archives: Top Players Choice: #7 for Chris TM. - "PITTSBURGH!"

Chris TM. is one of the original 4 members of the "first" Instagon session.  He was the local contact person representing TOPY in the area of Orange County when I first moved to Huntington Beach.  We began our friendship, i think, in the mail.. me writing and introducing myself as an Active TOPY member that had just moved to OC from Las Vegas. Eventually we actually met in person...Our first encounter...i think...was a TOPY meeting that took place at the home of a friend..and then possibly at Vinyl Solution Records..but I remember the first time i went to Chris's apartment in Fullerton (where the first Instagon session happened).. it was this old 1970's apartment building..and the hallways were long and dim and it reminded me of scenes from Pink Floyd's "The Wall" film...and then this guy with dark black hair in a white shirt, like something Jim Morrison would wear, opened the door with this mysteriously mischievous grin.  Chris was a fun person...and was very much part of the early conceptual passion that was Instagon in the first few years..  Chris TM currently holds the #7 position for top players with Instagon..he has played 43 sessions.. Which is pretty impressive when you realize the last time he appeared with Instagon was in August 1997 (session #147). Chris was there when the deamon was brought forth.. he was part of the ritual that unleashed the beast...Chris and I are still very good friends, even though he lives on the East coast now and we never hardly see each other (except for facehook). He lives a happy family life with a beautiful wife and daughter. we all here on the west coast, that remember the Chris tm. who was.. ...the shadow that lingers behind that mischievous grin wearing a leather jacket and boots...and we still scratch our heads and try to figure it out.
   But the chaos and and mischievousness of the Chris Tm legend still continues as far as things involving Instagon is concerned...14 years may have passed..but that has not changed things much..  This show posted is actually Chris' 3rd choice.  The first 2 choices were BOTH not found in the archives and may not have been recorded at all (although that is unlikely)...none the less neither of the original shows he asked for are currently available for posting. ..we are still searching..but they are not in the "official" archive location at this time.  THOSE SHOWS are session #63, 11-25-94 Anomoulous Records,Whittier,CA - "T.V. DEATH",  and session #55, 10-22-94 Metropophobobobia, Phoenix, AZ. . (these shows are NOT available)   SO.. THIS show.. is TM's 3rd choice.. 

INSTAGON Top Players Choice #7
for Chris TM.
session #68
"PITTSBURGH"

January 15, 1995
Concourse Bowl, Anaheim,CA
http://www.archive.org/details/instagon1995-01-15.flac16

We somehow were booked to play a Sunday night "Rockin' Bowl" in Anaheim,CA.  I am not sure if Opus booked this gig, or if I did.  Also on the show were a band called BIG HIPPY PARTY, & our label mates from Insta-Noise Records, THE IRON ONS.  The photo above is an ACTUAL photo of the inside of Concourse Bowl.  The guy that we had booked this show with was the son of the owner of the place. He ran a weekly Sunday night gig that he booked local bands for, and he had no idea what he was getting when he booked Instagon.   Ken Tuntison, who later worked a lot with Instagon at Club Mesa, he was there with other bands and was involved with the sound system too i think.. and so this was HIS first exposure to Instagon!!  For this gig.. we planed to be very minimal..sort of a tribal sludgy dirge was planned.. it was going to be myself and Dan Young on percussion.. Opus23 & Myke Quest both on guitar.. Crow Mayhem on keyboards, and Chris TM on electronics and loops.  BUT..on the way to the gig.. we were in a van.. i think it was Dan's van...we were driving down Beach Blvd. on our way to the show.. and we saw Charles Ardinger walking down the street.. we pulled up and told him to "get in the van" ..and kidnapped him into this performance.  Upon arriving at the gig.. I proceeded to introduce myself to people sitting around the bowling alley.  The question of the day was "What is your favorite football team?"  I asked probably 3 or 4 people ..who refused to reply at all.. but finally one girl responded "Pittsburgh, that's a team...  right?"  and so this was to be our subject matter for the vocal.  I returned to Charles and told him his topic for the night was "Pittsburgh" ..that is ALL that he was told.  A few moments later we started.. and is what happened. About 15 minutes into the set.. the guy who had booked the show attempted to pull the plug and stop us.. as we were so noisy that it was chasing away customers..his Dad, who owned the place, thought it was a riot that we had duped his son into booking this "band" and forced him to deal with us and let us finish our set!..it was pretty funny.. eventually someone came forward with a tray of beers for us and Opus23 drop his guitar and rushed for the beer and the set was ended...in the 23 minutes or so we played we had nearly completely emptied this 80 lane bowling alley (that was full when we arrived) to only band members and a few die hards..  the other bands played to nearly no one (sorry).  Another side note is that there were a few young girls (like 13/14 yrs old) that were at this show by chance one of them was a girl named Aileen Holmes, and a few years later she would actually become involved and play in a few Instagon shows herself!    There IS video documentation of this performance, and perhaps if there is interest and a good way to share, this will be come available sometime in the future too..  but for now..here is the audio!  Click the link above to stream and download this epic and legendary performance.  Thanks to TM for choosing this session.  PITTSBURGH!  -/\-

archives: Players Choices: #6 for Charles Ardinger

Instagon Player's Choice #6
for CHARLES ARDINGER
session #53
"A Live Noise Experimental Tribute to Theodore Giesel/Dr.Seuss"
September 23, 1994
The Natural Fudge Cafe, Los Angeles,CA
http://www.archive.org/details/instagon1994-09-23.flac16

Charles Ardinger, the Punk Nerd.. has been involved with Instagon since very very early on appearing in his first show in Spring of 1994...since then he has continued to be a part of the instagon experience whenever we have the chance to include him...he has a regular standing invitation and is always welcome.  Currently, according the most recent records, he has appeared with Instagon in 46 sessions.. giving him the #6 position currently in the 10 Top Players list.  Charles is a one of a kind person.. a unique character to say the least (and that is actually nearly an understatement) He is one of the very special people that has been drawn into the magickal vortex that is Instagon whom we are seriously happy to have been given the chance to work with.  THIS show, that Charles chose, was actually a pretty easy guess as to the show that Charles WOULD pick..hehe  it was his 9th appearance with Instagon.. He was the front man for the band.. we were doing Giesel .. if you know Charles, this is obviously a show that was conceptualized for him..and so it is one of his favorites..

During the first few years that Instagon was doing live appearances...we used to do this thing called a "noise/experimental tribute" ..and we would pick a subject, and they would be the subject matter that a conceptual based performance would be created around..  we did them for W.S.Burroughs, Charles Bukowski, Richard Nixon, Charles Manson, David Koresh, and a few others... THIS recording is just one such of these performances.. with our honoree being Dr. Seuss.  The plan was to have a few sound artists with random instruments play accompaniment while a poet, Charles Ardinger, the punk nerd, reads 3 books by Dr. Seuss...this was the entire concept for the performance.  But what happened was so much more.. and this recording does so little to convey just what really happened on that day.  A few close friends and allies were present for this nights performance..
  We drove into the heart of Los Angeles.. the east hollywood/silverlake side of town..if you are familiar with a venue called the IL CORRAL then this is exactly that same part of town..but long before the days of Il Corral.  The space was called NATURAL FUDGE CAFE.. it was an underground legend in the LA area.. it was owned and operated by a woman and her husband.. and i cannot for the life of me remember thier names..  the husband passed and the woman continued to run the space.. renting to bands ..rockers, punks, mods, whatever.. she also sold cold sodas and was really quite an animated character in her own right. We, meaning Instagon, somehow got on a show with a few other bands.. i think Opus might have set this show up.. the other bands were high school aged pop punks.. we did not think this was gonna go over well.. but we proceeded anyways.  On the mound for the deamon with me (Lob) was Sharon444 playing floor tom percussion.. Opus23 playing guitar.. and Reverend Andy Warthog (RIP) mixing noises and samples live with a 4-track cassette machine. .on the microphone ..reading the Seuss, Charles Ardinger.   When Charles stepped out onto the stage space he was wearing his signature fedora hat..glasses.. a sports coat.. and black & red speedo underwear. .black socks.. hard shoes.   it was QUITE the site..  (ANY PHOTOS THAT MAY EXIST HAVE YET TO BE SEEN)   Charles took the mic and told us some fun facts about Dr. Seuss.. and then read Cat In The Hat, Green Eggs & Ham, and Hop Up Pop..  while the teenage crowd from the other band gathered and gawked in disbelief.. I remember there were a group of  young girls.. barely of legal age i am sure.. they gathered together in front of the stage and got on their knees and bowed and praised Charles as he read the Dr. Seuss..  it was most incredible to behold.. and these sort of things really just cannot be made up.  The performance ended.. I tried to engage the crowd in some dialogue about Dr. Seuss..but they were not really up for it..  Andy played some great samples and we faded away into the Los Angeles night never to been again at the Natural Fudge Cafe. 

   You can click the link above to hear this session or download it and hear it later. The recording is not the best..as its an old school walkman style cassette recording.  you can hear me messing with the microphone in the beginning trying to get the best placement for sound before we start. So I apologize for the not so listenable quality..this posting is mostly for historical fact and documentation, which is just how it should be anyways..  enjoy the show!