"...He asks me what my cause is
I want to tell him
Everything..."
Dave Willemain,
from the poem 'Black Panther (Save Our Cities Rally, Washington D.C., March 1991)'
Towson-Glen Arm Freakouts is a testament to the teen avant garde that thrived on the outskirts of Baltimore, Md. USA in and around the towns of suburban Towson and rural Glen Arm. It was there during the early/mid 1990's that Dave Willemain, Eli Jones, Lou Thomas, Tricia Lane, Lisa Starace, Jon Woodstock, Cory Davolos, myself, and other local artists chose to avoid the genre obsessions of the day in order to express a breadth of emotion through music and any other medium that could energize our creative instincts.
In the 90's our connection to the Baltimore underground was practically non-existent, partially because most venues in the city prohibited the attendance of people under 18. More importantly, many Baltimore venues strictly catered to the "alternative" rock crowd and therefore lacked the panoramic elements of creativity that we valued above all. Consequently, a potent mix of the d.i.y. spirit and a passion for aesthetic diversity gave birth to our own Towson-Glen Arm scene. This release presents my loving tribute to the many great works which made Towson-Glen Arm so dynamic and unusual.
All profits from the sale of downloads and cassettes in the Towson-Glen Arm Freakouts series will go direct to these two very worthy charities:
music4more (
music4more.org) - a Baltimore, Md. based organization dedicated to supporting music education programs with a special focus on benefitting those of schools in low income communities in the U.S.
and
Grass Roots Crisis (
grassrootscrisis.org) - based in Columbia, Md., Grass Roots provides a 24-hour resource to individuals who may be contemplating suicide, a 24-hour phone and walk-in crisis center, and educational resources for any one who has been touched by the tragedy of suicide.
Mike Apichella (executive producer/compiler) - January 2013
released February 28, 2013
All material included here is under copyright control of the original artists and/or their respective estates, all rights reserved, 2013.
'Starship Galactica' by Guru Magpie appears courtesy of Temporary Residence Ltd.
NOTE: Even though great efforts have been made to present this music in the highest fidelity possible, many of the original master tapes used for this album suffer from severe defects in audio, such as (but not limited to) surface noise, tape degradation, and extreme distortion.
produced and mastered by Marc Rothe/Semaphore
front cover art and layout by Mike Apichella
tape replication by Jimmy MacMillan/Friends Records
tape cover art printed by Allied Binding Inc.
digital distribution by Iota and Bandcamp
Here are the sources of information on the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton's life and death, and the criminal case of Fred Hampton Jr. which were used to complete the notes to track 5:
the Fred Hampton Wikipedia entry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton
(The Wikipedia Foundation, 2013)
the Fred Hampton Jr. Wikipedia entry
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton_Jr.
(The Wikipedia Foundation, 2013)
the R.I.O.T. flyer by Chris Teret, Dave Willemain, and others
(The Revolutionary Institute Of Towson, 1994)
African American Desk Reference
by The Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture
and The New York Public Library
(Stonesong Press and The New York Public Library, 1999)
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special thanks to both Grass Roots Crisis Intervention and Music 4 More for truly embodying the righteous directive 'think global, act local'
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thanks to Lisa Riley, Tim Kabara, Sarah Brandes, Chris James, Bob Phair,Tricia Lane-Forster, William Jones/Towson High School, Lisa Starace, Spence Holman, the family of Dave Willemain, Shawn Phase, the family of Eli Jones, Lou Thomas, Evelyn Apichella, Greg Storms, Lee Versoza, Rjyan Kidwell, Meekah Hopkins/Dulaney High School, Jon Woodstock, Andy Devos, Sarah Kershaw, Carl Weigel, all of the Towson-Glen Arm artists who haven't already been mentioned, all the families of TGA artists who haven't already been mentioned (especially those who opened up their homes for shows and other TGA events), and everyone who ever came to a show, bought a zine or record, took a flyer, or did anything else to support Towson-Glen Arm.
For more info. on TGA go to
towsonglenarmfreakouts.wordpress.com
or
unheardones.wordpress.com
Towson-Glen Arm Freakouts is dedicated to
Dave Willemain and Eli Jones: two of the coolest guys ever
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All profits from the sale of recordings in the Towson-Glen Arm Freakouts series go to
Grass Roots Crisis Intervention:
www.grassrootscrisis.org/about-us/
Doctors Without Borders:
www.doctorswithoutborders.org