Scarepuck City from 8 Trackology by John Tabacco

Words and Music © 1987 by John Tabacco
Published by It Iz What It Iz Music (SESAC)

For a short spell, I worked at a Record World store in the Sunvet Mall in Sayville. After two weeks I was quickly transferred to a dismal TSS Discount Department Store near by. I fucking hated the job! The dust from the vinyl record jackets made my eyes tear and the sound from the floor waxing machine drove me nuts. Everyone was into sports (the Mets were playing in the world series) and I had gotten over that kind of amusement shortly after puberty. I just didn't' t care about it and I couldn't relate to the whole scene. All I saw were zombie folks, doing their zombie job with no hope for breaking out of this mind numbing existence. Their lives were a reliable mixture of velvet clown pictures and dusty chocolate that's been sitting under a smudged glass coffin for months. For Christ sake, the toilets are always over flowing or backed up with bloody tampons. And it’s a never ending, thankless task of serving angry pot bellied fathers with their crying, dripping snot nosed kids, sauerkraut and stale pretzels that have been richly seasoned with fresh crud from the damp floor behind the counter! If the highlight of your work day is trying to find a long enough ladder to fix a florescent bulb in the woman's rubber sandals department then all I can say is: "Whatever makes you happy". I remember one rainy night, when I had a late shift, Brian Wilson's "God Only Knows" came on over the tin loud speaker and yet it was like a breath of fresh air. For an instant I was reminded of the beautiful things in life. Suddenly, the floor-waxing machine came on and it's droning noise was a half step lower than the tune and this completely freaked me out. Sacrilege! I left that day upset, never wanting to go back. "It's Over Now" (a bootleg Brian Wilson piece) was my favorite song at the time and I remember playing it on my way home, tears flowing down my face. Meanwhile, Scare Puck City (slightly influenced by a Neil Young tune) was in progress in my bedroom and I tried to capture as quickly as possible the total disgust and hopelessness I was feeling. The only thing missing was an appropriate guitar solo. I couldn't afford to pay for one and who would give a shit about a song called Scare Puck City? I scrounged around in my head for a while. Hey, wouldn't Gerry Palisi's guitar soloing at the end of” Find A Way" be appropriate? My subconscious was right on the mark. It's totally out of the key creating that frustrated tension I was trying to express and it's the perfect length. If you listen to "Find A Way"(see the Tabacco / DiMauro 8 track collaborations) you can hear the solo in its original context during the outro.

John Tabacco is a composer, singer-songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and visual artist.

Like an unfolding musical diary / puzzle, Tabacco’s music and art are constantly being re-worked, juxtaposed and intertwined.

For more info : www.johntabacco.net

johntabacco.net