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White Green

White green on Durand Eastman Course in Rochester, NY
White green on Durand Eastman Course in Rochester, NY

We invited Rick and Monica over for dinner and Peggi planned to make sweet potato soup from a recipe that was in the paper this week. We needed to pick up a few of the ingredients at Wegmans and I wanted to have some beer on hand for Rick so I grabbed a six pack of Sierra Nevada. The cashier asked for proof of age from both of us. Peggi said she didn’t have her wallet with her so I said, “I don’t even know her”. The cashier said “Sorry, that’s our policy”. A manager came over and asked Peggi what her birthday was. The answer was in the 50s for cryin’ out loud so they made an exception.

I made a calameri salad with organic Calamata olives and we got the house extra warm for Monica. We had been burning some funky wood but we made a point to bring in some dry hardwood from a few years ago. The four of us sat on the couch after dinner and we watched “Five Easy Pieces”. I want to start another Karen Black fan club or at least join one. I have the soundtrack on vinyl and I got it out after the movie.

I dreamed I had either ten or twelve nostrils. They were lined up in pairs. I don’t know if this had more to do with my cold or the painting I struggled with recently. When I woke up I realized I had had a bloody nose in my sleep and so we spent a few hours researching removing blood stains on Tempurpedic mattresses and then settled on a little pile of Kosher salt that turned red after an hour or so.

It was very dark today but the woods was beautiful. We saw a bunch of deer and a large Pileated woodpecker. When we got down near the lake we crossed the golf course and I took this shot of the white green.

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Tonight at Abilene

Nod Margaret Explosionposter for gig tonight at Abeline
Nod Margaret Explosionposter for gig tonight at Abeline

Nine o’clock tonight if all goes well Margaret Explosion will be the first band to play upstairs at Abilene. It’s cozy up there with a small bar and and some funky portrait paintings. There is a small stage near the front that looks out over the street and, compared to downstairs, you can almost hear a pin drop. Nod plays downstairs when we’re done. We are long time Nod fanatics and are looking forward to this gig.

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Really Rather Trippy

Between The Buttons by the Rolling Stones
Between The Buttons by the Rolling Stones

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for “Between The Buttons”. I am thankful that it still sounds as good to me as did in 1967. Bob Mahoney and John Gilmore stopped over after Margaret Explosion’s gig last and we went for a ride with iTunes Party Shuffle while we ate olives and bread. I’ve got all my cds on a harddrive now and it is a gas hearing stuff come up that I know I love but I wouldn’t think to put it on. Of course iTunes doesn’t think at all and it shows me up all the time.

We heard a couple Pete LaBonne tunes that drew us closer to the stereo so we could hear the lyrics. Then there was something from Moondog and “The Wind Cries Mary” and a track from Bruce Anderson/Dale Sophiea’s “Strict” and then an amazing last number. It sounded so good I played it again as Bob and John were putting on their coats. “Something Happened To Me Yesterday” features Mick and Keith trading lead vocals, Ian Stewart on piano and Brian Jones on trombone, trumpet and violin. Peggi mimicked Kieth swinging a pint as she sang his lines. It’s barroom circus music and pop psychedelia like Colorblind James meeting the Squires of the Subterrain.

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Moment vs. Delivery Time

Durand Eastman in late Fall 2008
Durand Eastman in late Fall 2008

It will be a relief to play as Margaret Explosion tonight. The gig we did as Personal Effects required rehearsal time, stamia and earplugs. The night before Thanksgiving is usually a good night at the the Little. A woman from my high school class came to see the band when she was in town for our reunion and she asked if her husband could sit in with us on piano when they came back for Thanksgiving so we’ll see what happens.

Last night was my last painting class for the year. Lorraine Bohonos had some beautiful paintings near completion and Geri McCorrmick is breaking out of her concentric mandalas and Maureen Outlaw worked on the end stages of three fantasy scenes. I worked on a crime guy’s honkin’ neck all night. I still seem to spend a lot of time fumbling around trying to find a solution to a problem that I created. These kind of activities test my patience even though I know it is the process that I must learn to enjoy.

Margaret Explosion is a relief because it is all about the moment where Personal Effects was mostly about getting it right for the delivery.

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Sleeping With The TV On

We’ve had an ongoing short in the power supply for our old laptop and I wasn’t able to turn it on for the last two days so I took it to MacInTak on Clinton Avenue. They’re right across the street from the India House store in the same location where my grandfather had his grocery store. MacInTak is at the other end of the spectrum from the shiny Apple Store. They have about as many computers on display as the Apple Store does but in this case they are all vintage. Everything from the “toilet seat” G3 laptops to the G4 “Cube”, “bubble” I-Macs, G5 towers and every generation of I-Books. This place is family run just like my grandfather’s store was. But my grandfather never had a picture of Emperor Haile Selassie on the wall.

We sent “Blow Up” back to NetFlix today. Peggi and I had both seen it a long time ago but neither of remembered what it was all about. Now I know that’s because it was not about much and the characters are barely sympathetic but it was beautiful to look at. Someone took extra care in picking every shot in the movie with extraordinary attention to color and composition. It was a sensational mix of of old world Europe and swinging, mod London. Would that have been the director, Michelangelo Antonioni, or was there a cinematographer on the job? I’d like to thank that guy.

I feel asleep at some point and I was dreaming about the listening booths in the record store where Guy’s wife worked in Hitchcock’s “Strangers On A Train”. We saw that movie a few days ago. They had booths like that at Jay’s Record Ranch on Clinton Avenue in the sixties where you could check out the singles before plopping down your cash. The movie was still playing when I woke and the Yardbirds with a young Eric Clapton were playing at a party. I thought I was in Kevin Patrick’s blog where I had spent some time earlier in the day. I felt like I had just clicked on one of his mp3s and was now immersed in a whole new scene.

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Shopping For Nostrils

"Local Crime Face 01" oil on canvas by Paul Dodd 2008
“Local Crime Face 01” oil on canvas by Paul Dodd 2008

I finally finished this guy’s nostrils. He’s another face from the Crimestoppers page in the Democrat & Chronicle. The painting happened really fast. I was just laying it in and it seemed like it was done so I stopped. But I knew the nostrils weren’t right so I repainted them and repainted them again. Then I set the painting aside for a few weeks. I took a fresh look and was not buying them.

I changed the color, I loosened up the edges, I made them less flat and they still weren’t right. Peggi had me tip my head back and she drew the shapes of my nostrils on a piece of junk mail. I changed the shape of these and the painting looked pretty good. Thank you Peggi. I dropped the painting off at RoCo for their Member’s Show. It opens on the first Friday of December.

I sorted my Scorgie’s Reunion photos while talking to Duane on the phone from Brooklyn. I put a about twenty five of them on the Scorgie’s site.

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Who Says You Can’t Go Back?

Personal Effects on stage at Scorgie's reunion at the German House in Rochester, NY
Personal Effects on stage at Scorgie’s reunion at the German House in Rochester, NY

Look how old the Scorgie’s crowd got! (click photo for full shot) Funny thing, the band hasn’t changed a bit. I posted a few more on the Scorgie’s site.

There are so many familiar faces in this photo like Earl with the video camera and Arpad and Brian Williams from the Goners and Monica from the HOG (along time ago) and Nick Gerber down front and my sister Ann (it’s hard to get her out) and Rick & Monica and Mary Caine and Bob Mahoney and Martin Edic and the guy in Peggi’s yoga class and Passion B’s drummer, Tim Dodd, and Stan the Man & Lynn, Amy & Howie and Doug Rice and Jeff & Mary Kaye, Mark Schwartz and Maureen Outlaw and Trish from the LDR and Ashley Black.

I can’t find Chris Schepp, Cheryl & Mark, Billy & Nancy, Dick Storms, Danny, Russ Lunn and Beth Brown, Olga, Jon who used to take a lot of photos, Fran, Del, Pete Presstone and Scotty and Jeff Labin, Andrea Kohler and Jason and Mike Mohawk and Rock n’ Roll Joel, Richard Casa, Chas Lockwood, Ralph Meranto, Gary Brandt and Chuck Perry but I saw or talked to them all at some point. And there’s Duane Sherwood way in the back doing the lights.

Man, it was really good to everybody.

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Jumbo Shrimp

Jumbo Shrimp at Shamrock Jack's in Rochester, NY
Jumbo Shrimp at Shamrock Jack’s in Rochester, NY

Gary from New Math stopped by this afternoon with two carloads of friends that were in from out of town for the Scorgie’s thing. Duane Sherwood pulled in the driveway right behind them. We looked at photos from last night and laughed. Duane helped me get my camera set up to photograph some paintings with the Lowel lights that he gave me. We thought we’d eat at LDR but they closed at eight so we went down to Shamrock Jack’s. Peggi, Duane and I each ordered the fish fry.

Our waitress was wearing a yellow “Champion Drinker” t-shirt that she said all the staff wear on the days that Notre Dame plays. A guitar and drums duo scalled “Jumbo Shrimp” started playing in the front room. They each had plastic beer holders on their stands and they were having a great time at their job. They did a Marvin Gaye tune and “My Girl” and a bunch of stuff we didn’t recognize.

Peggi guessed the guy on the right was “Jumbo” and the guy on the left was “Shrimp”. The drummer played a cocktail set standing up and the guitarist sang and played acoustic guitar. The drummer sang back ups without a mic. They sounded like like the White Stripes on a cruise ship were the perfect capper to our rock and roll weekend.

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Back In Black

Ann Taylor Display at Eastview Mall in Rochester, NY
Ann Taylor Display at Eastview Mall in Rochester, NY

I guess you have to go WalMart to pick up AC DC’s new disc. And I think Sears may have an exclusive on black jeans now. I have one old pair that I wear while painting. The knees are worn through and they’re pretty covered in paint. I wear my other pair when I’m not painting but they’re getting pretty ratty so I need to move a new pair into the rotation.

We went out to the Gap in Eastview Mall where I had bought my last pair. Why do they call them a “pair” anyway? I can see a pair of socks but pants? I had read that Gap hired a new designer. Guess the guy doesn’t like black jeans. The salesman recommended Lord & Taylor at the other end of the mall. On the way we stopped at Abercromie & Fitch. It was like a disco in the middle of the afternoon. The sixteen year old salesboy suggested Express. We studied the Mall map and planned our route. A saleswoman at Banana Republic said they had “light black”. I said, “like grey?” She showed us some dark denim. Eddie Bower had prefaded black. I can do that myself. Express had some “Low Rise” jeans. I have a hard enough time keeping my pants up as it is so I nixed those. We struck out at Lord & Taylor and gave up.

We stopped at Apple store to look at the new laptops and and then Ann Taylor where Peggi tried on a top. I wandered around the store and took this photo of a guy bringing wood to his lady. A saleswoman there asked me, “Are you finding everything alright?” I said, “I’m not looking for anything.”

I mentioned this to Bob Martin at our Margaret Explosion gig and he said, “Try Sears”.

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Last Call!

Bob Martin and Chris Schepp with Personal Effects blaster
Bob Martin and Chris Schepp with Personal Effects blaster

Way cool article in the morning paper about the Scorgies Reunion tomorrow. Cool picture of Peggi on the front page! And Frank DeBlase did a great piece in City. He used my Polaroids on the cover of this week’s issue.

We had this General Electric blaster that we used to duct tape up to the top of the wooden column in front of the bar at Scorgies and it made some damn good tapes. Arpad transferred a few of the tapes to cd.

Here’s Personal Effect’s version of Tanya Gardner’s “Heartbeat” recorded live at the Peppermint Lounge in 1985 on our blaster.

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Paean to Rochester

We pulled Personal Effects songs from our vinyl releases and put a compilation cd together for the Scorgies reunion. This song from 1987’s “90 Day In The Planetarium” didn’t make the grade but I’m posting it here because it is full of what is now ancient local history. And it is also one of the few songs I sang or yelled. Here’s the lyrics. I’ll provide annotation below.

Personal Effects “Silver Finger Nails” from “90 Day In The Planetarium” 1987

It’s Saturday night
and I’m the designated driver again
but that’s alright
I promised I would be good

Nino’s Pizzeria or Vic & Irv’s
50 miles an hour through the Can of Worms
Uncle Sam or Tammy Whynot
First we gotta go to Moneymatic

Down to Bertha’s to pick up a six
Everybody’s going to the party at Dick’s
Steve is such an intellectual
Come on Steve, get in the pool

That’s Bart on the radio
MX-80 Sound from San Francisco
590 North dead-ends at Marge’s
When in doubt. Whip it out.

The girl in the bakery has silver finger nails
So Much. Tom Mercer Lives.
The girl in the bakery has silver finger nails
Bob loved Sara. Sara nevr did

Ninos’s and Vic & Irv’s are still around and the best in their class. The Expressway’s Can of Worms was reworked so driving 50 mph through it is no longer a thrill. Uncle Sam was Rochester’s best hard rock band and Tammy Whynot was Deb Clifford’s C&W outfit. They used to play Snake Sisters on South Avenue where Lux is today.

Bertha’s was around the corner on East Main from where we rehearsed. Bertha carried “Kiss” and “Darling” photo novellas and I remember buying “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” there but mostly she sold beer to the locals. The way over-sized Bertha was simultaneously chatty with her customers and abusive to her help. The party at Dick’s was a summer one at Dick Storms’. Everyone was in the pool but Steve Dollar, the entertainment critic from the D&C.

Bart was our favorite WITR dj because he wasn’t afraid to play MX80 Sound. 590 North will soon no longer be an expressway the comes to a dead end. They are tearing it up and adding four traffic circles. Calabrese’s Bakery on Culver is gone but not the memory of the punky girl packing my order with silver finger nails.

“So Much” was favorite piece of poetry. It was spray painted on a wall in the Can of Worms. “Tom Mercer Lives” was written all over town. I think Ted Williams knew Tom or tracked him down. And “Bob loved Sara” with “nevr” spelled like this was sprawled across one of the expressway bridges as you headed downtown nearby where Armand Shaubroak’s “Keep America Free. Let it Grow” billboard was.

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Beautiful Decay

Yellow cherry tree in the fall on Culver Road near Clifford Avenue in Rochester, NY
Yellow cherry tree in the fall on Culver Road near Clifford Avenue in Rochester, NY

We woke to a dusting of snow this morning. Buffalo got a couple feet! I like it but it’s too early. Fall is not quite done with its Gothic trip. These gray days are perfect for photographing the decay and I want things to slow down a bit so I can take it in. I think this is a cherry tree or maybe those are little yellow apples. Doesn’t look like anyone is eating the fruit. It’s on the corner of Culver and Clifford.

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White on White

Detail from Paul Dodd Crime Face painting from 2008
Detail from Paul Dodd Crime Face painting from 2008

It was a good day to cut out of work and go on an art supply run. I needed white oil paint but not just any white paint. I’m in the habit of leaving a lot of white space on my finished canvases. I’ve gotten used to people asking if my paintings are done. Is there some rule that you have to cover all the white Gesso on the store bought canvas? Many times I paint out portions of my paintings with white and then find that the white oil paint yellows over time so the white oil on white Gesso looks more like yellowed white on white Gesso. White oil paint yellows in the dark and then gets bleached out by the light. It really goes to town if the painting gets put a way for a while. I can usually bring it back to white on white with a few weeks of daylight exposure but some paintings are really stubborn.I would love to know what causes this. Is it the pigment or the medium?

I switched from Gamblin to M.Graham and now the M.Graham has yellowed on me. I went out to buy something different but came home with three more big tubes of M.Graham. I found that M. Graham makes two kinds of Titanium White. I was using the one with Sunflower Oil and Alkyd Resin as a vehicle and now I’m going to try the one with walnut oil.

Peggi just finished “Goya” by Robert Hughes. I started it a while ago but never finished it. I got lost gazing at the pictures. I might go back to it later on tonight.

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Is That A Ping Pong Ball In Your Pocket?

We had dinner with Colin Pinkney and and some other friends from high school tonight. Colin and I went to Bishop Kearney for our freshman year and then both jumped ship for the public schools. Colin remembered the Brothers dropping ping pong balls down the guys’ pants. The ball had to roll down your leg and come out the bottom or your pants were too tight. I had completely blocked that out but it all came back in a flash. The best part about Kearney was watching Dave Vercolen stand up and clock Brother Levy in Latin class. Dave never set foot in the school again but the performance was jaw dropping.

New York Times gave it up for Buffalo in the Arts and Leisure section today. Buffalo grew up in the early 1800s with the Erie Canal and is so beyond its glory days that they can’t afford to tear down old buildings. And there is no need to make way for any new growth. The good side is all the beautiful buildings that are left.

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Reality Skankin

Ron Stackman djing at Abilene with John Nugent on sax at Abilene in Rochester, New YorkAbilene2011
Ron Stackman djing at Abilene with John Nugent on sax at Abilene in Rochester, New YorkAbilene2011

We headed over to Abilene last night for Ron Stackman’s old school reggae night. The place was rockin’ and skankin’. Ronnie had a few guys toasting over his beats and John Kralles adding some tasty guitar on top of that.

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Lucia’s Supper Club

I remember finding a pack of matches on Culver Road (I think) from Lucia’s Supper Club in Olean, NY. There was a gondola on the front and we were intrigued by the “Supper Club” name. We wrote a song about the place and put it on “It’s Different Out There” LP in 1985. The illustration I did for the cover sort of pictures Lucia’s the way we imagined.

Years later we found Olean on the map and drove down there for dinner at Lucia’s. We ordered Chicken Picatta and it was delicious. We brought an album with us and left it with the chef. A few months later we received this letter in the mail.

Hi, I just had to write to you…

I was browsing the Internet this week and came across your info on the web. What prompted me to write to you is that I am Lucia Bardenett’s great-granddaughter. She was the “Lucia” of Lucia’s Supper Club in Olean. Oddly, this weekend we are celebrating my grandfather’s (Lucia’a son) 87th birthday. Nonna (as we called her) died in 1986, so my grandfather is really the last of the restaurant’s founding immediate family. My grandfather was her only child. He had 6 children who gave him 15 grandchildren and 2 of those have given him 3 great-grandchildren. I am the oldest of the 15.

So there’s a little info for you. I didn’t want to go on and on, but anyone who would be so intrigued by a pack of matches to write a song, design an album cover, and make a trip to Olean would probably be interested.

I am forwarding the link to your website to all of my family members (as you can tell from the above is quite a few). Could you tell me how to get a copy of that song? The mp3 version on your site won’t work for me. If you have a chance, could you even send me a copy of the lyrics. We’d be interested to see what you imagined about our family’s old restaurant.

By the way, I can guarantee Nonna would have gotten a kick out of your album cover; she was such a character! Marie Rakus Olean, NY

Personal Effects "It's Different Out There" on Earring Records 1985 EAR 3
Personal Effects “It’s Different Out There” on Earring Records 1985 EAR 3

Here’s Personal Effects version of Lucia’s Supper Club from the cd “Personal Effects – A Compilation.”

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If Sun Ra Can Die Anyone Can

Last week I read that Jimmy Carl Black, “the Indian in the group” had died. I liked the early Mothers and felt sad. Yesterday’s Rochester paper had a nice tribute to Arthur Deutsch, Danny’s father, who recently passed away. As a reporter he covered City Hall, politics and crime during what the golden age at the Democrat and Chronicle along side of Henry Clune. He later ran the War Memorial and booked Parliament-Funkadelic on the “Mothership Connection Tour” for the city in 1978. Peggi and I were down front for that one. Anita Ward opened with her hit and then Bootsy stole the show before P-Funk even took the stage. Today I read Mitch Mitchell died after a gig in Portland. He was one of my favorite drummers.

Martin Edic was at the Little Theater Cafe last night for the Margaret Explosion gig andthe conversation that followed. He was raving about “Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me” by Martin Millar. “Best book I’ve ever read”. And Martin has read some books. He often finishes books while still in the bookstore.

But earlier he told us that his dad had just started hospice. When you meet Martin’s parents they quickly become friends because they hang with you. You don’t exchange niceties with them. You engage them in real conversation. Ken Edic is one of the greatest guys in the world.

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Possibillities for Dreamers

Donuts Delite in Rochester New York
Donuts Delite in Rochester New York

But sadly they are no longer either one. Donuts Delite went out of business years ago and the pink Art Deco building on Culver Road is still still up for sale. My family used to head down there after church and Peggi and I used to stop in there all the time for a fried cake and the best cup of coffee in town. I stopped by yesterday for sentimental reasons and walked around the building. The place has possibilities for dreamers.

I think I overheard Fred Lipp right last night in painting class. I think I heard him say, “How can I make this job easier – for myself?”. If I didn’t catch this completely out of context, I’d say he was explaining how he came up with his teaching methods. His methods are directional and purposeful and efficient and clear. They can take a long time to digest and put into practice mostly because there is so much unlearning to dispense with. His rules are concise. “Get to the subject. Address the worst first. Trust your eye.” These are so powerful that it makes perfect sense that they would also be the right tools to make his job (teaching people how to see) easier.

Fred continued moving across the room and stopped next door at the table where my father was working on his watercolor of the UofR regatta. My father was saying something about what he planned on doing in this painting. Fred was saying, “Painting is a visual adventure, a delight for the eyes. You have to learn to trust your eye. If your eye questions something, pay attention to it and address it”.

Your eye knows more than you give it credit for.

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Leaving The Leaves Alone

Lots of leaves in the backyard
Lots of leaves in the backyard

Wow, do we have a lot of leaves! This is what our backyard looks like. We put some big yellow leaves on our table as a centerpiece for our post high school reunion dinner party. Jeff Munson and Mary Kaye came by and Marianne Gocker and her friend, Dave. We learned another classmate, Holly Clarke, was in the Woodstock movie without her clothes. I’m going to have to re-watch that classic. I don’t think we have room for any more leaves in our compost pile. We need to find a few more creative uses for them.

Frank DeBlase liked the Polaroids I put on line yesterday. He asked me to drop some of them off at City to use in the Scorgie’s piece that he’s doing next week. While I was out I stopped by with a package of seals that I photographed for a site we’re building. The Post Office parking lot was empty. How come we don’t get Veteran’s Day off?

I was too tired to paint last night so I spent a few hours trying to track down a problem with the Lightbox javascript on the Scorgies site. It started acting flukey yesterday and and now runs the photos from one gallery right into the next. Bill Jones called while I was duking it out. He asked me to do a logo for The Art Pile, his e-commerce site for artists. I like doing logos.

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Scorgie’s Mania

Martin Edic, Peggi Fournier and Paul Dodd of the Hi-Techs backstage at Scorgies in 1980

Jeff Spevak from the Democrat & Chronicle, Michelle from Freetime and Frank DeBlase from City newspaper all called today wanting to talk about the November 21st’ Scorgie’s Reunion. When I say “talk” I really mean they were looking for usable quotes. Jeff wanted a funny story because everyone else had one. I kind of didn’t answer that one even though I could think of a few. I did put put about fifty Polaroids from Scorgies days from those days up on the Scorgies site this afternoon.

Robert Slide sent this photo to us this morning. He played bass in New Math when I was in that band. I think he took this photo when the Hi-Techs played with New Math at Scorgie’s. There’s only about ten days left before the show. We had a rehearsal yesterday afternoon but we still haven’t been able to get throught the forty five minute set we have planned. We have two Margaret Explosion gigs between now and then. Ken Frank was suggestting that we try a few of the Personal Effects songs at those gigs.

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