Tom Tom Club

Tom Tom Club. New York, N.Y.: Sire, 1987. Sound recording.

This Tom Tom Club album is one of my favorites. I love the cover--it was done by the Brooklyn artist, James Rizzi.

Back in the '80s, I worked at Cutler's which is a huge independent record store in New Haven, Connecticut. One day my friend from high school, George Marinatos, came by to say hello. I asked what he was doing in the neighborhood, and he told me that he had stopped by Toad's Place to meet up with Chris Frantz. I didn't believe him. I was like, "you know Chris Frantz the drummer from the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club? I don't believe you. Get me an autograph to prove it."

About 20 minutes later, George returned with Chris's autograph. I was shocked. I took off work early and went over to Toad's to see for myself. The Tom Tom Club was just finishing up their sound-check. When they were done, I walked over to the stage to say hello and introduce myself. Chris Frantz said something like, "Oh, you're George's friend." I said, "You're my favorite band." And he said, "Thank you. That's so nice to hear."

George Marinatos was a really unique kid. He didn't talk much, but everybody loved him. George was good friends with the reggae musician, Ziggy Marley. This was weird because we lived in a small New England town and Ziggy Marley lived in Jamaica. Back in 1988, Chris Frantz and his wife Tina Weymouth had just finished producing Ziggy's platinum-selling album, Conscious Party. This album included the hit single, Tomorrow People.

ps. Visit the official Tom Tom Club site. You will like it!