Frogs Guitar Pick

 

Here is an old photo from late 1979 or early 1980. My friend is holding two guitar picks that he recently got at that time. The one on the right is from Blue Oyster Cult concert of September 1979 and on the left in white is a "FROGS BRIAN" pick. Both are now long-gone but at least we have the photo to show.

 

 

Found Frogs Flyers

I recently found a couple of Frogs newspaper ads that I had saved.
I'm thinking that these date from 1980. How could the Rock n' Rye ad have gotten the band's name so wrong? FROGG'S??? And with an apostrophe, no less! So this was to be their final run at the Rock n" Rye that was captured on one of our tapes.












The Frogg's, oh sorry I mean Frogs, began playing at the Lake Theatre nightclub toward the end of their time coming to our area. This club was in the village of Lake George, NY. It was a rather large club with a main floor and another 2nd floor that had the middle opened up so you could see the stage from up there. This flyer I think is from November 13, 1980. That would have been a Thursday night and they'd have played through to Saturday as it says. On the reverse side is a comic dated "11-13".  
                                                  

Paulie - Then And Now

A nice boy from Utica.

A recent photo from a jam in Florida.

Paul Angerosa Solo Album

Paul Angerosa put out an excellent solo album in 1996. And if you missed it then, it is actually still available on amazon.com. If you go there and search Paul Angerosa, you can get one either new or used. So hurry over there because there ain't many remaining.
Of even more interest to Frogs fans, Paul recorded an old Frogs song for this CD. What was titled "My Good Fortune" in the Frogs days is now titled "Fortunes" on this CD.

I won't be posting the whole CD because it is still available to buy and who knows if Paul gets any money from the purchases. But if you'd like to preview the "Fortunes" song, it can be found here: Fortunes
Just be sure to go and buy one...or several to give as gifts.

Frogs Promo Photo

To round out the year, I'm posting a rare promo photo of  The Frogs that was sent in by C. Darryl Mattison.

The guys are drinking their local brew, Utica Club and Dick wears a Matt's beer hat. Those beers were brewed in Utica, NY and were very popular throughout New York State. 

SAIL - STEPPIN' OUT ON SATURDAY NIGHT

In an earlier post, A Farewell To Frogs,  I mentioned that Paul had left the Frogs to join this new band Sail. This proved to be true but turned out to be only temporary as it turned out. Upon release, the Utica newspaper The Observer-Dispatch ran this feature story on Utica's own Sail in it's July 23, 1978 issue.

Billboard magazine's issue of August 5, 1978 had a review of the Sail album on their Top Album Picks Billboard Recommended LP's page, saying "Jazz and Rock elements are intertwined with a strong stream of New York R & B in this 10 cut grouping. The seven piece act features tasty horn work and bright vocals though lyrics occasionally sound familiar. Best cuts: Steppin' Out On Saturday Night, Cleveland, Junius Ponds."  It's great that Paul's song "Junius Ponds" was singled out for praise. We have heard this song as performed by the Frogs on one of the tapes posted here earlier. It's interesting to hear how the song was rearranged from a guitar-driven rock song into a horn-driven funk number for the album. Paul is allowed to rip in a half minute guitar solo here but mainly the horn section does the heavy riffing to fit more with the Sail concept. He adds nice funky rhythm guitar and a solo to the title cut, which Frogs fans will enjoy. Mostly elsewhere he is not featured or allowed to take center stage as we'd prefer. All of his guitarwork is stellar when you do hear it, though.

Recently while doing some housecleaning I stumbled upon an old issue of Billboard which had another Sail recommended song. Here's the clipping:

It turned out that the rumors we heard of Paul "going to California" to record the album were probably not true as the credits list the songs being recorded at Opal Studios in New York City. Some time after release the group folded and Paul was back in the Frogs, much to our joy. In 1978 if you were a Rock fan you most likely had a strong aversion to "Disco" music or anything resembling that hated genre. I bought this album when it came out but sure enough found "Juius Ponds" to be the only listenable cut. It is interesting to listen now, 34 years later with a new perspective. I can surely appreciate the talent on display by the whole band. Still not something I play regularly but the occasional spin brings back memories of that time.   

Steppin' Out On Saturday Night

FROGS POSTER

Here's a poster I took from the wall of the Rock n Rye club after a Frogs show one night. Notice that this time they were not playing through the weekend but rather Wednesday to Friday instead. Maybe from either August of 1979 or October of 1980. Measures 18" x 22".