Otis Ball MP3 Club

Platinum Load

2012-02-11T16:14:00.004-05:00

3/4 of The New Chains. 3/4 of Super Karaoke Fun Time Band. 1/3 of Swingin' Neckbreakers. Not only do I endorse this band, but I am their videographer. Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ March 3, 2012. FIRST SHOW, PEOPLE!

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Based On A True Story

2011-12-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

Ladies & gentlemen, I am proud to present the world premiere of Burn Down The Barn. Recorded and filmed in 2007 for a vanity project. And it served its purpose. No point going into the details now. It will all be in the book. Metaphor heavy, to be sure. Those in the know will know.

Recorded under the Otis Ball & The New Chains banner, which was Super Karaoke Fun Time Band backing me on my own songs. The other OB&NC song/video was Fire Needs Oxygen, which can easily be found on the magical internet.

The recording features Keith Hartel on lead guitar, Dan Hyland on bass and Kevin Hyland on drums. Cinematographer was Stronger Than Dirt Pete Moss, the finest fake manager in the world.

Apologies for the awkward YouTube framing, but it is an apparent product of the ancient camcorder used to shoot it.

Mr. Rock & Roll

2011-12-01T16:19:00.001-05:00

In honor of ... something. The first song I ever wrote. Inspired by Bob Greene's book. Billion Dollar Baby.

mp3 download hyah

FRAT PARTY! With SPECIAL GUEST!!!

2011-11-27T12:40:00.001-05:00

LYTID was released in early January of 1990 and I spent the next few months promoting the album with live shows, radio appearances and print interviews, all the while booking a mid west tour for March. The band was in heavy rehearsal mode. Our repertoire was large. Sometime in February I was approached about a fraternity party at Steven's Technical Institute in Hobroken. The timing worked out, in that it would give us a low key warm up show about a week before we left on tour. Also too, I had always wanted to play a frat party. Seemed like the perfect gig for the show I was doing. I was correct.

Butler, Grula and I arrived at the frat house a few hours before show time and discovered the "PA" was a mishmosh of bits and parts. I think a boombox was powering the set up. Luckily Rich lived in town and was able to get a ride back to his pad to grab what we needed to turn it into something resembling functioning.

Powered by pitchers of red liquid and cigars, we plowed through almost every song we knew. And then some. And we were very happy when the SPECIAL GUEST I invited actually turned up and played a number of songs with us in the first and second set. After the show he told me that this was the first time he had ever had fun playing a live show. In addition, we had The Maries and Nancy along for moral support. It wasn't our tightest show, it wasn't our best show, but it remains my favorite OB&C show of all time. All our stage tricks, the request bucket and the longest Charles Manson's Birthday ever.

And though I didn't know it at the time, it would be seen by more people than any other OB&C show ever. Someone asked us before the show if they could videotape it. I never had a problem with bootlegs. All I ever asked for was a copy. Well, I got that and more because a few weeks after the show, Stevens Tech started broadcasting the entire show on their low powered campus TV station.On an endless loop. For about 3 weeks.

And so it is my pleasure to bring you Otis Ball & The Chains' FRAT PARTY! With SPECIAL GUEST! The set lists are posted in the comments for those that prefer no spoilers.

FIRST SET

SECOND SET

THIRD SET

Live...Suburbia!

2011-11-24T13:25:00.003-05:00

Just got my copy of the new book, Live...Suburbia! There on page 32 is a picture I am so very happy has survived and remained in the archives for almost 35 years. October 28, 1978. The world premiere of KISS Meets The Phantom on NBC. I was (and remain) a KISS fan. But, unfortunately, I was expected in West Dundee for my BBYO Induction Ceremony. I am sworn to secrecy, but I think I can now safely say that blood, sweat and tears were involved. And visibly, fire. I had to wait a year or more to finally see the movie. Happily, by the time it reran, my Pops had purchased a VCR. And now I am the proud owner of a DVD. Bad movie? Too be sure. Do I still love pulling it out every decade or so? Sure do.

Fun book. Anyone still checking this site regularly will love and appreciate it. Hit the link. Reasonably priced.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T15:49:00.000-05:00

Juicy John Pinks, DeKalb, IL

2011-07-06T15:24:00.001-04:00

Alright, all you knucklehead Google searchers. Now there's a FaceBook page.

Juicy John Pinks

Favorite Love Songs

2011-03-08T18:37:00.006-05:00

OK. This blog has been inactive for almost a year. I gave you the easy stories. Maybe it's time to kick up some of the difficult stories. And as this goes back 20 years, I feel it's time it is told. (Some of these stories I gotta hold back for the book!)

Coming off my debut Love You album, I was in flux. Not unusual. I was plucked out of my DeKalb home to make an album when my heroes TMBG pushed me to send a demo tape to the label they were in the process of leaving. That in itself is a number of blog posts which I may or may not get to.

Love You did a respectable debut. I was told at the time we sold 10,000 copies. A respectable number, yet not enough to recoup expenses. Shocking. The band that I used on the album were great musicians and really good guys, but stuff gets in the way. By the time the album was finally released, I had a new Chains. As far as a rhythm section goes, the finest Chains ever. We did a brief two week tour, which I had to book. One ulcer later, I managed to make it break even. (Again, saving details for the book.) I disbanded this band for reasons that, in hindsight, are absurd. But I was a kid with all kinds of pressure and all kinds of idiot. Happy to say that B&G are still friends and we had a reunion in 2001.

At this point I was approached by a source with conflicts of interest piled upon conflicts of interest about a publishing deal. The interested parties wanted to throw money at me to re-promote the year old album. I refused. I wanted to make a new album and promote that. They said no. I responded in kind. They backed down. They said they would use $10,000 of the publishing deal to record a new album. I was only getting 10% of the deal as an advance, so I really had no financial skin in the game. They met my demand.

I had an interim band I was working with from the band Earth Pig. Artie Reinitz on guitar and Davy Hoskins on drums. I played bass. We did one show at Maxwell's and recorded demos for the album. I love those guys and they were a ton of fun, but the label wanted me to get another band. So I got the rhythm section from Das Damen and went into rehearsals. They also wanted a professional producer and a high end recording studio. On the production end, they procured TMBG's sound man, Paul Angelli, who brought in his friend and partner, Pat Dillett. Two nicer guys and excellent producers you will never find. And I'm both proud and sad to say that they did the whole project for points on the back end.

They also wanted me to do the album at Hobroken's 24 track Water Music, as opposed to DubWay, where the bulk of the first album was recorded. I loved everyone at Water, but I didn't think this project warranted the step up in recording fees. Barn One insisted. So I went along. Long/short, I don't regret it, but we ran out of money before we could finish the album the way we wanted. The last day of the sessions, we crammed as many background vocals as we could and we never did finish guitars on a couple songs. Having said that, I'm really proud of the finished product. It's a far more coherent album than Love You. It was written as an album, as opposed to a collection of songs. (Having said that, there are two covers on the album. Influences that I proudly wear on my sleeve. Cheap Trick's I Can't Take It and The Raspberries - I Don't Know What I Want.)

When the finished product was turned into the label, I was called in to talk about it. I was told that they had a great idea. How did I feel about bringing in a lead singer and I would be the mastermind! Like Rick Nielsen!

Uh ...

The label had been aware of the entire album's progression. They came to the studio and they received working tapes. After the entire project was done, they wanted to call do over? That was the last conversation I had with them about Favorite Love Songs. They had a finished project. Which they choose not to release. Which was a relief. I did not care to work with them either.

So what I am offering you is both the Favorite Love Songs album and another album's worth of demos and recordings post Barn One. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. I've been listening to it while I've been writing this post and I couldn't be prouder. I think it's a far better collection than Love You. I look forward to your comments.

Sorry, folks. You snooze, you lose. But please to enjoy some YouTube videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91rPN8SD3wA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnS1BO037g0

Who Said Big Bands Are Dead?

2010-03-29T21:04:00.003-04:00

Anyone who tried to put one together.

After my Barn One debacle shut down about '91 or '92, I retired from the music biz. The whole experience left a bitter taste in my mouth. I made a handful of one-off appearances in the interim, but they were far and few between. But after 5 years, I really missed performing. I wanted back on the stage and I wanted it to be different. If I was gonna do this again, it was gonna be fun.

I had little interest in performing the old set or writing a new one. And I had always wanted to front a crack band without having to rely on my questionable guitar technique. It was also around then that I was spending a lot of time with the Elvis Presley Vegas period shows. That's the Way It Is, On Tour and the albums from that period. James Burton on guitar, Jerry Scheff on bass, Sweet Inspirations on back-up vox, horns, keys, the whole deal. Yeah. That'd be nice. So I started making phone calls. I was putting a show band together.

The first two guys I called were Dave Dunton, who played keyboards on Favorite Love Songs and Chris Butler who did a crack job holding down the drums in The Chains. They were both in. From there it was asking around and chasing leads. Ended up getting Jim Dillman on bass, Pete Linzell on sax and Larry Ochs on guitar. Before I knew it, I had a helluva good core band. And we could bring in guest musicians to round it out for shows.

We ended up in rehearsals for 3 or 4 months. Once a week we'd meet to work on material, swap songs and pull a show together. With that many people, I don't think we ever had the whole band together at the same time. Once we settled on a 45 minute set and knocked it into place, I called my buddy Noel at The Continental of St. Mark's in the city. Last time I had played there would have been '89. (And Eric Clapton showed up. Or so I was told.) This was a huge undertaking, so I wanted our first show to be low key. Noel offered us Easter Sunday and that sounded fine to me.

As we got closer to the date, I pulled in my buddy Kurt Hoffman from The Ordinaires and TMBG to fill out the horns and we formed The Belles of The Ball Stars with Carla Murray and Meredith Ochs to handle back up vox. And for the cherry on top, I asked my pal Rob K of Workdogs to duet on Justine. Damn. We had a show.

Well, the show could not have gone better. Band was tight, respectable crowd for Easter Sunday and everyone had a great time. We made $50. Total. I kicked in so I could give everybody $10. And that's when the band began dissolving. It wasn't all about money. There were some personality conflicts, family obligations and all the other reasons bands splinter. I filled the holes best I could, but within a couple months, I was left with two guitars, bass and drums. Larry and me, plus Mike Rosenberg on bass and Ron Metz on drums. A four piece rock band was the last thing I wanted. And so ended The Ball Stars.

I don't regret it. I got to work with some great musicians, many of whom I would work with on future projects. We put a great set together of amazing songs. R&B, soul and some early rock songs that were a stone gas to play. It really was a dream come true. All these years later, I'm still proud of what we did. And so, on this, the 13th anniversary of the one and only Ball Stars show, I'm world premiering a slide show and offering a zip file of the Continental show, along with some rehearsal cuts that would have been in future sets.

Happy anniversary Ball Stars and SAAAAAAAA-LUTE!

It's Charles Manson's Birthday!

2009-11-11T19:41:00.004-05:00

Really! He turns 75 today. He was born November 12, 1934. A Scorpio. Imagine that. But I'm not here to write a bio. Many have been written. And you can find a detailed summary on Wikipedia.

No, I'm not here to celebrate the man. He committed heinous acts and convinced others to do the same. He's been behind bars for decades. So why am I here? I mean, Christ, it's his birthday and this post is titled as much. What other reason could there be? Quit asking questions and I'll tell you.

In 1985, as a young man of 20, I wrote a song. It was entitled, "Charles Manson's Birthday". Why did I write a song called "Charles Manson's Birthday"? (Yeesh! Again with the questions?) It's pretty simple, actually. I was a songwriter. Sometimes a melody or a line or an idea would just pop in my head out of nowhere. I don't know where many of them came from. They just showed up. Like a drunk friend banging on your door at midnight. Didn't really matter where they came from, they were there now.

You'd think over the years, being the author of a song about Charles Manson, I'd have had numerous run ins with nuts, as well as angry folks who do not approve of musical glorifications. (Which it is not.) But I never did. However, I was forced to spend a decent amount of time after shows listening to other young men tell me about his albums, the interviews and quite a number of other Charlie related stories. But if that was my punishment, the crime was worth it. CMB has been very, very good to me.

CMB garnered one of my proudest achievements, a spot in Rodney On the ROQ's Top Ten for a week or two in 1990. And Charlie (as the cognoscenti called it) was the first song of mine to have a video. And here tis.

CMB is also one of my favorite songs to perform live. Probably my very favorite. It has virtually always been my show closer. The words are easy to remember, there's an excellent break towards the end (which lends itself to any flavor of filling) and it finishes with a digital delayed guitar explosion. Really, after CMB, there would be nowhere left to go anyway. It's the climax of the show.

And so today, I am proud to present perhaps the greatest demonstration of why I love CMB. What you are about to witness is the longest version of CMB ever performed. It occurred at Stevens Tech in Hoboken, (home of Walt Disney's head) on March 2nd, 1990. It was the closing number of a three hour frat party. Needless to say, much alcohol had been consumed. To the point that Chris Butler had to step away from the drums momentarily to relieve himself. But even that could not stop the freight train that was CMB on this night. I threw in a good part of my live schtick and we cleared out what was left of the request bucket.

Those of you who lived in Hobroken in the spring and summer of 1990 may remember this show, as it aired 24 hours a day for a number of weeks on the Stevens Tech low watt TV station. I never did find out how or why this show was chosen for such a specious honor. I guess they didn't have any school sports teams. Or perhaps the ratings were THROUGH THE ROOF! Regardless, here, in its thirty minute entirety, is Rich Grula, Chris Butler and One O Ball with Charles Manson's Birthday, presented in three parts with no commercial interruption.

Soupy Sales To You

2009-10-27T14:40:00.000-04:00

A little girl is at the barber getting her hair cut and she's eating one of those Hostess cupcakes or something. The barber says, "You know, you're getting hair on your Twinkie." Little girl says, "Yeah. I'm getting boobs too!"

Soupy Sales has left the building. Soupy was a television pioneer. He created the model for children's programs that also appealed to adults. Pee Wee's Playhouse would not have existed without Soupy. It was crafted from the template Soupy invented. A one room set with puppet friends, guests knocking on the door (often remaining offscreen), old black and white stock footage, speaking directly to the camera, double entendres and a lotta food. The one difference being that Soupy did it live. Five days a week.

And now, here's today's important Crimestoppers. If you witness a robbery and the thief runs right past you, the best way to catch him is wait until he climbs over a fence and tears his pants. Then you'll find his hideout.

Soupy was born Milton Supman on January 8, 1926 in Franklinton, North Carolina. His father died when Soupy was just 5, prompting the family to move to Huntington, WV, where Soupy grew up, eventually attending Marshall College in Huntington after a stint in the Navy during World War II. His career in the entertainment business began while he was attending Marshall. He worked as a comedian, singer and dancer in area nightclubs and theaters. After college, he picked up his first broadcasting job at radio station WHTN in Huntington.

Soupy had two older brothers. His parents had nicknamed them "Ham Bone" and "Chicken Bone". Young Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone", eventually shortened to Soupy. He was using the stage name "Soupy Hines" when he started his radio gig, but quickly changed it to Soupy Sales, in honor of vaudeville performer Chic Sale.

On tonight's Name That Tune, a contestant who is asked to name that tune names it Bernie and is thrown off the show.

My great grandfather, Hymie Bank, owned the Cinderella Theater in Williamson, WV. It originally opened as a vaudeville house, but following the trends, became a movie house with occasional live entertainment and attractions. While attending Marshall College, Hymie sometimes booked Soupy to do his act there. At one of these appearances, my great grandfather pulled Soupy aside. He told him, "You know, you're a bright young man. I like your act, you're very professional and you're going to Marshall. But there's one thing that's bothering me." Soupy replied, "What's that, Mr. Bank?" Hymie told him, "You need a haircut." Soupy said he would go get one first thing in the morning.

Old man walks into confession and he tells the priest, "Every night for the last month, I've made love to a different beautiful young lady." Priest tells him to say one hundred Hail Mary's. Old man says, "Well, I ain't Catholic. I ain't doing that." Priest says, "If you're not Catholic, why are you telling me?" Old man says, "I'm telling everybody!"

From Huntington, Soupy moved on to Cincinnati, where he got his first television experience. He hosted Soupy's Soda Shop, the very first teen dance TV show, and the late night Club Nothing. This was in 1949. From Cincinnati, Soupy moved on to Cleveland for another local television show, Soupy's On! It was here that Soupy first began using a pie in the face as a visual punchline. (This would become one of his trademark gags.) In 1953, Soupy relocated to Detroit, where he would eventually get his first national exposure.

At ABC owned WXYZ in Detroit, Soupy hosted the local Lunch With Soupy Sales. It quickly became a smash hit. It was in Detroit that Soupy met Clyde Adler, who became an integral part of the Soupy's production team for most of his television career.After 6 years of honing the show, ABC picked it up nationally in 1959 and there was no looking back. In less than a year, ABC moved the operation to Los Angeles

A guy is walking down the street with two monkeys. Another guy asks him where he's going with those monkeys. He replies he's going to the taxidermist. "You gonna have 'em mounted?" "No. Just shaking hands."

Soupy's Los Angeles run ended up being a relatively brief stop/start affair. While the show aired locally continuously from 1960 - 1964, ABC pulled it from the national schedule in 1961, with a brief three month fill-in for The Steve Allen Show in 1962. Frustrated, Soupy went to WNEW in New York City in 1964, where he would find the greatest success of his career and where he would remain for most of the rest of his life.

An old man goes to the doctor and tells him, "I can't pee. Doctor asks, "How old are you?" Old man says 102. Doctor says, "You peed enough."

While in NYC, The Soupy Sales Show became THE hip show that all the celebrities wanted to get on. Frank Sinatra started the trend by calling Soupy and asking to be on, but under one condition. He wanted to get a pie thrown in his face. Instantly, the top stars of the day were beating down Soupy's door. Figuratively and literally. Sammy Davis Jr., Trini Lopez, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis and Judy Garland all appeared on the show, as did a number of pop musicians, such as The Supremes and The Shangri-Las. He was also able to feature recorded music and appearances from a number of jazz greats, jazz being a particular passion of Soupy's.

Part 2 Part 3

The Soupy Sales Show shut down in late 1966. Soupy next moved into numerous game show appearances, as well as DJing and a brief return to afternoon television with The New Soupy Sales Show from 1978 - 1979. He continued doing club dates, films and personal appearances throughout. I'm very happy to offer a zip file of a 1980 appearance at NYC's Bottom Line. And you can grab a wonderful hour long Tom Snyder interview with Soupy from 1990 right hyah.

Blind man and his seeing eye dog walking down the street. They stop at a corner and the dog raisess his leg and pees all over the man's pants and shoes. Blind man reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cookie for the dog. Lady comes up and says, "You're gonna give that dog a cookie after what he did to you?" Blind man says, "No. I'm looking for his head so I can kick him in his ass!"

Soupy was survived by his wife of almost 30 years, Trudy Carson, and his two sons Hunt and Tony, a rhythm section for hire who played with Iggy Pop and David Bowie, among others.

I never knew Soupy. I was very lucky to have met him briefly after a Bottom Line show about a decade ago. I wasn't around for Soupy's heyday, but I fell in love with The New Soupy Sales Show for the two years it was syndicated nationally. Over the years I've accumulated all the records, tapes and DVDs I could find and he never failed to entertain me. With Soupy gone, the world is a little less joyous and a little bit grayer. I'll leave you with my favorite Soupy joke.

A woman walks into a pharmacy and asks the druggist, "Do you have cotton balls?" The druggist replies, "What do I look like? A teddy bear?"

And now I love you and gimme a kiss.

A Bill Ryan sighting!

2009-10-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

Bill Ryan has been spotted in public! He was seen at the WFMU Record Fair! Here's Bill watching The Trashmen's first Manhattan performance ever.

Here is someone attempting to photograph the wild Bill Ryan. I do not recommend this.

And this is a NY Post paparazzi photographer attempting to capture a rare photo of Bill Ryan with the rock legend, Bob Bert.

Though it is highly unlikely, should you encounter Bill Ryan in the wild, we here at Otis Ball suggest that you do not look him directly in the eye. If you have food or rare and desirable records, leave them on the ground and walk away. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PHOTOGRAPH A WILD BILL RYAN!

That is all.

Pier Platters - Learning the Game

2009-09-28T19:40:00.001-04:00

So where were we? A quick reread reminds me we weren't very far.

I started at Pier sometime in Spring of '89. For the first few weeks, I was picking up odd hours, mostly in the used album annex on 1st St. And a guy working there at the time, Ray, had me convinced he was in charge. He thought he ruled the used store. What did I know? He was, well, let's just say a wired guy. Putz also springs to mind. But I had to work this into a full time gig ASAP. I quit the job in the city thinking I was being offered 40 hours at Pier. Turns out, I was on my own. Brilliant. Genius.

OK. I clearly had to ingratiate myself to Bill Ryan, who ran the joint. Bill was a scary guy if you didn't know him. And at that point, I did not. He knew who I was. We'd met briefly a few months before when I first visited Pier and dropped a couple hundred bucks on Replacements rarities and similar offerings. Considering the Barn One circumstances we were introduced, I'm pretty sure I did alright on my first impressions. But that certainly wasn't gonna be enough to crash the gates. Thank god I had a winning personality and charming smile. Desperation didn't hurt neither.

My first task in the main store was inventory. I was handed a file cabinet of index cards and told to match them up with inventory stock. Clearly, this was my first hazing. But after my last job, I was prepared for boring make-work. I threw myself into the task at hand. It took some time and some awkward moments clarifying details with Bill, but I did it quick, did it thoroughly and managed to familiarize myself with the stock, which must have been the purpose of this mission. Either that or making me quit. No chance of that. I needed the job. But more important, I WANTED the job! Pier Platters was a record geek's dream.

What nobody knew was that Suzanne, the redhead you were all afraid of, would soon be going out to do lights for Sonic Youth. And then Nirvana. And then Beck. And REM. And numerous other acts that wanted one of the top lighting directors.

When I first started working at Pier, the big front window was framed with numerous copies of the same single. It was in a clear vinyl sleeve and didn't even have a picture sleeve. It was a dirty red colored vinyl and it was by a band called Mudhoney. I didn't know what that was all about. I'd never heard of them, so it couldn't have been that important. But nevermind.

So about the second week I was working in the main store, we received a number of boxes from a label called Sub Pop. I didn't understand why a store as small as Pier would be getting such a large shipment of records from a label I had never heard of. I figured I would have a busy day filing records. But I was wrong. It turned out that all these boxes only held two different albums. One of them was by some band called The Fluid, album called Roadmouth. The other title was some band called Nirvana, album called Bleach. Clearly, Bill Ryan had lost his mind. We'd be sitting on these frisbees forever. That day, we sold about 75 copies of those albums. And we were reordering before the week was done.

This was the first time, but certainly not the last, that Pier Platters blew my mind. In 1981, I bought REM's first single and I loved it. Then Chronic Town came out and I didn't care for it. I decided I'd give Murmur a try, but it was their last chance. I bought The Replacements' Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out the Trash album cuz I really liked the title. It was too punky thrashy for my tastes. But I figured I might as well get Let It Be when it came out, cuz nuthin much new was out that week. So you see, I knew everything about obscure underground bands. I even did stints DJing at ECC, ISU and NIU. I was a walking encyclopedia. I was a cup half full at best. And as I was realizing this sad, sad fact, I was also discovering that I was smack dab in the middle of everything. And I would soon be under the tutelage of one Professor William Ryan.

(Special thanks to Bill's favorite poker mark, Darren, for the sweet pic!)

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion - Post game OB&C

2009-09-14T21:58:00.000-04:00

There was a reunion within the reunion. Like those Russian dolls. When I was asked to perform at the reunion, my first thought was I didn't have a band. I knew I had a bass player. Killer's been with me since '82. He goes back to PunkFest back in high school. He's my buddy and as fine a musician as any goofy front man could ever ask for. And he's fearless. We have a stage telepathy where he just seems to know where I'm going when I stray from the script. When there even is a script.

But who to play drums? I nosed around at hiring a pro, but then I remembered Killer telling me that our old roommate, Doug, had recently taken up drums again. You think he'd be up for it? Why don't you ask him, Killer? Well, I will. And he was! I'll be damned! That sentence musicians everywhere long to scream from the rooftops, "We're getting the band back together! "

Now it was just a matter of sending mp3s, a few phone calls and I'll see ya at the shows! But I wonder. I wonder if there's some way to make these shows really special. Maybe dig up an old song. Like maybe Hot Day! One of the first OB&C songs. The very first song ever played on the radio. Tom Ellett's Local Patrol on DeKalb's own, WKDI! Yeah. That's good. But I need something else. Something big. Like a special guest. HEY, VIPER!

I have often mentioned our old pals Kissyfish. Our sister band from Madison, WI. We played on each other's bills whenever we could. I can't speak for KF, but I loved booking those double bills just so I could see the band and hang out with them. And I have often been told I look a lot like their front man, Ryan. Twin sons of different bands. Ryan and I both did some wandering post those DeKalb days, but Ryan recently settled back in Wisconsin. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

So I shot a note to Ryan. Ryan has been better known over the years as The Viper, fastest uke in the midwest! Turns out, he hadn't played guitar in years. And he wasn't sure he'd be available for the weekend. Definitely not the first night. But he'd get back to me about the DeKalb show. Didn't look good.

As the weeks went by, I came up with set lists. We were walking on stage with zero rehearsal. Had to do as much pre-show planning as possible. Until Killer came up with the brilliant idea of squeezing a practice in. We'd have to do it Saturday afternoon, a matter of hours before the first show. Killer said we could do it in Doug's basement. Which I found quite amusing when I called Doug and he asked where we were rehearsing. heh

But he was fine with that. And with days to spare, I got a note from The Viper. He was in. Both shows. Oh, man. Dream band!

So there we were. Me and STD, pulling up to Doug's house for the first original OB&C practice in 23 years. Killer was outside before we even got out of the car. And as it turned out, Ryan was about 15 seconds ahead of us. We'd been following him for about a mile and didn't even know it. So after some catching up and makeshifitng a practice space, we got down to business.

As usual, I was the least prepared of the bunch. As I knew I would be. That's a luxury of fronting the band. Also too, I knew I could count on the band. We rehearsed both sets plus two extra songs that we didn't have time to perform at the shows. Luckily, STD filmed the practice, so I have outtake footage for the documentary! After practice, we were on the road to Abbey.

We were first on the bill, which means last band to soundcheck. I was fine with that. Get the pesky rock and roll outta the way early, leaving the rest of the night for minglin' and socializin'. And beerin'. There was plenty of all.

First pal to arrive was Jode! Jode and I go way back to 80's pizza delivery. STD and I DJed her wedding! The German wedding planner tried to intimidate us, but it didn't work. We had a Wookie bodyguard. She was also one of the privileged few to get an invite to the exclusive Ballroom Blitz. Always fun seeing Jode.

But that wasn't all. We had a couple more This Is Your Life attendees. The one, the only, Dianamal made it to the show! So we played her theme song. Really nice hanging out with her again. And then The Viper told me to go check out the bar. Where I found My Cousin Kenny's Pablo! I hadn't seen Pablo since the infamous Chicago ComiCon show! (Still waiting for those pics.) I got STD to take a picture of the OB&C/Kissyfish/MCK reunion.

I made a special pre-Otto's trip to the place where it all started. 516 S. First St. It was a trip crossing the railroad tracks and walking to the house. I made that walk every day for a year over 20 years ago. It's amazing to realize that it's all still there, relatively unchanged.

A couple more pals turned up at Otto's. I knew Stacey Deegan would be there. She was the one who finally twisted my arm into signing up on Facebook, which started this whole thing rock and rollin'. And she's working at NIU these days, so she was a whole lotta help on the ground getting this thing up and running. Plus, she had the NIU flag for the finale!

It was fun meeting some of the folks who were DeKalb high school students back when OB&C were playing the all ages basement shows back in the day. And it was an excellent surprise when Carl from IMSA showed up! I got to eavesdrop on a conversation between Carl and Ryan concerning a road trip to St. Louis many years ago.

The weekend flew by way too fast. While I'm still stunned I managed to cram as much in as I did, there just wasn't enough time. I could have easily spent the weekend just hanging out with STD, Killer, Doug and Ryan and still wished it had been longer. I guess we'll just have to do it again.

Addendum - Here's something fun I found! The Viper posted a note about the shows with a shot of the setlists!

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion - Post game Night Two

2009-09-10T00:10:00.000-04:00

Fortunately, we got in early Saturday night. Got some sleep and I was up by 9. Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the morning pacing STD's apartment. I coudln't wait to get back to DeKalb. We had a 4 PM load-in at Otto's, but I wanted to get into town early and do some sightseeing. I hadn't done DeKalb up right since I left in '88.

Even the drive in from Chicago was exciting. When we passed the IMSA exit, it was as if we drove through a time warp. Next stop, DeKalb. Mission: Bring back the rock.

We left the toll road and drove down Annie Glidden Road. There had definitely been some changes, but before too long, we saw our first landmark. The Bottle Store sign. Reunited and it feels so good.

We booked a room at the Huskie Inn so we didn't have to worry about too much fun, morning traffic to the airport or where to take the Huskie babes! We made a side trip to the old Wesley Foundation, the site of so many memorable shows, including the OB&C, Kissyfish, My Cousin Kenny show, the night we all met. And walking into the Huskie Inn, we walked right through the MLK Mall, where all the outdoor summer shows were held.

So bags dropped off, we took a walk to The Junction diner, passing the old Record Rev on the way. Waiting for us in front of The Junction was a newspaper machine with the weekend Daily Chronicle. Front page above the fold story on the reunion. She still loved me!

After bottomless coffee, toast, meat and eggs, we headed to Otto's. We were early, so we took a walk down historic Lincoln Highway. Some of the old spots remained, some were gone and some were on life support. But the anchor business, Paperback Grotto, remained. It was there before us and there to welcome us home. If the town of DeKalb was a game of Jenga, the Grotto is the one stick you couldn't remove without collapsing the entire structure.

Meanwhile, back at Otto's, it was time for load-in. The bands were beginning to arrive. And I was in charge. It was a seven band bill and there was a lot of backline to deal with. If we had to deal with changing and storing seven different sets of drums and amps, we'd be there for a week. Luckily, everyone was happy to pitch in equipment for those of us who showed up without. We managed with two drum kits and 4 or 5 amps for the entire night. And Otto's was looking pretty full just from all the band members wandering around.

Dan Chambers opened the evening with a solo set of songs from his band Smile. Next year, we're getting the whole band back together! (I'm talking to you, Porcellino!) Up next was Eddy Be and blackcandlelove with a vintage set of DeKalb coffeehouse rock funkery. OB&C hit after that and then our DeKalb headliner. The return of The Service! I was especially proud of this coupe. And they delivered. By this point, I'd put a dent in the dressing room keg and The Service really hit the spot.

The Service left DeKalb just as I was showing up. I saw them a handful of times back in the day as a five piece and I even saw the pre-Service band, BB and the Guns, open for The Ramones. But this was the first time I saw the stripped down four piece. And I've been listening to their compilation CD, This Was The Service, on endless loop since I got back to Jersey. One of the highlights of this entire project was getting to know The Service. Just a pleasure. Great guys making great music.

happy hunting hit after The Service. Timed perfectly for my free beer drunk. One more show. Special guests galore! Blue Green God's Don Yanek was handling drums for the bulk of the show. And handle the drums he did. But when Parker called up FISHMAN!, well ... FISHMAN!

But the parade of DeKalb's finest hardly ended there. Tom Ellett hopped up to pound for a couple songs. And for the last song, Parker handed his bass to Tom Rose, reuniting two thirds of Blue Green God. Yanek kicked in KISS' Strutter and I swear I saw pyro.

I put down my camcorder after hunting so I could mingle. And mingle I did. Caught up with Diane and Cerny from the Rev.
Unfortunately, Bobbo was not to be found. Next time, we kidnap him. But the Deegan sisters were there! And a stroll outside for a smoke break caught Eddy from bcl schooling a young un on DeKalb rapping.

I managed to make it back inside for some SubVerts, who were even better than the night before. And Ring 13 closed out the night with special guest Tom Clark from Blatant Dissent, ending the night, once again, asking DeKalb to paint their dick.

And just like that, it was all over. But not without plenty of talk about next year. Oh, yes. Tom and I worked out all the kinks. We went into this having no idea what we were doing and it was an all around success. It can only get better. And bigger!

I couldn't possibly embed all the videos from the shows. So I made a YouTube playlist with over an hour of clips from the shows, as well as historic videos from many of the DeKalb Rocks! bands. Please head over to the DeKalb Rocks! Facebook group to catch up with all the bands, the memories and the future of DeKalb rock.

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion - Post game Night One

2009-09-08T20:45:00.001-04:00

It took two and a half months of phone calls and emails. We collected videos, pictures, fliers and bios. I wish I had some drama to make for a more compelling story, but start to finish, this must have been the smoothest festival in the history of rock.

The process was an education for me. SubVerts and Ring 13 came and went before I arrived in DeKalb. I had seen The Service a few times with their original singer, but I never saw the four piece they became. Smile formed after I had already left. I knew of them from a compilation of DeKalb bands I purchased while I was working at Pier Platters. I did manage to catch the tail end of Blatant Dissent while I was in DeKalb. And I certainly saw blackcandlelove a few times. We musta shared the bill at least once or twice.

Now who am I forgetting? hmmm thinkthinkthink Oh, right! HAPPY HUNTING! Pardon my shouting. happy hunting!

I was looking forward to the shows for a number of reasons. Could not wait to see all my old friends and, also too, meet so many of the folks I'd been corresponding with the last couple of months. And I was damn near exploding in anticipation of walking the streets of DeKalb one more time. She was the one I never got over. I only left because I had to, baby, I never stopped loving you.

But the band I wanted to see was happy hunting. I never could figure out how I got a deal over them. I suspect they feel the same way. They should. If beer could play guitar, it would sound like happy hunting.

Well, I got into Chicago the night before. My fake manager, Stronger Than Dirt Pete Moss (henceforth referred to as STD), picked me up at O'Hare International. This was the first time I'd been back in town since '03. We went out for a couple beers and some late night bar food. Didn't matter. Wasn't gonna be getting much sleep that night with the knot of anticipation kicking in my gut.

Saturday morning finally arrived. Beer and smokes for breakfast, then it was of to the suburbs for rehearsal with The Chains. Seemed like a decent idea. It had been 23 years. And we had a show that night. Packed up at 2:30 and the caravan took off for the big city.

Finally arrived at The Abbey Pub. DeKalb Rocks! Reunion night one was about to begin. I hesitated just a moment. Once it started, it had to end. I wanted one last chance to roll in the fresh cut grass of anticipation. I opened the door.

A band was doing soundcheck. They were LOUD! Which meant ... they coulda been anybody. Rock bands are loud. HUP! Only took a second to realize it was, for the first time since 1986, Blatant Dissent. But what was this? A five piece? Holy christ. Clark AND Fowler on guitar! This was mighty.

I approached the three gentlemen watching the soundcheck. I recognized two of em. Matt Parker and Dave Fishman. Two thirds of the original happy hunting. (The other member being Tim Fowler, on stage with BD.) The reunion had begun.

The guy I didn't recognize asked me if I knew who he was. He pointed to his T-shirt. It was the Otis Ball & The Chains gag shirt I had designed. Well, this must be Tom Rose. Ya see, while Tom and I had been in constant contact putting this weekend together, we were acquaintances at best back in the day. It was great to finally put a face to the voice.

Tom took me around and introduced me to RIng 13 and SubVerts. The bar was crawling with musicians. STD, The Chains and I grabbed a table and ordered an early dinner. Or was it a late lunch? Either way, this was gonna be a long night.

OB&C was first, followed by Ring 13, happy hunting, SubVerts and the night closed with Blatant Dissent. The whole evening was truly a reunion. Every time you turned around, there was someone else you hadn't seen in over two decades. Goddamn, even Roman Around made it! (Anyone seen Helen?) It was truly a magical evening.

As Blatant Dissent was wrapping up their set, Tom came up with the killer ending for the evening. All the bands go up and do an All-Star version of the Ring 13 hit, Paint My Dick. Bruce of Ring, Tom and I fanned out and grabbed everyone we could find. BD didn't know anything about this. As they hit the last chord of their set and began to exit the stage, they found Bruce and me blocking their way. And we had back-up.

And then it was time to pack up, call the limo and rest up. Cause we were doing it all again the next night. Back home in DeKalb. Otto's, here we come!

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion - Pre game

2009-09-03T14:33:00.000-04:00

2 nights, 12 sets, 7 bands reunited. And it appears this was the first annual. Gotta say, 100% success. But let me back up a bit.

I confess. I was a Facebook naysayer. IT'S TRUE! People, I was the guy that would never sign up. You know me. Everybody knows me. You know plenty of me. But I got the call. Like an old girlfriend you never got over. A voice from the past you always hoped you would hear, but knew you never would. "DeKalb is looking for you."

And that is the message I received from my ol' pal Stacey. She was the DJ on WDKI that had the shift before mine. We've kept in touch over the years. Here or there, we'd check in. Usually her shouting out about another fallen landmark from the town left my heart in. And my dangling participle. Probly still dangling. From a tree branch inches from the lagoon.

Anyways, Stacey sent me an email that I should hook up with Facebook cuz a group had kicked up to locate and document the music scene from DeKalb, IL in the 80's. Now ya see, I only lived in DeKalb for a little over three years, but DeKalb has never left my heart. I packed a lifetime into those three years. Christ, that townstole my heart. Never cared about a high school reunion and never lasted long enough at any one college to remember anyone enough to bother with alumni weekends. And never cared about footballs. But when DeKalb came looking for me, I wilted like ... well, like a basil plant in my yard during a long, hot summer. (Sorry, basil plant.)

So I bit the bullet and Facebooked up. The karaoke band was winding down and I could justify my breakdown to the intranet set with the idea that another online presence for One O Ball wasn't a bad idea. I've always been a proponent of least amount of effort promotion. So with that, I went through the sign up rigamarole. And immediately searched for this DeKalb Rocks! group.

Oh, my. So many long lost friends. So many bands from the distant past. So many pictures. So many memories. And my "Friend Request" inbox filled like a mob rat's car in the Hudson. (Speaking of, and totally unrelated, Wise Guy season 1 was reissued on DVD a couple weeks ago with a $15 list. For that price, you should own it.)

Almost immediately, I dove into the archives, posting mashnotes and love letters to my old heartthrob. She was the one I never got over. Ordinarily, I would show some restraint. But you know how it is with that one you never got over.

Didn't take too long before the creator of the group, Tom Rose, sent me a note. He was taken with my enthusiasm. Tom and I had been on a bill or two back in the day. He was a member of Blue Green God, who were on the That Green TV Band bill. (See the earlier post. You look it up. I'm on a roll. No time to search for a link.) But we didn't know each other at the time, outside of a vague acquaintance.

So, cutting to the chase, round about May, I got a note from Tom asking if Otis Ball & The Chains would be interested in appearing on a DeKalb Rocks! Reunion bill in Chicago in August. I had to pass. I'm running an owner operated business, I've got a 13 year old dog, just unpossible. Nice idea, but you know, ya can't go back. Besides, why is it in Chicago? Shouldn't it be in DeKalb?

Tom told me he knew there was a market in Chicago and he didn't want to bite off more than he could chew with two shows. Well, goddamn. What if I could get a DeKalb show? It's CornFest weekend! The annual back to school event for Northern Illinois University. Piece of cake! He dared me. Fucker.

So after a quick Google search, I found the website. They had a handful of cover bands and a lotta empty slots. I shot out an email. Hey, CornFest! I'm gonna hand you a bill of the cream of the crop of 80's DeKalb bands for the music stage. Couldn't have been more than 90 minutes before I received the response.

"I apologize Otis, but we are all booked up for this year's fest. Thanks for the interest."

That was it. Now it was personal. Not only was I gonna perform, but I was gonna book the DeKalb show.

So I sent out a note to the club that was the premiere live venue when I was there. Otto's. A quick websearch told me they still were the place to play. Another 90 minutes and we were in. My sweetheart wanted me back. Wanted all of us back. Goddamn. I'm going home.

What followed was a whole lotta emails, phone calls and persistence. All credit to Mr. Tom Rose. He pulled the trigger on this event. He was doing ground work long before I got involved. He tossed me some contact info and we became new best friends. We were in constant contact for the next 3 months. Contacting bands, working promotion, digging up archives. It was work, but truly a labor of love.

The time flew by. And so many bands were in with so little effort. First all in musta been happy hunting. And honestly, I was a Ball of jelly just knowing I was gonna get to see happy hunting again. Two nights in a row! We were contemporaries. I was always amazed they never got signed up. They were The Replacements without the deathwish. Parker had the songs, Fowler had the licks and FISH! had the attitude. Plus, they soon added Mundo, who they could always fire for a good story.

And the reunions just kept falling into place. Ring 13 and SubVerts, who were DeKalb before my time, but their legends lived on. Ring had done a reunion at Otto's just a couple years ago and packed the place. SubVerts were Chicago's punk rock pioneers, via DeKalb.

And with a little persuasion and nudging, we got our headliners. The Service's return to DeKalb and Blatant Dissent (or do you say Blatent?) finally reuniting, after many false starts, in Chicago at The Abbey Pub. Some more emails got us blackcandlelove and a solo performance from Dan Chambers of Smile for DeKalb.

And that's how it all came about. I guess there's more to tell. So stick around.

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion vids

2009-08-29T10:21:00.000-04:00

Hey folks! What a magnificent, historic weekend! I'll have stories and pics up shortly, but in the meantime, here's a link to my DeKalb Rocks! YouTube video playlist with tons of live clips from the weekend. Dig in!

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion Countdown - 1

2009-08-20T18:54:00.000-04:00

Last song, people! It begins tomorrow night at Abbey Pub in Chicago. The DeKalb Rocks! Reunion, featuring the reunion of the original Otis Ball & The Chains. We start the show off at 6:30 sharp! And I have an excellent surprise guest lined up. We do it all over again on Sunday at Otto's in DeKalb! Birthplace of Otis Ball & The Chains! Show starts at 5 with a video presentation in the Underground. The rock starts at 6 and we hit the stage at 7:30. You have been warned!

And we close out our week of sneak previews with the one, the only Charles Manson's Birthday. No choice but to. This version is the demo featuring the last DeKalb version of OB&C. Killer, Kathy Howard on drums and Leslie Frank on keys. Produced and recorded by our buddy WEZ-L. That's WEZ-L up thar.

Grab it or watch it!

So one more once, folks. It's gonna be a good one. Here's all the info. See ya there!
Abbey Pub, Chicago Sat Aug. 22
Otto's Dekalb Sun Aug. 23

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion Countdown - 2

2009-08-19T23:45:00.000-04:00

Sure, it's been almost 20 years since I played DeKalb, but I ain't ripping cobwebs from my guitar for these shows! No sir! Yes, you'll hear the old hits this weekend, but I've got new material too! And it's good! And I still make videos too!

From the man who brought you Charles Manson's Birthday, presenting Fire Needs Oxygen! Grab it or watch it!

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion Countdown - 3

2009-08-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I said all the songs in this week's countdown were gonna be in the setlists this weekend for the DeKalb Rocks! Reunion shows. But I can't guarantee today's selection. It was never in a setlist. It was only played as a final song and I only called it on special occasions. Had to FEEL it.

Having said that, I have a good feeling about this weekend. I am strong, I am invincible. I Am Otis.

Biggie Smalls, Biggie Smalls, Biggie Smalls.

Grab it or stream it.

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion Countdown - 4

2009-08-17T23:58:00.000-04:00

Here's one of the last songs I wrote in DeKalb. Almost made the first album. But I didn't quite finish it in time. So it made the second album, Favorite Love Songs. Which remains unreleased. I'm really happy with this home recording. Still sounds good to me. Just lil ol' me and my drum machine. And you'll get to hear it in DeKalb this Sunday!

While I got ya, I'm going on early both nights! Get there by 6:30 or cry all the way home.

Grab it or stream it.

DeKalb Rocks! Reunion Countdown - 5

2009-08-17T02:16:00.000-04:00

The big shows are days away! Saturday night at Abbey Pub in Chicago and Sunday night at Otto's in DeKalb! Come early! Stay late! We're gonna rock the days away hyah at the MP3 Club. Every day this week, I'll be posting a set list sneak preview.

We're starting off with an old favorite. Walk On Water goes way back. It was one of the songs on my first demo that got me my record deal. They Might Be Giants sang the back ups on the album version. And it's the song I sang at Day of Action while the parade crossed the Kishwaukee River. (If you listen closely to the last chorus on the album version, you'll find a secret nod to my old hometown.)

But this is the original home demo recorded in DeKalb in '86 on my 4-track Tascam cassette recorder, back at the First St ranch. Killer on bass and joining in on the back up vox. A couple years later, we cut a full band demo with our buddy and producer WEZ-L.

This song been berry berry good to me. You can hear it live this weekend.

Grab it or stream it.

Here In the happy hunting Grounds

2009-08-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

Here we go, folks. As I write, the party starts one week from tonight. It's been a whole lotta work, but a labor of love, to be sure. Never had any interest in my high school reunions and I never spent more than a year at any one college, so that was out. But I left my heart in DeKalb. (Thanks to STD for pointing out the capitol K.) I can't wait to see all my old pals and palettes! And I'm very excited to be promoting an all-star line-up that never could have happened at the time. We really have the cream of the crop from a decade of DeKalb bands. Once in a lifetime! Well, actually twice. Sat Aug 22 at Abbey Pub in Chicago and Sun Aug 23 at OTTO'S! (Everybody gotta go Otto, OTTO!) And I GUARANTEE! you need to attend both shows for the full spectacular. Each show boasts its own surprises, unique to the evening. Plus fun memorabilia to be purchased and jealousize yer non-attending buddies with.

But there is one thing I am looking forward to above all others. and that is the opportunity to go totally bonkers over happy hunting one mo time. The songs of Matt Parker partnered with the guitars of Tim Fowler is about as winning a rock combo as I have ever heard in my life.

I arrived in DeKalb in the summer of '85. The first time I saw hh musta been fall of '85 at Two Fool's. Mighta been the first show after Fowler and drummer Dave Fishman had left DeKalb's Blatant Dissent. At the time, Two Fool's was the place to be. A basement punk club. Really just a basement. But so many bands came through that joint. And underage were welcome. So it was a great opportunity to hobknob with the local high schoolers. And watch em get drunk for the first time.

(Note on Two Fool's - Owned and operated by Larry Henrikson, the owner of the exceptional Axe-In-Hand guitar shop. I bought my Strat and my blue thin-body Alvarez acoustic from Larry. Here's a note from his son posted to the DeKalb ROCKS! Facebook group.

It was for the most part a fun experience living on the property and hearing the bands play.

The Two Fools really was a coffee house at one time. Originally called Juicy John Pinks back in the mid seventies. They moved out and I think operated downtown for a time. Two friends took over the space and the Two fools was born. I'll have to sit down and think about the details, come back later and post. Anyway, they sold sandwiches, soft drinks, and other easy food/meals. I thnk eventually it failed, but my father continued to rent out the space to bands and groups for a place to perform. A variety of bands and music. I can't say I remember everyone who performed down there. Dress for success, Blatant descent, ring thirteen, Get smart, etc, as well as bands that evolved from some of these groups. I think my brothers band performed there, not sure which one. I even played there once back in the spring of 86, horribly I might add and received the honor of being called a poser which was exactly what I intended to do.

I was btw, the skinny guy usually sitting behind the counter up at the Ax. I apologize if I ever pissed anyone off. I wasn't always crazy about cleaning up the messes. Please feel free to share any stories, hopefully I won't be too embarrassed.

I'm happy to see any pics of the old property. Sadly, it's all been torn down. I still have dreams that I'm working and living there.)

But I digress. The happy hunting I first fell in love with was the three piece. Frank Mundo came in on bass sometime in '86, freeing Parker up to play second guitar. And adding an extra ... enthusiasm to the mix. This version of the band broke up in '88, just before I left town. I'm very happy to report that I documented one of their last, if not their very last, shows. An afternoon show on the MLK Mall at Northern Illinois University.

The band reformed after I left. First with Tom Ellett on drums, replacing the Fish Man, and Parker back on bass. When Parker and Fowler moved to Chicago, the band had one more go round with Tom Rose of Blue Green God on bass and Sport on drums.

I dunno for sure what to expect from these reunion shows. I haven't asked too many questions cuz I wanna be surprised. And I understand there will be surprises. (You better be searching Priceline, Mundo!)

For all the fans and friends, and all those who want to find out what the big deal is, I recently unearthed a tape Fish sent me back in the day of an unreleased album recorded in '89 with Tom Ellett on drums. Plus I tacked on some demos from the Fishman era. Cover art with liner notes included in the zip. Grab it NOW! What are you waiting for? As good as the best Placemats albums.

And here's a vid from the aforementioned '88 NIU show, courtesy of ME!

Seriously. happy hunting alone is worth heading out for the shows this weekend. But WAIT! THERE'S MORE! The Service, Blatant Dissent, SubVerts, Ring 13, blackcandlelove, Dan of Smile! AND OTIS BALL & THE CHAINS! I haven't even started talking about my end of this pardukee. But check back on Monday. It's the final countdown!

Bastard Son of Shake Appeal - WKDI 1988

2009-08-14T02:06:00.001-04:00

Oh, to be so young and optimistic. My very first radio interview! And what better station than DeKalb's own WKDI? None better! In May of '88, my buddy Jim Moran asked me to appear on his show, Bastard Son of Shake Appeal. I had my record deal and I'd be off to Jersey at the end of the summer. I was a local personality and this was my Black and White Ball. So to speak.

We chatted about my future as a rock star, I played acoustic versions of many of the songs that would end up on my first album, as well as a tape of Charles Manson's Birthday live at Wesley Foundation and a home recording of an otherwise unheard song called Yes. A complete rip off of Big Star's Thirteen. And a sing-a-long version of Lion Sleeps Tonight with Jim and everyone who was at the station that afternoon.

Haven't listened to this tape since it was recorded. I had a lotta fun digitizin it. One more week and I'll be back home in DeKalb. I did an interview today for the Daily Chronicle promoting the big Otto's show on Sunday, August 23. It's just like starting over.

Sos grab the Bastard Son show hyah and I can't wait to see ya!

STORY TIME!

2009-08-09T03:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I went out tonight. I know! Shocking! But I had a couple really good reasons. My buddy John's band was playing walking distance from the house. I've known John for a couple years now. He's the landlord of the rehearsal space SKFTB used for quite a while. (Reasonably priced rehearsal space in Jersey City! I can hook you up.)

I've never seen his band Wellbaby, so that was a pretty good reason. Plus they were going on at 10, according to the intranets. PLUS my Ibanez Digital Delay was in the space and I left a message he should bring it to the show. Cuz I'm gonna need it for the upcoming OB&C shows in Chicago and DeKalb August 22 & 23. You know all about those. Scroll down if you don't.

Sos anyways, stars in alignment and all. Zip in, zip out. See my buddy, grab a tap brew, get my delay, home before midnight. Right. No problem. Cept it was a rock show. So ... problems.

Soon as I arrive, I spy Hickman and his band out front. OK. Well, I knew the show wasn't gonna start at the scheduled 10 PM start time. Cuz it was a rock show. No duh, right? Plus, I got a text to voice message from him earlier saying they were starting at 11. (I don't have a cell phone. I hate em. I'm serial. Cereal? Hate em.)

So I showed up a little before 11. The intranets said they were the first of three bands. But now they were second. Awright. Buncha pals I haven't seen in a while, so I was OK hanging out. And the first band was OK. Reminded me of a lotta the bands I used to see in opening slots in the early 80's in Chicago. Kinda fun skronk garage ruckus.

And my old pal Billy Filo was there! Filo was the first guy to book SKFTB. Gave us a home at Uncle Joe's. We closed that place down. Literally. In the literal sense of the word. I'm serial.

OK. So first band played a fine 30 minute set. John and the boys started setting up to play. But the other band on the bill said they were next. I dunno where they came up with that. John's a nice guy. Way too nice. He demurred and let them go second. So now I'm cranky. Then they start playing. Now I'm REALLY cranky! Turns out they're a goddamn Weezer cover band. Christ.

So I head outside to bum some smokes and burn off the burn. But after 40 minutes, I have had enough. I ask the manager what the hell is going on. He shines me on. He's another old buddy, so I don't make a scene. But this is unacceptable. I gotta do something. So I walk through the crowd and stand in front of the band. No closer than the four people that are there to see them. For some reason, this is unacceptable to the band and the fans. Matter of fact, the bass player takes his bass off and walks over to me. Now I have two fans and the bass player yelling shit at me.

For the record, my hearing is shot. One on one, I'm fine. I'm not deaf, but in a crowd or a loud environment, I hear every third word under the best of circumstances. It was quite clear that I was being agrressed upon, but I honestly had no idea why these people were freaking out. I was not wearing a happy face, aggressively, but I had a beer in one hand and my digital delay in the other hand and I was not threating anyone physically. Just standing there looking pissed. Didn't say a word. (OK. Not entirely true. I yelled for Sweater Song once.)

Well, didn't take too long before some of my pals were pulling me away from the front. I had no idea why this escalated to such a hostile environment. Part of me wanted to stay up front just on principle. But I wasn't there to make a scene. I just wanted to see Wellbaby, get my delay and go home. So I let them pull me back. As I moved to the back, folks were smiling and giving me very happy looks of approval. I still had no idea why any of this was happening. Until the biggest grinner told me he had thrown an orange at the band while I was making my way to the front. The band and their roadies thought I had thrown the fruit. heh That splained a lot, Lucy.

So long/short, I was a hero for doing nuthin but walking to the front of the crowd for five minutes. And Wellbaby went on shortly after said incident. And I got my delay. Which I need for the shows in a couple weeks. You know about those? Anyways, Wellbaby was great. And I got some beer. And a couple smokes. And I went out. And my basil plants got watered with material that I understand is quite nutritious for planty material. (You might wanna wait until after a good couple rains before you accept my invitation for a homemade pesto dinner.)

And if you think that's a good story, you should really show up at Abbey Pub in Chicago Sat Aug 22 and Otto's in DeKalb Sun Aug 23. I'm cereal.

Abbie & Cynthia Show (WKDI 1986)

2009-08-07T01:48:00.000-04:00

Hey! Heard about the big DeKalb reunion? Only 2 weeks away! It sure has me all nostalgic and such and such. Been digging through the archives. Finding a lot of fun stuff and digitizin digitizin. WELL, found a real find today! The Abbie and Cynthia Show! Anyone familiar with my album will recognize that name. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let us back up a bit.

It's fall 1986 and I'm living in Dekalb. Writing songs, recording demos, trying to put a band together. And working nights delivering pizza. Not a bad job for a young rocker. Days free, decent money and lotsa free pizza. But it does screw with a normal sleep schedule, if that's a concern. It wasn't for me. I loved late night/early morning radio. Larry King, before he got all tooled out, was my driving companion. And the Traveling Bozo schooled me on 50's country music as I drifted off to sleep. And there was always the NIU campus station, WKDI.

Well, one night I fell asleep to KDI and woke up to nutty nuttiness. How did a couple yammering coeds get in my apartment? Oh, right. It's the radio. Wait. This can't be radio. Oh yeah. College station. What the hell is this? And why aren't they playing music? They're just chatting about ... nothing. Yet strangely compelling.

Exactly one week later, I found myself going out of my way to catch the 6 AM Tuesday broadcast of my new favorite radio team. And it was immediately clear that I was their one and only fan. They begged for calls. Anyone. Just to let them know someone was out there. Musta been the third week I called in. Nuthin to say, just wanted to let em know someone was listening. And I was hooked.

Found myself calling in every week. They didn't know what to make of me. Why would anyone listen to their show? Christ, why was anyone even awake? But after a few weeks, I dragged my ass down to the studio with coffee and donuts. Pretty sure I scared the hell out of them. But they didn't kick me out.

It was clear that Cynthia was the instigator of this assault on the airwaves. More often than not, Abbie didn't even show and Cynthia was left all by her lonesome. Didn't really matter to me. She could handle herself just fine. Never at a loss for words. So what can a poor boy do, but record a theme song? Which I did. Unfortunately, by the time I finished the song, they had been pulled off the air. I never did find out why, but there was a nasty rumor about cart malfeasance. Probly never know for sure.

Anyways, a couple years later I was in Jersey and making an album. Why waste a good jingle? So I brought my demo to the studio, we dumped the 4 track master and I added new vocals. Bam. Easiest cut on the record.

And to wrap up our story, I went back to DeKalb for my big homecoming show in 1990. While I was in town, I was invited to an off campus party. Hanging around. Didn't know too many people. Out of nowhere, two unfamiliar hands covered my eyes. "Do you remember me?" I knew that voice. It was Cynthia! I'll be damned! Got to chat for awhile and invite her to the show. And that was the last I saw or heard of Abbie and Cynthia. Ladies, if you're out there, come join us at the big reunion shows.

And while you're at it, grab these airchecks I've carted around all these years. Play em at 6 AM for the optimum listening experience. Jingle finally included.

Or just enjoy this fine sample.

DEKALB ROCKS! Reunion Dekalb Sun Aug. 23

2009-07-27T00:44:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, August 23, DEKALB ROCKS! Productions reunites The Service, happy hunting, Otis Ball & The Chains, Ring 13, Subverts and blackcandlelove and brings them back home. Otto's Nightclub (118 E. Lincoln Hwy., DeKalb, IL 60115), Dekalb's premier live music venue, will be hosting a night of Dekalb music and memories, featuring live performances and vintage videos beginning at 5 PM. Admission is $10, 21 and over.

THE SERVICE

happy hunting

happy hunting mp3 downloads available at their website.

OTIS BALL & THE CHAINS

RING 13

More Ring 13 music at their My Space page.

SUBVERTS

Subverts Independent Study EP available for download on this page.

Also appearing on the show will be blackcandlelove and Dan Chambers of Smile.

DEKALB ROCKS! Reunion Chicago Sat Aug. 22

2009-07-27T00:34:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, August 22, DEKALB ROCKS! Productions reunites Blatant Dissent, happy hunting, Otis Ball & The Chains, Ring 13 and Subverts. The Abbey Pub (3420 W Grace, Chicago, IL 60618), Chicago's premier live music venue, will be hosting a night of Dekalb music and memories, featuring live performances and vintage videos beginning at 6 PM. Admission is $10 in advance, $12 at the door, 21 and over.

BLATANT DISSENT

Download the Hold the Fat album. Link available on this page.

happy hunting

happy hunting mp3 downloads available at their website.

OTIS BALL & THE CHAINS

RING 13

More Ring 13 music at their My Space page.

SUBVERTS

Subverts Independent Study EP available for download on this page.

Ohio Loves Jenny Mae

2009-07-18T17:46:00.000-04:00

Well, I am both pleased and embarrassed to say that my Summer Babes post has shattered all records hyah at the Otis Ball MP3 Club, thanks to Bela spreading the word.

In appreciation, here is a zip file of Jenny's Brownie's show from March 19, 1996, featuring a live version of the disco song, which I believe is called Disco Song, but that may have been a working title. If anyone can help me fill in titles from this show and/or musicians in the band, please post them in the comments.

NOW! Please return the favor. Not to me, to Jenny. There is no better way to tell a musician you love her and you want her back than by voting with your dollars. If you don't already own them, go download Jenny's albums. There's A Bar Around The Corner and Don't Wait Up For Me. Bela assures me there is a finished album in the can. Wanna hear it? Go show some love and maybe you'll get it.

Oh yeah. Also thanks to that knucklehead Chris DuVal at Columbus Live for the couple hits from his repost.

IMSA On the Brain

2009-07-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

Illinois Math and Science Academy is a residential high school in Aurora, IL.. The best and the brightest from across the state have been attending since the school's opening in 1986. A friend of mine was hired that first year as a residential counselor and entertainment director. Which is how I ended up playing more shows at IMSA than any other venue in IL. By a long shot.

That first class of students brought in were sophomores and I played shows until I left for NJ in late '88. I even came back for one more show on the infamous Ballroom Blitz tour in April of '89, just before the charter class graduated. I made a number of friends that I still have to this day, including, but not limited to, my ol' pally and webmeister, Derek.

In honor of the big 20th IMSA charter class reunion this weekend, here are a buncha clips from some of the IMSA shows. Have a great party, everybody!

This clip is from the very first IMSA show and features not a Metallica song from the request bucket and a special IMSA jam.

The following clips feature Kissyfish and OB&C from the Blitz tour.

Here's a video produced and directed by one of the IMSA students, Dave Franklin. Filmed in NYC's Central Park. And probly featuring Friday Night Lights' Connie Britton.

And my favorite, the promotional video for Charles Manson's Birthday, filmed in an IMSA dorm and featuring the IMSA Boogie Krew.

Summer Babes or This One's For the Ladies

2009-07-14T21:10:00.000-04:00

It seems like the last few summers, the songs I wanna spend the season with are all by ladies. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but there's something about summer that seems to get me going on a fox hunt. Actually, that's not even right. The songs I end up playing endlessly all seem to find me. A few years ago, I fell head over heels for Amy Winehouse's 'Back To Black' album. And I went looking for more. Well, come the summer, I found the Al Usher remix of Tears Dry On Their Own. Damn. Why did she have to go all crazy?

And last year I Otis-come-latlied my way into the Alex G remix of Paris Hilton's 'Screwed.' Hot.

Well, I've been digging through the boxes of old cassettes and digitizing all kindsa audio goodness. I recently came across a tape I put together years ago. When Pier Platters went under, (Yeah, I ain't forgot. We'll get back to that story. In due time. Don't rush me.) I figured I'd get an A&R job at one of the labels. Seemed a reasonable transition. A number of the A&R folks shopped at Pier and many would call us up and have us put packages of the hot unsigned bands together for them. I'd been doing it for free for years. So I put together a reel with a few of the bands I knew that had the goods.

Unfortunately, my timing was a little off. (Indie rock had worn out its welcome by that point.) But maybe not so unfortunately. Looking around these days, I'd say the major labels have worn out their welcome. But I digress.

Listening to that tape again, I found my '09 summer jams. First up, Jenny Mae. Straight outta Columbus, OH. She was hanging round with the likes of Gaunt, New Bomb Turks and The Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments. She released a split single with GBV, which is where I first heard her. Somehow, I managed to get hold of a demo tape with some unreleased tunes, which is where I found this disco rocker hiding out. It musta hitched a ride on a time machine from the summer of '79. Check it out.

And I got one more for you. My ol' pal Odes. She started with the band Love Child, an underrated pop/noise trio from NYC. After Love Child, she struck out on her own. Her first release was a delightful single for the Merge label, Meltway, recorded at Hoboken's late, lamented Snacktime Studios, featuring Yo La Tengo's James McNew on bass. She followed that up with the excellent Me and My Big Mouth EP, also on Merge. Odes slipped me a tape of a song from the tail end of Love Child that I don't believe ever saw the light of day. Until now. I am very pleased to present to the world, Erotomania.

Crank em up and have yerself a merry little summer!

Goldman Sachs posted a quarterly profit of $3.44 billion!

2009-07-14T19:25:00.000-04:00

Wanna know how they did it?

COHO! or That Blowed Up Real Good

2009-07-12T15:31:00.001-04:00

It's 1979, OK? Disco cross the USA. Don't misunderestimate me. I was a chubby lil disco fool from the afternoon I saw Saturday Night Fever in '77. A weekend matinee at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL. Tony fuckin' Manero. You bet. I had the soundtrack 8-track on endless loop.

Steve Dahl came to the Chicago radio market in February '78. I still remember the full page ads in the Sunday Trib and Sun Times announcing his arrival. It listed his many "sidekicks" with brief bios. This was right around the time I had discovered the magic of radio. Back when radio actually was magic. And I was hip-no-tized.

Well, after a brief 10 months at WDAI, the previously rock station went disco. All hot mixes, brief mic breaks. That wasn't what Dahl signed up for, so he handed in his resignation. But he was not out of work for long. In March of '79, he landed at The Loop.

Oh, The Loop. I was a high school freshman and The Loop was THE rock and roll station. For all you young uns, back in the day, DJs actually played the songs they wanted to play. Sure, there were program directors and music directors, but the jocks weren't working from playlists. And the star jocks were free to fly. (Shout out to Sky Daniels!)

Well, Dahl had the morning shift. 6 - 10 AM, I believe. And I would say his show was 70% talking to his listeners, minus commercials, doing monologues about what was on his mind, "bits" with his characters (which were all Dahl), and taking calls. The Dahlmeister was almost exactly 10 years my senior, but he understood the 15 year old mind. Probly better than he understood his contemporaries. (And I am sure that still holds true today.) He very quickly added The Loop's overnight jock, Garry Meier, as his sidekick. And they were off and running. Dahl was still angry at his former bosses at WDAI. And he wasn't afraid to speak his mind on the air. He never missed an opportunity to lambast the music that forced his resignation. Steve and Gar had a daily bit where they would play a disco record for a little bit, "critique" it, then SCRATCH the needle across the vinyl and blow it up with the appropriate sound effects.

So let's cut to the chase. Early on in their Loop stint, they were always looking for ways to promote the show. Chicago was a competitive radio market. As well as a competitive sports market. The White Sox were in a slump. Long/short, Mike Veeck, the son of Sox owner Bill Veeck and also the head of Sox promotions, called up The Loop and asked if Dahl would want to host a night at Comiskey Park. Bring a disco record and get in for 98 cents, 98 being The Loop's FM radio home. It was a double header. In between games, Dahl would blow up the disco records. I imagine persuasion was not necessary to arrange this.

And so it came to pass that on July 12, 1979, 30 years ago today, Steve Dahl and the White Sox hosted Disco Demolition night. The Sox were used to about 10% capacity of the 50,000+ stadium. It became very clear, very early, that they would do a little better that evening. As a matter of fact, the attendance was so brisk, that early in the evening, the ticket takers stopped accepting the disco records. Which meant that a number of very rowdy, very drunk and very high rock and roll fans were in the stadium with potentially lethal frisbees. (copyright Whammo)

Honestly, I can't do the rest of the story justice. I will tell you that I was at home, watching the whole evening unfold on Channel 44. I was never a sports fan, nor was my family. I had no real desire to go to Comiskey that night, but I was very excited to monitor the action on TV. And I got far more entertainment than anyone could have expected. It is at this point that I would IMPLORE you to watch the following reel of news coverage of the evening.

I can't imagine any Chicagoans around at the time will ever forget that night. An excellent documentary was released on DVD for the 25th anniversary and I highly recommend the purchase. I have shown it to some of my east coast pals who were not aware of the event and they bought their own copies. There is far too much to this story than I could possibly cover in a blog post.

And so, it is on this 30th anniversary of an event that so many will never forget, I raise a toast in a SAH-LOOT to Mr. Dahl and Mr. Meier. Today we are all COHOS!!!!

3 AM

2009-07-07T22:50:00.001-04:00

Been going through a lot of old tapes for yer digital enjoyment. Here's sumthin fun I found. A brief clip of an opening act meditating on a mysterious woman that will inevitably lead him to the heartbreak trough.

Freedy Be You and Me

2009-07-01T15:24:00.001-04:00

Got a note from my old pal Freedy Johnston yesterday. He's playing Maxwell's Friday July 10th! Well, that's good enough reason to pry my lazy ass outta the cave. And an early show to boot, which clinches the deal.

Freedy and I were labelmates back in the day. Rock and roll brothers. The kind of brothers that have really good stories about each other that you will never get to hear. Unless you buy me a whole lotta top shelf whiskey when you see me out. Which you won't. See me out. But if you have a spare bottle of Johnnie Walker Green, shoot me a note and I'll give you my mailing address.

Freedy and I were both signed by the label-that-shall-not-be-named at the same time. He was from Kansas and I was from Illinois. We played a buncha double bills back in the day. And he occasionally called me in when he was short a second guitarist. Which I loved. Being a full time front man, on the rare occasions I got to be a sideman, it was like a trip to an amusement park. All the fun, none of the pressure. We had some great times.

Fer instance, 1990 at the Rodeo Bar. (Or do you say Rodeo Bar?) It was Freedy, me, my ol' buddy Rich Grula on bass and Will Rigby from The dB's on drums! An all-star band in my book! Freedy popped a string. This was back in the day before Freedy had guitar techs falling all over themselves to work for him. So he was changing his string. (And the smoke from the damn bull head wasn't helping matters at all!) Well, you don't gotta beg me to fill time! Which prompted the following impromptu moment. And Freedy was more than happy to join in the reindeer fun.

And then there was the time I talked Freedy into sitting in at an Otis Ball & The Chains frat party. Yup. The same one from the previous post. Hoo boy! I'm telling ya, I ain't lying. That show was an event. After the show, Freedy told me it was the most fun he ever had performing at that point. Probly my most favorite as well. Here's a taste of dat!

And, hey! It was a frat party!

I don't think I've ever told Freedy this, but his second record, Can You Fly, is one of my all time favorite records. I rank it with Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds. It really captures a very personal time, yet it is built on a universal soul that any feeling person can relate to. Truly a masterpiece. The first verse of the first song tells the story of the album. I hope he doesn't mind me splainin' a little, but he was running well over budget on that record. The label wasn't gonna cough up any more. So he sold the farm he inherited from his grandfather. He used the money to continue recording the album he wanted to make.

"Well I sold the dirt to feed the band
Falling right through my hands
Yes I sold the map up to the sky
Falling down always"

Yeah. I like that record a whole lot.

So Freedy, I'm coming to see ya, buddy! Been too long. Yup. Been too long, rock and roll brother.

Addendum - Great show!

Hey, baby! It's the 4th of July!

2009-06-30T13:29:00.000-04:00

Here's a clip from one of my favorite shows. A frat party at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ from March 2, 1990. We played three hours and had a great time. And I have never performed with that much alcohol in my system before or since. This clip is right before the big Charles Manson's Birthday finale, which went 30 minutes. Which is the longest version of Chuck ever performed. To date. A record I look forward to breaking some day. Perhaps at Otto's in Dekalb this August 23rd. You just never know what personal record I'll break at any given show.

Anyways, every once in a while, we'd switch things up for fun. I always really liked this X song. And I guess it was actually a recent hit for them at the time. Great song from a great album. As you will see, I play bass so Rich Grula can play guitar and sing. Chris Butler stayed on the drum stool. The crowd continued drinking.

So from all of me hyah at Otis Ball, happy Fourth of July to you and yers.

Stoop shirt!

2009-06-27T13:52:00.001-04:00

Five bucks only!

516 First St, DeKalb, IL. 60115

2009-06-24T22:41:00.000-04:00

Well, folks, it is official. I am very happy to announce the first Otis Ball & The Chains shows in 7 years. (Or something like that.) I'm coming home and I'm getting the band back together. And not just any ol' Chains, but the very first Chains! Mark yer calendars. Sat, August 22nd in Chicago and Sun August 23rd back in Dekalb at Otto's! Both appearance are a part of the big Dekalb Rocks Reunion. My buddy Tom Rose, who created the Dekalb Rocks Facebook group, has pulled the trigger on a weekend long event reuniting many of the great 80's Dekalb bands. happy hunting will be joining us, as will a great many more surprise attractions. I'll have plenty more information on this EVENT as we get closer.

Ah, Dekalb. Old days, good times I remember. After my three year tour of Illinois colleges and universities, I realized the music theory/composition major I was pursuing was not gonna get me not nowhere. Cept in deeper debt. I figured it was time to get some job and start rocking. Killer was studying up at NIU and I spent many a weekend visiting him the previous year. I always had a great time in Dekalb and my bass player was there. Bing, bang, bong.

Killer had been in the dorms the previous year. And his floor was just about all music students and a swell buncha swells they were. Dean, Free, WEZ-L and Doug are just a few that come to mind. Since I was moving to Dekalb, we figured we were gonna need a band house. Luckily, the Dekalb economy was propped up by band house developers. It didn't take very long at all to find 516 First St. And Doug, who just happened to be a drummer, was in. I think we each paid $90 a month. Utilities included.

We weren't in that house much longer than a year, but what a year it was! And that house is where Otis Ball & The Chains was born. We didn't play out that year, but we played in plenty! Lots of weekend jams with Doug, or occasionally WEZ-L, on drums and a few goofy parties. Which were captured for posterity, thanks to the camcorder I stole from my Pop when I left home. Here's a short reel featuring a few highlights, including a smoking Green Acres from Uncle Tiny Tim, back when he was but a nephew!

516 is also where I wrote and recorded a number of the songs that would make up the OB repertoire, including Walk On Water, Love You Til I Don't and Charles Manson's Birthday. And also a few that didn't make the trip to the future. Hot Day was the very first Otis Ball song ever broadcast on the radio. Tom Ellett debuted it on WKDI's Local Patrol. And I still remember sitting in 516 with Killer, waiting by the radio to hear that very first broadcast.

So just for fun, I put together a Hot Day video with some of that 516 footage. And it goes a little something like this.

Dekalb, I'm coming to see ya! Pretty yerself up all nice and put on that dress you know I like! Cuz I'm bringing Killer and Doug with me and we are gonna party like it's 1985!

DeKalb's Calling

2009-06-07T16:38:00.000-04:00

The last time I saw Dekalb was almost two decades ago. OK, that's not totally true. I've been back a couple times to visit. But the last time I ROCKED Dekalb was almost two decades ago. March 22nd, 1990 to be exact. I was on the road promoting the album and we had a triumphant show at Diversions on the NIU campus. It was me, Grula and Butler. Not to forget our roadie and former Dekalber, NE.

That show rinsed a whole lotta bad taste outta my mouth. You see, the previous return show was the Blitz, which is recounted extensively on an earlier post and in depth at Colicky Baby Records and Tapes. Not that this visit didn't have its own trials, but the details escape me. I do remember Butler cursing an NIU alumni in such a precise fashion that I am sorry I didn't get it on tape, for I cannot begin to replicate it. (Chris, if you can recall the details of this, I would love to have my memory jogged.)

But I am here to praise Dekalb, not to bury it. For wheels are in motion. Or so I understand. I don't know anything. Just some unsubstantiated rumors. I guess. Who am I to say? Not like I know anything bout nuthin. Nope. Clueless over hyah. Nuthin to tell nobuddy. Nope. Nuthin.

But just because I'm in the mood, here's some mp3s from that 1990 show. Not the whole show. Choice bits. Cuz I'm a tease. Yup. What I am.

And here is some vintage footage of the show, courtesy of my pal Marie's PixelVision camera. Featuring Killer on backup vox for Walk On Water and Tom Long, WEZ-L, Greg Dunlap and Susan Vincent as the Buddha Singers.

Gypsy At Thirteen

2009-06-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

Today my dog Gypsy turns 13. I guess. Almost 13 years ago, I decided it was time for me to get a dog. I talked to a couple of the local animal welfare groups before I went hunting. They recommended the local shelter because it was a nightmare and any animal rescued from that hell hole was truly a mitzvah. They gave me one very useful bit of advice. In NJ, shelters are required to hold a dog for 7 days, so if a dog is lost, the owner has a reasonable amount of time to find and claim it. However, they can euthanize it at any time. They suggested if I found a dog I liked and it wasn't available for release that I return daily until it became available so they would be aware that there was a waiting home.

So in late August of 1996, I walked down to the pound. I don't think it was technically a pound, but it surely wasn't a shelter. It wasn't very large. Maybe 100 dogs. I spent about 30 minutes looking, but I didn't find what I was looking for. I really wanted my dog, so I checked them all again. Still nothing. I was going to be living with this animal for a long time and I wasn't going to settle. But I couldn't bring myself to leave. I was standing in the puppy room frozen. And that's when she found me.

I don't know how I missed her. But this apparent shepherd mix in a crate against the wall saw me starting to leave and made her presence known! I still don't know how I missed her! Because she was exactly what I went looking for. I asked if we could remove her from the crate and she was so happy! We played for a few minutes and I said I would take her! I was told she just arrived and they couldn't release her for a week. My heart sank, but I was prepared. OK. Well, I'll be back tomorrow. And for the next week, I woke up early so I could walk back and visit her before I left for work. On one visit, she rolled over and I discovered she had a penis! What? I didn't want a male dog and I was positive she was a female. meh Turned out she had a brother. That was heartbreaking. But I couldn't take two dogs.

Finally, on September 4th, 1996, I woke up early and arrived at the shelter as they were opening and I sprung my dog! I still remember that walk home. I was so happy and so proud and so was she. I think we both almost burst. And so, while I don't know her true birthday, she was right around three months old when I found her. We decided that three months prior to that date would be her birthday. And we celebrate it every year. As we are today.

And here's one of my all-time favorite stories. The summer of 1992, I was on the road with They Might Be Giants. We were in Fox Island, WA for a big radio station sponsored show the next day. I was in my hotel room on a rare night off, catching up on some paperwork and relaxing, when suddenly there came a tapping. It was the road crew. "Hey, Otis! We're going to a strip club! You coming?" Yes. I was coming.

We drove a little ways out of town to a small building tucked off the highway. The Doll House. It looked like it must have been an old sailor bar, barely converted with a small wooden stage. When we walked in, we must have doubled the attendance. And we were all flush with per diems!

So we were pleased to find ring side seating for the evenings entertainment. One lady would take her turn on the stage and the others would mingle while waiting for their turn in the spotlight. One of them took the seat next to mine and introduced herself. She turned out to be a pleasant conversationalist and we chatted most of the night. After a while she confided in me that she was working under an assumed name. "Gypsy's not my real name. My real name is Lisa Marie, but there were already two Lisa Marie's working here, so I had to pick a new name."

And so to you Lisa Marie, wherever you are, SAAAAAAA-LUTE!

And to my little baby girl, my punkin sammich, my #1 #1, happy birthday, sweetie! Your daddy loves you very much!

On the Air! WBGU '90

2009-06-01T15:17:00.000-04:00

Here's a fun radio show. My good buddy Derek booked an OB& C show at Bowling Green U in Ohio, which turned out to tbe the first stop on the winter '90 tour. I stopped by his WBGU radio show the next day with my acoustic guitar, our roadie and a disposable lighter in tow. Needless to say, hilarity ensued. Buncha covers, some exclusive to this show, a couple requests and a whole lot of goof. Great time, nutty show. Have at it!

Pier Platters - An Introduction

2009-05-27T19:06:00.000-04:00

Ode to a fallen empire. I moved out to Jersey late summer of '88. The first job I got was at a record store in NYC. And it was miserable. I liked my coworkers a lot, but the store was, well, not my cuppa tea. The main floor was vinyl. This was back when records were still the reigning medium, though not much longer. But I worked in the CD/cassette department. This was a very Billboard centric store. Every Monday, the first job of the day was rearranging the Top 20 wall. Don't get me wrong. This establishment was very involved in breaking artists. Because the owner rented out his basement space to the major labels. If they had an artist that needed a push, the owner would buy boxes of an artists and store them in the basement. That counted as charting sales. When the artist eventually tanked, the owner just shipped the records back for a full refund and whatever he got in return. All on the artist's recoupable tab. Hooray. And for this, I made minimum wage, minus monthly dues to the instore union. I did get a pair of glasses outta the deal, which I still have and use, so I probly broke even on that scam.

Well, after about 9 months there, I finally got the call up I'd been hoping for, but doubted would ever happen. You see, one of the owners of the label I was signed to also co-owned Pier Platters. Now THAT was my kinda record store! The first time I visited Jersey to meet with the label, I ran over to Pier and dropped $200 on records I had only heard about in secret whispers with other hoarders like myownself. German Replacements promo discs with studio outtakes! Both dB's albums on one CD! And holy shit! A double LP of a festival of Austin indie bands that I didn't even know existed!

But right off the bat there was a problem. Ya see, Pier had two owners. The one I was in with was busy running the label. The other guy was running the store. And these two guys did not get along. At all. So here was the label owner telling his partner, "Here's your new employeeeeeeeeeeee!" Yippee.

OK. So I knew this wasn't gonna be easy, but there was no way I was gonna let this gig slip away. The pay was better than I was making, but more important, the perks were killer! The greatest records ever at cost! Little did I know, that was just the tip of the perks iceberg.

So I walked in knowing that I had plenty to offer this shop, but I would have to prove it. And fast! But I had a few things going for me. Besides my winning smile and sparkling personality, I had a mind for obscure rock and roll. I knew who had been in what band, which single had what otherwise unreleased B-side and so on and so forth. Although I quickly discovered that my field of knowledge was far narrower than I realized. There was one more minor issue. I was scared to death of my new boss.

Which brings us to the legend that is Bill Ryan. BILL RYAN! Grumpy, smokey, caffeiney, mumbling, arm itchy, growly Bill Ryan. I'm tempted to say there was a Bill Ryan running every record store back in the day, but it's just not true. I knew a bunch of them. They were no Bill Ryan.

I am absolutely positive that Bill wanted me gone the minute I walked in. I believe it no, I believed it then. He didn't know me. I was brought in by the enemy. Even then I knew that. Didn't take a West Point grad to see I was marching into a war zone.

And so I shall end this chapter with a cliffhanger. I had originally figured I'd write up a nice post on Pier for this blog as a commemoration of a wonderful time and place in so many people's lives, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that one mere post couldn't possibly contain the majesty that was Pier Platters. So many stories, so many people, so many pictures and mementos to gather for presentation. This story must continue! If you have any good stories and/or pictures, please leave a comment or email me for inclusion in forthcoming chapters. For on this blog, Pier Platters lives and breathes.

I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to mention the first record store to ever employee me. Back in Dekalb, IL, I musta stopped by Record Revolution daily. It was just part of my day. I was always hoping a slot would open up and I'd finally get to live the dream, working at a record store. That slot finally opened up. Two weeks before I was to leave Dekalb for the big move to Jersey and rock stardom. Nevertheless, Mark Cerny, the owner, asked me if I wanted that job, knowing I would be gone in days. I accepted. I think I may have danced around the store as well. Mark took the time to train me and fill out all the pain in the ass employment tax forms knowing I would only be there for a week. Well, after almost 35 years, Mark finally closed up shop and retired a few weeks ago. The Rev will be missed. Mark, Bobbo and all my old friends from The Rev, thank you so much for all the great memories. Yer ol pal O still thinks of you often and remembers you fondly.

Cover Me With Roses Vol 1 & 2

2009-05-26T01:22:00.000-04:00

In 1989, I compiled a cassette of cover songs to sell at shows. It was appropriately titled "Cover Me With Roses Vol 1." To commemorate the 20th anniversary of that tape, I recently digitized the original collection and added a few more songs from that period. The whole package with artwork and the original liner notes is available hyah.

And now, after 20 years, Volume 2 is finally available. A double disc set that I am extremely proud of. A collection of both live and studio recordings from the last two decades featuring so many of the various bands and musicians I have worked with over the years. Artwork and extensive liner notes are included and it is available hyah.

I am pleased to offer both of these collections free to all my friends. Hope you enjoy them!

Yer pal,
O

They say it's yer birthday!

2009-05-23T11:01:00.000-04:00

In honor of Richard and Phillip's birthday today, I proudly present the original appearance of the Otis Ball Boogie Squad!

That Green TV Band

2009-05-19T20:19:00.001-04:00

OK. Let's talk about the show Killer sez is "Without a doubt my FAVORITE Otis gig I played!" This really was an exceptionally fun show. Wesley Foundation June 24th 1988. Chicago's GREEN with Blue Green God and, for one night only, That Green TV Band.

(Special thanks to Jason Jerde and Tom Rose for coming up with this flier!)

When I was asked about performing on this show, my second guitarist told me he couldn't make the gig. I probly realized this could be the last chance I would have to perform in Dekalb, at least while I was a resident. Which turned out to be true. So I really didn't want to turn the show down. On top of that, we had given up our rehearsal space in Sycamore. I accepted knowing that I was gonna have to be creative.

With that in mind, I decided to put together what would end up being the first in a long string of one night only special performances. So as long as we gotta switch things up, let's start from scratch. What would be a whole lotta fun? Maybe an all covers show. Done. How bout a theme? Even better. Hmm. All science related songs? Don't think there are enough good ones. Gospel hymns? Not enough singers. Well, how bout TV songs? YES!

So we were a four piece. Me and Killer, Leslie Franks on keys and guitar, Kathy Howard on drums. Right around this time I ran into an old friend from high school and college, Jennifer Hunt. We were both music majors at Illinois State. Spontaneously, I asked her if she might want to play a show. I knew the answer before I asked. She was a vocal major who studied and sang choral voice, but she loved Pat Benatar and was dying to rock. Needless to say, she was in. This was when the show started coming together.

So if we're doing all covers with a second lead vocalist, this could hardly be called an Otis Ball show. Well, hell. If we're a TV band, let's just be That TV Band! Done. So if it ain't Otis Ball & The Chains, well, why the hell do I gotta be Otis Ball? No reason. Now it's show time.

One of my first favorite TV shows was Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. A live action saturday morning series about a government spy organization. And all the spies were chimpanzees. Oh. Also, they had a rock band.

Screw it. The front man for That TV Band is Lance.

So we had to learn a show from scratch. Or damn near. Killer and I had done a couple TV songs together over the years, but outside of a handful of goofin' around rehearsal moments with The Chains and a Partridge Family song or two, we had an entire set to learn. And nowhere to do it. Enter James Patrick Moran. The Patrick stands for Potwora. Mister Moran offered up his living room for a couple rehearsals cuz he's a good guy. And I think he was pissed at his neighbors.

Somewhere in here we were told the other two bands on the bill would be the band Green from Chicago and Dekalb's own Blue Green God. Well, far be it from us to leave a running theme blowing in the wind. (Or a kiss, for that matter.) Which is when we became That Green TV Band. The plan was, I would be Lance, the jerk band leader who berated the band. And they would bite their collective tongues until just before the end of the show, at which point they couldn't take it any longer. I think Killer was employed to fake smack me or sumthin. Anyways, right before the end, Lance would be run off at which point Otis Ball would show up to save the day and the set with a closing performance of Charles Manson's Birthday. Cuz we wanted to play it and it didn't fit in with the show's theme.

And that's the story. Two months later I would be off to Jersey to record an album and come up with the rest of the stories that will be filling up this blog in the months to come. Good thing I saved all this crap.

Grab yerself some That Green TV Band right hyah.

THIS JUST IN! Greg Dunlap came up with a copy of the set list!

WFMU's Three Chord Monte @ JC's Fatburger!

2009-05-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

Took my best girl Gypsy and her pal Ali on an outing today to Jersey City's own Fatburger! My buddy Joe Belock was broadcasting his excellent Three Chord Monte show, as he does every Tuesday from Noon to Three EST over the WFMU airwaves.

And his special guest Todd-o-phonic Todd was buying Baby Fats for all his pals!

Ira and Georgia from Yo La Tengo were there for a guest slot!

We all had an excellent time and sure hope they do it again real soon!

Cuz my baby girl Gypsy loves her some Fatburger!

Check out the playlist and audio archive right hyah. And special thanks to my buddy Brian Musikoff for manning the digital image capture gizmo.

Otis Ball's Phone Phun

2009-05-18T14:49:00.000-04:00

This is a small collection of answering machine messages I have received. Here is the download link.

The first is a track I like to call Crazy Lady. I think it's self explanatory.

The second cut is entitled I Dig That Song. It's a message from a record company executive. Or rather, mogul. His preferred title.

Next up is a message called I Hate My Roommate. NSFW

Finally we Have Robert Hang Up. I do not know the callers. It must have been either a wrong number or a crank call gone wrong.

Enjoy.

Misc vids

2009-05-18T10:24:00.000-04:00

In 1991, I was alerted that a Banana Splits tribute was in the works. I got to work and recorded I Enjoy Being a Boy at the wonderful and muc missed Snacktime Studio. By the time I finished the track, I had lost all the information on the label that was releasing the tribute. But this is a song I had always wanted to do, so I hardly regret the effort.

This is an excerpt from the pilot episode of Uncle Tiny Tim's Rock Futon, which I recorded this past December. Hey, Adult Swim! Check this out!

And this is a promotional video produced by Bianca Miller in 1989. It's still pretty damn good.

This is a music video for the Otis Ball & The New Chains song, Fire Needs Oxygen, featuring Jersey City's own Bridge & Pummel roller derby team.

And we'll wrap up this post with one of my faves. Johnny Sunshine! fronting Super Karaoke Fun Time Band at Hoboken's Sinatra Park a couple summers ago.

Lust For Life '90

2009-05-18T10:02:00.000-04:00

Let me start of by saying that I don't have the date for this performance. Not the biggest deal, but very unlike me not to date an archive piece. This is only relevant in that I can't remember if this performance was for CMJ or NMS 1990. Which brings us to the start of our story.

'Love You Til I Don't' was released in January '90. Label relations were strained from the start, but that's another story. For CMJ (or NMS) that year, Barn One booked an entire night at Tramp's to showcase their roster. Quite a number of bands were on the bill, including many who did not have albums out at the time. (And may have never released albums. Memory fails.) BO had a habit of raving about, then losing interest in projects.

This show was to take place on a Tuesday night, the last night of CMJ (or NMS.) For some unexplained reason, I was chosen to "close" the night. Which meant I would be going on at 2 AM on a Tuesday, long after everyone had either gone back to their hotels for an early morning flight or already flown home.

In addition, my drummer Chris had cracked his spine riding The Cyclone at Coney Island a week or so prior to the show. Clearly, this was a nothing to gain, nothing to lose proposition. So why the hell not have some fun? It was an opportunity for a one time only performance.

I had my bass player, Rich Grula and he was always up for anything. I enlisted a couple Pier Platters coworkers, Artie from Earth Pig and Lyle from Damen. But why stop there? I knew there would be a number of musicians at the show. So I would bring all my guitars and all my amps and recruit a band.

First thing to do was go buy some poster board. I wrote the lyrics (I am famous for my poor lyric memory) on the poster board. Next, I took a roll of perforated computer paper and wrote the chords out. I could indicate the changes with my feet in a game of rock and roll Twister.

One of my roommates, Marie Javins, was hosting a friend of hers for the rock weekend. Karl Straub of The Graverobbers. (He was later to immortalize Pier and me in the 'Mark Robinson' 7") He was and still is a great guitarist. And he was in.

The night of the show, we roped in a couple attendees. Ira of Yo La and Jim DeRogatis of the band Airliner and rock journalism excellence. The original plan was to start with Rich, Lyle and myself and bring up the guests one at a time. But I must not have spread the word, because the stage was filled from the start.

No rehearsal, no real plan, other than to play until we were done. And with that, I proudly present 2 AM on a Tuesday night at Tramp's.

Karl Straub kindly offered his memories of the evening

otis, my memory of it is prob sketchier than yours-- i also cannot remember whether it was cmj or nms. i'm not even completely certain what either of those things are, at this late date. i recall that a band called "sweet lizard illtet" played, and maybe another band where the drummer used water cooler jugs as part of his kit? maybe that was another show. (editor's note - sounds like Barkmarket to me)

beyond that, my clearest memory is of the next day, when i was browsing in see hear (is that right?) hip bookstore, and lyle (who i did not recognize) was behind the counter. he said to me, "hey, great show last night" or some such, and i made the mistake of saying, "oh, were you there?" if i'd been thinking more quickly, i'd have realized that anyone at that show while we played would, statistically speaking, probably have been on stage. He got a peevish, or miffed, look on his face, and then started miming drumming, so as to jog my memory.

(I have to say, it was the most hostile mimed drumming I have ever seen, before or since.)

my weak response was that it had been pretty dark on stage, and i'd never really gotten a good look at him. This did not appease him, however. Lyle, if you're reading this somewhere, I'd just like to say, maybe now that so many years have gone by, I could make it up to you by meeting you somewhere and buying you a beer. Although, since I don't remember what you look like, the same thing would probably happen again.

at approx. 2:50 of part 3, you have documentation that I used to climb up on things, preparatory to jumping off of them, while strapped to a guitar. It was a way of enhancing the natural excitement over the fact that we were about, against all odds, to finish the song. There was a lot of demand for that sort of thing, in that era.

Rich Grula added:

Oddly, I have no memory of this show. I mean, nothing. The only thing I recall is that we used to jam on Lust For Life, but this whole she-bang, it's my own personal 17-minute gap.

Did we really play a gig with only one song? Wow.

The Ballroom Blitz

2009-05-17T19:54:00.000-04:00

The following was posted on Facebook on April 19, 2009, the 20th anniversary of The Ballroom Blitz. It is the last in a series of posts that can be found at my buddy Stronger Than Dirt Pete Moss' blog. Colicky Baby Records and Tapes I strongly suggest you read those posts for full effect. But I imagine you could just jump in hyah, if you so desire. On with the show.

Ready, Steve? Killer? Bouj? Alright, fellas. LET'S GO!

Twenty years on, it still took half a bottle of vodka to write this post. There we were. It was supposed to be the big homecoming show. But due to oppression beyond my control, it had been canceled. I was going back to Jersey on the 20th. The knuckleheads had less than a week to correct their mistake and book a make up show. To their credit, they did manage to get that together. Even suckered in Dale Tulk, soundman to the Dekalb/Sycamore stars. In hindsight, I wish they hadn't. He deserved better. But you play the Ball where it lies, so to speak. Or the Blitz, if you weel.

The big show was off. Apparently the Northern Illinois University campus was too delicate to withstand a promotion consisting of naked stick figures. They weren't even anatomically correct! But that post has been posted. Whether you're just joining us or you have been impatiently waiting for each new episode, I recommend you download the audio version of the backstory, the PAS 23 cassette.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D6F1KOZB

I suspect Stronger Than Newspaper Tom Lung may have some additional comments on this zip. I prefer to comment videologically.

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. April 19, 1989. A Wednesday night. Somehow, one Matthew Boone's event hall had been procured. I was tempted to say "rented," but that would have involved a deposit. Too bad about their lax business practices. It was an interesting venue for a rock show. To the best of my knowledge, it had never been used for a rock show before and CERTAINLY not since. (At least some of those involved learned valuable lessons on this day, though not all.) In hindsight, I'm sure it was nothing more than a dining hall for rent. But to those of us used to church basements, university commons and old man drinking clubs, it looked like a venue better suited to proms or weddings. My god, it was practically a ballroom! Disco ball included! (Which is not to be confused with a disco Ball. That would take us back to the late 70's and remove us from the story at hand.)

Kissyfish was driving down from Madison, the Chains were in their various Chicago area locales and I woke up in Dekalb. With a grapefruit lump in my gut. I had a bad feeling about the evening show. Not only was it booked on a weeks notice, but given the circumstances, let's just say that there was not a whole lot of promotion. And it was a Wednesday night to boot. And I sensed another boot could well be imminent, if we didn't watch all our P's and Q's. And stick figures.

Enough beating around the bush. We knew it wasn't gonna be the best Otis Ball & The Chains show. Christ, we had a pretty good idea it wouldn't even be the best of the tour. And it wasn't. That would be the IMSA show, discussed in the previous post. But goddamn it! There was a job to be done! I spent the afternoon with the Public Address System crew, which is documented in the PAS 23 mp3s linked above. We were all understandably nervous for our own reasons. They needed a successful make up show to print the next edition. I coulda used some cash to get home and make up for taking two weeks off of work for a no budget homecoming tour. Thankfully the Cover Me With Roses cassette and T-shirt sales were doing fine. I was far more concerned about leaving my Dekalb reputation in tact. God knows why.

So we loaded in that afternoon. Kissyfish showed up, loaded in and we spent the afternoon pacing. Which changed not one thing of the impending show. Doors opened. $4 admission. Seemed overpriced to me, but I wasn't promoting the show. My concern was what happened on stage.

Good thing. Attendance was light early on. Not only did I know everybody, but between Kissyfish, OB&C and the PAS crew, we coulda handily defeated em in a fist fight. And that is not bragging about our collective pugilistic skills.

Kissyfish opened the show. I thought they were fine. But Ryan was not happy. More than once he apologized from the stage. I dunno why. They sounded just fine then and now. They opened with an excellent Hava Nagila. An arrangement I would blatantly steal over a decade later when asked to play at my cousin's wedding. They did a decent amount of their hits and a couple new songs, but ended after about a half hour. They were clearly feeling as nervous and unsure as I was feeling. The smell of curse was in the air.

Up next was No Eraser Head. One of the PAS crew. An old Dekalb pal. Soon to join me in Jersey and roadie for the OB&C midwest tour a year later. (I'm sick of saying "that's another story." Figure it out.)

NE was a unique performer. Like BB King, he couldn't play guitar and vocalize at the same time. Unlike BB King, he couldn't even play guitar. But that didn't stop him. Nor should it have. He did what he did and there was no one else doing anything similar. Before or since. He choose to use the first half of his set to both encapsulate the story of the show and do a greatest hits of his stand-up routine. All in about 5 minutes. For his second song, he performed a Stooges song backed by an old vaudeville routine. Rather than go into detail, I implore you to watch his entire set that night.

Under any other circumstances, I would have thought this No Eraser Head set was the greatest performance I had ever witnessed. But for the fact that the owner and/or manager of the venue had appeared with her two young children. She was looking for her money. Ironically from this anniversary vantage point, there could not have been more than 20 people in attendance. I knew she wasn't getting paid. The PAS crew knew she wasn't getting paid. Fuck, she probly knew she wasn't getting paid. Meanwhile, NE was playing a solo guitar version of I Wanna Be Yer Dog while two other gentlemen explained the definition of "To come" and smashed 78 rpm lacquer records over their heads. Me? I was curled up in a ball in a shadowed door jamb.

But now it was time. Might as well get this over with. I guess if ya gotta play a show, might as well throw in for the handful of friends who showed up. So Otis Ball & The Chains took to the stage one last time.

I guess we all knew this could be it. And it was. While Otis Ball & A Chains would play with A Kissyfish one year later, this collection of musicians and old friends would never gather again. Not all at once. Some attendees would disappear, never to be heard from again. (Steve Laux! Phone home!)

If this was a movie, (and someday it may be! All copyrights held by One O Ball and Stronger Than Dirt Pete Moss!) the show would have been amazing, properly documented and hundreds would have been streaming in after the big football game let out. But that is not what happened. The attendees who were attending were already attending. We knew this was "a major loss for the band." (You are watching the accompanying videos, aren't you? I didn't upload em for my health!) And the video is very poor quality. But a rock show is a rock show. There are a lot of things I am lazy about. But when it comes to show time, well, it is show time.

And that is where our story does take a turn for the better. You see, while the audience was sparse, they were all hardcore. So they all acme prepared for The Request Bucket. TRB. An OB&C mainstay. (Along with acronyms.) At most shows, I would put out the bucket. Fans were invited to drop requests in the bucket. Not Otis Ball song requests. ANY song requests. And we aimed to please. The very first time The Request Bucket was employed, we got a request for a Metallica song. Leper Messiah. Well, we did not know Leper Messiah. So we made up a song on the spot. Called Leper Messiah. THAT is how The Request Bucket works.

This fucked up show was a financial disaster. It was not to be anything resembling an ego gratifying homecoming show. But thanks to the fifth member of the band, TRB, it was a success. My buddy Jody had been making notes for months. She came to the show armed with at least two dozen requests. The Associations' Windy! New York, New York! You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman! Green Acres! And someone requested Ballroom Blitz.

So the show happened. Which is more than we expected at the time, under the circumstances. And I do have to say, despite the doom hanging about two feet above the dance floor, despite the fact that NO ONE was making any money that night, despite the fact that we might never see each other again, we managed to end the night with the most triumphant rock moment Dekalb has ever seen. Or not seen in this case.

For the big finale, we called up Kissyfish to join us. We chose two very special covers and an anthem to end the night, the tour and the very special friendship all those in attendance were bonded by forever and always. As I did that night, I would like to dedicate these three songs, this rock and roll encore of all encores to all those on stage that night, all those in the audience and all of you who have joined us in this 20 year anniversary remembrance.

From Otis Ball and Stronger Than Dirt Pete Moss, thank you, friends.

And so it begins

2009-05-17T18:16:00.000-04:00

Having tested the waters on Facebook, it is time to unleash the stories, videos, pics and mp3s on the world.

Welcome to the Otis Ball MP3 Club. Won't you come on in?