June 2005: Thumbs Up!

Members of Action Plus recently underwent much-needed thumb relocation surgery.

"It's almost impossible to make music without thumbs!" exclaims Ursula Blind. "We had no idea it would have such an impact on completing our third CD."

The thumbs of Action Plus guitarist Joe Gore and vocalist/keyboardist Ursula Blind were dislocated in a freak virtual-bowling accident in July 2004. As a result, work on the already overdue Action Plus album Lucky Pink came to a standstill. Updates to the Action Plus website suffered as well.

After numerous failed attempts at playing their instruments with noses and elbows, the two decided to resort to surgical intervention. "Though in my case, you really couldn't tell the difference between my elbows-only keyboard skills and my normal playing," Ursula notes. "And Joe was coming up with some pretty cool guitar tones just banging his forehead against the fretboard."

Now that Action Plus has regained the use of their thumbs, they expect to resume the project in the near future. Stay tuned for further details....


March 2004: New News

Action Plus has signed with legendary indie label Clubbo Records! Work is progressing on the new record, and mp3s of two songs from Lucky Pink will be available soon on Clubbo's website. To get an email update when the new tracks are available, sign up for the Clubbo mailing list.


June 2003: The Cat Ate It

Okay, so we're running late on the third Action Plus CD. But we have a good excuse!

Globetrotting Action Plus guitarist Joe Gore has been squandering his time with rock stars again. Just a couple of days after returning from Tracy Chapman's European tour in March, Joe got an unexpected call to fly to the south of France and record punk-rock guitar with Courtney Love.

Joe spent several weeks, from March to May, at Studio Miraval, a chateau/vineyard/recording studio where Pink Floyd recorded part of The Wall. Though he returned laden down with lurid stories and L'Occitane products, sadly Joe lost the photos of Courtney rolling around naked on the pool table, due to a laptop crash.

After a brief visit home to do laundry and pet the cats, Joe is off again — this time, on Tracy Chapman's eight-week U.S. tour. If you see him, say hi from us!

In other news: Sally Dana is singing/dancing with her old cohort Pussy Tourette in Los Angeles...Pat Campbell is working on a new drum sample library of multilayered percussion tracks...Cynthia Smith is scoring an animated film...and Ursula Blind is in training for the 100-Yard Beady-Eyed Stare competition at the Evil Eye Olympics this July in Reno.


January 2003: Trapped in a Box!

The long-delayed third Action Plus CD, Lucky Pink, is scheduled for release...well, soon. With song titles such as "The World Is Full of Daves" and "I Think He Went to Prague," the new record promises to be frisky, funny, and peppy.

"Since getting out of that storage unit last week, we feel totally invigorated," says vocalist Ursula Blind. "We've written almost the whole record already."

In other news: Drummer Pat Campbell recently recorded Brush Artistry, a sample CD of brush drum loops in a variety of styles, from samba to country. According to Ursula, "It's just like having Pat in my CD drive, only flatter!" This great-sounding sample CD is available through Big Fish Audio.

In other other news: Guitarist Joe Gore will be playing guitar with Tracy Chapman on tour in Europe this winter...bongoist/vocalist Sally Dana recently provided the English-language voice of a transsexual middle-school gym teacher on the anime DVD I My Me Strawberry Eggs!...Pat just got married (congratulations Pat!)...and bass player Cynthia Smith recently had kittens (congratulations Cynthia!).