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Jim Valentin (left), Rose Marshack (bottom center), Rick Valentin (top center), and Bob Rising (right) |
The Champaign, Illinois indie band, Poster Children, was formed in 1987 by guitarist Rick Valentin and bassist Rose Marshack. Over the next few years they made several powerful, quirky and dynamic albums including Flower Plower (Limited Potential 1989 and Frontier Records 1990), Daisy Chain Reaction (Twin/Tone 1991 and Sire/Reprise 1992), Tool of the Man (Sire/Reprise 1993), and Junior Citizen (Sire/Reprise 1995). They toured extensively during the 1990s and their unique live performances fostered a reputation as a not-to-miss band. Their release of Junior Citizen in 1995 marked the first appearance of the band’s website which featured detailed tour diaries, an online talk show called RadioZero, and a reading list compiled by the band’s fans. After the award-winning success of a multimedia disk the band created for Junior Citizen, the band included with their next release, RTFM (Reprise 1997) an enhanced CD which contained not only music but also videos, games, and other “fun stuff” to entertain the band’s fans and tech-geeks alike. The acquisition of this unique collection of business records, photographs, correspondence, and memorabilia documents the legacy of this popular band as well as Salaryman and Twelve Inch Records. The collection will be arranged and described later this summer, and its contents will be accessible through the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music.