I’m gonna dance around here in time. It’s fun that way.Mostly 05’. Here’s a little about the forming of the band and this song.
I came home 9.17.05 after four months (on the nose) of dodging tourists on the corner there on 201 Dock street in Ketchikan, Alaska. I’ll save that for another day. Bald eagles just hanging on telephone polls. Busting through windows.Tourists grabbing my beard.
That there dock gets PACKED with people that would ask me questions like “do y’all Accept American money!?”
I wrote a ton up there. I still have material I poke at from those 4 months living above a furniture warehouse with duct taped windows. I was running from the break up of my punk band The Familiars (more on that later) and I was lovesick. I took the ferry up from Bellingham where I was living for about a year or so. That’ll come back around too.Like I said maybe my kids will wanna know this.
I can get by on banjo. But Jon Pontrello, who was coming from being the drummer of The familiars was really good really fast. We jumped from punk to bluegrass the year before. Young minds being, as Bobby D calls it “musical expeditionaries.” Jon was leap frogging me on guitar too.Around 04/05 we started digging into this guy we both kept hearing about, John Fahey.There was some strange synchronicities around him. He played those open tunings. I’d call Jon up on the phone (I used to crawl through a hole in a storage closet and shimmy into the warehouse to make long distant phone calls home sometimes-until they boarded it up!) and he’d play me this stuff he was writing on guitar and it blew my mind!
I did get a land line of my own finally. Here I am talking to Bobby T on the phone. It’s weird I remember that I was talking to him.
Anyways….Home. Washington. Moonpups.Beginnings.I got a night job packing UPS trucks in sodo, living at home in south Everett, and drinking all my parents coffee (chain smoking-don’t do it kids). I remember writing the verses of this song on their little cubby back porch off 35th. Marinating on the last year and Alaska on my mind .The chorus was floating around. First the finger picking. Then the processing of heart break. The song is in open G which for me is a very cheery upbeat tuning. Bouncy songs tend to roll out of open G. Who says you can’t get bouncy and grieve something? It’s like death in New Orleans, or the last vignette in Kurosawa’s “Dreams.” Happy, sad,joy, grief. Gotta lean in. Strum it out. I think songwriting can fall under what Carl Jung calls “shadow work.” Sometimes it’s just lightness too.Always with the subconscious.Two things can be true at the same time.
if you haven’t watched Dreams it’s one of my faves. Reminds me of Ketchikan.
It was around this time that some of the people that would be The Moondoggies were hanging out most days (nights and early mornings more like it). “Burning out 😵💫😆” I was fired up, but frustrated. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do at that time. I needed to kick the ball further down the road though.I remember talking about a “solo” record. That never happened. Something else happens completely. That’s the best though. It’s never how you think. Just lean into it. Happy accidents, synchronicities, all necessary ingredients to pay attention to. Sing with your friends. See what happens.
Shoot…… it’s easy to rant here. I’ll try and spread it out….ok ok
What I remember about this recording is it was done in the middle of the night at Mackie in Woodinville by my friend Tony Gavilanes who was working there. We recorded most of the songs for our first proper demo there that night with nobody in the building. Although sometimes intermingled with 4-track songs on different ep’s. Depending on which Blue Moon show you showed up to. Aw shoot that reminds me of another quick story.
I went into the Blue moon to book a show in this in-between time. I was 20 so I was trying to be cool and quick. It was gonna be Jon Pontrello and I doing our Blue grassy folk stuff (Although later I recall jon played standup bass for this first gig). A gentleman turns around and asks me if I was just in Ketchikan Alaska. I had just shaved 4 months of facial hair so I was shocked he recognized me. Apparently he saw me walking to work that mile and half everyday. He had just rolled off the ferry in Bellingham and driven straight to the Blue Moon in Seattle to get loaded up. The Blue moon is an historic Seattle bar on 45th.I took that as a sign. I notice signs. I don’t notice the thing I’m looking for is in my hand some days, but I try and notice a sign here and there. Moondoggies would end up playing there a lot over the years. Kinda home base for those early germinating days.
Jon Pontrello didn’t officially join the fold live until 2011 (too busy wandering into strange coincidences and burritos in the woods- now that’s a good story) but he was always there. Open door policy. Over lapping paths since elementary school. 4 Moondoggies went to Silver lake elementary school. We weren’t necessarily a defined thing. It was getting everyone together to play and see what happens. We tried to do this song for The first album “Don’t be a stranger.” It just didn’t bounce that same. Bobby Terreberry on Mandolin and Bass. Jon Pontrello on banjo. Carl Dahlen and Nick Davis singing I believe. Caleb was there. Maybe he sang too. Maybe that’s him on car keys as opposed to regular piano keys.I remember using car keys for percussion at some point.
I think the weirdest part of this song is that it gets played at SeaTac Airport. Our old label did put it out on a limited tour EP. It must have gotten in their mix. I also recorded voice overs there that they never used. (Mono tone with a slight lisp) “SeaTac is a NON smoking facility.”