NU SHOOZ News: Time Marches On

Lummi Bay
June 25, 2021

Hello Everyone, 

Well, let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief. The World is opening up again with baby steps.

All our pals in the Entertainment world can get back to work; not just the performers, we’re talking about the stage crew, the Sound Techs, the folks who drive the trucks, the people who sell hot dogs. It’s going to take a long time to get back to where we were, but we’re on our way. 

But first, the News. 

June 21st was the 42nd anniversary of the founding of Nu Shooz.

That first gig was at a park in Southeast Portland. Seems like it was just last week. Valerie wasn’t in the band yet. She was standing by the side of the stage with our friend Mira (another Shooz alum.) They both had their fingers in their ears. Was it our singing? (Valerie says — Nope. It was the sound system feeding back!)

Two years later, the band had expanded to nine, and we were one of the top bands in Portland, Oregon. So the whole adventure turned out pretty well. 

And now it’s now.

After seven years and over a hundred shows, we are stepping away from touring the 80’s circuit. We’ve made so many friends along the way; groups like The Jets, Exposé, Pretty Poison, The Romantics, Wang Chung, The Cutting Crew, Debbie Deb, Animotion, Stevie B (and his incredible band!)…the list goes on and on.

And we had so many lovely interactions with the people who came to our shows. Took a million selfies. Amassed a million frequent flier miles. Ate two million French Fries and visited a lot of America.

Photo by Paul Brown Photography

A special thanks go to Alan Beck, R.J., and Natalie Duran at Pacific Concert Group, Rob Juarez at Lost 80’s Live, and Amanda Tilk at Groove Entertainment. We had the experience of a lifetime and received a lot of love in return. And, as we said on every album cover since the beginning, “Thanks to all Shooz Past and Present.”

We’re not vanishing from the face of the earth. Valerie continues her successful podcast for and about singers, Living a Vocal Life. (Are you an 80s music fan? Check out her interviews with Rindy Ross from Quarterflash, Bill Wadhams from Animotion, Moana Wolfgramm from The Jets, or Jeannette Jurado from Exposé.)

John has switched from cranking out songs to cranking out graphic novels (like the one below) on his new website, MalcoCreative.com. 

Thanks to everyone for keeping 80’s music alive all these years. We’ll still be here to answer your questions and tell tales of life on stage in the days of Beanie Babies and Miami Vice.

Will we be back? Never say never. You can never guess what will unfold as Time marches on.

Until next time, be well! 

Valerie and John

Interview w/Ryan Reed on The Vibe

We're not doing many interviews these days. But there's this hard-working Indie Radio Station, KXRW//XRAY.FM, out of Vancouver, Washington, that you should all know about.

Last Thursday, John had a Zoom chat with Ryan Reed, host of THE VIBE. They had a great conversation about success over the years, the transformations of Nu Shooz, future projects, and more! A good time was had by all. You can listen here.

February News

Nu Shooz Trivial Pursuit. No cheating!

Hi Everybody!

We hope this letter finds you well and reasonably comfy in these strange times. Years from now, when we see 'old' news clips of the Roaring Twenty-twenties, we'll breathe a collective sigh and say, 'Glad THAT's over!'

In the meantime, we've all managed to mine some nuggets of fun. At our house, we're digging deep into art projects, from Valerie's Podcast for singers ('Living a Vocal Life,') to John and Malcolm's quest to make the perfect Shortbread Cookie.

We had a great time releasing our video for 'Bagtown.' Begun back in 2016, in a world almost unrecognizable now, 'Bagtown' recently resurfaced. Director Mike Wellins turned the project over to Italian video artist Antonio Martinini to pull the pieces together.

If you missed the unveiling, you can see it below.

The city of Bagtown was built by our son Malcolm on a seven-foot-long table. He also did the artwork for the album cover. Malcolm is a prolific artist (and we do mean PROLIFIC!) He just launched his new website, BLUE PIXIE COMICS. You can check out his work HERE.

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And for all you Jazz fans and fans of Valerie's post-NuShooz work, here's another blast from the past. There will be a special Valentines' Day broadcast of her 2010 show BRAIN CHEMISTRY FOR LOVERS.

BCFL is a combination Cabaret/Science Lecture about the biological forces behind ROMANTIC LOVE and their echoes in Popular Song. John wrote the arrangements for the Portland Chamber Orchestra. The show also featured the sparkling musicianship of Jazz pianist Darrell Grant.

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 7 PM (Pacific) in collaboration with Science On Tap, the video of the performance at the Newmark Theater in Portland, OR, will be shown for the first and only time. Valerie will be there live to talk a little bit about the “making of.” And our resident neuroscientist, Dr. Sherman, will update the science and answer questions after the performance.

Check out the preview video above, and then head over HERE to find out more. Tickets are just $10 per household, and proceeds will benefit Science On Tap and The Portland Chamber Orchestra.

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OK, well...we don't want to be the 'guests who wouldn't leave,' but here's one more bit of fun. Our longtime fan David Smith dug up this little nugget. It's an interview from 1988 with "The Other Guy" on KPDX TV 49 during the release of 'Told U So.'

To quote Solzhenitzyn;
"Time flies, and then again, it doesn't"

Or maybe we should quote that enigmatic sage Bob Dylan,
"I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now."

Be well. Be safe.
Talk soon.

Love,

Valerie and John

Nu Shooz Goes to Bagtown!

The Backstory of Bagtown

Valerie opened the utility room door and frowned.
"These bags are getting out of hand."
John rolled his eyes and said in a flat voice, "I know, I know. I'll put it all in the recycling."
It wasn't just the bags. Cardboard boxes were piling up too.
"I swear I'll get to it," he said two weeks later.

Then one night, as she made the morning coffee, Valerie noticed multi-colored lights flickering under the utility room door.
"Hmm."
She put her ear to it. A thumping sound came from the other side, like a drumbeat, a strange disco four-on-the-floor beat. Her hand hovered over the doorknob for a few seconds; then she flung it open, and...
The bags had built a city from the cardboard boxes, a vast city with bridges and nightclubs, trees and statues, and a train!

One of the bags motioned for her to get on the train.
And she did get on...as if a city growing in her utility room was no big deal.
"Come on. Don't be late," said the bag. He wore a neat little conductor's hat made from the same material as himself.
"Welcome aboard," he said. "Where ya headed?"
"Well...I don't..."
"That's O.K. Y'know, we all start out empty, folded flat, and then we open up, right? And we put stuff in our bag, and other people put stuff in, and before you know it, we're full!"

All this time, the train was rolling through a brown paper landscape alive with High-Lighter colors; Pink-Blue-Yellow-Orange.
The conductor went on.
"Your bag is full of everything you've collected over a lifetime. You like Surf Music. You don't like fish. You prefer Yellow to Teal. In other words, our 'Bag' is who we are.
And we decide what we want to put in it."

The drumbeat got louder as the train rolled into town. At last, they got to the source of the noise. There was a party going on. A band was playing.

"If you were you and it was now," they sang, "What would you do?"

"It's up to you," the conductor said, "what you put in your bag...what gifts it can hold. The possibilities are endless."
"Is it a Glad Bag or a Sad Sack," he said.

Time had no shape in the cardboard city. She didn't know how long she was there. Finally, the Conductor broke the spell.

"Uh-oh. Time to head back. The Number-Five is leaving right on away."
In a blink of Dreamtime, she was standing outside the Utility Room door again.

What just happened?
She swore she could still hear the faint sound of drums.
John came up behind her then.
"I swear, I'll recycle all that stuff today!"

"Oh," she said, "Why don't you wait a while."

The Bags of Bagtown

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The ‘Making Of’ Videos

In the winter of 2017, our son Malcolm worked hard on the miniature Bagtown set - creating incredible art for the soon to be built city.

Malcolm Smith went to work building the town. The project took seven months, burned up many hot-glue guns, and filled about 30 square feet of our studio. The result of his labor was fantastic and magical beyond our wildest expectations. Mike Wellins came in and shot it from every possible angle. Then it was time to take it down.

We were sad. “Can’t we leave it up for just one more day? Or a week?“

Mike to the rescue again. He happens to be the proprietor of the FreakyButTrue Peculiarium, one of those institutions dedicated to keeping Portland Weird. He offered us a home for our beloved ‘Bagtown’ set, and came up with this beautiful presentation. ‘Bagtown’ is now under attack from Godzilla and Sharknado!

All is right with the world.

---

For more about the making of Bagtown and to listen to the
entire Bagtown CD, head over HERE on our website.

Song Stories: Should I Say Yes

Many moons ago, we asked our audience, 'What would you like to see on our blog posts?' The unanimous response was, 'More stories about the 80's and what it was like in Nu Shooz world.'

So, we've got a good one for you. This is part of an interview we did for "The Old School Rewind" podcast on January 19th, 2018. The host is Randy 'Bubba' Black. It's a great conversation. RBB did deep research on our band, which made it a real pleasure.

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Randy 'Bubba' Black: Your next album, (Told U So) you did at Paisley Park.

Valerie: Yeah we did.

John: Yeah, we were there for a couple of months.

VJD: In Minneapolis, not all of the time at Paisley Park, but...you know, some of the time.

JRS: We spent the whole summer in Minneapolis. We finished our work there just as winter was coming on. 

Fall in Minneapolis lasts about a week. The leaves all turned, the weather changed, and at the end of the week we no longer had warm enough clothes to stay there. 

RBB: Oh my goodness!

JRS: So we left, and ended up finishing that record with Jeff Lorber in L.A.

VJD: Warmer there!

RBB: Tell me about 'Should I Say Yes.'

VJD: It's actually one of my favorite things that we recorded.

JRS: Yeah, me too.

RBB: Me three.

VJD: Thank you.

JRS: And by the way, 'Should I Say Yes' is still huge in Uganda and Zimbabwe!

RBB: To this day...

JRS: They still bang it in the clubs there, yeah.

VJD: Sadly, it only made it to number 41 on the chart.

RBB: But you got played on Rhythm Radio though, and Rhythm Radio wasn't about the charts like that. They were daring enough to jump out past the 50's and put those out at that time, if I remember correctly.

JRS: Yeah, that was also remixed by a guy named MANTRONIX.

RBB: Love MANTRONIX.

JRS: I thought he did a stellar job. He really made it thump harder. Yeah, that was a good song...kind of based on an LL Cool J thing. 

RBB: Really?

JRS: Yeah.

RBB: Which one?

JRS: I'm not gonna say.

VJD: [Laughs]

RBB: I love it!

JRS: Oh, and another good story about 'Should I Say Yes,' was...The studio we were in in Minneapolis- not Paisley Park- this place called Metro...they exiled me to the basement for smoking. I was in this place called the Dungeon, which was very dungeon-like...you know, that old 19th Century stone. While I was down in the Dungeon working on 'Should I Say Yes,' there was a tornado! And four people were KILLED!

RBB: Wow!

JRS: I came out of the studio at three in the morning, it was like the calm after the storm.

RBB: Oh my God!

JRS: I had totally missed this tornado that raged through Minneapolis and killed people. When I came outside it was like tweet-tweet-chirp-chirp. It was the calm after the storm because we were in the flatlands, and the weather just blows through there.

---

So, yeah...that was 'Should I Say Yes.'

If you're interested in the music of the 80's and the artists who made it happen, check out "The Old School Rewind." You can listen to stories of artists like Trenier, The Jets, Animotion, Wang Chung, and many many more. 

     That's all for now.

      Take Care...See you soon!

You can listen to the whole interview here.

In Celebration of Juneteenth 2020

In honor of Juneteenth, all proceeds sold on our Nu Shooz Bandcamp store on Friday, June 19, will be donated to the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute. The Institute provides training and support for community-based organizations to increase power in marginalized, predominantly Black communities.

Bandcamp is also donating their portion of the proceeds from ALL music sold on their stores to the NAACP. There's a ton of fantastic music on Bandcamp. If you don't need any more Nu Shooz tunes, check out all the other bands who are there and support!

What is Juneteenth? There's a ton of history around this date. Here's a short version.

President Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation on Sep 22, 1862. It didn't become law until Jan 1, 1863. The quarter-million slaves in Texas didn't hear about it until the fall of the confederacy on April 9, 1865! The next day Union General Gordon Granger read general order #3, "In accordance with a proclamation from the executive if the United States, all slaves are free."

The following year, Freedmen in Texas announced an annual 'Jubilee Day' on June 19. By the 1890s, Jubilee Day became known as 'Juneteenth.'

As we all know, race relations in the U.S.A. still have miles to go, but Juneteenth was our country's start  down that long and winding road.

Back To The Basement: A Virtual 80s Concert

Press Release From Abducted By The 80s:

What is Back To The Basement?

Back to the Basement - a virtual concert in support and celebration of doctors, nurses, first responders and health-care workers who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight.

Do you remember when your parents made you watch MTV in the basement so you didn’t drive them crazy? Back to the Basement is going to bring you back to those days - with an online concert event that features never-before-seen, at-home performances and guest appearances from 80s bands from the Golden Age of MTV, including A Flock Of Seagulls, Wang Chung, Naked Eyes, Animotion, Cutting Crew, Nu Shooz, Annabella from Bow Wow Wow, The Vapors, Tiffany, Downtown Julie Brown and more.

The show will premiere on Saturday, June 13th on Facebook Live. There will be two screenings on the first day with artists participating in the online chat room with fans. After those screenings, the show will be available on YouTube.

“Back To The Basement is the perfect way to show our love and appreciation for front-line workers — all the courageous people out there who are working hard to keep us safe, well, and fed. We can’t wait to make a joyful noise for them — and you!” — Valerie Day, Nu Shooz

Through the sale of limited edition event shirts, we are raising money for Direct Relief, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a stated mission to “improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergency situations by mobilizing and providing essential medical resources needed for their care."

We are raising funds for their COVID-19 Relief program - making sure the courage of health workers on the front lines is honored with meaningful support, and the people most at risk in this pandemic are cared for – regardless of politics, religion, or ability to pay.

We will also set up a link for people to make donations directly to Direct Relief.

Additionally, we will be selling limited-edition merch from many of the artists appearing on the broadcast to help them, as they too have been adversely affected by the pandemic due to canceled tours and appearances.

Some of the merch will be themed to the current crisis.

''We are pleased to be part of this event and to have the chance to make our Chungy type contribution towards those suffering the COVID-19 crisis around the world….and also in the process to help raise funds for the amazing and heroic first responders in this crisis, through Direct Relief.

We hope everyone keeps safe and by doing that helps to bring this difficult global chapter to as swift and best-case resolution as possible. And it goes without saying we want everybody to be able to Wang Chung and have fun without limits again, as soon as possible!!! (although you can still Wang Chung in isolation too of course).

Keep safe and Wang Chung tonight!!! — Wang Chung

December News

What's up? Are you trimming the tree? Stuck in traffic? Fighting off the latest round of norovirus? Well, here's something to help you pass the time.

Valerie’s created a podcast for singers called Living A Vocal Life, where she interviews people of all stripes who dare to step in front of the microphone. This month's episode is a conversation with Rindy Ross, lead singer & saxophone player with the hit 80s band Quarterflash. They cover everything from the band's early years to the role of producer, from songwriting to their crazy encounter with Burt Bacharach and Carol Bayer Sager.

What better way to pass the time while you wait for Triple-A to show up?

You can listen on Valerie's website or on your favorite podcasting platform.

We wish you peace, warmth, happiness, and all that other good stuff. Before you know it, spring will be here!

Be well,

XO

John & Valerie

Go RIP City!

Confession: We are the most non-sports people you'll ever meet. A friend had to explain the shot clock to us. "Why does it go to 24 then start over?"

That said, Nu Shooz had a pretty stellar NBA career. Maybe it all began with the Miami Heat. They started using the bassline to "I Can't Wait" in their games. It turned into a standard fixture on NBA courts across the country.

Then there was Z100 in Portland, the station that broke our first single to the world. In the early 90s, the Portland Trail Blazers made the playoffs three years in a row. Z100 created a song for all three years — "1,2,3, Go Rip City," "Bust-A-Bucket," and "Blazertown." Nu Shooz made the music, and Z100 morning jocks Dan Clark and Tony Martinez wrote the songs.

Now the Blazers are releasing those tunes and more on a special vinyl release for charity — "Blazers Greatest Hits: 50th Collection." If you love basketball, or Nu Shooz (or both), check it out.

It's about time to make the playoffs again. We'll be watching the shot clock.

Go, Rip City.

Bust A Bucket featuring Dan Reed, U Krew, and the Blazers.

This is SO funky! 1,2,3 Go Rip City kills it w/The U Krew too.

October News!

Exciting news!

Valerie's podcast for singers, Living A Vocal Life, has launched! We know, there are enough podcasts out there already. But this one's different! It's a podcast for and about singers.

Whether you're a singer or not, the stories you'll hear on Living A Vocal Life are one of a kind. Valerie interviews vocalists of all genres, in different stages of their careers, including singers who've been on the Billboard charts and those teaching the next generation. What do they have in common? They're all performers with incredible stories to tell and experiences to share.

In the first episode, Valerie talks with Moana Wolfgramm from the 80s band The Jets.

““I first met Moana when we were on tour together in 1986. She was just 12 years old, traveling around the country in a tour bus with her seven siblings. The Jets were on their first world tour, which had started in 1985 after the release of their platinum-selling record on MCA “The Jets.” From 1985 to 1990 the band accumulated eight top 10 singles. “Crush On You” — which peaked at number three in July of 1986, probably bumped our song off the charts!”
”

In their conversation, you'll learn what being in a band with your seven siblings is like, and how losing a gig and being stranded in Minneapolis led to the group landing a record deal. In the early 90s, The Jets fell off the charts. It was then that Moana re-discovered herself through the love of family and simple living in Hawaii, and discovered what success means to her.

You can listen on Valerie's website, on iTunes, or wherever you go for podcasts. If you have a minute, please subscribe and leave a review!