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| John 'Drumbo' French at Oxford Zodiac - 📸Andy Swapp © 2005 |
This footage has now emerged from 1971. Two guys, Larry Sechrist (camera) and John Fizzdale (sound) came on the road with us for a promotional tour. We also had two roadies. By the time we arrived home, there was no money -- at least for me. I remember going to Warner Brothers to pick up my earnings. I was directed to Carl Scott, who had been sent by Warner Brothers to act as tour manager after Grant Gibbs ( our actual manager ) decided to abandon ship. Carl Scott was down the hallway to the right. When I came in, he asked me to hand him a box of KimWipes that was on a shelf behind me. He carefully his dark sunglasses and put them on, afterwards explaining that there "was no money" as the expenses had eaten up all the profits. I guess this was easier to do while hiding behind shades. Can you imagine doing seven weeks on the road and then getting stiffed entirely? Anyway, I did get to see some of this footage from the tour when Larry and John brought a sample of it up to Felton ( near Santa Cruz ) and we watched it on a projector without sound. I notice here that Don is completely lost in "Woe is a Me Bop." This whole segmented performance was edited together by Elliot Ingber (Winged Eel Fingerling), who had this concept of "no breaks" and featuring the best bits of music all flowing together. Also, notice Elliot wasn't playing, because most of this stuff was beyond his grasp. We had six people in the group, one of whom barely played, two roadies ( I'm sure they were paid) and two guys in a film crew ( who probably ALSO were paid). No wonder there was no money for the band. Anyway, I find it really ironic that someone owns this footage ( which wouldn't exist without US) and is selling our image without any thought of the band actually getting paid. The same with the Record Companies! The only company that has paid us consistently has been Sony -- and this is for Safe as Milk. However, even this is a bit wonky, as when Safe as Milk was released on CD, they added several "bonus tracks" -- and those tracks are actually from "The Mirror Man Sessions," which was a separate, unfinished album. So, they're technically paying us for one album while selling two. I know, I bitch a lot about the non-compensation, but, this was some of the HARDEST work I've ever done, and was groundbreaking! Yet, the guys pictured ( aside from Don) really never received much, if any pay. Mark Boston recently had to have a fundraiser just to keep a roof over his head -- and now someone is selling our images -- yet again, without compensating us at all.
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