Wednesday, July 8, 2009

THE JEFFERSONS -- Operation: Get Castro's Permission 7"


CHERRY SMASH RECORDS -- Gainesville (1993)

Radon
Salami (Ceiling Fan)
She's No Moon Maiden

Andy Costello -- drums
Brian Doherty -- bass, vocals
Ivan Osorio -- guitar, vocal on 'Salami'
Kevin Regan -- lead guitar
Thomas D. Walls -- defense of the old republic

This is a star-studded record from a beloved Gainesville band, and I recognize not many punk bands can or at least should be referred to that way. But this is definitely an indie-rock-leaning slab of "officially certified punk rock," as it described on the cover.

The song 'Radon' is sweet -- seemingly nostalgic in advance for events of the present moment -- and supplied the name for another Gainesville band. 'Salami' is hilarious and rocks as well. The B-side reaches for the 'Radon' effect but falls short and is likely doomed to lie face down on many turntables.

Ivan and Kevin ended up in 'F, the Band Formerly Known as the John Birch Society' after the Jeffersons. Ivan also played in Lethal Yellow in Miami in the early 1980s, Sick Dick and the Volswagons later in the 1990s and today is editorial editor at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington DC. Brian Doherty, who released other Gainesville bands on Cherry Smash, is associate editor of Reason Magazine and author of several books including "Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the American Libertarian movement."

There are hints of this nascent intellectualism hidden all over the record, but the band is not without common sense: "Never slice a salami with a ceiling fan, you know that it could prove quite dangerous..."

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