Head Spins: Johnny the Boy

“I’m everything.” So says Johnny the Boy as we take a booth at Rosinella and begin the ol’ verbal heave-ho. Coming from any other nattily coiffed über-hipster, such a statement would be absurd, about as fat-headed as it gets. But coming from a boy like Johnny, the remark not only makes sense but also is somehow prescient. He is everything; or if not, he soon will be. Why? Not just because he says so, but because he means it.

But being all things to all people doesn’t mean Johnny the Boy stoops or panders or in any way compromises his music, which veers all over every place you’d never even begin to imagine. ZZ Top might drop in over a dose of disco, old or new. Kanye’s “American Boy” could collide with the classic garage rock roar of The Music Machine (Johnny’s all-time favorite group). And if that doesn’t sway you, dig the deep-down dance of old Stax soul as it flutters over, under, and through some electroclash.

In other words, Johnny’s got a swing that segues from style to style without once missing a beat. And he’s already played just about everywhere that counts, from low-key, high-gloss private affairs to low-rent, high-rise sky rides. Each and every Webster fete, all those Heatherettes, the GenArts, the Penguins, and the Cartiers, as well as every eatery from Domo Japones to Table 8, every hotel from The Setai to The South Seas, and every club from Cameo to Space.

Why? Because Johnny the Boy is also “an experience,” that’s why. His press kit’s mission statement even says so. And like all of the above, his claim is too true to be absurd. But it’s the kind of experience that needs to be both seen and heard — if, that is, it is to be believed. And this spinner won’t cease until he makes believers of us all.

Johnny the Boy’s current top five:

1. “It’s Automatic,” Zoot Woman

2. “It’s War,” Kano

3. “Give It Up,” Twista & Pharrell

4. “Palm Beat,” Le Knight Club

5. “Eton Rifles,” The Jam