Nobody’s Business is a seven-piece band that comes at you hard with a mix of funky blues, R&B, rock-and-roll, and even a little country–not to mention a growing catalog of originals, including the stirring protest anthem “Righteous Ones“ and the baffling reptile anthem “Lizard Shoes.”

The band performs around Washington, D.C. at nightclubs, private events, and benefits. For a price, they’ve also been known to play corporate events, barn raisings, and parole hearings.

You’ll hear Jonathan Landay, the award-winning McClatchy correspondent who everyone should have been listening to during the run-up to the war on Iraq. Landay, a national security reporter who took a club to the administration’s case for Iraqi WMD, wields an axe onstage. A former foreign correspondent for UPI and the Christian Science Monitor, Jonathan has traveled the world with the hardtail Fender

Stratocaster that his father—also a newsman—gave to him on his 21st birthday. Not for nothing has Nobel Prize winner and former veep Al Gore identified his blistering riffs as a possible cause of global warming.

Gordon Witkin, a watchdog with the investigative journalists at the Center for Public Integrity, blows a wicked alto sax and sings backups. Witkin, who has also worked to keep politicians accountable as a journalist at Congressional Quarterly and U.S. News & World Report, fell in love with the Devil’s horn after listening to R&B sax legend King Curtis. Gordon has played with Blues You Can Use, an eclectic crew of journos and others that rocked Champion’s in Georgetown. He’s also been a frequent guest with the Jill Watkins Band in Denver.

Washington Post staff writer Fredrick Kunkle, who has written about guns, goats, inbred marriages, and Santa Claus–and still manages to get paid–plays drums. Freddy

studied percussion with Jake the Jailbird at the Indiana Pennsylvania Pool Hall & Conservatory and later appeared in such bands as Grapefruit Tumor, Uncle Malarkey, Shame of the Primates, and Flinko. Quentin Tarantino is said to have thought about making a new movie based on his 1973 near-hit song, “If the Shoe Fits, You Must Have A Fetish.” He has actually met Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Tom Toles.

Paul Ashin, who channels the spirit of the many rollicking blues greats from his hometown Chicago, knocks the stuffing out of the keyboard. Paul also knows how to make the harmonica wail, talk and bargain for ransom. He has been playing with DC-based blues bands for over 10 years, appearing with Eyewitness Blues and The Blues Hounds. When not playing barrelhouse blues piano and singing, Paul, a former Russian scholar, spends his spare time kicking the tires on the anti-money-laundering machine at the International Monetary Fund.

Joe “The Shadow“ Hodges, a scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, concocts his own brand of cool-handed logorhythms on rhythm guitar. One Nobody’s Business fan has described Joe’s style as “minimalist”–whatever that means. A picker of old-timey traditional string music, Joe is also the band’s resident technical wizard. He sings too.

It must be the Oklahoma roots that add that touch of country to Nobody’s Business’ otherwise sophisticated, jazzy bass player, Jody Myers. Yes, Jody can sing about trucks and the big river, but he’d be just as happy slapping the bull fiddle at Birdland. And Funk…did we mention Funk? The boy can do it all. Jody started as a junior bluegrass guitar picker but migrated to bass and never looked back. One of the original Blues Astronauts, Jody also holds down the bottom for “The Red Hot Kiddie Schleppers” (Bethesda’s Bannockburn community spring variety show). Otherwise, he

leads a perfectly respectable alternative existence as a dues paying member of the establishment (Assistant General Counsel of the International Monetary Fund).

Melissa Bronez’s lead-singing career peaked early — in high school — as a founding member of Frizzie Lizzie and the Humans, whose set list included dubious classics, such as Cat Scratch Fever and Too Hot To Handle. The Humans’ only gig was an ill-advised guest appearance at an underage backyard drinking party that was marred by the inquiry of a gang of girls who approached Melissa mid-set to ask when the show would be over. Many years and therapy sessions later, after returning to the D.C. area, she rekindled her interest in singing inspired by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Patti Griffin, and Shawn Colvin. While her published pieces have been limited to federal government memos, Christmas card letters and the PTA newsletter, her byline did once appear above the fold with a 1987 personal ad selected as “Ad of the Week” in

Norfolk, Virginia’s City Paper. She also performs with local groups, the Backyard Blues Band and the Garrett Park Musicians Club.