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By Max Conroy

There are several definitions of the word scrummage.  It is synonymous to a rugby play called a ’scrum’, but also means ‘a general row or confused fight or struggle’.  A scrum can also, according to the Brits, mean ‘a place or situation of confusion and racket; hubbub’, which seems like the closest definition to the venue in Detroit.  Here is their mission statement from their site (do not click on this link if you have or might possibly have epilepsy): A psychedelic loft in Detroit’s Eastern Market district.  We achieve maximum fun.  We have giant parties with totally rad music encompassing all generas.  We teach you here at our university that no one is too stuffy to party.  This is the place where all your wildest dreams can come true.  There is apparently a market in Detroit’s Eastern Market district, but there’s no evidence of it at night; in fact, there doesn’t seem to be anything besides a graveyard, bombed out buildings, and the occasional liquor store and gas station…and this place. 

Scrummage University is a huge warehouse that must have been a toy factory at one time, based on the painted signage on the front of the building.  I drove by it a few times before coming to the conclusion that this must be the place.  There were several flyers that mentioned that it’s the large building that has ‘Toys’ painted on the front of it, but not the flyer that I had.  The flyers also stated that the event was to begin at 9PM, which is when I arrived, but there was no one there, except for a few people running the show and the performers.  Also, there is no mention of the Silver Apples playing at Scrummage on the venue’s site, so I’d seek other verification that a band will be there before driving through post-apocalyptic Detroit to get there. 

The Scrummage gate is barely wide enough for a car to fit through and is situated next to an operational junk yard; I deduced that it was operational based on the five rabid dogs hurling themselves at the fence, attempting to kill hipsters.  The parking lot is huge with weeds thriving in the cracks of the asphalt, an active train line in back, and several huge bonfire pits.  I walked around for a bit, soaking up the scenery, snapping photos, as other guests arrived.  After awhile, I noticed that everyone had 40s of beer, and asked the door guy Ian if it was cool to bring beer here: ‘Sure, man.  You should pick me up something.’  He gave me some shoddy directions to a liquor store, but I ended up finding a different one that had all the choice malt liquor and grabbed a 40 of Olde English and Ian a 24oz of Cammo XXX High Gravity for the shitty directions; he was thrilled.

By this time they were throwing huge pieces of furniture into the fire pit and igniting them.  When the fire would get low, they, presumably ‘official’ events organizers, would politely ask some people to get off of the wardrobe they were sitting on and then drag it into the fire.  This place is the ultimate in blind pigs, anything goes. 

You enter the warehouse through a defunct loading dock and enter into a wide open concrete room, piles of debris in the corners and outsider art everywhere.  There is a working bathroom that isn’t the worst that I’ve ever seen.  From what I gather, people live at Scrummage, so they probably rent the space, or maybe even squat there.  The electric hair trimmer in the bathroom also made me think that people live there. 

The opening act Benny Stoofy is kind of Scrummage’s house band.  They are some talented musicians that blend the low fi aesthetic with competence, much like Dr. Dog.  I dug a few songs and then went back to the bonfire with my 40 to chat up some people and enjoy the evening.

The Lotto Ball Show went on next.  They’re a synth-driven postpunk outfit from Chicago.  They seemed good, but the vocals were noexistent in the mix, so I again headed out to the fire after about two songs.

I went back inside after the music stopped to look at the unattended merch table and to watch people climb dangerously onto makeshift trapezes hanging from the ceiling.  Simeon, a perfectly normal looking fellow in his mid-to-late 60s, dressed in a bright green turtleneck, strolled across the floor to his rig and began calibrating or whatever one has to do to a pile of oscillators and beat machines to prepare them for a performance.

The Silver Apples are Simeon now.  He manipulates bass and melody sound oscillators over drum tracks, and sings: that’s the sound of The Silver Apples in 2008.  After listening to some of their records recently, I’ve come to really appreciate the late Danny Taylor’s drumming.  He lays down a hardcore breakbeat jazz style that really propels the monotonous vocals and bleeps and bloops.  But the music is essentially electronic music and the last thirty years of music has proven that a drummer isn’t absolutely necessary.  The lack of a drummer has actually transformed the Silver Apples sound into what it inspired: electronic dance music.  It’s fitting to see one of the pioneers of electronic music performing this way to the city that basically took what he was doing eons ago and went crazy with it. 

Simeon played for exactly an hour and politely declined an encore; this isn’t exactly encore-type music.  He performed a lot of the ‘hits’ like Oscillations and I Don’t Care What the People Say and did a handful of new compositions.  In the middle of the set, about twenty people got on stage a danced their freaky, uninhibited dances.  I went back to the merch table and bought the only Apples vinyl available: a limited press of 1000 called Selections from the Early Sessions.  I then went up to Simeon’s rig and snapped a picture of it just before he went up to it to tear it down.  I said, “Thanks, man.”  “It’s a pleasure,” said Simeon.

Click Below for information about the Selections record, some audio of the show, and pictures.

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By Max Conroy

The enigmatic and visionary electronic ‘band’ The Silver Apples will perform tomorrow night at Scrummage University.  I don’t know anything about the venue and was handed a flyer for the show, which is a photocopy of a primitive pen and ink drawing, by a group of teenagers that I befriended at the Jandek performance in Ann Arbor. 

The Silver Apples formed in New York in 1967, consisting of Simeon Coxe III (Simeon) and Danny Taylor, drums.  The duo were in a band called The Overland Stage Electric Band prior to the Apples, where band members rapidly left the group as a result of Simeon’s incorporation of a 1940s vintage audio oscillator, leaving the two.  Simeon developed a homemade instrument, the Simeon, consisting of “nine audio oscillators piled on top of each other and eighty-six manual controls to control lead, rhythm, and bass pulses with hands, feet, and elbows”(from the liner notes of their first album).  They recorded a self-titled album, released in 1968 on Kapp Records that barely cracked the top 100 and the follow up, Contact, in ‘69.  They toured to support Contact and recorded another album in 1970, but it was shelved when Kapp was devoured by MCA.  This third record would eventually be released as Garden in 1998.  The band dissolved as a result of Kapp folding and lay dormant for the next twenty-five years.

The Apples were brought back to life in 1994 when a German label TRC began issuing bootlegs of their first two records, causing a long-awaited rebirth of interest in their music.  The original records eventually were officially reissued, they toured (Coxe and a multi-instrumentalist named Xian Hawkins), and released several singles and albums in the late 90s that received favorable press.  In 1999 their tour van was involved in an accident that broke Simeon’s neck.  He’s been recovering since, but will probably never fully recover the movement of his hands, so apparently his performance is a bit more direct now.  Danny Taylor died of a heart attack in Kingston, New York in 2005.  Simeon went back on the road as a solo version of the Silver Apples in 2007 and is supposed to still put on a good show. 

This music must have been totally unpalatable in the late 60s, but it absolutely presaged the future of music and the advent of electronic music, from bands like Suicide and Kraftwork in the 70s to Detroit to Radiohead.

Oscillations:

I Don’t Care What the People Say:

From Pitchfork:  Better bring some extra cash to these shows, as Mr. Silver Apples will be peddling both a tour-only ChickenCoop Recordings LP of remastered tunes entitled Selections and a new Gifted Children Records EP called Gremlins at the merch table.

By Max Conroy

On Wednesday night, Donita Sparks and her band the Stellar Moments performed at the Magic Stick.  They were great.  Unfortunately, there had to have been less than fifty people there, even thought it was a featured event in most Detroit entertainment papers.  It’s a bummer, but those are the breaks; hopefully the turnout in Detroit wasn’t indicative of the turnout for the entire tour. 

Observing this band from a slight distance makes me like them all that much more.  They all hung out in the bar before the show and seemed approachable and even goofy.  I’ve been burning the candle at both ends lately and had a chest cold, in the middle of a heat wave, the night of the show, so I opted not to speak to anyone other than Cousin Justin, and I could hardly understand what he was saying half of the time.  Most of the band also made it a point to watch the young opening acts, and were very supportive of them.  This shows a lot of empathy and character because there is nothing more disrespectful or arrogant than not paying any attention to your opening acts.  The Stellar Moments also tuned their own instruments and did the sound check; to save costs I’m sure, but the overall sound of the show only benefitted from this simple act. 

They played a full hour set and did an encore.  The set consisted of the entire Transmiticate album and three L7 tunes.  Donita has still got it to be sure and was all over the stage shaking her ass, blonde hair a blur, gold tooth shining in the lights.  Allan the Italian was a perfect lead accompaniment to Donita and Logan’s rhythm guitar.  Dee Plakas created a driving train of sound while Dat No (probably spelled wrong) carried the rhythm.  Donita declared that the crowd was tiny, but mighty.  Everyone there loved it and was dancing instead of head banging, as Donita predicted in the interview that I did with her.  Should have been there, man.  You missed out on this one. 

I’m posting a couple of tracks from the show.  Again, a Digital Voice Recorder that has a built in mic was used, so this is hardly representative of what the show actually sounded like; the vocals were much more prevalent at the show.

Pretend We’re Dead:

Headcheck:

By Cousin Geoff 

Aaron Timlin, executive director of CAID, is planning a 192 hour dance-in to protest the unnecessary force Detroit Police used to break up a recent after-hours funk dance party.  John Sinclair would be proud. 

A dance protest seems like no big deal, except that the Detroit Police told them that they needed a permit to dance, and this was one of the things they got ticketed for. Timlin was quoted in the above mention freep article saying, “We’re standing up for what we believe in.  We’d prefer that the police come dance with us.”  Translation: screw you and your laws, we’re dancing, come and stop us.  Totally a page from Sinclair, who once stated that authority figures have no right infringing on the people’s consciousness.

This has gotten a huge amount of attention, with the freep spinning it in favor of Timlin and those who were ticketed at the party.  The comments section on both articles in the freep have a ton of responses, with people taking both sides.  My initial reaction was that this was totally uncalled for, but now I am starting to see it from the DPD’s perspective.  If the police gave the art establishment a fair warning in advance, and they still broke the law, they had every right to crack down - just maybe not with so much force and intensity. 

But let’s break this down a bit further.  Had this been a mostly black party or a gay club illegally serving alcohol after hours, would there have been this much fuss made?  Or did the police treat these white suburbanite hipsters like they would anyone else? 

I am very interested in seeing how the police respond to this act of civil disobedience.  Do they let ’em dance, or will they show these hipsters who runs things in Detroit? 

Maybe Timlin should hand this 45 to the DJ and see where it takes everything:

By Max Conroy  

The co-founder of the great all girl rock/metal/punk/raunch band L7, Donita Sparks, has just released her first solo record since the band’s break up eight years ago.  The amount of time between break up and solo effort might make some fans a bit skeptical as to the quality of her new material, but a lot has happened to the music industry in the past eight years, and it’s a lot more difficult to make a record these days when it’s on the artist’s dime.  Allow me to assuage any trepidation that you might have regarding this record because of how long ago 2000 seems.

I first heard that Donita Sparks and her new band the Stellar Moments were releasing a record not by Mojo or Pitchfork, but on Fresh Air with Terry Gross.  The review was by Ken Tucker, their music critic, whose reviews I greatly admire.   

I hadn’t thought about L7 for awhile, but they definitely have a place in my subconscious.  Bricks Are Heavy and Hungry for Stink are several albums that came out at that magical time for me, where development goes into overdrive and everything was confusing, troubling and magical; the junior high, early high school years.  They were big players in that soundtrack of those awesome, yet horrible times for me and most people that I can relate to now whether they realize it or not.  For example: a couple of years ago, I met a new friend and we were hanging out at his place; he was into psychobilly music and I was into protopunk at the time; the first record he put on was Bricks Are Heavy and it was the perfect choice…we both knew that we had a lot in common at that point.   

Natural Born Killers was also a polarizing experience for me when it came out; looking back on it, it seems like the A Clockwork Orange of my generation.  I can remember smoking weed out of a pop can with my two best friends on an outcropping in front of the movie theater before attempting to sneak into the film because we were underage.  Shitlist is still my favorite song on that soundtrack and the scene where Juliette Lewis puts the coin in the juke box and slices up that redneck while it plays, the most memorable in the film.

I also was lucky enough to have seen L7 on the ‘94 Lollapalooza tour at Pine Knob in Detroit when I was fourteen.  I was lucky enough to have some college-age neighbors that I grew up with who knew I was into music heavy.  When L7 went on early in the day, I remember looking to my friends and saying, “Those are some crusty bitches.  I wouldn’t mess with them.”  And that’s been my impression of them ever since; intimidation based on their hardcore stage presence.

Nostalgia in art and literature is regarded as something to be avoided at all costs.  I guess that it kills the ability to think in the present and clouds memories in a grotesque rosy hue.  But I’m a nostalgic person at times and all of this history came back to me as Terry Gross’ intro faded and the first notes of Need to Numb came through my speakers.  I had to stop what I was doing and listen.  It’s a straight ahead NY Dolls style rocker that convinced me right there before the review even began that this record has to be good.  Tucker’s review was laudatory and included clips of Creampuff, a take on the 60s girl group sound, and He’s Got the Honey, probably the most commercial song on the album; a good overview of the record.

A little while later, I acquired Transmiticate (the album title is a made-up word, combining transmit and communicate) and am quite impressed by it.  Make no mistake, it’s a departure from L7, but the evolved sound is an appropriate balance of maturity and the best of what L7 had to offer: fuzz and great hooks.  The album incorporates modern electronic effects, particularly on layered backing vocals, and the classic human/band feel beautifully.  The production by Ethan Allan is par excellance and the drums played by Dee Plakas, the only other member of L7 on the record, are fantastic, tight and big. The record successfully jumps tempos throughout and ends with a ballstothewall rocker, Into the Hi Fi.  If you are looking for new music that’s provocative, a fan of L7, or interested in supporting people out there that still give a damn about rock and roll, you should find this record.

A few weeks after hearing the review of Transmiticate on Fresh Air, I was presented with the opportunity to interview Donita in conjunction with her show here at the Magic Stick on June 11th.  I jumped at the chance, but was a bit cautious based on my teenage impression of L7.  I did some research and watched some interviews that she’s done recently and was happy to learn that she’s a seemingly normal person that probably wouldn’t put me on her shitlist and knock my teeth out if I mumbled the wrong question. 

Here’s my stellar moment with Donita Sparks…

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By Cousin Justin

I started the day yesterday by putting on one of  my favorite shirts, an original  Wu-Wear T-shirt that I got in High School.  You see I am a huge Wu-Tang mark since 36 chambers dropped.  Good albums have been few and far between over the last few years.  That was until Ghostface dropped Fishscale.  I dug that album more than any Wu joint in a long time.  Normally a rap skit is a good oppurtunity to skip to the next track, but the Bad Mouth Kid Skit on Fish Scale starts by Ghost saying “that’s soul right there, don’t touch that radio” in the background a dope ass song is playing that the foul mouthed kid insists on changing, much to the chagrin of ghost.  As soon as I heard the song in the background I used my little Google fingers to try and find out what the fuck it was.  I was unsuccessful and this has been one of those musical obsessions for the last 2 years.  So when I started the day I had no idea my wardrobe decision would have any affect on the cosmos.  Max was comming over later in the evening to hang out and to take a trip to the Record Collector in Ferndale.  I went through the Soul section and picked out a few Soul, Funk, and Disco albums.  One that stood out was the Brother To Brother album.  I took it to the listening station and dropped it on the second track, something I never do, and there it was, the song I have looked for for 2 years.  Needless to say I was pumped.  To keep the karma going, Max and I ended the night with a screening of the underrated Ghost Dog.

Brother To Brother-Vibrations

Syl Johson moved to Chicago at an early age and wound up as Magic Sam’s next door neighbor, as Syl’s brother was Sam’s bass player.  Syl learned to pick the guitar hanging around the west-side Chicago legends and also played a mean harmonica, even briefly touring with Howlin Wolf.  Syl cut a few sides for Federal and later Twinight/Twilight, but after recording with The Hodges Brothers from the Hi rhythm section in Memphis in 1970, he signed on with Hi.  

Johnson’s first record on Hi was this one, 1973’s Back For a Taste of Your Love.  You can definitely hear the classic Memphis Hi sound, as this was put out right around the time when Al Green was the Hi superstar.  Johnson had a slightly edgier, harder sound than Al Green, though still very much in the same genre.  The track Feelin’ Frisky is a good example.   

by Cousin Geoff

Hamilton Bohannon moved to Detroit in the 60s after Stevie Wonder hired him to be his drummer.  After splitting from Stevie, he capitalized on his bandleading abilites and signed onto Dakar.  Bohannon then put out some incredibly funky dance records in the early to mid 70s, among them this LP titled “Insides Out”.

This was one of the leftovers that I snatched up after it didn’t sell at auction, mainly because it’s on a crazy Korean bootleg label, like the rest of them were (I also took home a Korean pressing of Maggot Brain, so ghetto that it was listed as Funk Adelic on the typewritten label, and filled with misspellings and botched song titles).  But I’ll take this copy of Insides Out until I can upgrade, because it’s a fun, funky, groovy record.  I put it on for the first time while hanging out with my 6 month old daughter, and she bounced and squealed in her Johnny Jump-Up as I played the djembe while the record blasted.  My wife was out so we jammed on and on.  And that is what Bohannon does on this record, he picks up a groove, lays it down and just keeps it going. 

He’s joined by fellow Detroiters LeRoy Emmanuel and Mose Davis of The Counts.  The first side is like one big all-nighter, while the b-side is much more mellow, mostly love songs.  It’s worth it to seek out this album for the a-side though, and you’ll see easily see the inspiration for modern electronic music.  When you’ve got the funk and you’re holding it down, why let go?

Check out Foot-Stompin’ Music (about half of the 7:00 min. + track):

by Max Conroy 

If you refer to my post about the jazz flute, you know that I’m just getting into soul/funk-jazz/fusion.  I’m crazy about the stuff.  It’s also allowed my formerly tepid interest in hip-hip to expand slightly.  It’s like punk rock for me; not the music of course but how I view it.  Some of my favorite music, proto-punk, is the music that led directly to the development of punk rock, but I really don’t like straight punk all that much.  I love the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols, but both bands were badass rock and roll acts before they were punk.  I love all of this music that’s been sampled a ton or could be sampled if it hasn’t but can take or leave the hip-hop that’s made it famous, so far at least.  As my obsession has grown for the (I’ll call it fusion, to incorporate soul/funk-jazz) fusion over the past few weeks, I’ve purchased a shit ton of great records and thank God some of it can be found cheaply. 

I’d heard of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, but that was probably from hearing them mentioned by NPR DJs a split second, before I slammed the radio off in disgust before my appreciation of fusion.  I totally thought that they were venerated by jazzbos and that they were classic bop, but how wrong I was.  Justin hooked me up with a rough copy of the In Crowd, which is apparently an early soul-jazz classic.  After digging the album, I also noticed that reissues of it are advertized in Waxpoetics, and have noticed the record at numerous shops and online.  I thought that the record would be pricey, but since it obviously sold well for a jazz record and was on Chess’ Argo imprint, it’s insanely cheap.  Like you would pay three times what an OG copy would cost to get the reissue.  Dig the ‘In’ Crowd…

I also recently picked up Ramsey Lewis’ Sun Goddess for cheap.  The cover alone is worth the money, but the music could have been sold in a paper bag and it’d still be sweet.  It’s ten years after the In Crowd and the funk had dropped in the meantime, and it’s obvious on this record, that Lewis was hip to it.  Check out Sun Goddess, Livin’ For the City (the S. Wonder jam) and Jungle Strut…

On the Blue side of things; some Blue Note records from the periphery of their dark days can be got fairly cheaply too.  Some of these records sold very well, which makes them easy to find and cheap, but not bad at all.  For instance, Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd (the best selling record in the entire Blue Note catalogue) and Byrd’s Best are about $10 records; the cover of Black Byrd, depicting a black wedding or hoedown of some sort, ca. 1890 is worth it, and the music’s funky as can be, slightly dated, but that’s a large part of the appeal for me.  I recently acquired Grant Green’s Alive! album, which is a live gig recorded in a small club with Idris Muhammad tearing the place up on drums, for $10.  I’m not as much of a purist as the Cousins and will pick up a reissue or a comp here and there, and found a Grant Green record that was part of the Blue Note Breakbeats series for under $10.  Sometimes on these records, as with every record, there are bum tracks, but it seems more common for jazz records to me, so a comp with six of the most notable tracks by someone can be a good thing.  But I don’t necessarily think that’s true for Grant Green; I’m willing to bet that anything he did in ‘70 and ‘71 with Idris Muhammad on drums is good throughout.  Ronnie Laws‘ Pressure Sensitive must have also sold a shitload because it’s everywhere and it’s cheap.  One of my dad’s buddies gave me his record collection when I was about fifteen.  There were about fifty or so records, all early 70s stoner rock…and Pressure Sensitive.  It’s like the fusion Frampton Comes Alive, but way cooler.  Here are Grant Green’s Sookie Sookie (the Don Covay song) and Ronnie Laws’ Nothing to Lose…

by Cousin Justin:

The Dream Girls first released this 45 on the Twirl record label that was owned by Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik. Harry Balk was a Detroit movie theater owner that ran talent shows during down times. Harry used the pseudonym Tom King for his writing credits. Harry and Irving started the label to release Johnny & The Hurricanes hit “Crossfire”. Twirl was a conduit for Detroit talent to sign with the New York Big Top label as Embee Productions. The biggest act to come out of this partnership was Del Shannon. While the other credited songwriter on both sides is Edwin Harrell, BMI has the other credited Songwriter of “Don’t Break My Heart” as Johnny “Paris” Pocisk of the Hurricanes. Cameo-Parkway has had a long history of breaking Detroit acts nationally Including Bob Seger, The Rationals, and ? & The Mysterians. When Johnny & The Hurricanes “Crossfire” And “Red River Rock” hit the national charts they appeared on Dick Clark’s T.V. show out of Philadelphia. Bernie Lowe was the owner of Cameo-Parkway and used the local Dick Clark show to break his own talent and get new talent. The Hurricanes already had a distrubution deal with Warwick.  Cameo undoubtadly wanted a chance to get another teen driven act in the roster. The catalogue # on the Twirl press is 1002, which indicates it was the follow up 45 to “Crossfire”. Was the 45 merely a vehicle for the Hurricanes to get another deal?  It could explain the Edwin Harrell songwritng credit. This relationship must not have lasted long as Don’t Break My Heart was released in 1960 with “I Could Write A Book” as the flip. This may have been the first Embee produced song to land on Big Top.  The Detroit-Cameo Garage Rock connection could be traced more to Terry Knight & The Pack and the Lucky Eleven label, also started in 1959……..

If Johnny Paris was the other Songwriter on these songs, the sax solo makes sense. Whether the Hurricanes are the backing group I have no idea. On the Johnny and the Hurricanes site it does state they played behind them a lot.

This down tempo track did not make it to the Big Top release

BID ON THE 45 HERE!

by Cousin Geoff: 

Detroit’s Roostertail Club, overlooking Lake St. Clair and Belle Isle on the upper turn of the Detroit river racetrack, was established in 1958 by Joe Schoenith.  The club was super hot in the 60s where garage bands and soul groups would play to crazed, dancing young hipsters, and quickly became one of the most well-known and exciting places to be.  The Roostertail hosted such performers as Tony Bennett, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, local soul and garage acts who were making a splash on the national scene, and all the big Motown groups.

The Four Tops recorded a legendary live album there in 1966 in the new glassed-out upper deck, but they weren’t the first band to grace the new digs.  That honor would go to the garage/house band The Four Sharps, who put out their lone single on Gale Recording Enterprises in 1965.  Soul singer DeAnne James recalls the Four Sharps, (via this Soulful Detroit thread):

“The first band in the upper deck was the Four Sharps’ Russ on guitar, Frank Bias on drums, Ronnie Godo on organ and I can’t remember the bass player. I was the feature vocalist (DeAnne James). that was the summer of 1965. We traveled to Chicago to find a replacement band and found a trio playing at a record hop in the suburbs. Tom and Jerry Schoenoff paid for the trip to find the trio. The Roostertail was only a couple miles from where I lived and the brothers treated me great. The place was beautiful. I have great memories of the Roostertail…”

Following this someone mentions that they have the 45, U-44/Doin’ The Roostertail, on Gale Recording Enterprises, and the songwriting credit is given to R. Sweets.  She replies:

“That’s Russ Sweets. My goodness I sang backgound on u-44….”u-40 forty four.” I think that was the number of the race boat that Jerry Schoenoff (owner) raced in the Hydroplane races during the 60’s. Gale was the name of the corporation that started the Roostertail. The father of the twins owned Gale Electric…that was the money source I believe. You guys are incredible.”

I was also excited to read in the thread someone else thanking the owner of the 45 for providing info on a virtually unknown label and record.  Luckily I was able to find a copy to be able to share with you.

listen to Doin’ The Roostertail:

by Cousin Geoff: 

FINALLY! Monday is Opening Day for the Tigers.  How sweet are we going to be this year?  Will this be the most potent offense ever assembled?  Here are some Tigers songs from their championship years to fire you up even more!

I just found this one.  It’s from ‘84, set to the tune of Thriller, by Tom Paul.

listen to Tiger Thriller:

Another from ‘84, it’s Gino Danelli with the song Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now/Tigers.  Stay tuned for another great track by Gino coming up soon about Thomas Hearns.

listen to Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now/Tigers:

Here’s another one I just found, from ‘84, The Sun Messengers - Tiger Dynasty:

Also from ‘84 is the song Bless You Boys, I don’t have it but you can listen here.

Now we go back to ‘68 and the song Go Get ‘em Tigers by Artie Fields, off the Year of The Tiger album.

listen to Go Get ‘em Tigers:

From the Detroit sound label comes the York Mills Trio’s Sockit To ‘Em Tigers

And just for fun, check out 31 game winner and jazz organ hipster Denny McLain, doing the song For Me off his Denny McLain at the Organ LP.  Not bad - what can you play Verlander?

How excited am I?  Let me say that if the Tigers win the World Series this year, I’ll bring back my Todd Jones stache that I had last summer for an hour after I shaved my beard.  I’ll rock it for a week. 

by Max Conroy: 

It doesn’t sound like it’d be all that great, hanging out at an Elks lodge on a Friday night, but it’s not at all what you’d expect.  This place is sweet, positively the coolest bar, club, venue, night spot I’ve been to since I’ve moved to Ann Arbor.  There may be better places to go in this area, but I can’t imagine it.

My friend rents a huge house from the Elks.  It’s on a hill overlooking the city; it’s large, seemingly affordable, and right next to the lodge.  We ate dinner at her place and had a few beers, we’d already been at the Old Town for a good number of rounds, and she proposed that we should go the Elks for a beer.  I was down.  I mean shooting the shit with a bunch of older dudes in funny hats sounds like a good time to me, but I was not prepared for this place.

It’s an old school black Elks lodge, patronized by a bunch of real nice fun loving, soulful dudes.  The bar is downstairs and the rules for the guests are posted on a huge sign on the ceiling of the stairway as you enter, gents must remove their hats upon entering.  I guess it’s a three dollar cover, but we got by because we know their tenant.  The ambiance of the place is enough to make it a cool spot: salmon colored walls, orange vinyl booths, a dark cavernous feel, a vintage bar, and a cozy dance floor packed with hipsters.  Heinekens are three bucks and the DJ spins old and new soul, funk and hip hop; it was great to hear Sharon Jones’ What Have You Done for Me Lately blaring through the place followed by James Brown’s Sex Machine.  It’s a shame that I don’t dance or if I do I have to be in a state where I can’t possibly remember it.  I held down the booth and sipped my Heineken while my people hit the dance floor, digging the scene, choking on smoke, loving watching the Elks get down, hanging out and serving drinks.  As we left, they were closing the doors presumably because the place was to capacity, so get there before one AM.  I’ll definitely be coming back to this place.

The Elk’s lodge also has live jazz on Mondays and Tuesdays and is open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays to swing from the rafters.  I also believe that they host barbecues, which I’d love to check out.

Justin is getting ready to release an absolute monster batch of old school rap LPs and 12″s.  Look for them to go up today or Monday.  Some really rare stuff will be in there.

****JUST LISTED****

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We’ve never had a batch of old school hip hop like this, EVER.  Included is some extremely rare Detroit old school, private pressings, test pressings, rare versions, funky, booty, soul, an absolute DJ’s treasure.  Some of these I know we’ll never come across again.

And all this came as I’ve really been into XM’s Channel 65 The Rhyme, which is classic and old school hip hop.  I was pretty much drooling over the collection, as was Justin, but we did our best to restrain ourselves as we’ve dumped a little bit of cash to aquire this.  The whole collection came from an old Detroit DJ and producer, who brought it in little by little over the past week.  Justin has been listing like crazy - I think there are close to 500 listings.

God bless him, Cousins Justin worked his ass off and put up almost 400 45s off a collection he bought recently.  A real solid batch, it features soul to modern soul in real nice condition.  Here are some that intersted me on first glance:

This just looks sweet.  It’s on Bang - Justin claims it kicks ass.

Billy Lamont - Girls Girls Girl/Shake and Jerk

This cool janitor I used to work with used to ask me all the time if we had any Willie Hutch.  I wan’t hip to Willie Hutch, but I figured he must be sweet with a name like Willie Hutch.  This title has to be good.

Willie Hutch - What You Going To Do After The Part

Bill Withers, on Sussex, one of my favorite labels.  Sussex put out some great stuff - catchy funk and soul.  Lean On Me is one of those songs you just gotta have.

Bill Withers - Lean On Me

Justin, is this any good?  I’m extremely interested - on a Detroit label I’ve never seen, last name the same as mine, great title.

Carol Anderson - Party People

This looks really promising.

Jimmy Delphs - Do You Know What I Mean

So does this.

Jimmy Scott - Don’t Stop

Well, I’m going to stop here.  But I encourage you to go exploring because there’s a ton more cool Detroit stuff and a bunch more classic mod soul and other more obscure hidden gems.  This is a much better batch than I realized.  I gave Justin this lead and he sounded kind of excited but not like jumping out of his pants or anything after he bought the collection.  After looking this over, it’s good.  The condition is excellent too.  If you’re hunting, browse around and take some chances here - I think you’ll get some good deals.  We don’t really know what’s what - like always, it just goes off starting at $7.50.