A Bug's Life

A Bug's Life

Bugs and I have met before a few times in Portland back in the nineties. He claims we kissed once at a Karaoke bar, but I have no recollection of this. He is basically a Mexican Little Richard/ Bob Dylan looking cat who was stricken by the Beatles and other great popsmiths at a young age.

My good friend Brady Woodcock phoned me out of the blue and when he learned we were going through New Mexico to record in Marfa Texas, (well, we ended up in Valentine to be specific) he mentioned this character we used to hang with.

The main thing we were going to see in Marfa was the fake Prada store that is an art installation in the middle of nowhere sort of designed to fall apart. Approaching it all illuminated at night was quite a surreal event. That's where we met Boyd Elder, a famous artist Toby's dad knew. During the seventies, Boyd was renowned for his Eagles album covers. He looks a bit like Carl Lagerfeld outside this art facade. A couple of us join him in his souped up 1969 Mercedes only to realize that the trailer fell off our RV. After sorting that out, we are invited to spend the night at Boyd's ranch. We agree to spend the following night there as we are already reserved at the Thunderbird motel, but follow him into the desert to rid ourselves of the awkward trailer. I spend the night on the RV with hopes of seeing the famous "marfa lights", a mysterious light phenomenon first reported in the 1890s. The only thing disturbing my sleep seemed to be a very loud feline sex party going on in the brush. The stars are so incredibly bright out here, it's amazing.

Next day in Marfa, Boyd has hooked us up with a radio interview at the NPR affiliated 93.5 FM and after completing some much needed laundry action, we head off to Boyd's ranch. He leads the way after we run into him getting gas in town.

Boyd's ranch is incredible. He has mostly lived here throughout his life. He was all over the sixties. Met everyone important. The trip to his ranch today, he resembles much more his good friends Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper, a real cool easy rider type, sussing out his leather clothing line from this remote compound with his three cats, two dogs and a couple of horses. Admittedly socially awkward, he relishes his privacy and laments the growth spurt Marfa is apparently experiencing.

He used to raise chinchilla in the building we set up recording gear. He begins cooking us our meal as Bugs and I start the mexican inspired tune. Bugs has brought with him a guitar-like Cuban instrument called a tres which inspires the key of the song we eventually get to..
Bugs is very blues inspired, which is great. He is truly at home on a fret board and during my interview, the group comes up with a blues jam, which I try and jump into but eventually burn out as it sounds like another band I cannot name. Clark feels we can still make something of it, so we leave that and move onto another song.

After turning in around three AM, we wake up the next morning to begin our long journey to Dallas and the antique music technology of Paul Slocum.