Life Without Velocity Girl - Pop 6

Valued readers: Meet Jim Spellman. Aside from having been Velocity Girl's drummer, he has also been a whole ass newscaster for CNN and CCTV America. He is a real person.

Aside from lead singer Sarah Shannon's solo exploits (and brief stint with follow-up band Starry Eyes), there was not much in the post-VG void with which to track the movements of the former members. However, Spellman hit the ground running with a succesful pivot to the world of cable news and a string of musical projects. The one that caught my ear was a Spellman-led band called Foxhall Stacks. It had been about two decades since Velocity Girl's breakup when I first heard Foxall Stacks. While a mature departure from the Shoegaze/C86 influenced experimentation of early VG days, the band sounded solid. Perhaps musical proof that yes, you can trust those over thirty. However, one track on their release stood out. 2020's Half Stack EP featured a beautiful, airy groove called "Surround". Deep in the mix, in the chorus -- you physically have to LOOK UP to hear it -- but it is there: the voice of Sarah Shannon. This would be the first time I have heard her voice with Jim's musical accompaniment since Velocity Girl. New music appearing as a gift from the last project that mattered to me. Sarah's voice called to me like a survivor buried in time rubble assuring proof of life. Magic can still be created in worlds of disappointment and loss. I had more loss to come but surprisingly, more magic as well. Far more than I expected.

Life Without Velocity Girl - Pop 5

Before forming Velocity Girl, Archie Moore and Brian Nelson were in a band called Black Tambourine, formed in 1989. This band was America's answer to the New Wave of British Shoegaze that was being imported at the time. They were a pared-down no-frills sonic Haymaker to the unsuspecting face of twee pop.

It was their proximity to Velocity Girl that led to my discovering their music. I added them to a road trip playlist that I created to play while driving an hour to Sarasota. My first destination was a big cat sanctuary. The other was a celebration of life for a friend who had recently passed.

My wife accompanied me, and the mix was to satify our divergent tastes in music. Velocity Girl and The Amps shared playlist space with Madonna, Florence+The Machine, and Doja Cat. The Black Tambourine song that I added was called "Throw Aggi Off the Bridge". The chorus goes:

So throw her off the bridge Just toss her in the drink She's coming in between us You know the girl I mean It's time we were together It's clear that I'm the one So throw her off the bridge You just know it's gotta be done

The big cat sanctuary smelled of manure, stronger toward the periphery rather than the heart of this converted farm enclosure, crowded with pea hens, lions and ruminant animals. The memorial was held in a wooden house nestled in the woods, seemingly built around a mature, ropey banyan tree. Strangers greeted us warmly, and I memorialized a dear friend. To quote Dylan Thomas: "The memories of childhood have no order, and no end."

Life Without Velocity Girl - Pop 4

In 2002, six years after the dissolution of Velocity Girl, lead singer Sarah Shannon released her first eponymous solo album. A wide departure from the jangly distorted guitar and shoegazey harmonies of her work with the band, this album offered us a mature songstress in the vein of Carly Simon. Her signature sing-songy twee vocals persevere in this recording and is an addictive draw to this very Adult Contemporary sound. The album was not a commercial juggernaut, but the listener gets the message that this is an album that Sarah Shannon made for Sarah Shannon.

This was the age of Myspace; a time when social media did not yet monopolize communication. Internet quizzes gave rise to identity politics, and the fall of Western civilization gained that much more speed. I was able to check out a few songs. I felt blessed to hear her swing into the hight notes again with the cadence unique to her only. But it was not Velocity Girl, I was young man attempting to cling on to the warm security blanket of youth. The void persisted.

Two years later, I became a father. Work and new obligations took me to the West coast of Florida, and with it a search for child care. I searched for, and eventually found, the babysitter that met one of my highest criteria items: access to Kindie Rock.

The early 2000's gave us the rise of Kindie Rock: music performed by indie rock artists and intended for children. DEVO, They Might Be Giants, and The Aquabats were among the throng of seasoned musicians creating music for this new demographic. In this milleu, Sarah Shannon gave us her most ambitious, accessible work since VG With her new Kindie Rock band The Not-Its, Shannon gave us a new-found energy, using her noticeably trained up vocals in conjunction with the rock sensibilities of a full band. Other bandmembers include Micheal Welke of Harvey Danger and Danny Adamnson of Kentucky Pistol. With a proper indie rock pedigree, Sarah Shannon's new vehicle was the offering that would make me whole.

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Life Without Velocity Girl - Pop 3

Velocity Girl broke up in 1996. Their final album, Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts, played in a small coffeehouse on the east side of Orlando in the summer of that year. As a newly minted "grown-up", I had began taking up the myriad responsibilities of supporting myself such that I no longer had the teenage time to pursue my musical interests. As such, I had not heard the album yet. Having taken a rare mid-day break to investigate a tiny coffeehouse in the heart of college town, I bonded with the barrista when recognizing Sarah Shannon's sing-song voice. Doug would become a dear friend and roomate not many years hence. Our mutual fondness of music stirred up the then-latent passion that used to conflagrate in me daily. The news of VGs demise further cemented the harsh reality that, as a new man, life will be rife with disappointment.

Velocity Girl had one singer before Sarah Shannon. Her name is Bridget Cross, who recorded just one song with them, "I Don't Care if You Go", before leaving to play bass guitar for another seminal indie rock band, Unrest in 1992. In 2002, a decade after the breakup of Velocity Girl, Bridget Cross went on a camping trip to Skagway, Alaska with companion Franswa Fernandez. Fernandez is a Black man and a South African national. Bridget is white. Unfortunately, that detaii is germane to this story.

Much of the data regarding what transpired on the trip is collected from 20-year-old Metafilter data and info captured from Gecities websites right before that web provider reached end-of-life. Varying accounts conflict. Some maintain that Franswa was the object of derogatory and racist treatment from the locals in this secluded Alaska working-class town. The majority of that treatment being received at the Red Onion Saloon, one of very few taverns in the area. Other accounts assert that Cross and Fernandez were drunk and obnoxious, causing discord in this remote bar where fights were a weekly norm. Whatever the reality, a brawl broke out between the bar patrons and Franswa Fernandez. A railroad worker was slashed by a blade wielded by Fernandez, inflicting a critical wound. Cross and Fernandez fled the scene by car, attempting to make the Canadian border and a hasty retreat. They were stopped at the border by Alaskan authroties. Franswa Francisco was charged with intent to kill, Bridget Cross was charged with fleeing a crime scene and DWI. Accounts suggest that Franswa Francisco was denied contact with the South African Consulate.

While Cross was released and returned home to the contiguous United States, Franswa remained in Alaska awaiting trial. Bridget Cross first accepted a state-appointed attorney, but eventually had to retain a private lawyer to dispense with some of the more superfluous "bogus" charges against her.

Velocity Girl, having been frozen in carbonite in my memory, agreed to reunite for one performance at the Black Cat club in Washington, DC to raise money for Briget's legal fees. To see Velocity Girl again would be a near-religious experience. While definitely talented, it is safe to say that my obsession with them is not wholly based on their musicianship. They imprinted themselves on me during a formative and emotional time in my life. When you're young, emotions are so much more intense, and can be scarring.

I did not see the show at Black Cat. In fact, It would be several more years until I even learned of this reunion on Wikipedia. An opportunity missed, and as a young man I came to terms with how to deal with missed connections, chances not taken, and loss.

Nobody knows the fate of Franswa Fernandez.

Life Without Velocity Girl - Pop 2

By Fall of 1996 I had been listening to Simpatico! on pretty heavy rotation for two years. Velocity Girl had given me an obsession that I could claim as my very own. Those fringe bands who broke onto the music scene in '91 were all commonplace by this time, and rock n roll radio had reverted back to the same five song rotation formula, removing all the taste and excitement from alternative music. On the Sub Pop label, VG was a personal experience that did not saturate the airwaves. True, Velocity Girl was Sup Pop's biggest seller second only to Nirvana, but their just-below-the-radar presence defined Indie music.

This was my first year of independence.  Freshly 19 years old, I moved out of my family home in Melbourne to live in Orlando; the "big city" by comparison. In Florida, cool temperatures are at a premium, and the slight autumn chill sent electricity up my spine. On this particular August night, I was going to see Velocity Girl live for the first time.  

This time, the anticipation was validated.  Downtown Orlando was a bustling contrast to sleepy Melbourne. Marquis lights reflected off of the rain-slick sidewalks. "Six Underground" by the Sneaker Pimps played loud through an open bar door as I speed-walked to my destination: The Sapphire Supper Club.  The place was packed.  I scored the lone empty seat next to an attractive woman; small talk would reveal that she was an embalmer. 

Velocity Girl were already on stage, milling about and setting up.  A rather swish gentleman standing in the pit ventured to speak to lead singer Sarah Shannon and came back to his friends, reporting that she was distracted and "not into it". I was glad I did not risk the same venture.  When they began performing, they started with the jangly guitar intro "Drug Girls", my absolute favorite song by them.  I was ecstatic. They could have just spent the whole time screaming atonally and clanging pots and pans; I would have still loved every second of it. 

I would learn several months later that this was their final tour.  Their endmost album "Gilded Stars and Zealous Hearts" would fail to catapult Velocity Girl into stardom, and they called it a day. 

That summer, I remained blissfully unaware. Seeing Velocity Girl was the final step of the imprinting process, and they were my personal escape from the mundane.  Outside of my Velocity Girl obsession, I worked a third-shift gas station job to afford my share of the rent on an apartment shared by four people and three cats.  The body never gets used to the 10pm to 6am shift.  My relationships suffered and my social life was as inconsistent as my circadian rhythms.   But in the mornings after work, when most of those around me were still fast asleep and I was the sole owner  of consciousness, the music of VG soothed me. These morning moments fueled my creativity as I would write poetry on my apartment balcony, watching the dawn sun filter through gray clouds, providing an other-worldly illumination for these meditative mornings.  This would set the tone for my creative output over the next few years. 

Life Without Velocity Girl - Pop 1

According to film director Dave Markey, 1991 was The Year Punk Broke. I was a teenager listening to the initial swell of the New Wave of Rock and Roll that year, having been tipped off by the local college radio station WFIT. It was the only outlet playing bands that just months later would be household names and required listening. J Mascis' tortured vocals and guitar mesmerized me when "Start Choppin" was the new Dinosaur Jr. release, and I felt that the song belonged solely to me. Smashing Pumpkins, Ned's Atomic Dustbin -- all these players were a private circus for me to escape to. Cool music reserved for a small group of spooky nerds trying to find a judgement-free time in small town Melbourne, Florida.

That wave crashed into American radio in 1992. The secret bands were now very popular, living in the low single-digit slots of every weekend countdown. We were in our teens, and we were the perfect age to love Nirvana. Our generation had just been defined. On August 14, 1994 I woke up extremely early for a non-school day. I had anticipated this day for months, running all the different scenarios in my head. My first festival show, Lollapalooza 4 was to take place about an hour's drive from my home. Having a somewhat sheltered childhood, the opportunity to really, PHYSICALLY be a part of the music that I revered as divinity itself was just outside of my comprehension; this CAN'T be true, I thought. I'd fight to grasp to the idea that this was really happening. It would be by WILL alone that my '84 Dodge Colt hatchback would even make it that far, but I had prepared the car as much as I could, and had some friends from beachside traveling with me. I gave them a call to get ready, and their perplexed responses deflated my excitement. It was WAY TOO EARLY for the drive and they were currently registering in-person for the next school year, because that's how you did that back in the 20th Century. It was a phone call from Amanda, my sister's lifelong best friend that shot the fatal blow: "Did you hear? Lollapalooza is cancelled." Tropical Storm Beryl had come ashore the previous night with 60 mile-an-hour winds and heavy rainfall. Apparently Beryl had saturated the Central Florida Fairgrounds such that the Lollapalooza stage could not stand, and the show was cancelled. On the bill was a whole pantheon of alternative rock: Siamese-Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, The Breeders, L7 et al. I was crestfallen.

It was a silent drive South on A1A. Having picked up my ticket refund money, I faced a day rife with disappointment over the cancellation. Despite this, it was gorgeous on the coast. Time for some retail therapy. After a few minutes' drive, I pulled into the Groove Tube, an independent surf shop. The air smelled of sandalwood and Nag Champa; at any given moment one would hear the Sundays or Catherine Wheel playing on their in-house sound system. "Judy's staring at the sun...". After browsing the hemp jewelry I drifted over to the compact disks. My eyes landed on "Simpatico!" by Velocity Girl. Their music video for Sorry Again had received some moderate airplay on MTV's 120 Minutes. I remember the night I saw the video and filed them away in my mental "check this out later" file. That song fed me a soaring, distorted guitar riff as an intro to get my attention, then shifted to a bright, pop-laden hook that inferred motion or progression; he speed of something in a given direction. Atop it all are the vocals of lead singer Sara Shannon, both sunny and melancholic, which is exactly the day I was having. I brought it to the shop assistant, who was surrounded by blown glass pipes and dream catchers. I was not aware that with this purchase, I was stepping into an obsession that would last me the rest of my life.

2021: Year in Preview

It seems almost offensive to do a Year in Review post. Absolutely no one needs to be reminded of the personal and financial toll, the political bullshit, racial strife, human loss and pestilence of 2020 that wracked us from the end of quarter one on. An old Christian church parable speaks of reaching salvation but reeking of the fires of Hell. We can but hope that this is the correct caption for 2021.

2020 has imprinted on all of us. We know the history of 2020 because we, the living, ARE 2020. We are the result, the by-product, the exhaust of that year. We don't need to look back at the new Jungle Brothers album "Keep it Jungle", their first new album in fifteen years. Nor the at-times preachy but all killer Busta Rhymes album "Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God" that came out on October 31, the same day we lost MF DOOM to the Choir Invisible. Perseverence has been our key value because there has been no alternative.

We know that "we can only go up from here" is a lame platitude as the only thing that has changed is the date, but it serves as a handy carriage return to allow ourselves to treat the next year as a new line in our document. With that, here is the news from a Goon Squad perspective:

2021 will see new marketing campaigns to spread the Goon Squad message of celebrating weird media, surrealist poetry, and music. Some projects in the works:

The Book of Rubinetics : A collection of written meditations of varying lengths.

The Moonshine Parade Album: A mix of Rubin Drew instrumental compositions, new spoken word pieces, remixes of old works from the 90s - early 2000's era -- and Hip Hop? Yes.

You only had one job - The Story of Howland Island: A free-form samplescape of news reports, interviews, sound collage and spoken word telling a brief history of Howland Island focusing on Amelia Earheart's ill-fated journey to the island. It will expound upon the Amelia Earheart portion of Negativland's "Time Zones Exchange Project".

I created Goon Squad Music as a vehicle for self-promotion. To that end, I have plenty of marketing ideas such as stickers, bracelets, a new series of prayer candles and much more. Many of these will be free to people who follow the Rubin Drew artist page, have or will purchase the Do Not Stop album (if you don't have your copy yet, be sure to click here and purchase. The price will be going up very soon), or have otherwise contributed to this hustle.

If you've made it this far, thank you. You can reach out to The Goon Squad and ASK ME ANYTHING by emailing info@goonsquadmusic.com. If you include your shipping address, you'll receive some free promo gifts, MOSTLY related to Goon Squad projects.

2021 - We'll just see how we're doing on time. ~r.