<<  -- 4 --  D C Ruiz    FAIR GAME?

Where did you perform? Did you play outside New York at all?

No, only in the city. Given the size of the group, most clubs could not accommodate us. Concert halls were out of the question, so we ended up giving concerts mostly in public schools. We did have an extended gig once a week at an after-hours club called Save the Robots. We used half the group and added a dance beat most of the time, playing from 2am to about 6am. That lasted about three months. We were sounding at our best. Jimbo stopped drinking; everyone was feeling good. Towards the end celebrities were stopping in. One night, Tony Clifton, famous New York Talent Agent, heard us and offered to be our manager. Jimbo thought this was some kind of big break; that we were going to be famous and be on Letterman or something, even though none of us ever heard of Tony Clifton. Well, three days later Clifton was hit by a taxicab and died. We also lost the gig at this time and Jimbo started drinking again.

What led to the break up of the group?

A week later, lawyers for the corporation that own the trademark BOZO sent Jimbo a 'cease and desist' letter. They threatened us with a lawsuit if we continued to use the name Bozo. Imagine, a relative can't even use the name. This was just too much for Jimbo. Due to stress and other personal problems, he checked himself into an institution and The Bastard Children of Bozo dissolved.

Were you still painting at this time?

Yes. After the Bastards broke up two years ago, I decided to move to New Jersey. I still had my studio for a year after that, but I was concentrating totally on music. It was during this time that I formed the primeTime sublime Community Orchestra.

How did you come up with the name the primeTime sublime Community Orchestra?

It is derived from the title of one of my large paintings, Why Something of the prime-time sublime?

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