By Ramon Sender:
Musicians at Wheeler's -- well, that was just about everybody! But there
were
the great talents, like Josh (Cliff) Fitzsooth who played a 'righty'
guitar 'lefty' with
the most amazing results. I basically learned to blues jam on the
accordion
playing with Josh. And of course there was Moses/Alan with his portable
marimba and various recorders, always ready for a music session. Moses
and I shared an interest in simple melodies that remained within a
three-chord
matrix, so that anybody could learn them quickly. "La Bamba" was one of
Moses' favorites. And then there was Willie B., master guitarist and
singer.
Most well-remembered for me is his "I Can Sing About Anything"
song, in which people take turns making up a verse (singing about
anything),
which I also believe is the genesis of the true blues style. And Drummer
Dan
Moore, whose talents with everything percussive also included bells and,
in
more recent times, the most amazing singing crystals.
Who else? Steve McGee, of course, a consummate musician-friend of Moses'
who moved on the land -- and is now a talented painter selling well in
NYC.
I hesitate to continue naming names for the fear of missing some
major ones, such as Snakepit Eddie, a truly gifted jazz saxophonist who
brings
to mind the likes of the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Snakepit also goes
down
in tribal herstory as the capable president of the Ahimsa Church who
convinced Sonoma County officialdom of the Ridgefolks' right to food
stamps.
Right on, Snakepit! I believe the fierce glow in his eyes, the
righteousness of
his mission and his amazing 'do' (front top of head shaved bare) might
have
helped the food stamp lady make up her mind.
But I'm drifting off-topic. Suffice it to say that music was created
afresh every
day. Somewhere I think there must be some reel-to-reel tapes made on
Moses'
fancy portable recorder, but exactly where I have no ken.
Alicia Bay Laurel as a strolling twelve-string guitarist singing her own songs created a special presence on the Ridge. Songs such as "Onward,
Onward Ever Flow," "Thanksgiving Song" and "In The Morning" all derive from the pre-publication of "Living On The Earth" era. With her return from a book tour at the end of 1970 and the formation of The Sheep Ridge Band, Alicia took up playing the acoustic bass guitar, a customized instrument that added a much-needed lower dimension to the clustered guitars.
Ramon Sender (by Alicia Bay Laurel)
Wheeler's and Morningstar hosted a wonderful and unique community music,
courtesy of Ramon Sender, who, as you may or may not know, was an
avant-garde composer of some repute before he devoted himself to yoga and
sun worship. He has a masters degree in composing from Mills College,
co-founded the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the early 60's with fellow
composers Mort Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley, and was one of
the co-inventors of the first synthesizer built on the West Coast with audio
engineer Don Buchla and Mort Subotnick (invented simultaneously with the
Moog synthesizer on the East Coast). He was the first person ever to play a
synthesizer with a rock and roll band--with Big Brother and the Holding
Company at the San Francisco Trips Music Festival in January 1966. Mills
College still puts on performances of Ramon's pieces from time to time.
Ramon's degree centered on modes (musical scales), and what he created at
the communes was an extension of this work.
He removed the "machines" (chord keys) from five autoharps, and tuned them
to identical pentatonic scales. This made it possible for an entire group
of people--musicians, wannabe musicians, children,
stoned-beyond-comprehension people--to make music together without any
out-of-tune notes or needed references to rhythm patterns. Ramon did not
hoard the instruments, but encouraged people to take them home, play them,
and bring them to the next event. He kept his piano tuning hammer in his
pocket and re-tuned the autoharps whenever they recirculated to a gathering
on the land. On top of these droning pentatonic scales, spiritual songs
were sung, and the occasional instrumentalist who could stay in the mode
would join in--on flute or guitar, usually. Sometimes Ramon had other
instruments that fit in the drone orchestra--bowl gongs, whistles, bells.
As one who participated in the drone orchestra, I can say that the
experience was totally enchanting at any state of consciousness.
|
|