Jack Talcum Dot Com

The Draco Reptilians @ the Khyber Pass Pub in Philadelpia PA - August 3, 1991. (mp3; 43.8 MB)

The Dead Milkmen performed as The Draco Reptilians at the Khyber Pass Pub (a small bar on 2nd Street in Philly) opening for Ben Vaughn's band, Pink Slip Daddy. We used this occassion to test out a new set of songs which would eventually comprise most of the 'Soul Rotation' album. This was before we went into the studio to record these songs, so some of the arrangements are slightly different than the album versions. This is the only time that I can remember the DM performing an entire set of new material (besides our first ever show, of course).

The Dead Milkmen Interviewed by Scary Mary and Fred from WBGU-FM, backstage in Ann Arbor MI - March 6, 1989. (mp3; 10.1 MB)

A couple of college radio DJs from Bowling Green University in Ohio came backstage with a cassette tape recorder to capture some "station IDs" and a short interview to be aired on their station later. This is the 'unedited' version. On the other side of the tape that they sent us is the feature that aired which has snippets of this interview interspersed with songs from our albums. (Fred later found some fame as Wred Fright, the singer-songwriter and novelist and is now a member of the faculty of Ursuline College. Scary Mary is now a blogging under the name Groovymarlin.) I was going by the name Jasper Thread at the time.

Touch Me Zoo - Live at the Khyber, Philadelphia, PA - 1994. (mp3; 17.8 MB)

This was an early Touch Me Zoo show as a four-piece band, and it was our first appearance of many at the Khyber Pub in the Old City section of Philadelphia. If my memory serves me right, we opened for K. McCarty (of Glass Eye) on this date. This is a cheap, hand-held cassette recorder recording. The tape ended before the end of the set, so you miss one and a half songs.

Here is the set list:

Bagel What (sound check)
Drug Sniffin Dog
Pop Song '92
Snot
Happy in Heaven
Icky Love
Happy Birthday
Zachary's Car
Wasted By The Pool
Let's Play With Mustard
Call Me Back (tape ends)

Touch Me Zoo at the time was Seven Morris, John Sokolis, Brian Sprenger, and me.

Dead Milkmen - Rehearsal, Philadelphia, PA - 1991. (zip file of mp3s; 48.9 MB)

My good pal Seven Morris digitized this month's bootleg, and broke it into 35 sections. Download all of the tracks in one zip file from the link above.

This is a peek behind the scenes, during the rehearsals for some works in progress that would become key songs on the Soul Rotation album. This is all from one day of practice. The tape did not run for the entire session, though. It sounds like I was the person who stopped and started the recorder, which was probably a portable Panasonic cassette recorder with a built-in microphone.

Joe Jack Talcum - Live, Philadelphia, PA - December 2, 2004. (mp3, 62.4 MB)

This is a solo, acoustic show - my last of several such shows at South Street's Club 218, recorded from the mixing console. This was a Thursday night show. I hit the stage at around quarter to one and by then had a few beers in me. I remember getting to the club around 10 PM thinking I was right on time, but I was way too early. I was the only person there besides the bartender. What else was there to do but drink?

The set lasts about 54 minutes.

Special thanks to Ed Farrell for booking the show, mixing the sound, and making the recording available.

Dead Milkmen - Live at Abe's Steaks, Philadelphia, PA - March 2, 1985. (mp3, 26.2 MB)

Abe's Steaks was an actual steak shop (meaning Philly cheese steaks, burgers, fries, hoagies, etc.) on 40th Street just south of Market in West Philly that, for a couple years in the mid 1980s, held punk rock shows in the back room. You could get a cheese steak, fries and soda, and see a show for well under ten bucks! This show, one of several the Milkmen played at Abe's, was with other Philly bands: Psychotic Norman, The Johnsons, and The Fabulous Fondas on March 2, 1985. At this time, our first album, Big Lizard In My Backyard, was "in the can" but not yet released. We were just beginning to plan our first U.S. tour.

The set lasts about 45 minutes. The recording was made with a hand-held cassette recorder by a member of the audience.

Set list:
Take Me Apart
Nutrition
Right Wing Pigeons
Violent School
Big Lizard
Lucky
Dean's Dream
Vince Lombardi Service Center
Serrated Edge
VFW
Swordfish
Laundromat Song
Meth
Spit Sink
Bitchin' Camaro
Plum Dumb
Tiny Town
---------
The Fez
Big Time Operator

The Town Managers - Live at a church youth center in Warminster, PA - March 6, 1998. (mp3, 14.7 MB)

Warminster is a suburban town north of the city of Philadelphia near where one of the Town Managers (Brian) grew up. This show was recorded by someone in the audience on a voice-activated cassette recorder in monophonic one-track sound. The Town Managers were Rick Luau (Chris Peelout) on drums and guitar, Frick Jones (Brian Sprenger, now of Kablammo) on bass (set 1) and drums (set 2), and me on guitar (set 1) and bass (set 2). We usually played two sets, and on this occassion we played two very short sets. This was a free, all-ages show with a lot of bands. The performance lasts about 21 minutes.

Ornamental Wigwam - Eardrum Land Sessions Rough Mixes, 1987 (mp3, 11.9 MB)

This dub of rough mixes starts off a little warbly. But, stick with it. The warble doesn't last. These three Ornamental Wigwam songs were recorded at Eardrum Land by Andy Bresnan and Chris Unrath. The first song is called Er Bits Du. The second song is an early version of Punk Rock Girl. The third, Song No. 15 was picked for inclusion in the You're Soaking In It compilation LP.

Butterfly Joe - Live in Toronto June 10, 2000 (mp3, 47.3 MB)

Recorded direct to mini-disc at Rivioli, Queen St, Toronto, Ontario. We drove straight from Philly for the show. We stayed overnight in Toronto, and drove back to Philadelphia the next day, a Sunday. These are each about twelve hour drives.

Butterfly Joe were:

Andy Bresnan - Accordian, Guitars, Ukulele, Trumpet, Trombone, Ocarina, Recorders
Dean "Clean" Sabatino - Drums, Percussion, Ukulele, Vocals
Joe Quigley - Bass, Vocals
Joe Genaro - Vocals, Guitar

Thanks to Cult Leader Lettuce for transferring the recording to mp3.

Campus Voice Encounter Episode 29 - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 7.51 MB)

Campus Voice Encounter was a syndicated radio show that was distributed on 12-inch vinyl records to subscribing college radio stations. It was a thing of the 80s I suppose. This is a short feature piece on The Dead Milkmen after the release of Eat You Paisley. This was probably from 1987.

Each 12 inch disc contained ten episodes, to be aired daily. Each side contained one week's worth of episodes. The interviews were not all devoted to musical personalities. The week that this episode aired also enjoyed interviews with Brian Bosworth (Football), David Lynch (Movie Director - Blue Velvet), and Stan Lee (Marvel Comics) as well as John Lurie of the Lounge Lizards.

Campus Voice Encounter executive producers were Jim Omastiak and Keith Bellows. The show was produced by Peter Gordon, for Thirsty Ear Communications, Inc., a company that began in 1979 in New York City and lives on today in the form a record label in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Dead Milkmen - Live at Penn State, State College PA, July 12, 1987 (mp3, 30.2 MB)

A daytime, outdoor concert, this was one of the very few Dead Milkmen shows that was cut short. At the very end of 'The Thing That Only Eats Hippies' we were attacked by some theater students throwing raw eggs. One of the eggs managed to hit Dean and he stopped playing. The show was free and open to the public, though it was sponsored by the university and we were being paid to play. Security was lax. (I did not see who threw the eggs. It took us by surprise. However, I learned that the prime egg thrower would later go on to act in the daytime television soap opera All My Children. He also, coincidentally, worked with me in a coffee shop in Philly in the early 90s.)

August 1983 Demo Recordings by Joe Jack Talcum and Dave Blood (mp3, 10 MB)

This tape came to my attention after a shelf came crashing down off my wall a couple days ago. In the process of putting things back in order I came accross a cassette simply labeled 'August Demos'. I popped it in my deck and heard a song I had been wanting to hear for a long time, plus a couple others. These songs were recorded 23 years ago, shortly after the Dead Milkmen became a 'real' band.

Phun is a song that never made it as a Milkmen song, somewhat to my dismay. The lyrics were by Rodney, the music was by Dave and me. I guess it just got lost in the shuffle of all the other songs we had going on at the time. This is the very rough demo that Dave and I recorded shortly after coming up with the music. I don't think any other recording of the song exists. Dave's voice is the first one you hear. The voice asking for the time is Dave's brother, Joe, who was my house-mate at the time.

The next song is a demo by me, on acoustic guitar. The working title of this song was Before You Push The Button but it later became titled Song No. 15 when Dave and I recorded it as Ornamental Wigwam. (It was the 15th song on our first self-titled release.) The Wigwam version is quite different. We slowed it down and Dave added a dreamy repetitive bassline. (You can hear the Wigwam version on the Philly compilation You're Soaking In It and in the audio section of this site under "Ornamental Wigwam Live on Band Wagon".)

The last song is not so much a demo, as I probably never played it for anyone, but rather just a memo to myself. I recorded it shortly after coming up with the music to Rodney's lyrics for Bitchin' Camaro. Rodney wrote the lyrics down on paper and gave them to me. This is something I recorded, as I usually did back then, so that I wouldn't forget how it went. (I always wrote the chord progressions down on paper, but not the rhythm.) It amuses me now that I also bothered to overdub a second guitar. The walking bassline introduction came about later - probably in the very next rehearsal which would have been less than week from the time this was recorded. The spoken imrpov conversation intro in the final version was Rodney's idea and the bassline was Dave's.

Dead Milkmen Live at the Trocadero Philadelphia PA, July 28, 1990 (mp3, 60.1 MB)

This was recorded from the balcony of the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia by David Loundsbury. It is not the complete show, though a good part of it. This filled one side of a cassette. (Part two was not on the other side.) As the radio station dee-jay mentions at the start of the show, this was our homecoming show for the first Metaphysical Graffiti tour of the United States and Canada. We were glad to be home.

Unfinished Song Demo by Dave Blood and Joe Jack Talcum (mp3, 4.4 MB)

This is the only song on a short cassette tape labeled 'Song No. 22' (Talcum - Blood). It is from the same time that KKSuck2 was written (late 1985). I'm not sure if it was meant to be an instrumental or simply was never finished. At any rate, it never made it past this stage as far I can remember. I think this was recorded on Dave's boombox upstairs at the 44th Street apartment.

The Dead Milkmen Live the Roxy, Los Angeles CA, February 13, 1989 (mp3, 63.9 MB)

I'm not sure who recorded this show, or who digitized it. At the time of the show the album Beelzebubba was selling well. Punk Rock Girl was in rotation on MTV. We had a good crowd. Thanks to Cult Leader Lettuce for finding this bootleg and sending it to me. Here is the set list:

Nutrition
I Walk The Thinnest Line
Where The Tarantula Lives
Big Time Operator
My Many Smells
Brat In The Frat
Tiny Town
I Against Osbourne
Take Me To The Specialist
I Am The Walrus
RC's Mom
Smokin' Banana Peels
Stuart
Punk Rock Girl
Serrated Edge
VFW
Ex-Lion Tamer (Wire cover)
Bitchin' Camaro
Surfin' Cow
Swordfish
Bad Party
Ringo Buys a Rifle
Big Lizard
Life Is Shit
Beach Party Vietnam
Two Feet Off The Ground

Solo Acoustic Record Shop Show - Joe Jack Talcum, The Great Escape, Bowling Green, Kentucky, January 26, 2007 (mp3, 24.7 MB)

This short acoustic show was recorded at The Great Escape, a strip mall record store that sells vinyl, cds, dvds, comics, and more. I was under the influence of cough medication for this set. I was feeling a bit under the weather. (Brandon Harrod and Save Macauly the Band also played, but are not in the recording.) The songs are:

Photograph (Jiffy Squid)
Sex Sting (Cheesies)
Dean's Dream (Dead Milkmen)
In Praise of Sha Na Na (Dead Milkmen)
Tiny Town (Dead Milkmen)
Punk Rock Girl (Dead Milkmen)

Thanks to Tyler Franklin for recording this and submitting it.

These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (Guitar Version) (mp3, 3.02 MB)
Unknown Instrumental (mp3, 4.34 MB)
These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (Keys Version) (mp3 3.66 MB)
- (Not Really) The Fresh Breaths, early 2000, home recordings

The Fresh Breaths were Chris Peelout and me on acoustic guitars. We existed after the Town Managers broke up and before the Low Budgets were formed and we played exactly three shows. These songs have nothing to do with acoustic guitars and therefore should not technically be credited to "The Fresh Breaths". However, these recordings were made in that same time span by Chris and me, so what the heck? One word of caution: these are extreme low-fi recordings.

I had a Sony MiniDisc player for a few months in the year 2000. I brought it to Chris's apartment for this session one Friday night. At the time, Chris lived in a second story apartment. We couldn't be too noisy because his landlady lived above him, so we recorded without amps using headphones and effects. These songs were recorded via Tascam cassette 4-track and mixed to two-track on the Sony MiniDisc. I think this was January of 2000, but I'm not entirely certain of the date.

We both played guitars on the first 'Boots' which I sang, and we both played keyboards on the instrumental, and Chris played drum machine and I played keys on the second 'Boots' which Chris sang. ('These Boots Are Made For Walkin' is a cover of a Nancy Sinatra song. It was written by Lee Hazlewood.)

My MiniDisc recorder stopped working sometime in the middle of the year (June). It would not record any new discs and eventually it stopped playing them. (It kept giving me TOC errors.) I decided to give the player and all of my discs to my friend Lettuce Head (a/k/a Cult Leader Lettuce) thinking he might be able to sort it all out. Lettuce claims the MiniDisc player was in fine working condition when he received it via the U.S. Postal Service, but I know for sure it was not working when I shipped it off. Anyway, I let Lettuce keep the MD player and discs, and he transferred some of the discs to mp3 for me, including these songs.

House Party in Allston (Boston) MA, 07-07-2007 - Joe Jack Talcum [abridged] (mp3, 36.1 MB)

This was recorded on a monophonic cassette recorder in a basement on Allston, Massachusetts at a house party during the solo acoustic tour I did with Ukebox. Things were a little slow to start out, but the energy picked up midset and really got crazy by the end. The tape player stopped before the end of the set, though. The songs are:

The Guitar Song
Madonnas Weep
Alcohol
In Praise of Sha Na Na
The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
Big Deal
The Child Molester Song
Fancy Walls - with Justin Bender on ukelele
Sex Sting - with Justin Bender on ukelele
Ask Me Dance - with Justin Bender on ukelele
Methodist Coloring Book - with Justin Bender on ukelele (incomplete)

This set was dedicated to the memory of Scott Robb who passed away on July 2.

My friend Scott Robb passed away in his sleep on Monday, July 2, while I was on tour. (I was playing in Asheville, North Carolina on that day, one of Scott's favorite cities.) Scott was a great guy. He was a bicycle racer who won gold and silver medals and toured the world. He had a great sense of humor and a voracious appetite for music. He turned me on to a lot of great music including Calexico and The Mountain Goats. I will miss him.

Dead Milkmen Rehearsals for Metaphysica Graffiti - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 8.16 MB)

Here is a selection from a rehearsal recorded in 1990 at the Delaware Ave rehearsal spot named 1020 RPM which the Dead Milkmen used. It was located at 1020 N. Delaware Ave (a/k/a Colombus Blvd.) in Philadelphia. The place no longer exists. The building at that address currentlty houses a recording studio and a mastering studio.

Sometime during the rehearsals for the album that would be known as Metaphysical Graffit I brought my Tascam 4-track cassette recorder and recorded some of the rehearsals. These songs were culled form one of those sessions. All were recorded live with no overdubs. The first is a song that never made it to the finished album. I'm not sure why. The second track is one that later evolved into a song on the album name 'Epic Tales of Adventure'. The third track is one of the ad-libs we would eventually refer to as Earls, versions of which would appear on the final album without titles.

You May Have Already Won Ten Million Dollars
Sometimes The Ceiling Drips Blood
One Particular Thursday

Like to Be Alone (Demo) - Joe Jack Talcum (mp3, 4.9 MB)

I recorded this 4-track cassette demo with my good friend Seven (of Touch Me Zoo) back in 1994 as a demo for the Dead Milkmen for the album that would become the final Milkmen studio album 'Stoney's Extra Stout (Pig)'. This track was recorded upstairs in my apartment on Buckingham Place in Philadelphia. The basement of that apartment is where the Dead Milkmen practiced in our later years and where we recorded the band demos for 'Not Richard But Dick'. (The picture inside Stoney's was taken in that basement.) Seven played snare drum and hi-hat and manned the board for this recording.

Live in Providence, Rhode Island at The Living Room, March 17, 1989 - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 64.1 MB)

I'm not sure who taped this show or how a copy of the show came into my possession. The cassette is labeled '3-17-89 Living Room, Providence'. This show did not take place at the current location of the Living Room -- 23 Rathbone Street. But, from what I have read, the stage is exactly the same. I guess they moved the stage itself when they moved the venue. Anyway, we first played The Living Room in 1986 and it became the one venue in Rhode Island we would play regularly for the rest of our touring days. The manager's mom would provide bands with a home-cooked meal, which I remember being something we looked forward to on our New England tours. There was a spacious band room and always plenty of beer. The sound system was good and the sound guys were nice.

It sounds like the person recording the show pushed the pause button a couple of times, perhaps as a way to get the set to fit on one side of a 90-minute cassette. Therefore, some of the songs get cut off. The entire show did not fit. Here are the songs that fit:

Rastabilly
Tiny Town
I Walk The Thinnest Line
Take Me To The Specialist
I Am The Walrus
I Against Osbourne
RCs Mom
Swordfish
Smokin' Banana Peels
Stuart
Punk Rock Girl
Serrated Edge
Ex-Lion Tamer (Wire cover)
Beach Party Vietnam
Everybody's Got Nice Stuff But Me
My Many Smells
Right Wing Pigeons
Bitchin' Camaro / Proud Mary

Just as the tape ends, Rodney is bringing the introduction of the Bitchin' Camaro to a close during our rendition of Proud Mary.

Oh Yeah! - The Town Managers (mp3, 3.54 MB)

This is a song that Chris Peelout wrote for the Town Managers at the end of that band's career. (The Town Managers were Chris Peelout as Rick Luau, Brian Sprenger as Frick Jones, and me as Jonk Provoc.) The song is probably more well known now as a Low Budgets song. But it was a staple of the Town Managers live set in our last months together.

This version was recorded off "the Internet" back in the late 90s by a guy who lived in Connecticut and came to our shows in New London. His name was John but he went by Simon. Anyway, he bootlegged it onto one of the very first CD-Rs we ever saw. We were all very impressed that someone could (and would) make a bootleg CD of our music and so he mailed us copies of it.

Street Beat Interview - Dead Milkmen and Cyndy Drue (mp3, 37.1 MB)

Sorry for the delay in getting this month's bootleg posted. I will try to be less tardy with the April edition.

This interview was recorded from a radio broadcast on Sunday night on WMMR-FM in Philadelphia, October 2, 1994. Street Beat was the local music radio show that aired about 10 PM every Sunday and was hosted by Cyndy Drue. On this night Rodney and I were interviewed to announce the breakup of the Dead Milkmen and to promote our final show which was held at the Trocadero Theater in Philly the following Friday and Saturday nights.

Live on WXPN, 88.9 FM, February 27, 1987 - Dead Milkmen (mp3, 51,5 MB)

The Dead Milkmen Take The Airwaves, Part 2. Almost three years after our first live broadcast from Philly's WXPN radio station, we returned for another set. In late February of 1987 we were promoting an upcoming punk show at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia which also included F.O.D., The Electric Love Muffin, and Ruin. Our album Bucky Fellini was "in the can" but had yet to be released.

We were a bit looser for this performance than we were for the first. Also, the punk radio show had been moved from its late Sunday night slot to Friday afternoons, so this was an unusually early show for us to play.

I am embarrassed by the fact that, near the end of the set, I stopped a song twice after screwing it up. How unprofessional! I also broke a string. Back then I had only one guitar, so breaking a string meant ad lib time. Soon after this show, and before embarking on our next major tour, I would purchase a second Gibson S-G to use as a back-up.

Anyway, there are some good versions of Bucky Fellini songs on here, plus a couple Motown covers and one by Daniel Johnston. It was an odd set for us. The programs starts with Tacoland in progress. The person who taped this off the radio missed the intro.

Tacoland (in progress)
Gorilla Girl
I Heard it Through the Grapevine (cover)
Take Me to the Specialist
I am the Walrus
Rocketship (cover)
Watching Scotty Die
Nitro-burning Funny Cars
Stupid Mary Anne
(Theme from) The Blood Orgy of the Atomic Fern
Ask Me to Dance
Surfin' Cow
My Girl (cover)
Joe Broke a String - ad lib
Lucky

Living Death in the Cellar of Sin (December 1981) - Dead Milkmen (mp3, 47 MB)

Song Listing

The Milkmen Moo
Get Happy
She Loves Me Hard
Help Me Lord
Cerebectocismio
Idiot
Mary is a Mushroom
Plum Dumb
Bang Bang
Girl With The Curly Hair
Guitar Strings
Middle Finger
Stuffed Animal
Mellow Fellow
The Milkmen Moo (reprise)
Get Happy You Jerks

This psuedo-live recording by the 'ficticious' Dead Milkmen came to me by way of a posting on the Dead Milkmen's Free-for-All message board last month. It was recorded in one afternoon in late November 1981 in the basement of my parent's house while I was home from college on thanksgiving break, and 'released' the next month with a quickly drawn cover. Present for this incarnation of the Dead Milkmen were Rodney, Garth ("Pope Garth O'Niel") and me.

In their fictitious world, this 'show' was the first of the Dead Milkmen's tour of the Congo (where they were curiously famous) and was recorded for release as their next album. This recording is not exactly a live recording, however, because an overdub was made to enhance instrumentation on a couple of the songs (believe it or not). But, both the original take and the overdub were done in one take (discouting stopping the tape recorder to change instruments).

Another story about the tape: in late 90s, while gathering up my collection of the 'ficticious years' tapes, I discovered that this one would not play. It was my only copy and the tape was all jammed up. Rather than toss it out, I sent it to my friend Colin who somehow fixed it and made a copy for Jason, the Cult Leader Lettuce. Jason recently digitized his copy and posted it on the Milkmen's mesage board. Thanks to Colin Smith and Jason.

Live at Heartbeat in Oyster Bay, New York, January 23, 1987 - Dead Milkmen (mp3, 97.1 MB)

Heartbeat was a club (dance music, alternative, hair band, etc.) on the north side of Long Island (NY) that prospered in the eighties. It's not there anymore.

This decent sounding bootleg was surreptitously recorded by a member of the audience named Chris Nourcan with a Neumann KMG-4MT lavaliere microphone attached to a headband and a Sony D5 cassette deck. There is some adjusting of levels near the start. But don't worry. Into the third song the volume settles down.

By early January we had finished up recording and mixing our third album, the first of three we would record in Austin, Texas (our home away from home). That album was Bucky Fellini. It would not be released for a couple months. Many of the songs from that album that we performed in this set would have been new to this audience at the time.

Thanks to Chris who digitized the recording and sent it to me on CD-R a couple months ago.

Live at Quip's Pub, Lancaster PA, May 17, 2008 - Joe Jack Talcum (mp3, 55 MB)

This is relatively recent recording, indicative of my current solo acoustic shows, from Lancaster PA, about an hour and ten minutes west of my home in Philadelphia. The band Blue Jean Hackman invited me to play this already-booked Saturday night gig pretty much at the last minute, the previous Thursday. I said, why not? I was glad I did. It was a great bar and I had a fun time.

The set was recorded superbly by Paul Skozilas (of Blue Jean Hackman). Special thanks to Marshall Fischer (also of Blue Jean Hackman) for arranging everything. How many times in this blurb can I mention Blue Jean Hackman? I don't know, but I was very impressed by them. Unfortunately you won't be hearing Blue Jean Hackman on this recording. But you can check them out at their myspace page if you like.

Live at CBGB's, New York, New York, June 29, 1986 - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 64 MB)

This show was part of our mini-tour opening for The Angry Samoans, if my memory serves me right. It's a pretty decent sound board mix, made on cassette, recorded at the famous CBGB's in the Bowery. (I think this is one of two times that the Dead Milkmen played there.)

Our second album Eat Your Paisley was "in the can" but not released yet. We played a fair smattering of songs from that album and from our first one, Big Lizard in my Backard.

Set list

Laundromat Song
Tiny Town
Nutrition
Bitchin' Camaro
Tacoland
Air Crash Museum
The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
Swampland of Desire
Six Days
Where The Tarantula Lives
Dean's Dream
Serrated Edge
V.F.W.
Swordfish
Lucky
Right Wing Pigeons
50 Things
Take Me Apart
Spit Sink
Big Lizard
Two Feet Off The Ground

The tape got flipped during "Lucky" so there is a slight break in that song.

Live at Border Books, Bryn Mawr PA, October 15, 1999 - Butterfly Joe (mp3, 65.4 MB)

Butterfly Joe was a band that existed from 1997 to 2001, though I believe we played just one show in early 2002. After 2002, we never performed again. We made one album, self-titled, which was released on the Philadelphia label, Razler Records, in 1999, and re-released the following year on Lightyear Records.

Butterfly Joe consisted of Andy Bresnan on electric guitar, trombone, accordion, recorders, and other instruments; Joe Quigley on bass; Dean "Clean" Sabatino on drums; and me on acoustic guitar, harmonica and lead vocals. I wrote all of the songs and Andy arranged them. Andy is the guy you hear near the beginning of this recording who says that it is OK to critique the sound quality.

This was an in-store live show at Borders Books & Music in Bryn Mawr, PA, not far from Philadelpia. It was a Friday night. This is the soundtrack to the Video CD made by John C. (Contarino) who filmed the show on his digital camera. Not all of the songs in the set are presented in their entirity.

Set list

Yesterday I was Talking to My Sister
Call Me a Fool
Happy Imbecile Song
Don't To This to Me Baby
What Did Her Autopsy Reveal?
Fancy Walls
Seventeen
Waiting for Coffee
April May June July
Whale In the Sea
Life is Better in the Movies
Get a Car
Another Time
Honey Jar
Wisconsin
Never Had a Pony

MPEG Movie version (482 MB)

Live at Bacchanal, Philadelphia PA, December 3, 1987 - Oranamental Wigwam (mp3, 48.3 MB)

Bacchanal was a little bar located at 13th and South which had live music of all sorts, from jazz to progressive rock to punk, popular in the 1980s and early 90s. It's not there now. Ornamental Wigwam was a duo consisting of Dave Blood on bass and me on guitar. We played Bacchanal several times, often with Baby Flamehead (Dean Clean's other band). This recording is of a show that was a benefit to raise money for the release of the compilation of Philly bands called You're Soaking In It for which Ornamental Wigwam contributed a song.

This set was ambiently recorded expertly by Jay Schwartz (of Secret Cinema fame) on cassette tape.

Set list

It's Only Me
Song No. 15
Er Bits Du
I Wanna Be A Vegetable
I'm Living In Wisconsin
Puking Song
Shopper Gopper
It's Only Me
I Care
Do You Wanna Know A Secret?
Fifth of May
It's Only Me
Punk Rock Girl
Tell Me How (Buddy Holly)
Never My Love (The Association)

Live in Wilmington, North Carolina, June 6, 1991 - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 71.1 MB)

We took a break from writing and arranging the songs for the album 'Soul Rotation' by embarking on a short tour of the south in the late spring of 1991. One of our stops was in the town of Wilmington, North Carolina at a bar whose name I cannot recall. I think it was located in a strip mall. That is where this set was recorded. Back then I had a compact cassette boom box (Panasonic, I believe) that had built-in stereo microphones which made decent ambient recordings. (It also had audio input jacks, and I used it to record rough mixes of 4-track recordings.) It was a great little system. Sadly, it got stolen along with my 4-track recorder when our van got broken into in Berklee, California in 1992, but that's another story. I think my friend Seven (of Touch Me Zoo) manned the controls for this recording. (He was a roadie on this tour.)

The first couple songs from the set are missing. Apparently they got accidently taped over with some shennanigans. (Probalby 'Town Town', 'VFW', 'Brat in the Frat' or some similar opening numbers.) The rest of the set is pretty lively, however, and it included our live debut of 'Shaft in Greenland'. Side two of the tape started with 'Bitchin Camaro'.

Matt, the person to whom Rodney refers at the start of the program, is Matt Dubin, our roadie and stage manager.

On the recording:

Smokin' Banana Peels
Lucky
Beige Sunshine
The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
Big Scary Place
Bitchin' Camaro (Hour Magazine Version)
Beach Party Vietnam
Stuart
I Believe in Swordfish / Instant Club Hit
All Around The World
Big Lizard
Rodney Kills Some Time
Shaft in Greenland
Right Wing Pigeons
Filet of Sole
Dean's Dream

Thanks to Cult Leader Lettuce for suggesting this month's selection.

Rehearsal Demos, December 1983 - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 28.8 MB)

The only labeling on this cassette says "DM Demo December 1983 (Practice Sessions)". I suspect most of these were recorded in the basement of Dean's folks' place in Sellersville, PA. We were in the habit of taking the time during rehearsals to record reference demos of songs we were working on. The recorder could have been a Panasonic boom box with built-in microphones, or a Technics cassette deck with either a Radio Shack stereo electret condensor microphone, or a pair of PZM microphones. No overdubs. These would be some of the earliest recordings of these songs.

Some of these versions appeared on the cassette-only release 'Death Rides a Pale Cow' (1984). One of these songs never made it to any album. Exact dates of the recordings are not known.

Labor Day
I Don't Wanna
VFW
Rastabilly
Bitchin' Camaro
Plum Dumb
Laundromat Song
(Don't You Dare) Come Back to Me
Dance With Me
Right Wing Pigeons
Beach Party Vietnam

Live at Tingles' House, June 5, 2008 - Joe Jack Talcum (mp3, 59.6 MB)

Last June I played a house party show in west Philly which was all acoustic and a lot of fun. There was no P.A. system. Performers played in the living room, on the front porch, and in the basement. This stereo recording of my set was made by Chris Nouryan. You can hear some party chatter which the microphones were good at picking up, and also some singing along. Here is the set list:

April May June July
Dean's Dream*
I Hate You I Love You*
Eyebrow In General (Town Managers cover)
Life is Shit*
Jason's Head*
Sex Sting
U-Turn Me On
Alcohol
Watching Scotty Die*
Methodist Coloring Book*
The Thing That Only Eats Hippies*
I Hear Your Name*
Secret of Life*
The Child Molestor Song
Not Crazy*

* Dead Milkmen covers.

The other performers, who were all very good, were Seth Moore, Kids are Goats, and The Uptown Welcomes. The show was organized by Justin Bender.

Ridley Park Rehearsal, December 3, 1983 - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 41.7 MB)

This is the first 30 minutes of an early Dead Milkmen rehearsal, side one of a 60 minute cassette. We let the tape roll for most of the rehearsal so you get some in-between song chatter. We had had a few shows under our belt by now, but not many. This rehearsal was in Dave's parents' house in Ridley Park. I recall that they specifically asked us to rehearse there while they were away this particular weekend because they wanted to annoy their neighbors. We dutifully obliged.

The songs we play are

Takin' Retards to the Zoo
Beach Song
Labor Day
Right Wing Pigeons
Guns For Tots
Filet of Sole
Stupid Mary Anne
Depression Day Dinner
I Hate Myself
Gorilla Girl

Live on WKDU, 91.7 FM (1997) - The Town Managers (mp3, 43.9 MB)

The Town Managers were a 3-piece band consisting of Chris Peelout (whose band name was Rick Luau), Brian Michael Sprenger (whose band name was Frick Jones) and me (my band name was Jonk Provoc). This band was the precursor to The Low Budgets and existed from 1996 to 1999. In the spring of 1997, shortly before recording our first 7-inch, The Town Managers performed on John-Paul's Sunday night show on Drexel University's radio station, WKDU. We brought a sound affects cd with us which John-Paul mixed into our set, which was broadcast live. At then end of the set Chris says "see you next year" which turned out to be true. We returned one year later to play another live set on the station.

Thanks to Brian Bubonic for digitizing the off-air recording. Thanks to C.L. Lettuce for providing the file.

The songs we play are

Model's Left Tit
Secret
Polka Dot Bandana Nightmare
Ode to Eazy-E
13 Lucky Days
Wet Dog
Eyebrow In General
West Philly Sun
Jack & Fanta
Lobsterman

Live in Lawrence, Kansas (1994) - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 41.8 MB)

This was the last show The Dead Milkmen ever played in Kansas, on our very last tour together. We were out supporting Not Richard But Dick, touring with Possum Dixon. I believe this bootleg was recorded on VHS tape. The sound quality is not superb, but I don't know of any other recording from this tour, which I remember fondly. Unfortunately, the recording gets cut off before the end of the set.

Tiny Town
Tacoland
Take Me To The Specialist
I Am The Walrus
Lucky
Leggo My Ego
Smokin' Banana Peels (with Memphis, Tennessee lyrics)
Stuart
(Rodney drinks and smokes)
Bitchin' Camaro (Serious Version)
Beach Party Vietnam
Wonderfully Colored Plastic War Toys

Live at My House (November 26, 1983) - Side A - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 41.8 MB)

Here is a cassette boom box bootleg recorded by "that Jonny Wurster kid" at his house in Harlesyville, Pennsylvania on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in November 1983. This was 4 months after our first show ever (which also happened to be in the same town, at the Harleysville Youth Center). Jonny was a friend of Dean's and he also played in a band which performed at the Youth Center show. He invited us to play a house party and we obliged. He gave me a copy of the show a few weeks later labeled "Live at My House". Side A contains an interview (not included here) plus the first part of the set. Side B, which I hope to include as next month's selection, contains the rest of the set.

Live at My House (November 26, 1983) - Side B - The Dead Milkmen (mp3, 60.6 MB)

Here is the second side, as promised, of the house show recorded by Jonny Wurster the weekend after Thanksgiving in 1983. (It was a party that I think was organized by Jonny's older brother. Jonny convinced us to play it.) Apparently we had no qualms with playing the same song twice. "Labor Day" is the second song on this side and also the last, though the tape runs out before it is finished. And we played "Don't Abort That Baby" once and then again three songs later. It sounds as if we had no set list. There's over 44 minutes of mayhem here!

Depression Day Dinner
Labor Day
I Don't Wanna
Taking Drum Dorks to the Zoo
Girl Hunt
Band Takes a Break
Gorilla Girl
Right Wing Pigeons
V.F.W.
I'm Going To Purgatory
Don't Abort That Baby
Stupid Mary Anne
Shopper Gopper
Don't Abort That Baby
Rastabilly
Junkie
Hanky Panky (cover of Tommy James and The Shondells / The Raindrops)
Ask Me To Dance
Taking Retards to the Zoo
Labor Day

Live at Insubordination Fest 2009 - The Dead Milkmen (version 2.0) (mp3, 106 MB)

This is the freshest bootleg I've ever posted on B.O.T.M. Thanks to Chris Nouryan for capturing the audio and sending it to me in a format that my ancient computer understands. This was recorded on June 26, 2009 (which, at the time of writing, was one week ago). I personally had a great time at the Insubordination Fest on Friday. (I did not attend Thursday or Saturday, sorry to say.) I saw as many bands as I could manage, and most of them I enjoyed very much. My standout favorites were The Medzingers, and Pansy Division. I'm glad we got invited to play. The set is rather long (77 minutes) and includes a two-song encore. "The Streets of Baltimore" is a country song dating from the 60s that we first heard in a bar in the former Yugoslavia (Zagreb, I think) during our first European tour in 1991.

Song list:

Tiny Town
PR Girl
I Walk the Thinnest Line
Dean's Dream
Tacoland
Big Lizard in My Backyard
Nitro Burning Funny Car
Serrated Edge
Methodist Coloring Book
The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
VFW
Wonderfully Colored Plastic War Toys
Beach Party Vietnam
Smokin' Bannana Peels
Right Wing Pigeons
Stuart
If You Love Somebody Better Set Them On Fire
Nutrition
In Praise of Sha Na Na
I Hear Your Name
Bitchin' Camaro
Moron
Air Crash Museum
I Hate You I Love You
Take Me to the Specialist
Walrus
Life is Shit
Streets of Baltimore
The Woman Who Was Also A Mongoose

Live at Doc's in Muncie, Indiana, 11 October 2007 - The Low Budgets (mp3, 39.7 MB)

Recorded off the sound board during the Low Budgets' U.S. "Leave Us A Loan" tour, this set lasts almost a half hour which was usually the maximum length for a Low Budgets show. Patt "Tingles" Whelan was our bass player for this leg of the tour. One thing I remember about this night was that the club gave us free pizza, and Chris found a staple in his slice. The kitchen staff apologized.

Song list:

Hombre de la Noche
No Money Shot
Oh Yeah
O.E. in the A.M.
Craft Fair
Plastic
50 Cents
Fat Cop
Beer Belly
Wipe My Ass with the World
Gaper's Delay
(You Can't Control the) Rock'n'Rollers
Born Before the Internet

Live at the Grape Street Pub, Philadelphia PA, June 19, 2007 - Joe Jack Talcum (mp3, 44.0 MB)

I showed up with my pickup-less Alvarez acoustic guitar for this gig and the sound guy told me I couldn't play it. If you're guitar doesn't have a pick-up, we can't let you play, he said. This show was arranged by my friend Dandrew's friend Chris who was not there yet, but I didn't recall him mentioning this requirement. Don't worry, the sound guy said. You can use one of our guitars which has a pick-up built in. I was not particurally thrilled with the idea of using a guitar I'd never played before, but I figured I had no choice so I agreed to play one of the club's Ibanez acoustic guitars. I made sure they were not going to charge me rent for the guitar. The sound guy told me there's no charge for using the guitar, but for 15 or 20 bucks - I can't remember the exact figure - he would record my set off the sound board and give me a CD of it after the show. I said no thanks.

My friend Marshall showed up to the show early, around sound check time, and asked me if I was going to purchase the sound board CD of the show. Back then he played in a band called Nobody Drives My Car who'd played the Grape Street Pub a few times so he knew of the deal. I told him no, I was not. He said he'd pay for the CD if I would get it made, because he'd like to have it. So, I told the sound guy I changed my mind, gave him the money Marshall gave me, and he recorded my set. So, you have Marshall Fischer to thank for this month's bootleg.

The show was a little awkward for me, though it has its good moments. I came to actually like the Ibanez guitar and later bought one for myself. I debuted the song 'Alcohol' in the set. I flubbed the lyrics to 'Sha Na Na'. Download at your own risk. I give you two options. You can have the set as one continuous file, like normal (link at top). Or you can have a zip file of the individual mp3 tracks.

The Grape Street Pub, by the way, went out of business, probably because they let people like me play there. Don't look for it.

Dean's Dream (in progress)
I Have Seen The Sun All Over The World
Photograph
Punk Rock Girl
Alcohol
Watching Scotty Die
In Praise of Sha Na Na
Madonnas Weep
Sex Sting
Life Is Shit

Nutrition (Demo Recording) - Joe Jack Talcum (mp3, 4.13 MB)

I found this recording on a cassette labeled 'Demos for Dave'. It is my original recording of the song "Nutrition" made sometime in 1984 (I am guessing) and recorded live to cassette with acoustic guitar and vocals. We pretty much used this arrangement for the final version except that Dave and I came up with improved music for the middle section and we eventually simplified the coda to use just two chords. I recall that at the time we debuted this song to Rodney and Dean we were rehearsing at Dean's parents' basement and I'm thinking it was either late winter or early spring in '84.

Live at Crash Bang Boom - Dead Milkmen (Unplugged), October 30, 2009 (mp3, 81.2 MB)

This recording was made from the audience by Brian Sprenger using a Zoom H2 flash drive stereo digital recorder at a show The Dead Milkmen played acoustically, no electric amplification (except for a small keyboard that Rodney played in a couple songs) at a punk clothing and accessories store in Philadelphia called Crash Bang Boom. This store was originally called Zipperhead and was located on South Street. It changed name and location a few years ago, now just around the corner on 4th Street. It was an intimate crowd, mostly seated on the floor, a fun little show in which some new songs were debuted.

All I Want For Christmas Is A Job - Dead Milkmen (1982 demo) (mp3, 2.34 MB)

In December of 1982, Dave Blood and I wrote and recorded an EPs worth of Christmas songs. I think we might have made special limited edition cassettes to give out as gifts that year. Or, perhaps we intended to do that, but never finished the project. I do not remember. Although Rodney was not present for these sessions, we credited the songs to The Dead Milkmen, and one of the songs would later appear on the b-side of the "Somebody Shot Sunshine" cassette which was sent to all of the Dead Milkmen Newsletter (fan club) members in December 1984.

This particular song was not included on "Sunshine". But I thought it would be appropriate for this recession-time holiday. It was recorded live to cassette at the Baker Street house in Manayunk, Philadelphia. In this era, the Dead Milkmen was a fictional band in that the Dead Milkmen Newsletter contained no true stories, and we had not yet played a real live show. Rodney was the band's drummer. We would not recruit Dean for another 6 months. This was recorded at the time we started recording songs for "A Date With The Dead Milkmen".

Live at the Chestnut Cabaret, May 11, 1988 - Dead Milkmen (mp3, 99.8 MB)

Thanks to Christian for sending in this month's bootleg. It's a live recording of a Dead Milkmen show from The Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia on May 11, 1988. The Chestnut Cabaret was a club with a decent sound system located at 38th just off Chestnut Street in West Philly. We played there several times in the 80s and early 90s. It eventually closed down. Don't look for it now. This particular set was recorded prior to our trip to Austin, Texas to record the 'Beelzebubba' album. You can hear us trying out some of tunes we'd record, some of which made thier live debut at this performance.

Bootleg of the Month ARCHIVES