Thursday, November 13, 2008

Traveling with the Ethnogs 1975

As you know,The Ethnogs performed all over the world -- not only in countries like England, Germany, and France but also in places like New Guinea, Tonga, Nepal, the Lesser Antilles, Namibia, Kampuchea, Pittsburgh, and Yemen. I think Rickie Dick took this picture of me (I'm the guy standing) and one of our now deceased drummers, Teddy "the flea" Harkness, while we were on a boat off the coast of Mexico after purchasing some "crops" from the local farmers. This was shortly before Teddy died of some rare jungle disease or he just fell off the boat and we never found him or maybe we forgot to look for him. And I don't remember who the babe was. Can anyone identify her?

2 comments:

The Z said...

I can remember, barely, my first Ethnogs concert. It was their first "Desert Storm" party held in the Sahara back in '68. The music, the stars, the sand -- it was a wild party lit by a diesel-fuel fire. We roasted wild hogs and danced until Tommy H. spontaneously combusted on stage. It was wicked.

The last set lasted 12 hours straight...I passed out from dehydration, or starvation, or something, and when I came to, Douggie Mac had autographed my face. I didn't wash it for 6 weeks. It got to be fairly disgusting, but a great story. Thanks for the memories Ethnogs, I think.

Andrew F. Herrmann said...

Good to see you back fellas!!

If I remember, I was hanging around with the band in late 1984 and early 1985 during a time of considerable change, and thought the band could use a new emphasis and direction.

I sang two songs with them. One was a riff called "Pajama Bottom Blues" and the other was a punkesque-influenced rocker called "Managed Chaotic Symbolism." I will have to hunt around my garage to see if I still have those early demos. I am sure they are not pretty.

I do distinctly remember Dougal telling me: "Otto, you are too into yourself." Then they changed the locks on the practice space and I never saw them again.

The fellas and I did not see eye-to-eye on the whole uptempo yelling of the lyrics thing that I was into back then. However, I think it had more to do with when I suggested the band name be changed to "Otto and the Ethnogs" to reflect changing styles and insights and performances. I'm not into myself, I'm just narcissistic.

Oh. Contrary to popular and incessant rumors, I had nothing to do with The Ethnogs original break-up. So whoever you are out there, please stop circulating those rumors.