Classic 12-inch singles : B-MOVIE

Released on Sire Records in 1982:

"NOWHERE GIRL" is just one of those classic songs that just take you back to a more innocent time. Remember the beginning of the 80's...we had a President that would just say the darndest things ("We Begin Bombing in 5 minutes") and many people hated him and thought he was stupid. Turns out he was just senile.... NOTHING like the way it is today. Like I said...it was just a more innocent time. .....Anyway...Nowhere Girl made the Top 10 in many European countries and reached 68 in the United Kingdom, but there was no follow up and no sign of an album. The popular webcomic Nowhere Girl was named after this single.
Keyboard player Rick Holliday left in 1983 to form Six Sed Red with Soft Cell associate Cindy Ecstasy.The rest of the band re-surfaced in 1984 with the single "A letter From Afar" produced by John "Jellybean" Benitez but this failed to chart. Towards the end of 1985 they finally released an album with Sire Records called "Forever Running" containing re-recorded versions of the two hits but both it and the single 'Switch On Switch Off were flops despite a tour to promote them.
The band broke up soon after. Singer Steve Hovington formed a band called One in the late 80s ..Hey Steve...how's THAT going for you? Yeah...OK, so let's just sit back and listen the sounds of the early 80's. Then I'm going to play some Atari games, watch "Match Game PM" and go on the A.I.D.S. diet plan.

NOWHERE GIRL 12" (MP3)

NOWHERE GIRL (EDIT) (MP3)

REMEMBERANCE DAY (MP3)

SKA - THE 3RD WAVE (Part 1 ): THE SCOFFLAWS

I am proud to have known, ate, hung out with, and made music with at least a few of the ever changing line up of THE SCOFFLAWS. They started out in the mid-1980's in Huntington, Long Island . They were first called the "New Bohemians" but then some sucky band in Texas bought the name from them ( DAMN YOU EDIE BRICKELL) and in 1989 they changed their name to the Scofflaws. In my opinion the 3rd wave SKA revival in the late 1990's could not have HAPPENED without their incredibly tight, fun, popular live shows. Their debut CD was released in 1991 and contains many of the staples of their live shows.

GOING BACK TO KINGSTON (MP3) and SKA-LA-CARTE (MP3) are just two of the many highlights from that CD. The live shows kept packing them in. I have many a great memory of seeing them playing to enthusiastic crowds in now long gone places like NEW YORK AVENUE in Huntington Village.

The second CD, SKA IN HI-FI was produced by my good friend, their Bass player (and a fellow class of 1985 Huntington High School Graduate) Victor Rice. They wanted this second album to sound like it was recorded in Jamaica in the late 60's and I think they succeeded in that experiment. Just listen to NUDE BEACH (MP3) and tell me it doesn't put you on the shores of the Caribbean.

So then........a young sax player by the name of Nick Martielli writes a song for our friends in the Scofflaws called "SPIDER ON MY BED" and wouldn't you know it, they record it and put it on SKA IN HI-FI. This then inspires Martielli to form his OWN band (and asks me to join in as their Keyboard player and singer) and we release VOYAGE TO THE PALACE OF KALI. There will be a lot more on all that later, but long story short, THAT CD becomes a success, and I think the way we produced that debut CD of OURS inspired the Scofflaws to make a REAL , nicely produced CD called RECORD OF CONVICTION. It had many of their most popular songs on it...just listen to the hooks galore in IN THE BASEMENT (MP3).