John Jones Music

On a busy road in Morumbi, near the cemetery where he was buried, this portrait of Brazil’s fallen Grand Prix hero, Ayrton Senna, smiles at the passing traffic. “I am a Brasilian!”

Street art in Sao Paulo - Senna and John Jones

John Jones visiting Ayrton Senna's grave in Morumbi cemetery, Sao Paulo, Brasil

When I was a wee lad in Jamaica, we went to a fabulous Guy Fawkes day bonfire. It must have been 60 feet high!

It looks like a blend between Samhain, All Saints, and All Souls. The masks are from the Celtic Samhain celebration of the harvest. One of my neighbors had a blow up cat with a moving head in the cemetery in his front yard. Why?

21st Century Schizoid Cat

Thanks to the intervention of the Brasilian government in Los Angeles by cell phone, Sau Paulo’s oldest golf club let us through the double security gates for a tour of the facilities!

Tamas Janovitz, one of the club’s six professional’s, was born in Hungary and raised in Germany, where he keeps his P.G.A. membership. In the photo we are standing in front of the spot where a very famous old tree stood for many years. It fell down recently. The club has planted a new one. The Sao Paulo Golf Club was founded by the same British, American and local businessmen who made the Brazilian coffee industry the largest on earth in the early 1900’s. Their golf club is still there.

Tamas Janovitz and John Jones at SPGC in Sao Paulo

I really loved being a part of Duran Duran ‘live’ when we performed for MTV unplugged in 1993. We preceded Nirvana; the band de jour!
Lamya is as fantastic as usual!

“Visiting RCA Studio B in Nashville can be an eerie experience because the place has changed so little since the early 1960s, when the American sound engineer Bill Porter recorded 150 tracks by Elvis Presley, including the Transatlantic chart-toppers “It’s Now or Never”, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”, “Surrender” and “Good Luck Charm” on a then state-of-the-art three-track machine.”

From the London Independent newspaper on recording legend Bill Porter, who died this past July.

Chet Atkins and Bill Porter

A very emotional time was had by all. Especially me. At 3:34, in my red shirt, you can see me playing the Hammond B3. I’m holding the note for Liza at the start. We rehearsed that note!

1:46 is my entrance! I’m on the piano.

November 1993 – Duran Duran – mtv unplugged – Warren was responsible for the great arrangement, and he directed us all through a week of rehearsal in Los Angeles, and then the live show in New York at Sony Studios. Nirvana followed us, and stole our flower set!

Seeing Lamya is really tough.

Oh, what a lovely place this could be. Especially on a Friday when Malcolm might open the secret bar.

Malcolm Atkin and Deana Smart in the manager's office at AIR Studios, London