I remember it well. I was on ecstasy and probably very stoned as well. Me and a friend performed a bluegrass version of The Ace Of Spades at an open mic night and received an intense standing ovation at the end which sent me into the stratosphere, given my chemical enhancement. Such a great memory, and in my mind I had delivered a blistering performance which went down in history. 
 
Well clearing out my email account recently I found an email from a friend from a few years ago with a recording of it attached. I'd forgotten to download and listen to it, but just did so. 
 
It literally sounds like a drunken chimpanzee playing the banjo. I'm all over the place. Timing is all shot, missed notes, bum notes, playing the wrong chords, you name it. It just goes to show how deluded you can be about musical performances when you're high. And just to set aside an obvious question, no I won't be posting it. Ever. I cringed through the whole thing.  

Hi,
 
Can I say that you are being overly critical, about a time when you were learning things and getting a feel for an instrument?
 
I look at some of my poetry 25 years ago, and I do not feel embarrassed. I came across a short story that I wrote in 1970 or so in Madison, and I was not embarrassed. I actually saw the same singular ability to stick with one moment and see it stretch and live as if a film camera was hanging around catching everything. I read my review of 2001, A Space Bruhaha, and ... well, that one I was not impressed, mostly because I did not think I actually "got it" right, and could see it better from a distance, or a more experienced point of view. But it cracked on SK's very Hollywood'ish ability to create "one shot" kind of images, that we remember ... which at the time I did not like, and still don't .. I feel like I'm being told that this is God and you must worship it!
 
It would be fun to see, if anything, for the fact that you are a professional now and play way better than that?
 
AND THAT'S AN ACHIEVEMENT!

I'm embarrassed for both of you. 

Sharke, I have an old friend in NYC named Paul Boocock (!) he's an actor.   You should go see him when he does poetry readings and impromptu comedy.  You two might have fun together. He's an old school new yorker, you know lou reed versus *lady lamb the beekeeper*.  I suspect you are too.

How can you not be successful with a name like Boocock! The guy has it made....

What, no link to the expose'?
 

He's just waiting for enough people to ask.  It's like the time Bapu entered himself into a wet t-shirt contest as a joke.  

Moshkito
Hi,
 
Can I say that you are being overly critical, about a time when you were learning things and getting a feel for an instrument?
 

To be fair to myself, I'm not a banjo player. I'd borrowed the thing from a friend on a whim and had only had it a couple of months. But also in the spirit of being fair to myself, we had previously recorded the song on a friend's old 4-track in his attic and I thought my playing on that was not bad at all, considering my beginner status. 

craigb
He's just waiting for enough people to ask.  It's like the time Bapu entered himself into a wet t-shirt contest as a joke.  

You can start one of those online petitions. I will never budge - it's that bad. 

You already posted it once, or a version of it, after Lemmy died.