[bomp] New Gizmos Double CD: LIVE IN BLOOMINGTON 1977-1978 (Gulcher 430)

[GulcherRecords@xxxxxxx]

The Gizmos
LIVE IN BLOOMINGTON--1977/1978
(Gulcher 430)

"Ted's gonna take over, you know.  It's in his blood."

Somewhere in between the celebrated and much-beloved Ken Highland Gizmos and
the beloved and much-celebrated Dale Lawrence Gizmos lies the pretty much
ignored and unknown middle period Gizmos:  the Ted Niemiec Gizmos.  No mistake
about it, this was Ted's band.  Listen to this:

I had just turned 16 when I read a classified ad in Indianapolis' Radio Free
Rock announcing that something called the Gizmos was looking for a drummer. 
Make a record, it said.  Maybe tour the world, it said.  It just so happened
that making a record and touring the world (or at least playing Max's in NYC)
were, at 16, the two things I needed to do before I could die happy, so I
answered it.  And I would have been the Gizmos' drummer (beloved and
much-celebrated) had not Shadow Myers also answered that ad.  I got to settle
for being what
Bob Richert referred to as the "Handsome Dick Manitoba" of the band.  What
Dale Lawrence referred to as the "fat teenager playing the tambourine."  What
have you, I liked being a Gizmo.  In Ted's band.  Three or four times a week I
would leave school and drive the 50 miles down to Bloomington to rehearse or,
as
you will hear, play a show.  Listen to this:

The shows were fun.  We played a youth center in Clinton, IN, and two kids
showed up.  Ted brought them up on stage and made them background singers for
a
few songs.  They had fun.  The Gizmos were fun.  Ted was fun.  Even when lots
of people would show up.

Sometime after the shows and days on this record whatever the hell punk was
turned awfully angry and serious and pious and self-reflective (and too often
self-righteous) and stopped being fun.  The Ted Gizmos were fun.  Listening to
these recordings, most of which I had never heard before, I found myself
grinning, laughing and having an awfully good time.  Rock'n'roll can do that
for
you.  It does that for me.  I suspect it still does that for Ted, too.

Just listen.  While Ken is all over disc one and Dale is all over disc two,
these are Ted's discs.  If his alter-boy-caught-with-porn-mags persona is a
little goofy, it is also a hoot.  After all, he was just holding onto them for
a
friend (probably Ken).  If he seemed a little dubious signing "I Shoot Up," he
knew how to rock it and that's what matters.

I've never met Kenne Highland, but I love his records.  Dale Lawrence may
still rather not have had a fat Manitoba in his band, but I love his music
anyway.  Nearly thirty years later, though, I am still rather pleased and
proud to
have been a teenaged Gizmo.  In Ted's Gizmos.  Listen to this;  you'll
celebrate and love them.

--Phil Hundley, who has been able to die happy since 1977.

Get Yer Gulcher at:  www.gulcher.gemm.com

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