Full Circle

Friday night things came full circle (sort of) when the Hank Band opened for the Puke at RePunk 2, held at Manny Theiner's Garfield Artworks. After a short set by Tom Moran and his wife Stephanie Vargo of the Deliberate Strangers (backed by myself on drums), the Hank Band (Hank, Jim, Mark Gaudio, and me) played a 25 minute set warming up the "crowd" for the much-anticipated Puke reunion.

Original members Bill "Bored" Von Hagen (on laptop PC) and Kim "Pat D. Hearse" Walters (on acoustic guitar) were joined by Kim's mother (on harmonium), who took the place of the late Joe "Barney Scum" Wargo. Their 5-minute set started with "When I Get Bored I Play One Chord" with guest vocalist Larry Rippel. Jim Bird then made a surprise appearance by sitting in to sing "You Piss Me Off". Fun was had by all.

The Hank Band added an extended psychedelic improvisation based on (the late) Harry Wagner's "Holiday in Pittsburgh" and a cover of the Jam's "Funeral Pyre" to several of Hank's standards.

The Deliberate Strangers were joined by Bill Loiselle's daughter Cassie, making her first public appearance playing acoustic guitar on Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot".

July 21, 1979 - Eddie & the Otters at The Decade with the Hell Band. It was either this night or the 28th that I had to work 3-11 shift so Diane played the first set and I played the second. Other than that, I have no particular recollection about this show other than each time we saw the Hell Band we were less impressed.

July 18, 1979 - Eddie & the Otters at The Decade. This was the show that Diane Ford subbed for me on drums because I was originally scheduled to work nightshift at the mill (my summer job at U.S. Steel Duquesne Works). With a day or two to spare I got my schedule changed, but no one wanted to tell Diane she could play after she'd prepared for the gig, so she got to play and I went to see "Blow Up" at the Pittsburgh Playhouse with Bob Spieler and Linda Ribnicky.

Audio - yes, Video - no, Photos - no

July 14, 1979 - Eddie & the Otters at The Decade with the Hell Band

This was the first of several Saturday nights that we split with the Hell Band, playing first and third using their amps, drums, and p.a. This particular show was recorded by Stan (don't know his last name?)

Set 1 - Summertime Blues / Little Girl / I Think We're Alone Now / Best Friend's Girl / Tossin' & Turnin' / Riot In Cell Block #9 / Get Off My Cloud / You Can't Do That / Brown-Eyed Girl / Don't Come Close / I Fought The Law / Sweet Little Sixteen / Grand Larceny / Slow Down

Set 2 - Mystery Dance / The Kids Are Alright / They Called It Rock / I Knew The Bride / Peter Gunn Theme / Secret Agent Man / I Saw Her Standing There / Twistin' The Night Away / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction / Day Tripper / Feel A Whole Lot Better / Roll Over Beethoven / Love Me Two times / You Really Got Me / Gloria / So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star / We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

Audio - yes, Video - no, Photos - no

July 12, 1986 - Party at Skomra's house, Uniontown, with the Grapetones and Lost Cause (Phil Skomra and Sean Lally's band). Eddie and I did a set of Otters standards with Doug, Steve, Tim Menees on keyboards (Jim B. was attending his brother's wedding that day, I believe) and probably Phil. Our set was interrupted twice by rain. I wanted to play through it, but Steve was understandably concerned about damage to his DX7 keyboard, which Tim was playing.

Audio - yes, Video - yes, Photos - yes

July 11, 1981 - We played a beach party at The Decade along with the Crackers, Endless Summer, and several truckloads of sand. Don't recall much about our set since there's no recording of it, although I think it might have been the only time we played "Wipe Out".

Audio - no, Video - no (Gary Noftz videotaped the show but erased it before I could get a copy because the audio patch from the soundboard didn't work), Photos - yes (by Jean Bird)

July 10, 1987 - Eddie, Jim B. and I sat in with the Grapetones at Brewski's on the South Side (with Doug and Steve) and played a short set of Otters standards.

audio - yes, video - no, photos - no

http://www.levelgreen.com/art

Last night, Tuesday July 8, was the opening reception for my show of photo abstracts, "Alienation Seems Ordinary".

Here's a copy of the press release:

THE ORDINARY SEEMS ALIEN IN LOCAL ARTIST’S FIRST SOLO SHOW

Ithaca, June 12, 2008 – Visual artist and musician, James Spitznagel, will present his first exhibition of photo abstracts at the Clinton House ArtSpace. The show, titled “Alienation Seems Ordinary”, will be held during the entire month of July.

“Spitznagel’s photo abstracts free the viewer from the tyranny of representation,” states novelist J.Robert Lennon, “They make the ordinary seem alien, and alienation seem ordinary.” Spitznagel adds, “I often see colors and shapes in everyday objects that speak to my emotions in ways not originally intended by nature or human design.”

The path to viewing the world this way began when Spitznagel started taking photographs to create original images for his own CD covers. “Have you ever seen a landscape or object and thought, ‘Wow, that would make a great album cover’?” asks Spitznagel. “I used to think in those terms all the time. Now it’s become an integral part of my senses to see and feel artistic expression everywhere.” As a musician working primarily with electronics and computers, Spitznagel sees no difference between the shape of visuals and the shape of sounds.

An opening reception at the Clinton House ArtSpace will be held on Tuesday, July 8th, from 6:15pm to 8:15pm with James Spitznagel and will feature live, ambient music by Inverse Room. A closing reception with the artist, on Tuesday, July 29th, from 6:15pm to 8:15pm, will feature an interactive sound installation (with theremin, tenori-on and synthesizers). “Alienation Seems Ordinary” will be on view from July 1st until July 31st at the Clinton House ArtSpace (located at the corner of Cayuga and Seneca Streets in downtown Ithaca, NY). For more information please call 607-200-4046, or email james@levelgreen.com.

And on THIS date...

July 7, 1979 - Jim (Bird) and I met at Phase III to see the Shakes, the Cardboards, and Hans Brinker & the Dykes. Tom Moran (of the Dark, later of the Five) met Robert Fripp after his Frippertronics performance at Oasis that evening and brought him to the Phase to see the show. Fripp was seen pogoing to the Dykes ("Are they really dykes?" he was heard to ask) and photographer Larry Rippel caught him at the bar as the Cardboards conga line passed by. (Note the late Joe Wargo aka Barney Scum of the Puke in the background)

July 7, 1980 - Hornets rehearsal (caught on a tape that Ramone graciously let me copy)

STONE FAILS TO FLOAT

Also on this day in rock'n'roll history...

Brian Jones RIP 1969

Jim Morrison RIP 1971

On This Date In Otters History...

FINALLY, with help of Jims Bird and Spitznagel, I have arrived. Thanks guys!

July 3, 1979 Eddie & the Otters at The Decade for "Tribute to John Wayne Night" with the Hell Band.

This was the first time we played with the Hell Band. Even though it was a Tuesday night, the place was packed - probably as large a crowd as when we played with the Ramones. Our previous gig was June 27, also at The Decade, where we celebrated the day before Surfin' Bird's birthday by having one of the waitresses hit him in the face with a pie on the last note of our last song. I don't remember much else about the July 3rd show except that someone brought a small donkey (?) in and walked (or rode) it through the audience before leaving. I do remember being somewhat intimidated by the Hell Band at first because they were so well rehearsed and sounded pretty tight and professional. Of course, this first impression wore off pretty quickly with each subsequent show after we found out how boring and repetitive they were. I don't have a tape or any pictures from this show, but there was a handmade poster for this show that remained on the wall of The Decade until the day it closed.

Good lovin'

I was out to dinner with Maddie (my 12 year old) last night. "Good Lovin'" by The Young Rascals comes on the muzak...Maddie says, "Hey dad, isn't this one of Eddie and the Otters songs?".

She's heard me say,"We used to do that song", so often when "oldies" are played on the radio or on TV or in diners that she's beginning to know which songs the Otters used to play. LOL!!!

Otter pix

To answer Mike's question: No, I don't have any other pictures other then what I gave you guys a few years ago. Also, I don't have any Otters (Diane, Jonathan version) gig info.

How about Deluxe? Hey Doug, do you have any pix?

First post

Is this the first post in the otter cookbook?

Logging on

You will need to create a google account to be able to log on and post. The link in the invitation will only work once (you might want to 'cut-n-paste'). So....from what I understand...when you click the link on the invitation email you will be prompted to sign on to an existing account or start a new one. After that you should be directed to the Otter Cookbook page and be ready to start blogging. If this still doesn't work for you, I'm giving up.