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(written for the GAfilk program book in Jan/2004)
Rand Bellavia and Adam English: Facts and Rumours ------------------------------------------------- by Debbie Ridpath Ohi, with assistance from Rand and Adam I clearly remember the first time Allison, Jodi and I met Rand and Adam in the open filk circle at Astronomicon, 1994. Adam wore a dashing pirate shirt, Rand was wearing hospital scrubs and a ponytail. Their charm and enthusiasm were infectious, their musical talent astounding. Plus they were darned cute. Both of them live in Buffalo. Rand is head of acquisitions at D'Youville College Library; he has taught collection development and cataloging classes for the Masters of Library Science program at the University of Buffalo. He has an uncanny memory and a pet turtle named Chunky Rice. Rand discovered filk through Randy Hoffman, who convinced him to come out to a Marcon in 1993. Rand had so much fun that he dragged Adam to Astronomicon the following March, and the two have been a part of the filk community ever since. Adam is a professional caricature artist and also manages the art concessions at Six Flags Darien Lake. His background is musical; he is classically trained in piano and voice. In his first year after college Adam worked as an opera singer, and his roles included playing the High Executioner in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. He is a card-carrying member of the Etch-a-Sketch Club, and his friend Kenny has a pet squirrel. Rand and Adam met in the fall of 1988, and have been writing songs together since the summer of 1992. During the last days of 1992, they commandeered an abandoned practice room at Buffalo State College when no one was looking and made their first recording, "Poor Man's Copyright." As a special added bonus for their FKO concert in 1994, they hand-painted each side of fifty copies with acrylic paint, blue and white (ice for the cool side) on one and orange and red (fire for the hot side) on the other. George "Lan" Laskowski said that the tape got stuck in his car tape deck when the paint melted, but he still gave it a great review in Lan's Lantern. Since that first tape, Rand and Adam have recorded four Ookla The Mok CDs (see list at end) as well as performing on other people's CDs (including Urban Tapestry, Puzzlebox, Bob Kanefsky and Greg Klyma). They've won Pegasus awards for performance and songwriting. They wrote and performed the theme music for a Disney cartoon called Fillmore, now in its second season. Dr. Demento has included their songs on two of his compilation CDs. Rand and Adam used to perform at a lot of open mikes from 1992-1996 but got tired of "Rand and Adam", so they started using a different band name each time they played out, including: Bubastis The Genetically Altered Lynx, The Surfing Colonel from Apocalypse Now, The Nerfherders, Cowboy Secret Space Detective, The Homonyms, The Bearded Spocks, The Whirling Uhuras, Urko Aldo, The Sucking Chestwounds, The Adverbs, Playdough Republic and The Nerds of Science Fiction. Thankfully, they finally settled on the name "Ookla The Mok." Still craving Rand and Adam knowledge? Check out the official Ookla The Mok fan resource Web site at www.otmfan.com or the unofficial site at www.ookla.net. Or come to The Ohio Valley Filk Fest (Oct.29-31), where the members of Ookla The Mok are Guests of Honor this year. LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT OOKLA: (contributed by Rand and Adam) Rand and Adam grew up in an Iroquois longhouse, sleeping in bunkbeds. From 1986-2001, Rand held the New York State high school triple jump record. Adam has six toes -- three on each foot. The first song Rand and Adam wrote together was Woop--There It Is. After years of psychotherapy, Rand finally conquered his fear of heights, but is still deathly afraid of widths. Adam was raised by yeast. THEIR MUSIC: Poor Man's Copyright (self-produced tape, 1993) Less Than Art (1997) Super Secret (1998) Sucking Out Loud (limited edition live album only available through otmfan.com, 1999) Smell No Evil (2001) Oh OK LA (TotalTrain Records, 2003) |