Tulu, Baby!

Then they will hear something!

Natures table reunion

Just heard about a natures table reunion on saturday 8/11 7-1 at Mike n Molly's in Champaign. Anyone else going to attend? What about giving a nod to Oscar by verbal or musical tribute? Sounds like Jeff is in on this and may have more info.

Bontuku Pictures - Lots of 'Em!

Here's the link to my photo album: http://showtimedia.com/bontuku. The pics are all from 1986, except for a couple of Oscar taken in '87. The News-Gazette feature is also included, as are a few fliers from Classic Bontuku and a few from New Bontuku. Best of all, you get to see us with our scruffy beards, bushy hair and in the occasional short-shorts.

On hearing the old bootlegs...

First, thanks Doug & Sean for burning me all those CDs! I'd sure like to see that New Bontuku video you mentioned too, when you get around to it.

The Jan. 1987 recording (debut of "New" Bontuku) wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it. Sure, there's a lot of filler material with short heads and reeeeally long solos and percussion jams, but overall, it's not too terrible. The instrumentation (with sax, euphonium and Oscar on flute) makes for some interesting arrangements. The heads aren't nearly as punchy or involved as they were in the previous incarnation, of course. It's a classic case of Oscar knowing the limitations of his musicians, and writing tunes within their means.

Hearing the Classic Bontuku of 1986, it's about as good as I remember except for one thing: my solos freaking suck! Every solo I start, it's like I'm warming up all over again with the same boring long tones. One thing I have to say for Oscar... he gave us all a chance. He let us keep playing until we learned to express ourselves. I'd never be where I am today if it weren't for that opportunity.

Frat Parties

My 3rd cervical vertebrae vividly recalls a gig we plyed at a Frat Party that dumped a couple of tons of sand for a beach party. As we were drumming in procession, I climbed the ladder of the water slide, tossed my drum to someone, and dove headfirst into the deepest part of a very shallow pool.....Hey, what about the grocery store gig - DOLE PINEAPPLE!
Nice to be in touch and Mitch it was great to see you last night.

Heard from Moody

Moody called me last night. He'll be in Chicago with Gideon Foli Alorwoyie this weekend. I hope to meet up with him one night. I have his email address now. I'll give it to Jeff and he will invite him to participate. Still no word from Curt.

Heard from Weedy Braimah!

Just now, out of the blue, I got a call from someone who said he was Oscar Sulley Braimah's son. "Is your name Weedy?" I asked. That's right.... Weedy Braimah! He did a google search on his dad and ran across our blog. Even though he was just a little kid back then, he said he remembers all of us, and he was touched to read all the things we said about Oscar... it brought back a lot of memories for him.

Weedy is still based out of East St. Louis, and he tours full time with an African percussion ensemble called Afriky Lolo (www.afrikylolo.com). He said he and his mom would love to be involved in any reunion show we might do. He also said it's possible his dad would come back to the states sometime.