Pretty Much the whole Black Hills Music scene, past and present, that I miss a little more every day...
Like guys I played with: "Twelve String" Andy - Formerly of Patient 957 & Slappy is Jebus
Mike Reardon - Formerly of Mike & Doug
JB Andy - Formerly of Patient 957
The Other Not Andy - Formerly of Patient 957
...and the rest... Shawn Michael Bitz (the best songwriter most of the world has never heard of) & Abby Someone
Willy Grigg (who I desperately want to sound like)
Amanda Conway (I'd ask her to be a "friend," but I'm over 40 and that would seem kinda creepy...
Andrea Potts (thanks for being nice to 3 guys who had no idea what they were doing...)
Joe Bucholz (a fine songwriter, but really, thanks for keeping the whole P957 thing alive. I'm so glad that "Bitch" still lives...)
Steve Thorpe (gave me my first chance to play one Thursday evening in Spearfish, asked me to come back, and always said the nicest things to me. Plus he's a better songwriter and harp player than I could ever hope to be...)
Sounds Like
A guy with absolutely no training of any kind, but who makes up for it by having no natural ability
Formerly of Patient 957 and Slappy is Jebus, "Blind Orange" Julius (or BOJ) considers himself a harmonica player first, then a songwriter, then a singer and when his hand is forced, a guitar player.
BOJ writes what he knows, a long string of bad relationships flavoring his songwriting efforts. He also tends to write songs about cartoon characters and his love of beer, so most of this probably isn't meant to be taken too seriously.
"I started playing while living in Rapid City, South Dakota," BOJ stated in a recent interview, "when I met a couple of guys at an open mic. We formed Patient 957 and had moderate success.
"In 957 we were really just trying to make each other laugh. If the audience got it, that was a bonus."
After the breakup of Patient 957, BOJ and 957 bandmate "Twelve String" Andy (TSA) started playing together as the duo Slappy is Jebus.
"TSA and I did a number of songs together in 957, so we kind of had a built in repertoire. We did some blues stuff and a few of my compositions like 'Two Condoms.' It was always fun playing with a really great guitarist like TSA."
"People would see us play and ask if we had a website. We'd give them the address for The BOJ News Service. It just baffled people. We liked baffling people..."
During the same time, BOJ also duo-ed with Mike Reardon (some of BOJ's graphics adorn the myspace music player for his songs "Pleasure and Joy" and "Flecking").
"Mike is great. I learned so much from him. I feel like I benefited from a really fine musical education."
When you listen to BOJ, he wants you to hear the song, not the sub-standard guitar playing or the crappy voice.
"If I have a strength... that's if I have a strength... it's the ability to make people laugh with my lyrics. I want to make people think, too, but nothing is more satisfying to me than seeing someone grin when I play one of my songs."
Great to hear your tunes posted! I played a house concert @ Lin and Carol's in mid April and of course they asked about you! That was a fun road trip back in the fall of 2005! Your company, driving, and contribution to the music were much appreciated and much missed on this trip! Damn, it's hard driving a straight 15 hours by yourself! Hope to hear from you soon! ~ Mike
