Fly Ashtray

Fly Ashtray is an American rock band, formed in 1983 in the Bronx, New York, by Chris Thomas, James Kavoussi, Eric Thomas, John Beekman and Mike Anzalone. At some point, Thomas and Anzalone left the band which led to Beekman moving from lead vocalist to bassist/guitarist, and then Kavoussi switched from keyboard to guitar. Glen Luttman joined the band at this juncture to play the drums. Spoog, a side project, resulted with impromptu gigs when one or another member of the band was out of town. Anzalone and Kavoussi also played in Uncle Wiggly. Kavoussi has made solo records billed as pHoaming Edison. The line-up of Thomas, Kavoussi, Beekman and Luttman was stable for a lengthy period until Beekman's duties were taken over in 1998 by Dave Abel. In 2003, Luttman requested a leave of absence from Fly Ashtray, and in the same year Eric Marc Cohen took over drum duties. The band released two records on Shimmy Disc and worked with Kramer. Most recently, the band's music was featured in “Responsible Ballet and What We Need Is a Bench to Put Books On”, a dance piece choreographed by Jon Kinzel, and performed at The Kitchen in New York City.