CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Did You Get My Letter?" (2022)

 

I wondered why I hadn't heard from Chris Phinney in a while, then I realized I probably didn't get his letter! 

Chris & Ed have been busy! Covid didn't stop them, nothing seems to slow them down, and I think they are getting even better. Follow the path of their many releases over the past year or so, and you'll find it's like a musical diary written by the two of them, and just like life, there's good days, and sometimes there's bad days!

Today was a good day!

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Did You Get My Letter?"

RICH ARITHMETIC - "I Wonder Why" (1991)

 

Rich Horton released this Rich Arithmetic 45 on his Optional Art label back in 1991.

This was his debut single as "Rich Arithmetic." He had an earlier EP in 1985 in which he was called "Richard H," a moniker that died not long afterwards.

 

The A Side is a song called "Cambridge, and the B Side was titled "I Wonder Why."

The cassingle of this contained a bonus track -- so 3 songs instead of 2!

Although I normally go for the more uptempo songs, this time I'm opting for the mellower B Side with it's wild Country Joe style guitar intro.

I don't know why the song "I Wonder Why" shown here is called "I Don't Know Why." Maybe Rich don't know why either. Rich is a perfectionist, so I'm sure it's something he did on porpoise.

RICH ARITHMETIC - "I Wonder Why"

 (c) Hortones, 1991, (p) Optional Art, 1991

JOHN BARTLES - "Erie Niagara Noir" (2005)

As the liner notes say, "Erie Niagara Noir" is the third in the Summer 2005 Series of free jazz projects by John Bartles. This style suits John well, and sets the mood for Summer 2022 as well.

Here's the third cut on this CD. It features John telling you all about it, with Todd Whitman providing the atmosphere with his saxophone stylings.

JOHN BARTLES - "The Sphinx"

AL PERRY - "Happy Accident" (1992)

 

In 1992, Doggybag Records in Germany released kind of a greatest hits package of Al Perry And The Cattle's music called "Happy Accident."

The songs included here were all recorded in between 1986 and 1989.

The Cattle consisted of Al Perry on Vocals, Guitars, and Keyboard, Dave Roads on the Bass, and Julia Mueller playing the Drums and some Vocals.

The very cool artwork was done by Al's pal, and fellow musician Fish Karma.

 

Here's a sample of some very classic Cattle!

AL PERRY AND THE CATTLE - "El Dio"

THE GUZBRO MUSIC CATALOGUE (1992)

 

By 1992, I decided we had enough material that we should probably have some kind of catalogue, so this is what I came up with!

 

 

Pretty good deal for free, the catalogue featured lots of art from Gary Wray and Brian James Riedel. The top left photo was from a project Gary did with underground comix artist Roy Tompkins.

There were eighteen pages in total that included lots of the art from our tapes too.

Also included were lots of quotes and reviews from various magazines like  "Akin to a high fever" from Dark Chaos, or "On the verge of chaos" from Gajoob.

One of my favorite reviews came from The Affiliate, who called our music "Self-inflicted punishment."

Slim The Drifter was also on the "Guzbro" label before he signed with "Gang Of Hair."

These two pages featured a submission request for our "Offbeat" public access TV show, and some tapes from my friend Guido of SHM in Germany that we were trying to help distribute for the groups Meadow Meal, GV, and The Dirk Hartung Combo.

More stuff from Brian and Gary, and more reviews.

Since these were pre-computer days, all the images were duplicated on a copy machine, and then cut up, collaged, glued together by hand, and re-copied.

 

Some of this stuff is still available in one form or another.

WINNIE'S RETRENCHMENT AND EXHIBITION - Various Artists (1991)

"Winnie's Retrenchment & Exhibition" was a various artists compilation tape put together by Ken Clinger in 1991.

 

We contributed one song, and other artists appearing on this cassette were Mark Saucier, Bored Young Men, Nick, Silly Pillows, Foamin At The Mouth, Arnold Mathes, C.I.A.M., Too Righteous Brothers, Dan Fioretti, Zan Hoffman, Atrocity Exhibition, Don Campau, Bonnington Truce, and Tuf-Mikst-Man.

I saw that Ken now has this tape available as a download on his Bovine Productions Bandcamp page, except now he has it as two separate releases, one being "Winnie's Retrenchment," and one being "Winnie's Exhibition."  You'll also find a number of other releases in the Winnie series there. Here's a sample of what you can expect.

O.C. LAST - "Stand In Line"

IT CAME FROM THE GARAGE II - "Zombie Drums" (1987)

I had a copy of Art Phag's LP that had a poster in it, so one day I decided to try and sell the poster on eBay. Len Puch, the guitar player for Art Phag contacted me, and told me that he'd like to buy the poster, because he didn't have one himself, so I gave him the poster.

When I sent Len the poster, I also sent him a copy of our first tape, "The Worm's Turn," and he sent me this tape that he produced in return. That's how they ended up doing a cover of our song "Mysterical Sights."

 

This release doesn't even exist on Discogs except in LP format, so I might have one of very few. Many of the bands have Art Phag guys in them! There's a lot of great stuff on here, and something to offend almost anybody! Here's a cool surf instrumental for you straight out of Detroit!

ZOMBIE SURFERS - "Zombie Drums"