Cover of the GJ album, "Magna Carta" (from the S2 DVD)
Geronimo Jackson is a 1970s band. Little is known about the group, but references to the band have been made on Lost starting in Season 2. The only named member of the band, Keith Strutter, as well as several other band members, have "kind of gone missing" according to Damon Lindelof.
On Lost
Poster in the DHARMA Initiative cafeteria. ("He's Our You")
Eddie with his GJ T-shirt. ("Further Instructions")
The GJ poster in Locke's locker. ("Cabin Fever")
The GJ vinyl cover at Hurley's party. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
The GJ shirt on Rosie. ("LaFleur")
- Charlie and Hurley found the Geronimo Jackson album Magna Carta in the Swan's collection of LPs. Charlie, as "an expert in all things musical”, said that he had never heard of them. (Neither had Sayid.) ("The Hunting Party") Locke later noticed the Magna Carta record while flipping through various albums. ("The Whole Truth")
- Undercover police officer Eddie wore a T-shirt with the Magna Carta album cover picture silkscreened on the front. He claimed it to be one of his "dad's old shirts". Commune leader Mike remarked that Eddie's dad had "excellent taste". ("Further Instructions")
- A Geronimo Jackson poster adorned the inside door of the locker that 16-year old John Locke was locked in. ("Cabin Fever")
- A Geronimo Jackson vinyl cover is seen next to a DJ at Hurley's surprise birthday party. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")
- Charlotte says 'Turn it up! I love Geronimo Jackson!' to the group during a flash. ("This Place Is Death")
- Jin is listening to "Dharma Lady" by Geronimo Jackson in his DHARMA van right before he runs into Jack, Kate and Hurley who have just crashed from flight 316. ("316")
- Rosie is seen wearing a Geronimo Jackson shirt when dancing with Jerry. ("LaFleur")
- "Dharma Lady" by Geronimo Jackson is playing in the background when immediately after the 1977 DHARMA recruits take their photograph. ("Namaste")
- A Geronimo Jackson concert poster can be seen on the wall of the DHARMA Initiative cafeteria. ("He's Our You") The poster features characters of Alice in Wonderland (including Alice, the Caterpillar, the Chesire Cat, The Mad Hatter, and the White Rabbit), and advertises a August 15th 1969 concert, at 23:00 hours. The Mad Hatter's hat is drawn in red, white, and blue stars and stripes. The ABC store description of Geronimo Jackson products featuring this artwork says that it was created in 1969 for Geronimo Jackson's European tour, and that it "contains a number of hidden references, including a certain sequence of numbers that may or may not hold significant importance within the show." [1]
In podcasts
Teaser for Geronimo Jackson on iTunes.
- Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse seemed to suggest that the band was real. "They're a band not a lot of people have heard about. They just pressed one very obscure album in the mid to late '70s". (Official Lost Podcast/January 09, 2006)
- They later claim that the band made two albums and "did most of their recording in the early '70s." (Official Lost Podcast transcript/May 15, 2006)
- The producers again insisted that the band was a real but obscure group from the "Haight-Ashbury scene" in a March 2009 podcast, which also promoted an upcoming release of a Geronimo Jackson track on iTunes. (Official Lost Podcast/March 5, 2009)
In The Lost Experience
- Part of the audio that played when the Hanso Phone Line was called (now shut down) involved a Danish DJ playing "classic rock from the '60s and '70s, including an exclusive recording by Geronimo Jackson's first complete album, Magna Carta." (Text is translated)
- In his June 26, 2006 podcast, DJ Dan commented, "Anyway, point is, Rachel's blog is pleasant, but I don't have the time to be finding out which Geronimo Jackson song little Suzy Cornbelt is listening to when she misses her mommy!"
- In her Italy 05 blog entry, Rachel lamented, "You know that Geronimo Jackson tune? It goes 'She left me on the boardwalk/With my head held in my hands...' Well, it's been running through my head all day, over and over, and over."
- In DJ Dan's First Live Podcast of August 11, 2006, Dan identified Keith Strutter as the guitarist and founder of Geronimo Jackson, and noted that Strutter's previous band was called the Karma Imperative. He also said that Strutter started Geronimo Jackson in the '60s.
- During DJ Dan's July 5, 2006 podcast, a listener by the name of Anthony called in saying that in the '70s, his grandmother joined what he thought was a cult by the name "KARMA Imperative", although he probably meant to say the DHARMA Initiative but simply misspoke the name. According to Anthony's story, his grandmother joined the "KARMA Imperative" while attending the University of Michigan and was taken to an unknown location in the South Pacific and was never seen again, declared dead.
- In his Second Live Podcast of September 24, 2006, Dan more or less conceded that the band's original album Magna Carta would be very difficult to locate, calling it "an incredibly rare pressing".
- In a response to an inquiry at Notes from the Experience LiveJournal dated September 27, 2006, Javier Grillo-Marxuach further elaborated on DJ Dan's comments from the Second Podcast by saying that Geronimo Jackson "stuff is very arcane and hard to find, frankly, I'm surprised we managed to score a copy to get on the show...I think the Danish DJ was actually playing a bootleg". He also confirmed that only Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz would be able to identify which of the individuals on the cover of Magna Carta was Keith Strutter, or who was responsible from the Lost production team for getting a copy of the album into the Hatch for use on Lost.
On the Season 2 DVD
GJ on the S2 DVD
An Easter egg on disc four of the Season 2 DVD features a short video clip of supervising producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz elaborating on the band's back story. They claim it was the brainchild of Keith Strutter, a Kentuckian who ran away from home in the 1960s and wound up in San Francisco. The band's first gigs were at burlesque shows, working their way up to play clubs like the Avalon and the Filmore. They never headlined, but put out one album, Magna Carta, which has been out of print for some time. Kitsis claims that the band disappeared into obscurity in Woodstock, NY in 1971. It was put into Lost as a tribute to an under-appreciated band.
On the ABC TV Store Website
The ABC TV Store website recently released a line of Geronimo Jackson themed merchandise. In the description for one of the items, the following summary is given on the history of the band.
| “ |
Keith Strutter formed the rock band Geronimo Jackson in the mid 60s in Detroit. Gathering a solid reputation for their sold-out string of performances in local burlesque clubs, the band packed up their gear and made way to the Excelsior District of San Francisco. From there they released their first album “Magna Carta,” receiving much acclaim and star status to locals in the industry. Reported to be making their long awaited follow-up album, the band retired to Woodstock in 1972, never to be seen or heard again. |
” |
On iTunes
The cover of the single "Dharma Lady" as it appeared on iTunes
On March 17, 2009, a song called "Dharma Lady" by Geronimo Jackson appeared on the iTunes store in the United States as a free download single. The album artwork appears to have many symbolic elements including a rabbit skull, lotus blossoms, orchids, and Native American symbols. This is the same song playing in Jin's DHARMA van in "316" right before he finds Jack, Kate and Hurley by the waterfall lagoon.
Rabbit Jack
According to AABC TVstore, the disembodied rabbit skull shown on the cover art for Dharma Lady is known as 'Rabbit Jack'. After the release of Dharma Lady, 'Rabbit Jack' became an emblem associated with the band. [2] This single is included in the Season five Dharma Intiative Orientation Kit.
Trivia
- On January 19, 2006, a fan-made website appeared at www.geronimo-jackson.com. It was removed after a few months. The web site at that address returned, early in 2009, only the cryptic message "73:13". It could be a reference to Psalm 73:13 ("Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence") in the Bible, or something else. It later became home of a mysterious Jackson Ranch website with articles on several issues but was quickly changed back to the "73:13" message.
- The album title Magna Carta is an anagram of "anagram act".
- Charlie's middle name, Hieronymus, means "sacred name" in Ancient Greek, and is a variant of the name "Geronimo".
- Geronimo was a famous Apache leader and medicine man.
- A group named Magna Carta was founded in 1969.
- The Magna Carta (1215) is widely viewed as one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.
- There is a record label Magna Carta Records.
- There is a band from the 1970s called Geronimo Black, who produced one album. The third track of this album was entitled "Other Man".
- The surnames of the two directors of Disney's Alice in Wonderland are Geronimi and Jackson.
- The cover of the single "Dharma Lady" looks like a Rabbit in a Hole. Alice followed the white rabbit down the rabbit hole to reach Wonderland.
- The lyric, "I can always tell When you been drinkin But i never know just what you're thinkin" from Dharma Lady, Alice drinks potions in Wonderland.
- The comment that the band lived in the Excelsior District of San Francisco may be a double reference:
- The song upon which Dharma Lady is based is titled Excelsior Lady.
- The actual Excelsior District in San Francisco is known for its strong association with Jerry Garcia of the band The Grateful Dead.
External links
- Geronimo Jackson Facebook band page
- Geronimo Jackson at db.etree.org Unofficial fan-edited database
- Geronimo Jackson at the ABC TV Store website ABC TV Store merchandise - Geronimo Jackson items
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