Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

The third in the ongoing series of previews of the bands playing at Club Congress's 20th Anniversary.

Dog and Pony Show: Short lived band that spawned Creosote and also included one member of the Friends of Dean Martinez.

Doo Rag: Odd ball duo that included Bob Log III. They had a sound that reminded me of the more frenetic songs by Wall of Voodoo. They had a national following, boosted by the chum that they sold at shows that included tooth brushes and various other kinds of toys. This stuff was found in the houses of all of my hipper friends.

One fan of the band in its heyday was fellow traveller Beck, and they had opened up for fellow eccentrics Ween.

I dragged Juan Camacho to one of their shows. He couldn't stand them.

The Drakes: Gene Ruley felt artistically stiffled by the River Roses and Phantom Limbs, both folk-rock inspired quartets. So, he formed the Drakes, a folk-rock inspired qunitet.

The Drakes had some measure of success. They had one single played on KFMA, back in the days when it was actually a local station and not KRQ with a different playlist. The line-up included former Bullhorn frontman Tom Stauffer, who writes for the Star now.

Earl's Family Bombers: Their slogan was "Drunk Since Noon." They were loud, obnoxious and their lyrics never rose above the puerile "were drunk and where's the women" level.

They were beautiful.

One of their early shows was in the Student Union Cellar, which with the new corporate shopping mall theme of that building, I'm sure no longer exists. It was rather easy for them to get booked, since Paula Needer, the woman that did such things, shared an office with Earl's guitarist Roger Shaide, who was the music director of KAMP. The "Eat to the Beat" shows in the cellar went from 11 AM to 1PM and the band was worried that they wouldn't be able to wake up on time. So, Ricky DiLeo and crew snuck in late the night before, brought their sleeping bags and slept on the stage. They set the alarm clock for 11. When it rang, they woke up and played in their pajamas.

They opened for the Dead Milkmen at Mudbuggs (it's where the Rock is now.) One of the band members, probably Nate Bentley, found a set of half a dozen U of A marching band uniforms from the 1940's. They wore them on stage.

Their most memorable song was "Another Sh*tty Morning." This was helpfully released on a 7" single.

I think Todd Pearson was a member too, he's been in just about every other band in town, so why not?

Four Killer Flats: An alt-country band that isn't full of itself! Or wasn't. I thought I just hadn't caught any of their shows for a while, turns out they broke up a year and a half ago. This is what happens when you don't keep up. I thought that this band would surely get some level of national success. Wasn't to be though. Their reunion will definitely be worth checking out.


Do zobaczenia. Hasta la proxima.