Mister

Suit
Pleasant
Big Stuff
Brotherhood
Zeppelin Man
Undertaker
Lee

Electric hallucinations

TEEN BABES FROM MONSANTO was Redd Kross’ first great record. It hasn’t been available for years and you shouldn’t hold your breath waiting for a re-issue. There was an Australian tour CD with the MONSANTO songs released in 1992. That’s about as easy to find as the original TEEN BABES record from 1984. Watch ebay if you’ve got a few twenties to spare.

The Rolling Stones “Citadel” sounds like it was written just for Redd Kross to cover. Bowie’s “Savior Machine” & Kiss’ “Deuce” are almost as good. The Stooges “Ann” and The Shangri-La’s "Heaven Only Knows" are fun but don’t match the originals. There was one original song on the record, a new version of “Linda Blair” from Redd Kross first LP. (I fixed the Linda Blair link!)

The only place I had ever heard “Blow You A Kiss In The Wind” was on reruns of Bewitched. Thanks to Youtube, here it is by Pandora Spocks and also by Boyce & Hart.

I need a witness

over there

Mr.

P.C.
Moto
Machine
Peppermint Man
Bojangles
Here
Skin

And to those of you who always laugh

let this be your epitaph

I/Don't come home a'drinkin'

I used take the husband’s side whenever I heard Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)”. I figured the guy was just out having a few drinks with his friends.

Then I heard Jack Webb’s answer record. I'm on Loretta's side now. Jack’s the kind of no-good loser that gives drunks a bad name. His excuse is that he stays out drinking because she’s exhausted from doing housework all day. That's the best he can do? Jack is lucky that Loretta is asleep instead of waiting for him at the door. Maybe that’s where the b-side comes from.

Jack should take his namesake’s advice.

Jack Webb was a pseudonym taken by Loretta Lynn’s brother Jay Lee Webb for his first 45. Jay Lee also played in her band and recorded several albums for Decca in the late sixties. Webb died in 1996.

When

I put on my long white robe

Mr.

Kirby
Clean
Farmer
Chatterbox
Lucky
Jones
Big

Half of the Bongos!

When James Mastro joined the Bongos, the first thing he & fellow Bongo Richard Barone did was drive to Mitch Easter’s Drive-In Studio in North Carolina The pair recorded an LP but not for the Bongos. The songs came out on an LP called NUTS & BOLTS. There was a helpful sticker that said ‘Half Of The Bongos!’ which I always thought was funny because how many people knew who the Bongos were in 1983? OK, me - but I'm pretty sure I was the only person in Chattanooga that did.

I always figured that Barone & Mastro did the extra-curricular recordings to keep busy during the time it took to get band’s RCA contract set up and signed.

Whatever the reason was, NUTS & BOLTS is a pretty good record. Some of the songs should have been saved for full band recordings though. Others are just fine the way they are. It’s been said that these recordings were demos but I don’t think they were. Richard Barone recorded 6 songs for his side of the LP. Mastro had 5, one a cover of Tommy Roe’s “Dizzy”. None of the songs were recorded by the Bongos but Richard Barone did include “Flew A Falcon” on his excellent COOL BLUE HALO album in 1987.

So what were the other half of the Bongos doing?

Mr.

Ray
Moto
Blood
Unreliable
Five By Five
Jones
Blue

Can't be long

till the setting of the sun

Three gates in the east

Three gates in the west

Yeah, right

Motorhoney started up in 1989 when the Fastbacks were in one of their many layoffs. Fastbacks guitarist Lulu Garigiulo had quit the Fastbacks in 1987 to work full time in photography. By ’89, she had started playing drums in a band with Maryellen Cooley on bass, singer Ayne St. Martin and Fastbacks lead guitarist Kurt Bloch on guitar. The band only played a few shows with Kurt before he quit and Fastbacks bassist Kim Warnick replaced him. I’ve heard that Mudhoney was involved too but I don’t see where they fit in.

The band mostly played punk covers with some originals. In 1993, Lance Rock Records released 3 songs on a 7” EP. A fourth song was released on the ANOTHER DAMNED SEATTLE COMPILATION. Kurt Bloch was the producer for the recordings.

Lemmy knew about Motorhoney. He approved of the band and was reportedly spotted wearing a Motorhoney t-shirt.

The most important thing about Motorhoney though, is that the band got Kim & Lulu playing together again. The Fastbacks went on to do some of their best stuff in the next few years.

Happy birthday

Rick Storey!

Mr.

Lee
Soul
Blue Sky
Loveman
Highway Man
Nobody
Pitiful
Crow

Happy birthday

Stan Freberg!

I can't wait

till the sun goes down