love it! It's snappy! It's fun! It's perfect!" gush- with it, they picked it, and lo and behold, here was
es Tom Hanks' alter ego, record studio execu- this hit," Schlesinger says.
He wrote the song over one weekend and record-
tive Mr. White, in That Thing You Do!, Hanks'
film tracking the meteoric rise of a fictional '60s ed it with some friends. "It was a guy named Mike
pop-band sensation; the Wonders. And what Viola [of the band the Candy Butchers] who sang
earns such high praise? The song of the same it for the demo, and he rerecorded it for the movie."
Born in Manhattan, Schlesinger was raised in
title that catapultsitheli9ders to the top.
a secular Jewish home in Montclair, N.J. "There's
The Motion Picture Aiat*iiiitti'Vtreowitai4anks'
-
t • f music in my family," he says. "Both my
praise, though not unaniM
rofessional musicians. Both
was nominated this year fi
Song. Film critics Siskelall
jFa'SSfraelseAIPi -
e mo ,---10,0e4
show proclaimed the dit# 4,iiiie
uctor
so than any other song OtheriMning. NeVerthelesi, it ''
41.. ‘‘
SA 4
ust Love Me2" . And bothin
lost to an add-on to t,helailii*liare,
,..-:-.1.-r... ... • d - ' losin
er, though a publicist 'Pro - iston4 .T
Adam Schlesinger •
and cello. His father plays saxophone,
old New Jersey native*lik ned the mock-1964
jazz
et
Siske
h
tt
11
pop tune sa.;/A 04, ua. y m
ble
ere 's
azz piano.
Schlesinger himse
'4*britic
art y.
pos t 0
- scar p
_ . expressed h
Frishberg. He does
-
a
guy
I,
rea_lly
like
named
Da
was
just
nice
to
mee
tress at Schlesinger's,
sophisticated songs with s dard lyrics with ti-
says Schlesinger.
attorney Be
ties
like
-
is
-di
t
the
Academy
Besides, he adds, -a
Andthe Whiz kid of silly- w . Rsongs has an aca
e award is not Iriea-
song on Oscar night ;
ction deniie background in phil ' ophy and English. ,
sure of taste that ifs cm 61. ; 6 tip to be. "The p
t It 'started as an English maj Mainly because . I was
Elton, " says Schles
[of my song] was an
taking tests,"
a.g- better at writing papers
11.
It
started
wi
wasn't the song I
a double major
Schlesinger.
"I
ended
up
ssiiig."
Wayne's worldiBrian Young, Jody Porte hris Collingwood and Adam
was very emb
ment, but ..." h
glish and philds- Schlesinger wit perform• St. Andrews ti Sunday.
ophy because I kpt
signing up for aw-
in Massachusetts, `We warted playing *ether when
es; eventually Was just we ikere sophomores, an have been playing on and off
their
a feW credits 'shy of a together since then," sus Schlesinger .eading
. gi
[double] maj. ois so I fin- se arate ways for a wile -- Schlesinger toot off for
ished it
Ns York, while Collikwood remained in - Bston —
"0 ne of- rn rofessors
Collingwood pnal y ade his
y were reunited -w
tei-
Boston's
worth about a year,"
said I was an
toNew YOrk,
Vaal intellet
ghs Sbhlesinger.
had formed ajaio called
&kr'
In the meantime,
if,,:
,,,, . Do , ' " ique Du:
, er,
cl by :a Frei
a el in this
out RioUtitailis of W
% .....,
-)
hlesing, r, "which I
- -1 , - . i ,:T -,,- M '60s Bea-
egr
- - ''''',..; :-.. ''' z ::*.
,, ..-
fo
4 k
- - ; .; , 4'.; to: '1: a retro band, but
,
as. bandYTple teen
riitl*.ast:
,.
conivse the movie s
•-3., . ,if, ffe,,,fit sound,The em-
,,;,;
hat we as a;
•
cprds with James
ere are two
e
Tuis, which along
ers in [Founta
d D'Arcy of
yne]"
„„ , i-6,t: Wayne.
g/Atlantic, p
ith that other
.7. :-, ., :A . . /- ' gave Schlesinger a
in New Yor
had corn-
titer, Chris C
--
,
,, .
`rid the two, w
....„
. “,time,
. ,. 4*.
yne. "When we
‘. .,
ood the
the tracks fob
us. We traded
ongwriting sty
4..,,„
e record, it w
li.?4,,
"It just started
been compared t
struments," sa
-:-.".c, in the studio."
Lennon and Mc
the two of us
and Lieber and S
:.,.;-;,,,3 - ecord was made.
ther members
--,, 4.,, :he continues. "We
Collingwood's
sually write se
songwriting cred-
vision can be su
the lyrics alone b
with his of
mantra, "I hat
0 years ago, Sc j=4 A ' er':t mother came up
e'distancing wisdo
bands. They ki
band's name, and As77,0
,4--,tr- -
thing. They kill
Schlesinger and '6'.t,s, .. ood decided it wa
They killed in
tly terrible to use A. Fpuntains of Wayne
The former fro
ger explains, is a s -0:7_ An:Wayne, N.J., whit
Adam Schlesinger on the CD cover: "We didn't realize [photographer Nick Waplingtonl had alrea
the country-ro
licensed the photo to another band in England (the Flamingoes). He sort of lied to us about it; h p d he
untains. Garden o ' 2 tints, patio furniture
Buckets, Collin
hadn't given it to anybody. We actually (had tol change the cover in England."
as trees, decoration ays the store's owner
influences in the Pr
got the largest outdooWstone statuary displa
2
But The Girl vein. And he's recently
Sprout,
Eve
u'll
find
anywhere."
But, he adds optimistically, "It was fun just to go,
tints
to
tributes
to
Brian
Wilson
and
Having recently hired ex-Beiltower guitarist (an •
and the whole Oscar thing took me by surprise. I as- lent his vocal as part of the "Loser's Lounge" series.
.
chlesinger's
roommate) Jod i Porter and ex-Posi t
Burt
Bachar
sumed it would get a certain amount of attention, be-
Schlesinge
not
quite
so
anti-everything-but-pop.
comer Brian Young, the b a ld is now ready to pla
cause of [Tom Hanks], but the song seemed to take en
"I'm definitely influenced by the British Invasion: the
ve.
Rock on!
a life of its own."
Schlesinger, who is one half of the Zombies, the Hollies, the Beatles. And we both love the
songwriting team that in part Beach Boys."
Opposite page:
gue
But a close listen to Fountains of Wayne's debut, self-
makes
up the band Fountains of
Adam Schlesinger,
loan for an all-ages show 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April
titled
release
reveals
a
multilayered
smattering
of
such
Wayne, responded to a tip in 1995.
left, and Chris
0. $9.89, St. Andrew's Hall, 431 E. Congress,
Collingwood of
"Polygram said Tom Hanks had sources as Buddy Holly and the Replacements, with a
e troit. Call (313) 961-8137, or Ticketmaster at (810)
bit
of
tongue-in-cheek
Pixies
in
there,
too.
Fountains of Wayne
written a movie that takes place in
The
songwriters
met
in
1986
at
Williams
College
want to fill the world
1964 about a band. So I took a shot

Two„,

'my

OUNTAINS OF WAYNE

E ,JJ

with silly pop songs.