Bellmore-A-Thon – Bellmore Herald (12/6/01)

I like the caption under Joe's photo. It says he donned "his best Elvis wig". He wasn't wearing a wig.

Bellmore-A-Thon (11/10/01)

In response to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Jim Muscarella (Hi-Tide Pictures) organized Bellmore-A-Thon – a music festival benefit featuring Bellmore bands. Being that there were no longer music venues in Bellmore it was held at the Wrong Way Inn in Amityville. All proceeds were donated to the Community Wellness Council of the Bellmores and Merricks, Inc. to help aid the families affected by the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. We also filmed the event as a potential story line for the Bellmore documentary. But the show was plagued with poor sound and technical difficulties so it didn't make the cut – though I doubt it would've even if it came out great. The subject matter is just too overwhelming and would've gotten in the way of the Bellmore story. The events of 9/11 did sneak into the final cut, but only briefly. We did, however, include it in the DVD extras. The clip includes "Say It In..." by Earl Pickens and the Black Mountain Marauders, and "Voices" by Eggplant Queens. Also, providing commentary on the bands, not the event, is John Blenn (Editor-In-Chief of L.I. Entertainment newspaper). Here it is... Heston Rifle kicked off the show. Only one person in the band was from Bellmore (the guitarist on the left). They were also an unknown band within the "unscene". I questioned Jim's decision to include them since they weren't one of the bands we were profiling for the documentary. I forget his reasoning but I remember him having one. Anyway, I quite liked them. They reminded me of Mogwai a little. Heston Rifle - "Tris Babollsa" Then it was the debut and farewell show of Jagunda – my band. We were a tad bit too loud so the audio is horrible. But it didn't have to be. You can manually adjust the sound level on a DV camera. My excuse...this was the second show I filmed using my newly purchased camera so I still didn't know how to operate it. Not sure what Pat's excuse was? Jagunda - "Me & My Ego" As if the show wasn't plagued with enough technical difficulties... Kevin broke a bass string after the first chorus of "Chill Out". Seriously?! When does that ever happen?!! Bass strings never break!!! Joe quickly compensated and vocally sang Kevin's bass line and we all stumbled back in. What a mess. (Daveman, Eric Hoffman and Jon Weinstein also add some commentary on this one)... Jagunda - "Chill Out" We initially billed Whatsoever to play the show but they were pretty much broken up at that point so Clubbin' Eddie stepped in. Scott Buscavage and Steve Johnson from Whatsoever were also in Clubbin' Eddie so it was pretty much the same thing. On bass is Bellmor-ite Paulie V (Vacca?) on bass and vocalist/guitarist Willy (?) from Wantaugh. Clubbin' Eddie - "Opportunities" Clubbin' Eddie - "Clubbin' Eddie" Then Jon Weinstein bum rushed the stage for a surprise impromptu Bionic Liver performance... Bionic Liver - "Young Girls" Then Earl Pickens and the Black Mountain Marauders took the stage. For this gig Earl decided to bring only the Bellmore section of his band – rightfully so. This was the first time much of the audience had witnessed Earl's show and he definitely won them over. Earl Pickens - "I'm On Fire" (Bruce Springsteen cover) Earl Pickens - "Wondering Where You Are" I'm including this next song not because it's a great performance but for it's historic significance. "Lonely Song" was written by Joe Kollar back in The Intellectuals days – which was also Earl's...I mean Billy's first band. Earl Pickens - "Lonely Song" Earl Pickens - "Midnight/High Noon" Earl Pickens - "We're An American Band" (Grand Funk Railroad cover) Earl Pickens is a tough act to follow. Only a complete 180˚ act could compete. Luckily, Eggplant Queens is a complete 180˚. Mike Walch, Daveman and Steve Johnson provide a little commentary before this next one... Eggplant Queens - "Rock Out" Eggplant Queens - "Old Man Joe" Eggplant Queens - "Don't Do That" Eggplant Queens - "Drugs" Eggplant Queens - "Rotting Decay" Too many people to tag everyone. Blogger only allows 200 characters.

Jagunda (2001-2002)

I had been playing improvised music with ambibat and FrankenHöff since 1996 and I was jonesing to rock out again. So I wrote a few songs and enlisted some friends to help record them. I originally asked Hoff and Deluca, since we all lived in the city, but it was proving difficult to pin down one of them so I let it go – I had kind of assumed they came as a package deal...being Earl's rhythm section and all. Some time passed and I floated it by Jim Burns, Kevin Purcell and Joe Kollar. They were more receptive to the idea.

At first I was entertaining having two basses (Jim had been dabbling with the bass), but I still didn't have a drummer. Jim stepped up and said he'd give it a go. As long as I've known Jim he's always been playing drums on everything around him (ie: school desk, his knees, steering wheel), but I've never actually seen him behind a kit. Even when we were in the Barking Spiders I never really saw him behind the drumset...at least not seriously. But he wailed.

We narrowed down my potential songs and worked on four of them. Joe made it clear from the beginning that he didn't care for the style of music but he was still on board. I appreciated his candor and his willingness to play. His contribution was solid and he added a part to "Chill Out" which definitely elevated the song.

The guys also decided to use stage names for the project – they had their street cred to protect. So I used my Franklin Mint handle which Kevin gave me many moons ago.

Here we are practicing at Not Saved's studio on 9/10/01 – the day before all hell broke loose…

"Chill Out"


"Happy Birthday"


"2099"


When I felt comfortable we had the songs down pat I booked some studio time.

Here's what we captured...

[DOWNLOAD] Jagunda (2001-2002)
1- 2099
2- Me & My Ego
3- Chill Out
4- Happy Birthday
5- Surfin'


After recording the four songs I asked the guys to improvise something in the key of "E" – before dismantling our gear. Joe doesn't do the improv thing so he packed up while Kev, Jim and I went nuts. I overdubbed a bunch of guitars and actually made a song out of it. To me it had a Butthole Surfers vibe so I called it "Surfin'". In fact, I liked it enough to make into a video back in '04... starring Dick Van Patten!



Here's another video I made using clips from movies and television for "2009"...



I'm very happy with the Jagunda recording and still listen to it today – but I'm a little biased. I would've liked for it to become a real band but everyone went into it as a project so I didn't push it – I saw how far that got Bionic Liver. We did play live once for the Bellmore-A-Thon (which I'll get to at a later date), to make it legit, but that was it.

Thanks Ralph Pepper, Nolandus Cleveland and Sir Foggy Mirror for helping me rock out again.