OUR NEWEST ISSUE OF 64 PAGES OF MUSICAL COOLNESS IS OUT! WITH EIGHT PAGES OF BLAZING COLOR, IT'S ANOTHER SHARP-LOOKING ISSUE!

Our newest issue is packed with new, informative articles on the coolest and strangest music you never thought you'd hear about! It features a 4-color cover, lots of high-quality photos, tons of new wacky and weird CD reviews, and it's more fun than playing Jimmy Swaggart albums backwards to check for evil subliminal messages!

FIRESIGN THEATRE
     We've wanted to do this one for a long time, and thanks to writer Fred Wiebel we bagged the talented FIRESIGN THEATRE for the cover of this issue!

   The undisputed kings of underground, mind-probing ensemble comedy, the foursome sprang to their greatest success with their 1969 album "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once, When You're Not Anywhere At All." With the classic side "Nick Danger, Private Eye" the FT had half of America walking around quoting bits and pieces of the dialogue, and decades later, many still can!

Reuniting as the original four in the late '90s, the group continues to record CDs, and consistently fills theatres around the country with their rabid fans, eager to get their fill of finely-tuned and cerebral comedy.

   Read all about their career in this issue!

SELF HELP RECORDS

    We've all seen them. Records like "How to Become a Better Salesman," and "Better Diction in 30 Days." Well, writer Jennifer McKnight-Trontz has compiled an article featuring the best of these unique albums from her collection, and it's a hoot!

   From excercise to quitting smoking to losing weight, just about every angle has been tried on records, and Ms. McKnight-Trontz has done an excellent job of documenting some of the better ones in this issue's article.

CHICAGO RECORD STORES

    Planning a trip to Chicago anytime soon? Then you're going to need this informative guide to the coolest and strangest record stores of that city, as notated by writer John Battles.

   From just about every little used record hole-in-the-wall, to the bigger collector's stores, John spells it out for you, making Chicago record-shopping all the more fun!

    We thought it would be cool to interview Pat Cooper, who is an old school stand-up comedian, who was just in a big movie recently "Analyze This." Of course, OUR reason for having him in the magazine is solely because of the album cover parody he did with "Spaghetti Sauce and other Delights"!

   So writer Ed Kaz tracked him down and hounded him with questions about the said album, and folks, you don't get this kind of devoted journalism just ANYWHERE! It's a fun read, even if you don't know who Pat Cooper is!

New Artist Profile: DAVID BAGSBY

   Tulsa musician David Bagsby has been recording cool and strange music for a long time now, and we've wanted to do a piece on for quite a while. Wilhelm Murg does the honors in interviewing the talented musician.

   Bagsby plays a myriad of synthesizers and guitar and has transcribed the melodies of birds' songs into orchestral palettes, and taken the adventurous works of Raymond Scott and adapted them for synthesizers.

   That's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, concerning the projects and CDs he's been involved with, and we're sure you'll enjoy reading about this up and coming musician.

    It's a shame that Bruce Haack passed away in 1988. At that time, his work with electronic music wasn't considered successful. Since that time, many of his recordings have been issued on CD, and his HUSH LITTLE ROBOT is now required listening for all who read our magazine.

   His biggest success probably came with his ELECTRIC LUCIFER album, in the early '70s. But there's much more to say about this brilliant guy. First of all, he pretty much made his own synthesizers out of spare parts. Or he'd take someone else's synthesizer design and alter the circuitry to do more of what he wanted to hear. All this with no formal training in either electronics or in music.

   We're honored to feature his story in this issue, with Raymond Scott achivist Jeff Winner telling the story of this incredible musician.

THE THREE SUNS

    We also have a great article about THE THREE SUNS, long considered an overlooked musical group in cool and strange circles. There's lots to tell, and writer Michael David Toth tells it so well.

   He tells of the inside workings of this successful group, such as the arrangers they used, and some of their more famous tunes. But besides the hits, there was a side to The Three Suns that wanted to explore more outrageous territories, with some incredibly wild tracks, done up at breakneck speed, or in the style of Spike Jones, at times!

   You'll definitely come away with some new information after reading this insightful article by Michael David Toth on this landmark Bachelor Pad Music group.

SEECO RECORDS

    Although the photo to the right is pretty wacky, Seeco Records was primarily a Latin music label, at a time when few American record labels were interested in presenting such un-American styles.

   Through the label's work, writer Don Charles is able to present a look at not just the artists of this particular record label, but also a great overview of Latin music from the Tango to Salsa styles.

KIDDIE RECORDS

    Ted Hering's great article on kids' records highlights the history of these mainstay of any childs' formative years, if you grew up in the '50s or '60s. Come to think of it, there's lots of great children's music being released on CD today - the Veggie-Tales come immediately to mind.

   Ted talks about those, as well as the early Capitol children's series, with Billy May providing the orchestrations, to the later Disneyland and Sesame Street records and just about all the great ones in between.

   We love articles like this, and think you'll enjoy it, too!

THE THREE SUNS COLOR CENTERFOLD

    Finally, our centerfold for this issue features all the best LP covers of The Three Suns, thanks to Michael David Toth again. The folks at RCA Records certainly knew how to hire a pretty model and have her help three middle-aged guys sell some records!

Tie them all together with lots more loads o' fun stuff

than we dare mention, and you'll find a very cool Issue #21 of

So get on board! It's gonna be a cool ride through the wild,
wacky and sometimes tacky world of records!