Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Plans (Day 183)

Pixies - "Debaser" (live)
Zumpano - "Jeez-Louise"
A really nice long, list that encompassed a short trip to the gym and the commute to work. This particular song helped fuel part of my time on the treadmill (thanks power pop!), but also made my thoughts wander to an entirely different band: Frank Allison and the Odd Sox. If you lived in Ann Arbor in the late 80s or early 90s you know exactly who I'm talking about: Long hair, quirky, nasal voice, rocking backup band. Every once and a while I'll come across my vinyl copy of Monkey Business and it'll bring me right back to that chilly gem of a town in the Midwest. I had to find out what's up with Frank when I got to work today and it turns out he's had a bit of a wild ride: On the cusp of success, he lost his voice to something called spasmodic dysphonia
. He was forced to put down the guitar for seven years and in the meantime he bought and operated a movie theater. Then, out of the blue, he got his young daughter a ukulele. She lost interest in the instrument, but he fiddled with it and eventually re-taught himself to sing - - and then he started recording again. Take that, Behind the Music! And good for you, Frank. Anyone else out there remember Frank Allison and The Odd Sox?



N.E.R.D. - "You Know What"
Deerhoof - "Giga Dance"
The Starlight Mints - "Pages"
The Books - "Take Time"
The Mountain Goats - "Diru Lipatti's Bones"
Bright Eyes - "Down A Rabbit Hole"
Superchunk - "Marquee"
Q-Tip - "Official"
Annuals - "Track 57"
Dolorean - "Morning Watch"
Grizzly Bear - "Plans"
The Rolling Stones - "Shake Your Hips"
Colin Meloy - "The Gymnast, High Above The Ground" (live)
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - "Sittin' And Thinkin'"
The Roots - "I Will Not Apologize"
Bod Dylan - "Who Killed Davey Moore?"
De La Soul - "Change In Speak"

And then I got to work.

Today's Stats
Total songs listened to: 19
Total minutes of music (approx.): 64
Song with the most previous plays: "Plans," "Morning Watch" (tie) - 8
How I Rate Today's Playlist (1-10): 9
Miscellaneous factoid about my trip to work today: Devised recipe for beating cold with G - - roar like a lion at top volume.

6 comments:

GE said...

Hey David-
Thanks for checking in. Today was a bit longer than usual because I actually went to the gym. But I normally do get in about 40 minutes of solid listening. And thanks for the Ann Arbor scene report circa 1990. Don't ya miss it?

Anonymous said...

Oh Lord - how about the Ann Arbor scene from 1985??? I remember Frank Allison And The Odd Sox as the band that always had flyers EVERYWHERE, but I never got the chance to see them. Did see Tracy Lee And The Leonards, The Blue Front Persuaders, Steve Nardella's Rock & Roll Trio, and The Watusis (worked with Chris Casello of The Watusis at The Beer Vault for a
few months). Ran into Shakey Jake a couple times before I knew that he was famous. And was fortunate enough to see The Wayouts at a house party in East Lansing a year or two later. Good Times.

Anonymous said...

Hey I knew Shaky Jake since I was a kid in the 70's and then he was in my cab a million times up until his end "on the move, on the move."

Tracy Lee and the Leonards, well embarrassingly I have to admit the reason I found this page is because I was googling a lady I know to see if I could find pictures of her great legs, haha and stumbled on a site devoted specifically to great calves, which reminded me of Tracy who had the biggest most beautiful calves I've ever seen! I was walking up the stairs behind her once, into the Ark I think, but wow, truly astounding! Anyway I googled her and found this, don't hate!

Chris Casello I worked with at Yellow Cab for years and I jammed with him once or twice. He had a super hot sister, Sarah, she used to bartend at the Del (Rio) which is closed now btw if you guys haven't been to A2 in a few years.

Also I photographed that UCLA game you mentioned.

Anonymous said...

I found this page because I was actually looking up Street Light Knights' (SLK) music. I still have their yellow dance disk. I think there used to be some of their music on YouTube. I was also at that famous mud bowl concert when they played and was actually telling my 16 year old son about it as we drove by the mud bowl last week. I loved that band and tried to see most of their concerts. I remembered slam dancing at Ricks to them. What a great band.

Unknown said...

I can confirm that it stood for Street Light Nights. My dad was their first drummer around the time when they were doing some blues and Beatles stuff and just as they started getting into ska. He has a picture of him with the band at the time with Street Light Knights written on his drum set by the saxophone player next to him

Unknown said...

I can confirm that it stood for Street Light Nights. My dad was their first drummer around the time when they were doing some blues and Beatles stuff and just as they started getting into ska. He has a picture of him with the band at the time with Street Light Knights written on his drum set by the saxophone player next to him