Grace Jones' "Nightclubbing" was, for years, my getting-ready-to-go-out-to-the-clubs music. Getting ready to go out used to be almost as much fun as going out. Featuring Sly and Robbie, from Black Uhuru, this album is ageless. So is Grace.
I had Robyn Hitchcock's "Globe of Frogs" on cassette, way back in the 80s, when I worked in a steak house, cutting meat. I was in the back of the restaurant, in a sealed off, refrigerated room - so I cranked it up. It always makes me think of raw meat. I wish I had told Robin that when I met him. If he has ever written a bad song, I haven't heard it.
When I first heard "Blood and Roses" by the Smithereens, I got so excited I tried to write a "Blood and Roses" style song, myself. I still get excited by that song, and everything else on "Especially for You." (I came up with the idea to do a extended arrangement of "Blood and Roses"/"Suzie Q" with one of the bands I used to play in. It works!)
I have a list in my head of Good Things in the world. The B-52's are on that list, baby. I first heard "Private Idaho" while living in Portsmouth, Va. It was love at first listen. Everyone should own a copy of "Wild Planet."
I had been writing songs since I was a kid, but when I saw Elvis Costello on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" show (also while living in Portsmouth), he inspired me to write what I consider to be my first real song. All I had to work with was my 1966 Fender Mustang - and it was missing 2 strings. (I was too broke to buy strings.) Elvis is one of my heroes. If you don't like "Armed Forces" then we probably can't be friends.
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