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Monday, March 12, 2012

History Who are the Musicians in Your Family?

Posted by on Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 9:54 AM

A year before I was born, my mother had a child that she was forced to put up for adoption. The father of that child recently contacted my mother after decades of not talking to try to locate this child. I know little of my half brother, and it isn't an issue that's made me very curious. I also never knew much about my half brother's father, but we've since become friends on Facebox and I've seen photos of him from that era and some of the comics that he draws. He's also talked a lot about his band from the late 1970s / early 1980s in Cleveland, Ohio (who may have moved to California during that time).

They were called Mercury Magic (or maybe just Mercury, info is scant) and from what I can gather they released a single in 1979 and a self-titled LP in 1980. The single A-side is "Let Me Down Easy," and my almost-father sounds almost exactly like Sticky Fingers-era Mick Jagger:

An endearing missive from the comment section of that video from my almost-father's brother reads:

Ricky Hughes here. I love finding this here and I am being sincere. Thank you so much. This was our first single and I have not heard it in 30 years. I am not sure if anyone in my family even has a copy of this. Do me a favor and call me, I would love to talk music with you. 1-502-(redacted). Please call.

The 1980 LP fetches some dollars from prog/psych collectors. I have to admit, while I'm not wild about meandering denim rock, there's something about "Let Me Down Easy" that I really love. It's kind of cool to imagine my mother dating this guy as well; long hair, roach clips, a red Chevy Chevelle SS, flowery blouses and jean jackets, etc. Of course, I stop thinking about it before it gets any further (ick).

Then I got to wondering, do you have family members in bands? An uncle who plays blistering folk guitar, perhaps? A cousin in a speed metal band? Are there videos of them on YouTube? If so, please post them below. I'd love to see them!

 

Comments (29) RSS

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1
My brother played guitar in the Detroit shoegaze-rock group Majesty Crush from 1990-1995. They put out an album in 1993 on Dalí Records (they were label mates with Kyuss for a minute), Love 15, but the company folded about 2 months after its release.

This was their most popular song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT2TBuKfP…
Posted by Dave Segal on March 12, 2012 at 10:30 AM
derek_erdman 2
Hey Dave, the comments on that video are absolutely bats. Good song though!
Posted by derek_erdman http://www.derekerdman.com on March 12, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Larry Mizell, Jr. 3
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectu…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEn6wdZ8w…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0upHlWf…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-DD0N3Ee…
Posted by Larry Mizell, Jr. on March 12, 2012 at 11:50 AM
4
My Grandfather played piano in a cathouse.

Sadly there are no recordings.

I like your almost brother's father's song. ...not a lot, but a little.

Posted by Splay on March 12, 2012 at 12:07 PM
5
My Grandfather played piano in a cathouse.

Sadly there are no recordings.

I like your almost brother's father's song. ...not a lot, but a little.

Posted by Splay on March 12, 2012 at 12:12 PM
6
My Grandfather played piano in a cathouse.

Sadly there are no recordings.

I like your almost brother's father's song. ...not a lot, but a little.
Posted by Splay on March 12, 2012 at 12:12 PM
Jackson Hathorn 7
http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/a…

Posted by Jackson Hathorn on March 12, 2012 at 12:17 PM
8
"It" told me it wasn't taking my comments.
I am not an idiot. ...or overly repetitive.
Posted by Splay on March 12, 2012 at 12:23 PM
reverend dr dj riz 9
shoot ...we all should take mizell out for drinks and weeds and let him talk about his shit for however many hours it would take to get the stories told...
..serious..
Posted by reverend dr dj riz on March 12, 2012 at 12:38 PM
GWizzzz 10
my great uncle joe played snare drum for the army in WWII and led troops into battle with his phat beats. he payed snare rolls and paradiddles while other guys shot nazi's. my mom also plays kazoo, spoons, and harmonica.
Posted by GWizzzz on March 12, 2012 at 12:39 PM
stuckie 11
Dave - I actually bought that Majesty Crush album twice. Once in the 90s when it came out and I just got a job that allowed me to buy any CD with a cover that made it look like it was put out by 4AD, then again, a few years ago, because it'd apparently gone missing in my storage closet (where everyone keeps their CDs these days), and having fond memories specifically of its Smashing Pumpkins-like shoegaze guitars, found it online for not more than the cost of shipping.
Posted by stuckie on March 12, 2012 at 12:40 PM
reverend dr dj riz 12
..having said that.. i have two musician brothers, both guitarists..one plays with 'the drifters'
( 'up on the roof' ' on broadway' ' under the boradwalk' )..or whichever faction of the old timey drifters manage to tour.
Posted by reverend dr dj riz on March 12, 2012 at 12:43 PM
13
My brother is Eef Barzelay of indie rock band Clem Snide. He's received a modicum of success appearing on Conan O'brien and the Craig Kilborn show (when it was around). Also, he wrote the theme song from the tv show Ed on NBC several years ago. One of his Journey covers was recently on an episode of Californication (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCIPW21qh…) and he's done various movie soundtracks (Rocket Science, The Yellow Handkerchief).
Posted by Ami on March 12, 2012 at 12:52 PM
14
UNKO FUNKI!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIcFHbpJ…
Posted by ameliamaris on March 12, 2012 at 12:54 PM
HellboundAlleee 15
My dad is in The Polka Pals, a group that plays in a Beer Hall every weekend in Leavenworth, WA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9vZ7QsSJ…
Posted by HellboundAlleee http://hellboundalleee.blogspot.com on March 12, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Fnarf 16
My brudda-in-law was in the Mighty Squirrels.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on March 12, 2012 at 1:19 PM
17
@3 for the eternal win.
Posted by Dave Segal on March 12, 2012 at 1:52 PM
18
Damn, Derek, "Let Me Down Easy" is beautiful, gratuitous sax solo and all.
Posted by Dave Segal on March 12, 2012 at 1:58 PM
19
My great-grandmother was a singer. She has been variously referred to on the internet as a "noted singer," "a concert singer," "an accomplished classical music singer who studied with Nadia Boulanger," and "a plump, attractive girl who became a professional singer [and] renounced her career to devote herself to her husband." There are no videos, and i don't think there are any recordings either. I think my uncle plays in a Christian rock band in Georgia. If there are videos I'm not aware of it. Otherwise, I'm the relative in bands.
Posted by Levislade http://ballofwax.org on March 12, 2012 at 2:23 PM
More, I Say! 20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz7rgx8iJ…

Here's my little sister's band, Devilwood (nee The Whereabouts) having a drunken guitar noodle in the kitchen. She sings. She rocks.
Posted by More, I Say! on March 12, 2012 at 2:50 PM
21
Hey! I've got that Majesty Crush record. Nice one Dave.
Posted by derkle on March 12, 2012 at 4:55 PM
22
This is awesome! Wow! Go Kurt!!! I am so happy to hear this. It is really good!
Love, Linda Robbins Lane
Posted by bunda on March 12, 2012 at 5:54 PM
23
My baby sis:
(the intro is a little slow, bear with it, I promise it's worth it!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSksBoabo…
Posted by Lawen on March 12, 2012 at 8:31 PM
24
Here's that link again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSksBoabo…
Posted by Lawen on March 12, 2012 at 8:36 PM
25
My aunt's nephew is the late Ronnie Lane of the Small Faces. Not blood related--our mutual aunt was married to my dad's brother. As a kid, my brother kicked a football around w/ Ronnie at family gatherings.
Posted by Damned Password on March 12, 2012 at 9:21 PM
26
My uncle Travis "Twizzler" Totten was in a popular Conway Twitty cover band called Twizzler Totten & the Itty Bitty Twitty Committee.
Posted by John Totten on March 13, 2012 at 2:09 AM
litlnemo 27
My uncle was the drummer in this band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKhmH0qZ3…

They were pretty popular in the Northwest back in the late '50s/early '60s. Unfortunately I don't think there's any video that actually shows them playing. You can see them here, though: http://pnwbands.com/frantics.html
Posted by litlnemo http://slumberland.org/ on March 13, 2012 at 4:30 AM
28
A very distant relative wrote "Tennessee Stud"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Drif…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_X_SWuwM…
Posted by go figueroa on March 13, 2012 at 9:36 AM
Kathy Fennessy 29
@9 Count me in!
Posted by Kathy Fennessy http://kathleencfennessy.blogspot.com/ on March 18, 2012 at 12:49 PM

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