It was the wining days of summer 1973.
This was found.
A strange unknown man sent in a picture of a never before seen Burning Mirror album: “The Orphaned Fungus”. Nothing is currently known about this. Slim Freedom has said that “I’m not sure when we released that. It could have been recorded while we toured one of the Zeland’s. Or it may be that we haven’t even recorded that album “. He suggest that Clean Tate may know the answer and Duke Wisdom was the last person to ever see Clean. Clothed.
Posted in Crono Notes, Music.
Contrary to what has been widely reported on this site, that drum tech of techs Gerber Browt has been found in tact and staying in dormitory. When asked how he mysteriously made his way from St. Cob Hotel (in the city) to Merrimac Hall (outskirts of the city) he replied, “I took the fooking bus, ya geezer. Piss off.”
Clean Tate, speaking through headphones, said he was pleased about this most miraculous development. Mitchell Filter, speaking through tubes and an accordian, had nothing to add.
Services for Browt will be held January 30 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Barge.
Posted in Articles, Crono Notes, Press Releases.
A Similar Hospital
[TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN]
Burning Mirror’s veteran manager of rock and leader of the “Aquarium Management LTD.”, Richard “The Nurse” Paint was hospitalized in order to witness the operation of a heart in a clinic in Berlin. The operation, valued at 635,000 euros was performed by Mountain Dr. Gene Toyt ( of radio station Moskvy) .
Speaking about the result of the operation, Dr. Toyt heard the patient speak, “This Sunday??” and immediately knew his mother did not want to apply her words to this topic and that the operation was a success. When asked for a comment, Richard “The Nurse” Paint only offered: “OK, but I can not say more.”
According to the publication, !Grebenshikov Coch & Balz Muzik!, Mr. Paint’s condition has deteriorated sharply during the memory of a concert in Vienna. The health team is now investigated if technical reasons caused this issue.
But the next day and the music fans of the group met another explanation: the fault of the whole technical reasons. Some media wrote that this is an operation on his eyes, the alleged manager Mr. Paint quickly loses sight. However, according to the other sources, the beginning of the year did bypass his heart. This was confirmed by a doctor musician.
In November last year, Richard “The Nurse” Paint said a 55-year anniversary is in the future. The “Aquarium Management LTD.” has received great popularity by musical doers in the early 80’s. Such hit songs as “Colonel Vase,” “Kame to Rock” or “Rock ‘n’ Rolling”, and “Man Without Sanity” have been managed by “Aquarium”.
Asked to Comment, speakers from the band proclaimed, “Without The Nurse we are sure to become a hymn generation, relegated to playing banjo chordings”.
Posted in Crono Notes.
Even before The Burning Mirror formed a group, perhaps, bootlegs of the band made an appearance overseas - overseas in The Orient. Astute record collectors and art rock cognoscenti have long paid top dollars for even scraps of unreleased Mirror material, or UnMirrterial, as they refer to something. Here are some of the best based on non-parallel criteria.
Lee
Title: Lee
Country of origin: Asian
Average cost: £500
Lee is perhaps the first Asian bootleg to appear. It is most famous for several reasons and attributes. It contains the legendary “keyboard duel off” between Slim Freedom and an uncited adversary. Most agree that Freedom wins this duel, though none can agree which part is being played by him. It also contains a backwards track of Clean Tate swearing in South American languages. That is very famous.
Tao Jones
Title: Tao Jones
Country of origin: Japan
Average cost: £400
Coming up out of Japan, Tao Jones is a bootleg of utmost fame and collectable. Some songs include demos of ”Flame and Fire,” “Doctor Marvelous and Doctor Low,” and the 16-minute “Crow Suite.” Another piece, “Talking,” is said to have surfaced legitimately in the soundtrack to a Spanish newscast. There is some speculation in Asian Burning Mirror Bootleg Chatrooms that Perfect Steakhouse plays “some quantity of synthesizers” on a fade out. Dracula Smythe is unavailable for comment.
Numbers album
Title: Numbers album (not to be confused with Number album)
Country of origin: Japan
Average cost: £800
Numbers album purportedly originates from cassette recordings of a live concert broadcast on Doly Veega. By the time this entity made it to mass reproduction, however, the master was at best a 17th generation Maxell tape. As such most of what can be heard is hiss. Some think Numbers album contains a one minute jam with Roofless Randall.
People World
Title: People World
Country of origin: Thailand
Average cost: £300
Duke Wisdom himself is said to have overseen the magnetic transfer of the People World project. Said to have. Lag said that it happened in Brussels, but People World nevertheless comes up out of Thailand. Half of this album is made up of a barely audible conversation between studio engineer Qualter Rothe and a cleaning man. Famed trickster Roger Berds II encouraged Slim Freedom to record this exchange. And he did - he did.
Number album
Title: Number album (not to be confused with Numbers album)
Country of origin: China
Average cost: £1100-2000
Number album is the big giant on campus in the world of the Asian Burning Mirror bootleg. Though the release is in mono, some still consider it to be the finest mix up out of China. While Number album has subsequently been released as a part of the Cobbler/Lobster box set (Malaysia), there were originally only two copies pressed. They meant to make more, but at the time it was being manufactured the pressing factory was seized by top law men during the lunch hour. Which is understood. None of the songs listed here are listed, which is to say they have never appeared again.
Posted in Articles, Crono Notes.
In a recent interview with the online magazine Hoyt, Clean Tate mentioned that he assumes the remains of Gerber Browt, the drum tech for Mirror Mirror Burn ( All Xylophone Burning Mirror cover band ), who was last seen at the St. Cob Hotel, in the city, Sept. 25, was found at the Rump Room, two miles from the Gery Hotel, that evening. Tate goes on to say, “It’s true man.”
Gerber Browt age 55
Posted in Articles, Crono Notes.
Below is an unauthorized reprint of a telephone interview by Hidden, a Belgian magazine which ceased to publish after just two issues in 1979.
H: Welcome into Belgium!
GGT: Sorry?
H: I say, welcome into Belgium!
GGT: Indeed.
H: How are you today?
GGT: What?
H: I say, how are you today?
GGT: Oh, indeed. It’s a beautiful day here in England.
H: Can you describe your duties in your former role as backup keyboardist for Burning Mirror?
GGT: Certainly.
H: What?
GGT: Sure. Shall I?
H: Please.
GGT: I served several roles on tour, most of which were as on stage musical assistant to Slim Freedom. You see, he would lay down up to 80 tracks of keyboards in the studio so it would be up to me to augment his playing live. I would insert complex notes on top of and around his already dense chords and note clusters. As you can see. This would create an atmosphere of unity - an atmosphere of musical hooliganism.
H: What?
GGT: Unity - an atmosphere of musical hooliganism. Also, I would cover most of the keyboard parts if Slim Freedom was playing lead guitar solos or guitar chording. Also, I would play parts if he wanted to do something crazy like climb into the rafters and dump gasoline into the audience. Also, I would go to the restroom. Also, I could play thumb organ if needed.
H: I’ve never heard of that. Explain that instrument to our readers.
GGT: It is a device that reminds me of a childhood in Saunters.
H: Burning Mirror were well known for taking a pipe organ on the road.
GGT: Yes, just one of the things that made the “mach V lineup” unique. Not many people know this, but I sometimes added a few ounces of “dream steam” to the stops of the Soldier Organ. That would make the band get a little high.
Genius Garry Thurber at the Soldier Organ
H: What other types of instruments were you using in those days?
GGT: We had lots of companies throwing gear at us, so I can’t really remember. There was one insane device made by Klone, a Distortion Multichord they called it. It was kind of like a harpsichord with a built in poly-harmonizer and overdrive network. Dangerous!
Rare depiction of the rare device. Photo by Solomon.
H: What?
H: Well, that’s about all the time we have.
GGT: Oh, yes, I’d be glad to. I’d get to the venue about six weeks before the gig and start to assemble the pipe organ and backup keyboard array. I preferred to work alone in those days; I wanted everything to be pefect - and I wanted all of the Pomeroy Snuff to myself. By day three, I was into some extended sound checks, often lasting 16 hours or more. As I said, Marlo stopped in. Eventually, I’d take a break and get some biscuits and rice or something. Bye and bye, the rest of the gear would arrive and I’d relax with a case of Fondo until showtime.
Genius Garry Thurber putting the finishing touches on a Prairie Tube.
Posted in Interviews.
Near the end of the tour, Clean Tate took this candid picture of the stage crew ‘horsing around’.
Pictured Left to Right: Crim Whitman, Lobo Berry, Ronny “Mustache” Wen, Bailiff, Hudan Rogan ( Slim Freedom's Tech ), Coon Montree ( Duke Wisdom's Tech ), Able Bastard ( Clean Tate's Tech ), Habadasher Williams, Notion Man, Cardinal Man, She Wentz, Suffit, Cab Nig, Slater Cool, Mike Only ( Perfect Steakhouse's Tech ), Amazing Till, Looper Whenadad, Kip Stinger, Ruffian Lort, Notion MacBeal, Stander Jog, Power Man Willie Gt, Unknown Indian Briefcase Man, Homeboy Steb.
Posted in Crono Notes.
The gentlemen of Burning Mirror have never been strangers to the press corps, never been strangers to a magazine, and least of all, never been strangers to great gear. When all elements have come together, all elements have appeared in print magazines. Below are some historic ads pertaining to the band’s fortuitous relationship with the Brahms & Sons Electric Instruments company. This company, an electric instruments company, was a purveyor of lead guitars, acoustic pianos, kettle drums, chord guitars and any number of other instruments. Needless to say, the boys in the band jumped at a chance!
Posted in Articles.
Port Arapaho, NT.
Coon Montree, one time potential guitarist tech for Burning Mirror, was found dead in apartments due to the unknown heart attack. Montree, who was prepared to work on a canceled tour of the Zealands in the late 1970s, was absolutely irreplaceable to the point that he was never hired again.
Anyway, the ransacking of his apartment revealed an important document, this never before conceived schematic of Duke Wisdom’s guitar rig for that ill fated tour, the tours of Zealand.
Rare schema
None of the equipment has been located but is believed to be in storage or in another room at the departed’s apartment.
Posted in Press Releases.
Not every band tours Mozambique. Not every band has a need to — or a right to. But, not every band is Burning Mirror. Still that country’s biggest selling act, BM only made it to Mozambique’s radio air waves through a fluke of timing. Timing and satellites. The short-lived “Doly Veega” (the Mirror’s personal broadcasting unit) actually made it over the borders when what scientists call a “radation theoretical” occurred. The initial effect was one of randomness. The second effect was madness. The third and fourth effects were humans dancing in the streets. The streets of Mozambique.
Learning of the news on a return trip from the Not-so-far-East, Burning Mirror (ever the shrewd businessmen) immediately set up the month-long “Mozambique Worldwide” tour. A tour which is noteworthy for reasons. This was the only excursion wherein no member of the entourage was jailed. Also, it was from a Mozambique stage that Slim Freedom announced that this would be the last tour for background keyboardist Genius GarryThurber. And it was — it was.
Not to mention the music. All that live music. The entire tour was recorded and taped. These priceless master tapes have since come up missing — or STOLEN. Duke Wisdom elucidates: “Yeah, some bloke pinched our tracks. Or misplaced them.” At this time the group was going by “Burning Mirror UK” due to a little known Balkan group of the same name, hence some of the confusion. And hence Clean Tate brooding on his private bus. Obscure fact: as a result of this tour, a BM tribute band formed in Mozambique, calling themselves “Burning Said.” All of Mozambique’s finest stars turned up at the performances. Even the president and the Minister of Experience. During a cable television broadcast of one of the best concerts, Slim Freedom shocked the crowd and viewers by pulling a monkey from the inside of a burning grand piano. In the following years, the band lived up to its reputation.
Posted in Press Releases.