Joybuzzer Issue Three Interview

This is an interview with the band on the Forever In Your Face Tour, January, 1993 that appeared in Joybuzzer Issue Three.
Although the zine always got tons of soundbites and firsthand information from the band on various things, strangely, this was the only interview done with the band for the zine. Note: Tommy's Joybuzzer T-Shirt and Tim's Mutiny shirt.

Joybuzzer ID Card

Here's my very own Joybuzzer ID Card. Joybuzzer was the official TMJ
Fanzine/Newsletter. And a very good one at that. To my knowledge there were only thirteen issues produced. I got this ID card sometime in 1994, I'm guessing.

Video Pass: The Bayou, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Finally Tour 9/13/96

This is a video pass for a show that I filmed on TMJ's Finally Tour. Which I'm guessing was required (at least legally or without hassle) to film a performance at The Bayou. The opening band at this particular show was Jesse Taylor Is Dead - a band whose debut album William Wittman produced (at Pie Studios where TMJ also recorded Finally). Coincidentally, Jesse Taylor Is Dead also featured Mike Cronin on bass who was a then-bandmate of mine.

Although TMJ were from NY they never really seemed to enjoy playing there quite so much (especially Jay). This could be because they hated playing at home, or, because their biggest fan-base was in the D.C. area thanks to the amount of airplay the band had received on WHFS-FM from 1989-1993. According to Joybuzzer TMJ were they only band to play the WHFStival twice. Although the program director at the time (onetime WLIR-FM D.J. Bob Waugh) refused to add Finally to the station's playlist - the place was still packed on this night.

I'd seen shows (on VHS, that is) filmed from the balcony at this venue from the Mutiny Tour '92 and the Forever In Your Face Tour '93 - so I did the same. The show was very good and the results were pretty good. In fact, of all my submissions to Tim for the Dante's Disco Inferno home video he chose to use a few things from this performance ("Weak", "Train In Vain", "Let It Be" and "Gramatan").

Wow, three paragraphs dedicated to one sticker. Amazing.

Son Of Sam I Am review RS 554 Spring, 89

Mutiny Review, Alternative Press 9/92

A slightly bitchy Mutiny review from the Alternative Press.

In Perpetuity (1993)

This, according to Joybuzzer, was released to radio on February 9, 1993. Had Giant Records chosen to invest in the music video that the band already shot, would have (at very least) been a minor hit. The Forever In Your Face Tour in 1993 was in support of this single. There was no front or back cover art so this is all you get. I love that it gives the proper pronunciation and definition of "perpetuity" on the CD itself.

Live At The Malibu, Lido Beach, NY 2/29/96

TMJ played a WDRE-FM sponsored free show at The Malibu Night Club on Lido Beach, NY on Leap Day 1996. I hung out at the bar with Tommy before the show for a bit and he bought a few cans of Fosters. I recall him being pretty excited about the show. The headlining band was to Spacehog but they canceled, so TMJ were the default headliners. The show was great and TMJ really rose to the occasion. Of the two-dozen or so times I've seen TMJ I only actually ever got a physical ticket maybe two-times. This was one of them.

The review and photos are from Mixx Magazine Issue #58 Volume #8.

Finally Artwork

I've never seen these anywhere aside from my own collection: The censored CD insert (77035) and the cassette version of the inners. Enjoy!

Mutiny Seventeen Review!!!

Perhaps not worthy of my triple exclamation points, but still funny nonetheless. I think this popped up in the Finally liner notes. Actually Liz, "Stay At Home" sounds like The Cars (or whomever Roy Thomas Baker applied his multi-tracking vocal technique to that week). But yes, we both agree that Tommy Vinton is TMJ's secret weapon.

Cereal Killers more photo stuff

Donna Everywhere (1992)

This was the quintessential TMJ single, which also means it wasn't a tremendous hit but should have been. An absolute power pop masterpiece of the 1990's. The video was actually very good (and directed by Teller of Penn & Teller). I still remember WDRE-FM playing this seemingly non-stop in August of 1992. Ah, the Summer of '92.

Cereal Killers Photo stuff

This is my favorite TMJ Photo. I dunno why. This is the CD longbox (remember them?), the cool photo from the fold in the CD and the cassette (remember them) photo too.
The Cereal Killers poster had an ideal combination of all of these and was/is very nice indeed.

Finally Review from The Bob (mid 1996)

A review from The Bob, one of the few newspapers that always seemed to have Robyn Hitchcock on every cover so I always bought it. Here's a review from there.

The Finally Press Kit

Okay, so I actually did write for a local zine with a few like minded friends called The Inferno. I called Discovery Records publicity department and was sent the press kit for ...finally. Which included two photos, a bio and the advance CD - which had some alternate phone operator ending on "You Will" that changed before the released version (the song about AT&T couldn't use an AT&T operator - oh, the irony!). Well I never ended up reviewing the album for whatever reason. But here's the press kit.

Crush Story (1991)

If there was ever one song that TMJ did that out and out deserved to be a hit, it was "Crush Story". Sure the intro rips off The Clash's "I'm Not Down" but the song itself is every bit TMJ. MTV was very influential at this time and the music video is a bit schizophrenic. The band visuals actually suit the music perfectly, however the video itself simply looks very inexpensive-looking (which surely did not help its cause). Everything else does not suit the music perfectly: the models, the lizards and the old men are all from somewhere else. The intentionally campy feel has nothing to do with the quality of this song. But also surprising was how radio never picked up on an obvious (and easy-to-digest) winner. Even WDRE-FM underplayed this song. A classic. And they even recycled the chords for "Long Haired Guys From England" - how thoughtful!

The Musician's Exchange April, 1989

Too Much Joy: New Faces RS 5/30/91

CBGB's, NY, NY 12/5/94 Shimmy-Disc Kramer benefit show

I saw TMJ at CBGB's the night of the Shimmy-Disc/Kramer benefit show. The venue was pretty empty, Jay was under-the-weather, Bill was still very new in the band and Tim was very loose. It was still a very enjoyable show. They played a few new songs - "Half Life", "A Texas Sunday", "I'm Your Wallet" and a song that bore more than a passing resemblance to The Kings' "Switchin' To Glide" - "Weak". I was able to obtain a soundboard copy of the show from a fan who got my attention as I filmed it. Granted I drank a bit too much, which affected my filming technique, as the band went on later than I'd anticipated.

Regardless, it's still one of my favorite TMJ concert experiences.

The photo of Bill, Tim & Penn Jillette performing the Bongos, Bass, & Bob hit "Clothes Of The Dead" was swiped from Joybuzzer (issue #7) and was taken by Emily Cameron. Pulse! Magazine (top), Good Times Newspaper (middle) and a listing for the show.

Son Of Sam I Am review Playboy 8/89

Cereal Killers Press Release

Joy To The World Spin Magazine 1991

...finally items

Discovery Records sent this to me with a promo Finally T-Shirt.
A positive ...finally review from Pulse! Magazine 6/96
A negative ...finally review from Magnet Magazine 5/96

The Knitting Factory, NY, NY 5/4/07

It had been over ten-years since TMJ played NYC (not counting them as The Good Books). The last time they had played NY was in Spring of 1997 at Coney Island High. They opted to not to play NYC on the Crack Is Back tour that September as The Mekons were playing the night they would've booked a show, so they opted not to play NY and see the Mekons instead(!). Nor did a tour - or show - materialize for Gods & Sods either. So Tommy Vinton's retirement from the NYPD made for a perfect excuse to play again. Although they didn't play personal favorites like "Making Fun Of Buns" nor did they play "Starry Eyes", they did play such rare-items like "Map Like Mine" and lyrically-abundant "My Past Lives". It was a great show indeed.

Here's The Village Voice listing of the show.

Random Adulation from Alias Records

Another press kit for SOSIA from Alias Records.

Finally on sale!

After the release of ...finally, I was almost surprised anytime I would see TMJ mentioned at all - anywhere. Saw this in The Village Voice that March, 1996.

Finally Press

For whatever reason Finally didn't get a lot of major press (perhaps being released on...Discovery?). Spin, Rolling Stone and The New York Times did not review it. Here's some folks who did - at least mention it. Entertainment Weekly (top) and Time Magazine 5/13/96 (bottom).