Episode 8 Gregg Turkington (Neil Hamburger) :: "From Punk to Comedy & Beyond"

Before his long-running career as a legendary stand-up comedian, Neil Hamburger, Gregg Turkington was a prominent fan figure in the highly influential Tempe/Phoenix, Arizona music scene of the 1980s, which ultimately gave birth to such notable acts like the Meat Puppets, Mighty Sphincter, skate punk legends J.F.A. (Jodie Foster's Army), and, of course, the Sun City Girls. As a young teen, Turkington's connection to the Sun City Girls, in particular members, the Bishop brothers, and late drummer Charles Gocher, who tragically passed in 2007, not only inspired his poetic pursuit over the decades, but also showed the aspiring artist that anything is possible if you stand your ground. Mixing melody with madness, the band shook the scene's hardcore backdrop with free-range ritualism and challenged even the politics of punk to go where no man has gone before.

Eventually relocating to San Francisco to work alongside Bay area legends, Flipper, Turkington launched his own zine, "Breakfast Without Meat (Gravyhills Cassettes)," which simultaneously acted as a record that famously released one of SCG's most notorious albums, 1986's "Midnight Cowboys From Ipanema." Now, if you want to get technical, this is considered to be the band's third official album, but who's asking?

A collection of radio-friendly covers inoculated with various spiritual snippets from their cosmic catalog, Turkington later reissued the album on vinyl and CD with his newly formed label, Amarillo Records, while continuing to book and stay connected with the band during some of their earliest West Coast shows. Similar to that of the Sun City Girls, Turkington's legacy is radically rich with a liberating language spoken only through the melodic mist that entangles its subject's senses with an ancient grip like no other.