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Barn Dance
Tonite The Brain Surgeons first DVD video
is avaiable from CustomFlix.
For the foreign fans we have it for a
small savings on the shipping on this
site in the MERCH section. It is an 8
year retrospective featuring videos
from tBS version 1 (the quintet) and
some live footage from the second year
of tBS version 2 (the power trio). It
features 15 songs, downloadable jpegs,
interviews, discography.and a
travelogue. Who would have dreamed the Brain
Surgeons would play the Moulin Rouge--
with or without their Maidenforms? But
it's true-- La Locomotive, the fabulous
venue where the Surgeons made their
formal European debut, is the
downstairs of the fabled Parisian
landmark and quelle basement it is! The
Brain Surgeons' first European tour has
been a whirlwind of travel, interviews,
autographs and cool jams from Paris to
Bretagne, la Sud, Lyon and back une
fois encore. Well, if you were there
you know our French wasn't quite. Ok,
there's always next time. Start saving
yer Euros for le printemps. The vin
rouge was flowing, the halls magnifique
(sorry, even if we could really write
en Francais, our computer can't) and
the many fans (says Deborah, who should
not be looking-- it is true that they
all look like the sons of Alain Delon
or daughters of Catherine Deneuve) more
than enthusiastic. It has all been too
fabulous-- from the blanquette de veau
replacing tthe usual rider pizza...
Chapeaus off to promoter Dominique and
headliners American Dog...
Arrrghhhhhhh..... well, guess you had
to be there...but once you've run into
road manager Brent, you'll
understand...Maybe yes, maybe no... The Beach Party
tour has been our most successful on
many levels. There's nothing like
having lots of experience to learn
from- whether it's how many T shirts to
pack, how many hours it really takes to
get anywhere in Chicago, or what's
really supposed to happen at the end
(or beginning or middle, for that
matter) of any given tune. What helped
make this summer so different was the
sheer number of great musicians who
opened for, or better yet, jammed with
us and made each night really unique,
Perhaps the first outdoor gig, a family
affair in the 1000 Islands, where it
all started for the Bouchard brothers,
set the tone for the next three weeks.
At Clayton's Recreational Pavilion, Joe
reprised some of his roles on Beach
Party and Jim, who broke his elbow in a
weird accident a couple of months ago,
was only allowed to sing "Whatever
Works." It was a rare opportunity to
play with our Uncle Bill Streets'
children and grandchildren, who, like
many of us, are now living far from the
old homestead. Uncle Bill was a
semi-professional musician who launched
Joe and me in our musical careers by
teaching us how to play guitar and
lending us the equipment that made our
first band, the Regal Tones, possible.
His son Ted was a key player in the
Regal Tones and our development until
we went to college and he went into the
service during those Vietnam years, but
all of the Streets are gifted. We know
Uncle Bill would have gotten kick out
of hearing the whole brood wail that
day, including grandsons Jerome and
Johnny, a keyboard prodigy who's headed
to the Crane School of Music. Next stop was the
Cayuga County Fair, where we jammed on
the Woodstock-like stage with Static
Cling. These guys (and gal, sorry,
Cathy) kick out more jams every time we
get together. In Minneapolis, the
opening band, 13 Hertz, was a real
surprise with their dreamy progressive
material and charismatic lead singer.
The following night, Hollyrocks in
Wisconsin Rapids the kind of genuine
rock party scene people keep
complaining doesn't exist anymore. That
had something to do with guitarist Jeff
Gauss who opened with his old band the
Lizards, and lent some truly inspired
licks to favorites like "Astronomy."
Two nights later in Madison, Jeff
managed to top himself (and almost
everybody else) when he and the amazing
keyboard player in his other band, the
Weavils, John Finucan, sat in. Chicago's
Heartland Cafe was a good excuse to
hang out with blues maven and Buck and
my fellow Clarkson dropout, Dr. Roger
Maltz. It was an even better
excuse to re-write "Born in Chicago" as
the ballad of my 19-year-old self
stranded in Chicago at the mercy of the
Maltz family. Meanwhile, Deborah seized
the moment to help a young fan, Zach,
celebrate his 10th birthday (and first
Surgeons show) by ordering cake and ice
cream for everyone in the house. (So
why is it a surprise when we actually
break even?) The Elbow Room
in Ann Arbor provided another emotional
high- a long overdue reunion with
Charlie Martin, drummer of Bob Seger's
Silver Bullet Band, who provided what
some of most astute percussion ever on
a particular cowbell-fevered
song. In Columbus, the
Brain Surgeons improved upon local
tradition by welcoming onstage not only
the giant of a gent who appears, much
like his comic book namesake, to save a
"Batman"-less city nightly, but also
club owner Tony (Robin?) Painter on
drums. Pittsburgh proved, once again, a
perfect tour's end with hot local
bands, the two-bass pumping Cattletrap
and Killing the Messenger priming a
crowded house for total Brain salad
surgery. Thanks to all who
made these parties possible,
particularly Bonnie Bouchard, John and
Judy Cook, Kim Drayhiem, Perry Bowles,
Scott Wolf, Jeff Gauss, Pat Wolosek,
Susie and Roger Maltz as well as those
who put in more miles and shows than
any Deadhead-- Markus, Heather, Ron,
Redcap, Ice Dog, Doug, Chris, Vic Hess
and everybody else who left us wanting
to jump back up and do it all over
again. While the Brain Surgeons are away,
CDBaby will play--click on the link
next to the album to order. The new
tour T shirts, sacre bleu (we told you
we needed language help-or maybe just
French kisses) will only be available
at the shows. But where else can you
get a heavy duty shirt at this
incredible price? The state of your
wardrobe alone is worth a trip! MP3 samples of all the Brain
Surgeons are available on this website.
Each file is 3 to 4 Mgs so you should
probably have a high speed connection
to hear them properly. The process of
making these mini-epics was
surprisingly entertaining to the people
who had worked so hard to create these
sounds in the first place. We hope you
like them too. Although all the songs
on each album are not represented there
are enough to give you an idea of what
to expect. Trailers of all the other
Cellsum artists are coming soon. Jim Bouchard has formed a new band
with some of the musicians he played
with in Fire In The Boathouse. The new
band is called Union Label and the
material is eclectic and loose. Jim has
signed on as lead guitar. They plan to
start gigging as soon as Jim recovers
from a broken arm sustained enroute to
a FITBH gig. In other news from Boston,
Jim's son, Gray Bouchard, has completed
his first six song demo and is
developing new material as he gigs with
his own band. Albert Bouchard has finished mixing
the new Mz Pakman album. Mz
Pakman is an all female punk group
who played with the Brain Surgeons a
couple years ago a downtown NYC club.
The album should be available soon at
eindie.com. The Brain Surgeons new fun, fun, fun
album Beach Party is available through
this website right now. Go to the Merch
page to get your copy. Haven't heard
the Brain Surgeons yet? Check out the
sample MP3 by clicking on the Beach
Party link on the Albums page. You may be visiting this site
because of a postcard you recieved from
Cellsum Records. If so, welcome and
thanks for coming. The site is
constantly being updated with gigs,
news and other information. Coming soon
will be sample streaming videos fo all
you folks with bandwidth. Cellsum is working on the next David
Roter album as well as a re-release of
David's first two vinyl releases
Beauty of the Island and
Bambo as one value-added CD.
Also coming later this year is the long
awaited Helen Wheels Tribute DVD video.
A best of David Roter Method DVD video
may also happen before the end of the
year. The Brain Surgeons European tour
will most likely be rescheduled for
later this year. There were too many
scheduling conflicts to make it happen
this June. Passports have been secured
and connections have been made so it is
just a matter of time. David Roter, musician, singer,
humorist, educator, humanitarian,
bowling coach, Cellsum artist and
friend, passed away on February 16th,
2003 from complications after a bone
marrow transplant. He suffered from a
form of leukemia and decided on the
transplant after other strategies were
not successful. David Roter was an integral part of
the Blue Oyster Cult circle of friends,
musicians and writers. He was
discovered by BOC manager, Sandy
Pearlman, while attending school at
Stony Brook University. He sang with
various members of BOC and their
friends almost continuously from 1967
to 2002. His most popular song, Joan
Crawford Has Risen From the Grave,
was on BOC's Fire of Unknown
Origin album in 1981. He entered
the teaching profession in 1976 but
still wrote and recorded his music as
his schedule would allow. He was
outgoing with a quick wit and a soft
heart. He was generous with his friends
and students. He has two albums on
Cellsum, They Made Me and
Find Something Beautiful, two
vinyl out-of-print records on his own
Unknown Tongue label, Bambo and
Beauty of the Island, and an
as-yet-unfinished Cellsum CD recorded
last fall. He is survived by his sister Debby,
brothers, Harvey and Sandy, his wife
Vivian and two sons, Jacob and Ben. A benefit Saturday, February 8 at
Manhattan disco Centro-Fly, not only
raised substantial funds for the
Fieldston Ethical Culture School's
financial aid program. It set the stage
for a rockin' reunion between Blue
Öyster Cult's Albert Bouchard and
Ellen "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
Foley, who also contributed her
inimitable vocals to Cult classic "Dr.
Music" en route to her own Broadway and
TV stardom. Foley, joined by her
composer/lyricist husband Doug
Bernstein and partner Dennis Markell,
fronted the Brain Surgeons. In keeping with the evening's
Hairspray theme, somewhat skewed
versions of '60s staples "Be My Baby"
(highlighted by such Foley asides as "I
don't want you to be my baby, I need
you to be my baby-sitter!") and "Chapel
of Love" were served, along with
Godzilla and Dr. Music, more
traditional fare donated by benefactors
such as Restaurant Daniel. Web design by Jacob
Bouchard. Special thanks to Gary
Kolesar. Contributing photographers;
Ebet Roberts, Jonathan Levine, Jacob
Bouchard, Paul Orofino, Mariah Agar,
Gail Banks, Melanie Laperriere, Mike
Figo, John Weekley, Bob Cowley, Glyn
Emmerson, Dorothy Le |
