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House Of Freaks
During my first two years at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Joe lived in my building. We met because his bizarre roommate knew my girlfriend. The year was 1990, and we were all freshmen.
I have no idea how we became friends because we couldn't have been more different - but sometimes that's how friendships work.
Among the many reasons I'll always remember Joe, these are two:
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It was a sunny spring day. My roommate, Jeff, had just left for his next class, and Joe was killing time chasing a fly that was circling Jeff's desk. And then, with a loud thud, the deed was done.
BAM!!!
Joe 1, fly 0.
"Are you really just going to leave it there, squished to the top of Jeff's desk?"
Your average person would have scooped up the fly carcass and dropped it in the trash. But not Joe. He fished a pen and an index card out of his backpack, and removed a tack from Jeff's cork note-board.
The next day, while searching for something amongst the many notes on his note-board, my roommate found a dead fly, pseudo-scientifically labeled to denote what it was, what its fate was, and who brought about its demise.
"Josephicus Flyus Splatondeskus"
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The second reason I'll always remember Joe is because he loaned me a cassette tape.
If anybody offers to let me raid their music collection, I'll do it. And since we're talking about the year 1990 here, we're still talking about cassettes.
One in particular stands out. I borrowed a tape that had an album by The Church on one side, and something called "House Of Freaks" on the other.
"What the hell is House Of Freaks?"
"Just listen" Joe said.
I don't remember if I bothered with The Church side of the tape or not, because once I'd heard House Of Freaks once, I was hooked. I'm a fan to this very day.
House Of Freaks was a two man band out of Richmond Virginia. They released four albums and a 5 song EP between 1987 and 1994.
Their lead singer/gutarist was a man named Bryan Harvey who was killed in a random robbery on January 1st of this year. I've written about that here. Jury selection for his killer's trial began this past week.
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Channel two on Jalpuna Radio this week is a playlist of music by House Of Freaks. Definitely check it out.
House Of Freaks - a compilation
Song Title | Album
- Crack In The Sidewalk | Monkey On A Chain Gang
- Black Cat Bone | Monkey On A Chain Gang
- Lonesome Graveyard | Monkey On A Chain Gang
- Monkey's Paw | Monkey On A Chain Gang
- It's A Fucked Up World | Invisible Jewel
- I Want Answers | Tantilla
- Broken Bones | Tantilla
- This Old Town | All My Friends
- I Confess | Cakewalk
- This Is It | Cakewalk
::::: | Filed under: music
::::: | Posted Sunday, Aug 20 2006 at 9:43 AM
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