World Famous Moletrax Studios

The “Little Georgie” character was completely retired and mothballed by 2015. This was not an easy or efficient process…. He did not go quietly into that good night. It took me about 15 years to kill him dead. I needed a career change, and I let fate decide the direction. I went back to school and studied astronomy. I did a stint as a gentleman apple farmer in Wayne County, NY, produced a cooking show starring my octogenarian father, and worked for a grant writing / political consulting firm. I stopped playing the piano. I was clearly out of the game, finally.

In the midst of all that, I still would field calls from various studios, producers, and engineers to make another Shuffling Hungarians record. I pretty much categorically and emphatically said NO to each of those pitches, until an old friend, Jeff Moleski of WORLD FAMOUS MOLETRAX STUDIOS made an offer to casually start work on a new body of material. I did my level best to talk him out of the idea, but he was having none of that nonsense. The offer really wasn’t centered around the speculation of potentially profiting from such an endeavor, but just for the sake of making the best record that either of us could make. It wasn’t an offer as much as it was a challenge.

I, of course, never heed my own advice or what little wisdom I may have acquired over my lifetime. As is clearly stated in The Ballade Of Little Georgie: “You foolish people, you been misled- Don’t you know you can’t kill something that’s already been dead?” It just took me about fifteen years to realize that trying to kill that alter ego was ultimately an exercise in futility….because I’m a knucklehead!!!

I decided to say “yes” to the project and casually dip my toe back into the ocean. While wading in those waters, I promptly got swallowed by a whale.

So here we go again. These are images of just a few of the many folks that have contributed their time and estimable talents to a still ongoing, never ending, Hungarians resurrection and reclamation recording project. Hopefully, it will get completed before it becomes a posthumous release.

All photos by Sandy Roe of “Photos at 1020” and Juan German