Tattooed Hearts & Broken Promises

The ones that make you what you are today

2012-02-23T08:05:00.027-06:00

Don't you have any memories you could never throw away?

One of mine... the story behind my 1992 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins. I bought that guitar in 1993 from the Al Corey Music Center in Waterville,ME. I'd wanted a 6120 since I first saw a photo of Eddie Cochran, and I saved like a sonofabitch for this guitar. At the time Gretsch had just recently been brought back to life after a ten year period where no Gretsch guitars were being made. I wrote to them and asked where their nearest dealer was. They sent back a brochure and a list of dealers. I had two "local" choices, Sam Ash in New York City or Al Corey Music Center in Waterville,ME.

I sent a letter to Al Corey asking for stock list and pricing. I told him I was a guitarist in a band from Portsmouth and had been saving for a new 6120.

A week later I got a reply, he had a brand new 6120 in Sunset Orange in stock and would sell it to me. I called the number on his letterhead and asked for Mr. Corey. He came to the phone and we talked for a few minutes before I asked the price. He gave me a price of $1,100 including hard shell case. This was roughly $1,000 off list.

Sully and I drove the 3 hours up to Main Street in Waterville one night in my '82 Ford F100 stepside with 4 on the floor. We rolled into Waterville around 6PM and parked at an angle facing the storefront like they used to do in midwestern towns that actually took the time to plan ahead and make the main street wide enough to do this while still allowing 2 lanes of traffic free movement.

The store was an old fashioned music store, not a guitar store per se, but more in the traditional style of band instruments, lots of sheet music, and a few guitars. It wasn't loud, buzzing with riffs like your now typical Guitar Center, it was clean, reserved and very 1950's. The girl behind the counter was well dressed, prim and proper. I asked her for Mr. Corey and told her he was expecting me.

She smiled, went into the back room and returned followed by a bounding, spry little white haired man in full sharksin suit, white shirt and skinny black tie. He looked to be about 70 years old with a smile like a kindly old uncle but a youthful spring in his step and urgency in his tone as he spoke.

"Hello Mr. Morris! Welcome!"

We talked for at least 20 minutes before the subject of the guitar even came up. He told me about playing saxophone in big bands, touring the world... man was he a character. Finally he turned to the large glass case behind the counter and unlocked the door with a key from his jacket pocket, reached inside and pulled out the brand new, shiny, sunset orange 1992 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins guitar, offering it to me with both hands, the guitar reflecting the overhead lights as he held it towards me, palms up.

Here is a more recent photo of the counter where you can just make out the glass case on the wall behind. That's where he kept his small stock of Gretsch guitars under lock and key.

I sat down with it and played a few minutes. Meanwhile he was talking to my friend Sully. Sully said he was a drummer and Mr. Corey asked him what size sticks he used. He told him and was promptly gifted a half dozen brand new pair of his choice.

Several minutes go by and I was eager to make the purchase. Everything was as it should be and I wanted to get back on the road to take my new prize home.

"Have you boys eaten yet?" he asked.

"No" I answered.

He picked up the phone, called the Italian restaurant across the street and reserved a table for 2 as "Guests of Mr. Corey".

"But aren't you closing shop now?" I said.

"Normally, yes. But I have work to do out back so you boys go eat and come back for the guitar when you're full."

No money had changed hands yet.

He turned to me and said "You can't leave here hungry after such a long ride!" and escorted us across the street to the restaurant. He walked us in, the manager waiting and shook hands with him before showing us to our table.

We sat down and ate a delicious meal complete with salads, entre's and dessert. When we were finished I asked for the bill and was told "It's compliments of Mr. Corey". I was shocked, I thought it was enough that he made the call to get us reservations and walked us over personally, but to pay for the meal too? We left a sizeable tip and walked back across the street.

The store's closed sign was in the window but Mr. Corey was waiting for us. He unlocked the door, let us in and we thanked him for his hospitality.

I handed him $1,100 cash and he handed me the guitar with a proud smile and said:

"Now you go make some memories with this beautiful guitar."

(He wrote the receipt at full value for insurance):

And that's what I've been doing with it ever since, from the Bruisers to the Cadillac Hitmen and now Death & Taxes. It was there when I wrote "Till the End" with Al, sitting on the edge of my bed with a pen in his hand. It was there when I stood on stage at the Roxy in 2005, looking out over a sea of friends there to help celebrate the memory of our shared experience in the Bruisers. It was there when we entered Jim Seigel's studio to record what would become "Tattooed Hearts & Broken Promises".

1994 at the Middle East Club, Cambridge,MA about a month after I bought the guitar, the first live show with it

1996 Cadillac Hitmen promo shoot

2005 Bruisers reunion at the Roxy, Boston,MA

2007 with Death & Taxes at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville,MA

It is the one guitar I can never sell. It would be obscene to sell it after it was entrusted to me in such a way by the most gracious, personable and kind man I've ever met. Here are some pix I found of Al Corey on the store website. Mr. Corey is passed now, but I can assure you that he lives on in each of us who were fortunate enough to feel the love of music and love of life that he shared.

God bless you, Mr. Corey.

If you're interested in reading more about this remarkable man click HERE and click HERE

The songs remain the same...

2012-02-22T12:07:00.004-06:00

In '89 the Bruisers were just starting out. Jack "Choke" Kelly from Slapshot was putting out our first record on his Patriot Records label and we were getting ready to play a Patriot Records showcase at Bunratty's in Allston,MA with the other two bands on the label, Choke's offshoot, Stars & Stripes and Forced Reality from Connecticut.

When Stars & Stripes recorded "Shaved for Battle" Jordan Wood played both guitar parts and the bass, so Jack asked Bruisers bassist Scotty Davies to play live with them.

One night Scotty was headed to Malden to practice with S&S at the Slapshot practice space, which if memory serves me was the basement of a bar owned by Steve Risteen's uncle. Maybe someone else knows if that's not 100% accurate. So I drove down with Scotty and hung out at practice. After a while Jack asked me to sit in, and eventually I was offered the gig to play rhythm guitar at the show.

Last night I was rifling through some old boxes of crap trying to find some negatives for a project we're doing and I found this old notebook from '89 where I made mention of the whole thing. I had to laugh reading it, and of course the sketch is pure genius as well, right?

So I snapped a cell phone pic of it, here it is. And the part about the songs all sounding the same and us being too drunk to care by the time S&S played? Absolutely true, all of it. I really honestly don't remember anything from that show, so maybe it was good, maybe it wasn't.

There are two distinct memories I do have of that day. First, Forced Reality's guitarist was either on dilaudid or didn't know the songs, but the band was awesome anyway. Pete and the drummer carried that band that night. Second, onstage with Stars & Stripes I hung back by the amps doing my thing mostly but at one point stepped up front, got the stink-eye from Choke and went back to my assigned spot. Ha!Ha!Other than that we could have sucked for all I know. I don't remember the Bruisers set at all. It's not that I was shitfaced, though I was... it's the way my memory works (or doesn't). If it weren't for video and pictures I wouldn't have much to go on.

So here's the page from the notebook, made me laugh. Maybe you will too.

Tri-State Killing Spree

2012-02-21T13:18:00.006-06:00

In 1998 the Cadillac Hitmen were working on releasing our second cd, "Tri-State Killing Spree". At some point I started thinking about cover art and some ideas were better than others, but when I saw this painting I knew I'd found G-O-L-D.

This painting belonged to my friend Sully in Long Beach,CA where he lived on East Anaheim Street above Iguana Kelley's bar.

Sully acquired this painting when the tweakers that lived across the hall (directly over the Iguana sign in the photo)were evicted. Apparently the landlord didn't see the visceral beauty in it that Sully (and later I) did. I should add at this point that Sully once paid pretty good money for a cartoonish painting of two dogs on a motorcycle when we were in Rosarito, Mexico. Picture the famous kitschy painting of the dogs playing poker and you get the idea, but a lot less refined, much more "folky". Relevant? You decide.

(Here's Sully in the back posing with Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones. Sully plays drums with Joe (ex-TSOL)

Anyway... he showed me the painting when I was in town and I knew I had to have it for our record cover.

The problem? BROKEN WHITE RECORDS. They were our new label, really just an offshoot of Kevin Guyer's Rock Bottom Records store in Portsmouth. Kevin didn't think it was in good taste. I vaguely remember scoffing at the idea in relation to our band who's bassist routinely spanked fans with ping pong paddles and whipped them with a bullwhip on stage between (and sometimes during) songs. And this, the album cover for a record called "Tri-State Killing Spree... sheesh...

So it went on the INSIDE jacket instead. So here it is in all its badly executed glory with an exceptionally shitty mastery of perspective. God, I love this painting.

Click HERE for a larger version of this pic

Here's the story behind the record title...

comments, questions? Email me

Club Babyhead 1991

2011-11-19T17:43:00.009-06:00

1991, we drove down to Providence to play Club Babyhead with Agnostic Front and Murphys Law. This clothes store used to be one block down the street. Couldn't resist the picture. A few years ago Death & Taxes was back at Club Hell with Everybody Out! but the Morris Clothes Shop is no more.

This was the night we took the photo that was used on the cover of "American Night" 7" too.

Here are a couple more from that night inside and out...

Ritchie jumps on the mic, this was about a year before he joined the band

Another from the show...that's my first ES-335...

comments, questions? Email me

2011-01-04T17:03:00.056-06:00

This site features audio, video and free downloads from each of the following bands plus other one-off or short-lived projects I've been involved in the past 25 years in music.

New content is added to each band page. It won't show up here on the main page like a blog post so check the band pages often for updates.

At this point I'm sticking to the music, video and artwork without a bunch of commentary, but depending how it goes I may get back to posting anecdotes as time and discretion allow. Hope you enjoy the music and this new site. Drop me a line with your comments at jeffhitman@comcast.net

The bands...

NPD - 1986 to 1989

The Bruisers - 1989 to 1996

Cadillac Hitmen - 1996 to 2004

Death & Taxes - 2005 to 2010

Death & Taxes demos - 2010

Zuni Fetish Experiment - 1999 to 2005

Mark Lind & The Unloved - 2008 to 2009

Frank Booth's Trio of the Apocalypse- 2004

Solo Instrumentals - 90's to present

Nation of Sheep - 1989-1992

The Joppa 5 - 2003

wherever you see this button click it to download free mp3's from each band

With the exception of the solo tracks and demos, the rest of the music on here and 100% of the blood, sweat, not a few tears and the countless memories were created, forged and in some cases bludgeoned into shape alongside Al Barr, Dan Connors, Rick Wimert, Mike Savitkas, Steve Toland, Steve O'Sullivan, Mark Lind, Robert Garceau and Tina Marconi among others.

Thanks for stopping by.

-Jeff