Local Bands

The Antoinettes were the reigning girl group during the Scorgies era, playing out numerous times before venturing into the wilds of New York City to seek fame & fortune.  The band was fronted by keyboardist Meegan Voss, whose Syracuse band the Poptarts made some noise  in the CNY music scene. Meegan moved to Rochester with Margie Shears to start the Antoinettes and they were soon joined by Eastman School of Music  student Kim Milai on drums  and Poptarts veteran Cathy Kensington (aka Cathy VanPatten)  on guitar.

Photo posted on Magpie Waltz

Scorgies era Antoinettes, left to right: Margie, Meegan, Kim & Cathy

So, where are they now? Megan continues to make music with her husband Steve Jordan as the Verbs; Kim teaches at an elementary school and has a side career doing children’s music. Cathy Kensington works as an editor and lives in the Chicago area.  Margie Shears, according to Cathy’s blog, lives in the Westchester NY area and works as a graphic designer.

According to Cathy, “after we did that demo, I left the band to follow my (then) boyfriend to Boston. The Antoinettes then added a guitarist (Sue Veneer) to replace me and a keyboard player (Magda– I don’t remember her last name) to take over that role so Meegan could devote her efforts to fronting the band. That was the band that ended up going to NYC and becoming the darlings of CBGB’s.”  I’ve picked one of the best songs recorded in that demo session, ”If I Were To, ” a plaintive lament  that captures a contemplative Antoinettes pining for a boy they could not have.

Click on the link below to play the song in a new window,  right-click or control click to download the file.

If I Were To

It all started in 1984… that’s the year a 16 year old by the name of Mick Alber snuck into Scorgies to see the Chesterfield Kings…. now, some of the bands that Mick has loved over the years are rallying together to help him defray some of his medical expenses.

Brian Goodman, Mick Alber & Bob Janneck

For many years, Mick Alber was a beloved member of the local music scene in Rochester NY. Recently, a severe flare up of ulcerative colitis has required that Mick have major, life-saving surgery.

In a better world, Mick Alber would be a legendary Disc Jockey, like L.A.’s Rodney Bingenheimer, a universally-recognized icon of the Rochester Rock & Roll scene. His friendship with long-time on-air partner Mike Murray began with a fortuitous meeting at a Scorgies Chesterfield Kings show in 1984 (Mick, 16 at the time, had snuck in). From that meeting, their partnership developed into one of the longest-running radio shows in Rochester history, Whole Lotta Shakin’ (now heard Saturdays 4-6 PM on 88.5 WRUR FM).

Whole Lotta Shakin’ has been a driving force in our music scene, a haven for local bands and a key element of “the Rochester Sound.” Over the years, Whole Lotta Shakin’ highlighted Upstate acts like New Math/Jet Black Berries, the Chesterfield Kings, The Projectiles, McFadden’s Parachute, Squires of the Subterrain, Dan Frank & the True Believers, Badenovs, SLT, The Insiders, The Hi-Risers, Frantic Frank & The Flattops, The Absolutes, The Ohm, The Moviees, The Quitters, The Thundergods, Cousin Al and The Relatives, The White Devils, The Chinchillas, The Presstones, Dark Charly & The Tombstones, Absolute Grey and others too numerous to mention.

In recognition of Mick’s contributions and in light of his medical condition, a slew of Scorgie’s era musicians have pulled together to organize “For the Love of Mick: A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Benefit” to help Mick defray some of the expenses surrounding his care. It will run from 12-9 PM on Sunday, March 6th at Abilene, 123 Liberty Pole Way.

Artists Schedule:

12-12:30 Dark Charly
12:30-1:00 Big Red & the Sideburns
1:15-2:00 The Ohm
2:15-3:00 Dan Frank & the True Believers
3:15-4:00 The Chinchillas (with Beth)
4:15-5:00 The Enablers
5:00-6:00 Jet Black Berries
6:15-7:15 The Pawns
7:30-8:00 The Stan Merrell Band with Cousin Chaz & Cousin Al
8:15-Close The Imaginary Band

From Pee Wee’s notes: “Kevin has moved to New York. He came back to finish off some stuff and do this job. Everyone took their equipment home. Looks like this is really the last one. The last two songs they played were “Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Taking Care of Business”.

Not sure if that last statement is completely true; the tape cuts off 3/4 of the way through a cover of the Cramp’s “Garbage Man.” Kevin always honored his influences…

However, they did do another old cover that night that was especially appropriate, considering Kevin’s exodus to Manhattan… a cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway”

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New Math's last gig

This next tape was recorded by noted Scorgies soundman Pee wee  on a Maxell XLI-S normal bias cassette tape on a hot summer’s night in July, 1983 (anyone have the exact date for this show?). No other details about this tape, just a note from Pee Wee that right channel was a feed from the sound board and the left channel was from a well-placed room microphone. The song I’m posting is from the close of the set: “Invocation,” from the EP “They Walk Among You”. I’ve mixed the tracks for your (Mono) listening pleasure.

New Math – Invocation:

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New Math at Scorgies from 7-83

Don Scorgie was fortunate to have to have a great sound system in the club, and one of the best guys at the mixing board was Alan Paprocki, AKA the legendary Pee Wee (an oxymoronic nickname ‘cuz he was sooo tall). Pee Wee mixed for Personal Effects, Delroy Rebop, the Press Tones, New Math and other national acts. . Fortunately for us, he also ran a line out to a tape deck and made some killer tapes. I’ve been tasked with digitizing the Delroy Rebop & New Math tapes. So, without further delay, here’s a smidgen of New Math live on 3-25-1983:

New Math, Die Trying:

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New Math 3-25-83 Scorgies

I saw the Rochester music review in a recent issue of the City newspaper. It brought back many fond and painful memories and lessons of Rochester music legacy and lore. I was looking for somebody to fill me in on Luke Warm.

I remember him as a delightful character on the scene (during my original duration in it). I was in the Commercials and we played Scorgie’s, usually as an opening act, from 1982 until about 1984 or so. Obviously, I encountered Luke on every occasion. I gotta hand it to this guy. If he was in a band or had any musical ability – HE NEVER TALKED ABOUT IT IN FRONT OF ME – he never said “come check out my band” or anything of the sort. When I read the review on his musical efforts I was really shocked! Maybe I’m stupid, but I was NOT out of the loop in the old days at Scorgie’s…I was there almost every week for about two years straight. How did I miss him? Nobody spoke up, especially not Luke.

The really sad part is, not only was I denied a chance to hear him do his musical bit, but also the other guys in the bands I opened for (especially the members of the group Passenger), just sort of wrote him off as the club’s resident idiot/lush/foolish jester behind his back. So, being very young at the time, just wrote Luke off as a “happy drunk.” I scared him once by acting like he was interfering on my date with the young lady I  was with. The girl and I were there as “friends-only” (as she was probably under-age at the time), but I did kind of a “hey man, step off” gag, and he vanished in the crowd, tail between his legs.  Now, back then,  I could probably beat my way out of a paper bag…if it was wet. Anyway, a couple of the guys from the Clichés or something got a big laugh out of it.

So, I knew that he was very ill by the late 1980’s (when all us new wavers were hard up for gigs and had to settle on playing Schatzie’s) and I learned that he passed away several years ago when it happened. Tragic thing. It made me think real hard and thank God I’m still here. Thanks for bringing the info home to me.

Meegan Voss of the Antoinettes

It’s hard to pin the best way to keep in touch with folks these days. Hardly anyone I know writes letters or sends postcards anymore. Pretty much everyone (except Duane and Paul & Peggi) relies on their cellphones and either doesn’t have a land line or barely uses it. Email is old school; and Instant messaging is passe.

Having said that, I set out this past August to connect with Scorgies alumni using Web 2.0 resources and social networking and was able to contact a wide variety of Scorgies alum (like Rock and Roll Joel).

Working on a tip from a blog comment, I discovered that Meegan Voss (of the Antoinettes) continues to create and perform music in NYC with her husband Steve Jordan (of Late Nite Band and Xpensivve Winos fame). Their band is The Verbs. Great music, neat stuff. I can envision a Verbs/Atmomic Swindlers/Velveteen Fox show right now! It would rock, totally!

I was able to contact Meegan through the Verbs MySpace page and we exhanged smoe pleasantries. Here’s a message Meegan sent prior to the reunion:

You know Stan, I wanted to say “thank you” to Don because he was always supportive to The Antoinettes and gave us such great gigs. Our first was opening for Marianne Faithful at Scorgies! I was trying to send a post to Scorgies but wasn’t able to get in. I also wanted to say that The Gun Club and Jim Carroll gigs were some of the best that I’ve seen still to this day. It was such a great stage to play and the room lent itself to comment from the audience. It was always a happening. I don’t remember a dull show, do you? It’s an absolute crime the place isn’t still open and rocking. There was a club in Syracuse called Jabberwocky that should never have closed as well. Do you know how lucky we were to see these incredible national acts just breeze through our small city? Steve, my husband, never ceases to be amazed that I’ve seen pretty much anyone who was anybody play in a small club with a small audience. I would love to be at the reunion but I’m in rehearsal. Our new album is about to be released so there is a lot of work to be done.
Thank you for contacting me about it. I hope you have a blast at the reunion.

Meegan

p.s. tell the kid that worked at the record store that that was me and I say hi! I walked out when they wanted us to display all of John Lennon’s music the moment he was shot.

From the Jan 18th 2004 edition of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle’s Living Section; official reprint available at http://www.democratandchronicle.com/

Absolute Grey

REUNITED: Haunting light

If continents can drift 20 centimeters farther from each other over 20 years, imagine how a volatile rock band can scatter in that time. The drummer to San Francisco. The bassist to Maine. The guitarist to Seattle. The lead singer to Ithaca.

Twenty years ago, those four pieces were Absolute Grey, one of the best, most happening bands that Rochester has had to offer to the music world.

It was beyond music, even.

“It was multimedia in its earliest, roughest form. That’s how pretentious we were back then,” recalls bassist Mitch Rasor of a show at the Pyramid Arts Center.

Absolute Grey

“We had a big crowd, and on all of the walls and the ceiling we were showing these films we had made, and our friends who were filmmakers had made, to go along with the music. It was complete immersion, it was everywhere, and I was standing in the middle of it all, almost forgetting I was playing.”

Twenty years later, folks who weren’t at Scorgie’s – the center of the local rock universe, but now a shut-down, silent club on Andrews Street – probably don’t know what the fuss was all about. “There was a buzz going on about this particular band,” says Dave Anderson. “There seemed to be something exciting about them….”

Now the album that Anderson recorded hi his attic studio, the Absolute Grey debut, Greenhouse, has just been re-issued. It’s accompanied by a live recording of the band playing at Scorgie’s, speaking from an era when groups such as R.E.M. could emerge from the world of independent, underground music to become stars, their noncommercial integrity still intact.

Greenhouse is Exhibit No. 1 that Absolute Grey had the goods. And the fact that the band still has fans to

Greenhouse LP

this day – such as R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who’s quoted on a sticker on the new CD jewel box claiming    “I still have the original LPs” – is Exhibit No. 2 that Absolute Grey is more than a passing moment.

They loved ‘em in Germany, where a two-CD retrospective was released 10 years ago. They adored ‘em in England, where a review of Greenhouse that is to appear in today’s London Sunday Times reads, “Squint a little and Greenhouse is stupendous….” The Scorgie’s tracks secure “Greenhouse its own little space on the lost classics shelf.”

This of a band that released only four albums in its brief lifetime, the last two on a label in Greece. We’re talking Greece the country, not Greece the Rochester suburb.

So what happened?

Rasor and Matt Kitchen, the guitarist, were students at Pittsford Sutherland High School. They went off to college. End of band, it seems.

Pat Thomas

“Beth and I tried to convince them that it was obvious we had something going on,” says Pat Thomas, the drummer; Beth was Beth Brown, the band’s incandescent lead singer, a torch shining through her band mates’ darkness. “And one more year might have been all we needed to bring it up to the next level.”

As it turned out, it’s been 20 years to bring it up to the next level. There are 10 more songs, worked on intermittently over the years, now almost ready for a new Absolute Grey release. That appears to be inevitable; the energetic Thomas will make it happen.

Perhaps the band’s premature end was also inevitable. After graduating from Sutherland, Brown was working as a clerk at Record Archive when Greenhouse was released. She was 23 and Thomas, who had moved here from Corning, was 24. But Kitchen was only 16, and Rasor 15. Yet they were already perfect rock stars. “I was too radical,” Rasor says of being kicked out of art class. As sophomores, he and Kitchen took charge of the school yearbook and used Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the story of a man who awakens to find he’s been turned into a cockroach, as the theme. “It was all gray, with pictures of, like, the chess club over decomposing leaves,” Rasor says. “The total opposite of what a yearbook is supposed to be. The seniors were furious.”

The members of Absolute Grey saved their fury for the band: “We fought like cats and dogs.” Brown and Rasor both use that phrase.

“We were so pretentious, we’d fight over poetry,” Rasor says. “We took ourselves so seriously. We were so spoiled. It’s like I wrote in the liner notes hi the CD that was released in Germany: ‘Somehow we managed to

Matt, Mitch, Pat and Beth

overcome all the advantages we were handed in life to start this great band.’”

Anderson agrees with Rasor on that point.

“The guitarist and bass player were from Pittsford, and I think Beth was, too,” he says. “They had an air of arrogance about them, I must say. Matt had a very condescending tone, especially for a young kid, I thought. He was very serious; he was very intellectual about everything.

“He was the main songwriter. They were very moody, atmospheric tunes. It was kind of a downer trip, overall. But in a good way. The name says it all. Absolute Grey.”

They could see nothing but gray. Anderson recalls being in the attic studio during Greenhouse. Brown was in the basement, recording some vocals; something about the acoustics, or her needing to be alone. And he could hear her crying as she was singing her part.

“You know how they say the light in the south of France is best for painting?” Rasor says of the fuel of collaboration. “Well, being in a band… it’s the best. Being able to take ideas and turn them into songs the next day is a great, especiall in high school, when you’re filled with all of this teen angst.” Absolute Grey plunged into the Scorgie’s scene, dominated by local bands such as Personal Effects. Paul Dodd, that band’s drummer, ran Earring Records, a small label that had already released music by the Wilderness Family, the Essentials and the first Colorblind James Experience album. He agreed to release Greenhouse as well. “I remember Pat,” Dodd recalls. “He was a real hustler.”

Hustler, as in aggressive. Among the many talents of Absolute Grey was professional focus. “There was no money attached, no contract. It was just a name. A co-op. A commune. A collective,” recalls Peggi Dodd of Earring’s relaxed business ethos; she was Peggi Fournier then, a keyboardist in Personal Effects. And she was a teacher at Sutherland. Rasor and Brown had been among her Spanish students. They even recruited her to play keyboards on two Greenhouse songs. “I’d come see the band,” she says, recalling the music as “somewhat dark.”

Conceived in an attic, Greenhouse was born in the basement of Scorgie’s in the winter of ‘84. “There was a huge blizzard, and I was so worried that people wouldn’t come because the weather was so’horrible,” Brown says of the record-release show. “But the place was packed, everybody was partying, and I was so gratified.”

Less than a year later, Rasor was a student at Oberlin College in northeastern Ohio when he heard that the college radio station – which didn’t even know that the guitarist from Absolute Grey was on campus – had selected Greenhouse as its indie album of the year, over the likes of R.E.M.’s Murmur.

But that was really the beginning of the end.

Mitch Rasor

“I think I can speak for Matt,” Rasor says. “We both knew we wanted more of an academic career, an arts career. Absolute Grey was about to go somewhere, but it was not quite the train we wanted to be on for all that time. I’m a little more comfortable in a library than onstage.”

Absolute Grey proved to be a springboard for Rasor and Thomas in music. Rasor has found a way to combine his interests in architecture, landscaping, graphic design, writing and music – he’s working on his 23rd album, some of which are solo efforts – with a company called MRLD, just north of Portland, Maine.

Thomas lived in Denmark for a year, then used his Absolute Grey connections for a move to California, where many of the survivors of the ’80s psychedelic-rock revival lived. He now runs a San Francisco label, DBK Works, that re-issues classic records on vinyl. And new works as well, including his own solo records and, obviously, Greenhouse.

Kitchen spiraled off into a different orbit, setting down his guitar in favor of a fiddle and a civil-service job, a wife and a daughter in Seattle. The other three members of the band describe him as ambivalent about Absolute Grey,

Brown? The band’s star, with her blend of folk-rock and wailing-punk vocals, has taken the oddest – most frustrating, even – road of them all. “I’m disappointed and angry,” Thomas says, “that she never went on to do anything without us.”

Brown moved to Boston, enrolled in art school, drifted to Ithaca and started a sign-painting business, then moved to the Berk-shires and opened an art gallery. By then, she had a daughter – Indiana – with a German immigrant named Knut Schmitt.

Now she’s back in Ithaca. She and Schmitt went their separate ways years ago. Yet in a strange twist, she’s not only caring for their daughter but also the 54-year-old Schmitt, who now is battling early-onset Parkinson’s disease.

Absolute Grey Record Release Party

Interestingly, the 20-year-old Greenhouse has been an instrument of healing for Thomas, Rasor and Brown. It’s as though they’re seeing Absolute Grey with the clarity of the light of the south of France.

“Right now, we’re enjoying a period of love,” Thomas says of his relationship with Rasor. “But we’ve certainly had a love-hate relationship over the years. He and I have kissed and made up in a really big way.”

“And I think putting this out has made Beth realize, it’s now or never for her solo career. I sent her an e-mail recently and told her, ‘You’re probably 10 times more talented than me, but you never did anything with it.’

“Until recently.”

Indeed, recently Brown has been writing songs. She will be on the new Absolute Grey release. But her focus is on recording her own music, probably with Anderson’s Saxon Recording, and will return to Rochester this year to find some like-minded musicians to help.

It took 20 years for Brown to take the next step after Absolute Grey. “I didn’t want to do music for a while,” she says; the guitar was packed away. “You know how 2-year-olds are. They mess with stuff.”

Now Indiana is 8. The guitar is out again. Brown, who always collaborated, has discovered she can write songs on her own. “This is going to be a powerful record,” she says. “I can’t wait to do it.”

“You really need to leave that guitar out on the stand. So you can just pick it up. Anytime.”

JSPEVAK@DemocratandChronicle.com

WITR, Backseat Sally, The Press Tones, Delroy Rebop, Cappy & The Frenchmen (l-r)

The rarer shorter red cable Delroy Rebop button.

Buttons seemed to be a cheap and easy way to promote bands and causes back in the day, and here’s a few from the collection. The top left is from WITR and reads “Rock N Roll Party,” although I can’t remember if that was a show, or just a promo button from the station. To the right of that is a Backseat Sally button, though the colors seem to have faded over the years. In the center is a Press Tones button, a personal favorite, as I always like the deco style text. I would have worn it to the reunion, but I just uncovered it the other day. Bottom left is a Delroy Rebop button, with an image of a microphone. Last time I saw Del was in NYC many moons ago. Finally there is a Cappy and the Frenchmen button, and though it didn’t scan too well, it reads “Th – Th – Th – There’s a Thing” across the top, a reference to a song of the same name, with “And It’s Called Rock’N Roll” across the bottom. Just to the right of the WITR logo on the button you can make out “89.7 fm”, and at the end of the word “Frenchmen” is a picture of the Eiffel Tower.

From the lens of Dan Pusateri, enjoy!

From the March 17th 1995 issue of City Magazine, we have Luke’s Obit. I don’t have a credit for the author of this piece (H.B. Ward?), perhaps Chuck or Pat could fill in the rest of the details.

Luke Warm

IN MEMORIAM

Andrew L. Ogrodowski, a lifelong local rocker known mainly as Luke Warm to his friends (and a few enemies), died on Friday, March 17, in his bedroom in his mother’s home in Greece. It was a warm spring evening and he’d been listening to the radio. He was 35.

His sudden death forces us to press the details of his life into some sort of comprehensible whole. Two years ago, when he was he was 33, Luke laughed, saying, “I’m just a guy who was saved by glitter and glam rock in the ’70’s,” as he tended bar downtown at the Abyss. As Luke perceived his life and tried – as he often did, to understand what it meant – that was no exaggeration at all.

The guy just wasn’t made to be normal. He invented and adopted the name Luke Warm around 1972, as a 12-year-old boy, to complete the elaborate stage persona he had conceived for his first rock band. After an early introduction to NYC glam rockers like T Rex, Luke gradually became the premier collector of rare T Rex records and memorabilia in the US.

Early in life. Luke stopped trying to fit in. “I remember a Red Wings game in the ’70’s,” recalled Luke’s friend and fellow musician Pat Lowerey on the phone recently. “There’s Luke walking down the stairs of Silver Stadium in a cape and full New York Dolls makeup in broad daylight. To him it was normal.”

Luke’s sense of style gave his rebellious energy an outlet and helped him find an identity. But unlike so many fashion bags, he never confused style with basic human grace. Lowerey, once the drummer for Luke’s best-known band, SLT, recalls a defining moment in Luke’s life. At one of SLT’s club dates, a band of hard core, head-shaved punks had been slated to open for them. Listening to them as SLT waited to go on, Luke appreciated the opening band’s energy at first, but then noticed that their lyrics were full of Anti-Semitic, homophobic and racist slurs. “These guys are skinheads!” he said to Lowerey.

That made him mad. “You know how some bands are too cool, like, ‘Don’t approach me?’” said Lowery. “Well, Luke wasn’t like that at all. As soon as he got on stage he just ripped into that band: ‘I Love Jews! I love fags! I live with a black chick!’ He was pointing at the skinheads and yelling into the mike, ‘We got a bunch of fuckin’ Nazis opening our show?’”

Like no one else in Rochester, Luke loved and devoted himself to the local rock scene. In the ’80’s he worked as a DJ and bartender (notably at Scorgies). But a career at the perimeter of the slam pit just wasn’t involved enough for him. His consuming love of music led him to moonlight as the music editor of Downtown magazine. Luke’s prose was as inflamed and confrontational as the music he loved. In an excerpt from the opening of one of his concert reviews (of a local band called “The Bulus“) in 1983, Luke demonstrated his fierce allegiance to Rochester Rockers.

“In this day and age when words mean nothing and dance means everything, it’s nice to see there are bands around to confront this idiotic way of thinking with an iron fist and the Bulus are that type of band. There is nothing wrong with mindless pop, rather fun its dumb way, but there should always be an imaginative, agressive edge to rock and roll to keep it on its often wobbly feet.”

Luke played guitar back then, too, but not, as most remember it, very well. Then, sometime in the summer of ‘90, Luke disappeared from Rochester’s nightclub world. For 18 months, he spent his free time practicing by playing along with his collection of blues records. When he re-emerged, in early ‘92, he was ready to form SLT – a band whose combination of power, intelligence, and expertise came close to what Luke had been grasping at for most of his life.

The band lasted little more than a year. But SLT is now legendary among Rochester rockers and Luke’s vision, infectious energy, and confidence in the band (“We’re the best rock and roll band in the world,” he used to shout) had everything to do with the legacy SLT left in its wake. Lowerey put it simply: “He wanted to combine the passion of music with intelligent lyrics and play it with such force.”

Luke’s death on March 17 cast a sad and sentimental pall over a crowd of Rochesterians known for dispassionate cool. His wake packed the Miller Funeral Home on Monroe Avenue with hundreds of black-leather rock and roll rebels. The line of tattooed, pierced and crying mourners strung itself through four rooms, heads shaking.

Luke’s mother, Helen Ogrodowski, welcomed every downcast punk who’d knelt before his closed coffin with a warm, appreciative hug. The phrase “He was a sweet guy, wasn’t he” was repeated over and over.

“He was crazy,” said Lowerey. “You could just call him up and he would do anything. If I needed him to do cartwheels naked down Monroe Avenue because I didn’t feel good, he’d do it immediately.”

“He was a great friend.”

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audio clip courtesy Simon Ribas of the Presstones, see comments for details

Flower City Jukebox Vol. 2:  “Rochester Rock n Rollercoaster Ride”

Hi-Techs: Boogaloo Rendezvous
The Most: Rockerfeller
The Targets: White Corvette
The Times: Rock ‘n Roll Reds
Hit & Run: I Don’t Wanna (demo)
Hypermarket: Something You Can Do For Yourself (unreleased)
Lotus STP: Townie Clan
The Fugitives: Screaming
Mission Emission: Postcard
New Math: The Restless Kind
The Projectiles: I’m Alone
Lalaland: Nobody’s Help
The Chinchillas: Love & War
Colorblind James Experience: Purple & Gold (outtake)
Personal Effects: Porch (live at Jazzberrys ’85)
The Rumbles: Third Uncle (live at The Warehouse) (Brian Eno cover)
Invisible Party: Waking World (live)
Nod: Power Doesn’t Need It (unreleased)
The Squires Of The Subterrain: This Old Raggedy Town

jump over to www.earcandyarchive.com to take a listen or download.

mega thanks to Tom Kohn for tracks 2,3,4 and to Jim Huie who supplied the lion’s helping of everything else.

First off, let me just say thanks to everyone involved with the Scorgies Reunion. I am sure my fellow Press Tones feel the same way (although some have trouble typing). Peter had our set planned out pretty good, clocking in at around 42 minutes, which would have allowed us a brief encore. For whatever reason, we ran long, and got yanked off the stage (set times were pretty rigid, and I’m not complaining, just letting you know), before we got the chance to do another number. So for your listening pleasure, here’s a live cut from when we played Abilene over the summer. It’s a song we usually finished the night with, called “Go Insane.” Back in the old days, Peter would take the solos, and at the end of the song, just leave his guitar in front of his amp until it started feeding back and annoying people. And then he’d wait some more before unplugging it. Flash forward, and now I do the lead work, and on this occasion, I started bending the strings pretty far, and so Peter started doing whale noises through the mic. It was a hoot.

Anyway, you paid for it, so here’s the song. . .

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Scott Weichman aka B.B. Lummox during soundcheck at the German House.

Somehow I wound up with a back stage pass for the Scorgie’s Reunion show at the German House in Rochester, NY. I took a few photos and had good time. It was really great to see everyone.

From the J. Laben Archives. Enjoy:

What is with these weird hairstyles, this strange music? Are they serious? Are they poking fun? Or both?

Babs Gordon Of Rochester models one of her New Wave outfits

The Ramones, a rock ‘n’ roll band of current popularity, have a song called “Teenage Lobotomy.” There are those who would suggest they sing from experience. Take, for example, the words to their song “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”:

“I don’t care about history,
Rock, rock, rock ‘n’ roll high school,
Cuz that’s not where I wanna be,
Rock, rock, rock ‘«’ roll high school,
I just wanna have some kicks,
I just wanna get some chicks,
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock ‘n’ roll hi-igh school.”

Appearance is another strike against any claims to great mental stature on the part of the band. Tight jeans, sneakers and leather jackets, a real greasy-mean look, tell you these are the kind of guys who need permission from their parole officers to go on high school field trips.

Kevin Patrick, Chris Yockel and Roy Stein of New Math

But believe the image and you’re the fool. They’ve suckered you with rock ‘n’ roll’s favorite gimmick, theatrics, to sell you rockers’ favorite message, irrever¬ence. The Ramones’ lyrics and looks are mostly suitable trappings for their brand of music — high-speed, high-energy and high-volume rock ‘n’ roll.
Boy, they’ve got their nerve. But boy, they have their fun.

The Ramones pale in comparison with some of the other music going on these days within what is called the “New Wave.”

There is Fad Gadget, the band that uses a Black & Decker speed drill as an instrument. There is CRASH COURSE In Science, whose members make music with kitchen appliances and, in one song, become robots reading a cake mix: “Extract contents for cakes in the home.”

(more vintage theorizing after the jump!)

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Personal Effects super fan Ed Richter shot some great footage from stage side during the Personal Effects set. Great Pics, Ed!

Peggy Fournier

Ok, all right…  I’ll admit it. Like every other damn guy at Scorgies I had a crush on Peggy Fournier. I had seen the Hi-Techs live many times and oh my god there was Peggy.

One of my best friends from the late 1970’s-1980’s was Bob Martin; we were Beatles collectors and then it happened. The Hi-Tech’s changed their name to PERSONAL EFFECTS. I thought I was in. I asked Bob what the deal was with Peggy. he said “forget it, MAN! Our drummer is her man!” OH, LOL!

Paul Dodd

Well anyway, Personal Effects went on to produce the greatest local music of all time. Yes, they were the tightest, they had the best instruments and yes! They were the best.! I guess this makes me a Personal Effects Fan Boy.

I love you Peggy, Paul, Bernie and of course my close friend Bob Martin.

More photos from the show after the jump:

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Just like in the old days, the infamous Scorgies videographers were in full force at the reunion. While Russ Lunn was shooting hi-def in the balcony, Ed Richter was taping from the stage and from the floor. Ed sent me this yesterday but, alas, I was too tired to post it.

Ed Richter and Peggi Fournier

Well kids it happened. Oh My God. NEW MATH Live. PERSONAL EFFECTS Live, THE PRESS TONES Live. If you read this Blog and you missed the show you really missed a part of Rochester’s recent History. Forget Renaissance Square. Forget the new Paetec office Bldg. None of that matters! History was made last night at the German House when the greatest reunion of Rochester’s legendary Bar & Club Scorgies happened. 400 plus friends shared a beautiful experience! The Music we loved, the friends we loved we all there.

Some personal friends: The Beardsley Sisters, Bob Martin, Gary Trainer, Peggy & Paul of course. Even an old girlfriend Roxanne showed up. Dick Storms, Dwayne Sherwood, Rock & Roll Joel and a guy we called Mark Mead. The whole cast of the movie showed up. Never knew this guy (Mark Mead) but everyone always talked about him.

The Beardsley Sisters

Here’s the best part we shot a multiple camera video of it all. With the grace of the gods it will be available soon. Special thanks to Russ Lunn for the master shots of the show. What Can I say? If you were alive and at Scorgies in 1982 and you were at the show last night you would understand my feelings.

ED RICHTER 11-22-08

(More photos after the jump)

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Tonight we played the Scorgies Reunion, along with New Math and The Press Tones. And it was a blast. All three of us played our asses off. The Press Tones played first and just absolutely rocked the house. Jeff Laben of the Cliches got up and did Riverview Restaurant with them and it was just like being at Scorgies again. The Press Tones were in great form – tight, exciting and showcasing their songwriting prowess.

New Math was up next. They opened with We Walk Among You (at least that’s the way I remember it), and I was dumbstruck. The band sounded great musically, but when the vocals started I really had to look twice to see if it was Kevin Patrick singing. I mean, I knew it wasn’t, but the fellow that was up there REALLY channeled Kevin’s vocal sound, style, delivery and tenor. Scary, almost. But before New Math, The Targets, with Sue Metro, did a couple of songs. Lots of fun. I’ll confess that they were a time before I became part of the Scorgies scene, but is it ever too late to become a fan?

We (Personal Effects) hit the stage pretty close to 10. First of all, it felt just as relaxed and natural as it always did when we played. I don’t know what it is about this band, but I’ve never felt nervous playing with them – just excited and joyous. And tonight, that seemed to come through. We played one of the best sets we’ve ever played and it didn’t matter that it was 20 years later.

The one really cool thing is that, for me, it brought closure to a time that sort of never came to a proper end, but lets it remain timeless. Tonight, it was great to have the last gig we never had. Great to run into long-not-seen old friends. Great to still be able to rip it up and pull off a great set. Tonight it was clear – we are just a rock and roll band who really loves playing music together. Sure, we may play again as Personal Effects. But if we don’t, we just closed the perfect door.

Thanks to the entire community for the opportunity to do this – with special kudos to Tom Kohn, The Press Tones, New Math, the other members of Personal Effects (past and present), Duane Sherwood, Stan Merrill and everyone who came together to pull this off tonight.

- Bob

PS: I just wanna give a special thanks to Ken Frank who is the bass player in Personal Effects (and Margaret Explosion). He REALLY brings great bottom to both bands and we could not have done it without Ken.

Photos by Nicholas Gerber

Zenon Pavlovych aka "King Farouk"

Long overdue! I asked Victor Tabinski who should write about Zenon, he referred me to Andy Tratch of the Urban Squirrels. Thanks, Victor!

Don’t know what to say about Zenon – how can one describe the man…

I knew him as a kid [we met being in Ukrainian Boy Scouts together back in '68] but had drifted apart by high school until I ran into him -  waiting in line to get into the Devo show [1st tour] at the Triangle Theater.

We caught upon things, compared musical tastes & next thing ya know we got our first apartment together on Wisconsin & Main St in the City…

The rest is history: we spent many years together rockin’ & rollin’, abusing ourselves, listening to great music, going to great shows, hanging out at great bars [Scorgie's included] with great friends, working with the Chesterfield Kings all over the country, being ski bums in Vermont, and just enjoying life at it’s best…

Zenon was my brother that I never had, could be the biggest asshole in the world, was always was willing to let you buy him a drink, would steal your drugs when you weren’t looking, and could be hell to live with/be around…but would give you the shirt off his back & loved you to death…

I can [barely] remember helping each other many a time up/down the spiral staircase by the bathrooms at Scorgie’s…We used to ride to all the bars to catch shows on my Kawasaki KZ400 [with Zenon wearing his brain-bucket helmet & clutching his beer]…I can even remember when Zenon had a stint DJing on Monday nights at the Penny Arcade [go figure]…

But most of all I remember Zenon’s “Lust for Life” [yes, just like the Iggy song]  and the fact that music was such a huge part of his life: I still have his albums & listen to them [even though they're way scratched because we were always out of sorts when we played them back then]…

We lost Zenon on the 4th of July weekend over 20 years ago -  fittingly he had gone down to NYC to visit friends & to see The Butthole Surfers: he never came back…

What a waste…what an asshole..what a Zenon move…

Long live the memory of Zenon Pavlovych: The Great High and Mighty Most Exalted Grand Mystical King Farouk!

The Raunchettes

Smell the band—live the legend was their motto, the legendary four who emerged from a long shadow cast by the Antoinettes to become Upstate’s best-known girl punk band. Fueled by Salvatore’s pizza and cheap beer, they got cheered on so many late nights at Schatzee’s after they had their debut at Scorgies on a night when the Antoinettes were no-shows. (Although they had already played one gig in Cortlandt, that didn’t count.) Sonic produced by Stiv Bators, who broke lead singer Betsy’s heart for the final time after he was tragically hit by a car in Paris, their best-known hit remains Slaughter the Pig. Along with Original Sin, Girls in the Garage, a thrashed-out version of My Boyfriend’s Back plus a dozen original songs, their double-header with Personal Effects at Scorgies seemed kind of unlikely, even for us—their biggest groupies. But if to my pathetic teenage mind PE’s Bring Out the Jazz versus Betsy’s He’s a Rebel seemed an odd contrast, it was really no different than hearing 10,000 Maniacs on the same bill as the Violent Femmes. The excitement of seeing the Raunchettes repeatedly work their magic at Scorgies—the same place we worthless 15-year-olds (with fake IDs depicting us as age 22) caught the legendary Cramps, Fear, and finally Suicidal Tendencies (“punkers slamming” in the next day’s Times-Union)—was totally unforgettable. They threw stuff. They spit. They yelled. The audience was largely irrelevant to them; abuse only made them stronger as they’d already become used to every kind of loser harrassing them. Their first Scorgies show was a victory, the penultimate triumph over Backstreets and all the other rotten venues they would play from Albany to Buffalo. Joan Raunchette moved away to Boston and Janice Raunchette split, but somehow new members GiGi and Geolyn didn’t match the karmic power of an Irondequoit native. Regardless of whether you had the cassette bootlegs, the Bomp! The Raunchettes EP or Dave Anderson’s Jargon Records The Raunchettes Scrapbook LP, the Raunchettes had an amazing raw power. We groupies caught up with Betsy a few years later in Van Nuys, California, but it didn’t seem the same. You can take the punk chick out of Rochester, but the L.A. fish pond proved too elusive. Even to this day I proudly own a smelly, faded Raunchettes t-shirt with a safety pin through Betsy’s face, still convinced they will be rediscovered by Maximum Rock-n-Roll and a new generation of worthless teenage punks.

blaster aging gracefully – click photo for context

We made a list of our gigs as Personal Effects by referencing the dates on the stack of old posters and cassette tapes. Hard to believe we played Scorgies over seventy times and counting. I wish we’d had a blog back then to keep track of it all.

The sound system there was one of the best of any club we played and the room sounded great. We had this General Electric blaster that we used to duct tape up to the top of the wooden column in front of the bar at Scorgies and it made some damn good tapes. Arpad transferred a few of the tapes to cd.

This thing was heavy, mostly steel, and it had separate tweeters and a solid bass output. It didn’t need any “Stereo Enhancer” setting. There were two mics in the upper corners of the front face and on top there were two good sized VU meters with separate knobs for input levels. I remember dropping it out of my bike basket and it is featured in a boat up in the 1000 Islands in Duane Sherwood’s video for “Nothing Lasts Forever“. We took it everywhere and eventually ran it into the ground.

Here is a version of Taana Gardner’s “Heartbeat” recorded live at the Peppermint Lounge on our blaster.

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MUSIC TO REUNIONIZE BY:

New Math: Hot Sounds
Swing Set: You That I Want
The Insiders: Leave Me Alone
The BBBs: Tired Of Waiting (live at Penny Arcade, ’82)
The Fadeaways: Trust
The Young Idea: My Baby’s In Love
The Fugitives: Last Time (live)
The Ferrets: Play With Fire
Cousin Al & the New Generation: Zombie Twist
Invisible Party: Can’t Seem To Make You Mine (live at Scorgies, ’84)
The Raunchettes: Girls In The Garage
The Essentials: Wild Romance
Colorblind James Experience: First Day Of Spring (live at Jazzberry’s ’85)
Hi-Techs: A Woman’s Revenge
The Rumbles: Hourglass Reunion
New Math: Older Women

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46:51 length

You can also listen to Episode 1 of the Flower City Jukebox here:

"Cousin" Al Voldman

The story starts on #10 Werner Park where Cousin Al was born in 1961 & Cousin Brian (who lived upstairs) was born in 1962.

Jump ahead to 1979 when Cousin Al introduces me to Scorgies! I already had my Brighton High School band “The Sonic Reducers” (at that point we had no idea who the Dead Boys were!, the name came from the Seattle Super Sonics basketball team!). The Sonic Reducers then turned into The Twisted Hearts With ex-Presstone Jimmy Freeze and then broke up.

"Cousin" Brian Goodman

I was jamming with Geoff & Bob Camel in the basement of a church on Main St circa 1981. At some point Al & I are down at the Charlotte beach and he sez I want to start a band and do surf music (and some garage songs).

Growing up Al would play me all kinds of music. He turned me on to Deep Purple Machine Head, Frank Zappa Overnight Sensation & Alice Cooper (one of Al’s favorites!!!). I remember one day visiting Al and he had played me a 8 track tape of a WCMF New Wave show that he had taped!

I remember hearing the Sex Pistols. Al got into the New Wave thing and would proceed to turn me onto Plastic Bertrand, B-52s and others! I was already a Ramones and a Jam fan. I agree to do the surf band with Al.

Al got the name Cousin Al because I would introduce him to my friends as Cousin Al.  So we now have a concept and need to get guys to play.

The first line up wound be Al on vocals, Brian drums and backing vocals,  Steve Litvak guitar and Denis Jones Bass. This line up practiced in my Brighton basement for awhile. Al and I were chompin’ at the bit to play Scorgies or to play out in general! Only problem was Denis wasn’t into playing out and Steve wasn’t into the music. He was more a NY Dolls guy and also he dug the blues.

We find Cousin Chaz and Cousin Pete from ads that were posted at the Record Archive. Chaz had written a song called Surfin’ On The Barge Canal that he had played in a Pittsford High School talent contest. We go on to Play Scorgies, Schatzies, Ruth & Irvs Astrological Fish and Steak and a gig with The CADS at the Harley School!!!

We even made a Suoer 8 film with R.I.T. film student George Elieuw;  it was a Monkees meet Hard Days Night type of film! That was wild! The debut was as Schatzees,

We at some point hooked up with Stan The Man who then became Stan The MANager!

Stan sez “Brian that was your idea after a “happy puff” I think you liked the idea of “Stan the MANager” and you and Al came to the back room of the Archive and asked me” (back then, we would go out and “Check the tires, ” and that was always a “happy smoke” break!!!).

Stan got us on The Brian Bram TV show and did a lot more for the band like help with song ideas and booking gigs.

After I left to join the Insiders (circa 1983) the band went on to record a 45 and go through member changes )it was at The Cousin Al gig at Ruth & Irv’s gig were the Insiders approached me to join!).

The rest is history… (very fuzzy history!).

Cousin Brian Goodman

"The Cliches are a fun band . . . a terrific dance band!" - Mary Cronin

By MIKE CIDONI

Three Fisher students, with one other musician from the dance band the Cliches, have gotten a little closer to stardom.

They were selected from about 130 bands to represent Rochester’s local musicians on WCMF’s second Homegrown album, a collection of one-track songs by 10 local bands, to be released around Thanksgiving, said Trip Reeb, program director for WCMF.

Seniors John Perevich, Geoff Proud and Jeff Laben comprise three-fourths of the Cliches. Drummer Tom Backus, 21, formerly of Berkeley, Calif. School of Music, completes the band -which makes “music that really isn’t punk or new wave, just dance music,” Laben said.

Cliches' Stickers

The Cliches formed in April of 1980 and first performed in public as an opening act for New Math in September of that year. They’ve since built such a steady following that they recently “opened for national stars The Ramones.

The Homegrown appearance will be the Cliches first “on vinyl” release.
“We did some recording last April at Sandcastle Studios that never got picked up; never made it out of the can,” Laben said.

WCMF is paying for all studio costs for recording the Homegrown track, which is being produced by PCI studio’s Todd Schaefer. Hi-Techs, Cheater, Stoney Creek, P.F. Flyers, Insiders, Little Trolls, Dark Star, Lifter and Buxx will also appear on the album.

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It was mid 1981, I think. Pee Wee, an old friend and former bandmate as well as the soundman for New Math, called and asked if I’d be interested in trying out for a band. The band was called Personal Effects. I said sure, I’d love to.

I went to try out with them and thought it went pretty well. The songs were cool, with chord changes I’d never thought of before. In general, things were an exercise in ‘less is more’ – using a minimalist approach to tell the slices of life that the songs expressed. I was called back many times before the end of the year and kept hoping that I was in the running, as I very much loved the material and the people. In December, I had a party during which Paul and Peggi told me that we had a gig lined up at Scorgies on January 23rd (this would be ‘82). I said, “so, does this mean I am in the band?” They had a good laugh… they’d forgotten to tell me that I’d been in the band since, pretty much, the second time I ‘tried out.’

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Scorgies Reunion Poster by Bob Martin

The reunion is less than a week away and already we have three posters for the show. The latest is from Bob Martin and is to the left.

Bob, Simon Ribas, Pete Presstone, Gary Trainer, Del Rivers and meself will be guests on Whole Lotta Shakin with DJ Mike Murray. WLS is broadcast every Sunday between 3-7 PM on 89.7 WITR FM. Our segment will be between 5-6 pm tomorrow and we will talking about the show. If you are out of the area you can stream the whole show (with iTunes or Media Player) through the internet;   the link to the show is: http://streaming.witr.rit.edu:8000/live.m3u

A note about tickets: while they are not being sold through Ticketmaster (hey, no egregious service charges), they are available at the Bop Shop ( Village Gate Square, 274 North Goodman Street ph. 585-271-3354) or at Abilene (153 Liberty Pole Way  ph. 585-232-3230).

This just in (From Abilene’s website):

Note: for of out-of-town friends who need to purchase tickets in advance; please call the Bop Shop at 585-217-3354 and the Bop Shop staff will help with your ticket purchases.

Also, If anyone out there doesn’t want to worry about driving, Jim Havalack of Quality Transportation can arrange anything from a Sedan to a Limo to take you and your freinds to the Scorgies Reunion in safety and comfort. Call 585-455-8294, mention Scorgies, and you’ll get a special rate!

I played a gig in Albany, NY last night and ran into Kevin Maul(?). Some may remember Kevin as the WCMF DJ that went on before Uncle Roger or you maybe remember him as the steel guitar player guy.

I mentioned the Scorgies reunion to him knowing he also was once a Rochester guy!

He said that he was in the 1st “band” to play Scorgies! He said the Dady Brothers were the 1st band to play there!

Being a fat and insecure sophomore at Pittsford-Mendon was hard in 1983-84, but being turned onto the local music scene, the great bands of the day just making waves in the underground music world and seeing live music at a club was life changing!

I struggle to remember much of my time at Scorgies but I do recall me and my friends (who were also band mates of mine) sneaking into there at least twice. Once I know we saw a Personal Effects set and one other time …dare I say it was either for a Rain Parade or a Let’s Active set. I just remember being so worried that we would be kicked out. We were there to see live music by these bands we were just learning about and not those big RAWK show at the War Memorial.

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SET LIST MANIA

Projectiles Set for Ray's Stag

Set lists are instant artifacts; hastily scribbled out on a scrap of paper before a gig (I used to use old band fliers). Typically, after the band had loaded in and finished their sound check, you had a little time left to scratch out a set list before the audience filtered in and then hand copy it out for other band members, unless you were organized enough to put together one before the gig!

If you were the second or third on a bill then you could luxuriate in the dressing room drinking beers put together a list of songs (or, if you were Debora Iyall of Romeo Void, you would get your set together while downing two dozen of Scorgies’ finest Buffalo wings). If your band was on the bottom of the bill, however,  you didn’t have much time to commit your list to paper (especially if you were a “Last Minute Larry” like me).

I’ve acquired a few set lists from New Math, Personal Effects, Hi-Techs, The Press Tones, The Projectiles, The Cliches, Bowery Boys and Invisible Party. I’m certain that a few of the Scorgies alumnus among us will be printing them out and trading them with their pals. Check them out after the jump.

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One of the Scorgies artifacts I came across recently was a cassette of The Royals – Live At Scorgies which was actually recorded live but with applause dubbed in! It was intended for booking the band into other bars, but with the credence of having played at Scorgies. I think my friend Jon Pirincci (of Musical Messages Agency) dubbed the tapes. I actually met the guys from the Royals literally by accident at a tent festival show that featured Roy Orbison (prior to The Traveling Wilburys). We had to wait a long time for Roy because he was “warming up his voice.” Years later I found out about his secret cocaine habit;  perhaps that could have been the reason for the long wait.

I’m not sure if I first met George “Michael” Schnell and Mick Hargreaves of the Royals at a Red Wings game or an N.R.B.Q. concert (either before or after). Regardless, we became fast friends with common musical tastes. They used to have a partyin’ apartment right across from Wegmans near East Avenue that was always filled with pot smoke, music, and bed sheets hanging over the attic ceiling (like a harem den!). They were transplants from NYC and had common friendship with the Tension guys;  guitarist Mike Pappert (from Fairport) and Swing Set drummer Dave Martin (Liebowitz), who I believe was also from NYC.

George Schnell was a meticulous guitar player who eventually opened the Studio At The Village Gate recording studio. He’s known for recording bluesman Chris Beard and was briefly a Country Music DJ; and still spins  at Jeremiah’s Tavern on Monroe Avenue. Mick Hargreaves used to videotape bands for local cable TV then moved to NYC with The Diljoys and formed the Tonebenders with guitarist Doug “Davies” Cox. He later became a member of the Grip Weeds and is presently a solo artist.  By the way, one former  Royals member, drummer Joe Minotti, is currently in  Joe Hendrick & The Mudflaps.

George told me that he envisioned the Royals as a cross between 10 CC and Dave Edmunds. Eventually, as all bands seem to do, the Royals came to an end (much like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe’s band Rockpile). George Schnell continued on with variations of the Royals; but by then it was pretty much a party house band providing studio support for his original songs.

The. tape Live at Scorgies had covers of Dave Edmunds’ Dear Dad, Nick Lowe’s I Knew The Bride, the Beatles One After 909 & Honey Don’t and Elvis Presley’s Little Sister. The originals were Get Me Out Of The Red and Let’s Jag. Get Me Out Of The Red was played extensively on local radio stations. The Royals came close to releasing a 45 single (or album) of Are You A Dancer?” b/w I’m Falling that was produced by Jeff Tyzik (yes, it’s the same big band RPO leader!). Upon listening it’s apparent that the Royals, like many other bands, could have been on the cusp of having a hit record. And like the other Scorgie’s bands – maybe they could reunite eventually for a night or two – this time for real!