Poem by Dana Alberts

The Pope Is Dead -- Dirk Dirksen (1937-2006)

The mutants gathered at his grave

to burn the flame and light the cave.

Jello was served at his request

before the world heard of his punk rock fest.

He took the rejects and gave them all names,

sent their critics to the astral planes.

An uncle, a brother a father, a friend --

how many of us did he raise in the end?

And if not for him our din would not be known.

He gave us a stage, a place to call home --

without his wry smile and discerning eye

we'd have been aimless

with nowhere to fly .

He gave us purpose in a purposeless world,
chaperoned a generation, put his money
where his mouth was
in the punk vocation,
challenged my reasons for playing guitar
and encouraged the madness in his theater bizarre.

If you could see you as he did, you might get your eyes back
or really get lucky and blow up like Isaak.

He had the ability to turn you on to yourself, a hard core ringleader, a magic little elf.
He could make you or break you, but he wasn't that mean:
anyone who wanted could be in his scene; you just had to be there to know that he did care.

He cared about each and every nut ball, in fact, he enjoyed them all.
He applauded your success and rescued us from boredom.
When all of us were poor and no one could afford him, he would still let you in
with a crooked grin and a strange remark, always tongue in cheek.


"I provide music seven nights a week," he used to tell me.
Nobody did that then or now. He knew every con, every trick in the book,
but he'd let you go on sinker, line and hook, and hang your self publicly if that's what it took,
to get the attention that you think you needed.
Alll the fruits of your glory come from plant that we seeded,
one by one by one by minus one.

--D. C. Alberts
November, 2006

photo credit: http://www.mulleian.com

Well, the Under Byen album ‘Samme Stof Som Stof’ has been out for a month and it is getting some serious attention from all over the internet and all over the world!

The band will be back in North America in March to make appearances at SxSW in Austin, and CMW in Toronto, so look out for them.

If you missed them this past October, this will be your chance to catch this stunning live band.

Thanks to everyone for supporting this amazing and unique album by these Danish magic makers.If you’re looking for a place to purchase the album, look no further, you can buy the CD or MP3’s at Insound.com

Dana Alberts, "Happiness Is Hard To Find" (Chill House Music)

In this new release, DANA Alberts carries post punk emo into the territory of low-fi folk.

It may indeed be hard to find happiness in such a mix. However, it is beginning to surface in moments of realization of a paradise lost that can be interpreted positively.

"Minus One" is the name of the group he started in the eighties.The band released four singles through the "Skate Rock" series through Thrasher Magazine, and appeared on “One Giant Leap”, a compilation record released in England on Venture Records in 1983.

The next year, they recorded “Where A Man Was Made,” with Spencer Dryden on drums (Jefferson Airplane drummer) and Naomi Ruth Isenberg (Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks) on violin. Minus One toured the U.S. in 1985 with the VKTMS, a punk band formed by drummer Louis Gwerder and featuring Nyna Crawford.

Later that year Alberts was approached by Danny Sugerman, the author and former manager of the “Doors, and Iggy Pop's manager. Sugerman had heard a tape by Minus One, after James Grauerholz, a friend of Sugerman’s had recommended the band.

This led them to an offer of a record deal from Geffen Records. However, unstated personal problems inside the group drove them to dissolve.

Disillusioned, Alberts moved to Oregon to lead a quiet life and retreat from the music scene and rethink and create a new life for himself. He worked for Fender Musical Instruments, and played in a band with other employees at work. He toured the Oregon club circuit with guitar player

Jeff Labansky in a band called “The Addiction.”

As a singer for “The Addiction,” Alberts played top showcases and backed up artists like Sam Kinison and Andy Summers. He also continued write and record on the side with studio engineer Bill Dibacco, a bass player. During the next five years Alberts and Dibacco recorded a total of three albums that were played on local stations.

In the 90's, Dana moved back to San Francisco to reform “Minus One.” During that time, according to Alberts, he wrote some of the band’s best material. It had never had been recorded until now.

Dana recorded this solo album that highlights his deft, moody guitar playing and songwriting as well as his reedy vocal style. Drew Waters, who plays percussion and some guitar solos, produced the album in a home studio, giving it an authentic low-fi sound.

“Minus One” music from the 90s makes a positive impression on the album. According to one version of the story of the band's genesis, took its name after the shooting death of John Lennon, and the Brit pop overtones on the album are both subtle and obvious.

With this release, Dana acknowledges his gratitude to his former band mates and others, and off into lightly charted territory, released perhaps from the prison of his past.

Available online at cdbaby.com and elsewhere.

Carl Macki

carlmacki@gmail.com
(415) 596-5264