This fragment is the first recording of Ronnie and me playing together. We had just begun playing guitar a couple months before so our timing sucked, but I like the way it sounds like some kind of forgotten recording from the days of the Delta

song 166 : Fox On Ice (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 21st, 2006

This is Ronnie’s first and by far most primitive experiment with multi-track recording and effects.At first, it seems by fox Ronnie means foxy like the rock stars of yore he mentions but really this title is lifted from the I Ching. Ronnie’s a

song 165 : Ways Across (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 16th, 2006

I wrote the music for Ronnie’s lyrics about patience overcoming violence at a time when AC/DC and Muddy Waters were all I would listen to.“Backed into a corner of mirrorsYou got only yourself to blameChange is original sinWhen you play the sacr

song 164 : Wounded Knee (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 15th, 2006

I wrote the music for this song, Ronnie wrote the vocals. I could never sing anything like:I have an ancestor who was a chief on the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Because of the fate of so many of his family at the hands of the Nazis, Ronnie has str

song 163 : You Got Soul (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 13th, 2006

I wrote the music for this song, Ronnie wrote the vocals. I could never sing anything like:“You come knockin at my bedroom doorlike some kind of guilty conspiratorlke a spy in the nightlike an angel on the slylike the southern sunin the morning

song 162 : What You Do (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 12th, 2006

That glitch at the beginning shows how close we came to recording over this song!Way too silly and romantic for Tamra to ever sing, but cute, in a Marc Bolan with a dash of silly Lennon kinda way.I love the bluesy interplay of our guitars. I gu

song 161 : Pretending it’s Yesterday (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 10th, 2006

Ronnie’s rhythm guitar part later became the Lucid Nation song L.A. River that Keith Richards called marvelous. I played a sweet bass line on that, but I like this song just as much.They say L.A. is a cityIn a nightmare that never sleepsShow me

song 160 : Last Round Up (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 8th, 2006

Yes, that is me snickering. This song is a lament for musicians lost when one night stands became pregnancies unplanned. It would make a great condom commercial.On a more serious note I think the cruelty of women who saddle men with unwanted ch

song 159 : Nowhere To Hide (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 8th, 2006

As timely as today’s headlines! Things have only gotten worse since this song was written. “How do you deal with hopelessness?How do you deal with helplessness?How do you deal with crisisWhen it’s world wideAnd there’s nowhere to hide.”I’m not

song 158 : Hollywood Boulevard (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 4th, 2006

Now we are moving back through time to the very cassette tape that got Columbia Records interested in Cat Cult. These recordings were made inside an apartment living room, the two of us playing cheap guitars through practice combos, on a hand

song 157 : It's Like Something (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jul 3rd, 2006

This was Ronnie’s recording swansong with Cat Cult. The something struggling to be born he’s howling about is probably Lucid Nation!Man he finds a weird groove in here, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard, and I’m happy to say it owes a lot t

song 156 : Powa for Santa Vicca (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jun 29th, 2006

Conrad Santa Vicca was best known as Divine’s dresser. When he was diagnosed with AIDS he decided to fulfill his dream of becoming a painter. His work was extraordinary, as the art world quickly recognized.Ronnie and I met Conrad at a Holly W

song 155 : Walking Away From the Angels (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jun 28th, 2006

Ronnie recorded the sound of the ice cream truck right outside the apartment window to suggest the loss of innocence when you move away from home.He was thinking of a Catholic girl we knew, who because her family would not accept her, had to le

song 154 : Under the Sea of Stars (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jun 25th, 2006

Debbie said she’s probably crazyBecause all she can think aboutAre the identical refrigeratorsIn every claustrophobic house.”I guess in a way you could say those are Debbie’s first lyrics for Lucid Nation, since Ronnie is repeating something sh

song 153 : Trip (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jun 23rd, 2006

Ronnie painstakingly memorized this bit of Celtic open tuned picking that makes up the intro of the earliest version of the Lucid Nation song Trip.As the lyrics in this version make obvious, Andy Wood of Mother Love Bone had recently died. We

song 152 : Boulevard in My Backyard (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jun 23rd, 2006

Hollywood Boulevard was one of the songs Columbia picked out so Ronnie revamped it into this new song with a completely different loose and funky feel. Check out The Doors-y keyboard part he threw in. I like the lines: “We tore down the jungle

song 151 : New World Order (Cat Cult: The Origins of Lucid Nation)

Jun 21st, 2006

Ronnie took to multi-track recording like a duck to water. I fell in love with playing bass. The results were a startling leap forward from the hand held cassette demos Columbia liked that you’ll hear later this episode. Ronnie was goth once

song 150 : FUBAR (Public Domain - The Best of Lucid Nation)

Jun 20th, 2006

FUBAR is U.S. Army circa WW2 slang for Fucked Up Beyond All Repair.“The more things you treat like it the more your life turns to shit.”When Jody heard those lines she wanted to chant them with me. I have to admit it felt surreal to stand the

song 149 : Before the Future (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 19th, 2006

Late into the night we talked about the future. The audience hasn’t yet learned that the great art of the future will be DIY and hard to find, not corporate and handed to passive consumers everywhere on a silver platter. Remember, average peo

song 148 : Carbon Monoxide (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 17th, 2006

On the subject of malfunctioning vintage gear that makes people go misty eyed, Ronnie drove Mecca Normal to their gig at Spaceland in a broken down silvertop 1966 Pontiac GTO coupe. Because the trunk was rust eaten it filled with exhaust which

song 147 : After The Past (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 15th, 2006

We talked late into the night about the changes we were seeing. While having nowhere near the illustrious career of a Mecca Normal, Lucid Nation has been around long enough to see the bottom drop out of the music scene (and to bitch a blue str

song 146 : Spaced Land (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 15th, 2006

The other show we played with Mecca Normal was at Soapbox at Koo’s new location, with Family Outing, Jody Bleyle’s band with her brother. It happened to be the night of Morrissey’s comeback tour hitting town so nobody showed up for our show.

song 145 : Red Cloud (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 14th, 2006

For his graphics series Inspired Agitators, David Lester created a poster for the great Sioux chief Red Cloud. Now Ronnie is a Crazy Horse man. He got to talking about how Red Cloud wasn’t that great a guy. David stood up for Red Cloud. Ron

song 144 : Carcineria (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 13th, 2006

Beverly Boulevard used to be the favored shortcut for those in the know from where I live in Hollywood to downtown places like The Smell, Silverlake Lounge, Spaceland, Luna Sol, MOCA, and Little Tokyo. It’s still the shortcut late at night. Th

song 143 : Fork (Mung Jung Bushi)

Jun 12th, 2006

Jean wanted to give the songs neutral, innocuous names so listeners could bring their own imaginations to the tracks. One of the titles she mentioned to Ronnie as an example was fork. It could mean the fork in the road, the fork on your plate

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