Drum Circle

Today’s musical track is a preview of an extended piece I plan to play later in the blog. For now--no, these are not whales. Scot had been named Composer-in-Residence at the, now prestigious Headlands Center for the Arts. I have hinted that there was a mutual lack of appreciation between Scot and some of the Center’s management. One of the really big deals for the Center that first year was an installation in the barrack building’s latrine, that would be both arty and serve as the Center’s public restroom facilities.

Artists were brought in to install, which they did. These artists decided there would be no need for separate men’s' and women’s' restrooms. OK. They fabricated the stalls from sheets of scratched on (maybe 1/4”) stainless steel, which was very heavy, and radiated cold in a 360 degree way. They also provided very good acoustics for all that went on in the room. Scot, however, immediately saw the acoustic possibilities of the massive steel structure these "stalls" came to be.

We went in late one night. I remember waiting until the management left. “Good Night!” And then we went into the latrine and set up Scot’s 4-track Teac. All the sounds on this tape were made there that night. He was mostly playing with a soft timpony-style mallet and some kind of scraping device. He ran around banging, a moving sound with the doors-—using his own body as a mute. Sounds like whales, doesn’t it? I’m looking forward to playing the whole piece. It’s called, ironically, “The Latrine Piece.”

Today’s artwork is a linoleum block print Scot did around the same time in the mid-1980’s. This piece was used to illustrate an interview with Mickey Hart of “The Grateful Dead,” in “Drum & Drumming Magazine.” Scot had work in magazines on the stands for a lot of the 1990’s. This piece was hand colored with acrylic wash, and is called, “High on the Peace Drum.”