Saturday, April 3, 2010

armand schaubroeck steals




would you buy a used amplifier from mr. schaubroeck ?



Hell. I would too. In fact, I would sooner buy direct from Armand than fill in the paperwork at House of Guitars, Inc. Let's all do our level best to keep said Rochester hoodlum in the style he's grown accustomed to. These days.

My buddy, Gus emailed me the gnawed pick pictured; it has been collecting belly button fluff and lint in a corner of the room which serves as a home made studio for close to four decades, possibly. Well. Three and then some.

Ever since small green Genet snuck off to the city.

Let's agree to scatter dust on the ashes of rock opera. For the time being, at the very least. My contribution to the ugly whole is a song in three parts; an EP's worth of tokens held in security.

Part-time regular on the bleachers, Armand Schaubroeck, is a face full of plump and lip over yellowed teeth. Without the blue mask. More honest than dishonest, or more honest merely than most, Armand - inmate #24145, once - outruns Legs McNeil by the prison yard when it comes to jawing off at the mouth. But backs it up with substance.

With the paws - or subterranean poise - of a born scrabbler.

It was wraithly guitarist, Ken who first tuned me in to this New York jive. Little Jack Horner. Well. I am mellowed by Chilean Sauvignon and running off at the finger, myself. Suffice to say. I warmed to A.S.S. from the first.

If this prototype marriage of Lewis Reed and Nick 'Greasepaint' Cave gives you a hard-on, too, I suggest you look in on Jason Hall's articulate scratchings rather than succumb to the depressingly purple prose touted elsewhere.


postscript

There is no Wikipedia entry for Armand Schaubroeck - official or otherwise - save for three or four paragraphs outlining his association with House of Guitars, Inc., of Irondequoit, Rochester, New York; a joint venture initiated in 1964 with brothers Bruce and Blaine. As of 2006, The Chesterfield Kings allegedly "engaged in a lawsuit with Armand Schaubroeck, owner of House of Guitars, over nonpayment of royalties [on] records released on Mirror Records from 1984 through 1997".

So far as I can gather, the triple LP release "A Lot of People Would Like to See Armand Schaubroeck... Dead" - an observation which seemingly still holds good - was recorded between 1971-2. With specific regard to the musical element of "Scene 18: Night Before Parole", it is interesting to note that David Bowie's "The Jean Genie" was released as a single in November, 1972, ahead of its inclusion on 1973's "Aladdin Sane".

While in part a submission in defence of Mr. Schaubroeck's good character, the jury, clearly, has yet to reconvene.


ARMAND SCHAUBROECK STEALS: ELMIRA BOUND from "A Lot Of People Would Like To See Armand Schaubroeck... Dead" 3 x LP (Mirror Records) 1972 (US)
ARMAND SCHAUBROECK STEALS: SCENE 18: NIGHT BEFORE PAROLE from "A Lot Of People Would Like To See Armand Schaubroeck... Dead" 3 x LP (Mirror Records) 1972 (US)
ARMAND SCHAUBROECK STEALS: SCENE 22: MY WARDEN'S CIRCUS from "A Lot Of People Would Like To See Armand Schaubroeck... Dead" 3 x LP (Mirror Records) 1972 (US)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great introduction to this lost legend. I saw the very same copy of his triple in the second-hand racks in Liverpool that Julian Cope stared at, I bought it in another shop across town and out fell a signed House of Guitars card... Then I recalled a Marshall Amplifiers publicity newsletter I had hoarded from 1975... "Ex-con to release triple album" with Arman leering out in a full length picture... He seemed so keen to get his work out those days, I'm still sad no-one was buying. Thanks for bringing back all those memories! Great taste! Clive Shaw

ib said...

Ace. Something like that happening - the House of Guitars card - is way more thrilling than finding a crisp ten pound note that one has tucked away inside the sleeve and promptly forgotten about. This has only happened to me once. My memory is not nearly as faulty as it ought to be. When money is involved.

It's like a bit of the past locked away. On account.

Your account of stealing through the bins in Liverpool reminds me too just how much record shop windows used to make me stop outside and itch. These days, the big stores have as much appeal as a Mcdonalds menu.

It's probably just nostalgia, but I'm not at all convinced. There was a very Dickensian vibe to it all. An art of shopping.

Thanks for stopping to comment, Clive. My attempt to rehabilitate Armand otherwise seems to have failed quite miserably. Cheers!

Assman said...

http://www.facebook.com/ArmandSchaubroeckSteals