...no one drinks Foster's (beer) in Australia...
Many of us know how fortunate it is to live in a city like Chicago especially during the summertime. That's the best time to really enjoy all that this town has to offer. From the annual blues to gospel fests with Pitchfork and Lolla in between, Chicago's music fests are known worldwide. These fests attracts tourists from all corners of the earth to the lakefront and diverse neighborhoods wherever there's music, food and fun.
Yet, have you ever wondered how a tourist views our fests? SouthSide had the extreme pleasure of befriending Jeremy Jongsma from Perth, Australia. She met him by chance at a Music Industry Workshop open house one Sunday evening. This talented singer/songwriter (as well as manager of a hiphop group) spent his long winter break in our fair city attending some of the summerime fests. Plus he spent time traveling to other US cities to enjoy a wide variety of music fests. Before leaving Chicago, this reviewer sat down with Jeremy for an in depth interview about his adventures here.
First off, Jeremy clearly made if known we Americans shouldn't believe everything the television and commercials tells us about the land down under. There are many misconceptions about Australia which aren't true. For example, Foster's doesn't mean beer there and they don't do "shrimp on the barbie". Actually, it's prawns that go on the barbie, blogspot readers. Also Sydney is not the capital either. Canberra, as Jeremy described it, is almost like what Washington D.C. is here to us in the US. He said many Americans are somewhat ignorant about things outside their borders. People thought he spoke very good English for a foreigner. "They had this stereotypical expectation about me with the Australian accent," quote Jeremy. Likewise, Australians have their opinions about Americans and life/culture in the US such as McDonald's. They believe it's good American cooking ...which we all know that's not true.
With that out of the way, it was time to really begin the interview. SouthSide asked what made him decide to spend his winter here. Jeremy replied that Denmark (his hometown) is more like a summer town located in the southwest corner of Western Australia. The state capital there is Perth. During the winter months, people travel up north to stay warm. So he decided to come here for our summer. He described Denmark as a cultural town where many artists and musicians live. He says it an amazing place which hosts an annual fest called Festival of Voice. Jeremy arrived here as part of a touring gospel choir that performed concerts in Black churches. He mentioned that it was a great cultural experience for him as well as the choir to share their love for gospel music with others when he joined the group for performances during September.
What did he like best about Chicago? Jeremy said we are spoiled stating this city's great for music fests. Many were walking distance for him (where he stayed during the summer) and the parks are awesome too. Also he said Chicago has a lot of good people who know how to do production in the big fests like Blues Fest. It's nice to see those who attend regularly for years. What he didn't like was the mid-section being roped off from the spectators. Jeremy wished he could have been closer to the stage without paying to enter the mid-section. Besides attending the Gospel and Blues Fests, he also went to the Taste of Chicago but missed the Jazz Fest because he was performing with the choir. Jeremy did travel to St. Louis for the Live on the Levy Fest and Memphis for their Music Heritage Fest. Also he traveled to Mississippi for the Sunflower Fest, a Blues and Gospel music fest and New Orleans for some jazz.
He told SouthSide that he's obsessed with the Blues since he was 18 years old and is surprised that this genre of music isn't regularly played here on the radio. Jeremy also noted that there many young Black (teenagers) aren't Blues fans. Most, he noticed, were white which made him disappointed because Chicago's such a great Blues town. And it's also part of African-American history. Yet, he did see a cross-cultural explosion happening here within today's Black youth. They're dressing in clothes which mixes hiphop and punk ...and more are into skating (skateboarding). In Australia, Blues and roots music is very popular especially within the teenage crowd. Jeremy said he had to search hard to find Chicago Blues music by artists like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and other greats which is readily available to us here in Chicago. He did have the extreme chance to meet Buddy Guy while here as well as perform at local clubs around town. He went as far as south 87th and Cottage Grove for some blues music a week before the Blues Fest. He marvelled how this place and the music attracted a diverse gathering of cultures enjoying good music.
During his travels here in Chicago, he was warned about going into certain neighborhoods. Jeremy knew there are dangers everywhere but that didn't deter him from finding places to hear music. SouthSide briefly mentioned there's an invisible dividing line in which most Blacks won't travel beyond in Chicago and vice versa for Whites and Hispanics. In the meantime, Jeremy discovered some hidden gems to hear as well as to perform live music. He visited the famous Buddy Guy's, Roses' and Lee's Blues Bar. He liked the Harlem Avenue Lounge (located on Ogden) which he says you can find some good blues music on certain nights. His other favorites include Reggie's Music Joint and Rock Club, Subterranean and Hidden Shamrock. Jeremy attended SubT's and Hidden Shamrock's open mic nights while here.
Jeremy stated that Chicago has so much to offer ...so we're not starving for music since it's continuously happening. He said it's disappointing to see approximately six people in the audience even though there will be millions during any given fest. Yet there's so much going on at once around Chicago that it does make it very difficult to attend all the shows at the same time. SouthSide clearly understands that problem when she's invited to two or three shows happening the same night. What he also liked about Chicago was there are good facilities, resources and clubs for musicians to connect with others i.e. Music Industry Workshop. "It's not an easy industry to get into," says Jeremy.
He also noticed with larger fests like Blues and Lolla, there's a disconnection between the artists and fans. Jeremy envisioned a gathering of others from different music genres ...local artists coming together for one huge show. SouthSide told him there was one such show as he mentioned. In June, local artists of film, photography, music and art gathered at the Congress Theatre for the I AM Fest. Twenty-five awesome bands rocked two stages during this day-long event as well as giving fans to view and purchase local artwork. Jeremy liked this event stating the days of listening to one genre are gone ...fusion is the wave of the future. Jeremy did advise that if you're going to have a fusion sound, make it original ...do not imitate others. SouthSide listened to a tiny sampled of Jeremy's music during this interview. She enjoyed the blend of hiphop, rock, reggae and blues that had her dancing in the Starbuck's chair.
Jeremy has considered bringing his bands to Chicago. It's part of his master plan and why he was here in Chicago. He needed to connect with others and check out the music scene here. Plus he needed to establish contact with venue/talent buyers as well as getting his feet wet into performing live on stage. Also while here, he wrote ten new songs. SouthSide cannot wait to hear them.
Briefly, Jeremy and SouthSide talked about radio stations geared for independent artists like Fearless Radio. He said there aren't many in Australia that play indie/local music since they're either commercial or national stations. They play the same overplayed corporate stuff like they do here. Triple J ( www.abc.net.au/triplej ), almost like a college station though it's not, in Australia is a government funded radio station. It plays indie artists of all kinds even those with graphic language/lyrics which comes with a warning before the song is played. Triple J also features different shows nightly like hiphop and rock. There's also Youth National Radio (featuring mostly indie and popular artists) and ABC Radio for the "older" adult listeners that features programs like documentaries and classic radio. SouthSide learned an interesting fact about Australian radio too. The government relinquished some control of what can be aired/said on air since it represents the people. Something the FCC would never dream of doing anytime soon. While here, Jeremy did discover a couple of radio stations for blues music such as the WEVL (in Memphis - http://www.wevl.org/ ) and WWOZ (in New Orleans - http://www.wwoz.og/ ).
What will Jeremy miss the most about the US? He replied Chicago and Memphis the most however he wants to see more of Mississippi. New Orleans, he said, was inspiring music wise. He also liked St. Louis because the clubs were accepting to those beginner artists wanting to perform. He also recommends checking out a phenomenal blues/jazz artist named Kim Massie and visiting the Venice Cafe.
SouthSide wrapped up the interview with two final questions for Jeremy. After returning to Australia, fans would be able to see him perform at a local blues fest in Bridgetown. But first, fans in Chicago said goodbye to Moondog J (his stage name) in a farewell show held at The Krash located in Bridgeview, IL on Oct 23rd. He does plan on returning to Chicago within three years. In the meantime, his hiphop band has an album that will be coming out soon and for now his blues band is mainly a live performance band. You can find a couple of blues tracks on his myspace page. He's ready to record his new songs when getting home.
WOW - what a lively interview with Jeremy, my blogspot readers. SouthSide's looking forward to seeing him again in the near future and will definitely keep in contact with this artist. For more information, you can find Jeremy at www.myspace.com/moondogj or email him at moondogj@gmail.com
Until next time, support your local artists and musicians.
SouthSide
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