Hey, We're Not Kidding Around -- This CD Really is Happening!

And it's gonna be a doozy. Here's the almost finished front and back cover and the CD label.

There's gonna be a credits/liner notes page with the front cover, and there's still a little tweaking to be done with the above, but basically I'm totally stoked with how this is shaking out.

Peter Lemongello, Eat Your Heart Out!

Oh for heaven's sake...I simply cannot believe this has survived.

The smart-ass flyer I cobbled together to announce our ultra-secret, first-ever, strictly for our friends, live performance in 1981.

Every ten years, a group of musicians emerge who fundamentally alter the way we listen to both rock and roll.

In the Fifties...it was Elvis, Chuck Berry and Tommy Sands...

In the Sixties...the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler...

In the Seventies...Bruce Springsteen, Barry Manilow and Lydia Lunch...

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to present

In Concert

Sept. 19, 1981 Rocket Studios (Studio B) 265 West 37th Street 944-2699 9:30-12:30 BYO

will be performing selections from their forthcoming album "We Can Get It For You At Our New Jersey Store." Be there or be square!

THE CRITICS RAVE!!!!

"A study in terror!" -- Lester Bangs, Village Voice

"I emerged shaken...a merciless dissection of the palsied heart of darkness that is contemporary American culture." -- Rona Barrett, Today

"A stinking heap of dead cod." -- John Lydon, PiL

"Sounds like an unholy schtup between Tom Verlaine and Boyce & Hart" -- Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone

"My favorite band." -- Steve Simels, Stereo Review

And I'll have you know that in the days before photoshop, this was a serious hassle to put together.

I should add that I totally ripped this off from a full page spread Paramount Pictures ran in the New York Times a few months earlier to advertise a theatrical re-issue of Ed Wood's immortal Glen or Glenda.

[h/t Susan Brewster]

Bonus Tracks of the Gods (An Occasional Series)

The Album We Never Made™ is done. Swear to Jeebus.

Seriously. The track listing is etched in stone, and the 19 selections your humble scribe has opted for -- a mix of studio, home demo and live performances -- have been painstakingly restored, edited, and refurbished from the best possible original sources by my genius pal Steve Schwartz. Who I'm taking to dinner on Thursday in lieu of payment.

In any case, here's something that didn't make the official cut, but still is pretty cool -- Gerry's "Sittin' Tight," from the sessions we did at WBAI-FM, engineered by super talented nice guy Edward Haber. Who had far more luck working with Richard Thompson on a couple of projects.

As soon as we finalize the cover art and get the rest of the production details taken care of -- which should be a couple of weeks tops -- we'll have an official release date to announce.

And here's the coolest part -- you'll be able to download the thing via iTunes and Amazon.

Ain't technology grand?

Let Us Now Praise Famous Crappy Demo Tapes!!!

A Floor Your Love update.

I'm mastering the final selections for the album on Thursday of this week -- depending on various technical issues, the album will have between 17 to 19 tracks. From live, studio, and home demo sources. All of which sound much better than they should, thanks to brilliant audio restoration by my chum Steve Schwartz.

Here's a fabulous track that didn't make the cut -- Andy, on WBAI, with a solo twelve-string and vocal version of our classic "You'll Come Around."

In any event, the album is now a definite lock for June release. And the digital downloads will be available on iTunes and Amazon.

How fricking cool is that?

Yes, We're Still Here!!!

A couple of updates, for those playing at home.

For starters, that threatened Floor Models CD is actually making progress; cover art (front and back) is going to be finalized in the next couple of days. Audio mastering will follow shortly thereafter.

And here's a sneak peak of the cover (unfinished in this version, obviously). And yes, you're allowed to go "heh."



And with that out of the way...

Some of you may know that I've been making loud noises with my now geriatric high school garage band buddies of late.

Here's an almost finished version of one of the songs we've been working on. That's me on all the electric guitar stuff, and frankly I'm pleased as punch with how the whole thing sounds.



Fun fact: All of the above was recorded in a cramped attic, using a couple of microphones, an outboard processor or two, and a laptop.

Which means that -- regardless of your opinion of the aural results -- it was accomplished with a more sophisticated technological setup than The Beatles had when they recorded Sgt. Pepper.

Tuesday Shameless Self-Indulgence

From a forthcoming work in progress -- tentative title Blame the Victim -- please enjoy The Weasels and the charmingly jangly "Beautiful Day."




The Weasels, of course, are the garage band chums I toiled with throughout most of the 70s, prior to the Floor Models getting together, mostly in a dank basement in suburban New Jersey, where we recorded countless shall we say iconoclastic songs on a primitive four-track tape deck.

I recently hooked up with the guys, and it turns out they still have a studio, only this time in an attic in rural New Jersey. There, plugged in to a laptop, we recorded the above (almost finished) track, with me on guitar (for the first time in 30 years). That's me on the right and left channels, plus the solo (of which I'm button-busting proud). Enjoy, if at all possible.

P.S.: The Floor Models CD project continues apace; the art work will be finalized before the Xmas holidays, and after a bit more tape research is concluded, the mastering for the CD itself should happen no later than early January. I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday Shameless Cross-Blog Whoring

Perhaps our earliest demo -- a home four-track of Gerry's "Wheel Comes 'Round."



From the circa 1981 David Grahame sessions.

This won't be on the forthcoming Flo Mos reissue album -- a superior live version will -- but I think it's adorable, especially the handclaps on the solo.

In any case, some other amusing stuff tangentially related can be found over at PowerPop.