WHO?
Those who remember his salad days might find the current manifestation radically different. Where the former was fixated on incoherent, nihilistic fury, the current is more like a guitar-flogging rendition of Kurt Vonnegut’s alter ego, Kilgore Trout. Salty, unrefined, astute, resigned to a life in obscurity, yet utterly incapable of altering his karmic path (not that he’d even try). As revealed in the liner notes of his first self-produced record, Rohlfie’s 1st: Cheap Shots:
I can’t afford to hire REAL musicians, singers, and engineers. Besides, i’m not doing this to impress industry people… or anyone else for that matter. I’m doing this because i HAVE to.
WHAT?
Digital discography since y2k:
- Six eight-cut records (pieces of eight),
- A baker’s dozen of acoustic covers – The Quarantine Sessions,
- A collection of spoken word pieces – Audiovision,
- A state-by-state snapshot of the USA – This Land: The Hot Springs or Busk Tour (HSoB),
- A fan-fiction inspired by the political allegory of a different era – The Folly of Oz,
- A WordPress serial-fiction inspired by the HSoB tour – (The Chool Bus).
The first three pieces of eight emerged in rapid succession (2003, 2004, and 2005). Frustrated by an eight-year hiatus from live performance, his creative reserves overflowed. He meticulously documented the dictates of this impatient muse and arranged two-week breaks from his day job, enough time to return to the “high plains” seeking refuge with friends and kin, including audio engineer extraordinaire, Terry “Dad” Pfeifer.
Months of toil were condensed into these brief “vacations.” Days dedicated to tracking and mixing, the nights to getting drank under the table by the locals. By the time record #3, Rohlfie’s Dog, reached completion, the burning muse was temporarily satisfied… there would be no further output until his kids flew the coop following their own drummers.
And yes, they caught the bug as well:
- Booker T Rohlf, bass guitar for KC-based, Unity Ticket
- KM Rohlf, dank beats and bars for Raw Ki, Topeka-based HipHop artist
WHY?
Once an angsty, wrathful, wandering soul chasing that elusive rock-n-roll fantasy, now a wizened beast of burden, RonnieHays takes life’s hazards and blessings in stride. Freedom? Happiness? Mere states of the mind, and for RonnieHays, rediscovering the rhythm of his original drummer embodies both in spades.
Again, the dam of creativity swells and he’s more than willing to heed the muse’s call. But why? After all, the body hosting this whirlwind could be classified as a revolutionary space-age rock-n-roll relic. Born just a couple of years after Sputnik’s orbit, the year of the Cuban Revolution, the day the music died.
So should he now sink into the e-z chair and take it easy? Hell to the no! As Robert Zimmerman sagely crooned in one of the greatest songs of the 20th Century canon:
“He not busy being born is busy dying.”
Expect much, much more from the reborn RonnieHays. Tanned, rested, and ready to yawp till such time as he drops. Hopefully, not any time soon.
Go here for an extended Zoomervision interview… “Behind the Loopy Madness“
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