"I just think, at least for what I want to do and for the kind of music I want to make and the kind of shows that I want to play, the connection with the audience just trumps everything. It's the most important thing." AP

That was without question a pivotal point in my life, and unquestionably why this magazine that you are reading exists now. I had huge dreams as a child, but those were sacrificed, just as yours might have been, to many things - primarily fear.

At times, it was fucking outstanding.  At other times, it was just a 747-into-a-Himalaya situation. Wholly head-on. Done. Horrible, horrible.

Interview with Boenobo of Gooferman, Circus Metropolus and Bohemian Carnival

by kSea flux

kSea:  Tell me about how the hell Gooferman came about. I know you've had a few bands in the past, but where did Gooferman come from? 

Boenobo:  Once upon a time, I was in a band called Chub. We did a bit of the major label song and dance, and ultimately, the whole shebang didn’t materialize. No point to go into it all now, but that turn of events steamed my clams something fierce. Anycase, I booked a headlining gig at the Paradise Lounge in August 2001, in reaction to the circumstances surrounding our potential record deal. Everybody on stage had to be stoned to play; if you're not stoned, you don't play.

New Video & A Conversation with Jill Tracy

It has been many years since I was first introduced to the music of Jill Tracy - or perhaps better said, a few incredibly full years.

Since the first time her seductively smoky voice sent such a delicious shiver down my spine, she has been with me, in the deepest pain I have ever felt, and the greatest joy. What she creates has something sacred inside of it, a gift that so few others have to offer.

In her music, in the words she sings, you will find what you need to make you whole. Long before I ever met her, I could create so many beautiful worlds that made sense, when nothing else did. In each tragedy that I didn’t think I could make it out of, she was there. In each small triumph, I found something different in the same song. Somehow, it just makes sense.

This is a two part conversation, as we escaped the usual rules of an "interview" and just let it roll any direction that it chose to go. We let our discourse together take on a life of its' own, escaping time, breaking common limits and constraints.

This is part one of our two part gift to you - the rest will be in the next issue of Big Top.

We enter this conversation as she is speaking of her latest video - I need to get a bit quicker hitting that damned 'record' button... ~ kSea

I clearly remember the first time I ever heard of the band Rosin Coven.

I had just moved back to San Francsico for the second time, in '03, and was working in an office as an "account executive". One of the people working there - unfortunately I don't recall his name, learned that my musical tastes varied from the norm, and one day brough in a CD. "Hey, you've gotta check these guys out! They're called Rosin Coven - they play pagan lounge music! You'll love them!"

Well, I listened to the CD he had made, and must admit - I didn't. Sure, it was cool, but it didn't really grab me, not at all, and I told him so. "Well, it's kind of an acquired taste, I guess. You definitely need to be in a certain mood, or hear it enough." Sure. I'll wait 'till I'm in that mood (I thought) having no idea what mood that could be...

Well, turns out that kid was right. It actually didn't take much listening to them to begin to like it (though I'm still not sure what the "mood" is) but most of the appreciation came from seeing them live one random night a couple years later, at The Cat Club.

By kSea flux

Robin: It was really, really incredible. We met this booking agent through The Yard Dogs Road Show who are friends of ours, and we didn’t really know what we were getting into - but we just went over there and we were met with these two really cool guys who set up this whole tour. We went from places like this, smaller places like we’re used to playing in America, to these big concert halls and opera houses and performing art centers. Suddenly, when we arrive there are twelve lighting guys asking, ‘What do you want?’