Updated Updates

Apparently I misspoke when I said those Swedish radio shows -- with stuff by the Flo Mos -- had been archived. They aren't.

However, if you'd care to listen you can hear them here...



...and here.



The first one features "Enough's Enough" at the very end. The second one features "Spin Cycle" around the midway point and deejay Wayne Lundqvist Ford has some very nice things to say about us, for which many thanks.

Return of the Son of ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS WE PRINT!

A couple of updates.

1. I finally got my hands on copies of the album, and it wildly exceeded my expectations. ZERO HOUR Records mogul George Matzkov, who doubles as the label's art director, did an absolutely brilliant job with the booklet, and if I do say so myself, my liner notes are a masterwork that will make my name live beyond eternity. Oh, and if you check out the Zero Hour channel on YouTube, there are two new videos up. Words fail me.

Have I mentioned that you can buy the album directly from ZERO HOUR over here?

2. I don't know how it happened, but the album got played on a radio show out of Sweden not once but twice. Kudos to DJ Wayne Lundqvist Ford for his exquisite taste.

The shows are archived and you can listen over here if you click on the Ice Cream Man Power Pop and More show.

3. Apparently a sociopath world class putz thinks we're going to sell enough copies of the album to threaten a lawsuit. Or something.. Ain't that the living end?

Okay, that's it for now. If there are no developments between now and January 1 2014, a big Flo Mos Happy Holidays to everybody!!!

Today, I am an Album!

Courtesy of Zero Hour Records -- the world's greatest record label -- The Floor Models have finally gone legit.

Yes, The Album We Never Made© has actually, finally, been made.

And here's the new and improved back cover art to prove it.

I should add that I haven't yet gotten my physical copies yet -- they're winging their way from Australia as of this writing -- which means I haven't seen all the cool new inside art. I can't wait, obviously.

In any event, when I began the long strange trip that was compiling the CD, I never in a million years expected that this would be the end result. It's amazingly gratifying, obviously; I always thought this music had some merit and deserved a wider hearing, but the fact that somebody else agreed and went to the trouble of actually releasing it is just so great that I still occasionally have to pinch myself to remember that it's really happening.

I wish Andy had lived to see it, though. He was really the most true believer of all of us, if truth be told.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Floor Models

Courtesy of our pal/ace shutterbug Allan Rosenberg, some more hitherto unsuspected vintage Flo Mos photos, circa 1982-3.

Andy and Gerry onstage at Folk City.

An extremely gay me, relaxing between shows in my apartment on Bleecker, across the street from Kenny's Castaways.

The full band -- with special guest star David Grahame (performing Todd Rundgren's "Couldn't I Just Tell You") -- at the Other End.

That last one, in particular, slays me. Seriously Proustian, if you know what I mean.

The Way We Were (Folk City Edition)

Some recently discovered Flo Mos pictures from a certain venue that will be rising, phoenix-like, next year.

The young woman in the striped shirt is, of course, the fabulous Lucy Kaplansky. For the life of me, though, I don't recall Lucy ever sitting in with us at Folk City, let alone what song we were performing together.

A coveted Floor Models No-Prize© to anybody who can help us out in this regard.

Four X Floor

A nice live mini-set from the Other End in 1982 can be heard over HERE.

Andy's playing is stellar, as if you didn't know that.

Letter From Liverpool

Courtesy of our friend Allan Rosenberg, some absolutely fabulous Flo Mos photos we'd all forgotten about.

And courtesy of Gerry Devine, here's the last song Andy and Gerry wrote together. (They started it back in the day, but it wound up on the shelf until Gerry finished it in 2012. Andy approved of the result, BTW.)



"Letter From Liverpool." And how perfect is that?

Seriously -- I cried like a baby when I heard this for the first time on Monday. It's so obviously about us...

Andrew Pasternack 1955-2013

Just heard the news of Andy's passing this morning. I am, for want of a better word, devastated.

Obviously, all of our good wishes go out to his wife and children.

The Vault of Horror

Four previously unseen (and in the case of the Polaroids, previously unsuspected) photos of us, as unearthed by shutterbug and chum Allan Rosenberg. Who, as it turns out, is the photog who took the front cover portraits seen on the CD. Credits on the Zero Hour reissue will obviously be adjusted in that regard.

Incidentally, Allan also discovered a whole bunch of color slides he took of us during the same period; I'll be scanning and posting them in the next couple of days.

Cue Count Floyd and "very scary!!!!"

August Album Update: The Floors of Summer

A couple of brief news flashes:

1. The liner notes for the forthcoming Australian reissue of Floor Your Love -- which behoove beholding -- can be beheld, i.e., read, over here at PowerPop.

2. My beautiful and brilliant girlfriend, who art-directed the original CD (and who works cheap), has suggested we reposition the front cover photos thusly.

I concur.

3. My old chum Allan Rosenberg informs me he has discovered a humongous trove of previously unseen and unsuspected Floor Models photos, which we will be scanning and posting beginning in September. Interestingly, these include the negatives to the aforementioned front cover photos, which means that Allan is in fact the photographer of same (which we had long suspected but not been sure of until now). The album credits will be thus corrected on the aforementioned Austrlian reissue.

Kudos, Al!!!

All the News That Fits We Print

An update on the whole Floor Your Love The Album: This Time It's Personal! project, for those of you scoring at home:

Our Australian mogul at Zero Hour Records is now in possession of remastered audio and additional art elements for the official release, which will be unleashed on an unsuspecting world some time later this year, presumably. I'm also in the process of writing liner notes, which may or may not be included with the new package.

In any case, it's going to differ -- more than just slightly -- from the POJ release you all know and love, so hold on to them; clearly, they're going to become humongous collector's items worth gazillions of dollars.

Meanwhile, here's a track that didn't make the album. From the same sessions that produced "Following Up," which did. A remake of Andy's "You'll Come Around," produced by the irrepressible Glen "Bob" Allen.



This was, if memory serves, the last thing the original band recorded. I rather liked it at the time, but when it came time to compile the album, I concluded the original version we did was a lot truer to what the band actually sounded like. And in retrospect, I really can't stand that gated 80s drum sound, although obviously it seemed like the bees knees back in the day.

More updates as things develop, 'natch.

2013 Floor Models World Domination Update

Okay, here's the latest info.

The Zero Hour reissue of "Floor Your Love" is moving along. Ace engineer Steve Schwartz, who's had a couple of software upgrades since last year, is in the process of remastering the audio; I'm in the process of collecting all sorts of old band photographs and ephemera, as well as penning historical liner notes.

Also, in case you haven't heard, a Flo Mos fan in Spain -- yeah, yeah, I know -- out of the immense goodness of his heart, has posted a home-made video for "Enough's Enough" on YouTube.



Words completely fail me about that, BTW.

And if you'd like to hear a pretty cool outtake version of "Fade Into Grey," with the sitars from the Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" appended (thanks, Andy!!!) just click here.

More news as it develops.

And in Further News, Frozen Smoothies Have Just Gone On-Sale at the Concession Stand in Gehenna

Well, this whole strange two year journey of Floor Your Love: The Album has just gotten a little stranger.

Which is to say that -- unlikely as it may seem -- a guy at an Australian power pop label somehow heard about the album and has...

...wait for it...

...decided to release the thing for real.

The label is called Zero Hour and they do good work. Like this just released tribute album for The Records...

This tribute gathers a host of bands/artists from around the world to pay tribute to one of the finest power pop bands. Featuring: Bill Lloyd, Off Broadway, Dan Sarka & The Sometimes Why, Donovans Brain (Bobby Sutliff/Dennis Tek), Steven Deal, The Accent, The Split Squad, Lannie Flowers, Zombie Western Baby, Mike Dees, The Injured Parties, The Mold Monkies, The Bottle Kids, Vex and The Vextones, Words, The World Record, The Popdogs, Undecided By Default, The Cheeks and The Broken Rekkids. Original members John Wicks and Will Birch have given it their blessings.

...so it seems like a good fit for us.

In any case, we're currently hashing out the details -- the packaging is going to change a little, obviously -- and I'll keep you posted on further news as it develops.

Meanwhile -- somebody pinch me, because I still can't believe this.

Sales Update (Plus: Why The Guys Stopped Letting Me Intro Songs On-Stage)

It boggles the mind, but we have sold out our initial run of Floor Your Love discs at CD Baby.

I have shipped new copies to them -- and how hilarious is it that we actually have a distributor of sorts for this stuff? -- and I would just like to add that they make great birthday presents for the masochists power pop fans of your acquaintance.

In any case, in celebration, here's another bonus track: A low-fi but nonetheless listenable live version of us doing Nick Lowe's "American Squirm" at the Other End in 1982.





Apologies for the off-key harmonies by yours truly.

And speaking of apologies, you'll note that I introduce the thing as "a song about lice." I swear to god, I was not on drugs at the time.

WE'RE BACK (SERIOUSLY)!!!!

By popular demand, the fabulous Floor Models live at at JPs, October 15 1982.

The early show.



Incidentally, the first minute of footage, of the padlocked refrigerator, is included as my tribute to Andy Warhol.

The Masses Are Clamoring For Floor Your Love!!!

Just got an e-mail from CD Baby, and as difficult as it is to believe we just sold two more copies of the album.



One -- a digital download at Amazon. The second -- an actual physical copy of the CD, to some guy in Pennsylvania who I do not know personally.

Which means I am gonna actually have to ship some more copies of the CD to the aforementioned CD Baby, because we are now officially out of stock.

Color me completely stunned.

In any case, to celebrate, here's a bonus track -- an admittedly low-fi but eminently listenable live version of "Let Her Go," which can be heard in a studio version on the album. This one's from a show at the Other End in '82, and there are some interesting differences between the arrangement we were performing at this point and the "official" version.

He's Still Dead, But We Aren't!!!

Just got an e-mail from CD Baby -- we sold another copy of the album in Spain!!!



A CD no less, not just a digital download. Good thing I just had some more copies of the CD pressed -- if we sell two more, I'll have to make them available to our "distributor."

Seriously, at this point we're bigger than Generalissimo Franco on the Iberian peninsula. Who could have predicted?

You Could Have Knocked Me Over With a Feather...

...because I just discovered that Floor Your Love (the album) has received a very nice review by jangleholic fan Eric Sorensen over at Pop Geek Heaven, the very cool website run by Not Lame Recordings founder Bruce Brodeen.

You have to register to read all the cool stuff on the site, but it's free and it only takes about half a minute.

In any case, a big tip of the Floor Models chapeau to Sorensen and everybody at the site.

Today, the Floor Models on Pop Geek Heaven -- tomorrow, world domination!!!!

It's Our Second Anniversary: Special In Which Steve Gets All Warm and Runny Edition

Okay, it has now been exactly two years since your humble scribbler started this here blog.

Well, strictly speaking, I first posted on January 10, 2011, but close enough.

In any case, I started this here blog for two reasons. Number one, I had just had a parting of the ways with the folks at BoxOffice.com, for whom I had been toiling on a daily basis for a couple of years (a wonderful run, incidentally -- it was one of the nicest professional gigs I've ever had) and thus had some unexpected free time on my hands.

And number two, it was a way to sort of goose myself to get the project that ultimately became Floor Your Love the album going, after much procrastination. Said project was on my mind for obvious reasons -- I thought the music deserved a hearing before the musicians (including me) were too old to particularly care anymore.

But I would be remiss not to finally credit the original inspiration for the project. Which was the incomparable Willie Nile. I bumped into Willie at a Dave Edmunds show sometime in the early 90s, and the first thing he said to me was "Hey Simels -- when is that Floor Models box set coming out?" And I remember going home that night and thinking -- you know, that's not a bad idea.

So -- a long overdue tip of the Floor Models chapeau to Willie. Thanks, dude.

Has the project run its course? Not sure, actually, but I'm updating the blog today because the good folks at CD Baby have just informed me that two copies of the album were actually purchased on Friday. By complete strangers, i.e. people I don't know personally. One was a digital download, and the other the physical CD (that's a first for us, incidentally).

I realize that if this rate continues we won't be on the Billboard sales charts until sometime around the time that frozen smoothies become available in the nether regions of Hades, but still -- it's a thrill for us, trust me.

And in honor of those two complete strangers who were unaccountably moved to buy the album, here's a bonus track that didn't make the cut.

From the David Grahame home 4-track demos (our earliest recorded work, circa 1981) here's our first attempt at a song that in a more sophisticated form appears on the album: Andy's "You'll Come Around." Unlike the album track, it's actually sung by the song's composer, and while primitive, I think it retains a certain naive charm that's quite endearing.



Anyway, finally, I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who helped out with the album project, especially my beautiful and brilliant girlfriend who served as art director (working cheap, I might add) and Steve Schwartz, whose efforts at audio restoration basically made the whole thing possible.

And to my once and forever bandmates Andy, Gerry and Glen Bob -- you guys were and are the best.

Stay tuned.