​A gift from us to you! Not available anywhere else! The complete Up the Academy and associated recording sessions. All the songs, single mixes, demos, in one simple package. And it's free! Say it again! Free!

Click the image for details.

We played the Starwood, one of the most iconic music venues in the L.A. music scene and one of our favorite places to play.  Joining us on the bill were Gary Valentine (aka Gary Lachman, bass player for Blondie) and The Zippers.

Our line-up that night included Jody, Bruce, Christian, Pat, Art, and David Harrington.  This group played more gigs as Blow-Up than any other line-up.

The first song in our set that night was "It Isn't 1965".   If you haven't heard 1965, check out Christian's compilation LP "Youthful Indiscretions" which contains a previously unreleased version of the song.  The setlist for the show was a fun one including covers of "Roll Away the Stone", "Teenage News", and "You're the One That I Want."      Check out the entire setlist here.

We've updated the web site to include links to our music on Spotify and Apple Music.   Here are some quick links.

Here's the link to Patrick's band, The Condors.

And a link to Christian's retrospective CD which contains both Blow-Up and non-Blow-Up material.

This is two years old and I doubt it will happen but it sure is fun to imagine it.

Ron Leibman, who starred in films such as "Norma Rae," "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Where's Poppa?" – and played Rachel Greene's nasty father on TV's "Friends" – died Friday at 82.    

Leibman's agent, Robert Attermann of Abrams Artists Agency, confirmed the passing of the "incredibly talented actor with a distinguished career in film, TV and theatre" in a statement.  Leibman infamously asked to have his acting credit removed from "Up The Academy" as he felt the material or finished product was below his standards.

​Leibman, a native New Yorker who was married to actress Jessica Walter, made his big-screen debut in director Carl Reiner's 1970 dark comedy "Where's Poppa?" He worked steadily in films, including as the labor organizer Reuben in 1979's "Norma Rae," starring alongside Oscar-winner Sally Field as the title character.

He won an Emmy award playing reformed car thief, Martin ‘Kaz’ Kazinsky, who becomes a criminal attorney in the short-lived CBS crime drama "Kaz." The series, which he co-wrote and created, ran for a 23-show season starting in 1978, and then was cancelled.

Inspired by some thoughts from Brad, I found some very old Top Cat stuff.   And a lyric sheet!

Working on a new music project (details to follow) and I found a few new Blow-Up photos to add to site.   Check out the Photo Album.

Our friends at Big Stir let it out...

A brand new Blow-Up recording and a live treasure from the vaults will be released Friday, May 3. “Reckless Hearts (2018 Version” b/w “What Goes On (Live at The Roxy 1985)”  are available for preorder now.

A new Blow-Up single recorded in 2018? How did this happen? 

1980's L.A. cult favorites Blow-Up were compared endlessly by enraptured critics to the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan and The New York Dolls. They made their debut at the Masque in December 1977, and became a fixture on the scene, recording for legendary indie Bomp! Records and providing key songs for motion pictures Up the Academy and Flashback. Their 1984 Easy Knowledge album made best-of-the-year lists from Robert Christgau and Mikal Gilmore (who deemed them "pretty amazing" and the "best garage-pop band in L.A."), and they were nominated "Best Underground Band" at the 1987 L.A. Weekly awards, alongside Social Distortion and Jane's Addiction. Pleasant Gehman wrote in one review of a Blow-Up compilation, "they gigged with everyone who was anyone in those days, including Berlin, the Dead Kennedys, Jim Carroll and The Replacements. Everyone used to say they were glam throwbacks — as in Mott the Hoople — not as in Poison. In fact, they were such a great band, and so far ahead of their time."  Thank you!

After Blow-Up disbanded in 1988, vocalist Jody Worth became an Emmy-nominated writer and producer for such shows as Deadwood and NYPD Blue. Keyboardist Christian Super pulled a James Williamson, reinventing himself as an IT exec, while guitarist Bruce Nicholson became a Professor of English Lit. Guitarist (and Flipside co-founder) Pat DiPuccio continued with music, releasing several well-received albums, mostly under band name The Condors, including one for Big Stir Records of rare Blow-Up compositions called Joie De Vivre (which The Big Takeover ranked as one of the best of 2018).

During these sessions, Pat was joined by Jody, who sang lead on a new version of their song "Reckless Hearts." This also features late-period Blow-Up drummer Robert Williams (Tremblers, The Pop), with producer Steve Refling on bass. They've decided to release it as a Blow-Up single, along with a live take of The Velvet Undergrounds "What Goes On," recorded in 1985 at the Roxy Theatre, with Christian on organ, Ed Cirino and Paul Hilton on drums and bass, and the late, inimitable Spyder Mittleman on sax.  We hope you like it!