Hurry On Down To Hardee's:
added 3-10-04
at page bottom
Hurry On Down To Hardee's:
added 3-10-04
at page bottom
go directly to Jimbo's music page
Personal: I have to stop right here and preface this whole
list with something about Jimbo Jones. When you look at
the list of bands you will notice that Jimbo is in most of them.
The first time I heard Jimbo singing I was at Lee High school and I think he was at Goodwyn Jr. High. I can't remember how we were introduced but I knew immediately that he was more naturally talented than just about anybody I had seen in person before. He can pick out any song from a recording without much trouble at all and he writes beautiful, different-than-standard songs. One of the things that makes him so valuable is his ability to play any instrument that he is needed to play in any situation. Right now he is singing and playing piano and guitar at Ruddles on Bell Road in Montgomery, where he is underpaid. In bands that we were in together he played B3 Organ, piano, acoustic guitar, and bass guitar as needed. On top of that, he sings any part, high or low, that is needed, and, on original music he will hear the prettiest part that is available and sing it perfectly. What an asset.
The thing that has never stopped
blowing me out of the water is his voice and vocal talent. If Jimbo Jones is singing
background
vocals on a song, then you have the best you can have. I mean to say that I don't think
there is a
better voice with which to sing. There are more famous voices that have made millions
of dollars
but, if Jimbo is singing, there is nothing missing or lacking. If I said this a hundred
different ways,
it wouldn't be enough. When Jimbo is singing with me there is something magical that
happens.
This is evident in every band where he is present on this list. If he was not in a band,
I missed him
terribly.
Check out every version of "Wooden Ships" with different bands or "Another Day In Paradise" with Harmony at the New Kove or any of my original songs at any time. I am convinced that Jimbo's voice is needed for any song I write. In my opinion Jimbo sings as well as the best there is. Have you ever heard him sing songs from before the 60's? He is very, very versatile.
I have developed a "Jimbo Jones For Years" tribute page which has a link farther down on the main page or you can click here - to go straight there.
(added 3-10-04) Don't drive by a Hardee's. If you EVER have an opportunity to go on a road trip with Jimbo Jones, you will be in a hurry when you finally get on the road, because he will still be in the bathroom when you arrive to pick him up and you will be behind schedule. You won't care because he will be in such a good mood that you will be happy just to be alive. If you're worried about something, or want to know about what happened on 'All My Children' or 'The Young and the Restless' yesterday, he will fill you in - with embellishment - and give you sound advice with your problems. He's just that helpful.
Anyway, if you see a sign that advertises a Hardee's - 7 miles ahead, ask Jimbo to look for flaky dry-scalp residue on your shoulder so that he doesn't see the sign. Pay covert attention to the signage so that each subsequent sign can be accompanied by an important mission for him (like looking on the floorboard for a lost empty baggie that the police might find). If he should see the signage anyway, because he seems to be psychic concerning such advertising, expect a high-pitched low-volume double-lip vibration that resembles a mating call from a 70 lb. mockingbird. He will have begun his passive-aggressive and dedicated lobbying activity to achieve possession of an order for 2 cheeseburgers, french fries, and a coke (with one full pack of salt on each burger and one on the fries). It doesn't matter if he has just eaten a full meal at home or sprinkled potato chip crumbs all over the P.A. speaker he is sitting on, Jimbo wants Hardee's. Each following sign will result in an alarm at an increased volume from a bigger bird - it doesn't matter how late you may be running toward your first night of a week long gig in Daytona Beach at a new club you've never played. You will somehow know that all efforts to encourage delayed-gratification will be fruitless. For approximately 1/2 mile preceding the anticipated exit, the pitch and intensity of band-van vibrating Hardee's exit notification alarms will increase so that the only relief will be to veer. If you've had a lack of sleep accompanying a significant hangover which the incessant Hardee's alarms have aggravated to numbness, and stubbornly decide to ignore him completely, Jimbo will immediately forgive you while gazing longingly at the passed-by exit in an effort to catch a glimpse of the coveted fast food restaurant. If you should submit to the childlike, pure-hearted, and sincere actions of Jimbo Jones to affect a visit to a drive-up window, you will witness all the wide-eyed joy and pleasure of a fulfilled Christmas morning. Check the bag for the proper amount of salt or you'll have to go back and get it.
Speaking of salt - one day, while heading to, or coming from, somewhere in Florida (NEWS FLASH or flashback: we were going to New Orleans on I-65), I was driving my 1960 Dodge Econovan down an unidentified interstate with Jim sitting on the 'playlette' (correct spelling - palette, definition - an unidentified thin gray mattress with double-stitched ribbing probably stolen from a county jail by a former drummer and chemically shrunk in a methamphetamine lab to fit the engine cover ), which was on top of the engine compartment, which was between the driver and passenger seats, and another band member was on the right. The rest of the band, including Jabbo, was following in Bill Andersen's van which held all the amps and speakers we couldn't fit in my van - both vans filled floor to ceiling with equipment, humans crammed up front.
All of a sudden, a man in a Cadillac pulls up on our left and begins riding along with us at the same speed we are traveling and he was staring at us. We knew he wasn't a policeman because they don't drive Cadillacs, but we were paranoid anyway, so we tried to look straight and straight ahead. After a minute, Jim covertly looked over, past me, at the man and saw that he seemed to be paying a lot of attention to something in his lap while driving down the road looking at us. Now, I don't know exactly what he was doing, but he was looking at me like he was in love and it made me . . . uncomfortable, so after careful consideration, I swerved toward him so that maybe he would die. I hate to be uncomfortable. He momentarily grabbed the wheel with both hands and slammed his brakes to avoid hitting us but quickly caught back up and he apparently found it exhilarating that we noticed him. I tried speeding up so we could lose him, but my van was a loaded down piece of crap that was no longer capable of acceleration, so he calmly kept pace with us while staring at us and doing something with his non-driving hand that resembled high-speed sewing. We were really mad by then and tried to slow down so he would just go on past us, but he didn't take the hint. He continued sewing while I screamed obscenities out the window and all of a sudden we noticed the guys in the following van flapping their arms and hollering something at us out of their windows. Then it occurred to us that smoke was filling up our van and it must have been billowing out the window because they noticed it before we did while we were distracted by our Cadillac friend who, evidently, was trying to sew an extra button onto the bottom of his shirt with one hand. He seemed to be gaining affection for me but his concentration was broken when I swerved off and back on the road while Jimbo tried to beat out the unseen fire in the smoldering palette on which he had been sitting and smoking something. It was a panicked scene; me trying to keep the overloaded van from rolling, Jimbo bouncing back and forth from the ceiling with 2 inch head clearance, the other guy trying to pull the burning palette from under Jimbo and push it out the window (which was too small for this purpose), the man in the Cadillac doing parallel swerves with one hand while sewing with the other, and the guys in the following van with bugged out eyes watching it all in slow motion not knowing what the hell was going on.
Finally, I rocked to a stop in the grass off of the shoulder of the road, we fell out of the van in a flurry of arms, legs, and smoking mattress, smothered the fire, put it back on top of the engine compartment, and left. No sign of the Cadillac.
P.S. Bill Andersen wrote to correct me about some details as follows;
Just checked your web site and saw the story about Jimbo and Hardee’s. What a hoot. I remember that.
And I’m so glad you told the story about the “flaming palette”, it’s priceless. But as much as I got a kick out of seeing me mentioned in the story, I must point out that it wasn’t me in the passenger seat of your van. I was driving my Ford van, behind you, with Jabbo (and somebody else). So I believe it was somebody else with you and Jimbo. This was mine and Jabbo’s first trip after we joined up with the band, headed to N.O.
I can still see it vividly. We noticed the smoke coming out of the van, then the side doors of your van flew open……more smoke billowed out. At that point, Jabbo and me just looked at each other as if to say “what the ..…”, and then the “flaming palette” goes flying out the door to the side of the road.
My sides hurt all over again from laughing about this. Bill