It’s not polite to state a lady’s age but hers (rather, the year she was born) is posted in public forums, namely on my Futurama and Simpsons calendars.
Johnette first came to my attention 20 years ago when she was the lead singer of Concrete Blonde. Unfortunately, I wasn’t very impressed with her material because the first album is weak, still is in my opinion. I think there was more effort put into catering to Michael Stipe’s pretentiousness for his act (REM) was IRS Records’ most profitable until they jumped to Warner Brothers the following year. Legend has it, Stipe renamed the band since he said their sound matched those two words. Even it were false, the original name of Dream 6 was rather lame.
The other negative factor in my hasty assessment of Concrete Blonde was formed by one of the unimaginative DJs on WMUR (Marquette’s so-called “radio station”); proof that music programming is an art, not a science! Every week this dullard played “True” to the point I could set a watch to her three-hour block. So when my brother had to play the self-titled record for me during a holiday break, I just about screamed in pain. He did convince me “Still in Hollywood” was a good single.
Thankfully, Concrete Blonde evolved and improved until Walking in London, their fourth album and probably the pinnacle of Johnette’s partnership with guitarist James Mankey. Most people would probably make a stronger argument for their previous release Bloodletting since it has “Joey,” their biggest hit; it got them on MTV when music videos were still played. I don’t agree since the same erroneous logic would also claim Skylarking or Oranges and Lemons are XTC’s best work because the same 101X crapfest only plays “Dear God” or “Mayor of Simpleton.” My concert buddy and fellow music fan, Mark, is a huge XTC fan so he can back me up on this. Anyhow…London rapidly became my personal favorite through WXRT playing “Someday?” and it really hit the emotional nail on the head regarding a woman I used to see named Dana (my wife knows about all my exes, it’s cool to mention them). The band’s unknown humorous side albeit dark was demonstrated on “I Wanna be Your Friend Again.” Two other songs coincidentally molded my future; “Les Coeurs Jemeuax” because it’s sung in French, the foreign language I have studied off and on. I should have my perfect speaker friend Bryant assess Johnette’s ability yet I suspect hers is probably sloppy since I understand what she’s saying; the other tune is the opener, “Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man,” Johnette’s encounter with the ghost at the Driskill Hotel in Austin (I don’t believe they exist though), my future home. With those trivial factoids regarding London, it shouldn’t be any surprise it’s my favorite album of 1992. Here’s a clip of Concrete Blonde’s appearance on Dennis Miller’s first talk show long before he became a toady for the GOP and Fox News. The pace is a little fast compared to the recorded version of “Someday?” but at least it is actually a live performance and Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick is playing bass.
In 1993, I had the good fortune to see Johnette perform live during Concrete Blonde’s (first) farewell tour. Hard to believe they played a small club in Peoria, a town that would do anything to have the dead members of Lynyrd Skynyrd rise from the grave and perform. Harsh? I’m from the Midwest, the cradle of the Classic Rock format and many residents hate almost everything new after 1979. In some remote areas, That 70s Show and Dazed n’ Confused are documentaries, not fiction. Despite playing in an odd location, the attendance was actually good because college students poured in from nearby towns. It was just the three of them; Johnette singing and playing bass, James on guitar and Paul Thompson on drums (also a former member of Roxy Music). I can’t remember what they opened with but as soon as Johnette hit the stage, there was a drunken asshole pushing and shoving his way to the front row…and he was behind me so he got at least a few elbows in the ribs. He wouldn’t take the hint. His idiocy continued, ruining their performance of “Bloodletting” for everyone within 30 feet of the stage. What little I saw was cool. The venue’s lights were turned off so the stage’s blacklights could show the special make up the band was wearing (something Red Hot Chili Peppers have done on one video). By the third number, “When You Smile,” Johnette saw what was happening and stopped the show to confront the obnoxious jerk. She told him to cut it out because what he considered to be fun was really intruding on other people’s personal space (amen!) and he undermined her desire to not have security at concerts. As if on cue, the boozehound shouted, “I love you!” and Johnette flipped him the bird. Realizing he just had been btich-slapped, he put on his glasses, sobered up and behaved himself for the remainder. I know I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the set, especially their cover of “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”
Three years later, Sonia and I saw her again as the touring singer of The Heads (aka the Talking Heads minus David Byrne) at Liberty Lunch. It was pretty interesting to hear some old standards with female vocals: “Life During Wartime” and “Memories Can’t Wait” were the only ones I remember. Austin was the second stop of the tour so she still didn’t know all the lyrics and had no trouble getting audience members to hold up the “answers.” To her credit, Johnette had all the new material down pat: the ones originally sung by Michael Hutchence, Maria McKee and Deborah Harry. On a side note, check out the 1996 album No Talking, Just Head which is an impressive compilation of Chris, Tina and Jerry performing 12 tracks with a different singer/songwriter on each one.
After Concrete Blonde in 1993, Johnette’s solo career isn’t terribly consistent. She did a solo track for tribute or cause CDs (If I were a Carpenter and Spirit of ’73 respectively). She formed a new band called Pretty & Twisted in 1995 with former Wall of Voodoo guitarist Marc Moreland. They made one solid album containing the singles “Ride” and “Dear Marlon Brando,” yet I would be one of the first to admit that Pretty & Twist is indiscernable to Concrete Blonde, both a good and bad thing. It remained a thousand times better than her partnership in Vowel Movement with Holly Vincent; if you can’t stand Primus, Ween or Frank Zappa’s experimental crap, trust me , they did worse. Concrete Blonde’s first reunion was an uneventful fusion of Latin music with the LA band Los Illegals, a poor-man’s version of Los Lobos or Cruzados. The 2002 reunion Group Therapy was more inspired and it showed, especially in the single “Roxy,” a dedication to one of their influences, Roxy Music, who was also doing a reunion tour. Johnette and James kept the band together for a live in Brazil record (same year as Rush!) and then the really atrocious Mojave in 2004. I think the band is done for the third time and this dissolution will stick.
Currently, Johnette primarily writes soundtracks or score music for films I’ve yet to see, hear, find or recognize. She finally released Scarred her first proper solo record this year too. How is it? I’m growing to like it and not through attrition. Her strength on covers remains; if she could make Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows” decent, making Lou Reed’s “For All Tomorrow’s Parties” practically her own song was easy. The rest…it’s no Walking in London but it won’t be forgettable. To me, Scarred is similar to corresponding with an ex-girlfriend from say 15 years ago, it’s nice to be friends and communicating by e-mail again. Meaning Scarred is decent yet all the elements which made me really love Johnette’s past work just aren’t there anymore and probably never will be for numerous reasons. Maybe she’ll recapture it next time. I’m also grateful Somara isn’t the jealous kind when I use a metaphor or simile or whatever the correct term is.
Sorry if this was long. I had been sick and didn’t post for several days. I think Johnette deserved this much mention because Italian-American (music) performers are uncommon after the Sixties. Wikipedia stretches it but to me personally, there’s her, Pat DiNizio, Gwen Stefani, Tom Morello, Dean Ween (nee Michael Melchiondo), Warren Cuccurullo and Weird Al Yankovic. They counter the damage Madonna has done and didn’t change their last names unlike their predecessors Connie Francis, Johnny Rivers, Frankie Valli and Jon Bon Jovi.
