Sunday, May 31, 2020

Something For Sunday, On Sunday! Dept.

Jimmie Spheeris. Four beautiful albums, 1971 - 1976, when his contract with Columbia  contract wasn't renewed. There's nothing I can find on the web to fill the gap until '84, when he was killed by a drunk driver "hours after completing his last album." That album, the eponymous Spheeris, is as impossible to find for free now as it was to buy when finally released by Sony Special Products in 2000.

If I copied his early story (traveling carney family) here you'd think it was typical FMF© horseplay. His sister Penelope is a rarity, a dame who's managed to carve herself a career as director/producer in the big swinging dick jungle of Hollywood. Wayne's World is hers, and she's made a bunch of independent movies, too. Respect. And schwiiiing. EDIT: zigzagwanderer zigzags in and out the comments leaving the stuff you wanted from me but didn't get!



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30 comments:

  1. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIMay 31, 2020 at 3:33 PM

    Gain access to this motherlode of melody by humming the first two bars of "Persian Rug" as performed by R. Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders.

    (And if you share "Spheeris", you'll earn 15.7 FoamPoints™!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. One Buck GuyMay 31, 2020 at 4:59 PM

    I love the four album covers, which kind of tell their own story of the early to mid-1970s, don't they?

    The first is all Tolkien-fantasy via British folk and really looks more 1969 than 1971 but truly looks like an outgrowth of the spirit of 68.

    The next one with its flowers background and the bearded dude on a beach at sunset splits the difference between West Coast cool (well, not really cool-cool, but you know whzt I mean) and hippie-dippy era.

    Then we get to the more stylised third one with its, um, possibly expressive dance move and tattoo, that seems to point to the quest for self-realization (possibly via Orientalization) as a tipping point from vestige of hippie life to "me"-decade navelgazing.

    And then the fourth one which justs screams "me"-decade/where's my yacht?.

    Seriously, I love it. The 70s evolution/devolution in four small pictures.

    I also seemingly have too much time on my hands to think and write hundreds od word on that...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIMay 31, 2020 at 5:51 PM

      GREAT comment.

      Delete
    2. MrDaveMay 31, 2020 at 8:29 PM

      That's as good a summation of the 70s as I can recall -- perfectly succinct

      Delete
  3. jonderMay 31, 2020 at 6:07 PM

    I did think the "traveling carney family" was a FMF joke until I read the Wikipedia page. I did this extensive research in part because I vaguely recalled that when back in the early 80's (when I lived in Wisconsin) there was a local duo called Spheeris & Voudouris. Yep, the two Spheeris musicians were cousins. Chris Spheeris made two albums of ambient New Age music for Columbia before returning to his own label.

    Wikipedia also tells me that Jimmie Spheeris was friends with John Kennedy Toole and wrote a song about him. Too coole! Confederacy Of Dunces rooles!

    ReplyDelete
  4. pmacMay 31, 2020 at 6:19 PM

    There's a singer in NO, Ingrid Lucia, who's family was also somewhat of a traveling carney show. Her father, "Papa Neutrino" would take the family on years long excursions on homemade rafts. There were a few books written about him, as well as a movie. Ingrid, and her family, would perform at various stops during the excursions. Here's a documentary about them:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQMd4awJ6A8&t=304s

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  5. MrDaveMay 31, 2020 at 8:33 PM

    The most notable thing about Penelope Spheeris for my generation at least is her definitive "Decline of Western Civilization" documentary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MrDaveMay 31, 2020 at 8:35 PM

      Did I mention that I've been humming the first two bars of "Persian Rug" as performed by R. Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders over and over while lounging here?

      Delete
  6. If you're going to San FranciscoMay 31, 2020 at 10:15 PM

    I attended a press preview for his first album in Berkeley, CA. He was there and sang a few songs and we were each given a copy of his first LP. I remember his music was kind of folky. I wondered why we hadn't heard more from him.

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    Replies
    1. bkMay 31, 2020 at 11:30 PM

      Im sure you know the reason you never heard more was because he was killed by a drunken driver just after finishing his 4th album

      Delete
  7. bkMay 31, 2020 at 10:47 PM

    here we go...you got me with this one.....Spheeris is one of my all time favorites. It all stops when he comes up on my random mix....he influences my music. I spend a lot of time trying to get his allusive live album...."An Evening With Jimmie Spheeris Live"........"he shouldabin a contenda"

    ReplyDelete
  8. zigzagwandererMay 31, 2020 at 10:58 PM

    Points please .....


    Spheeris

    https://www.mediafire.com/file/xvgywxg4e2xl6ne/Spheeris84Spheeris.rar/file


    Live In Springfield 1973

    https://www.mediafire.com/file/gdyju2tygudlf0n/SpheerisSpringfield%2773.rar/file


    Ebbets Field 1974

    https://www.mediafire.com/file/w86gg6juyw3dmgh/SpheerisEbbets%2774.rar/file

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MrDaveMay 31, 2020 at 11:41 PM

      foam comment du jour? mvc award? surely deserving of some honorary recognition

      Delete
    2. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIJune 1, 2020 at 2:59 AM

      I'm on my 3 am sleep break here, and wake up to find this fantastic helping hand of a comment. Amazing! Thank you, zigzagwanderer, and please accept 8.83 FoamPoints™!

      Delete
    3. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIJune 1, 2020 at 3:06 AM

      Due to an admin error, you were awarded too few FoamPoints™. With the live material, it adds up to 19.83 points. Congratulations, and spend wisely!

      Delete
  9. bkMay 31, 2020 at 11:27 PM

    zigzagwanderer you made my year.....not easy to do

    ReplyDelete
  10. PsychfanJune 1, 2020 at 1:21 AM

    Thank you, zigzagwanderer!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIJune 1, 2020 at 3:13 AM

    Here's the stuff I gots that youse bums gots already:



    E-Z Link

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jack Kerouac's CatJune 1, 2020 at 4:23 AM

    Forgot all about Jimmie.

    I saw Jimmie open for Richie Havens in Central Park in '73. Also at The Other End in Greenwich Village '75 or '76.

    Had the 'The Original Tap Dancing Kid, 'The Dragon is Dancing' and 'Ports of the Heart' LPs.

    Jimmie received decent radio play on New York FM stations, that were progressive.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIJune 1, 2020 at 6:11 AM

    From the reading I've been doing, it looks like Scientology occupies the missing time between the end of his contract and his death, along with the inevitable pharmaceticals. Five mentions in Scientology's Published Service Completion Lists, from '76 - '80.

    There's an excellent piece on the Spheeris family and Jimmie's life and death here.




    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One Buck GuyJune 2, 2020 at 2:43 AM

      Excellent read, thanks, Farq.

      Though I haven't had the time to listen to Jimmie yet, the blog mentions of The Czars, Midlake and Duncan Sheik reminded me that I absolutely have to go back to listen to their records I own.

      Midlake's The Trial Of Van Occupanther is probably my favorite disc of the 2000's and I heartily recommend to check it out, if anyone here hasn't done so.

      Duncan Sheik is also so freakin' underrated, it isn't even funny.

      Delete
  14. Dr DJune 1, 2020 at 5:23 PM

    Thank you for the live recordings ZZW! Fantastic find.... and thanks Farq for everything, not least providing us with your Isle O' Foam Resort to frolic in. What a swell sorta chap you are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Farquhar Throckmorton IIIJune 2, 2020 at 7:40 AM

      I do this because I enjoy it. More than that - it's become a refuge from the news, which is as much a virus as covid. I'm not having a fake news rant - I just can't take it any more. I scan the headlines on a few sites (five, I think) and get depressed, so I come here to be dumb and have some fun.

      I'm also writing another book - I never stop - but that's like doing a blog with no readers. Or painting a picture nobody will see. For its own sake - which is a good reason to do anything.

      Seeing the Four Or Five Guys© pile in on the comments every day is a real buzz.

      (Write a piece, Dr D - stocks are running low)

      Delete
    2. bkJune 2, 2020 at 9:24 PM

      it truely is an escape for me too and then I wrote a book no one read too- but I do it for myself

      Delete
  15. zigzagwandererJune 2, 2020 at 6:35 AM

    bkMay 31, 2020 at 10:47 PM

    here we go...you got me with this one.....Spheeris is one of my all time favorites. It all stops when he comes up on my random mix....he influences my music. I spend a lot of time trying to get his allusive live album...."An Evening With Jimmie Spheeris Live"........"he shouldabin a contenda"


    Found lurking on an old hard drive - An Evening With Jimmie Spheeris

    https://www.mediafire.com/file/vhe9napru7vltaf/EveningSpheeris.rar/file

    Enjoy !

    ReplyDelete
  16. MoahahaJune 2, 2020 at 9:20 PM

    A wonderful artist who's slipped under the (my) radar. Thanks! Isle and Dragon were both stunning and the others were pretty good as well.

    Btw: My Penelope-pick would be her not to be missed follow up "Decline of Western Civilization Part II - The Metal Years"- LA hair metal/sunset strip excess, stupidity and fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KqYSqIHU_s

    ReplyDelete
  17. One Buck GuyJune 3, 2020 at 3:40 AM

    So, call me a weirdo, because I go for complete works without having a note of Mr. Jimmie here. But I trust y'all goods tastes and stuff.

    So when I read about a rare promo single from 1980 I had to look for it. Here it is, an interesting Jimmie does Boston (or Kansas) thing. And a studio version of "On Broadway" from 1976, cut off the cuff with Richie Havens.

    https://workupload.com/archive/zBLDts2u

    ReplyDelete
  18. One Buck GuyJune 3, 2020 at 11:26 PM

    Y'all are right, you know. This is just amazingly beautiful music.

    Thanks for introducing me to this fantastic singer-songwriter

    ReplyDelete

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