Jackonuts

OTD 34 years ago Wednesday 12/4/91

We were saddened to learn yesterday of the passing of Jim Kimball. Jim was not only the hard hitting powerhouse drummer that fueled some great bands but one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. We were fortunate to get to know him from the many shows we played with Mule. He and his Mule bandmates had to camp out in Athens for about a week one time and Jim had many great stories, this one was among the best: You may or may not know that Jim's dad was the diving coach at the University of Michigan and for the US Olympic team and his brother Bruce won a silver medal for diving in the Olympics. Jim's dad held, as most colleges do, a diving camp at Michigan and as kids Jim and his brother would help their father out with the camp. At the end of camp and for the grand finale every year Jim's dad would take him and his brother to the top of the 10m platform and somehow light both of them on fire and they would swan dive off the platform and get extinguished by the water. A 10m flaming swan dive! God speed Jim, there will never be another like you.

A day late but this happened 37 years ago yesterday August 12, 1988. Jeff says that Loot ‘N B***y cancelled after the flyer was made and doesn’t remember who may have filled in.

Our friend and former Bar-B-Que Killers drummer Arthur reminds us today would have been Laura’s 60th birthday. Raise one up in remembrance. So who’s got a good Laura story?

IYKYK

With all the hype going on about the recent Black Sabbath "Back to the Beginning" farewell show, we thought we'd weigh in with our own bit of "Sabbathness" and the backstory to our name Jackonuts. After playing a couple of parties as a 4 piece (either named "Chopped Combo" or "Condominium") our singer concluded we would be better off as a 3 piece and he left, so the brainstorming for a new name commenced. With our first club date looming we needed a new name fast, so we sat down after practice one day to hammer one out and the stupid ideas started flowing. After several rounds of no, nah, nope we tentatively settled on "Geezer's Butler" but fearing a copyright infringement lawsuit from Sharon the spitballs kept flying. "Chock Full of Nuts", "Nuts" and other nonsense prompted Brooks to recall the name of a song on Black Sabbath Vol. 4 named "Supernaut" but he mistakenly called it Juggernaut which in turn prompted Jeff to blurt out Jackonuts. That made us crack up hard enough we knew we had it. There are multiple spelling variations but the official spelling is Jackonuts. Supernaut>>Juggernaut>>Jackonuts that's the story. We would later become known around Athens for our "Sabbath Medley".
** Bonus points if anyone can name our first singer.

We're trying to compile a list of bands we had the pleasure of sharing a stage with during our history. From the best of our recollection this list spans from the OG3>>LLC and is by no means complete. We're sure there are some Athens bands we missed. Who did we forget?

We would be remiss to let 2024 slip by without commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of On You. We can't remember the exact month it was released. Little did we know it would be our last. We struggled to come up with a title for the record and thought about having a contest and let one of our fans come up with the title. The prize was a date with Jeff "on you". That made us laugh hard enough that we scrapped the whole idea and saved someone from a lot of awkwardness and some money. The cover artwork and photo were the brainchild of Patrik Keim (RIP), Deonna Mann and Peter Frey.

Because we know all your old schwag is too big for you now, we are pleased to announce that the schwag is back by popular demand and better than ever. More styles and color options. We even have some hats yo!

OTD 30 years ago with the Cows, Mule and Jesus Christ Superfly at Memory Lane in Baltimore. Pretty raucous show for a Sunday night. Robert's mom was there, where were you? Sad to think so many of these places no longer exist, some literally. Second photo is of what is left of the building.