Indiana Music Compilations

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Permalink Reply by Celester on June 13, 2008 at 2:43pm

I love that Babelfish translates "Rock" as "skirt" -- which is what it is in German, literally, but of course totally ignores the context. And "Funk" as "radio." I think by "diagonal" the reviewer means "oblique" -- but yeah, diagonal is actually better. Priceless! Always though Modern Vending had "schöner schwebender Gitarrensound" myself...

I tormented my neighbors with Black Brittle Frisbee and Red Snerts this afternoon, actually, before finding this disucssion. I'm having a hell of a time!

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Permalink Reply by Celester on June 13, 2008 at 2:53pm

Cokerism? I'll discuss this by message, if you're really interested. Besides NoBar and misc party experiences, Coker spent a lot of time at my ex-BF's house (in fact, in '90, I would bet he was there 5 out of 7 days), so I had an unfortunately close-up view of The Man, The Legend in action, up til about '92. Maybe other regions have their own icon --like, in Cincinnati when I first moved here it seemed like this guy Nelson, who'd had a record produced by David Bowie in the 70s, was a sort of obscure Cinti icon in a way -- but Coker's in his own class entirely.

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Permalink Reply by mike whybark on June 13, 2008 at 3:54pm

No, it's really just idle curiosity. Looking around it seems like he must have been a person who had some very notable personality quirks that made him into a character on the scene more than his interest in or insight into American independent music.

In Bloomington we had some similar mascot-like characters, but they were all challenged in one way or another - Freddy the Biker was a hardcore street wino who we somehow adopted, presumably due to his outrageous anecdotes, and Fred Curry was (and still is, apparently) a person with profound mental problems, possibly schizophrenia but I guess the terms change so I'm not sure if that is what it's called today. God hated Fred, you see and cursed him, and...

I don't get the sense that Coker was crazy from the comments around his photo presence.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Menkhaus on June 13, 2008 at 4:24pm

i have cds of:
b-town sampler
live from bloomington???
(one of these has united states three's "pure entertainment" and old pike's incredible "make me believe", the other has us3's "morning breaks" and old pike's "everyone is leaving")

flat earth sampler - alternate mixes of hello strangers and us3 songs, fabric too.

homegrown (south bend indiana) - this one pretty much sucks

and a tape called something like:

alabaster mackerel swing (something or other) - it was sold in the collins store (where i also bought the original showermast tape and the first sleeve tape) in 1993/4 era. it has a planet earth song, a showermast song, and lots of other good stuff on it. does anyone else remember this one???

if we're including split singles, i also have the old pike/chamberlain split cd. i was never a big chamberlain fan, but the recording of "the south has spoiled me" is really great.

there are others i'm forgetting. later, i could post complete track lists if anyone is interested.

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Permalink Reply by Sean O'Neil on June 13, 2008 at 5:42pm

Yeah, I'm interested in track lists. Track list nerd right here. Wasn't there a split lip split single with somebody?

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Permalink Reply by Sean O'Neil on June 13, 2008 at 5:48pm

I think one of the great things about Coker is that he wasn't crazy. You could have completely normal conversations with him ... if you wanted. He was just a super big fan of the local scene who was really into having a good time. A good time forever.

Muncie had plenty of bona fide crazies too, like Turkey Lady, for example. But most of them had nothing to do with music. They were just part of the Muncie landscape.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Cruzan on June 13, 2008 at 7:06pm

Coker may be the most average man in America. I just found his mom's phone number in an old address book. Steve was always entertained and entertaining. I think I will start an all things Coker blog.I know there will be interest. He is not only a Muncie icon, he is an Indiana icon. He was known to drive from his Naval base on the east coast to Muncie on a 48 hr pass to just party. He was actually on a warship in the Persian Gulf during the Iranian hostage crisis.

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Permalink Reply by Celester on June 13, 2008 at 7:39pm

I think you'd have a lot of takers on a Coker blog. Coker's average, but maybe like Muncie is Middletown, USA: average but off-center. What's remarkable was (is?) his endless interest in being with people who were increasingly younger age cohorts. And the fact that there really wasn't anything all that unbalanced about him -- just a whole lot of notable quirks (like the coupons) put together. What's more odd might be the feedback between turning him into a literal, material icon (all the Coker merch based on that one image), the gentle, affectionate mockery, and the actual guy who was always still up for a party. I don't think it was possible to actually mock Steve Coker, 'cause he's mock-proof: I never saw it make a dent in him, which is pretty admirable.

Wait: there was a Turkey Lady???

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Permalink Reply by Chris Menkhaus on June 13, 2008 at 9:39pm

the alabaster mackle swing
a bloomington compilation
(cassette, 1994)
live from under bloomington

TERRA SIDE (A)
01. Whip Cream Flatus
02. Woodpecker Boogie Java
03. The Rubicon Kevin Shima
04. Naked and Cold Previously Frozen
05. Das U Y'all Abstract Fresco
06. Every Medusa Negative Infinity
07. Pledge The Submersibles
08. The Thorazine Shuffle Time Flies
09. Drive Away Need
10. Glorious Day The Nixons

FIRMA SIDE (B)
01. Bean Dip HipMotize
02. Rest In Me Planet Earth
03. Lentil Soup Clayboy
04. Jimmy Jones Steve Foresman
05. Establishment Stone Carnival
06. Bill & Jane FFUDD
07. S'Blunt Showermast

next time i scan stuff, i'll scan the cassette cover. it's pretty cool looking.

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Permalink Reply by Rob on June 13, 2008 at 9:44pm

Bored Child with Rock was indeed a general midwest compilation with 4 of the 13 songs from Indiana bands. It featured the Malt-Bugs from Indy, Barbara Billingsly's Ointment from South Bend, and the Phrogs and factory both from Lafayette. According to the liner notes, King did the vocals on "Up/Down" for the Phrogs.

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Permalink Reply by Jeb Banner on June 13, 2008 at 10:12pm

I have it and it's really good (El Nino, UST, John Strohm, etc), I'll try to post the images soon

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Permalink Reply by mike whybark on June 14, 2008 at 5:34am

OK, Muncie: set us up the Coker blog, lik a group or something here, if you like. Sell us Bton folk on the Coker mystique!

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