archives: Top Players Choice: #8 for Don Rawlin (RIP) - Red Devil Lounge, SF,CA 2006

Don Rawlin
1960 - 2010

 I first met Don Rawlin in 2002 when I started booking shows for Jim Cline & the LIQUID DEN bar in Huntington Beach,CA.  He was soon to be the sound man after our original sound man, George, passed away.   He was a smokin' guitar player that had played with the local HB band POSSUM DETH, and also (he told me) had spent some tweaker time with Kerry King from SLAYER, and such had learned some amazing licks.  We played over 35 shows together at the Liquid Den before he moved away to San Francisco at the end of 2003.   We did not see each other again until 2005 when Instagon had relocated to Northern California and we invited Don to play with us in Oakland...it was great to hook up with him again and play a few more shows.  Earlier this year, the news came that Don had passed away in 2010, another victim to Cancer.  We were pretty blown away and sad by this news.  Don was always a man with a big smile and warm energy. I am sure that there are those that were close to him that are missing him a lot.  I knew him pretty good, but we were not "close" or anything.. and I miss him.  Don played 38 sessions with Instagon, giving him the #8 Top Player position.  I chose the show listed below as it was my first memory that came to play when thinking about Don playing with Instagon.  It was the last show that he played with Instagon.  He invited his friend Mutt to be a part of the festivities too.. and we had a blast.   Chris Van Huffel of Sub-Arachnoid Space held down the beats for this show.. it was pretty silly, and fun. ..I wish we (Don & I) had gotten to play more shows before he moved away to Oregon...but it was not to be.

INSTAGON Top Players Choice #8
for Don Rawlin (RIP)
Session #422
February 17, 2006
Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco,CA
http://www.archive.org/details/instagon2006-02-17.flac16

Instagon applied and was accepted to play as part of a "Battle of the Bands" happening being promoted by a company called EMERGENZA Productions. The bands were coming from all over Northern California and the battles were happening in various locations.. the winner would see a show at the Warfield in SF, and get some sorta recording deal.  (or so they said) .. the first round for Instagon was to happen in SF at the Red Devil Lounge.  The Red Devil is a pretty nice venue, and so I was excited to play this show.  I invited a group of ringers, hot players that would bring a great band to the stage and clinch our WINNING! . The band included Chris VanHuffel from SUB-ARACHNOID SPACE on drums,  DON RAWLIN from the Oakland Raiderheads (official band of the Oakland Raiders) on guitar, and myself playing bass.   Don suggested that we include his friend Andrew "mutt" Masonetti..    Mutt's plan was to put on devil horn's ..paint his body red.. and dance around on stage playing Kazoo while Instagon jammed.  it was a good plan. i liked it.. and we went with it.     We arrived and it was already pretty crazy.. , but they had a backline for us.. no load in.. just guitars and drumsticks.. it was cool.  I explained to the MC what was about to happen.. and he was pretty confused. but took my word for it and introduced us.   The ritual Invokation was short (as we only had 20mins to play in this battle) and launched into Deamon's Tube..which was solid..but slow paced.. followed by a wild & crazy Jazz for Satan.  Mutt was totally into this tune for obvious reasons, and was chanting "Jazz for Satan" by the end of the jam.  Don was playing amazing smokin' shredding guitar riffs, it was hot! We closed the set with a fun and bouncy exploration into Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust".. a song we have been playing occasionally for years, and the place exploded..  goes to show just what the power of familiarity and recognition is all about!    There were probably 8 bands that fought it out that night.. we placed 3rd !! We were shocked and amazed...and we were accepted to move on to the next round!!    We found out later that the next round involved us coming to the Bay area 3 more times before the actual gig for some reason or another...and that was kinda pricey (gas prices were soaring at that time) and so we kindly declined to participate in the rest of the "battle"  ..but who knows..we coulda been a contender.. 
Click the link above to stream or download this show in its entirety, or listen to a song or 2. 

the recording is an AUDIENCE recording.. and the crowd was loud and active, placing the recording device someplace safe and strategic was very hard, So there IS a bit of crowd noise on this recording.. but it is the only recording we have.
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