This Morning's Bizarro Event.

pconsidine

Too Adorkable for Words
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So, as a sometime music writer, I've been on MySpace for a while. If you can wade through all the drama and "Check me out!" posts, it's still possible to catch onto some really good music.

Since I have no interest in 99% of the people that are on MySpace, I crafted an especially stand-offish profile, being quite honest about what I'm there for, who I care to talk to and how little I'm interested in typical MySpace crap. Naturally, I don't get that many messages.

Except this morning, I was checking in and I saw that I did have a message.

And it was from Jeff Heiskell.

Now, there are probably all of 50 people in the world for whom that name means anything, so I'll 'splain. Jeff Heiskell used to be the lead singer of one of my favorite college bands, the Judybats. Direct descendents of early REM, the Judybats were a goup from Knoxville, Tennessee, that I still consider one of the best things about the late 80's college rock scene - quirky lyrical sense, pleasantly twangy vocals, excellent guitar melodies, and a heat-seeking sense of hook.

Unfortunately for the Judybats, they signed their major label deal about a year before Nirvana came on the scene and completely upended label rosters everywhere. They finished out their four-record deal and then went their separate ways.

Ever since then, the Judybats have been a kind of test case for me. Anyone who has ever heard of them, much less liked them, usually goes right to the head of my "people to hang out with" list.

Given all that, my day certainly started off on the right foot, wouldn't you say? :D
 

benbradley

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Kewl. (Is that the currently accepted spelling, or am I hopelessly outdated?)

Never heard of the Judybats, but I always heard how Athens, Ga. (home of UGA, The World's Biggest Party School), had a happening music scene, even before REM, the B-52's and whoever else from there had hit songs. Wondering how far Knoxville is from Athens musically...

So how did Jeff find your page? Did he ever know you? Do you mention the band on your Myspace page?
 

pconsidine

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I did mention them in my profile, so I can only imagine that's how he found me. Though I'm pretty sure it wasn't in a searchable field.

Happy accident, I guess.
 

Nolita

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You like jangle Chunky? Judybats gave good jangle.
 

pink lily

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Great story. I gotta look up the Judybats now. I have a similar feeling about people who know of similar bands from the early 90's, like Headsoup or Government Cheese.

I have nothing in my MySpace that can be traced back to me.
 

pconsidine

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I originally joined MySpace as part of a job working for a music web site, so I did put my info up. And I have managed to do quite a bit of music networking, so I leave it up. Maybe I should be more paranoid about my online presence, but so far, so good.