Enormous Richard evolved into Eleanor Roosevelt who are putting out a new record and playing some gigs, 12/7 and 8, 2012

Read about it HERE.

Bong hits, donuts, coffee, and Enormous Richard's Almanac

We have been slow to promote our digital re-issue of Enormous Richard's Almanac, because we are old and it is painfully boring to self-promote your twenty-year-old-basement recording. But the reviews are rolling in! And they are really good!

A friend from Nashville writes:

I'm finally sitting down and really listening to The Enormous Richard's Almanac this morning over bong hits, donuts, and coffee ... hilarious! I remember hearing this stuff many years ago, I think while I was in the Boro maybe? Carter had it? Maybe you played it while we were recording at Alex the Great or something? dunno ... but I love it!!!

If I had to pick a fave, it'd have to be "Steve Pick, Music Critic"... then again, "Steady Dick" and "Promising Young Republican" make me laugh ... ok, it's all fucking hilarious!!!
 But really, to me at least, this album is a far more positive addition to the greater omnibus-compendium of American music than a bunch of sad-bastard-shoe-gazing-emo-shit!!! The more I listen to it, the more attached to it I become!

I am sure those bong hits, donuts, and coffee didn't hurt, either!

Digital Almanac Now Available

See righthand sidebar for links.

The First Almanac Review

We finally found this, first published in Spotlight, Dec. '90, written by Dean Minderman. Sums it up pretty well.

Enormous Richard: the critics quoth

The Enormous Richard archive has been plundered for quotes in support of the pending worldwide digital release of our 1990 debut cassette, Why It's Enormous Richard's Almanac. According to yellowing documents mouldering in a Missouri basement, the following things have been said in print about Enormous Richard.

'exuberant, haystack-hiding, mischievous'

"The rope burns on their hands aren't so bad that they can't play their instruments. Mixing the bluesy twang of their kissing cousins like the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies and distantly inbred relatives like the Flat Duo Jets, Enormous Richard boasts a hearty dose of bluesy country twang and tongue-in-cheek, good-ole pickin' and grinnin' fun, like if Mojo Nixon fell clear off the Louisiana Hayride and landed plum on his head. It all breathes with an exuberant, haystack-hiding, mischievous boyish charm, like they know they shouldn't be saying or doing the things they're saying and doing, and they know they'll get their mouths washed out with soap for it, but that's not about to stop 'em at all from having their fun."
- CMJ (College Music Journal) New Music Report, Jan. 18, 1991

'humor, political discourse and charm'

"Bedded beneath the sheer insanity of the group's words lies a rich layer of humor, political discourse and charm. They speak to the small and large aspects of daily life, dissecting everything from the curiosities of Christ to canines in traffic - plus various girlfriends and their new haircut."
- Thomas Crone, Riverfront Times, Dec. 5, 1990

'a breath of fresh, reality-rooted air'

"In an era when even out-there "alternative" bands are more concerned with their haircuts and marketing plans than writing songs about stuff that matters, Enormous Richard is a breath of fresh, reality-rooted air."
- Kevin Roe, Sound Views (New York)

'funny as fuck'

"Enormous Richard, a funny as fuck six-piece "skuntry"-rock band from St. Louis, sing like Michael Hurley, sound like they tour in a haycart with one loose wheel, and give away free condoms in concert."
- New York Press, Oct. 2, 1991

'they'll accept food'

"The band's home-taped cassette probably costs a few bucks, but I think they'll accept food, gifts, girls' phone numbers or really earnest compliments."
- Orla Swift, Meriden (Conn.) Record Journal, June 4, 1991
 

'rare in these days of money-grubbing'

"Bands like Enormous Richard are rare in these days of money-grubbing, musically calculating and world conquering bands."
- Jeffrey Lee Puckett, Louisville Courier Journal

'stonking bouncey fun'

"You want stonking bouncey fun? Go for Enormous Richard, who claims he "Answers All Your Questions" and offers 50 minutes of Pogues-powered reel-around-the-maypole mayhem."
- Alternative Press

'swirling, frenetic crock-pot stew'

"A swirling, frenetic crock-pot stew of yelping Johnny Thunders-style rockabilly stomp, quirky Chilton-ian edgy pop and songs about stuff you never thought to write a song about."
- Kevin Roe, Sound Views (New York), April 1993

*

Polaroid is of Elijah Shaw (in Skeletor mask) and John Minkoff jamming in an Enormous Richard tour van.

Reunion Recap; CD's available

The gigs happened.  We certainly got a kick out of them.  There's reason to believe the audiences did too. Thanks for coming if you came.  Here's what Roy Kasten had to say about it.

In case anyone's wondering, the digital 23-song Almanac is on its way, hopefully some time in the next couple of weeks.  It'll be on Amazon, itunes, the usual. We'll post here when it's up.

If you prefer cd's, we have those.  We'll be getting them into at least one St. Louis record store shortly.  Update on that soon. If you want to do mail order, email johnminkoff AT hotmail DOT com.  We didn't make too many, but we'll mail them out while we have them.

That's all for now. The skunk thanks you.

Free Skuntry: "Almanac Extras"

We're putting out a FREE DOWNLOAD collection called "Almanac Extras".  It consists of eleven tunes we couldn't get onto the Almanac reissue proper (That release will be not free but reasonable. See previous posts for more on it and our 7/23-24 reunion gigs).

Use the player above to sample these "extra" songs.  To download everything, click the following link, then click on more, then click on "download". https://app.box.com/shared/hdzuph2fab

Song notes from Chris King below.

It's a poor dog (who can't wag his own tail) (Little Richard)

This song we learned from a Little Richard tape, the kind the drugstores sell, is a marvelous testament to the value of putting No. 1 first.

Edwin Bricker

Written from press accounts about a whistleblower at a defense plant in the Pacific Northwest. I corresponded with the tight-lipped lawyer Thomas Carpenter in this story. My first taste of a good lawyer's chronic wariness of publicity.

Goodbye is good by me

One of those simple plays on words the mind is always looking to make. The story is all made up.

Manny, don't sing

I am really proud of this lyric, though the band never quite got the performance right and I lose fights to make more of this song than we do. The subject is the U.S. invasion of Panama and the secret service's callous betrayal of their client, Manuel Noriega. Since writing this I have read much more about this sort of international espionage thing, and in this song written as a clueless kid I really think I got it right ... everything but the "Federal Bureau of Intelligence".

When you were mine (Prince)

One of Prince's finest. Always a fan favorite for us at live shows. Dear Prince, please ask us to take this down if you see it and don't like it. No need to go legal, friend.

Lab rat

A howler of a Richard Skubish confession song. He actually did allow scientists to extract a small muscle from his leg in a research setting in exchange for cold cash!

Cello

Wow, this is misogynistic. I thought it was funny at the time.

They're moving father's grave

Got this from the folklore stacks in the Wash. U. music library. Totally love the acerbic Brit working man humor.

Sorrows of young Pippin

There was a young man named Pippin on campus, and after failing to get over his name and really boring people at parties with my bad improv routines about it, I got it out of my system by writing this song, which I never needed to hear again.

Gospel ship (Carter Family)

Carter Family! "No Depression," indeed! Matt Fuller brought this to this band. I would later write 100 songs with Matt where he was using sly little picking patterns like what he copped from the Carters.

I'll sleep when I'm dead (Warren Zevon)

Not one of Warren Zevons better songs, and a horrid performance of it, and a little sad now that Warren is, in fact, dead. God bless the dead and their music.

--Chris King