Sitting here in DC, on yet another Biloxi Blues-level hot and humid day, I’m thinking about my hometown of New York. Not sure why…
Oh yeah, that’s why.
(As I write this, one more win to go. I’m too young to remember the last title and yet my fandom stretches back far enough to remember luminaries such as Louis Orr, Rory Sparrow, and Kenny “Sky” Walker. Google them. We deserve this. Let’s go Knicks!)
New York and basketball and music have long intersected, and I’m not just talking about unofficial sixth man Fat Joe.
Wow. There’s old school and then there’s old school.
That’s more like it. You’ve got hoops. You’ve got New York music icons (and Knicks fans) Public Enemy doing the theme song to the 1998 film by New York film icon (and ultimate Knicks fan) Spike Lee.
Which brings me to this week’s subject – Jon Spencer, whose latest album, Songs of Personal Loss and Protest, dropped today.
Spencer is a New York garage-blues punk legend, known mostly for The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion but who has also kept himself busy in projects far and wide (including as the Grammy-nominated producer of Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton’s Death Wish Blues). Got his start in the ‘80s DC underground scene with his first band Pussy Galore. Dig that NY-DC connection.
Is Jon Spencer a Knicks fan like Spike Lee and Chuck D? I honestly have no idea. And it doesn’t matter. Because Jon Spencer is a cool motherfucker. And we’ll always have Baby Driver. Dig those bellbottoms.
