Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments

LP Mailer for the free Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments "You Can't Kill Stupid" 12" promo, 1992
(c) 2005 Henry Yu

I don't recall who tipped me off, most likely Devereux, but there was a free 12" from TSJA (aka Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments) that one could get just by writing to their lead singer Ron House. Strictly one per fan, and they flew fast. On the Datapanik label, which along with (and closely aligned in aesthetic) Siltbreeze and Anyway records, fueled the first half of the 90's with all american 7" loudness. 1991-2 were actually my non-collecting years, so this was a rare transgression.

Cassette Mailer, circa mid-80's

Cassette Mailer, circa mid-80's

This was sent to me in 1985 or 1986 from my best friend from college Yuval. His return address shows as Israel, which is where he lived for a very short time. Through the latter 80's Yuval was a mix-tape cassette making powerhouse, and I own a lot of 'em. While he had his own dalliances with music making (in the bands Visiting Food in his native Bloomington, Indiana and in The Perhaps, which was his studio only combo in college), he eventually went solo and head first into it for a spell: he bought a 4-track and taught himself to sing and play. And man, could he write. Gutwrenching and tender songs. These appeared on a series of cassettes beginning with "Yuval Live at Home 1987". Certainly more home brew than even J.T Timmons IV or Jandek, maybe more along the lines of Daniel Johnston in aspiration and aesthetic.

Yuval's penmanship was always little more than a scrawl, as you can see on the mailer. In fact, I recall his first fake ID in college, on which he was purported to be a Physician in his mid-30's. I believe it got him into City Gardens (Trenton) at least once. An entire blog could easily be devoted to all the mail I got from Yuval and tho massively entertaining, would probably be too much of an assault on his (and my) privacy. So with that said, 'nuff said.