OK, so there's this genius named Jaz McKay, right? And he's on CNN today (dig it) because he's a right wing talk radio show host and he's raising hell because a local (Bakersfield, CA) soldier, a veteran, has a decal on his truck in which he begs God's forgiveness for the sins he committed in the course of his duties in Iraq. They interview the vet too, who says he's proud of serving his country and would do it again if he had to, but simply acknowleges that he was forced to commit acts over there that he construes as sins ... probably murder (manslaughter?), although the cat has enough respect not to put that fine a point on it. Anyhow, this Jaz fella is getting a lot of mileage out of it ... got his fans calling in to decry THIS VETERAN for essentially nothing more than exercising his rights to free speech and freedom of religion.

I checked out Jaz McKay's website because I, like anyone living in Lansing, Michigan in the late 80s/early 90s, remember him not as a right wing blowhard but as a self-consciously "wild" rock/shock jock. See, back then he was imitating Howard Stern, not Rush Limbaugh, and he was quite popular with the kind of folks who listened to morning rush hour radio (not me, although I did catch his show from time to time). He bounced around a few local stations for a while, because he was appropriately caustic on air and had as many foes as fans, and rumor has it (reliable rumor, but rumor nonetheless) that his final comeuppance was when he was caught by management doing crystal meth during his morning show. Fired and unemployable ... but that didn't stop Jaz McKay. He started a public access TV show, again a blatant copy of Stern, in which he held forth on assorted debaucherous topics flanked by a pair of scantily-clad young ladies.

This is where I come in ... a "rock" band that I held down the bottom for back in the gay 90s was asked to appear on a special edition of the Jaz McKay Show in which the topic would be the local Lansing rock scene. Specifically, did Lansing have what it takes to be the new Seattle? I know, I know ... remember, it was a simple-minded time and these were simple folk. We didn't care. My band, The Lemmings, was out to gig wherever we could, especially if it meant we might have a videotaped copy of the performance afterward, so even though we already considered Jaz to be a local joke we certainly weren't above appearing on his homemade talk show. Plus our spiritual leader Mark R. Deming, at that point the music writer for local alternative weekly The Capitol Times, was appearing on the show as well. So what the fuck, right?

A few days before the show, I got a phone call from Jaz McKay, who said he wanted to do a "pre-interview" with me, just to get my general opinions on the local Lansing rock scene. Now, like I said before, I have no proof that Jaz used drugs at this time. However, I have talked to speedfreaks and cokeheads before, and he had all the hallmarks. This guy talked at me for about an hour and a half, and the questions went like this: "So what do you think about the quality of the bands in Lansing? Because what I think is ..." Cue Jaz jabbering on a blue streak for ten minutes while I search desperately for a chance to speak. Next question. "Do you think the Small Planet is the best venue in the city? Because what I think is ..." And so on. Get the picture? I listened, my jaw agape, not believing the luck I had to have a washed-up local celebrity on the phone spewing opinions in the deluded belief that I cared what he thought. It was a gloriously bizarre experience.

The show was retarded. We didn't play that well and the sound was bad, so it's not the best representation of the band (after the show one of the bikini girls was overheard complaining about us -- "I mean, I can handle Metallica, but that was just NOISE!"). Still, I've held on to a videocassette of that episode for years now, and I'm moved this morning to dig it up. These days Jaz McKay openly bashes long-hairs ... fifteen years ago he was one. Check out his website, particularly his rant on the downfall of American culture, which has no shortage of punctuation mistake's and other Errors.

Still, it's nice to know he found work.