About those people that I learned my people skills from who had poor people skills:

One of the first bands I was in was called Bones Jones and the Jones Tones. It was my older brother Josh’s band and I was the bass player. I was fourteen years old and in the eighth grade. The rest of the guys were eleventh graders. The band, featured Oren Bloedow, who grew to be one of my most important musical influences. At the time those guys were raw as can be and treated me like a younger brother, even though I was probably the second best musician in the quintet. I remember once coming in with a harmony on the song “My Avenging Fury”. Peels of laughter ensued... the guys just fell all over themselves.

Anyway, I stole the show the first time we played CBGB’s. It was a nervous gig and we we’re intimidated and playing terrible. Then, Elliot's string broke and he went off the stage to fix it. In a move that would change both Oren’s and my careers Oren grabbed my bass I took his guitar and we did our cover of the Beatles Drive My Car. The crowd was knocked out. I was like Michael Jackson except I could PLAY GUITAR!! Elliot came back and played out of tune the rest of the show.

Needless to say, I was fired at the end of that year. Oren took over on bass. I don’t blame the guys. They were too young for me to expect them to be supportive. They were threatened by my precociousness and I did act like a little brother often.

This was 1981 and bands like XTC, The Gang of Four, and Polyrock were happening. Commercial success was coming to Elvis Costello, The Police, and The Talking Heads. New Wave still had a hard edge. I am indebted to my brother and his friends for their exquisite taste in music.

They changed the band’s style radically from a hard melodic pop sound to a garage-y bug. They picked a new name, Hodge Podge Lodge, and went on to play CBGB’s a number of times in the next two years. They were a great band. They were flippant songwriters and human beings. They did songs called “The Korean March”, “People who Live in Holes”, “The Same Wanda”, and “Jews Have it Tough”. A critic for the Village Voice came and heard them play and called them glib. They were mystified. They were like, “who us”.

They had a language all their own. Kind of a mix of ghetto slang and in-humor. They were blunt. Once I told Oren I enjoyed a show. He looked me dead in the eye, made a circle around his temple and said, "you're crazy". You needed to understand their language and their sense of humor. They were not going to make an effort to explain.

I brought this style of interaction into my relationships with other musicians.
- posted by danvt @ 12:12 PM