Blogtuku

Tulu, Baby!

2009-05-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

2009-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Then they will hear something!

Natures table reunion

2007-07-19T05:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-05-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-17T20:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Russell Cheatham

2006-04-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Who is that masked man:

http://tinyurl.com/pwvfl

Peripherally related to Bontuku, since he's on one of the late tapes.

Welcome to Jeff Machota

2006-04-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've invited Jeff Machota in as designated Nature's Table Staff Representative. Please join me in welcoming him with a round of warm Augsberger Dark.

I'm hoping that Jeff will be kind enough to report on various unreported things related to all things Nature's Table and Bontuku.

Welcome, Jeff.

Another Road Trip

2006-04-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

I just remembered another road trip we did. We played a gig at a bar in Bloomington/Normal. I remember this because I stayed overnight with a couple of HS friends and their kid, and watched "Pee Wee's Playhouse" the next morning.

Anybody remember the bar?

Face of Kilimanjaro

2006-04-04T07:47:00.000-07:00

Just ran across a Bontuku tape called "Face of Kilimanjaro."

Side 1: All Bones, Face of Kilimanjaro, Yoon Yen Lee, Sutuluu, Step in Baby
Side 2: Seoul Time, Atia Kofi, Mogoble, Kelekya, Ayo

Personnel: Oscar, Kevin Kizer (tenor), Sarge (trumpet), Britta Langsjoen ('bone), Chuck Haarhues (gtr), Glen Schuetz (bass), Josh Quirk (Drums), Moody-guy (percussion), Russel Cheatam (organ)

1991, recorded at Clubhouse/Midtown Studios Studios, Champaign. Whitty Whitesell (engineer).

The Fans

2006-04-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

Without getting too specific (let's save last names for email, as this will get picked up by search engines)...

Who were the rabid fans and groupies for the band?

We all know Susan and Simona, they're immortalized in song.

Plausibility and logistics of a reunion party or....gig

2006-04-01T20:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, there's one obvious question lurking here: do we want to get together to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the album or the band or whatever?

At a minimum, we could get together for a party, some work on the archive, and some jamming at Mouse's studio, nothing formal, just for fun.

At the other extreme, we could somehow try to induce Oscar to come to Chicago, Scott to come in from Atlanta, and Jeff et al. to come up from Urbana. We could try to rehearse and actually play a Bontuku gig.

Just writing that seems preposterous to me. There are a million reasons why it would not work. But I thought we might as well discuss it. I know from time to time Brian Chambers has pleaded with me, Mouse and Tommy to let him produce a reunion show. We always laugh it off.

But hey, the traffic on the blog is slowing a bit, and I thought this topic would spice things up.

I'd sure like to see Oscar again before he dies, to thank him, to reminisce, etc.

You just missed bucket number six....wah, wah, wah, waaaahhh

2006-04-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

I just saw the subtitle ("you just missed bucket number six") to Blogtuku, which I think Jeff controls. Is the reference to Bozo's Grand Prize Game based on the turnaround in Tricky?

Things that never happened

2006-04-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

This is dedicated to things that were talked about but never happened. For me maybe I should call it "delusions of grandeur".
"Soul Cola" with Oscar as the mascot.
Touring Africa or anywhere for that matter.

Bontuku recordings

2006-04-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

Didnt see this anywhere else, apologies if this is already a thread

Here's what I have in the way of recorded Bontuku-
Nature's Table-8/9/86 Sets I+II (2 CDs off of cassettes)
Nature's Table-9/5/86 set I (1 CD from cassette)
Bontuku white Album (1CD from my LP)

What else is there? I'd love to add to my meager collection after all these years. I was at other shows for sure.

I also have the following post-original Bontuku recordings-
Wachamba-undated practice at parkland 1987 (1 CD from cassette)
Wachamba-Opportunity House 1/13/87 (1 CD from cassette)
the All-new Bontuku-Nature's Table 1/30/87 (1 CD from cassette)
Bontuku/Wachamba practice-Parkland College 2/4/87 (1.5 CD from cassette)
Wachamba-Nature's Table 5/20/87 sets I+II (2 CDs from cassettes)

and finally-
Oscar Sully-Jemelatu (1 CD from LP)
Oscar Sulley in collaboration with Korean orchestra-Friends

all of my stuff is available to any.

Gigs at George Chin's

2006-04-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

George Chin's place was an interesting place to play. They put us up on the third level in a room that wasn't a whole lot bigger than Nature's Table in terms of capacity. There was a sort of a stage area on the west side of the room. They'd also have jazz acts.

As is par for the course, I don't remember specifics about the Chin's gigs, except that it was hard to load in and load out, and it was loud. We got to be close to the crowd, as always.

George Chin's trademark phrase was, of course, "Money talk, bullsh-t walk!"

I'd see him around town occassionally, sometimes in downtown Champaign. He died several years ago, his son Eddie eventually sold the place. Eddie may still have business interests here in town.

What was Chin's is now called the Clyborne, I think.

News-Gazette Feature

2006-03-31T14:59:00.000-08:00

A reporter for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette came out to do an article on Oscar and his band. He showed up at rehearsal with a portable word processor, the first laptop device I ever saw. He typed our quotes directly into it and also some curious observations about us and 101 S. Lincoln. I haven't dug up the article yet, but here are some of the bits I remember...

"Eyes closed behind conservative glasses...." That's how he led into talking about Jeff. I think I borrowed the phrase in the liner notes of the White Album.

"Still wearing his winter coat..." That's what he observed about me.

"... a refrigerator stocked with Little Kings." Apparently he saw one bottle and let his imagination run wild.

A picture of Oscar ran on the paper's weekend section, and there was a nice spread on us inside. It had a picture of us at Nature's Table, and in the background you could see some pretty explicit artwork on the wall. It was good publicity for us and a good morale booster as well.

On a personal note, I sent a copy to my parents thinking they'd be really proud of me for being featured with this cool band. But I was going through some turmoil with them at the time... they wanted me to concentrate on school and preparing myself for a career, not all this music stuff. They weren't comforted to hear I was spending a lot of time with a 49-year-old African man. When they read in the article that he was planning to take us to Africa, they about flipped.

Most Valuable Player

2006-03-31T12:37:00.000-08:00

"Classic" Bontuku (!) would frequently award the "most valuable player" award at the end of the gig to whomever had acquitted themselves most admirably. Usually it was a musician, but occassionally it was one of the guys who helped us as crew.

I don't recall whose invention this was...

Oscar's Current Info

2006-03-31T12:17:00.001-08:00

I am in contact with an ethnomusicologist in Accra named John Collins. He ran a recording studio in Accra during the period of Martial law in the 1980's and played with Oscar back in the early 1970's in Ghana.

According to him, here is Oscar's current address and phone numer:

[Sean -- Jeff and I decided to delete this info since Oscar might not necessarily want his contact info to be so readily available. To anyone looking for Oscar's address, please click on one of the website links (Sean's, Jeff's, mine, etc.) and send an email to request it. Thanks. -- John]

According to the liner notes in Ghana Soundz 2, Oscar is the director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ghana. Professor Collins claims Oscar has retired, though.

Riot at Washington School

2006-03-31T12:14:00.000-08:00

We had a summer gig at Washington School in Urbana. (I went to this school for Kindergarten-2nd grade, by the way.) Washington is a magnet school, which incidentally was the first place I was exposed to the PLATO computer system, which had occupied alot of my time when I was in school.

This was a Park District gig. I remember this gig well, because Mouse couldn't be there for the gig (this was probably the summer of our discontent - summer 1986, then?), and I had scrambled to find a sub for him. The sub was Fritz Wolf, who is the brother of my best friend from High School, and who knew Oscar because Oscar had instructed the HS marching band drumline at Central HS in the late 1970s.

We were playing on the "showmobile", which you may recall is the Park District's mobile stage...pretty roomy, built-in lights, etc. They have several of them and still use them today.

I don't recall whether there were other players missing. I feel like we were short-handed, but it was a long time ago.

Anyway, we played for about a half hour, and someone got in a fight. I remember some authority figure coming up and getting on the mic and berating the crowd that, because they couldn't behave, they were going to have to stop the show. I don't remember actually seeing the fight in question.

Oscar the Teacher

2006-03-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

Lessons that Oscar preached or things he taught you that linger until today. I'll start with one.

"Play yourself" -- i.e., don't copy other people, but do your own thing. One time Oscar overheard me practicing in my room. I was reading a Miles Davis transcription straight out of the book, and he berated me for it. "Don't copy - play yourself!" he said. While I still believe there's value to playing transcriptions, I agree with his point... it's important to find your own voice. He never gave suggestions on how to approach your solos. He just stressed that you learn your rudiments, and he gave you lots of space to express yourself. If you played a particularly good solo, he'd say "Boy, you really played yourself on that one!"

(Please... no smart comments about playing "with" yourself.)

Welcome (in advance) to New Bontuku folks

2006-03-31T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm opening the floodgates, no sense in keeping all the fun to ourselves.

Welcome in advance to the Wachamba/New Bontuku folks.

In the interests of clarity, let's refer to the band you guys played with as Wachamba or Wachamba-Bontuku or New Bontuku, that way the guys who weren't involved with your band can tell what posts are relevent to them.

This Blog will be googled so don't say anything here you wouldn't want google to blab about.

Two other road gigs

2006-03-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

I remember at least two other road gigs. One at Wabash College in Indiana. One at a dive bar in Danville, without Curt. The Wabash College thing was fun. The Danville bar gig was kind of a chore.

Magical moments, fondest memories

2006-03-31T10:51:00.000-08:00

On the whole Bontuku was a great experience for me, although I wish it had lasted longer and not ended so abruptly and negatively. I have many great memories but some stick out more than others.

Probably my fondest memory was of a gig upstairs at House of Chin. We were playing to a good crowd. We were playing well. At some point, we went into Susan and Simona, one of my favorite tunes. Several of our African fans, most notably Mamadou and Omar, were dancing some great authentic dance in front of us. Basically, everyone was grooving hard. During Susan and Simona, there is a horn break followed by a short drum break, and then we go back into the guitar riff that starts the tune. Well on this night, everyone just sounded great, the band was tight, and the dancers were dancing. When we came out of that horn/drum break and into the signature guitar riff, the place went wild, and I got a shiver down my spine the likes of which I have rarely felt before or since when playing music. It was one of those rare moments when everything seemed in its proper place. At that moment there was no place on Earth I would rather have been. I'm convinced I actually levitated a few inches off the ground.

Sadly, soon thereafter we broke up. But I will always be thankful for that moment.

Pre-Bontuku Oscar

2006-03-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

Some of Oscar's music from Ghana is available on a couple of compilation CDs.

Here's one, he's on the first track. This is Olufeme (presumably no relation to our version):

Ghana Soundz, Volume 2

The other CD is available there but doesn't have sound clips available. Apparently "Bukom Mashie" was a big hit with the Afro-world crowd.

Oscar recorded a few albums while in the U.S. I can recall one that was a two-color cover with Oscar sitting on the ground cross-legged playing flute (I could be wrong on this, I have another album with a similar pose from a saxophonist I know). The background cover was kind of yellow and the foreground color was brown. I don't recall the contents of the album, except that it seemed very different from what we played, and probably didn't interest me much at the time.

I don't know for certain, this may or may not have been on the Delta label that did "Friends" and "Bontuku". Delta was the local vinyl replication place of choice for the U/Illinois music department in the 1970s.

I can't find my copy of that album now. I've still got "Friends, the Music of Two Continents". My name is consistently misspelled in the liner notes.

The Drumming

2006-03-31T07:18:00.000-08:00

As I recall, Oscar would start every gig out with drumming. I think that in the earliest stages, it was just Oscar and Moody, then Oscar and Moody and Bruce (?), then eventually all of us (though I may be crossing wires with later Bontuku configurations).

I know that Moody was frustrated that the drumming hadn't gotten hipper and more advanced. I don't recall how much we actually rehearsed. I know I was pretty limited....a couple of bell patterns, a couple of drum patterns. Sometimes Moody or Oscar would feed me a line. That was a point where I really learned the value of ensemble-think -- what I was doing was laying down part of the bedrock, and Oscar and Moody would take care of being creative.

At some point there was a shift from opening the band up inside to starting outside. That is, everybody would grab a drum or bell or talking drum or whatever, and Oscar would begin the routine on the steps of Nature's Table. The idea, I think, was to (a) maybe draw in some crowd from outside who might not know what was going on, and (b) to get everybody into the crowd playing. We'd walk through, then grab some space in the big square in front of the counter/bathrooms and play there for awhile for whomever wanted to dance. Eventually we'd make our way to the bandstand.

The drum sound really changed alot when they pulled out that big drum. I don't remember it being used early on, so I don't know whether it was an acquisition or what, but it was like a bass drum that slung over the shoulder, and would be played with a bent mallet like the ones we used with the talking drums. My recollection is that only Oscar or Moody played that drum.

There was also a bit of a change later as the Adjido Drum Club was formed. I think these guys might have opened up for Bontuku. This was alot more "serious" than anything we non-drummers were inclined to get involved with. I remember that Danny Deckard was involved. This might have been post-Wachamba. The "New Bontuku" guys will have a better sense about this.

The Music

2006-03-31T07:08:00.000-08:00

Bruce pointed out that after awhile, you could start to pick out patterns in the music.

(I don't know if it was Oscar's legendary numeric system as much as the fact that you can only syncopate 4 sixteenths so many ways.)

Oscar would also voice in very rudimentary ways, nothing more complicated than a minor7, dominant7, or 6th chord, and always written in a stacked cluster. So you were never playing a weird extension on a chord. I'm sure it was this way by design.

The "Phase One" charts were just head charts with a simple melody over a guitar and bass riff and open blowing.

It seemed like the "Phase Three" charts were more complicated in that they were longer and had different sections in them. Also, Oscar started putting the trombone part playing countermelodies against the upper horns.

"Phase Five" just seemed to be a compositional extension of "Phase Three"...trickier lines, longer forms, less for the rock and roll crowd to hold their hat on.

I don't recall that Oscar ever wrote anything we couldn't play.

House Parties, Frat Parties

2006-03-31T07:04:00.000-08:00

Ah, house parties. I can't remember any of them, they all run together.

Bruce related some interesting stories about a 101 S. Lincoln party.

What does the Blogtuku Collective Consciousness recall about these sundry and salicious events?

The Bitter End

2006-03-31T00:04:00.000-08:00

Do we dare go there? Sure, why not! I'll need you guys to fill in some details, though. When I showed up to rehearsal, the beast had already been laid to rest.

First, my recollections of the very last show (although we didn't know it at the time): It was a Friday happy hour at Nature's Table. For some reason, I think it was a really brief show... like an hour long or so. And then there was the show that never was: We were booked to play at the House of Chin, but we broke up before it happened. I still have the flier and it features Curt.

Now for the rehearsal where the band abruptly ended. We were rehearsing at Parkland College, where Oscar taught. I had just gotten off my job at Lox, Stock & Bagel, and I was about 20 minutes late. I walked in, and everyone was standing around in dead silence. It was as if someone or something had died, and indeed it had. Oscar pronounced: "Bontuku is no more." Needless to say, I felt very guilty about being late. I don't think my tardiness was the reason the band broke up, though.

Oscar's drinking and trumpet playing

2006-03-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

Two legends Oscar used to tell about himself were that he was once a prodigious drinker and that he was once a prodigious trumpet player. I never saw him do either. He also used to speak of playing for the Ghanaian national cruise line (the Black Star Line).

Wachamba ensemble and "All-New Bontuku"

2006-03-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

David Tcheng, Sean Kutzko, and Doug Berkman, all of whom played in Oscar's Wachamba ensemble formed out at Parkland and also in the "All New Bontuku" (post our break-up), are dying to participate in all of this reminiscing. Should we let them in on this Blog or should they start another? Sean says he has lots of audio tape and even some video (of Wachamba at least). Some of this I think Jeff already has.

Guido's Revenge

2006-03-30T14:09:00.000-08:00

I don't remember much about the gig where Guido figured so prominently.

Guido Sinclair, you all may recall, was the fixture at the Table. Salem cigarette in one hand, can of Old Style in the other, Guido was often taking cover (and, some suspected, a little something for himself) when he wasn't playing with his own bands. (Guido's real name was Sinclair Greenwell, by the way.)

Bruce recalls the front end of this story, and it kind of rings a bell with me when I read his mention of it. Guido hijacked the microphone on a gig and apparently told the crowd that Oscar owed him money. My recollection is that Guido thought Oscar had broken something, like a child's toy piano or something. I must not have thought too much of it at the time, except probably that Guido didn't usually do shit like that, and certainly must not have thought anything would come of it, because I was really suprised when the ruckus occurred at the end of the gig.

We all remember that there was a storeroom in the back of the Table. Often this was the location for pre-gig preparation by band and/or staff and/or owner, and apparently this was where Oscar was taking care of counting out the money (cow, cow, cow) from the gig.

Apparently Guido went back and confronted Oscar about the money Oscar supposedly owed Guido, and when Oscar refused, Guido pulled out or grabbed a knife. My recollection of Oscar's account was that he kicked him (Oscar wore those heavy boots all the time) backwards and exited post-haste.

I was outside, and I remember Oscar walking out very rapidly. I don't remember the details from that point on, except that he and Moody went to the payphone at the other side of the parking lot and proceeded to call the cops. I think Guido must have split out the side door, I don't remember him appearing again.

I also don't recall exactly what came of that. Certainly Guido didn't spend any time in jail for it, so I assume the charges were dropped.

Union Station (Springfield)

2006-03-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

I recall a gig we did at Union Station in Springfield.

We carpooled over. Somehow we'd scored a couple of rooms at a Springfield hotel, presumably near the gig. I drove 3-4 over, we were the second car and left long enough after that the first car (which included Fitz) made it to the hotel and checked in ahead of time.

(You may remember that on the drive over, we passed "Friends Creek", which we thought was funny, as we'd just gotten done working on Oscar's album, "Friends, the Music of Three Continents".)

We got to the hotel and I decided to pull a fast one, we got into the second room and I called the other one, Fitz answered, and I told him we'd had car trouble and were stuck in Mechanicsburg, which is a little town about halfway between Champaign and Springfield. I broke up before I could figure out whether I'd fooled him (he said I hadn't).

At some point in the room I was in, Montana decided to demonstrate how to light one's own gas. I must say I've never seen that before or since (and I'm not complaining). This was also the trip where we dubbed the giant blue lounge pillow the "Big Blue Duke". I think that there was some simulated "duking" of one of the band members or crew. (The "Blue Duke" monicker ended up being a feature of the Modern Humans, as well.)

Anyway, we got to the gig, and the setup was kind of weird, the room was oblong, so we had to set up with a long brick wall to our backs. I have no recollection of how the gig went, but I do recall that we found Moody napping in the car after the gig and several pints of Guinness.

We went back, and drank beer until late into the evening. Curt, of course, didn't drink beer at all then, so he sat around regailing us as The Human Jukebox. (Ouch!)

It seems to me that at some point someone either got locked out while on a beer run or we had to work out something so they didn't get locked out.

Anyone else recall this gig?

Wow, didn't realize...

2006-03-30T12:38:00.000-08:00

Next February, Oscar will be 70 years old. How about that.

Band-isms

2006-03-30T12:15:00.000-08:00

(Not to be confused with Oscar-isms)

1. "Ancient Chinese Secret." Spoken in unison to lead into one of the songs... I forget which. One time Oscar said it into the mike by himself to get a laugh, but it fell flat. There wasn't a person in Nature's Table who believed he was familiar with the Calgon commercial it referred to.

2. "Big Blue Duke(s)" -- collective nickname for the horn section. Anyone know its significance?

3. "Our Spiritual Leader...." Maybe two-thirds of the way through the set, there would be a pause in the music as Bruce, our resident speech major and designated emcee, would introduce the band. He'd name all the guys, building the excitement dramatically as he got to "Our spi-ri-tu-al leader.... Oscar Sulley Braimah!!!" Another thing Bruce would say was "And that concludes the traditional West African portion of our show" when Oscar and Scott got done with their opening set.

The White Album

2006-03-30T00:31:00.000-08:00

Bontuku went into Pogo studios in September (right?) 1986 and recorded a live full-length LP. The band broke up a month or two later, and the release of the record dragged on until summer of 1987. The release was anticlimactic, to say the least. The record has its moments (I'm partial to "Brief Case") but the consensus seems to be that it doesn't quite capture the band at its peak or in its element. Supposedly there are bootlegs out there that are more representative. I hope some of those turn up. There's also the earlier studio demo we did which I recall being pretty tight.

Incidentally, I did a google search on Bontuku and it turns out the album is huge in Japan. OK, not huge, but there's one DJ there who counts it among her favorite discs and even displays a picture of herself holding the album: http://homepage3.nifty.com/champ_room/selection/hiroko_o.html . Fortunately I know someone fluent in Japanese, and here's her translation: "This club called CHAMP is introducing the DJ’s who played there and their favorite albums. This lady, Hiroko Otsuka, says about this album: 'A piece titled after the Ghana drummer Oscar’s father’s birthplace. After a dynamic opening rush, a slower tempo and exquisite break timing unfolds (?). Truly seasoned Afro Jazz Funk, but the sound is fresh as a brand new score.'"

Interesting! I wonder how the album found its way over there.

Oscar-isms

2006-03-29T14:32:00.000-08:00

One of the funniest parts about being in Bontuku was learning Oscar's sayings. Jeff already alluded to a couple of them. We should try to develop a good list.

1. Tulu----Baby (call and response)
2. Eleema-----Zoleee (call and response)
3. Phase 5
4. Bugs, do you want me to eat them?
5. Toy ta toy (sung in a mocking tone, often mocking classical music)
6. He knows me (in reference to any famous musician, notably Freddie Hubbard, as in "Freddie Hubbard, he knows me!")
7. Da duruwa (phonetic spelling, a Ghanian vulgar epithet, roughly translated as "Mother F-cker!"
8. By ball
9. Atall (British pronunciation of "at all")
10. Valve gowel (who knows what this meant)
11. "The legally is the cow and the cow is the legally." (always said in reference to money, whenever Oscar would pantomime giving or getting money, he would say "cow, cow, cow" as he laid down each bill).

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Oscar was the mysterious number system he used to compose music. Hilariously, he would claim that the system also worked to pick lottery numbers, since the ping pong balls actually followed a specific rhythm. He once told me he would explain the number system to me----for one million dollars. All I know is that Oscar was an amazing composer, and he could compose quickly and effortlessly. Also, after playing 20 or 30 of his compositions, you could clearly detect repeated patterns and motifs. These are apparent in any composers work, but I always thought they might be an outgrowth of the number system.

To do: song list, list of gigs played, list of live recordings with set lists.

The Beginning

2006-03-29T09:55:00.001-08:00

Mitch recalls that we started up in Fall, 1985, and that Oscar had already been rehearsing the rhythm section before the horn players joined up.

Apparently Mordecai was recruiting players and roped in Curt and Mitch at the same time. It seems to me I came in after Mitch.

Mark Dziuba reportedly played the first gig on afr. drums, a happy hour at Nature's Table, then left because the band was too loud.

I don't remember this gig, I'm not sure if I was involved or not.

Who remembers more details on how the band formed up?

Welcome to Blogtuku

2006-03-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

Let's see how this works.

Join and I'll get it set up so we can all post happily.

Don't post anything you wouldn't want people to see. The Internet never forgets.