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26 TINY TIM EULOGY BY DAVID

NTS: GREENBERGER

COVER: ALEX WALD (SEE KEY) 27: TINY TIM INT'VW BY PHIL

2: PUNK'NHEAD BY JAKE AUSTEN MILSTEIN

3: EVIL COMIC BY BRIANGROTECHA —'28 THE TRENIERS

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8 ROCK'N'SOUL TOUR 41 MASK/MIDGET UPDATES | OUND ECOR Di N G 18: NAME FIVE BY JAMES PORTER 43 WAYMON REVIEWS, ILLUSRATIONS

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FRONT COVER ROCK'N'SOUL TOUR KEY: The big guy in the sky is Baby Huey who enjoyed the food at the 47th St. Walgreens (p.9) and who died at the Roberts Motel (p.8). 1.Pedro Bell, who spun records at the Atomic Disco (p.12) and met P-

Funk at Mandel Hall (p.8). 2.Jerry Butler, who recorded for Vee Jay (p.11), and had his own songwniter's workshop (p.11), where "Ain't Understanding Mellow” was written, his big hit duet with 3.Brenda Lee Eager. 4.Mike Bloomfield, played Blues clubs in Old Town (p.13). >.Pandora Mulqueen, who starred on Kiddie-A-Go-Go, filmed at the WCIU studios (p.12). 6.Jerry McGeorge, a member of the Shadows of Knight, along with 7.Joe Kelly, 8. Jimmy Sohns, 9.Tom Shiffour and 10.Warren Rogers. They were

the house band at The Cellar (p.15). 11.Sonny Boy Williamson, in dapper attire, though many confuse the bum on the album cover photographed by Don Bronstein for him (p.13). 12.Etta "Peaches" James was also photographed by Bronstein. 13.Pigmeat Markham, recorded live LPs at The Regal (p. 9). 14.Ratso, the puppetronic star of Chic-A-Go-Go, filmed at CAN-TV Green Street Studios (p.12).

Artwork by Alex Wald with technical assistence by Charlie Athanas. Special Thanks to Jason Mojica.

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Chicago has a strange sense of the histoncal. Politicians, journalists and the general public have no problem praising the greatness of places like the Chicago Stadium and the Maxwell Street market, while simultaneously cheering on the wrecking ball. While some of the lesser landmarks, like Chess Records, on South Michigan, either change tenants or get reinvented as tourist spots, most, like the once regal brick buildings that line the south side ghettos, slip into obscurity so gradually you hardly notice when they're gone. Some of Chicago's richest legacies can be found in the fields of Rock & Soul, and can be traced back to the scenes where Blues, Garage-Rock and House Music history was made. Allow us to take you on a tour of some of Chicago's more obscure treasures. We're not gonna cop out and walk you past the spots everybody knows, like Chess, the Aragon, Frankie Knuckles' House clubs, or the whole intersection of Milwaukee/Damen/North. Rather, we thought we'd take you down some backroads you might have missed, overlooked, or forgotten. Later for the Magical Mystery Tour. This is the...

CHI-TOWN SHO-DOWN

by James Porter 'n' Jake Austen. A couple of illustrations by John Greenfield. Tillman photo by Andrew Mine (from New City)

We'll start down on the South Side at....

CHA CHA RECORDS - 7921 S. Dorchester. From the outside, it doesn't look like much more than just another house ina middle-class Black neighborhood, but in the fifties and sixties, when the area was still predominantly Caucasian, this was where Don DeLucia ran the infamous Cha Cha and Cap labels, releasing (in addition to a lot of straight adult pop music) several 45's by local garage bands like the Grapes of Wrath, the Hatfields, the Outsiders (not the Ohio band who did "Time Won't Let Me") and the Cardinals. Their most significant artist was Ron Haydock, a rockabilly artist who most Chicago rock histories overlook, but 99 Chicks, a compilation released last year on the Norton label, oughta make up for a whole gang of sins. Haydock would go on to masked Rock'n'Roll greatness by starring in the Ray Dennis Steckler 1965 Z-movie masterpiece "Rat Pfink A Boo Boo". DeLucia moved to Wisconsin, so there's no sense 1n bothenng the current occupants (although he's revived the Cha Cha logo on and off, as late as the eighties). As I write this, Billy Miller from Norton is planning a compilation of Cha Cha's garage-rock stuff, telling the rest of the story.

..now take 79th a few blocks west and keep your eye's peeled

for...

PERV’S HOUSE - 914 E. 79th St. Currently, it's known as the East of the Ryan, featuring Soul-Blues singers like Bobby Bland, but in the 70’s it was Perv’s House, hosting popular soul acts of the day like the Spinners. Pervis Staples, a former member of the Staple Singers, also had a management and publishing company on Cottage Grove near 81st around the same period. Most such companies, particularly in Chicago, keep a low profile —- the office is usually another space in a loft building. Perv Staples Management however. had a big sign out for all to see, like it was a liquor store. The odd thing 1s, the building, which was tom down just recently, had been vacant for years, yet for decades that yellow sign still hung out there, advertising a firm that didn’t exist!

...fter leaving Perv's House, take 79th west to King Drive and head north until you get to...

THE ROBERTS MOTEL - (there were several, but the last existing one is at 6535 S. King.) For years, this was where the local and visiting Soul stars would go to slumit. When the great R&B singer Baby Fluey died here in 1970, his manager tried to play it off as an uncontrollable weight problem (he was well over 300 pounds) but he turned out to be the victin of an overdose. Sam Cooke’s widow once got slapped here dunng a shady business transaction, and after she made the unpopular move of

marrying Bobby Womack shortly after Sam's death, he received a severe pistol-whipping at a Roberts. Many of the big names in Soul music in the sixties and seventies stayed in more established upscale hotels downtown, but when they wanted to make an undercover South Side booty call, a cross-town trip to the Roberts was in order.

..after you take care of your business at the Roberts, take King to 63rd and make a right. Keep your eye's peeled for the historical

Harold's Chicken Shack #1! If you see Harold's #8, you're going the wrong way -- TURN AROUND! Make a left on Stony Island

and you'll be right in front of...

HYDE PARK HIGH SCHOOL - 63rd and Stony Island. If you want an illustration of the changing racial demographics of the South side in the mid 20th century, spin Mel Tormé's “Christmas Song" (one of many Jew-scribed Yuletide classics) and compare it with fellow Hyde Park alum Herbie Hancock's "Rockit."

..follow Stony north to 59th and take a left. Take a right on University and look out for..

MANDEL HALL - 57th and University on the U of C campus. Though the university will never make amends for closing down all of the Hyde Park Jazz clubs because they didn't go along with the image they wanted for a campus ‘hood, you have to give them props for hosting the first ever Chicago P-Funk show. Though Classical and Folk concerts are the usual fare at Mandel Halil, inviting George Clinton and company to tear the roof off that mother in 1970 was probably the most explosive thing they did there since inventing the A-Bomb! It was at that show that local artiste Pedro “Capt. Draw" Bell, whose art would grace the covers of the most classic Funkadelic gatefold LP's, first met the funkateers.

> ‘i a} ..now keep going straight, and when you get to Garfield take a right. then a left on Kimbark. Take that to Sist, wrn right and drive on up to the...

Woe, UPA

KENWOOD ACADEMY AUDITORIUM - 5015S. Blackstone. Though the Kenwood choir, directed by Lena -McLin (niece of Thomas Dorsey, "The Father of Gospel Music"), produced such luminaries as Mandy Patinkin and Chaka Khan, it's most successful graduate is no doubt the King of Crotch Soul, R. (né "Robert") Kelly. Before he made an international name for himself crooning such lyrics as "sex me," "you remind me of my jeep," and "I like the crotch on you," Robert's biggest moments were during his annual tearing up of the auditorium at the Christmas pageant -- which he did for about seven years ina row! No, it didn't take him that long to graduate. Rather he'd show up at the last minute for years after he'd left school and usurp his song from whoever the new soloist was. The school also rents out the auditorium nights and weekends, and one of the renters has been Mitty Collier ("I Had A Talk With My Man Last Night", 1964), who has stretched her fifteen minutes of fame by Gospel-izing the lyrics to sing "I Had A Talk With My God Last Night" in her self-referentially titled Gospel stage play "From Man To God." The auditorium still stands, though McLin is no longer at the school. Note for thrift store aficionados: Keep an eyeball out for copies of the Kenwood Choir's 1970 LP "Affirmation By A New Generation," a youthful progressive Rock

opera.

.how bust a U-turn and head West to Cottage Grove. Take that to 47th, take a left and get ready for the...

47th and King Drive (formerly known as 47th & South Park). See that carpark across the street? For several years, until its’ demise in 1968, this was The Regal, Chitown's equvalent of the Apollo Theater---a classic Black vaudeville house that hosted several great R&B revues back in the day. Little Stevie Wonder recorded his hit version of "Fingertips" there (despite what the record sleeve claims), and when Stevie wanted to hear them "say yeah", it sounds like the entire South Side of Chicago is answering him back. This was also home to old-school comics like Redd Foxx and Pigmeat Markham (who recorded live albums for Chicago's Chess label there), and to a few Caucasian soul brothers like the Mar-Keys (a white instrumental group from Memphis, featuring Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn, who were then coasting off their hit “Last Night") and future Country singer Ronnie Milsap (who recorded a string of soul records in the sixties, including the 1965 R&B hit "Never Had It So Good"). Reportedly, hometown hero Gene Chandler was fighting backstage with Chuck Jackson over who got to close the show that night when Redd Foxx stepped in and told the two upstarts that he commanded more money in a night than either man could in a week. Itis not known who got to close the show, but after Foxx settled the score, they kept their mouths shut. Later in the

UrToyy Bua] “IG

tour, we'll visit the Punk Dunkin’ Donuts, but this wall we're leaning against used to be, in the sixties, the R&B Walgreen's. Lou Rawls' Live! album (1966) contains the often-imitated "Street Comer Hustler's Blues,” an incredible monologue where some mack-daddy wannabe stands in front of this Walgreen's waiting for his "woman" to come out (even though his wife is right around the corner). It was also immortalized on part two of Baby Huey’s "Mighty Mighty Children"---Huey could care less about the women, he's too busy obsessing over "them turkey dinners and them dressins." Once, when I spun the Baby Huey cut on a college radio station, it got an incredible response from listeners old enough to remember the original store---"I don't know who the singer is, but he must be from Chicago!" The building is deserted now, but it's covered over by the...

47th ST. MURAL - 47th and King Drive. For several summers, around 47th & King in the lot/ghost of the old Regal Theater, they've had the Bring It On Home To Me Roots Festival. The relic that remains year round is this mural of raw, painted portraits of such legendary performers as Lou Rawls, the Chi- Lites, Otis Clay, Bill Cosby (Oscar Brown, Jr. suggested that the Cos should sue for character defamation on the basis of this painting's quality), Roy Hytower, and Bemaji Tillman. And who is Tillman? A young guitarist whose mother just coincidentally happens to be Dorothy Tillman, the alderman of the ward, who's (in)famous hatted head also appears prominently in the piece. For out of towners, Tillman is a woman who once actually pulled out a handgun in a City Council meeting when things weren't going her way. Some new artists were put up for this years fest, and the bizarre Cosby and Hightower paintings were put out of their misery, but a new portrait of Mavis Staples, looking like she just ate The Regal Theater, more than compensates their loss. Perhaps Mr. Brown's suggestions of legal action was taken to heart by Ms. Staples, because a couple of weeks after the fest a new, svelter portrait of hers covered it's predecessor. No paintings of Alderman Dorothy were removed this year, but one was added, bringing the total to five pictures of her mug in one painting.

SUBUTTLL OWL

.. while were in the neighborhood we might as well take the time to remember some...

BRONZEVILLE RECORD SHOPS - Back in the day this neighborhood was the capitol of Black arts and culture in Chicago, and if you lived there, you were in the thick of it. However, in the days before there were reference books, specialty magazines and websites about Jazz, Blues and Gospel, if you were a white kid from somewhere else the only way you could find out about this stuff was to go to the record shops, ask, look and listen. Lenny, proprietor of the contemporary classic record shop The B-Side, recalls going to The Met (inside the Met theater off of 47th and King---as I write this, the sign is still up there), Isaac's (643 E. 47th) and others like the Groove, and even Spin It in Hyde Park not far away. Lenny would get kidded at

first, but after that he was made to feel welcome, he'd learn about the latest releases, and he'd participate in transfers of information that were available no other way. Local DJ Richard Pegue used to work at the Met, which was also the home of the Penny and Nickel record labels, which recorded classic grooves like "I'm Not Ready To Settle Down," by Little Ben & the Cheers. Most of those 45's have Pegue credited as a writer and/or producer, and he even got to make a record himself---"Steel Mill Blues" by Little Richard Earl & the Co-Workers. Farther south was Bo Dudley's record store at 921 W. 63rd, which was under the viaduct but was razed by the wrecking ball a long time ago. Bo Dudley is a true R&B eccentric, and you could get just about any of his dusted dusties at his own store. Fewer mom and pop record stores exist these days, but Lenny's, only a couple of miles away, does a good job of keeping the dialogue alive...

..you're probably getting hungry now, so head two blocks West and take a right. Follow your nose to...

GLADYS’ LUNCHEONETIE - 4527 S Indiana. When R&B and Blues musicians would visit from out of town from the ‘40's til today, the Soul food joint to take them to has always been Gladys’. If you want to know the who's who of who ate there, go in, pick something off the hand typed menus (the salmon croquettes are always good), and ask the waitress yourself.

X\A) \) Y XY

I IXXY

pull out of Gladys’ lot and head south to Garfield and kick Westward. It's a little out of our way, but | think it's worth it. Go a-l-l the way to Damen, take a left a you'll soon be at...

THE BIG DOO-WOPPER'S HOUSE - 5742 S. Damen. We at Roctober couldn't resist plugging an in-house favorite. This veteran R&B keyboardist has recently been making tapes of his own unique brand of vintage R&B. There's no track listings or embellished cover designs, but rather some crude lo-fi recordings captured for the ages on basic blank tapes you could get on any floor of any store. The sound quality is so distorted that it would make the most diehard Memphis Goons or Hasil Adkins fan think three times, but there's no doubt that this R&B shouter (the correct word) could use some more exposure. They say that at one legendary Chicago Blues & Jazz label, they call this large blind man The Big Time Waster because of his habit of "serenading" the staff with his portable keyboard. And though he bends a little too far towards Soul music for that particular purist- minded label, some down-south Soul -Blues label like Ichiban or Malaco could probably do him justice. You should hear this man sing lyrics like "I'm goin' down to the tavern, gon’ get me some Richard's Wild Irish Rose/When I get full of that Richard's, it makes Big Doo Wopper get his Cheerios!" We're not going inside the house now, he's probably resting up---call him later, at (773) 925-4547 for more information about his tapes. We asked the Big Doo-Wopper what his idea of a Chicago Rock&Soul

landmark was, and he responded, "The Z. Frank House!" The Chevy dealer? “This place ain't got nothin’ to do with no Chevrolet! Matter of fact, this Z. Frank House I'm talkin’ about was around before there was a Chevrolet....before there was a when or where...a then or a there! You cain't get to this Z. Frank House I'm talkin’ about via no earthly transportation---the Holy Spirit gotta take you there! You feel so refreshed, renewed and revived and reinvigorated in your body, mind and spirit---you won't even know your own self, child"---his voice chokes up here---"because you feel so much like a whole new individual."

..ponder that as you get back on Garfield and head East 'til you get to the Dan Ryan expressway. Take the Ryan Northbound, get in the cruising lane, and keep your left eye on the lookout for...

COMISKEY PARK - 35th and Shields. Not the big blue UFO you see today, but rather the original Comiskey which hosted such concerts as The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, The Police, local boys Ministry (in their big break filling in for no-shows Simple Minds) and many more. However, the park's biggest Rock'n'Roll moments came not during concerts, but during games. White Sox organist Nancy Faust pioneered the playing of appropriate Rock songs during game action ("Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye” after an ejection, "Walk Like An Egyptian" after a base on balls), the great Blues pianist Jimmy Yancey was groundskeeper for decades, and Sox players Arthur Lee Maye, Jack McDowell and Scott Radinsky all moonlighted as musicians. Radinsky actually spent his teen years fronting the straightedge hardcore band, Scared Straight. Undoubtedly, history's most significant Baseball/Rock'n'Roll moment occurred July 12, 1979. Loop 98FM DJ Steve Dahl organized an event where for 98 cents and a disco record you could get into a Sox/Tigers double header, and between games the records would be blown up in the name of Rock and Roll. However the combination of long haired Loop fans, Old Style, the ubiquitous Old Comiskey cannabis (that was as much a part of the park as the hot dogs) and potential projectiles proved disastrous, as fans began frisbeeing records at Tigers outfielders during the first game. When the game ended and "Disco Demolition" began, a wild, but harmless, not occurred with the dazed and confused Loopheads storming the field. Populist Sox owner Bill Veeck refused to let the cops do a '68 Convention on the Disco-haters, but by the time the smoke cleared the field was in no shape for game two and the Sox had to forfeit on account of Rock'n'Roll. Recently, Dahl quit his Loop job mere weeks before his duties were to be expanded to include announcing Sox games. Isn't it ironic, don't you think? Today old Comiskey's a parking lot.

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..exit the Ryan at Chinatown and head west. When you get to Halsted to your left you'll see...

CLUB NAKED - Cermak and Halsted. From about 1986 to 1987 the building that for years housed the Chinese Flea Market also was home to one of Chicago's most multicultural underground dance club ever. In the huge warehouse every Saturday night underage kids from all over the South side would coagulate. For fifty minutes an hour the DJ's would alternate Chicago-style House for the Black kids and Chicago style Goth/dance for the black clad Mexican youth, and all the while the Caucasian mohawk crowd would socialize in the warehouse hallway. Then for ten minutes the room would clear, the DJ's would spin a few punk classics and the hardcore kids would form a circle pit, get tired and leave, and then the disco would resume. Today the Kennedy expanded so that lanes almost touch the building, but it's still standing and space is always available for any entrepreneurs!

..now pull into the Snak Time diner parking lot and turn around. Head back east, take a left on Prairie, and soon you would've been at...

SAUER'S - A garage converted into a German Restaurant, Sauer's served food by day but hosted sets at night. In the 70's it irregularly held dances for the older bourgeois black crowd (what would be called Steppers Sets today), and in the mid 80's this was an all-ages House music club. If your parents ate there, they correctly pronounced it "sours," but everyone who danced there called the place "Sawyers".

...now go west to Michigan and take a Loop-bound left 'til you get 10...

JERRY BUTLER’S SONGWRITERS WORKSHOP - 1420 S. Michigan. In the late sixties, Soul singer Jerry Butler enjoyed a run of hits produced by Gamble & Huff. When G&H fell out with Butler’s label, Mercury, Butler then started a songwriter’s workshop in January of 1970 to make sure that he’d never be short of material again. Butler was no slouch as a writer himself, but he would get together with other talented songwniers like his brother Billy, Terry Callier, Charles Bevel, Calvin Carter, and others to hash out songs that formed the basis of his next few hits, circa 1970-74. Some of his most mature material was on these albums, producing such Dusty Radio Hal! Of Famers as "Ain’t Understanding Mellow," his duet with Brenda Lee Eager. During a typical day, songwriters and performers would arrive at a loft building and woodshed on ideas or even rehearse a new act. Because of lack of finances (and substantial hits), the workshop ground to a halt around ‘75, but there were some positive artistic results, including classic LP’s from Callier, Bevel, and Oscar Brown, Jr. Today the gray, brick building looks pretty desolate and sad.

..while we're in the ‘hood, we might as well fall by the place that gave Jerry Butler his start...

VEE JAY RECORDS - 1449 S. Michigan. Chess Records, up the street at 2120 S., gets all the props, but the Black-owned Vee Jay wasn't far behind. This thriving label recorded Butler, Eddie Harris, the Dells, the Spaniels, Betty Everett, Jimmy Reed, the Staple Singers, John Lee Hooker, and comedian Dick Gregory in the fifties and sixties. And though they competed for airplay, there was actually some camaraderie between these Record Row neighbors, and one time when Vee Jay needed a TV set so they could see/hear one of their records (Jerry Buder & the Impressions! "For Your Precious Love") being played on American Bandsiand and they went up the street to Chess to borrow one. It's not that far between 1449 and 2120 S. Michigan, but it's not that close either, so when you consider how big TV sets were in the fifties, and that it took four men to carry this huge monster from place to place, maybe Chess was actually

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trying to fight the competition by inducing hernias. In 1963-64, with their Black artists plus the Beatles and the Four Seasons, Vee Jay looked like it would take over the pop world like Motown would slightly later. Unfortunately the label grew too large too quickly, and folded up in 1966. Later, Brunswick Records, former home of Buddy Holly & the Crickets, decided to set up shop in Chicago, and took over the old Vee Jay space. With a multicolored storefront and a sign in the window announcing Brunswick/Dakar/Julio-Brian Music (the label's publishing company), the hits (and the payola) kept coming from this building through the rest of the sixties and most of the seventies. After finding success with the Chi-Lites, Tyrone Davis, Bohannon, the Artistics, and an end-of-the-line Jackie Wilson, the label petered out in the early eighties. The Brunswick sign was taken down just a few years ago, although the door still advertises this non-existent company. ...

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-.continue north to the Loop, and since your driving you probably wont see the surrounding...

CHICAGO SUBWAY SYSTEM. When street performers became common in the city in the eighties, every hobo, hero, and Street corner clown with some kind of talent hit this circuit. More established musicians with gigs would scoff that the streets and subways were no place for someone with talent to be, but then again, it was an easy way to get gigs as well. Not all people with connections drive cars. The best places to do this kind of thing were on the Washington, Jackson, Monroe, northbound Chicago, and Clark-Division stops because of their proximity to shopping areas. The most visible act was probably Ultimate Image, two twin brothers playing old Drifters and Sam Cooke songs on acoustic guitar and an upright bass, joined by their two sisters and a male cousin, who sang. There was a vocal trio named Rough, Smooth & Silk (wisely changed from Totally Awesome) who now sing with international Rock-Soul faves Sonia Dada, one of those American phenoms who are bigger overseas than at home. There was a guitar-drums duo named Subterranean (named for the fact that they always play the subway system — get it?) who later mutated into a local Rockabilly band, Carter Lee & the Hired Guns. It was very seldom that musicians played on the southbound end of the Chicago stop (they're not as charitable to subway talent), but one of the few who did was a then-unknown R. Kelly, complete with sunglasses and a Casio keyboard for that Stevie effect. Chris Farley, later of Saturday Night Live fame, used to stand on the platform with a pointy yellow heavy-metal guitar, singing for his supper. Before a move to the North Side and "Rock-a-Roll" saved him from being dead meat, Wesley Willis would sit for hours on end, drawing and selling pictures as well as rapping with the subway riders. All kinds of local Bluesmen like Jukin’ Jake Labotz and Lucky Lopez would hit the sets, plus assorted obscure legends like the Big Doo-Wopper, the incredible blind R&B keyboardist whose home we visited earlier, and that one old guy with a hollow-bodied, leopard-skinned Flying V that I've dubbed a Fender Uglycaster. Of course, the guy literally could not play worth a damn, but he was already halfway to the top with that guitar.

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WCIU CHANNEL 26 STUDIO - The attic of the Board of Trade building, 141 W. Jackson. As late as 1994, this was Chicago's last link to the days of primitive UHF programming, what with foreign-language programming, religious shows (Isabel Joseph Johnson, we miss ya!), and a box-top budget (Isabel shared the exact same set design with a Spanish talk show.) Since January 1995 it's newest, incarnation has focused on postmodern-ironic rerun programming and Svengoolie, but it used to be so square that it was the hippest channel in Chicago local TV history. Luckily for us, some of their most outstanding achievements were in the field of music programming. Pandora Mulqueen and friends rocked the house with Kiddie A Go-Go between 1966-70, a missing link between Romper Room and American Bandstand (kiddies dancing to rock hits of the day). There was Swinging Majority, hosted by WLS’ Art Roberts, a more conventional teen-dance show with highlights ranging from a whole episode devoted to local punk legends the Shadows of Knight, to a drunk Van Morrison staggering into the studio, right down to an episode where they had Janis Jan on to perform “Society’s Child” (about an interracial romance), followed by local teenagers discussing race relations. Big Bill Hill pushed local Black R&B talent and barbecue stands on Red, Hot & Blue, and when Kiddie A-Go-Go went off the air, another DJ, WVON Good Guy Don Cornelius, took over it's time slot with the original Soul Train. VON boss Leonard Chess made him choose between TV And radio and Don chose the TV road, eventually taking that road, and the show, to LA. However the local version with Clinton Ghent stayed on for years in glorious black & white, (channel 26 was too cheap to go color until the mid seventies) with their only sponsors being low-rent karate/ Blaxploitation flicks and the same Coke commercial, over and over. After they finally went color WCIU rode out the disco years with Soul Of The City. Channel 26 had some bizarre non-musical programming as well, including a 6 AM stock market show that tned to compete with other station's cartoons by supplementing a stock reporter in a suit with a clown who would occasionally interrupt and do circus gags, to the visible disdain of the reporter. Kumsitz was a Jewish talk show, that would occasionally have on

a local, not necessarily Semitic, rock band . The greatest of them all, though, was Ms. Marhoul’s monthly fashion shows on Isabel Johnson‘s program. Marhoul ran a furniture shop, and she'd get these middle-aged black women to model some of the gaudiest, most tasteless fur coats this side of North Michigan Ave - - - a churchlady’s dream, an animal activist’s nightmare. Last year they tried out a new dance show, "U Dance," but the magic wasn't there. The current 26 has a high tech station near Greektown, but the old studio space is probably storage today.

' now take the next left and head North ‘til you get to Randolph. Take that West to Wacker, turn right, make a U-Turn at the "U- Turn permitted" sign, and you're right in front of the former...

GAZEBO BUILDING - 180 N. Wacker. Upstairs this building was a warehouse that was broken up into band practice spaces, including a big one for the group Chicago. What was remarkable about the place wasn't who practiced there however, but who partied there. For more than five years in the early seventies it was the site for Chicago's most elaborate multiracial multi-media happenings. Various bands would set up and play, exotic ethnic food would be given out free, and jewelry and garment craftsmen would sell their wares in radical fashion shows, where one could see a model on light-up platform rollerskates being pulled by dogs. This went on for years until a white saxophone player was set up by some Black guys who brought him out to their

neighborhood then robbed and killed him. After that racial tensions flared up and pretty soon the scene self destructed. Downstairs in the Gazebo building was a working class dive which went for a few years as The Atomic Disco. Pedro Bell, who DJ'ed there, boasts that the Reader rated it the #6 disco in Chicago, even though the sound system consisted of his home stereo running through some 15" speakers with bass guitar amp innards he hooked up, and the light show was only some budget strobes he set up to simulate Star Trek transporters. The competition spent tons of loot, but Southside/Westside innovation prevailed! The building was razed, and replaced by an upscale number housing some high end printers and offices. The closest thing to a disco around there now is a yuppie fern bar next door named Coogan's Riverside Saloon. :

..now U-turn again and take your first legal right. Head to Green Street, take a left and after you pass the mission you're only a block and a half away from WCIU's true heir, namely...

CHICAGO ACCESS NETWORK, GREEN STREET STUDIO-322 S. Green Street. I guess every public access station in the country has remarkably bizarre programming

(providing the source for 60% of Saturday Night Live's sketches).

and Chicago's is no exception. Though Roctober is proud of our own program, Chic-A-Go-Go, a youthful dance show starring the lovely Ms. Joy and a puppetronic version of Punk'nhead's pal Ratso, we humbly realize that we are far from the best music programming on the station. Elma and Company, Ken Mottet's Other Side video show and The Real McCoy variety show also are humbled in the presence of a true genius bordering on madness. And the entity with that presence is none other than Sherrill Bey. a/k/a/ Ms. Peaches. a/k/a Ms. Nigeria. a/k/a/Babydoll. a/k/a Janet Jackson, Patra, Michell'e, Tina Tumer ad infinitum.. Though her heavily made up face and spandex contained zaftig figure can be seen all around town as a street performer (doing Janet Jackson lip synch shows with her Michael Jackson impersonating son), selling candy, (I've bought Chic-O-Sticks from her!) and according to her, at her very own Ms. Peaches Dollar Store, the best place to see her is on Channel 19 on her own show. Definitely car-wreck fascinating, part of you wants to believe every word she says (about how people in

Hollywood are very interested in her, but most are jealous a. intimidated by her beauty) and part of you is pulling for her (she is giving abso-freakin'-lutely 110% !) but most of you is just stunned. One of the greatest events in modern musical history to her has to be the release of "Scream", the Janet/Michael duet. Since it's release her and her son have found a way to work that into every appearance, talk show, dramatic play and music show she's done. But how could she have time to come up with new routines? As she explains in her inimitable breathy-as-Marilyn, squeaky-as-Mickey and helium high voice, she also is a dance instructor, choreographer, lawyer, agent, model, record label executive, designer, etc., etc., etc......

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..while pondering the wonder of Peaches, hop in your ride and head Eas!. State Street just reopened for cars, so enjoy this new experience as you get on it Northbound for a mile or so. I hope you're hungry for Pad Thai, ‘cause that's what you'll find today at what once was...

OLD WELLS RECORD SHOP - 660 N. State. This place fits the old stereotype of a used record store - - - a grouchy old man (Bill Chavers) behind the counter, rare records all over the place, a down-home atmosphere, and a dog named Terry Toon. In the sixties and seventies, right up to its closing in 1985, this is where a lot of people would get good deals on old Blues and Jazz records (Blues harpists Charlie Musselwhite and Billy Branch used to hang out here all the time). It's said that Chavers was real impatient with browsers, but once you got to know him, he could cut deals and show you classic stuff from the stax-of-wax-in-the- back that you didn't know existed. He was quick to give his opinion of women and was always threatening to pack his stuff up and move to Scandinavia, but poor health finally claimed his life before he had the chance. The entire neighborhood used to be a hippy/artist enclave, with rowhouses, diners (hom player Gene Shaw was a shortorder cook in one) and even the Occult Bookstore, where they sold records and had black masses. The ‘hood, however, gentrified and pretty much everything's gone now. Old Wells Records is a Thai restaurant today, and a very good one | might add, but I'd like to think Chavers' ghost still floats around the place, happy that he left before CD's took over.

...now kick on east to Wabash, and head north a coupla blocks, and you're in the former vicinity of...

DON BRONSTEIN STUDIOS - On Chicago near Wabash. For a man who didn’t perform, photographer Don Bronstein did a lot more for Chicago rock ‘n’ soul than most people realize. Cover artist Alex Wald, a former harp player with the 60's Garage band the Dirty Wurds, told me how the band had gone down to Bronstein’s studio to shoot some promo photos, and Bronstein, knowing these guys were into blues, opened a drawer and showed them the chromatic harp that Little Walter posed with on the cover of The Best Of Little Walter, impressing the guys to no end. Many artists these days design their album cover with unsubtle, hard-sell fifties & sixties graphics, and Bronstein’s classic cover photos are one reason why. Whether it was a black & white close-up shot of Muddy Waters sweating (The Best Of Muddy Waters), Moms Mabley pretending to chop down a tenement building with an axe (oms Mabley Breaks It Up),a local rock group posing with a huge portrait of the record company logo (Gloria by the Shadows of Knight, on Dunwich), or Etta James threatening the cameraman with her arm in a cast (Etta James Rocks The House), Bronstein always had the knack of capturing the moment. When you see his signature in the bottom right hand comer of those old Chess records, you know you're looking at a true piece of art. Hell, even that rotten old bum pictured on the cover of Down & Out Blues by Sonny Boy

Williamson on Chess is a classic (Williamson was a fairly dapper guy, but many blues fans grew up thinking that bum was Sonny Boy himself! On the other hand, considering Chess’ scandalous royalty arrangements...)

..nake an illegal U-ey on Chicago (look out for cops, though) and head west towards Wells. A right turn puts you a minute away from the ghost of the...

BIZARRE BAZAAR. The Old Town neighborhood, the area around North and Wells, blew up in the late '60's as Chicago's

own Haight Street. Like Wicker Park today, the hippie

Bohemians were really only paving the way for bourgeois

yuppies, and today ir the Pipers Alley complex you can see 13 upscale movies and Tony and Tina's wedding in the same spots

where you could once buy bongs, blacklight posters and candles. The Cryan Shames first LP cover was shot in a candy shop in that building. The rest of the block, anchored by Piper's Alley, was lined with Blues/Rock clubs like The Plug Nickel and Like Young on one side of the street, and strip clubs on the other. Garage band veteran George Hansen recalls dragging his underage ass into the nudie bars between sets at the music clubs. Though yuppie-bucks cleaned up the area years ago, it wasn't until the mid 90's that the last remnant of those woebegone days was swept away. The Bizarre Bazaar was a Freak Brothers version of a flea market, where everything you could need for a good time -- drug paraphernalia, sex devices and Dracula capes -- could all be purchased within 90 feet of each other. And after you got good and wasted all you had to do was cross the street, stumble half a block, and marvel at the wax museum wonders at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. Today fancy restaurants line the block, and I'm sure every now and then a hazy Deadhead tries to score mushrooms -- and gets portabellos!

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...dake North Avenue West to Halsted -- watch out! There's a lot of accidents at that intersection. A right on Halsted'll lead you 10...

LA MERE VIPERE - 2132 N. Halsted. When the punk vibe - the seventies vanity - hit in Chicago in 1977, punk bands generally played the same places as more mainstream acts, but this place (which, like many early punk clubs, was also a gay bar) was the only spot that featured punk exclusively. Of course, it was more of a dance club than a performance space, but it was heaven for young rock fans who wanted more out of their music than Boston and Foreigner. Unlike now, there were no boutiques to help you wear your punk-rock lifestyle on your chest, so clubgoers got real creative and occasionally made their own prehistoric new-wave duds. Just about every visiting rock & roll dignitary stopped by, including the Ramones. One night, Mary Alice Ramel, publisher of long-gone local fanzine The Gabba Gabba Gazette, circulated a petition to get the Ramones’ low- charting “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” on WLS, then a major Top 40 giant, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. In those pre-HIV times, anything went as far as drugs and sex. Ric Addy (a/k/a local Country-rocker Iggy Yoakam) recalls that the dance floor was high enough to hide under, and he once got laid (by a female) down there. This all came to an end a year later, when the place mysteriously burned to the ground. The neighborhood was gentnfying and the club was often politically harassed by building inspectors and goons, but the actual cause of the blaze remains unknown. Noe Boudreau who owned and managed the place found the smoldering empty lot and after he and an employee found one unbroken bottle of liquor they drank it and vowed to keep up the good fight. Patti Smith played the Park West not long after, and started dancing spontaneously on the

bar. “This is for La Mere Vipere," she said, "may it rise from ashes!" Today it's the Dynamic Liquor Store.

..keep on truckin' just a few blocks up Halsted 'til the traffic gets evil, see that bank? You know you're near...

AETNA PARK. While the Dunkin Donuts parking lot was the spot for punk kids to congregate in communal silence -- to brood or to glare at squares -- it's punk hangout predecessor actually was a place where hardcore kids spoke to each other. Before the days of Lounge Ax the Lincoln/Halsted/Belmont tricomer area was already a rock Mecca thanks to the great Wax Trax record store, and from approximately '83 to ‘86, the neighboring park named for the bank at that corner was punk-hangout ground zero. Today the sports bar crowds are working on running the last remnants of Rock out of the ‘hood with zoning threats to Lounge Ax, but a used record/video store (with plenty of pornos) just moved into the old Wax Trax, so who knows what the future holds?...

..a left on Fullerton will get you to...

DEMON DOGS - 944 W. Fullerton. If you can stomach a polish while staring at walls cramped with dozens of gold records by the band Chicago (their manager owns the joint), you're a better person than I. At one point they even had a jukebox, with three rows of nothing but Chicago 45’s. The Demon refers to the Depaul University mascot, by the way, not the Satanic qualities of the band's music.

.. dake the right on Sheffield and go a couple of blocks. Another right will head you towards...

950 W. WRIGHTWOOD. This is a prime example of how an address can change with the times. In the early 70's, this basement address was Alice’s Revisited, a hippie juice bar which

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regularly featured Blues acts like Hound Dog ‘l'aylor, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and Son Seals along with the normal rock fare, and just upstairs was the office of The Seed, a local underground newspaper which had back page classifieds where pot dealers advertised their selling spots. Howlin’ Wolf once recorded a live album here. A few years later it became The Lucky Number, which is where the La Mere Vipere punk crowd went after that punk palace bumed down. Today it’s 950 (which Noe Beaudreau of La Mere Vipiere fame managed in the 80s), an alt-rock dance club with drawings of skinny Elvis Presley and Bnian Ferry on the outside walls facing the subway. Would the Howlin’ Wolf approve? Runner-up: 953 W. Belmont, home of The Quiet Knight, which served rock, blues, and jazz to open- minded sixties and seventies crowds, before becoming Tuts, an early-80’s new wave place that would feature punk bands one night and Blues-Soul singers like Syl Johnson the next, When they finally called it alternative music, the high-tech Avalon Sprung up to fit that bill, and by 1995 it was a very short-lived hip-hop club called the B-Side, the victim of bad Management. It's a tanning salon today.

when you hit Halsted again, take it North to Belmont and head west to the world famous...

"PUNK'N DONUTS '"- corner of Clark and Belmont. Starting around '85, surly underage hardcore, Goth and Industrial kids started congregating at this 24 hour donutorium after the Juice bars closed, defying city curfew. Though some would stunt their growth on coffee and crullers, most would just sit on the curb or in the parking lot. Just recently a fence was put up making loitering uncomfortable, if not impossible, but the magic has been gone for years. It is with pain that] relate the following scene I witnessed a couple of years ago at that once proud comer. Several punks were at their posts, and right in front of their faces two hippie kids were playing hackysack! The punks reaction to this cultural turf violation? Quiet tolerance. What is wrong with the youth of today?

...one block North and three blocks west will put you in the vicinity of...

"BIG BLUE" - on Seminary near School Street. From about 1981 to 1984 this old blue house was the home of Chicago's angriest, most articulate hardcore band, Articles of Faith. Singer Vic Bondi (who, I believe, is now a professor out East) opened his doors to a who's who of early 80's punk, and though George Washington never slept there, Big Boys, Bad Brains, Soul Asylum, Hiisker Du and The Replacements were amongst the many who did. DRI even played a show in the attic. Unfortunately, I guess all these historical figures raised the property values ‘cause they tore the house down to put up condos.

..OK, now the ease and convenience of the tour gives way to an opportunity to marvel at the vastness of Chicago. Get back on Belmont and take it west, about fifty blocks. At Austin head south back to Chicago Avenue. Your now in the vicinity of...

THE WAREHOUSE - Chicago and Austin. Though today's punky high schoolers have been spoiled by the Fireside Lanes throwing all ages shows for over a year non-stop, back in the days when skinheads would start trouble and the only punk rockers you'd see on TV were villains on "CHiPs" and "Quincy," all ages venues would usually last a few months at the longest, and some of the scenes would be pretty scary. In the summer of '87 you had two unusual West Side choices. One was The Iron Nail, a working class biker/sports bar on Irving Park where the Adolescents, MDC and several other bands played over a month of Sundays The far more dangerous one was the Warehouse (not to be confused with the famous House club). If you wanted to see Agnostic Front, Bhopal Stiffs, Xenoglossia, Black Muslims (the band, not the sect) or the other local and national acts that played there, you had to bring your green hair into a rough neighborhood, where the host would take the padlock off the door, escort you up to the warehouse room where the show was, and then go downstairs and padlock you in! The most exciting drama would come when clueless suburban hardcore children would mistakenly wander into the "social club" downstairs where groups of young Black men, all dressed in the same colors, were having meetings of some sort. I believe no incident ever escalated, and unfortunately no significant co-mingling occurred either. A memorable show there involved G.G. Allin throwing shit in the direction of famed Chicago Nazi, Clark Martel, and then hiding outside as Martel's stormtroopers, with murderous intent, seeked him out.

..now head East to and get ready to enjoy a trip on one of earth's longest streets when you take a left onto Western. When you get . to Lawrence, head lakebound til vou get to Clark and take a left. On the west side of the street is the former...

KINETIC PLAYGROUND - 4812 N. Clark. Today it's The Rainbo Roller Rink, and in recent memory they had a couple of pretty happening shows, (Fugazi and Afrika Bambaata), but back in the sixties you could have seen Led Zeppelin, Jinu Hendrix and other giants there in full psychedelic glory! And what a name! Today it's a pretty good roller nnk, however, and the game room is out of site!

..now turn the car around, ‘cause your only a few blocks away from the...

BLACK ENSEMBLE THEATER - 4520 N. Beacon. Though Jackie Taylor has had some success as an actress in various media, her shining glory is surely her theater company. Though their perennial play, "The Other Cinderella,” may be the foundation of the troupe and "Doo Wop Shoo Bop" inay be their all time biggest show, pop music lovers should take note of their

feel-good biographies of historical Black musical icons. The stories of Marvin Gaye, The WVON Good Guys, Sammy Davis, Jr. and others have been told in front of packed houses enjoying all the best features of a Vegas tribute show, a classic morality play and a church talent show, with enough melodrama thrown in to satisfy the most rabid "All My Children" fan. The company is now celebrating it's 21st year with "The Otis Redding Story," and if you haven't been yet, you outta go.

..now you'll be leaving Chicago proper for the final stop on our tour. Get back on Lawrence and take it west to the Kennedy entrance (don't get on the Edens by mistake) heading towards O'Hare. Keep on it til you hit Arlington Heights. At this point any local who looks like they were in high school between 65 and 70 can tell you how to get to the remnants of...

THE CELLAR - Arlington Heights. Back in the day when Blues-based Garage-punk was the music of choice amongst Chicago's teens, and The Males, the Knaves and the Dirty Wurds played such clubs as The Pink Pfink, Skokie's Purple Penguin, Inn-Motion-A-Go-Go and Chicago's own Whiskey-A-Go-Go. But the hippest club, where the girls went the craziest and the greasers (a very real Chicago contingent) acted the toughest was The Cellar in Arlington Heights. Opened in 1965 by electrician Paul Sampson in an old tire warehouse, the club quickly had kids lined up to see touring bands (The Who, Howlin' Wolf and ? and the Mysterians played there) and local faves, The Shadows of Knight, who were the house band. Sampson ended up managing them and an excellent ‘66 Cellar soundboard recording was released as an LP a few years ago on Sundazed. As a matter of fact, apparently there was a tape recorder running all the ume! Though I'd love to hear those reel-to-reels today, sadly most of them probably have gone the way of most of these landmarks. But, dear reader, if you have the soul to appreciate a vacant lot, a liquor store or a Yuppie office building as a place where magic once happened, I'm sure you'll have no problem grooving to tapes you'll never hear.

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wROCK'N'SOUL FEUDS 1.The Goblins vs. Tortoise 2.LL COOL J vs. Kool Moe Dee

The main feud records were the 12" versions of *How You Like Me Now” and “Jack The Ripper”, plus LLs hat is crushed under Kool's tire on an LP cover. The Roxanne Shante vs. Rob Base feud, however did little to help anybody's career. 3.Frank Sinatra ys, Bobby Darin

When Darin switched from Rock'n'Roll to easy listening, Bobby made an offbeat misconstrued comment about dethroning Sinatra, and the publicity folks ran with it.

4.Joe Tex vs. James Brown

James "inadvertently" stole Tex’ wife, then Joe claimed James-owned radio stations would not play "Skinny Legs and All" because James thought it was degrading to Black women, and on James’ record “Funky Side of Town,” Bobby Byrd and Hank Ballard are naming people that oughta be on the funky side of town, and when Hank says “Joe Tex", James says "Huh?" They repeat this several times until Hank changes his choice to The Honey Cone, and James’ hearing suddenly gets better. 5.Venom vs. Raven

Why the incredibly Satanic, evil fathers of Black Metal would care about comments from Raven, a band playing clean, fresh "Athletic Rock” (their term) has always baffled me,

MUSICAL "TRAGIC MULATTOS" 1. Sade

2. Arthur Lee

3. Phil Linott

4. Bob Marley

§. "The Kid". (Purple Rain)

ENC YCLopEepia Samacal By TAve AvsteN

arr: Fam Henderson

Sammy on The Carol Burnett Show (CBS, 1977) Sammy appears in a couple of skits, showing an odd sort of versatility. In the first he is a poofish, gay, powdered wig-aristocrat type who is made a galley slave who shares an oar with dumb serf Tim Conway. Hilarity ensues. In the second, Harvey Korman and Carol are King and Queen (of England?) and Sammy comes calling, speaking in his most proper English accent, to collect on an American loan. When they balk on payment, he goes hardcore Ebonic on them. Not particularly funny.

Of Love and Desire Original Soundtrack (20th Century Fox, 1963) Sammy sings “Katherine's Love Theme". Forgettable.

Sammy Davis jnr. salutes the London Palladium Sammy Davis Jr. Salutes The Stars of the London Palladium (Reprise 1963) Though the records are identical, the packaging of the British and domestic issues of this LP differ greatly. The sleeve of the US version is a chiaroscuro shot of Sammy performing with the tilted hat embodying pure class and enough personality that showing his face is unnecessary. This foreshadows his later signature “Bojangles” pose. The Brit version has Sammy posing (superimposed) in front of the Palladium, looking veddy British wearing a derby and holding an umbrella, while giving the thumbs up. The record itself is excellent. Opening with an earnest spoken explanation of the premise- Sammy saluting the venue by covering songs of stars that played there- it proceeds into 11 great numbers. Earlier in his career, this would have been an album of impersonations, but at this stage the confident Davis maintains his own distinctive voice while homage-ing the (mostly American) stars, including Sinatra, Nat Cole, Ellington, Garland and Tony Martin. A good listen.

The Benny Goodman Story (UI, 1955)Despite what many film, video and other reference book say Sammy Davis, Jr. is not in this movie. Sammy Davis, Sv. plays Fletcher Henderson to Steve Allen's Goodman, and I've watched the whole thing through several times and I'm pretty sure there's not even a cameo by Samala. Good for wooden Allen that he plays against the equally stiff

a epg 8 ae, etn are a

«-RHYTHM _& BLUES PIMPS

1, ICEBERG SLIM

This noted pimp/author recorded Reflections in the late seventies for the Ala label (recently reissued by Infinite Zero), a spoken-word poetry album in the vein of the Last Poets.

2. DR. JOHN

New Orleans in the fifties was wide-open enough that the Night Tripper himself tried pimping for a spell, although be admits that he wasn’t good enough to stay in the game.

3, JOHNNIE MORISETTE

Nicknamed "Johnnie Two-Voice” for his ability to dip into a falsetto at the weirdest moments, his only hit was in the early sixties with "Meet Me At The Twistin’ Place", produced by Sam Cooke. But he didn’ give up The Life until much later, and kept a stable of prostitutes working the streets of Los Angeles while he was riding his five-minute spel! of fame.

4. LARRY WILLIAMS

This man did it all, from producing to playing piano to touring England when it first became popular for Black Soul singers to do so. You've probably heard his hits, the biggest being "Bony Moronie” and "Short Fat Fannie.” But when the label heads got stingy with the royalty checks, pimping put food on his table.

5. WOLFMAN JACK

When he was still struggling, searching for ap on- air identity (plus a larger paycheck), the late, great Wolfman did a stint as a "gentleman of leisure”, but gave it up after meeting his future wife.

-:BLACK PUNK WANNABE RECORDS (Between 1980-83, a lot of new wave records were getting played in Black dance clubs. Just like all those Psychedelic Soul records from a decade earlier, a lot of the Black records of that time had a mild "new music” influence, more The Police than Black Flag. Everybody remembers “Beat It", and Prince's albums from the period, but there were others that made The Bus Boys sound like The Bad Brains...)

1, "SUPER FREAK", Rick James.

Sr. rather than the lively Jr., who would have blown him off the screen. It's pure laziness on the part of any book attributing this to Sammy. All in all, a good bad movie, but not a good movie. I like how the only barrier Jews and Blacks run up against in the thirties is a resistance to "Hot" music. Eddie salutes Sammy (On "Malcolm and Eddie" UPN, November, 1996) This show, featuring the unlikely pairing of a whitebread Cosby kid and a make- references-whites-won'-get Def Comedy Jam comedian, features the impersonations of the latter (Eddie Griffin). Anyhoo, his Sammy wasn't great (more an impersonation of Billy Crystal doing Sammy) but it was prominent, it was in full costume and he did it for about five integral to the “plot” minutes. The Stars Salute Dr. Martin Luther King (Wamer Brothers 1965) Though I rarely have seen this record used, which usually indicates rarity or low run, in this case it may be a case of the people who own it being covetous, because this is a pretty great album. Sammy is by far the most lowbrow of all the classy Black stars on this record including Basie, Belafonte, Della Reese and Joe Williams. The stars are sequenced alphabetically to avoid egos (and because opening with Satchmo and closing with Nancy Wilson ain't half bad!) and Sammy kicks off the second side with the powerful "Choose". His performance is great (he considered himself a close friend of King). Following him is the album's highlight, Lena Home doing "Now’, a sh: tongued Civil Rights Movement song to the tune of “Hava Nagila". This was a salute to King, who had just won the Nobel, not a tribute, as he was still alive, and though the absence of Sou! and R&B (genres considered “lower” and "Blacker" ) performers is blaringly evident, this still stands as a fine salute and a eat album.

74, 000, 000 Talent Bonanza (Reprise, 1962) This label sampler/demonstration record, somehow picks the least interesting pieces by Sammy, Esquivel, Les Baxter, Sinatra, and others in an attempt to convince new music buyers that the Reprise label has the most boring roster in music. Sammy's selection is from his impersonation record, so it doesn't even make sense decontextualized.

Sammy As Popeye-Ward Hall is a legend amongst sideshow buffs, and readers of the fine journal "Shocked & Amazed!” are certainly familiar with him. In the Ist issue John Starausbaugh describes Hall's World of Wonders. In recent times, with medical science decreasing the amount of “freaks”, and with

He called himself *punk-funk", and even though he had played in a garage- punk band with Neil Young(the Mynah Birds), most of his stuff sounded like regulation funk of the day, but in this song he acknowledged rock-soul fusions, with a Xeroxed "punk" beat and references to kinky girls you only see in “new wave magazines”. Think he saw a copy of NME in some groupie's toilet room? 2."°SEVENTEEN", Bill Summers & Summer's Heat.

Even the jazz-fusion guys had to get a piece of the action.

3. KAGNY & THE DIRTY RATS (LP). Motown's idea of new wave. This whole album sounds like it was meant for the Black kids who listened to Herb Kent's "Punk Out” show on WXFM. No real punk band would write a song celebrating mainstream FM radio, like Kagny does here, and check out that cover---in the foreground there's a rat with a studded neckbrace, predating Ratso by a decade as far as punky rodents go. These guys were about to get their big break when company politics got in the way and Berry Gordy buried it, probably because one of the members, Cliff Liles, was the son of one of Berry's ex-wives. They already had one Gordy family member on Motown who thought he was a new waver (Rockwell, of "Somebody's Watching Me" fame), so I guess somebody had to go.

4."COME GIVE YOUR LOVE TO ME", Janet Jackson

5."LET ME TICKLE YOUR FANCY’, Jermaine Jackson.

I guess all them Jacksons were scrambling to keep current after "Thriller." Janet's song is from her bubblegum years in the early eighties, before she cut the Control album with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Look hard for this, as she was apparently too embarrassed to put songs from this era on a recent Best-Of. As far as Jermaine, he went one step further and had none other than Devo helping out in the background.

attitudes of "exploitation" changing radically, it seems that the audience for the old live midway freak show is no longer there. However, the World of Wonders is a traveling museum made up of statues and models of historical freaks. And what discarded wax museum dummy was used to create the likeness of William ‘Popeye” Ingrahm, the man who could pop his eyes out

of his head. Well, glue ping pong balls to Sammy's head and you've got a model fit for a freak!

Tap Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Epic 1988) Though Sammy was not in the best health, they still should have had him do a song on this damn record, or at least a dialogue snippet. The movie is watchable but this LP is unlistenable, with B level talent (A Kool & the Gang-less James "J.T.* Taylor, Philip Michael Thomas doppelganger Gregory Abbott and the movie's star Gregory Hines, himself) performing Z level eighties nothing pop. Sammy's photo on the (back) cover isnt even big enough.

we saan Davis, fr, as FOV liver

—

1997: ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER ASS-KICKING HELPING OF ROCK FROM

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Tiny Tim kept the footnotes of history alive, singing the songs of the forgotten with vigor and passion. And now Tiny Tim, after a momentary blip of obituaries, tributes and remembrances, is destined to join the crooners and songsmiths he loved, as he becomes a footnote himself.

If being labeled a footnote denotes a certain marginalization, that's not say it also implies a slightness in the quality or reception of the work in its time; it's just that only so much stuff can be carried forward and still leave any room for the present. One of the remarkable characteristics of Tiny Tim was his embracing of the music of all eras. He studied the music of the pre-phono era, poring through stacks of sheet music, journals and biographies in libraries to drink in a time that largely pre—dated his own birth, but which shaped the times he grew up in. He also understood that the evolution of music was dnven in large part by the enthusiasms of youth. He listened to and welcomed the musics of each new crop as they stepped up to bat, a rare quality in people even a fraction of his age.

Part of this embracing the new was Tiny Tim, the Gentleman Entertainer — a set of manners from another era. And it was just these manners that proved to be his undoing in the marketplace. Though he wanted to be recognized as a song stylist drawing ona rich catalog of antique obscunities, he's largely perceived as a novelty act. And that's a comer he willingly painted himself into. Wanting desperately to be not only accepted but popular, and after a litany of failed attempts throughout the fifties and sixties, he finally landed on his well-known Tiny Tim persona and struck momentary paydirt. Tiny gladly signed on with nearly all comers — hucksters, agents and managers of every stripe, often simultaneously. That his entry into public consciousness was marketed via novelty-overdrive only ensured that the pendulum swung swiftly in reverse. The fact remains that his Warmer Brothers debut, God Bless Tiny Tim, is a stunning assimilation of decades old song styles and contemporary culture, melded into a seamlessly believable world.

The fame flew by, but Tiny Tim never stopped working. Since his late sixties highs, he'd been employed to sing at circuses, on cruises, and on endless remakes of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by any band of the current flavor with the wherewithal to buy Mr. Tim a plane ticket and a room at a Motel Six. Herbert Khaury was whole and complete when he was singing ona stage — any stage - as Tiny Tim. That his last conscious moment Was filled with the swell of applause as he stepped from the stage makes him a lucky man. Dying While doing what you love ranks close behind dying in your sleep as preferred ways to go.

Sadly, gone with him is the wealth of facts, songs ana stories that he turned from musty library artifacts into heritage alive and breathing. So vivid were his tellingsof the tales of the singers and songwriters who excited and

inspired him as a boy, that it was possible to lose sight of the fact that he wasn't actually there for the events he was recounting. I complimented him once on his prodigious

memory, and his response was that it's our responsibility t find out all we can about the things we love. That's a statement both wise and passionate. Unfortunately, as a m who was also known for the peculiarities of his health and beauty regimen, and who'd gladly talk at length about it, h made it easier to be attached to those proclivities than to tl music. Like water wending its way across a landscape, public perception will also take the course of least resistance. Which leaves it up to those who care to tell thc who never knew or forgot, that Tiny Tim understood how song could embellish the time it passed through. Tiny Tir got ahold of the magic and changed the shape of the times he lived in.

David Greenberger

One week before Tiny Tim died, Phil Milstein, in researching his book on the history of song-poem music, interviewed the enigmatic songbird at length on his knowledge of the subject. It's believed to be the last substantial interview ever conducted with Tiny Tim.

For those not familiar, song-poem music is the result of responses to “set your poems to music" ads in magazines, with amateur lyricists sending in their money for the privilege of having their words ground quickly through a song mill. Given the right subject, Tim (whose interviews can be quite intimidating when his philosophies of love and life are being espoused) was riveting and incredibly likable, if not always entirely cogent. His remarkable memory allowed him to sing a song called "Is There An Elvis Presley On The Moon?,” which he'd demoed 40 years earlier, and he was able to recall phone numbers and whereabouts of almost any obscure musical figure Phil could think of, helping him track down people who'd long eluded him. One anecdote he related described an amusing variation on the song-poem "scam." The following is an excerpt from the interview that illustrates Tim's humor, Pride and vulnerability. Without further ado, the story of Vic-Tim Records...

Phil: What did you call the label?

Tim: Vic-Tim. [both laugh] That's right, I was a victim of a lot of things: my mind, my marriage, the career, the finances, I was a victim of a lot of things. Anyway, so I was still hot enough in '70 to get on the Carson show. They made me up maybe about ... they must have made up about 500 copies, plus the coloring, plus everything. It cost me about $3,000. And one of the songs was called -- an old song -- it was a very big hit in the ‘20s by Vernon Dalhart, a great country singer

INYTIM

. .Copera singer turned country, a song called "A Letter Edged In Black," I

think it was that one. I think it was "A Letter Edged In Black," or "The Prisoner's Song.” [sings:] "If I had the wings of an angel ..." [resumes speaking] One of those two.On the other side was a song I recorded which I wrote, which even the [song-poem] lyricists could use it was so bad, and it was called "Why Did They Have To Die So Young,” about Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison. So I think it was "The Letter Edged In Black" was one side and the other song I wrote was on the other. But was concentrating on "The Letter Edged In Black." It wasn't too bad, I had my piano player, may he rest in peace, Marvin Lewis ...

Phil: Oh, he's dead now?

TT: Huh?

Phil: He died recently?

TT: Well, he died in '94.

{Phil and Tim discuss the whereabouts of Marvin's eccentric cousin Isadore Fertel, who Tim would later record for another of his labels, Toilet Records.]

TT: When I started Vic-Tim ... now what were we talking about on that? Phil: The Bright Star.

TT: Thanks. Well, what happened was, I was still hot in 70, and Mr. Carson still called me on his show. And he held up a 45 of the Vic-Tim record label, with Miss Vicki and myself on it. He did get a chuckle from the audience. He said, "Our next star used to record for Reprise. Now he's got his own record label. ... [laughter] "He's on the Vic-Tim record label!" And I got a laugh and ... you can't fool nobody, you know, you take someone like Prince -- once a major record label lets you go, you're not selling records, you can't fool anyone. This is a life and death battle for him on his own record label, ‘cause you can't fool the big ones, they know you know you're not selling. And they don't care how good you are, what you made or how you knock ‘em dead in nightclubs. If you don't sell records you're out. Anyway, "The Letter Edged In Black." He [at BrightStar] put it on his Top 10. And I think he put it #1. I mean, who knew where to get it, only by Bright Star, and he put it on the next few weeks. It paid for this publicity, he put it "Up and Coming Record -- Tiny Tim." Of course you couldn't fool nobody, but it got the mention. But these companies, people like that ...

Phil: Where was Bright Star located?

TT: In Nashville. In Nashville, TN. Then later on when my manager -- I had another powerful manager, Roy Radin, may he rest in peace -- he really had a lot of clout. He's dead now.

Phil; Wasn't that the guy that got killed in the desert?

TT: Boy you know your stuff.

Phil: Had something to do with Bob Evans I think.

TT: That's right. He was my manager from ‘74 on, and no one fooled with him and he got some of that money back. He got something. I think I considered to send more money to uh, Mr. ... I forgot the guy's name [at Bright Star]. I must have had $6,000 altogether. I must have almost broke the bank to make afew more records on Vic-Tim. I had a few records on Vic-Tim, which he [Radin?] produced. But he got some of the money back, and I never heard from him [BrightStar?] again. That's what happens when you have clout.

* Editor's note: Dalhart, born Marion Try Slaughter, was the first country music millionaire. His record "Wreck Of The Old 97" b/w "The Prisoner's Song” was a huge hit. He also recorded “Letter Edged In Black," though that song is more commonly associated with Bradley Kincaid. You can hear Tiny Tim sing "Is There An Elvis Presley On The Moon?" at the web site of the American Song-Poem Music Archives: www.channel |.com/users/fxxm/news.htm

; Introduction by John Battles Interview with Claude and Skip Trenier by Jake Austen, John Battles, Mike Maltese, Ken Mottet and Dan Sorenson. Interview with Milt Trenier by James Porter Edited by Jake Austen and Najuma Stewart

The Treniers are unquestionably one of the first (if not the first), self-contained REAL ROCK AND ROLL groups, ever. They are also probably the greatest living entertainers in showbiz today. Among some very gifted peers, they stand out as the only pioneering Jump Blues stylists to not only thrive when the rest of the world caught up with this Rock'n'Roll stuff (some ten years after they started it) but also to continue to thrive in the ensuing decades as a successful, and far from sedate, lounge act. The group has survived the ever-changing cycle of disposable pop culture trends thrown their way not in spite of their resistance to change, but because of it. By upholding traditions thought long gone by many, and by keeping it lively, The Treniers' performances are just as vital and hypnotizing today as they were in the era when they helped to create Rock'n'Roll. I'd like to think that they've been having too much fun to fully realize this.

Identical twins Claude and Cliff Trenier were born into a very musical family in Mobile, Alabama on July 14th, 1919. In 1939 they began to attend Alabama State, but studies took a backseat to their love of music. Montgomery, Alabama was then a hotbed of musical talent and the twins were soon performing with the likes of Joe Newman, saxophonist Don Hill (who still performs with the group today), and pianist Gene Gilbeaux. After leaving school, and after the World War II draft took them out of commission for a while, they were at it again. Claude began a tenure with the seminal Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra, bringing Cliff in to record “Buzz Buzz Buzz," (which appears on the Dr. Horse Treniers reissue collection, You're Killin' Me) and Claude found himself providing vocals for several Jazz legends (see Discography). In 1945 Claude did a successful years residency at The Melody Club after replacing the great (but foul-mouthed) Wynonie Harris at Club Alabam. The twins, however, were inseparable and they were soon back together and eventually got Gene Gilbeaux, who became the band's arranger, and Don Hill back in the fold.

The Artists Formally Known as The Trenier Twins and the Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra, The Trenier Twins, and finally The Treniers, were born kicking and screaming as sure as the day the twins actually entered the world. Signing their first recording contract a half century ago with Mercury Records, The Treniers quickly earned a reputation as much for their frantic actions on stage as for their music itself. While

Claude and Cliff were undeniably the real court jesters, the entre

band moved in perfect synchronicity, like Siamese twins 4 connected by a single pulsebeat. Agile as a snake, wilder than a @ hyena, the group was a perpetual motion machine. But then, how can you not move when The Treniers are on your stereo, your TV, or if you've had the good fortune, on stage, live and in your face? The beat, as well as the joy they produce, is infectious.

In the early fifties, The Treniers' real heyday began.

Joined by older brother Buddy and younger brother Milt, they signed with the legendary Okeh label, producing a remarkable string of killer Rock'n'Roll sides, each of them an out of the ball park homer in terms of quality, if not always sales. It's been said I that The Treniers couldn't capture all the energy of their live act din the confinements of the studio, but what they did come up with are some of Rock'n'Roll's finest moments nonetheless. “Rockin' Is Our Business," "Rockin' On Saturday Night," and "It Rocks, it Rolls, it Swings!" are all self-explanatory in their Ma rockingness. The drunken revelry of "Hadacol (That's All)," the horniness of "Poon-Tang!" ("Poon is a hug! Tang is a kiss!" Uh, yeah...) and the audacious date rape classic "(Uh Oh) Get Out Of The Car" (Covered by Richard "Louie Louie" Berry and Sammy Davis, Jr.), were all done strictly in fun, but were the beginnings of a revolution that, fortunately, was televised. Taking what they learned from artists they'd worked with and admired like Louis Jordan, Amos Milbum, Wynonie Harris, Roy Brown and Jimmie Lunceford, The Treniers added their own inimitable personal

touch and took the whole thing into the highest gear imaginable. Rock and Roll was still better known as a metaphor for sex, and The Treniers were bringing it to it's first climax!

Other artists would soon reap the rewards of the seeds they had sown, but The Treniers found themselves in a very respectable position of visibility by 1956, their departure from Okeh notwithstanding. They were reaching a wider audience through various TV shows, including Jackie Gleason's and Red Skelton's programs, and through a number of movies, Don't Knock the Rock and The Girl Can't Help It being the best known today. In the former The Treniers appeared with Alan Freed, (who had

been honored by a Treniers original for his theme song) along with Little Richard and Bill Haley. For those who recognize Haley's place as one of the breakthrough Rock'n'Roll artists with "Rock Around The Clock," another direct lineage between The Treniers and the birth of Rock'n'Roll exists. Haley, who had caught The Treniers act in New Jersey when he was still a Country artist with his group The Saddlemen, "and wasn't nothin" as Claude says, was significantly influenced by their sound and show. In Don't Knock The Rock, The Treniers' explosive, boozy, bluesy, hand-clappin, finger-snappin' performance of "Rockin' On Saturday Night," in a thoroughly whitebread setting, is at once provocative and surreal. The even more pronounced clowning on "Out Of The Bushes" takes the prize. Alongside prettyboy Milt's almost robotic primping, Claude and Cliff hold court in bughouse square, each attempting to outdo f ae 5 the other in sheer craziness, even resorting (before even some parents Of Len toright; (top) cieuae F. f

. ase ¥ (to, Bi the Lallapaloser Nation were born) to stage diving! The song itself, more (2,7.,000 Hi (sax), Henry eo tucker” Groen a: dimmy Johnson (bes

re im. 3). (bottom or less a word of warning from a stalker, ("Something's gonna jump out of eee #7 (drums). (Bottom) Gone Gitbeaux iplano), the bushes and grab you...") is an outrageous combination of some more dismissed Rock'n'Roll as a passing fad, Prima staged his complicated Jazzy sequences and The Treniers' own brand of contagious comeback by incorporating it's rhythms into his act. With humor. It even spawned one purely novelty version by Joe Besser charisma and versatility (they mastered every style of pop soundalike Crazy Otto. "It was big in Guam," Claude jokes today. imaginable at the time), The Treniers, along with Prima and his

Their real crowning cinematic moment came in the (hourglass) hired gun Sam Butera, were the only artists to rock Vegas and

form of The Girl Cant Help It, the greatest Rock'n'Roll movie of all time. Atlantic City with class and without compromise. When other

In gorgeous Technicolor and stereophonic sound, The Treniers performed —_ Rock'n'Soul artists were gaining acceptance by the early 70s a well beyond crazed, "Rockin' Is Our Business,” by then their signature they had already staked their claim. One such figure was Elvis

song and still their set opener. In such a class-A package, with an All- Presley who met up with The Treniers and told them how as a Star lineup that included Little Richard, Julie London, Gene Vincent, kid he had learned "Good Rockin' Tonight" from their version Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino, Abbey Lincoln and The Platters, The Brother Milt opened a most swinging lounge of his , Treniers still stand out like Jayne Mansfield's Double D's! Only litde own nght here in his wife's home town of Chicago (See Richard could have possibly matched them for flamboyance and kick-out- @Ccompanying article). He booked the band twice a year the-jams conviction, but then again, he did do three songs. between engagements in Vegas and Atlantic City, though their By the late '50s, Rock'n'Roll was going out in a blaze, not one of _—ViSits to the Windy City have been more sporadic since the aura glory, but of deaths, scandals and personal turmoil. Alan Freed was of Allantic City has dimmed in recent years. Through the years

crucified on payola charges. Dick Clark, inexplicably, eluded such a fate, _ they've shared stages with the likes of Sinatra, Sammy Davis though he started playing records so bad, Freed couldn't have been paid to Jr. and Bill Cosby. Cosby was so fond of Cliff that he pared: play them. He became the movement's new "leader," while Freed went Skip Claude

on to die broke and broken. The living didn't all fare much better. The Treniers found themselves on the fateful tour of England with Jerry Lee Lewis where he brought himself down by making public his marriage to his teenage cousin, ("That big dummy!" Claude sums up in his best Redd Foxx). Where could The Treniers tum to in the dawning of the era of teen idols who wouldn't know ROCK if it hit them upside the head? Would you believe, Vegas?

Once the smoke had cleared, The Treniers found themselves doing very well on the Vegas/Atlanuc City circuit. Milt had left by then to pursue his own solo career, cutting some strong sides in a big, brassy baritone, not unlike Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Nephew Skip, also possessed of a fine set of pipes and enough good looks to keep the ladies coming back, took Milt's place and remains with the group to this day. Rock and Vegas up to & that time had been strange bedfellows. Even Elvis flopped in Vegas his first time out in 1956. But The Treniers came in anticipating that the patrons not only demanded a show, but the sun, the moon and the stars as well, and The Treniers were there to give it to them. Louis Prima had already proven you could rock in Sin City and not starve. Though his distant cousins in the Rat Pack, (except for Sammy who liked anything hip)

49 Don Donald Dave Jack

his television character, Heathcliff Huxtable, after him. Their success in Vegas has been phenomenal and even recently, against stiff competition obviously, they've won Las Vegas Entertainers of the Year several times.

The group displayed remarkable longevity and seemed indestructible, but sadly, fourteen years ago a reminder of their own humanity fell upon them. In 1983, Cliff Trenier passed away. Claude was now faced with what was probably the biggest decision of his life. Should he retire the group, or should he carry on in Cliff's memory? The bond was so Strong between these twins, that the decisions one makes are undoubtedly influenced by the other. Cliff had been called home, and for the rest of The Treniers, their home in this lif e, too, was beckoning. They retumed to the stage. Skip, approaching his 25th year in the group, ably took the dual frontman position with Claude (Buddy has since retired). Don Hill is still lending his distinct sax wizardry to the band, while acting as an affable fall guy to Claude's and Skip's incessant

-goofing. Dave Akins, also a veteran from years back, keeps the beat steady and smokin’, while more recent additions, bassist Donald Jackson and keyboard payer Jack Holland, keep the groove and help things move.

To witness The Treniers now is to be transported to an atmosphere and an age that one could be forgiven for thinking we'd neveragain witness. The friendliness they convey and the obvious love for their work is so genuine. Their kind of one-on-one rapport with an audiencel've

so would most guys my age if they tried to do what the Treniers still do every night. The Treniers are still, as always, alive act. Always about life and always lively. LONG LIVE THE TRENIERS!

Sources: In addition to the interviews with Claude, Skip and Milt Trenier, several reference sources have been invaluable. They include Nick Tosches' Unsung Heroes Of Rock and Roll (Scribner's) and his liner notes for the Legacy reissue CD, Roger Kinkle's Complete Encyclopedia of

Pop and Jazz (Arlington), Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia Of Jazz (Horizon), Peter Grendysa's Goldmine article (Feb. 1978) and his liner notes for the "Cool It Baby" CD, Dave Hoekstra's Chicago Reader article (May 6, 1983) and help from the staff at 2nd Hand Tunes, Hi Fi Recordsand

from Jason Walker, Rick Wojcik and Bob Pnuter. . Interview with Claude Trenier. The first section, done before the

first set was conducted by John Battles, Jake Austen and Mike Maltese from Roctober who were joined by Ken Mottet and Dan Sorenson from Screamin' magazine. Be sure to check out their take on the proceedings The second section, conducted between the first and second set was done by Mr. Battles and Mr. Maltese.

Q: I'm considering you to be sort of the leader of the group... Claude: I am, I'm the one that started all this Trenier shit. Me and my Twin brother. He was like the comedian and did more of the comedy stuff. Now Skip more or less took over my job and I went into the comedy stuff, but I was the straight man for Cliff.

You started off singing for Jimmie Lunceford...

Actually I started out singing around groups in Mobile, Alabama, then I went to Alabama State. Erskine Hawkins and his band just left Alabama State so they were recruiting musicians all over from everywhere, and Don (Hill, saxophone, still with the group today) came in from New Orleans and a lot of musicians from Texas came in. They got me from Mobile.

What was the Trenier household in Mobile like growing up? How many of vou were there?

Well it was eight boys and two girls, Myself And Cliff, my “ older Brother, his father's name was Denny, and brother Buddy, another Brother Maurice, another brother named Edward then we got our

two sisters , then Harold and Milt was the youngest. So like I said, I went to Alabama State College. They had three bands at Alabama State College and a guy by the name of Harley Toos(?) was killed in a bus wreck, and the promoter wanted someone to take his place and play the job he tad booked. So he came by and asked if we wanted to 80, so we asked the guys, "What are you gonna do?," “Well I'm gonna be a musician," they would all say, so I said "We got a chance, lets go.” So we took sixteen musicians, had some good guys, Joe Morris . . Joe Newman... Matthew Jay. Joe Newman played with Count Basie and he did a lot of things in Europe. We had some good guys, and Some good guys came in after them, we had in our band through the years . . Sonny Stitt... Lucky Thompson . . . The Simon Brothers. So we left there with sixteen of them and I wasn't actually the leader,

Famous Tremor Twins like i ; except ue they dace!

Cloude atways asks for Cliff insists on famous EARLYTIMES Own ForESTER Every ounce @ man’s whithy! —*._ platting Better in the masket*

Joe Morris was. But other guys in the band didn’t like the way he looked_on stage.

Not good looking enough?

Well he was kind of heavy and looked greasy, so they voted on a new leader, they voted me the leader. Cause ] was out front anyway.

Did you get paid more for being the leader?

(Incredulous stare, laughter) We were lucky to get paid. We were working for so little during that time...oh man we go get four coffee rolls for a nickel. Half a pint of milk for a nickel, you know?

And that was breakfast?

That was breakfast lunch and dinner, whatever you're gonna use it for! I remember we went to Mobile once, that's my hometown, we made eight dollars a piece!

What kind of places were you playing when you started? You said you started at the University, were you playing parties...

We played in barns and stuff, you know the South, they play in places like that. They'd get a tobacco barn, they'd clean it up and you'd go in there and play a dance.

Now when you first started the band were you shooting for the whole matching suits, the whole showbiz thing from the start?

No. In fact it just seemed like things evolved. Like how I got into college, there was this woman that had the little school across from the Catholic school 1 used to go to and one night the Alabama State Band came to play. I was looking through the window cause I couldn't afford to pay to go in, and she said, "Why don't you go up and sing a song with them?” No, I was in painter, a painter's helper, you know, but I went up there and I did one song, and they said, "Oh you know any more?" I said, “I don't know, whachu got?" and they got a standing audience, standing ovation. So they said, "Hey, you like to go to Alabama State?" | said "Yeah man." I'm talking, I'm not even thinking about going to Alabama State, the heck with Alabama State, I'm out there making money as a painter's helper. Then about a week later the same woman that asked me to go up and sing says, "Claude, go home, get your clothes." I said, "Why." She said "You're going to Alabama State." I said, "What?!" 1 had no idea, I hadn't even prepared for this. But I went anyways.

So then you and your brothers all got to go to college...?

No J was there first, and then Cliff came up after I was there.

So you're all college educated man

I didn't graduate, they put us out. This was '41. That's when | left school. We got our first job (not connected to the school), and the school administration found out we weren't going to play some jobs they had for us that weekend. We all went to a movie and when we came back they had put all our clothes and luggage and stuff out on the lawn. They took whatever instruments they owned away from us. So we were short of instruments, short a pedal for the drum, we didn't have no sticks. We went to the first job in Columbus, GA, I'll never forget as long as | live, we go out there and were playing, we don't have no sticks. We went out on a tree and pulled off some limbs...he's beating on the bass drum with a stick, and the promoter came out and said "I ain't paying for this shit!" We didn't get paid for that! I said, "Well, great start, great start!"

Did you have moves, choreography from the get go?

No we just had a band. We played things like Tuxedo Junction, whatever was popular in those days, and we copied Jimmie Lunceford, we were great Jimmie Lunceford fans in those days, that's why I got the job, cause I] knew all the songs. | was in Pittsburgh at the time ] joined Lunceford. See my band had broken up when the war broke and they drafted, in fact they drafted me, and ] stayed in about nine months and they Jet me out.

Before that you had toured backing up Louis Jordan and his people?

That was my Alabama State Band. See Louis Jordan had made a hit, ] think it was Outskirts Of Town, or something like that, so they wanted someone to go on tour and play with him. We'd play for dancing, and he'd come out and do a 45 minute show. They didn't think a small group could fill these big auditoriums. We'd play through Texas, Oklahoma, California and we just went out and played, we had a good band, so we got good exposure. Now our manager comes up to us and says, "Now look, | can get a guy called Louis Jordan but we got to guarantee him $500 a night." I said, "You kidding, tell him to guarantee us $500 a night!" So he went to make the deal anyway. Louis Jordan must have drawn 10,000 people a night! He made all the money! (laughter)

You must have enjoyed the experience. It shows in your music that you obviously picked up a lot from him.

] learned a lot from him. See what we did was we took a little Louis

Jordan, with the showmanship and all that, and a little bit of Jimmie Lunceford, see Jimmie Lunceford, everything he played was 2/4. No matter what went around him he was playing 2/4 all the way. So we took his 2/4, a little bit of Louis Jordan and we added a little bit of the Treniers and that's what we got now. Skipping ahead to 1950, going to Okeh and doing the recordings with the scaled down Treniers as most people know them... Well actually after I left Jimmie Lunceford, wel! I didn't leave, he fired me. Cause, | couldn't tead music, and everybody read in his band, that was why it was so tight. He'd write it out and they'd play it. And one day we were recording and I was singing Sleepy Time Gal or something like that, and I went (Claude sings the song with a few odd notes thrown in). He said, "Don't you see that note?" I said "No." He said, "You mean to tell me you can't read?" I said, "No, I cant read." He said, “What! ?!" I had a great ear. See, while they were rehearsing the songs | was listening to the melody and reading the words. I got away with that for a long time. One thing was, I knew all the recordings. The first night I sang with Lunceford I remember there was a thing called Like A Ship Al Sea and I'd have to find the key. The first time I did it, (sings high) "I'm like a ship at (drops low ) sea." Lunceford said, "That's alright, well do it again." It was because the record goes up a little. Let's talk about some of your own records, the band you had for them... No I'll tell you what was happened. We were working this after hours place in Los Angeles and we had to make records, so I got Don, and J had this Piano player that was with me in the Alabama State band... Gene Gilbeaux? Yeah. So he was like our accompanist and he'd write most of the arrangements in those days. And so this club in Los Angeles wanted us to work there so we got a bass player and a drummer. So we went into that club for two weeks...we must have played 78 weeks straight! Now we went in there getting $375 a week, which was great money, and we asked him for a raise. We want to get a $25 raise every two weeks. When we left there we were getting $1200 and something dollars! If we had asked that guy for a 500 dollar raise he would have threw us out there. How we got the job, was some guy used to hang around the bar said, "If you want a get a group that's really good, get them Trenier Twins, they're gonna be good, they're gonna be good." The owner said "I never heard of the Trenier Twins.” "Get ‘em, they'll do good for you." So we went in, we did fair. "I thought you said they're gonna do good?" "They are, give ‘em two more weeks.” So he gave us two more weeks and all of sudden it hit and people started lining up out there and that more or less made us. Everybody started talking about us, we got on all the TV shows. This was playing Jump Blues? The way we started playing our jump style was | was doing ballads and one night the guys were just applauding for more, and I didn't know anymore A girl used to sing with Jimmie Lunceford by the name of Tina Dixon, she did a song called "Eee Babaleeba," (?) not "Hey Babareeba," that Hamp wrote later. I said play me some Blues and | started singing it. | did that thing every night. I did it so much J had to get another one. So] got another jump song and another jump song and another. Pretty soon I wasn't doing no ballads. We started adding all that good rockin’ kind of stuff and the ballads went out the window.

Did that present any problems when you started recording? No, but we would move so much they couldn't get it on the tape. We were moving in the studio like we were on stage. They couldn't get the energy of the live show on the records. Even the guy said, if they ever get on those, what do they call those juke box things they had with pictures, movies... Scopitones? Yeah, but we never did one of those. Did anybody in the band ever get hurt onstage? Not really. Nobody ever fell off a piano? Oh Yes! (laughter) But we didn't get hurt. I remember one time we were playing, I think it was here in Chicago, we had a drummer by the name of Eddie Burke and Gil said "1-2-3-4...," and there's no drums. He had fallen off the back of the stage. (laughter) He didn't know he was that far back. Did you and Heathcliff develop the acrobatics between yourselves, or was it just everybody working off each other til you found something that worked?

Well we just did it and people seemed to enjoy it. It was natural, it wasn't rehearsed or nothing, we'd just do things. Like that thing on Ragmop where we get into a straight line like that. That wasn't rehearsed. We don't know how we did it, but we just all of a sudden looked up and we were ina line. Did you ever have a crowd go completely out of control on you?

Well not out of contro! but we had ‘em screaming and yelling. They've done that quite a bit.

What about some of the TV show you were on...

We were the second Black act that Red Skelton had on. And after the first, one of those guys, Governor Maddox or some one (to Skip, who is changing for the show), do you remember the guy that wrote to Red Skelton and said, “What you doing with those niggers on your show?" Red introduced us and said "Governor Maddox(or whoever), here's my answer,... The Treniers!" (laughter)

How did you get to Vegas?

Claude: We were hot in LA and some people we knew worked at a hot club in Las Vegas and they told the guy, "You have to bring the Treniers." We worked, what he heck was it called?

Skip: The Domingo Club.

Claude: And this guy that used to be on "The Real McCoys," he was the headliner and they were just laying the foundation for The Sahara

You were probably the only band that hit the teenage Rock and Roll audience and the Vegas audience and do so well with all of it. Did it surprise you when the Rock and Roll thing hit, because you'd been doing it for years?

Claude: See it was in the 40s, '46, and Elvis Presley and all them didn't come on until '56.

Skip: Actually it was a cross between R&B and Swing.

Claude: What we called Rock and Roll in those days is nowhere near what they're playing today. They gotta get another name!

Skip: We made one song, really good song, called Day Old Bread And Canned Beans. Wrote songs like that in those days.

We did nine versions of that. We did all kinds of records of it, Swing, Latin, even...(sings it in Calypso accent! )

Claude: Didn't sell a record yet, we were gonna keep going til we do!

Skip: We tried that thing all kind of ways.

While were running down the list of songs, there's a couple I'd be interested in knowing about. Crossbone County...

Claude: I think an A&R man gave us that song...and Poon Tang.

Skip: I think we learned that one right in the studio.

How did you work them up in the studio with all the funny voices... Claude: We just did what we felt

Did the people recording the album ask why you making all those noises and why you making all those faces?

Claude: No they'd say, "Who did that? Do it again!"

Who did the girl voices?

Claude: That was Heathcliff.

What about Hey MissLucy, that and Poon Tang, How'd you get them past the stations? Did they play that on the radio?

Claude: No, they didn't play that. Now they play anything

What about Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie?

Claude: That was Bill Haley

Right but you put it out before he did.

Claude: He was playing across the street from us when he had his country

band, and...

He asked you what kind of music is that you're playing?

Claude: Right. And I said, "I don't know, were just having fun.” We didn't have a name for it. I don't like to be categorized. The people, the writers kept saying, *...this Rock & Roll” group...”

You must have started picking up popularity because of all the press... Claude: We got so popular around LA that superstar names couldn't follow us. But we wasn't strong enough to headline.

Skip; What did Nat King Cole say?

Claude: We were playing the Orpheum Theater with a lot of stars, Nat came down and said, “Oh I've got plenty of time, The Treniers just went on." They said, "No, you're going on after them." He said, "No I don't!" (laughter) We played with Charlie Ventura, and they couldn't geton. We were Rocking and Rolling

Skip: We did the same thing with Dion. They had Dion and us together at graduation time in New York City. That's his crowd. We came off and he said, “I'm not gonna follow this tomorrow night. Put me on first and let The Treniers close the show."

Tell the story about going to England with Jerry Lee Lewis on the fateful tour.

Claude: Well we went over there, and that dummy, he didn't have to tell the authorities he had married this girl, because her father was playing bass with him. But he goes there and he's talking, "Oh yeah, we got married." “And how old is she?" “Thirteen...my cousin." So the next night they put it in the paper, get him out of the country, so he had to leave. They were throwing chairs up there and everything. Then they made us carry the show. They added two more acts. a guy named Terry Wayne and some Skiffle band.

(Milt gives his brothers the sign that it's time to start the first set, later John and Mike spoke to Claude between sets)

I know you said A&R people brought you songs, but you did some excellent songwriting yourself...

We used to write a lot. In fact we wrote a good song for Sammy Davis called Holy Mackalani,(?) and Get Out Of The Car, he did a version of.

But a lot of songs we had we wrote but we didn't copyright at the time. Like Amos Wilbum's, Let Me Go Home Whiskey, | wrote that with another

guy but the other guy went and sold it to Modern Records, sold five songs for a hundred dollars. And I asked him I said, "Hey man, how did they like the songs?" "Oh they said they were alright." "OK well if they didn't like it, we'll still do it” And I'm down in Florida and all of a sudden a big disc jockey says "Here's a new one by Amos Milburn, Let Me Go Home Whiskey. 1 went through that roof, and you should of seen, this was a big guy, about three hundred pounds, I grabbed that sun-of-a... "You rotten...” I was mad. Now if he had told me he sold them for a hundred, OK, but he said they didn't like ‘em. I didn’t copyright so I couldn't get any royalties, | didn't copyright because | didn't think he sold them, you know.

Were you working with people like Amos Milburn, Wynonie Harris, Roy Brown at that time?

We worked with Wynonie. In fact I was working at the Club Alabam at the time he was the singer and ] was like on production numbers, [ used to sing White Christmas, stuff like that. One night, he got on the oats I guess, anyway he got up on stage and he started calling people a bunch of mothers and stuff so they fired him, and a girl by the name of Norma Miller said, "Why don't you let Claude sing a couple of songs?" So they put me as the featured vocalist. Then I sent for my twin brother, because we had already done the twin act for Jimmie Lunceford. So he come out and we start doing the Twin thing, they hadn't seen it. I used to run out one door, he'd come in another, and they'd go, "How did he do that so fast?." | tell you, the first time we pulled that twin thing at the Apollo theater in Harlem with Lunceford we stopped the show cold They were applauding for a half

hour. And after us they put on two other acts. Cliff and I went upstairs and took off our uniforms, we were wearing Tuxes, and Lunceford came upstairs, left the band playing, and said, "Put back on your uniforms." We said, "Why?" He said, "They're still screaming for you." We said, "We don't know any other songs, Jimmie." "Do you know Stardusf?" We said,

"Yeah." He said, "Sing that." We went out and did Stardust, cause they were screaming. That was one of the greatest ovations we ever had except the last time we were in England

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e a “yi Yeah, you just played to 40,000 people in al oe England!

A SY 4 Tt was crowded, and they charged $250 a head for

| the weekend festival. We were not the only group,

THE TRENIERS ON W | but we were like the headliners. The promoter said, "You guys are the ones selling those tickets." Well it's funny, they see those movies over there. They've got songs we didn't even know we recorded, cause we were drinking a little bit in those days (laughter). Don Hill found out he recorded Pennies From Heaven, he doesn't even remember doing that. But we had so many good things happen to us. Like I said, 1 got that gig at Alabama State. We quit school and the first night ;

was a disaster, wouldn't pay us, we had to get a? ft ie a

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5 od é r, t, He eo

x some money to get together to get a foot pedal and ne some drumsticks. And Joe Newman our trumpet 2 venermerecnemeen y ege man had a trumpet and the valves wouldn't go E- eon back up so he played upside down.. And he turned t out to be a hell of a player, he played with Count : Basie. What about Milt joining and leaving the group? Milt joined us when he came out of the Army, and E

THE TRENIERS Milt came out of the group in ‘59. Skip took his §

ENOCH Se COUN G12 NE BS" place when Milt went out on his own. So we had ' Buddy there, my twin brother Cliff, so we had four 5 Treniers up front singing. } It's amazing this footage of that TV show Milt ! showed the other night, what was that, '54? f

ns NAAT * :

It had to be It's amazing! Everybody is moving, I mean Gene playing piano is jumping up nonstop while he's playing. We had an eight man line. The only guy sitting down was the drummer. We went back to the Apollo And when we went into that line on Ragmop, the whole place went ape! And you t bins really catch tbat excitement on a record, qHEY RoC, cause when we get in the studio we start jumping i EY Roel BRB + and were going, "Go go go!" and were not into the Musas ae & _ mic, so they can't get the full thing. Hey Bwih bed

3clow: Liner notes from After Hours LP by Ed Cook. one of the legendary Good Guys at WVON

in Chicago

A lot of superlatives have been tossed at the TRENIERS, 99.8% were well founded. Since brother Claude started his first band at Alabama State College in 1941, the boys have been “breaking it up” on a number of continents.

Whenever and where-

ever they have appeared the public has responded mightily. This includes not only most of the finest clubs in the country, but also the theaters, radio and more tele- vision appearances than can any longer be counted.

There are a lot of talented family groups, but none to my mind thet create the

excitement of the TRENIERS.

Whether they’re creating soul with a tune like AFTER

HOURS, or providing their particular type madness with AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, they are always the wild, swinging TRENIERS, sound and for the first time | feel this sound has been captured on record. This is probably due in no sma! part to their recording “live” in the club where they were

currently appearing.

Everything is just as it’s done on stage...

Theirs is a happy

no rehearsal, no

planning. Just start the tape and let the good times roll. Here you have brisk, unin- hibited entertainment as only the rocking, gyrating, dynamic TRENIERS can provide.

Although @ number of shows were recorded, these tunes showcase the group at their best. They were selected to spotlight the versatility of all the brothers, Claude,

Cliff, Buddy and nephew Skip.

Of course, the vivid musical i

deas of Gene Gilbeaux

on piano and Don Hill on both alto and flute are superlative in themselves.

Dig if you will Buddy Trenier and his fine baritone on SAN FRANCISCO and IN

THE STILL OF THE NIGHT.

Skip Trenier, o nephew, but certain

ly from the same mold

as his uncles, breaks it up on LOVER COME BACK TO ME and shows his fine ballad style on WHY. The twins, Cliff and Claude, are their fabulous selves on BALDHEAD and CHARMAINE, as well as their bountiful rhythmic backing of the whole set. The title tune AFTER HOURS, features Gene Gilbeaux on the great Avery Parrish perrenial, while the band “kicks” it with a bossa nova beat. Don Hill, splendid with his feeling on STELLA BY STARLIGHT and PEOPLE WILL SAY WE’RE IN LOVE, brings what other- wise woula be a small combo to symphonic proportions, helped in great measure by Walte: “Chip” Cole on bass and a swinging Frank Shea on drums.

Won't you join me AFTER HOURS WITH THE FABULOUS TRENIERS?

ED COOK

The Nassau Daddy WAOK RADIO ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Above: Claude and Buddy circa 1983

I notice in the photos here in the studio shots you're all going nuts. Of course the recordings are exciting to listen to today. It seems to me the Treniers are the unifying link between the earlier Jump Blues and what people later just called Rock and Roll. You were right in all of it

That's right We made the crossover thing. We were playing clubs that Black acts didn't really play. We played the Chez Paris here, and one in New York, and no Black acts were playing them In Los Angeles we played Billy Berg's. Lana Turner used to come in there, she drove me nuts, and Ava Gardner took us over to her house one night, we went out there in the swimming pool...it's funny, when you get a certain niche in show business you just meet people and some you get to be friends with. We went to her house all the time. We used to give parties. We believed in parties. We worked the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood and we used to invite the whole cast over to our house and we'd party two or three days. Nine big statuesque girls, the producers...you can't do that nowadays, somebody hears you're having fun they're gonna come in there and break it up. You mentioned you played at the Club Alabam, did you work with Johnny Otis?

Yes. Johnny Otis was the band. In fact I] was supposed to go on tour with Johnny Otis but we got a job up in Seattle, Cliff and Myself and Gene on Piano. Jimmy Lunceford came through there and he said, “I wanna see if you'll come back in the band. Everybody's asking for you Wherever we go, ‘Where's the twins, where's the twins? So

I said, "OK," and that night I'm on stage doing the show and a pal says, "Hey did you hear what happened to Lunceford?" And I said no, and he said, "He died." And | said, "Where!" "Somewhere he was signing autographs and just fell out." And I said, "I'll be doggone, he was just talking about us going back with the band." That's the fates. Maybe we wouldn't have what we have now. I really enjoyed my life. I wish we did more that you could look at, but that's why I'm glad we did those movies. They'll be showiing them another 10 years. Oh, well after that! And at the time when you started doing all these television appearances, television was a brand new medium... Everybody was watching it And these varieties shows wanted exciting acts, something that was visual, and you had it! I tell you, the guy used to produce the Jackie Gleason show, a skit wasn't going well , so he said find out where the Treniers are. They found us in Hollywood, California, so he flew us back to New York, got Billie Holiday to work in our place, paid her, and we went back there and did one number. They said they wanted something to liven it up. What was Jackie Gleason like to work with?

Oh, nice. I remember the first time he saw us, we were doing a benefit in Miami Beach for one of those Jewish organizations, and we did Ragmop and the people were going

nuts, and he said what's going on out here, he heard the people, and he watched us and he said, You're on my show when you get to New York!"

How do you feel to have basically done everything in entertainment there is to do? You've done it all

lenjoy it. I love it, that's why I'm still in it. And to me, when I get on stage, that’s my altar. 1 don't want no one to mess up my altar. Take my razor and whack you... (pantomimes the razor shtick from the stage act) That was Cliff's gimmick, he started that. I kept it in as a way of reminding that Heathcliff ts still here. And he is there. He's there every night. It took me a long while after he passed to get used to him not being there. You wait for him to say something , now it ain't there. That's when Cliff started chiming in.

Tell us about the Poontang cans.

We passed them out. A guy in Boston had 'em made up for us, it was called 'Extra Fancy Lower Alabama Poontang,' by the recipe of Miss Pussy Galore. We'd give away hundreds of those things, but they used to cost us a dollar and eighty cents, I said geez were gonna go bankrupt handing these out. I used to joke about it and say, "Now if you've had this Poontang more than 6 months don't open it in the house.” (laughter) "It might spoil."

Some of these jokes in the act I have never heard them, but you say them night after night, but you always tell it like it's the first time and you really get the audience reaction...

You always got to do it like it's the first time. Some I got from Redd Foxx, some I made up myself. You never know where you're gonna get a joke. I'll never forget when they first got integration at The Sahara, this waitress came up to me and said "My kid told me this joke. These kids, they were in school, and it was the teacher's birthday, so they all decided to give the teacher gifts. Someone brought apples, some brought other stuff, but the Black kids didn't have much money so they got together and made a cake. They baked it and decorated and brought it in and set it on the teacher's desk. So she came in and said "Oh children how you doing," and they said "Happy Birthday Teacher!" So she looked down at the cake and written on it says, "Happy Birthday Teach F-U-C-K" And she says, "Who decorated this cake!" and Little Willie says, "I did, Teach!" She says Little Willie, do you know what F-U-C-K means?" So he said, "Yeah Teach, it means From Us Colored Kids.

(LAUGHTER)

EXTRA FANCY LOWER ALABAMA “Ss

POONTAN

&, pest "Om the axctunve recioe of Mist

\ Xx 4G, THE Ep “TM La egae eh

CSTRIEUTEO 97 ULOUS. TRENTERS cage. Bostac.

Wi WITH CLASS

MILT TRENIER REMEMBERS

by James Porter In times like these, when every “hipster” club has at least one “lounge” night a week, where people sip martinis, listen to Henry Mancini, and pretend that JFK is still living in the White House, it's almost refreshing to get a glimpse of the real thing, minus the irony. Milt Trenier's Lounge celebrates its’ rwentieth anniversary in Chicago this year, and although The Treniers themselves only stop by maybe twice a year, Milt himself---who retired from the act in '59 when he was offered an entire summer solo in the Catskills ("my brothers gave me their blessing, there was no animosity, no hard feelings no fights")---is quick to remind you that he's here 24-7. The place is not a hepcat goof, nor is it a fading, old-school joint that time has passed by, but just a stand-alone class act. Even though Milt acknowledges that lounges fell out of favor, "when they started switchin’ over to puttin’ girls up there with boobs,” referring to the topless bars and discos that almost killed the lounges in the mid Seventies, he will admit that "a lot of times you stay in things because it depends on how bad you want it. Anybody else who wasn't in (show) business wouldn't have been open this long.” Milt was a vocalist with the Treniers during their glory years on the OKeh label, and once off the road, started working the lounge circuit, sometimes as a single act, other times in tandem with a vocalist named Micki Lynn, and his last recorded appearance was a mid-sixties long-player, with Lynn, on the Cadet label. He opened his Chicago lounge just when discos started taking over, and when you stay in one spot, you see a lot of trends come and go (and even come back again).

Milt originally hooked up with the group after he got out of the service, after spending a few years doing a solo act starting in 1947, his junior year in high school. "I was makin’ three dollars a night, and that was more than I'm makin’ today", he laughs. Although Mile is a balladeer at heart---"yeah, I'm an old sentimental fool"--- he looks back fondly at the Rock'n'Roll years. "We were workin’ in Vegas at the time---we were flyin’ back and forth from Vegas to L.A. to film those. It was great exposure, did us a lot of good, in fact, if you remember in that particular movie, Don't Knock The Rock, Alan Freed, who was the one that coined the phrase ‘Rock'n'Roll’, was the one that introduced us in the movie, and in the movie, he says 'the greatest Rock'n'Roll act of all time---The Treniers’...in that movie", Milt reflects. And then there was the infamous tour of England with Jerry Lee Lewis, right after he married his 13-year old cousin. “It was a very popular tour because they cancelled him out after the third night, they pulled him off stage, so we were sharing the billing with him, at that time. We continued on headlining the tour. We did 30 one-nighters. We kept the tour going. When they sent him back to the United States, we finished the tour. They was throwing garbage cans and everything at him. What people don't know is that the bass player with his band was the father of the girl that he married!”

Although there's a minor trend towards Jump Blues that’s just major enough for The Treniers to play to a whole new audience (including Chicago's popular Mighty Blue Kings, who caught The Treniers several times during their recent visit), Milt is content to stay in Chicago, watching over his club. "I don’t like to leave the club too much, because I wanna make sure the people get the service,” he says. Although he sings Nat King Cole-styled ballads and Blues/Jazz standards, with some patented Treniers comedy thrown in, weekly at the space, he insists that his job, whenever his brothers or anybody else is performing, “is to run the place. One thing I've learned in this business---if you don't run it, somebody else will,” he chuckles. “And besides that, I'm here year ‘round. When people see The Treniers are here, they're actually coming to see them," although he does join them on the eccasional late set. "Ninety-nine percent of the people who come in here, they love what we're doing and we get a lot of repeat business. They say, ‘I'm coming back, I'm gonna bring my wife, I'm gonna bring my girlfriend, [ got some friends visiting from out of town, I'm gonna bring ‘em in’, well, they won't take ‘em to just anyplace. I feel good about that because then I'm accomplishing my mission. Now if [ could just make a living out of it, I'll be okay," he laughs.

oe. eer -

mi”

DISCOGRAPHY

LPs The Treniers Go Go Go-The Treniers on TV (Epic) The Treniers Souvenir Album (Dot)

The Fabulous Treniers After Hours (Hermitage)

Milt Trenier/Micki Lynn "Carryin' On" (Cadet) The Fabulous Treniers Popcorn Man (TT)

Sf , The Fabulous Treniers Get Outta The Car (no label, probably Mobile, their own label)

The Treniers Wild and Live at The F; famingo (Mobile)

The Fabulous Treniers s/t (Never seen it, may be the same as the Get Outta The Car LP) (Mobile) The Treniers Rockin' Js Our Bizness (reissue material) (Edsel)

The Treniers w/Milt Trenier You're Killin Me (Reissue material) (Dr. Horse)

Singles

The Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (v. Claude Trenier) "I'm Gonna See M y Baby" b'w "That Someone Must Be You" (Decca) Barney Bigard (v. Claude Trenier) "Young Man's Blues” parts 1 & 2 (Lamplighter/re-released on Crystelette 1949) Charlie Mingus and His Orchestra (v. Claude Trenier) "Weird Nightmare" b/w "?"(Trenier not on B side) (Excelsior) The Trenier Twins "Buzz Buzz Buzz" b/w "Sure Had A Wonderful Time Last Night" (Mercury)

The Trenier Twins “I Miss You So" b/w "Hey Sister Lucy” (Mercury)

The Trenier Twins “No, Baby No" b/w "Oooh! Look-A There Ain't She Pretty" (Mercury)

The Trenier Twins "Ain't She Mean” b/w “It's A Quiet Town (Crossbone County)" (Mercury)

The Trenier Twins "Sometimes I'm Happy" b/w "Convertible Cadillac" ( Mercury)

The Trenier Twins "My Convertible Cadillac’ b/w "Near To Me" (Mercury)

Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (v. Claude & Cliff Trenier) "Buzz Buzz Buzz" b/w "2" (No Treniers on "B" side) (Coral) The Treniers “Everybody Get Together” b/w “Why Did You Get So Hi gh, Shorty?" (London)

The Treniers "Go! Go! Go!" b/w "Plenty Of Money" (Okeh)

The Treniers "Old Woman Blues" b/w “Hey Little Girl" (Okeh)

The Treniers “It Rocks, It Rolls, It Swings" b/w "Taxi Blues" (Okeh)

The Treniers "Hadacol (That's All)" b/w "Long Distance Call” (Okeh)

The Treniers "Rockin' On Sunday Night" b/w "Cheatin' On Me" (Okeh)

The Treniers “Poon-Tang!" b/w "Hi-Yo Silver"!" (Okeh)

The Treniers "Poon-Tang!" b/w "The Moondog" (Okeh)

Milt Trenier & His Solid Six "Squeeze Me" b/w "Rock Bottom" (Victor)

The Treniers "Sugar Doo" b/w "Rockin' 1s Our Bizness" (Okeh)

The Treniers "I'd Do Nothing Bui Grieve" b/w "This Is It" (Okeh)

Milt Trenier & His Solid Six "Flip Our Wigs" b/w "Y ou'te Killin’ Me" (Victor)

The Treniers "You Know Yeah! Tiger" b/w “Bug Dance" (Okeh)

The Treniers "Trapped In the Web of Love" b/w "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie" (Okeh)

Milt Trenier w/The Gene Gilbeaux Quartet "Straighten Up Baby" b/w "Why" (Groove)

Milt Trenier "Day Old Bread" b/w "Give A Little Time" (Groove)

The Treniers "Bald Head" b/w “Come On Let's Face It" (Okeh)

The Treniers w/ Willie Mays "Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)" b/w "Out Of The Bushes" (No Mays on "B" side)(Epic)

ae The Treniers "(Uh Oh) Get Out Of The Car" biw ""Who Put The 'Ungh' In Mambo" (Okeh)

The Treniers "Devil's Mambo" b/w "Do Do Do (Do-Be-Do-Be-Do)" (Okeh)

The Treniers "Doin' 'Em Up" b/w "Go Go Go" (Epic)

The Treniers "Rock'n'Roll Call" b/w "Day Old Bread and Canned Beans"(Epic)

The Treniers "Good Rockin' Tonight" b/w "Boodie Green" (Epic)

The Treniers "Sorrento" b/w "Lover Come Back To Me" (Vik)

The Treniers "(We Want A) Rock and Roll President” b/w "Cool It Baby" (Vik)

The Treniers "Ooh La La" b/w "Pennies From Heaven" (Brunswick)

Milton Trenier/The Treniers "Gonna Catch me A Rat" b/w "Time Out For Tears” (Dot) The Treniers "2" b/w "2" (DOM)

Skip Trenier & The Fabulous Treniers "2" b/w "?"(Ronn)

CD Reissue Compilations The Treniers Cool Jt Baby (Bear Family) The Treniers Hey Sister Lucy (Bear Family)

fj) The Treniers They Rock They Roll They Swing (Legacy/OKehiEpic/Sony)

1955 1958 196? 1967 1970 1972 197? 197? 1983 1985

1945 1946 1946 1947 1948 1948 1948 1948 1948 1949 1950 1951 1951 1952 1952 1952 1952 1952 1953 1953 1953 1953 1953 1954 1954 1954 1954 1954 1955 1955 1955 1956 1956 1956 1956 1957 1959 1959 1964

1988 1988 1995

Treniers cuts are also available on the following CDs: The RCA Victor Blues & Rhythm Revue (RCA), Baseball's Greatest Hits (Rhino),

and The Okeh box set (Sony). The precursor to the box set, The Okeh Rhythm & Blues double LP (Epic) also has a Treniers cut.

Film Appearances

Don't Knock the Rock

The Girl Can't Help It

Teen Age Rebels ("Cool It Baby" on soundtrack) Calypso Heat Wave

Juke Box Rhythm

TV appearances include "The Colgate Comedy Hour" hosted by Martin and Lewis (1954), Jackie Gleason, Red Skelton, Tommy Dorsey, Emie Kovacs, Dinah Shore and a replacement show hosted by Paul White where they did a solid 15 minute set,

Photos Top to Bottom: Claude and Cliff, Skip, Don Hill, Willie Mays, Milt at this club

1956 1956 1956 1957 1957

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{°] MONKEY ROCK UPDATE | é : ‘ 4 CaN

cas SAMMY LEE 9

erancree ay g i j -

PMY SR Lag... Thanks to: Chris Auman, Ian Bizarre, Dave Houser, Phil Milstein gi f° ~e Ape Lost-Band with former members of Night Kings and Gorls. Ass Baboons of Venus-Roctober contributor Dan Springer reports:"An important band for Monkey Rock in the 90s is T.A.B.O.V. They are truly a ™ sight to see-I saw them last spring in the East Village and they shocked, they rocked, they disturbed and delighted." 3 The Beastie Boys in a video from their first LP parody 80s metal by having ay 4 gorilla do a searing guitar solo. i Bent Fabric, an instrumental combo from the early sixties had great success with their LPs “Alley Cat" and "The Happy Puppy", each featuring a huge closeup of the respective cute critter as the sleeve cover. The followup was an| LP called "Organ Grinder's Swing" (a Jimmie Lunceford recording from the thirties) with an extreme closeup of an adorable organ grinder's monkey in a little red outfit as the cover. Chimp Music is a genre of music where the artists are not judged by talent , but by , um, chimpishness. Sealed Hotel Records has just released a compilation. The No Wave of the nineties? We'll see. Circus monkeys-I assume this monkey band pictured in from Ringling Bros. Pretty spectacular, huh? Floyd Cramer's excellent Monkees cover LP features a stuffed monkey band on the cover. Ding Dong, the monkey in Plotnikoff's Musical Monkey Side Show (pictured) has surprised and entertained thousands with his wicked sounds. He has toured as well as played numerous shows in Halifax venues. Don Johnson-see Masked Rock'n'Roll update The Marx Brothers' musical comedy play "The Cocoanuts" (which opened Dec. 8th 1925 at the Lyric in New York) featured the chorus girls in Monkey Doodle-Doo costumes, and the promotional flyer featured The Marx Brothers as monkeys. Monkey Island-London band featuring D. A. McDonnell. The Monkeytown Philharmonic Kazoo Orchestra, on an episode of "The Simpsons" go nuts during their performance and bite the sideshow geek. Jon Spencer and Co. have taken to wearing gorilla suits. Good move. Stone Temple Pilots capitalize on the rubber gorilla mask aesthetic in their "Bing Bang Baby" video.” More monkey tunes: "Boston Monkey" bia ’ r, she Billy Butler, "The Chimp"-Jerry Mundo # and the Galaxies, "Chimp Party"-The “© Tinklers (on “When I'm Hunngry I Eat” ‘ compilation) "If I Were A Monkey"- Ricky Segall (though the precoscious four year old sang this song on episode 84 of “The Partridge Family”, it was not included on his LP.), "I'mIn Love With | A Monkey Woman" -Helium Kidz (XTC), "King Kong" -Groovie Ghoulies "Magilla For President"- a Spree 7" witha Y ogi campaign song on ip, "Monkey Engineer"-TA.C., "Mo! Gorilla" -The Ideals, "Monkey" -Registrators, "Muy Malo Chunga(Very Bad Monkey)"- Team Satan, "One Banana, Two Banana (Let's Monkey)"-The Brentwoods, "Slap The Monkey"-McRackins, "Smoking Monkey"-Leather Uppers, "Them Kinda Monkeys Can't Swing"-Slade,

CORRECTION! It's not the Dave Clark Five version of "Do You Love Me’ with a revised verse about doing the monkey---it's the Kingsmen.

Above: Marx Bros Left: Monkey Doo Girls

MASKED ROCKNROLL ; j UPDATE os

Thanks to Dann Lenard, Anthony Illarde, James Porter.

‘ee . “2 waececce . . ect veer?

Big Top- Circus Rock band featuring Rev. Uncle Laffo, the psycho clown. They performed at last years SleazeFest in Chapel Hill, which also featured masked Go-Go girls (inset) and monkey men in cages. The Clowns of Decadence-Adelaide based clown band whose loyal fans show up in clown face. Sort of like the Grateful Dead fans useta. Idiot Flesh-Oakland based clown garbed "industrial-mind-trip-hate-jazz” combo. (Third down on right) Don Johnson- The "King Of Organ With A Beat", was a Vegas entertainer and, according to his liner notes, "The crowds crave his spirited songfests ~ get laughs from Clown-Monkey mask routines" (italics mine) (Second wn) The Mants-Actually these aren't masks, but their real faces. half man/half ant they savagely sing about Mant issues. (Top right) Otis Rush, in the bizarre picture below, is rocking a group of masked teenagers. TISM-(This Is Serious Mum) From their liner notes: Reviled by critics, hated by the rock industry, and the nemisis of costume designers everywhere, TISM appeared like a boil on the Melbourne rock scene in 1985. Described as a warped aerobics, class, Kylie Minogue with less balis, and more presciently, shit, TISM became the darlings of Melbourne's inner-city altemative scene-until someone actually saw this group” A variety of masks wor by the group are presented here. Current song "Hel! Never Be An Old Man River", about River Phoenix. (Inset, right of Rush) The Vanishing Twin was a rockin’ music play performed by The Lookingglass theatre Co in ‘96. The masked freak on the right is Rick Sims, former Didjit.

Henry Kramers Midget Troupe, like most such acts in the heyday of midget rhs . exhibition, featured musical performance, Reams ‘\ as pictured.

"Midget" by The Vktms, was recently covered by Ashley Von Hurter and the 1_.'{Haters. May be the best midget themed jpunk song ever!

i [Midget & Hairs-Lo Fi Louisians

Colorado combo. a Rev. Uncle Laffo ‘ ‘ | AF ING

“'« (+2 records

Licelan)

1997 new release FIF? & THE MACH 3/MACH A GOI GO! CD (:.2cb0s1)

A long waited 3rd CD from famous japanese punk rockers. Featuring powerful female vocal and excellent original songs. This CD should be thier best release. Also they plays cool covers from Jeff Dahl, Crystals and more. Killer!

GREY SPIKES/YEAR ZERO CD «:.2coi06)

Brand new CD from LA's hard hitting punk rockers. They are much better than before. Cool and powerful vocals and wail of guitars! Including 16 stompin’ toons and a hidden cuts. Wow It’s really great punk Holly Shit

V/A - HODGE PODGE & BARRAGE VOL.3 CD a1.2cv0s6)

Also a long waited punk/garage compilation CD. We've just put out at last. Including 24 our fave bands from raw punk to surf to pure pop. Totally FUN! feat. Humpers, Scratch Bongowax, Resistrators, Jetboys, Bum, Campus Tramps, Pussy Crush and more.

SATOR/I'M GONE EP (22104

Hailing from Sweden. Sator is one of the best swedish punk rock bands. Great singing, hot guitars and driving rhythm It's amazing! This new ep has 3 coolest rockers. A must,

SCRATCH BONGO WAX/HUMAN BEAN EP ,,.2:r023,

Brand new 3 songs EP from Southern California beach punk kings. Thier CD/LP on 1+2 and several 45's on various labels are very praised everywhere. We recommend to listening for all punk rock fans a lot. Title song are from thier forth coming CD on April

great repress

NOMADS/MADE IN JAPAN CD 1+2CD086) Recorded live at Pet Sounds Bar, Stockholm July 27, 1994

Since preciuos few people reading this actually live in Sweden, this is the very best way to have a Nomads gig in your very own home whenever you want. An excellent set recorded in Stockholm in "94 (despite the title) this is what I fucking crave; The Nomads the way that Odin intended: Live and raw! Hits upon hits, from “Primordial Ooze” to “Surfin’ the Bars® to "Rat Fink A Boo Boo®. Lots of ccol covers too, from The Lyres “She Pays the Rent* to Wipers "Better Off Dead“ to “Fan Club® by the Damned. Sit up and take notice goofy gimmick bands! Two guitars, bass, drums and some Marshall stacks on ten, n0 frills or pretensions, this is the real shit - Gearhead #4

742 RECORDS http://www. butaman.or.jp/USERS/~optrec/ Clean Nishi-Shinjuku Bldg, Nishi-Shinjuku 7-5-6, Shinjuku-Ku, Tokyo 160 Japan Call 03-3363-4730/Fax 03-3361-5169 E-mail barn@butaman.or.jp

Distributed by Get Hip Inc. (USA) Fax (412) 231-4777

KEROSENE 454 LP/CD $8.00/$9.00

METAMATICS LP $8.00

REGULATOR WATTS 2 SONG 7° $3.00

above prices already

include US postage

SLOWDIAIE PO BOX 414

ARLINGTON, VA 22210

please make money

orders or checks

payable to JL Carrera

Mpls., MN 55408

i iN 3010 Hennepin Ave. $. Sute 128

For more UJM fnfo, songs and CO's check out

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P FLAMEN ceo W/AYMON @ TIMBSDAYLE (EWLAND

YEAH, I L{KE TRON BUTTERYLY Se WHAT?

‘ i * ABBASOLUTELY-A Flying Nun Tribute To ABBA" (Flying Nun) I was telling people this was bad - because come on, it had to

be - before I even heard it. Then 1 listened and it wasn't. Actually, it was good, and the liner notes alone deserve 4 stars.

Able Tasmans “store in a cool place” (Flying Nun) Perfect blend of unpretentious Garage Psyche and NZ pop. Able indeed.

acoustic junction (planet records) This gave me badness chills.

The Adventures of Monkey comix ($1.50, 1411 South 14th St. Prarie du Chien, WI $3821) A monkeyrific comic about a sock monkey superhero/president. Did I say *monkeyrific” yet?

Agression “Don't Be Mistaken” (BYO POBox 67A64 LA, CA 90067) Saw them in Denver in 84 and they were really & Similar to Guttermouth, except not mediocre. Sense of humor, akateboard themes and skateboard scenes, what else could you need. "Intense Energy” was the greatest skating song of Orwell's year!

Travis John Alford Band "Lucky Pierre” (World Domination) Nice. Yet naughty, too. Pretty...yet dangerous.

All You Can Eat “Ballinger” (Little Deputy POBox 7066 Austin, TX 78713-7066)Almost more than I want to eat, but the Mormon revenge song puts this over the top.

the almighty ultrasound "sonic boom” (Countdown/Unity 207 ashland Ave Santa Monica CA 90405) the all-flacid boringsound.

The Alphabet Farm by Missy Kulik (25 Longvue Circle : Ambridge PA 15003) No one is punker than Missy, because while everyone else is writing music and murder zines, she's doing ‘ children's coloring alphabet books...with no irony or sarcasm! This is just lovely, Missy is my fave!

The Amazing Royal Crowns (Kingdom POB 28605 Prov. RI 02908) Amazing is right! The least boring Rockabilly band in America...'cause they feul inject punk, drag and organic Gretsch- ism. I listened to it 10 times in a row!

Amnesia “Cherry Flavor Night Time" (Supreme/Island) The movie "The Trip" would have been better with this as it's soundtrack.

Angry Women In Rock Vol. 1 edited by Andrea Juno (uno Books) This compilation of interviews with women associated with Rock would have already qualified as brilliant simply by fearuring the story of Fanny, one of the best bands ever, and one who I've been jonesing for info on for years. A bakers dozen other excellent pieces, though, elevate this to must read status. The disparate voices, from Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500) and her bluntness in accepting herself as an artist who exists because of privilege, toa herb-smoke engulfed Chrissie Hynde, as always, casually willing to make arguably insane statements (“inherently [chicks] don't have the aptitude for it"{playing guitar}). The editor's chameleon-like ability to somehow be down with whoever she's talking to no matter how oppisitional their view is to the last interviewee she just was down with is actually a really positive thing, as the text becomes conversational in a very revealing way.

Another Probe 7 inch With a Girl On The Cover (Probe POB 5068 Pleasanton, CA 94566) Probingly punk.

ANTI-FLAG "Die For The Government” (NRA POB 210501 SF, CA 94121) ANTI-BAD! So punk they shit safety pins and it just makes them angrier.

Antiseen “Here To Ruin Y our Groove" @®aloney Shrapnet POB 6504 Phoenix, AZ 85005) This will cover you in scum, digest you and poop out the remains.

Antiseen "Thanks Alot" (142) If you're a vinyl junkie, these are brilliant tracks from the "Hell* CD that weren't on the “Hell” 10".

The Art of Noise "The Best Of, “The Fon Remixes”, “The Ambient Collection" "The Drum and Bass Collection"(China/ discovery) US reissues of the first three and the fourth is new. If there's any group that logic justifies continuous remixes and the like, it’s this one. Sadly, the Best Ofdoesn't include the brilliant debut single. The reason to celebrate this stuff is that the focus of this group was never to sound wierd, but always to sound like a hit tecord!

Ashley Von Hurter and the Haters "f.b.i." ep (Baby Doll Records 2160 Mineral Springs Ave #7C North Providence RI 02911) Ms Von Hurter is not merely a howter, but an incredibly gifted — song stylist who does for fury and disgust what Carmen McRae did for style and elegance. Besides the fact that this is one of the best records I've heard ever, I can't really think of anything else to say about it.

Back of Dave/Prozac Memory split LP (SubFusc POB 9631 Dower Grove, IL 60515) They don't sound alike, but both bands sound dark and eerie, but more aggresive than gloomy.

Backsliders “Throwin Rocks At The Moon” (Mammvoth/ Atlantic) A rootsrockin’ rodeo of Barroom brawlin' asswhoopin' Americana!

Bad Brains "Black Dots" (Caroline) Unlike the ROIR cassete reissue, where I believe some kid who wasn't around might not be able to realize how good it actually is without having the proper perspective, there is no way to deny how amazing this stuff is and how great a fucking band Bad Brains was.

Bailter Space (Turnbuckle 163 Third Ave suite 435 NYC 70003) This constantly changing combo has embraced their surname, eschewing the Bailter and declaring Space the Place. Bravo!

The Bar Feeders "I Smell A Roast" b/w °Vomiting" (Axhandle 1827 McAllister St. SF, CA 94115) The speedy gorging that would be done after the A side's title resulting in the B side's tide is done musically.

The Basement Brats “Curse Of The Brats (1+2 Clean Nishi- shinjuku, Nishi-shinjuku 7-5-6, Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 160 Japan) What can you do with Brats like this? Beat out the rock, beat out the rock, beat out the rock with the Basement Brats!

Bedouin Sound Clash (ROIR 611 Broadway suite 411 NYC 10012) [ like intemational dub because it proves all men are equal. Where ever it’s from it all sounds just the same!

Below Sound "Bow!" (POB 69496 Seattle, WA 98188) Above bad.

beware of clevo “stereo-boss insomnia” (Tryst 610 S. Dubuque St. Iowa City, LA $2240) Stereo cure for insomnia.

Big Monster Fish Hook “Collective Bugs & Pieces” (milkcrate pob allston, ma 02134) GOD!

The Bimbobs (2252 N. Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60614) Romance music for people with love in their hearts! Timeless pop.

bis “this is teen-c power!" (Grand Royal) I guess I'm a sucker but this is Adorable-Core, and the songs are actually really nice and good, It's Ice Cream Rock.

Blacklight (24 Sunbeam Ct. St. Peters, MO 63316) This is every ride at the fuckin’ amusement park!

black tape for a blue girl “remmants of deeper purity” (Projekt box = Garden Grove, CA 92642) Like the chanting monks go mellow.

Blitz Babiez “Thought Soawn” (OneFoot POB 3834 Cherry Hill, J 08034) Pure blitz.

Blood-Gin “Love Under Glass” ep, "Everybody's Punk Rock" ep (VML POB 183 Franklin Pk. DL 60131) Biafresque vocals over angular punk that teeters on perkiness.

Blue Meanies 10" picture disc (Thick 916 N. Damen Chicago, IL 60622) As fun as the clown on the vinyl.

Bollweevils "Weevillive" (Dr. Strange) Document of the show that got Bollweevils banned from the Metro. Angry liner notes and funny Alex Wald Misfits take off sleeve justify this purchase.

The Boss Martians "The Mortician” b/w "My Ford Sedan” (Roto- Flex POB 64252 Calgary AB Canada T2K 6J1) If this were any bosser I'd report my coworkers to it. The "A” side killed me and the "B” drove me wild!

The Bottomfeeders "Porm Star Haircut” b/w “The Bag” (Get Hip Columbus & Prebles Aves Pitts, PA 15233) Didn't just feed me this Rock, stuffed it down my throat!

Bracket “Eis for Everything” (Fat POB 193690 SF, CA 94119- 3690) Sound like Journey.

Braineaters reissue (Super Electro POB 20401 Seattle WA 98102) It's pretty easy to understand why this is the fave Vancouver punk record of the cats who reissued it. As raw as that haunted house Misfits single, as vile as the Viletones and al] wrapped up with pogo-able bounce. Vive L'Braineaters!

Dennis Brennan “iodine in the wine" (Upstart) This takes you from backroad drunk driving rock to front porch thinking songs.

Casper Britzman/Page Hamilton “Zulutime” (Atavistic POBox 578266 Chicago, IL 60657) I don't need this CD, all I have to do is skip my medication and I hear the same thing.

The Buck Fifty Boys (Tec-Tonic POB 582114 MPLS, MN 55458- 2114) The Fuck'n Nifty Boys!

Buffalo Speedway zine ($2, 3477 N. Broadway Ave. Box 112 Chi TL 60657) ['m suprised to see something this good come out of my own hometown. Art reproductions that suitable for framing, writing thar's engaging and a few ambitious things that don't work for me, but I admire anyway. And howl-arious comix! A gem!

Buford "Pedal on” ep (noise patch POB 1646 Redando Beach CA 90278/Elastic POB 17598 Anaheim CA 92817) They're making Bufordful music together!

Buford/Sleepasaurus split 7" (noise patch/Mother Box 60 Denton Ave East Rockaway NY 11518) A double sided rock'n'roll rollercoaster!

Ken Burke & J.R. Oliver "Dr. Iguana meets the illbilly monster*

(Ilbilly POB 924 Blue Ridge, GA 30513) Ol’ school roots that rip up and rock!

Johnny Cash “Unchained” (American) Imagine Johnny Cash meets Tom Petty...ch, now you don't have to,

Cavity/Daisycutter split (Starcrunch) Evil and "fuck"-filled.

Simon Chardiet "Bug Bite " (Upstart) Pure maniacal genius! I'll have what he's hotel —

Cheater “Experience All The Hate” (Stiff Pole POB 20721 St Pete FL 33742) This record will do for Santa Monica what “Nevermind” did for Aberdeen!

Chevy Heston "Come To Sterilized” (Cherrydisc) Better than Elvi Costello.

Chisel “the guns of meridian hill (Gem Balndstien POBox 356 River Edge NJ 07661) Chisel sizzles!

Chokebore "A Taste For Bitters" (Am Rep 2645 First Ave. South MPLS, MN 55408) Genius-bore.

Christdriver "Everything Burns” (Profane Existence POB 8722 MPLS, MN 55408) Burns with fires of anger and evil.

Chrome Cranks/Psyclone Rangers split 7” (World Domination) Two outstanding workouts by bands I don't normally like.

Chronicles Of Disorder: Patti Smith zine($2, POB 721 Schenectady NY 12301) Zine overview on Patti's career, from the practical (discographies, etc.) to he personal (poems and essays reflecting on Patti and her work.)

The Clarke Nova "Highway Star” ep (Man's Ruin) RAWK-ous! This will burn your muffins.

Coal “how the crow came to be black” (mood food 1381 Kildaire Farms Road, suite 246 Cary, NC 27511) Better than The Crow soundtrack,

Cobra Verde/Leaving Trains split 7* (Get Hip) Trains kick som. righteous ass in this battle of the bands!

The Cogs "Macho” (Bear JAF Box 444 NYC 10116) In-COG- neato!

Bobby Conn "Never Get Ahead” b/w "Me, Most Of Ail” (Truckstop) Bobby draws from The Jackson § and Burt Bacharach in a manner not so much derivitive as it is churchgoing. That is to say, the pews Bobby sits at on Sundays are in the houses of the musical showbiz holy, and he is devout. Yet amazingly, he sees no contradiction in simultaneously being a loyal congregation membe: and nailing a document of protest and rebirth to the church door. There's no "Con" about it, Bobby, you're for real!

Cranes "Population four” (dedicated 580 Broadway Suite 1002 NYC 10012) 4AD-esque stuff with a singer who sounds like the Mars Attacks aliens providing more shrill than thrill.

The Creamers “He Needed Killin” ep (1+2) Wicked punk...makin’ violence fun again!

Creamy ‘Lectric Santa “da bronx sity chiken machine VOL. 0.” (Starcrunch POB 9152 Coral Gables FL 33124) Revenge of the iv who got- and deserved -coal.

Crescent "Now" (Atavistic) Crescent are on a roll! This sounds

Crumbox “Resucitation” b/w "Novacaine”, "Resident Double U" (Time Bomb 219 B'way #519 Laguna Beach, CA 92651)) I thought the Bex band phase was over. [liked these more than Crumb

would have,

Dave Day "1 Want To Be Free” ep (DD Records 201 Thomas Ave SW Renton, WA 98055) Dave was the rockabilly of the monks, and here he finally gets to cut loose with his fellow monks as a backup band. “Don't Ha Ha’ is a classic.

The Delstars “Peel Out With...” (Swizzle POB 68-4586 Austin TX. 78768) Take a pit stop that's more drag than surf...and it looks good in drag! At 33 it’s Dick Dale, at 45 it's Chip and Dafe!

delta haymax (Tooth & Nail) I don't know who's supposed to like this, but it ain't me.

Dirty Three “Horse Stories® (Touch & Go) Amazingly falls between Neil Young and Deliverence by making the violin squeal like a pig, than it lulls that same pig to sleep

Disarray “Bleed” (NRVD POB 975 Dickson, TN 37055) Tennessee might be The Volunteer State, but I don't want to know what these brutal youth would volunteer for. Post-Metallic thunder’

DJ Shadow “Introducing...” (Mo Wax) Combine “Paul's Boutique” and the first Cypress Hill, take out the raps and add a hundred more samples and you have an awesome masterpiece.

Dodgy “Free Peace Sweet” (Mercury) Inspiring!

Donuts N‘ Glory “When Pregnasaurs Ruled The Earth® (Liberation 6633 Paseo Del Norte Anaheim, CA 92807) Great art direction.

Dragstrip “Reaction Time” (Shredder 75 Plum Tree Lane #3 San Rafael CA $4901)I'm dizzy on diesel fumes and ready to lap up

more!

Drain S.T.H. "Horror Wrestling” (936 Broadway NYC 10010) It drained my inhibitions! And will to live,

The Dusters "Forest Fire” b/w “Seventeen” Superbad POB 21313 WDC 20009-1313) It's as clear as the vinyl it’s pressed on---they dust my broom!

Dutch Harbor: Where The sea Breaks Its Back-Original

Motion Picture Soundtrack For A Film By Braden King and Laura Moya (Atavistic) Treads dangerously close to "Post Rock”. and the waves even crest near "Kraut Rock” rocks. Still, this is more interesting than you'd suspect a largely improvised record could be, as the structure remains really solid and swordfighting and wanking is avoided. Also includes an Oidhar/O'Rourke piece for their completionists.

Dystexic Apaches "Fake Angst & the Teenage Blowtorch (Fuse POB 578497 Chi IL 60657) Sega video game TV ad punk.

Ebola Soup (Vaccination Records/Commercially Challenged Box 3073 San Leandro CA 94578) If you play this record backwards it tells you to brush your teeth and do your homework.

88 Fingers Louie "The Dom Years" (Fat) Mediocrity down to a is ies

Eleventh Dream Day “eighth” (Thrill Jockey POBox 476794 Chicago, IL 60647) I can't think of anything funny to say. This is really good, diverse, enjoyable, accomplished music,

Engine 88 "Snowman" (Caroline 104 West 29th St. NYC 10001) Not descended from “Rocket 88”.

European Hardcore The Way it Is compilation (Lost and Found Bunteweg 1-30900 Wedemark Germany) The way it is is awfully tolerant. While some bands here are hardcore as in hard to the core, serious, humorless and asskicking, there's also poppy, wimpy, simpy stuff side by side. The poppystuff actually outnumbers the hard stuff, but as that type of music goes, this stuff has no inferiority to the US stuff. Hardcore or not, you have to dig Gigantor's song, cause it's called “My Dad Looks Like Lemmy”.

Evaporators "United Empire Loyalists” (Nardwuar POB 27021 1395 Marine Dr. West Vancouver BC V7T 2X8 Canada) Saluting Sammy Davis Jr's "NOW!" LP cover and beaming with Canadian Pride would have sold me on this already, but actually being the fatter platter that MATTERS, and rock and rollin’ with enuf cajones (oops, wrong border sharing nation) to offset even Nardwuar’s (genius?) annoyingness, gives this 299. You can dance to it.

Everrready "El Vato Loco” (Cool Guy 10140 Gard Ave. Sante Fe, NM 90670) Sounds like punk rock!

Ex-Action Figures (Mafia Money POBox 8562 Madison, WI 53708) They're from Wisconsin, but they're not bad...they’re good.

Marianne Faithfull “20th Century Blues" (RCA) It's very hard to be critical of dramatic interpretations (are any other kind possible) of torchy Weill selections sung with single piano accompaniment before an adoring audience. This is 100% what it is, and it's very successful at that. Was I moved. No. But her voice does have a lot of weirdness that totally fits the material.

Faust/Tony Conrad (Table Of The Elements) Makes unwanted guests leave.

Felt Pliotes "Wonderful Summer® (Spit and a 1/2 POB 18510 Denver, CO 80218) Can't beat nice songs. can ya?

50 Gumballhead The Cat Fans Can't Be Wrong minicomic (S!. Rob Syers POB 25925 hicago, IL 60625) One word: Pure genius‘

Fireparty (Dischord 3819 Beecher St. N.W. WDC 20007) This Bnit-girtrock inspired DC-girtrock always teetered on the edge of artsy fartsy and good, and in the nice mood I'm in now it's dpping goodwards.

“Fire In The Mountain: Reggae Celebrates The Grateful Dead” (Pow Wow 1776 Broadway NYC 10019) THIS IS GREAT!

Fireside "Do Not Tailgate” (American) I feel a litte bad hearing something terrible and knowing I have to write about it thinking how someone made this and this might hurt their feelings. But, you know. this isn't a catalogue.

Firewater "Get Off The Cross...” (Jetset 67 Vestry St. Sth Fl. NYC 10013) A cabaret featuring a bouncy, lurking heap of music!

The Fixtures "Devil's Playground” (POB 16283 Encino, CA 91416) Like Jello shaking really fast.

Flatter zine (POB 40608 SF. CA 94140-0608) My thoughts on this can be surumed up in my opinion of the motto "The Journal Of Oblate Tuffery": I don't understand what that means...but I think I love it!

The Flim Flams (VML) Flam-tastic! Video game keyboards on "Lickety Split” and New Wave pop-osity throughout make this Flimmer a winner!

Flygirl zine ($6, POB 786 Flagstaff, AZ 86002) Strange mish mash of writing and drawing by underground “name” figures, like Billy Childish and Gene "Mantis" Booth, and a bunch of folks who are either regular civilians, or too hip for me to identify. The whole thing has an odd rorshach (the test. not the band) feel to it.

Flywheel “dirty on the shovel” (Spit and a 1/2) They should change the name of their country from New Zealand to New Hilland

Forbidden Dimension "No Sleep ‘Til Altamont” (Roto-Flex) Cover material for Famous Monsters of Rockland!

Fortune & Maltese and the Phabulous Pailbearers “Konquet Kampus" (Hillsdale POB 641592 SF, CA $4164) This record is good in every way. It's fun, it's educational, you can dance to it. it excellent makeout material...and it's so hot it's a wonder the vinyl doesn't melt!

Frontier “Recorded live at the Empty Bottle 7.23.96" war 2348 W. Cortez Chicago, IL 60622) Are these guys phases what? Staring at the kinetic cover and listening to the first

movement of this ambient/chaos opera will save mucho drug dinero

for the thrifty fiend.

Bobby Fuller “El Paso Rock Early Recordi 3 Vol ba POBox 646 Cooper Station NYC 10003) Hsing aiheioe commercial stuff, I never quite understood (besides, of course, the appealing scent of tragedy) why Miriam of Norton/Kicks was 20 Pumped on Fuller, devoting countless hours of research and a encyclopedic amount of space in her zine to him. Then 1 heard this. ¢ early works, closer to the vision and passion of Fuller, are completely excellent, some of the strongest anglo Texas Rock&Roll you could want to hear. I don't even want to try to compare with the stellar liner notes, so Tl leave the bio stuff to Miriam, but to sum it up-Y OU HAVE TO HEAR THIS! Buy it today.

Funeral Oration (Hopeless POB 7495 V. you get this it's your Funeral...and you'll wane Sen

Fury IIf “Car Crash” ep (Direct Hit POB 496946 75049) More style than fury I'd say. Perhaps even pai “=

Kenny G. "Moment" (BMG) The modern day Trane pays tribute to

his idols Albert Ayler, Frank Wright, Archi i Dolphy. Nice covers, but a bit fiat, rie oe si

Galaxy Trio "Cocktails with Gravity Girl" bw "Hot Link’,

“Sheriff Boy-R-Dee” b/w "Abduction at C whoy " Eye Pleasing Alex Wald covers wrap arouisid pachassn ik a

reinterpertations of “Space Cowboy" by Steve Miller.

Gas Money "Two Women" b/w "Her Love Rub More "Honey Don't” than “It’s a stone eayaiiord oe

Gator Strikes Again comp (Overtime Station B ox 402 Mesepequa Pk NY 11762) The always bizarre and suprising gon Acrogator and Agent 3 lead a couple of other like minded lunatics on a mission of a musical madness!

Geezer Lake “King Frost Parade” (Thick) Challenging.

BY ART Paul Schlossu

generation Latex zine ($.99, 70 Victoria Blvd Kenmore, NY 14217) Flavoeful, youthful and laugh filled.

Ghost “Lama Rabi Rabi" (Drag City POB 476867 Chicago, IL 60647) This is an amazing example of sonic artistry. A psychedelic treatment of traditional Japanese music that sounds as good as anything you could want to put in your ears.

Ghost Ship comix (Slave Labor 979 S. Bascom Ave. San Jose, CA 95128), Spectacles comix (Alternative Press 611 NW 34th Dr. Gainesville, FL 32607-2429) Jon Lewis, whose fable-esque True Swamp comix put him on the critcal map, is one of the comic wortd's most interesting writers, visually and word-wise, but I have to admit, when I got his two more recent works I made a mistake. I read the extremely accesible stories-of-life Spectacles first. Picking up Ghost Ship next I was baffled, I couldn't figure the shit out at all. However after cleansing my brain I boarded the ship again and found these surreal pirate semi-narratives superlative. Better than Casper comics!

The Gibson Bros “Columbus Soul 85” (In The Red 2627 E. Strong Pl. Anaheim CA 92806) This is the barebones skeleton rockin’ music that you gotta be kinda drink to make and kinda drunk to like, but i's a mythical moonshine drunk, not a Zima buzz!

Girt “Triple Limes” (Direct Hit POB 496946 Garland TX 75049) You go girl...and keep going.

Gone Got Wretched comp. w/Penthouse, Delta 72, Dura Delinquent & Monkey Island (Butchers Wig) Monkey Island and Delta 72 tag team w/bluesy rockers to take out the other two duller opponents in this battle of the bands,

Good Riddance/Reliance split 7 (Little Deputy) This battle of the ihe papa bolas ae SO . J

Gotohelis "Six Pack & Race Tracks" (Stiff Pole POB 20721 St. Percrabine, FL 33742) They might go to hell, but they came to

Great Big Beef comix ($1.97, POB 577699 Chicago, IL 60657) Meat as pornography.

Grither "The First Man On The

wae Boston, MA 02199) Very Grithy, Cherise POBox 990824

Guitar Wolf "Missie Me!" (Matador) The sav th i f v agery...the hunger...the wiles of this Particular distortion fiending lupine proto- Gene Vincent/L ink Wray/David Hasselhoff from the land of the mene rockin'-sun, are all too powerful too describe in print. W00000000000000000!

Handsome (Epic) Bland-some.

Harlington A.D. (Laundry Room 1002 Aurora Ave. N #337. Seattle WA 98133) This is the worst CD I've he :

Harry Carey "My Go-Cart' b/w "Big Folks (Don't Fly Rockets)" Reserva von POB 7374 Athens GA 30604) It could beige At NOt,

Thee Headcoats "Knights of the Baskervilles" (Birdman 1409 W. Magnolia Burbank, CA 91506) Sure lots of bands can spew out product, but for a combo this prolific to actually have so many catchy winners on one disquette is a mindblower. If you found "Knights of The Baskervilles" or "What Y ou See Is What You Are” ona scratched up 45 with the label faded off in a thrift you'd think you'd found an authentic holy grail!

Helio Sailor! zine ($2, 207 Sullivan St. #5 NYC 10012) Loose lips might sink ships, but if you want to get on deck of a hep little music mag, sink loose change these seamen’s way.

hickey (Probe POB 5068 Plasantton, CSA 94566) Unlike a hickey giver, this doesn't suck.

Bill Hicks 4 Reissued CDs (Rykodisk) Greatest comedian ever. You can play his stuff a hundred times and it's still funny.

The Hideaways “Race Against Time” (1726 W. Division #3 Chicago, UL 60622) I always have enjoyed the minimalist theatricality of this masked surf/Freddie King tribute band, but 'm extremely happilly suprised to report that the this is better and more fun than their show. The ace production (by Gary Burger of the monks), the playful sound effects, the innovative bass and harmonica timing, and the great songwriting pack punches. A winner!

High Dependency Unit "Abstinence: Acrimony” (Flying Nun) OK, I can admit that I don't underrstand the name, what acrimony means or the music.,.but I like it!

Albert Hill (Fuse) Worse than Cat Stevans.

Hippriests "Don't Know Shit* ep (VML) This Clerisy has slurred delivery!

Lauren Hoffman “Fall Away” b/w "Cold and Gray" (Slow River 16 Nichiclson St. #1 Marblehead MA 01945) College coffeehouse stuff with a creepy ghostly tinge.

Horny Toad “Thirteen” (Domo 245 Spalding Dr. BH, CA 90212) If you like to skank and shuffle, Thirteen will be a lucky number «for you!

House of Blues Opening Night-Chicago. I don't know exactly how I got invited, but the drinks were free and flowing, and so was the food (trays of Steak tartar-—-dude I'll never tum down raw gratis ground meat!) The place was celebrity stocked; I spotted Herb kent, Suzanne Sommers, some guy from “Rosanne,” LaDonna Tittle, John Landis (who was being miserably wooed by Ackroyd to make “Blues Brothers 2000), Donna Dixon and Barry Hensler (working on the stage crew, I think.) The show opened with Magic Slim doing a set. The high fiving “Blues fans” next to me were extremely pumped up, but revealed their poseur-ness pretty early on. For some reason Slim's guitarist John Primer was late and came onstage several songs into the set. This being a big show he was dressed to the nines. When my youthful yuppie neighbors saw him get on stage and pick up a guitar they were certain they were secing the night's first All Star Celebrity guest sit in, so they went nuts pumping their fists looking at each other in ecstacy as if to say, “It's himt" Some odd scheduling fluke made Slim stop halfway through his signiture song and exit the stage abruptly. Then after a long wait the curtain rose, and the packed house went insane. The stage is filled with the band from the movie, pretty much the Stax/Volt band, incuding Matt Murphy, Donald Dunn, Lou Marini (ironically the chicago Lou Marini, a Blues/Jazz/Rockabily stand up bass player, was backing Jimmie Lee Robinson in the restaurant earlier) and Steve Cropper. They opened with "Green Onions”, with Paul Shaffer on inaudible keyboard. It's usually a good idea to have the keys up on "Green Onions”. Then the ugliness began. Offstage Dan Akgoyd introduces the band in his Elwood voice, which he seems to have forgotten how to do. Then the band builds to a huge insane Soul crescendo as Ackroyd and Jim Belushi as the Blues Brothers take the stage doing “funny” “wacky” dances. Then just as the vocal part is about the begin at the climax of a building Muscle Shoals powerhouse Ackroyd grabs the microphone and..selis all the musicians to stop playing? He points to the balcony and tells a person that if he videotapes the show his camera will be confiscated, “because this show isn't for the press... TS FOR THE PEOPLE!" A confused semi-cheer rises from the crowd, 90% who are there on free press passes. I heard only 100 tickets were sold. The band then tries to get the groove back and they start over. Now first off he was lying about who the night was for and second off, anyone who stops the show at that point just when everything is in place to rock out, just when you're making your big entrance should never be allowed on a stage again in his life! The idea that the three bloated strai; including the brother of the real guy. and John Goodman?) (who wisely didn't show up), constitute the Blucs Brothers is completely ludicrous. They might as well be called the Three Fat Abbotts. Except that Jim Belusihi isn't even fat enough to be amusing. He did good physical impersonations of his brother. but with his jock build, and arrogant. goateed, gar chomping

demeanor there was none of the awkwardness, humor or danger that the real Belushi cpntained. It's funny to sce a fat guy cartwheel, and boring to see a frat boy do it. He really made me hate him. At one point when a fan in the front row held up a marker and a $40 House of Blues sweatshirt for Belushi to sign, Jimbo grabbed them and threw them into the crowd. How dare this guy ask for an autograph! Guests during the show included Kenny Wayne Sheppard (cute kid,) Charlie Musselwhite (great!,) Joe Walsh (who got the biggest applause of the night?,) Eddie Floyd and Lonnie Brooks (who both worked the room like super-pros, Brooks doing an entire set worth of guitar shtick in one solo,) an average bass player brought in for a song, who is then revealed to be Ackroyd’s brothe-in-law, a sadly shuckin’ and jivin' Sam Moore (who sounded excellent) and an oddly unacknowledged Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter. After the set ended people actually left, even though James Brown was up next?!? James of course was amazing. I love his new review with The Soul Generals band, his beautiful expressive back up dancers and his back up singers The Bittersweets, The small stage (compared to the symphony stage at Grant Park where he'd played recently) made for a very dynamic show, and I was able to avert my gaze from "The Blues Bros” when they came out and danced with their wives at the end of the James set. Final words: great tartar!

hovercraft "akathasia” (mute) Too subtle for me to appreciate w/o bonghits.

Huevo Rancheros "Get Outta Dodge” (Mint POB 3613 MPO Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 3Vs) Eggs-celent! Get Outta my dreams - and into my car...stereo!

Humble Gods “No Heroes" (Hollywood) If this was actually made by a punk rock computrer program, I wouldn't be suprised but I would think it was a great program.

The Huntington Cads “Go Exotic (Maj Tai 841 W. Collins Orange, CA 92667) Cad zooks! It's a WIN-stomental!

The Indicators "12 Ton EP” (VML) This is a GREAT record with at-n-tude, All these songs have hooks, personality and powah. All signs Indicate...but it!

indy magazine ($2.95, Alternative Press 611 NW 34th Dr. Gainesville, FL 32607-2429) They call themselves "THE Guide to Alternative Comix!”, and they are. Pretty open and intelligent in their assessment of some very diverse material.

Inflight Program Revelation Records Sampler (Revelation) Zillion band comp ranging from late 80s style h/c-light to late 90s whatever the kids do now. Some names: Gonilla Biscutts, Shelter. Texas Is The Reason, more, more, more.

Iron Butterfly-live Shades, Deerfield, IL 11/8/96. Iron Butterfly's not regarded by many as “hip”, yet their influence on 80s:90s guitar skronk (e.g. Grunge®, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Y outh and talented lesser knowns like Lithium Christmas) is immeasurable. I went ina forgiving fan, ready to overlook shortcomings...AND THEY BLEW MY HEAD OFF! The nucleus of Doug Ingle, Lee Dorman and Ron Bushy performed tasty selections from their 4 Atco LPs, assisted by newcomers Exic Barnett (g.) and Derek Hilland (keyboards). Barnett was impressive, nailing the ongnal fuzz and sustain guitar sound, no smalt feat. Ingle's vocals and keyboards were right on the mark, and he proved an affable front man, and even said hi from the stage to me after finishing "that one song” (sounded great, not too long). Bushy’'s trademark “cymbals are just props, man” thumping drum style hasn't fost its spark. Four very good new numbers were well recieved and Iron Butterfly tsn’t pissing around. They're quite possibly better now than in the day (better living without chemistry?) and they were fucking AMAZING. Now if we can just get Blue Cheer playing back in the states again...

Jabberwocky “Drink On the Highway” ep (baby doll records) Jabber-Rockin'!

Jason & The Scorchers "Clear Impetuous Moming” (Auantic) ‘This rocks & rolls, duh,

Jim Greer “Lucky Day” (Honeybowl) It’s my lucky day! I got my Greer groove on

Jimmy Eat World “static prevails” (Capitol) This is agony inducing.

Joy Electric “Old Wives Tale"(Tooth & Nail POBox 12638 Seattle, WA 98111) Joy is right! The proper pronounciation of Moog rhymes with vogue, and the day masterpieces like this come back into vogue will be a day of glory!

Joystick "Heavy Chevy” (Lobster POB 1473 Santa Barbara CA 93102) Miserystick.

Jugos Lixiviados “Soccer Sucker" ep (Alehop Abrevaderv. 20 Villaviciosa de Odon 28670 Madrid) It might be spew. but what they're saying is true!

Candye Kane “Knockout” (Antone’s/Wamer) Though her big breasts paid the bills for years, it’s her big bluesy pipes filling the bill here. Sweet,

The Kent 3 double 7” (Super Electro) Suffice to say. thery're jammin’

Kerosetie 484 (Slow Dime/Dischord POB 414 Arlington, VA 22210) Bum baby burn!

The Killer Bagel ($1.50 Michael Goetz 2124 Anzona Ave Rockford, IL 61108) This crude graphic novel ts either bniliantly symbolic of Jewish cultural assumulation, of it's dumb

King Loser “You Cannot Kill What Does Not Live” (Flying Nun) Surfing the Noise Wave!

King Sound Quartet "Annihilate This Week” bow "Memphis Train” (Estrus) Sets me on fire.

Klank "Still Suffering” (Tooth & Nail) Stank. knownothing (World Domination) No review. LaCry “Devilized* (VML) Peppy Punk! Peppy, yet still evil.

La Secta “Kill City” b/w “Hard Me On* (Get Hip) The Iggy angle will probobly sell a few singles, but it's ill advised, as, obviously, they add little to that song. The original is more inspired.

Latimer “livefromsourctty”, “citizen jive” ep (World Domination) Bowie {David} meets Bowe {Riddick}.

Laundry Room Records Sampler (Laundry Room 10002 Aurora Ave N suite 3371 Seattle, WA 98133) I like The Chauffer best of these bands. This label's gonna really clean up!

Lazy "The Lazy Music Group" (Roadrunner 536 Broadway NYC 10012) I'm crazy about Lazy...It's bopaliscious!

Less Than Jake “Losing Streak” (Capitol) Less Than Listenable.

Let's Talk About Girls! Music From Tuscon 1964-1968 @ionysus POBox 1975 Burbank CA 91507) This just came in while we were about to go to press, so excuse the brevity, but this document of the Post-Beatles era (The Grodes, especially) and the golden Garage era (The Dearly Beloved, especially on "I'm Not Coming back”) all barbecued with Texas sauce is a treasure. Just for the fact that their was a band called The Tongues of Truth should be enough to convince you to get this!

The Letterbombs ep (Harmless) As punk and potent as the fertilizer Tim McVeigh horded, and as raw as Ted Kaszinski's butt after using bark for TP.

Leviathan “Greatest Hits"" (c/o M.B 1448 Lake Shore Drive 60610) Though I've heard them described as The Scissor Boys, these youthful masked music scientists I would liken more to Pom movie soundtrackists of the future. You can tell they're in high school beccause they have songs about other kids they hate. Includes a triple Z grade Neil Diamond remix.

“Liberation Sucks" (Liberation 6633 Paseo Del Norte Anaheim, CA 92807) Boppy, funky punk comp with Donuts & Glory winning this battle of the bands.

A. Licht, H. Keiji “Gerry Miles” (Atavistic) Infernal noodling volume 6.

Lickety Split "Volume Won" (Double Duece) Lickety ROCK!

Lightning Beat Man “Beam Me Up Jesus" (Voodoo Rhythm Langassstrasse 57 3012 Berm Switzerland) LBM wrestles with his inner demons and comes up with the first masked wrestling garage Gospel ep.

Lightning Beat Man/T ab Hunter "The Worst Record Of All Time” (Alehop) Congratulations!

Lint “Stay” b'w “Turnaround” (Plumb 1085 Commonwealth Ave #215 Boston, MA 02215) Reminds me that eccentric housewives every so often can get on the news by devoting their lives to making little people out of dryer lint.

Litterbox “Parker” ep (Axhandle 35 Sunnyridge Rd. Spring Valley NY 10977) Look what the cat dragged in! Litter-rox!

Lizard Music “Lobster T* (World Domination) Very lizardish, indeed. Runs a, if not the, pop gamut.

LMP “Aunt Canada” (Polyholiday POB 2020 Champaign, IL 61825) The Lorenzo Music Philharmonic combine deceptively simple, or is that deceptively complex. cleverness, with the kind of pop craftsmanship that screams; “ORIGINALITY !"

The Lonesome Organist (Thrilljockey) Though. obviously, all one man bands are brilliant high art, few realize it. That is not the case with this gentleman, and Lord love him for it! An audio delicacy!

Long Hind Legs (Kill Rock Stars) Freakin’ grad school Euro- Fague, art school new wave stereo seperation innovation fiending non-Kill Rock Stars-ian something!

The Loons “Paradise” b/w “I Drain The Dregs” (Time Bomb) Loon-acy!

Loop Guru “Soulus” (World Domination) [ wouldn't want to dance to this,

Mary Lou Lord “Martian Saints” ep (Kill Rock Stars) Best stuff I've heard her do yet. with theremin there within. When Mars attacks, shes ready.

Los Ass-Draggers "Abbey Roadkill” (Crypt 1409 W. Magnolia Burbank, CA 91506) If this is ass draggin’, I'd hate to be around when these speed demons pick up the pace! This garage thunder is so fast and furious | can’t catch my breath to comment!

Los Canadians “The Kids Are Alroot" (Starcrunch POB 9152 Miami, FL 33124) No doubt, they're punker than No Doubt.

Los Canadians/Black Fork split 7" (Starcrunch) Stick a Black Fork in me...I'm done! Nice hate filled spew from the West. Los Canadians attack with the fury of simultaneous Canuck and Mexican invasions.

Los Infernos "Planet Kaos" (Dr. Dream 817 W. Collins Orange CA 92867) Check out this Disc o' Infemnos!, Or perhaps I should pun Discos De Los Infernos, as this American roots punker has some Chicano flavor to it.

Loves Ugly Children “Cakehole” (Flying Nun) Perfectly produced. perfectly controlled mayhem.

Love Spirals Downward "Sideways Forest” (Projekt) Reminds me of fairies.

Luxury “the latest and the greatest" (Tooth & Nail) Bravo to this label, which actually seems to have hit upon the novel idea, with this and Joy Electric, of releasing bands with songs that sound good If these songs had videos, teenagers would watch MTV til they had

to sit through Cinderella videos three times just waiting for Luxury to come on.

Lycia “Cold” (Projekt) This actually submerged me in a mushy sea of warmth. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

The Maids Of Gravity “The First Second” (Vernon Yard) Championed as sounding like Neu!, but m'ears hear Jane's Addiction.

Make Up “After Dark” (Dischoord) Some people don't think this is brilliant. They are wrong.

The Mants "Half Man, Half Ant All Action” (Roto-Flex) Mantastic savage bid for Mant domination of puny humans.

maximillian colby (Whirled POB $431 Richmond. VA 23220) Minimal in Dolby.

McRackins “Back To The Crack”, "It's Raining” ep (One Louder POB INW Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 INW UK) 200 releases in 0 months...and not a lot of growth. But hey, the same could be said of the Ramones and Bryan Adams (the growth part, not the 200) and they rock!

MeRackins "Best Friend” (Shredder) Make it 201.

Memphis Goons “Teenage BBQ” (Shangri La 1916 Madison Ave Memphis, TN 38104) Feral Lo-Fi hillbilly music to cool down with after a "binge". At first listen [ thought they were drunk. Then] thought they were crazy. Then I suspected genius. If you've heard of rock'n'roll you should get this.

Metal Molly "Surgery For Zebra" (Silvertone) Very contemporary! Today! N-O-W!

Midgets and Hairs “Cactus Screwbalis* (Den Mother Paige Dearman 102 Somerset Dr. West Monroe, LA 71291) A poetic grasping for childhood in the form of 4 track tape.

the miss alans “hold me close” ep Not a miss...a hit!

Momonje Y Laluli "Bufalo” ep (Alehop) I don't know what this is, but i'll take a dozen, extra large! [love it. If Kurt Weil was a peppy guy...he'd have liked this.

The Monarchs “The Curse of La Llorofia” (Flying Bomb POB 971088 Y psilanti, MI 48197) This is one monarchy that certainly ruled by divine nght! Michigan madness ranging from moody cowboy ballads to z-grade soulful stompin’!

The Monsignors "668 the Neighbor of the Beast" (Harmless) Though their music might bring chuckles with it's content and humor, there’s nothing funny about their straighforward full-on rockin’ approach! Rock on, Mons!

Moo Juice zine ($3, POB 11619 Chicago, IL 60611) Lets see, good writing. funny comix, sharp art and actually funny humor. Where's your moustache?

Morcheeba “Who Can You Trust?” (China discovery Wamer) A fine soundtrack for a Codeine buzz.

Slink Moss “Phantom Stranger"(Rattlesnake 1507 E. S3rd St. #615) Slink's best vocals yet on this great new single.

MOTO “Single File* (Mind Of A Child POB 1586 Findlay. OH 45839-1586) This document collecting a mess of singles from the last few years, proves that this band would have beaten Green Day to the catchy pop cash in, if only they weren't frumpy and dumpy and most of their songs didn't include unpleasant penis descriptions.

Motor Dolls “burning memories” (Sludgecake POB 101-4 Royal Oak MI 48068) Not as retro as you'd expect a Ml band w/ this name to be. in fact if they are trying to be a MC5/Stooges/Dolls era combo, they're failing. However, if these ladies are trying to make some steaming. nasty RAWK, mission accomplished!

ig —

> ea NOFX “FUCK THE KIDS” | RECK CHORDs P.O. BOX 193690 SANMIRNRAS

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The Chesterfield Kings, Satan’s Pilgrims, the Ti Tones, Boss Martians, Galaxy Trio, Popdefect, the Surf Trio, the Unclaimed and others play hits from their fave moviesl!l An eye-popping 3-D cover pushes this one over the top! CD - $12; LP - $9 Get It at your fave record shop or order from Blood Red Vinyl! & Discs, 2134 N.E. 25th Portiand, OR 87212 USA Orders postpaid in USA and Canada; please add $4 per order for shipping everseas

Motorhome “My Spaceman" b/w “Little Bird” (Zero Hour) I'm

dy home...when I listen to this The Original 2“No Limit Bluff ep (deluxe POB 14205 Berkely,

CA 94712) This is, in fact, original and 2! Grooving like a killer

Mr. Coffeenerves "Hot Ass” (Mag Wheel POB 115 Station R bee invasion! Montreal Pq. H2S 3K6) Cafe Olé! Otis "Electric Landlady” (Cherrydisc) I feel a little bad hearing something terrible and knowing I have to write about it thinking

Mr. Doyle's highschool newspaper class zine assignment (Norristown Highschool, 1900 Eagle Dr. Norristown PA 19403) This pack of zines was all done as a class assignment that the cool teacher made them do. Most of them are personal zines, talking about school politics, boyfriends, pop stars who's lyrics mean alot to them (so that's who's buying the Tori and Alanis CDs!) and badly xeroxed fotos. All in all these are more interesting than 90% of the zines you're gonna get, simply by straightforwardness and the fact that they were forced to doit. Mr. Doyle gets his ass kissed alot in Zine print. Good move kids.

how someone made this and this might hurt their feelings. But, you know, this isn't a catalogue.

Paper Children "Higher The Handica| Because They're Fun

To Watch® (1208 8th St. Crt. Hampton IL 61256) Nothing is punker than being 13, so this pop punk product jumps in the ring with an advantage. Funny Z grade stuff, especially the song about how they hate high school (based more on movies than actual experience...cause they're only 13!) Negative Element meet The Queers.

The Patio Collection 2 compilation (Smilex POB 3662 LA, CA 90078) Pee, dura-Delinquent and Nobody's Got Noodles are the shining stars of this furniture set.

Mr. Epp “Ridiculing The Apocalypse (Super Electro POB 20401 Seattle, WA 98102) Weird proto-historical new wave pre Mudhoney (I think) freakouts.

Muckracker zine (c/o David McMahon 6019 A Idaho St. Oakland CA 94608) This zine has a great voice, it's words and pictures really combining powerfully. Issue 4 is an excellent portrait of South

The Patio Tapes (Resoet Theory Entertainment POB 12206 Memphis, TN 38182) This prank call record could be considered

comedy, except that it’s not exactly funny, but it’s a very important Bend. IN. document to have, because it illustrates the fact that in the South, if Mud zine ($1, 74 Randall Ter Hamburg, NY 14075)Eclectic, if ia informative and funny, with a chimp farm review and an interview 7 with Sefiors Gastr Grubbs & O'Rourke. f

The Multiple Cat "A Test” ep (Zero Hour) Gave me a catnip rush!

MKXPX “Life In General” (Tooth & Nail) If you like bands that ry

to sound exactly like a dull. popular genre, right down to imitating SL the vocals of the most popular practitioner than this is for you! ZL The Need (Kill Rock Stars) As soon as needle hit Need my needs —=—= were fulfilled! ass

The Negatones "something for you” b/w “Leapin' Lena” (Torque Pony 210 Kent Ave Brooklyn NY 112111) Tweaked my Posi- & tones!

ROC OB ROLES 4s

Neurotic Girl zine ($2, 39 Lochinvar winnipeg MB R2J IR3 Canada) Youthful gril comix. Tamara's writing and timing need work, but the humor, anger and sex are all here, & that's always a good start,

New Edition "Home Again" (MCA) Makes “Popcom Love” and *Mr. Telephone Man” sound like the classics they are.

The Newlydeads (Mutiny/Bubble POB B NYC 10159-000B) This is the guy from Faster Pussycat, one of the glimmering paragons of LA 80s Metal, and instead of wussing out and going “Alternative”, he reinvents himself as a Goth/Industrial scary guy. Great move, especially when the real pop sensibilitics that were the backbone of GlamMetal creep in, like on "Skin Tight Skin".

you make enough phonecalls, you can get somebody to cut up human meat for you no questions asked. Also the Udo (Accept) tribute really gets me in my midget loving heart.

P.E.A.C.E./Love compilation (New Red Archives} Double CD with what seems like 7 hours of two million bands. Lots of big names and good songs, but this is too god damn long. If “Punk and Disorderly” had 60 tracks noone would've listened to that all the way through.

Pear! Schwartz ep (1+2) Gave me a pearl necklace!

New Radiant Storm Kings "Humicane Necklace” (Grass 72 Madison Ave 8th fl. NYC 10016) They shoulda stuck to split singles.

New World Spirits "Fortune Cookie" (Universal) I once got a fortune cookie with a blank slip in it. Think about it.

Nobodys vs Pinhead Circus split 7” (Soda Jerk POB 4056 Boulder CO) Nobodys win this (bowling) battle of the bands, with their aptly named instro “Headache.”

Penthouse/Country Teasers split 7” (Butchers Wig) Country Teasers win this battle of the bands with a spell of Rockinsanity!

Pep Rally “Deadline” (Oncfoot) Put pep in my step and glide in my

node zine (2253 Newberry Davenport, LA 52804-4122) The stride:

desi gnwork, and thin line between content and ad layout in this thing caused me to search 5 minutes just to figure out the name of

this publication. That's hardcore! Phantom Blue “Prime Cuts and Glazed Donuts” (8030 Sunset

Blvd. #174 Hollywood, CA 90046) The Urge Overiall of female

NOFX/Propaghanhi "Fuck The Kids" (Fat) If this didn't sound LA Pop Metal!

exactly like 90s Epi-punk it would be the perfect 80s punk record, 13 songs about Reagan and the scene and using the word fuck alot. Regress from Chicago do this way better.

Martin Phillipps & the chills “sunburnt (Flying Nun) He said he'd never use the name Chills again...and he lied. Sounds like a contract obligation record. Can you say “Astist Formally Known

tal

The Nomads “The Cold Hard Facts Of Life” (Lance Rock 1223 As

College Dr. Nanaimo B.C. Canada V9R 5Z.5) Euro Garage "Gawds" covering Canuck Garage obscure smokers. Basically, “Mr. Nitro, ['d like you to meet Ms. Glycerine.”

Phish “Billy Breathes" (WEA) Do you really care?

Phoenix Thunderstone “Ride Of The Lawless" (Scratchie)

Scratchie is sti i thousand...in b: 5 Norman Mayer Group "In Memory Of Norman Mayer" clus ts shi betting a in badness

(Monumental/Dischord) This got teeth. Pieces minicomix ($.75 c/o Todd Richards 715 Washington St. #2

Horicon, WI 53032) At first t thought this semi abstract comic about semi-adult sexual relations was interesting, but then it revealed itself as a bragging rag.

No Tomorrow sampler (POB 1134, 12080 Castellon Spain)Spanish sampler of some great Lo-Fi hi energy music. I've heard about enough melodic punkpop to be honest, but hearing it in Spanish is a litde more interesting, but [ll never get cnough of raw rockin’ bands like Seiior No and Los Vivos. Includes a great giant robot tribute

by Why Not to Mazinger Z.

Pinkerton comix ($2 610 SE 84th Ave Portland OR 97216) This wacky cartoon fish, Pinkerton, has hijinx!

Robert Pollard "Not In My Airforce” (Matador) Completely

Not Rebecca "Rocketship To Canada” (Johann's Face POB 479164 unoffensive.

Chicago, IL 60647) These cats sccm to be pretty good at making SOR: Prank Calis Vol 2(409 N. PCH #106-439 Redando Beach, CA 90277) The funniest prank calls are to poor saps who cither beg for the abuse or respond hilariously. This tape has the prankster calling people who totally don't fit into either category. He calls a priest, a mental hospital staff and an eccentric spiritual/scientist. All these folks are used to dealing with unusual people, and nothing the caller dishes out fazes them. In fact, the woman at the hospital and the priest genuinely, sincerely, are helpful and pleasant, never responding in a funny way, but rather with fine displays of human compassion. The caller's stuttering singer character who asks to play music for the mental patients a invited to come down and play : a immediately. The eccentric even offers to let the caller stay with The Offenders (140 West bite Bale Valais Te 60067) Unlike him. All all an interesting listen, but not in the way the arose bands who wear masks for reasons, | would assume ci A a A

shame or crimnal pasts neccesitate the concealing of this Mentors- (who comes off as an abusive heel lying to these nice folks) esque band’s faces.

The Notwist torture day” b/w "panama-electric bear” (Zero Hour) Made Noimpression.

Number One Cup “Wrecked By Lions” (Flydaddy POB 545 Newport RI 02840) Whilst they've treaded on pleasantness in the past, this album enters the realm of pleasantly challenging.

#1 family mover “Distortion plus EP* (JEFF 1132 Virginia Ave #9 Atlanta GA 30306) The indie Monkees!

Protein (Sony) Empty calories.

Pulley “Esteem Driven Engine” (Epitath) Epitath [ pow