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Note: Being an archival page some of these letters may refer to links that no longer exist. January 6, 2010 every time I listen to these songs, my faith in humanity is restored. January 4, 2010 Not sure if Joe Vento would remember me from pen pal days of old...pre facebook, myspace, etc. pen and paper! I am stoked to be able to hear your music online now! December 10, 2009 ...please where can I buy a unicorn? Aug 4, 2009 I just visited Dan's website & watched a little of Hey Jude by The OOB crew. If we could all go back in time for just one week. I'll take just one week & I'll be happy. Yes.......One week of Dan coming over to your house for new years eve and Taking the entire party sub sandwich and gesturing you-know-what with it...... Let's also not forget.... Dan momentarily switching off the TV just SECONDS before the New Year count down! Even if it wasn't Dan who did that, that's how I'd like to remember it... it's somehow funnier that way. Oh, and yes... somewhere I have a cassette of an impromptu jam session that happened that New Year's Eve - with John Marano joining in on guitar. That's also where THIS sound-byte comes from..... September 13, 2009: I remember that New Years Eve night, cause i was there too, and i think Dan tried to get a better picture on the T.V and he just screwed up the whole thing at that point. Between dealing with the fact that it was my first New Years Eve not watching the ball drop and forgetting what year it was...having to fend off the "busy hands" of the girl I was with that night..forced to do a photo shoot laying cross the laps of my fellow OOBS...having to drive Dan home to the freakin Bronx and asking him for my New Years Eve back the whole way...having him make me stop the car at 3:45am cause he thought he saw an escaped circus elephant on the Bronx River Pkway...i thought the evening at Scotts house went remarkably well. A fond memory of good friends and old good days..." OMG, If you are ever up to a skype interview for about 30 minutes with me. Let me know! I would be beside myself for the honor. Thanks for filling that missing void in my constant search for musical greatness life. PS: I too consider "The Beatles" as the best band ever. But if I were given a choice of a player, an island, and records from only one band. Well I would most likely choose "The Fab 4" but you can bet your MP3 player I would sneak in all the cassettes of OOB I could at this point. your eclectic red neck buddy, Cool Site. Hi Donald now yours and dan's songs.... its always a pleasure to hear peoples songs for me...but thankfully you and Dans songs were more than just that.... I was delighted to hear such really good strong melodic stuff...my stand-out faves being.... hey mister sunshine, analyzing, on and on (reminded me in vibe of 'i got a feeling') the flying dream (great song), the dream (ditto) and 'the show is over' great stuff.... add to all this some nice guitar and in particular bass guitar... and all wrapped up in lovely artwork too...... thanks so much to all the out of bodies ... but especially to you for sending me the cd... all the best Donald.take care. you guy's are great very cool and very funny!!! Kia Ora boys....Love that On And On song..its really catchy ...Ive been humming it all day ;o) Harry Nilsson is ticked off that he does not have a body anymore; because he wants to sing "On And On." So, Graham Chapman and he are out getting drunk on cosmic ether (since they cannot grip a bottle of Old Grand Dad and toss it back - requires hands and mouths); while going "On And On" looking for John Lennon, who already has a new body and name. Poor Harry. Bodies with voices like his was are rare and very hard to find. "On And On", however, can be found here. i am an oob, nothing but an oob and will always be an oob, i hav a sidekick, i call her my boo. fred astaire can dance baby Nice to hear your songs again..really great. I'm a fan of Harry Nilsson too..once did a version of "Jump Into The Fire" with some friends in Newmarket. It was crazy.. we had some classical string players sawing away on cello and double bass..and an incredible metal guitarist divebombing away..at the time of the Iraq war. (The first one) So it had a heavy political context..I have a mix of it somewhere. Cheers! Misty Patch is my fave at the moment....so deep & meaningful! ....you guys are just the coolest ;o) I must say that whenever I listen to Out of bodies I get such a great vibe. good harmonies- (smart and hooky) good sounds- and you can tell it's definately a good time doing it all !!
dear dr. oob, Note to the confused: Amerigo first discovered us when he heard a handful of our samples on garageband.com, and as you can see has become quite smitten with our noise. Below is his own profile introduction, reproduced and displayed for all our visitors to see. Please check out his band, Argyle Fist. You will like! "Amerigo Vespucci is the reluctant third member of the power trio Argyle Fist. Amerigo was bullied into becoming a rock legend by two men of much larger stature, namely, Chauncey Dupont leFleur, and Gordon P. Cummerbund. Poor Amerigo is forced to mime playing the guitar and "just look pretty", for the audience at all of Argyle Fist's sold out shows. He has been subsiding on uncooked rice and purple ketchup for three years now, due to the cruelty of his bandmates." Funny, yes?? - Donald I really like your music. It reminds me a little like Ween. Peace and Greetings from NZ....Man, you guys ROCK! Those songs really hit the spot. So pleased to have you as a friend. Keep in touch ;o) awesome stuff guys, keep it up! I absolutely love this!!!!! Where can I find the CD?! My God people, this is good! ...Hi guys I just want to tell you to call Jerry off. Last night he appeared at my window knocking to be let in. I live 13 stories high it was scary. I sat down with him and had a good listen to your songs. I particular liked The man who sold the world the bowie song, you guys are cool. I like music that is real not the product of a SIMON COWELL monster so keep up the good work. From your new Brit pals - The Killer Shrews You Guys are hidden greatness too bad they don't recognize it. I love your style it's so today and yesterday. Voicing all great concepts touch the space inside. Love the "new" tones for the bones! Thanks! Bruno So and So Hey Out of Bodies, I like the feel of your music...it puts me in a good place I like what you do, very cool. Pink Floyd Founder Syd Barrett dies at 60 - July 11, 2006
Previously unheard Dan Ban tracks released in June!
Go to burnlounge.com/yourmusic [no longer in service], type the name Dan Ban in the search box, and you'll discover a whole new slew of previously unreleased tracks from the 4-track repertoire of Out Of Bodies musician, Dan Banic! Dan recently announced "So far they put up 6 of my CDs, but there's 4 more they're still uploading - so expect 10 of my Dan Ban CDs in the very near future! Each track is represented by a 30 second sample you can hear. Check out all the songs!" Dan, who owns most of the original Out Of Bodies 4-track master tapes further announced that eventually he plans on making ALL of the Out Of Bodies music available on the site, but concedes "that eliminates around 40 percent of the Out Of Bodies songs" because many of those tracks are copyrighted by other artists and can't be included on burnlounge. "Believe it or not, we only have two, maybe three CDs worth of material from our 4-track recordings and around two or three more CDs worth of material of our live, 2-track wheezer sessions" explained Dan, "a total of 6 CDs of Out Of Bodies songs! That's only a rough estimate. When I'm finished compiling everything I'll have an accurate total count of Out Of Bodies songs." Still in all, compiling that amount of material from dozens of 4-track master tapes and making them available on-line is quite an impressive undertaking. As if all of this wasn't enough, Dan further announced his plans to promote clips of Out Of Bodies videos on youtube.com with help from a friend in California, including online downloadable versions of his comedy films "Work Trek" and "Fish Funk". Dan was pleased with the feedback he got from his friends on the coast, including some who work for Interscope Records. "They love our music" he said, "He went crazy over "I Wonder", "Pink and Blue", "Willow" and "Hey Mister Sunshine" - they love the stuff!" We'll be announcing more about these releases as they come! Stay tuned... Good Design! Thank you! Great work! If any Out Of Bodies tracks ever get any more airplay and make any money, I better see some damn checks coming my way!!!! All the best to all our fans and to my fellow bandmates.
"Wendy Will Die", "Don't Go Jzero" and "Abbott Better Stop (Your Pickin' On Me!)" Favorite OOB tracks "Wendy Will Die", "Don't Go Jzero" and a comedy song by Lloyd and Donald, "Abbott Better Stop (Your Pickin' On Me) debuted on garageband.com this month with some downright surprising results. Dan's "Wendy" got some interesting feedback - with one reviewer calling it "Lennon's Julia", another refering to it as "Dylan squeezed through a synth box"... "Jzero" was widely recognized as a children's song, "The lyrics seem to be aimed at children ages 1 -5...seeing space men...Rafi might have a song like this"... but it was "Abbott Better Stop" that got the most interesting reviews, and surprisingly - at one point, managed to top all the Out Of Bodies Garage Band entries! An amazing feat - keeping in mind that almost nobody knew what they were listening to. Only a few got that it was a schlock opera comedy dialogue between Bud Abbott and Lou Costello - the other confused reviewers derived everything else out of the song from high-pitched fat kids to 3 penny opera trannies - and yet still, it managed a "Best Track Of The Day" ranking on February 16, 2006 in the comedy category. A small example of some of the more interesting reviews... "Perhaps this is the sort of opera that Puccini would have written had he lived in modern day Los Angeles. A sad, pathetic, Chaplinesque tale of abuse and suppressed revenge. The falsetto opening voice gives way to a deeper voice and so a sense of a dialogue is conveyed. The fat, oppressed character seems to buckle under but I can't help think the plot would have been improved by murder. Or is that what's happening at the end?" - taketwomusic "Kurt Weill? What kind of fucked up Threepenny Opera shit is this? It sounds like a terribly ironic off-Broadway play with some drag queens. None a single bit of this is a complaint, mind you. I love every bit of it. It should be part of a huge cycle of operas like Wagner's Ring Cycle. It should go on forever. It's better than Cats. Oi!" - j.rouner holy smoke! you guys is good and your website rules! much better than ours (argylefist.com) which is held together with post-it notes and silly putty. I especially like "monsters". we have listened to hey mr.sunshine... its really kewl song. it sounds very ango-saxon - kewl but somehow folky without being silly-jolly... youve done a lovely job there - i love the psychedelic flowery vibe... well kewl. e-mail stirs up memories of old OOB hangout what a well done website!
Although the rides and restaurant closed around 1978 or so, the arcade remained open for at least another 10 years or so, I believe - and even though the concrete landing at the top of the arcade entrance way was sinking, and the circular mosaic design of the Adventurer's Inn Pirate was nearly obscured in a perpetual puddle of water - I can still remember visiting this place with fondness. I do actually recall at least one of Lloyd's birthday parties there, when the park and the rides were open - and regarding Lloyd as some type of celebrity. But the longest amount of time I've spent there in one stretch was in 1985 when the union at the company I had just started working for went on strike for three long months. I couldn't have been too worried... Instead of walking picket lines I spent much of that time plunking quarters at the arcade, being I lived just moments away in College Point. By the end of the strike I was a Popeye/Indiana Jones Master. I also vividly recall (much to my horror) one of the long term employees at the arcade who you'd get your quarters from. Lloyd and I nicknamed him "Quasi" (for his uncanny resemblance to Quasimoto). With his change belt straining around his enormous girth, Quasi would be the guy we'd have to contend with before playing our favorite video games. With our hands extended we'd patiently wait - as he'd pinch out one quarter at a time. This up close encounter was horrifying. Quasi's one eye would leer down at his belt, while the other was fixed on us. He would never speak, but his breathing would be loud and laborious. It took us every ounce of courage not to forget the whole deal and bolt for the doors.
you guys hhrrock! You guys remind me of the Hamburg Star Club Beatles. You seem very close, crazy, and comfortable with each other and you have that same sense of humor that made the Beatles so appealing. I am very envious of your group! Your music has all the right roots! I loved Pink and Blue. Your covers were fun and raucous, just as rock'n'roll covers should be. I listened to the Kinks song, that was very special, such a lovely vocal sound! You guys have an infectious spirit that MORE than makes up for the low-tech delivery. Stay with it (that is, technical improvement) and I fully expect you guys to chart in the "big" charts someday soon. Consider me a fan! Oh, and your website is absolutely dynamite. I feel like I know you guys and it was like sitting in the stuffy room on the edge of the bed with a cheap beer in hand! GREAT!!!! my cousin is awesome - you are so talented. Is there anything you can't do? The Out Of Bodies enter the charts at garageband.com!
Out of a 5-Star rating system against thousands of other bands around the world (many of them super-professionals who do this sort of thing for a living) - both songs scored surprisingly well! "The Unicorn Song" peaked at 4.3 while "Hey Mr. Sunshine" hit 4.0. Not too bad for songs recorded in a bedroom. As is the main purpose of the site, random reviews were written by other band members which helped determine the song's positioning on the charts. Opinions ran the gamut. Ray Davies is, IMO, pound-for-pound the very best pop/rock songwriter there ever was. And you sir, SOUND exactly like him! Has anyone ever told you that the similarities between your voice and Ray Davies' is eerie. I love the tunes you have up here.
...have recently been uploaded to garagebands.com - the only internet music company to catch the attention of Beatles producer Sir George Martin, who signed on as garageband.com's Chairman of the Advisory Board. Dan wrote "The songs are great - I'm really curious to see them move up the charts, see how far they'd go - and see if any record industry people would check up on them." You can either play a low bitrate version of the tunes, or download high quality versions by visiting Dan's page at garagebands.com [no longer in service] - At the thought of anything coming out of this Dan said simply, "It would be a riot!" yeah! yeah! To my bro mark, Whooop! Whooop! Special announcement!...
So if you've got questions for Dan or anyone else around here, just click on the "write us" link on the left or the "submit your own commentary" bar above. Just wanted to say I like it that Buddy Holly's music and legacy are being kept alive. I want to thank his widow Maria for her help in keeping it out there. Buddy was one great singer and arranger, he was way ahead of his time. Too bad he isn't here anymore but there are people like John Mueller who, if you close your eyes, sounds just like Buddy. A famous person once said that imitating someone is a great compliment to the person being imitated. John certainly does a good imitation of Buddy. BUDDY HOLLY FOREVER!! I also am looking forward to going to the Winter Tour Concert in Modesto, CA on June 18. I'd like to see and hear John Mueller perform. Guess I should have given the Crickets a mention too in my post but at this point guess you couldn't insert it or could you? I know how discouraging it can get when you don't get any credit for what you do. Take care. "The Out Of Bodies" were the 1990's, at least on Montague Street. Donald & Mark, talk to you soon. Just wanted to give a quick acknowledgement to Ed Yutkowitz and his website "The View From Sheridan Square" for linking to us from his Musical Notes page... and right next to a picture of Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan too. Man... makes us almost look legit! Even if you do call us the greatest band that never was! Heh heh! Thanks, Ed. Donald - Oh shoot! No, you didn't mention that before! Wow, what a nice surprise. Ya know, the name did sound a bit familiar but I just couldn't place it. Gee, ain't that sumthin'... a former F.A.B. subscriber! And you won a prize too... was it the F.A.B. T-shirt or the McCartney Unplugged cassette? Heh heh... yeah, that was a fun publication. Glad to bump into you again! Hey The Rev' Flash is correct. "Please don't ever change" is a great Crickets song. Just proves once again how the Beatles copied... Buddy Holly...and The Crickets
By the way, no McCartney that night... but the night before I got a little glimpse from a distance as Paul and Linda entered the building, flashing peace signs and giving thumbs up. For a moment it was great - but then some fat guy the size of a truck stood up right in front of me and I couldn't see anything but his ass crack! Sigh... Just an FYI- Jesse Lee Kincaid wrote "She sang hymns out of tune". Harry Nilson COVERED it! Jesse was a founding member of the Rising Sons (feat. a very young Ry Cooder, and Taj Mahal) Jesse is the Nephew of the great Folkways recording artist Fred Gerlach (Fred did the version of Gallows Pole that Zeppelin ripped off). Just wanted to give credit to Ol' jesse. - - Thanks Shoot... you've spoiled everything now. I told my wife *I* wrote "She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune!" Heh heh heh... - Donald "(Please) Don't Ever Change" is not a lost, obscure Lennon-McCartney song. It was originally recorded by The Crickets. After Buddy Holly's tragic death in 1959, his backing band, The Crickets continued to record, taking this poppy tune, written by the legendary writing team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, to number 5 in the UK charts in June 1962. I listened to every one of your tracks and i have to say-it was the best music i have heard in a long time-absolutely brilliant. Can i get hold of a cd of congratulations. My daughter is giving birth to a baby boy in september and it would make a brill present. Thanks, Louise - we can't send out any cds right now, but eventually we hope to have an online Out Of Bodies *postcard* page - music included... but being we don't do a lot of this complex webpage coding ourselves, I don't think we'll have that done by September. - Donald Most impressive. Out Of Bodies is truly an homage to the Beatles indeed. Love the tunes (don't go JZero....ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba baaa......). As a fan of the "Night of the Living Dead" genre, I eagerly await "The Night of the Living Oobs!". Ever thought of going to a mall and recreating a few of the scenes from "Dawn of the Dead"? Of course, I'd probably be more interested in the reactions from all the mallrats... hey dude!!! Wonderful music! I'm inspired to pull out my ole' guitar from the closet now! Particulary liked "Hey Mr. Sunshine" and your Kink's cover song, "Wonder Boy". Keep it up. Looking forward to more! Hello! You guys are a funny bunch. Bunch of what, I haven't quite figured out yet... but I must tell you I've enjoyed your music. Hi! I saw you on here today & I'd love to hear something by you, but sadly I don't have access to any computers with sound cards/speakers etc. so I can't listen to anything online. I was wondering if maybe I could receive something through the post as I would really like to hear/find out more about you...?! : ) Hello Hazel - a long time back we used to make cassettes, but that became too problematic and expensive for us, which was one of the main reasons we put this stuff up on the web in the first place. A computer with no sound? That should be against the law! - Donald Where did all the flowers go? I am from the 60s and saw Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show when a wiggle of the hips was a disgrace. LOL! It is something how times have changed... Good luck you guys! I found your page in AOL's FAVORITES! God love you all! The flowers are the people from the 60s... Where did all the flowers go? Will you bring them back? In your music? Love and Peace to you all! I would love to know where you are playing! My husband is a singer and drummer, my sons play guitar, and their sons too. It, music runs in the family. I used to play piano, but because of arthritis I can't play anymore, it breaks my heart... good luck again guys, The pages are beautiful and so are you! From the heart :*) A mom from Phila. PA hey, Hi guys! I had seen your site before from your posts in the SoHo Message Board, but hadn't taken the time to listen to your music samples. This time I listened to 3 of your new MP3 files: "I Love My Horse" was very funny, and just fun to listen to as you guys cracked up over the silliness of the lyrics... ;) "Pink and Blue" was good, though not my favorite of the three I listened to. To do it justice, you should probably try to record it with more than 4 tracks to give it more "body". If I may don my critic's hat, I found the rythm and pacing to be a little uneven. Very interesting lyrics, though... =) "Analyzing" was my favorite! Honest, poetic lyrics combined with simple but mood evoking music and harmony. The electronic voice changing was a nice touch... =) Great job! God bless! Tinidril (co-founder) I'll let you in on a little secret about "Pink and Blue" - - the "drums" or "percussion" on that track were in reality... not achieved by drumskins and drumsticks, but... are you ready for it?... Dan banging on an old trash can with the back of a hairbrush. REALLY!!! I would imagine it's near impossible to do a proper drumroll with that! "I Love My Horse" was great fun, and of course I'm still healing from the real life dissapointments that prompted me to record "Analyzing" Heh heh.... ughh - Donald Wow! You guys have a very Beatlesque sound! ...looking forward to hearing some more stuff! Well, I REALLY liked it, thanx. Especially that little song - jzero, it's something. Hey, I went to your site and listened to some of the songs, but the thing wasn't working too well. Anyway, from what I heard, your group sounds pretty good. I heard a little bit of a song, I think it was called "Hey Mister Sunshine" (sorry if that's not the name of the song, I have a really bad memory.) It reminded me a little bit of "Glass Onion" on the Anthology 3. But I didn't hear the whole song, the thing kept clicking on and off. Sorry. Great though! C-Ya around. That's your player trying to play the music as it's downloading. Sometimes with a slow connection it will not come in fast enough to play fluently - but the solution is easy... Press "pause" as it's downloading and wait till it's finished downloading completely before pressing "play." Then it'll play uninterrupted. - Donald You guys are pretty good. I am a Beatles fan from way back {the beginning}. Went to see them in Philly on their first US tour. What a long time ago. Hope you get to sing for lots more people, cause you do some interesting stuff. Loved "South Bronx". Hello OOBs, I enjoyed looking at your site. Nice work! My wife likes "Bouncing Baby Boy" because we just happen to have one and he likes to hear the baby laughing in the beginning! Is that one of yours? I also enjoyed "Don't Go Jzero" and "Hey Mr. Sunshine." We're Out Of Bodies fans now! That was my own bouncing baby boy when he WAS a bouncing baby boy - seems like ages ago. - Donald Just a note to say how much fun I had at your website! It was musical, creative, fun and (if you can believe it) downright inspiring! I'm a professional singer (TV jingles, what a life!) who has been timid (running scared!) about doing what you guys have done in Aces! I'm not sure how to start the ball rolling but now I wanna, I'm gonna try it! I have a recorder (8 track digital) I just need to find out how to convert the tunes to wavs? Is that info available on the web? If you have the time, please drop me a line with details. I would really appreciate it! Thanks for having the heart (and talent) to just put it out there! You guys rule! Sincerely, your fan, First, a heartfelt THANK YOU from us! Wow!! I never thought the Out Of Bodies would inspire anyone to do anything but put cotton in their ears (grin!) But seriously, we appreciate it much! Digital 8-track, eh? Well - right off the bat that's a step up from what we use (Dan owns an analog Fostex recorder... and a beat up one at that!) and if you're blessed with the lungs to sing professionaly, another plus! I'll send you what I know about wav file recording (which is minimal at best) - I originally used SoundBlaster, which came preinstalled on my first computer, but in a pinch you can use the recorder that comes with Windows. I've been told the better way is recording in MP3 format, in which you can save your music in smaller files, but that's all Greek to me and I gotta admit - I got frustrated just trying to find non-brainiac information about MP3 on the web - and gave up! Wavs were simpler. Record, edit, and save - done! Good luck on your music! - Donald [Note: Soon after this letter was posted we accomplished some MP3 knowledge and implemented it within the site!] "Don't Go Jzero" reminded me of the Fab Four. "In The South Bronx" was okay too. If you are open to suggestions, hit it a little harder. My opinion. I am sure you are doing well. Working the clubs in N.Y.? I used to live in the Bronx and still have relatives there. Good luck! Hi from sunny Florida. I was just checking out your home page and quickly became interested in your band just from reading others' comments. How can I get a copy of your music? I just finished listening to "Don't Go Jzero" while my boyfriend was in the shower and played it back for him while singing along. I love it!!! Keep music alive! I hope the floor was dry before you started dancing! Right now we haven't figured out if we want to distribute any tapes or anything - for several reasons too boring to list here. We actually did this once before through a Beatles fanzine, but we didn't do it the right way. But you never know. We'll keep you posted. - Donald Congratulations on your nomination for the AOL Hall Of Fame as a member of the Out of Bodies. This is a well deserved honor and one that has no doubt been a long time coming. The Out of Bodies have truly been one of the all time most influential musical talents in pop history with some of the most original music ever composed and performed. Their upbeat songs have inspired some of the most comercially successful artists in history like the Traveling Willburies, the Rutles, and the incomparable Ringo Starr MBE. They are a legend beyond their short time together and their extraordinary bootlegged albums still remain mainly undiscovered. So here's to the Out of Bodies and their timeless pop music. May it forever remain in the vaults until history is prepared to figure out their true place, wherever that may be? And let's all hope that those rumblings of a reunion are as false as George Washington's teeth in the Smithsonian! Rock On, Lonnie Ostrow So nobody thinks for a minute that they somehow slept through all this and these things really happened - let us assure you that Lonnie here is kidding! Well, about most of it anyway - - he really was the first person to play our music on the radio on his "Beyond The Beatles" radio show, and he was also generous enough to let me blab on the air on not one but two separate occasions on his show! He has made one major error though - and that's thinking that he was the only living man to ever broadcast an Out Of Bodies song on the radio. There was one other, although not here in the States. Part time Deejay Terry Toner played half a dozen OOB tracks clear across the planet Earth on New Zealand radio. All that and still no record contract! - Donald |
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One of the Out Of Bodies use to keep us going at the sessions for songs like "Hey Mr Sunshine" and others, by having us drink an iced tea that must have been made from water dredged from the Gowanus Canal. Actually, it was strong and as you were singing, your tastebuds would explode from the abnormal amount of pure cane sugar this bastard would put in!!! But hell, it gave us that extra little lift at 2am to give our fans some wonderful musical journeys. Viva Out Of Bodies!!!!
Dan, Joe and myself were particularly tickled with Syd Barrett with our introduction to Pink Floyd's first album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". My favorite song on the album was the very last one on there, a trippy little ditty simply titled, "
More OOB tracks for the Garage...
Adventurer's Inn was one of my favorite places in the world! My grandmother used to live in the apartment buildings right around the corner from AI, and she used to bring me there all the time. When I was in elementary school I had many a birthday party there (remember Don?!). As I got older, Adventurer's Inn grew with me! They kept expanding - from a kiddie park to a full blown amusement park (I believe they got a lot of their later attractions from New Jersey's Palisades Park, which closed around the time they expanded). Later, after High School, long after the amusement park was shut down, Don and I would go to the arcade at night and play Popeye and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom! We got so good at the Popeye Arcade Game that we could play all night long on one quarter!
Yeah, Adventurer's Inn was quite a place in the mid seventies, and you guys are right, it started to go downhill from there. Many of the rides, as Lloyd states, were leftovers from Palisades Park, but some were also from Coney Island and the garbage cans around the place were from the 1964 World's Fair, right down the road in fact!! I remember in it's later incarnation as an arcade, walking through with friends dressed in full ape make up and freaking out all the little kids!!!! The bad thing I remember is that giant cat-sized rats use to chase us back to the car when we left. Not fun!!! Regards to my old friend and fellow film guy Lloyd Goldfine, who, as a young zombie tried to kill me!!! Happy Holidays to one and all.
Following Dan's lead with his three submissions to garageband.com, Donald took two of his songs recorded with Dan and did the same. "The Unicorn Song" and "Hey Mr Sunshine", both written by Donald, were the two most applicable choices - following the site's strict rules against cover songs. "I'm not expecting Sir George Martin to call me up or anything... I just really wanted to see what the listeners say about these two songs in their reviews." said Donald. "Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, I don't know." 
The Return of Dan Ban
Dan, the most elusive Out Of Body has made contact! We've been talking and he's been sending me some new CDs with NEW songs to hear! Got himself a new 4-track recorder and a Beatle Paul Hofner Bass, which he says he'll be recording with soon. Much of what Dan is recording now is of a more spiritual nature - a little different than what we've got showcased on this site so far - and we'll be featuring some of the newest stuff soon... He's also dug out of his closet some things for our "LOST" section, including the hand written lyrics to some of our favorite songs, both OOB originals and great Beatles covers. Dan's not connected to the internet at the moment - but I promised him that any correspondence, questions, and booking inquiries will be promptly forwarded to him just the same... 
Right you are... The Beatles did loads of covers. And of course everybody knows how much Paul McCartney likes Buddy Holly and The Crickets. So much so - he bought all the rights to their music and used to throw parties to commemorate Buddy's birthday. Funny you should mention Buddy and The Crickets, actually -- because a few years back Mark and I had the good fortune of meeting the Crickets at one of those parties! (True -- no kiddin'!) Anyway, Mark snapped a picture of me with them and of course I had to include it in my F.A.B. magazine publication I did back then. I lost the original pic, but here's a scan right out of the fanzine...
