Spitball Army

This was kind of a neat find: three new-wave era bands!  I was never a huge Blues Brothers fan, but I have owned a handful of skinny ties in my life, all dating from this period (late ’70s, early ’80s).  My favorite was a shiny turquoise one.  Never was much for the porkpie hat, though.  I can also say with certainty that all three of these buttons came from somewhere in Cambridge or Boston.  I remember bringing the first B-52’s album home the summer after my first college year and playing it really loud, and driving my poor Mom crazy with it.  Was that our generation’s “scream-o?”

The Kuumba Singers were founded in 1970 at Harvard College.  They are primarily a musical group, focusing on gospel, spirituals, and African folk songs.  I saw them many times while a student between 1978 and 1982, always an uplifting, joyful and inspirational experience.  “Kuumba” is a Swahili word meaning to serve one’s community through creativity.

These buttons were contained in a promotional packet meant to help promote a CD boxed set of Elvis Costello’s first three albums (on Rykodisc).  By this date, I was no longer wearing skinny ties, so the buttons didn’t get any use.

The “Tell Me Something” button was another promotional tool for Van Morrison’s collaborative recording of the songs of Mose Allison.  The Ernie Isley guitar pin was cool, I thought.  I have no idea what album it was promoting.  Maybe just a plea to listen to groovy soul music.