Handsome Productions Logo

m u s i c   a n d    m o r e    f r o m    t h e    b a n k s    o f 

t  h e    l e g e n d a r y   c u y a h o g a    r i v e r   i n    c l e v e l a n d ,    o h i o    u . s. a.

TOP LINKS

Home

About Handsome

Recording at Handsome

Contact Handsome

Handsome Store

ARTIST LINKS

The Backdoor Men

Terry Hartman

Clifton Beat

Inner Ring Conspiracy

David Borucki & The Brown Shoe Revue

Mark Bluhm

Butterfield 8


Paul Nickels

Owen Mason

Alex Hanhauser

Leroy Fail

John Castrigano

Dee  Deprator

Peter Laughner



Welcome to Handsome Productions

Current and key archival music from Northeast Ohio

*     *     *     *     *
What's New at Handsome

Available now to Stream and in CD Format

One Hand Clapping Cover
Cover design by Brian Willse at Newbomb.

“O n e   H a n d   C l a p p i n g”

"One Hand Clapping," by Banana recording artist Paul Nickels, is now available for streaming on all services. The 14-song record is a follow-up to 2021's "With Friends Like These." Hard CD copies are now available here.

"This record is a tribute to my roots as a member of The Backdoor Men, the band I was privileged to drum for in the late 70s through 1987. That band included two great songwriters - Terry Hartman and Dan Cook - to whom I've dedicated it. Fully half the album was written by them, and it was a joy to revisit our "garage band" sound and finally get some of that band's classics recorded properly," says Nickels.  “They were great songs from the band’s ‘psychedelic pop’ era that unfortunately were never recorded properly, back in the days when it was hard to scrape together funds for a single, much less an album.”

Also featured are songs by Leroy Fail, a long-time associate of BDM co-founder Hartman. The two served together in the army during the Vietnam War and later traveled together as they “decompressed” from the experience. Fail, a dedicated surfer, recently released “Dora Lives,” a tribute to famed sixties surfer Robert Dora. Raised in Texas, he was the son of Leroy Fail Sr., a Texas country radio star. Special guests include Cleveland guitarist Jim Juhn and, singing harmony and lead vocals on "Boom Boom Boom," CLE fave Meganne Stepka.

Here's a video of the great Terry Hartman song, "Life," from one hand clapping.

*     *     *

Broken People Cover

Butterfield 8 Releases "Broken People"

Butterfield 8 has completed its "comeback trifecta." In just two years, the band has written, recorded and released three full length albums, each recorded, mixed and mastered at Handsome Productions. That's a run of creativity that harkens back to the days when the Beatles released two albums a year! "Broken People" follows last year's "Another Day in Paradise" and 2021's "Luckiest Guy in the World," each featuring excellent originals penned by Butterfield - a fixture on the Cleveland scene in the late 1980s and founder of the Banana Records label. Butterfield 8 is a kinetic power pop outfit with British Invasion overtones and a rich instrumental pallette. Check out all of Butterfield's work, current and past, at www.bananarecords.net

Hard CDs are available for purchase on the site, and "Broken People" is already streaming across all services.

*     *     *

LES VINCENT & MZ7 Release Debut CD

Les Vincent Album Cover

The latest Handsome release is "It's Hardly Ever Just Black & White," by a Cleveland character of some notoriety.  Back in “The Day”, Les Vincent headed the renowned party rock band “Les Vincent & The Tree Toads”.   His reputation as a high-energy singer and crowd-pleasing performer is legendary in Cleveland, Boston, and numerous Midwest college towns.  Les (aka Tom Richissin) however, put performing on hold while he concentrated on raising a family in Boston with his wife, Liz.

Recently, Les rekindled that rock’n’roll fire in his belly.  Always abreast of new music, Les was drawn back into the scene by assisting his old friend, Banana Records President, Jim Butterfield, as a backing vocalist on the new Butterfield 8 releases.  Les, who had a few original compositions in his hip pocket, worked with Jim and Handsome Studio Producer Paul Nickels to finally release his own album.  The 8-song disc, titled “It’s Hardly Ever Just Black & White”, contains old and new original tunes, as well as select cover songs that he has always wanted to record in his unique way.

Les is a multi-year winner of the coveted “Best Male Vocalist” Zabby Award, and he is a welcome addition to the Banana Records stable of artists with Cleveland roots.

"It's Hardly Ever Just Black & White" is available now on all streaming services and is available for purchase in CD form at the Banana Records Store.

*     *     *

Owen Mason Album

Owen Mason is a young singer/songwriter/guitarist out of Lakewood, Ohio. Just 21 years old, Owen has already fronted a legendary hard rocking band out of Lakewood High School called the Shallowheads, spent time in Los Angeles exploring and collaborating in that city's musical scene, and issued several records with different combinations of players. Here, we have something special.
Mason recorded one of those early records at Handsome Studios, and later came back to the studio with a clutch of the most impressive original music we've heard in a long time. In addition to his ability to write very real songs that are both personal and universal, Mason has a voice that can range from delicate and jazz-influenced right up to the sound of a young Robert Plant - sometimes, all in a single song... He also happens to be a terrific guitarist and arranger. Bottom line: He's got it all, and it's all on display in this self-titled CD that includes 11 originals (two of which are instrumentals) and reveals an awesome talent, augmented by a trio of excellent sidemen, including Mike Fitco on guitar, Parker Polen on Bass, and drummer Conor Kramer on one track.
Mason is still exploring the world of music and thinking hard about his place in it, but consented to release this collection, which is one of the most extraordinary collections ever to come out of Handsome. It's not yet streaming, but you can purchase a CD on the Handsome Store Page. Take the risk - Owen Mason is a rare talent.

*     *     *

A Thousand Beautiful Things

When one is operating a small recording studio like Handsome Productions, occasionally someone walks through the door, guitar case in hand, and proceeds to blow your mind. Al Hanhauser is one of those. Al is a "triple threat" -- a fantastic acoustic guitarist, a bracing and captivating singer, and most importantly in the Handsome world, a terrific writer. Al's been a working solo musician for nearly a decade, first in Athens, Ohio as a college student and now as a denizen of the open mic nights in San Francisco and Seattle, the two cities between which he splits his time.

"A Thousand Beautiful Things" is Hanhauser's first foray into releasing his music to the public. It features ten original compositions and two covers - "Angel from Montomery," by John Prine, and "Call Me The Breeze," by JJ Cale - two of America's premier songwriters and an effective guidepost to the kinds of stuff he writes.

The record is available on all streaming services, and you can preview it here. Visit the Handsome Store if you'd like to purchase a CDR.

*     *     *

Additional Handsome Titles


With Friends Like These
Paul Nickels
350
Another Day In Paradise
Butterfield 8
LGITWcover1
Luckiest Guy In The World
Butterfield 8
smallnotes
Notes on a Cocktail Napkin
Terry Hartman and Peter Laughner
tornadoes album
Jump & Shout
Terry Hartman and the Tornadoes

Dora Lives
Leroy Fail
Frontnotes
Live at the Red Horse Hollow
Terry Hartman and the Backdoor Men
 
 

The Roster of Handsome Artists & Friends


Owen Mason


Alex Hanhauser

Paul Nickels
Paul Nickels
Jim Butterfield
Butterfield 8
 


The Backdoor Men

Terry Hartman
Terry Hartman

Peter Laughner
Peter Laughner

Dave Borucki
Dave Borucki & and the Old Brown Shoe Revue


Mark Bluhm
Mark Bluhm

The Clifton Beat
The Clifton Beat

Inner Ring Conspiracy
Inner Ring Conspiracy



John Castrigano


Leroy Fail
Leroy Fail


Aunt Dee Deprator
Dee Deprator

And here's something completely different:

Covered Bridges of TF Keller
Covered Bridge Kodachrome Collection by Traugott F. Keller

*     *     *     *     *

All contents © Handsome Productions, 2021. May be used with permission.