Well John, thanks for that rather strange and touching experience, which carried me back to a time when we were largely happy if permanently pissed. It says much for our dedication to our art that we sound so pleased to be drinking Heineken. But who the hell is that posh bloke Eider and where did he get that accent? Also you have made me catch a few bars of some tracks I've been assiduously avoiding for the last 30 years or so. But thanks all the same for the memory and indeed the Heineken.

Another rainy night in Maryland…

The second band to be interviewed by Background Noise Productions back in the mid 80's was The Jazz Butcher; specifically Pat Fish and Max Eider. Mad genius' both, and interestingly, part of the cosmic cat's cradle linking me to another mad genius who's as brilliant with pen and ink as they are with guitars. Eclectic, eccentric, acoustic, electric. The Jazz Butcher never really got their due, but I've had the good fortune of seeing them twice—and both times they were brilliant. The first concert, at the old 9:30 Club, followed a somewhat debauched, Heineken case-long interview in the Background Noise P Street Studios and, if memory serves me right, we ended up in a no-name Chinese restaurant for hours after the show. The second time, was at a much smaller venue in Arlington. Older, wiser, more sophisticated(?) Pat was greeting patrons at the door as if he was welcoming them into his house.

I wish the Jazz Butcher had cracked it back in the day when they were riding high on that wave of college radio popularity… but I suppose if they had… they wouldn't be one of my favorite bands. The Happy Medium Song of the Day is “Rain.”

C'mon, it's April. Get over it — or as Pat would say… “pass us another Heineken, mate.”

Credit: ;;