The Singing Spoons
February 13th, 2006
Author: adminHere we have 2 songs from Singing Spoons from a 1991 performance at Club 506. That place was fun to play but it always had plumbing issues. Anyway, this is probably one of our last shows and was dutifully recorded onto 8 track by Tommy Hamilton. Per John Hintz’s request I have included a rather cathartic version of “Hold Me Down” originally on the ‘Resin Cabin’ lp and from the same gig ” You’re Broken” which would have been on ‘American Buckle’ had we stayed together. All I remeber from the show was that we were bummed before we play and happy afterward. The power of rock! On another note, John Barlow found a few vintage photos and forwarded them to me. This photo of Chris is from a pre-gig booze session at Planet 10 in my Olds Custom Cruiser Wagon. The other one of me is most likely from Planet 10 in 1987 or ’88. I don’t remember who took this photo of us, but it was snapped on the roof top of “the window” on Gaines Street in Tallahassee in 1990. Finally, here is an old Singing Spoons flyer John Hintz and I made for a show at the Grand Finale. I was alaways made fun of due to my ridiculous flyers made with ball point pen!
fun fact: the Olds Custom Cruiser was legendary for its egg safety record
The Olds CC was also well-known for starting out in the wrong direction on any trip. And reeking of ass.
The rooftop photo must of been by A.Weiss. Notice how nobody is smiling, exactly.
Just joshin’ ya, Alex!
Dollar Drunks…weren’t we all in that band?
Lot’s of beers for us queers!
Hey, Mike–Is this version of “You’re Broken” sung by you or someone else? You did sing the one on “American Buckle,” right?
On the subject of AB, since I know there are other Spoons who read here, I really hate that it never saw the light of day. It was a great record. You guys were at the top of your game. It sounded mature without sacrificing the goofiness that made the Spoons special. Heaven knows I hold “Chedr” and “Resin Cabin” very very dear to my heart, but “American Buckle” was deeper and richer, something new and wonderful but still the Spoons. “Closet Call” and “Permanent Mountain” were two great near-hardcore numbers; the anthemic “Loofa,” eight minutes long, never wore out its welcome; “You’re Broken” and “Here’s a Wall” were lovely ballads; “js and Js” had a certain, I dunno, je ne sais quoi; “Hall Killing” was, well, what can you say about “Hall Killing” that hasn’t been said?
In the larger sense, I’m thanking all you Spoons for going on twenty years now of musical pleasure. I owe a special shout out to Kelly Shane for connecting me with Mike after I’d lost my copy of “Chedr”, and it was pure coicidence that I happened to move into an apartment downstairs from a guy that played in the Yeah! with Kelly. And to Mike for sending me a whole bunch of Singing Spoons music and never really asking much in return. Anytime any one of you guys are in Charlotte, NC, let me know, and I will take you out and buy you as many beers as you can drink, and dinner besides. Thanks.
Thanks Frazer. I’m pretty much flattered to death as are the other guys I’m sure! Well, I’m going to try to keep posting stuff. Since we got on a larger server I can post more often. I found some interesting things recently that I didn’t even know I had.
I meant to say that this version of “You’re Broken” was yelped by me. Our vocals were usually pretty unintelligible live and even less controlled than they were in a studio setting.
Wow, thanks Frazer. That was really nice to hear. I agree that “American Buckle” had a little something special about it, and would like to give some credit where credit is due to Tommy Hamilton, who did such a fine job of recording us. He has the patience of a saint!
And that’s something I should have pointed out. There were indeed great leaps in songwriting and playing, but the sound is pretty damn fine too. I imagine y’all’s recording sessions were relatively beery affairs, and having lived downstairs from Jason NeSmith, I got a good idea of what it actually takes to record someone–patience being the top ingredient!
Tommy was and is a great guy and generally seemed unfazed by our alcohol consumption at the time. We worked pretty hard on things I remember. Dave Murphy was great to work with too. In hindsight I learned a lot of stuff from both of them.
Absolutely – Dave was great too, and equally patient with our shenaningans.
When Mike and I first played in a ‘real’ band, Switch…the only tally cover band at the time that did Police songs, saxophone parts and all. Our first gig we got paid with a watermelon. Which was gracefully tossed onto Tennessee street from the back of the ol’custom cruiser wagon…that car witnessed some rock n roll, baby
Alex Weiss! Alex Weiss! Where art thou?
Whenever things get humiliating at this late stage in my music career, I can always look back on the watermelon incident. Quite possibly one of the worst, most retarded gigs ever!
I’m here (finally). Did not take the rooftop pix, can’t recall who did (lost too many brain cells over the years). Living in Atlanta now. Still doing shows (scary). Saw Mike and Amy at Mission Of Burma the other night and was informed of this site…
How is everyone?