Newspaper Page Text
. March 7, 1990 Flagpole. Magazine ' Page 33
A Three Night Gri
Making good music: Guitarist Bill Taft lik
ens it to preparing for a barbecue. You
know, there's got to be a mild, happy confu
sion of lots of pots and pans, sauces bub
bling and churning about, cornbread bak
ing somewhere, a rack of ribs over a spit,
and let’s not neglect the visit to the package
store for liquid refreshments.
The Jody Grind began two years ago this
month as An Evening With The Garbage-
man, philosopher/musician Bill Taft’s open
mike night at the White Dot in Atlanta. When
Bill was introduced to future vocalist Kelly
Hogan Murray at Magaritaville, a discussion
of music led to the discovery of a mutual
appreciation of oldtime jazz and swing.
However, Bill refused to believe that Kelly
was familiar with one Hoagie Carmichael
tune in particular, and made her sing it there
at the nightclub table. No person has ever
been able to listen to her without being
absolutely dumbfounded by her clarion
voice, so it’s not surprising that Bill invited
her to join him on some open mike gigs.
Soon David Ellis was playing bass and by
summertime Walter Brewer was upstage
behind a scaled-down drumset. Ellis
couldn’t stay for long due to other commit
ments, so the group became a trio in contin
ual search of the right bassist. During that
year or so , An Evening With The Garbage-
man played wherever they could, which
didn’t include Atlanta clubs, at least not for
a while. Instead, they were welcomed in the
smaller Athens venues, weddings, art open
ings at Nexxus Gallery and The Mattress
Factory, and the occasional benefit shows.
Since those early days much has sim
mered deliciously for the band. They
dropped the old monniker, which was for
ever being miswritten and misunderstood
(apparently, many believed that they were a
Cramps cover band, so named for the
Cramps’ “Garbageman” tune). They chose
instead an obscure reference to cheating
wives of WWII Gl’s in The Jody Grind. They
finally snagged the perfect bass man in
Robert Hayes when the Coolies broke up.
The former fast and funky Robert reformed
hir Earth, Wind, and Fire Ways by purchas
ing an upright bass and proving his talent on
songs such as “Dat Dere”. No longer do
club managers grimace and shake their
heads whining that they don’t know who to
book The Jody Grind with. The band simply
appeals to too many people for it to matter
whether another group sounds similar
enough. They’ve played with everyone from
the LaBrea Stompers to Ellen James Soci
ety, from Deacon Lunchbox to the Chattah-
oochie Coochie Men.
And now the quartet are playing to ca
pacity crowds at the Point in Atlanta and the
40 Watt here. When they play this weekend
at the Downstairs Cafe, they will be there for
two nights in order to accommodate the
large fan pool they have collected. They’re
allowing themselves some excitement at
realization of the release of their debut
album, due out late March on dB records.
Bill has bought a second-hand trumpet and
is teaching himself how to play it, much to
the chagrin of Waffle House diners in the
Raleigh-Durham-Carrboro, NC area. Kelly
was nursing a hangover of Roxy origins,
while listening to her pit bull Chainsaw snore
and wheeze last Sunday afternoon. As for
Walter and Robert, imagination will simply
have to fill in the blanks of their current
activities.
As for the future (the present, after all, is
already passe), The Jody Grind will be
gracing the Georgia Theatre stage as they
open for the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies on
Thursday the eighth. If anyone is foolish
enough to miss that spectacular double bill,
he could get some good eats (not necessar
ily barbecue) and good tunes at the Down
stairs the ninth and tenth (Friday and Satur
day). And if any person is clever enough to
travel to Austin for SXSW, then he could see
them again at The Tunnel Club on Friday
March 16.
m.m.bumble
IRON
DAWG
GYM
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