415-771-1420
One time, Jerry Lee Lewis, slammed on hooch and waving a .38 magnum, drove his white Lincoln Continental up to the front door of Graceland and demanded to see the King. He didn't get his wish — apparently Elvis refused him entry. That story gives a sense of the craven recklessness that fueled Lewis' music, the same sort of spirit one gets in the music of the Jim Jones Revue, which sounds like Jerry Lee Lewis would have if he'd been around to experience punk rock. Cranking '50s rock 'n' roll up to hideous levels of speed and volume — and spiking it with gleeful ribbons of boogie-woogie piano — the JJR manages to sound completely unhinged and yet inevitably danceable at the same time. That combination made Lewis a legend, and it's earning the JJR uncannily positive — and well-deserved — live reviews. All the members need now are pistols.
415-771-1420
