Percussionist Dave Weckerman has been part of the Feelies story since 1976 when he, Glenn Mercer and Bill Million formed the Outkids, which quickly evolved into the Feelies. Following the release of seminal 1980 debut Crazy Rhythms, the group went on a sort of short-lived hiatus, though the band members played together in a number of offshoots, including the Trypes, the Willies and Yung Wu. 1987’s Shore Leave was the sole album by Yung Wu, which featured Weckerman as singer/songwriter backed by Mercer, Million and fellow Feelies Brenda Sauter and Stan Demeski. The long-out-of-print Shore Leave has just been reissued by Bar/None, so we asked Weckerman to guest edit magnetmagazine.com. He said yes and will be writing about “some favorite things and cultural touchstones in my life (so far)” all week.
Weckerman: Bought a couple of tickets out of curiosity after reading several articles about him in the Melody Maker music paper. Had never heard a note of his music. Nobody wanted to go with me, except, surprisingly, a former normal cheerleader from my high school. During the performance, I thought she might be troubled or disturbed, but afterward, she declared that she felt she had just seen “the new Elvis.” She went out and bought Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory and The Man Who Sold The World the next day.
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