Frank, Ted & Mike jam, Rocky Point Studio, April 16, 1990

That's how much music John approved of from this date- the rest of this tape is blank.

Ok, so I don't know where Hubie is on this tape.....but seeing that he almost missed a gig a year later due to illness (4/11/91), and he DID miss a gig the following year due to illness (4/14/92), I'm going to assume that the guy was sick! So this is obviously "Absent Hubie Week" here at the blog!  Don't worry, though, Frank and Ted and I soldiered on and had ourselves a little jam instead.  It was a treat for me to hear the three of us play Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" and The Band's "The Weight" off the tops of our heads.

Ted and John Russell at the closing of Jerry's Place. Behind them is Ken Kamen who helped finish our 1986 demo.

You might call this tape "Frank, Ted & Mike....through the eyes (or ears) of John Russell"!  John was engineering!  And he was always no-nonsense!  If something didn't sound good to him...time to hit the pause button! This was John's way of saying "I've heard enough"!  Back then, my guess is we'd be listening and go "Aaaaaargh!  He cut off the jam!"  Now I hear it....I laugh and cackle like a madman! I pump my fist in the air and say "Right on, John!"  Reign those guys in!!!  (someone had to!!)

I may be one of the few people who can claim to have double-drummed with John.  John had the biggest smile when he played, at least when I played with him.  We would trade off on fills!  John would always nod approvingly after my fill, "gotcha", then wail out one of his own!  It was very gracious, lots of fun, when you got me AND John playing underneath you....well.......we won't be underneath for very long!  The rhythm's gonna get you! Neither of us were particularly known as wilting violets when it came to hitting a drum with a stick! Let's put it this way....you wouldn't call "Feelings" out in a jam with John or me on the kit!

I'd also like to add John did MUCH  maintenance on my kit over the years, free of charge.  You all know me, I'd play on any kind of stretched membrane, I wasn't exactly picky ; John actually cared that, say, my bass drum wouldn't run away from me as I played, or that there was felt around the cymbals.  He and Ted once completely polished my drumset with Bug & Tar Removal.  One time I came in, he had put my toms on the right way (they had been assembled wrong since 1980).  Another time he had replaced my crappy cymbal stand with one of his own.  It was truly funny to see my little drumset next to John's humongous kit, when we rehearsed at the Russell compound.  I always felt particularly privileged because I was the only guy John would let sit and play his kit when he wasn't there.  So, I just want to take this opportunity to say....thanks, John.

Three days later, we had a much more serious get-together....and then one day after that we played our first gig with Frank.  But for now.....Hendrix and The Band are the order of the day!!

Frank, Ted & Mike at the Rocky Point Studio 4/16/90
Third Stone From The Sun-Return Britain jam
Fire
The Weight

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

Produced by John Russell

Recorded on a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track

download here:http://www.mediafire.com/download/zyq79pfxmc9wg4z/1990-04-16+Frank+Ted+Mike.zip

I believe John is singing a Stones song!  The only time I ever saw him sing!