"Imagine a little
giraffe and an earless rabbit with the astonishing ability to improvise songs out of thin
air instantly with only seconds to prepare! Imagine a foursome of hotel lobby jazz puppets
led by a father and son team of wild monkeys on guitar and horns backed up by a shy bear
on the two string basitar and a small duck on wheels tickling the ivory keys like she has
a dark secret! Now if you will imagine these two musical paths colliding and creating a
sound like none you can possibly imagine!" Read the press
release. That's how it starts. The real deal is that Chris Ballew of the
Presidents of the United States has quit the Presidents and is putting out a solo
album on an indie label because he wants to. Imagine that! Shunning the mainstream music
biz to actually do exactly what you want to do.
He says on the My
Own Planet Recordings website, "Well, here I am having finished being a
"rock star". It feels good to have been lucky enough to have it happen the way
it did and to back off when the gettin was good. I always fantisized that if I ever did
become famous that it would happen because people wanted to hear the music and see the
band before the record companies took notice and that I would quit at the top of my
game..." The album by Chris Ballew is called 13 Other Dimensions by the
Giraffes, and will be released on March 17. You can pre-order it now on CD-NOW.
remember
9/11