Caviar Point by Rick Tarquinio

Caviar Point, or Bayside as it's known today, was once a boom town on the banks of the Delaware River. For a short time in the late 1800's it was the caviar capitol of the world. Four hundred people lived there and as many as 15 train cars of caviar departed for points and ports north of there each day. This boom town, like all boom towns, was short lived. Once the sturgeon population dwindled, the manufacturers and fishermen moved on. It was a resort of sorts till the mid-1900's, By the time I discovered it, it was a ruin, visible only at low tide. Not a single structure remained. Two sets of train tracks arching into the river and empty pilings are all that's left of a once vibrant industry. In the decade since, it's eroded badly and it's not hard to imagine a day when all signs of it will be gone.

I was obsessed with this place for several years, visiting frequently to make field recordings and take photos and videos. I also recorded a lot of music inspired by those trips. I researched, read articles and books, and planned to release a huge multimedia project with what I'd gathered. Then the files sat on my computer for a decade until I recently began sifting the rubble so to speak. It quickly became obvious that the heart of the project was 6 droney tracks I'd recorded using various instruments as sound sources. They perfectly encapsulate what it's like to stand on the point and imagine what was there and the long slow march of time passing by like the river. One bright note is that the sturgeon have made a comeback in recent years and while nowhere near the former numbers spawn in the river, it's good to know they weren't completely wiped out by the greed and ingenuity of man. I found one washed ashore there once and let me tell you, they are one ugly fish! It was said you could walk on their backs to Delaware their numbers were so great before their eggs became a delicacy.

This isn't the project I originally planned to release, but perhaps the time it spent languishing on my computer wore away the unimportant bits and left some bright shards to catch the light of day they're finally seeing. The last track is a long field recording I made there on April 14th, 2013. Of the dozens of hours of recordings I made, this one seems to best capture what it's like to actually be there. A calm spring day, redwings, willets, seagulls, passing planes and freighters, and the ever-present sound of water doing what it does. As you can see from the bonus pics, I've been there on not so warm days too when the wind and waves practically swept me into the bay.

The album cover is a photo, one of thousands, I took there with various cameras. This one was a toy Sominim that took photos with a painterly quality I think fits the mood of this release. Please check out the bonus material for other pics and a video.

I hope you'll enjoy Caviar Point. We are surrounded by history, much of it unknown to us, but there are treasures and lessons in the rubble if we're willing to get our hands dirty and dig a little. If you're ever in the area, check a tide chart and visit. It's a magical place. If it ain't winter, bring bug spray!

Rick Tarquinio 01/10/2023

My music is created very simply using improvisation, chance procedures or accidental means. I also do a lot of field recording and sound experiments using natural forces to create sound. I used to be a singer/songwriter in a past life, but every caterpillar has its day...

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