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Sheltons Organic Turkey

if I empty out all the unimportant stuff here, maybe there'll be more room in my head for important things


name: shelton brett
location: western u.s.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

RCPM and Circus Mexicus

Getting ready for the next trip to Puerto Penasco to see Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers in what we hope will remain an annual trip. Last time we went was Nov. '04, I believe, but really who can remember when it was, I just remember the good times and good friends that were there. Oh yes, and few stories that may or may not involve fighting a Mexican palm tree.

RCPM to me is really a band like no other, and whether it's right or not, I lump the Refreshments' music in there with them since they were the precursor to RCPM and still play many of their songs. Yes, people who know me associate 80's metal and hair bands with the majority of my tastes. But something about these guys just work with my system--perhaps it's part timing, part association, and part tradition, but probably a lot of really good music too.

I first started listening to the Refreshments when they played indoors and outdoors in downtown Tempe at Gibson's. A bit of a raw rock show, but something was definitely working about these guys live. Catchy tunes and very Arizona, is the only way to explain it. I bought my very own copy of Wheelie from the local Zia store and we played it constantly when we BBQ'd, pre-functioned, or whenever. Sometime thereafter they were signed by a big label and released Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy which to this day remains one of my favorite CDs. It was Wheelie cleaned-up a bit with a new song added and a few other minor changes. Once I moved away to Michigan, I still kept in touch with the band's live performances because they toured to Michigan (largely, I think, because guitarist Brian Blush was from there) and of course they still played locally in AZ. Annual trips to see friends Pat and Shannon would often coincide with a concert, lucky us.

After another great album (I don't mean to get into a discography here), the band breaks up, reforms as RCPM and I move to Seattle where I get to see them at the Tractor Tavern quite frequently. The only bad thing associated with this period is that someone broke into my house and stole all my CDs, alphabetically A through R. (The bag he stole from my closet could only carry so many.) So yes, my Supersuckers CDs survived but my most precious CD ever Wheelie was stolen. So someone out there has my Wheelie CD (you know who you are, the band autographed the insert and Roger wrote "Viva Brett" on it, and I want it back damnit) but fortunately I have a copy of the music that I made for backup (how often does that actually pay off? I can't believe that actually worked!) and I still listen to it religiously. But as you can tell, I'm still a bit bitter about it.

Now that I've settled in the gorgeous Rockies, I still see the band on tour but it's the trips to AZ and Mexico with friends that I look most forward to, along with the new releases and (thankfully) frequent music the band makes on its independent label. Let me tell you, if you don't have a copy of Americano! then you need to get it, and if you don't like it then I don't want to talk to you, because frankly, we woudn't get along anyway. It's that good. I recently purchased the Four Unlike Before from iTunes and today I'm completing ripping my Roger CDs to my iPod so from now on until until Rocky Point '06, it's all about the music.

http://www.azpeacemakers.com/