Rocketship Records Presents: Sunday Stroll (Part 1)

Part 1: Meeting the Band

Sunday Stroll: With 'Thoroughbred since 1948'

This is the ‘Stoned Queen’ district in the far back corners of the upper portion in that tiny township nearest you, USA. Original stomping grounds of the band, ‘Thoroughbred since 1948’, where the group has made music within these city limits for the last twelve years together is where this eclectic bunch of musicians found the ‘sauce’ of their sound. We get the inside scoop into their history, their formulation, funny stories, thrilling adventures, and their not-so-proud moments with the band, right here, on the “Sunday Stroll”.

<Arriving at the Cafe>

We arrived in the corner of the township affectionately referred to as, "Stoned Queen", (a nickname dubbed in the early mid-seventies) from those who reside here and met with “Stripe” (lead guitar), “Swole” (bass), “Milhouse” (drums), and “Jimmi D” (vocals), the artists of Thoroughbred since 1948. The interview was brand new, being our first ever Sunday Stroll and recording in part by meeting the band in a walking conversation. A lot of their music has been floating around the web, especially their early days hosting LIVE shows within Swole's house during summer sessions when his parents took their annual anniversary to various destinations around the Globe. But more on those events later. We invested into part 1 to get to know the spaces that formed their styles and developed their hunger for music and creating it as they felt it.

Our midday meet-up was at the corner cafe / library / lounge called, "Whitney's Lounge", maintained and operated by fourth generation grandchildren of Public Library pioneer, Madam Whitney Lucy Westham Nettleford, Travis Nettleford and Shirley Ledbetter.

Warm coffee and endless books on three floors made the setting easy to find an introductory rhythm. We chatted briefly, introduced ourselves, and made the stroll two miles towards our first stop, Milhouse's home that he grew up in, which he now owns and uses as a record storage hideaway and retreat for breaks to reconfigure himself for holidays.

The house is very clean, neat, surrounding the floors are large carpets with designs that match the shadow silk curtains that his girlfriend designed. Along the stairwell are tiny knick-knacks from random places on the road, cities and shows from other talent merchandise lines. His studio space is our main line of interest. Surrounding the room are large shelves with records, and books, and more records, all organized with color coordinated shapes and letters.

He's quite proud of the collection he has started, and hopes to continue on his adventure into the record collection process as space allows fit for it.

The next stop along the Sunday Stroll was the home (and now BnB operation) for "Swole". Swole's house has the most memories tied to it. Built in the early fifties, this home has seen LIVE action in almost every single room possible, including the underground basement now turned into an entertainment station. Their history within these walls makes for great conversation. Sharing in various spots of interest that happened on the party nights, rehearsals, special moments each member was involved in, their practice days, to the climbing on top of the roof and performing for their crowd just before having the local Stoned Queen community officers detaining them for twelve hours. (More on that later).

Jimmi D's home, the lead singer, did not have possession of the property, as his parents still reside in the vocalists first studio station location. Being met at the door with tea and muffins, "Mother D'' gave us the tour with pure delight and enthusiasm. Smiling ear to ear through the bedroom space where most of the original tools and devices were used to record and play along with the songs Jimmi D heard on the radio.

"Father D", with his booming voice in the background, instructed the band back into the main lounge for pictures of the early days with Jimmi D, performing in various costumes, locations, to the talent show footage which still serves as proof of the talented enthusiasm displayed at his earliest years of writing and performing that he was going to be involved with music somehow, someway.

Tea and muffins no longer occupying the serving tray from the band's large appetite, we strolled the rest of the way of Stoned Queen in the direction of Stripe's old stomping grounds as a youth. A lot of work completed on both inside and outside of the structure, this once three-bed, two and half bath is now the studio space hosting an elite grade studio within the attic, making for plenty of room to host the band and guests, along with his booth for vocals and a drummers station which doubles as an entertainment hub for films and records.

Stoned Queen has seen a lot of transformation over the years in healthy ways. New properties have come in and redesigned their past locations of fun and adventure, but the plots always remind them of the days when they were merely riding the bus together, as strangers, without the notion that one day that they would all be a pivotal performance group within the global music scene.

Coming up on Part 2: We talk stories as "friends in the making" before forming 'Thoroughbred since 1948'.

Stay tuned, you’re watching the Sunday Stroll. Your weekend visual listening experience.

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Rocketship Records. A 48th & 4th Company, 2021.