OFF: Last Days of May

[Doug Pearson]

On Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:14:22 -0400, Grakkl (FAA) <henderson.120 at OSU.EDU>
wrote:
>Doug P.'d...
>>Great store!  Say "hi" to Mike Rep (the guy with long-ish grey hair) for me
>>if he's at the counter ...
>
>Yeah, he's (almost) always there.  Are you saying he's a musician?

He's been a great one for something like 25 years!  His c.1975 band, the
Quotas, released a *classic* single, "Rocket To Nowhere" that kicks ass
(and is one of the more lo-fi records ever to be released).  It's contained
on his 'Stupor Hiatus' LP (Siltbreeze).  He's only had a couple of albums
out, but is very prolific and has sent out tons of cassettes of his work to
friends.  I'll have to dig the one I have out ... I recall it having a song
that sounded like a rewrite of "Motorway City".

>What's his connection to the Bay Area?

None, really, aside from some of us out here being fans/friends of his.  He
was a good friend of the late Jim Shepard, another looooong-time Columbus
musician whose 70s band, Vertical Slit, fell into that weird arty
proto-punk category shared with Pere Ubu, MX-80, Debris, etc.
Unfortunately, he took his own life over a year ago after a bad arm injury,
nasty divorce, bouts with alcoholism, etc.  I would also recommend
Shepard's 80s/90s band, V3.

re: Pere Ubu 'The Modern Dance'
>This was the one I was looking at in the store yesterday.  Almost walked out
>with it, but thought I'd ask first.  They also had a used copy of 'Raygun
>Suitcase' or something, which I think is much more recent.

Yeah, definitely pick up a copy of 'The Modern Dance'.  A classic album.
Their more recent stuff can be hit-or-miss, but some of it is surprisingly
good ...

>>Jim Jones is an extremely cool musician who has played in a *lot* of great
>>bands from Cleveland, including the VU/Floyd-influenced Mirrors (who were
>>covering "Ejection" within weeks of the release of 'Captain Lockheed'),
>
>That sounds interesting...any in-print CD reissues of that stuff?

The 'Those Were Interesting Times' CD on Scat records has recordings by
Mirrors & the Styrenes.  Mirrors' version of "Ejection" can be found on one
of the volumes of the 'Hawkwind Covers All' tapes (hmmm ... I wonder who
could have put it there?).

>>Funny how all those
>>ex-Pere Ubu guys are turning into synth players (drummer Anton Fier,
>>probably most famous for his Golden Palaminos "supersession"-type band,
>
>He was in the original Feelies (another VU-influenced band), as well as
>playing with Bob Mould at some point.

I've seen a list of all the bands/session work he's worked with over the
years - literally hundreds!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com