Our pal Drew Redmond swings at a groovy joint in Ridgewood called Milo’s Yard every Thursday night. The evening is entitled Pinball Rock because the joint has a bunch of pinball machines. Normally Mr. Redmond does this night by himself, with an occasional guest Dj. However, Mr. Redmond‘s friend Horatio got up the idea of recording the night and sending it off to like-minded friends he has in Cuba! The Cubanos will record a night and send it to Horatio. So Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus was asked to drop in and contribute some jams, preferably reet stuff that the Cubanos may not have heard and may dig.

So The Boog dutifully rounded up about 40 45s, plus a small container of molasses cookies recently baked by Nancy “Jeannie” Gardner,  and made the trek to Queens.

Having never been in that part of the world before, The Boog arrived in the neighborhood early and walked around a bit, noting the existence of several Ecuadorian eateries in the process. (The Boogaloo Bag writers will have to come back soon to sample the local flavor.)

For this event, Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus culled some of his all-time favorite reet sounds: records that he has loved for decades as well as discs he has discovered over the years, plus a few recent acquisitions. Milo’s Yard is a small bar owned by a couple named Claudia DeMairo and David Poh and it is named after their dog, Milo. It is in the middle of nowhere so who would expect folks to hang out there on a Thursday night? However, there were enough people in the place to make it fun–including several in the back room playing pinball–and fun was had; witness the quick disappearance of Nancy’s molasses cookies! Thus these groovy jams were not played in vain. Also, some day soon some Cubanos are going to dig this audio scene, and we will all dig what is being put down in Cuba. Let’s hope the recording engineer was on the ball and the reet music sounds right.

Even if The Boog didn’t play a single record that night, the trip to Milo’s Yard was worth it just to hear Drew Redmond’s records–he’s got some gassers! Perhaps some night The Boog will make the scene there just to do that. Until he does, it is recommended that Boogaloo Bag readers do so as soon as possible and as often as possible.

Drew Redmond swings at Pinball Rock!

Here’s a list of all the records played by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus at Pinball Rock, recorded for what we will now call the Great Cuban Cultural Exchange Program:

• Dave Clark Five–Five by Five (Columbia; Germany)
• The Royaltones–Flamingo Express (Goldisc)
• Shadow Lake 8 Orchestra–Power (Em Kay)
• Ted Taylor–You Give Me Nothing to Go On (OKeh)
• The Mersey Men–I Can Tell (Wild Woods)
• The Del-Vetts–Last Time Around (Dunwich)
• The Chocolate Watchband–Sweet Young Thing (Uptown)
• Elliott Shavers–Soul Village (Blaun)
• Wganda Kenya–Tipit Hayed (Peerless; Mexico)
• Dave Bartholomew–Shrimp & Gumbo (Imperial)
• The Teen Beats–Big Bad Boss Beat (Original Sound)
• Kid Thomas–Rockin’ This Joint To-Nite (Transcontinental Recording Co.)
• The Tammys–Egyptian Shumba (United Artists)
• Marsha Gee–The Peanut Duck (Joker; UK)
• The Wailers–The Jerk (Island; UK)
• Jack Costanzo Mr. Bongo–Chicken and Rice (Discomoda; Colombia)
• Junior Wells–(I Got A) Stomach Ache (Vanguard)
• The Andrew Oldham Orchestra–I Get Around (Parrot)
• Las Moskas–Mony Mony (CBS; Mexico)
• Butlers–She Tried to Kiss Me (All I Could Do Was Run) (Liberty Bell)
• The Fabulous Peps–With These Eyes (Wee 3)
• The Clungels–Do the Dog (Artone; Netherlands)
• The Primitives–The Ostrich (Pickwick City)
• The Other Half–Mr. Pharmacist (GNP Crescendo)
• Dave “Baby” Cortez–Hurricane (Clock)
• The Ventures–Fuzzy and Wild (Dolton)
• MC5–Looking at You (A Square)
• The Bandidos–The Mark of Zorro (Elkay)
• [no artist listed]–Dance the Slurp (7-Eleven)
• The Woodpeckers–Woodpecker (Decca; UK)
• The Staccatos–C’mon Everybody (Capitol; Canada)
• Jimmy Hanna With the Dynamics–Busybody (Seafair Bolo)
• (Little 12-Year-Old) Patrice Holloway–Do the Del Viking (Part 1) (Taste)
• Richard Anthony and the Blue Notes–The Boston Monkey (Swan)
• Ambertones–I Can Only Give You Everything (Rayjack)
• Q ’65–The Life I Live (Decca; Netherlands)
• Gaby Laplante–Les Cornichons (Frantastic; Canada)

None of these records are for sale.