"What's the deal?" a discographer might shout in anger at the sheer number of different rock musicians named Jim Jones, at which point the rock trivia guru has a ready answer: the Deal was a band from Charlottesville, VA, which in the early '80s managed to attract the attention of industry big shots such as manager and producer Albert Grossman, producer and performer Todd Rundgren, and bandleader, singer, and songwriter Alex Chilton. This Jim Jones, not to be confused with identically named members of bands such as Pere Ubu and Bim Skala Bim, joined the Deal in 1980, replacing bassist Jeff Roberts. The Deal broke up for good in 1988. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi