"Carl's Crazy Costume Crash"

Previously unreleased/recorded Halloween 2000

I worked for Carl at the tobacco store in Indianola all through college. It was the perfect part time job. When he decided to purchse the building next to the store and make it into a pool hall I suggested we throw a party for his birthday which was around Halloween. His reply... I'll get a keg.

NEW ORLEANS
(Silver Jews cover)

This was a staple of my early live repertoire. It's such an easy song to play and a fun one to sing, especially the coda. The Silver Jews were one of the major influences on my sound. Even with the out of tune guitars I still love this version.

-JM

This was filmed right as the Moonshiners were going our separate ways. Jones had moved back to the Delta doing the Medicine Men w/Johnny, and I was just about to leave Starkville. Me, James, and Heath had been jamming with the legendary Scott "Scooter" Thomas all summer hoping to get a new & improved Phoenix going in Starkville. Needless to say, it didn't pan out, but we got pretty tight on lots of cool songs switching up instruments. When Johnny told me about Carl's party, you could say I was fired up. Shelly had just bought me the Danelectro not long before this was filmed. I showed up ready to rock, and thanks to Johnny, I can enjoy that night forever.

\m/

Beck

Watching these clips reminds me, for some reason, of reading interviews with bands 10 years past their prime and cleaned up dry drunks. Always going on about how much better they play their instruments and love! being able to remember the shows they play. At least for a few days, at any rate. Who cares if your technical prowess has gone through the roof if the soul of the music quietly snuck outta the back door while you were practicing pentatonic scales. Nothing wrong with technical know how or even virtuosity, for that matter, just don’t forget about fun and don’t take the music so seriously when an audience is paying to see you because they’ll pick up on that vibe, get the fear to dance, commence crossing of the arms, furrow the brows, and nod approvingly from time to time in a patronizing way when they hear something they think others might think they should like. Make sense? Not really. Okay. No harm.

Carl’s Crazy Costume Crash (a Halloween party) was a hoot and everyone there cut up a bit and danced. Somehow, we all caught a bit of soul and roll that night and it felt right. Why weez all havin’ such a good time that Jerome didn’t even care that my black-T was emblazoned with an offensive phrase borrowed from a Norman Mailer essay on what it meant to be a hipster in mid 20th century America, a la Lester Bangs (it being Halloween and all). Didn’t care much if he did, really, ‘cause Please Kill Me was our bible at the time, which accounts for much of the song selection: Chinese Rocks, Search and Destroy, Friction, and a smattering of originals.

Thanks again, Carl. It was a gift to be sure. Too bad you boned out on us the next time we tried to play in your smoke shop a year later. To wit: one day before the party, “Boys we gonna have us a party, ain’t we. Haw!” then the night of said festivities, these words were uttered: “This ain’t gonna be no party, now.” All to the beat of a little bit of soul quietly slipping out of the back door while everyone momentarily turned their backs and paid attention to caution.

Mitch Warsaw
June 2009

Special Thanks to "The Man with Many Utters" and Kriten "The Hammer" Massey