Lucy's Record Shop Calendar January 1993

It's the 2nd of many, many posts compiling the Lucy's Record Shop calendars. This time around we have January 1993 as the Migraine Matinee's get into full swing. Keep in mind that the lineups of these concerts were subject to change so this is a non-definitive guide based on old Lucy's calendars and Tennessean listings. If you see anything you know for sure is wrong just let me know in the comments. We're going to start this month with the schedule and then add stuff below. 

3-Jan-93	House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Blend, Impetuous Doom, Excruciating Pain 2PM $4
10-Jan-93	House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Disco Squid, Godplow, No Remorse 2PM $4
17-Jan-93	House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: The Fed, Melvins Headtrip, Shadow Den 2PM $4
20-Jan-93	Anti-Extravaganza with Crop Circle Hoax, Collin Wade Monk, Imposter Child 8PM $3
21-Jan-93	Anti-Extravaganza with Idaho Beach House, Judge Nothing, No Remorse 8PM $3
22-Jan-93	Anti-Extravaganza with Jack, For Kate's Sake, Godplow 8PM $3
23-Jan-93	Anti-Extravaganza with Who Hit John, Teen Idols, Scull Soup 8PM $3
31-Jan-93	House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Staring at the Sun, Brainiac, My Name 2PM $4

Impetous Doom comes back to play Lucy's in January 1993 and this time they're with Blend and death metal merchants Excruciating Pain. They had been together with various members since 1988 and had put out an album called Thou Shall Choose on the Mexican record label Avanzada Metalica in 1992 which was also released in the US by JL America. Most folks consider them to be the very first Nashville death metal band. Excruciating Pain is listed as playing Lucy's 9 times over the next 4 years. I liked their thrash instrumentation, but I have never been a big fan of the Cookie Monster vocal style. It just doesn't sound menacing to me. 

Excruciating Pain - Thou Shall Choose

Godplow is back for their 2nd of 6 listed appearances. They would release a couple of full length albums on Grass Records. Heavy guitar and introspective lyrics were their thing. I'll post a tune or two from them later on in this series. I don't know anything about Disco Squid while No Remorse was a Lucy's Record Shop staple with 7 listed appearances. 

January 17, 1993 features The Fed, Melvins Headtrip, and Shadow Den. I must have seen Melvins Headtrip at some point as they played on a bill with Jack, but don't remember it. Bold choice for a name when the much more well known Melvins existed. I hadn't heard of The Fed and while Shadow Den played 4 times at Lucy's I really can't place their music. I suspect they were a Mary booking. And this as good a time as any to talk about how Lucy's Record Shop put together the shows. Co-owner Donnie Kendall put together the punk/metal/noise shows. Mary Mancini, who opened Lucy's as sole owner before Donnie came on board, would book the more typical 90's alternative rock concerts along with the surf/garage and alternative country offerings. It was a key part of their success as the store didn't get pigeonholed into just one extreme or one stereotypical type of music. I believe that Mary and Donnie must have combined forces at certain times as the bills do get a bit mixed up which is how it would be the inaugural run of Lucy's 4 night Anti-Extravaganza. 

A quick history lesson is called for to put the Anti-Extravaganza in context. Way back in 1986 the non-profit Nashville Music Association started these annual Extravaganza showcase concerts which promoted local music artists. They would also sometimes press compilation tapes and compact discs with these acts. It was a noble cause, but the selections tended to be geared toward the more commercial as major label reps from New York and Los Angeles would get invitations to these shows. As you can see from the following articles there was already controversy over a lack of diversity in the bands featured in 1986 as the scope of artists is broadened in 1987. Sure, there's a few metal bands, but true alternative music is really nowhere to be seen. This would be the case throughout the events, which is exactly what Donnie and Mary were reacting to with the Anti-Extravaganza. 

I do love many of these bands - 1986

1987

The first night of Lucy's Anti-Extravaganza bill looks like one Mary would have booked with Crop Circle Hoax, Collin Wade Monk, and Imposter Child. Imposter Child, which had been known as Poster Child, would soon change their name to Lambchop and become, perhaps, the most critically lauded band to come out of the Lucy's scene. I would see them many times over the years and listen to their albums, but try as I might I just don't get their appeal. They definitely appealed to Mary Mancini as she would marry main Lampchop man Kurt Wagner. I had played some shows with Collin Wade Monk and was never a huge fan even though Jim Ridley loved him. I did really enjoy Crop Circle Hoax who sounded much like an East Coast group that could have had their music played on an episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete or, perhaps, a Hal Hartley movie. I suspect they were big fans of Yo La Tengo. They had put out a single with Poster Child in 1992. 

The next night, January 21, featured Idaho Beach House, Judge Nothing, and No Remorse. Judge Nothing were a pop punk band from Illinois and they did have that Chicago edge to their music. Here's a video from 1990 of them performing on DHTV. 

Judge Nothing - "Loose Wire"

I'm sure I saw Idaho Beach House at some point, but if I did they didn't make much of an impression. They would play Summer Lights later in 1993 as part of a "Migraine Matinee" with Jack. Here's their song "Friends with Cameras." It's got that 90's funk rock vibe. There's no Discogs entry for them, but I recall a tape and maybe a CD floating around by them. 

Idaho Beach House

No Remorse played Lucy's Record Shop several times. Hard rocking metal with some progressive elements that remind me of Clockhammer. There's a show with them playing the Cannery in 1992 and most of the songs are covers. 

No Remorse - Sigh 1992 at the Cannery

The Anti-Extravaganza has 2 more nights to go! Jack, For Kate's Sake, and Godplow are scheduled for January 22. I'll write more about Jack and Godplow in a future calendar post. For Kate's Sake were a very popular folky alternative band that issued one compact disc back in the 90's. I assume the group was mainly created as backup to singer/songwriter Kris Wilkinson who now leads My Girl The River. 

January 23, 1993 wraps up the first annual Anti-Extravaganza with locals Who Hit John, Teen Idols, and East Tennessee punk rockers Scull Soup. Who Hit John played power pop and you can get their album "Hey Buffy", that would come out in 1997, through Bandcamp. I'll have much on Teen Idols in a future post. Maybe.

Who Hit John

The month of January ended with Staring at the Sun, Dayton, Ohio's synth punks Brainiac, and My Name who hailed from Tacoma, Washington. Brainiac's Smack Bunny Baby album would come out in 1993 on Grass Records and would become one of my favorite records. Seeing them live was always a big thrill. There are videos posted of Brainiac playing this very night at Lucy's thanks to Tiny Corkscrew. 

Brainiac - Supersonic at Lucy's! January 31, 1993

Brainiac - I, Fuzzbot from the same show

My Name was a punk band very much under the influence of the Descendents/All, which isn't a bad thing, who had put out a full length album Megacrush on C/Z Records in 1992. They would put out another record in 1993 titled Wet Hills and Big Wheels. Here's the only music video I could find by them.

My Name - Rumpled Blanket

I still haven't found any information on Staring at the Sun, but I'm pretty sure they were local. If anyone out there wants to give me data on them, just leave a comment. That's all for this installment. Only 60 more months of Lucy's calendar to go through. I may or may not continue these types of posts as they take lots of time and this blog is just a hobby. There are some bands I want to write more about so I might just highlight when they played and just make most of the posts mere calendar listings. We'll see. My first post only got 7 views or something with no comments. Maybe this one will garner more and get me more excited. I didn't plan on this project being a chore and I've made it into one. That's on me. 

Lucy's Record Shop Concert Calendar 1992

What began as a quest to create the best complete list of the bands, artists, and event at Nashville's legendary Lucy's Record Shop, since as far as I know no one else has done this, has mushroomed into a multi month series of posts. I'm not going to go in depth on the history of Lucy's as this has already been done multiple times. I'll provide some links to that data momentarily. If you delve into those resources you will find information that is contradictory sometimes. That's to be expected. I've found history is rarely, if ever, 100% accurate. I'm going to do my best to be as factual as possible using old Tennessean concert listings, Lucy's concert calendars, and other resources about all of the known shows at the venue. 

So many different bands played there and I'll share videos of their music, sometimes maybe even from Lucy's stage. I enjoyed the Lucy's Podcast series, but for me it barely skimmed the surface of the place. It's like a Zen puzzle that can't truly be answered. Lucy's Record Shop is praised to the high heavens yet I sometimes feel it's still undervalued. The sheer fact that an all ages music venue could last for a little over 5 years during the 90's in Nashville is an absolute miracle. A local minister tried to stop clubs from having occasional all ages shows in 1989. Future Lucy's partner Donnie Kendall helped plead for all ages concerts in front of the Metro Beer Board.

July 26, 1989 Tennessean

Metro Legal upheld that all ages shows were legal, but this was for regular clubs. All ages venues only had been tried repeatedly for years and always ran afoul of fuddy-duddies who would bring the Metro codes teams in tow. Lucy's ran shows for a little over a year before they were almost shut down for a codes violation related to lack of bathrooms. But they persevered and got the work done. 

The way this will typically work is I will go over one month per post. Later, at the very end I'll put up one grand list. This might sound like a trickle of information, but some months are just jam packed. If you know more about the bands, concerts, or perhaps were one of the artists that played Lucy's then, by all means, feel free to comment or contact my email, which can be found in my blogger profile. If you have stuff to add like flyers or just stories I'm more than happy to add what you give me at my discretion. Finally, before we get to chopping wood, I want to point out that I'm putting this data out there without any input from Mary Mancini or Donnie & April Kendall who owned and booked Lucy's Record Shop. Mary is a busy lady. Donnie has had some health issues. I really don't want to bother them. If they happen to read this and want to correct any calendar errors that's fine. I'm just doing this for fun. It also sounds really punk to be unauthorized and non-definitive. 

"A Dog's Life" written by Jim Ridley for the Nashville Scene is a great history lesson even if the date of the first show is off by a few days. If you don't want to read the article (and you really should since the late Jim Ridley was a masterful writer) here is the capsule summary. Mary Mancini moves to Nashville, opens a record store named RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) in 1992. She has this awesome sweet Weimaraner named Lucy that everyone who visits the store loves. The name of the store gets changed to Lucy's Record Shop. Mary was friends with They Might Be Giants. They come by before a 328 gig and play in the store. This would be September 30, 1992. Sometime a while after this Donnie Kendall comes by and notices the room in the back of the shop and feels it would be ideal to put on punk concerts. He and his wife April form a partnership with Mary and the rest is history.

There are a couple of videos on YouTube with Mary you can also watch: 

TN 101: History of TN Music

We Own This Town interview with Mary

Mary did a series of entertaining podcasts in 2022 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the opening. 

We shall begin with They Might Be Giants. As mentioned before Mary knew them so they came down to the store and did an afternoon in-store appearance before playing at 328 Performance Hall later that night on September 30, 1992. It had to be that day even if the They Might Be Giants wiki has them playing on March 4, 1995. Why do I say it's September 30, 1992? First of all I took my friend Jenny to the show at 328. If it had been 1995 I would have taken my future wife Mo instead. They Might Be Giants also came back to Lucy's after the September 30 show for an afterparty. I knew Mary well enough by then that I received an invite. I drove by there with Jenny after a great concert at 328, but decided not to go in and mingle. My innate shyness was worse in those days. 

Fast forward to December 1992 and I found the first listing for an in-store acoustic appearance at Lucy's by Freedy Johnston appearing on Saturday December 5 at 3 pm.  Jim Ridley's story on the end of Lucy's has the first "official" concert being on December 3rd with Impetuous Doom, Vomit Spots, Hemophilia, and Utter Contempt for Society, but that's probably not right. He notes the turnout of only 30 kids on a Sunday afternoon. December 3, 1992 was a Thursday. I would guess that Sunday December 6, 1992 was the first Lucy's Record Shop "House O' Pain Migraine Matinee." However, perusing old Tennessean issues even makes that cloudy as there are different listings for this same date. Mellitus, Infection, and the Ted Bundys are shown playing December 6th, but another edition of the paper has the bands from Jim's Nashville Scene story.  So I'm going with that as the first concert. Impetuous Doom would go on to be a Lucy's staple. Vomit Spots were a punk band from Mobile, Alabama.

Impetuous Doom recorded the next year

Vomit Spots live on Blab Music Television 1988

Setlist.fm has Royal True playing Lucy's on December 9th, but I couldn't find a listing for this in local Nashville media. If you know if this concert actually happened let me know. 

December 13th was a Migraine Matinee I definitely attended as my pals in the band Jack who made the first of 18 Lucy's appearances were playing on this Sunday afternoon with Staring at the Sun while terrific pop punk rockers the Teen Idols headlined. Shadow Den is listed on December 16. There were a couple more Migraine Matinee's in December. The Fed, KY and the Jellies, and Godplow who were from Alabama at this time, before relocating to Minneapolis (although Discogs says Maryland) play on December 20th. The last show of the year features the Lucy's debuts of Lethargic and Madison, Alabama death metal titans Skeletal Earth. The last band on that bill was one listed as Meducsa which seems like it could be a misspelling of Medusa. Lethargic documented their gig which is a great historical artifact!

Lethargic at Lucy's December 27, 1992

Skeletal Earth live at Crown Skatepark 1992

30-Sep-92        They Might Be Giants                                                                

3-Dec-92         Supposed to be the first show, but I think the date can't be right - should be the 6th                                                                                 

5-Dec-92         Freedy Johnston in-store acoustic performance 3PM                                                                                    

6-Dec-92         House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Mellitus, Infection, Ted Bundys 2PM $4                                                                           

6-Dec-92         House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Vomit Spots, Utter Contempt For Society, Hemophilia, Impetous Doom 2PM $4    

As you can see there are 2 December 6 dates with different bands. I vote that the Impetous Doom show was on the 6th.                                                                               

9-Dec-92         Royal Trux per setlist fm com                                                                        

13-Dec-92       House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Staring at the Sun, Jack, Teen Idols 2PM $4                                                                                 

16-Dec-92       Shadow Den 9PM                                                                               

20-Dec-92       House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: The Fed, KY and the Jellies, Godplow 2PM $4                                                                             

27-Dec-92       House O' Pain Migraine Matinee: Lethargic, Skeletal Earth, Meducsa 2PM $4

Postscript: we have new candidate for first "official" Lucy's Record Shop show. I have in my possession a flier advertising a Monday November 16 show starring Posterchild, Crop Circle Hoax, and Unrest.