Unwarranted Self-Promotion (no, not from him)

The Q has spent most of his adult life (and a good deal of his pre and post adult life) making music. Writing songs. Playing in bands, you know the drill. I can see in retrospect that there have been two complementary  tracks - one experimental and outrageous, the other poppy to the hilt. Both reside in the rock, skronk and folky veins. One, Babe the blue OX, happens to include two other Lefferts residents (actually ON Lefferts, as a matter of fact), while the bassist singer Rose lives in Kensington).

After a semi-successful run in the 1990's on Homestead and then RCA records, the Q (then known as Timothy James Thomas - his coming-out as the Q was but a twinkling in the groin) turned back to the straight-up rock and pop stylings of his youth. Then he briefly stopped making music to sober up, returning with a vengeance with music made in basements and crummy bars. The Babe continues, and the flame re-emerges every so often in the forms of nostalgia and melancholy. It must be noted, without boast, that the Q can still play the hell out of his Telecaster. You can fool a Strat, but you can't fool a Tele. If you know what that means, you must play at least a wee bit yourself.

Two super-long career-spanning records of material are now available to be freely streamed and cheaply purchased. And they're in alpha order, because who wants to decide what works and what doesn't? I've never had a clue. I'm stunned to see that I somehow managed to pen more than 100 songs that I actually still want to hear. The rest have been scrapped, but even they remind me of moments and emotions that have since faded into wistful, sometimes painful, memory. But like Poloroids in a shoe box, I can't help but be moved that we humans still have a desire to communicate in ways that language alone fails.

Here they are. Enjoy or scoff. They are now free to roam.

Timothy James Thomas

always an inspiration

Babe the blue OX

always an inspiration