Tales From The Crates – The Story Behind The Wildest Inscriptions on an Album I’ve Ever Seen

Every once in a while when I’m going through used vinyl, CDs, or books I’ll come across something that’s been autographed. This was the case the other week when I was at The Archive in Bridgeport, CT, and as I flipped through the used vinyl I saw an album by a band named The Shananagans titled Surf and Turf that featured the signatures of all four members. In addition to the signatures, the band also wrote some of the wildest inscriptions I’ve ever seen.

For those who may not be able to read the above image, it says

To Carol,

We’ll always remember the night at the Ramada (especially the spurs + trapeze!). Say hi to the snake for us! 

Followed by

And don’t forget the pool, what WAVES! 

I had so many questions!

Who is Carol, and what kind of wild woman was she?

Speaking of wild, how wild is this band that they decided to write down a memory of such a crazy night?

And was the Ramada in question the Ramada in Stratford, CT, where I attended baseball card shows as a kid with my dad??? I did find the album in Bridgeport, so that seemed like a distinct possibility.

I needed answers, so I picked up the album, and put my journalism degree to work.

My search for more information began at Discogs. Sadly, the listing for the album is incredibly sparse. It doesn’t even have a year for when the album was released. To be fair to Discogs, there’s no year on the album, album jacket, or lyric sheet / liner notes, so apparently the only way to know that info would be to know the band personally.

I found a Facebook page for The Shananagans, but I couldn’t be sure if I had the right Shananagans. Heck, I didn’t even know if they were still active!

The Facebook page is active, and while there isn’t a ton of info, I did see the band continues to have performances in the New England area. This made me think I’d possibly found the right Shananagans, because according to the lyric sheet / liner notes for Surf and Turf their song “Nip Muc Jump” was inspired by the Nipmuc tribe, which is one of New England’s largest native communities.

Up next was a Google search, and, of course, Google tried to correct me on the spelling of Shananagans. Once I told Google, this is the way it’s spelled I found a few articles from the websites of New England-based newspapers that wrote up previews of the band’s shows.

Seeing yet another New England connection, I was now pretty sure the Facebook page I’d found was the right one, so I sent the band a message.

Would you happen to be the same Shananagans that released an album titled Surf and Turf?

If so, boy do I have a story for you ... and I think you'll have a story for me, too! 

One of the band’s founders, Tom Kennedy, replied that yes, I’d found the right Shananagans, and he wanted to hear my story.

I gave him the full rundown of finding the album, the wild inscription, wanting to know if the Ramada in question was the one in Stratford, and my hope that he remembered anything about the night that was memorialized on the album’s cover.

His response was amazing.

Jesus! We used to write crap like that on all our albums just for a little fun … people (for the most part) understood and appreciated the humor, though one woman came back to us pretty pissed off saying her husband read a similar inscription to Carol’s and wanted an explanation.

All in the spirit of Shananagans! 

He added that the band had a good laugh seeing the inscription again, and reading my email inquiring about it.

So the wild night with Carol never happened, but The Shananagans were – and perhaps maybe still are – full of shenanigans! You gotta love it!

Doing a little more digging, I discovered The Shananagans are a folk band that was formed in 1978, with the original lineup featuring Tom Kennedy and two other members. Dick Lewis joined the band in the early ‘80s, which would place Surf and Turf somewhere in that era.

I was already thrilled to have rescued this autographed album from a bin of used vinyl, and after learning the story behind the inscriptions I’m even happier to have it in my collection.

If The Shananagans ever do find their way to the Ramada in Stratford, I’ll be sure to be in attendance, and I’ll see if I can find a snake charming trapeze artist to bring with me.