robert wetteland’s musical influences and career date back as early as the 1960’s and ‘70s. Performing original music, designing light shows (including video) and producing  a  4 year run of the multi-media group alfonso productions.  He moved to the Valencia, CA campus of CalArts in 1972  forming  a trio, aptly named, “the retards”.   Many have said of the music experience, “it made me feel retarded”. With so many great music artists dying off and bored with the direction of ‘70s music the Tard’s began creating their own brand of cha cha cha punk music, often referred to as pre-punk.  Perhaps it was seeing  soft machine open for jimi hendrix or bela bartok’s concerto for orchestra,  stanley kubrick’s film 2001, tripping on lsd... or a balinese gamelan ensemble ripping through some trance inducing interlocking melodies, that altered his brain chemistry. With scrambled  brains intact and thoughts of  becoming an electrical and electronic engineer he pushed  onward through the ‘70’s. With an avid interest in stereo photography and  a “robert’s” 1/4 audio recording deck he continued to document  his music and his surroundings. Blah, blah, blah...