Fire and Ice by
Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
I most likely met
Michael Clark through his wife, artist
Suzanne Kelley Clark, perhaps a decade ago.
 |
| Suzanne Kelley Clark figure drawing. |
Through Michael (and my other friend
Larry King) I learned to
love the
surf guitar genre.
Michael also shared his
other musical passions with me -- his appreciation for
swing and blues guitarists like
Bill Jennings and
Tiny Grimes. He opened my ears with his gormet
Mosaic Box Set collections of
T-Bone Walker, Charlie Parker, and
Thelonious Monk, and hipped me to
Texas rock legends, the
13th Floor Elevators.
Back in the day, we checked out a few
Dallas Guitar shows, a
ZZ Top concert, two
Dick Dale performances, and even saw
Los Straitjackets live -- I always had a great time whenever we linked up.
I saw Michael at the
Lakewood Starbucks yesterday, two days after he played a recent live set at a Dallas club. Sadly, I missed that performance -- but I did manage to score his
2007 CD "Brave New World" from him at the
Starbucks.
It's an
ultra-fab CD -- and for me,
fits nicely into the surf genre we love -- while some might characterize it as perhaps,
"psychedelic" -- I prefer to dub it in my true
Mango fashion as
"Hypno-Surf." I consider Michael's CD as
nothing less than a
masterpiece, complete with
hypnotic power chords, ambient soundscapes, blistering reverb and feedback guitar licks, trance-inducing psychedelic imagery, tasty and haunting horn playing, and those all-important
driving surf drums.
What can I say?
I'm blown away. Michael has melded
his influences with
consummate artistry.
Here is Michael's own writing from his old
Myspace page:
"Hi. I'm
Michael Clark. I am the
guitarist and
composer for my band,
intodown. It is with the help of very talented musicians that I am able to record, produce and present live, the music of intodown.
The latest record is
Brave New World. Brave New World can be heard on Facebook
, Bandcamp, Myspace and the
intodown website and purchased at
CDBaby, Bandcamp, iTunes and most of the other legit download sites on the web.
A Big thank you to the
170+ college radio stations that played, and continue to play,
Brave New World. And, a Very special thanks to all the reviewers who took the time to listen to the record and write intelligently about the music. Thank you for your time!
Reviews can be read on
Facebook and the
intodown website.
People ask about my
influences. Well, most influencial would be the
13th Floor Elevators who I had the pleasure of
sharing the stage in late '60's. Blues, psychedelic, surf, progressive, ambient, stoner, be-bop, classical guitar and some classic rock are influences.
Cream, Jimi, Gilmour, Dick Dale, Hollywood Fats, Miles and
Theolonious are important influences.
I also work with other artists and bands. Tracking my guitar, sound design, arrangements, ideas, what not. Feel free to contact.
What you hear on
BandCamp are "idea jams." These improvisations are one of my compositional tools. It's usually 30+ minutes of raw emotion strapped to an
out of control sonic rollercoaster spinning into oblivion. Just how I like it. And, I hope you do, too!
Free to download. Please share these tracks with the right friends. And please play it
LOUD."
Genre: Progressive / Psychedelic / Rock
Don says, nah--
it's Hypno-Surf.
A
YouTube video:
Nostradomas intodown live at
Deep Elum Blues, 2010 ~
Michael Clark - Guitar, Smokin'
Dave Vincent - Harp,
Fred Harvey - Saxophone,
Andy VanHousen -bass, and
Carol Dierking - Drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeAXyO4z3ks
The
intodown homepage:
http://www.intodown.com/
