专辑简介

“Boogie and Chubbs” began in Akron Ohio, when two confidence-men, lacking confidence, tried to out-con each other , but conned themselves into friendship instead. They then embarked upon the ultimate long-con of funky, blues-based Americana.

Funk and Crime historians tend to disagree on when and where the two actually met. What is known, is that sometime in the later 1960s, or early 1970s small time Akron based card-sharp and grifter J. Boogie Booginstein met Cincinatti based con-artist and memorabilia-counterfeiter Waldorf Bartholamew Chubbington, and after a series of hilariously escalating attempts to out-con one another, a rapacious partnership was formed.

Initial reports of a “British invasion” based counterfeit vinyl “fallen Angel” bait-and-switch, gave way to the grift the pair were most famous for: “the Cincinnati ever-expanding-band Plan,” wherein the two would pose as “Band Leaders” and seek to enlist the “musical talent” of any rube they could find. After enlisting their victims as “horn section,” “rhythm section” or “lead vocalist,” the band leaders would grift the musicians under the pretence of James Brown-esque “performance deductions,” as well as purported “Funk union Fees,” and even “travel expenses.” It is rumored that at certain times they could have as many as 17 to 20 members in each of their seven rotating “funk revues.”

The scantness of recorded evidence or live performances can be attributed to a key part of the con, which was predicated on selling the idea of the band to participants without ever having an end-product or performance. What recordings that do exist were made surreptitiously, often without the musicians knowledge or consent, and only used as bait to pull in other, unknowing victims. Never fully released, and often pressed in such small numbers, these recordings offer a glimpse of the decadence, weirdness and careless creativity at the heart of this funky, criminal enterprise.