Pocket Pal

Finally back from a long hiatus, and I'm giving you all a big treat to make up for it. Pocket Pal, arguably one of AP's finest, was born out of the memory of a TV commercial advertising the greatest hits of
Red Sovine.

Drinking apparently makes you consider all the absurd little half-memories of childhood, and the Ashtray Prophets were masters of harnessing this phenomenon and crafting it into some of the most memorable tunes of college life. And "Pocket Pal" is the prime example. I can understand the humor in the source, I mean how the hell does something like "Trucker Music" evolve and emerge as a genre? If you are familiar with the genre, this song is twice as funny.

Word has it that the first lines of the song came to MH while lying in his bunk. Unable to contain his laughter, he sang it to JK and then they spent the next 10 minutes writing the rest of the song that was to become "Pocket Pal".

It's a beautiful little song, really. Click here to listen to Pocket Pal by the Ashtray Prophets.

Beer Makes You Smart

JK once had a roommate named Chuck who loved beer; he would often say, "Beer makes you smart."

So, the Ashtray Prophets wrote a song called "Beer Makes You Smart". Nobody really remembers whether it was the desire to write a song about beer or Chuck's catch-phrase that ultimately led to the creation of this song, but MH started by pulling out a goofy little riff he had been playing around with and this little song came out somehow. The song was a favorite among the college drinking crowd, for obvious reasons, but it has proven to have a more universal appeal.

This recording is from an audition tape the guys put together for one of the MSU Coffee House Talent Shows. Ashtray Prophets played 2 or 3 of these annual shows, which were a lot bigger than the name implies, being in front of sold-out audiences in the MSU Student Union auditorium. It was at one of these shows, just after the Ashtray Prophets stepped off the stage amid a standing ovation, that they were approached by an MTV rep and asked to open for none other than Nirvana at an MSU spring festival. Alas, that all-star line-up never made it out of the planning stages, due to some dumbass fraternity hazing or alcohol date rape activities that spurred the University to cancel the spring festival.

Oh what could have been...

In any case, click here to enjoy "Beer Makes You Smart".

Beer's my best buddy.

Bearded Guy (aka "the MSU Can Man")

They called him simply "Bearded Guy". This was before any of them managed to strike up a conversation with him. Eventually, he told them his name was Ernie, and they learned he was actually a pretty cool character. Most students and faculty at MSU knew Ernie at some level, ranging from having known of him or seen him a few times to having shared a cool glass of lemonade in the middle of hot and humid afternoon of collecting cans.

Out-of-staters, that is, non-Michiganians, were often puzzled at first, not realizing that soda and beer cans and bottles are worth 10 cents each. Ernie was rumored to have been a "recycling millionaire", but the reality is more like he managed to get by. Ernie had competitors, like the Vietnamese family whose children would swarm the fields of tailgaters on game day, but many people would save their cans for Ernie. Some people offered him money, but he would decline. Every now and then, someone would manage to give him a new bicycle. When I left MSU, he was riding a brand new mountain bike of reputable manufacture.

The sight of Ernie, with his Santa Claus style beard, blue baseball cap, and cutoff denim shorts, riding around with a big bag of returnables became an unusual source of inspiration and meaning for many MSU students.

Ernie died in 2004, but his legend lives on. His bicycle is now a featured item in the MSU Cycling Museum, and there have been many requests from Alumni for a Can Man Memorial.

The song "Bearded Guy" from the fall of 1989 was one of the first songs written and recorded by the Ashtray Prophets, and many say it played a significant role in raising the awareness and celebrity of Ernie the Can Man in the years after its debut.

Click here for the original dorm room recording of Bearded Guy.

NEW RECORDING: "I'm FAT!"

Hallelujah! The Ashtray Prophets are BACK!

An anonymous fan sent me what he assured me to be a recent recording -- as recent as a couple weeks ago! This recording is from a late-night jam session at an undisclosed location. The recording was possibly made on something called an "iRiver", according to a comment made in the recording itself.

This is a completely new song -- never heard before! It sounds like the guys are playing with better equipment and now with a drummer, but the recording isn't the greatest. Those iRiver things must not be intended for loud recording, as there is a lot of audio clipping.

But, the song is hilarious! Let's hope this is the start of the Second Coming of the Ashtray Prophets.

Click here to download I'm FAT.

Woody (Dick Things)

This is probably my favorite Ashtray Prophets tune of all time. Woody (Dick Things) was written sometime before their Junior year, because this recording was dated as having been recorded in MH's dorm room sometime in that year. Toward the end of the recording, you can hear a girl from MH's floor (it was a co-ed floor) barge in and say, "I wondered who the hell was singing." Ever the perfectionists, the guys left the recording as-is.

This song was written in a genius stroke after the opening phrase ("With puke on my shirt, I went to bed last night. Woke up this morning something just wasn't right.") came up in conversation one weekend. Or something like that. This was yet another song that was written so quickly that it seemed that it was divinely inspired. I have no other explanation -- sometimes certain words and music are handed to us from the Great Unknown.

For example, pay attention to how MH is strumming his guitar and how it relates to the theme of this song. He starts out lightly, almost teasing, then his strokes become a little fuller, broader, then a little quicker as they go into the first chorus. The second verse goes down to some picking, as if getting tired, then he finishes the song with such vigorous strumming that the end of the song is left with a kind of collapse.

It is subtle strokes such as these that reveal the Ashtray Prophets' true genius.

Click here to download Woody (Dick Things).

Those Goddamn Miskitas

Yes, I know -- it's spelled wrong. But this whole song is wrong. It's the song that should have never been recorded; it's the song that should have never been played anywhere but the old camping trips.

They guys were playing Acoustic Night at The Small Planet in East Lansing. Acoustic Night was a Tuesday and not the busiest day of the week. With the crowd being thin, the guys thought it would be okay to play some of their more colorful material.

After hearing the line about nuns in this song, waitstaff and backroom staff started coming out to the stage area to see if they heard what they really heard. Then, the bar owner came out too. He made a gesture with his hands toward the stage that made it quite clear that they were done for the night.

They were never asked to play The Small Planet again.

Click here to download Those Goddamn Miskitas.

Hit 'Em With a Shovel

Okay... I have to make up for that last post. For all those asking about the artwork on the merchandise in the Ashtray Prophets store, here's the story:

As everyone knows, the Ashtray Prophets were infamous for their love/hate relationship with country music. They would cover songs by the great ones (Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, and Kenny Rogers, to name a few), but then they'd rip Nashville a new one by parodying the supposed boorish nature of country songs, singers, and their fans. Songs like "No Beer, No Work", "Pocket Pal", and "Plastic Undies Cowboy" caused a near-riot during the second set of their gig at the Small Planet during MSU Rodeo Weekend.

"Hit 'Em With a Shovel" was another example of the Ashtray Prophets sticking their middle fingers in the eye of the Grand Ol' Opry -- and it coincidentally was one of their first hits. In fact, after their first public performance of this song, it became an instant campfire favorite among the college crowd.

A friend of mine came across a old cassette tape (obviously a copy of a copy of a copy...) at Boston College that has a very early recording of this song. It almost sounds like this may have been one of the very first recordings of an early version of this song. The guys never really wrote anything down, and they often recorded their songs while writing them.

Click here to download Hit 'Em With a Shovel.

Butterman

I wanted to post another song today, so I was going to post "Fat Hog From the Cafeteria", but being that today is Veteran's Day here in the States, I figured another song would be more appropriate. Well, kinda. I don't know.

Click here to download "Butterman"

I really don't know if there's as much a story as it seems an inside joke behind this song, so I can offer no explanation except that the Ashtray Prophets really liked their beer.