Interview: Mike Garson, Part 2

Pianist Mike Garson performed over one thousand concerts with David Bowie, more than any other person. He joined Bowie’s band for the Ziggy Stardust tour, and played on the Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, and Young Americans albums. He re-entered Bowie’s orbit in the 1990’s, and played on Bowie albums including Outside, Earthling, and Reality. You can hear Garson’s diverse piano skills on Bowie songs ranging from “Aladdin Sane” featuring his avant-garde solo, to “Young Americans” and its Philly soul splendor, to the frenetic “Battle For Britain (The Letter)”

Garson has also recorded and toured with a number of other notable artists, including Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins, and has released a number of solo albums. He has composed over 5,000 pieces of music in virtually every imaginable style.

This interview with Mike Garson was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for the concert “Cancer: The Urgency of Now ” at the Lobero Theatre on 11/2/18. It was done by phone on 10/19/18. It complements a previous interview with Mike Garson, available here.

Interview: Mark Tulin from The Electric Prunes

Mark Tulin was the bass guitar player for The Electric Prunes, which is best known for 1966’s psychedelic garage-rock classic single “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night),” the lead track on the highly-regarded Nuggets collection compiled in 1972 by Lenny Kaye. The Prunes’ original line-up also released 1968’s psych obscurity Mass in F Minor, a Catholic mass, sung in Latin, composed by music producer/arranger/composer David Axelrod – the track “Kyrie Eleison” from this album was on the soundtrack for the generation-defining movie Easy Rider.

This interview was conducted in person on 8/23/09, and formed the basis of a preview article of the Spirits In The Sky concert at Muddy Waters Cafe on 8/27/09. We started talking about the upcoming show, and then covered The Electric Prunes.

Chat: Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan is the lead guitarist and singer for Smashing Pumpkins, one of the best known alternative rock bands which broke through in the 1990’s. Their 1993 album Siamese Dream is widely recognized as one of the best and most influential albums of the decade.

After the phenomenal concert by Billy Corgan and the Spirits in the Sky at Muddy Waters in Santa Barbara on 8/28/09, Corgan was casually chatting with fans outside. Amidst various random questions and people asking him to sign things, some of us in the crowd managed to have a conversation about the music business. Here is a transcript of how it went down:

Concert Review: Spirits in the Sky (Billy Corgan, Dave Navarro, etc)

Review of Billy Corgan and the Spirits in the Sky’s show at Muddy Waters Cafe, 8/27/09

Concert Preview: Spirits in the Sky (Billy Corgan, Dave Navarro, etc)

Preview of Billy Corgan concert on 8/27/09 at Muddy Waters Coffee House in Santa Barbara, with interview with Mark Tulin from the Electric Prunes and The Spirits in the Sky