On the Joey Reynold Show June 24th 2009

Joey Reynolds has been a staple of the New York radio scene for over 50(!?) years. Through Joey's friendship with "Unsteady Freddie", a surf music officianado and talent coordinator for the radio show we were invited to appear.

Our segment was scheduled for 1 AM (yes AM as in, The Middle Of The Night!) so Joey and I arrived at 111 Broadway at 12:30. We were wisked up to the third floor and treated very nicely, thank you.

Tony Harding (the documentary producer) was there to film the event for our "movie" thingie and Joey's friend and band mate Luigi Babe from his other labor of love All Mobbed Up also came down and Luigi and I had an impromptu jam in the waiting room which we "recreated" on the air. Joey and I sang one of our songs and we got some praise from this radio icon and before we knew it, it was all over. The show's producer gave us a CD or our appearance and the rest is history!

Click the "PLAY" button above to hear our segment...

Proof in the pudding?

Spent some time in the studio last week adding overdubs to songs we started back in March...

The song "Almost In Tears" is coming along nicely. This one has an "alternative" (whatever that means) beat. After recording the guitar overdubs (doubles, lead, etc...) Joey worked hard and put down a great vocal performance. Now I'll live with his vocal so when I'm ready to do the harmonies I'll be lock-synced with him. Our new keyboard player David did some fine work, adding Hammond organ and Electric Piano to the mix.

Another song we worked on is called "Intersection" which incorporates acoustic and electric guitars and that one is also coming out sounding great as well.

I can't wait to finish recording and start mixing this new disk, it's a complete departure from our previously released material, with an emphasis on more mature subjects and (Ouch!) "Age Appropriate" deliveries.

Joey asked me during the session, "How come these songs are taking longer than when we recorded 'Now and Then'?" The answer I gave him (paraphrasing) was this; After our experience with Tommy recording "Crying Town" I realized that in order to get something great you have to be careful not to just throw down anything and hope it sticks.

Now I know there's a fine line between going for perfection (ala Axel Rose) and tossing something off in five minutes but I believe we have straddled that line effectively.

But as they say, the proof will be in the pudding.

New Song and new member!

Had a great rehearsal last night which concentrated on nailing down the many new songs we've been working on. In addition to those, we also began working on a BRAND NEW ONE which came out sounding AWESOME thanks in part to our new(?) keyboard player David Stoler!

David started with us during the recording of Now... and Then, playing Hammond Organ on The Great Pretender and over the past few months has been sitting in with us, on and off during rehearsals. I think by now its official, he's the FIFTH Buddy Lover.

A Wild Pony Ride

We received some disturbing news yesterday; we heard some wild allegations about the promoter who was putting on the "Rock Legacy" show which we were scheduled to open for on June 13th at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

A oldies artist contacted me via the Buddy Love website and told me an outlandish story about how this guy promotes shows, collects ticket money directly and then cancels the shows at the last minute, disappearing with the money and leaving venues, bands and their fans in a lurch. I replied to this artist asking for more specific information, which he provided; the promoter is actually in jail right now for felony fraud!

Joey contacted the detectives on the case who confirmed that these wild allegations are actually true! I then contacted one of the members of "The Rock Legacy Band" who told me that although he has done business with this promoter for over 20 years, he also has heard this story and confirmed that the June 13th event was probably a fraud.

I hope that not too many people purchased advance tickets for this show because I don't know if they'll ever get their money back.

I got only one thing to say, "That's Show Biz!"

Recording "Crying Town"

Joey and I went to the studio today ostensibly to continue work on the tracks we put down last month and specifically to work on one particular song, "Crying Town" which was co written by me and Tommy Byrnes.

Tommy (a ridiculously talented guitarist, songwriter and producer) took charge of the session (at my request) and decided that what we had wasn't worth him adding his two cents to and suggested (strongly) thtat we scrap the existing track and start from scratch.

Which is exactly what we did! Working seamlessly along side Josh (the engineer) I watched (with my jaw dropping further and further to the floor) as he built up a fantastic rhythm track (sans bass and drums!) and then coaxed an emotional and touchingly believable performance from Joey, taking the song somewhere I never would have thought of on my own. In fact, I made a point of not interfering with his vision because he knew exactly what he wanted from beginning to end and knew how to get it, from himself and from us.

Now I always knew he was extraordinary but I have never seen him working like this and had the privilege to observe and (hopefully) learn from him. I guess that's why he earns the big bucks, cause he totally knows what the fuck he's doing!

When we reconvene with him (next month or so) we'll add bass, drums, 12-string and slide guitar and strings along with background vocals and then this will be (as far as I'm concerned) a REAL LIVE READY FOR THE RADIO ADULT CONTEMPORARY POWER BALLAD!

In the meantime, we will continue recording the other songs using our "almost live in the studio" method and I'm sure they will come out sounding fine but this experience has taught me something which I should have known all along and that is; small details are more important to the overall effect of a song than you would think and the only way to control those details is to spend alot of time listening, doing and redoing a track till you get something awesome, and that's exactly what Tommy has begun for us with this one.

Recording continues...

After listening to the rough recordings and experimenting with overdubs in my home studio, we are going back in to do some REAL recording this coming Tuesday, to work on the song "Crying Town" which was co-written by me and Tommy Byrnes who, incidentally, will be producing. (run on sentence!)

Tommy has also been listening to my experiments and has a few ideas of his own which include slide guitar, string synth and acoustic overdubs.

This will only be my second experience with a REAL producer, the first way back in 1979 when Don (Buck Dharma) Roeser of Blue Oyster Cult produced the unreleased ManKazaM Goes Surfin' album, so I'm really looking forward to having someone with experience tell me what to do for a change!

Hugh "Sudsy" Carroll FOUND!

Hugh “Sudsy” Carroll

April 3rd, 2009 Hugh "Sudsie" Carroll, bass player and vocalist for Buddy Love during 1983 and 1984, missing since January 2006 has been found! Said Sudsy, "I woke up after what seemed like a long, very intense dream and found myself playing bass in a Steely Dan cover band. The funny thing is, I didn't even know I knew any of these songs!"

Knicknamed "Sudsy" for his extensive beer drinking, he is ironically not famous for his propensity for pounding down the pilsners but for being heir to Madge's (the Palmolive Liquid spokesperson for three decades "You’re soaking in it") television fortune.

His inherited millions which vanished with him have never been recovered. Said Carroll, "I'm just happy to have my life back and the love a good women."

In 2006, after not reporting for a proposed reunion rehearsal, and after an exhaustive search of his home, known hangouts and beer distributors, there turned up not one clue as to his whereabouts. Police at the time had no leads WHATEVER to his sudden and complete disappearance and are equally mystified to find him not three miles from his Freeport Long Island home.

Authorities (local police, the IRS and the FBI) continue to investigate...