On Saturday, September 24 at 4:00, the Museum is very pleased to hold a special release event: “Hoboken Saturday Night” Limited Edition Intaglio Print: Cover Art of 1970 LP by local band The Insect Trust Produced from Original Engraving, a project sponsored of Irwin Chusid,  journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described “landmark preservationist.” Chusid supervised the complex creation of this print which required contributions from multiple artists and artisans working at peak-skills in their industries. He will give a presentation on the fascinating details and challenges of the unique process from conception to completion. The print immortalizes original artwork from artist and musician Luke Faust which was used as the cover art for an album by seminal Hoboken pop/folk/funk (genre-busting!) band “Insect Trust” released in 1970. Prints are numbered, signed by the artist Luke Faust, and embossed by the Museum. They are offered at $75 each and include a free-T-Shirt. All proceeds benefit the Museum. 

Hoboken’s legendary independent 1980s/1990s music scene has been well-documented. But over a decade earlier, a very unique band was on the local scene. Their legacy consists of two major label albums, one of which was titled after their hometown: Hoboken Saturday Night.  The Insect Trust weren’t rock, jazz, folk, country, or avant-garde. They were ALL of these genres, mixed into a joyous, energetic style. The band recorded a self-titled album for Capitol in 1968, and two years later issued Hoboken Saturday Night on Atco.

The stark black and white cover of their second album featured an engraving of a classic Hoboken tenement courtyard, with four-story brick apartment buildings, windows with askew venetian blinds, chimneys, and a rope clothesline affixed to a leaning utility pole.

The engraving was produced by Insect Trust band member Luke Faust in 1962, while he attended the Art Students League. In 1970, the band’s guitarist, Bill Barth, suggested using the artwork as the album’s cover. It captures a pre-gentrified Hoboken that is a bit run-down, but sturdy and soulful.

Irwin Chusid, a Hoboken resident since 1992, and a veteran DJ at WFMU in Jersey City, has long been a fan of the record. When he discovered that the original zinc etching still existed, he contacted Faust, who had recently moved to Albuquerque with his wife Deena Reynolds. Faust shipped the plate to Chusid, who produced a numbered, limited edition run of 50 prints of the full plate, including a replication of the original album typography. The prints, all signed by Luke Faust, are being donated to the Hoboken Historical Museum as a fundraising project.

Faust is one of two surviving members of the original quintet; the other is vocalist Nancy Jeffries, who went on to a long, distinguished career as a music industry executive. The three deceased members of the Insect Trust are Barth, saxophonist/flutist Trevor Koehler, and saxophonist/clarinetist Robert Palmer, who for many years was a prominent music writer for the New York Times.

The prints were struck by Bruno Nadalin, of the JC Print Room, and the typography of the original album cover was replicated and printed by Russ Spitovsky and Matt Barteluce of Guttenberg Arts.