Question Mark & The Mysterians – 96 Tears, by Tom Kipp

This shot provides a decent idea of how Rudy commanded the stage that night, though I think his ’98 ensemble was golden rather than orange!

I knew they’d been intermittently reunited as ROIR had released a cassette-only live album in 1985 entitled 96 TEARS FOREVER—THE DALLAS REUNION TAPES ’84. (Dave Marsh even penned liner notes, as did Rudy Martinez (aka ?) himself! That gig was apparently the first that the original lineup had played since 1966.)

Still, I was stunned when they appeared at Bumbershoot 1998, in a headlining appearance at Mercer Arena (Sunday, 9/6/98, to be precise).

Despite it already being 32 years beyond the magical Detroit Summer when “96 Tears” topped the local charts (it finally ascended to #1 in BILLBOARD the week of 10/29/1966, before being displaced a week later by the debut of another teen fave, The Monkees!), the band was dynamite, racing through every glorious sound-alike followup to “96 Tears”, plus a number of well-chosen covers.

But Rudy Martinez was absolutely SHOCKING, a combo of the young Mick Jagger, Arthur Lee, and Prince who OWNED the stage and venue that night!

In terms of his sheer charisma and flamboyance, this just about captures it!

His nonstop stage patter alone (with frequent interjections of “Yeeeaaahhh!!!” and “Bayyy-beee!”, pronounced as only his larynx can do it) would have been sufficient for immortality of a kind, but he was a singing, dancing FIEND up thar, and the gestalt of the entire performance far surpassed any fantasies a NUGGETS lover like me could possibly have harbored!

I saw only a handful of performances (if even that many) across twenty-some Bumbershoots that compared.

Though it was issued on LP and cd only in France (ca. 1990, along with a few other prime ROIR cassettes, including Television’s THE BLOW UP, The MC5’s BABES IN ARMS, and The Mekons’ NEW YORK), the live tape can still be found at reasonable cost via Discogs. The other formats are also available, though fer more coin (mainly the outrageous shipping from Europe).

I’m playing said tape as I type this, Don, and its sound is bright and punchy, far beyond the norm for ROIR’s ’80s releases, of which I own several dozen. I found a sealed copy sometime in the past ten years during one of my vacations, and it truly DOES capture the vibe I experienced on that unforgettable night at the former home of The Seattle Reign!

https://www.discogs.com/The-Original…/release/3462382

– Tom Kipp