Our mutual friend Barry Smolin posted this on the WELL, upon learning of the death of Al Feldstein. Barry was kind enough to allow me to share it here.
I’m devastated by this news. Al was my favorite show buddy, and we attended many astounding concerts together. The past few years he’s been very into moe., and so we went to every L.A. moe. show together. In 1998 we made a crazy 24-hour trip from LA to SF to see the Ominous Seapods play then home again that night. We talked about the concert the whole way back.
I loved talking to Al about music, much of the time disagreeing with him–he was a man of strong opinions–but always hearing in his rants an underlying love of music and a respect for shit that he knew was good even if he didn’t particularly like it. I remember his description of disco music: “Most of it sucked, but the good stuff was great.” That was Al. He had a great pair of ears.
A month ago, Al, Debbie Hudson, and I had a mindblowing couple of nights together seeing moe. at The Roxy in L.A. He spoke several times recently of wanting to see Radiohead live. I’m sorry he didn’t get to do that. He would’ve appreciated that experience. Al had a blast at Bonnaroo a couple of weeks ago. I’m glad he got to do THAT. He LOVED the Phish set. He wrote me an ecstatic email about it, proselytizing (he knew I wasn’t an avid Phish fan), telling me I had to check them out more deeply.
I played in 2 different bands with Al. I did several gigs as keyboardist in The Reptiles, Al’s band with David Gans and some other cool folks. One concert in particular, a house party in Placerville, ranks as one of my greatest experiences as a performer, a 4-set miracle, just fiery and psychedelic and spot on. Al and I drove up to Placerville together, participated in the mind-meld of the gig, spent much of the night lying supine on a giant trampoline, looking at the stars, talking about music. The next day we drove back home together, another nonstop gabfest.
In addition to The Reptiles, Al and I also played together briefly in my pal Harvey Canter’s band Sea of Green. Al provided brilliantly melodic bass lines to complement Harvey’s tunes.
The loss has not sunk in yet. It’ll hit me full on, I think, the next time moe. comes to L.A.
Barry, thanks for posting that.
Thanks, Barry. I’m so sorry to hear this news. Guess I’ll dig out my Tile shirt in his honor.
Wow. I have 2 reptile shirts, and a bumper sticker, as well as just a sticker.
Thanks for posting, Barry. It’s very nice that we all have good memories about Al. He was a great musician.
Lovely, Barry. The detail about the post-concert recline on the trampoline was beautiful and touching. I also recall the non-stop jawing of that Seapods odyssey, all the way up and down Hwy 5. The man was a catalyst. Fun times.
Do you remember those Sea of Green rehearsals where you and I would look at each other in astonishment at some amazing passage that was being played, both wondering, “Where the hell is THAT coming from?” And then we’d both look over at Al, and sure enough, there he was, carving out something of utter beauty, and carving it out from somewhere deep inside the structure and heart of the song. Not nearly that articulate myself, I was frequently blown away by what he could create on guitar or bass. Another thing I admired was how he played his ass off even on the songs of mine he didn’t seem to care for as much (opinions which he freely shared!); he still invested whatever he could bring to each song. His love of playing music was always palpable and contagious.
A great companiion was he….you really brought that out in your post.
Wish someone would post a few more of Al’s songs back on the other page, esp. Scene of the Crime. Loved the selections that were there!
I am working on that, Harvey. I have at least three more songs of Al’s in my archive, and I will post them asap.