Channeling Jim

This review was a long time coming. I saw Channeling Jim two weeks ago in a crappy bar in Sheepeshead Bay (Night Light Cafe) on the recommendation of a good friend. The bar was crappy, the crowd was thin and the music kicked ass. They played pop covers with their own sick twist. They thrillingly butchered Culture Club's Karma Chameleon in rap, the Go-Go's We Got the Beat with the words changed to "We've Got the Weed", and Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline with a hard beat.

Let me start by saying this band is pretty good. I liked them. The singer is hilarious, the bassist is good, the keyboardist is fun and the guitarist is mysterious. But I'll get to all that later. First I need to talk about the drummer, Jerry.

I seriously considered changing this into the Jerry Worship Page. I've only considered that one other time, and that was for Exit Hero's lead guitarist Tommy Lagana (I'm still considering it). This boy rocked! I have rarely seen a musician, especially a local drummer, get into the music like he did. His beat tended to override the other members, and usually that would annoy me of any musician, but in this case I didn't care. I just wanted to watch him play all night. He banged on the drums with all his strength and energy and occasionally strayed off onto his own little fast, hard, wild solo's. His skill was further pointed out to me by my roommate (an x-drummer) who said that he was playing double bass and some other stuff that I didn't really care about other than I wanted to keep hearing him play.

Not only does he play with great skill and enthusiasm, but he also sang backup vocals. His voice is low and sweet and I would love to hear him sing just one song by himself. He really gets into the singing too. His face gets all scrunched up and he cringes his eyes and sings his heart into the mic leaning from behind and over him. On top of all that, the singer, being funny, had him start one one (instead of three - get it?). Not only was he fucking great, but he obviously enjoyed himself; like I've said before, that makes a helluva difference.

The singer was hysterically funny. I don't know who's idea it was to do Sweet Caroline with orgasms in the middle, but it was him that delivered it and I laughed my arse off. Let me explain that orgasm bit: In the part where Neil Diamond sings "good times never felt so good", the band swings into a heavy beat and Steve belts "so good, so good" and makes orgasm noises. They then slowed the song down to how Diamond intended it to be played, but only until the next time that line came up again. Wow! How creative and entertaining. The singer was also making cracks throughout the show (like having the drummer start on one) that were great one-liners, but really, you'd have to be there to enjoy.

More importantly, the singer has a good voice. Here's a 'Jeer within a Cheer': his voice is good because he mimics the original artist almost exactly when he's not twisting the song his way. Cheer: It's good because he has a wide range and can sing an incredibly wide variety of different types of songs. Jeer: It's not so good because I couldn't hear a distinct 'Steve' sound until he sang his own versions of certain songs. Cheer again: When he sang his own versions, his voice was strong and smooth. Again, the singer also got into his music: squeezing the microphone stand tightly, eyes closed and veins popping out, jumping aroung on the instrumental parts.

The other members were decent. I really couldn't see the keyboardist (waaa!) and the guitarist kind of hid in a corner. I enjoyed the bassist more than the guitarist - he got into the music more and played with a bit more flair. Other than that, the entire band enjoyed what they were doing, had fun, and sounded good doing it.

Jay:	Keyboards. He's new. He definitely adds an extra dimension to the music.
Steve:	Lead singer. He's a comedian. Very cute. The girls would swoon (if they play some place with an audience). Also, very in love with his fiance...watch him watch her.
Jerry:	Drummer. Goddam best drummer I've seen yet. I close my eyes, open my ears, move my feet, and I think I'm in love.
Vinnie:	Bassist. Hey, boys, get this guy his own mic, eh? The poor thing had to share with Steve - no fair!
Stone:	Guitarist. Hides in a corner. Looks at the wall.

Channeling Jim tip of the month: Listen for their rendition of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline.

Response from band: Jerry from Channeling Jim responded to this review. Here's what he has to say:

I'd like to thank you for such a great review. A couple of things though.....first, the reason why Stone was such a wallflower was because he was stuck in that corner. (you saw how small the place was) Trust me, when we play the bigger places, he really moves around and acts as wacky as Steve does (honest!). Same thing for Vinnie. He likes to move around, but in that place, if he did, he would be smacking the people sitting right in front of him with his bass!

And one last note.....make sure you come to future shows cause we've always got new stuff that we're working on....it's gonna be a blast. Like we always say, "We're not a band, we're a comedy act!" :)

Anyway, thanks again for the wonderful review.....hope to see you at the next show (tomorrow night :) )

.....I forgot, I actually do sing lead vocals on one song, but we might not have done it that night. My song is usually "What I like" by the Romantics. Know it? That's one of my favorite songs, and I figured since the drummer in that band sings it, why can't I?

Hey while reading the comment that my lovely drummer left I can only respond by saying again Thank you. The review was great. Also a message to all C.J. fans. Jerry is single. Vinny is single. Jay is single. and Stone is single. We have alot of new stuff that we break out everyweek so make sure you bring your Michael Hutchence posters to join in the fun.

I didnt need to hear I was cute. Im getting a big head. Ego is growing OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!! (kidding) Thanks again and to our fans ......We Love YA!!!!!!!!!!!!