The Jersey Journal from Jersey City, New Jersey • 33

The Wj Journal Startaj October 7 2000 C5 Ent Glenn Morrow has the Midas touch with bands How important has Glenn Morrow been to the Mile Square music scene over the last 20 years? put it this way: If Hoboken were the Louisiana Purchase Morrow would be Lewis and Clark More than 20 years after he moved there as a college student in the late '70s Morrow remains a diehard Hobokenite And as the owner of Bar None Records the nationally known independent la bel whose roster has fostered the careers of La Tengo reedy Johnston and They Might Be Giants he also qualifies as one of the leading entrepreneurs But like so many others Morrow originally moved to Hoboken as a struggling musician The only difference is that he did it first was going to school at the University of Rhode Island this was like 1975 1976 and I was hearing about all these amazing things happening in New York Morrow recalls So Mor row transferred to New York Uni versity and in the beginning commuted to Manhattan from his home in Glen Ridge really like living at home it was too much like high school but I really know how I would fit into Manhattan at that explains Morrow I hooked up with a girl in one of my classes who had found an apartment in The city he says was ghost town" back in those days but he eventu ally moved into a two bedroom furnished apartment at Hudson at 1 1 th streets that rented for $85 a month At about the same time Mor row had started a band called with drummer rank Giannini bassist Rob Norris and a cheru bic singer guitarist named Rich ard Barone who had recently Constant Listener JIM TESTA moved to New York from lorida Just as was getting offthe ground the new owner of a bar right around the comer from apartment expressed interest i ha ing 1 ive music there So became the first band to play at played in the front room and the first time we played there all the glasses shook offthe shelves and shattered on the floor because of the Morrow re calls whole idea of playing in Hoboken seemed very weird at the Soon though Morrow was helping owner Steve allon book bands into on a regular basis and groups like the lesh tones and the Babylon Dance Band (who would later be come Antietam) came to Hobo ken and discovered its cheap rents and cozy urban neighbor hoods was working at New York Rocker (magazine) at the time" Morrow recalls at first people just laughed like boken come on get But eventually everybody moved out here The moved here and some other bands and some of the guy from New York Rocker and then bring their friends The funny thing is that by the time I got my whole band to move here we broke Three quarters of went on to form the Bongos who would later sign to RCA Recordsand be come the first Hoboken band with a national buzz Morrow started the Individuals who also helped put the fledgling Hoboken rock scene on the map By 1996 New York Rocker had folded the Bongos' RCA experi ence had turned sour and Hobo ken was beginning to feel the first wave of gentrification Amid all that change the Individuals had broken up too and Morrow had formed a new band called Rage To Live It was then that Tom Prendergast an Irishman who had come to Hoboken four years earlierand opened Pier Platters record store decided to start a record label He called it Bar None Records and signed Mor Rage To Live for his first re lease background as a musician and rock critic proved valuable tools for the fledgling la bel and soon Morrow became a partner Over the last 14 years Morrow and Prendergast have made Bar None one of the most respected independent labels in the country with an impressive track record for spotting and nur turing new talent Last week Pre ndergast announced that we was moving back to Ireland making Morrow the sole owner all about having good re cords and interesting Morrow says in explaining Bar longevity industry is mutating in very interesting ways right now lucky in that we have a distr ibutor that can get records into stores for us But you need to make records that people want to hear the bottom While Bar None has worked with its share of Hoboken artists Yo La Tengo Kate Jacobs Tiny Lights and former Bongo James Mastro'a Health A Hap piness Show io name a few Morrow says that it was never a goal to be known as a regional la bel see ourselves as the Hoboken label the way that Sub Pop was all about Seattle" he notes Coyote Records as always much more about the scene here In fact it was probably because Coyote existed that we had to become something other than that in stead of just a pale imitation of what they weredoing" Over the years meant taking chances on acts that no body else in the music industry had any interest in wanted They Might Be Giants" Morrow says came to us and said they wanted Tom to put out their record for them I even part of Bar None yet But I liked them and I got Tom to go see them A lot of people were offend ed by the fact that they played with backing tapes but I thought hey an act we can put in all those rock discos that will sound great there And you had a 1 ittle live music a guitar and an accordion and a reallyamusing live show And you deny the songwriting So it totally made sense to me We sold 10000 records in the first year before we got them on MTV and they really took think Tom and I have had a shared aesthetic over the years where we decided that all the songs on a record had to be Morrow adds unless the songs are really really good the band also has to be doing some thing fairly Using those guidelines and by continuing to listen to demos that come in unso licited through the mail Bar None has snagged some impres sive talent over the years Glenn Whlpp LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS niNlIMffln BERGEN I DIGITAL SOUND NO PASSES ACCEPTED DURING THIi ENGAGEMENT ikilocwi rurSvt World BEST IN vraanws EH A BPkvkutt haute AHtSJPPAXV CiKtKA 12 UMAMCMUt Oftt MAS NAttSOMCMfUA CMSnt CMHMASm NM tCiWWn on LMVSIKVMmMailt REMEMBER THE ROCKLAND Movmfi ACTION PACKED! 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777tM 6929 GENERAL CINEMA A ESSEX GREEN WEST ORANGE 777KM 6666 4 LOEWS REEHOLD METROPLEX REEHOLD 777tM 944 REGAL CINEMAS A HADLEY 1 SOUTH PLAINKID 664 4449 A HAWTHORNE IVE HAWTHORNE 427 2428 NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS A HAZLET MULTIPLEX CINEMAS RT 35 HAZLET 264 2200 CLEARVCW CNEAAAS A HEADQUARTERS 10 MORRISTOWN 777KM6563 REGAL CINEMAS A HUDSON 7 JERSEY CITY 434 1414 "A Masterpiece Of Horror A Landmark Distnbuted by BUENA VISTA PICTURES DISTRIBUTION disneycomtitans ENTERPRISES INC Player silhouette Johnson NL Photos LOSWS NSW BRUNSWICK CINEnEX ODEON THEATRS EBHOVri 4 TCNPLCX NEHMUNSWKK PARAMUS 777EILM9897 777 ttMtS92 NO WLM44 ACCtTED DUWNQTMIt ENOAOEMEMt I ClEAtVIEW CMEMAS A NEW CITY CINEMAS NEW CITY 777tM 69)7 LOEWS THEATRES 4 PALISADES CENTER WEST NYACK NO AMES HONOna 777tM 6543PUBINO THIS ENGAGEMENT ODlI on OI4ITAL II ti EoflMk diBi I DIGITAL Cffiovietohp I JI piotI II I I Jr Bl A Orume Aw V13 I CU1 TITANS A SR GLENN MORROW at the Bar None office in Hoboken lot of the time been ahead of the Morrow notes did a record with Shrimpboat who became The Sea Cake We had Chocolate USA that kind of morphed into Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Bar None also signed actslike reedy John ston Luka Bloom Bill Drum mond (later of The KL) and England's Tindersticks before they went on to major label ca reers and snatched up the likes of 1 0000 Maniacs Arto Lind say and Juliana Hatfield after they had been released from ma jor label deals doing all of those re cords was just based on Tom and 1 just listening to things and say ing this is unique this is interesting this could be some Morrow says "All of it is st ill pretty underground 1 guess but there are different levels of underground" Current Bar None releases in clude CD's by the Long Island pop group Joy Zipper like Brian Wilson songs with a girl singer backed by Stereolab" says Morrow) The Mendoza Line Of Montreal singer song writer Hannah Marcus and am bient composer Diego Cortez (whose Bar None debut was pro duced by the red hot DJ Spooky The Subliminal Kid) You can learn more about Bar None Re cords and order releases by visit ing its Web page at ww wbar non ecom New Monsters New un Only In Theatres VW WWW Di9lm0nM0vlecom EDISON CINEMAS ESSEX GREEN METROPLEX ALLWOOD CINEMA 6 RANKUN Al' HADLEY CINEMA IS ROUTE 4 TENPLEX MILLBURN CINEMA 4 BERGENIELD CINEMA 5 LOEWS MONMOUTH MALL BERKELEY UNION SEVENPUX NEW PARK CINEMAS CALDWELL CINEMAS MANSIELD CINEMA IS WAYNE CLTON COMMONS NEWTON TWIN MANVILLE 12 PLEX ROCKLAND 1 OCEAN COUNTY MAU NEW CITY CINEMA 6 PARSIPPANY CINEMA 12 PASCACK mk mrooSvl NO PASSES HONORED DURING This engagement' EAST HANOVER 9u Game Card with every admission Get a Limited Edition Qigi Battle MIDDLEBROOK GALLERIA CINEMA 10 LOEWS PALISADES CENTER LOEWS BRICK PLAZA THEATRE HAZLET MULTPLEX CINEMAS NEWPORT CENTRE CINEMAS AU JERSEY MULTIPLEX CINEMAS SUCCASUNNA CINEMA 10 I KINNELON 11 '7i LINCOLN CINEMAS AMBOY MULTIPLEX CINEMAS SWIKii '21 HEADQUARTERS 10 THEATRES RIALTO SIXPLEX wtitif LOEWS RIDGEIELD 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LOEWS MOUNTAINSIDE Mi16 Afa Ji 'imi LOEWS NEW BRUNSWICK 4A CN MAS COLUMBIA PARK 12 bQUUvAM? 6561600 KGAi COMMAS COMMERCE CENTER 18 NORTH WUKWCK ME NL0PARK MAU CINEMAS WARNER QUAD MUU MJtJL LOEWS WAYNE ROCKAWAY TWELVE 324a Ig WK Jb MW SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW TONIGHT ACADEMY AWARD WINNER ACADEMY AWARD WINNER ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE KEVIN HELEN HALEY JOEL SPACEY HUNT OSMENT When someone does you a big favor pay it back "The Best Oscar" Buzz Of Any ilmHtis Tom King THE WAIL STREET JOURNAL tcmrJLMOm' tOMAma iKU ISHfrii EWH KM sanlHlau ittetWABH ita hhlp iawwieh AOL Karvwt wwwd Be 9L2s9EESSLmJESJmM aM A 6fti 1 fr iM HNMattk 6 to wm fimsms com vmmwm 6 fTRj icxws MDMRILD PARK TMfAHIf DGfCU 4K 777 UM 47U 700 Ihuosok I 4 lorw PLAZA rtf 478 5KAUCU5 777 llM 67A2 7:15 hOHWI KCCtRYtO QtrfMHQTW 4MGAO4WM VDDJW REGULAR ENGAGEMENT STARTS RIDAY OCTOBER 20 AT THEATRES EVERYWHERE or More or i 1 no I not This Moi ie America Orvm Keyword Pay It orward WWW paitorwan3 corw Movtetanocom Get a Limited Edition Qigi Battle Game Card with every admission REMEMBERTHE TITANS ppi Distributed BUENA VISTA PICTURES DISTRIBUTION rJl disneycomtitans ENTERPRISES INC Player silhouette JonnsonNH Photos iwi ca SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW TONIGHT ROCKLAND Touching A Cool Chick KOsIl Olh'WI i 1 Beautiful PG 13 rrm rm or More i or i no 1 Hoi This Moi ie 1 YuiQViBiOIIED 2 Ameuc OrH lUywora orwd par orwa con MnMMncom KClW Hj PG.