1001 Real Apes

I'm on the distribution list for fans of Robyn Hitchcock and just got this email from them about a project Hitchcock highly recommends. Sounds pretty cool. (I'd never cut Robyn's head off, but if I did, I think he'd keep on singing--about disembodied heads. And squid.)

- Evil Monkey


PelPel Recordings
presents
"1001 Real Apes"
by David Greenberger & Birdsongs of the Mesozoic

1001 Real Apes, mixes David Greenberger's monologues with music by Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. It's loaded with quirky stories, reflections, and opinions that Greenberger has culled from The Duplex Planet, his publication of conversations with old people - particularly drawn from the residents of the defunct Duplex Nursing home in Boston.

Greenberger offers up everything listeners have come to expect from Duplex Planet projects, plus some. The 27 stream-of-consciousness stories are alternately funny, moving, wise, silly, and inspirational, providing a unique view into the minds of the characters. They meander, as minds tend to do, through a terrain of guitars, travel, silverware, dating, beer, dinosaurs, and a perennial Duplex Planet favorite, Snakes. The moods range from the jazzy riffs of the insistent "I Ain't Coe" to the prayerful mourning of "No Firebugs." Working with producer Bill Scheniman (Deborah
Harry, NRBQ, Bon Jovi) has also yielded a friendly, spoken-word pop song, "How Records Are Made." Roll down your car windows, turn up the volume, and go for a ride; this song sounds like summer.

Twenty-seven years ago, David Greenberger started a magazine using stories he collected from residents of the Duplex Nursing Home. The Duplex Planet continues today as a periodical, but has gained wider renown in some of its other forms: book collections, a comic book adaptation, two documentaries, CDs and performances. Last year NPR's All Things Considered featured selections from Greenberger's previous two releases, Mayor of the Tennessee River and Legibly Speaking. Greenberger has just completed a public radio program, Growing Old in East L.A., with music by David Hidalgo and Louie Perez of Los Lobos.

Available now at http://www.duplexplanet.com for just $12 (plus $4 shipping), or by check to: The Duplex Planet, POBOX 1230, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

David Greenberger: monologues
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic:
Michael Bierylo - guitar, computer sequencing, sound design
Ken Field - saxophones, flutes, percussion
Erik Lindgren - piano
Rick Scott - synthesizer, samples, percussion
Produced by Bill Scheniman

Track listing:

1. 1001 Real Apes Overture (1:27)
2. Dad's Tray (2:09)
3. Cowboy Story (2:40)
4. The Phantom of Crestwood (1:30)
5. Minerals and Moon (2:08)
6. Freaky Women (3:44)
7. Nine Colors/Quincy Sore Throat (2:57)
8. Six Bits of Advice (0:57)
9. 36 Meatballs (1:19)
10. Gravity/Massachusetts/Newton (3:46)
11. Firecrackers (1:51)
12. Dinosaurs (1:27)
13. All About Snakes (4:33)
14. A-E-I-O-U (Guitars, pt. 1) (2:06)
15. Daphne's New York City (2:39)
16. Swimming (3:10)
17. Chicago (1:25)
18. No Firebugs and a Prayer (5:16)
19. Theo (0:52)
20. I Ain't Coe (3:38)
21. Bruno (1:37)
22. How Records Are Made (2:31)
23. Plink Plink Plink (Guitars. pt. 2) (2:07)
24. Rosie (2:42)
25. Time Marches On (1:38)
26. A Cautionary Tale (0:53)
27. I Like Beer (2:47)
28. They Made a Movie Out of This (2:22)