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Glass Moon (1982)

Original band members: Chris Jones (Drums), Nestor Nunez (Bass), Jamie Glaser (Guitar), Dave Adams (Vocals, Keyboards)

Music Video band members: Dave Adams (Vocals, Keyboards), Rod Abernethy (Guitar), Chris Jones (Drums / Carousel), Jason Patterson (Drums / Simon & Telegram Song), Steve Buslowe (Bass / Carousel), Bobby Patterson (Bass / Simon & Telegram Song)

 

 

 

So here I am directing my first music video in Raleigh and the keyboard player comes up to me and says that he is in another band and might need a music video. I was astonished. The bands that I knew in New York protected their turf like feral beasts. But Raleigh wasn't like that. Everyone seemed very happy to see everyone else succeed. I politely said, "I'd love to" and forgot about the whole thing. Three months later, Dave Adams was telling me about his band, Glass Moon and their new album and next single, ON A CAROUSEL.

Glass Moon started out as a mid-Seventies Progressive Rock band. By 1979 they were in Electric Lady Studios in New York recording their first album for a major label and leaning toward a more melodic synth Pop sound. Their remake of the Peter Gabriel song SOLSBURY HILL was an FM hit and had the rare charm of possibly being better than the original. They were such a hit in Puerto Rico that they were commissioned to perform and write a song for a 7-Up commercial - all in Spanish! Their second album, Growing In The Dark had another remake, the 1967 Hollies hit, ON A CAROUSEL. In this case, Glass Moon improved the tune to the point were the Hollies began performing the Glass Moon version.  

ON A CAROUSEL, SIMON and TELEGRAM SONG were commissioned in late 1981 as a group of videos. All aspects of each song were put into production in February 1982. Due to a technical problem, the performance portion of SIMON and TELEGRAM SONG - which was shot at the same time as ON A CAROUSEL - was not usable and was re-shot four months later. But this didn't matter since both songs were not due for release until later in the year.  

February became a busy month, mainly shooting the elements of storylines to three music videos all at once to save money. The total budget for the production of three music videos was $3,000. This was a wonderful increase from the previous video budgets of $100 for The Fabulous Knobs video and $240 for two Luky Owens & Revolver videos. But this grand budget also included flying in members of the band as well as housing them and feeding them and paying them. Plus paying for whatever else was involved in making these videos, including an ill-fated storyline shoot in New York for TELEGRAM SONG and re-shooting the performance of SIMON and TELEGRAM SONG. In the end, as much as I didn't loose money on these videos, there was no profit either. The profit here was in the huge learning curve I had fashioned for myself. This project created experiences I would take to major label music video projects in Nashville from 1987 to 1995.

The first problem I ran into with Glass Moon was that there was no longer a band. Nestor Nunez (bass) was not available and Jamie Glaser (guitar) was touring with Jean-Luc Ponty. Rod Abernethy (Arrogance) was asked to step in as guitarist and Steve Buslowe (Meat Loaf) was flown in from New York to play bass. After shooting the band performance I discovered that the videotape deck was bad. The CAROUSEL performance was salvaged, but the others were not. When we re-shot the performance four months later, Chris Jones (drums) had quit and Steve Buslowe was in the studio with Paul Stanley (KISS), so both of them were replaced for the video by Bobby Patterson (bass) and his cousin Jason Patterson (drums). Glass Moon was now Dave Adams - alone.

ON A CAROUSEL played on HBO's Video Jukebox throughout the summer of 1982, helping to promote sales of the album and single, but not enough sales. Glass Moon was dropped from the label by summer's end.

Dave would carry on the Glass Moon banner with the newly spelt Glassmoon and a new major label deal with the 1984 album Sympathetic Vibration. Rod Abernethy and Bobby Patterson had also become official members of the band. Sales were slim and so by 1986 Dave had become a solo artist on another major label with the album Walking In My Sleep. Both albums are fine albums, but with little promotional support, they wound up the way of the original Glass Moon LP's.

Dave Adams is still as talented as ever and can be found in the band Suicide Blonde.

ON A CAROUSEL (1982)

ON A CAROUSEL looks typical 80's MTV, but that didn't say much at the time since MTV was only cablecasting into parts of Long Island and Northern New Jersey. HBO was the only national venue for a music video and this clip played on HBO's Video Jukebox throughout the summer of 1982. The song became a bona fide hit, reaching into the Top 40. I actually heard Casey Kasem introduce the song on his American Top 40 syndicated radio show.

Here's a couple of things to look for; (a) the carousel animals were being restored and so they are not on the carousel, (b) I tried to make up for not having the carousel by using a lot of circle wipe effects, (c) the cute blonde is 23-year-old Sara Lynn Moore, mom to Hollywood actress Evan Rachel Wood.

Credits

Video Producer, Director, Photographer, Editor - Steve Boyle

Video Producer, Camera Assistance - Tony Madejczyk

Camera Assistance - Glen Mazzone

Production Gear - "Fast" Eddie Barber

Theater Lighting - Bud Simmons

Post Assistance - Roger Currier

Shoot Location - Pullen Park (February 7, 1982)

Performance Location - Stewart Theater (February 24, 1982)

Girl #1 - Patrice Benge

Girl #2 - Debbie Chapman

Girl #3 - Sara Lynn Moore

Carousel Animals - Rosa Ragan

First National airing - HBO's Video Jukebox, July 9, 1982, 6:30pm EST.

Original Release - Growing In The Dark (LP) Radio Records/Atlantic Records RR19335

SIMON (1982)

Early 1980's chroma key technology was employed in SIMON, along with it's jagged edges and careless keys, but that was the best we had. The analog video feedback looks interesting in the front and back of the video. Also of note is Sara Lynn Moore as Albert's girlfriend and Ira David Wood as an excellent Albert Einstein. Both were the best actors in town and I felt lucky to have them. The two of them, by 1987 would produce a Hollywood production of their own, as parents of Evan Rachel Wood. Ira became very busy (and continues to be busy) with Raleigh's Theatre In The Park and so this is the only chance I had to work with Ira. Sara also plays a part in Glass Moon ON A CAROUSEL as well as a true leading role in The Accelerators STILETTO.

SIMON was released as a single after the Top 40 success of ON A CAROUSEL and reach the upper portions of the 80's in the Billboard Top 100. The video had some airplay on HBO's Video Jukebox as well as MTV, but the audience for music videos was small and so this became the last of the chart action for Glass Moon. TELEGRAM SONG was released next along with the evaporation of support from Glass Moon's record label.

Credits

Producer, Director, Photographer, Editor - Steve Boyle

Producer - Tony Madejczyk

Production Assistants - Glen Mazzone

Production Equipment - "Fast" Eddie Barber

Performance - Theater in the Park, Raleigh (Sunday, June 20, 1982)

Theater Lighting - Bud Simmons

Mother - Sara Lynn Moore

Albert - Ira David Wood

Simon - Unknown

Teacher - Debbie Adams (Mrs.)

Classroom - Mrs. Adams 4 th Grade (February 5, 1982)

Albert's House - Mrs. Cheshire's (February 5, 1982)

Bar - Café Dé JaVu (February 5, 1982)

 

TELEGRAM SONG (1982)

TELEGRAM SONG fit perfectly into the February weather, and so a day flight was booked for New York, figuring we could fly in that morning and "steal" some shots on the cold city streets and then fly home that night. What I didn't expect was a storm dropping nearly two-feet of snow along with thunder and lightning. The snow was so bad that we circled the airport for over an hour as the pilot decided if we were to land in NYC or fly to Boston. After a slippery landing at Laguardia, we took a quick cab to downtown Manhattan and on to the abandoned portion of the West Side Highway. It was absolutely beautiful. The highway was covered in untouched new fallen snow, and in the background, the Twin Towers were shrouded in steel blue clouds. And there was Dave Adams, standing in the middle of it all. I set up the shot, turned on the camera and called for the music. At this point you can hear my asistant Glen Mazzone on the tape, shouting that there was smoke. The video then goes black. The tape keeps recording with only audio and the sound of Glen throwing snow on the smoldering camera. So thanks to the extreme cold, I have less than a minute of this shot as a souvenir. The rest of the day was spent with Dave showing us around Electric Lady Studios (which is where the Growing In The Dark album was recorded) and then back on a flight to Raleigh.

Since there was no hurry to complete the video, we shot TELEGRAM SONG in downtown Raleigh during the rainy summer of 1982. The hat you see Dave wearing is the same hat I used to wear with my mid-70's NY Punk group, Ears - I still have that hat, propped on some boxes in my garage, greeting me every time I pull my car in to park.

Of note. (a) Dave doesn't smoke. Can you tell?? (b) The piano was rented. When it arrived I looked inside and Loretta Swit (Hot Lips from TV's M*A*S*H*) had signed the piano in pencil. Chris Jones had dropped from the band and Steve Buslow was not available for the shoot, so Bobby Patterson came for the video and stayed with Dave Adams for the next two albums. Bobby would later join PKM drummer Kenny Soule in the SONY group DAG. Bobby's cousin, Jason, is on drums. Jason would later join PKM bassist Pee Wee Watson in the COLUMBIA band Cry Of Love.

Credits

Producer, Director, Photographer, Editor - Steve Boyle

Producer - Tony Madejczyk

Production Assistants - Glen Mazzone

Production Equipment - "Fast" Eddie Barber

Theater Lighting - Bud Simmons

Locations - Nash Park & Wilmington Street, Raleigh (Sunday, June 13, 1982) •  Additional city streets, Raleigh (Sunday, July 10, 1982)

Performance - Theater in the Park, Raleigh (Sunday, June 20, 1982)

7-UP COMMERCIAL (1980)

After completing ON A CAROUSEL, Dave Adams handed me a short piece of 16mm film. He said it was a commercial he and Glass Moon had produced for 7-Up. I was totally blown away! What a great surprise. Here's the story. With the release of their first album, Glass Moon became a major hit in Puerto Rico. Sponsorships came their way, one of which was a 7-Up commercial commissioned for local airing in Puerto Rico (which has never been seen outside of the island until now). Thanks to Nestor Nunez's ability to sing and write in Spanish, this commercial has Glass Moon performing this made to order song in Spanish. This is also a rare opportunity to see the original Glass Moon line-up in action.

 

 

 

Above: The 1950 Cavanagh hat Dave wore in TELEGRAM SONG, and a pack of matches from the tour of Electric Lady Studios.

 

 

 

Photos: Tony Madejczyk / Tony Madejczyk Archive

Above: Click on the photos for a slide show of The Making of ON A CAROUSEL and SIMON.

For additional information on Glass Moon, visit:

http://www.myspace.com/daveadamsglassmoon

http://www.myspace.com/suicideblonderaleigh

http://www.jamieglaser.com/

http://www.myspace.com/rodabernethy

http://www.rednoteaudio.com/

Above: Front page Ad from Billboard Magazine (02.13.82), the first week entry of ON A CAROUSEL in the Top 100 charts (03.18.82), and the record labels for ON A CAROUSEL and TELEGRAM SONG.

   
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