Top Jimmy
Top Jimmy
Genres: blues, rock, bluesrock, Contemporary Blues, Blues artist
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Erick Hovey
About Top Jimmy
I. Wikipedia Biography Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs were an American rock and rhythm and blues band, that emerged from the Los Angeles punk/roots music scene of the late 1970s and early-mid 1980s. This scene also produced bands such as The Blasters, X, Los Lobos, The Gun Club, The Knitters, and The Plugz. Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs had a residency playing "Blue Mondays" every Monday night at the Cathay de Grande nightclub at the corner of Argyle and Selma in Hollywood, California for three years, and was an important part of the Los Angeles rock scene. Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs concerts often featured guest appearances by such artists as Tom Waits, David Lee Roth, Stevie Ray Vaughan, members of X, The Blasters, The Gun Club, The Circle Jerks, The Plugz, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and many more. D.J. Bonebrake, who appeared on Pigus Drunkus Maximus, was a member of X. The band was saluted in the Van Halen song "Top Jimmy", and mentioned in "The Call of the Wreckin' Ball," on the The Knitters album, Poor Little Critter on the Road and the X album, Live at the Whisky a Go-Go. Live, Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs usually consisted of Top Jimmy (James Paul Koncek): vocals, Carlos Guitarlos: guitar and vocals, Gil T.: bass and vocals, Dig The Pig: guitar, Joey Morales: drums and either Tom Fabre or Steve Berlin on saxophone. On their only record, Pigus Drunkus Maximus, released in 1987 (Down There Records, distributed by Restless), D.J. Bonebrake and Tony Morales contributed drum parts, while Gene Taylor added piano. Top Jimmy got his nickname because he at one point worked at a fast-food stand called "Top Taco", located across the street from the A&M Records studios in Hollywood. At some point, he got a job working as a roadie for X. At the end of a soundcheck, he sang a version of the Doors "Roadhouse Blues", which garnered the attention of the band and Doors member Ray Manzarek, and led to Top Jimmy performing an encore version of the song with X and Manzarek, during a May 1980 X show at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. Koncek died in 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada from liver failure. Discography Pigus Drunkus Maximus (1987) - Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs (only actual TJ & Rhythm Pigs release) Long Distance Call (1994) - Top Jimmy Lineup The Good Times Are Killing Me (1996) - Top Jimmy solo II. AllMusic Artist Biography by Greg Prato One of the more interesting cult rock figures of the '80s was blues-rock singer Top Jimmy. Although he earned accolades from such renowned outfits as X and Van Halen, Jimmy's popularity never spread outside of Los Angeles, making him something of a local legend. Born James Koncek during 1954 in Louisville, KY, Jimmy grew up in Southern California before eventually relocating to Hollywood to launch a music career. It was during the late '70s that Jimmy began to make a name for himself with his hot blues style, as he became aligned with the area's burgeoning punk scene (he'd been longtime friends with X guitarist Billy Zoom). Jimmy's popularity with punks also quickly grew when he would sneak free burritos to penniless musicians from his taco stand, Top Taco on La Brea. He also quickly developed a reputation for his hard-living lifestyle, which spilled over into his band, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, who made it a point to drink as much as possible during performances. Despite the alcohol abuse, Jimmy was still able to build a sizeable regional following during the late '70s/early '80s, but unfortunately, he was never able to issue a recording during this era. 1984 The group became one of L.A.'s must-see live acts, as they mixed originals with covers of Jimi Hendrix, Merle Haggard, Bob Dylan, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf, while such distinguished guests as Tom Waits, David Lee Roth, Maria McKee, and his pals from X and the Blasters would join the group on-stage. Jimmy's name was introduced to rock fans worldwide when Van Halen recorded a tribute to the performer on their mega-hit 1984 album (the appropriately titled song "Top Jimmy"), which led to the release of the Rhythm Pigs' debut recording, Pigus Drunkus Maximus, in 1987. Shortly after the album's release, however, the group split up, as Jimmy relocated to Las Vegas to try and clean up his act. Not much was heard from the singer during this time, as his only appearances on record consisted of brief spots on compilation albums (1989's Only 39,999,999 Behind Thriller and 1990's L.A. Ya Ya). Jimmy's health continued to deteriorate throughout the '90s, a decade that saw the cult icon manage to issue a sophomore recording, The Good Times Are Killing Me, in 1998. The album's title proved to be sadly prophetic for Jimmy, as he died from liver failure in Las Vegas on May 17, 2001, at the age of 46.
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