j.poet
j. poet is older than rock’n’roll.
For most of his life, poet has been a freelance music journalist, covering folk, blues, singer/songwriter, Americana, country, Native American and world music for Grammy.com, the San Francisco Chronicle, Harp, Country Music Today and many others.
Like many music critics, poet is a “closet musician.” Today, as old grim death is looming on the horizon, the man has finally decided to share his music with the world. What the world will think of it is the big question.
poet’s songwriting and singing can be described as Leonard Cohen meets Tom Lehrer at Smokey Joe’s Café to write songs for Townes Van Zandt. The tunes on LSDOA, his debut album, were written at various times over the past 30 years, and include songs of love and hate, death and resurrection, sex and the opposite of sex - lullabies for grown ups and those that wish they were.
LSDOA features the talents of the Boomers Band:
Eric “The Doktor” Tamm, producer of LSDOA, is a master musician and well-rounded creative soul. Herr Doktor produced, recorded and engineered LSDOA at Yak Studios in Berkeley. He contributed Danelectro baritone guitar, 12-string guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, keyboards and vocals. Tamm has written several books including “Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound” (Faber & Faber, 1989) and “Robert Fripp: From King Crimson to Guitar Craft” (Faber & Faber, 1990.) He has composed and produced eight solo albums. His most recent is “Burning Tamm” a dark, relentless journey into the confused crossroads of love, religion, sex and spirituality. poet blurb? “One of the best albums of the year, timely and timeless, a perfect bend of cynicism and faith. It belongs in your collection.” The Doktor also leads The Raving Daves, PeopleSoft’s house band, winner of 2002’s Best Corporate Band at Fortune Magazine’s Battle of The Bands held at the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.
Michael Foley, acoustic rhythm guitar on LSDOA has a musical resume that goes back 40 years to his concert debut at the Mineola Playhouse as a folksinger/guitarist. Career highlights include an appearance on ‘60s TV show Upbeat, lead singer and songwriter of the San Francisco band Life On Earth, singing with the Oakland Symphony Chorus under the direction of Calvin Simmons, three years as lead singer and guitarist with the Legendary Ambush Country Band opening for George Strait, Johnny Paycheck and Barbara Mandrell. He has a Master of Fine Arts from the san Francisco Art Institute. He currently teaches music, voice and guitar at Blue Bear School of American Music and University of California Extension and leads the Michael Foley Band. He has just produced the first Michael Foley Band CD, "Fear And Forgiveness."
Burton Winn, bass man on LSDOA, was born and raised in the Bay Area. He’s been playing bass for most of his life in countless pop, rock, jazz and blues bands including Eric Blakely and The Blame, Mark Hummel and the Blues Survivors, Angela Streli and the Johnny Nitro Band. In 2003 he traveled to Austin, TX to record, sing, play, engineer, and produce Eric Blakely’s "Still Life at Full Speed." He did CD release parties there and a couple of radio and TV shows.
Additional Guests:
Michael Montalto played guitar on “Woman I Can Fight With.” He grew up in Lorain, Ohio and when he realized his future there would consist of a lifetime of labor in the local steel mill, he jumped in a car and headed to San Francisco. He cut his musical teeth playing with R&B cover bands and during the heady days of Berkeley’s new wave explosion played with The Jars and Original Sinners, a short lived projected fronted by j. poet and Steve Cornel. He went on to join Cornell in The Movie Stars, which morphed into Red Meat, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier alt.country band.
Steve Cornell came to Berkeley CA in 1977 to make his mark in the music business with his Strat and a heart full of dreams. He met j. poet and co-founded The Young Adults, a punk/pop/Americana/new wave band. After the Young Adults, Cornell moved on to The Movie Stars and Red meat before starting his own singer/songwriter project Pigeonhole. He now lives in New Hampshire with his wife and child.
Lev Liberman was a founder member of the pioneering Klezmer revival band, The Klezmorim. He played sax on “Edible Panties.” Liberman is now a composer and new-media wonk in Portland, Oregon. He’s currently accepting engagements for klezmer lecture/demos, workshops, and performances. You can find him at www.klezmershack.com.