Rabbit Choir

Rabbit Choir is now on Facebook

2011-05-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The age of the blog is over.

There is now a Facebook Group called Rabbit Choir Friends and Fans Peer Group and it's where all the action is. All the band members are on it and a bunch of old friend and fans posting music, photos, etc.

Just go to Facebook, search for Rabbit Choir and join up.

See you there.

Raz

A photo is worth a thousand words

2008-05-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you Kiona for sending me the pictures from our first trip to Davis. I posted them with the "Live from KDVS show" below. That was a great trip.

If anyone has any more pictures, please email them to me at razbury666 at gmail dot com.

Here is a handout that Paul from San Diego sent (Thanks my man!). We sure were busy November 1990, starting in Humboldt, then Portland, San Diego, Davis, Berkeley, San Louis Obispo, and Eugene.

And thanks again to everyone who posts a comment or story. It is great to read them and always brings back a bunch of memories.

I was just reading a comment from Rick from Eugene who remembers the time that our drummer, Doc, blew up our manager, Robert... A great story for sure. I'll post it soon.

Keep 'em coming.

Thanks everyone.

Raz

Nothing shocking

2008-04-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

"Never buy a vehicle that catches on fire."

Said matter-of-factly, with only a trace of irony in her voice. I think she said it mostly to herself, to provide some purpose, some lesson learned to make the current situation somehow bearable. I remember her saying it only once, but she may have repeated it over the course of the next three years. It didn't matter though, I heard it many times anyway. An echo whenever there was a need to put on a head-shirt and overalls and fix the van once more.

"Never buy a vehicle that catches on fire." Words to live and grow by from Stacie Black.

We were Southbound on 101, somewhere north of San Louis Obispo when I smelled something burning, there was a loss of power and I had to pull over. We just left our one bedroom apartment on 54th Street and Shattuck Ave in Oakland three hours earlier to embark on our first tour.

For six months prior, we managed to hold down jobby jobs, me at La Vals for a while, then Gino's, Stacy at ToGo's then Domino's, Tommy and Jimmy working with autistic adults. I remember that I made $120 a week from Gino's and on payday I'd stop at the Alcatel Liquor Store on Alcatraz and Telegraph, buy a six pack - 3 Anchor Steam, and 3 Anchor Porter for black and tans. This was my reward for the week.

All the rest of the money would go to only three things: rent (not much, we shared a one bedroom in the hood), studio time, and a new van. All of us were in the same boat. We worked, we gigged, we went to parties, and we spent all our money on studio time or saving for a new tour van.

To put this in perspective I brought home $120 a week and studio time at Live Oak Studios in Berkeley cost $54 an hour and 24 track tape cost $140 for 18 minutes at Leo's Music around the corner. Everything we had went to the band.

It was June when we where wrapping up recording of Eat Music Not Meat and we socked away $600 in the van fund. I found a 74 Chevy Van for sale in Alameda, gave it a test drive and bought it on the spot. I was pulling up to 54th Street with smoke pouring from the engine and a carburetor with flames shooting out each time the engine backfired. The transmission dripped so bad it already needed another quart of fluid.

"Never buy a vehicle that catches fire."

I assured everyone that these were minor issues and I'd have it ready to roll in time.
I can't remember what I did, but I got it working good enough to restore confidence. We set out for San Diego.

By San Louis Obispo, the transmission was out of fluid and smoking bad. It didn't look like the van could make it to SD. By the side of the road, Stacie said what we all were thinking, "Never buy a vehicle that catches on fire." It was after midnight when I hobbled into the gas station and loaded up on Type II Automatic Transmission fluid to nurse the van all the way to Ocean Beach and our first stop on the tour. The Texas Tea House.

I admit, I like to mow the grass. It's my time to put on the noise canceling headphones, plug in the iPhone and spend some quality me time. Last Sunday morning I decided to listen to Jane's Addiction Nothing Shocking. When Ocean Side came on, the van memory came to me.

You see, Jane's Addiction had just released Nothing Shocking before we left. This was our soundtrack for the six weeks we were stranded in San Diego with a busted van. We listened to it over and over. By the end of the six weeks we would lose our drummer, gain a manager, die our hair black and blond, Stacie would get a nose ring, there would be a personal hygiene protest and the Chevy Van would have a new engine and transmission.

Nothing shocking.

Been a while...

2008-03-31T21:03:00.000-07:00

So about 3 years have passed since my last post. I kind of forgot about this site until today and much to my surprise there were comments! Glorious comments! People sharing some of there experiences and what a smile came to my face.

After reading each and every comment, I decided I better post another story.

In February of 06, our good friend and manager Robert Finn got married. It was a weekend to remember. Tommy, Stac, Doc and Robert all together again telling the old stories (if only Jimmy was there). It seems that each of us have entertained the idea of writing some of these down but the memories always seem more suited to the oral tradition than the written word.

The photo is Robert with his lovely bride Sheela.

Rabbit Choir Live on KDVS 2-8-90

2005-11-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Now let’s see... We bought the Chevy and gave up our one bedroom apartment in Oakland and started our tour in May or June of 89. I recall it was quite a party we through when we left. It seems we started a tradition in San Diego of completely trashing the house we lived in when we embarked on an adventure of unknown length. It was a symbolic act of destruction so we could be “reborn”, so to speak, in our new life (O.K. Maybe I’m reading to much into it, but it does seem poetic). I believe the highlight was Tommy stapling butter to the wall – the low point was Stacie getting served papers months latter at a show at the Starry Plough. I still feel bad about your resulting credit rating.

So as I said earlier, after WOW hall we decided to keep going – and did we ever. Show after show up and down the West Coast. Robert Finn kept up busy, playing every coffee shop, bar, festival, college campus, farmer’s market, you name it. These were the days of being completely broke. We survived on Taco Bell, eating what we called the Singer/Songwriter Special, 1 Bean and cheese burrito ($.59) and one tostada ($.59) and split a small soda between the 6 of us. After a show, we would buy Wiedemens Beer ($2.99 a 12 pack at Safeway) and a couple packs of smokes - not Camels of Marlborough, we settled on Viceroys as the cheap brand of choice. After eight months of touring, Jenny Nedrow got us a party in Davis CA, a campus show at UC Davis at noon on the Quad, and this show KDVS. She bought a carton of smokes (Marlborough Lites, the good ones) and kept the fridge filled with beer – we were in heaven. For the next 12 months, we would keep on the road, playing town to town and start recording High Fidelity Hare Cuts without any jobs or homes. Like I say, Rock ‘n Roll is a young man’s sport.

Live at KDVS, UC Davis, CA 2/08/90

Patrick
Where We Are
The Fish
Full of Love
Waiting
Crossfire
Home of the Free
Radio
Tragedy-Where’s the Weed

Rabbit Choir Rarities and Relics

2005-10-31T11:23:00.000-08:00

This is tape that Tommy made for Jenny before her after college trip to New Zealand. It has some great songs that I doubt anyone else has unless Tommy and Stacie still have some of these old original recordings.

There are really some classics - "Maggie Maroon" live at the High Sierra Music Festival, "GPC" (Yeah buddy full flavor) recorded on a 4 track in the Oakland Warehouse, "Patrick" recorded in a basement home studio in Portland and "Through The Rain" recorded late night at a San Franciscan studio that I can't remember the name of. Daren Long was the engineer and I think this is the studio we laid down the tracks for "Where's the Weed" that ended up on the "Cultivation '92" compilation. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong about this.

I still get shivers when I listen to "Big Brother" - always did when I was playing it, truely a powerful song.

Tommy labeled all the tracks on the tape so I know where these came from. I don't know the dates. Maybe Tommy, Stacie, Jimny or Doc can remember.

Leaving - High Sierra Music Festival
Maggie Marroon - High Siera Music Festival
Cabin Fever - High Sierra Music Festival
T-Funk - Warehouse 4 track
Follow Me Follow You - Warehouse 4 track
Quick Song for Jenny - Warehouse 4 track
Big Brother - High Sierra Music Festival
Revelations - SF Studio rhythim track
If Only - Berkeley Square
Palmer Fair - Backstage, Seattle
He Needs It That Way - Warehouse 4 track
Patrick - Portland Basement
Until Then - Portland Basement
GPC - Warehouse 4 track
Through the Rain - SF Studio rhythm track

Above Paradise 6-17-91

2005-10-23T02:40:00.000-07:00

Hey Kids!

Dave Goo here (it started out Dave Goob, but it regressed to Goo one night when Robert was on a bender ;).

This is the first Rabbit Choir show I taped with my D6, and has always been one of my favorites. Several of the then "older" tunes (like Bombadil, Summertime Lover, Younger Days, Part With Your Sadness, The Comfort, Patrick etc) fell out of the rotation soon after, so this tape got a lot of play over the years... even when RC was still playing live! It also happens to be the only show I recorded with the mics placed on the table (as opposed to somewhere near the soundboard and/or up and away from the crowd) which puts you two tables away from the stage if you put on headphones and close your eyes. The effect is enhanced by the omnidirectional mics, which basically pick up the whole room. Of course, this means everyone gets to enjoy hearing the bartender blend my margaritas during the acoustic set, assorted chitter-chartter, glasses clanking, and plenty of exuberant outbursts of "EEEEEE-YAW!". I've always dug the sound of the bus pulling away outside of the club at the end of Younger Days... it couldn't have been better timed.

First set is acoustic (well, sort of!), and the second electric. Enjoy!!

Rabbit Choir -- Above Paradise, San Francisco 6-17-91

Romantic
Bombadil
Summertime Lover
Friends I have Found
Younger Days
Part With Your Sadness-Full of Love-White Diamond Jewel
Watching the Corn Grow

Patrick
Barking Dogs
The Comfort
Monkey on a Stick
Chosen One
One Love-Joyful Noise
Waiting-Muster Up
Judgement
Tragedy-Where's The Weed?
Scott Go Ahead and Jump - Paints Her Own Picture
Nirvana
Shelter-Poppadiddy
Crossfire
Chain of Fools
Crawdad Song
Gentler and Kinder

Rabbit Choir Live at WOW Hall, 1989

2005-10-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

With the blue Chevy van broken, and the shows in San Diego and LA complete, Tommy, Jim, Joaquin and Stacie returned to Berkeley to fend for themselves while Robert and I stayed behind to rebuild the van. After a week long personal hygiene protest (both Robert and I didn't take showers and slept in our greasy cloths) we finished the the job and the Chevy lived again.

When Robert and I got to Berkeley, we found out that Joaquin had quit the band. So with one show left and no drummer, Doctor Don (a bass player really) joined Rabbit Choir and the adventure began. He didn't own a drum set (his mom bought one for him, thanks Mimi!) and he learned our songs in a week so we headed north to play the show.

This was definitely a cross roads. Tommy, Jim, Stac and I agreed that if Doc didn't work out, we would move to New York and start over. Well, Doc rocked the house and that started us on 18 months of uninterrupted touring of the West Coast.

Here are some tracks from the first WOW Hall show featuring Doctor Don on Drums. (The Smoldering Butts of Rhythmic Love Jams - U like it!).

Rabbit Coir Live at WOW Hall, Eugene OR. August or September 89. If you were at the show - please post a review or something, I don't want to do all the writing... and pass this site around!

Sweet Sensation
The Comfort
Coming Out of the Fog
Give and Take
Friends I Have Found
Travelin' Shoes
Nirvana
River and the Bank
Palmer Fair
Burlington Bay
PNG
Ruby Speaks
Withywindle Way-Bombadil
The Tree Song
Reverend Foster

Rabbit Choir Photos!

2005-10-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks Dave the Goo for the pics. Looks like these are mostly from High Sierra Music Festival (I have some live tracks from that show I will post soon.)

Then maybe that is Stacy at some place on the UC Santa Cruz campus (Sluggo's or that hippie coffee shop we would play) and maybe one picture of us playing People's Park in Berkeley.

If anyone else has any photos, send them to me and I'll get them up.

I just found out that Rabbit Choir "Where's the Weed" from Cultivation '92 is available on Yahoo! Music. Seems that Korn was also on that compilation - go figure.

Eat Music Not Meat - Rabbit Choir EP

2005-10-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

Fueled by the success we had playing Eugene, we completed recording Eat Music Not Meat at Live Oak Studio in North Berkeley. We took the name and the cover art from a flyer that Aubrey did for us the Summer of 1988. Armed with our new EP (cassette tape only) we booked shows in San Diego (I can’t remember where – maybe this was our first show at Winston’s Beach Club in Ocean Beach), a show at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go in LA and another show at WOW Hall.

The new Chevy Van we bought blew a transmission on the drive down, then it blew the engine in while in San Diego. (“Never buy a van that catches on fire on the way home,” words to live and grow by from Stacie Black). Once in San Diego, Robert Finn signed on to be our manager and immediately proved his unstopability by booking us a show on one day notice. It was at a brothel, but still – it showed some moxy.

This is the EP Eat Music Not Meat, recorded early 1989. This is the last recording with Joaquin on drums.

Rabbit Choir Live, Spring 1989

2005-10-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, after the demo tape was recorded, we had a drummer and a conga player in the band, I became Raz Bury (that’s Raz to you) – we started to play around Berkeley (mainly the Starry Plough) and booked a tour to Seattle and Eugene. The Seattle show was at the Central Tavern - empty, cold, raining, and they made Stacie stay in the van because she was under age.

Feeling low, the next stop was Eugene – we met Abe the first night we were there. The next morning, we went down to campus and played a street show. The crowd was huge, we sold many tapes and passed the hat for enough money to eat and got interviewed for both the college paper and the main paper in Eugene.

The show at Max’s was crazy – we sold the bar out of beer (they had to buy beer from the local liquor store). I remember getting the money from the owner and his hands were shaking as he counted out $450 in one dollar bills. The next day we bought Artimus – which Tommy used as a bed, but that’s another story.

This is a tape of live music that Tommy made for Jen sometime in the Spring of 1989. I think this is mostly a live show at WOW Hall in Eugene. All these songs are before Doc was on drums. My favorite track is PNG, recorded live in the living room of downstairs 61^st house right after Tommy wrote it. It was recorded on a home stereo with one mike plugged in. That’s me on harp.

The Demo Tape 1988

2005-10-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

This is the tape we made in Berkeley with Joaquin on drums and Chuck Groovy on Conga in the summer of '88. Thank you quarter meal!

Full of Love
Learning
Obsession

Rabbit Choir in the beginning

2005-10-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

You can trace the history back a long way, but the first time the band played as Rabbit Choir was at the Vegetarian Meat Out in San Diego, California in the spring of 1988. It was a three song set with Jim McAllister vocal and guitar, Tommy Barton vocal and guitar, Stacie Black vocal and recorder, and Craig Berghof on bass.

Then we played the open mike night at Drowsy Maggie's. It was a little coffee house in Hillcrest, close to the Texas Street house where Jim, Tom and Craig lived. We became a regular feature at Drowsy Maggie's when A-Star offered to donate some recording time at Mix Masters Studio. It seems he had traded some time for some carpentry work.

So the four of us drove to the studio in my 1971 VW Camper, and laid down all of these tracks live onto a two track. I remember we were told to stop after Part with Your Sadness and Tommy just started into Joyful Noise. We had just wrote Joyful Noise that day at the Zen Temple on the beach and it just seemed right.

Here are the MP3's of the tape we recorded in May or June of 1988. It was digitized from the first tape I sold to Jenny Nedrow (now my wife) in Berkeley later that summer. But that is another story.

Sweet Sensation
I & I
Faith of Francis
Rosmarie
Younger Days
Palmer Fair
Stop and Listen
Part With Your Sadness
Joyful Noise

Rabbit Choir Fans Everywhere

2005-10-08T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all you Rabbit Choir fans out there. Come-on, you remember - it was when you were in college. You met the bunch of hippies playing music on the street, selling their tapes and CDs, getting hassled by the man. You bought a tape, gave them a buck when they passed the hat and told your friends you just met a great band that is playing this Thursday (or Friday, or Sat.) at some bar or maybe some coffee house.

The day of the show, you got a call from Doc, the drummer, so you decided you just had to go to the show. When you got there, you found that this hippie street band actually rocked.

Your life was changed forever...

Or maybe you just drank a little too much beer, smoked a little too much weed and ended up inviting the band back to your house.

Hello - I'm Raz, the bass player in Rabbit Choir. I just started to digitize some old tapes that my wife had (she was a fan from the early days) and thought I would post them for anyone who might want to go back to their 'Younger Days". I'll post Rabbit Choir pictures, Rabbit Choir music, Rabbit Choir stories, etc.

If you have any Rabbit Choir stories to share - please post them. If you loved or hated the band, I'd love to hear from you (I know we pissed some people off in our day).

Any way, this is just for fun. I'm having a blast listening to the old tapes and trying to remember details. I know I will get a lot of them wrong - so if you remember it differently, please post a comment.

"How do you like it? Hot and tight!"

Raz Bury
Rabbit Choir
"We're the band that does this!"