Craig Billmeier Hats off to those who come up with silly ideas, and pants off to those who follow through on them. This column is nothing if not a celebration of unnecessary and unsolicited assiduousness.
Over the pandemic, Squeaky and Hal (Year of the Fist, Cut-Rate Druggist) were similarly busy finding alternative ways to be creative while under the thumb of isolation. And like cats to a box we gravitated towards each other time and again to keep our respective and combined flames a-burning.
Somewhere along the way, and to his eventual regret, Hal suggested LSotM do an XTC song and I naively told him I would do it under the condition that he play drums. And if he got Squeaky to sing on it. And if we also did a Squeeze song (spoiler alert!). He agreed, but unlike a normal person he actually followed through and that’s why I now have to be careful with whom I share my castles in the sky.
I don’t remember if we even discussed it or if it was just assumed that Frank (The Love Songs, Worriers) would jingle his jangles on this, but here he is, smoking leads and rolled-up sleeves. Between him and Squeaky it was fun having two perfectionists around to slow things down.
In their song, XTC is singing about The Hop, a magical spot that hosts kids who are too young to buy alcohol and who dress ridiculously and who bring their cheap guitars to jive around and make fools of themselves. 924 Gilman Street was my personal The Hop and, coincidentally, none other than the woman who literally helped found (and find!) Gilman St. was the one behind the camera for this no-nonsense morning in East Oakland. Many thanks and hugs to Kamala Parks for enduring, née, encouraging our chicanery.
Download the audio here:
XTC is the best and therefore this is also the best!
Filming this was one of the best and funnest days in recent memory. Despite my amateur camera work, I can assure you that there are many great moments on the cutting room floor.
Your direction and commitment to the project was all that kept this from going off the tracks (if I may use a BART-adjacent phrase).