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Patrick John Brayer

~ Fieldnotes from Wrongtario

Patrick John Brayer

Category Archives: Profiles

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Waltzing Kokopelli to the Greek

24 Friday Apr 2020

Posted by patrickjohnbrayer in Profiles

≈ 5 Comments

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Influences, Memories, Michael Hedges

Remembering Michael Hedges by Patrick Brayer 2020

There is no present moment in time.  Case closed. The present is much quicker and stealthier than that.  The actual present is just a sword swish.  Try to be too present in that and you might well lose an arm.  Venus de Milo is a classic example.  The past, which is usually the sole barking subject of memoir, is just a string quartet of smoke, knee-deep in the ghosts of iron and ice.  Things die from day one, and then we find, using rationale, that we haven’t a sturdy enough shelf for the resulting mystery.  That in a nutshell is the human condition. I conclude that all great works are based more on mystery than on fact, despite contrary belief. Upon reflection I guess you could see this piece as a 23-year late sequel to my Starseed Eulogy (1997).

PBPh Hedges Martin Bass copy.jpg

(Martin prototype Bass / Speech and Hearing Clinic, Mendocino CA 1997 Photo: Patrick Brayer)

Our mystery here starts on August 10, 1996, the day I got a call from my pal Michael Hedges on my ruby red rotary-dial telephone.  He was inviting me to meet up with him at The Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, and asking if I might escort him later that day to the Greek Amphitheatre.  He was scheduled to open up for Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and suggested that I might pick up some jalapeno chilis at the store on the way, for us to juice with some carrots that he had brought.  I gassed up my crumpled eggshell pale Ford Courier, pushed back some of the springs ‘jack-in-the-boxing’ through the red vinyl upholstery, and climbed us, the jalopy and I, onto the west bound I-10.  It was as a vehicle, Tom Joad worthy, but it had plenty of room for a couple of siamese-twin shaped harp-guitars.  My bumper sticker read loud and clear, “Give Me Ralph Stanley or Give Me Death”.  My friend, photographer Robert Morrow (City of Quartz) once said that he would like to get one of those stickers himself, but that he was afraid, it being Fontana, that someone might take him up on the deal.  Both were wise men.

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Song Eulogy for Chris Darrow (1944-2020)

26 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by patrickjohnbrayer in Profiles

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Chris Darrow, Influential, Local Music, Memories, Obituaries and Memorials, Songwriting

Darrow 70's headshot.jpeg

Photo: Steve Cahill

I wrote the song Empty Cage Behind (SH-V60) to eulogize in my own fashion my long-time friend and mentor, Christopher Lloyd Darrow who passed on January 15, 2020.  First off, I’ll talk a little about my songwriting process in the hopes that it will keep all apologies I might feel I need to spout nestled at bay, ghost grey, confined but peering out witchy between the lines.  For a video of the performance at Chris’s memorial, see the bottom of the page.

The need to avoid early compromise is built right into the process, so as a creator it’s always an ongoing struggle to not let the nagging voice of insecurity, perched on the shoulder, sucker-punch the whole affair.  Literary surgery may work later, but at the start it won’t help, due to the simple fact that you can’t go there if you don’t know what you’re doing as of yet. I started into motion, in this case, with just an overall image of Chris in my head, and then I begin to conjure the paint of language.  As soon as I get going it is crucial that I just get out of the way, side-stepping, and letting the imagery flood in somewhat cinematically on its own accord.  I won’t call it a trance, mainly for the well-deserved fear that Wavy Gravy might appear at my doorstop looking for his lost macramé commune sandals.

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Christopher Lloyd Darrow (1944-2020) Remembrance

17 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by patrickjohnbrayer in Profiles

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Chris Darrow, Influences, Influential, Local Music, Memories, Obituaries and Memorials, Songwriting

63294_451537522763_4414085_n.jpg

(photo: Robert Morrow)

It is with a bound and aching heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend Christopher Lloyd Darrow on January 15, 2020. He stood for me, as he did with many, as a treasured friend, mentor, brother-figure, father-figure, and professorial inspiration as to the inner workings of the artistic lifestyle. He had one of the most original voice stylings I’ve ever witnessed, tone somehow filtered through the jowls. “King of the jowl singers” I like to say. That originality spread over into everything he touched, be it slide guitar, fiddle, photography, or a self-realized philosophy. It was all one thing to him. Continue reading →

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Chris Darrow / Under My Own Disguise

18 Thursday Feb 2016

Posted by patrickjohnbrayer in Profiles

≈ 1 Comment

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Brayer Writing, Chris Darrow, Influences, Influential, Inland Empire, liner notes, Local Music

pbph-darrow-by-brayer.jpg
(photo: Patrick Brayer)

Chris Darrow / Under My Own Disguise / limited edition box set

Everloving Records 2009

In the form of a lavish LP-sized box set from Everloving Records, Chris Darrow / Under My Own Disguise (re-release produced by J.P. Plunier), we have the American re-emergence of two prime and pristine examples of straightforward Vietnam era country rock and folk from the forsaken vaults of United Artists. Part one contains the self-titled Chris Darrow (The Grey Album) from 1973. Part two contains Under My Own Disguise from 1974 (with one additional bonus track). The graffiti inspired box comes with a set of two CDs, two 180 gram vinyl LPs, a forty eight page booklet including within it an array of archival photos by Steve Cahill, and a full sized replica of the Darrow mask used on the cover of the Disguise album. The set lists for $80.00.

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My Dinero With Fowley

16 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by patrickjohnbrayer in Profiles, Southern California

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Brayer Writing, Influential, Inland Empire, Kim Fowley

the persona of kim fowley is, to use his own vernacular, like lon chaney duct taped to david bowie, in the man who fell to earth / all that image compacted, he verbally hands you a live grenade while he swallows the pin and grins in meticulous disarray / he is too much americana for any one journalist, theatrical degenerate aside, melanoma scars tattoo his forearm, licorice like clark kent glasses, he whittles his roast chicken with a sculptor’s hint of royalty, and that is to be our first glimpse at the dropping of the guard into the belfry of a real life / to be all things at once is what honesty is, but to be all things at all is something the average joe cannot handle, not outside of the personal plushness of his own strip mall vaudeville needs anyhow

pb-fowley-dinner-51.jpg

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Gary Lee Murray (1952-2015)

04 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by patrickjohnbrayer in Profiles, Southern California

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Tags

Influential, Inland Empire, Local Music, Obituaries and Memorials

This is a note concerning the passing of our friend Gary Lee Murray of Riverside CA.
Press Enterprise obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pe/obituary.aspx…

There is a guestbook there to share your remembrances and photos.

gary-murray-riverside-ca-memories4.jpg

It is very easy for me to say that Gary Murray was one of the most unique individuals i have had the worldly pleasure to meet. Just the mere thought of his name brings on a plethora of stories.

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Online Music Store

https://patrickbrayer.bandcamp.com/music

Pages

  • Brayerian Blog Introduction
  • Patrick Brayer : The Father of Dank Country
  • Short Chronological Trip to the Attribute Farm
  • Patrick Brayer Song History
  • Patrick Brayer Song Adaptation and Sessionography
  • The Secret Hits of Patrick Brayer Discography
  • Brayer Interview: Valley Daily Bulletin Sept. 2008
  • Patrick Brayer Acoustic Guitar Magazine Oct. 2001
  • Patrick Brayer: Video and Music Samples
  • New 2022 CD Available / Cabbage and Kings
  • Brayer Photos: Heroes in My Camp
  • Patrick Brayer Blog: Fieldnotes from Wrongtario

Recent Posts

  • Mike Davis (1946-2022) Fontana’s Own
  • Patrick Brayer: Unhinged and Unmistakable
  • Brayer: Cabbage and Kings / quotes and testimony
  • Patrick Brayer: Cabbage and Kings Lyrics and Commentary
  • Dick Barnes: Creosote Speaks
  • The Starvation Cafe Posters
  • Tim Weed: Calfskin Wonder
  • Saving the Dust for Last / Song analysis January 2021

Categories

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  • Southern California

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Alison Krauss Autobiographical Brayer Family History Brayer History Brayers Brayer Writing Charlie Williams Childhood Chris Darrow Concert Correspondence Fontana Hardmans Historical Fontana Influences Influential Influential Writer Inland Empire Inland Empire Hall of Fame Instruments John Brayer Kim Fowley liner notes Literature Local Music lyrics Memories Michael Hedges Nutters Obituaries and Memorials published liner notes Secret Hits Song Back Story Song Interpretation Songwriting Starvation Cafe Union Station Writers
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Discography and Resources

https://patrickbrayer.bandcamp.com https://patrickbrayer.com

Recent Comments

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Recent Posts

  • Mike Davis (1946-2022) Fontana’s Own
  • Patrick Brayer: Unhinged and Unmistakable
  • Brayer: Cabbage and Kings / quotes and testimony
  • Patrick Brayer: Cabbage and Kings Lyrics and Commentary
  • Dick Barnes: Creosote Speaks
  • The Starvation Cafe Posters
  • Tim Weed: Calfskin Wonder
  • Saving the Dust for Last / Song analysis January 2021

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