bio
Jon's musical career began with punk bands in college, one of which evolved into an experimental pop band called "Paper Dolls". Based in Northampton MA, Paper Dolls played around the northeast from 1979-1982, released a 45 which got regional airplay and opened shows for Talking Heads, Buzzcocks and John Cale. Jon wrote and sang half the material, the rest penned by bandmate Peter Sikowitz. Jon moved to New York in 1982 to pursue a career in advertising. In the late 80s he replaced Lary Lamé as the guitarist in The Jickets, an exercise in irony that was generally painful to listen to, but at times soared to Pere Ubu-ish heights. In the 90s Jon began writing songs again, and in '94 formed Furniture. Shunning the loose guitar strumming of the Grunge era, Furniture had an articulated sound that was driven by complex basslines and frenetic organ. The band performed from 1994-1997, and released an album in 1996 on Cavalcade Records. They played to their largest audience at their last show, opening for the Stranglers at a rare US concert in 1997. In 1998 Jon's attention shifted from playing music to marketing his music-related inventions. Under the name Blackstone Appliances, he produces the popular Blackstone Mosfet Overdrive, a guitar effects pedal. In 2012 Jon surfaced again as a performer, this time backing up singer Dennie Hausen with his "dual-range guitar", on which he plays bass and guitar simultaneously. Together they perform as "Odka".
