stella luna live in '96 - reflections & recollections
Cafe Leviticus, San Jose, CA 1/12/96
From Neville’s journal: “Off we went to San Jose–Leviticus Cafe where we rendezvoused with Josh & Trent & Jonathan. Set up in a strange walled-off corner. Started with bowed guitar into a nice strong drone & a bit of percussion. I don’t know how long we played (45 mins?) but we were good and well appreciated–girls buying Mandible Chatter CD’s asking when we’re playing again, etc. Started 2nd set with all of us droning & then drumming w/strobe. I asked Jenny to come up and drum too. I sang through weird effects while sitting on the wall. Strobe light through bass drum, also on the wall. Girls dancing on the opposite wall & then on the sidewalk. We left sound going inside & then we went outside to drum, dance & dodge & then slowly formed a sitting circle singing & holding hands–something I think I started and was happy to see it spread around the circle. People hugging each other after…THAT was a show, and we succeeded in not only being mildly interesting but breaking through fear and bringing people together.”
Cafe Leviticus, San Jose, CA 2/21/96
From Neville’s journal: “No problems setting up. We seemed to have more room somehow. We sat and hummed as Jonathan introduced us–wanted to begin the show with the ending of the last one. Then a set of rather disjointed and somewhat annoying noises occasionally falling together to produce some fractured sense of a song. At “intermission” a guy played a cello and told strange stories. I went looking for a priestess and–lo and behold–there was Annie* and she said she’d do it. 2nd set started with frame drum & cello and was more together than the first set–a break in the drumming where everyone chanted and Annie & I moved around putting ashes on people’s foreheads (it was Ash Wednesday). I was surprised how many people wanted ashes, though I should have guessed–we’re all dying for spirituality. More drumming, then I switched to guitar & it turned into a kind of frenzied Velvet Underground rave-up, followed by a Grateful Dead-like mellowness. Nowhere to go from there so I lay on the floor and played with a balloon. Kind of unsatisfying–I wanted to do something more…heard a drum in the pedestrian tunnel & raced down there w/Glenn only to find it empty. But we drummed and people came down & danced & sang & clapped & shouted in an act of spontaneous & joyful community…ok, so then I felt I could go home.”
* I later wrote a song about her called “Pantheistic Annie.”
Cafe Leviticus, San Jose, CA 3/20/96 (equinox)
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LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT CAFE LEVITICUS, 3/20/96, PT. 1
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT CAFE LEVITICUS, 3/20/96, PT. 2
From Neville’s journal: “Anxious & angry about lack of rehearsal & communication for this show. Put things in perspective in the parking lot listening to the Grateful Dead. Set up in the other part of Leviticus for more audience contact. Josh painted my face–a big Psychic TV cross on my forehead, etc. Lots of fun noises and spontaneous jamming while setting up. The first set was pretty much one note–but what a note! Stretching on for 30 minutes, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, ending with chords almost like Spacemen 3 playing “Gloria.” Great response. A brief break & then an acoustic set. I sang “Sesame Street which went over pretty well, all things considered. Josh did a spontaneous & silly Doctor Seuss piece with me bending over so he could read the words (using my back as a table) and Kei bending over me with a candle so Josh could see. Glenn did a song & Trent did a song. Then the 2nd set. Glenn blew his horn. Kei & I read a Goddess chant for the Equinox then Josh did funk guitar & the drums kicked in. People danced & blew bubbles etc. Some quieter moments & more drums–tried to use the drum machine but no one could hear to follow it. We stopped & I made a goodbye announcement & as I was getting up my foot hit the drum machine accidentally, which began playing a rhythm that wasn’t cheesy & Glenn picked up a dumbek & people were dancing again, myself included. Then we took that out to the tunnel and things got even wilder–solid drumming, lots of dancing, a communal drone with about 20 people–it was great. I kicked back for a few minutes & watched everyone and at that instant realized all of us had given our drums to audience members and that our roles were reversed as we were now the audience. After that wound down I said “Thank you; we’re Stella Luna–and so are you!” Strangers hugging strangers again, though I’ve seen some of these folks before. Back inside the now-empty coffee house, flowers strewn about the floor. We all cleaned up. My god, what a night!”
Cafe Leviticus, San Jose, CA 4/23/96
w/ Stabbing Brussels Sprouts
From Neville’s journal: “Here we go again! Stabbing Brussels Sprouts opened (Trent, Jonathan & Glenn) & then 2 sets by Stella Luna with me as MC. No audience response but we played well, going into some Spiritualized-like jamming in the first set and a long, slow drumming segment in the 2nd set which gradually crescendoed & stayed that way for a while. A pause & then another peak, this time with me hammering away on my guitar. Loved it. No encore; no outside drumming. Packed up quickly.”
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT CAFE LEVITICUS 4/23/96, PT. 1
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT CAFE LEVITICUS 4/23/96, PT. 2
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City Espresso, San Jose, CA 4/27/96
w/ Stabbing Brussels Sprouts
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT CITY ESPRESSO 4/27/96
From Neville’s journal: “Picked up Glenn & went to City Espresso, where I played perhaps the strangest show in my life. Stabbing Brussels Sprouts opened again but before they did, we got into an intense “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” jam while tuning up. I can’t remember the order of things but I think we opened with didgeridoo through effects, some noise, some pretty guitar stuff & at one point something like the blues. We did a short piece where all of us were blindfolded, which was really pretty. Some intense drumming. We just didn’t want to stop, but eventually we had to…Drumming started up outside, which got intense. Danced a while, then a sort of “Om” chant to close. Yes, there were some people there who had never sung with people before…”
Towne Theatre, San Jose, CA 6/21/96
With Jeremy Lathrop - drums
From Neville’s journal: “Unloaded & hung around; a hurried set-up. Sat out in the car with Kei & had some bread. Those people lining up were there to see us! And our name was up on the marquee (in lights?)! The show was less than spectacular, though it had its moments. Some people danced in the aisles & it was great to see people hugging after the show & exchanging numbers. Joe & Raven did visuals. FishMolly was there, too. Out at 3am; home around 4:30 am & tired, too tired.”
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT TOWNE THEATRE 6/21/96, SET 1
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Jonathan & Glenn ascend  |
Jeremy Lathrop & Glenn provide meditative beats  |
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We took over the Towne Theatre, without telling the theatre owners :)  |
 Our posse was growing, a lot of friends turned out for our biggest show yet |
Paul Masson Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA 7/14/96
With Eric Squar - drums, Steve Ross - violin, Gloria & ? - vocals, Sabrina Griffith - giant puppet, Kimberly & ?? - Dancing with wings, ? & ? holding moon and star
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Jonathan & Glenn in the opening drum brigade  |
 Neville, Jonathan and Glenn pound hard to open our grand performance |
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The grand opening spectacle  |
Joshua rumbles the drums  |
 Jonathan drums |
Neville and mini-Neville vocalize  |
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Sabrina and her giant puppet dwarf Neville  |
 Neville guitars |
From Neville’s journal: “Drove to the winery. Hung around here and there with these people and those people–a nice moment when the Stella Luna “extended family” were up at the van painting each other’s faces. Crazy quick set up (15 minutes) and then a Stella Luna procession with a giant foil star and moon, torches & drums. Then intense drumming onstage, stopping on a dime. Then to our equipment for the usual noise–I started with the Kei loop. Beautiful Hildegarde interlude & then drumming in the audience. Joined onstage by Sabrina & her huge puppet, a girl with a sitar, and God knows what else. Hard to stop the audience but we had to pull the plug. Sang “Happy Birthday” to Gloria (but didn’t play “Gloria) & then the usual numb pack-up…”
Harmony, Cutter Scout Reservation, Boulder Creek, CA 9/14/96
With Steve Ross - violin, Jeremy Lathrop - drums, Shari Bagwell - wings
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From Neville’s journal: “We set up in a large building, on the stage. Piano! We started with a procession around the camp (Kei holding the moon) while people cheered. Then opened with dodge, violin, drum & me on piano. From there into uneventful noise into rock & roll primitivism & stopped. 2nd set began with communal droning w/audience–hard to hear. Then into drum & strobe frenzy which seemed to build. I thought we were done but Glenn was still at the piano & I joined him on dumbek for a short encore. Fast pack up & goodbyes.”
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT HARMONY 9/14/96
COMMENTS ON HARMONY SHOW – from sfraves message board
The live act, stella luna, was great – pounding acoustic rhythm and some acoustic and electronic overlays, the finished product came out very groovy and psychedelic. - Tom Leichardt
“went up and listened to the first half of Stella Luna’s (amazingly wonderful) set – definitely one of the highlights of the night.” - David Lowe
“stella luna – yow! Tugged me loose from reality in the most pleasant-est way.” - Matt Kodama
“Stella Luna was over the top!! they were SOOOOO good it hurt! What an ensemble of complete lunatics! Their performance was a mixture of music, performance art / parade and pure celebration of life! I loved them and highly recommend them!" - Randy Cone (soundman)
“Stella Luna started setting off my evening with a dense mix of synth/looping and groovin on various sonic toys, with a real primal energy about it. Much favored the second set to the first. It was nice to see the band set up forward of the stage, playing drums, singing and Omming their way into a tighter vibe with the chill people.” - Andy Wyszkowski
“I saw a moon and star parading through the campground. Someone (thanks, whoever you are) clued me in that that meant that Stella Luna were about to perform. Stella Luna was a real treat! I had never even heard of them before, let alone heard them. Lots of really spacey space between the Stella and the Luna!” - Andrew Nourse
EBF (Enchanted Broccoli Forest), Stanford, CA – 10/9/96
With Chris Ienni - Keyboardist, David Vann - hand drums, Shari Bagwell - wings
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From Neville’s journal: “Trent came by at 8pm & we drove to pick up Chris & his synths. A triumphant return (to EBF) for me, after failing to catch many listeners when I played there with Mandible Chatter four years ago. It helped that Josh pulled up listening to The Chieftains–this Celtic bug is going around! Sabrina & Janet there & a few other “Luna-tics.” We played lots of Pink Floyd setting up & did a “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” jam. After people came in we paraded around the building & back inside. Shari came out with the wings & danced. We did a few shorter jams interspersed w/a bit of noise, but always drifting back into a beat. Some fairly intense drumming to end the 1st set. Break. Me in white (for Lennon) w/ “Alien Backs Clinton” National Enquirer t-shirt. Chris in the cardboard pyramid. I read Julian Cope’s poem (from Jehovahkill) & we went into a long funk jam w/stick drums & strobe & many people joining in. I really gave 100% & got my mind blown in return. A quiet jam to end, but got louder & audience began drumming. I danced a bit & then chanted a bit but it was getting pretty bad & I came back to reality in a big way.”
ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST AUDIO NOTES - glenn
EBF PRE-SHOW WARMUP Crazy rockin’ warmup jam, then “Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun” - GREAT version, swirls along, then starts rocking pretty intensely
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA - SET THE CONTROLS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN (PRE-SHOW WARMUP) AT THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 10/9/96
EBF PT. 1 BOOM! Drum Procession into: Ambient trippy drones Into beautiful dreamy rhythmic thing
-break, then Mechanical loop sound - noisescape. Turns into trippy rocker with drum addition and rhythmic guitar part
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST 10/9/96 PT. 1
EBF PT. 2. After a few lines at the end of a Neville intro, Josh brings the heavy funk riff and off we go. I believe this riff was used previously at a leviticus show? Rolls on for quite a while, with heavy pounding percussion and increasingly chaotic and strange sounds. Comes to a close.
LISTEN TO “DELIVER US” - STELLA LUNA AT THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST, 10/9/96
Then a hauntingly sweet guitar riff from Josh leads us into a “closer”. We’re not sure we can go on, as audience asks for more. Eventually someone? Gets a drum jam going and everyone is happy again, with some nice vocal chanting - tape cuts off
LISTEN TO “END OF TIME” - STELLA LUNA AT THE ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST, 10/9/96
Synergy House, Stanford, CA - 11/2/96
LISTEN TO STELLA LUNA AT SYNERGY HOUSE, 11/2/96
From Neville’s journal: “I called Trent & talked to him and Jonathan, relieved that they too were both in foul moods. Down the hill, ready to embrace the tiger; the twin difficulties of a live performance and an ambiguous relationship–and the interaction between the two. And I was tested from the start as the first thing I saw was an altered (a very altered) Kei dancing nearly naked before a couple of drummers. When Glenn got up from behind the drum set I took off my sweater & joined in…Found Trent & Jonathan in the bathroom doing make up. I joined them, doing white face, black around the eyes and a red dot in the middle of my forehead–like a mime or a guy who’d been shot. Hanging around was very difficult–I was getting chills & a runny nose, band playing badly, Kei dancing, me lonely. Kei led the Stella Luna family in an “Om” circle in the meditation room. We all held hands. I felt good for a few minutes there. Eventually we went in & just started in. A bit of noise & then loud stuff all night. The crowd wouldn’t let us get quiet; they were too drunk, too rowdy. Far fewer people after the break. I played intense everything, covered with blisters and blood. I offered myself to the gods, to the crowd, to the music, to drive away the pain and loneliness. Afterwards another “Om” circle on the back porch & a few closing words.
This was one of the most intensely physical performances of my “career”; arms raised high in the air, then bringing them down hard on metal can & bass drum; floor tom collapsing, drums scattering as I beat them. Feeling like a child before going on & then like the god of sound when I was out there, vulnerable as all hell, more naked than the naked partygoers, summoning squeals & heavy metal thunder from my guitar, stumbling into Jonathan as I tried to keep my balance…And people were dancing to these emotions, oddly enough. What the hell kind of band are we? A rock band that plays no songs? It seemed like a group effort, though I felt at times like the conductor, pulling the music down before it got boring or lost its energy, and vetoing any ideas of playing quietly (which would have proved to be futile and frustrating). In the kind of situation we were in tonight–and being the rather flexible unit we are–we have to bend to fit the occasion. Another thing to note is the shimmering and strong way the Stella Luna females seemed all night, especially Shari, who I felt a greater understanding with, a greater wisdom (even though she was dressed as a Smurf). Or Kei being totally out of her mind on drugs yet still able to coordinate things, to act as a stage manager in the spirit of the moment and ask if I needed water. Kei’s friend Erin who, dressed as Cleopatra, came up to me as I was leaving and told me the music touched her–this language that our audience often speaks though I feel we’re just a bunch of guys making noise–maybe we’re a bunch of spiritual guys making noise and that makes some sort of difference.”
A Wrinkle In Time, San Francisco, CA 11/16/96
With Steve Ross - violin
LISTEN TO “JIG TO JAG” - STELLA LUNA AT A WRINKLE IN TIME, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 11/16/96
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From Neville’s journal: “I wasn’t going to go to this show due to the lateness of the hour, but my energy rose by the time we got there & everyone was glad to see me. Had to kill time til 1am–the ungodly hour when we were scheduled to start. We did an “Om” circle in an empty dance studio, with candles and readings from the book of Stella Luna & Eliot. I felt better then. Pretty large crowd. It was the “chill room”--”No beats,” they told us (with our mountain of drums sitting backstage). We started with Josh’s jaw harp stomp, went into some noise which wasn’t too good, but grew into riffing and eventually drumming. Some people danced but most people were just sitting. Sweat was pouring off me. Some dodge & hand drums, joined by Shelley. Me on congas. Then Jonathan started smashing a floor tom & drum hell broke loose–it was amazing, the audience all rising together at once as if summoned by the music & dancing–no chill room anymore. Strobe lights & so on, ending with amazing Josh feedback till he collapsed & then we literally buried him under our equipment (Glenn was throwing stuff on the pile, not knowing Josh was under there). My amp was still feeding back and I jumped on top of it & switched it off. The sound vanished & the room was filled with applause, etc. It was pretty unbelievable. Then the packing up, another “Om” circle joined by a new and very fucked up fan–things getting drug-ugly (“teenage wasteland,” Shelley commented & it was true–stepping over bodies trying to get our equipment out. Someone had broken into my truck, took Glenn’s boombox and left me with no window. So we rode home at 3am or so, cold, rainy, sitting amidst the broken glass, trying to stay warm…I was in a pretty good mood, all things considered, but the window thing was a crimp in the evening, I’ll admit.”
from sfraves message board:
“It seems that no matter how great a DJ someone is, it’s hard to hit the same energy level with the crowd that a live act seems to stimulate … A Wrinkle in Time? Stella Luna’s throbbing drums pulsing through my body – EVERYONE gathering in a half circle around them clapping and shouting and stomping – and YES, I WAS SOBER thank you very much … - Dave Q
Cafe Leviticus, San Jose, CA New Year’s Eve 12/31/96
With Shari Bagwell - wings
LISTEN TO “CHURNED & BURNED” - STELLA LUNA AT CAFE LEVITICUS, SAN JOSE, CA 12/31/96
LISTEN TO “FIRE & EMBERS” - STELLA LUNA AT CAFE LEVITICUS, SAN JOSE, CA 12/31/96
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From Neville’s journal: “Got to Leviticus by 8pm. Lots of silver helium balloons. Set up between the two spaces we previously used. All in all, the evening failed to meet my expectations–largely in the audience department. No one crossed that line between performers and audience tonight. Everybody seemed too mellow. Not even at midnight did anyone get remotely crazy & so we were flailing away on the drums in an act of useless passion. Musically we were pretty good (Shelley even went so far as to say “tight”). Glenn & I did “Four Sticks” and stopped on a dime. A blues jam also ended conclusively. We almost played songs tonight–it was not a free-flowing show. But we took the songs pretty far. At midnight (after Afro-Celt Sound System over the sound system) Josh blew dodge & I played the bell in the upper window. Shari came out in butterfly suit & danced on the wall as the guys played a slow jig rhythm. I sang a bit & then we did crazy stick drumming & ended w/just me and Josh on pretty, sad guitars. And then we had to leave & I was too tired to talk to anyone…”
Harmony Massive, Oakland, CA 5/17/97
With Shari Bagwell - Theremin
From Neville’s journal: “Collected my gear, shaved off my beard, picked up Sabrina & ran just a bit down the road (2nd St.) to another Harmony rave. It was pretty much a disaster before we even played. We couldn’t use the stage. We didn’t have power & when we did it was on the same circuits as the lights, causing the amps to hum. We couldn’t tune or hear ourselves or each other and we didn’t have a soundcheck. In spite of all that, I personally have played far worse shows. We tried to do “Babies & Birds” & “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” but I couldn’t hear myself sing & gave up. Shari played the theremin & there was some restrained & danceable drumming at the end. Then we all sat there depressed. The best moment came after our set, when the DJ lost power & we picked up the beat, me moving through crowd w/painted face, skirt & floor tom (doof doof doof doof). The DJ came on again, mixing in with us & then we let them go. A nice chat afterwards. We all agreed that it was pretty bad, but for some reason we didn’t feel bad except for Josh who drove off after sitting outside alone in his car silently fuming.”
Cafe Leviticus, San Jose, CA New Year’s Eve 12/31/97
From Neville’s journal: “Hard to believe that this was really happening. Hard to believe there were still people there when we finished. I wouldn’t say it was dreadful, but I wasn’t into the drumming at all & this guy was playing with us who was loud & deaf to dynamics. Jonathan left once during the first set & I walked out during the second set. I was bored & a bit embarrassed. It got better once I was outside & came back in & strummed acoustic & made the most of it. I had already turned off my amp but Jonathan suggested “Interstellar Overdrive” and I figured it couldn’t get much worse & so we did it & I gave it all of my emotion. I smiled once or twice tonight but mostly from recognition and not surprise. I bored myself. Shari & Trent had made rhinoceros masks (after the Ionesco play) & handed them out to everyone–uh-oh, but not to me–I was already freaked out and paranoid–but no, here was my mask and now I am a rhinoceros too…”
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Stella Luna 1996 from Neville’s musical autobiography:
1996: Stella Luna
When I look back at my life, very few calendar years stand out as definitive time periods. Life is generally a blur, a continual moving, an eternal now untouched by the parameters of man-made time. Not so 1996. That year began on December 31, 1995, and ended exactly one year later, on December 31, 1996. Contained within those two dates were two relationships that, in my mind, will forever be synonymous with “1996.” The first was with a woman, Kei, who helped me patch up my lingering relationship wounds and inspired me to ever-greater heights. The second was with four other guys in a band that came to be called Stella Luna.
It’s funny the way things work out sometimes. After Marci left, I knew I had to get out of the house and meet people. I thought that if I went to the same coffee shop often enough, I would meet someone. And so I did. I met a barista named Angie, who plays a very minor, yet paradoxically very major role in this part of the story.
Angie introduced me to her boyfriend Trent. Trent and I became friends. Trent introduced me to his friend Jonathan (at a Pink Floyd concert in Oakland). Jonathan introduced me to his friend Josh. I roped in Glenn, and bingo, we had a band. Of course it didn’t happen overnight; this procession of events happened over the course of several months.
Jonathan and I had played a Halloween show at an art gallery in San Jose in 1995. I think he billed us as Stella Luna for that gig. Grant was invited to come down and participate, but he didn’t drive, and it was a long way to schlep musical gear on the train. So it was just Jonathan and I that night. Then, on New Year’s Eve, the two of us plus Josh played at a house party. For a night of such historical significance (at least to me!) I can’t remember a single thing. A tape may exist somewhere.
Josh worked at a sort of goth coffee shop in San Jose called Leviticus. We started playing there every month or so, and added Trent on keyboards and Glenn on drums to augment our sound. Stella Luna was a heady brew of the textural drones I had been doing in Mandible Chatter, plus the hypnotic and often muscular drumming we’d been doing in the streets. Sometimes I added some minimal guitar riffing a la the Velvet Underground or Spacemen 3. Sometimes I added a theatrical element that Grant wouldn’t let me get away with in Mandible Chatter. Glenn and I seemed to have an unspoken competition going to see who could wear the most ridiculous outfit. During one especially spiritual performance, I walked around the audience putting ashes on the foreheads of willing audience members—and there were many. These young hipsters seemed to be craving some kind of religious experience, and I wanted to play my part in giving it to them.
Stella Luna was not, however, your typical new-age hippie spirituality. This was a spirituality that included darkness (and plenty of it). Author Ken Wilber describes spirituality as being either translative or transformative. The former provides comfort; the latter kicks your ass. Stella Luna were proud subscribers to the idea transformative spirituality. We had a fairly large following in what seemed like no time at all. Playing at the Towne Theatre one night after midnight, I drove up with Kei to find people lined up outside the theatre dressed like us.
Our typical show had two sets: a drone set, and a rhythmic set. The drone seemed to tune people in, and get everyone on the same page. Then when the drums finally kicked in, everyone was ready to dance. Sometimes we would literally take the audience out of Leviticus. One show ended with band and audience out on the sidewalk together, sitting in a circle holding hands and chanting quietly. Another show found us drumming in a nearby pedestrian walkway tunnel. By the end of the night, each of us had given our drum to someone else, leading me to exclaim, “Thank you very much. We’re Stella Luna, and SO ARE YOU!”
It wasn’t all wine-and-roses, however. Roses, maybe—at the Spring Equinox show, the band decorated Leviticus with flowers—but the drug of choice among many of the band members was ginseng. Taken in liquid form in little vials, ginseng gave us the stamina to do the kind of shows we did. I never took it at the shows, and that—and the fact that I was at least 10 years older than the rest of the guys—made it hard for me to keep up that pace. We were only playing once or twice a month, but we were giving everything we had, sometimes very late into the evening (we played at a rave once in San Francisco and didn’t go on until after 2am). Since the shows were entirely improvised, we would just open ourselves up to the moment and let the music come through. Some shows were so intense that we would all be vulnerable to various illnesses afterwards. I was getting increasingly reluctant to perform, and would often show up at the last minute, do my thing, and leave.
By the fall of 1996, Stella Luna was hot. We continued to play at Stanford parties and Bay Area raves. On New Year’s Eve, we went back to Leviticus and did a performance that ranks among the best music I’ve ever had a hand in making. After a bit of this and that, I started playing a riff from an old Traffic album. The jam just sort of took off from there, getting more and more intense. Luckily, we were now mature enough not to push the music too far too fast, where it would just implode or turn into noise. No, we sped up and held it there for twenty relentless minutes. And that was only the first set.
Unfortunately, Stella Luna didn’t last much beyond that night. Jonathan and Trent moved to San Francisco, and Josh and I moved to Oakland, losing our South Bay ties (and audience). Other things took priority; one show that looked fabulous fell through, disappointing us all; another rave we played at was a disaster.
I took the break-up of Stella Luna very badly. Kei and I had also broken up around Halloween (though at least we remained friends), and a rather intense rebound relationship was also nearing its end. I did what any sensible young man would do. I went into therapy, and started working at a law firm.
2009 Reunion from Neville’s musical autobiography:
THE DREAM OF THE 90’S IS ALIVE IN PORTLAND
In December of 2008 doctors found a small mass on my left kidney. The doctor who initially broke the news to me did it in an “I’m-so-sorry-to-have-to-tell-you-this” kind of way. Naturally that prompted a lot of fear, dietary changes, and even exercise, as I opted to just keep an eye on the growth and do what I could to treat it naturally, rather than go running to a surgeon. Another side effect of this condition was it got me thinking about what was important and meaningful in my life. And that meant getting the guys in Stella Luna back together for some recording.
The idea was actually Josh’s. After what seemed like a long period of being out of touch, Josh e-mailed the rest of us and suggested we make “a second album.” After reminding him that we had never in fact recorded a first album, I jumped on the opportunity to make music with these guys again. Trent and Jonathan had been out to visit me in the summer of 2008 and it was obvious that the musical chemistry was still in place. Miraculously, all of us were able to reconvene in Portland in August of 2009 for a long weekend of music, magic, and just hanging out.
Interestingly, we all arrived at Jonathan’s house in Portland IN EXACTLY THE SAME ORDER that we came to the band back in the 90’s. As soon as I set my bag down, Jonathan and I started making noise with everything he had accumulated in his basement. He had re-wired (circuit bending, they call it) a bunch of crappy synthesizers and toys, and had even built some of his own. He also acquired a whole drum kit, which made us sound like more of a band than the hippie hand drums we had previously used. Josh came over later that night, and the next day, we were joined by Trent, then Glenn. And so a line up that took a couple years to form was re-formed, in the same order, in the space of 24 hours. We recorded for the next three days, for many hours each day.
During these sessions I had the luxury—no, the opposite of luxury, really, but it SEEMED like luxury—of sleeping on the same sofa that I had my gear set up in front of. I didn’t move from that sofa for much of the weekend (though I remember going out for a run one day). I had a guitar and a bass guitar at my disposal, and played plenty of both, through the minimal effects I had brought with me on the plane. Sometime during the weekend, I began to feel like I was “getting” the bass guitar, finally. The great thing about Stella Luna is that I could get away with playing minimally, as there were five of us. So I could even hang back and not play, if I felt I didn’t have anything to add to the particular jam. In the duos that I’m usually involved with, I have to handle much more of the sonic load, so there’s always pressure to come up with some kind of sound, sometimes multiple sounds.
And the music we played that weekend was fabulous, meeting or exceeding my wildest expectations. It was a little like a jam band, but a really interesting jam band; a band who were schooled in post-punk and industrial music, having elements of both but sounding like neither. [Describe some of the music from Thurs and Fri]
On Saturday, we had no engineer, so what we played was only recorded using room mics. And it’s kind of a shame, because towards the end of the night we played something so incredibly magical it really should have gotten out to the public. Actually, it should have been played onstage, at night, at a festival like Dreamtime. But it wasn’t, and I console myself by telling myself that at least I played a part in making this particular piece of music.
It came about in typical ramshackle serendipitous Stella Luna fashion. Glenn had met these two women when he was on the festival circuit and invited them to our session. The rest of the band had taken a break, so Glenn and I were left with the two women, so we just started playing. As soon as I heard Ulla Shine singing, I ran out in the backyard to get Jonathan. “Jonathan,” I pleaded, “you HAVE to record this.” So we settled for a poor recording, rather than no recording at all. We did a bit of this and that; most things worked but some things didn’t. Then I just started playing this pretty little riff, and over the course of 15 or so minutes it built into—I’d say “a monster” but it didn’t. And that was what was so good about it—it built a LITTLE bit, and very slowly. But it didn’t go crazy. Everyone played with remarkable restraint. It was by far my favorite jam of the weekend.
Finally on the last jam of the last day, we blew up one of the PA speakers. Or maybe it wasn’t us so much as it was perhaps the result of the strange energies we were known to conjure. And so Stella Luna was silenced once again.
I came home with something like eight discs worth of material and spent the next few months listening, archiving, cataloging, and trying to pick out the best bits. I even put all this information on an Excel spreadsheet. Sadly, nothing has happened with any of it yet, not even the well-recorded pieces (Jonathan has slowly been getting the files together). The idea is to mix it down; to finally have some kind of Stella Luna “product,” so that maybe other people would be able to hear a trace of that magic that we all know is there.
Additional musicians at some live shows:
Steve Ross - violin
Jeremy Lathrop - drums
Eric Squar(?) - drums
Chris Ienni - Keyboardist @ EBF
Gloria & ? singing at Paul Masson Winery
Shari Bagwell - Theremin at Harmony 97
Visual Artists:
Shari Bagwell – winged one
- did someone else don the wings at some shows?
Sabrina Griffith - giant puppet
Kimberly (last name?) Dancing with wings
Women carrying star and moon in procession
Woman dancing holding star next to Josh at Paul Masson show?
VIDEOGRAPHY: Lisa Valentino (picture below)
Thanks Lisa Valentino for all the videos of many of our shows!!! A true gift!
