In the Land of All Time Favorites

We're kind of snowed in & I worked digital magic all yesterday. I'm going for it. I'm going to set this up so I'm two months out and can relax for a while...




1. Bridgeport Lathe
2. Little Cities

If you collect records and talk to people who don't it's generally inevitable that at some point they will ask you the burning building question. The house is on fire and you can only grab one record. Besides the ridiculousness of how the question is asked and setting aside the number of valuable & beloved musical instruments I'd otherwise be tossing out a second story window, I might say this single.
There was a time when there were only two places in all of Boston where I ever got to hear it. The jukebox at Johnny D's in Allston & the Rat in Kenmore Square. When Johnny D's turned into an Irish bar (half a block from my apt. and with an authentic Irish bartender who made a little Shamrock in the head with the run-off when pouring a Guinness.) it was only the Rat. Every time I was upstairs at the Rat, I made sure to have a quarter to play it.
It wasn't until I was weeks away from moving to the Midwest that I ever saw a physical copy. I bought it. I certainly spent way too much money at the time (though that was less than half of what they currently go for on eBay) but I would have regretted it to this day if I hadn't.
Eventually, many years later, "Bridgeport Lathe" became a staple of my old band's setlist and the song which ended every practice. (It was also often better received than a lot of our actual original songs, so there's that too.) It's often talked about but seldom heard and long long out of print.
The man behind it is one John Havorka. He's got a website for his many projects at Metal Snowball including lots more recordings of the 2x4's & his other musical endeavors plus his new novel. Go there and spend money.




1. Wah-Hey!
2. No Sure Bet

A couple bands later and Mr. Havorka had formed the Turbines. I saw these guys a lot. A whole lot. There's somewhere a video of this song & somewhere I'm in that. (It was actually during a break in the filming that they played "Bridgeport Lathe" and I learned how to play that riff by watching his fingers. So simple, but so cool sounding) This is the first version of it. (It got rerecorded for their Big Time record "Last Dance Before Highway". Come back next week.) It's the sound of a long gone Saturday night that tastes like Rolling Rock and cheap cigarettes and smells like sweat and the Rat bathroom.
It's root rockin' at it's finest. The Del Fuegos got most of the attention and the major label deal, but for my money the Turbines were where the action was.