I have been rummaging through my computer and digital detritus of late – there is a lot – and was happily able to restore Viv’s iPod to full functionality. Taking advantage of this today as I mowed the lawn, I amused myself by bending an ear to the last BKB thing I worked on, a live demo CD of 13 songs I put together as a booking tool.

To my amusement, I chose to kick off the CD with two songs that feature, well, um… me on lead mandolin, no guitar in sight, on stage, or recorded. I’m sure that had nothing whatsoever to do with my decision, as I practice impartiality in all things.

As do you.

Listening to a fifteen-year old cassette of a friend’s old aircheck – hm, maybe even older than fifteen years, can’t recall if it’s a WQAX or WFHB show – I was amused by the song Rex Bob Lowenstein, by artist unknown, but possibly Mark Germino.

I started to try to figure out whose song it was and the search results I was getting made no sense. It seems like possibly the song was originated by Germino but covered by a not-that-name Flying Burrito Brothers reunion outfit. No-one’s blogged it or posted a live version so I was defeated in my quest to do an aural comparison and share a link.

I did find the lyrics, so, um, make up your own damn tune.

From that Hoosier 60s band blog, on my first sweep through it I found a bunch of cools pics and band names but a sad lack of great sounds! This June 2007 post highlighting a side by the Tribu-terrys is the best I’ve come up with so far.

I did think it was interesting that many of the other sides seem to bear out my thesis of a ‘midwestern fatalism’ grounding Hoosier pop. There were at least two I previewed lamenting the loss of draftees in Vietnam, but specifically not protesting that loss. One of the songs was called ‘Necessary Evil.’

Eventually I suppose I’ll get all OCD on the audio and see if I can pull stats out. Not tonight.

Via a reference posted by the respected Yukki Repellent on MFT: 60’s indiana band szene. This is all-new to me, and it’s exciting!