Hi Steve,

I wanted to let everyone know about Ringo’s involvement on the Liam Lynch “Fake Songs” CD. A quick personal summary of Liam and his Beatle history:

• Went to Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, where he had private learning sessions with Paul McCartney.
  
• Created the cult 1998-99 MTV puppet-show “Sifl & Olly”, and unveiled “United States of Whatever” song during Season Two. “United States of Whatever” was bootlegged and receives massive radio airplay a few years later.
• Marc Hudson heard the song and got Ringo (unaware of the Paul connection, BTW) to sign Liam to new Pumkinhead Records label.
• Ringo adds drum overdubs to “Cuz You Do” and “Try Me” for the Liam’s “Fake Songs” CD.

The “Fake Songs” CD is a revamped version of an indie-release disc (same title, different tracks, different mixes) that had been available via his www.sifl-n-olly.com website. (The older disc has a black and white cover; the newer, a color one of him on the beach with a boom-box) The earlier, non-Ringo versions of “Try Me” and “Cuz You Do” appear on another indie disc called “We’re All Nighters”. The bonus disc available with the new Pumkinhead CD is a 90-minute DVD of behind-the-scenes footage, music videos, and various short films that Liam has done over the years. Of note to Ringo fans are two behind-the-scenes segments:

Ringo Session – Liam and Ringo record new parts for “Try Me” and “Cuz You Do”. The recording takes place in the same studio seen in the “Ringo Rama” bonus DVD, but many of the pictures on the wall are blurred out for legal reasons. At times, the blurring gets so ridiculous that at one point, a piece of text pops up on the screen saying “Legal Crap Blurring My World”. Nice footage, though. Everyone seems to be having fun. Marc jokes with Ringo about his old drumming style with the Beatles. The segment ends with a complete video performance of Ringo and Liam doing “Cuz You Do” (the performance is also isolated for the Music Video section of the DVD). A music video for “Try Me” also appears on the DVD, but is for the earlier non-Ringo version (no doubt made around the time of the We’re All Nighters CD).

Up Late With Liam – Not much Ringo content here, but a fascinating, humorous, and lengthy glimpse into the making of the DVD. Liam videotapes himself working on props, editing the DVD, and talking to his cats. Towards the end of the segment, Liam gives a parting statement, only to come back on camera later, explaining that he has to completely redo the DVD for legal reasons. He had to cut out eight minutes of Ringo footage, blur the images on the Ringo studio walls (including topless girls, the Abbey Road cover, plus pics of Elvis and Wizard of Oz), and even re-record audio for his older video shorts.

The CD is an erratic but enjoyable collection of straightforward songs (“Try Me”, “Cuz You Do”), genre parodies (“Fake Bowie Song”, “Fake Talking Heads Song”), and silly but catchy pieces (“United States of Whatever”, “Rapbot”). I hesitate to call him a comedy artist, because his output is more about having fun than being funny. (If you want straightforward joke songs, listen to Weird Al Yankovic.) He’s a very creative guy, and it’s nice to finally be hearing him on the radio. You can visit http://www.111productions.com for more on Liam.

Update (2/24/03)