Holidays! Holly Daze? Holy Days, Batman! The nights are long and it’s COLD out!
Berkeley Cat Records is leaping off the furniture and gleefully pulling ornaments from the trees to knock them about. Join the party, it’s Christmas Eve and the improbable has happened, a miracle if you will! We have the fine honor of presenting, OUR FIRST HOLIDAY SINGLE! A Christmas song no less, a famous one, as interpreted and arranged by San Francisco Berkeley Cat Matte Martin and his Merry Elves. I made up the last part, he doesn’t have elves, he has guitars - rock guitars, and thunderous drums and piano and bass, and his unique voice ringing out joyously. Follow this link to see and hear it! Warm celebratory libations recommended.
SO! In 2022 Berkeley Cat Records released a full-length Eric Din album, and he (me) is busy putting the final brushstrokes on his SECOND solo LP! Why? Because I choose to, Begonia. We released Dave Seabury’s With a Little Help From My Friends album (his second solo outing in his amazing pynotic life), AND a power-poppin’ rock smashola from FAVES called Here Comes The Rain. We unfurled Safe Pair Of Hands by Nonuffya Bizznis And The Private Dancers, No More War and Bond Meets The Godfather by Eric Din, and the whole year started off nicely dressed with New Threads by Matte Plastic! Did I leave anything out? OF COURSE I DID! ‘Twas a packed year and I can’t keep track of all the exciting shiny kitty toys.
The Russ Ellis / Eric Din CD Bundle is still available, for a limited time! haha “for a limited time” - isn’t that the best bullshit marketing line ever? EVERYTHING is for a limited time. We and our memory are but a blink of a wee corner of the universe’s eye, hello and goodbye, check in, do stuff, check out. But yes, in the relative nanosecond of our existence, you may procure the ONLY hard products Berkeley Cat Records is ever going to make. So in this way, they are indeed limited. Scarce, if you will. Collector’s items.
I might have some eggnog.
More mews! A few weeks ago Paul Jackson and I did an interview with Aaron Carnes and Adam Davis for the In Defense of Ska podcast. I listened this week in a few bops (it’s long!), and I was delighted to find I enjoyed it. Thanks Aaron and Adam and Paul, for the stroll down memory lane. It's been fun to revisit some of these stories in recent years, and for anyone interested in the Uptones saga (skaga!?), and related histories with Rancid and Fishbone and some other bands, I think you might enjoy it as well.
Shall I add a photo? Ah yes, the pic from the aforementioned episode, will do nicely.
And here’s the FB page for In Defense of Ska which provides a steady stream of marvelousness which you may follow.
Drive safe if you have to drive. Stay home if ya can. This ain’t no joke, this unprecedented arctic speed-wobble. Hold onto yr hats. Cuddle yr cats.
May your weekend and the rest of the year be safe, healthy, and festive. We’ll see you on the other side. Much love,
-Eric Din
Berkeley Cat Records Cat-Herder In Chief