Can you cats pick up what I'm laying down? Dig? Can you dig the Maharajah, gone cat, silken-robed cat reclining with his harem, dig baby, dig his Majesty, the wailinest cat in all India.
Recorded: live on March 16, 2003 at the Beta Lounge in San Francisco
In 1967, San Francisco’s Fifty Foot Hose were certainly one of the
innovators of a sound that took Psychedelia to new heights and was
captured on the band’s one record, Cauldron. They are a totally
unique hybrid—on one hand pulsating bay area acid rock, on the other,
fractured electronic freakery, becoming one whole cohesive being. The
sci-fi-ish video game-like artwork hinted at the sounds within, as did
the Limelight label’s pedigree for truly progressive sounds. Band
leader, Cork Marcheschi, used homemade electronic devices to create
crude and experimental soundscapes and instrumental compositions that
were sprinkled throughout the album.
Often starting shows with a swelling rumble that exploded into the
first song, they soon developed a rabid following on the SF scene,
though there was the occasional totally wrong gig, like when a
very-pregnant Nancy had to perform at a Catholic Girls’ school! Still,
the group wowed the crowds, performing with greats like Chuck Berry and
Fairport Convention.
For many years, I ran the projector at the Vitascope Hall movie theater and one evening while I was threading the second reel, lightning struck the flagpole outside. A huge crash ensued, the impact of which practically threw my assistants over the balcony. As it happens, the film that was playing, Valley of the Gwangi, had Mustafio as a character, and the actor playing me affected a perfect pause after the crash before delivering the next line. The audience was both exhilarated and relieved. After, all of us sat around rollicking with laughter, forgetting about the rest of the movie, let alone the scene.
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