Crib Notes

Date Line New York City 6:08 p.m. Road Journals #6 High Jinks of Vincent, “The Wrap Up.”

As I look out my window I can see the last remnants of the sunset behind the twinkling lights of the office buildings in Jersey. The Hudson River is a dark molten blue and the Empire State Building is lit up all in red as my boys are speeding due south to the safety and comforts of their loved ones in their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. I miss them already by golly, I have said it once and I will say it again, I have come to love those boys because they are the best bunch of fellas I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Let’s pick up our story where we left off, as we were barreling down the road toward Montreal. It was cold as a witch’s tit and that ain’t no lie. We were pretty well hungover from a night of boozing and schmoozing at Mark’s place in Toronto. Once again it would be an all-day hellish drive but by now we were used to it. We had become true road dawgs and as any good road dawg will tell you, there is nothing finer than gas fumes, coffee and road dirt. We pulled into Montreal and preceded to hit the Jameson with a vengeance. All day I was saying how good that first shot was gonna be, and it was. The bartenders were a pair of hot tattooed babes and we seemed to put some pep in their step. The Il Motore was new to having concerts and they were jazzed that we were there. The club looked cool and the opening band was from Ottawa and they seemed like a nice bunch of lads.

After some tasty pizza and more shots the place began to fill up to capacity, it was gonna be a rocking good night. Oliver the promoter was a stand-up guy and he treated us real nice. Soon it was time for the Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins road show to begin. By now we were a well oiled machine and both bands took the stage and ate it up alive. Every time I watch Jesse and the boys play I like them more. They are a kick ass rock n’ roll band with great songs and Jesse is just one of the nicest guys to ever front a band. I love it when he shakes his head like the Beatles and gives it his all. I am so proud to be working with him. Our set has become like greased lightening and we just plow through it non stop until the crowd is whipped up into an ecstasy of pure pop delight as they go nuts to “Walking Out on Love,” our final number. After hanging out and chatting with the fans it was time to once again load our gear out into the sub zero weather.

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Dateline Boston Feb. 6, 9:17 a.m. Joe of the Tampoffs lovely posh townhouse.

The boys are all right here next to me asleep in the living room. Adrian and Jesse are on couches and Dave and Warren are on the floor. As I look at them I have to say its official. I love these guys! They are the best group of fellas I have ever worked with. We have been on the road now for some 12 days. We have driven enormous amounts of miles and have rocked and rolled all the way from Atlanta through Canada and now down to Boston, and in all that time not one cross word has passed from anyone’s lips. This is one of the best tours I have ever been on and I will be very sad when it is over.

Let’s get in the rock n’ roll time machine and go back to Pittsburgh where we left off. We left the Get Hip headquarters and made tracks for Baltimore, or as Adrian would put it, B’More. It was business as usual on the Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins Beat road show, which meant we would drive all day and get to town just in time for sound check. Today I have some time so let me give you a bird’s eye view of what it’s really like on this tour. First order of business is to have at least two or three shots of Jameson’s good ol’ Irish Whiskey — the official drink of choice for the GJPCB road show. Then we start a mule chain and get all the gear into the club. This has been no easy feat in the mostly sub-zero weather we have been in. Then we sound check, have more whiskey and get some grub.

In B’more we had Chinese for the first time on this tour and it was good. More Jameson’s and more beer. By this time I am pretty well lit and while Adrian sets up the merch table, I find someplace to nod out and sober up. I am right as rain once Gentleman Jesse hits the stage, and I usually stay sober for the rest of the night while the rest of the band proceeds to get drunk. This works out great because at the end of the night I am in full possession of my faculties to get paid, load out and do whatever else is necessary. In B’more we had a good turn out for a Monday night and we rocked the house as usual. The band — at this point that’s what we are, one big band — has melded into one orgasmic rock n’ roll experience that starts with Gentleman Jesse and his Men and fuses into the Paul Collins Beat, but it is hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. Anyway the point is we kicked ass as usual and the crowd loved it.

Tonight as I started the Jameson’s ritual the bartender was an extremely cute young babe and the first thing she told me was that “Do You Wanna Love Me” — a song that I had written back when I was fresh outta the Nerves and that has never been released except for on a CD that came out with the power pop book, Shake Some Action — was her favorite song and were we gonna play it? I said “Yeah no problem.” I showed it to the band during sound check and we worked it up on the spot and now it is one of the highlights of our set. Like I said, these guys really kick ass! Soon it was time to load out again and hit the road. We had unanimously decided that since we had to drive eight-and-a-half hours to get to Toronto we would skip staying in B’more and just head out and put some miles under our belt and find some hotel on the road to get a few hours sleep before continuing on to T.O.

About two hours down the road I spotted a Days Inn and said lets go for it. As we were driving toward it we saw a Super 8, which is when Warren said that all hotel rooms where the same some just cost more then others. I said I wasn’t sure about that, but since everyone thought the Super 8 would be cheaper and just as good we pulled in, checked in and hit the hay. We will get back to this one little point of hotel-ology.

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Date line February 4th, 10:25 a.m. in a luxury high rise some where in downtown Toronto.

We rocked the house once again. It was a Tuesday night in Toronto at Sneaky Dee’s, but right now let’s get in our time machine and go back to Cleveland. We pulled out of Erin’s very cool rock n’ roll house and headed for Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers and Get Hip Records. It was a short drive for a change. We didn’t get lost and the weather was good. What more could the Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins Beat road show ask for? Not much, maybe a few beers and a steak sandwich. We had been forewarned that today was going to be madness because of Superbowl Sunday but we were not worried. We were road dogs and nothing was gonna fuck us up now.

We got to Dan the promoter’s house and chilled out while some chick who was the girlfriend of one of the roommates screamed her head off at every play the Steelers made. Soon it was time to head over to Belevedere’s and get ready for one more night of rock n’ roll. The place was pretty cool, one big open area with lounge chairs and pool tables kinda like a big rec room. We hung out and waited for the game to end and downed whiskeys and beer. The game was a close call and the place went ballistic when the Steelers pulled it out of the bag at the last minute. Then the whole town exploded into mayhem, it wasn’t long before the streets where filled with rabid cops with batons getting ready to smash in the heads of the exuberant fans — just another Superbowl Sunday in Pittsburgh.

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Call it the home field advantage, but ex-Nerves drummer Paul Collins’ show at the Earl Saturday night was fantastic to say the least. Not to say that his last show at the Earl back in August wasn’t a good one, but this grand unveiling of the line-up of the Beat, featuring Jesse Smith (bass), Dave Rahn (drums) and Warren Bailey (guitar), wielded a much stronger dose of chemistry than what the prior Beat brought last time around. If ever there was a time to catch Paul Collins, it was Saturday night.

It’s interesting to note that at the same time Paul Collins’ Beat was tearing it up at the Earl, British Ska band the English Beat was playing across town at the Loft, which has to have set some sort of historical precedent. In case you aren’t familiar with the story, the English Beat has to alter their name in the states because Mr. Collins already had the name for his far superior power pop outfit. Photographer Perry Julien shot some photos at the other Beat show .

(Photos by Chad Radford)

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For today’s Roll Call we call out Paul Collins of the Beat.

Who are you?
Paul Collins, founding member of The Nerves and The Beat, proud participant of the DIY movement in the late seventies in America… Proud father and eternal rock n roller.

Describe yourself in three words.
Smart, tough, cute.

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
John Lennon, Chuck Berry, Kieth Moon, Elvis, Beethoven, Jesus Christ.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Hitler, Bush, Nixon, Reagen and Mussolini.

What song do you wish you had written?
“Imagine,” “Yesterday,” “Nadine,” “Louie, Louie.”

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Presley.

LP, CD or MP3?
MP3.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
AssBook.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
The Jonahs Brothers.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Sophia Loren or Jane Fonda when she was doing Barbarella!

The Paul Collins Beat plays the Earl on Sat., Jan. 24th with Gentleman Jesse and Poison Arrows. $10. 9 p.m. 488 Flat Shoals Rd. 404-522-3950.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Collins).

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Paul Collins cut his teeth during a strange time in American music.

When his band, the Los Angeles power-pop trio the Nerves, released its one and only four-song 7-inch in 1976, the radio waves were dominated by Peter Frampton types riffing on 20-minute guitar solos. The hippies had come and gone and punk rock was still a few years down the road. No one knew what to make of three guys driving to gigs in a station wagon, wearing suits with skinny ties and playing three-minute pop songs.

“People thought we were from another planet,” Collins laughs. “We got kicked out of every music store in L.A. and San Francisco because people thought we were jerks and that we weren’t playing real music.”

Along with his bandmates Jack Lee and Peter Case, Collins’ one near brush with fame happened when Blondie scored a hit with a cover of the Nerves’ song “Don’t Leave Me Hanging on the Telephone” in ‘78. But to this day when Collins performs the song, people approach him after the show and say ‘Hey man, great Blondie cover.’

Since then the group has existed as little more than a footnote in the annals of pop history, but its influence on indie music culture is incalculable.

Read the rest of the story here.

The Paul Collins Beat plays The Earl tonight w/ Gentleman Jesse and Beat Beat Beat. $10-$12. 9 p.m. 488 Flat Shoals Road. 404-522-3950.

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