#12 string

SUNDAY MATINEE MUSIC VIDEO “Love is Strange (a lo-fi live just-for fun rehearsal)”—The Farm in San Francisco was literally a farm, a madcap complex wedged between a maze of freeway ramps, industries, gas stations, and a ball park. The byzantine building included performance spaces (I heard Prince visited once). My band October rehearsed and made demo recordings at The Farm, sharing the space with my pal Dan Rielly (later of Funk Dub Division). Our bassist-singer Victor Valverde was inspired by Timmy Thomas’s “Why Can’t We Live Together” and he got the bug we should do “Love is Strange” in that style. Our lo-fi rehearsal appeared on a compilation (re-posted by tape archivist Matthew Hunt). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOLhfcRjKXA

About this time in 1956, the original “Love is Strange” by Mickey & Sylvia was rising on the charts. It was written by Bo Diddley (as “Ethel Smith” his then-wife) and has been covered and copied countless times. For our version we switched it from the standard major key to minor key and added a bossa-nova beat, a gospel intent, and a retro drum machine. Ron Davis played drums & timbales, I played Vox electric 12-string guitar w/built-in tremolo, and Victor played bass and sang a powerful lead. Bridget Purifoy and Anna Valdez sang harmonies. Later we played this arrangement live…