Ed’s Redeeming Qualities: The Sing-Along Basement (Which Probably Needs Mold Remediation) Jam

I had this song in my head for more than a quarter century.

I heard it on an obscure c.d. out of the university scene in Santa Cruz that was published in 1991.

The song is “Falls Church, VA” by Ed’s Redeeming Qualities. The first lyrics are “I lived with roaches / in Falls Church, Virginia / where the neighbors had nothing to say. / And the guy upstairs / would just as soon kill you / as give you the date or the name of the day.”

If you care to hear this, you can find it here.

I was wondering if there might be other work out there. And I found they have some videos posted to YouTube. I’m a sucker for those homely but oh-so-sincere voices and their drop-dead-clever stories (or are those poems)?

There’s something so genuine and deeply-felt in this weird strain of Americana. It’s like folk music with a punk sensibility. To me, it almost sounds like They Might Be Giants in redneck poet mode. Slowed way down.

I found this really charming love song that’s every bit as clever and dour as a Stevie Smith poem.

And then I stumbled on this hilarious study in young, disaffected love (pre-seventh grade).

And those are just the first two songs I found. I look very much forward to listening to all of the stuff available on YouTube. There’s a decent amount.

I really know nothing about this band or its history. I figured when I looked them up (all these years later) I would be lucky to find one or two songs out there.

And here I feel like I’ve unearthed a Viking hoard.

The wit and poetry of the lyrics goes so well with those rough-grained vocals and simple (almost playground) melodies.

Not wishing to sound overly cavalier here, but I wish they played these songs in Walmart. I bet Walmart appears as subject matter somewhere in those tracks I haven’t yet listened to. Probably a Walmart dirge.

Okay, my curiosity got the better of me, and I searched and found this summation of the band’s genesis and history on a very short-lived blog:

Once upon a time (well, about 1987), somewhere along that narrow strip of New Hampshire coastline, there were some folks from Ohio who played music and wrote songs, and some creative writing graduate students who also liked to play music and write songs as much as they liked to write short stories. As people do, they decided to form a band — they all sang and wrote songs, and the band incorporated guitar, violin, baritone uke, bongos, rice shaker. If you’ve found your way here, you probably know that this band was Ed’s Redeeming Qualities.

When Ed’s first formed out of Sunday barbecue (and procrastination break) gatherings at the trailer park in the New Hampshire woods, the band members were Dom Leone, Carrie Bradley, Dani Leone, and Neno Perrotta. Dani and Carrie met at the University of New Hampshire; Dom and Neno moved to New Hampshire from Vermont and Ohio, respectively, drawn by kindred creative forces. The band was the accidental distillation at the creative epicenter.

The group conjured a name, Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, and shyly broached, at the behest of friend and manager-to-be Ray Halliday, an open mic in Boston, forty-five miles south. Thus began a bustling and kind of magical career in the indy rock scene of the musical North Atlantic nineties that spanned two years and many storied venues and special appearances; some DIY recordings; and a popular, perhaps even legendary, cabaret called Ed’s Basement, hosted by the band and stage to many landmark and innovative appearances by the heros (and some villains) of the era. Then abruptly, shockingly, and tragically, Dom was diagnosed with cancer.

Dom Leone was a gifted songwriter among gifted songwriters, and he penned an amazing number of amazing songs in a too-short time. He died in November of 1989. He was twenty-nine years old.

What better way to introduce an Ed’s Redeeming Qualities blog than with a video of Dom singing one of his own compositions, backed by the founding members of the band? This was filmed at one of the Ed’s Basement shows at the late lamented Rathskeller (aka “the Rat”) in Kenmore Square, Boston, probably in the 1988. Dani, Neno, and Carrie recently played an Ed’s Basement reunion show back at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, another Ed’s HQ where so much began, to fete the first-time digital (CD and download) release of the original home-recorded and homemade cassette tapes that comprised their early years, early compositions, and all of the recordings with Dom.

So, what’s to come at this site: lots of Ed’s related posts, including demos, news on any Ed’s related events & whatever may tickle the fancy of EdHeads everywhere. Thanks to Ray and Carrie for asking me to be a part of this blog (and to Carrie for her help with this post!), and for now: enjoy the music!

That’s the sole post on the blog. It falls silent after that.

But what a beautiful story with a sad, tender spot at the center of it.