album, Lately I Keep Scissors, recorded quickly in 1986 as an 8-track demo, which would eventually be released on Thomas' San Francisco label, Heyday in 1988. Terri Manning recorded some backing vocals and local musician friends pitched in, including drummer/singer Melanie Clarin, who would become a longtime collaborator on future projects. The songs ranged from personal laments to jagged folk-rock and pop, including "Every Pretty Girl," "Scissors," (with a percussive scissors track) and "Mark E. Smith & Brix," which referred to The Fall lead singer-songwriter and his former wife. Trouser Press praised Manning's song-craft, saying her solo work "reveal[s] a songwriter of tremendous lyrical power and breadth of sonic vision." 1990s: SF Seals and solo career Rolling Stone took notice of Manning's musical output, calling her one of 1992's most important new artists. The World of Pooh lineup eventually morphed into a new band called The SF Seals with Manning as chief songwriter and singer. Band members included Melanie Clarin, cellist Kim Osterwalder, bassist Margaret Murray, and guitarist Lincoln Allen. Manning, a longtime baseball fan, named the band after the city's former Pacific Coast minor-league team. SF Seals released the EP Baseball Trilogy in 1993, most likely the first baseball-themed release in indie rock. The three songs included a cover of Les Brown's "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio," the Mad V. Dog-penned "Ballad of Denny McLain," and Manning's "Dock Ellis," about Ellis' infamous 1970 no-hitter pitched while tripping on acid. The band released their first album, "Nowhere" on the Matador Records label in 1994 with guitarist Brently Pusser joining in the recording sessions. Their second album, Truth Walks in Sleepy Shadows, came out a year later. It made Spin Magazine's top ten list for 1995 and won a Bay Area Music Award (BAMMY) for best independent rock album. But the SF Seals wouldn't stay together past 1996. Manning toured the U.S., both solo and with her various bands, throughout the 80s and 90s, opening for such acts as Yo La Tengo, Giant Sand, Pavement, Calexico, the Replacements, Richie Havens, Donovan, Television Personalities, Stuart Moxham (Young Marble Giants), Jon Langford (Mekons), Faust, Urge Overkill, Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart), and Sonic Youth. With the encouragement of fellow musician Alastair Galbraith, Manning traveled to New Zealand in 1997, touring with John Convertino and Joey Burns of Giant Sand and Calexico and collaborating with her favorite musicians from the underground scene there. Recording sessions commenced with