About the Bands

AP is generally respected for her anthropological research of the indigenous people of the Miami valley. The basic themes in her work range from a discussion of religion and government, the misidentification with contemporary culture, to the evolution of traditional music. We currently maintain very loose contact with Aggie. Her data is available from Rowntree Records under a public license.

This experiment proposed a way to extract fuel from the saturated triglycerides of the Lauraceae family, specifically the bacon avocado. Initially successful, the techniques of this reaction were patented by Aramco and are being developed alongside the Jatropha plant.

If I heard it correctly, Buffalo Meltdown is actually the name of a sandwich that is served by the Sodexho Marriott company, and was therefore perfectly positioned to become the name of yet another Rowntree supergroup. The anticipation of Buffalo Meltdown was an unbearable suspense. Never before has a Rowntree band received so much hype prior to their actual formation. An explosion was bound to happen, and it did on their summer tour, permanently leaving those who attended with significant brain damage.

Elephant Micah is a specific type of Mica, where a missing Barium atom as altered the molecular structure of the crystal, causing the typically basal cleavage to become cubic and more rarely octahedral. Naturally occuring crystalline deposits are usually found in sizes up to 20 feet.

There are several unique properties of this mineral. It is transparant though it absorbs polarized ultra-violet radiation. Acoustical and optical analysis reveals that Elephant Micah will repel high frequency waveforms, making it an excellent insulator/fire retardant and an ideal electrical resistant. In its purest manufactured form, it is also an excellent candidate for the xenon lasers used in fusion.

A research team at OSU currently are the foremost experts. Their data was originally published via Rowntree in 1993, but this was discontinued due to a quarrel between the team leader and Rowntree’s web administrator regarding irreconcilable differences in data management, resulting in Elephant Micah research being banned from Rowntree Seed Status.

Fat Tony sucks! Members Mark Hunter, Emily Jackson, Laurence Fisburn, Mike Dove, and Max Doubt supported the band in its attempt to destroy pop sensibilities. Poorly recorded, poorly played, poorly organized, there is one consitent idea behind the band. Lyrics tip their hats to forebearers of the genre, while taking a stab at topics such as substance abuse, volume trauma, and violent lifestyles. If you think you hate music, this band will confirm your suspicions. Though its hardly worth mentioning, the band later evolved in ‘Goblin Goblin’, ‘Goblin Pizarri’, and finally ‘Goblin Kicks Ass’.

Two guys with GE dictaphones recording each other record things, one of them spinning on a merry-go-round in a park while singing, the other standing still. Live overdubbing: one plays recorder while the other records it, then the other way around until a wind chime wall of (bad) sound is achieved. Then, during mixdown, side b plays backwards with side a and side a plays backwards with side b. Printed on aging file folders from the trash in the Quaker archives, where I also got a strange portrait of a bearded… Quaker.

A band imagined and never executed as far as I know. The CEO’s idea, as I recall, was to record vocals backwards and in Spanish. (It’s never too late.)

This is on a lot of fliers for Rowntree shows. Sounds like a Henn-ism to me. Did it ever exist?

Yes it did. It was Sia Urroz with and maybe Russ, but probably just Sia. I am not sure where he got the name.

This is no longer around

Two guys playing instruments while recording.

Beit Kehillah sessioneers, jamming in prep for one of the classic cook/rock-out benefits at no one particularly benefited, least of all the All-Star member who, I think, was hospitalized. Perhaps featured the Casio SK-1 exclusively, but maybe a toy guitar.

Okay Baby was spurred from nothingness when Baxter called up Max Doubt asking him to assemble a band to play for a last minute Rowntree get together. Max recruited Spider Kelly and Shivers from the Puppies to scrounge together a set on the spot. There are some cuts floating around of those early live performances, which were entirely instrumental. Since then, the band has been put on hold while the band mates have focussed on other projects, but supposedly, we should be expecting a release this winter.

An alum faculty member from Earlham College, Paul Lacey has traveled the world in pursuit of understanding his academic discipline. On these ventures, Paul would carry field recording devices to document his encounters. The most interesting of these recordings are from Tibet between 1965 – 71.

Peaches and Cream is a psychological understudy in emotional disorder. Subjects were isolated in Harpswell, a small peninsula near Brunswick, Maine. The experiment was vastly exaggerated since the weather was especially bad in March 1993. There was no electricity or heat, and the only way to prevent the subjects from resorting to cannibalism was to record/playback their thoughts with a battery powered fisher price recorder.

featuring:
Drums-with-Chopsticks
Riffs-on-SG-Copy
and
Noodles-on-Baritone


I think just one live performance, at Java Jazz.

Puppet Skin and the Alphabet was The Library performing under a different name. Only the one show at Sean’s apartment, but the set is at least partially commemorated on “The Quadruple Crackhouse EP”. It was the one where Dave Golan sculpted for a song.

The Red Queen Hypothesis is a study in evolutionary biology describing the dichotomy between two subjects (host/prey) evolving constantly to avoid extinction. The Red Queen is used as a metaphor to illustrate the relationship between Alice (Louis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland) running in the Garden to escape the Red Queen. No matter where Alice runs, the Red Queen is always there. Vincent Van Valen’s RQH goes on to suggest that progress can never be realized if both variables are moving at the same rate.

Though the band’s initial fascination with the theory may have been that its author’s name closely resembles that of Van Halen, they have held to their committment of exploring the mystery of evolution. A rotating cast creates a variety of pop jingles that can be found across their albums. A host of song-writers and collaborations, RQH truely is going nowhere.

Members involved in the “Fat Tony” project learned during a routine surgery (as pre-med students) that safety pins can be employed to prevent a smokers lung from collapsing. This technique has been documented and submitted to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Rowntree CEO journeys to Austria and collaborates with Benedikt as well as others from the Von-Trap-esque Schalk family. Probably lots of Otakringer involved.

A snipe hunt, also known as a fool’s errand, is one of a class of practical jokes that involves experienced people making fun of newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task. The origin of the term is a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe as well as a usually ridiculous method of catching it, such as running around the woods carrying a bag or making strange noises. In the most popular version of the snipe hunt, a newcomer is taken deep into the woods late at night and told to make a clucking noise while holding a large sack. The others, who are in on the joke, say that they after they sneak away, they will walk back towards the newcomer, thereby driving snipes towards the bag holder. The frightened snipes, they say will be attracted to the clucking noise and easily caught in the bag. The newcomer is then simply left in the dark forest, eventually to realize his gullibility and find his way home or back to camp.

Dave Golan (vocals, sculpture)
Jason Henn (guitar, keys, other stuff)
Russ McDaniel (drums)
Mike Dove (bass)

Improv band. Instruments switched hands a lot during shows and guests would be invited to provide vocals, but the lineup above shows how it generally worked. One show in Rowntree basement had the added benefit of picking up a radio station on the PA. It’s featured on the “All You Need is Drums” comp.

A riverboat is a ship designed for inland navigation. While a ferryboat is often used to cross a river, a riverboat is used to travel along the course of the river, while carrying passengers and cargo, or both, for revenue. (Vessels like ‘Riverboat casinos’ are not considered here as they are essentially stationary). The significance of riverboats is dependent on the number of navigable rivers and channels as well as the condition of the road and rail network. Generally speaking, riverboats provide slow but cheap transport especially suited for bulk cargo and containers.

The Shoes are a pop/surf rock band the emerged from the basement in winter of 2002. A total of 7 songs exist in their entire repoitoire, though they must have played 20+ shows in their initial surfacing. After the buzz died down, the Shoes went on to record their 7 songs, which somehow multiplied on the album into 21 songs (3 versions of each song). Though the math is unbearable, the songs are catchy and silly, and seriously not meant for people who take themselves seriously.