Combs, Cory & The Great Plains Ensemble Fairfax In The Pacific CD

Fairfax in the Pacific – Cory Combs and the Great Plains Ensemble1. \"It takes a hell of a dog to weigh 600 pounds,\" and other statements, observations, or questions repeated over the years by grandfather John Wells (see definitions below):2. Cory, do you like peaches? 3. Variation: Cory, do you like chicken? 4. Oh, about a half-a-mile. 5. How’s Charlie? 6. I’m going to stake you down to a red anthill, tie a piece of wet rawhide around your head and let it dry in the desert sun till your eyes pop. 7. Variation: If I get a hold of you, I’m going to get my two fingers up under your ribs, push on through and rip your guts out. 8. Feel of that, Chrisser 9. Chris, that dude would tear you a new one. 10. That’s a Smokey coming down the road. You best slow down or you’re gonna’ get us all thrown in jail. 11. There’ll be some killin’. These frequent and sometimes puzzling phrase repetitions set the tone of our summer pilgrimages to Fairfax, Missouri, where John and Doris lived. My brothers and I would spend the week driving county farm roads, shooting off bags of fireworks, exploring abandoned farm houses, tearing around the farm on our motorcycle, getting lost in the growing corn fields, and listening to Johnny talk farming. The price of soybeans. The growth of the corn. The predicted rainfall. Whatever Johnny said, we listened. Fairfax in the Pacific was inspired by recent dreams of this period. Dreams of my childhood, combined with the reality of the present. Dreams of my brother Chris and grandfather Johnny. Dreams of Hawaii, dreams of Missouri, Kansas, and San Francisco. Dreams that slam two places on top of each other; dreams that fragment, shift and juxtapose at will. Johnny appears, but his behavior is strange and confusing, and too often he leaves without word. Chris frequently gives a message, but it’s hard to decipher or understand. I wake nostalgic for the past, when those I’m dreaming about were still here, and confused by the symbolic meaning of the people, places and cryptic messages.The music for this CD was written to evoke these dream images, and to go beyond. The dreams were the starting point, but I left them to create new stories for my main characters, the imagined visuals giving life and direction to the music as it developed.The music shifts and turns quickly, changing moods and styles from song to song and within compositions, but returns to sounds that were familiar to me growing up - Americana songs, TV theme music, Hawaiian music, records from our antique Victrola, old western movie music, jazz, rock, esoteric percussion music, adventure music from old kids movies. The sounds of family voices, recorded in 1986, becomes another layer on the CD, another sound, interacting with the music and musicians.Conceived as one extended work with a short intermission, Fairfax in the Pacific is a tribute to the mysteries of family, both here and gone.Fairfax in the Pacific Features: Cory Combs Compositions, 6 & 7 String Bass,Samples, Toy PianoDan Willis Tenor Sax, ClarinetJohn Hollenbeck Drums, Percussion, GlockenspielJohn Gove TromboneHarry Whitney Piano, Prepared Piano (Track 16)Kayo Miki Violin 1Matt Combs Violin 2, Mandolin, Violin Solos, (Track 1, 3, 8) Voice (Track 1)Emily Onderdonk ViolaMark Summer CelloAllen Biggs Xylophone (Tracks 4 & 14)1. Said often and for no particular reason. A nonsense phrase. For example, during a commercial break, while rising to get a piece of chocolate candy, he would say, “Cory, it takes a hell of a dog to weigh 600 pounds.” What choice did I have but to agree?2. Food and the relative like or dislike of it was of great importance to Johnny. “Cory, do you like peaches?” was always asked while I was eating canned peaches with him. Wasn’t it clear that I liked peaches? While I didn’t understand his need for reassurance, I always gave it. “I love peaches!”3. He would ask about our like of chicken at any