Things always seems to come back eventually. Sometimes that's not so good. Sometimes it matters so little as to go by unnoticed. But sometimes it just lights up everything.


When I lived in Minnesota, there was a once-a-week late-night local-music radio show called "New Day Rising" (after the song by Husker Du) on noncommercial community station KFAI. Not long before I moved, in an evening of nostalgia inspired by enormous looming changes, I phoned up the host, Alice, during the show and asked her to play anything by The Turnupseeds. She shrieked. Shrieked. She shrieked: "Are you one of those guys? I love those guys!"

I told her that I was a fan, like her. I told her that I wasn't one of those guys, but had my suspicions about who they were. Which was only partly a lie: it was true that I wasn't one of them... but I knew who they were, alright.


Yesterday I received a message that said, "You may be interested in this item up for auction on eBay: item #890655146." Curious. I've never had anything to do with eBay; never had the desire. But I went and looked. Oh, man:


The auction won't last forever, and the accompanying description is the most complete bunch information about them I've ever seen (not to mention the up-to-date bio material) so I'm going to copy it here for posterity. It's much too valuable to let it disappear.

This is a rare, almost impossible to find album: The Turnupseeds, Weeded. This is the first, and so far, final studio recording of the cult alternative rock group, The Turnupseeds, a Saint Paul, Minnesota band in the shadow of other great punk groups from the twin towns such as The Replacements, Prince, Judy Garland, and Charles Lindbergh...

Those of you who are Turnupseeds fans know the famed story of this tragic pairing of malcontents and their vain quest for mortality or even coherence. Named after the man whose pick-up truck took the life of James Dean, The Turnupseeds' founding members included Onion Breath at lead vocal, The Axe on guitar, and Otis on drums.

Like Prince, The Turnupseeds' early rise in popularity was seeded on the dark, smoky stage of First Avenue in Minneapolis where they won a talent show contest with their choreographed rendition of "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman."

This success inspired a world tour, which took place almost exclusively at 41 North Oaks Road. And though inspired songwriters and performers, their early days were not without controversy. Onion Breath and The Axe had a continual love/hate relationship, battling, it seemed, for control of the band. Otis's penchant for controlled substances while hopelessly hoping to mimic his favorite drummist, Jack DeJohnnette, was soon out of hand.

Though successful at getting their early singles published on the back of cereal boxes distributed to third world countries, The Turnupseeds failed to capture the attention of U.S. audiences, and the tension within the group soon found them parting and heading their separate ways.

The years that followed were known as the "lost years" to those who followed the group. Onion Breath took a job at a local gas station. Critics say his windshield wiper replacement and brake fluid inspections were flawed and haphazard, his direction rootless. The Axe purchased a veterinarian certificate through the mail and began a community health center which specialized in hysterectomies. This business was fairly successful, however, and accomplished mostly with borrowed power tools. Otis sought God, and was soon a man of the cloth, with a small and disillusioned local parish. He would have continued in this path, many said, had not the few incidents with a great number of children tarnished his reputation.

And then, in 1987 it happened: The Turnupseeds reunion benefit concert. It was the Saint Paul School District's charity event for missing winter gloves that would bring the members of the group back together again.

The few fans that caught this performance, particularly the disheveled cover songs of Bob Dylan, songs that seemed barely rehearsed, much less coherent, noted how the great spark that first ignited the trio was alive and well. Though it took them a couple years to get back into the studio, during the summer of 1990, Onion Breath and The Axe co-wrote, in the style of Lennon and McCartney (had they written songs together at recess during the second grade), several new, and some say their most brilliant songs to date. Unfortunately, Otis by this time had moved to San Francisco and refused to re-join his fellow bandmates. But Onion Breath and The Axe were undeterred, and they entered The Natty Duds studio in Saint Paul and "layed down a groove."

Weeded, though as brilliant as any of The Turnupseeds efforts, sadly received minimal radio airplay. In fact, it was played on the radio only one time. Rumor has it that The Axe smashed most of the record stock in a rage, and few copies of this album remain today.

Here's your chance to own a part of Turnupseeds history. Weeded includes four songs, three of which are written by Onion Breath and The Axe. They include: "Double Suicide," an instant cult favorite that documents the fate of many relationships and was inspired by a man walking a cat; "Erica," a haunting ballad about a church girl turned prostitute in Saginaw, Michigan; "The Heart of the Heartland," the closest the Turnupseeds ever came to a bona fide pop hit, a song which ridicules the notion of celebrity and finds Lou Reed mowed down by drunken Mormons and Sylvester Stallone dishing it with Pablo Picasso. Weeded also contains one beautiful cover song, "Runaround Sue," Dion's classic like you?ve never heard before. Sung by Onion Breath in a telephone booth while The Axe did the best job he could guessing at the chords while their record producer ran a bass line, this cut remains an insightful, bold, curious interpretation of the classic, Turnupseeds style.

Buy this cd while you can. The band has almost no following, so there's really no precedent for the album to become re-released. And the group appears to be disbanded again, Otis still living in San Francisco, presumably successful at his methadone maintenance program and saltpeter treatments, and Onion Breath and The Axe joining a new group, The Celestial Raptors, which has had minimal recorded output and mostly drunken, naked circling of open fires ? more on the performance art side of things than music: it's about as likely we'll see The Turnupseeds record again as it is we'll see The Who tour with their original bass player. So own this rare collector's item before the opportunity, as some say, "goes out for coffee."

This is a collector's copy of the cd, signed by both Onion Breath and The Axe, which may or may not increase its value.