The 1980 Listening Post - Cub Koda & the Points - Cub Koda & the Points

 Reviewed by Tom Mott

Released: 1980 Cub Koda & The Points Cub Koda & The Points Genre: Motor City Rock and Roll Rating: 3.8 out of 5 Highlights: Gettin' Wild Tonight Cadillac Walk In the mid-90s, there was a punk record shop run by an enthusiastic French guy in the mini mall on the corner of Westwood and Olympic Boulevards, upstairs above Penguins Frozen Yogurt. It was a terrible location. I believe it became the punk record shop on Melrose run by an enthusiastic French guy. I bought a reissue at that record store of "King Uszniewicz and His Uszniewicztones" -- an atrocious, terrible, so bad they're amazing, bowling alley cocktail band from Michigan. They were one of the inspirations for my own terrible, so bad we're amazing band, LEGION OF ROCK STARS. And ................... I was today years old when I learned that Cub Koda, founder of Brownsville Station and writer of "Smokin' in the Boys Room" recorded an album in the mid 70s with his roadies masquerading as the intentionally inept oldies band named "King Uszniewicz and His Uszniewicztones." Cub pretended to be frontman Ernie Uszniewicz on saxophone. The band recorded and pressed a 45 of "Surfin' School/Cry On My Shoulder" which members of Brownsville Station discreetly placed in Midwest thrift stores while on tour, creating the illusion amongst record collectors that the band had been real. The prank was furthered by four LPs released by Norton Records between 1989 and 2011, all of which feature a photo of the face of Cub's father George Uszniewicz, with glasses and a crew cut, on the cover. How @#$%!!! punk is that?!? Cub Koda just earned his Foghat in my book. -------------------------------- This album is his band after Brownville Station. It's a slab of loud and proud Ann Arbor rock. Not garage. Not punk. Not proto punk. Just loud rock and roll. The kind of album that has a song called "Jailbait." The kind of album that the founder of Brownsvile Station would record. "Tight Jeans" is a ripoff of Buddy Holly's "Blue Days Black Nights" with louder amps. If you wonder what George Thorogood might sound like if he played rock and roll not blues, give it a listen. I like it.