. I'm truly proud of it. Even after all these years of recording and all the songs, I'm really impressed with this one. It's really unique.

I'm burning you discs and will send them up this week. Can't wait for you to hear it.

Yes, I would totally love a t-shirt. I'm an extra large (XL).

Let me know when the discs arrive.
- Vinnie

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From: VinnieSPIT@aol.com
To: fmoore@eroplay.com
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 1:54 AM
Subject: From Vinnie

I made a short film entitled, "My Weekend With Frank". Sort of a scrapbook of the LA weekend. I made some DVD's of it. It's my makeshift visual aid when attempting to explain the shows to my jazz buddies.

I intentionally made it G-rated so the focus could be completely on the music. If everyone digs it, I can also make a "uncensored version". Although I do not feel the movie I made is censored, it's just one look at a piece of art from a specific perspective that I felt compelled to share with my mainstream musicians. The experience the way I interpreted it.

I incorporated the footage that you guys sent me plus some footage and things that I have that you may not. It's only 11 minutes long but full of content. A labor of love.

Frank, Linda, Mikey, and Erica - I'm sending some to you guys this week. Hope you get a kick out of it.

Steve - If you provide me with a mailing address, I'd be happy to send you a few as well. Plus, I'll throw in some other SPIT goodies that you can either listen to or use for skeet shooting.

Nice playing with you. You're a handsome guy. I'm trying to picture you with no hair. We need more bald bass players - so it's cool with me. Rock on - shave on!

Frank - thanks for the books. I had already read the Art of a Shaman on line but it was great to lay in bed and read it again in book format. I get more out of it each time. Starting on Chapped Lap.

Oh yeah, the CDs are killer. Very dynamic. Much better sounding than I expected. I really like the juxtaposition of the quiet, sparse parts combined with the more chaotic parts. Similar concept to my Ensemble Abstract CDs but with a different execution. Very cool stuff.

Anyway, I've rattled on long enough. Since I just finished the film, I'm missing the show. When is that September gig? I think I really might be able to make it if you guys still want me.

- Vinnie

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From: VinnieSPIT@aol.com
To: fmoore@eroplay.com
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 1:59 AM
Subject: PS from Vinnie

Frank,

I wanted to thank Mikey for all the cool artwork. Amazing stuff. He is super talented. I really dig these.

- Vinnie

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Band members in LA
RAGE OF PASSION TOUR

Friday at Corral 8/12/05:
Frank Moore - vocals, dancer
Linda Mac - vocals, dancer
Erika Shaver-Nelson - vocals, clarinet, dancer
Steve Davis - bass
Vinnie Spit - drums
Jackie - percussion
Russell P. Shuttleworth <a.k.a. Dr. Gruve> - harmonica
Oren Karpovsky - guitar
Mikee LaBash - video


Saturday at Dr. Suzy's 8/13/05:
Frank Moore - vocals, dancer
Linda Mac - vocals, dancer
Erika Shaver-Nelson - vocals, clarinet, dancer
Steve Davis - bass, keyboard
Vinnie Spit - drums
Jackie - percussion
Russell P. Shuttleworth <a.k.a. Dr. Gruve> - harmonica
Liberty - bass
Leo Coronado - guitar
Oren Karpovsky - guitar
Mikee LaBash – video

V I D E O

My Weekend With Frank
a video by Vinnie Santino

Frank Moore's
Cherotic All-Star Band
at the Il Corral

Frank Moore's
Cherotic All-Star Band
at Dr. Susan Block's Speakeasy

Frank Moore and Vinnie Santino Recording Session

A U D I O

Frank Moore & Vinnie Santino
recorded August 14, 2005
128k MP3 (8MB)

P H O T O S

Frank in his new car seat with Erika

Il Corral

Slides on bodies at Il Corral

Erika and Linda "get" Steve Davis

The band rocks at Dr Suzy's
(Right to left: Leo, Steve, Oren, Linda)

Dr. Suzy does her best to mend U.S. relations with Vietnam

Kim and Suzy swing it!

Frank and Dr. Gruve at Dr. Suzy's

Frank, Linda & Erika at Dr. Suzy's

Vinnie and Frank recording session

 

MORE PHOTOS!

The All-Stars at Dr. Suzy's
from Dr. Susan Block

The All-Stars at Dr. Suzy's
by Michael LaBash

Frank & Vinnie Recording Session
by Michael LaBash