Saturday, December 17, 2005

Johnny One Note: December 16th and all is quiet on the home front....

Had a very interesting experience last night.
I was watching the Brad Anderson movie, Next Stop Wonderland on DVD.
Near the end of the movie there is a scene on a crowded train and in that scene I spotted who I thought was the front man for a band I belonged to in Boston in 1993 called Johnny One Note.
I checked the credits and sure enough it was our bands singer, James O'Connell. Even more surprising to me was to see a Johnny One Note song, "Johnny The Bat" listed in the credits (but not appearing in the soundtrack, alas).
Jim is friends with director Brad from way back, evidently.

Johnny One Note started in New York with Jim, Hugh and Rob Speck around 1990 and reformed in Boston with a new guitarist, Ron Kuper (of Cakewalk software fame). Never got to meet Hugh personally, but heard a lot about him from the guys.
There were several bassists, whose names I don't recall, so if any of you guys are reading this, be sure to fill in the missing info! I know one of them was Jim's girlfriend ;-)

J.O.N. recorded an album (on cassette) right before I joined and evidently made songs for Brad Andersons seminal work, "Frankenstein's Planet of Monsters" (also right before I joined).

In 1993 I moved to Boston to go to Berklee and got part time work teaching English at a school where Jim worked. He invited me to come sit in with the band and soon after I became the 5th wheel in Johnny One Note.

I think the addition of sax to the mix really worked well, and Johnny played several local gigs during the year I was in Boston. We also recorded a lot of material on 4 track tapes for a new album, but alas, I have never heard the finished product, although Ron did run me off a rough mix tape one snowy night in January 1994.

I am not sure how long Johnny continued on after I left in 1994, but sadly, I don't think it was too long. I think careers and personal lives took the members in very divergent directions.
Hey...I ended up back in Japan, married with 2 kids!

I think our two biggest claims to fame were: 1. JFK Jr. was fan of ours, and 2. we were 1st runner up in Music Magazine's "Best Amature Band in America" contest.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing to me about Johnny was that it was a true ensemble. The sum of its parts were far greater than any one member. When a group like that comes together, musical magic happens.

Johnny One Note goes down in my memory as the BEST playing, sounding, original, talented and enjoyable band I have ever had the privilege to participate in. I have searched long and far for another Johnny, and am still searching.

I only wish that we could have continued on. All amateur bands dream of making it big; but I am certain that Johnny had the stuff to actually do it, and do it well.

My hat remains forever tipped to you Johnny One Note- the best band I ever played in and the best bunch of guys I ever knew.
What do you think guys, reunion this summer?

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