OmnibusThursday, November 3, 19883
Spud rockers' mystery revealed
By ALLISON PIKE
Staff Writer
Mr. Potato Head has only been
playing together six months, but
the band has already established
a significant following in the area
At La Terraza, it holds the Wed
nesday night attendance record,
and tonight it'll try to top it
Mr. Potato Head's music has
more variety than most cover
bands, and its strong vocals allow
it to handle anything from the
Beatles to Stevie Wonder to the
Rolling Stones. It plays an array of
classic '60s and 70s poprocksoul
tunes, including Todd Rundgren's
"Hello It's Me," Roxy Musics "Love
is the Drug," the Jackson s's "I Want
You Back" and Rod Stewart's
"Maggie May."
The members of this spudly corp
(complete with zodiac signs) are-,
drummer Home Fry (Aquarius),
bassistlead vocalist Tater Tot
(Virgo), lead guitarist Au Cratin
(Virgo), keyboardistlead vocalist
Dick Tater (Pisces) and guitarist
keyboardist Hash Brown (Cancer).
Their real names? No one knows
for sure. Much about Mr. Potato
Head remains mysterious. The
band's inception, for instance.
Rumors have said that the band
got together as follows:
it took Fry three months to
By CATHY McHUGH
Omnibus Editor
I do look a little silly. I dont care.
My cheeks are still red, but I'm
not blushing.
TAKE A BREATHER
NOVEMBER
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convince Tot to play in a cover
band (girls and money might have
been mentioned in the winning
argument, but maybe not). Tot
then got Tater to play keyboards
and share lead vocals, and Cratin
was lured away from LA to join
the band. One element was still
missing, though: a vocalmusical
extraordinaire. This position was
filled by Brown, and the lineup was
complete.
in a recent interview, however,
the band said this rumor is just not
true. What really happened?
"We were all at the grocery
store looking for party food,"
Tater said, "and five guys went for
the same bag of potato chips at
the same time. We all said "Hey,
I'm a musician. Hey, he's a musician.
Let's get together and make
music "
Ch where did you get the name
Mr. Potato Head?
later: After the grocery store,
we all went to a beer and sex orgy.
Q A beer and sex orgy?
Fry: Remember: a band that
parties together stays together.
Taten We were at this beer and
sex orgy and out of the wild,
frenzied mix of spuds and suds, the
name evolved.
Q What were some of your
childhood heroes?
I know you cant see me, but,
just in case you were wondering,
l havent been out in the cold,
I didnt put my makeup on wrong
and l wasnt drinking cherry Kool
Aid in the wind.
I was a clown for Halloween.
I wore loud plaid pants, a blue
and white seersucker jacket, my
brother's size 10 sneakers and
rainbow suspenders. My hair was
teased, and I had my face painted
17, 1988
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Tot: Elvis.
Taten Divine.
Fry: Otis from Mayberry.
Cratin: Bootsy Collins.
Brown: Richard Nixon.
a What kind of audience comes
to your shows?
Fry: Spek taters.
a What are your individual long
term goals?
Fry: To be 45 and playing late
night parties at the Pika house
with my spudly wife watching.
Taten To be an Oscar Meyer
wiener.
Brown: To be nightshift super
visor at the Waffle House on I-85
at exit 143.
Cratin: To be a barber special
izing in disco hair design.
Tot: To be Director of OB-CYN
at the University of Southern
California
G What do you consider to be
the band's motto?
Tater: we have no direction,
nothing to say, and we want to
play cover music until the day we
die.
Tonight's show will feature a
"Win a date with Mr. Potato Head"
contest. Mr. Potato Head asks
everyone who is coming to the
show to bring a kazoo so you can
all "throw your hip out da socket."
white, stars drawn on my eyes
and bright red circles put on my
cheeks. I looked good. I was the
perfect happy clown I always
wanted to be on Halloween.
But no one told me BRIGHT RED
lipstick doesnt come off with
soap and water. Or Noxema Or
rubbing alcohol. Or Briilo pads.
That's okay, l can handle being
the butt of cruel, insensitive jokes
for a few days, because at least
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Popular band Mr. Potato Head
dressed up. People actually
went out Monday night dressed
as themselves. I realize that for
some people going like that is
scarier still, but it was Halloween.
You thought you were above it.
Or too mature, too old for that
kind of kid stuff. You're not.
Trying to bum candy off of
someone's house would have
been pushing it, but how anyone
in college would pass up the
perfect chance to dress up and
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performs at La Terraza tonight.
act like a fool when everyone else
is doing it too is beyond me.
The rain didnt keep the Vikings
from going out. Or the fuzzy
dice, the unicorn, the cats, the
cowboys, the Cosmic Cowgirl, Mr.
T, the hippies, the Mouseketeers,
the leprechauns, the two babes
from the field hockey team, or
the other clowns like me. we
were spirits in the night, we
looked ma-velous and we had
fun. Ha!