Plain and Fancy: Francisco - Cosmic Beam Experience (1976 us, magical ambient space psych rock, 2005 reissue)

Francisco used to play in a band called Shanti with tabla player Zakir Hussain and, being a drummer, became friendly with Mickey when Shanti would open for the Dead. This release from 1976 is a new age, freak-jazz mind blower! It was on Francisco’s own Cosmic Beam Records & Tapes and features him playing acoustic guitar, electric space guitar, drums, chimes, zither, gongs, and some weird homegrown instruments like the one made out of a couple hundred house and car keys hanging in a bunch.

Francisco played his Cosmic Beam on the soundtracks of many films including: 1979’s Star Trek: the Motion Picture, a short film about the Tibetan Book of the Dead called Tanka and Terence Malick’s masterpieces The Thin Red Line and The New World.

Francisco Lupica has an actual I-beam electrified somehow to make ethereal noises. The Beam is held by two driftwood tree trunks with masses of roots, trimmed off evenly to be support stands. It not only looks great but must be very stable. He's performed with such folks as Lee Michaels and Taj Mahal and was even in a hillbilly band in Georgia.