Jessup, a congenial, self-deprecating host and an all-around nice guy, seems undaunted by the recent changes. Likening his show's current state to a child in surgery rather than a body six feet under, Jessup remains optimistic that the show will return -- either on another cable-access channel or on commercial TV. "I don't consider this the end at all," says the perpetually wisecracking Jessup, a self-described "low-rent contractor" and four-year TV vet who has also hosted programs such as Cooking for the Babes and What's Your Opinion? "I'll use this break to figure out where I'll be happening next. You never know what the crystal ball will show, but I know I'll be in TV somewhere."
Since it began airing in 1994, The Danny Jessup Show has provided countless South Florida bands an outlet for TV exposure. Among the groups and artists who've performed on the show: Diane Ward, Snatch the Pebble, Mr. Tasty and the Breadhealers, Brian Franklin, I Don't Know, the Holy Terrors, Rat Bastard, and Magda Hiller (who played on Jessup's first program).
"I'm not a music guy at all," Jessup proclaims. "I can't carry a tune and I don't know anything about music notes, but I'm a huge fan. I've always been struck by how good so much local live music is, and I've always tried to have as many different types of music on the show as I could. Whether it was someone with a new CD out or a bunch of high-schoolers, I never had any real requirements."
Wherever his show winds up, Jessup will carry that philosophy with him, as well as his sharp, sly humor and off-the-cuff production values (both practical and aesthetic). "When this first started, I didn't know what I was doing," Jessup admits. "Now, I know that I don't know what I'm doing. This isn't ever going to be perfect, but I'm optimistic it will return. I'm thinking TV every waking hour of every day."
Lounge Act is now a band. Following the masterful debut Enjoy the Cancer, recorded almost single-handedly by Mike Boudet but issued under the name Lounge Act, Boudet has turned the venture into a real-life, flesh-and-blood group. The trio -- guitarist/vocalist Boudet, bassist Orlando Rey, and drummer Oscar Guardado -- will debut Friday, September 27, at Rose's Bar & Music Lounge (754 Washington Ave., Miami Beach) with opening acts Orgasmic Bliss and Y. Lounge Act will also trek up north to Orlando for an October 19 show at the Go Lounge.
"We've been practicing for about three or four months now," says Boudet, adding that the threesome has worked up six new songs in addition to most of the cuts featured on Cancer. "They're more stripped down," he says of the older songs. "They've also evolved a lot. I think I've made them into better songs. You play them a few times and realize that a different part might sound more interesting here, or that maybe this bridge could be edited down. It comes with getting better at writing songs."
In addition to performing with Rey and Guardado, Boudet has been writing songs and assembling samples for the followup to Cancer, an ornately arranged blast of pop venom and post-punk vitriol that chronicled the aftermath of a failed romance. He's also tied up with the scheduled move of Tapeworm, the studio he co-owns and -manages that's moving to the former site of Who Brought the Dog studio in North Miami.
"I'm still thinking about the whole direction of it," Boudet says of the next record, which he estimates will be ready sometime next January. "I think it will be better than the last one, because now I have a clearer picture of what I want to do. The newer songs are really good -- they're better written and better structured than the other ones." Those new songs don't have titles just yet -- he doesn't name them until they're finished -- but he has a working title for the next disc: Introvert. "It's something I heard a lot as a kid," he says.
Churchill's Hideaway this weekend commemorates its 50th anniversary as a drinking establishment -- they've had live music for only about the last eighteen or so years -- with a ten-band roster spread out over two nights. Featured acts will include some of the surviving groups included on the pair of Churchill's-theme compilations issued in 1993 on Esync (Sun Brewed Action Music and the wonderfully titled Music Generated by Geographical Seclusion and Beer).
The lineup for Friday: I Don't Know, Kreamy 'Lectric Santa, the Holy Terrors, Boise & Moss, and the Wahoos; the next night (that would be Saturday, for the intellectually impaired): Charlie Pickett (featuring Walter Czachowski, ex-Chant), the Goods, Load, Quit, and Killing Season.
Churchill's is located at 5501 NE Second Ave.; phone number is 757-1807.
Surprise of the Week. Last week actually, when Nil Lara's "Fighting for My Love" came booming from the TV soundtrack of Melrose Place during the episode that aired September 16.
Um, not that I was actually watching it. Don't be silly.
-- By John Floyd