“Love Workshop” was a fifteen-minute comedy program that ran on KDKB-FM radio in Phoenix, Arizona for most of 1976. The show was always somewhat of a mystery to me. During its brief life, “Love Workshop’s” hosts, Vern & Craig (Todd Carroll and “Wonderful” Russ Shaw) were my heroes, They just seemed to appear out of nowhere all of a sudden, offering the kind of savage humor I idolized in the “National Lampoon,” only they were right in my own backyard. And then it disappeared just as quickly. Though Verne went on to write for a national audience, and Craig continued to appear in Arizona’s short-lived humor magazine, the Razz Revue, they might as well have dropped off the face of the earth.
I used to have a pretty good collection of episodes, but I foolishly loaned out the tapes and never got them back. For the past thirty years, I’ve had to make due with three shows on one measly side of an aging cassette. Now, thanks to “Bostworld” readers, however, the search is over. If nothing else, it proves that I’m not crazy. I didn’t just imagine the whole thing. “Love Workshop” really did exist, and I’m not the only one who remembers it. For this alone, the contributors to this collection have my eternal gratitude and admiration.
It’s Time For Love Workshop!
Love Workshop Redux
Love Workshop – The Wayne Butane Collection
The Bostworld Wonderful Russ Interview
Love Workshop Interview (New Times, 1976)
Full Page Ad (Razz Revue, 1976)
Wonderful Russ Article (Arizona Republic, 1974)
NEW: Now you can download individual, unzipped shows from the WFMU Blog!
Bostrom Collection
- The Science Of Comedy/Little Jimmy Harrold/Reaching Out To Touch And Share ’76/Bobby Basket’s Gay CB Radio Record
- Rocky Point
- Patrika And The Baby
- Project: Suffering /A Message From Charles Manson/Hobby Handbook/Andy Williams Christmas Special/A Letter From The Earl Of Snowden
- Drunk Rerun Intro/Johnny Involved: Private Eye/American Women’s Credit And Trust/Another Letter From Shecky Hallenberg
Blixco Collection
- Anita Bryant Orange Juice Commercial/Cryptographer Joke/A Letter From Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Verne & Craig Song/Abortion Misfortune/Song From Verne/Rerun Intro/Richard W. Kramer
- Letter from Sharon/Apartheid In Phoenix (incomplete)/
- Decorating For The Poor
- A Message From Bill Compton
- Love Workshop Song/Focus On Rapping
- Queers In The News/John Adamson: Master Criminal/Cheryl Finley Cooks A Potato/A Letter From Joan Embrey: Baby Kangaroo
- Where’s Craig
- DES Fashion Show/John Adamson Dancing To A Shadowy Tune/Pima Gymnastics
- Mexican Space Probe/Rerun Intro/Mexican Top 40 Comedy Record (incomplete)
Wonderful Russ Collection, Part One
- Opening Theme
- The Science Of Comedy
- Amana Radar Range
- Reaching Out To Touch And Share 76
- Bobby Basket
- Friday Afternoon At Victoria Station
- Joan Embry 01
- Sun Devil Football
- Brand New Material
- American Woman’s Credit And Trust
- Mexican Top 40 Comedy Record
- Unemployment Fashions
- Letter
- Editorial
- Rocky Point
- Vatican
- Rape Victim
- Joan Embry 02
- Pima Gymnastics
Wonderful Russ Collection, Part Two
- Open Theme
- John Adamson
- Craig’s Patio
- Coon Line
- Project Suffering
- Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor
- Letter
- Abortion Misfortune
- Moving Ballad
- Convenience Market
- Homosexual Corner
- The Bensons
- Kent State/Handbag/Mexican Top 40 Record
- Letter From Robert MacNamara
- Robert Kimbell/Letter
- American Woman’s Credit And Trust 01
- Alcoholism In America
- American Woman’s Credit And Trust 02
- Hobby Handbook
- American 4th National Bank 01
- American 4th National Bank 02
- American 4th National Bank 03
- Nibbler & Yakler 01
- Nibbler & Yakler 02
- Nibbler & Yakler 03
Wayne Butane Collection Part One
- Visit To A Mobile Home/Four Wheel Drive Ham Radio Club/The Edge Of Maryvale/Setting Dexter Straight/A Letter From Don Shula
- Stewardess & Secretary Behavior Modification Center/Coon Line/Mary McCarthy’s Poem/A Letter From MIT
- Live Coverage Of The Crucifixion/Alcoholism In America/Barbi Button Suicide Letter/Vern Rant
- The Yelling Show/A Letter From Margaret Hance
- The Variety Machine/Trapped Miners/Somebody Has To Lose/A Letter From Patrick Moynahan
- Jesus Christ: Air Conditioning Repairman
- Frog Night
Wayne Butane Collection Part Two
- Guessing Games/Convenience Market/American Women’s Credit And Trust/A Letter From Shecky Hallenberg
- A Telephone Conversation/A Funny Letter
- The News/Circus Commercial/Vern & Craig’s Last Name Song
- Arizona State Prison Show
- Special 90 Minute Communism Show/Vern & Craig Song
- Donut Tria/A Letter From Gary Nelson
- The Music Show/Grocery Store Song
Wayne Butane Collection Part Three
- Anita Bryant Orange Juice Commercial/Cryptographer Joke/A Letter From Alexander Solzhenitsyn
- Queers In The News/John Adamson: Master Criminal/Cheryl Finley Cooks A Potato/A Letter From Joan Embrey: Baby Kangaroo
- Mexican Space Probe/American Women’s Credit And Trust/Mexican Top 40 Comedy Record/A Letter From Marilyn Liebermanq
- Johnny Involved: Private Eye/American Women’s Credit And Trust/This Is Your Wretched Life/Another Letter From Shecky Hallenberg
- ASU Football/American Women’s Credit And Trust/Brand New Material!/Hobby Handbook/A Letter From…?
- Friday Afternoon At Victoria Station/A Letter From Joan Embrey: Koala
- Focus On Rapping: Insurance
- Bonus Track: Lou Grubb Commercial
- Bonus Track: The Surgery Store
- Bonus Track: KDIL
Wayne Butane Collection Part Four
- Apartheid In Phoenix/Decorating For The Poor/Teen Consciousness/A Message From Bill Compton
- Project: Suffering/A Message From Charles Manson/Hobby Handbook/Andy Williams Christmas Special/A Letter From The Earl Of Snowden
- Patrika And The Baby
- American Heritage: The Patio/A Letter From Betty Ford
- Where’s Craig/Steps To Approaching The Rape Victim/A Letter From Joan Embrey: Egret
- DES Fashion Show/John Adamson Dancing To A Shadowy Tune/Pima Gymnastics
- The Science Of Comedy/Little Jimmy Harrold/Reaching Out To Touch And Share ’76/Bobby Basket’s Gay CB Radio Record
- A Light Snack
My “Love Workshop” collection finally reached critical mass last moth, thanks to fellow Phoenician and Verne & Craig enthusiast Wayne Butane. Wayne sent me a full five disks of shows, all lovingly digitized from his crumbling original cassettes. I managed to clean most of the hiss out of them, but they are far from master quality. Some even sound as thought they were captured by holding a microphone up to the radio speaker. But the riches contained therein are fully audible, two hours of which are new to my collection. Then, as if that weren’t enough, Wayne sent me the accompanying picture of “Love Workshop” creator Todd Carroll, hard at work presumedly preparing one of his “National Lampoon” contributions.
The public spectacle of Elvis sleepwalking his way though the seventies is one of the more cliche metaphors of that decade. But the second half of 1974 is what many consider his absolute nadir. To help celebrate the 30th anniversary of the death of The King Of Rock And Roll, we present a compilation of live recordings taken from this period. Concentrating on his amazing rambling on-stage monologues, this collection documents one of the most difficult period of Elvis’s life.
Thirty years ago, life ended for The King of Rock and Roll. A decade later, an obsessive fan published a couple of obscure puzzles in a little-known Bay Area fanzine. Now, that same fan shares these ancient artifacts with you, the Bostworld visitor. Coincidence? I think not.
