What do granny glasses, pet rabbits, and wonky cassette players have in common? They're all part of our adventures in the analog recording world. Get ready for some studio stories that'll make you grateful for digital.

It's our humble opinion that Portland, Oregon, for a brief period in the 1980s, had the best music scene IN THE WORLD.* I should qualify this by saying we only had New York and L.A. to compare it to: New York, where famous jazz guys were making fifty bucks a night, and L.A., where you had "Pay to Play." [I.e., Sell tickets to get a slot on the club stage, where you'd get exposure and hopefully gain the attention of an A&R man from a major label. People die of exposure.]

Portland was different. For a Golden Period, from around 1980-86, dozens of clubs opened. There was a brief relaxation in Oregon’s strict liquor laws. This came at the exact moment when Nu Shooz changed from a struggling four-piece to a nine-piece band with four horns.

We lost a good friend recently. Our beloved Bass Player Gary Fountaine died of cancer on Dec 28, 2023, at the age of 66.

There are certain players and singers who put out 110% every night, whether there’s five people in the audience or 50,000. THEY LEAVE IT ALL ON THE STAGE. Gary was one of those people. Joy emanated from his corner of the stage, whatever band he played with. He was so happy to be there. He loved his instrument. He loved the music and the audience. It was never fake.

Everybody knows the real thing when they see it, and Gary Fountaine was the real thing.

John recounts a chance encounter with Paul Reubens, better known as Pee-Wee Herman. Smith takes us back to the '87 Grammy Awards after-party where he met Reubens when he made eye contact with the man smoking next to him. Sadly, Paul Reubens passed away today at the age of 70.