Old music related rumors

This info was supplied to JDR by Madscntst (Cathy) on: 5/14/06 at 04:01 PM

I wanted to mention some rumored appearances and contributions that don't fit under the other headings. I hope this can be a catch-all thread for this :thumb:

First, I was reading a rather dubious (and later claimed untrue) rumor that Johnny was set to record a duet with Smiths and solo rocker Morrissey in around 2000:

Morrissey site thread
And the response debunking it

But in the course of the thread, someone posted this interesting comment:

Morrissey-Depp :not a bad idea!
I`ve seen Johnny play guitar few years ago in Belgrade - it was a promotion of Kusturica`s movie "Arizona Dream"-Johnny was performing with local band "The Partybreakers" (on the same occasion famous directors Jim Jarmush and Emir Kusturica also took part )- he`s good ,really, as the guitar player, but I can`t swear that I heard him sing !
Anyway, it`ll sure be a great publicity for Moz.

jOHnnY <johnny@sezampro.yu>
- Wed, May 10, 2000 at 11:56:20 (PDT) | #64

Doing a little more Googling, I found another mention of this on what appears to be a completely unrelated Film Log site

Thomas Fleming Film Log

The relevant part:

If that's okay, John, I'll be back at the topic about the contemporary American directors in a few days, but now, I'd just like to say that we have almost identical taste about your "neighbor" Jarmusch's films. Yes, "Mystery Train" is one of mine all time-favorites, and, I think I know a great deal of Roberto Benini's lines from "Down By Law" even now, years after the last time I've seen it... I didn't like "Stranger Than Paradise" first time I've watched it, but, after a few more viewings, I've changed my mind quite a bit. I've seen his films from 1990's and I liked "Dead Man" the most. I have yet to see his new movie (I forgot the title, but, it seems that Jim got himself quite a fancy Hollywood crew this time - Bill Murray, Sharon Stone and a few more A-listers). You might find it amusing to hear that Jarmusch and Kusturica are actually very good friends (I remember them playing the guitars at the "PartyBreakers" - a cult Belgrade punk-rock-new vave band from the 1980's, I'm sure Ilija knows who they are - concert during the Belgrade Film Festival in 1992 or so, along with Johnny Depp who also happened to be there).

I couldn't find anything further on the PartyBreakers or when Johnny or Jarmusch may have been at the Belgrade Film Festival- 1992 seems too early. I found out that in 1995, Kusturica was at the Belgrade Film Festival and notoriously spoke out against a political leader while there.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001437/bio

So I am not sure if that could have been the year- I tried searching on this film festival and could not find any information (in English) further back than about 2000. But as it turns out, Kusturica and his son play together in a band called "No Smoking Orchestra"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001437/otherworks

(I don't know about Jarmusch). So this doesn't seem all that far-fetched. If anyone can figure out the year this would have taken place (and the dates of the festival that year- it seems to take place in the fall)- that would be super!! In the meantime, it's just a happy rumor

Cathy

Madscntst added this on 5/14/06 at 04:09 PM

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A separate rumor, that was mentioned in passing on that Morrissey website above, seems to indicate that Johnny once sang with Dinosaur Jr.

Johnny Depp actually did some backing vocals on the Dinosaur Jr E.P "Take a Run at the Sun". In turn, J.Mascis of Dinosaur Jr often plays "The Boy with the Thorn in his Side" at his shows.

But not only doesn't the EP (extended play record) in question make any mention of personnel other than the band members (yeah, I checked ), but the way the quote is worded, I think the poster mistyped. I think (s)he meant to say that if anyone, Morrissey sang with Dinosaur Jr. The Boy With The Thorn In His Side is a Smiths song, and Morrissey wrote most of the songs for The Smiths (I think), so that would be the returned favor. I think they misspoke just because the thread kept mentioning Johnny.

As always, if anyone knows any differently.... I'm always happy to add things to the discography!

Cathy

Posted by JDFan on 5/14/06 at 04:54 PM

Cathy, Jarmusch has long been active in the NY music scene. In the '80's he actually was in a band there (it's hard to recognize him, aside from the trademark scowl, with dark hair, standing in the doorway):







http://jimjarmusch.tripod.com/byzanteens.html



Note this comment about the band's success in Yugoslavia:

This is all tying together too well to not have a grain of truth about the Johnny et al concert!

Added by JDFan on 5/14/06 at 09:27 PM

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Maggy, I didn't know that Jarmusch had a musical background, but I'm not at all surprised. He seems like a Renaissance man Very cool to know. Did you try the "real audio" link on that page? For me, it came up as an .exe file, which a Mac doesn't recognize, and my Real Player wouldn't play it. But I noticed that it seemed to be from Barnes and Noble, so maybe I'll hunt around there and other store/music sites tomorrow. I'm curious!

Cathy