We recently turned to our friend, Rich, for some legal advice. He told us he enjoys talking about the kind issues we like to put off. He was very helpful, of course, but the is the same individual who coined the phrase, “Often in error, never in doubt.” He told us that a song of his, the instrumental, MX-80 version, had caught on in Russia, probably in TicToc circles, and he was recieving respectable royalties from it.
Peggi and I played with Rich in a band called “Chinaboise” before moving to Rochester at the end of 1974. Peggi gave Peggi her first saxophone lessons. Hava Nagila was the first song she learned. We played Self-Conscious Pisser (the lyrics were written about another friend of ours) and I guess I hung onto the sheet music. It belongs in a museum. The Chinaboise, with new members, recorded a 1975 album with SCP on it. Rich Stim and Dave Mahoney left Chinaboise and joined MX-80 Sound. They recorded a version of SCP in 1976 for their “Big Hits” ep. The song was also included in their 1990, all instrumental smash, “Das Love Boat.” And today it is big in Russia.
Margaret Explosion LP “Per La Prima!” EAR 19 on Earring Records, released September 2023
Back cover of Margaret Explosion LP “Per La Prima!” EAR 19 2023
I wrote a review of Greg Prevost’s fabulous new lp a few weeks back. And at the time I did not want to mention that Greg had reviewed our recent lp. “per la prima.” This wan’t payback. We really love the album, mostly because it appeared to us that Greg had really transformed himself, stepped into another realm. No longer just the former lead singer of the Chesterfield Kings but Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost. Now is the time to reprint Greg’s review of our lp – taken from his Facebook page.
“Really enjoying the latest album ‘per la prima’ by the Margaret Explosion led by Paul Dodd (drums) and Peggi Fournier (soprano sax). I have known Paul since his time as the drummer in New Math back in the late ‘70s; in fact one of the first times I ever appeared in public was with New Math (when I was invited onstage by Gary Trainer and Kevin Patrick) at a Record Archive party circa ‘79. Paul was the drummer at this time so we go WAY back! I met Peggi shortly after this when my former now-defunct band opened for Paul & Peggi’s band, the Hi-Techs at the end of 1980. For those that may not know, the Hi-Techs morphed into Personal Effects who made a number of hugely successful albums and were a staple in the Rochester scene through the years that followed.
Paul and Peggi then re-invented themselves as the Margaret Explosion and are a constant in the Rochester music scene, performing intimate shows at the Little Theater where this album was recorded-LIVE. A perfect NATURAL recording the way albums are supposed to be recorded. Other members appearing on the album are Jack Schaefer (my close friend Bob’s brother, on tenor sax, bass clarinet and guitar), old pal Bob Martin (guitar), Ken Frank (double bass), Pete LaBonne (piano) and the lovely Melissa Davies on cello (thanks to a chance meeting Caroll and I had with Paul and Peggi at Durand Park, Melissa appeared on my latest album). It is nearly impossible to describe the album. If I had to, I’d say surreal, freeform and euphoric. Comparing to other artists would also not do justice since the group is so original, but think on the lines of early Popul Vuh, Lol Coxhill (at times), Ash Ra Temple, Traffic at their most experimental, Miles, Coltrane … Yeah! Hear for yourself! Beautifully mastered and pressed on vinyl.”
Margaret Explosion cd cover of “Field Recordings” EAR20 2024
With a little bit of editing, looping of intros, abbreviating mid-sections and cutting off the extended, musicianly endings we squeezed seventeen songs onto our new cd,. The Margaret Explosion crowd still buys cds and a few even complained that our last release was only available on vinyl. Our distribution amounts to the record stores in Rochester and the people who come out to hear the band at the Little but they are a reliable market. I prefer streaming and I’m happy to announce that our new release is available on all the streaming services today.
Margaret Explosion cd back cover of “Field Recordings” EAR20 2024
Field Recordings includes 17 improvisations recorded live in stereo at the Little Theatre Café in Rochester New York. Various combinations of the following players are featured. I hope you enjoy it.
Peggi Fournier – soprano sax Ken Frank – double bass Melissa Davies – cello Phil Marshall – guitar Jack Schaefer – bass clarinet, guitar Paul Dodd – drums
“Cloud Library” from Margaret Explosion cd “Field Recordings”Leave a comment
Our Hi-Techs single, “Screamin’ You Head,” was getting some play in New York clubs and found its way onto the Rockpool charts when Cachalot Records contacted us about making a record for the label. We were in the process of changing course and we had just changed our name to Personal Effects. Eric came up from New York and worked on the project at PCI Studios, we went down to New York and did some work at Sorcerer Sound and we recorded an ep with five songs.
We did a series of dates in New York (Peppermint Lounge, Danceteria, Ritz) and Eric invited execs from bigger labels. At one he told us the sound sucked and he wanted us to fire our sound man. Eric doesn’t remember it this way but for us it was a turnig point. In 1984 we started our own label, recorded an album in the basement where we rehearsed and released “This Is It” on Earring Records with the catalog number EAR1. Bob Martin copied those original half inch, 8-track reel to reel tapes to DAT in the early eighties and is in the process of remixing that lp (along with three additional tracks) for a digital only 40th Anniversary release next month.
Personal Effects, Absolute Grey, Colorblind James Experience, Wilderness Family, The Essentials, Urban Squirrels, Invisible Idiot, Pete LaBonne, SLT and Margaret Explosion all recorded projects for Earring Records. There is no hierarchy in the organization, no execs and, of course, no distribution outside of Rochester.
Here is a track from the upcoming Margaret Explosion cd “Field Recordings” EAR20
Listen to “Cloud Library” by Margaret Explosion.Leave a comment
Cover art working files for Margaret Explosion CD “Field Recordings”
When it came to creating an image for the front cover of the new Margaret Explosion cd my temptation was to select one of my photos. Maybe one that was in some way connected to the title, “Field Recordings,” so named because the seventeen songs were selected from recent recordings at the Little Theatre Café where the live mics capture the chatter and grind of the espresso machine. I showed Peggi a few of my selections and she felt it was too much like “Civilization.” She reminded me that “Skyhigh” was still the most graphic. Nothing leaves the Earring Records office without Peggi’s approval.
I went back to the well and found some jpegs of artwork I had downloaded over the years. One was a poster Jean Arp had designed. I borrowed his color palette and drew my own organic shapes. Creating the simple vector drawings in the new Photoshop was a nightmare but I already ranted. I’m done ranting about that. I used a photo of a farm tractor in a field, taken in Spain on the inside and a photo of a man sleeping on a train (also taken in Spain) for the back cover. The song titles float above his head like he is dreaming. The cd should be available by the second week in November. Here’s a pre-release sample of the first of seventeen new songs.
Margaret Explosion “Field Recording” CD on Earring Records (EAR 20) released in 2024
“Cloud Library” from Margaret Explosion cd “Field Recordings”Leave a comment
This morning’s project was enumerating the Wreckless Eric, Amy Rigby gigs we’ve seen over the years. I counted thirteen. They were all so memorable it is doubtful that I missed any. Starting with the Atrium at Village Gate in 2008 when we spotted our new neighbors in the front row. They were Amy fans. We were completely out of the singer songwriter loop but knew we loved Eric.
We drove down to the Catskills for a Homemade Airplane show in Eric and Amy’s house. We talked music with Eric when he stopped next door on his way to Toronto in 2015. We caught Eric’s solo gig at Abilene in 2016 and then “the perfect night” in 2018 when Eric stayed at our house and Amy and Eric sat in with Chuck Prophet on the outdoor stage at Abilene.
We were up front when Amy read pages from “Girl to City” in 2019, We were blown away by Eric’s solo show at the Bop Shop in 2021 and his performance at Lux in 2022. We were in Spain when Amy played here in 2023 so we were really looking forward to Saturday’s Bop Shop show.
On Saturday Amy did most of the songs from her brilliant new lp, “Hang in There with Me.” Chris Schepp called it “bio rock,” songs like “Hell-Oh Sixty” and “Too Old to be Crazy.” Honest and funny at the same time, songs about writing songs and getting older. Peggi was laughing all the way through “Bangs,” (“Nico before her heroin phase.”) Eric played bass and guitar while Sam Shepard, yes, someone named Sam Shepard played drums. He was mostly a distraction especially because Amy’s lyrics were getting lost. The album is a treat with sweet sounding guitars and beautiful lush production from Eric. They have moved to England now and we’re hoping that doesn’t mean there will be no fourteenth time.
Peggi and I are camped out in the basement while workers repair some cracks in the ceiling upstairs. Upstairs, our living quarters look like some sort of art installation with mounds of furniture wrapped in plastic.
After reading the NYT obit of Herbie Flowers I sent a link to Ken, the bass player in Margaret Explosion. He replied, “I had been playing bass for about a year when that song came out. That bass part was revelatory. I spent a decent chunk of time trying to play it. I didn’t find out until today that it was two tracks. No wonder I could never get it right.”
Flowers referred to himself as a “jazzer” but he played bass on over 500 pop rock songs. His contribution to the Bowie produced, Lou Reed classic, “Walk on the Wild Side” is considered the mother of all bass lines. In fact it is two parts. Flowers played the glissando downwards on double bass and overdubbed a glissando upwards on bass guitar.
What blew me away was reading Flowers also played the bass on David Essex’s 1973 smash, “Rock On.” That 45 and “Walk on the Wild Side” are in constant rotation in our house. I can’t wait to free our turntable from the plastic wrap.
Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost and WRUR’s “Whole Lotta Shakin'” Mike Murray at House of Guitars. Photo by Peggi Fournier
It was just past noon on Saturday and there was already a giant sheet pizza on the table in front of Greg and Mike Murray. We were at the great House of Guitars where Greg was signing copies of his book and new cd while Mike was celebrating the 40th Anniversary of his “Whole Lotta Shakin” radio show.
We’ve known Greg a long time. In his book he describes his first public performance in Record Archive’s back room, same room that MX-80 Sound performed in. I was playing drums with New Math and Greg took the mic for a few songs. His performance was electrifying. In the book he says he was drunk, something he doesn’t do anymore. New Math did a gig in the seventies with the Chesterfields in the old Coronet Theatre on Thurston Road. And then, as Hi-Techs, we played with the Kings at Scorgie’s. How many records did we buy from Greg during his time at the HOG?
Greg “Stackhouse” Prevost has outrun the Chesterfield Kings and that is saying something. Greg left the Kings and that should have been it but someone stole the Kings. A ludicrous idea but how do you claim ownership of a cigarette brand? Greg was the Kings. His newest release, “After the Wars,” is a tour de force.
Greg is a musicologist so the songs he picks are choice cuts from Rocky Erickson, Armand Schaubroeck, Buddy Holly, Johnny Paycheck, Phil Ochs and David Bowie as well as traditional tunes and a few of his own. And instead of the Kings, he was able to take his pick of musicians to suit the songs. Phil Ochs’ “No More Songs” with piano, is beautiful, a word I doubt you would find in a Chesterfield Kings review. The production , from Dave Anderson’s Saxon Studio, is perfect for this project. The guitars ring like the Byrds. Raucous, lively and warm, “Twelve Gates to the City” sounds like it was recorded in a gospel church. Greg’s “No Hallelujah for Glory” could be an early Stones track. Melissa Davies (from Margaret Explosion) makes Buddy Holly’s “Learning the Game” sound like a Marianne Faithful track with her cello. From Gospel to country Greg brings a forever young rock ‘n’ roll spirit to everything he touches.
Our friend, Pete, was given an old copy of Milton’s “Paradise Lost” with illustrations by Gustave Dore. Really old, like 1878. The pages were worn and brittle at the edges and the binding was falling apart. Pete painted and drew over the top the pages and brought the ancient text to life. Pete is always at the Little Theatre Café when Margaret Explosion plays. He was sitting at one of the front tables a few weeks ago when we came up with this tune. We named it “Paradise Lost.”
Dick and Lucinda Storms were showing their recent paintings. The crowd was more chatty than usual. We trust the conversations were good interesting. We were having our own musical conversation. Paradise Lost tells the biblical story of the temptation of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. I have to say the fall of man doesn’t look so bad from our paradise.
Margaret Explosion Big Band with Peggi Fournier, Melissa Davies, Phil Marshall, Ken Frank, Paul Dodd and Jack Schaefer
Margaret Explosion plays Wednesday night with the full line-up in living color.
We were downtown for another reason but grabbed a parking space near the back of the Little Theatre and walked through the Café on the way to our event. We stopped long enough to hear two songs by Trio East, all professors at Eastman School of Music, so accomplished they can do a gig as Trio East even when none of the three principals are available (thanks to their Eastman students sitting in for them). We witnessed one such show a few years ago. They have been playing here longer than Margaret Explosion.
Rich Thompson appears to be the leader. He had the set list, all standards, on his bass drum. Jeff Campbell plays bass and Mike Kaupa (filling in for Clay Jenkins) on trumpet and flugelhorn). They are masters of their instruments and it is a joy to listen to them play. Rich makes his drums sing. Sweeping his snare with his left hand and playing the beat with his right, then riding one of his two perfectly tuned cymbals between quick rolls on his toms, he keeps time with his left foot and hi-hat and accents the one on the floor. A master class.
Steve Hoy, Karen Mahoney and Paul Dodd in still from Personal Effects “Bring Out The Jazz” video
Arpad has been mastering Margaret Explosion files for our new cd and sending them across town for us to review. We listen to some in the car, some on the small speakers connected to my desktop machine and most on the stereo in the living room. The files we sent him were just live stereo recordings and there is only so much you can do but Arpad works wonders.
At the same time Bob Martin in Chicago has been remixing songs we recorded as Personal Effects in 1984. The album, “This Is It,” was recorded forty years ago so this re-release will be the Special 40th Anniversary issue. In this case, there is a lot Bob can do to affect the mixes.
We recorded the album in our house on Hall Street where we used to rehearse. We borrowed equipment from Whirlwind where Bob was working. We ran a snake down our laundry shoot and Duane Sherwood sat behind the board in our spare bedroom while we played in the basement. We recorded on used half inch, eight track tapes that we bought from someone at the Eastman School of Music. Twenty years ago Bob transferred those eight tracks to DAT and today he is remixing the lp.
We have had a string of house guests and it has been hard to keep up with the remixes. When Bob sent the latest batch we told him it would take us a bit to get to the files because Steve Hoy was in town. He asked if it was Steve from the “Bring Out The Jazz” video (coincidentally a song from “This Is It.”) When we said it was, Bob sent us the still (above.)
We don’t remember who did the video. It was shot in our house on Hall Street and someone rounded up a lot of people. It is so bad it is good.
Note left in top jar after 08.22.24 Margaret Explosion gig
New Math was playing across town at Record Archive on Thursday. I was in that band up until their first record and Propeller has just reissued it so they are back at it. Marc Ribot was playing in the Little Theatre next door to the Café where we were playing. And on top of that it was a beautiful summer evening.
Marc Weinstein and his wife drove in from Buffalo for the Ribot show and they caught our first set. He told us he remembered seeing our old band playing in Buffalo back in the eighties. I tried listing all the Buffalo bands we played with back then and mentioned the bands Tony Biloni was in and the next thing you know Tony showed up. He said something about playing sax with Peggi on a James Brown song and Peggi didn’t even know who he was. It’s only been about forty years.
Marc owned Fantasy Records, a shop on Monroe Avenue, next door to where my uncle’s grocery store was, back in the eighties. I bought records from him back then but didn’t know him. He moved out west and opened Amoeba Reords in LA and SF. My friend, Dave Mahoney, worked for him. When Dave died Marc played drums on “So Clear‘” one of our favorite MX-80 tracks.
it got pretty quiet when half the room left for the Ribot show so I think we got a good recording of the gig. I’m exporting the files from our Zoom recorder as I make this entry.
I always thought the name of that song was “When I Was Seventeen.” It is the key line and that is about the age I was when I first heard The Turtles version. But Frank owns the song and I was happy to find a copy on the 45 table in the back of the Bop Shop. The boxes were overstuffed at the beginning of the sale and it was difficult to flip through. They got cheaper as the sale went on and by the last day you could help yourself. Peggi and I took home a few boxes and we sorted the sleeves by label.
Peggi and I both hung onto our singles from the sixties and continued to buy 45s. When we dumped our lps and cds we hung onto the seven inchers. The two shelves aren’t getting any bigger though so we have continued to prune. The ones from the 70s and 80s brought a decent return and I used the store credit to pick from the mint copies that Tom keeps in the brown sleeves. They look like they came out of a library or something. I’d rather see them in the company sleeve and I am preparing to remedy that now.
Edith Piaf and Giulietta Masina check out new Joywave lp
The store was pretty crowded on Sunday afternoon. I said hello to Tom and went straight to the back of the store where I joined a couple of Black guys, about the same age as me, at the 45 table. They were filling a box and laughing at song titles and singles by Eydie Gormé and Engelbert Humperdinck.
I had already been in the store earlier in the week for the week long “Bop Shop Sidewalk Sale” but I didn’t have anywhere near enough time to work my way through the stacks. The boxes were overstuffed so it made flipping through them rough. Luckily I had to drop a tape for Matt to transfer and it gave me an excuse to flip through the rest. I was there a couple of hour and couldn’t make it to the bottom. The two other guys were still there when I left. The cashier saw my stack and said, “You better get your wallet out.” He didn’t even count them and charged me two bucks even.
Cover of April 1984 issue of Pat Thomas zine “The Notebook.” Cover picture shows Pat Thomas interviewing Allan Ginsberg.
We reconnected with Pat Thomas when he gave a talk at Record Archive about his recent books on Allen Ginsberg and Jerry Rubin. Pat lives in the Bay Area now and told the crowd that he quit his job at Kodak when he realized “the world was much bigger than Rochester,” something that never dawned on us. I was thinking back to Pat’s magazine from his time here and I remembered keeping a copy of one issue where he reviewed one of our records. When I got back home I found it and this picture of Pat interviewing Allen in Rochester in “84.
Marc Weinstein was at Pat’s talk. He has recently moved back to Buffalo but he still plays in Pat’s band “Mushroom.” Their recent double lp has a fabulous 18 minute track on it entitled, “Marc Moved to Buffalo.” Pat’s Ginsberg book, “Material Wealth,” is fascinating. Pat came over for dinner the following night and I showed him my copy of his magazine.
Personal Effects album “This Is It” on Earring Records 1984 EAR 1
PERSONAL EFFECTS “THIS IS IT” BY PAT THOMAS APRIL 1984
“Personal Effects new album “This Is It” is a pop masterpiece in its own right. Recorded by the band themselves at home, the production is basic, yet smooth and flowing. The songwriting and musicianship is first rate, the lyrics and music complementing each other throughout the album.
A catchy guitar riff with a haunting organ background starts off “I Had Everything,” the opening song and one of the album’s more memorable melodic songs. (And one that I would strongly recommend for airplay.)
The alienation concepts of “No One Can Get To You” are lyrically, reminiscent of Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums,” “sit in the woods for three days.
One of Personal Effects’ more popular songs follows, “Bring Out The Jazz,” a happy upbeat tune celebrating the joys of life with Paul’s vocal perfectly projecting the mood of the song. “Bring Out The Jazz” sums up what Personal Effects are all about. A fun, creative band without pretensions or falsehoods that make good, danceable, intellectually and physically stimulating and satisfying, pop music.
Other highlights include “Drifting Apart” – easily the best song on the album with its psychedelic feel, low-volume guitar providing just the right touch – a great mix and production that captures the spirit of the band and their live performances.
Another surprise follows, “What’s The Attraction.” Bernie’s lethargic vocal and intelligent lyrics tell an increasingly intense story of a religious-cult gathering or concert. The vocal line builds and builds as Bernie works himself into a nervous frenzy that is fantastic and genius.
In rock music’s existence, musicans and bands have influenced each other time and time again, sometimes to the point that everything begins to jell into one, evident thru MTV and FM-Top 40 radio stations. The best thing about Personal Effects and “This Is It” is summed up in one word; “UNIQUE.”
Duane Sherwood at the board in our spare bedroom on Hall Street. Bob Martin is listening to playback of “This Is It” sessions.
The liner notes on the back of This Is It read: “This record was recorded and mixed at home on borrowed equipment by Personal Effects with help from Duane Sherwood.” Duane sat up in our spare bedroom with a borrowed board and a half inch eight track recorder. Bob borrowed a snake from Whirlwind where he worked and we ran it down the laundry shoot of our Hall Street house to the basement where the band played. Duane has our cat, Pia, in his arms.
Peggi recording Farfisa track for Personal Effects lp “This Is It” Leave a comment
Cover to “Personal Effects Nothing Lasts Forever – A Collection Part 2” Digital release August 6, 2024
Today, August 6, “Personal Effects – Nothing Lasts Forever” drops on all the streaming platforms. The song itself is forty years old and the band members are even older (coincidentally Bob turns seventy today). The band released five albums in the early eighties and nineteen of those songs were collected for a cd/digital release in 2008. Nothing Lasts Forever includes eighteen more songs from the same period.
Personal Effects Nothing Lasts Forever – A Collection Part 2 can be streamed at Apple Music and Spotify and all the streaming services.
Listen to “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Personal Effects
Personal Effects’ “A Collection” CD on Earring Records released in 2008
Cover to “Personal Effects Nothing Lasts Forever – A Collection Part 2” Digital release August 6, 2024
Kevin and Jeanne went back to Nashville today. They were up in Rochester for the last month, staying at an airbnb in our old neighborhood, the neighborhood that got so hip after we left. We were there for 27 years and I preferred it when it wasn’t hip but it’s nice to see such a resurgence. We visited them at their place and had them over for dinner a few times. We went out to eat with them and met them at the Little to see a couple of bands. We heard Bernie, who played bass in Personal Effects for a while, playing guitar with the Paul Nunes Band and we heard Pete playing drums with the Debbie Kendrick Project.
Kevin used to do sound for the Hi-Techs and Personal Effects and he played bass on Personal Effects’ last two records. We FaceTimed Bob Martin when Kevin was over. Bob played guitar with Personal Effects and has been working on a remix of the “This Is It” sessions. Kevin gave Bob his secret for mixing my snare in live situations and wrote down the formula. “Pre-delay the snare by about 80 ms and send the delayed signal into the reverb (of course Kevin traveled with his own spring reverb unit). That way the reverb doesn’t obscure the actual snare sound.”
The studio version of “Single Minded” was recorded in 1985 for Personal Effects’ “Mana Fiesta” lp. It and another song didn’t fit on the lp so Restless Records suggested putting them on the cassette version. It is almost forty years old and I only wish I could be as single minded as the theme of this song.
We finished cleaning the windows in our bathroom and I moved on to the next item on the to-do list. I went out to the garage to get a spare light bulb for a light in our kitchen. I turned the light on in the garage and stood there for like five minutes before I could remember why I was out there.
The first Ornette album I bought was “Science Fiction.” It blew my mind. I bought every album he made after that. Ornette had a singular voice and he was supported by the best drummer in the world, Ed Blackwell, and best bass player, Charlie Haden. It was like a religious experience hearing him play live in New York. This one song from one of his last albums captures the joyous spirit of his music.
We usually included one cover song when we played and this Skeeter Davis song was a favorite in ’83/84. I have a folder of movies from those days and no idea who took most of them. With long distance help from Bob Martin I located three performances that included this song. Two were labeled Scorgie’s Early ’83 and just Scorgie’s ’83 and the third video was a complete mystery. It looked like a sound check somewhere. I put some of that footage at the front of this (above).
The one I liked the best showed Peggi singing the song without playing her Farfisa. The resolution was rough and the camera person loses track of Peggi a few times. She floats out of the frame but you can hear the crowd and just barely make out bodies moving in front of the band. I used that audio but the video and audio cuts out when we get to the bridge so I had to cut to another version for the audio. I patched it all together by overlapping the three versions of the visuals and Peggi and I struggled to get them all in sync. But, if it really is the end of the world it doesn’t matter much.
