THANK YOU VEDDY MUCH: I hope you enjoyed the Jason Anderson interview from last week. That was really cool of him. Go check out his music at his website!

MINE: I’m loving this New York Times piece on Verizon’s MiFi device. It’s basically portable WiFi in your pocket for a fee. The device is like the size of a couple of business cards. Something to consider in the future, for sure.

BACK IN BLACK BLUE: Jeff Passan of Yahoo! News generally writes pretty decent pieces. This one in particular about Kansas City Royals phenom Zack Greinke and his struggles with social anxiety disorder and depression is a good read. Glad to see he’s doing better.

NOT SURPRISING, GIVEN HIS INTERVIEWS ON THE MATTER: BriTunes. Discuss.

I SURE HOPE IT DOES: The trailer for the new Woody Allen movie (return to New York, nerds!) titled Whatever Works is finally up. It stars Larry David among others. Looks Woody Allen-ish. I’m ready for it. Check it out below.

Very few musicians can match the pure joy that emanates from Jason Anderson. If you are unfamiliar, you probably should watch this video before you read the following interview. The prolific (and incredibly gracious) singer-songwriter took some time out of his day to chat with obviate.

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obviate media: First off, how are you doing?

Jason Anderson: Feeling great right now, thanks. How is Chicago? I miss that place. The Chicago Diner and Veggie Bite are two of my favorite restaurants in the USA. Oh, also, thanks for taking the time to ask me some questions.

Chicago’s pretty good. I’ve never been to either restaurant, but I’ve heard good things. Also, No problem. Thank you! So – Jason Anderson is a fairly common name. Have you ever felt like you had a hard time because of it? Has there ever been any mix-ups?

Not so far. Oh! Once at a show I was announced as Jason Alexander aka George Costanza on Seinfeld. That was very, very awesome. People started booing when I came out because they wanted the Seinfeld dude (just joking about this last part). That also would have been very, very awesome, though.

How old are you, and what’s your day job?

31. I am a music teacher at both a pre-school and a wonderful afterschool center. To give you a sense of how amazing this afterschool center is, we are working with 4th and 5th graders on an original play called JAWS: THE MUSICAL. i am very, very lucky. The center is part of The Children’s Aid Society, which has been around since 1853 in NYC.

And Where do you currently reside?

Brooklyn, NY.

What would you consider your influences (musical or not)?

Lots of stuff. Friends, travel, politics, food, bikes.

Your website shows you recorded an extraordinary amount of material. How do you write so many songs? Where do you draw your inspiration for most of material?

I’m really not sure. Good question, though! I just love music. Also, I have no life. Kidding. Sort of.

I’m curious what the songwriting process is like for you. Are you the type of musician who I could give a person’s name and a few details to and say ‘write a song’, or just the opposite?

I am the first type. It’s funny how specific your example was, too, because check this out: Once my friend and I went to a crowded waterfront on a sunny day, and made a sign that said “Will Write a Song About You for $1.” It was great! I think we made about eighty bucks, and took our friends out to dinner. It was a great day.

You use a lot of sing-alongs in your music, and in your recordings. How did you start doing this? Who comprises the chorus in your recordings?

I just thought it would be more fun to have everyone involved, instead of the strangely skewed, standard orientation of a bunch of people (often) paying to stare at one person or group of people. My goal is connection, not disconnection. And I don’t need a bunch of people standing still looking at me, because I’m really not anything special. The point is that we’re ALL special, and when we ALL sing the music is only better for it.

I am not that good of a singer. All the voices help not only the music, but the feeling, and the sense that this night is a unique moment in our lives that will truly NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN, and if it’s our last night here–our last chance–then we better make it count.

As to recording, on the TONIGHT thing I invited whomever wanted to come to this big wooden gymnasium and we taped the group parts. It was so fun.

The ‘Ghosts and Goblins’ video implied that you used to teach music for kids. What is your background – teaching? Playing? etc…

Yes, I am a teacher. I am almost done with my second year of teaching at two wonderful places in New York City. I work every day. And before I toured for 5 years straight I was a music teacher for 2 years at a private studio. So I did have some background. I also worked at a middle school for one year with special ed kids. That was wonderful.

What have you been listening to as of late?

Phish, Sun Kil Moon, Propagandhi, My Morning Jacket.

Do you have plans to record a new album anytime soon?

Yes, I have one that needs to be mixed and then it will be done. I also have songs for a new one.

How do you choose where you play shows? Do you have a manager or do you do it yourself? I know you played here in Chicago in January at an unlikely location and apparently invited everyone out to eat beforehand? Do you have any plans to tour soon?

I spent five years simply touring and the deal was that anyone who emailed me about playing their town, their house, etc. I would go and play there. Now I have more of a set schedule because I teach, but I still have summers off and a couple other holiday breaks throughout the year. I can also play a bunch in New York City, which is what I’ve currently been doing. I am still really excited to email back and forth with people about show ideas, especially non-traditional ones.

For example, I am talking with my friend Mike about playing a bowling alley show soon. He set up a great show last summer at an outdoor basketball court. I’m also hoping to play some more islands this summer. So far I have played Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard, Star Island and Monhegan Island. Anyone can email me here: wolfcolonel@hotmail.com. I’ll write back.

Watching some of your live videos, it seems like you use the audience as an instrument, or do as much as you can to get them to participate. How important is this for your music? Do you find the audience is generally receptive to it or not? Are there any really good crowd participation stories? Or not so good ones, for that matter?

It’s important to me sort of personally and politically in terms of wanting to involve everyone and try to break down that weird dumb (to me, anyway) wall between “performer” and “audience.” The person being looked at and those doing the looking. So much of that seems like ego stuff and creating these divides, these perpetually reinforced levels of social or, maybe worse yet, “artistic importance.” That might sound too much like fancy talk, though.

Mostly I just want people to have a blast, and remember that music (I think anyway) is about singing and dancing and sweating and connecting and thinking and feeling and being ALIVE. Not just dressing up “hip” (like everyone else) and trying to be cool (which is apparently accomplished by standing still and looking bored) and then going home and blogging or twittering (is that how you say it?) about “just another indie show.”

But at the same time I don’t want to give the impression that I’m super hardline about it or anything. I totally understand that people enjoy music in different ways. If you don’t want to sing along or stand up, that is okay with me, too. There are other powerful ways to connect that are often removed from tradtional shows, like eye contact, smiles, etc. I really just want to feel like something positive is happening and that everyone in room acknowledges that we are together and we are experiencing something and it is our present tense.

And seriously, isn’t it time to remember the catharsis and release and simple JOY that can be found in a show and how this can maybe be an important catalyst in thinking about looking for beautiful, perfect, exciting moments in our day to day lives, and how they are actually everywhere, if we are open minded and open hearted???

Besides your solo work, do you play in any other bands?

I am always up for playing with my friends and helping them in any way, on drums, piano, guitar, bass, etc. I usually have just as much if not more fun playing and supporting and being a part of their awesome music. I just love it.

What’s one detail about you that a lot of people may not know?

I’m vegan.

Are there any musicians that you would like to play with that you haven’t?

My Morning Jacket is definitely one of my favorite active bands. They seem to come from such a good place; I feel like they love music, love playing music, and really do things the way they should be done, in terms of putting on an awesome show and really believing in that power, in that positive energy. It seems like they are not overly concerned with the fashion of things, but just kind of do what they love to do and I think when you do what you love to do and are sincere and earnest about it, it’s totally contagious.

But I doubt I will ever get to play with them. That would be awesome, though.

What’s next for Jason Anderson?

Well I have to go to the afterschool center in about fifteen minutes. Today I have 5 piano lessons. One of them is a group lesson with Sam and Spencer. They are really great kids.

Thanks for the questions, Brendan.

Thanks for your time, Jason!

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You can visit Jason’s website here. His albums are available on iTunes or by mail order. He also has selectr free downloads available as well.

You may recognize Neko Case’s voice from the Canadian indie-pop band The New Pornographers, but this isn’t run-of-the-mill indie-pop. Middle Cyclone is filled with intellectual, complex and engaging alternative pop music. Each listen allows you to peel back another layer.

With a tinge of alt-country and a heaping spoonful of Memphis soul (think Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins’ Rabbit Fur Coat or Cat Power’s The Greatest), this is a crowd-pleaser from beginning to end. Her voice is strong, flexible and mature. Case could never be a pop star, but she has the pipes of a true professional.

Middle Cyclone is jangly enough to be pleasant without being too sweet. The highlight of the album is the multi-layered instrumentation. Case incorporates everything from acoustic instruments (guitar, banjo, cello) to synths and a toy music box. The variety allows her to create a truly diverse yet coherent collection of songs. The range of different sounds allow for each song to have its own vibe. Ubiquitous vocal harmonies on the album make it warm and inviting. Thoughtful lyrics take this album from just good musically to great overall.

The album takes the listener on an auditory ride. It takes some unexpected turns. The mood sometimes changes quickly, from lighthearted (“I’m an Animal”) to weighty (“Prison Girls”) and satirical (“People Got A Lotta Nerve”) to melancholy (“Polar Nettles”). Each track could find itself nestled into very different mix CDs.

Most of the songs are short and always leave the listener in want of more. The best tracks are the opener, “This Tornado Loves You,” a driving non-traditional love song; “Magpie to the Morning,” a cautionary, sultry summer song and “I’m an Animal” with its prominent percussion and simplicity. The album closes with a thirty-minute field recording of crickets, peepers and other natural sounds. Such sounds are often associated with the coming of spring and summer. Although it seems frivolous to use so much time on the track, perhaps Neko Case is conveying the message that this long winter has come to an end. Fittingly, Middle Cyclone is the perfect soundtrack for the end of our winter hibernation.

Neko Case – People Got A Lot of Nerve (MP3, via Stereogum)

There’s something special about music on vinyl. It’s almost magical to hear a new record. Even on the lousiest compact speakers, something about records just sounds so present. It’s like hearing music in 3D.

My musical journey did not start with vinyl. While still in high school, the arrival of most Thursdays meant a trip to Tower Records. I would flip through hundreds of CDs and spend a lot of time at the listening stations. I loved the employees’ recommendations. Even though I heeded the warning Empire Records boasted—that working at a record store is far from a great job—I still fantasized about taking a part-time job there. At the register, I’d take a peek at what others were purchasing. Once in the car, I would rip the shrink-wrap off of each one of my purchases and insist on playing a new CD through the car stereo. But, by the time Tower Records tanked, I had lost all interest in CDs as viable media.

At about the same time, I discovered my step-dad’s record collection. I flipped through the albums, full of curiosity. He hooked up his old turntable to our surround sound speakers, and although it didn’t result in the best sound (old isn’t always compatible with new), I still loitered around the basement to listen to many albums. I felt something magical about those old platters, and still do. They had stood the test of time, and many of them still sounded crystal clear and new.

I started to collect albums myself, but only those to which I felt a strong connection. I looked for a used record shop in every city I visited. I chanced to stumble across Smash! Records on a school field trip into Georgetown near D.C. (they have since relocated) and bought records while my friends bought souvenirs and trendy Urban Outfitters junk. First came Phil Ochs, then The Who’s Quadrophenia, The Beatles and Cat Stevens. The list goes on. Then I discovered that new artists were pressing vinyl. The Internet, and later John at Strawberry Fields Music (located in Potsdam, NY), helped with that. Suddenly my collection that started at five or so records was pushing 50.

You are probably asking yourself, “why vinyl?” For me, vinyl is the full experience of music. You hear music as it was meant to be heard. Once music is processed digitally and changes from pure sound to “ones and zeros,” it can never recapture its original quality. No matter how high the bit rate, it is never quite the same. I am also wary of classics re-pressed on vinyl for that same reason.

There’s also an aspect of authenticity. Hearing Led Zeppelin on a 33 1/3 record, just like your parents and their friends heard it suddenly makes it much cooler than listening to it on your laptop. This is certainly the case when the actual record you are listening to DID belong to your parents or someone of their era.

The visual aspect of records is undeniable. There is much more space and freedom for the artwork, which oftentimes adds another layer to the music and the story it tells (for example, The Who’s Quadrophenia came with an entire book of photographs; The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America came with a comic book). Album art often stands as art on its own; CD media always sort of swept art under the carpet. Recently, artists have been taking advantage of the visual medium much more through not only LPs but expanded packages (a la Of Montreal’s Skeletal Lamping) including specially-made t-shirts, wall decals and posters.

Lastly, there is the tactile aspect of vinyl records. You peel back the huge sheet of shrink-wrap, shake the inner, paper sleeve out and there is that huge onyx-black platter. Everything is a delicate process (scratches are not your friend). You can watch the needle physically skim around the record. The fresh yet acrid smell unique to records completes the experience.

The main reasons that people avoid vinyl are obvious: new records are pricey, and the price you pay doesn’t buy something that you can carry around in your iPod. I admit that, in a pinch, I’d probably sacrifice my vinyl collection to keep my iPod. Luckily, forward-thinking record labels include a code for a free MP3 download with all new record purchases. Artists respect the vinyl medium but also see the need for portability. Used vinyl is also a great option. For only a few dollars, a complete work of music can be yours to take home, listen to, and judge.

I’m not trying to change anyone’s concept of music. There will always be someone clamoring to collect the most (high bitrate) MP3s that s/he possibly can. I am just trying to take a step back into simpler, more analog times. Call me a music snob or call me old-fashioned, but I still think that vinyl is still the best quality music around—after all, it’s still here, yet 8-tracks and cassettes fell out of favor long ago (gee, I wonder why…). The recent resurgence in vinyl makes me curious about the future of the recording industry—especially with the CD end of things obviously faltering. But, much to the satisfaction of collectors and music geeks everywhere, vinyl ain’t dead yet.

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Kim Harrison is a music major and writer in her spare time. Therefore she has no job prospects whatsoever. At least that’s what she says.

Just a short round up today. Sort of a slow one.

1. I went to measure a poster frame today because I couldn’t remember what size poster frame to get for my new Animal Collective poster. The ruler I used? It had all of the Presidents on it… up to Clinton. Tee hee. He’s two presidents away now. Wild!

2. Just got a hold of former musician Ryan Adams’s unreleased record, The Suicide Handbook. It’s actually pretty great. Lots of ‘old’ Ryan Adams voice, which I sort of classify as sounding somewhat more…vulnerable? Either way, it’s good stuff.

3. Rachel Maddow makes me laugh. Her show tackles serious stuff, but she’s funny about it. Yay liberal media!

4. I’m sort of shellshocked that W is gone. Here’s a new classic clip where he declares the very alive Nelson Mandela dead. Those were the days. And by ‘the days’ I mean ‘last week’.

5. I implore you to check out Oklahoma-based Moon Mission Death Squad. Two brothers who put out an album every other year.. and it’s all free to download on their site. Check out Fuck What You Heard. Great stuff. Thanks to Mike Ross for the introduction to these guys.

He nails the guitar part in one take.

Gino Scarim looks surprised as he makes a series of clicks in a program called ProTools, editing the track he just recorded.

Behind him with guitar in hand stands Eric Grossmann, the guitar player of northwest-suburban mainstays The Brokedowns, who’s joking with his bandmates about being able to play the guitar part despite learning the song minutes before he recorded it.

Scarim listens to the playback on speakers above his head, and after some short deliberation with the bandmembers, decides it’s time to move on to the next track. What he’s doing isn’t making him a lot of money – but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

At 28, Scarim is responsible for two of the northwest suburbs’ longtime music businesses – record label Duckphone Records, which he’s run for almost a decade, and promotion company Decal Productions, which is responsible for booking local acts in local venues. In addition to this, he performs as a sound engineer at the Clearwater Theater in West Dundee, as well as at the Metro in Chicago, and he owns a recording studio, Red Door Studio in Fox River Grove.

Since Scarim’s operations are small, he admittedly doesn’t have much money to pack into promotion or touring for his bands, but there are some success stories. One of Decal’s early bookings was political punk band Against Me! in Elgin, in November 2003. The band went on to sign a major label deal and recorded their latest album with the producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind.

Scarim looks more like a defensive tackle and less like someone who works in the sound business. He’s got a shaved head and a trimmed beard, is heavyset and stands a little over six feet. Physically, he’s a bit imposing, but the fact that he’s wearing cargo shorts and a T-shirt with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man kind of dispels the notion that he’d hurt anyone. His co-worker at Clearwater Theater. Co-worker D.J. DeNoon says, “He doesn’t drink, never had a cigarette, doesn’t do drugs and he tried to stop drinking pop.”

There’s no doubt Scarim loves music – that’s very clear when he talks about starting bands with his high school buddies. His musical tastes range “all over the charts,” and he says he likes hardcore bands like Converge, Dillenger Escape Plan and the Lawrence Arms. Taste doesn’t really factor in picking what bands to record. To him, what’s rewarding is providing a launching pad for those who are in the same position he was 10 years ago.

“I try to keep it real light, friendly – joke around. Productive and professional. There are so many added pressures in the studio. My studio is rather inexpensive, but the bands still get a higher quality recording,” he says. Scarim also says it helps if the bands have home recordings. That way he can get an idea of how the band sounds and see what direction he can help take the songs in.

There is no way to deny the influence of Scarim on this community. It’s not outside the realm of possibility to assume someone in his position could be difficult or out of touch. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. There’s no discernable trace of and that’s what endears him to the people he’s worked with and worked for.

Jamison Butcher, one of Scarim’s former interns at Clearwater Theater credits Scarim for “single-handedly” nurturing the music scene and without him “it would have died out a long time ago.” Scarim’s former bandmate and co-worker Mustafa Daka says, “He will do whatever he can to help people and has done a lot, and is so humble he won’t admit it. He’s made a lot of things possible for a lot of people, and keeps things fun for a lot of people.”

“It’s somewhat generational. We were working with younger kids doing shows – high school type kids, kids are getting into music earlier – and it happened to be a good thing at the time,” says Grossmann. “In high school for me, there were no shows around here. People in bands weren’t the norm, now it’s the inverse; there’s a ton of shows all the time.”

Scarim carefully explains that his promotion company, Decal Productions, provides him his necessary income. It’s the reason he can keep the label and recording studio going. The success of the company allowed him to move to different venues – and as a result, present more shows. Duckphone Records is something he enjoys doing, but isn’t necessarily crucial to his income.

Only one of Scarim’s businesses allows him the freedom to not have to hold any other supplemental jobs. The music scene in this corner of the northwestern suburbs went from nascent to populous in a short amount of time. Once it was hard to find shows in the area – now Scarim’s company Decal runs seven shows a week.

“It’s weird,” he says. “The more involved I get, the more I have to be. They all transfer into everything. I couldn’t do one without the other. They feed off each other.”
Back in 1999, the northwest suburbs started to populate itself with high-school-aged kids starting bands inspired by their favorite ska-core staples, the Voodoo Glow Skulls and Slapstick, which later spawned regionally-known acts such as Alkaline Trio and the Lawrence Arms. For the kids in this area, however, there was one big problem – nowhere to record, or play.

That’s when Scarim took matters into his own hands. He founded Duckphone Records in 1999 to record his friends’ bands so they’d have something to sell at their shows.

It wasn’t an instant process by any means. When Duckphone formed, Scarim was working for the Classic Cinemas chain of movie theaters, where he became the youngest general manager in the theater’s history at the age of 19. Two days after he graduated high school, he accepted a job at the theater that paid him $19,500 dollars a year. It was good money, he says, but quit a year later after he was offered a position at musical instrument store Sam Ash.

“I bought equipment slowly – used stuff for a good price. I … never had a ton of extra cash,” says Scarim. “[I started in] my parents’ basement. They gave me an entire basement to do my stuff.”

In his parent’s basement, Scarim started with a basic four-track tape recorder that he ran into an Analog recorder.

Daka, or “Moose” as he’s known to most, used to be Scarim’s co-worker at Sam Ash and was a bandmate in their onetime band Slim Jim Conspiracy. He was instrumental in the early days of Duckphone, as well as when Scarim set out to start booking shows.

Daka and Scarim would take items discarded from Sam Ash – soundproofing and cables – and built a closet with those materials. Even if some of the materials were half broken, they’d try to use them. According to Scarim, they’d “Frankenstein” microphones where they took working parts of some and put them together with parts of others. They fashioned the closet into a vocal booth using found materials. When finances allowed, he would upgrade the equipment in his studio. The patchwork studio setup lasted for several years, until Scarim moved equipment into the studio he’d purchased in January 2007.

Scarim and Daka at first teamed up to find shows for their band. “Me and Gino did a lot of calling around, because a lot of VFWs and Moose Lodges wouldn’t do shows. When we heard bands playing places, we’d call and try getting our band on there,” he says. “We ended up playing a lot of Battle of the Bands so we could play.”

Moose had started booking shows at the Warp Skate Park in Elgin, which originally overwhelmed Scarim. “I was like, I can’t do what Moose does, having bands calling him all the time,” he says incredulously. “But then I started doing it independently of him.” Not long after, Scarim got in contact with Grossmann, who, like Scarim, was struggling to find shows for his band.

The pair heard through mutual friends that they both had wanted to book shows, so Grossmann took the dive and called Scarim. They held meetings at Denny’s in Carpentersville, about the direction they wanted to go in. There, Decal Promotions was formed as a partnership between the two. In 2003, the fledgling company scored big early – they negotiated a deal with Clearwater Theater, a fairly new venue that hadn’t invited may local bands to play. Decal began hosting shows on Mondays and Tuesdays. “Things snowballed from there,” says Grossmann. The success of shows at Clearwater led to slots at Penny Road Pub in nearby Barrington and Just For Fun Roller Rink in McHenry.

About a year ago, Grossmann left Decal to focus on his day job as an IT recruiter and on his new family. Scarim then took over full time.
But he’s not without help.

DeNoon, a co-sound engineer at Clearwater says, “Gino … told me how to set up and run sound. Before [him] I had never done sound – and he needed people who knew how to do it, so he taught me to run it when he couldn’t be there.” Because of his experience at Clearwater, DeNoon now assists bands he’s worked with on shows at larger venues such as the Metro.

Several years ago, DeNoon hit a rough patch where he was unemployed and didn’t have a place to stay. Scarim’s parents took him in. “The job I have now I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t because of Gino,” he says. “I wouldn’t be at the place I’m at now with a place to live without Gino and his family.” He pauses. “Wow,” DeNoon says. “I don’t even think he knows about this.”

Eddie Tsikretsis – the former bass player of Me, Myself and Eyepatch, one of Duckphone’s earliest bands – is far removed from his days on Duckphone’s roster. Yet he agrees that Scarim’s approach remains the same.

“He’s dealing with kids with no musical ability and he’s pretty awesome at that. He championed us the whole time,” Tsikretsis says. “The motivating factor is that he wants to see bands doing something, even if it isn’t his thing.” Scarim recorded an entire album for Me, Myself and Eyepatch, but the band disbanded shortly thereafter. “Gino gets good involvement from kids who have burgeoning interest and he incubates them,” Tsikretsis continues.

Back at the studio, Grossmann struggles to lay down a guitar track for another song, despite his earlier successes. Scarim calmly offers encouragement and provides direction on where Grossmann can come back in on the track. Eventually, after several more takes, the tracking is completed. He takes a seat and listens intently as Scarim cues up the track on the computer screen. After the playback is done, Scarim turns to the guitar player and smiles.

“Good job, Grossmann.”

Then it’s back to work.