Jay & The Miracles is a Finnish rock group that made three albums
at the turn of the 1990s :
Small Songs (AMT 2013, 1989), Sun (AMT 2017, 1990) and Stereo (AMTCD 2045, 1992).
The frontman of the band was guitarist Jay Havanna.
Band included guitarist Puka Oinonen and bassist Tauno Railo.
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Another group was
Popmonks released one album, Elephant (anycd 002, 1996)
Jay Havanna – guitar&vocals, Dile Kolanen – bass and Marko Kainulainen – drums
Jay & The Miracles 1988-1990
Popmonks 1997
Save The Sun was the name of Jay and The Miracles’ tour in 1991. They had just released an album named ”Sun” with environmental theme. Songs like “Sun”, “This Sinkin Boat” and “Grateful Sun” showed deep concern for the way the world was going. Barren, desolate landscape and hostile environment full of restrictions and rules confronted Jay when he was left wandering looking for the band and festivals. It was 30 years ago and look where we are now! Save this ball, this globe, our world! That was Jay’s message 30 years ago and now climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time.
Save The Sun 1991
Rarely seen special video made for
Theatre Museum’s exhibition about
“CAMP – Ravintola Sateenkaaren unelmia”
(CAMP – Dreams of Rainbow Restaurant) in 2009.
“Camp is in the eye of the beholder.” An invitation to a different view. In the Theatre Museum’s camp and kitsch-inspired Restaurant Sateenkaari, images and material from performances that have not qualified on the top of cupboard of the nation’s theatre history and which do not shine through with unwelcoming hetero perspective have been collected. Camp is something that, as the name suggests ( se camper = to gesture strongly; campeggiare = to catch the eye) catches the eye, exaggerates, represents conscious bad taste. ( text from the exhibition catalogue)
SOME OF OUR FOLLOWERS MIGHT REMEMBER KILL CITY
Kill City was the nickname for the block of wooden houses, which was located in Kallio, Helsinki. At the end of the 1970s, an active punk and rock community operated there, including Ralf Örn, Jaana Rinne, Maukka Perusjätkä, Pete Malmi, Andy McCoy, Pelle Miljoona
The entire block was demolished in 1980 for the construction of the City Hall.
Before being demolished, Kill City burned. After the demolition of Kill City, the community there moved to the Lepakkoluola (Batcave).
There was an exhibition about Kill City organized by Punkmuseo https://www.punkmuseo.fi/ at Helsinki City Library and Kallio Library.
1984 was 40 years ago !
if you want to find about the other side of Helsinki at the time
Check this Pete Europa’s book !
Timanttikoirien Vuosi 1984 (Helsinki Twilight 1984 ) takes us back in time into the fascinating period between the years 1979–1985, when Helsinki and the rest of Finland moved towards an increasingly diverse and free social climate, pioneering beautiful boys in makeup and fancy girls.
During this time new street-level phenomena such as small magazines, pirate radio and independent fashion began to blend into Finnish society
– new clubs were set up, new art forms were born – and finally people felt they were works of art themselves.
Helsinki was like Berlin between the wars for a period that lasted for no longer than a blink. It was full of ideas, encounters between different groups of people and 24h partying with the Cold War and what George Orwell had described in 1984 hovering on the background.
MANSE ROCK
You read about Kill City and watched “Helsinki Twilight 1984” but meanwhile at Tampere!
Name “Manse Rock” was invented in 1970 , but was used in a mocking way about all music that was made outside Helsinki. Then later in 1980’s it became almost a synonyme of Finnish Rock Music.
There is a great exhibition In Tampere about it, called Manse Rock!
Pictures, posters, info about local studios, famous record shop Epe’s and record label POKO RECORDS, instruments and other stuff. For all trivia fans:
the black Rickenbacker guitar was once owned by our own Jay Havanna!
Here is a picture of another Rickenbacker player, Paul Weller of Jam, in Stockholm in November 1980 and Jay was there and managed to ask him, how many Rickenbacker guitars he owned and Weller said he didn’t remember, but Jay did remember how many he owned: ONE !
and the same guitar is now in this MANSE ROCK exhibition! Se on MORO!
