Sunday, January 09, 2011

The Rudements Cont.

Very interesting month, weeks , days.
Keeping track on all the moving parts is challenging.
Crazy surprises seem to come more often now.
Does anyone else feel things have quickened ... ?

Cold days , snow still on the ground and it was pelting down on way home from Studio last night.
Last week there was a flurry of activity around the first group Tim Cornish and i had formed back in N Va.- The Rudements -
it may come to pass that "Imagination" may just turn up on a UK compilation in the not so distant future ...
1977 -78 The Rudements worked out of bassist Bruce Blumberg's home in Vienna Virginia, took over space in his basement and out up plastic sheets we had gleefully spray bombed.
We were all at the same High School, Oakton High where I had known Tim as one of the more musically accomplished around.
Tim got Bruce B in on bass and with myself on primitive drums and vocals, we began to jam on songs whenever we got the chance.
We had been buying our records at Penquin Feather in Vienna, listening to Patti Smith, Television and The Voidoids.
So in 1977, The Slickee Boys invited us to play at the new venue in DC - The Atlantic Club (later The 9:30 ) - and we promptly got 'banned' after our first show.
Maybe we didn't attract the right drinking crowd- or any 'crowd' that night !
We did however, record our set at The Psychedeli and also had Don Zientara ask to record us at his new Studio , Inner Ear ...
minutes before DC Hardcore groups got in there !

One track from The Psychedeli recording was "Imagination" was included on Skip Groff's Limp Records Compilation
"30 Seconds Over DC" in 1978 along with The Slickee Boys, 1/2 Japanese, The Nurses and The Penetrators.
"30 Seconds..." went through three pressings, then got a proper rerelease in 2004 by Henry Rollins and Ian Mackaye on District Line.
"Imagination" was the first song I ever wrote.
Can remember sitting and working on the lyrics ...

I would have liked The Rudements to come up to NYC , but it wasn't in the cards.
So i moved on up to the city that spring of 1978 after a couple trips reconoitering the NYC situation first ...
The first trip up was direct result of Howard Wuelfing asking me if I would be interested in going up to NYC to interview the singer from Generation X, Mr. Billy Idol for Howard's ' zine.
Cheers Howard !