Portable Shrines

Sky Sunlight Saxon

- Austin, Texas -

SKY SUNLIGHT SAXON of the psychedelic garage rock legends THE SEEDS passed away this morning at 9:10am, June 25th, 2009 at St. David’s South Austin Hospital in Austin, Texas. Sky died of heart & kidney failure, due to an undiagnosed infection of his internal organs. He passed peacefully with his wife Sabrina Smith Saxon & spiritual brother in YaHoWha Joshua Aquarian by his side. He died, in Sky’s words, at the age of “eternal”.

SKY SUNLIGHT SAXON fell ill as early as last Thursday in his new home of Austin, Texas. Despite feeling under the weather Saturday, he performed a short set of SEEDS classics at the local legendary night club Antone’s with his local collective WORLD SPIRITS, his favorite Austin band SHAPES HAVE FANGS. Sky & his wife Sabrina recently moved to Austin, following his exciting headlining performance at the Austin Psych Fest #2 in March. Several tours were scheduled, including the East Coast/Mid-West tour in August with the California ’66 Revue, with members of LOVE & THE ELECTRIC PRUNES. The tour will still continue despite his absence.

Arrangements are being made for a local tribute & a memorial gathering. Sabrina Saxon will be making a pilgrimage to the Hawaiian Islands in the coming months to spread her husband’s ashes. Please look for further announcements on how fans worldwide may honor Sky’s memory in lieu of flowers. Fans & friends are encouraged to leave memories & visual tokens of love & memoriam at these following websites:
www.skysaxon.com
www.myspace.com/theseeds
www.facebook.com/SabrinaSaxon

Sky had many projects in the works that will undoubtedly still be completed & released in the coming months. One of which is a documentary about his legendary band THE SEEDS to be released next year in 2010. The documentary chronicles the band’s activities with exclusive interviews with all original members, & rare never-before-seen footage of the band live & in session. The project is spear-headed by Alec Palao of Ace Records U.K. (The Zombies’ box set “Zombie Heaven”) -

“Part of the impetus for the SEEDS documentary is to correct a lot of the misperceptions about the band,” explains documentary-maker ALEC PALAO, “and to properly state their role and achievements, and celebrate their music for what it is. The band were way ahead of their time, which I realize more and more as I go thru the nuts and bolts of their recordings. Due to various circumstances beyond the band’s control, the original integrity of what the band was doing got lumped in with the worst commercial hype of the psychedelic scene as it expanded. Ultimately it means that the hipsters and tastemakers got turned off by the hype, and those prejudices have remained with all the commentators and writers ever since. So THE DOORS remain hip and leaders and THE SEEDS are seen as commercial hippies, followers, or not even an authentic part of the initial movement, which of course is dead wrong. I’m doing my part to correct that!” www.acerecords.co.uk

Read more…

The psychotropic Victoria Renard of Austin, Texas, graciously documented the Psych Fest II that is held before that music industry orgy referred to as SXSW….having fully recovered from 2 straight weeks of shows this is her account of the Psych Fest…

When you live in a town that greets you with a sign at the airport “Welcome to Austin, TX: The Live Music Capitol Of The World” and there’s an approximate 50 music fests per year and at least 150 operating music venues per night excluding sushi joints, vintage shops, backyard BBQ’s and grocery stores you tend to get a little lazy, even complacent about getting out to see live music. Not such the case when it comes to the annual Austin Psych Fest. The first of the “annual” tradition started last year in 2008 the week before the much anticipated/dreaded South By Southwest music festival by event organizer Adam Demetri of Live Music Capitol and Austin’s guardian angel of psychedelia, Christian Bland of The Black Angels.

The Black Angels

Psych Fest was conceived as a tribute to the legendary 1960′s psychedelic venue Vulcan Gas Company which hosted local bands 13th Floor Elevators, Moving Sidewalks, and The Golden Dawn as well as a mixture of experimental and roots music like The Velvet Underground, Moby Grape, Big Mamma Thorton, Muddy Waters, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Whereas the Austin Psych Fest kicked off in 2008 at the inconspicuous Red Barn in north Austin it made it’s sophomore effort at the newly opened Radio Room on 6th Street, Austin’s equivalent to Bourbon Street, in 2009. Joined this year by powerhouse publicist Jennifer Marchand of Bleu French Laundry Productions, who organized day long music fests tributing the year 1967 in music and John Lennon, Austin’s annual Psych Fest was a little more determined to bring the music to the masses: “the masses” being nostalgic local hippies, Spring Breakers, and foreigners (anyone outside the Texas border) with high dollar South By Southwest badges. As a South By Southwest “lifer”, I feel like five days of 24/7 live music and an influx of 70,000 visitors is total sensory overload… but what better time to bring the cream of the proverbial crop ranging from today’s reigning sounds of neo-psychedelia to the real deal 1960′s performers responsible for the whole tripped out mess?

Read more…