The mystery is solved. Haywood's very own Ted Pauly has dropped in to explain why his late, much-lamented band mentioned my obscure hometown, Mechanicsburg, PA, in their memorial site's "thank you" section:
We played one wonderful poorly (nearly un-) attended show at some giant empty hall-ish space (teen dance club) in Mechanicsburg in the late-early-nineties. I think the show was put together by the guys who ran proteen records. When we put together our thank you list, we tried to remember every good thing that ever happened to us, which included that jaunt to M'burg.
(Don't ask me how he found this even-more-obscure corner of the web. I'm running into so many interesting people through my blogs these days that I only occasionally stop to wonder at the interconnectedness of it all.)
The only thing better than a solved mystery would be...two new Haywood songs. Download "A Pair of Tragic Kites" and get "Mermaid" on Music for Robots, Volume One, a limited-edition CD from the site of the same name. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to Ted:
We recently got back together to record some stuff, some of which is actually good(!) In spite of the whole anti-climactic un-break-up-to-break-up style, we're going to try to release it all somehow some time. That'll definitely be it until I tour under the name when I hit fifty, lining up some lifeless session players to replace the rest of the band.
Ted, I'm sure your old bandmates will understand. Perhaps they could strike out on their own, a la Creedence Clearwater Revisited, and we'll have dueling Haywoods criss-crossing the country in 2025. Life could be worse.
Many thanks to Ted for stopping by this humble online outpost, and to everyone who had a hand in bringing Haywood to life. Until they see fit to release the rest of their recent output, show off your good taste: buy the MFR compilation or their back-catalog classics, We Are Amateurs, You And I and Men Called Him Mister.
