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My first Judy's concert was in March of 1982 at the Houston Music Hall. I was about 13, and my older brother took me to see them when they opened for the B-52's. It was my first real concert, and I wasn't disappointed. At thirteen, I wasn't actually sure what I was in for when I saw seas of plastic clothing and hair-dye, but it didn't take long for me to get into the fun of beach balls bouncing around the audience. It was a huge new-wave party, 3500 people strong. After that, I had to settle for listening to their LP's until I was old enough to drive and sneak into their club gigs. While the records themselves did a lot for attracting fans, the band's live shows were perhaps the most important part of the group's image. Actually, it was the live shows, and the band's quickly growing following, that led to a limited amount of legitimate airplay on Houston top-40 powerhouse radio stations "93Q / KKBQ" (remember John Lander and the Q Morning Zoo?) and "Power 104 / KRBE". Oh, and let's not forget KTRU and KPFT! They were actually the first stations to play The Judy's on the radio, but they always played the cool music first, anyway. In concert, the fans (most of whom were college kids) enjoyed energy-packed shows complete with props like portable televisions and flying beach balls. When playing his trusty harpsichordish Univox Electric Piano (the obscure little electronic keyboard that gave The Judy's their signature sound), David used an ironing board instead of a keyboard stand to complete the household appliance motif. (It should be noted that I, trying hard to be cool like David, once did the same thing with my little Moog synth in a high-school garage band with radically different results) In 1981, a couple of RTF majors (and avid Judy's fans) from The University of Houston approached the band about videotaping one of their concerts for a class project with subsequent broadcast on Houston's KUHT TV, Channel 8 and public access cable. The band agreed, and on May 18, 1981 the students set up a two-camera shoot at a the Agora Ballroom. A few weeks later the concert, which had been edited down to a half hour, aired a couple of times in the wee hours of the morning. Radio station KLOL's "Colonel St. James" emceed the event, and billed it as a "party to celebrate the anniversary of the first eruption of Mt. St. Helens". The volcano motif was further emphasized by the band's closing number, Volcano, when smoke and fire erupted from between the makeshift palm trees lining the back of the stage! Recently, a kind soul made me a copy of the raw footage of this entire concert, and I have to say that some of the finest moments of the evening were omitted from the KUHT broadcast tape, and from the cable-access broadcast as well. It's great to now have this incredible concert captured, unedited, on video. Check out these great songs! Intro Volcano Lava Of Love Hes The One For Her Man On A Window Ledge Joey The Mechanical Boy Mental Obsession Let's Dance You Never Call Me Zoo High Society Her Wave How's Gary Magazine Man I Project Washarama She's A Eureka My Imagination Vacation In Tehran Girls Girls Girls Dogs I'm Mad Betty O Right Down The Line Radiation Squirm Space Teen TV Rerun She's Got The Beat Guyana Punch Island Volcano Underwater Fun La Bamba / Twist And Shout It's So Hot Tonight Unknown Outro In 1989, The Judy's played the annual Spring Music Festival. It was a huge outdoor beer bash, with live music all day and into the night. The festival that year had outgrown it's old place (the street in front of the old Spring Cafe, later refurbished and renamed "Wunsche Brothers"), so they moved it to a huge field just outside town. Being a radio guy by profession, I had access to a cool little cassette recorder and some decent microphones. The day of the show, I snuck everything in and bootlegged the entire concert. The results were far better than I had imagined. It was cool, because that day the band did a lot of songs that were never released on any of their albums at the time, many of which finally came out a couple of years later on "Land Of Plenty". 1989 was late in the band's life, and Jeffrey and Dane had left the group, but the The Judy's remained true to tradition and kicked out 45 minutes of fun that day. The lineup that afternoon consisted of David Bean on Guitar, Lee Malone on bass (Dickie Malone was acting manager of the band at the time - Lee is his brother), Darwin Keys on drums and percussion (who is now playing with a Houston band called "Pushmonkey"), and Barbara Donaho on keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals (Barbara was pregnant with her son Jordan Kincade at the time - she previously was a member of The Dishes with Dickie Malone). I've since taken that recording and had the whole thing transferred (including the part where my best friend Larry, drunk as a skunk, kept trying to borrow beer money from complete strangers) to a recordable-CD. Here's what it contains: Intro Teenage Millionaire Celebrity Her Wave She's A Eureka My Caroline TV Rerun Zoo Mental Obsession Don't Be A Hippie Radiation Squirm Middle Of The Road Milk Magazine Man Ghost In A Bikini Wilma A GoGo Grass Is Greener She's Got The Beat Girls Girls Girls Band Introduction Guyana Punch All The Pretty Girls It was always evident that The Judy's honestly wanted to entertain their audience as much as they wanted to make music. David Bean's style of writing and performing sometimes blurred the line between the two. In the handful of times that David opened The Judy's concerts with an acappella rendition of "Tomorrow" or "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", did he do it out of absurdity to make the audience laugh, or because the songs were great works of art? He sang with such emotion (and with a straight face) that is was difficult to tell. Somehow or another, the band managed to whip the crowd into a dancing frenzy while singing about deep political and social issues. Texas punk authority George Gimarc kindly donated a copy of a Judy's concert recorded live on Rice University's campus radio station, KTRU, from 1981. Go West Washarama He's The One For Her It Must Be Love Platonic Rhonda High Society Magazine Man How's Gary Zoo You Never Call Me Radiation Squirm Watch Her Go T.V. Rerun Let's Dance Island My Imagination Man On A Window Ledge Underwater Fun Mental Obsession Teenage Millionaire (excerpt) I Project Girls! Girls! Girls! Vacation in Tehran She's A Eureka Joey The Mechanical Boy Bodies in Motion I'm Mad Her Wave Children in Search She's Got The Beat Take Me To The River Right Down The Line Betty O! Guyana Punch All The Pretty Girls Dogs Don't Be A Hippie Skylab Recently, another live bootleg of the Judy's, this time recorded in Austin Texas, was kindly sent to us here at thejudys.com. This brief but important recording contains a several of very rare Judy's tracks! Radiation Squirm Zoo Food From Outer Space Island Joey The Mechanical Boy Magazine Man Heart in my Hand Vacation in Tehran My Imagination (Will Somebody Please) Kill M*RL* TH*M*S High Society How's Gary? Dogs She's On Fire Trixie And The Killer She's A Eureka (excerpt) Got Questions? Email Us!