To make a really long story short, the terrible parade began in Kent in 1982 with Alan Grandy & Franklin Pesuit (both ex-Feral Children in Athens, OH) joined by Scott Pickering. Paul Strachan replaced Scott after Alan finished school and moved to Cleveland, and the trio began to gain notoriety with its spare, yet striking (I'm quotin', folks) songwriting and performances. Mark Poritsky (aka Marky Ray) joined the band as they considered recording. A friend of the band, WRUW dj Michael (Bad DNA) Arnovitz, suggested that his pal Chris Burgess had set up a spartan home-recording studio in his house; the band bit and became the first of many to record at Beat Farm. Their first sessions there resulted in a 3-song flexi-disc, which got really good reviews, airplay, etc. As a follow-up, the band went back to Chris' and recorded a four song ep which was released on Randy Meggitt's After Hours imprint. Randy did a great job getting it out to people and the results left many feeling that the group was more than poised to "break out" (yes, a cliche, but you get the picture). Though the parade continued to record prolifically, the band failed to generate the will, the $,or opportunities to follow up on early successes. In 1986, a teen-aged Matt Fields (later w/ God & Texas, Red Red Meat, and Those Bastard Souls) joined the band on bass. Things continued status quo, for better and not; some months later, the band called it a day. However, Randy Meggitt's hard work had continued to serve the group. Chris Porter, who was a dj at WJUL in Lowell,Mass. had become a fan and had started his own label, Presto! Records. A chance meeting thru Cle music supporter Jim Clevo ultimately led (long story short)to the 1991 release of "where were you when the lights went out", a 13-song lp/cd (cd also included most of the two previous releases as bonus tracks). Alan enlisted Pat Kim on drums and Cat Ciha (fr. Ragged Bags) on bass to support the release and write new material. A comp cd cut and subsequent 7-inch release(sans Ciha)resulted, along with some serious guerrilla touring, with line-ups comprised of whomever could get away for that time. Following the single's release, Pat Kim switched over to bass and Rob Johnston joined the band on drums (Pat had played both on the single; we were amused when a flattering Billboard review commended the band's tight rhythm section). One of the songs on the single was included on the initial release on Alan's fledgling label Sound of the Sea. The compilation, "they showered us with beads and flowers" (a nod to the earlier Cleve vinyl comp "they pelted us with rocks and garbage") also included an A.G. solo cut and a track by the Jehova Waitresses(w/Grandy on bass). An urge to follow those paths more than anything led to the decision to once again call it a day.