Bill: Your CD, Septober Octember, seems to mythologize North Florida the way Faulkner did with Mississippi, Tennessee Williams with New Orleans, or Jack London and Robert Service did with the Yukon.
Dave: I wanted the CD to reflect the geography of North Florida more than mythologize the region or it's people. I wanted the slow syrupy water from the swampwater runoff mudtrail. I wanted the heat from a moonless 2 a.m. August moment staring across Trout River at Jackie's Seafood. I wanted the decayed horseshoe crab shell placed on my head like a helmet while standing in the dunes at Talbot Island...not up to anything in the dunes...just standing. And yeah, sure, there's Winn Dixie stuff on it too but it relies on the things one might see out of the corner of your eye around here while looking at something else. Like you're looking ahead at a carousel in the forest but you find yourself noticing the bandanas lying along the edge of the soccer practice field next to the forest...really more interested in the bandanas than the carousel. Septober Octember is not meant to be a comedy CD at all. It's meant to help you smell the beauty in the vapor coming from a small pot of macaroni as the ice cold wind blows and mixes
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Dave: No. I have a bunch of friends who did, though. Indeed, I was, and to a small degree, still am a Dead fan, but no, I couldn't stand to do something like that. The Dead could be disappointing sometimes in concert, particularly toward the end when Garcia was consumed for the umpteenth time with drugs. I also resented the "rules" of the Deadhead world, a supposed "free thinking" group of folks who have very strict rules for behavior, appearance and comportment. But to be sure between the years of 1968 to 1995 I was a major appreciator of the Dead's improvisational excursions on their "space" instrumental passages. I was actually consumed by their music from 1973's Wake of the Flood album up through the last days of the performing Crawfish. I would go running in those days with 90 minutes of Dead on my Walkman and Crawfish shows started to get very Dead-like due to that subconscious influence. Andy King complained about it back then. I disagreed with him then but now I think he was right. When I listen to Crawfish tapes circa 1988 up to the end in 1998 it does sound too Deadish. It kind of ruined the originality thing we debuted with in 86 and 87, probably the heyday of the Crawfish. I remember you up on stage with us at Applejack's in 1987 singing "Let's Cook the Dog," which I think was your tune. Those were the early days when I had a clearer vision for the band.
a. play a mean guitar
b. juggle
c. do expert auto repairs
d. all of the above
