Author: Berkeley Cat Records

We’re from Berkeley. We are cats. We make records.

BCR Catnip Alert – Russ Ellis in the News

We are delighted to find this article in KQED’s site:
Russ Ellis Cut His First Album at Age 85, and It’s A Bop
It’s a Bop. It is most definitely a Bop.
Today, 9:40 AM, catch Russ Ellis interviewed live on KQED Forum!
88.5 FM in the Bay Area, or online at NPR.org.
(UPDATE 8-28-2021: The audio is there too, now. Give it whirl)

Here’s the paper copy of the Sunday Times I managed to find yesterday.

And the article remains online, presumably until the cows come home. That’s a long time, presumably.    Go Russ!

 

Caturday Report

Been a meow-filled week or three over in Berkeley Cat Records international HQ (not an actual place)

Items:

Russ Ellis featured in the New York Times
(wait.. what?!)
Yes Gwendoline, the little paper in New York.
We are delighted, flabbergasted, and pleased.
It’s part of their It’s Never Too Late series,
and you can find this wonderful article by Chris Colin here.
Really an inspiring interview, and the comments are a fun read too.

FAVES new single Never Ending is live in streaming services! And Bandcamp! And here’s a cool video of the guys recording the song.

Matte Martin has a new album coming out in like, minutes! Here’s a fun video preview of what he’s been cooking up for us.

Eric Din has released a new song called Fear Of Everything which is about fear of (wait for it..) everything! Din created this with Jay Lane and Dave Shul, and he’s so excited about it he’s started talking about himself in the 3rd person again. We are concerned. The song is here.

Comeback Pete is on the comeback trail with a massive remix of “Mankind” by the aforementioned Eric Din. A footnote (pun accepted) – Larry Lynch of FAVES added the live acoustic kick drum track to this. With his foot. I note.. ba da ping, I’ll be here all week. Save the planet.

The Uptones recent early recordings album landed in this Brooklyn Vegan list of 64 Essential Ska Albums from-1964 To Present. We are thrilled and honored to be in such fine ska company.

What else?

Vote NO on this stupid CA recall nonsense!!

Lastly, importantly, here are some adorable kittycats watching dominos fall.

That is all.

Fear Of Everything by Eric Din

Brand new song from our fearless fearful lieder leader. Drums and bass and guitar recorded live at Jay Lane and Dave Shul’s place. Vocals overdubbed there on the spot and more at home as Din finished the song. Din is speaking of himself in the third person and we find this worrisome. Must be all the fear. In any case we love this song and we hope you may enjoy. This will also be on the Eric Din (actual!) CD, which we expect to have in our paws fairly soon.

Fear of everything
Fear of success
Fear of failure
Fear of the rest
Fear of the government
Fear of not having one
Fear of falling in love
Or being all alone

Fear of complacency
Fear of action
Fear of things we need
And getting at them
Fear of losing it all
In a fit of passion
Fear of wasting away
Or ever lastin’

Fear of heights
Fear of lows
Fear of fungus
Between my toes
Fear of laws
Fear of claws
You get bit
Need some gauze

Fear of terrible twos
Fear of paying dues
Fear of waking up
And fear of sleeping too
Fear of poverty
Fear of employment
Fear of death and
Fear of enjoyment

Fear of everything
Fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of everything
Everything
Everything, you know

Fear of flying saucers
Cameras everywhere
Fear of lizard men
And Obamacare
Fear of your dad and mama
Something’s under the bed
Fear of everything
Oh stop the drama

Fear of inertia (apathy, too)
Fear of wingnuts (crackpots)
Fear of elections
And insurrections
They’re out to get us
Coming to get us
It’s very serious
Oh wake up, sheeple (baa-a-ah!)

Fear of black and white
Red white and turning blue
State of emergency
And fear of plague too
Lock all the doors and windows
Keep well out of sight
Fear of those maniacs
On the left and right

Fear of the rabble
Who psychobabble
Fear of everything,
I do unravel
Fear of viruses
And vaccinations
Fear of everything
Across the nation

Fear of breaking up
A fear of staying put
Fear of sticking your neck out
Fear of smiling
Fear of the other
And the other’s mother
Fear of what it means
To be their sisters and brothers

Fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of everything
Everything

Fear of freemasons
And secret spyware
Fear of Illuminati
And fear of bad hair
Fear of heaven
Fear of hell
Fear of witches
Casting spells

Fear of repeating myself
And doing it twice
Fear of pestilence
Fear of clowns
Fear in here
Fear over there
I’m finding fear
In everywhere

Fear of cut and paste
Fear of science
Fear of being in touch
Fear of silence
Fear of priests and lawyers
And halitosis
Fear of all the tickets
And my neurosis

Fear of waiting for the sun to shine
Fear of waiting for the sun to fall down
Fear of everything I ever did and wanted
Fear of this and fear of that and fear the house is haunted

Fear of feeling
Fear of talking
Fear of listening
Fear of trying
Fear of worrying
Worrying about fearing
Fear of every every every little thing, fear

Fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of fear of everything
Everything, you know

Aaaaah, Everything
Aaaaah, Everything

—

Eric Din – guitar and vocals (and claps!)
Dave Shul – bass, guitar, and vocals (and claps!)
Jay Lane – drums and vocals (and claps!)

Recorded at Jay and Dave’s studio, engineered by Dave Shul
Additional vocals recorded at Din’s house
Artwork by Shannon Wheeler
Produced by Eric Din for Berkeley Cat Records

© Dinwiddie, Lane, Shul
King Roy Music, BMI

FAVES new single – Never Ending

We are so thrilled to share this new original from FAVES! Here’s a Bandcamp embed (yay!) and a cool band video (wow!) and sooooon it will also be available in the streaming services tooo! I’m proud to release this on Berkeley Cat Records as these are some of my longtime most favoritest Berkeley cats. The song is a big-rock, big-pop, big-love anthem penned by Larry Lynch and Robbie Dunbar.

In Larry’s own words:

“Robbie and I started writing this song a while ago, and now with everything happening in the world it just seemed like this was a good time to release a song with an uplifting feel to it. We’re really happy with the way it turned out and we hope the message will connect with a lot of people.”

-Larry Lynch

Larry Lynch – drums and vocals
Robbie Dunbar – guitars
Jimmy Jet Spalding – bass
David Tashinian – keyboards

produced & engineered by John Cuniberti

Aaaaand, here’s the video!

UPDATE: here are links to find it on some streaming services!

Please feel free to share and save any ol’ which way. Enjoy, and thanks!

 

Come On, Won’t You Dance With Me by Eric Din

This song started as a blurt. I had this idea for a rock n’ roll rave-up one night and recorded it as a voice memo as it came to me. Something possessed me to share that, and soon after, I decided to make a full-on band recording of it. All of the other recordings I’ve made in the last year and a half have been either me alone, or me collaborating with cats remotely. Once we were all vaccinated, and it seemed reasonable to do a live session, I was hungry to play in real-time with a band again. So I assembled a “band-for-a-day” of some of my favorite cats for a one-song session. I sent them my blurt-demo and we set a date at East Bay Recorders with my producer/engineer hero Michael Rosen. We practiced it, recorded it, took a little snapshot and bye-bye. I took that home, finished the lyrics, and came back a week later to caterwaul. And caterwaul I did! I am very pleased with the result, and so grateful to these cats for bringing this baby home for me. I wanted a fun, loud, joyous rave-up to close my album, and here it is. The verses express my love for playing live music, in studio or on stage, and my love for dancing to a live band in a club or concert venue – all things we haven’t been able to do much of lately. Funny detail – I organized this production as sort of a birthday present to myself. I can’t have an in-person party this year, but I can share this song as a kind of virtual party, and, everyone is invited! I hope you enjoy. Dancing shoes recommended! And thank you.

Eric Din – Acoustic guitar and vocals
Sean Griffin – Electric guitar
Damon Wood – Electric guitar
Dave Ellis – Tenor sax
Kevin T White – Bass
JT John – Drums

Recorded and mixed by Michael Rosen at East Bay Recorders
Produced by Eric Din for Berkeley Cat Records
Cover design by Paul Jackson
Berkeley Cat Records logo by Shannon Wheeler

————–

Come on, won’t you dance with me
Come on, won’t you dance with me
Come on, won’t you dance with me
Come on, won’t you dance with me
Come on, oh won’t you dance with me

It’s been so heavy and we made it thru some crazy,
Gonna have a little caterwaul and party,
I like that feeling when they open up the doors,
The band is gettin’ ready and we step on the floor,
I like the way they crash it down on the one together,
And when ya raise your arms even better,

Come on, won’t you dance with me..

Promenade

It’s been so lonely in this social isolation,
Been so crazy what be happenin’ in the world,
So today I’m pressing record with some friends,
On these instruments they made in the before time,
Do it once, ain’t no lookin’ back,
Don’t fix it, it’s broken, we like it like that,

Come on, won’t you dance with me..

It’s been so heavy and we’re livin’ thru some crazy,
Gonna have a little caterwaul and party,
I like that feeling’ when we’re bouncing off the floor
The house is getting sweaty and we call out for more,
And when the last big chord echoes through the hall,
It’s thank you for coming, and we love you all,
Good night

Come on, won’t you dance with me..
Come on, baby won’t you dance with me

© 2021 Eric Roy Dinwiddie
King Roy Music, BMI

Released August 1, 2021

Songs From The Garden

Origins of This Album:

Beginnings

When I first held my newborn son in my arms, I had the sort of palpable image-experience that causes people to join sects of believers-in-weird-things.

I was seeing, thinking, occupying an image of the pulse of his birth pushing up a gigantic plume of water representing new life. This pulse, in the center of the vast ocean of life, pushed all adjacent water toward the shores where the last waves broke and sunk into the sand, returning the water to the cyclical life-and- death process. Indescribable sounds accompanied the image. It was daytime and I was fully awake. I felt pushed a little closer to shore.

I made sure that my new playmate-in-sound got to hear everything I heard and liked. His sister heard everything while in the womb and was happy to tail along as his mother and I delighted in David’s blossoming into a fine musician.

Then, one day, Zoe started to sing. Now, music permeates Ellis family culture. I’m happy to include something from everyone on this album.

The album itself is a happenstance. When I had my granddaughter, Bella, put the song “Eliza” up on YouTube, David added the note “From the album Songs From My Garden, coming Fall 2019.” I thought, “there’s an idea.” Why not? It’s Summer of 2021, but here’s the album.

-Russ Ellis

Mankind (the Remix)!

Stop the presses. Press the stoppers. Damn the torpedoes and speed the ducks, it’s Comeback Pete’s epic Mankind single, remixed by Eric Din! That’s right kittins, with the formidable foot of Larry Lynch on a live kick drum, and Mr. Din himself on a real live Fender bass! Pete’s timeless message remains, more urgent than ever, we must save the earth my friends or there ain’t anything else to be saving. Lyrics in the vid. Music by John Philip Sousa, lyrics by Pete, vocals by a choir of earthlings and a duck. Berkeley Cat Records is proud to present, Mankind, the Remix!  Free to play and share at will.

In Pete’s own words:

“I didn’t plan to write a patriotic song, but both of the other songs that I recorded were in the “P’ as a first letter” genre (porn and psilent) so stretched further by the bicentennial in 1976.  I was so sure I was stating the obvious, I never performed this song  publicly, and now it’s 45 years later, I question. Was that a mistake? Now I realize we live in the Dark Ages. Eric has currently remixed this song about our endangered planet for the better and released it on Berkeley Cat Records.”

– Comeback Pete, 2021