Howie Demos, Rocky Point Studio, April 30, 1989

"April 30th, 1989....at the new-found Life Out Of Balance Studio Spectacular.  It is early in the morn, approximately 1:15 a.m......"

So goes Howie's introduction and, as far as I know, these are the earliest recordings at the Rocky Point Studio!  And what a studio it was!!!   We're coming up on it now, actually. See it? It's there on the right.....

Ahhhh, here we are!  Though....what the hell are these cars doing here?

Nevermind.  In late 1988 - or was it early 1989 - we decided what we needed was a second guitarist.  Actually, that idea went back to the earliest days of LOOB when Ted invited a guitarist/character he knew named Sam Levine to jam with the boys.  Ted actually sang me one of the licks Sam added to the then-new "I Cried"....it's pretty cool! For whatever reason, it didn't work out with Sam but I know Ted broached the subject numerous times.  For a while, we were a real cozy trio!  But a combination of Hubie's reticence about lead playing (even though he could and did deliver plenty of great solos throughout LOOB's history!), and probably just boredom of playing as a three-piece, led us to keep our eyes peeled for a guitarslinger.

And it was I who found such a man!  Howie Rabach was a friend of mine from Post, and though I hadn't heard him play, we talked excitedly about mutual music interests.  In those days, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, XTC, Talking Heads, Richard Thompson....those were guys me & Ted were listening to alot of (and, in the case of Waits, the Heads.... and possibly XTC, Hubie also).  On top of that, I indoctrinated Howie into Ted & I's secret love: Robyn Hitchcock.  My god, you'd think the sun rose and set over Robyn Hitchcock, at least according to me!  I was like John The Baptist about this guy!  One listen to my (mostly-horrible) songs from the LOOB period, and you can tell I had it bad with the Robyn influence! In fact, Howie would later rise to superstar in my eyes when he started going out with Trudi who ran the Hitchcock fan club, Fegamaniax!  She was listed on album covers, for chrissakes!!!!

Howie came to play with us at the tail end of the Suffolk Office period, I have one very hazy memory of us all playing together there.  We lost the office, Ted and I wept.....and then Ted worked his magic for the trillionth time and pulled this out of his hat: the Rocky Point Studio!  A local dentist....the honorable and saintlike Doc McLaughlin....allowed us to set up shop in the house he was using for his dental practice!  We had a different practice in mind.....band practice!!!

Half the house.....ours.....free of charge. Let's say that again: free of charge.  And again: free....of....charge......as Ted would quip: "Just my price"!

I remember a beautiful day, Howie, Ted & I (I don't think Hubie was there!)....we cleaned the hell out of the place.  I don't remember much other than having to climb to the upstairs as there was no staircase.  So we'd pass cases and stuff up there for storage.  After that day, I don't think any of us went back up there until we had to move out.

So now we were all set up.....and (presumably) after a band practice one night (though, maybe not!  Ted and Howie became fast friends!), Howie laid down some tracks with Ted engineering.  These tracks will put any one of us right back there as Ted engineered demos for each and every one of us at some point, not to mention the many of his own that he cut there.

I remember both of these songs!!!  We did "Needle In Your Spine" (a title, I'd like to point out, that Robyn Hitchcock later used for one of his songs!  He stole it from Howie!!!!  The Trudi connection, remember?), and I think we may have done "Posthumous"! I definitely remember him playing it to us. Howie, did we ever do "Posthumous"?  I like both of these songs a lot and was having a great time singing harmony with them last night when I was playing the tape! In fact, I was so into "Posthumous" that I almost wanted to call Howie and console him, before I realized that this was 26 years ago!!!

I wish I had a recording of us doing "Needle In Your Spine" because it was a really fun song for the drums.  And the harmony, too.  

Now.....that's just two songs so I want to do something a little unorthodox and REPOST a couple of songs from the Howie rehearsal of 1/10/90 because they are really worth hearing.  When I first started posting tapes, I didn't want to "overwrite" the blog posts.   Obviously, you can see I have changed my attitude!  But that means some of the early posts got short shrift as far as words written.

"Don't Mind At All" was a beautiful Ted song and one of the best numbers we did with the Howie lineup.  Aside from his knack with coming up with beautiful, complimentary guitar lines, Howie also could sing harmony.  So we could do three-part backup or, as in this case, two guys singing one part, and two guys singing the other.  I loved playing this song, but it did not make the transition to the Frank era, though we did try.  This recording really puts me in a melancholy frame of mind, I don't know if it's just me.

In a similar vibe, "End Of The Story" was a beautiful Hubie song.  It was a song that had a meandering structure and, though we did play it a bit with Frank, it did not remain in the repertoire long.  As I have said before, there was a song from these days that was never recorded, "Conversations".  These songs - and "Conversations", among others - show the really pretty, delicate guitar interplay Hubie and Howie had (the two "H's). 

I've also said it many times on this blog: Howie was possibly the all-time most committed member of Life Out Of Balance.  Howie drove out - sometimes weekly - from Fort Lee, New Jersey - all the way to the middle of Suffolk County, Long Island so that he could rehearse with the band.  I have many, many memories of great drives to and fro with Howie, always listening to fantastic music, always talking music....and so, on top of his crystalline guitar playing, and his competency in harmony (and lead) singing, you really have to tip your hat to the man's love of playing with LOOB that he'd do that.  In fact, Howie.....it's not too late to ask us to kick in for some gas money, pal!

Lastly, I am including "Pajamas", our favorite Howie tune!  Anytime I hear the word "pajamas", I sing "walking 'round in my pajamas, I look so....good!" (or is it "feel so good"? I do both!)  I've never not done that, from 1989 to the present....especially with all my friends having kids and the word "pajamas" comes up frequently ("I said put on your pajamas and go to bed!"....Mike, to self: "walking 'round in my pajamas, I feel so......good!"

We never played a gig with this lineup. Other than Sandi & Trudi (from the Hitchcock fan club) and my brother, I don't know that anyone ever even saw us rehearse.  My memory is that we'd rehearse sporadically as work and school responsibilities (and distance) made it hard to get together as regularly as we'd like. But we definitely had some good times and made some good music.


So let's celebrate the anniversary of these beautiful recordings, of LOOB getting the greatest (or second greatest!) rehearsal space it ever had....and best of all, of our brother in LOOB, the great Howie Rabach.  Love ya, Howie!


Howie demos, Rocky Point Studio, 4/30/89
Needle In Your Spine
Posthumous

Howard Rabach: guitars, vocals

engineered by Ted Schreiber on a Tascam Portastudio 4-track

PLUS!

LOOB, Rocky Point Studio, 1/10/90
End Of The Story (Violin Without A Bow)
Don't Mind At All
Pajamas

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



download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/8vs44rhcch8hsmd/1989-04-30+Howie+demos%2C+Rocky+Point+house.zip 

post-rehearsal, and heading home......

The Lost & Aborted John Georgette Demo, December 1991

Wow.  I was pretty sure this was lost!

After Frank left, and we had played an abysmal couple of shows at the Arrowhead Ranch, we put our tails between our legs and, with what was left of the band, went up to Connecticut to record an 8-track demo at a friend of Dave Engelhardt's, John Georgette.

Ted and I (and Lawrence) had been at the studio more than a year earlier.  Dave - who had never seen Life Out Of Balance -had asked me to play drums on some songs he had written.  I introduced him to Ted, who agreed to take the trip up with me and engineer the session.  The studio was way up in what seemed like the wildnerness, totally secluded, totally beautiful, in a wonderful old house.  In the attic, an old, run-down, half-abandoned 8-track studio was installed.  I remember we literally had to clear the studio of debris like old rolled up carpet and the like, and do a lot of work to get the studio up to snuff.

Now it was a year later and this session was organized with Dave engineering (he'd seen the band by this point, many times!)

As far as I'm concerned, the opening moments of "I Owe" is the official beginning of the next era of LOOB. It almost gives me goosebumps! We ended up retaining this intro for the demo we made the following year.  Vocally, this is the definitive "It's All Right", Ted sounds great.  "It's All Right" was the first song Ted had recorded when he got his 4-track in 1988 and when Frank joined the band, I remembered it and suggested we do it (it being so easy to play was a big plus).  Somewhere along the way, it got (usually, but not always) attached to "I Owe".

So great to hear a proper recording of "Bambaleda" (here, we're still saying "Bambalena"), complete with overdubs!  This song would get more muscular in the following year, when we were playing tons of shows, but this sounds really nice!

Ditto "Thundersong"! This is an early and fascinating version!  In fact, I believe this demo captures the moment of conception for Hubie's beautiful meandering lead that he would do before my verse.  As you can hear, it's not exactly what it ended up being, but nonetheless really nice!

The demo is just...charming, that's the word that comes to mind..... but we aborted the whole thing for many issues.    We had alot of technical hiccups, I remember.  I think one of the big problems was playing with headphones, there was no headphone amps, we couldn't hear ourselves very well at all.  The studio was far away, so coming back for further overdubs probably not feasible.  And, honestly, we were at a loss as to what our band even sounded like.  A month earlier we were a full blown rock band - now we were... something else, albeit something we were digging!

I prefer this to the overblown 24-track demo we made the following year, I'll tell you that much!

I have always called it the "John Georgette demo"....but that's a misnomer.  John didn't record us - he hosted us while we recorded in the attic, Dave Engelhardt (and Ted) handling the engineering.  As I recall, our girlfriends all came with us and kept us very well-fed when they weren't exploring and hiking.  It was a GORGEOUS, secluded property, and I seem to remember us all having a campfire underneath the stars and singing through the night. Or maybe that was another occasion, when I recorded there with Dave.......

Either way, enjoy what was lost....but  now has been found!

The Aborted John Georgette demo, Bethlehem, Connecticut 12/91
I Owe
It's All Right
Bambaleda
Thundersong

(there is also a portion of an earlier mix of  "I Owe -> It's All Right" as a "bonus").

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Lawrence Krauser - electric piano, trumpet
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, percussion
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal, percussion

engineered by Dave Engelhardt

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/fiqpq959btzmz11/1991-12+Aborted+John+Georgette+demo.zip

Acoustic rehearsal, Syosset, summer 1991

Here's a really nice tape of Hubie, Ted & myself (Frank was AWOL) playing acoustic in my basement apartment in Syosset.  Some gorgeous harmony and just a real nice, comfortable vibe.  "Girl So Sweet" is completely different than usual, Hubie playing different chords. Similarly, at the end, Hubie resurrects "Island Music" and does a completely different story than all previous versions, cracking Ted & I up with his Yellowman impression and even dropping in a references to an old Ted song "Don't Mind At All" as well as the Life Out Of Balance catchphrase: "Who's To Blame?" We also run through some Bob Marley songs which we were all heavily into at this point.  Parts of this section were accidentally erased with me warbling some song ideas, so there are a few edits, but not many.

"Baby It's Warm Outside" finds us coming up with some of the vocal parts that remained in the arrangement.  Have to say, also, "When Happiness Is Here", a song that is in my top two of cringe-inducing compositions, sounds really pretty in this setting.  It should never have left this room!

I have notes for a DAT tape, rehearsing at Mystery Fez around this time.  Frank was absent for that one as well, and it had been the first time we played as a trio since 1988.  Same thing here.  Soon Frank would leave us flat for good!

Other than that, sounds like it was a real fun and real mellow, relaxed evening for the Three Amigos of LOOB!

Hubie, Ted & Mike, Syosset, summer '91
unknown song
Girl So Sweet (She Don't Know)
I'm Crying
No Excuses
When Happiness Is Here
Babaloo
Baby, It's Warm Outside
Kinky Reggae
Them Belly Full
The Java Jive
Kaya
Mozambique
Monday Morning
Island Music
I'm So Tired /

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Ted Schreiber - guitar, vocal
Michael Goodman - guitar, percussion, cuartro, vocal, banjo

recorded by me probably on a boom-box

download here
http://www.mediafire.com/download/6ehi99a3uluxlp8/1991-07+circa+Syosset.zip

1994 Demo (location unknown) (to me!)

This tape is like eating a great meal!

Ahhhh, you bastards!  You think I didn't keep up with you guys after I left! Poppycock and tummyrot! I even sent friends of mine to see you a couple of times, on sort of like reconnaissance missions!

I don't know where I got this tape; probably from Ted.  Never listened to it!  Let's put it on, shall we?

Ride Into Town
This is the only song I don't know!  This was a big song for LOOB - but after I left!  This didn't exist when I was in it!

Listening to this, wow, listen to Hubie rap! Oh man, beautiful bass.  Go Dan!  What a great song!  This goes to many places!  Very cool!  Is that Frank on guitar?  Ok, Mike's verdict: love it.  I give it four chickabooms!

Ok, now....I Owe!

Oh man, you guys kept in the entrance to the break, that was my idea!  I've been looking for a version of us doing it!  Haven't found one! So psyched to hear that!!  We changed that right before I left, I loved playing it that way.  Cool vocal stuff at the end that's new to me, cool! Oh man, who's singing bass? That's great!  Is that Frankie?

Return Britain, ok, let's check this out.  Hmmm.  Mmmm-hmmmm.  Oh yeah.  Nice Lawrence! Wow, that is a fucking great guitar solo, Frankie!  ("Ride Into Town" also!).  Dan and Ted have fantastic interplay, nice!  Nice long version...I'm all about "Return Britain", you all know that!  Great crowd!  Look at you guys!  Look at LOOB!  Oh man, Dan on the tom-toms, building......now bringing it all home.....great, great ending! Great crowd!  I give this four yadahays!

What You Say - HA!  Look at this!  A totally different "What You Say"!  Fast!  Whew!! We never changed the arrangement of this particular song when I was in it, so this is definitely wild to hear!....Listen to this scat part, hahahahaha!  Wow.....well this takes "What You Say" to places unimaginable when it was first written, let me tell you!  Listen to this jazz section!!!!!  Listen to that drummer!  Whew!  You guys is-a-playin' fast!  How you guys arrived at this arrangement I will never know!!

Well, I don't know about you but  I'm wrung out!  Excellent!  You gave those people a good time,that's for sure! Me, too! The only thing left to say is.....could you put me on your mailing list?

Life Out Of Balance at.....?, '94
Ride Into Town
I Owe
Return Britain
What You Say

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Frank Russell - guitar
Lawrence Krauser - piano, trumpet
Ted Schreiber - bass
Dan Roth - drums

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/cyg0ir9jpo5vm4p/1994+LOOB+demo%282%29.zip

WUSB radio broadcast, August 3, 1990

First let me tell you about this momentous day - then we'll discuss the recording itself.

How Ted pulled this off,  I can only imagine.  All I know is that at some point during the summer of 1990, after only playing a grand total of two gigs together (Southampton, and Lauterbachs), a full two and a half live broadcast of Life Out Of Balance was to be our next public performance.   I don't remember much about when this materialized - or about preparing for the show.  I remember Brother Nick Capozzi (no relation to Billy Capozzi, but Nick is a relation to Brother Bill Capozzi......I know it gets confusing.....there were two William Capozzis known to us, and a Nicholas to boot)...anyways, I remember Brother Nick coming to the Rocky Point Studio and recording an interview with us.  I remember Nick really grooving to our stuff, and particularly digging Frank's playing.  ("He could be one of the greats" were his exact words, delivered in solemn sincerity).  I also remember the reporter who wrote the above article, Kathy Esseks, coming to the studio and interviewing us.  That was a weird day - Frank and I decided to pop mushrooms in our mouths beforehand, don't ask me why - so he and I were useless and left all the talking to Ted & Hubie, which was probably for the best anyway!   I also remember Ted handling tons of logistics with the radio station.

Newsday, August 1, 1990

We decided to structure the show like the Southampton gig a few months before: an electric set, an acoustic set, and another electric set.  In between the electric set and the acoustic set, we'd take a break and they'd run the pre-recorded interview Nick had done with us.  The broadcast was to begin at 9pm and end at 11:30.  Two and a half hours with Life Out Of Balance. Wasn't Suffolk County lucky!

On top of that (or should I say, at the bottom of the flyer...above!), a daytime gig was added for 4:00 pm, downstairs in the Student Union.  This had a few benefits: we would be warmed up, and also we could perhaps attract audience members to come upstairs and attend the broadcast.  Most bands would scoff at playing a show before they had to play a 2 1/2 hour radio broadcast; we, on the other hand, were psyched!  Might as well get another gig under our belts before taking to the airwaves!

All I remember about this daytime show is that it was a big stage, that we played "Sailing", and that this is where Dave Engelhardt and future LOOB member Lawrence Krauser first saw us.  Dave tells me that we opened with "Don't Let Me Down", and that sounds about right!  We'd usually use that as a soundcheck song, and then launch into our show.

Setting up for the radio broadcast. I still have that china cymbal which is heard on practically every LOOB recording!

I'm not going to say much about what happened from here on in, since Kathy Esseks' article gives a really thorough account of what happened both onstage (or, in this case, onfloor!) and behind-the-scenes technical difficulties.  Kathy must have been bounding from room to room, because it seems as though she didn't miss a thing that was going on that night!  The short story is that moments before 9pm, when the broadcast was to begin, the radio engineer lost all sound from the soundboard (in the room we were performing in) and had to do a last minute/second repatching of cables and what not....and had to do the mix on the fly, even though we had soundchecked everything.The results of this would impact the mix that went over the airways and, by extension, the recording; more on this later.

The broadcast begins. 

Click to enlarge: A view of the audience reveals future LOOB member Lawrence standing right in the middle with his hands on his hips, behind him is future LOOB member Steve Goodman.  In front of Lawrence, looking fabulous as usual, old friend Leighton Coleman.  Other audience members include LOOB's good friend, and later publicist, Jim Giargiana, I see my Pops Goodman sitting behind Leighton, I also see my high school music teacher and two classmates - they had been driving and happened to catch the beginning of the broadcast.  Hearing my voice, they said "That sounds like Michael!", and drove right to the station.  I also see Jaime Russell. I'm sure I'm missing people, for instance I know Stephen Marchese was there!

What I remember about the electric sets is that we couldn't hear ourselves very well.  Looking at the above photo, I don't see any monitors.  But what could we do? We were live on the radio.  Some songs went over well, some were near-train wrecks, to our mortification! But we did have an enthusiastic audience - that was drenched in sweat.  Talking to my Pop recently (he was in attendance), he definitely remembered it being super hot and humid.  More about this in the Kathy Esseks article.

Getting ready for the acoustic set.  Other than the newspaper photo (with view of audience), all of these pics were taken by Lawrence.

The most vivid memory I have of the broadcast was the acoustic set and - like Southampton - I think made the strongest impression on the audience.  Indeed, we used three songs from that set as part of our demo.  After running through "I'm Crying", "What You Say" and Frank's nifty instrumental "Don't Step On The Blue Grass", we debuted two songs: first came Ted's "Windstorm", and this was definitely "the" version.  Then Frank and Ted left the stage and Hubie & Mike (speaking in the third person here) played "Babaloo", this being "the" go-to version of that song.  Virtually every single person I've spoken to about this day remembers that song.

Ted shortly before performing "Windstorm"

After the acoustic set, we played an exhausting second set in the sweltering room.

Brother Nick and Brother Bill Capozzi after the broadcast - these guys were/are great on the air.

Packing up after the show

Post-show, Ted talking with Dave Engelhardt. My guess is that Dave just asked Ted what's next for the band...

Future LOOB member Steve Goodman photographed by future LOOB member Lawrence Krauser!

Waiting in the parking lot for us to come down - Steve, Lisa, Dave, photographed by Lawrence

So, I asked Lawrence about this show....here's what he wrote:
"Ha! I remember that show, it was milestone in my life - the very first day i saw LOOB! Dave Engelhardt and i drove out to see you guys. Were totally floored. Fucking exhilarating music made by the loveliest people (little did i know what monsters lurked within) (SMILEY FACE BUT NO RETRACTION). Loved it, loved it. For me this was the Golden Age of LOOB, the apotheosis of its purest incarnation, the magical Hellenic moment before Frank quit and i entered the picture like some raging inbred Roman parliament member running rampant over your glorious harmonies . . . But this Stonybrook day- a wonderful day. We'd seen the afternoon show - totally great - and then this radio broadcast - i remember a very intimate setting, small room, a real sense of you guys as people, up close . . . this was the set that clinched it, my heart was lost to y'all. Love at first hear, that day. Almost afraid to listen to it, a bit teary i feel!"

Beautifully said (though I think he's being a little hard on himself!)

Lawrence says he's almost afraid to listen to it....he may have a point there....

This tape does not exist 

 THE RECORDING

I must have had a copy of this show at some point but I don't have it now.  Maybe one of you has it?  What I do have is a highlights tape that we used as a demo.  Ted must have/had reels or a DAT or some master tape.  I also have Tape 2 of the above recording, the end of the show.  Our old friend Cindar (Cindy Mistler) taped this off the air.  The first tape was I believe lost or destroyed in a car accident involving a deer.  I personally have never heard the interview Brother Nick did with us.  The second tape, however, was in the LOOB box.  Unfortunately, aside from the static, the sound mix is horrible, and we're a little off.  Because they had to repatch everything on the fly, moments before the broadcast began, we couldn't hear ourselves, and there is all this effects that gets put on our voices intermittently.  We do (in my opinion) not particularly good versions of  "Sailing" or "Island Music",  both pretty long songs, and we blow the changes on other songs as well.  "I'm So Tired" and "Gimme Fun" are the only exceptional numbers, and they are included on the "highlights" demo.  So.....enjoy the highlights.........but don't get your hopes up about the last set!

Hopefully, the first half will materialize....someone's got to have it!  I want to hear that "Return Britain"!

Other than a few songs that were used as our demo, only the end of the show has survived - and that wasn't necessarily the best part of the show!

WUSB radio concert, Stony Brook University, 8/3/90 (highlights/end of show)

WUSB radio promo

Wintertime

What You Say

Windstorm

Babaloo

I Know Your Name

Sailing

Island Music

Spotlight Shining

Beating A Dead Horse

Gimme Fun

I'm So Tired

post-show interview

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion

Frank Russell - guitar, vocal, percussion

Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, acoustic guitar, percussion

Michael Goodman - drums, vocal, percussion, cuartro

Brother Nick & Brother Bill Capozzi - hosts

Live Mix - Don Fisher

Radio mix - Rich Koch

There are two recordings being used: one is a pristine copy that Ted used as a demo, the other is the taped-off-the-air cassette from Cindy, only the last part of the show surviving.  Included in the zipped folder are two versions of "Gimme Fun" and "I'm So Tired", one from each tape.

download here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ijlovsbllu6jemj/1990-08-03+WUSB+broadcast.zip

NY Times 8/3/90

LOOB Prehistory #1 : Ted & Mike

Earliest known photograph of two (non-related) LOOB members together. I'm the one on the left, standing with the bat.

Believe it or not, all this Life Out Of Balance stuff is only part of what I've been digitizing. There's a whole blog just in the hijinx Ted and I got into pre-LOOB. (I'll spare the world that blog) Having said that, here's a few ancient nuggets that I'm sure everyone who knows me or/and Ted will get a big kick out of.  Recordings too historic to lose forever.  What you say, LOOBans? Ready for some early Ted & Mike.....and, at the end, Steve, too?!   Who's with me?!

Ted & Mike win Battle of the Bands by unusual means......February 1984

Dear friends and gentlehearts.....prepare to have a good laugh.... and to pump your fist in the air! Let our triumph....be your triumph!!!

I thought after all these years I might get blase about this infamous and glorious incident. Instead I was on the edge of my seat, my jaw agape, my hand clapped over my mouth. Sometimes I had to stand up, walk around a bit.  In all the performances I've done since that day 31 years ago, not even the mighty LOOB ever left such a buzz in a room.  Talk about an auspicious first time on stage!  This is less a recording of a performance, and more of a recording of something that happened!

But I must really set this up for you.

The scene: a ballroom at the Meadowlands Hilton.  Ted's estimate was a couple thousand people.  I think it was a little lower than that, but it was big....I mean, believe me, by the end of the tape,  you will have a sense of the size of the crowd!  Before the end of the tape!  I mean, it probably was a couple thousand!

The occasion: a Battle of the Bands at a Beatles fan convention.

Yes, Ted & I used to go to these things...

What happened:  Ted, even then, was always a hustler.  "You see, Mike....Ted's a hustler", my parents would tell me, and they didn't mean like Joe Buck. This is the guy who, as an 8th grader, talked himself on to the college radio station.  Because of his size and his erudite demeanor, they thought he was in college!  Because I looked like I was about six when I was 16, he would always introduce me as his " young friend, Michael", even though I was less than a year younger than him.  It was Ted who had organized our first trip to a Beatles' fan convention months earlier.    He saw there was a stage, and that there was a Battle of the Bands contest...instant gig.

Getting me on board was no problem.  But we didn't have a guitarist at the time.  Guitarists came and went.  Ted roped in somebody he knew, a guy named Dave.  We had a rehearsal with this Dave, and it went so-so.  This guy (understandably) wasn't into going all the way to New Jersey to play a Battle of the Bands, when we were all but sure to humiliate ourselves.  To make matters worse, at the rehearsal he consciously sabotaged each and every song we attempted, including a basic three-chord jam.  Thanks, "Dave".  There's a tape I won't be posting.

Ted illustrating how our chances have gone to shit.

The day before we went, Ted got the call.  So-called "Dave" wasn't going to come, he was leaving us high and dry.  We got on the bus to Jersey and we figured - the place is full of musicians,  they're always having these all-night singalong jams.....we'll find a guitarist there.

And that's what we did!  A guy named Jim Morris, who was playing in one of the other bands, said he'd be glad to help but under one condition: he would not play a guitar solo for us, he would only play rhythm.  He wanted to save his solos for his own band.   Fair enough.  So it was decided that - where a guitar solo would normally be - I would do a drum solo and wail out.  As any person related to LOOB could most certainly attest: if the solution to a particular problem was for the drummer to "wail out", well hey....I was your man!

The ballroom was packed as band after band came and went, playing two songs apiece, and speaking to the audience in phony British accents.  Some were wearing uniforms. Some were wearing Sgt. Pepper uniforms. We, on the other hand, were Applesauce, that was our name (The Beatles' record label was Apple, get it?)  I was 14 and I looked like I was 10.  Ted was dressed in a sweater.  I don't know, man......

We were to go on in the middle of the contest...

We called ourselves "Applesauce" because we took Beatle songs and made mush out of them.  We went on eighth in a thirteen-band contest.

WPLJ DJ Jimmy Fink introduced us....and we walked onstage...I don't know how Ted felt....but I can tell you that I had an excruciating, twisting knot in my stomach.  This was our first time on stage, for the both of us.  It was a big, daunting crowd.....we were winging it.......there was a lot to be nervous about!

Applesauce takes the stage.  I literally felt like "dead man walking". Little did I know....

The first song Ted picked for us to play was an odd choice for a "band" to do: the mellow Dylan-esque "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away".  My role for this was simply to play the tambourine and at the end, play the flute melody on the electric piano, an instrument I had never played before.

We start the song.....and we get some polite applause.....Ted warbles the first verse and the audience joins in for the chorus.  So far, so good.  But we're not winning any beauty contests here....they're just being nice.  It's a Beatlefan convention, not the Gong Show!

As Ted starts the second verse, the pressure of the moment gets to him and he immediately blanks.....so instead, he just sings out, loud and clear, with perfect ennunciation:  "Oh god, I forgot the words".  The audience, which had just watched fourteen numbers from seven Beatle imitation bands and was probably ready for a little comic relief, roars and immediately starts screaming out "You won! You won!".  As you can hear, the audience goes nuts.  You'd have thought Ted had just sneezed through his fists or something. Maybe they were just tired, and our amateurism was a relief.  Maybe we were just too cute for words.  I don't know.  But the tape doesn't lie. Continuing with the theme, Ted goes on to change the song from  "you've got to hide your love away" to "I've got to sing this song today" and, to drive the point home, improvises a quick, unmistakable Ted bass line for a second.  Backstage, you can hear the other bands practically throwing up their hands in anguish, "they forget the words and they just won the contest." 

In fact, the contest was far from won, and our performance not over.

I get on the drums.  The audience is hooting and cheering.  The crowd is murmuring, "murmur murmur murmur".  Ted announces "We're not doing any fake English accents, sorry".  (someone backstage, close to the tape recorder asks "what did he say?" and the person answers "I wouldn't do it if it were Michael Jackson", but that's erroneous). We explain how we are the worst Beatles cover band, and someone starts shouting out "Honesty! Honesty!".

For our second song, I am to sing "Boys".  Because our replacement guitar player had given us this proviso that he would not play a solo, I am now to sing lead, and then play a big drum solo where the guitar solo would normally be.  "Boys" is now to be a full-blown Mike feature.

We start the song - and just like Ted before me - the first verse and chorus go fine, no problem.  The audience is into it, and we're rocking.  A girl even squeals.  But - just like Ted before me - I run into trouble during the second verse.

When I come out of the second verse into the chorus....instead of hitting the cymbal, I miss and my drumstick goes flying out of my hands, landing somewhere in front of the drumset.  Undeterred - and knowing I have a drum solo I have to now perform with only one drumstick within moments - I push on, and sing the chorus, wacking the snare drum as hard as I can with my one remaining drumstick.  The audience sees this, and now they're on their feet.  Now it's all about "go Johnny go!"

At the last possible second - an audience member scurries up onstage and hands me back my drumstick - literally with half a measure to spare.  So now I start doing the drum solo, going bananas.....and the audience is just eating it up. Forgetting words-dropping drumstick-doing the one-handed drum thing-recovery of drumstick-hey ma, the kid can drum! It couldn't have been scripted better.

Think I'm exaggerating? Listen to the tape.  Listen to that audience!  Now that you know the story, you will be able to follow along with the recording.  You tell me if I'm exaggerating.

We won the contest.  As soon as we got off....literally moments after we had walked offstage and were in the outer lobby.... two beautiful girls approached me and gave me their number.....ha! Take that, "Dave"!

14-year old Mike, with Jimmy Fink ( back facing camera), onstage after winning the Battle of the Bands. 

Ted & Mike on Howard Stern Show, March 1984

A few weeks later.  I don't remember the reason, but I had the house from Friday night to Sunday, my mom went away or something.  Ted came over and we made stereo demos by bouncing between two tape-decks, an entire weekend of playing and recording in my mother's living room.  Pure heaven for me & Ted, let me tell you.   We recorded a million songs, and one was a song parody that Ted wanted to send to the Howard Stern Show. It was a parody of John Lennon's "Nobody Told Me" entitled "Your Breath Smells Like A Dead Fish". I have thought for years that this was an early "Bababooey" song parody....but listening to this tape now, it's Boy Lee producing, not Boy Gary!  So it's just your ordinary "bad breath" song.

Anyways, we duly recorded said song and Ted mailed it to WNBC.  And wouldn't you know it.....Howard played it ALL WEEK! At one point, he sang along with the entire song, reading from the lyric sheet Ted had handily enclosed.  He even called Ted!  Fresh from our Battle of the Bands win, we were feeling all full of beans, let me tell you.  Finally, the future King of All Media kicked off a song-parody contest, and our song was entered in.  I didn't get to record any of the other times he played the song - but I did get this one.  They laugh at us, they punk on us mercilessly....and I wouldn't say our song is particularly funny, by the way.....but it gives you a sense of Ted's scheme of the week, and there always was one!  This attitude would later serve LOOB well.

And of course, if you're going to have someone punk on you, it might as well be either Don Rickles....or Howard & Robin!!!!  And a Bababooey to y'all!!!!

Also from this "overdub weekend", we cut a punk version of "The Mickey Mouse Club Theme".  (at the end of this, I start singing a bit of an early Ted song, "My Baby And Me").

Ted, Steve & Mike session, early 1985

Mike & Ted, September 7, 1984, in "The Library" at Ted's house, where we recorded "Tonight". No, those are not band uniforms.

There are many recordings of Ted, Steve and myself making a racket, and some of it is really good!  Case in point: the three of us set up in what we called "The Library" at Ted's folks' place, and cut a million takes of this early Ted original, "Tonight".  Aside from it being a really catchy song in a sort of R.E.M.-ish, New Wavey style, the performances from all three kids are A plus!  No wonder why Ted & I walked into LOOB all full of ourselves!  I love my brother's playing on this, he had an old 70's Univox synth, a Moog-type affair.  I know this recording is actually two takes edited together....for part of the rehearsal Steve was singing harmony; then I took over.  I believe Steve sings harmony on the first part, I definitely am singing harmony at the end.

Ted with his first decent bass, the Epiphone.

Around this time, Ted played with some school friends in a talent show at school.  After it was over, they thought they might continue the group. The story continues here.


LOOB Pre-history #1: Ted & Mike

Applesauce win Battle of the Bands at Beatlefest, February 19, 1984
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Boys

Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal
Michael Goodman - tambourine, electric piano, drums, vocal
Jim Morris- guitar

Ted & Mike song parody on Howard Stern Show, mid-March 1984
You're Breath Smells Like A Dead Fish

Ted Schreiber - guitar, bass, vocal
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal

Ted & Mike, early March 1984
The Mickey Mouse Club Theme

Ted Schreiber - guitar
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal

Ted, Mike & Steve, September 1984
Tonight

Ted Schreiber - guitar, vocal
Steve Goodman - synth, vocal
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal


download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/7n1qra8ytd1siug/LOOB+prehistory+1+-+Ted+and+Mike+%28and+Steve!%29.zip

Rocky Point Studio, June 18 and 19, 1990

 

After not recording anything since our April 19th gig, we had a flurry of rehearsals that we recorded in mid-June, probably in preparation to the demo we were about to begin recording on the 26th.  We rehearsed on the 18th, the 19th, the 20th and the 23rd.  I have already posted the June 20th rehearsal.

The one on the 18th is notable for the earliest "Gimme Fun".  We're playing really well on this tape. 
Frank is super good on this one.  Drummer, also (he said vaingloriously!)  "Is It Safe", "Return Britain". a fast "It's All Right", an equally sprite "Spotlight Shining".  A brief, pretty instrumental jam on King Curtis' "Soul Serenade", something we would do during this period.  These two embroyonic "Gimme Fun"s are interesting, we're trying different stuff out, I'm trying different stuff out. 

The rehearsal on the 19th is not as great of a rehearsal, but has it's moments. Other than "Phobia", all the songs are non-Hubie numbers.  I think this is the last "Phobia" we played.  "Phobia" was from the first big batch of songs Hubie played to me over the phone in 1987.  Before that, there would be a new song here and there.  Then one night, over the phone, he played me "Phobia", "I Know Your Name", "Wintertime", "Inside Outside" and "I Paint".  Very fun song to play on the drums.

One thing I had forgotten about, until I heard us talking about it on this tape: during "Castles And Planes", I would get up and leave the drumset, let the guitarists play for a bit by themselves. (we discuss it, I don't actually do it on this particular version).

We also bash away at one of my things, "I've Got An Onion".  Just me screeching away; I had played solo acoustic on one of Ted's radio shows and played this soon after I wrote it.  Again, like "Some Other" (written the same day), Ted had enthusiasm for it that went beyond my own.  Again, like "Some Other" it was a favorite of Dave Engelhardt's, and there's even a tape of Hubie talking about how it was Paul Poole's favorite.  Whatever it's appeal, it certainly wasn't the lyrics! Probably the "Brown Sugar"-esque..."Wooooo"s!

It's a short tape.  There are two cuts, one at the end of "Castles And Planes", and one at the end of "I've Got An Onion".....from my notes, that points to two possible culprits!  John Russell and Jim Giargiana!  Both of those guys had opinions as to what to and what not to record, and can't say I blame them!  Weren't they just trying to spare us embarrassment, all these many years later?!!


Rocky Point Studio 6/18/90
Is It Safe?
Return Britain
It's All Right
Spotlight Shining
Beating A Dead Horse
Soul Serenade
Wintertime
The Advocate
We Both Wobble
Gimme Fun
Gimme Fun

recorded by Steve Goodman on a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track

http://www.mediafire.com/download/sts0j6kpjwrf1jg/1990-06-18.zip

Rehearsal, Rocky Point Studio, 6/19/90
Jammin'
Don't Let Me Down
We Both Wobble (aborted)
Phobia
Castles And Planes
The Advocate
I've Got An Onion

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/c57exropbjzkyiu/1990-06-19+Rocky+Point+Studio.zip


recorded by either John Russell or Jim Giargiana on a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track

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

Inspirations, borrows...and sometimes....yes indeed..... outright steals!

Spot the LOOB in these songs....or in some of the moments of these songs! (shhh!)

Poi Dog Pondering - Falling

 

Robyn Hitchcock - Do Policemen Sing?

Fela - Original Sufferhead

Daniel Lanois - Still Water

The Beatles - It's All Too Much

  Rod Stewart - Maggie May

James Brown - There It Is (live version)

The Kinks - Tired Of Waiting

All links working now & assorted miscellenea

Logo made by.....Steve?  Not sure!  I think it's my brother who made this. Maybe his girlfriend at the time, Lauren (I think she made a flying saucer that we used to put onstage with us?)

Hey now!  All links are now up and working; I had thought they were already working, but I find that I had messed up most of them.  I have now checked them all, they are all working so if you've been having troubles with any of the posts.....there will be troubles no longer.

These Mediafire links should hold up for years to come; at least the ones I've had in my account have worked for the last three.  However, if someone is squeamish about Mediafire, I am also uploading them to a Dropbox folder.  But that folder only holds 2 gb, so it will only have the most recent posts, and as new posts come in, old ones will be taken out.  And if I need the Dropbox for something else, which I most definitely will from time to time, then I will remove however much I need.  If anyone wants to be "invited" to the Dropbox folder, email me at loobblogmaster@gmail.com, all are welcome!

To spice up this post, below are just some random things, all unused.

All I remember is that this flyer wasn't used - I don't know who made it.  I'm almost positive it was made by someone outside the band. I'm not sure if this show got canceled, or if the person put the wrong date on it, which I have a hazy memory of that being the case. (we played with The Skels at the All Aboard on a November 21 show, but we also did play there on a November 20th date in 1992 so......all I know is that the above flyer was not used or distributed.  'Nuff said.

I think this was drawn by Frank Buchwalder, long before Lawrence was in the band (Lawrence made most of our flyers). Our audience looked just like this.