Some of LOOB's favorite music

Stuff - artists....or sometimes even just a song - that had some kind of effect on one or more LOOB members, during the LOOB years.  For instance, the Adam and the Ants song was a favorite of Ward and Mike's.  To say this is a very incomplete listing would be a laughable understatement!  But I daresay that if you dump these into a cauldron....you might come up with a Life Out Of Balance!

In no particular order.....

Yellowman

Clifford Brown

The Allman Brothers

Talking Heads

The Bhundu Boys

Syd Barrett

Otis Redding

The Style Council

Woody Shaw

Tom Waits

Fela

Bauhaus

The Jam

Miles Davis

The Clash

The Sex Pistols

Derek & The Dominoes

Tones On Tail

Kanda Bongo Man

The Who

The Police

Poi Dog Pondering

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

Adam And The Ants

 Jimi Hendrix

The Velvet Underground

Bob Marley & The Wailers

XTC

Grateful Dead

Robyn Hitchcock (Andy Metcalfe on fretless bass)

James Brown

Matt Bianco

 
The Band

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey

The Beatles

Cover versions

 LOOB didn't do that many covers, and hardly any in a serious manner.  I wasn't around in the early days when they apparently did more covers, so it's an incomplete list. But here are all songs we covered at one time or another....



The Jam - In The City

The (English) Beat - End Of The Party

 John Fogerty - Rock And Roll Girls

The Modern Lovers - Roadrunner

Otis Redding - I Can't Turn You Loose

Pink Floyd - Fearless

Syd Barrett - Love You

Syd Barrett - Effervescing Elephant

Fleetwood Mac-Monday Morning

 Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way

Talking Heads - Pulled Up

The Soft Boys - I Wanna Destroy You

Steely Dan - Do It Again

The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down

Elmore James - Can't Hold Out

Pink Floyd - Breathe/On The Run

The Who - I Can't Explain (I was as surprised as anyone to hear us doing not one, but two versions of this on the 3/20/90 tape!)

Bob Marley - Jammin'

Bob Marley - Kaya/Sun Is Shining/Satisfy My Soul/Time Will Tell/Running Away (all on this great album)

James Brown - Licking Stick

James Brown - Since You've Been Gone

The Ink Spots - Java Jive

Street Level, January 14, 1993

Street Level shows were held in such low esteem...the song list is just scribbled on a piece of newpaper and inserted into the cassette case!

A nice little listen!  Because the shows were over before they even started, I don't gravitate towards tapes that say "Underworld" or "Street Level", but turns out we played pretty well at these showcases!

Now, if I thought The Underworld wasn't great, the Street Level had to have been my all-time least favorite place to play.  Eventually it turned into Nice Guy Eddie's, anyone who lived in the Village through the 90s and early 00s will remember it. It had that embarrassing mural of Kiss on the building though, to be fair, Kiss was a New York band.  But you'd think they'd put a mural of Johnny Thunders there, or Lou Reed or something.  Very strange city for radio, New York.  You'll never hear The New York Dolls, or The Velvet Underground, or even the Ramones on the radio.  But any day of the week, you can turn on a New York station and you hear...."can't you see?....can't you see? ....what dat woman.....she been doin' to me". Curious.  Embarrassing, also.

Nice Guy Eddie's, formerly "Street Level".  The band would set up right in front of that big window.

It was right on Houston.  It was booked by Thom Jack, who had booked  us in The Underworld.  That was his circuit, The Underworld and Street Level.  Street Level was just a slim room with lots of windows looking out on Houston and Ave A, or wherever it was. 

At the Street Level, you were lucky if you were only on a five-band grind!

I must confess I did once see one of my favorite shows of all time at Street Level, oddly enough!  Jimi Durso and Bob D'Amico from Piltdown Man were in a band called Pud, and they played at Street Level right after I moved into the city.  The moshing was so fierce at this show that the crowd literally carried the lead singer off the stage mid-scream, and demolished the PA,  literally attacking the big PA bins, dismantling them, pushing them over.....This caused Thom Jack, who was doing sound, to stop the show and stand in front of the mob shouting "Cool it! Cool it! What the fuck is wrong with you people!"  Oh my gosh. It was a sight to see.  Jimi was wearing a camouflage skirt I remember, and some mosher rolled onto the stage, rolled right over Jimi's pedal board, activating or de-activiating each one.  Jimi, not missing a beat, just tapped each pedal in a row before ripping a typically demented solo.  Wow.  So Street Level, maybe it wasn't so bad after all!

On this show,  things didn't get quite so wild, but that's not to say we didn't offer up our own brand of strangeness and dementia!  We're joined by Louis DeVirgilio on trumpet.  Lawrence plays trumpet in "Wintertime" and some other songs, but most of the trumpet on this show is Louis, and he sounds great.

We open with "Wintertime", obviously because it was the middle of January!

"I Owe" is pretty crazy and distinctive, must say!  For the verse, Hubie changes the lyrics to "In my pocket...lots of beedies....."ha!  He once got kicked out of a restaurant for smoking those (when you could still smoke in restaurants).

"Soon Come" sounds way more together than any of the other versions I've heard so far, this is a nice version.  I always loved the way we ended this (it was my idea, ripped off from Fela), and I have to confess: I have since used it in my own shows, whenever i need an instant ending! Ha!

Nice little "Some Other", thanks boys......

"Dog Days" has Hubie playing some great guitar, I loved playing this song.  This Ted song had been written back in 1989, and I really lobbied for us to do this one (we were always trying to get more Ted songs, and mine too, so that we didn't have to always sing "It's All Right"....looking back, maybe we should have just done only Hubie songs!  God knows he had more than enough great ones and we were always at our most natural doing his stuff!  But the band I came into had four different writers, and that's pretty much how it stayed during my tenure.) So, getting back to "Dog Days", this one had great harmonies to sing, and just a fun song to play.

And a great "Gimme Fun" to wrap it all up.  Great percussion on this one.


This show was recorded at a very low level, had to do a bit of trickery to boost the level.

So, another half hour show, not one of our favorite venues.....but it's a nice kooky little listen!

Back before the net, you'd call the Village Voice phone line and listen to the bands that were playing that week.  Here we are described as  "world music", ha!

Street Level, 1/14/93
Wintertime
I Owe ->
It's All Right
Soon Come
Some Other
We Both Wobble
Dog Days
Gimme Fun

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

recorded by Chris Ivers

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/nmgen8cilfgpmyi/1993-01-14+Street+Level.zip

or if you prefer Dropbox, use this link (it will expire in a couple of weeks):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2he0i9mj5crxrux/1993-01-14%20Street%20Level.zip?dl=0

Suffolk Office, autumn 1987

Once again: here's when these old favorites....were new favorites!  "Return Britain" and "I'm So Tired" make their recorded debuts on this tape!  "On The Cover" and "Blue Billiards" also!  Unlike the previous 1987 rehearsal, where we were performing for the tape - this is just a recording of a  regular rehearsal. Because these are such young versions of most of these songs, I would not recommend this tape to anyone who is not familiar with the band.

Case in point: we are obviously still just coming to terms with what is required for "I'm So Tired".  And yet, many of it's elements are in place, including the harmonies.  Hubie sings this really nice - Hubie's vocal performances on this rehearsal are all really good, in fact. He seems to have a cold and a slightly hoarse voice, so it has a slight "grain" to it that you don't always hear. It is worth noting that even on this early version of "I'm So Tired", we have turned the lights out!  (even three years later, playing on WUSB, we call for the lights to be dimmed for this song.).

"On The Cover" is a beautiful song that's one of my absolute favorites and, as I've said elsewhere on this blog, most recorded versions have us breaking down in the middle.  In later years, we would have some pretty elaborate arrangements, and after I left the band there were some CRAZY, wild arrangements, so it's pretty funny (and cute) hearing us struggle with a relatively straightforward song.  Having said that, the second version is complete and might be the best recorded version.  This song popped up again on the Steve Antos tape, and again in a 1992 rehearsal tape that I haven't posted yet.

Incidentally, listening now, I can see a tiny little drum thing I could have done to make the "never seen....never seen you like this before" go smoother.  Anyone want to go into the studio and cut a version?  (it's a crime we never recorded this song - or many others - properly).

This entire time I've been writing this blog, I have been saying that we played exactly one gig as a trio - a Xmas party - in 1988.  That has been completely wrong!  That party was in 1987!   We are talking about "the gig", and whether or not this was the Xmas gig, or some other gig that fell through, I'm not sure.  But I now realize it couldn't have been December of 1988.

Which begs the question: when is this rehearsal tape?  Perhaps October is too early, this probably is November.  However, I do seem to remember this gig being - what I thought to be  - a pipe dream, that was hanging over us for a while, and that I didn't believe we actually  had the gig (we had had things fall through in the past). Because of this attitude - and also the fact that I was already drumming in a punk version of "The Beggar's Opera" on that date - I was virtually incommunicado leading up to the date of the show.  More about this funny gig in another post.

I love this version of "Mental Isolation", this was a Hubie-Ted collaboration as I understood it to be, beautiful song that was never a "major" song for us, but that has always stuck in my head through the years.  It gets cut off unfortunately, but it's my favorite version, possibly because of the "grai" in Hubie's voice.

Listening now just reminds me...that "Easier Said Than Done" was in a different tuning, and that eventually "The Paul" was set up for it (by this point, Hubie had gotten his Strat). I'm trying to remember if we had another song in that tuning.  I don't think so.

On the August 1987 demo, we thought Hubie sounded like a rabbi "I get the picture you're telling me that you're a liddel confewsed".  So every time that comes around, Hubie exaggerates that line (I also imitate it while the guitars are tuning up).

I've told you that after we recorded "Easier Said Than Done", we somehow could not do anything more than a lackluster version....we couldn't figure out why because all three of us dug that song!  Sure enough....after this wan version.....Ted: "That was pretty hurtin', man.'", Hubie, vexed, instantly agreeing.  It was as if "Easier Said Than Done" had gotten ill or something.....and we couldn't figure out what it had!  It proved to be terminal, as

 "Blue Billiards" - a song that came easy and that was synonymous with levity and fun - was always good to get things good timey again.  I don't remember who it was written about - it was written about somebody - but in this particular version, it's probably about Gas Facin' Mike! This is the earliest recorded version and is not quite up to snuff yet, but almost.  It's funny, Ted is telling me " I need to hear more drumming".  Always ready to oblige! This song has one of my favorite lines: "Your love is like a cheap wine....and it gets to you!" 


Regarding this earliest of "Return Britain"s.....it is fitting that it is one of the weakest!  Right from day one, this song felt like a "step up", a much more sophisticated thing than we'd been doing.  Here, we are just starting to get our hands dirty, finding out what this "Return Britain" was all about!  This is truly embryonic, and interesting.

The proceedings are enlivened a bit by an audacious mouse, who took a chance and bolted into the studio, probably on his way to the giant empty warehouses.  I might add it was the only time I saw vermin on the premises.

You'd think we'd have "Is It Safe" down cold!  But this was during a time we were getting together very sporadically.  I had just started college that September (Hubie was also going to school nearby, probably the only thing that got either us to rehearsal!), so whenever we got together, some song that we had thought we had aced had fallen by the wayside.  (take for instance, "I Paint", which neither Hubie nor I could remember enough to play when the title is brought up during this rehearsal.  But we had just played perfectly competent versions just four months earlier!
 
I think we blew the power out or something with New Voice!  Or else this was being recorded on a boom box with batteries and the batteries die.  An abrupt ending to a fun and productive rehearsal!

Suffolk Office, fall '87
Soundcheck jams
I'm So Tired
On The Cover
Phobia
Inside Outside
Mental Isolation /
Easier Said Than Done
Blue Billiards
Return Britain
Is It Safe?
I Hear A New Voice /

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

recorded on a 2-track cassette deck, or a boom box

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/oj7y5ii5n45kyie/1987-10-circa+Suffolk+Office.zip

or if you prefer Dropbox, you can use this link (it will only be up for a couple of weeks)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/63v8dp2mq9hahtq/1987-10-circa%20Suffolk%20Office.zip?dl=0

Rocky Point Studio, June 23, 1990

Intriguing, this one!

 I kind of messed up presenting these series of rehearsals, shortly before recording our demo, June 1990.  It's a great demonstration of how often we rehearsed.

We rehearsed on the 18th and the 19th  (i've just updated that blog post as I wasn't able to write much about it originally....), then again on June 20th, and again on the 23rd, this rehearsal.  On June 25, 26, and 27, we recorded our demo with Kenny Dugan, overdubbing the vocals on the 30th.  Well...if you're going to be in a band....might as well play!

Maybe because we had been rehearsing so much, we do a lot of exploratory work on this day.  At first we're loosely jamming on "Licking Stick" for a bit, nothing too great, but then, about halfway,  it lifts off into some wild psychedelic jamming that would not sound out of place on a Doors or Jefferson Airplane record! Hubie and Frank play some great guitar on this, and the blend of Ted, Hubie and Frank at some points is positively Ellingtonian!  This slips into a slow "Return Britain", not one for the ages, but it's interesting hearing Frank try out some ideas that he'd later use in the demo, a few days later.  The best part of this "Return Britain" is the end part of the jam.

Again, we do some Marley jamming, this time one of our favorites, "Satisfy My Soul", though we didn't know it so well at that time.  At one point, we briefly sing a bit of "Duke Of Earl"....makes me wish we had explored our doo-wop side!!!

Ha, in the break of "New Voice", Hubie brings back the eerie harmony idea that we did on the 1988 demo version (we were never quite sure what to do in that break! the harmony idea is my favorite "solution" to the problem.)

I hear Lisa's voice, she's engineering.

Tape one is so-so, nothing great, but tape two, the band is warmed up.  We do a little thing, improvising over some chord changes that Hubie and I are singing over.  Frank starts playing a variation of "Soul Serenade".....and it all lands on "Gimme Fun".  Then this rehearsal really comes alive.  I LOVE all these early "Gimme Fun"s.  It took a little while for these "dance" tunes to get "just right".  "Gimme Fun" was the first of these ("It's Warm Outside", "Someone's In My Head", "Bambaleda"), and these early versions are always fascinating.  It was always good for me, I always appreciated being given room to try out so many different things before I landed on "the" right groove.  And the groove I finally arrived at for "Gimme Fun" is definitely the right one! 

This version has us working on the "hey people, feel it" part.  I've always felt a little embarrassed that Ted & I took the back up from "You Can Call Me Al" during this section, hope no one noticed, even though it had been a giant hit!  Personally, I think "Gimme Fun" is as good, if not better than "You Can Call Me Al"!  Ha, I throw in a line from David Essex's "Rock On".  This also has Frank and the guys coming up with that great ending riff which I very much missed after Mr. Russell's departure!  Just another brick in the wall!!!!

Anyways, this song became the band's credo, the thing we were all about: gimme fun fun, one two one two!  I also think it changed Hubie's writing, possibly.  In the 80s, he wrote a string of sad, haunting songs - the 90s would find him in a much sunnier frame of mind.

This segueways into "I've Got An Onion", and as "Onion"s go, this is one of the best. At one point, Hubie and Mike (that's me) start singing a bit of "She". Oof, I hear I missed editing out some snotty little Mike comments while we're rehearsing "Castles And Planes"....well, let them out there for posterity.

I think this is the last "End Of The Story" I have.  This Hubie song - which has such a great melody - always stayed sort of formless.  Even though this predates it, I've always associated this song with "Sailing", they were written around the same time, towards the end of the Howie era.  This is a nice version.  Maybe if we had written a break or something; but a break would have broken up the mood, so we were a little stuck.  Frank plays some nice guitar on this.

We wrap the rehearsal up with a subdued "Is It Safe?" and an electric version of "Don't Step On The Blue Grass"!  Enjoy, you sea monkeys!

Rehearsal, Rocky Point Studio, 6/23/90
Licking Stick jam ->
Return Britain
Waiting On A Friend
Satisfy My Soul
I Shot The Sherriff
Frank riff jam
Duke Of Earl
Beating A Dead Horse (breakdown)
Jam ->
New Voice
We Both Wobble
Spotlight Shining
Soul Serenade jam ->
Gimme Fun ->
I've Got An Onion
She
I'm So Tired
Castles And Planes
End Of The Story (Violin Without A Bow)
Is It Safe?
Don't Step On The Blue Grass

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

Recorded by Lisa DeVirgilio on a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track

Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/2y8a5ah133nc1ax/1990-06-23+Rocky+Point+Studio.zip

or use the temporary Dropbox link (a couple of weeks)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h75yg3eobf8yto3/1990-06-23%20Rocky%20Point%20Studio.zip?dl=0

Lauterbach's, December 21, 1991

Another one from the transitional time, the last gig of 1991, with the new lineup, Lawrence and Steve.   Other than the two Arrowhead Ranch fiasco/shows - which were witnessed by, about, twelve people - this is the first "real" gig for the new LOOB. It's an interesting, somewhat subdued gig.  We do an unusual, blurry, disorienting "It's All Right" that sounds really cool.

I don't have a snare drum for this show!  My drums were always falling apart, and I am the worst drum technician in the world, I still don't know how it all operates. It actually sounds cool with Steve's congas, makes it more tribal than usual.

Though it doesn't sound as good as it had years earlier, the thing that made me grab this tape is the only version I have of us doing the Otis Redding song "I Can't Turn You Loose".  When we were a three-piece we would do this into "Is It Safe" (as we do here), singing the horn parts in a high, chirpy voice.  As a bonus, I am attaching an ancient Ted demo where he sings the horn parts, to give you an idea what it sounded like when we did it (Ted's demo was so funny to us, that's what prompted us to do it in the first place).  I need to provide this ancient Ted recording because it's a mess on this Lauterbach's gig, unfortunately!  This wasn't something we had worked up, I think this was an on-the-spot choice, "hey let's do that thing we used to do...."  Back then, we sang the horn section exactly like Ted sings it on this demo.   Wish I had a recording of us doing it the old way.....but this will have to do!

This whole show is really nice, slightly mellow, a really nice, distinctive "Gimme Fun".  It's not a big audience, but we leave them cheering for more, and oblige with a short second set.

  
Lauterbach's, 12/20/91
I Owe ->
It's All Right
Thundersong
Bambaleda
It's Warm Outside
Smile
I Know Your Name
Gimme Fun
We Both Wobble
I Can't Turn You Loose ->
Is It Safe?
Return Britain

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, percussion
Lawrence Krauser - electric piano, synth, trumpet, exclamations in spanish
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal
Steven Goodman - percussion, accordion

This is Steve's dub from the original DAT.


download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/64uxz9yafhkun1e/1991-12-20+Lauterbach%27s.zip#39;s.zip

Or if you prefer, use the Dropbox link - this will only work for a couple of weeks, though:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7yy6qf16rmt6g4s/1991-12-20%20Lauterbach%27s.zip?dl=0


BONUS TRACK:

Ted demo, 1988
I Can't Turn You Loose
https://www.dropbox.com/s/44f1um3gg7f5lwr/I%20Can%27t%20Turn%20You%20Loose%20%28Ted%20demo%2C%201988%29.mp3?dl=0

"A Solar Day", late 1987/early 1988

That is one 80s looking tape.

One night I was at home in Rocky Point when I got a call from Hubie.  He needed music for (what I remember as) an art exhibit or installation or something (it's been a long time, sorry!)  Anyways, the  the title of the exhibit, or the piece, was "A Solar Day", and he wanted this music playing during the exhibit/presentation/?/installation.  Hubie had described to me some intriguing designs he had done where the wind and rain and the elements would "play" the building, fusing architecture and music, I wish it was fresher in my mind, my apologies.  That may or may not have been part of "A Solar Day".....anyways.....Hubie calls me on the phone and asked me if I could provide a half hour of music or so......he had heard some of my recordings when I first got the 4-track, including a New Age version of "I Cried" (!) (included as a "bonus" track)....and he referenced them in the conversation, "I always liked those recordings you do", well, how 'bout that! Did you hear that, Ma? Well, I'm not one to turn down a commission, especially after being buttered up like that! So I hung up the phone, brought my two synths down and put them on the kitchen table, also an electric guitar.....and from about  9:00 at night until 6:00 in the morning, I did "A Solar Day, recorded and mixed, all in one sitting.  Gave it to him the next day, or whenever I saw him next.

This is the day I got the 4-track, spring of 1987.  "A Solar Day" was recorded at this table, but with me sitting on the other side...picture the table filled with two big synths. 

The synths I used were the Roland that I eventually gave to Lawrence to use in LOOB (what ever happened to that synth by the way? Best one I ever had!), and an old 70s Univox moog-like synth that my uncle had loaned me.  My brother, unbelievably, lost that synth in California, where he was living right before he joined LOOB.  Not only would it be worth a small fortune today, it would have been a great instrument for LOOB.  I miss that synth almost as much as I miss my white drums (the LOOB drums!  Also lost!) (so was Lawrence's 88-key Rhodes!)


The concept was "A Solar Day", so I made it like a sun's-eye view of the world, looking down at what's doing. I would probably approach it differently today, if asked, but I think the concept works. The beginning of the piece is sunrise and the end is sun going down and I must boast: I am very proud of the sun "effect" I achieved! It is a secret I have never divulged, nor have I had success in replicating it!  The rest of the piece has it's moments, but for me, it's all about the beginning and the ending.  Wow, I'm listening to it right now, that ending really can put you into a zone, if you need help sleeping, you might want to try this.  The beginning is so dramatic!  It's a big, yellow, metal, ugly, colossal sun!


How it was used, how effective it was, I know not!   Maybe he never used it at all? He seemed pleased when I gave it to him! I know Ted got Rob Franza (of WUSB) to use the "war " section as a bed for a Public Service Announcement or something at WUSB....or maybe Ted used it himself.   But I like it, I was definitely getting my Walter/Wendy Carlos on, with a side of the Minimalists!

Around the same time, I was asked to do music for a dance piece, "Cinder Blu",  by a great choreographer, Lauren Winslow,  45 minutes of music was needed.  Though I didn't pillage from it, "A Solar Day" was very helpful getting that whole thing together, if not only just as an example and as a precedent that I could "do it".  So included as a bonus are two of those pieces: "Red And Echo Black", and "Hansel & Gretel in the Wooded Forest".  Like "A Solar Day", they was recorded in early 1988.  Incidentally, the beginning of "Hansel & Gretel" came out of my demo version of Hubie's "Don't Despair", same chords, so....perhaps Hubie should get a composer's credit!


"A Solar Day", Mike's house, Rocky Point, late 1987/early January 1988
A Solar Day


PLUS

Mike's house, Rocky Point, summer 1987
The "I Cried" Suite

Pieces from "Cinder Blu", various locations, early 1988
Red And Echo Black
Hansel And Gretel In The Wooded Forest

Greg Braun: violins, tambourine
Michael Goodman: everything else

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/3ck3bdjjrgba78p/A+Solar+Day+%281988%29.zip

or if you prefer, use the temporary Dropbox link (this link will expire in a couple of weeks)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3nlt4ix75jef8h7/A%20Solar%20Day%20%281988%29.zip?dl=0

"Ronkonkoma Day", June 28, 1992

Ronkonkoma Day

Hey people feel it!  You want a great LOOB show? I give you a great LOOB show!  I give you.....Ronkonkoma Day '92!


You never know what kind of gig Ted has up his sleeve.  For instance, one day, Lawrence took a plane to L.A.  When he got to his hotel, he put on the TV and when the picture came up, there was Ted, on "The People's Court", playing guitar and singing a song. You never know what kind of gig Ted has up his sleeve.

Pay no attention to the top half, that's for another post.....direct your attention to the bottom half, 6/28..... this is most definitely a Ted flyer! Much info can be gleaned!

I don't know if LOOB would have wanted to play The People's Court, my gut tells me no.  But Ronkonkoma Day was different! Ronkonkoma Day was a day at the lake that the Town of Islip put on every year, nothing too wild, I don't remember any ferris wheels or zeppoles, nothing like that.....just a stage and a lake and some local bands.... it says there was a crafts fair....if it was, I don't remember it being anywhere near where we played. 

So once again, we must hand the hat to Ted, hustling us into gigs we would never have thought of.  We were happy to do this one, to do our civic duty and bring music to the people!  Everyone is welcome! Even the children!

Dancing Lawrence, foreshadowing of things to come....

As you can see below, Bill Haefner and Jim Giargiana  helped out.  Ted got Bill the job doing the sound for the day.   Well, let me tell you: Bill did not shirk on his job.  As you can hear, he did a FANTASTIC mix.  And Chris got a fantastic recording, this almost sounds like a soundboard.  Fantastic mix, fantastic recording......Life Out Of Balance sounds fantastic..... everything's coming up roses on this tape!

Bill & Jim, baking in the sun

This was, like, noon, on a Saturday.  Or something like that.  Something early!  Ok, I just looked, it was later than that, but for musicians that's early!  But if there was one thing this particular incarnation of LOOB was about, it was sunshine, warm weather, water......so "Konky Day" was no chore for us!

Steve on the bonny bonny banks of Loch Konky

Now Steve in action!

So with that in mind: sun, lake, the end of spring, beginning of summer......It's a no-brainer what this set was going to be, right?  I mean.....guess what we opened with?

If you guessed "It's Warm Outside" you'd be correct!

(a confession regarding "It's Warm Outside"....I never knew what we were singing in the middle of that song....I mean, I'm not talking the meaning of the words, I'm talking the words themselves! "Gaba dova, gaba  mitsu"?  "Caba doba, caba meetsoo?"  I just winged it every time. I think it means "come out and stand up and see for yourselves", but I couldn't tell you the language.  Ok, well....that feels good to get off my chest!  I don't think anyone ever noticed!  I also never had proper lyrics for my counter-melody in "Babaloo" either, and for that, there's no excuses.)

There's the Babaloo drum!  Is that drum still around?

Man oh man, "I Owe" and "It's All Right" are particularly great on this one!  I am digging Ted's bass, the drumming, and Lawrence particularly, holy moly, this is awesome!  (listening to it while I type, the only way to do this blog!). Ted is fantastic on bass on this one, wow. 

Ted showing some toe.....it's all right!

Lawrence in action. Man, every piece of equipment up there: the Rhodes 88, the JC-120, that synth, the guitar case, that trumpet, even Lawrence's trumpet bag and Hubie's guitar case....I feel like I could start Facebook pages for each and every one of them!

Damn!  Dig Lawrence and Steve on the intro "Thundersong"!  This is vintage LOOB '92!

Wow.  I'm proud as hell right this second, of the whole band!   This is a fantastic "Thundersong".  I was having a good show on this day, which I'm sure made it easier for the rest of the band!  It doesn't help when the drummer is running away with the tempo, stamping all over everything....and giving gas faces to boot!  This day, you get the other side of Mike, and that Mike, I like!

Wow.  "Thundersong" was one of my all-time favorite LOOB songs to play, and it was the only song I ever asked about after I left the band.  I couldn't believe it was retired!  I am pretty sure this was started just as Frank left the band, but it didn't become what it became until the Lawrence/Steve era.  I always get goosebumps listening to Steve's accordion in this song, during the mellow break.  That mellow break, before the last verse, is one of the top three things in LOOB I loved to play: the big vocal in "Return Britain", the instrumental breaks in Wintertime", and that "meandering-melody-interplay" part of "Thundersong".  

Oh man, loving Hubie's guitar playing on the middle part of "Caught In The Rain"!  This is a nice version of that most ok of Mike tunes!   Loving Lawrence's Rhodes work on "We Both Wobble", and his synth work!  And digging Steve on the percussion break of "Gimme Fun"!  He really takes the lead on this one!  Go Steve!!!  He looked great, too!  Whoah, what an ending!  Ok, wow.  I have to go to the bathroom and clean up, I mean, that was a great listen.

 "Konky Day"!  A tape that's been under my nose the whole time!

Chris Fucking Ivers

And there he is.....the man of the hour, the man of the BLOG!  Our Man Chris! Ivers!  The amount of thank yous that are owed this gentleman numbers the stars in the sky. I mean, for a start.....this guy taped every one of these shows, practically!!!  That is....when he wasn't doing indispensable, unglamorous, generous roadie work, driving us to and fro, tuning guitars, helping us set up, dealing with the sound man.....  Some people were so close to the band so as to almost be members; Chris is exactly such an example. 

 Chris and I were originally housemates and I learned much from this man!  Aside from easy, absorbing conversation, many hours of my life were spent getting an education from his amazing music collection! It was Chris, I believe, who turned us on to the live Chief Ebenezer Obey album "Get Yer Ju Jus Out", which heavily influenced sections of "It's Warm Outside".   From the day I met the guy, instant rapport, and I miss him, hope he's well.  Nobody is more enthusiastic about music than Chris, not even me.  Well....ok, let's not go that far, maybe we're about even, but still...he's very enthusiastic about music!

I have an absolute hilarious story involving me and Chris, I've been waiting for a Sun Mountain Cafe show to post it, but since I'm remembering, let me do it now:

One of the places we started popping into our circuit was the Sun Mountain Cafe, another one of those Bleeker Street area venues.  On this particular occasion, Danny Kalb, formerly of the 60's band, The Blues Project, was playing, we were to go on after him.  Now, around this time, The Beastie Boys had just sampled The Blues Project's "Flute Thing" on one of their albums, so their name was in the air at that time, and Danny - who had really come up through the Greenwich Village music scene(s) of the 1960s - was probably going to have a good crowd.

The band convened at the Red House. On this occasion, Lawrence, Ted, Hubie, and Steve were all at the Red House, and we all packed up the equipment in the various vehicles.  Everyone went in, sat down, and started doing the things you'd do at The Red House, let's just leave it at that.

Chris and I got in his car....."you guys, we're leaving....don't be too late, we're cutting it close....." "yeah yeah yeah", that's what we got....."yeah, we know"....ok.  Now this is before cell phones, see....we can't check up on them, so...a stern word is all we could do.  Me and Chris - we didn't want to be late for the show (a pet peeve for both of us) and besides, we wanted to see Danny Kalb!  Didn't you?

We drove. We boogied.

"Gee, I sure hope those guys left......"

We drive. We boogie.  We drive around the city streets,  we find parking spot, we load in what we got......not much, most of it's in Ted's station wagon.  But ok...we're here, we made it.

The club is packed.  Danny Kalb is up there, he's playing an acoustic guitar, he's got another guitar player up there with him....and he's telling stories, and playing songs.....it's a warm feeling, it's a packed-house feeling, to be honest.  Gee, I sure hope those guys left!

Well, you know, even Danny Kalb has to end a show sometime...."and this next song is going to be our last song...." No sign of the guys.  Just me and Chris.  And now the soundguy is wondering where the rest of the band is.   Don't worry, I say, they'll be here.

Danny Kalb got a warm ovation, it was sweet, and he came back onstage, beaming, and took his time to thank the audience, and he's going to play just one more song....and here it is.....and he starts playing it......everyone's grooving....gee, I sure hope those guys left!!!

He finishes his song.  Massive applause.  I run up onstage, I tell him, "Play another one!".  Danny Kalb does play another one!  This one has a long guitar solo, and complicated lyrics, many verses!  No sign of the other guys.

Danny Kalb walks off the stage, surrounded by people......it's like the old days for Danny......and people are patting him on the back, people are ordering up drinks at the bar....gee, if we could get set up in time, we would really have a crowd!

But we can't set up, because there's still no sign of the other guys.  Chris & I are taking turns fending off the soundman.  Privately, we're muttering our angst at the situation to each other under our breath.  Outwardly, we're still "hey man, cool it.  They're gonna be here, ok?" 

Danny Kalb has left the building.  The vibe begins to deflate.   A moment ago, we were all so happy, but now............Like water going down the drain, the club begins to empty, gradually.....No sign of the guys.  It's not a mass exodus, it's a slow trickle.  But at the end of that trickle, it's just me, Chris Ivers ....and the soundguy.   And absolutely no sign of Life Out Of Balance.

About ten minutes later......Ted bops in carrying a single bag, looks around the club, and says, "Oh.....dead night, huh?"

Ronkonkoma Day, June 28, 1992
It's Warm Outside
I Owe ->
It's All Right ->
Thundersong
Caught In The Rain
We Both Wobble
Someone's In My Head
Gimme Fun

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

recorded by Chris Ivers, with an outstanding live sound mix by Bill Haefner

download here, now!
https://www.mediafire.com/?iihl5hcww3nrxpm

or, if you prefer Dropbox, this link will expire in a couple of weeks:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gktsvdgiwl88u4m/1992-06-28%20Ronkonkoma%20Day.zip?dl=0

Jerry's Place, August 2, 1986

"Playing in a party on a Saturday night

  Laying in so much, trying to do it right

  But all these assholes don't know class

  I wanna play tonight, ow, I wanna play some Clash"

  - Ward Regan, made-up-on-the-spot lyrics, "Wine, Women, Song", August 2, 1986

If you think all the years that have gone by, all the water under the bridge, all the gigs you've played and art you've created, all those great things you've done, people patting you on your back, people extolling your genius (and you know you all are)....if you think all that will make you somehow impervious to the relentless, mean-spirited heckling that Life Out Of Balance endures at this early gig, think again!  Because basically that's what you're going to get on this tape: roasted and skewered LOOB with barbecue sauce.  I defy you to listen to this and not get your feelings hurt! I defy you!

Rich had it worse!  He opened for us, bravely facing this mob of morons with a thoughtful acoustic set of some songs he had written.  And by acoustic, I do mean solo acoustic.  To this day, I have never seen anyone so courageous on a stage.  I once saw a man put his head in a lion's mouth.  Pffft.  Give me a break.  I'd like to see him stick his head in front of the Jerry's Place patrons of August the 2nd, 1986, talk to me then!

Jerry's Place was the bar that Ted's family owned.  It was a dive (I'm not saying anything Ted wouldn't agree with). LOOB had played Jerry's Place the year before (pre-me) and had apparently had a good show (at one point, during "I Cried", Hubie jumped up and started dancing on the bar, to which Ted's Dad shouted:"Hey Twinkletoes, get off my bar!"). 

That was then, this was now. Different night, different crowd, this time LOOB didn't get off so easy.  Don't get me wrong - I'm sure it sucked for them, a bunch of working class dudes, they go into their favorite bar on a Saturday night......and the pool table is gone.  And the owner's kid has got instruments set up in its place to play...what do they call this.... new wave?

...and then there were these guys....

So Mike.....why even post this? Historical purposes...it is the earliest live tape I have of the band, and possibly the earliest one in existence.....might be good to not let us get too big for our britches! It can't all be fantastic "Sailing"s and "Thundersong"s! There are tunes on here that are of interest such as "Rain", the only recording I have in my possession of the original LOOB playing live (Ward is on drums, Rich sings lead).  Many songs that have their only - or one of their only - recordings here.  And of course, as always, some classic moments.  Like, after our first song, the payphone on the wall rings...Ward picks it up and the band actually waits for the person to complete their call! "Tell us when you're done, Liz..." Ward...always the gentleman!

It wasn't all bad.  Hubie plays some great solos on "Wine, Women, Song".  I was digging Ted's bass playing - at the time, Ted got no respect, to put it mildly, but listening now, he's the best musician onstage, at least that's how I heard it when I listened just now.  The first "Above The Grass, Under The Moon" is a bit of a mess, but the second version (at the end of the show) was great; as we did the great Ward break ("moonbeams shimmer...") a spectacular, dramatic lightning storm was going outside the window behind us, couldn't have been timed better.  "Feast Of Reason" sounds really good. "Job Security" is classic.

As far as attendees, I remember Leighton, Valerie, Sara & Jane, Ben Moss, and a few others, arriving en-masse mid-set (you can hear Hubie exclaim "our friends have arrived!"). I seem to remember them staying close to the band for most of the show....can't say I blame them!  Frank and John Russell were there also; I first met Frank that night in the parking lot, actually.   I also slipped in a little musical "message" to John Russell during the first of something like three or four drum solos over the course of the night.  It gets a little excessive with the drum solos. believe me, I'm aware of it at age 46....when I was 17, I apparently had different ideas!

I remember after this show, driving with Ted to WUSB, he had a shift that night!  Remember? He dee-jayed Saturday nights, super late!  Anyways, I remember playing this tape to one of the radio guys there, Bob Longman, and asked him what he thought of our music.  Bob - who had just heard a recording of LOOB all but have tomatoes thrown at them - said: "I think you guys need to learn some R&B". Ha!

Ok, I think I've cataloged all the humiliation I can think of regarding this show.

 

....oh wait......one more thing.......

The Recording
Inexplicably, this cassette appears to be a dub of a dub.....ERASING the original master recording.  In other words: this is the original cassette that recorded the show that fateful night.  I must have made a copy....done some kind of editing somewhere (you can hear a weird edit during the second "Above the Grass, Under The Moon"), and then REDUBBED it back on to the master tape, over the master recording, erasing it! To which all one can say is.....my god....what a fool.

Ted playing the closing night of Jerry's Place, a few years later.

A Happy Ending; or Payback's A Bitch, Iddn't It?
Because of tragic circumstances, Ted had to leave college after only attending a single semester, come back to Rocky Point and run the family business, and that included tending bar. If you know Ted, you know Ted would be a fantastic bartender, think about it. Just not Jerry's Place! It has to have been one of the absolute low points of his life, and definitely one of the least enjoyable jobs that he ever had to work.

But it did have this one benefit.

You know the asshole who is heckling us, throughout this tape? Mr. Comedian, Mr. Ha-Ha? Well, Ted - on one of his bar-tending shifts - was provoked into physically ejecting that guy from Jerry's Place... and with Ted's own tender, bass-playing mitts.....yanked this guy by his collar and dragged him through the whole bar, like the smelly animal he was  - remember how long that bar was? - well, Mr. Saturday Night got dragged down and on and through it, and by "Jerry's Kid" himself who, upon having had enough of this guy's bullshit once and for all, threw him the fuck out....out on to the hard, cold, crunchy, unforgiving pavement, scuffed palms, bruised kneecaps, scrapes and cuts and my god, that hasta hurt. And so, dear friends....Life Out Of Balance, your friends, our heroes.... was properly and decisively avenged!   I just hope as he tossed him out the door, Ted gave the dreg one last boot in the ass and shouted "....and that one's for Rich!"

Life Out Of Balance at Jerry's Place, 8/2/86
I Cried
Heart And Mind
You Can't Always Get What You Want
New World Today
Above The Grass, Under The Moon (version 1)
Job Security
Feast Of Reason
Time Is Cruel
A Colder Wind
Iowa City Nazis
Cheap Sunglasses
Rain
Wine, Women, Song
Sooey Suzie
Policeman/Don't Despair
Above The Grass, Under The Moon (version 2)

Ward Regan - vocal, drums on "Cheap Sunglasses" & "Rain"
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal

Richard Wittman - introduction, and vocal on "Rain"

recorded on a 2-track cassette deck

download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/hi8t4p3k831w3os/1986-08-02+Jerry%27s+Place.zip#39;s_Place.zip

or use this temporary Dropbox link (only up for a week or so)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y7x5093lmj38nhu/1986-08-02%20Jerry%27s%20Place.zip?dl=0

So bad was the tape, I couldn't even finish writing our name on the label...