The latest installment of our Baristanet Profile series, where we get to know the people in our neighborhood:
Name: John Hammond
Where do you live? Upper Montclair
When did you move there? Spring of 1998, when I learned that it’s a bad idea to set the closing date on your house on April 15th (aka Tax Day).
Where did you grow up? New Orleans, home of music and culture. I wrote a guide to Mardi Gras in New Orleans for Barista Kids last year.
How do you make a living? I head up Marketing and Digital Services for Missing Piece Group, a marketing and management agency working with musicians and record labels. The company was founded by my pal and Montclair neighbor Michael Krumper, and we work with a range of great artists – Rosanne Cash, Ivan & Alyosha, Jake Bugg, The Record Company, and many more – helping them thrive in the new music business.
Coffee, tea or … ? Both but if I had to choose it’d be coffee.
What’s your idea of a perfect Saturday? Honestly, somewhere between a *TYPICAL* and a *PERFECT* Saturday works just fine – a little soccer or tae kwon do shuttling, probably a Petco run, some cool-out time around the house, and friends coming over for a cook-out in the evening.
What’s your favorite local restaurants? Star Tavern; Greek Taverna; Brick Lane Curry House.
What’s on your nightstand? A Sonos speaker, Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, and about 30 Rainbow Looms bracelets.
Your iPod? Sharon Jones, George Jones, Phosphorescent, and the Fleshtones.
What are your current addictions? Words with Friends, baseball caps, and cold-pressed ice coffee from Java Love.
Talent you would most like to have. To be a good guitar player. I can bash my way through song parodies at Frost Valley but at some point I’d love to take that up a few levels.
What’s the worst-kept secret about Montclair? How to figure out the bulky-waste pickup schedule.
What do you hope they say about you at your funeral? “Wow, that Sam Cooke song ‘The Last Mile of the Way’ is a perfect choice for this occasion. Of course John really picked a great song to go out on.”