Jonesy's Jukebox, as Irreverent as Ever, Returns to Daytime Radio

It's a whirlwind of activity around the broadcast studio of 95.5 KLOS FM, as Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and producer Mark Sovel make last-minute preparations for the second episode of Jonesy's Jukebox on the venerable classic-rock radio station.

They get everything situated just as the clock strikes noon, and kick off the show with a ticket giveaway to see reunited '90s shoegaze heroes Ride at the Wiltern. After that, it's free-form FM radio at its finest. Jones cues up an eclectic mix of music, including AC/DC, Peter Green–era Fleetwood Mac, Ronnie James Dio and Sniff 'n' the Tears' lone hit from 1978, "Driver's Seat."

Jones interrupts the music to tell a story about relieving himself on Elvis Presley's grave. Then he welcomes the show's guest, actor-comedian Fred Armisen, whom he's known since the '80s. Armisen takes the opportunity to interview Jones as much as Jones interviews him, getting the guitarist to open up about his childhood and relationships with both his father and stepfather.

It all makes for exceedingly riveting radio, harkening back to the all-too-brief run of Jonesy's Jukebox on its first home, Indie 103.1 FM.

Between Christmas Day 2003 and January 2009, Indie 103 snuck onto L.A.'s airwaves to deliver a vast expanse of alternative music, from then-burgeoning local bands The Airborne Toxic Event, Giant Drag and She Wants Revenge to a deep well of classic alt-rock and proto-punk icons such as Joy Division, New York Dolls and The Stooges.

At the heart of Indie's appeal was weekday lunchtime show Jonesy's Jukebox, which found the former Sex Pistols guitarist hosting two hours of completely off-the-cuff radio, waxing on about his own experiences in the roller-coaster world of rock with an enviable who's who of guests such as Johnny Ramone, Jerry Lee Lewis and fellow ex-Pistol John Lydon.

Jonesy's Jukebox survived the dissolution of Indie 103 in various forms, resurfacing online and for a brief stint on KROQ Sunday nights. But the show now is experiencing its splashiest revival yet, returning to the daytime airwaves via KLOS on Oct. 30.

"I really enjoyed it. It went smooth. I thought I was gonna be rusty, but I fell right back into it," Jones says of the show's KLOS debut. It's scheduled to run every Friday from noon to 2 p.m.

Jones has lived in L.A. since the early 1980s. He followed his initial run with the Sex Pistols by becoming an in-demand session guitarist, working with the likes of Billy Idol, Joan Jett and even Bob Dylan. He's also delved into the world of acting, most recently with a recurring role over the final two seasons of Showtime series Californication.

"It's weird, really, but it fits," he says of his new radio home. "They're so old-school and I'm kind of old-school. I love their classic logo with the rainbow circle."

He's also happy to be back on the daytime airwaves, saying his Sunday night timeslot on KROQ was not a good fit for the show. "I wouldn't say it was a disaster, but no one listens to radio on a Sunday night anymore. Me hands were tied as well. I couldn't really do what I wanted to do. But here, they're letting me pick my songs and do what I do."

The new run also reunites Jones with Sovel, aka "Mr. Shovel," who has worked on Jonesy's Jukebox as producer and Jones' occasional on-air foil since the days of Indie 103.

While the show was Jones' first foray into radio, Sovel's career on the dial goes back to the '80s and his hometown of Detroit. There he worked on the groundbreaking stations WABX and WLBS, which for a time shook up the Motown airwaves with daring post-punk formats unlike anything happening on Detroit radio at the time.

After moving to L.A. and working at a handful of stations around town, Sovel became the founding music director at Indie 103. Currently, he's in his third year as music director at KCSN 88.5 Los Angeles, where he also hosts his own free-form radio show, City of Night.

"It's exciting to be on KLOS. For me, it has such a legendary stature, so to be allowed to go on there and do Jonesy's Jukebox seems like quite an honor," Sovel says. "At the same time, we know a lot of their audience might not be familiar with the show or even Steve Jones, so it will be something new to a lot of people."

Sovel says the on-air chemistry between him and Jones came naturally. "It just sort of happened. Steve would start talking to me on the air and I had no choice but to open up the mic and start talking back, and we had a goofy rapport, much like in real life. It's an interesting chemistry, and I'm happy for the opportunity to go back and work with him again."

Jones is equally sanguine about his connection with Sovel. "We did it for a lot of years. We both know our roles," he says. "I think people who know Jonesy's Jukebox like that me and him are back together. I've got a lot of good response on social media about it."

"The Indie format was an anomaly on commercial radio," Sovel says of the storied station that birthed Jonesy's Jukebox. "The situation as it is now, it's even more rare, which is why it seems shocking that KLOS would allow this show to go on the air there. But to Keith Cunningham's credit, he's had the courage to put it on, and I'm grateful for that."

Cunningham, KLOS' program director, says that a show like Jonesy's Jukebox is essential to keeping terrestrial radio competitive with the onslaught of alternatives, from streaming to subscription services.

Radio is at the point right now where we need to start thinking outside the box and push new boundaries," he explains. "Jonesy's Jukebox was so wildly popular on Indie 103, and many of our listeners grew up listening to The Sex Pistols. He's playing rock music, and he fits the psychographic appeal of this radio station. For me, it was kind of a no-brainer."

For Jones, it's a platform he clearly relishes, spinning tunes that influenced his own musical style ("Playing New York Dolls on KLOS was a real kick for me") and sharing his catalog of stories from a lifetime spent in the rock & roll trenches.

"There's a bottomless pit of great old rock classics that are never even touched. It's exciting for me to turn listeners on to that stuff," Jones says of his ever-changing playlist.

"The whole thing for me is you're doing it live there in the studio, as opposed to podcasts or whatever. I love the fact that I'm on the radio live locally. I guess it's just an old-school thing. The way those '70s DJ would pick their own songs instead of just filling space between a set that's already been laid out and they have no control over. That's what I love, and I'll do it as long as they'll let me."

(Originally published on L.A. Weekly 11/17/2015)

ROLLING WITH BIG BOY PT. 1

“ ‘If you fucking niggers got any problems with us, we’ll be sitting right over there.’ ” Big Boy, DJ of Power 106 FM’s wildly popular Big Boy’s Neighborhood morning show, is in the station’s lounge, recalling words directed his way back in the early ’90s, when he was the Pharcyde’s bodyguard.
The rap group and road crew were on the outskirts of Dayton, Ohio. “It was such a small, rural area that when you called room service in the hotel, they just connected you to Denny’s next door.” So a few of the posse went to the Denny’s, which was where they received the local welcome. “I had never been called ‘nigger’ to my face like that in my life. We couldn’t believe it.” Big Boy shakes his head ruefully. “They were these little dudes too! So my man Seal and I went to tell Suave, the tour manager, what the deal was. We put on our boots and went back to confront them in the parking lot. Man, we beat the shit outta them cats. Then we all ran back to the bus and broke out of the city. We were like spooks in the night, peeking out of the tour-bus windows, flying down the freeway.”

It’s been a scenic drive from Big Boy’s Illinois birthplace to this modest Burbank office building, where a virtual sitcom cast of characters throngs the premises. There’s Big Boy himself; by now, we’re used to seeing the much smaller frame he’s maintained since losing almost 300 pounds. There’s DJ Jeff Garcia, broadcasting the daily “old-school” hip-hop mix at noon with afternoon jock Yesi Ortiz. There’s comely Stacey Stace, beloved by men across L.A. for her bikini-clad pose on a recent Power 106 billboard. And there’s Jason, whom you might know as one of the hosts of Wilmer Valderrama’s oddly fascinating competitive trash-talking reality show, Yo Momma. Jason has just outed Big Boy on the air as the previously uncredited narrative voice of that program, while proudly announcing that its initial ratings were the highest for an MTV series in years, even besting the 2003 premiere of Punk’d, hosted by Valderrama’s fellow That ’70s Show star Ashton Kutcher.

Big Boy just rolls his eyes. “People really watch that mess?” he says, laughing.

Big Boy was born in Chicago; when he was 2, his family relocated to Culver City, where as a teen he deejayed local parties. He made friends, among them fledgling rap outfit the Pharcyde, who would give him his first real taste of life in the music industry.

“Those were some cool cats. They weren’t the dangerous group to be on the road with,” Big Boy remembers of the irreverent rappers, whose first two albums, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde and Labcabincalifornia, are now indie hip-hop classics. “I grew up with no money and never traveled,” he says. “I got my first passport because of the Pharcyde. It’s funny, because when I first got the call to do radio, I almost turned it down out of loyalty to the band. But then I started to realize that my success hinged on their success. They’d have to be eating well for me just to eat. So it made sense to strike out on my own and seize the opportunity. Besides, once they started dissing each other, I got the hell outta there,” he adds, laughing, in reference to the group’s highly publicized fracture. “But it’s mostly good memories with the Pharcyde. Mostly.”

It would be another key friendship — and the pursuit of free food — that would lead Big Boy to his next gig in 1994. “The Baka Boys, who were on the air at Power 106 at the time, were good friends of mine,” he says of the DJ duo, now on the Miami airwaves. “I was never really interested in radio. I listened to it growing up, but it wasn’t a daily part of my life. One Memorial Day, the Baka Boys, who were also known as the ‘Two Fat Mexicans,’ and I had an itinerary of barbecues we were planning to hit over the course of the day. They were plus-sized guys, and I was around 470 pounds at the time. They were like, ‘We have to stop at our boss’s house,’ and I didn’t want to go. I thought it was going to be an uptight white family with a picket fence. We got there, and it was a white family with a picket fence, but they were cool. I got a call about a week later from the owner of the house, Rick Cummings [then the program director of Power 106]. He asked if I ever thought about doing radio, and offered me a spot one night for $35 an hour. At that point, I was so broke I would’ve done KKK radio for some cash!”

Suddenly, we’re interrupted as a large Latino dude sticks his head in to see if Big Boy wants something to eat. He’s toting a cardboard box filled with a diabetic’s nightmare of sugary and salty treats, but the first thing you notice is the script tattooed across his forehead: “I slept with Shaq.”

Fans of Big Boy’s Neighborhood will recognize him as Tattoo, whose initial notoriety began back in 2000, when he had the dubious statement permanently etched just under his hairline to win Lakers playoff tickets. The stunt earned him a regular spot on the show, where his habit of losing on-air bets has earned him further questionable inkage, such as a rendering of Lindsay Lohan’s face over his heart. Today, Tattoo’s just lost a wager with the morning show’s primary pinup girl and voice of estrogen, Luscious Liz, regarding Tupac’s friendship with Tony Danza. Now he’s scheduled for a tattoo of Danza’s face and the line “Who’s the Boss?” on his back. He makes a Burger King run while Big Boy continues to explain his career trajectory.