Replacements - Kiss Me On The Bus (live) 2 of 2

2ND RAREST OF THE RARE...and after they swapped clothes, no less.

ANOTHER HOBOKEN - OHIO CONNECTION...

i believe i've got this right: the recent Supreme Court ruling re: eminent domain guideline changes (where a municipality can seize private property and give it to a developer) was based on an Ohio case...correct?

Hoboken, NJ is going thru an extended/terminal spurt of over-building/land-grabbing/land-grubbing. The Neumann Leather complex which houses hundreds of small business/artist spaces/music spaces (& my studio) has just been sold...and pal Rob Grenoble's recording studio complex in Hoboken is under threat from the above ruling. Almost a decade ago, Rob took a derelict feather factory located in Hoboken's Northwest abandoned wasteland, and managed to keep the doors open during the music biz's recent (perpetual?) crisis. but the city's rabid developers filled in that wasteland with largely un-needed/un-rented housing stock...and now they want Rob's space, too.

Dear Chris...

I need your help in a big way. Water Music lies in Hoboken's Northwest Redevelopment Zone, which places the studio in danger. To allow Water Music to remain in Hoboken, I asked John Nastasi, architect and long supporter of the arts, to design a new building. John created an incredible proposal that includes the 12,000 sq. ft. open air, public access Hoboken Arts Center for film series, theater, dance recitals, readings, children's activities, art exhibitions, craft fairs, music and community gatherings. The Arts Center will be on top of the studio complex and will have an interior gallery with a kitchen and prep rooms. Here's a link. The Next button will take you through the renderings.

http://nastasiarchitects.com/feature_5.html?APPVERSION=1.1

We need as many people as possible at the city council meeting. We need to crowd the room with supporters and show that the community cares about the studio and the new Arts Center. Many people within City Hall are excited because they recognize that Hoboken doesn't have any public access arts space. Geri Fallo, Michael Cricco (5th Ward councilman), Elizabeth Vandor the city planner and others are supporting the plan. On Wednesday, December 6th at 6 PM at City Hall, there will be an up or down vote at the city council meeting. Can you please be there to show support? We need as many bodies as possible. Fill your car! Bring friends! If everyone brings two friends, we'll be OK.

Please set this date and time aside. If possible, please let me know that you're coming. RSVP: 201-420-7848 X501

Wednesday, December 6th, 6 PM sharp
First floor, City Hall, 94 Washington Street, Hoboken

Thanks,

Rob

NP: The Slip/"Eisenhower" - new CD on pal Glenn Morrow's Bar None Records. strong...

PEEVE DE JOUR: women.

JOIE DE JOUR: women. and getting a new, stripped-down version of the podcast script written.

PODCAST NEWS:
- revised radio script written & filed. we shall see...

if you haven't heard it yet:

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST (v1.0) & TO SEE SOME PIX

- or -

CLICK HERE FOR JUST THE PODCAST (v2.0) ONLY























NEVER BE AT THE WRONG PARTY:

Cleveland Rock and Roll Memories
Attend the Sat 12/2 launch for Carlo Wolff's new book from 4 - 7PM at Gallery 324 (1301 East Ninth Street). http://crookedriverbookstore.com/default.aspx.

cb...where are you?






NEW JERSEY

HOT FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

so i took my son to Ohio over Thanksgiving. it was good. there is a deep pleasure in taking a City Kid out to the woods, prying him away from the goddam Cathode Ray Babysitter and into a real backyard with bugs, frogs and trees. the weather was t-shirt warm, so much cowboys-&-indian-ings/kicking the soccer ball around ensued.

and at night...the stars came out. and the lights turned on:

BLOSSOM HOLIDAY LIGHTING FESTIVAL, CUYAHOGA FALLS, OH

The Blossom Music Center is opening up its grounds to the public for the first time this winter. Sprawled across Blossom's grounds, the festival features a 2-mile drive-through of more than 300 displays. Dates and hours: Beginning Nov. 16, the festival will be open 6- 9p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 6-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It costs $12.50 per carload; $25 for shuttles; and $50 for buses. Discount coupons of $2.50 are available at Marc's stores. More information: To enter the center, take the Steels Corner entrance, west of Ohio 8 in Cuyahoga Falls.

Web site: www.blossomholidaylighting.com

...and my schedule done hotted up. here's a partial list of all that has me pulled in all directions:

- re-editing the podcast for possible national radio play...yahoo!

- NPR interview. more "Xmas Wrapping" audio ink!

- Tape Op interview has generated some interesting emails...thanks for writing. still haven't read it, tho!

- Hoboken fund-raiser for Habitat For Humanity, 12/7. the yearly Geri-Fest, with your's truly doing "Christmas Wrapping". traditions must be observed!

- one year anniversary of being Number Eleven coming up 12/17. meant the world to me...still does.

- Purple k'niF shows 12/9 at The Lakeside in NYC, and 12/15 at The Goldhawk in Hoboken

- IOJ returns!/working on 'Storm Stories' music as well. holiday?...what holiday?

- New Year's Eve Weekend Party at Dun Giggen? maybe Saturday 12/30? details to follow...

NP: Don Dixon and i have decided to take Pere Ubu 's David Thomas' great quote about there being "way to much music in the world. the best thing that musicians can do is to stop making it...NOW!" to heart, and we have declared 2007 to be The Year of the Loaf. no recording...period, and we urge everyone else to join us. no more music making until that huge pile in the corner gets listened to vs. added to. time to catch up....so please don't record anything new. thank you.

we mean this:








a meatloaf...

not this:









Mr. Loaf...



PEEVE DE JOUR: Blue Cross/Blue Shield not only lost my check, but never issued a new one for Dr. Rotator Cuff. they also seemed to have not processed my pre-cert for Dr. Bladder-Poker. man, do they suck or what?...and all for only $1k a month, and 35 minutes of attitude from the phone 'service provider'. re; medical care in the USA...in any other country, there would be rioting in the streets...

JOIE DE JOUR: listening to Trey Kay make radio. wow...cat is GOOD!

PODCAST NEWS:

lots more hist and postive comments re: Bebe Bleue.

thanks again to all the folks who've downloaded my 'radio story' about how i bought back the guitar i played on "Christmas Wrapping" after selling it in 1987.

if you haven't heard it yet:

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST (v1.0) & TO SEE SOME PIX

- or -

CLICK HERE FOR JUST THE PODCAST (v2.0) ONLY

















R. Stevie Moore & Bebe Bleue...The Guitar of the Stars!

cb...where are you?






NEW JERSEY

WE HAVE A WINNER!

WHEW...that was fast!

is it:

ELF #1 - Fri, 24 Nov 2006 8:29PM/Mark Fried?

"I'm in a sneaker store in Santa Monica. XMAS WRAPPING just came on. Am i the first? Sent via Blackberry from T-Mobile"

[hmmm...with the time difference...that would make it 3:29PM EST. but the rules say 'when i get the email'...which is time-tagged in EST. the judges are reviewing this now...]

ELF #2 - Fri, 24 Nov 2006 5:53pm/Kris Drago?

"How funny to get this today! I actually heard it today on the radio...maybe 95.5 or 104.3...I was spinning the dial and came across the end of the song..."

[close, close...but...]

NO!...the winner of the 2006 "Wrappie" Award is...

ELF #3 - RAY NISSEN!!...by a red-nosed reindeer's nose:

"I heard it today at a Banana Republic store in Vermont."

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 5:21PM

Ray will get $100 donated in his name to the Children's Book Fund at The Hoboken Public Library, plus 365 days of bragging rights.

Congratulations!

PODCAST NEWS:

and the 'hits' just keep on comin'...oodles of downloads and lots of positive responses.

thanks again to all the folks who've downloaded my 'radio story' about how i bought back the guitar i played on "Christmas Wrapping" after selling it in 1987.

if you haven't heard it yet:

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST (v1.0) & TO SEE SOME PIX

- or -

CLICK HERE FOR JUST THE PODCAST (v2.0) ONLY















Christine Maas & The Obscure Object of Desire

THE 2006 'WRAPPIE' AWARD!

it's official - the race to win the 2006 Wrappie Award starts NOW!

every year, i donate $100 to the Children's Book Fund at the Hoboken Public Library in the name of the first person to email me about hearing The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" song in a public place (a mall shoe store, on the radio, etc).

there have already been two 'spottings', which in any given year would have counted as 'wins'...but the Commercial Xmas Season started way before Thanksgiving...and that's just too damn early:

- RayBan wrote on 11/19 @ 9:25PM

"I don't know if the competition is under way, or if it's already been won, but my wife Mary Ann heard "Christmas Wrapping" in a Forever 21 store in NYC last Thursday 11/16..."

- and Charlie wrote:

"I can't freakin believe it. I was at Southpark Mall in Strongsville yesterday (Nov 5) and heard Christmas Wrapping playing at Brookstone at 12:30 pm. Am I the first to hear the song even BEFORE you do the contest? Poor, poor Thanksgiving."

Da Rools:

there ain't no rules. just don't expect to win by playing the song in your Rumpus Room, etc.

may the best elf win!

PODCAST NEWS:

thanks again to all the folks who've downloaded my 'radio story' about how i bought back the guitar i played on "Christmas Wrapping" after selling it in 1987. there's been some nibbles from pals about taking the story 'national' - we shall see...details to follow if there are any.

if you haven't heard it yet:


CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST (v1.0) & TO SEE SOME PIX

- or -

CLICK HERE FOR JUST THE PODCAST (v2.0) ONLY















If you like this podcast, please pass it on to your friends. if not, please pass it on to your enemies.

NP: Robert Krulwich's NPR piece on slowing down the pace of the holidays. my hero!

PEEVE DE JOUR: severe fog warning in Akro/Clevo. NEO's extreme weather continues to impress.

JOIE DE JOUR: lunch with Da Kid at Shaker Square.

cb...where are you?






OHIO

Fluxus Perfromance: How to Draw a Turkey by Hand

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

from Allen Bukoff

TAPE OP!

... is the only audio/music production magazine worth reading these days. yes, there's the high-end-y MIX, Pro Sound News, etc...but Tape Op is for the rest us who just want to make better recordings with the stuff we have in our home/semi-pro studios. there's a nice interview by pal Greg DiGesu of your's truly, plus i was just told that pal Richard Lloyd is in the new issue, too.

if you are interested in this stuff, a subscription is free, or wait a minute for them to post it on their website: http://www.tapeop.com/

PODCAST NEWS:

thank you all for the positive reception and huge number of hits i've received for my story about getting back BEBE BLEUE - the guitar i played on The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping" song...or how i think i got the same guitar back. a nice was to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the song's recording & release.

if you haven't had a chance to listen:

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST (v1.0) & TO SEE SOME PIX

- or -

CLICK HERE FOR JUST THE PODCAST (v2.0) ONLY

If you like this podcast,
please tell your friends & pass it on.












MORE CB YAPPING: PART 2 of "The History of Akron Rock" @ Dusty Wright's Culture Catch podcast site:

http://www.culturecatch.com/shows/cbutler2.mp3

and let me make one thing PERFECTLY CLEAR - Michael Zilkha deserves 1000000% props for taking a chance on The Waitresses. and recording a Christmas song was entirely his idea, for which i am forever grateful.

here's his comment/corrections/clarifications re: the podcast:

<

Dear Chris,

I may not have been much good at getting distribution but it was most definitely Ze and not Island who signed you. I was also quite involved in the album, restraining some of your free jazz tendencies and requesting that you use my favourite Beckett line "I can't go on, I'll go on" in one of your songs. You were definitely A & R'd, which accounts for some of the difference between the first and second albums. I had to do the same thing with August and when he left me his records became more impenetrable. On the other hand I had forgotten how much trouble I had coming up with distribution and I apologize for that. Don and David Was were just as mid-western as you were. And so was James Chance, an outsider with his face glued to the window looking in. That's what I was growing up as a foreigner in England, and the records I put out were about alienation and not belonging and trying to function and putting a brave face on it. So we were actually an ideal match and The Waitresses fit in perfectly with the rest of the acts on Ze. I may have been Euro-trash but my heroes were Bob Dylan, Neil Young, the Velvet Underground, Miles Davis and James Brown.

So sad about Karin Berg.

Warmly,

Michael>

ALL TRUE.

.............
THE 2007 WRAPPIE AWARD NEWS:

i've already been tipped off to two plays that in any other year would 'qualify' as wins, but they seem to be starting Xmas too friggin' early every year...so can we at least wait until Thanksgiving has passed before we start this???

details to follow...







PEEVE DE JOUR: catching the flu...from Ruthless @ the 1300 show last weekend? unbelievable...is EVERYTHING to do with R. B. W. toxic???

JOIE DE JOUR: over a hundred hits before noon on the Bebe Bleue site!

cb...where are you?






NEW JERSEY

BEBE BLEUE!

...or how i got back the guitar i played on The Waitresses' "Christmas Wrapping"...or how i think i got the same guitar back.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR
THE (v1.0) PODCAST & SEE PIX!

- or -

PLAY BEBE BLEUE (v2.0) PODCAST ONLY

if you like this podcast,
please tell your friends & pass it on.

KARIN BERG 1936-2006

Karin signed Tin Huey to Warner Bros./was our A & R exec. she also referred The Waitresses to Jerry Jaffee at Polygram with a "sign 'em" recommendation. never met anyone like her...smart, a true music fan, uncompromisingly PC.

i first heard of her from a book by R. Serge Denisoff. when i read in Billboard that she had signed Television, i sent her a copy of 15-60-75's "Jimmy Bell Is Still In Town" and we became penpals...never very warm, but always interesting.

her memorial was very moving. low-key, repectful performaces by Bob Mould, Marshall Crenshaw, Patty Smith & Lenny Kaye, Laurie Anderson, more. tributes by Michael Hill, Robert Guillame, Bobbie Knable, Robert Christgau & Nancy Jeffries, more.

they handed out a CD of her favorite songs. when i looked at the index, there was a Tin Huey song - "I Could Rule The World". TH was not exactly one of her successful signings...but having one of our songs on there made it clear to us that we were not flops to her. i cried when i saw this, btw.

she made a difference.

all the time.

miss her...

PEEVE DE JOUR: death.

JOIE DE JOUR: finishing a rough edit of a 'radio' story/podcast about going to Brussels, Belgium and buying back the guitar i played on "Christmas Wrapping"...maybe.



N.B.A.T.W.P.:

looks like Neuman Leather has been sold, and the status of many artists, small (and large) businesses & recording studios are in jeopardy.





SAVE THE DATE

When: Saturday, Nov. 18, 9 p.m.
Where: Fifth Floor, Neumann Leather Building, Tim Daly World
What: PARTY to raise money for the Neumann Tenants Association!
Why: Because great things are happening now with the NTA, and it's time to raise money!

Donation will be $10 per person, and we'll have t-shirts for sale. (Logo is rockin', so do your Christmas shopping now!)

A lot has been happening in the last month, and we're gaining momentum in our effort to save the Neumann Leather complex. While some feasibility studies have already been done, more serious money is needed now to take our efforts to the next level.

cb...where are you?






PEENSYLVENIALITY (travel day)

WHEN IS A CRIME...

...so Great it Shouldn’t be Acknowledged?

by Robert Shetterly

Before the votes were even counted, a strange chorus arose, like toads from the swamp, from every point on the Democratic compass --- so persistent, one might even think it choreographed --- croaking in a dire basso, “Now’s the time to work on fulfilling the Democrats agenda, not the time to hold anyone accountable for the massive corruption or the extraordinary lies that got us into this mess.” Let’s be moderate, let’s be wise, the toads all intoned, let’s don’t disintegrate into partisan bickering about who’s responsible. And, pullleeeease, don’t even utter the word impeachment. No, no, no, let’s repeal the tax cuts for the rich, raise the minimum wage, enact universal health care, raise the mileage on our cars, sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, reduce the debt, fund our schools, fix social security, and work in a bi-partisan way toward an exit strategy from Iraq. All very sensible. Every single one of those things needs to be fought for if we want to have economic and social justice. But, that’s not enough. I thought one of the corner stones of our democratic republic was the rule of law. Transparency. Accountability. We hold people accountable so every bozo with a zip gun won’t stick up a 7-11 for fifty bucks or start a pre-emptive war by lying to the people. We sent a Japanese soldier to prison for twenty-five years after WW II for waterboarding a United States soldier; we hung Adolph Eichmann. I’m trying to imagine what our response would have been after that war if the Nazis had said, “Look, we lost the war, our cities are rubble, our people starving, we have no infrastructure, don’t waste your money on some stupid, inflammatory trials at Nuremberg about the people who started this war or thought the Holocaust was a cool idea. Sure, mistakes were made, but let’s just get on with re-building.” Very sensible. Massive crimes have been committed. Our administration has ridden roughshod on our Constitution as though it were a hobbled and blind cow. What-might-have-been looks like a bomb crater. So irresponsible and massive are the crimes that the perpetrators have changed the laws to avoid being held accountable for crimes against humanity. So irresponsible that their failure to act to mitigate global warming endangers the very survival of human life on our planet. Hundreds of thousands of people are unnecessarily dead, many more hundreds of thousands maimed and wounded. The incredible debt undermines our economy and will plague our children. When is a crime so great that it shouldn’t be acknowledged? Or prosecuted? Do we pat Rummy & Dickie & Georgie & Connie on the butt and send them to the bench with a, “Nice game, kids. Let’s all be good sports and let someone else have a go at it”? Live and let live. Behind all the outrageous events of this era --- Iraq, global warming, the debt, election fraud, war profiteering, failure to create alternative energies, species extinction --- is a culture of non-accountability, cronyism, and obscene profit. How will it stop? Raising the minimum wage by $1.50 over three years might not do it. Arrogance, deceit and blatant crime are responsible for these crises. Not poor execution. Accountability is the way out. There is no reason why we can’t pass fair, life-saving legislation at the same time. We can walk and chew gum. We have grown so accustomed to living in a world of euphemism and double speak, so accustomed to not calling reality by its name, that we think there is no reality except what we can get away with, the reality that sells the product or “develops the resource.” Not true. Nature won’t be fooled. And we only imperil ourselves and our cherished institutions if we don’t hold ourselves accountable. It’s not about partisan revenge, it’s about naming the crime. Some very bad people have broken our laws, dashed our hopes, mortgaged our futures, broken our hearts, and betrayed our country. They need to pay the piper. If we don’t hold them accountable, who will we allow to hold us accountable for making things right? It’s a platitude to say that political progress is the art of compromise. We compromise in order to share as much justice and opportunity as evenly as we can. But when great crimes have been committed by our elected leaders, we shouldn’t compromise with our sense of justice. It’s hard to admit because as citizens we are responsible, too. But that responsibility demands an accounting, demands an earning back of national integrity by investigating the depth of the crimes. That’s called maturity. Our leaders have inflicted an enormous trauma on Iraq and on us. We will all be much healthier if we heal by inquiry and justice rather than repression. Robert Shetterly is a writer and artist who lives in Brooksville, Maine.

from MM in Kent, OH.

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - 40th Anniversary Celebration

THEY'RE BACK!!!!

data Panik live: Christmas Wrapping

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Billy Idol's

WHAT DOES PETE TOWNSHEND SEE IN THIS GUY?

im gonna booglerise ya baby

THE GREATEST

Bonzo Dog Band- Canyons of Your Mind

THE FUNNIEST

N.B.A.T.W.P:

Kathy Wants


from Mike B. no idea where this came from...

cb

WHEW...

Higgs sez it best...Blue Crush!

wonder if Howard Dean is gonna get credit for this...

PLEASE VOTE THESE CLOWNS OUT TODAY

...from Ken Brown/Pix-R-Us:

DIVORCE COURT TODAY

"*&#^%*^%^#%^%"

"^@&*)@"

"@#%$!#$%^&!%^*&&**"

"(#^&*^%&(#&)*(&*#(*(#_*(_#"

NP: Top Pennsylvania plays:

- a rap song that samples...er...interpolates...Bruce Hornsby's "The River" - really good work, with the standout line "i never done a crime i didn't have to commit..."

- Will Rigby/"Go Away, Go Away". my new favorite song. and "The Sweetest Thing" also kills me

- NRBQ/"I Want You Bad"

- The Black Keys on NPR

- DJ BG's comp of Clay Ground favorites. nice memories. also, her comp of The Office - the Chicago band, ntot the TV show.

- New Sugarland song. don't know what it is since they don't back announce anymore...but i LOVE Jennifer Nettles. serious twang on that girl

- AC/DC/'Rock Me All Night Long"

- Jack Kidney's CD. man, can that cat play

- Disk 2 of the "Kowabunga" surf compilation

- MARVIN GAYE/"Ain't That Peculiar" wanted The Waitresses to cover this, since you had to do a Motown song to have any chance of a hit in the UK at the time. Patty passed. that's show biz...

JOIE DE JOUR: IOJ's kind words and support.

cb...where are you?






JOISEY

UH-OH...SOMEBODY CALL THE IMAM

		[<<] [>>]
Domain Name		(Unknown)
IP Address		81.12.75.# (Shahrad Network)
ISP		Soroush Audio Visual Company
Location		Continent : Asia Country : Iran, Islamic Republic of (Facts) State/Region : Tehran City : Tehran Lat/Long : 35.6719, 51.4244 (Map)
Language		English (United States) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinME
Browser		Internet Explorer 5.5 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows 98; Win 9x 4.90)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution : 1024 x 768 Color Depth : 16 bits
Time of Visit		Nov 5 2006 1:47:57 am
Last Page View		Nov 5 2006 1:47:57 am
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://www.google.co... waitreses&hl=en&lr=
Search Engine		google.com
Search Words		sexy waitreses
Visit Entry Page		http://jammedonon.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page		http://jammedonon.blogspot.com/
Out Click
Time Zone		UTC+4:00
Visitor's Time		Nov 5 2006 11:17:57 am
Visit Number		8,784

busted!...you naughty little Muslim, you!


FLASH: NPR today (Sun) will stream a LIVE CONCERT from the 9:30 Club in D.C. The opening band is the Black Angels @ 8:45pm & the headliner is the BLACK KEYS @ 10:30pm. Go to the npr.org home page & look for the concert box on the right.

Happy listening

FRIDAY, NOV. 3rd

TODAY'S SCHEDULE:

7 - 9am

stumble around/putter/coffee up/listen to WNYC over the web/answer hate mail.

9 - noon

edit Vox guitar/"Christmas Wrapping" radio story. gotta finish this/priority #1.

noon-1pm

pick up repaired CD player at Top TV. hang out with Ernie and gather Clevo tech and industrial lore

2- 3pm

visit my Mom. try not to get depressed.

4-6pm

see Barcelona exhibit at CMA. reaffirm determination to go to that city in '07.

7-8pm

Gallery 1300 art opening. maybe see RogerBob there = yaaaay! maybe see R. B. W. there = boo. the gallery is closing...another failed Clevo experiment?

9pm - whenever

see Califone at The Beachland Ballroom. hang with fellow Huey's. try not to hit anything on the drive home.
...
NP: Will Rigby/"Paradoxaholic". WR gave me this at the Big Boo. constant play on the ol' hi-fi.

PEEVE DE JOUR: if you can't be bothered to act like a decent human being, i see no reason why i should either.

JOIE DE JOUR: good feeling re: a mitzvah re: Evie Price.

cb...where are you?








OHIO

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS

Nikki and Elizabeth took me to a "Day of the Dead" - themed restaurant, LULA'S, in LA last March. thought that taco tasted funny...


NP: Kinky/"Reina" = great Mexican rock-tronica band. saw them at WNMF's Tropical Heat Wave fest in Tampa a few years ago. the women took over the dance floor and i have never, ever sensed so much estrogen released in a room. whew....hothorneygoddessdancingwithmyselfness.

PEEVE DE JOUR: learning that mole was originally supposed to be the sauce served with human flesh.

JOIE DE JOUR: making headway on the Vox guitar/Xmas Wrapping radio story project. 11 hours of editing yesterday, more today.

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

TONIGHT!

Amy Rigby at The Beachland Ballroom in Clevo/8pm sharp











http://www.beachlandballroom.com/

cb...where are you?








OHIO

GEAR LUST #3: SPARE PARTS!

i play Premier drums. they are from England, and span both pre- and post-metric time periods. they are great drums, but they are English...which means they require maintenance. everytime i take my kit out to a show, the last ritual before heading home is to prowl the stage looking for nearly-impossible-to-find, itty-bitty parts that might have fallen off the kit during the performance.

a few years ago, there was a posting on eBay that was a dream find - a UK drum shop was closing, and the retiring owner was selling off the contents of the catch-all parts drawer...by the kilo! over the decades, whatever little bits were left after a repair, etc. was tossed into this drawer. i won all this stuff, and never regretted paying a small fortune for what amounted to 22.2 lbs. of shrapnel.

i also play '60's era Vox guitar amps. like most manufacturers, Vox took every cost-cutting corner they could find, which often meant building their stuff with odd lot fasteners, British army surplus screws & nuts and other components they could find on the cheap. nevermind that the UK at the time had a bewildering array of thread standards - Whitworth, Imperial, British Standard, British Standard Fine, etc. - that were all incompatable with each other, but got the gear out of the factory and into a music store for sale. well, this stuff ain't maintenance-free either, so the avid collector needs to acquire tap-&-die sets for self-manufacturing speaker baffle nuts, spare grill cloth & handles...in short, as many spare parts as can be found. North Coast Music makes quality repros of some of these parts, but not always to the original spec or thread size = thus one is on a perpetual search to find The Guy as in "i know the guy who has what you need". in fact, knowing The Guy is a kind of trading currency in the world of collectors - he or she with the most The Guys, wins.

and then there are the antique recording machines i also collect. oh...wait...you want them to work? well, then you better follow the Noah's Arc Rule - for every machine you want to actually use, you better have at least one extra of the same make & model to cannabalize for parts.

this is also how you become The Guy...top of the food chain...which is a very good thing to be.

NP: The Daily Show - live from Ohio State University in Columbus. they did a special Battlefield Ohio themed show, which was both hilarious and painful.

PEEVE DE JOUR: gimmegimmegimme. nothinginreturnnothinginreturnnothinginreturn.

JOIE DE JOUR: autumn at Dun Giggen (pix coming)

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

Amy Rigby at The Beachland Ballroom in Clevo Nov. 2nd/8pm sharp

http://www.beachlandballroom.com/

cb...where are you?



OHIO