Volume 22, 2025 Summer Travelogue Issue
Buenos Dias, buckaroos and buckarettes!
I'm Bob - welcome to the bunker! You may know me from the band Big Medicine Head or daytime television. This seasonal missive from the land of tumbleweeds and the lonesome six string guitar features news from the frontier, music and prose.
This is the special Summer Travelogue issue. These special travel editions offer you the opportunity to join me on my travels throughout the American West.
Tell all your pals to sign up for Tales of the Western Hemisphere at bobgemmell.com. If you'd like to revisit past issues you can find them at https://bobgemmell.com/newsletter-archive. If you're fans of ragged prose, check me out on Medium, Substack, and Bluesky.
The Kamanski Chronicles
The sojourn that is the basis of this Travelogue Edition of the newsletter is centered around the late great songwriter Paul Kamanski, so let's start there.
The Beat Farmers were (and are) the custodians of the West Coast roadhouse beer-swilling country punk genre. They are to San Diego what The Boston Wranglerswere to Reno, only bigger. They have been the bedrock of the Southern California cowpunk scene since the 80's, and Paul Kamanski wrote some of their best songs. I recall standing next to singer/guitarist Jerry Raney at the bar in the Catalyst, at the time the hippest place in Santa Cruz, CA to be seen. It was a break between sets. As they were about to go on stage he said, “Check out this next song. It's brand new. You're going to love it”. Moments later the band was tearing into Hollywood Hills, a Kamanski composition. If in your youth you were ever compelled by existential uncertainty and lured by the open highway, this song is essential listening. I hear it even now and get gooseflesh. As other Beat Farmers singer/guitarist Joey Harris wails, “Stay out of the desert…and keep off Route 46”.
Flash forward: several years ago Lea and I went to see Joey, Paul and Caren Campbell-Kamanski play an acoustic gig in San Diego. Paul hipped me to his new album; there was a track on it called Flowers that I fell in love with. Something about the jangly hook and the vulnerability of Paul's vocals got to me.
Sadly, Paul passed recently. I asked Caren if my band Big Medicine Head could record “Flowers”. She was all in. So was Joey.
The boys from BMH were on top of it from the jump. Within a short time of having received a scratch take of me playing Flowers the boys added their parts: JeffyDon drums, Jailhouse Johnny McGuire on bass, JD Devros on slide guitar and organ, and Bruce Rockwell as a one man horn section.
Finally…it was on to San Diego to record the Lord of the Stratocaster himself, The Beat Farmers' Joey Harris. What follows are extemporaneous notes from my journey.
Travelogue #1
Rolling south in my VW, Camper Van Morrison. CVM has all the amenities and appliances for an
outdoor expedition: two beds, stove, refrigerator, and sink, For this trip, however, the vehicle is fulfilling a different role: mobile recording unit. The arsenal includes a Gibson L00 acoustic guitar, a 1966 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean electric guitar, preamps, an audio interface, compressors and other outboard gear, and a mic locker that includes an AEA R84 ribbon microphone.
I discovered killer shrimp tacos at a food truck in Santa Nella. Is it safe to eat shrimp that you find in a food truck on Interstate 5? Perhaps not, but I am going to San Diego to record Joey Harris. I fear nothing.
Travelogue #2
Interstate 5 is a long stretch of tar. If you stay on it too long you will see ghosts on the road and you will begin to think strange thoughts. I break up the monotony by writing rest area reviews. It’s surprising how much regional variance is represented by rest area amenities in our nation of otherwise homogenous off ramps.
The “Coalinga Avenal Safety Roadside Rest Area” was exceptional - designed for social interaction. It feels like a little village. While I generally focus my reviews on vending machine selections, in Coalinga I was most stricken by the presence of pay phones. There are several, which is key to preventing long lines among the four guys left i
n California that don’t have cell phones.
I’m not seeing the reintroduction of pay phones into society as something that propogates, for two reasons:
1/ No one remembers how to use them
2/ No one carries change anymore
My reward at the end of this trip is that I have the privilege of dropping a Shure SM57 microphone in front of Joey Harris’ tweed Fender amplifier “Tweedy” to record him playing his legendary Stratocaster “Goldie”. I'm going to simultaneously route a dry signal from his guitar into our recording session, as a fail safe in case I mangle the live amp recording. Hopefully this won't be an issue.
Travelogue #3
If you’re at the Buttonwillow truck stop and get locked out of your car, don't worry - you still have options. They won’t loan you a coat hanger, but they will sell you a vehicle break-in kit for $30. I figure this is good for one use, because if you travel with the first break-in kit in your car and lose your keys, you will have to purchase a second vehicle break-in kit to gain access to the first vehicle break-in kit.
Recording on the Paul Kamanski “Flowers” song starts tomorrow. Tracking vocals and guitar with Joey Harris. More on this later.
Travelogue #4
Long day of driving. Consumption was limited to Topo Chico, Fig Newtons and Chili Cheese Fritos. Incidentally, I understand that the World Health Organization has listed Chili Cheese Fritos as a “Super Food”, and that it is the only food common to all five primary blue zones in the world.
My sonic journey is greatly assisted by my pal and fellow musician , Allen Johnston. Allen is a monster drummer and percussionist - he played bongos on Bravado Pete. It is Allen’s house we’re using as a studio. If you are lucky enough to have a pal like Allen, you are blessed indeed.
Recording Joey Harris is either my Holy Grail or my White Whale. The journey has not been without peril. If you’re driving through LA and there is heavy traffic on the freeway Google Maps may offer to redirect you through surface streets. It is your option to refuse this suggestion. While being led through the most blighted and pervasively dangerous neighborhood in the City of Angels and being covered in a blanket of fear it occurred to me that I was now the Ethan Hawke character in “Training Day”. A less intrepid sojourner may have turned around, but the Wild West twang and sizzle of Joey’s Stratocaster is a siren’s call, and will not be denied. More on this later.
Travelogue #5
Arrived in San Diego - recording Paul Kamanski's Flowers with Joey Harris - field notes.
Joey Harris is a legend in San Diego. People follow him down the street and sheepishly ask if they can have their photo taken with him. Future generations of children will sing folk songs around the campfire about the legenary rock and roll exploits of Joey Harris.
The next most highly regarded thing by the fine people of that sun splashed burgh is Joey’s Fender Stratocaster, Goldie. It was hand crafted in 1895. Imagine my joy at being able to actually hold it! It’s like getting to play Louis Armstrong‘s trumpet, or taking a nap and using The Shroud of Turin as a blanket.
Please don’t tell Joey that I spilled a Diet Coke in the bridge of his guitar while he was in the restroom.
Travelogue #6
After ripping it up with Joey in San Diego it was time to point my mighty Volkswagen bus into the night and begin the trek home by way of the coast. If you are familiar with Paul Kamanski's work and the song Hollywood Hills you will understand why I chose to cut over to the ocean via Route 46.
When you’re on a road trip it’s important to remember that The Lord of the
Highway will watch over you if you have faith. In my case I like to cover all the bases, so I roll with a plurality of religious icons on my dashboard.
BTW: my old friend Theresa Davis Oldfield spoke highly of the Buttonwillow rest area. I had to experience it for myself. As I stood in the open grass a gentle evening breeze caused the leaves of the willow tree to whisper, and I got a sense of what drew Teresa to this highway oasis.
As it turns out, the natural splendor of the Buttonwillow rest area isn’t what captured Teresa’s imagination. It was the vending machines. Specifically, Teresa likes the Starburst most of all. For Teresa, the Buttonwillow Starbursts are the BEST Starbursts.
I had a plan to purchase Buttonwillow Starbursts and bring them back to give to Teresa. Sadly, the machine was no longer accepting cards, and I had violated the 1st Rule of Travel: Always roll with cash.
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Travelogue #7
Everything isn't always sunshine and roses when you're on the road. Somewhere near Salinas the substandard character of the individual who installed the Subaru engine and transaxle in Camper Van Morrison manifested in the form of a grinding noise and oil in my coolant. “Substandard character” is code for someone who sobers up long enough to work on your Volkswagen but then sinks back into a methamphetamine and tequila stupor and comes to a bad end in Mexico. Yet the key is to take what joy you can from the moment you're in - I had a lovely time chatting and listening to Carnatic Indian raga music with the tow truck driver on the haul back to Santa Cruz.
Camper Van Morrison is now in Alpine, California receiving the professional care that this rolling box of mirth and paisley vibes deserves.
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Epilogue
It's not everyday you get to share a stage with Beat Farmers' legend Joey Harris.
On a fine day in June I travelled over Monitor Pass to Walker, California to participate in a celebration of the life of Paul Kamanski. We timed the release of "Flowers" to coincide with the event. We encouraged everyone on the planet to listen at precisely the same time that day to give a maximum boost to our communal expression of love. There may have been millions of listeners tuned in, or just a handful. Fine either way.
Me and Joey did an intimate acoustic version of Paul's song. What took everyone's breath away was the angelic pairing of Caren Kamanski and Paul's daughter, Tennesee.
Hobos and Road Kings
Paul Kamanski was the poet king of San Diego country rock. The Big Medicine Head / Joey Harris recording of Kamanski's “Flowers” has been added to “Hobos and Road Kings”, the Spotify playlist inspired by the California 80’s and 90’s cowpunk scene. Big Medicine Head and The Beat Farmers are sprinkled throughout. Check it out!
One last thing…
We can't put this issue to bed without a big shiny “Thank You” to Sally Nelson and Allen Johnston. Without Sally and Allen's hospitality and graciousness Joey and I would have been recording “Flowers” in the parking lot of a Motel 6. Thanks Sally and Allen!
