Cabaret Manana

Juan Garcia Esquivel. I first learned of Esquivel from a roommate of mine in college. His name is/was Ben Wells. He played in a some local punk bands in Minneapolis in the mid '90s. I can't for the life of me remember the name of band. It was DriveShaft, or Pig Fuckers or something like that. I lived with Ben and like 6 other guys in an apartment that had a crooked stair case and 50's frige retro fitted to hold a keg of beer. It was tasty days. The apartment was gross but the parties where fun.

Grunge was slowly dyeing, Kurt Cobain had been dead for several years, Eddie Vedder had cut his hair. Soundgarden's Spoonman was all the rage. Coldplay wasn't even a glimmer in a record executives eye. Swing was just starting to be come huge. Music needed something different something weird. Hey I know what do the kids like? Jazz Standards played by a Mexican American with glasses that would make Harry Carey. Better yet he's almost eighty, we will get him to sign a contract and get this 50 year old music dirt cheap. The Space Aged Bachelor music didn't quite take off like one would have hoped but for, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

If memory serves Ben came home all excited from the Electric Fetus, with a stack of CD's. He told us of this crazy music he heard. He said it was like a 1950's Mr. Bungle. Now if you have ever listened to Mr. Bungle or Esquivel you probably would be scratching your head. I am scratching my head right now. A thing you have to remember about Ben, his chair in his room was from a car (which he later gave to me) and his instrument of choice was the Didgerdoo. It wasn't a didgerdoo he got on a trip to Australia, or one he bought in a music store. It was one he made out of a heavy duty card board tube and wax. We also made him one for Christmas and painted on it and shit. I think I also bought Scott Vocarl a bong that year as well.

So I found Cabaret Manana in the BMG Music Service. You know 20 CD's for a penny or whatever. So I got it, listened to it and liked it. I still don't like Mr. Bungle though. I threw it in my stack of CD's and never bothered transferring it my computer. Which mean I did not listen to it for many years. Paul's request for instrumentals brought me back to it. There are some pretty cool tunes on there. Some great twists on Jazz standards.


*** this post updated while listening to Elliot Smith's Roman Candle.***