Thursday, January 15, 2009

Frank Maya & The Decals

I went to Academy Records recently as (you will no doubt have noticed) I am an avid record collector. I actually had disappeared from the scene for a few years there, just occasionally buying my friends' records. Those days are long gone however, and now I find myself back in the thick of it again. Lately I have mostly been focusing my energies on singles, as it is much more likely that people overlooked them, or never get to listen to them as they were never released on compact disc. Plus, they are cheaper (sometimes) and take much less time to digitize and scan. There are plenty of worthwhile bands that never released an album.

Through the course of rummaging through old singles I have been finding stuff that I never heard of but looks interesting. I usually try to limit myself to spending a few bucks on something, but if it looks interesting enough, I might be tempted to spend more.

Luckily this one was only a few bucks. I say luckily merely because I do not have cash reserves waiting should I stumble upon some amazingly rare and obscenely priced record, not because the record isn't any good. Quite the opposite in fact -- this record is great. I don't know much about powerpop rarities but I know a good record when I hear one.

The moral of the story is -- if you go to Academy, you can probably find some great records you never heard of for a few bucks. Also, to quote a movie I have been known to enjoy -- don't do crack kid, it's a ghetto drug. I'm not quite sure how that applies, but I'm sure you can figure something out.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, a single by Frank Maya & The Decals.

Too Nervous b/w Trying To Be Helpful (Zave Disc)
1. Too Nervous
2. Trying To Be Helpful

3 comments:

j_Sender said...

Amazing to see Frank's record here! I played with him on and off for a few years in the early 80's I was also playing bass in Konk at the same time. He once did a residency at the Pyramid for a month. Put together shows with large bands, 12 person chorus always did fun creative music. He went on to be one of the first openly gay stand up comedians. Frank passed away in the early 90's.

Also, thanks for the Athletico Spizz, Saw them perform live at an after hours called Berlin on B'way and Houston at about 5 am one morning. Soldier Soldier was a minor hit at the Mudd club at the time.


Cheers,

Jonny Sender

BJ Rubin said...

Johnny, thank you so much for your comment! I am too young to have been going to shows in those days (I was born in 1978) so it is always exciting to hear stories from people who were actually there.

user said...

my girlfriend is his niece, and her mother has a bunch of tapes that I plan on "digitizing" within the next year.