MY Music / A Primer

I write a lot about music sometimes, and sometimes I think a lot about the kind of music I like when people ask me.

The long answer is really, truly that I like a lot of music, and it really depends on the day and the mood. This doesn't make me very special -- in fact, it is a pretty common answer for the modern world. But the short answer is, really, that there is a band that influenced me like no other.

The Squirrel Nut Zippers. And here's my argument.

1. I'd listened to Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and the Ink Spots on many a lazy Saturday afternoon, which I know made me the popular kid I was in high school (but I also listened to Paula Abdul and Michael Jackson, so pipe down the snickering.) So when I first heard SNZ in the late 90s, I felt it. I mean, felt it man.

2. This band didn't deserve and didn't really care that they got the "swing-revival" one hit wonder treatment in mainstream radio. They were doing more, much more. It was surrealism, out-of-time and the creative buzz that I couldn't get enough of.

Surrealism evidence:

I understand that this band is, as it were, well, gone, but really, it wasn't about swing. It was about a transportation of time, more than just zoot suits and instead some kind of space-time continuum that is familiar to Morrison and Faulkner, a favorite subject of mine about which I will go on and on about with the slightest encouragement.

3. The introductions -- SNZ and its side projects led me to the following:
a. Andrew Bird. Enough said right here. But I'm going to continue.
b. Charlie Patton.
c. Buddy Guy.
d. Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
e. North Mississippi All-Stars.
f. Django Rinehart.
g. Hobex.

And more ...

One of those side projects was Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad, which led me back to The Complete Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith and forward to Diana Krall and beyond. My jazz knowledge has grown beyond this siren's primer, but Jazz Squad is still on my iPod.

So, here's what I'm leading up to. I got to interview K. Whalen. Recently about her new group, The Fascinators. We talked about her house, her past, present and future, and how great it is to be a mom and be an artist too. I knew I would enjoy connecting with her again -- I was right.

Read the interview, and for those of you reading, tell me, who was the band that "did it" for you? I want to know ...