Ghost Town Archives #1 -- The San Vitale

This is the first in a series of MP3 postings of long-gone Morgantown bands.

The San Viatle (1997-2000)

bass - Ryan Hand

organ and synth - Darian Schramm

Drums - Chris Turco/Jay Demko/anon

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With their hooky organ/Moog/drums equation and herky-jerky rhythms, The San Vitale were the first of the Morgantown bands to point toward what now known as dance-punk. To me, their music was a high-energy hybrid of Booker T and the MGs and DEVO.

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Ryan Hand, who later formed the Shame Spiral (the band that never was) moved to Columbus, OH where he DJs under the name of Dead Air, and causes lots of trouble.

Jay Demko, who later spearheaded On, the Rare Birds, the Holy Ghost, and World B Free now lives in Portland, Oregon.

Darian Schramm formed the Alloy Airkar and the A1M and now lives in New York.

Chris Turco moved to DC, where he played in the Scene Creamers, Pines of Nowhere, and Trans-Am. He now lives in Woodstock, NY.

Dammit! I can't remember the name of their first drummer.

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Flash Gorgeous

Neighbor of the Beast

Weighing the Wisdom

We Never Wanted This

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Thanks to Molekule for having the foresight to put these gems up in the first place.

Play A Show

Hey There Hooligans,

This is the man behind the mask, Mr. Jeremy M. Groghan, better known as "The Bean Machine" also known as "Your Mother's Maiden Name" and I'm here to tell you about a fantabulistic opportunity that can earn you fame, money, and a newer and better girlfriend.

I'm talking about playin' a show at The Side Pocket Pub in the Mountainlair as part of WVU's Up All Night. This is an exciting opportunity for you or your band to become a dozenaire, maybe even a hundredaire, and be the envy of all the international students.

Your musical performance will be recorded and will go down throughout the ages so that even when you are dead, future generations will hold hands and sing your songs. That is, until the Computer God forces them to work, as all children in the future do, in the deadly spider mines.

If you want to play this gig then you need to contact me immediately as supplies are limited, void where prohibited, not valid in Italy, Vermont, Texas, or The Future. Batteries not included, everything must go, stay tuned for more commercials, only while supplies last.

OUR SCHEDULE IS WIDE OPEN! PLEASE GOD HELP US!

Warmest Regards,
Jeremy "Bean Machine" Groghan
email: jgroghan@mix.wvu.edu

So I went to movie night

Hmmm,

Yeah me and no one else. So I want to get some discussion started. Is having a movie night at Pleasant St. a bad idea? If it's not, what else can they do to entice people to go? What kinds of movies should they show.

Now, as for my opinion, I know this is more of an unsolicited LJ idea, but it could be cool. I told him he needs to be more proactive about the 123 myspace account and promote things more on there, a couple flyers up at 123 aren't going to be enough, and only regulars would really be interested in this anyway.

Idunno, we'll see if it works...

The other new free thing is the reggae night being every Tuesday. I went to one of the reggae nights and it was pretty fun, but it's starting to smell like the way things went for Mayday! the first time we did it. LJ was excited about it doing well and convinced us to do it once a week, I forget what night, but it was something like Tuesday. We always had a few people but the crowds got smaller and smaller. There just isn't an audience for a weekly 80s DJ night, so is there an audience for a weekly reggae night? I doubt it, but best of luck to those dudes. I think I'm going tomorrow, anyone else?