Melba's Phone Militia

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Melba's Phone Militia is the name of a group of prank phone callers which are recorded and compiled on the comedy CD "Sonic Damn Nation", released on the Mind Kontrol Records label in 1998. Its members include (alias) Brother Russell (a.k.a. Melba Jackson), Chris Latrine, Dr. Shrimpy Skampers, Nib the Psychic Fiend, and others. Calls are made to religious radio, the Home Shopping Network, Christian book stores, prayer lines, etc.

Melba's Phone Militia did not collaborate further after this release. While Chris Latrine and Nib the Psychic Fiend have not produced any other releases since, Doctor Shrimpy Skampers continued briefly to work with the media prankster collective known as The Christal Methodists, which he co-founded with Khmer Ribbs and DJ Dr. Kritikal Dubbs in Portland, Oregon in 1990. ("Satanic Ritual Abuse", a late-1990s CD release on the Kolazhnikov label, is regarded by many to be the apex of the Christal Methodists' work together). Brother Russell sporadically releases small quantities of independent titles on CD-R, maintains a Melba Jackson artist page on MySpace [1], and will reportedly be debuting a weekly half-hour podcast in January of 2007.

1 Characters
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 EP's

[edit] Characters

Notable characters include:

Melba Jackson (Bro. Russell): Namesake of the group, Melba is an elderly woman "with lumbago and the gout". Often calls Christian radio programs and prayer lines with concerns about her unruly grandson, Jessie. (Brother Russell can also be heard on his commercially released CDs "Melba Comes Alive" and "Radio Jihad", and the independently released "Here is Melba").

The Psychic Fiend (Nib): A pranker impersonating a phone psychic. Known for getting his callers to perform ridiculous chants, giving them questionable financial advice, and advising them to stop calling 900 numbers and playing lotto.

Chris (Himself): One of the few callers to successfully prank the Rush Limbaugh show, Chris will talk at length with Rush about a relevant issue, and then change the subject abruptly with a non sequitor question. (i.e. "Did you cry when the Dunkin' Donuts man retired?")

Dave McManus (Bro. Russell): Pastor of the "Faith Tabernacle Mission Crusade Deliverance Temple Healing Ministry Center in Jesus Name, Limited", who sells bonds also. Calls Christian radio with conspiracy theories about "Paramilitary Orangutangs" planning to storm the Vatican.

Peter Long (Bro. Russell): Sleazy, fast talking pornographer who attempts to sell sex tapes for the "newlywed Christian couple" to a local Bible store.

Smegmah Fhondueueh (Bro. Russell): Indian family man who calls the home shopping network with invalid credit card numbers. Often gets "raptured" while talking to the salesperson.