This week we're joined by Ramona Jan and Nicholas Dembling of NYC synth-punk pioneers The Comateens. For the record of discussion, Ramona chose British singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae's stunningly intimate 2010 release, 'The Sea', and Nick came...
This week we're joined by Ramona Jan and Nicholas Dembling of NYC synth-punk pioneers The Comateens. For the record of discussion, Ramona chose British singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae's stunningly intimate 2010 release, 'The Sea', and Nick came along for the ride...
Songs discussed in this episode: The Blackest Lily (Live in Williamsburg) - Corinne Bailey Rae; Overseas, Danger Zone - The Comateens; Elizabeth's Lover - Dizzy and the Romilars; Mandy - Barry Manilow; Ramona - Ramones; Put Your Records On, Are You Here - Corinne Bailey Rae; Magician (Internally) - Lou Reed; I Am Woman - Helen Reddy; I'd Do It All Again, Feels Like The First Time - Corinne Bailey Rae; I'll Be Seeing You - Billie Holiday; The Blackest Lily, Closer - Corinne Bailey Rae; Midnight Train To Georgia - Gladys Knight & the Pips; Love's On Its Way - Corinne Bailey Rae; Sexy Mama - Laura Nyro; Be Bop Kid - Suicide; My Girl (Rehearsal) - The Comateens; I Would Like To Call It Beauty, Paris Nights New York Mornings - Corinne Bailey Rae; Drive My Car - Nastyfacts; Paper Dolls, Diving For Hearts, The Sea, I'd Do It All Again (Acoustic) - Corinne Bailey Rae; Elizabeth's Lover - The Comateens
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Ramona began her career in music at Mediasound Recording Studio in NYC as one of the first women audio engineers in the world. She helped record various artists including Talking Heads, Ramones, Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed, Brian Eno, Nile Rogers and more.
She was a founding member of the new wave/punk bands Comateens and Dizzy and the Romilars. She was also a founding member along with Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell (E Street Band) of the girl group, Venus Fly Trap. VFT toured extensively in Europe and also supported former NY Dolls front man David Johansen as both warm-up act and backing vocalists in his incarnation as Buster Poindexter. Venus Fly Trap won the ’84 Village Voice Award Best Street Performer.
Ramona produced the highly collectable single, Drive My Car, by the then teenage group, Nastyfacts. As a singer/songwriter, she was signed to RCA and Epic Records and together with Stephen Bray (Madonna/The Color Purple) and Valerie Ghent (Ashford and Simpson/Debbie Harry) produced and released the dance song, Sweepstakes, under the band name, Nursery School. She has written songs for Grammy award-winning jazz vocalist Denise Donatelli. She also played on Eno’s Music for Films and sang backup on Sparks’ Big Boy.
Ramona wrote the first biography on Jon Bon Jovi, published by Sony. She recently received the 2023 Upper Delaware Council Cultural Award as well as a 2023 Congressional Award for her work as Director of Yarnslingers, a true storytelling group based in the Catskills. She is currently the Tuesday columnist for the award-winning Sullivan County Democrat wi…
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