Star City

Artist: Star City

LP: I'm a Man

Song: "I'm a Man"

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Song: "Good Times"

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I feel like I've been plenty erratic here on my blog lately, but I haven't really been very homo. Hopefully, posting this 1978 Star City LP (is that one of the Village People slumming on the cover? And what's that thick red shaft he's leaning up against there?) is a step (or maybe a sashay?) in the right direction. Star City was, according to what little info I was able to dig up online, simply a studio group assembled by Canadian producer John Driscoll for a one-off gay-themed disco LP. And if I know men, John probably promised Star City a lifelong contract, filled with platinum albums and thrilling intercontinental tours...but then he just smoked a cigarette and said something like "See ya later, baby" as soon as they put out one LP.

[ Karen Silver of Star City ]

R.J.'s Latest Arrival

Artist: R.J.'s Latest Arrival

LP: R.J.'s Latest Arrival

Song: "Swing Low"

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Song: "Baby I'm Sorry"

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The guy's name is R.J. who owns and operates Daybreak Records over in Fremont. The store has a 'New Arrivals' section for LPs they've just put out for sale, but I've always thought the section ought to be called "R.J.'s Latest Arrivals."

 

[ R.J.'s Latest Arrival ]

John Doté

Artist: John Doté

LP: 12" single

Song: "Gypsy Jane"
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There's a dog named Gypsy on Wallingford Route 75 that barks ferociously at me from behind the gate of her yard when I deliver the mail, but she's a sweetheart when I meet her on the street when she's on walks with her owner. Her owner told me that Gypsy speaks Spanish, so when I deliver mail there, I try calming her nerves by greeting her in her own language: "Hola, Gypsy. ¿Como estás, perra bonita?" It doesn't really seem to make any difference, probably because of my accent. I've tried singing "The Gypsy" to her, which seems to briefly confuse her, but then she goes right back to barking at me again. This week I'm going to try singing "Gypsy Jane," since I have a hunch she prefers late-'80s disco to classic ballads by The Ink Spots.

John Doté was born in the Bronx (why do I feel like I could have guessed) in 1955 and then moved to San Francisco in the '70s (why do I feel like I could have guessed) and became a popular drummer in the music scene there, working with Buddy Miles and Gregg Allman. Doté had a knack for music production, with credits including the theme songs for the popular TV shows "Dallas" and "Dynasty." He also handled promotions for big hits by both Janet and Michael Jackson...but not for Elmo and Patsy. You can read more about John Doté here.

Colonel Abrams

Artist: Colonel Abrams

LP: 7" single
Song: "Trapped"

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I think this is the first time I've been jealous of pink neon tubing. But it's not just the tubing that's got Colonel Abrams trapped. As he sings here in this song (a top-ten hit in England, thought it fell mostly on dead ears in the USA), he's also trapped by the love he feels for a young woman (the tears roll from his eyes), and by the steely glares from her horribly judgmental parents (they don't think he's good enough; they want him sent to prison!). 

But it goes even deeper than that. Colonel was trapped by the expectations of others, both musical and personal (the rolling tears again). His label likely required him to endlessly repeat the exact same hit-making formula that brought him international fame...but when the formula ran dry and the money stopped pouring in, he was tossed aside like a sun-faded copy of last year's Yakima Herald Republic.

How is one supposed to earn a living after becoming an international pop star that has fizzled out and come crashing down to earth? Trapped again! Trapped even more by the high cost of rent in New York City, by the high cost of diabetes medicine, and by the difficulty of receiving adequate treatment without having a secure place to live, Colonel Abrams died—homeless, sick, and broke—on Thanksgiving Day in 2016. I just learned this today when I looked him up online. What a sad, sad end for such a handsome and talented fellow. Tears roll from my eyes. You can read the BBC's obituary for Colonel Abrams here.

[ Colonel Abrams: May 25, 1949 — November 24, 2016 ]

Irwin Goodman

Artist: Irwin Goodman

LP: Si Si Si
Song: "Si Si Si"
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Song: "Pannaan Menemään"

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I tried stumping Shazam this morning with a track from this 1973 LP, but the app didn't take long to figure out it was something by Irwin Goodman (born Antti Yrjö Hammargerg), the Finnish folk-rock singer whose favorite themes were poverty, taxes, drinking, and money troubles. You can read about Irwin here. I picked this record up at Råkk og Rålls in Oslo when I was on that trip to Scandinavia with my sister back in the spring of 2017.

[ Irwin Goodman: September 14, 1943 — January 14, 1991 ]

Larry Graham

Artist: Larry Graham

LP: Sooner Or Later

Song: "Hold Up Your Hand"
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As I was sorting through my records this week, I figured I would probably get rid of this 1982 Larry Graham LP. For one thing, it's pink. And tropical. Also, Larry looks like he wants to be Magnum PI, which I figured couldn't be a good thing. And even though he was with Sly and the Family Stone and fronted Graham Central Station, 1982 is at the cusp of when lots of formerly mind-blowing artists started releasing stuff that just wasn't quite as good as before. What a fool was I. Larry may look like a browner Tom Selleck here, admittedly, but he's still got it, in spades. "Hold Up Your Hand" is my song of the month. Maybe even two months. What a voice! Larry plays all instruments here and throws in a dynamite harmonica solo to boot. Turn it up. 

So taken am I with Larry's third solo LP, I've just sent off a check for $131.50 for a personally autographed photo of Larry, a beautiful full color poster, two satin tour jackets (one red, one black), a unisex t-shirt and a Larry Graham natural canvas tote bag with contrasting print. And Larry hardly charges anything for shipping!

Alex

Artist: Alex

LP: Alex

Song: "Flying High (You & I)"
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The Garden is the second and final Oslo record store I was able to make it to—three times—during my visit. The guy working there is super friendly and told me that the used records were in the basement. Down the stairs I went, where I found eight long bins crammed with hundreds of used 7" singles. The trouble is, I was only barely able to slip my visits in at the end of a full day of tourism, and the store closes at 6pm. I simply had to get through all those singles! I found lots of amazing stuff in bin #1, which is all I managed to rummage through on my first visit. I went back the next evening to pick up where I'd left off, but only made it through bins 2-4 before the shop closed. When my sis and I returned to Oslo a week later, I popped in again and managed to flip through bins #5-8 with ten extra minutes to spare! 

Fortunately, ten minutes was plenty of time to unearth a trio of albums by Alex, Norway's reigning queen of '70s disco-rock. This self-titled LP is her 1977 debut—it literally had my name written all over it. 

The sad reality is that there wasn't nearly as much disco-pop being produced in Norway in the 1970s as there had been according to my fantasies. I'd figured that each Scandinavian country probably had their own private version of ABBA, and about two-dozen fairly decent ABBA knock-off bands as well. But actually, Norwegians seem to have been more often listening to music like this and this while ABBA was setting disco balls a-spinning all over the world. 

But then, thank god, there's Alex. Born in Lithuania in 1949 to Polish parents, Alexandra Naumik began singing in Poland, then moved to Norway after marrying film director Haakon Sandøy when she was 21 years old. Seven years later Alex released her first LP, and the rest, as they say, is historical. You can read all this and more on Wikipedia in English or Norwegian. 

Alex was reportedly so popular in Norway that "Alex hair" became a thing—although when I see her hair it automatically brings to mind untrustworthy rope. Her band certainly is a nifty and incredibly Scandinavian-looking bunch. Bjørn Christiansen already has me working on my own "Bjørn hair"; Svein Gundersen has one of the sexiest moustache/unibrow combos I've ever seen, and Brynjulf Blix not only has one of the greatest names in show business, but he looks like he'd be a fun guy to grab a beer with too. Sadly, drummer Per Ivar Johansen died in a tour bus crash three years after the release of this LP.

[ Alex: August 12, 1949 — September 17, 2013 ]

[ The Garden — Oslo, Norway ]