Comments on: Highs in the Mid-80s #2

By: blair B.

blair B. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:47:26 +0000

Gary -

I don’t see any info here that I can forward. If you contact me through GaragePunk.com, I’ll try and get your info to Adam.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:39:04 +0000

I am trying to get in touch witH Chris Bobka and Adam Greiss. If you can forward my info to them that would be great. Gary

By: Blair B.

Blair B. — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 23:15:59 +0000

I ought to check this more often! I didn’t think anyone was still commenting on some of these old shows. Nice to see Dave Wise popping up. Dave, please get in touch through GaragePunk.com, OK?

Chris – if you also get in touch via the site, I’ll give you Adam’s email address.

Zendragon – I should’ve also noted that the Ramblers have gotten back together every few years to play special events. I had them play my wedding a couple weeks ago. As always, they were fantastic.

By: Chris Bobka

Chris Bobka — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:40:51 +0000

I am looking for my old buddy Adam Greiss. If you can put me in touch with him, that would be great. I was born down the hill from Sparks in Huntington Hospital. Lived in Elwood by the McDonalds. I remember well the Mosquitos and the Primitives. I went to college in Texas and “imported” Mosrites for Adam and even Johnny got one from me that was later stolen at the US concert in San Bernardino. That is when they lost the original Gabba Gabba Hey sign. Adam had his Mosrite painted in pure white by Lenny Russo at Russo Bros. body shop in Elwood. He still has the neck to my Mosrite (it still had the Ventures silkscreen) and I have his. I remember Evan too. I guess his dad worked for Steak and Ale way high up as Evan, Adam, some others, and I would all go there for steak and ale and Evan would pull out a card and the company picked up the tab! I drove a 67 Chevelle that was bright red and later a 66 Lincoln to make myself less conspicuous…

I still have some Primitives promo flyers that Adam made up. I can scan them to PDF and send them on if you can tell me where.

The Mosquitos were good!

Cheers,

Chris
Minneapolis

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 23:37:22 +0000

Thanks for putting together this podcast. I was just a loyal audience member of this small Long Island scene. It’s great to hear some of this work again.

Regards,

Bill/www.sketchyconcepts.com

By: spock

spock — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 21:26:13 +0000

Hey Blair:

BITE ME!

Signed,

Spock

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:05:03 +0000

I played bass and then guitar in The Sporting Bachelors in the early days. Left when things started to get out of hand. RIP Paul! I remember playing at the Old World Cheese Cafe in Huntington. I think that gig was opening for The Secret Sevice. John Battaglia video taped the show. I remember a woman intoducing us that to this day I swear was Fran Drescher. Also remeber playing gigs at The Funhouse in PA with The Pranksters and playing some dive theater in NYC with the Optic Nerve. Really cool times…all behind me now!

By: Roy Edwards

Roy Edwards — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:50:28 +0000

I played lead guitar in a band called Bwana that included Vance Brescia(Mosquitos)on drums and Chris Xefos(Plastic Device)on Bass and Tom C.Bwana(Pets) on guitar and vocals.
We Basically played at Sparks in centerport.
I was amazed to happen along this sight, it Brought back alot of memories.
Thanx for the memories.

What ever happened to Art and the Flying Penguins?

By: Dave Wise

Dave Wise — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 16:57:40 +0000

Thanks for the memories! Never thought anyone would care enough to even mention what was happening in Huntington in the early-mid 1980′s! Some of these names I haven’t seen in 20 years.

Dave Wise
Plastic Device
The Riddles

By: Michael Lynch

Michael Lynch — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:47:54 +0000

Excellent show, Blair. So THAT’S what was happening only a few miles away across the Nassau/Suffolk border. What a scene I missed, but thanks to putting the cream of it in a retrospective and proving to non-believers that yes, Long Island was once musically hip!

Does anyone know if there’s ever been a compilation of 1960s garage records from Long Island…or if there’s even enough of said material to create such a comp?

There was a two volume CD set in the mid 1990s called ‘The Best Of Frog Records’ that claimed to be 1960s Long Island bands…but in fact much of the contents (only some of which can be called garage) were clearly from the 1970s.

By: Blair B.

Blair B. — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:19:42 +0000

Zendragon…Glad you’re enjoying the podcasts. Actually, I’m glad you mentioned the Nashville Ramblers, as I’m trying to get some San Diego pals to put together a Highs In The Mid-80s: San Diego volume. There were some great bands there. If necessary, I’ll pull it together on my own, but I’d prefer someone who lived there do the honors.

The Nashville Ramblers were around in the mid-late 80s. By ’87 or ’88, however, they all moved to NYC (individually) and reformed here as The Blackmores. (Two of them – Tom and Ron – played in The Optic Nerve while they were here, as well.) One by one, they went back to SD and reformed The Nashville Ramblers. When Jeff Conolly moved out there, they backed him as the (group called) Lyres for about 6-8 months. As time went on, the guys all ended up in the SF Bay area. Up there, they became The Black Diamonds. For some reason, these guys have released very little, although Tom Ward tells me they have some pretty cool stuff in the can, including a version of my favorite Golliwogs’ tune, “Fragile Child”. The guys still get together from time to time to play a festival in Spain, a friend’s wedding, etc.

Bill…Glad you enjoyed the show. Look for more episodes of Highs in the Mid-80s in the future. One friend is planning one for Michigan. Another is providing me with some Scandinavian stuff. Personally, I’m hoping to pull together a second volume of NYC stuff, plus an episode each for Western NY State, NJ, and PA.

Bill, you may also want to tune in to some of my other podcasts – Speed Of Sound and Pop Goes – to hear stuff mixed in from the various rock’n'roll decades. There really was some great stuff in the 90s right through to now. One record I’d highly recommend checking out from the past year or so would be The Ugly Beats’ disc. You can hear one of their tracks in one of my Speed Of Sound podcasts.

By: kopper

kopper — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 12:51:52 +0000

Hey Bill, listen to some of our other shows to prove your point wrong! Music is still as alive as it’s ever been, even more so than during the “delightful obscure 80s”!

By: bill

bill — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 03:07:43 +0000

Listened to this whole thing. Again proved my point that music died following the delightful obscure 80s. Reminded me of the Slickee Boys from DC. This was an excellent post. Thanks

By: zendragon

zendragon — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:12:42 +0000

Hey, Blair! Great podcasts! Actually I have a question regarding a ‘cast earlier in the year: you introduced me to a great band in the Nashville Ramblers (“The Trains”)…BUT there’s nothing on All Music Guide about them…about what time did the Ramblers exist?

By: Dawn Eden

Dawn Eden — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 02:37:46 +0000

Really enjoying these podcasts, Blair — thanks so much.

The Mosquitos live concert you posted a while back was a revelation. Here’s what I wrote at the time in a book where I jotted down the date of every Mosquitos concert I attended:

“Friday, February 22, 1985: Saw Mosquitos for the sixth time, at the Ritz, where they opened for the Vipers. Could only stay for Vipers’ first few minutes. [I had to catch the train back to Jersey -- I was 16.] Mosquitos’ first Ritz gig. Met Fuzztones.”

Any chance of your or Bill Jones’ putting the Mosquitos’ “Do You Wanna Hurt Me” video on YouTube? I’d gladly transfer my video their Columbia High School concert to DVD if someone could get me that “Do You Wanna” video. (I may also have their “Hang” video somewhere.)

By: Long Island Barfly

Long Island Barfly — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:47:39 +0000

Great show, here’s a few bands I remember from the 80′s on the Island:

Blotto
Stanton Anderson Band
The Good Rats

Some great bars:
My Father’s Place
OBI
Speaks