Hello Monkey Chums-
Welcome to 2023 –
After spending 2022 mostly enmeshed with making “Olympia: A True Story” and a delightful Green Pajamas album happen, Forever For A Little While, it’s time to get that 2023 ball rolling.
First up Von Cube. Two Songs Live | Von Cube (bandcamp.com)
The Cubesters are song/guitar-man Grady Eddins and drummer Nick Hagen. They have been secretly recording for the last 20 years and releasing it only to their privileged friends. Last fall Grady showed up at my door. With minimal arm bending, an agreement was made. Today we present the first of the Von Cube Collection, “Two Songs Live.” Nothing complicated here. “One guitar, one octave pedal, singing and drums. Recorded live. No overdubs. Relentless. Old enough to know better, but that just don’t matter. Von Cube is a two-man army.” There will be a strategically planned series of Von Cube releases coming your way, but you may begin right here!
In other news, we have decided to mothball/archive the GreenMonkeyRecords.com website. It has gone through its various iterations since 2009 and we just think it is not needed at this point. It is simply extra work. Going forward, we will do our main business through an expanded Bandcamp site (https://greenmonkeyrecords.bandcamp.com/), facebook and other social media and of course the GMR newsletter. The GMR website will remain online for archivists, but we will not be adding new material to it. We of course invite all to follow us on social media and Bandcamp!
Just for fun here is a link to our first AotM for It Crawled From the Basement for August 2009. Aug. 2009: It Crawled From The Basement – The Green Monkey Records Anthology – Green Monkey Records
The delightful Jon Strongbow, who I have known since high school, left us earthlings behind this year and I remain committed to his catalog. I have recently uncovered the masters to his 1987 release “A Normal Sort of Guy” and will be working with Steve Turnidge of Ars Divina to get it remastered and released in the next couple months. Jon also had a plethora of instrumental releases with his band Mystery School, which we will be addressing as well. RIP Jon.
The True Olympians have completed their “tour” of the Pacific Northwest and are ready to move on to their next project after spending considerable effort making Olympia: A True Story a reality. We are grateful for everyone’s support of the project. Upon completion of our last show, Jason the English, has left the band – we thank him for his good work. We have begun work on our next project, Volume 2 of History Of Northwest Rock – this one coving 1970 to 1986. Like Volume 1, this will cover my favorites of that period, both the obvious and the obscure.
I don’t know what Mr. Jeff Kelly has up his sleeve for 2023, but I do know his sleeve is long, so something should pop out. Jeff has a great new video https://youtu.be/bDoqVUD1w28
The leisurely Peter Barnes is winding his way to the finish line with his career spanning opus – expect it this spring.
Richard Peterson has been doing some recording – dare we hope?
As to what else shall happen in 2023, well, we shall just see.
td Jan 2023