The Jam
The Jam played in Los Angeles the second time around at the Starwood club on my birthday - April 14. Here's a shot from their sound check. The first time they played in LA, it was at the Whisky, and it happened to be my roommate's birthday (October 7) and a guy named Johnny Cougar opened.
Six months later, The Jam had a little more say so... the Dickies and The Eyes opened. So much more appropriate, and quite exciting!
The Jam were also treated to a big old press event where journalists (including the "staff" of Lobotomy, meaning Pleasant, Randy Detroit, Kid Congo, Anna Statman and me) were taken to a British pub in Santa Monica on a red double decker London bus.
Once at the King's Head pub, we were treated to British food - fish n chips and mushy peas, and LOADS OF GIN. I guess there was Guinness, too - but I don't drink beer, so I wouldn't have noticed. Since it was my birthday, my various friends lined up 21 gin drinks and I had to drink from all of them. I didn't have to drink them all - just from all of them. Needless to say, I got sick later. More about that in a minute.
Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler, the Jam rhythm section, sang me a drunken "Happy Birthday" and Paul Weller's dad, John noted the occasion in a notebook. Earlier in the day, Pleasant, Randy and I spent time with the band at their hotel conducting a famous Lobotomy interview. Example: Buckler's answer to a question, "Is that like what flavor is your mother?"
When the party was over and we were at the Starwood, I was a little woozy during the Eyes set. We had a table upstairs in the balcony overlooking the stage. Tom Petty was seated at the table next to ours. When I was so sick and woozy that I thought being on the floor would be more comfortable (only a drunk person thinks that, right?), I took one look at Petty's snakeskin boots and got dizzy, and lost my British dinner. With that out of the way, I was able to focus and took a lot of photos of the Dickies and the Jam. They're mostly in color... so it will be a little while before I can share them with you.
I'm still traveling. I'm in Nashville for another week (although I'm trying to make it to Memphis later today so that I can see a cool show at the Buccaneer) and then I'm heading north to join my favorite brothers, The Dead Boys for their Halloween show in Cleveland. If you're in the area, you should definitely go. If you're in the Memphis area, you should go to the Buccaneer on Saturday night to see Jeff Evans & Ross Johnson, Preachers Kids, Natural Kicks, Circuit Benders and Secret Service. Its only $5 and proceeds from the door will go to directly benefit our musician friends who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. That storm was almost two months ago, but the damage is still there. Don't forget!
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