Toby Weiss: sings and arranges
“I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet…” Well, above, I got to live out my Cher Half Breed delusions when I was part of the Finn’s Motel video for “Recent Linear Landscapes.” I did a little singing on their album Escape Velocity, a lot of photography. The biggest kick was one of my photos making the front cover!
For a living, I do marketing for a St. Louis residential design-build remodeling firm, with other stints in retail advertising, newspaper and graphic arts. For extra scratch, architectural photographer and writer. I prattle on about built environment issues at B.E.L.T, and media flotsam at M.E.L.T., and virtually ignore a musical diary at Song Line.
In the late 80s/early 90s I wrote, edited, photographed (and eventually owned and published) Jet Lag magazine. We also had a KDHX radio show by the same name. In the middle 1990s, I was part of a jazz duo (whose tracks will be shared if I ever figure out how to post MP3s to this blog). In 2004, I got to be Iggy Pop for 15 minutes, on stage with The Shemps, a Stooges tribute band put together for one night to honor fallen friends. I think it was because of that experience that Scariano decided the idea that became The Remodels should be pursued.
A brilliant photographer friend of mine – BiBi Erdeg – captured my inner-Auntie Mame, in the photo above.
Above, I got to meet Lindsey Buckingham backstage, and tell him he was on my list of Top 10 All-Time Favorite Producers. He looked genuinely shocked and touched, maybe because he never gets props for being a brilliant producer.
Below, is me with Cheap Trick, at the inaugural Trick Fest in August 1995. It was a total geeked-out, teenage girl moment in time. And now I’m so distracted by that memory that we’re done with this bio.
My old band Enormous Richard had a good Chicago thing for a few years, and in our crew of diehard fans (and these were diehards; think Cubs fans) was a nephew of Bun E. Carlos’ who used to play our music for his uncle and get a diffident response. Also, I should play you ER’s song “Steve Pick, Music Critic,” with the verse, “I’ve got a back issue of Jet Lag/ That I always read on the pot/ Some say that’s only a rag/ But I always liked it a … lot.”
I’m scouring the planet to try to find an old friend Tom Fulton. We grew up together in Chesterfield and would like to find out where he is to say hello.
We lost touch around 12 years ago. Would you or any of the band members know where I could find him??