1994_09 The Daily Collegian September 1994

              Thursday, September 29, 1994
THE SCENE
Page 7
Local guitarist rocks, rolls craft fairs circuit
	
By Joe Rosato Jr
i ■
The transition from top club
performei to craft fair king didn't
happen overnight for Fresno gui¬
tarist/singer Roger Perry, but in
the short span of time that he's
played the fa^jr circuit he's be¬
come schooled enough to know
the difference between a craft fair
and an art fair.
"Craft fairs are where
paint on buckets," Perry philoso¬
phized. "Art fairs are where
people paint on canvas."
The last two years have in¬
creasingly found Perry with the
painted buckets at the crafts fairs,
strumming the folksy, story-filled
songs that he was weaned on as a
child.
Perry claims he's the illegiti¬
mate chikTof Marilyn Monroe
and Elvis Presley—he is in fact
die second child of a truck driver
and a housewife—Perry said his
mother, Janet Perry, had envi¬
sioned greatness for her family.
T think she wanted tobe Dolly
Parton," Perry said, "she wanted
my dad to be John Wayne, and
she wanted my brother and me
to be little Hvises."
Perry, spent his childhood per¬
forming on stage; talent shows,
telethons, P.E. teacher's parties
and when he' got older—at
chicken fights. Perry said he
would don an Elvis suit and play
through the vein of rockabilly
and country and western tunes
that were as much a part of his
home as his mother's chicken
fried steak.
As Perry got older, the Elvis
suits and songs gave way to
trenchcoats and blistering rock
guitar riffs.
Perry'scareer reads likeaTho-
mas Guide to the Fresno club
scene—the Wild Blue, Olympic
Tavern, Club Fred, Old Town
Saloon and The Cadillac Club
have served as stomping grounds
during the past decade for Perry
bands: ihe Mockers, Money Gun
^and Car and Roger Perry and the
Trip*)—anointing club patrons
Roger Perry, guitarist and
with a stew of blues, rock, coun¬
try and souL
The now-defunct Wild Blue
nightclub was Perry's home dur¬
ing the 80s where nearly every
weekend featured one of his
groups. In 1993 Perry backed one
of rock's perennial forefathers—
Bo Diddley. Perry recollected the
gig with Diddley at Fresno's
Cadillac Club.
"He was cool," said Perry,
who, along with several locals,
was chosen to back die legend.
"He had the foulest mouth of any
man I've heard. All he did was
tell filthy jokes. Jokes that would
embarrass a sailor. Then he ate
tacos."
Besides playing with the hisr-
torical rock pioneer, Perry in-
*   j Ken KoUer —THE COLLEGIAN
singer, strums folksy songs that tell a story at craft fairs throughout California.
'They're always polite, there's    times metal songs not conducive
dixies songs in his show that
could be.considered historical-
Songs by Tom Jones, Johnny
Cash, Ry Cooder, and Madonna
all find their way into his con¬
certs.
Recently, Perry putdub shows
on the back burner in exchange
for the craft fair gigs. The sight of
patrons bellying up to thebar has
been replaced by craft enthusi¬
asts wandering among booths.
Having just returned from a
craft show in Fairview, Texas,
"where Perry and local musician
Perry Hodge had played all week¬
end, Perry compared the perils of
no drunk people getting in your
face at the end of the night trying
to talk to you. They may not ap¬
plaud-but theyTl put a five or ten
in the bucket."     X.
Perry recalledTiis first craft
fair gig —'■ he'd been invited to
perform^t the fair after the pro¬
moter had seen Perry's dub act.
"Sure, we played over a septic
tank," Perry said of the gig, "but
it was ten times better than play¬
ing in a filthy, stinking night¬
club."
Thejumpfromplayingin bars
to playing in the more subdued
end, Perry compared the penis ot to piaying in me uiuic swuun.
dub life to the peace he has found craft shows required a musical
in the world Si crafts. modification for Perry, whose
"There's an older crowd that rocking club repertoire consisted
go to the crafts fairs," Perry said, of upbeat funk, rock and some-
to the craft atmosphere.
Though Peny occasionally still
playsdub gigs,his musical atten¬
tion is focused on performing at
the fairs, where he plays acoustic
guitar and sings "story songs."
Inside Perry's small Tower
District apartment amidst walls
adorned with bullhorns, hang¬
ing guitars and Elvis memora¬
bilia, Perry sits, ready to espouse
his musical mantra.
'To play music thaf s in tune,
on time, in key," he began. Tell a
story that makes sense, that old
people and young people can lis¬
ten to. To not resort to gimmicks,
to talk bad about tobacco, co¬
caine and alcohof—and to stand
up for the rights of fat people."
Soup Dragons' latest release
'drips with funky soul'
Jayne Wexler JS SPECIAL TO THE COLLEGIAN
The last of The Soup Dragons, Sean Dickson.
By Joe Rosato Jr
The Soup Dragons founder,
Sean Dickson, described the
band's third release,
"Hydrophonic," by saying
"This album sounds more like a
band than anything I've ever
done." Ironic, since the entire
band, save Dickson, bailed out
right before the recording of
"Hydrophonic."    "\
The exodus of his bandmates
didn'tseem tophase Dickson— f
he picked up the reins and ca¬
reened the album in himself,
playing all the instruments ex¬
cept drums. Specical cameos by
BootsyCollins,Tina Weymouth
and others tend to Dickson ef¬
fort. The album drips with funky
soul so thick you could tame it
and ride it into the cosmic uni-
yerse.
"Do You Care?" is a dark ride
through the world of commit¬
ment, with Dickon posing the
questions: Would you care if every¬
thing that you ivon was taken away
from you? Would you care if your
cocaine Ifestyle went from high to
being blue?
The final mixes were done at
Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland
inNewYork,arKiHendrix'sghost
haunts the album's 15cuts, which
twang wfthpsychadelia and deep
' souL
Beneath the walls of grinding
guitars and rock-solid bass
grooves,Dickson'sknackfor find¬
ing a melody protrudes, though
the hand of production is visible,
the songs stand on their own.
"Consequently there's much
wider musical boundaries on it,"
says Dickson. T experimented to
see how far I could take my ideas.
1 let the songs dictate how 1 did
them."
The album condudes with
audio outtakes an aborted Nasa
Apollo mission: luckily, in the
face of his own uncnarted jour¬
ney, Dickson didn't abort
''Hydrophonic"— but instead
created a collection of fabulously
groovy and infectious songs-
-