Picture it: Downtown Houston. Internationally-known EMI Records recording artist hops into my car. Only one of us knows our destination. What could I possibly have in mind?
Good Lord! Forget decades.....I'm stunned they've been heard of beyond the Harris County line! You must tell me how you knew of them, and which records, Jamie! I only knew of that late-'70s "I.U.D." slab! Bob was a scream....SO unassuming and quiet, and a virtual DAILY visitor to the Post Oak Blvd Cactus! Do tell all......!
It’s mainly through just growing up in 80s Houston punk, really. I probably first heard the name on 90.5, probably Chuck Roast’s Funhouse show, where I also first heard other Houston punk bands Legionaire’s Disease and the highly underrated Really Red. Or could’ve been on KTRU or Record (Sound) Exchange.
Thanks, Jamie! All of that really takes me back! I knew a couple guys in LD....I think Gene Bartholomew was in that band....he was in SOME band! And, I think LD's lead singer was one Dick Long! Don't recall Really Red. Thanks again!
LD singer was Jerry Anomie. I was too young to see them, I only knew them from the single “Rather See You Dead”, which I remember distinctly from Chuck Roast’s Funhouse show, can even still hear his peculiar way of announcing it.
Really Red was hands down the most important. U Ron Bond, the singer ,started The Funhouse show that Chuck Roast (who also still runs Vinal Edge records which used to be on Veteran’s Memorial but is now in Heights), took over. U Ron also started C.I.A. records, if I remember, in order to put out Really Red’s first 7”, “Crowd Control”, one of the all-time best Texas punk singles.
My involvement with them all was late '70s/Houston. I moved to L.A. in Jan '80. I knew Gene and Dick, and they both (all of them, really) were in and out of bands, it seems, fairly routinely.
Brad - this story is absolutely insane! My palms started sweating just reading it. I can't even fathom a rocker jumping into a stranger's car and taking off to who knows where. I was so worried about both of you until the story's happy ending. I haven't yet covered Tom on STSYL but now I wonder if I even should. I should just cross-post this nail biter!
Great reaction! As surprising as it was in real time, it's near-impossible to even imagine (as I hinted at the beginning) the very notion of driving anyone with a recording contract and an ASCAP membership, today!
I'd love a cross-post on that one....as it was one of my earlier ones (Aug of '21...the site was, literally, a couple days old!), it's gotten few eyes on it.
But, not only would Tom deserve a spot on your site, I think your readers would love your take on one of rock's clearly more visible out performers (I mean, Elton never had a song with the "g"-word in it)!😁
Brad, What a delightful and amusing escapade with Tom Robinson. You have proven something I think many people forget in life…”If you don’t ask you’ll never know”. You asked and you got!!
You have now inspired me. If I run into my hero, Paul McCartney, I will ask if I can take him for a spot of tea “and a butter pie”. 🫖
Thanks, Stephen! It certainly was fun re-living it into print! Those who knew me back in that day would say, correctly, that I was pretty shy and not at all that outgoing, despite how it may seem! Let's face it...I didn't barge into that '75 David Cassidy interview--I was invited!
I think I felt a sort of kinship with artists, and was easily able to pocket my "fanboy" tendencies, and treated them like "just folks" who happened to play music that was distributed around the world! I know for certain that's what the Ramones appreciated about me, to allow me into their world, not only backstage, but into their hotel room in '78!
I certainly hope you have the chance to bump into Sir Paul at some point...I know he'd appreciate your choice of sumptuous repast! Which reminds me, I'm working on a piece on George, my favorite non-Paul Beatle! His "little brother" relationship with J&P always fascinated me (and you know I'm referring to the craft of songwriting, the same love and inspiration I came away with as you did from our shared Sullivan '64 experience a year-and-a-half apart in age, and a couple thousand miles away)!🎶🎸👏
George reminded me of "The Beave," always wanting to mess around with Wally and Eddie, but they wouldn't dare risk being seen by "the birds" with their "creepy little brother"!!
Speaking of car rides with strangers, i did this once with a Redditor at a Reddit Bangalore meet. Halfway through the ride through the back alleys, I said a prayer for my kidney. Luckily, they were just taking a short cut to the bar and we all had a laugh about it. I still counted my kidneys once I got home though.
Great story, Nikhil! Thanks! I wonder if the Redditor had similar feelings of organ-safety! I mean, when you think about it, Tom knew absolutely nothing about ME, so any reticence he may have felt about hopping in would certainly be understandable!
But, at the very least, MY safety was assured, because I was traveling with a well-connected, contracted employee of a major global enterprise (and the British press can be beyond brutal, even in the BEST of circumstances...as he knew only too well, even then)!!😁👌
There are some who'd say your kidney might've made a more reliable communications device! But, I can't talk....I'm still using a flip phone, which I tell some incredulous strangers (between their stifled giggles) that it's the new Apple iPhone 14Pro, and we've come full circle. My life's a sitcom.......apparently.😎
I hadn't heard the name Plastic Idols since probably...the 80s. Thanks for the reminder!
Good Lord! Forget decades.....I'm stunned they've been heard of beyond the Harris County line! You must tell me how you knew of them, and which records, Jamie! I only knew of that late-'70s "I.U.D." slab! Bob was a scream....SO unassuming and quiet, and a virtual DAILY visitor to the Post Oak Blvd Cactus! Do tell all......!
It’s mainly through just growing up in 80s Houston punk, really. I probably first heard the name on 90.5, probably Chuck Roast’s Funhouse show, where I also first heard other Houston punk bands Legionaire’s Disease and the highly underrated Really Red. Or could’ve been on KTRU or Record (Sound) Exchange.
Thanks, Jamie! All of that really takes me back! I knew a couple guys in LD....I think Gene Bartholomew was in that band....he was in SOME band! And, I think LD's lead singer was one Dick Long! Don't recall Really Red. Thanks again!
LD singer was Jerry Anomie. I was too young to see them, I only knew them from the single “Rather See You Dead”, which I remember distinctly from Chuck Roast’s Funhouse show, can even still hear his peculiar way of announcing it.
Really Red was hands down the most important. U Ron Bond, the singer ,started The Funhouse show that Chuck Roast (who also still runs Vinal Edge records which used to be on Veteran’s Memorial but is now in Heights), took over. U Ron also started C.I.A. records, if I remember, in order to put out Really Red’s first 7”, “Crowd Control”, one of the all-time best Texas punk singles.
https://youtu.be/QamKt7vyV2o
My involvement with them all was late '70s/Houston. I moved to L.A. in Jan '80. I knew Gene and Dick, and they both (all of them, really) were in and out of bands, it seems, fairly routinely.
Brad - this story is absolutely insane! My palms started sweating just reading it. I can't even fathom a rocker jumping into a stranger's car and taking off to who knows where. I was so worried about both of you until the story's happy ending. I haven't yet covered Tom on STSYL but now I wonder if I even should. I should just cross-post this nail biter!
Great reaction! As surprising as it was in real time, it's near-impossible to even imagine (as I hinted at the beginning) the very notion of driving anyone with a recording contract and an ASCAP membership, today!
I'd love a cross-post on that one....as it was one of my earlier ones (Aug of '21...the site was, literally, a couple days old!), it's gotten few eyes on it.
But, not only would Tom deserve a spot on your site, I think your readers would love your take on one of rock's clearly more visible out performers (I mean, Elton never had a song with the "g"-word in it)!😁
Brad, What a delightful and amusing escapade with Tom Robinson. You have proven something I think many people forget in life…”If you don’t ask you’ll never know”. You asked and you got!!
You have now inspired me. If I run into my hero, Paul McCartney, I will ask if I can take him for a spot of tea “and a butter pie”. 🫖
Thanks, Stephen! It certainly was fun re-living it into print! Those who knew me back in that day would say, correctly, that I was pretty shy and not at all that outgoing, despite how it may seem! Let's face it...I didn't barge into that '75 David Cassidy interview--I was invited!
I think I felt a sort of kinship with artists, and was easily able to pocket my "fanboy" tendencies, and treated them like "just folks" who happened to play music that was distributed around the world! I know for certain that's what the Ramones appreciated about me, to allow me into their world, not only backstage, but into their hotel room in '78!
I certainly hope you have the chance to bump into Sir Paul at some point...I know he'd appreciate your choice of sumptuous repast! Which reminds me, I'm working on a piece on George, my favorite non-Paul Beatle! His "little brother" relationship with J&P always fascinated me (and you know I'm referring to the craft of songwriting, the same love and inspiration I came away with as you did from our shared Sullivan '64 experience a year-and-a-half apart in age, and a couple thousand miles away)!🎶🎸👏
George reminded me of "The Beave," always wanting to mess around with Wally and Eddie, but they wouldn't dare risk being seen by "the birds" with their "creepy little brother"!!
Oh yeah, Happy Birth Week, Stephen!!!🎂👍
Speaking of car rides with strangers, i did this once with a Redditor at a Reddit Bangalore meet. Halfway through the ride through the back alleys, I said a prayer for my kidney. Luckily, they were just taking a short cut to the bar and we all had a laugh about it. I still counted my kidneys once I got home though.
Great story, Nikhil! Thanks! I wonder if the Redditor had similar feelings of organ-safety! I mean, when you think about it, Tom knew absolutely nothing about ME, so any reticence he may have felt about hopping in would certainly be understandable!
But, at the very least, MY safety was assured, because I was traveling with a well-connected, contracted employee of a major global enterprise (and the British press can be beyond brutal, even in the BEST of circumstances...as he knew only too well, even then)!!😁👌
I did eventually sell one kidney to Apple to buy my first iPhone, so there’s that... 🥹
There are some who'd say your kidney might've made a more reliable communications device! But, I can't talk....I'm still using a flip phone, which I tell some incredulous strangers (between their stifled giggles) that it's the new Apple iPhone 14Pro, and we've come full circle. My life's a sitcom.......apparently.😎