Bill Taft | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William Wilson Taft, Jr. |
| Born | 1965 Shaker Heights, Ohio |
| Origin | Georgia, United States |
| Genres | Punk rock Folk |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar, Cornet, Banjo |
| Years active | 1980s–2000s |
Bill Taft is an American rock musician living in Atlanta, Georgia.
Taft is the son of former Ohio state Senator William W. Taft, and a distant cousin of former United States President William Howard Taft. In 1982, Taft moved from Ohio to Atlanta to attend Emory University. His first band of note was The Chowder Shouters, whose instruments included garbage cans. [1] They released a six-song vinyl record. [2] After the demise of the Chowder Shouters, Taft joined The Opal Foxx Quartet, a group consisting of anywhere from 2 to 14 members at a time. They broke up in 1992 after the deaths of several members. [3] They released a posthumous CD, which was largely produced by Michael Stipe. [4]
Around 1988, Taft started An Evening with the Garbageman, a spoken-word open-mic variety show, which he hosted and that eventually morphed into The Jody Grind. [5] The Jody Grind released two CDs before disbanding following the deaths of half their members. Drummer Robert Clayton and bassist Robert Hayes died in a horrific traffic accident which also claimed the life of performer Deacon Lunchbox. The accident occurred as the band was returning to Atlanta after performing in Montgomery, AL. [6]
After The Jody Grind broke up in 1992, Taft formed Kick Me, with Allen Page (of Opal Foxx Quartet) and Kelly Hogan (of The Jody Grind). They recorded several songs that eventually came out on a compilation album called Hidden Tracks, released by Daemon Records. [7] Kick Me broke up after Allen Page died of a drug overdose. . [8] Smoke recorded two full-length CDs and several compilation tracks, playing until 1999 when lead singer Benjamin died of hepatitis C. A year after Benjamin died, Taft started Hubcap City. He has also started Another Evening with the Garbageman, an open-mic spoken word project similar to An Evening with the Garbageman.
Around 2017, Taft, along with Brian Halloran (cello) and Will Fratesi (drums) (of Smoke) started the band W8ing4UFOs. They released the album "Don't Let the Asshats Burn You" during the Coronavirus Pandemic in the fall of 2020. [9]
. [2]
Track 1 written by Tracy Snow. Track 2 written by Grady Cousins. Track 4 written by Debbey Richardson. Track 5 is Deacon Lunchbox sleeping in the back of a truck. Track 7 is The Mary Tyler Moore Show Theme Song, "Love is All Around." Track 10 is a medley of the song from Jesus Christ Superstar and the Billie Holiday song. Track 11 written and performed by Deacon Lunchbox.
Tracks 1-8 recorded at WREK radio on 11/13/01.
Tracks 9 and 12 recorded outside at Railroad Earth Studios 5/19/01.
Track 10 recorded at Eyedrum 3/10/01.
Track 11 recorded 12/30/01 at The Earl.
Tracks 13-17 recorded 8/02/02 at Earthshaking Music.
. [11]
. [12]
Side a:
Side b:
NOTE: Bill played banjo for Cake on this record.
Side 1
Side 2
The lineup on this song was Benjamin, Bill Taft, Brian Halloran, and Todd Butler. This CD was a benefit compilation.
Indigo Girls - Shaming of the Sun CD (1997, Daemon Records)
12. Hey Kind Friend
Taft played cornet on this song, written about his friend Benjamin.
The Rock*A*Teens - The Rock*A*Teens (January 23, 1996)
13. Arm in Arm in the Golden Twilight We Loitered On
Taft played cornet on this track.
Greg Connors - Full Moon Flashlight CD (2009, Scared Records)
4. Two Women and A Flood (Sweet Distraction)
9. September Baby, a cover of a song written by Joseph Arthur
Taft played cornet on both these tracks.
Adventure Time "Blue Magic", written by Jack Pendarvis, sung by Kelly Hogan, with guitar performance by Bill Taft.
Holly Cole is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio.
Redemption's Son is the third studio album by Joseph Arthur. The double album was first released in the UK only on May 20, 2002, due to Joseph being dropped by Virgin Records/EMI in the US. Eventually, Enjoy Records picked up the record and released it stateside on November 26, 2002 with a slightly different track listing and alternate artwork.
Real World/Virgin released the album Come to Where I'm From in the States, but when Arthur wanted to start his next project, Virgin backed off. But his overactive muse couldn't wait for corporate support, so he jumped into recording regardless. Arthur ended up with Redemption's Son, plus another two albums' worth of songs, which were released over the course of four EPs called Junkyard Hearts 1-4. "I make three or four records a year, but I've only been able to get 'em out every two or three years," says Arthur.
Smoke was a band from the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia that dissolved in 1999 with the death of writer/singer Benjamin. Benjamin was the subject of Peter Sillen and Jem Cohen's documentary Benjamin Smoke (2000).
"Turn Me Loose" is a hit song recorded by the Canadian rock band Loverboy. It was released on their eponymous debut album in 1980, and as a single in 1981. With a strong rock synthesizer start to the song, followed by a steady build on the guitars, it peaked at #7 on the RPM singles chart in 1981 and #6 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart in the US.
"Lunchbox" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released as the second single from their debut album, Portrait of an American Family (1994). A heavy metal song that features elements of death metal, industrial music and punk rock, "Lunchbox" was written by the band's eponymous vocalist, Daisy Berkowitz, and Gidget Gein, and produced by Manson with Trent Reznor. According to Berkowitz, the track was written as the frontman's plea to be left alone; it was also inspired by a time where Manson defended himself from bullies with a Kiss lunchbox. The track features elements of "Fire" (1968) performed by Arthur Brown, a musician who influenced the band.
Deacon Lunchbox was the stage name of Atlanta performance artist and poet Timothy Tyson Ruttenber. Ruttenber, a construction worker by day, was popular in the Atlanta area for his flamboyant spoken-word performances. He often punctuated each line of his poems by banging an old torpedo casing or metal bucket with a hammer. His onstage props included a chainsaw, and often a bra was part of his costume.
A Day Late and a Dollar Short is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in January 1996 by Lookout! Records. It collects material recorded between 1982 and 1994, most of it with original member Wimpy Rutherford. It includes the band's first two EPs, 1982's Love Me and 1984's Kicked Out of the Webelos, several demo tracks recorded in 1991, 16 tracks recorded during a January 1993 reunion with Rutherford, and a complete set of early songs recorded live on radio station WFMU in 1994 with Rutherford on lead vocals.
Sleepthief is an American electronic music recording project formed by producer and composer Justin Elswick. Elswick began writing music for the album ten years prior to its release. The album was mixed, mastered, co-produced, and co-arranged by Israel Curtis. Sleepthief's first album, The Dawnseeker, was released in 2006.
Live is the second live album by the band Blondie released in 1999 in the US and in 2000 in the UK.
Robert Dickerson, better known as Benjamin, was an American poet and singer-songwriter who fronted the Atlanta, Georgia bands Smoke and the Opal Foxx Quartet. He was noted for being a radical rock 'n' roll performer. He died on January 29, 1999, due to liver failure caused by Hepatitis C at age 39. He performed his final concert in Atlanta, Georgia on New Year's Eve, 1998.
Live from Nowhere, Volume 1 is a live album by Over the Rhine, released in 2006, containing highlights from the band's 2004 and 2005 annual Christmas tours. The CD was limited to 3,000 copies and comes in a fold-out digipak. After the CD pressing had sold out, the band made the album available digitally through various online retailers. This is the first of a series of limited-edition annual live releases; Live From Nowhere, Volume 2 followed in 2007, Live From Nowhere, Volume 3 came in 2008, and Live From Nowhere, Volume 4 was released in 2009.
Hubcap City (From Belgium) is a band from Atlanta, Georgia that formed in 2000 after the end of Bill Taft and Will Fratesi's previous band, Smoke.
Sing: Chapter 1 is the seventh studio album from country music singer Wynonna Judd, released on February 3, 2009. It is her seventh solo studio album and the follow-up to her 2003 album What the World Needs Now Is Love and her holiday-themed 2006 release A Classic Christmas. This release celebrates Wynonna's 25th Anniversary in the music business.
In Space is the fourth and final studio album by American rock group Big Star, released in 2005. It was the first new Big Star studio album since Third/Sister Lovers, recorded in 1974 and released in 1978.
Panic of Girls is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Blondie. It was the band's first album of new material in nearly 8 years, since 2003's The Curse of Blondie. The album was first released digitally on May 30, 2011, followed by physical releases in various formats later.
The Superions are an American comedy synthpop band formed in Orlando, Florida in 2006 as a side project of The B-52s frontman Fred Schneider with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall.
Wild Christmas is a rock and roll Christmas album released in 1966 by film star Mae West.
Peach Fuzz is the sixth studio album from the American rock band Enuff Z'Nuff. Like the band's 1994 release 1985, this album is viewed more as an archival release than a new album since it features mostly previously recorded material. For example, the tracks "Let It Go" and "Kitty" were initially b-sides to the UK edition of the Strength single "Mother's Eyes," while the song "Happy Holiday" was first intended for the 1992 film Home Alone 2. Many of the remaining tracks on Peach Fuzz were recorded during the making of the 1993 album Animals with Human Intelligence, but were likely excluded from that release due to their poppier sounding nature.
Hot Fives & Sevens is a 2000 box set collection of recordings made by American jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong with his Hot Five, Hot Seven, and other groups between 1925 and 1930. First released on JSP Records on 22 August 2000, the set was subsequently reissued on Definitive in 2001. A four-disc compilation, the set has received a "crown" as an author's pick in The Penguin Guide to Jazz and is also included in the book's "core collection" recommended for jazz fans. Allmusic concurs that it is "beyond indispensable", suggesting that "you can't have a Louis Armstrong collection without this historic set" or "any kind of respectable jazz collection" Alternatively, Ben Ratliff, writing in 2002, preferred Columbia's release The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings.
The Jody Grind was an American band from the Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
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