We love estate sales. We're always finding cheap treasures at them -- neckties, books, gadgets, and especially music. A sale we hit last weekend yielded this incredible find, a 45 RPM record which was a mere 50 cents on half-price Sunday:
We remember it so well. Johnny Koonce with an early version of his band, the Distractions, including the phenom Bill Feldman on lead guitar. Kip Richardson was on drums, before Johnny swapped drummers and picked up Kevin Jarvis from the Odds. This was the lineup we used to catch in places like the Last Hurrah and Eli's at the end of the '70s. In fact, one of the proprietors of the Hurrah is listed as the "executive producer" of this single.
Johnny actually made it to the big time, even faster and further than Billy Rancher did. By '81, he and the Distractions had an album on A&M Records and were touring with J. Geils. Here's the album, with the back showing the revised personnel list:
For some reason, it fell apart pretty quickly. A friend of ours who was in the record industry at the time reported that the Distractions were booted off the Geils tour, and the story then circulated that the record company was interested in Johnny without the rest of the band. Koonce continued to play around Portland and the region, which we think he's still doing today, but his shot at international fame had come and gone.
It's interesting that we stumbled on this single now. As you can see, it was recorded 33 years ago this Monday. And this week, Bruce Springsteen, obviously Johnny's hero, will be in town.
Anyway, it's a fine piece of Portland rock music history, and we're grateful to the spirit to whom it once belonged. For 50 cents, we revived a lot of memories. We've uploaded the songs to YouTube; you can hear them here and here.
Thank you for sharing those. I listened to both and was impressed. They have that "sound" of the music from that time which causes a little twinge in my heart. I'll be 52 in February. Looking back on those bittersweet days they seem like a hundred years ago.
Bill Feldman was also an amazing solo performer at the old P,C & S tavern at 11th and SW Morrison -- his show stopper was Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken."
Johnny Koonce just played in Portland, I believe earlier this month. Can't find the email announcement - came from David Stenson, bass player in Geezer - some of whom used to be Foothill Diesel. Dave's website: http://www.gungadave.xbuild.com/
I live out in Hillsboro in a house that John used to live in about 10 years ago. I see him from time to time in Hillsboro from time to time and I assume he still lives out there. He is filling in on bass for a Rockabilly band named the Twangshifters as well as gigging solo at Rock Creek Tavern and other places around.
Sadly, that game played by record labels of wanting a lead singer separate from the rest of the band was an old one, and it tore apart a lot of bands that could have gone places. Here in Dallas, that tore apart our nascent music scene in the late Eighties, when David Geffen discovered an interesting little band called New Bohemians. David really only wanted to sign the band for its lead singer, Edie Brickell, but by the time he was done, half of the bands in town were signed with one label or another, local idiots, erm, music critics were talking about "the Dallas sound" (with one critic famously telling a VERY influential local musician that he wasn't going to cover her any more unless she slept with him), and you had such insanity as a local community radio DJ swearing that a movie producer saw her at a New Bohemians show and was working on a movie about her life. Well, that was 25 years ago, and it's still "in development".
The real shame about a lot of this was that nobody learned anything, because they thought it only happened to someone else. Two years after signing New Bohemians, Geffen put out one album, emphasizing that this was now "Edie Brickell and New Bohemians", and that godawful "What I Am" song rivaled Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart" as one of the whiniest songs of the Eighties. The band broke up, Edie married Paul Simon and tried for a solo career, and most of the other contracts fell through when the other labels realized that there was no actual Dallas sound that could be used as an example. Five years later, the process repeated, with Geffen once again responsible, in Seattle, only this time he insisted that the whiner rock sound WAS Seattle. (Three years after that, after Kurt Cobain killed himself, the syndicated Z-Rock network actually dedicated a Saturday block to "the Seattle Sound", and promptly grunted out Stone Temple Pilots's "Plush". When I called the station to note that Stone Temple Pilots was from Los Angeles, the DJ whimpered "Well, they SOUND like they're from Seattle, which is why we're playing them." This time around, the pay-for-play paid by the major music labels was all on the same message.)
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (7)
Amazing. And you have a 45 turntable? Astounding.
Posted by Allan L. | November 23, 2012 12:52 PM
I'm going to ask to be buried with it.
Posted by Jack Bog | November 23, 2012 12:54 PM
Thank you for sharing those. I listened to both and was impressed. They have that "sound" of the music from that time which causes a little twinge in my heart. I'll be 52 in February. Looking back on those bittersweet days they seem like a hundred years ago.
Posted by Gwen | November 23, 2012 3:45 PM
Bill Feldman was also an amazing solo performer at the old P,C & S tavern at 11th and SW Morrison -- his show stopper was Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken."
Posted by Fred Leonhardt | November 24, 2012 9:00 AM
Johnny Koonce just played in Portland, I believe earlier this month. Can't find the email announcement - came from David Stenson, bass player in Geezer - some of whom used to be Foothill Diesel. Dave's website: http://www.gungadave.xbuild.com/
Posted by Juniper's Cat Mama | November 25, 2012 7:59 AM
I live out in Hillsboro in a house that John used to live in about 10 years ago. I see him from time to time in Hillsboro from time to time and I assume he still lives out there. He is filling in on bass for a Rockabilly band named the Twangshifters as well as gigging solo at Rock Creek Tavern and other places around.
Posted by Jason | November 26, 2012 8:50 AM
Sadly, that game played by record labels of wanting a lead singer separate from the rest of the band was an old one, and it tore apart a lot of bands that could have gone places. Here in Dallas, that tore apart our nascent music scene in the late Eighties, when David Geffen discovered an interesting little band called New Bohemians. David really only wanted to sign the band for its lead singer, Edie Brickell, but by the time he was done, half of the bands in town were signed with one label or another, local idiots, erm, music critics were talking about "the Dallas sound" (with one critic famously telling a VERY influential local musician that he wasn't going to cover her any more unless she slept with him), and you had such insanity as a local community radio DJ swearing that a movie producer saw her at a New Bohemians show and was working on a movie about her life. Well, that was 25 years ago, and it's still "in development".
The real shame about a lot of this was that nobody learned anything, because they thought it only happened to someone else. Two years after signing New Bohemians, Geffen put out one album, emphasizing that this was now "Edie Brickell and New Bohemians", and that godawful "What I Am" song rivaled Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart" as one of the whiniest songs of the Eighties. The band broke up, Edie married Paul Simon and tried for a solo career, and most of the other contracts fell through when the other labels realized that there was no actual Dallas sound that could be used as an example. Five years later, the process repeated, with Geffen once again responsible, in Seattle, only this time he insisted that the whiner rock sound WAS Seattle. (Three years after that, after Kurt Cobain killed himself, the syndicated Z-Rock network actually dedicated a Saturday block to "the Seattle Sound", and promptly grunted out Stone Temple Pilots's "Plush". When I called the station to note that Stone Temple Pilots was from Los Angeles, the DJ whimpered "Well, they SOUND like they're from Seattle, which is why we're playing them." This time around, the pay-for-play paid by the major music labels was all on the same message.)
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | November 26, 2012 9:44 AM