Dr. Tony Shore has many talents (cough), in radio, comedy, artist development, and as a music critic and writer. He even has a doctorate in musicology from the University of Okoboji. Unfortunately, he has absolutely no musical ability. He simply can't carry a tune and is a complete hack on guitar...heck, he's not even a good bass player! His musical talents are on a level with Bob Dylan, minus the songwriting or performance skills of course.
Help! was recorded live with Bruce Brown and Richard Vance on Dr. Shore's radio show The A-Zone. That show lasted over 2 years, until one day the station manager actually stayed up on a Saturday night past 10 pm to listen to the show. The next day it was cancelled.
Pizza With a Frozen Crust is a shoddy 4-track recording made while the good doctor was still in high school with assistance from Pat Adams (Pat is actually an incredible drummer). This song is an ode to 2 of Dr. Shores favorite things, Pizza and the song "Owner of a Lonely Heart."
The other two tracks give you a view into the madness that is Dr. Shore on-air.
Born and raised near the small town of Org, Minnesota, Tony was fed a steady diet of The Beatles and Daniel Amos records along with a lot of cheese. Tony's love for music began early on and he started collecting records at the age of 10. When he hit the 11th grade he formed a basement band with some friends called Neo-Dada Schlop Rock. They had a huge hit (only in the minds of the band members themselves) with the song Whisper When the Waitress Walks By. We hope to unearth that gem in the near future to post here. Youve never heard anything like it. If Frank Zappa himself had heard the song even he would have said "man, thats weird."
When he was still a senior in high school his music biz career began. He landed a full time job as a radio D.J. on the graveyard shift at the local FM station in Worthington, MN. Alone in a radio station at the age of 17 in the wee hours...oh the stories he could tell! Let's just say he strayed from the "light rock" format a bit and had regular visits and calls from all sorts of odd characters. From there he went on to work at a couple of different radio stations and eventually ended up in Los Angeles in 1988 working for a record company. 5 years in Southern Cal shaped Tony's personality, from his tastes in food (Mexican) and music (Human Radio, Toy Matinee, Surf Punks, etc.) to the size of his personal CD collection (gi-normous). From there it was onto Nashvegas TN where he worked for a number of record companies doing marketing & promotions. While living in Nashville (the city of tiny lights) Dr. Shore hosted his own radio show called The A-Zone, on the WAY-FM radio network.
He still works in the music business but now lives back in Minnesnowda. Check out his music blog: www.obvious.typepad.com