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| From | "Chuck Limmer" <climmer@cox.net> |
| Subject | Re: The Toons |
| Date | Fri, 22 Oct 2004 22:12:47 -0700 |
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On Thu, 21 Oct 2004, Michael Coxe wrote:
>>wigout6@juno.com wrote:
>> Finally, a song in the opening set of the D.C. show reminded me of The
>> Toons, a California band that released a fine surf-pop album called
>>"Looking at Girls" on Rhino way back when ('82?). Does anyone know if
>> this was ever released on CD? I didn't see anything about it on the
>> Rhino website. Perhaps a candidate for a Not Lame Archives project?
>Nope, nor the live LP.
>It's what makes collecting (not selling) vinyl still a noble art.
Michael:
I don't know when or under what circumstances, but the Toons' LOOKING AT GIRLS *did* make it to CD. I have it. The packaging is clearly low-budget, with what looks like the original album art shrunk down to CD dimensions (the lyrics on the back cover are essentially illegible). And the supposed affiliation with Rhino continues, as the spine claims this to be Rhino RNLP009--same catalog number as my old vinyl copy. Go figure.
But it sounds great. Mastered from either the original tapes or an extremely clean LP, this has all the dynamic range and low signal-to-noise of any good analog recording on disc. My only gripe is that the fades on a couple of tracks cut off sort of abruptly. Not a problem unless you're listening to it pretty loud, but still.
I got LOOKING AT GIRLS through ex-Toon John Milne, who exchanged e-mails with me three years ago after reading my praise of his old group on Audities. (That was back in the days when folks could still Google the contents of this list. I'm still sorry that change was made.) For anyone who's curious, here's the scoop on the Toons:
"There were no subsequent Toons recordings. Megatone Records put out a different version of LOOKING AT GIRLS, with a tune called "Japanese Kids" replacing "Space Girl," right about the time that "Video Games" was in heavy rotation on MTV, but that all fizzled... Parker Lee, our manager, got an offer to work as head of entertainment at Caesar's Vegas, which he couldn't refuse. We plugged along for a couple more college tours after he left, but without good management, things tend to go sour...
"My wife is from Chicago, and had always wanted to move. So that's where I am now. I sing in an acappella group called Chicago Voice Exchange; we've won the Midwest harmony sweepstakes three times, but never the national championships (which are held in the Bay Area every March). Oddly enough, "So Far" did win Best Original Song two years ago...
"As to the other Toons: Jeff Pettit works for Oracle and lives near Sacramento. Parker Lee is a new technology sales guy and lives in Marin. Bobby Santa Cruz lives in San Luis Obispo and works for the water department there. Gil Doyle lives in Santa Rosa, and still plays out. And Mike Carey is in a couple of different bands, including one called something like 'The Mystic Knights of the Sea.'"
So there you have it. More than most of you ever wanted to know about the Toons, I'm guessing. But *I* was thrilled to find out what happened to the group, after all these years, and to get my hands on a CD of LOOKING AT GIRLS. Anyone who wants to see if Milne has a few more copies left in his closet, e-mail me off-list, and I'll give you the most-recent address I have for him.
Chuck Limmer
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