CB's Gallery, February 13, 1993

A fantastic show. This has some of the best vocals I've yet heard.  We had first played the month the club opened in December of '92.  It went over abomb, we did two electric sets.  (the tape itself isn't my favorite recording, but the show, when it happened, went over great).

But CBs Gallery was so echoey, it was so much better suited to a mellow acoustic set.  It was literally an art gallery, so on top of seeing the band, you'd get a healthy dose of some contemporary visual art.  It had a nice long bar.  But then the stage, the tables, and then a sort of balcony overlooking the stage......to this day, I lament the loss of CB's Gallery, not CBGB's!  That club had had its heyday even in the early 90s!  Nobody wanted to play there!  The Gallery, on the other hand, was always a nice evening out.  It also had a great back room that we hung out and partied in memorably, both with Life Out Of Balance, and later with my own band.

Lawrence's trumpet on this show is gorgeous. Years later, I'd position Lawrence in the balcony as a "guest star" for one of my shows, suddenly there was this ghostly trumpet from above.....the audience probably thought it was Gabriel! The percussion is really together on this show..  It's the only show I've heard so far where I like my vocal performance.  It took seven years in LOOB before my voice finally changed!  There was an upright piano on the floor, next to the stage, so on few songs Lawrence leaps down and plays that.

There's a video of this show....I'm working on getting the video stuff digitized so stay tuned for that!

Sorry so disjointed today....am doing two things at once.  Enjoy this beautiful show.

LOOB at CB's Gallery, 2/13/93
Smile
I'm Crying
No Excuses ->
Thundersong
I Know Your Name ->
Sailing ->
Bottle In The Ocean
What You Say
Someone's In My Head


Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion, jaw harp*
Ted Schreiber - guitar, bass, vocal, percussion
Michael Goodman - snare & high hat, vocal
Steven Goodman - accordion, percussion
Lawrence Krauser - trumpet, piano, electric piano, vocal on "What You Say"

(I'm pretty sure that's Hubie playing the jaw harp during the fantastic percussion break in "Someone's In My Head", but it could also be Lawrence)

recorded by Chris Ivers. You can hear Lisa helping with getting mic levels in the beginning!

download here:
https://www.mediafire.com/?t48bv882vkcs20k

The full, uncropped flyer that Hubie designed.  I believe this is a computer drawing. 

Arrowhead Ranch, November 9, 1991

 

When Frank quit the band, I'm not going to lie to you, we walked around like the dog died.  We were in a funk for a couple of months, and it took a lot to rebuild the band.  To reinvent the band. We could have looked around for a stunt guitarist, sure.  Instead, we took an entirely different route.

Lawrence had been guesting with the band for a few months, and at one of Frank's last shows, at the All Aboard, he had first played the Rhodes.  As a foreshadowing of things to come, one of the Anowa Drummers sat in with us.  Incidentally, this show exists on DAT and my notes tells me it's possibly our greatest show of all time.  I don't know if that's true, but that's what I wrote.

So we had Dancing Lawrence.  I don't know how we ended up asking my brother to join!  I should ask  him!  All I know is Steve, who had the distinction of attending rehearsals of every incarnation going back to the Ward days, came into the band on accordion and percussion.

The Brothers Goodman, Steve (l) & Mike (r), around the time Steve joined the band.

We had a weird gig to fulfill, Frank or no Frank.  I'd have to refresh people about what the early 90s was REALLY like - as opposed to how it's being marketed now - and who has time for that? Suffice to say, it was this camping lodge upstate that had a rock and roll mentality, let's just put it that way.  Billy Capozzi, always hustling some of our weirdest gigs, promoted this show as "Don't Need Dope To Dance".  What I think Billy meant was you don't need heroin to dance because.....er.......

It ended up being a hell weekend.  It was we who got hustled (Billy included).  We didn't get paid.  To add insult to injury, we had to pay our own room and board - NOT what we were expecting.  There was nobody there.  A few friends came up with us, and there was a local guy at the bar who, as you can hear, liked us, but it was small consolation.  Couldn't have been more than 15 people, tops.  We played two shows, this is the only one I have (they were recorded on DAT).

What you are hearing on this tape is literally a band rebuilding itself.  This version of "Sailing" sounds mournful and emotional.  If you want to know how we were feeling, listen to "Sailing". At least Hubie, Ted and I. The most honest song of the night. Even the uptempo songs - we are workmanlike, we are hitting all the marks but you can hear our heart is not quite up to the big party we are expected to provide.

But....with absolute respectful, empathetic and sympathetic support from Lawrence, Steve and Louis, the "core trio" eventually rise to the occasion.  We weren't out of the woods yet.  In fact, we literally were in the woods!  There was much work to do.  But we were going to push on.  And these shows showed us the path forward. This could work.  And so began a crazy, jazzy, anything-goes period that I have always thought of as our "circus era"!

* "Move Closer" is the seed from which "Someone's In My Head" and the later-era LOOB song "Coffemaker" come from.  I think it was me who put the kibosh on "Move Closer", and suggested we remove the end part and put it into our fledgling but promising new song "Someone's In My Head".  Listening to "Move Closer" now, and listening to the lyrics closely, I can see how lovely that coda originally fit in with "Coffeemaker", which was/is a really nice song.

On the other hand...."Someone's In My Head" and that coda.....that's perfection!

Arrowhead Ranch, 11/9/91
Smile
Thundersong
Wintertime
I Owe ->
Gimme Fun ->
It's All Right
Bambaleda
Move Closer
Sailing
Baby, It's Warm Outside

* We also played "I Know Your Name", right before "Sailing" but it's missing from this cassette.

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, percussion
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal
Lawrence Krauser - electric piano, synth, trumpet
Steve Goodman - percussion, accordion
Louis DeVirgilio - trumpet

recorded on DAT, this is a dub I made for my brother.

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/57ad9dd40y7mvoj/1991-11-09+Arrowhead+Ranch.zip

**********************************************************************************

After I wrote the above post, I found some materials in storage:

First, the October announcement of the gig - there is a story about the Lauterbach's gig that's mentioned, but I'm going to leave that for another time.

Instead....Frank left us flat!  Here's what I happened to find in an old notebook I just happened to grab out of my storage locker the other day:

 Me, a baby? Never!

Here's my verdict upon seeing the work we had cut out for us, from that first rehearsal without Frank:

Mike's verdict: "Fuck!"

Finally - here's a journal entry about the Arrowhead Ranch weekend.  When we returned back, Lisa & I found out that a friend of our's had died over the weekend.  (part of the text has been removed)

"The worst gigs we've ever played" and "weekend of disaster".  Still....a mighty good "Sailing"!!!

The Red House, late 1992/early 1993

Here's an interesting tape!  There are hardly any tapes of rehearsals from the Red House.  In fact, I think this is the only one I have, though there is discussion at one point of another night's tape, so maybe that's floating around. The Red House may not have been the best of times for LOOB.  Or maybe it was? I don't remember, at that point in my life I was a walking drug store, and a snapping turtle. I know people thank me all the time for good times they had at the Red House!  Hopefully that extends to the band.


This tape starts with what I think is the seed of a new Hubie song....actually, now I know what this is!  When we first lost the Rocky Point studio, we did an acoustic rehearsal on Frank's porch, with crickets chirping...and the DAT machine recording!  (I was actually hoping to find a dub of this rehearsal, but to no avail!) During that rehearsal Hubie & company improvised this little ditty.  Hubie must have been listening to it or something, because now a year and a half later, he brings it back.

 ***UPDATE*** - Hubie just emailed me and informed me this is an unfinished song called "Rides On Me"!  Mystery solved!

 After a beautiful little jam between Hubie, Lawrence & myself, Ted joins the fun and we slip into a completely different theme.  Hubie plays some lead, this is way cool!  (I'm listening to this as I type, excuse me).  Hmmmm.  Nice.  Ok. We then do a little arranging on "No Excuses".  Actually we do a lot of arranging, and I'm giving you the abridged version; if anyone wants the full half hour we spent on "No Excuses", email me.

THE PERFECT MACHINE

You probably have noticed by now, dear listener, that LOOB had a lot of songs.  And they had a lot of different KINDS of songs.  It wouldn't be much of a stretch to make the comparison to The Beatles or Duke Ellington in terms of scope and versatility.  It wouldn't be much of a stretch....but it still would be a stretch!!!  Nevertheless.....you couldn't accuse Life Out Of Balance of staying in just one box, we had all kinds of songs.  Soft songs, loud songs, funny songs, sad songs, dance songs, whatever you call the types of songs Mike wrote, we even did barbershop harmony, at least that's what I've read.

Still......I don't think LOOB had ever seen the likes of "The Perfect Machine"!  LOOB....or any other band!  Your ear may take an adjustment.....but, try as you might to resist it,  you will  soon succumb to the charms and unique pleasures of the perfect....machine.  After a preliminary rendition of this Lawrence classic, we ditch the arrangement and lyrics, and do an entirely new version.  At one point, we are producing such musical heat that we blow a fuse and lose the power, all the music cutting out suddenly and dramatically.  Just so you know, it's not your machine. It's the Perfect Machine.

Steve tended not to rehearse with us and would learn new material on the fly, at the gigs.  Imagine his surprise when we whipped this one out.

Steve at the Red House....but not on this tape!

After a good chunk of time spent perfecting "The Perfect Machine", we move on to what I think is the only recording I have of a beautiful Hubie song I had forgotten about.  At this point, it's called "All That", but I think that title became "The Lonely One".  Did this song survive?  It's a great one, it's the last "great" song of my time in the band   I remember when I left, this was the song that ate at me!  What will become of my beloved "Lonely One"!  Beautiful. I think we opened some shows with this song, when it was more together.  I sure wish I had another version of this one.  Maybe I do!  One thing's for sure: it got a lot better than what you're hearing on this tape.

We wind up the rehearsal with a "Dog Days" (distortion on original tape, sorry people) with Hubie wailing out.  We also rehearsed a song of mine, "In Harmony", that I never remember doing with LOOB!  The tape cuts and we're just learning it so it's not worth posting, but.....now I know we did that song!

I'm not sure if this is late 1992, or early 1993.  I think "Perfect Machine" was played at a January 1993 show - haven't digitized that yet, but upon listening I'll be able to tell if that was pre - or post - this rehearsal as we throw out the "round" break and add the "knock knock" break on this tape.

Unlike most of our rehearsal tapes, where we run through songs once, sometimes twice - this tape has us really arranging and doing grunt work on new material.  It's not the tape I would start with if you are unfamiliar with the band.

The Red House, late 1992, early 1993
Rides On Me -> Jam
No Excuses
The Perfect Machine
arranging The Perfect Machine and knocking out the power
The Perfect Machine jam -> end
The Perfect Machine /
arranging The Perfect Machine
arranging The Lonely One
The Lonely One
The Lonely One
working on vocals
Dog Days

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Lawrence Krauser - electric piano, synth, trumpet, vocal, percussion
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, percussion
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal, man with an opinion

recorded by me on i don't remember what.  Whatever it was, I distorted the hell out of some of the songs.  As a rule, most tapes I "engineered" sound like doody, be they from 1986 or 1993.  Some examples of my incompetent work can be found here and here.

the distortion is on the original cassette, sorry.

mp3
http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/YJndGklI/file.html

flac
http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/Fz1FxpBG/file.html
http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/ep9coqkP/file.html

"Steve Antos Night", Rocky Point Studio, August 26, 1990

At last.

If there was any night I could travel back in time and relive as a musician, this is the one.  At least as far as my LOOB time.  (though, man, I actually WOULD love to see the old office space one last time! But we could barely make it to the office half the time, and when we did, it was often only for short periods of time, so I'm picking this one!).

The first thing about this night/rehearsal....it's LONG.  In another dimension, we're probably STILL in that room, jamming. We filled three tapes, both sides.  We had a special guest playing with us, Steve Antos, on guitar.  Steve's performance is so tasteful on these tapes, he blends in so seamlessly with Life Out Of Balance, we actually considered asking him to join.  Three guitar players, though....we just couldn't make that work for us in our minds! Who has three guitar players? The Outlaws?  It was seriously bandied about though.  On these tapes, Steve is like the overdub Hubie or Frank would have played. Because of this, these tapes were always called "Steve Antos Night", or  "The Steve Antos Tapes". 

Steve wasn't our only guest.  For one thing, there was another Steve, future LOOB member and brother of me, Steve Goodman.  My brother attended many rehearsals over the years (first appearance on a tape: June 1987, Ward's basement!  He also engineered the one rehearsal taped with Howie, so he can lay claim to being the only person to have seen all incarnations of LOOB from 1987 through 1994); on this night he makes his debut as a musical participant, during the percussion free-for-all in the night's finale, "Gimme Fun".

Now, the two Steves would have been more than enough guests for the evening, but in fact, this night was basically a small party.  Lisa, Sylvia Marmo, and at least two people that I don't remember too much about: Dale and Regina, are in attendance. Regina even gets up and sings with the band a couple of times!  I also seem to ask a "Paul" for something, and I don't think it's Paul Poole (brother of Hubie, director of Scapegrace)....I have a vague memory as I type now of a young couple that we didn't know in attendance, perhaps that's who it was. 

Any rehearsal that has TWO "Sailing"s, TWO "Gimme Fun"s, plus a great acoustic session (where everyone sings along to Bob Marley songs)....and basically a run-through of our entire songlist, including ancient surprises ("On The Cover", "Unlock The Door"!), covers galore, and perfect versions of some of our best songs....is alright by me!  It's more like what DOESN'T this tape have?

Both "Sailing"s are incredible.  The second one, however, is legend.  In one long hour & ten minute chunk of music, we run through "I Know Your Name", the ultimate "Sailing", "Castles And Planes", "The Advocate", "Unlock The Door"(!), "Minnie's Cold Glass Eye"(!!), "Stir It Up" and finally land on a mammoth "Gimme Fun".  When we wind up, the energy is palpable, electric......eeeeeelectric. You are back at that party.  It has such a spontaneous burst of applause and cheering, it gives new meaning to the LOOB credo: "Hey people, feel it".  No gig was ever as great as this, no reception ever as special.

Tape 1: the most neglected "Sailing" of all time, due to its eclipse by the version on Tape 3!

That's not to say that every single thing on these tapes is going on the box set!  The first set of songs sounds great - but you can tell we're in danger of peaking a little early!  Obviously having a third guitar player (who immediately sounds good) made us naturally lean towards the jammier stuff.  When we're ready to get down to business, we start with "Return Britain".  A funny moment happens in the middle of "Britain" where I must have signaled to Hubie something like "Hey man, put on the pedal and let's slip into that crazy jam we do!" (later to appear in "Scapegrace").  After this ill-advised notion fails, Hubie goes to the mic and announces "This was Mike's idea"! Ha!!!!  WHOOOOOO'S TOOOOOOO BLAAAAAAAME (old Life Out Of Balance game).  Yeah, I was definitely overthinking things! After a ferocious "It's All Right", you get the surprise of your life as we lift off into "Sailing".  Tragically, someone paused the tape for a few moments during this magical transition, but we go onto play an 18 minute "Sailing"... version one of the night! When Hubie goes to take a break, the hippies have a pretty bad Dead singalong before we retire to the couch and have a beautiful Marley singalong!  At this point, the band was listening to "Kaya" every other day.  We also drop into a bit of James Brown and even a short bit of Poi Dog Pondering! At the end of this acoustic portion, we do a thing that I had forgotten about, called "You're Right"!  Let's see how many of you remember that one!

One remarkable thing about Steve Antos on these tapes - there are a few instances where we run down the chords and arrangement with him - quickly - but most of these songs pop up through transitions and segueways. He was picking this all up on the fly.....and I defy you to find one moment where he hits a wrong note, or gets in the way of an arrangement. That's pretty impressive given over 200 minutes of recorded tape!

Going back inside we play some more, including version one of "Gimme Fun" (the subdued version) and a giant, wild "Beating A Dead Horse" that slips into that "art rock jam" we had tried to break into earlier, before it lands on "Jack On The Road" (which, as usual, gets cut off! I told you it was an elusive song!).  We took another break, came back in.......and then, my friends, you get what you paid your ticket for. Tape number three. One long solid block of music...

That's the tape, Officer, that's the one that done it.

Without naming names, I know some of our audience that night had gone psychedelic and sparkly, I can only imagine what it must have been like to hear this music live, at that moment, in that state, because listening to it now, stone cold sober, makes me feel like I could evaporate into nirvana.  The good times are dripping all over this tape....but more than that, some of the greatest music I've ever been a part of.

Enjoy, you spacecats!

The Rocky Point Studio, as remembered by Frank.  Amazingly, there are no known photographs of this rehearsal space.  The sliding glass door was covered with a thick curtain.  Our guests would observe from the "control room". On this night, Steve Antos was positioned to the right of Frank (if memory serves me right!)  Click to enlarge.

"Steve Antos Night", Rocky Point Studio, 8/26/90

Jammin'

Return Britain

Don't Let Me Down

It's All Right ->

Sailing

On The Road Again * ->

Not Fade Away *

Stir It Up

Satisfy My Soul

I'm Crying

Don't Step On The Blue Grass

Licking Stick

What You Say

Windstorm

Babaloo

You're Right

Gimme Fun

Is It Safe?

Wintertime

Beating A Dead Horse (with Scapegrace "art rock" jam) ->

Jack On The Road  /

On The Cover ->

We Both Wobble

I Know Your Name ->

Sailing ->

Castles And Planes ->

The Advocate ->

Unlock The Door ->

Minnie's Cold Glass Eye ->

Stir It Up ->

Gimme Fun

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion

Frank Russell - guitar, vocal, percussion

Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, harmonica, acoustic guitar, percussion

Michael Goodman - drums, cuatro, vocal, percussion
Steve Antos - guitar

Steve Goodman - percussion on "Gimme Fun"

Regina (?) - vocal on "Don't Let Me Down", "On The Road Again", "Stir It Up"

Lisa Devirgilio, Sylvia Marmo, Dale, Paul (?) & possibly others: vocals, percussion, cheering, great vibes

*Hubie does not play on *  He is blameless.

Recorded on two tracks of a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track.  Early on someone has a trigger happy finger with the pause button, but luckily they learn their lesson - albeit after a cut in the crucial and surprising transition between "It's All Right" and the first "Sailing"! There is a wild mix that incorporates a backwards "Babaloo" into this version of "It's All Right" here.

mp3s
1: http://www.mediafire.com/download/i63010viti9th7d/1990-08-26_Steve_Antos_Night_-_1.zip
2: http://www.mediafire.com/download/zwr9kvd9yko3ny2/1990-08-26+Steve+Antos+Night+-+2.zip
3: http://www.mediafire.com/download/6uuvjx9m40s6elo/1990-08-26_Steve_Antos_Night_-_3.zip

flacs (to create less folders to download, I opted to put some of these flacs out of order)
1: http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/ctKduLQc/file.html

2: http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/AdaZouPQ/file.html
3: http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/sTvJCE8I/file.html
4: http://www23.zippyshare.com/v/fOjm3xqv/file.html
5: http://www23.zippyshare.com/v/csvBVxST/file.html
6: http://www23.zippyshare.com/v/fLFaf0Qz/file.html

Thatch Meadow, summer 1993 (pics!!!!)

 

A big, big, big thanks to one of LOOB's oldest friends, Leighton Coleman, for these pics of a beautiful party that I totally had forgotten about!

At first glance, I thought this might be us at Schwartzwood Lake, in New Jersey.  But no!  This is in Head of the Harbor, at a party thrown by Conki, whom I think was a friend of Billy Capozzi's.  Neither Hubie or I are 100% sure, but we think that it was Billy who asked us to play this.  The guy sitting on the grass with the cap on, in the middle of the last picture, that's Arthur.  He was a bassist that was playing with Billy, and as soon as I saw him in that picture, I remember that Billy played (with Arthur) in the evening.

Hubie remembers that we played a great "Sailing" that day!  Might have been the last version with me, or even ever since Hubie tells me that song did not make the transition into the next incarnation. Poor "Sailing"!   Wish there was a tape of this one. 

I see Steve is not on this gig, or else this is us just soundchecking, and my brother hadn't arrived yet.  Ted is sitting down; this was soon after his back operation, and he had to sit when he played.

I remember camping on the grounds overnight, and hanging out the next day....and it was just gorgeous. Idyllic. I think Lisa and I broke up the next week, and I left the band soon after, so these are probably the last pics of me with LOOB.

Thank you, again, Leighton!  

Suffolk Office, mid-to-late March 1988

Another fun rehearsal from March of 1988, this one is dominated by the spontaneous creation of a great song that was a harbinger of things to come, "That's Not The Way".  Even LOOB diehards may be unfamiliar with this song; we brought it back for a short time during the early days of Frank and played it only at a couple of gigs (and one of them was in 1988!).  (it does appear on the last tape posted, March 25, 1990)

I always think of "That's Not The Way" as our first uptempo, somewhat-African influenced number.  As you can hear on this tape - where we go back to it four times - it was a lot of fun to play.  Why we did not keep this around is anybody's guess.  I know the three of us loved it.  As with many of these instances, it probably just got buried under the avalanche of new material that Hubie - and then the rest of us - were writing at the time.

These tapes were all unlabeled and at some pont in the early 90s, I tried to label them, hence the "late 87" date on the label.  I later ascertained that the date must have been late March, possibly early April.  "That's Not The Way" is performed on the April 13th "live demo"

At the same time we are forging ahead with our new sound, we go back in time and try a couple of old favorites, "Rain" and "Feast Of Reason".  I seem to have an axe to grind regarding "Rain", don't know why!  I like it now!

We also do a version of Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner", a song we were in the habit of running through once in a blue moon.  Years later, I opened for Richman over three nights, and mentioned to him we used to jam on this.  (he couldn't have cared less, haha). (the story of those three nights could fill a whole other blog!)

Early on in the tape, as we're still setting up - er, well it sounds like Ted is setting up, and Hubie & I goofing around - Hubie runs through a song of his that we never got around to playing.  Don't know the title (I always called it the "flowers" song, since there's a line: "I never bring flowers for you") but it has great chords and a great melody - as usual.  We literally had shit like this just laying around.

I think this is the "breakthrough" version of "Return Britain" where we hit those harmonies on the break for the first time. We sure loved doing those! There's also a rendition of an old favorite of ours that didn't make out of the trio years, "Blue Billiards". I forget who it was about - but it's one we loved playing. There's also another "Teddy wake up!" sequence that's really funny and has Ted going up to one of the microphones and "performing" in secret with some found percussion (I think he was might have just been tapping on the microphone)

Anyways, that's about it for this one....only thing left to do is enjoy the young and savage LOOB at the office space! Yadahay!!!

Rehearsal, Suffolk Office, 3/88
Untitled Hubie song ("Flowers")
That's Not The Way (moment of conception)
Roadrunner
Phobia
Blue Billiards
Return Britain
That's Not The Way
Inside Outside
That's Not The Way
Rain
Feast Of Reason
Unknown song/jam
I Know Your Name
That's Not The Way

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, burp
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/fqodz2qpjevjwef/1988-03_Suffolk_Office.zip

Rocky Point Studio, March 25, 1990

 

Remember how we had a rehearsal on my birthday? Well....I was just copying Hubie!  One month earlier, Hubie chose to spend his 25th with the boys!  And we knew just how he wanted to spend his birthday!  Playing "Beating A Dead Horse", "The Advocate", "Don't Let Me Down", and "Breathe" by Pink Floyd!

This is the last of the March 1990 tapes, the first of the (first) Frank Russell era (Frank later rejoined after my tour-of-duty).  We rehearsed on the 20th, the 21st, and on this date, the 25th.  We didn't record another rehearsal until the eve of our first performance (with this lineup) on April 19th.  I'm pretty sure we knew about the 4/20 gig during these rehearsals (hence the covers).  It's great hearing us working out on an oldie, "That's Not The Way", a song you'd think we would have definitely put into rotation during the later "dance-y" eras; for some reason it fell by the wayside. Great spirit, great melody....and as always....a monster bass line from Ted.  That was a Ted specialty: bass lines that were inseparable from the composition evermore. We all had that knack, but Ted had it in spades.

After Frank and I beat it, Hubie hung with the Tedster at the studio and recorded a little demo of an impromptu tune called "Yoo Hoo".  I had never heard it until the other day!

...I always let the tape run after it seems like there's nothing on it.  Back in the day, Ted would fast forward before recording anything, to prevent tape bleed (that's when you sometimes hear the "echo" of the tape....you'll hear it faintly before it starts for real, that thing, you know what I'm talking about if you've ever played old cassettes).  Anyways, case in point......probably 5 minutes after the rehearsal ends, I'm just letting the tape run itself out.....it's minutes of quiet and then....all of a sudden a little click and there we are, back in the studio with Poole & Schreiber, Ltd! The song itself is just a trifle, I'm sure Hubie and Ted felt the same way, otherwise they would have been hot to trot it out and try it out.  But - as many of these post-rehearsal demo sessions with Ted are (there are many such recordings with me, Howie, Frank, Hubie, and Ted solo) - it's fun to hear, especially when it's Hubie & Ted, who had their own unique rapport.

No doubt about it, we were THE birthday band!  The most spectacular of all LOOB birthdays would have to be the Ted's birthday show at Nightingale Bar.....but that's for another post!  In the meantime, enjoy this last look at the early days with Frank....on Hubie's 25th.

Rocky Point Studio, 3/25/90
We Both Wobble
The Advocate
That's Not The Way
Beating A Dead Horse
Breathe ->
On The Run ->
Is It Safe?
Don't Let Me Down
I Know Your Name

Bonus - "Yoo Hoo" (Hubie demo, engineered by Ted)

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Frank Russell - guitar, vocal
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal

recorded on a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track.  I believe Lisa is the one who (deftly) manned the pause button.  I say deftly, because many who manned the pause button had a habit of chopping off parts of songs! Not so here!

Download here:
https://www.mediafire.com/?7h1dcbvlzaaomz9

Happy Birthday, Hubie!

You know how yesterday I was wishing Frank a happy birthday?

Well, now it's Hubie's birthday!  So once again: Happy Birthday, Maestro!

Here's another pic from Southampton!

Hubie is playing his Strat; behind him is his backup, The Paul, and the 12-string.  Ted has not yet switched to fretless.

To get a sense of what we're celebrating when we say "Happy Birthday"....let's just list some of the great Hubie songs, shall we? In absolutely no particular order, I'm just going to jot 'em down as they come to me, one two three go!


1.) On The Cover (beautiful)

2.) I Know Your Name

I know your name, but if it's all the same I'd rather let you know mine
I know your name, but if it's all the same I'd rather let you know mine
Come - play the game - and let all your feelings come outside
I know your name, but if it's all the same I'd rather let you know mine

I know your name, but you don't know mine and that's all right.
I know your name, but you don't mine and that's all right
I've never ever seen you before, and I'll never ever see you ever again
I know your name, but you don't mine and that's all right.

(this song could have worked in any era of rock and roll, the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s...but it's too good for now!)

2.) I'm So Tired
 
I'm so tired
Never been so quiet
I know you are, too
Let's start another movie

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me
My body's safe, my heart is safe from me
My body's safe, my heart is safe from me
My body's safe, my heart is - safe from - me.

When the party is over
and the wind gets colder
Sleep, how I miss you so much
Strike a match a smoke

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me

My body's safe, my heart is - safe from - me.

Where you gonna run, to run today

Oh, you couldn't get away.

Where you gonna walk, to walk today
oh, you get it everyday

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me

My body's safe, my heart is safe from me

My body's safe, my heart is - safe from - me.

(fantastic lyrics. The first verse is a lesson in songwriting)

  

3.) Sailing (well....we have covered "Sailing" quite thoroughly, haven't we!)

4.) Someone's In My Head

(some of my favorite couplets from this song below, I actually don't know all the words, and some of these may be wrong):

Someone call a doctor, I think I've got a fever

Ten minutes later, was ready to receive her

(that's the opening line, great, hooks you right in)

(later on in the song, as things get cooking:)

It's moving up! It's getting much higher!

Moving through the sky like a big ball of fire!

Apricot and mousse mousse on the table

Moussaka and couscous make me good and able

Running up a big tab but it's ok!

Everyone is happy - it's better that way!

5.) Ocean Town!

6.) Heart And Mind!

7.) Return Britain, of course!!!

(favorite line:)

Can't say I didn't like it, I liked it a lot!

8.) What You Say! Gimme Fun! Baby It's Warm Outside, come and take you for a ride!

9.) Bucketful Of Rice (in conjunction with Ted), ditto Is It Safe?

10.) Easier Said Than Done (1987)

I get the picture you're telling me that you're a little confused
I get the feeling, forward my head leans, my mind is abused
My hope I deserted, I thought you had flirted and so I accused

To control the anger, to understand the time well-used

Easier said than done
Easier said than done

I've got to listen, it's my only lesson when I listen to you
I am the teacher, I give the lecture, I know what to do.

Can you imagine, me taking the action, to carry it through?

To make the decision, to close the incision, do you want me to?

Easier said than done
Easier said than done

11.) Wintertime

I love the wintertime

I love the summertime

I need the winter snow

I need the summer sun

but if the sun don't shine

and the wind don't blow

I just hold my head and cry.

I love the fall and spring
I love the birds to sing
I love the leaves to blow
I love the bloom to show

and if the bloom don't show
and the leaves don't fall
I just hold my head and cry

(ain't that the truth?  More valid now than it was in 1987)

12.) We Both Wobble (not one self-important singer-songwriter - including me - could have come up with this song, they all take themselves too seriously)

13.) Big Black Cloud

Sent away on a big black cloud
I know I'm going now

(ending lyric):

Hold out your head

They'll take it ......away.....

14.) The entire "Hubertsongs" cassette!

15.) When I (what a melody!)

16.) let's not forget Hubie's rhythm guitar playing and chord voicings!!!  Like all of the LOOB members, immediately identifiable, in a split second, one stroke, you know it's Hubie.

17.) I Hear A New Voice!  (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!)

18.) I Paint!

with the season comes the change

again and again

(I could spent the rest of my life singing just that chorus, we don't even have to do the rest of the song)

19.) I Owe

In my pocket
Lots of money 
to go along with all the lies I told

Serving pancakes
with peanut-butter,
where I'm working in the old folks' home

I owe
I owe

In the restaurant 
on the corner
we're all eating and we're having fun

Food has grown mold
Bread has grown mold
and the cheese is beginning to run

I owe
I owe

(you should have been a doctor)

20.) I'm Crying  (can't believe it's taken me to number 20 to list "I'm Crying"!)

Oh for Pete's sake, I could go on forever (who's Pete?).  

Now it wouldn't be a birthday party without some music so.....let's finish this post and get to the next one!  Hube....happy birthday, man!  

(all above lyrics used by kind permission of Hydropants Music)

Happy Birthday, Frank!

You know how the other day I was wishing Frank a happy birthday?

Well.....I was wrong, it's actually today!!  So....this time for real: Happy Birthday, Maestro!

Here's another pic from Southampton!

Ted & Frank in action, The Rat, Southampton College, 4/20/90

Lawrence's new film, screening on April 1st, NYC

Hear ye, hear ye!

One of the great things about LOOB is that every single person who was in it has gone on to do great things - take Lawrence for instance!

In the late 90s, Lawrence wrote a really fantastic book, "Lemon", ostensibly about a man who becomes unusually enamored  - nay, in love with - a lemon - but (to me, anyway) is about individuality and the singularity of everyone and everything.  Not unlike Munro Leaf's "Ferdinand The Bull", but for adults!

Initially excerpts appeared in McSweeney's, and then the full novel was published.  I remember walking into a Manhattan Barnes & Noble, and being confronted by a giant display of Lawrence's book immediately as I walked in, prime real estate.  

Here's the NY Times review, singing his praises as a masterful writer.  They forgot to call him Dancing Lawrence, though.  

https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/03/18/bib/010318.rv140303.html

Capitalizing on Lawrence being a true "renaissance man", each book jacket was hand drawn by the author.....so, like the lemon itself, each book would be it's own, distinct, singular entity.

Here's the one I got.

Here's how he inscribed it, one of the sweetest things anyone's ever said to me.

Yeah, me and Lawr go way back.  

I first met the man in the summer of 1989, when I was asked to replace an actor in an intense, monologue-heavy, three character play called "Room".  I had a week to learn the entire script and rehearse with the cast.  Upon entering the theatre for the first time, there was Dave Engelhardt (who was producing the show), Joe Norton (who wrote it), and Lawrence Krauser (they didn't call him "Dancing Lawrence" back then). I met all three of these lifelong mates in the same minute.  Friends to LOOB all!

I replaced Darren Martin as "Dean" with only a week's time.  It took the balls of a spider to pull it off .  There's a rip in the paper, but the play was directed by the brilliant Linda Shirey. Linda, where ever you are, we love you!!!!  Thank you!!!! And lest you think I'm just being kissy-kissy...if it weren't for Linda.....no Dancing Lawrence. Think on that!

In this play, Lawrence and I would be acting opposite each other, along with another amazing talent, Tyrone Henderson.  Future LOOB member Steve Goodman provided bongo accompaniment throughout the whole play, the beginning of his association with that instrument. It was trial by fire for me, for all of us, but we pulled it off and the play was a great success.  During the day, Lawrence and I would stand on the street, and he'd play his trumpet while we checked out the local talent.  We became great friends and had many, many adventures together, including one involving a shoe.  Don't ask, we'll show you one day.

Like Lawrence, I had my fingers in many pies, and one of those things was this band I was in, Life Out Of something or other....in August of 1990, Lawrence and Dave took a ride out to Stony Brook where this band was to play not one but two gigs in a single day, including a three-set radio broadcast.  The story of that day is for another post, but the result is that he first became a great booster of the band (Dave also!) - eventually joining the group in late 1991.  Lawrence was with LOOB for a long time, even past me and Ted leaving!  

But hey.....what happened to "Lemon"? What about that book?  What about this screening? Where is this all going, Mike?

Lawrence could write.  He could write books, he could write plays.  He could act.  He could play trumpet.  He could play piano.  As we all know, he was a dancer.  But what he really wanted to do was make films!  Even before I met him, he had made a film, "Home Cooking".  He had made a fantastic, fantastic short film starring his parents entitled "The Horrible Child", which he eventually developed into a great play that has been performed around the country, as well as a full-length feature.

The odds were against it.  Lawrence and Larissa Tomakova  - brilliant painter and wife of Lawrence - had decided to have kids.  Without a bit of help from the slimy pharmaceutical companies, they hit the jackpot and begat TRIPLETS!!!!!!!!!!!!  TRIP-UL-ITS, people!!!   Three months later - one for each child - because they didn't already have enough on their plate, they began filming the screen version of "Lemon".

People called it "Krauser's Folly", they said it couldn't be done.  "Lawrence...filmmaking is very expensive....why not write another book? Or a play?" "Poor Lawr....how's he going to pull this off? With triplets?"

Frankly...and I know I'm not Frank, but still.....I was worried for the guy, for the whole family, for all of us....

Well, let me tell you people, as the old folk expression goes......he who is named Lawrence laughs last!

The film just came back from Slamdance, where it was well-received.  It's being screened in New York on April 1st.  My music is all over the damn thing.  Better yet, Life Out Of Balance - yes, that Life Out Of Balance -  plays the movie out over the credits....appropriately, it's the 1993 recording of "Someone's In My Head".  In this case, that someone is one special lemon....(though it could also be the other way around, with the lemon musing about Wendell, that's occurred to me too...)

WENDELL AND THE LEMON

Wednesday, April 1, 8:30 PM

Anthology Film Archives

Second Avenue & 2nd Street, NYC

8:30 PM.  

$6

Lawrence Krauser (emailer/director)

Larissa Tokmakova (editor)

Josh Wick/imperfectfilms (producer)

Producer Josh Wick continues the LOOB affiliation even further; Josh is a former student of none other than Life Out Of Balance founding member Ward Regan!  No wonder why Josh is so smart and good-looking!

And so....I do hope everyone reading this is able to make it out..... but if not......or in the meantime......check out the trailer....

Here's a review of the film:

http://dorkshelf.com/2015/01/24/slamdance-2015-wendell-and-the-lemon-review/

For LOOB freaks, here's the Who's Who page on the website  (i mean, might as well just check out the whole website!), but you can see both Hubie and myself on the page, as we look today; interestingly, both of us distorted our faces for the pics.....LOOB minds think alike!

http://wendellandthelemon.com/WhosWho.html

PS: If you want a great blast from the past, check out "The Millenium Club" circa 1989/90.  Today, this would have been a web series.  I think includes the original "Horrible Child", starring his parents, a must-see.

https://vimeo.com/70677325

Driving Lawrence