ESMERELDA-
Yesterdays influences:
LSD, The Addams Family,Mary Magdalene,Native Americans,Peyote,Fellini,Travis Banton,Indian Sadhu's,Belladonna,Yma Sumac, Judy Garland, Om Kalsoum, Vampira,13th Floor Elevator,Bob Marley, Bowie, Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music,Nancy Cunard & Henry Crowder,Sex Pistols,Patti Smith,Nico,Lene Lovitch,Beres Hammond,Holger Zukie,Martha & the Vandella's,Irma Thomas, Little Anthony, Dick Dale & surf culture 1962-1967 ,Donovan.Patsy Cline.Ana Mae Wong, Janis Joplin, the DOORS, the SEEDS, LOVE, Tim Buckley, The Bulgarian National Ensemble, Gypsy Esma Reznapova,Sake,
LeonardCohen,Ian&Sylvia,HEART,snakehandlermusic,RoyOrbison,Kabuki,Butoh,Saki,ChineseOpera,Gamelan,AnnieLennox,Yaz,Rumi,Rimbaud,Gamelan,early Negro slave music, Rita Hayworth,Marlena Dietrich, the Bauls of Bengal, Bert Jansch, Incredible String Band,,Riuichi Sakamoto, Vivian Westwood,Japanese Ghost movies. X-RAY SPEC"S!!!!!
Music Videos I costumed-
Busta Rhymes, ODB,E-40, Faith Evans, Timbaland,Digital Underground,Shonen Knife,
Todays influences:
Buddhism,Geshe Kelsang Gyatso,cultural burial practices and spiritual death rituals , Green Burial, Nipun Mehta, Barak & Michele,Terracycle, Antony & the Johnsons,Cat Power,Beres Hammond (still), Snoop Dog,TrueBlood, Gnarls Barkley, Shakira, Grace Jones,Benecio Del Toro,anyone who was addicted and gets clean & sober,anyone who gets it together to make relevant art or music in the 21st Century. Anyone who has compassion and shows love and kindness to other beings without thinking of themselves first. All props to you.
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TONY HOTEL - Miles Davis, Tony Williams (drums) met him, Elvin Jones (drums) met him twice, Barbra Streisand, primarily, "Free Again", "Don't Rain on My Parade", and "People". Peggy Lee, who said: "I'm in touch with the Universe, figure out where that leaves you", Billie Holiday, played with a piano player who jammed with her and also hung out with Mal Waldron, who was her last accompaniast. Lee Morgan, Duke Ellington: I played with a singer, Bobbie Nell Brookshire, who went around the world with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Buddy Rich, when I was 18, I played in a 7 piece Society Band that opened a show for him. Later, he commented about me on the Johnny Carson Show. Dexter Gordan, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, met him. Neill Young and Crazy Horse, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders, David Freisen and Mike Hyman (drums) Mike can show you where jazz is at today. I met him and recorded his sets at Seelbach's Bar at the Louisville Hilton.
My drum set was an original, from the factory, which was a barn at Joe Thompson's, inventor of Rogers Drums, in Covington, Ohio. My drum teacher was his friend, and took me to the factory. There, I got to pick out my very own first drum set. The shells were hanging on the wall on pegs. I chose blue white sparkle. During Noh Mercy, William Pascerelli, a well known artist at the time and good friend of Esmerelda, offered to cover my set in clear vinyl. We used a color theme of red and black and I chose dominoes as an accent. After we broke up, I recovered my drums in flourescent camping orange quilt. Subsequently, before I left San Francisco, I removed the Rogers logos and traded them in on a new set of Tamas, with a 24 inch bass. I still have them today. They are the original SuperStar set in Maple and I love them.
I still love to play the drums and I have been teaching guitar and drums privately, for the past 10 years.
In 1977 Former "ANGELS OF LIGHT" singer Esmerelda, met Tony Hotel, the world's GREATEST DRUMMER, Girl or otherwise!, through a mutual friend and exotice dancer.
We lived in San Francisco in a storefront that is now ATA Gallery at 992 Valencia St. We were a part of the Punk, New Wave movement of that time and many of the bands used our basement to rehearse in; including Tuxedo Moon and Pink Section.
Adrian Craig, who was Tuxedo Moon's manager, was also our manager and roommate. Steven Brown, founder of TUXEDOMOON and Esmerelda knew each other in the "ANGELS OF LIGHT".
Esmerelda & Tony Hotel were true punk smart alec brats! They formed a band called
"ON THE RAG" . They soon changed the name to "NOH MERCY". The band was only Esmerelda singing and Tony Hotel on the Drums. We came up with the name by each of us choosing a word. Esmerelda's word was:
NOH- Ancient Japanese theatre form.
Tony's word was:
MERCY- A compassion of grace.
NOH MERCY played at the Mabuhay Gardens, the Deaf Club, the 330 Grove (Gay Community Center), Madame Wong's in LA and alot of other places we can't remember.
Esmerelda's motto was : "NO BOYS ON GUITARS!"
In 1978, Esmerelda slipped a cassette tape into Jim Fouratt's pocket who gave it to
BOB LAST, who took it to Edinburgh Scotland and put it out on EARCOM 3 on the FAST RECORDS label.
The songs were- "NO CAUCASIAN GUILT" and "REVOLUTIONARY SPY".
The Industry was overwhelmingly sexist at the time and NOH MERCY was not "easy"cute girls! (Although we WERE really cute.)
A local phenomena, NOH MERCY never quite got the record industry notice of say the Dead Kennedy's , or the other boys etc.
The band lasted from 1977-1979.
Recently, Tony found a box of our missing tapes, which we are re-mastering and offering to you. This is the real PUNK ROCK from 1977.
We hope you like it.
Yay! Thanks for adding those classics from the Earcom 3. Any updates on the unreleased tapes? Are they the same tapes heard briefly in the background of that one scene from WHATEVER HAPPEND TO SUSAN JANE?
Hey Kids! Thanks for the add and bringing back some memories. I'll send you some of my stuff from that same time and maybe something from the future. For now I'm just trying to get these halloween costumes done in time. The DEADline for orders is coming sooooon. -brooks
