I Don't Feel Like It

 And I don't have to.

I got an extra night off from work tonight because the census is way down due to the COVID 19. (it's the very end of April 2020 while I type this)

Nobody wants to go to the hospital in the middle of a pandemic unless they absolutely have to. Plus the OR is pretty dead. They're only really doing emergency surgeries and a few transplants as organs become available.

I'm Ok with it. I have plenty of PTO to use and I'm thinking of it as a mental health day.

Here's a couple of obscure singles for your mental health there in the future.

Tonnage (1993)


Kimbashing were from Philadephia, PA
Middle 90s Indie Rock.

You know you love it and know quality when you hear it.

The Dignity Workshop (For Two) (1996)

The Man I Fell in Love With were from Kent, Oh

Middle 90s Indie Rock

You love it still and know this is quality.

2

Yeah.

New post. Same 5lb bag.

2 (1982)

It apparently took 6 years and a whole lot of whatever before 15.60.75 released their sophomore effort imaginatively entitled "2". 

This one is a studio effort and follows along a progression from the previous Lp. 

I'm still kind of digesting this one. I haven't had it super long, but it's definitely one that's got some songs that stick. ("Summer Fever" and a dissection of Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise" come to immediate mind)

And as the days flow into summer, I can see this record making its way onto my listening for long bike rides should I get off my lazy ass this season and start biking to work again.

I'll probably still listen to it anyway.

Well That Was Fun. Now Back to Business as Usual or Something.

You're back.

Or maybe you never actually left or maybe you've found yourself here for the  very first time.

Doesn't matter. You're here now.

Jimmy Bell's Still in Town (1976)

For a few years I was Facebook "friends" with the late Ralph Carney who among a lot of things was in the Akron band Tin Huey. One of the cool things I got from this online "friendship" was an exposure to a number of Ohio related things that I wasn't aware of. This was easily the best. An album by a band called 15.60.75 or more affectionately known as the Numbers Band.

I had no idea that this existed and even if you'd told me it did I would probably have dismissed it as something I wouldn't like without even bothering to give it a try. I would have been very very wrong. I fucking love this record and I can't even explain why. Hell, I kind of stumble around trying to explain what they sound like to people. They're kind of like an avant-garde version of a Bar Blues band like they'd spent just as much time listening to Captain Beefheart and Albert Ayler as T-Bone Walker. The songs hit a groove, there's some low key vocals and it just runs on relentlessly. It's a fucking monster Lp and so oddly compelling listening that I'm having a hard time typing because I'm listening to it again in the headphones.

Here's a video clip of them playing the title track live in 1976. (And that's Chrissy Hynde's brother Terry on the saxophone. I like his band better than hers.)

There's a great and informative post on this blog about the trials and tribulations that went into actually making the record. the tl:dr is that it took three tries 1) show cancelled 2) the recording engineer fucked it up (the bonus track "Drive" is from this tape)  and finally 3) they recorded live in front of an initially indifferent crown opening for Bob Marley. Bob Marley. 1975. In a club in the middle of Ohio long before generations of pot smoking frat boys and Trustifarians ruined his music for fucking everyone.

So there it was. The album existed and came and went and was all but forgotten until 2013 when Exit Stencil put out a "deluxe" reissue with three bonus tracks as a double lp experience that took me a little while to track down a copy before I knew about Discogs and with a few record store people looking at me blankly.

So I present it here. Your mileage is certainly going to vary. But I really dig the fuck out of this one.

Round on Both Ends and Hi in the Middle

I  have no time or patience for this right now, but time and progress must march forward...


Two items from the state of Ohio.

I think I've made myself pretty clear on that previously.

Circle A Indicator (1997)

Harriet the Spy.
Emo-ish band from Kent, Ohio.
I don't hold it against them.
They probably need a hug anyway.

That wasn't a haiku.


They are defunct
and haven't even looked at their FB page in a couple of years

I Keep a Close Watch (1978)

Nearly twenty years previous and nearly as emotional Harvey Gold released this tidbit on Clone Records. He's best known for being in Akron legends Tin Huey.

It's a cover of a really lovely John Cale tune that is easily as good as any of a million overly covered tunes you can name.

The other side is a bit stranger.
There's a bridge where the lyrics are:

...Billy get off the toilet
    be a singer (x3)
    just like your father..."


You can take that as a recommendation.