English Beat fans undoubtedly recognize the inner sleeve of their debut album “I Just Can’t Stop It,” adapted for our cover purposes with this last issue of 1980. We figured it was okay, since they told us we could do it when we interviewed them the preceding month.

Neither John nor I were especially political beings in 1980, though that was the first year I was eligible to vote in a Presidential election. But, we were both somewhat bummed out by the nation’s decision between our 9th and 10th issues to put an out-of-work actor into the White House.

John was always fond of appropriating artwork from outside sources, but he rarely hit upon a better piece than this picture taken out of an issue of the Jehovah’s Witness publication. Usually, when they knocked on my door, I’d get pretty pissed off, but you can’t argue with a nice visual like this one.

See, all it took to look like Marilyn Monroe was the right bra, and that’s why St. Louis women in 1981 were able to successfully pull off that image. They all shopped at Edgar Desoto.

Boy, somebody thought it was hilarious to write a fake obituary for Chuck DeClue, some fifteen years before he actually passed away. That was the twisted sense of humor he had, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wrote it himself.

That first visit by Joan Jett to St. Louis was a lot of fun, and it merited a lot of coverage in Jet Lag. (I think she would return four more times in the next two years, and make a few of our covers, too.) I remember hanging out with Jett and her guitar player of the time Eric (later Roscoe) Ambel (later of the Del Lords) in Blueberry Hill, and I remember Bob Chekoudjian’s displeasure at not being old enough to join us. More, I remember that later that night, Jett’s bass player, who at the time was 16 years old, kept turning up the music at an after-show party hosted by Tony Cornejo, who was then arrested for disturbing the peace. My favorite moment in that situation was the fact that Charlie Langrehr came up into Cornejo’s apartment moments before the police, and asked the interesting question, “Hey, Tony, why is there a paddy-wagon parked in front of your place?”

Speaking of Charlie Langrehr, here we have an interview showing just how seriously he took what he was doing at the time. I don’t know for sure, but I think this was the time I met Charlie in his Central West End apartment. At that time, I would have killed to be able to live in one of those high rises, too.

Hey, another great Vintage Vinyl ad. This one features JC and JB.

Kinda cool to see a review of “Remain in Light” written before it became one of the most acknowledged standards of greatness. And, hey, remember back in Jet Lag #2, when we ran photos of Rommie Martinez and Alicia Feinberg backstage at the Dixies. Here’s Alicia writing a review of Jambox, a band which included Tony Patti, who would very soon be playing a strong role in helping Jet Lag improve its layout.

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