THE MAGIC BAND - ‘CIRCUMSTANCES’ - Live on Swedish TV 4’s Breakfast Show 2006

As John French reminisces today on his Facebook page: 

Here The Magic Band (Gary Lucas, John French, Denny Walley, Mark Boston, and Michael Traylor) rip into a classic number from Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's "Clear Spot" album live on national Swedish TV 4's breakfast show during a Swedish tour in May 2006.

YouTube link from :

Gary Lucas

"Circumstances on Swedish TV in 2006. We rehearsed in the basement the night before, then slept in the changing area. Everyone got a little bedroom but me. I wound up sleeping in the women's showering area on couch cushions I had taken from the lounge. It's a long flight to Sweden, and our layover was in Chicago's O'Hare airport, which is probably the worst airport I have ever been in. I was completely lost in O'Hare and had to keep asking until I found someone who told me, "Oh, you have to go down this long hallway, climb a stairway, get on a trolley, and go to a completely different part of the airport." I got there just in time, and met up with Denny, who had gone through the same mess minutes before. People were boarding as I got there. When we landed, I went and stayed at Michael Maksemenko's apartment ( other drummer/singer from Crazy Backward's Alphabet ) and took a nap. His daughter came home, and here's the random guy sleeping in a little niche. Michael and I went out for coffee later, and I played some of my new music for him ( which came out as "City of Refuge"). Ralf Nygård had arranged for us to appear on the early morning TV show. I think we performed at 7:00 a.m. I remember having to go warm up my voice in a green room. We all had to be in makeup in the morning. Immediately afterward, we and our rented equipment were taken to a van outside, driven to the airport, and flown to Umea on a small commercial Jet to play the M.A.D.E. Festival. The only thing supplied at the show was a drumkit, which was already set up, but completely wrong. We had a big room to practice in and Jimmy Agren ( great slide guitarist who appeared on the Kaiser video I participated in) was hired as our liason - to make sure we had everything we needed. It was a cozy room, but we were limited to certain hours because it wasn't a soundproof room, and it bled through into the area where the performances were taking place. After our performance here, we played at Club Fasching in Stockholm, Sweden, which was our last performance with Gary Lucas. The Magic Band lay dormant for three years after that, but then we were invited to play an ATP event, and that was when recently-betrothed Eric Klerks and drummer Craig Bunch joined, as Michael Traylor ( the drummer in this video) had to have knee surgery. Craig was unhappy with the group, and replaced by Andy Niven a couple of years later. “ 

John Drumbo French

http://www.beefheart.com