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 Adam Ritchie and his band inside the DMZSteve Schmidt and Link Smith skating in DMZ parking lotSteve Schmidt, somewhere between the heights and downtownGrove Circle Punx - Andy Conrad, Utrillo, Bryan Spinas, Matthew Thompson, Jason White, Josh Bentley (92)
 added story to The Link Springs Forms Event The Link Springs Forms added story to New Wave Festival added story to DMZ opens added story to DMZ opens added story to New Wave Festival added story to Econochrist forms added story to Hatful Day plays their first show added story to Big Boss Line forms added story to Women's City Club Show  |
Numbskulz release Mr. Furley  // All I remember is that when Andy Conrad came to Horace Mann, he seemed like a visitor from outer space. Dude had a leather jacket with a Batman button on it! It was oddly flattering when he put out word that I seemed cool, but that he didn't like the fact that I was into wearing topsiders with no socks. Apparently, he was all right with the tropical print shorts, mock turtleneck, combination lock on acid-washed jeans jacket look I was rockin' in '88-'89. Bitchin'. // Drew Caldwell drew the cover, Mr. Furley in a big-collared paisley shirt! "Preppies in Black" is one of the best punk songs to ever come out of Little Rock, in my humble opinion. // One of the few things most people actually know about LR, AR is that in 1957 there was a crisis in the city over the desegregation of LR Central High. The images of a white mob heckling a young black woman did much too solidify an image of LR as a bastion for old Southern racism.
Econochrist and Trusty were the first big punk bands in LR, but their members were in their late teens and early 20s. Chronologically, Numbskulz, along with Hatful Day, was the next big popular punk band. But Steve Kooms, Andy Conrad, Shobin Johnson and Colin Brooks were all between 14 and 16 when the band started playing. They were the first standout of what's sometimes called the 2nd generation of LR punk. And they were also a multi-racial band. Two white guys and two black. This set a precedent of racial acceptance that was never questioned within the scene. // I remember how the Numbskulz came up the title Mr. Furley for our second demo tape. We were skating downtown and having a laugh about the TRUSTY song 'Mr. Know It All'. I think Shoban pointed out that James sounded a bit like Billy Milano from S.O.D. when he hollored "MR. KNOW IT ALL!" at the end of the bridge in that song. As if on cue we all started blurting out various Misters. "Mr. Rodgers!" "Mr. T" etc. until Andy or Tony threw out Mr. Furley. 4 teenage guts were busted, and we decided to call the tape Mr. Furley. Our pal Drew Caldwell did a drawing for the cover and that was it. A twisted TRUSTY tribute...  Trouble submitting your story? E-mail towncraft@matsonfilms.com Matson Films reserves the right to edit all responses. Please be courteous to your community. |
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Andy Conrad
Econochrist
Horace Mann Junior High
Mr. Furley
