Another Time: Bootlegs of My Youth

Happy New Year!

I’ve gone through my trove of tapes and I’ve decided there are no more that should see the light of day. And after only ten (not including this one)! I know. It seems like such a small collection, but there are many more. One problem is that many are either 4 or 8-track recordings that need more sophisticated machinery to play, and they would need to be mixed, if only roughly. I have the machines, but I lack the will. That just goes far beyond the scope of this little project. The other problem is that many are just not worth your time and attention, which I do value and appreciate.

For the finale I’ve decided to share a bit of an oddball cassette from 1998. It seems I decided to record NPR when then-president Clinton directed the bombing of Iraq (amidst impeachment proceedings), aka Operation Desert Fox. This is just over an hour of coverage, including a brief address by the president. Fascinating, for sure, but what interests me more is listening back to a time when NPR was still something I could turn on at any time of day and listen as long as I wanted without cringing. I know NPR has to change with the times, and there have been a lot of changes. Still, the increase in corporate underwriting spots is bad enough, but they are increasingly read like commercials. That’s only one of my gripes with modern-day NPR, but it’s one of the big, easy targets for my disdain. While I’m at it, why did they have to cancel Talk of the Nation?

Cheers!

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Happy Holidays!

I compiled the first volume of Touch Me Zoo “rarities” as a way of scratching an itch to make something new with what I had on hand after we (TMZ) were no longer creating new material. I wanted nothing to go to waste if I could help it.Calling these songs rarities appealed to my interest in artificial scarcity, and it seemed like a good way to share anything I could dig up, whether it was complete or not. Anyway, it must have seemed like a good idea in general since Brian made a second volume, and Joe followed that with this one. The plan was to continue until all material was exhausted, but three was the magic number and this was the last TMZ cassette released.

Joe put together a nice set that spans the entire lifespan of TMZ.

Songs:

Open Window (10/91) [00:06]
Steamvac (8/96) [01:56]
Jammin' Out (1/92) [06:21]
Pull the Bree (2/97) [08:37]
Happy Birthday (6/95) [09:02]
Lackajijaba (‘93) [12:18]
Full Moon Feeling (‘93) [13:15]
Arriba Terlingua (4/96) [17:51]
Country Dark (9/91) [23:16]
French Lesson (1/92) [25:55]
In The Night (9/91) [27:50]

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I like a good metaphor. I’m not good at making them, but I do like to try. In that spirit, all the bands introduced thus far are moons that orbited the gas giant presented here.

The Dead Milkmen began as a band in the early 80’s, but conceptually by Joe, who is the common thread throughout all these episodes, in 1979. In a nutshell, they were professionals who made a lot of really amazing albums that were recorded in real studios and released on actual record labels and even made some cool music videos that appeared on MTV (theyevenco-hosted 120 Minutes once!).

In 1992, they released the album Soul Rotation. This cassette is a low-fi recording of a day of rehearsals in Joe’s basement. It’s a real bootleg! I gave a digitized version of this cassette to Joe years ago, which he shared as a Bootleg of the Month in November 2005. For this project I’ve re-digitized and processed it with tricks and tools I did not have back then.

This tape includes seven songs from the album (and one I can’t identify). Most are partially played several times as they were developing them for performing live and in the studio. I enjoy hearing the banter between songs, and there is a lot from bassist David Schulthise who passed away in 2004. Dave was truly an extraordinary soul. Everyone I know in Philly is wonderful and “down to earth”, but there are a very select few who seem sort of unique in very specific way…I don’t know, they just make you feel seen and heard in an effortless way, like they’re always tuned to your wavelength. Dave really had that gift. Speaking of tuning in, he has a scanner and

Joe and I were recording a lot of music at this time, and in fact Silly Dreams was originally a Touch Me Zoo song (which, of course, you already know if you’ve been following these posts). He and I also came up with the chords & riff for Big Scary Place, for which Dean write the lyrics.

Songs:

Shaft In Greenland [00:11 - 08:00]
God's Kid Brother [08:20 - 11:00]
Conspiracy Song [11:17 - 13:58]
Big Scary Place [14:17 - 17:55]
Silly Dreams [17:58 - 21:07]
Banter (regarding heavy metal bands, Sebastian Bach, and why the latest Guns & Roses album was delayed) [21:07 - 22:33]
?? [22:34 - 24:30]
How It's Gonna Be [25:23 - 33:51]
Banter (regarding Dave’s failing bass amp) [33:51 - 34:51]
Shaft In Greenland [34:51 - 39:38]
Banter (regarding Joe’s idea) [39:38 - 41:00)
Silly Dreams [41:00 - 44:22]
God's Kid Brother [44:58 - 47:40]
How It's Gonna Be [47:49 - 52:26]
All Around The World [52:38 - 56:46]
Dave says “This amp doesn’t work anymore” as tape ends [56:48]

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If you’re just tuning in, please read the post for episode 7 to learn a little bit about The Town Managers.

I think this was The Town managers first official DIY cassette release. There is very little information in the sleeve, and the songs don’t even quite match the order on the cassette. Interestingly they used their birth names for this. All other references to TTM have them using different names: Chris was Rick Luau, Brian was Frick Jones, and Joe was Jonk Provoc.

The entire cassette clocks in under fifteen minutes, so I’ve combined both sides for this episode.

ENJOY!

Songs:

SIDE A

Jack + Fanta [00:04]
Lobster Man [02:13]
Wet Dog [04:11]

SIDE B

Secret [05:36]
Maybe [07:54]
Polka-dot Bandana Nightmare [09:38]
13 Lucky Days [12:16]

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The Town Managers was a band that existed from 1996 to 1999 (and a precursor to The Low Budgets), but they really began in 1995 when Chris Seegel moved to Philly from Maine to attend Temple University’s School of Film and Communications. He and Joe started writing songs under the name The Town Managers.

Sometime in 1996 Chris wanted TTM to play a show at his Temple dorm, so he and Joe asked Brian Sprenger to join. They officially became a performing trio. Later that year they played a show originally booked for Touch Me Zoo, who were in the process of disbanding, and thus the Town Manager’s ball began to roll.

Vern is Vern Zaborowski, who some folks might know as the touring bassist for CKY in the early oughts, or from Eastern Conference Champions. Vern engineered this session. I believe he also toured with them as a roadie at times.

Fun Fact: Vern moved to the west coast while I was working on Alcatraz maintaining audio tour equipment. I persuaded the company to hire him and they did, so I got to work with him at our warehouse/service center in San Rafael a few days each month.

On to the tape!

Man oh man, these guys were so good. When it came to performing, TTM really had it together in a way previous projects did not. I credit quite a lot of that to Chris’s enthusiasm, charisma, energy, and about a million other reasons, including the fact that he had Joe and Brian to work with.

One caveat for this episode: It’s possible this is a 4-track cassette, and the two additional tracks have vocals. If that is the case I think these two tracks, recorded live with no overdubs, stand firmly on their own and deserve to be heard as-is. Goddammit, these guys were so good! (I’m listening again as I type this).

I identified most songs, and those I couldn’t I’ve titled ??. The Town Managers portion ends abruptly at 21:46, and the remainder of the cassette is solo Joe. That’s about all I can say about that as I don’t know the songs, but of course there are some lovely pieces.

Songs:

Instant Happy [00:06]
Secret [01:46]
13 Lucky Days [03:35]
Polka Dot Bandanna Nightmare [05:31]
Slice Tallone [08:20]
?? [12:54]
Muavian Landlord [14:20]
?? [18:13]
Eyebrow In General [19:40]
Joe song 1 [21:49]
Joe song 2 [24:18]
Joe song 3 [26:36]
Joe song 4 [29:04]
Joe song 5 [29:52]
Joe song 6 [30:31]
Joe song 7 [33:44]
Joe song 8 [36:57]
Joe song 9 [38:27]

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Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting three days for: Side 98 of Sock’s Demented Songs for Youngsters! It will not disappoint.

Songs:

1) Dirty Diapee for a New Best Friend [00:03]2) Images of the Spirit [02:45]3) Dignified and Old [05:14]4) Shitsonic [07:47]5) Baby, Can Ya Help Me Tie My Shoes [10:21]

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Hello, and welcome to Sock Week!

I introduced John Sokolis & Brian Sprenger in Episode 1. They were Touch Me Zoo’s first bassist and only drummer. They had a project as well, and they were amazing. They crafted some of the catchiest and most juvenile songs of the era, and I still find myself getting a couple them stuck in my brain from time to time. That’s true, I really do.

This week I’m sharing Sock’s second official release, Demented Songs for Youngsters, from 1998. First up, the first side, side 96. That’s what it says. Enjoy, and stay tuned for Side 98…

Songs:

1) Tiny Fence Jumpers [00:04]2) Burger King Teenager [02:01]3) Casper in Poltergeist [04:39]4) Honky Honky Tink Tink [07:25]5) Going to the River [08:55]6) Screw Top Head [09:21]7) The Real Bads [11:24]

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Hello. It’s me.

For this episode I’ve chosen a little solo project from 1996. I’ll try to keep the post relatively brief and on topic (me!).

I don’t know why I titled this project dRINK dRAFT. I probably decided to resist my tendency to overthink things and pulled it from thin air. There’s evidence to support this theory in the liner notes and song titles, so read on.

It was important to me that there be no silence between songs, and I assembled the final mix in real-time with a variety of devices to accomplish that. Here are some details from the liner notes:

All songs by dRINK dRAFT except † by Tom Waits. dRINK dRAFT is Seven. Most live sounds were recorded on a Tascam 4-Track using a CAD condenser mic, a Shure Beta 57 and an SM57. Songs were mixed to DAT. Effects used were a Yamaha SPX90 and an Alesis Quadraverb. Monitoring was done through a Kenwood amp and DCM speakers. The final mix went to 4TRK Gemini 5ch mixer from DAT, 2 CD players (for sound f/x) & a cassette deck. That mix was then mastered on DAT with some final processing.

Fun Fact: I bought the Kenwood amp and DCM (model CX-17) speakers from Circuit City in Cherry Hill, NJ. Those speakers sounded spectacular.

So, that’s how I did it. Or rather that’s what I did it with. I remember all these devices, and I remember sitting in Joe’s basement playing back the songs and sound effects and everything to the master copy. I don’t remember having a plan when I made it, so in that sense I was winging it.

The names of the songs all seem dumb now, and I’m sure I came up with them spontaneously and randomly as well. In other words, I avoided overthinking it. I know! Winging it? Not overthinking? This is clearly a theme in my life, and has been for a very long time, at least when it comes to low-stakes creative personal projects. To quote myself from the first episode:

“I run a high risk of overthinking things to death. This project would likely not have happened if I pondered the various ways it could be arranged.”

I believe I actually had some not-so-terrible ideas on this project. As usual, though, they could have been developed into more complete pieces. I have always been a music sketch artist, not a craftsman like most of my musician friends. I don’t think it was a lack of discipline or confidence on my part. What, then? I can’t confidently say. However, something I do feel confident saying is that my music is distinctly mine. I always created music that appealed to me. So maybe I just like sketches.

P.S. It bears repeating that Joe is one of the most talented and skilled craftsman I’ve ever known, both solo and in groups.

Songs:

Realistix [00:04]The Shack [02:50]Bootsy My Ass! [06:27]Octave King [07:49]Wronguard [11:57]DandandandanMappmappmappmapp [15:12]I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You [19:39]Realistix Remix [23:55]Wronguard V.2 [27:05]

Notes regarding select songs:

Octave King was, I think, one of my better ideas of this period. It had more potential than it was allowed to realize. At least I have a decent recording of it.

Wronguard is, without a doubt, one of the dumber titles. It’s also a bit of a slog to listen to, but I still like it, I think because I still feel where it was coming from.

DandandandanMappmappmappmapp is a goofy title, but at least it has a reason. I first recorded it in my pal Dan Mapp’s apartment. I don’t know if this is the original version, the one I recorded on his 4-track, but I think it is. Listening to it now gives me a similar sense of tedium as I get from Wronguard, but I think there’s more substance to it. I remember it as a meditative moment of creation, and I think that is still conveyed.

I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You. What can I say? It’s such a great song to slaughter this way.

Realistix Remix is better than the first version.

Wronguard V.2 is also a better version than the first one, which begs the question: Why did I not just use these alternate versions instead of the first versions?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Greetings, and welcome to episode 3! First, let me talk about myself for a minute, then we'll move on to the cassette.

I’ve shared many of these tapes in various places over the years, but it has always left me feeling sort of uncomfortable. I haven't created music in years, and maybe sharing them seemed sort of, I don't know, navel-gazey? Now I think that logic was flawed, that I was being unduly self-conscious and self-centered. Anyway, now that I'm looking back and gazing at everyone’s navels I hope I can avoid the awkward feelings. Sure, sharing the material now, in this form, is a great excuse for me to talk a lot about myself, but ultimately it isn’t about me. It was created by a cast of brilliant characters, many of whom continue to create great music today. I played a part, but only a part.

Actually I did continue to create music for a few years after leaving Philly. Soon after TMZ disbanded in 1997 I left for a four year enlistment in the USAF, and I recorded often during my enlistment. I really, really like what I created. Except that every piece seems incomplete. I needed a collaborator. My best work, in my humblest of opinions, was during the TMZ duo years, when it was me, Joe, and a 4 or 8-track in a bedroom. There's a tidy little explanation for my discontent during the band years that followed.

The tapes I'm sharing now represent an important period of my early adult life, and I’m proud of most of what we made, with only a few minor exceptions. And some major ones where I tried to sing. Remember when I said this project is lovingly curated? Yeah, those tapes will not make the cut. Anyway, when I hear music that I created nearly thirty years ago it still makes me feel the way it did then, but I think I understand those feeling better now than I did when I made it. Maybe that is why I feel justified in turning this into a vanity project of sorts. Yet I never forget that all of the folks involved in the projects on these tapes were such incredibly generous and talented creators, and still are.

Now feels like a good time to repeat a phrase from my About page:

I’m going to listen to these tapes and write a few words with each post. However, I don’t know how I will order them, and I don’t know what I’ll say. I’m winging it.

On to the tape…

I’m really happy with how well these duo-era songs translated to a four-piece band. I clearly remember the first time Joe and I jammed with Brian and John. The thing that stands out it how easy it felt. We had a pleasant chemistry. Those guys were incredibly talented. Brian was maybe 15 at the time and was already insanely good. He is, no exaggeration, a prodigy.

Liner notes tell me these songs were recorded in Joe’s basement in June, and upstairs in July. If my memory is correct, when we moved upstairs we monitored through speakers that were placed strategically around the room (at different levels), giving some wild separations that no one could possibly reproduce. Yet somehow, perhaps with the help of liberal applications of reverb, the mixes turned out ok. It sounds particularly good through the built-in speakers of a MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) with an Apple M1 Pro chip.

Songs:

Drug Sniffin' Dog
Pop Song '92
Icky Love
Happy In Heaven
Snot
Silly Dreams
Bingo Hand Job
Call Me Back

Notes regarding some of the songs:

Snot was written very early, and I love the music…

Silly Dreamswas originally a TMZ song that later became a Dead Milkmen song and appeared on their album Soul Rotation.

Bingo Hand Jobis a tribute to R.E.M. The title was the pseudonym they used for a surprise show in 1991.

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For Episode Two I offer the B side of the master tape of Touch Me Zoo’s last “official” project as a duo before forming a proper band, but it’s actually the A side of the release. I believe we were using Joe’s brother Ben’s Tascam 8-track to record at this point. That was a game changer. I was experimenting a lot with instrumentation and recording techniques (West Philly Instrumentals are good examples). There was plenty of hard-panning & double-tracking happening.

The name is a play on George Harrison’s solo album Wonderwall Music, which had a tremendous influence on my musical explorations of this period. I was writing a lot of music at this moment (and by writing I mean pressing record and seeing what happened and then adding overdubs), but almost all of my vocalizing was reading from things like magazines (Macho Guns) and cookbooks (Cheeses), or using the occasional sample (Plastic Museum). However, my favorite songs are those that Joe and I collaborated on. I created quite a lot of the music on this project, but Joe made some of them so much better with his lyrics and vocals.

Songs:

Drunk (Now I'm Okay) [00:05]
Cheeses [02:53]
Twenty Three Cents [03:47]
West Philly Instrumental No. 4 [05:13]
It's Only a Paper Towel [06:39]
Modern World [08:38]
West Philly Instrumental No. 5 [13:52]
Icky Love [16:10]
Happy in Heaven [21:28]
Let's Play With Mustard [23:12]
Where Are They Going? [25:12]
West Philly Instrumental No. 1 [26:21]
TV Mystery [28:07]
Call Me Back [29:40]
West Philly Instrumental No. 3 [35:11]
Macho Guns [37:08]
Plastic Museum [39:08]
Wasted By The Pool [40:16]

Notes regarding select songs:

Twenty Three Cents: Thiswas written ostensibly for a children’s album that went no further than the creation of this song. I remember we went about recording it in a much more methodical way than usual. Oddly I can’t remember at all where we recorded it, and in fact the setting in my head doesn’t match any real place. I don’t know how much I should ponder this phenomena.

It's Only a Paper Towel: This was so much fun to record. I used a compressor for the drum and bass, which I didn’t really know how to use. I remember twiddling knobs to see some reaction on the LED meters, which clearly translated to the audio. I slammed it. I recorded the music and Joe wrote and sang the lyrics for it. Like I said above, he made everything better.

Happy in Heavenis the very rare exception when I wrote music for lyrics that I wrote, and then sang. That explains why it’s so short. My creative drive was almost entirely about the music, and instrumentals were my usual jam.

The sample for Plastic Museum is from a classic episode of COPS (you could justifiably refer to any early episode of COPS as a classic). Oh my God this is such a memorable moment, and of course nearly three decades later it’s available on the Internets. Here’s the clip:

Call Me Back touched someone’s heart. I know because I saw a notebook with the lyrics written on the cover at one of our live performances. I think it was a basement show somewhere in the Philly suburbs where I kicked over my amp and walked out because I felt JP’s bass amp was far too large and loud for such a small space and I just couldn’t deal anymore and… yes, I was a moody b***h.

And finally, Wasted By The Pool. I love this song so much. Unlike Twenty Three Cents I can clearly remember jamming this out with Joe in his bedroom and just feeling it in my bones. I played bass, he played guitar and sang. The words, the music, the sound of the room… all just the best vibes. This was a happy place.

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Hello, and welcome to episode number one! Let’s jump right in!

Touch Me Zoo began as a duo in January 1991 when Joe Genaro and I started writing and recording songs together in his West Philadelphia apartment. Fast forward (for several minutes) to 1994 when we added a drummer (Brian Sprenger) and bassist (John Sokolis) to the lineup so we could play live shows. We soon went through a handful of bassists rather quickly, 100% because of my shitty attitude. I’m not kidding, I was never happy. Anyway, fast forward a little bit more, and you’ll arrive at this official release which was recorded in Joe’s basement in October, 1995. At this point JP Hasson played bass. JP had a strong influence on our songwriting (which of course I bitched about incessantly), and in retrospect I can easily admit it was a really good one. I think this is a strong way to start this project.

I chose this tape to start somewhat arbitrarily – I was listening to it when I felt I needed to finally choose one. Using that as an excuse to unravel my psyche just a tiny bit, let me tell you I run a high risk of overthinking things to death. This project would likely not have happened if I pondered the various ways it could be arranged. And so, arbitrary it will be.

Look, I don’t know if I’m trying to “tell a story” here. There are stories. They’re in the songs, and sometimes between them. My personalstories are usually instrumental and sometimes a touch experimental. I know I have things to say, and I believe if you stick with this and listen to these tapes you’ll have at least some nuggets to admire.

By the way, this cassette has some bonus material after the official songs. You really should listen all the way through, with good headphones.

Songs:

Pipe Bomb (00:05)
Man of Steel (03:41)
Arriba Terlingua (06:39)
Cheeses (09:39)
Candyland (11:58)
Murder (16:10)
Philly Instrumental No. 5 (18:32)
Fuses Blown (21:04)
Seven Eno (25:55)

BONUS AUDIO (29:20 & 33:49)

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Another Time: Bootlegs of My Youth: Recent Episodes

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