Once, in the summer of eighty-one, a man jumped out of an airplane for fun. Something went wrong with his parachute and he died. Not much was known about him. He’d been in the army. He was in his late thirties. He rented an apartment where he lived alone and apparently no one cared to claim his belongings.
Future Buzzard Song-writer Eric von Radics was hired to clean up his apartment so it could be rented again. He inherited the dead man's television box full of loosely jumbled seven inch forty-five rpm records. He describes listening to the copy of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ he found in that box for the first time as an eerie and achingly sad-but-beautiful experiences.
While working his way through college that box of records, a Tascam open-real four track recorder, and a thrift store guitar, were tools utilized to create dozens, maybe hundreds of songs. Says EvR "It was the only time I was fully invested... some things never change".
Hopefully you'll find something useful on 'Redux'. Some of Buzzard Song's indispensabe albums are: Paul Simon's 'Graceland', Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds', Tom Petty's 'Wildflowers', Randy Newman's 'Land of Dreams', Lemonheads' 'It's a Shame About Ray', Replacements 'Tim', Mississippi John Hurts 'Last Sessions', Lucinda Williams 'Car Wheels on a Gravel Road', Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together', James Taylor's 'Mud Slide Slim', Weakerthans' 'Fallow', Rolling Stones 'Exile on Main Street', Kinks 'Muswell Hillbillies', Marshall Crenshaw's self titled debut, Joan Osborne's 'Relish', John Coltrane's 'My Favorite Things' John Mellencamp's 'Scarecrow', Willie Nelson's 'Stardust'. A mood of consoled sadness, flashes of energetic devil-may-care attitude, and an avid interest in superbly written songs and expert execution are the common denominator to that list that "Redux" aspires too.
The name Buzzard Song was inspired by the Gershwin composition, specifically the recording that opens the Miles Davis/Gil Evans classic "Porgy and Bess".
With a line-up that included E’s brother Von, Chris Micca of Little Mascara, John Maxwell of Eye Protection and the Sin Eaters, and Radim Zenkl, the Buzzard show rubbed shoulders with many Bay Area luminaries in the early 90’s. Talented singer-songwriters like Penelope Houston, Carol Denney, Jim Bruno for example. They were often compared to the Red House Painters and the American Music Club. Dupes of their seminal but long out of print, live to digital 2-track material, presented as ‘Son of Jefe’ are available as a free companion piece with purchase of “Redux” for a limited time. (Email requests to abuzzardsong@yahoo.com). In other band incarnations Eric shared bills with Chuck Prophet (Green on Red), Chris Isaak, Lone Justice, and band members with Primus, and Thin White Rope among others.
Craig Mesco, Allan Crutcher, Tammy Gallardo, Michael Brown, Jeff and Michelle Zundel, Elizabeth von Radics, Jym Harris, Doug Hill, Bob Pagano, Evren Groknar and John Maxwell all contributed mightily to Redux.
Dark folk, vintage piedmont-blues and country, rock with a historical perspective.
“Shhhh brrr caawws fravrit cat!” Keith Richards (attributed transliteration).
‘Kind of like Beck with better social skills’ Jymbo Harris – career record store geek.
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