Jannis Tsakalis
Jannis Tsakalis is a Greek Residents "fan and collector par-excellence",[1] who is notable for his self-pressed, officially approved realizations of a number of long-abandoned and unfinished projects, including the Collectors' Box series in December 2020 and January 2021, and the "Santa Dog '84" 7" single in October 2021.
These special pressings have been referred to by The Cryptic Corporation as "The Jannis Tsakalis Collection".
History
Having privately pressed picture disc copies of obscure Residents tracks for his own collection for some years, Jannis Tsakalis worked in co-operation with The Cryptic Corporation in 2020 to manufacture the long-unreleased Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box, which was released in a limited edition of 15 copies in December of that year. These boxes include a silk-screened t-shirt, Fingerprince on transparent yellow vinyl, Babyfingers on a single-sided 12" picture disc, and two hand puppets.
This was followed in January 2021 with the production of a run of fur-covered Eskimo collectors' boxes, intended to house the single-sided Eskimo test pressings sold through Ralph Records mail order in 1985. For this reason the boxes do not contain any vinyl, but include three hand puppets and a copy of the notice of cancellation of the 1985 collectors' box edition. Around this time, Jannis also announced that the contents of the Tourniquet of Roses box set would be available to buyers as separate pieces.
In October 2021 a small number of privately pressed and distributed copies of the unfinished 1984 single "Santa Dog '84" were circulated among fans; the single includes the original unfinished instrumental, a later reworked version featuring Molly Harvey on vocals, and an edited version of "Mr. Skull's New Years Eve Song" on the B-side. The singles were pressed in two variants, black and transparent vinyl (20 copies of each) and featured the original cover art designed by the late Rex Ray (who is eulogized in a small paper insert included with the singles).
The Jannis Tsakalis Collection
- Tourniquet of Roses collectors' box (2020) - 15 copies
- Eskimo collectors' box (2021) - box and contents only, made to order
- Fingerprince LP (2021) - yellow vinyl, made to order
- Babyfingers EP (2021) - single-sided 12" picture disc, made to order
- "Santa Dog '84" (2021) - 20 copies on black vinyl, 20 copies on transparent
See also
External links and references
- ↑ Homer Flynn, "THE WORST IDEA I EVER HAD!", The Residents' News Machine, December 17th 2020