Electric Apricot

In the spring of 2005,

a young graduate

film student from UCLA

set forth to make

a documentary

reflecting an element

of contemporary music culture

that had yet to be

fully examined.

The notion was to capture

something raw and original,

something unpretentious

and genuine.

He yearned to make a film

that would stand out

from other rock 'n' roll

documentaries

and potentially

redefine the genre.

Who he found

was Electric Apricot.

What he achieved

was Enlightenment.

Well, I've been

doing yoga all day,

but I do that every day,

so I guess that's not special,

but, yes, I've prepared

a couple pieces

and I also wrapped

a couple things of sage

that I grew in my garden-

some pineapple sage,

some lavender sage together

I think are going

to really help

cleanse the room

before we start

It's got a peazio

pickup in here. Peazio.

I don't know what that means, but

it sounds cool, huh? Yeah, man.

Whose car did you borrow?

That's my sister's.

To fully understand the band,

we must first examine

the music scene

that spawned this colorful

group of troubadours

we call Electric Apricot.

Known as Jam Band music,

this scene has been expanding

and evolving rapidly

over the past several years.

I think the jam scene

is really, um, free-loving

with a bit of,

like, ass-shaking

and, like, kind of just,

you know, crazy, like, wow.

It's about dancing,

it's about shaking loose

your normal everyday stresses

and getting into a fun space.

The band plays

a two-minute song,

goes into ten minutes

of silliness,

and creates new music

that's never been

played before.

Ultimately, jamming

is all about language.

It's all about language.

Wittgenstein says,

is that language-

all philosophy

is meaningless

because language

is meaningless.

It's great

to see new blood

in the improvisational

rock 'n' roll music scene.

I get a little squirmy

when people try

and categorize us one way

or another, you know?

We could be...

We could be, like,

a Jam Band thing

one minute,

and then we can get

into some funkiness.

For somebody to go out there

with a bunch of sequencers

and put on a show

that's pretty much

note-for-note every time

flies in the face of what

American musical culture

is about, in my opinion.

Playing music, you should

just f***ing jam it.

You should jam it,

and jam it hard, jam it true.

People can see, they can interact

with me, I can interact with them.

I can give them

some of my looks.

Jimmy air freshener, man.

You see that?

It's always gonna

smell like Jimmy.

Jimmy!

When I'm playing and

I'm doing one of my fills

I try and make eye contact

with somebody

just to kind of give them

a little something

to take home with them.

There's a place.

A wondrous place.

A place out on the playa,

where like-minded individuals

can get together

and share ideas.

It's a place that

knows no boundaries,

except for those that

are set by your own mind.

Creativity blooms.

That place...

is a place called...

Burning Man

Burning Man

Burning Man

Burning Man

Hey, are you going

to Burning Man?

To bury your toes

in the desert sand

Ain't no man born

to tell you how to be

I'll take you

to Burning Man

I've got a recipe

for cosmic flan

Strip off your clothes

and set your aura free

There's a place I've been

called Black Rock City

Where we're taught

to get down

Onto Juilliard

at evening

Waltz in with my saxophone

Searching for answers

and feasting on the world

Ah

I first saw them

on Earth day in Modesto.

Killer show.

And then I saw them at the

Santa Rosa Agricultural Festival

at Windsor Waterworks,

which was-

it totally went off, and I was in

the front and I'm doing the cube.

You know, it's this

dance I made up.

What I do is I make

a cube with my hands.

Um... I just kinda started

going like that

and I just sort of made

a square shape,

more like

a three-dimensional square.

A tight-knit group

of individuals,

the Jam scene flourishes

through communal interaction,

be it via the internet,

tape-trading,

or multi-genred festivals,

one of the premier events

being the Northwest's

own musical extravaganza,

Festeroo.

Festeroo.

Festeroo.

Festeroo.

Festeroo, man.

Do I know about Festeroo?

With it's tree-lined

rural setting

just northwest

of Portland, Oregon,

Festeroo has been host

to some of the top-named acts

in the Jam scene

since autumn of 2001.

The Jam festivals

are basically mud-fests

like any festivals.

Festeroo- there's fire,

there's circus,

there's Jam, there's beat.

People walking around with

no tops on, that's awesome.

Bathing in the river,

that's awesome.

Yeah, it was the greatest

thing l... pinnacle experience.

l... l... I shat myself.

It was awesome.

Dude, total meltdown.

I don't know what happened.

I just lost my keys

right before the gig.

We got all this

important stuff in there.

I gotta get this stuff out.

No keys.

But... who knows?

Weak.

Super weak.

The light on

my laminate saved me,

usually because I got

a light on my key.

Uh-oh.

My goal, as manager,

is to continually

try to raise the profile

of this band.

We've got some upcoming

local gigs, which is great.

Then next week,

we go into the studio

to record

the band's first album

on my friend's record label.

The real deal is I've been

working some angles

to try to get the band

into Festeroo.

Have you done

Ford Windstars before?

Oh man, we played so many...

We played, like-

we played basically

coffeehouses.

You know, we play all kinds of

different coffeehouses around town.

I mean, basically we'd set up

in front of the coffeehouse,

but we'd just

put our hats down.

And I think it was Don,

Don Kleinfeld, our manager,

who first introduced us,

me and Steve, to Lapdog.

He was like, Hey, man, why don't

you guys get some percussion?

I know this guy, Lapdog.

You know, I had been

in this band Illucifer,

which was

the illusive Lucifer,

which was this metal band.

And then I got

into the funky stuff.

So I was kind of trying

to combine the two things,

so it was kind of like this double

bass metal funky stuff, you know?

I think he had

some funk band,

Funky White Monkey

or something like that.

In doing the Funky

White Monkey thing

I learned that

there was more to music

with the whole

soulful groove element.

So we started

playing live,

we started doing our usual

circuit of the coffeehouses.

And then this guy shows up

with this big double-kit,

I don't know,

Tama Superstar Kit-

cymbals everywhere,

and he sets up in front

of Pete's Coffee.

I mean, I could

see their point.

I mean, we did block-

entirely block the sidewalk.

Just playing

on the sidewalk,

it's just not that

conducive to what I do.

You couldn't really

hear us sing or play

because he would...

Lap would just...

he would just solo

most of the time.

Just take five deep breaths

and open up that third eye.

And I'll tell you,

my brother,

we're going to go

on a magic carpet ride.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes