Saturday, Feb 24, 2007, there’s a benefit in Brooklyn for Rudy Martinez aka “Question Mark” the singer and songwriter of 96 Tears. His house burned down on January 9, and he lost all of his memorabilia, including the actual Farfisa on which Mysterians’ organist Frank Rodriguez played the famous 96 Tears riff. There’s a moving video of Question Mark walking through the wreckage at http://96tears.net/ and if you want to donate something to Rudy, you can do it there.

Come out to the Laila Lounge, 113 N. 7th St. (near the L train at Bedford) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There will be bands from 8 pm until 11, then djs including Phast Phreddie, Mike Lynch and myself, and a raffle of rare 60’s movie posters. Only $5, and all proceeds will go to Question Mark.

Most people familiar with garage will know their famous songs “96 Tears”, “I Need Somebody”, “‘8’ Teen”, so I’m including just a few lesser-known tracks as samples of their sound.

The version of “96 Tears” here is an earlier, slower take. It’s good, but I don’t think this version would have gotten them to #1 on the charts. “Ten O’Clock” is one of the best songs from their first lp, and was never released on 45. The soulful “Ain’t It a Shame” is from a 1969 single on the Tangerine label (? has a thing for the color orange, supposedly signing with Cameo-Parkway and Tangerine because of the color of their labels!)

? and the Mysterians cut plenty of good garage songs, and I definitely can recommend either of their original lps or the ‘Best of’ compilaton for those who want to hear more.