Amy Zonbambi, Chucko D. K. Fatts, Juk Suk Reet Meate, Dennis Duck, Cheezit-Ritz, Cheese-Bro, Dr. Id, Dr. Odd, Reed Burns and various others checking in and out were making a lot of funny noises and recording quite a bit of it (largely on low-fi cassette recorders.) I had visited a few times and was quite impressed with their approach and sometime after recieving a cassette of theirs entitled "the Smegma Christmas Album" (from which the track "Auto Suk" came) in december of 1973 i was invited to join up. So, on my 17th birthday in january of '74 i moved into the house at 361 Adena Street and became a member of this marvelous group that i would never have guessed would still thrive and fester more than 2 decades later.

Although my involvement in Smegma lasted barely a year and a half, so much went on in that period that it seemed much longer. We made "music" every day, quite often all day, well into the night. We'd record whole concept albums on cheezy cassettes (or better when Dr. Id was around), among these "the BUB tape", "the PIGFACE tape", "the Eric Dolphy Memorial Bogus Orgy", "the Mama Cass Elliot Memorial Ham Sandwich", etc. It never stopped. I hope they can continue to clean up and release bits of these gems for some years ahead, although i'm not sure what that will do for their careers. Gigs were equally surreal. "the Jerry Lewis Muscular Distrophy show - Coronado", "the Pumpkin Works show - Temple City", and the ever popular "My Life As A Grade B Movie" show at a Pasadena art gallery in february of 1975.

I met Larry Fisher som etime late '74 at the old Ash Grove. He was opening for a show by the Roto Rooter Goodtime Christmas Band hosted my friend Barret Hansen (actually as i recall he had just kind of showed up and was invited to do a few songs however i digress). I was thrilled to have met him, having been a big fan. I told him a bit about Smegma and gave him our number and to our great surprise he called. He took the bus from Hollywood to Pasadena fairly often and spent a good deal of time with us. Only 2 formal recording dates with Larry took place, the material spontaneous and whimsical as any of Smegma's or Larry's, and both sessions were quite different from each other.

The first of these (which includes primarily the legendary "Midnight Train To Georgia/I Used To Be A Rock & Roll Star" medley) took place on new years day 1975 in Smegma's newly formed BUB studio at 777 North Los Robles, Dr. Id at the helm of the control board. Largely due to the festive occasion, Smegma was an expanded ensemble on that day and incl uded the very youthful Reverand Toad-Eater on guitar along with a rather wacky chorus of backup singers. The second session was a bit more deliberate, with almost a rock band setting with Reed Burns and R.T.E. on guitars, H.G. on synth, Dennis Duck on drums, Ju Suk or I might have played bass, and the rest on their various. Some of Larry's songs were attempted, although there were no rehersals or preparation. Many of the songs were new to us all the time, so some of these are the first recordings of songs he later did for the Rhino albums.

For Larry Fisher fans, these sessions provide a bridge between the "An Evening with" album and the 3 LPs for the Rhino label and show a side of the illusive Mr. Fisher that we are only too fortunate to have a document of. (not to mention the famous failed attempts to remake Larry's classic "Taster" which first appeared on the L.A.F.M.S. LP Blorp Essette volume 2, released in 1980). Wow.

Ace Farren Ford 2/'97