Mystic Mile

The Lost Notes of B. Nick Charles:

When last heard from, the legendary bassist/bandleader/ composer/trianglist B. Nick Charles was out of the country or at least incommunicato and unreachable. The pressure of having to deliver liner notes that would accomodate a title as weighty as Mystic Mile was apparantly too much for him and it's believed he's flown the coop for good. Here are the vestiges, fragments of rough attempts found in the rubble of his flat among scores of unfinished drafts of schematics, inventions, crossword puzzles, veterinary pharmaceuticals, recipes and trash found in the wastepaper basket of his accupuncturist. B. Nick, wherever you are, the band all send their fondest wishes and oh yes, your hotel bill will be forwarded to your mother. Call your brother Larry.

"Setting the significance of the title aside for a moment, I'm receiving very serious emotional pressures due to the fact that Mr. Brechtlein saw fit to release me from my duties as triangle holder on a session date of my favorite track on the album, the very same title cut, Mystic Mile. In fact, the triangle isn't even present in the mix, and I don't know if it was ever recorded, as I left the studio immediately following my ejection from my proud position at the microphone, a position rightfully mine and for which I am ultimately capable.

"But not to dwell on personal bitterness, and hopefully to rise above the petty emotional alienation resulting from my professional courts-martial and embarassment, I would like now to comment on the music and musicians herein as the band has seen fit to remedy my grievance, my own long, arduous mystic mile, with their request for my expert critique.

"Mr. Ford is the Enrico Fermi of the blues! A true pioneer, his inventive melodies come to him as easily as waterproofing does to a Louisiana bullfrog. Highly classified, it is believed that one of his blistering solos at a concert in Ankara was so powerful that it shut down four surveillance sattelites and neutralized two nuclear submarines off the coast of the Berry Islands. A tone sublime, par excellance!

"When we arrive at harnassing subsonic frequencies, Mr. Roscoe Beck is the all-favored 'King of the Bowel-Rattlers.' Unintimidated by nature, he is one of the chosen few, donned to smack the flabby note and make it float. Admittedly, through towers of vehement jealousy, I, bassist Nick Charles, have to take leave, yield and bite the bullet as Roscoe is, and will remain, the 'El Capitano of the Bathescope.'

"Now, last but most assuredly not least, we come to my former employer, Tom Brechtlein. This man, a rhythmic bail bondsman, has a sharp double image. Known to his close friends as Rusty, Brechtlein is a ferociously gifted drummer. He posseses the finesse of a skilled surgeon, and by contrast, can supply the force of a derailed locomotive into one's living room. I might also add that Genghis Khan would have been selected as the train engineer. One must be forwarned that all metal objects and sharp aritcles should be removed during any of his solos!

"With all of this in mind, I urge you to 'put an ear to the ground' and explore this Mystic Mile. So if I may be excused, I must be on my way."
- Humbly Yours,
B. Nicholas Charles,RET.
13 Nov. 1993