1. MAURICE TANI: OUT WITH THE OLD
(Maurice Tani)
I see my burning bridges
My hand burst into flame
I seek the cool, cool water
As my ship sails out of frame
Our bloody lips.
Our bleeding heart
Call out the ghosts by name
And check them off some master list
As my ship sails out of frame
Out with the old
–In with the new
Out with the old
–In with the new
I press against the window
So my skin can feel the view
Out with the old
–In with the new
Crack this lacquer box and breath
The blackened scent of sin
From where we swore we’d never tread
Yet found ourselves within
Our jaundiced eye.
Our bitten tongue
The blind. The mute. The lame.
What tortures me now calls to you
As my ship sails out of frame
Out with the old
–In with the new
Out with the old
–In with the new
I press against the window
So my skin can feel the view
Out with the old
–In with the new
© Tanitone Tunage (ASCAP)
Maurice Tani: Vocals, Guitar;
Mike Anderson: Upright Bass
Steve Kallai: Violin
__________________________________________
 MAURICE TANI & 77 EL DEORA:
Maurice Tani is a "rye-to-romantic", Supercalifornigraphic, singer-songwriter and veteran band leader on the Alt-Country and Americana music scenes. He and his band, Maurice Tani & 77 El Deora have released six critically-acclaimed albums of original material and
have been the source of untold, but exquisite suffering in the Bay Area for over 10 years.
“I was actually blown away. Maurice Tani writes songs that sound at once familiar, ethereal and beautiful.”
-Robert Sproul, No Depression Magazine
Born and raised in San Francisco, Maurice Tani was too young for the Summer of Love, but was still profoundly influenced by the California culture that gave the world surf guitar, country rock and psychedelic to the singer songwriter types.
Barely into his twenties and hungry for experience, he moved to central Texas to work the hardcore country, blues and rock circuit between Austin and Dallas, playing five sets a night, seven nights a week for months at a time, eventually making connections that led to his moving to New York City just as the punk rock scene of CBGBs and Max's Kansas City was exploding in Lower Manhattan. By 1977 he was back in San Francisco as punk, power pop and new wave was taking hold in the Bay Area and began a stretch of five years and four critically acclaimed albums with ex-Flamin' Groovies front man Roy Loney's band, The Phantom Movers.
Through the rest of the '80s and '90s, Maurice was the lead guitarist and a featured vocalist for Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, two large, 12-18 piece dance bands that gained worldwide exposure from a 2 hour PBS New Years Eve tri-mulcast (2 television stations with different views and FM stereo radio audio all broadcasting simultaneously) that was broadcast annually for many years on public TV around the US and Europe.
Tani has spent the past 15 years as an active part of the California alt-country/Americana scene. Fronting his own bands, Calamity & Main, 77 El Deora, he has produced a series of albums for himself and others. Tani has constructed a repertoire of rye humor and darker romantic rumination often described as Oblique Americana and Twang-Noir, Tani calls it “Supercalifornographic”.
WHAT IS SUPERCALIFORNOGRAPHIC?
Short for “Supercalifornographicexpealidocious”. While rooted in country music, Tani's writing is centered on a West Coast perspective. “Though much of my material is based on fictional characters and situations, I still write what I know”, said Tani. “I'm not particularly comfortable or interested in the rural imagery of tractors, 4x4s or general agriculture common in much country music. What attracts me most about country is the story-telling side of it. My stories are more likely to be centered around an urban experience. I'm a Californian from a large metropolitan area and I write about the things that hold my attention. I think of these songs as a sort of cinema for the blind. Short musical narratives of life on the left coast.”
Web: www.MauriceTani.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/westernindependent
Facebook: www.facebook.com/77ELDEORA
Twitter: twitter.com/MauriceTani |
