GUADALCANAL DIARY

Back in the Saddle:
Guadalcanal Diary's "Watusi Rodeo" Reunion
by Gregory Nicoll

Musician Jeff Walls' rehearsal space in Athens, Georgia is crowded with memorabilia. Plastic toy monsters peer over the campy '50s furniture which clutters this cool, damp-smelling room. Halloween decorations, day-glo concert posters, and other souvenirs document the career of Walls' baroque rock/lounge act, Hillbilly Frankenstein. But back in the shadows, between fake black cats, lava lights, and silly zebra-striped speakers, there stands a single rugged black roadcase. On its exposed side, boldly stencilled white capital letters spell out two words: "GUADALCANAL DIARY." A heavy layer of dust covers the Marietta phone number below, an obsolete 404 area code further evidence of its vintage.

But on this sunny Saturday afternoon, four friends have gathered to blow the dust off that case. Jeff Walls, John Poe, Rhett Crowe, and Murray Attaway stand facing each other, instruments in hands and amplifiers blazing. Attaway strums a red hollowbody electric guitar, a ballcap restraining his long hair as he throws his head back to sing. Walls, whose trademark rockabilly quiff looks two or three stories higher than it did during the Diary's 1989 farewell concert, now leans purposefully into his lead guitar duties. He accents Attaway's chords and expertly drops fierce little stings into the mix. Behind the drumkit, lean percussionist Poe hammers out an ominous rumble while, to his left, Crowe rocks behind her Fender bass with the biggest so-happy-to-be-here smile a woman could ever display.

The song is "Shango," a tune recorded for (but not included on) Guadalcanal Diary's Elektra album 2X4. "Shango" hasn't been played anywhere in over seven years, yet sounds incredible. It's just a prelude to the ominous tribal drumbeats and Congolese chanting on "Liwa Wechi," to the frightful explosions of twang on "Dead Eyes," to the sweet backing harmonies of "Why Do the Heathen Rage?" and to the poking-fun of "Cattle Prod." Finally the band whips out an awe-inspiring "Watusi Rodeo," beginning teasingly with a western-swing intro before they hit a happy trail into the familiar rock arrangement.