Banana Records

09/22/2025

Beth Hammack, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, summoned me to her building to get my input regarding her next vote on interest rates. She was interested in my views as the President of a multi-dollar record company headquartered in her district. After our meeting, Beth took me on a private tour of her building. Almost as impressive as the Banana Records Headquarters.

07/05/2025

Better late than never...The latest issue of The Lakewood Observer has a fine review of BOTH of Paul Nickels' Banana releases. Reviewer Buzz Kompier has some good things to say about both "With Friends Like These" and "One Hand Clapping" The link to the July 2nd article is below, and both releases are available at bananarecords.net. The 34 tunes are also available on all streaming services.

https://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2025/07/02/on-the-dime-reviews-of-recent-releases-by-local-bands

05/31/2025

The new CD by Les Vincent (Tom Richissin) is now available for sale on our website, bananarecords.net. As most followers of Banana know, Les is a 2-time winner of the coveted "Best Male Vocalist" Zabby Award, and traces his affiliation with the label back to the 1990s. The 8-song disc features songs penned by Tom, with co-writing credits on two songs by his wife Liz, and daughter Ali. The album also features a cover of R.E.M.'s "Injured Bird". This marks the 22nd release of a Banana title. That means that an equal number of Banana releases (11) are from the 20th and 21st century!

05/19/2025

There will be a "Celebration of Life" memorial for Bob Burford on Sunday, June 8th from 2:00-6:00 at Brothers Lounge, located at 11609 Detroit Ave. in Cleveland. Brother Bob was the co-founder of Banana Records, and we miss him every day.

04/30/2025

The CDs of Jinni Fontana's new EP, "Oh, Cleveland!" are in. This is a GREAT collection of 7 tunes inspired by her hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. Featured on the disc are Stutz Bearcat, Jim Butterfield and Paul Nickels. Available for $12 at bananarecords.net. Support local music! Photo by Anastasia Pantsios.

04/27/2025

We at Banana Records are saddened to hear of the passing of David Thomas, lead singer and founding member of the alternative post-modern Cleveland band, Pere Ubu. This especially hits hard because Banana Founder Jim Butterfield often credited his inspiration to start a local Cleveland label when he ran across one of Pere Ubu's early singles, "Final Solution" at a Cleveland record shop, and realized that independent labels were "a thing" that he could also do. Jim was also a big fan of Pere Ubu in general. So much so that he often used their song "Final Solution" as the final song in a Butterfield 8 set. The attached link is Butterfield 8's version of the song, performed at their "final" performance.

Provided to YouTube by CDBabyFinal Solution (Live) · Butterfield 8The Lies That Hurt The Most℗ 2024 Jim ButterfieldReleased on: 2024-11-05Auto-generated by Y...

04/20/2025

Easter would be a GREAT day to listen to "There's a Rabbit in the House" from Jinni Fontana's new EP "Oh, Cleveland!" Click the link below to listen on Spotify. Happy Easter!!!

https://open.spotify.com/track/7bz7jFl91eT9SDNN3HU7W1?si=3900d551d12d4328

04/16/2025

Jinni Fontana's new EP, "Oh, Cleveland" is now available on all streaming services. More info on the 7-song release is available at bananarecords.net

02/18/2025

A splendid time was had by all at the Mab Zab Extravaganza and Awards Ceremony!

02/15/2025

There will be a brief multi-media presentation at the Ganza Saturday, celebrating the "Mab Zab Life" of our dear friend Bob Burford. Try to arrive by 9:00 to catch it. Ganza starts at 8:00.

02/09/2025

This year's Zabby Awards are reminiscent of the awards presented in 2001, but these are made of pure 24 karat gold with a marble base and Chiquita adornment. The awards will be presented on Saturday, February 15th.

02/08/2025

Jinni Fontana and Paul Nickels are busy doing final mixes for Jinni's new Banana release, "OH, Cleveland!" at Handsome Studio. The album, containing songs inspired by, or about, her home town, is due out in March!