Click the arrow to listen to Jill singing “Let me go”
She’s been playing music since she was a little kid with hopes of one day becoming a great jazz pianist. Currently working on a full length CD and keeping her cat Elvis out of trouble, Kenosha native Jill Paisted take a few minutes with Ron Kelly to talk about music, men’s nipples and the future.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
This Microdermabrasion thing on TV right now…
What is your greatest extravagance?
My car.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?Continue reading →
“Jill Plaisted is that really cool girl next door. That is, she’s the girl next door if your neighbor has a voice soaked in whiskey and honey, exudes charm, class, talent and beauty, hangs and records with Feet of Clay’s Ralph Bruner and Violent Femmes’ Victor DeLorenzo and is ready to be discovered by the masses”
Fa-La-La THIS opens Upstairs @ Carolyn’s, 5706 6th Ave., Downtown Kenosha
December 13, 14, 20, 21, 22 at 8:00 pm
Tickets are $5.00, available at the door
December, 29 2007 at TG’s
4120 7TH AVENUE, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Watch this space where she will be “exposed” soon.
Matt: Not really. I was born in Indiana. And lived in Iowa and Missouri and moved up here right before the fifth grade, in 1985.
T: Oh, so you’ve been here for (not wanting to do simple arithmetic in her head)… a while.
M: Most of my life. After I graduated from high school I lived in Racine, I lived in Waukegan for a little bit. And I was in a band and we were on tour so I lived in Minneapolis for a little while, but other than that, mostly Kenosha.
T: Alright. Were the arts a part of your upbringing? Is that kind of how you got into it?
M: Not really. I studied classical piano when I was a kid and that was the bulk of it. When I was a little kid I got a transistor radio from my grandpa, I would fall asleep with it under my pillow. That kind of turned me on to popular music as opposed to classical music. In junior high I started writing music. I remember writing a lot when I was a kid. Writing stories. My parents didn’t have much to do with it, aside from using piano lessons as punishment.
S: Changing things up a little, I heard you play for home dialysis patients. What is that like?
J: I play my guitar for them. It makes me feel everything is worthwhile, what I’m doing. They love it. I can see the calm in them when I do bring my guitar. When I don’t bring it, they say why didn’t you bring your guitar today. It almost makes me feel like they are getting healing from the music in some kind of way. I can see the difference when I bring it and when I don’t. They say I just love listening to the notes of the guitar, they ring through me like a healing as I play each note.
S: Do you think this is something that should be part of the hospitals in the Kenosha area?
J: Music? I do. I definitely do. I was talking to my wife Kerry’s brother, Jerry Djuth, he does acupuncture in California. I said I had a dream that while you were doing treatments, outside I was playing music and each note I played had a healing effect going through the needles for each patient. I said it’s really weird. He said, “Jerry, that’s what they do in China!” I said, “They do?” I knew nothing about that. He said they use tuning forks and different notes ring through the needles for healing. I had no idea.
I believe music is healing. I believe everyone has a different note, I don’t care if its piano or guitar, to heal them. I believe everyone has a different note that can be played to touch them a certain way. I don’t think people know what their note is, but when they hear it, it sounds so good to them; they feel it.”
S: You have great dreams Jerry. Keep dreaming. How do you feel about the co-mingling of the arts in the Kenosha area? Continue reading →
Click the arrow to listen to “Baby Don’t You Know”
Jerome Hunter is a spiritual, talented man. When you look into his eyes you see a light of compassion. When you listen to him sing his songs, and play his music, he takes you somewhere between reality and dream; he brings you to a deep awareness impossible to hide from. His lyrics will comfort you, they will help diminish worry and bring joy to your life. His music will reverberate in your soul long after you first encounter his magic. He will inspire you in a gentle way. You will notice your body sway in perfect rhythm, as you sing along with him, getting to know him better. He is a man you will want to know.
Jerome Hunter grew up in a modest home in North Chicago, Illinois. He is married to Kerry Hunter, and is the father of four children, grandfather of ten. He was gifted to Beatrice and Robert Hunter on June 11, 1952. Together these fascinating parents raised eleven well-behaved children, instilling in them good morals and providing a home filled with artistic enrichment. He inherited the gift of blues that led him on his journey to become the fertile songwriter, singer and musician he is today. He is Timeless in the Wind.
Suzanne: These are amazing photos Jerry. Who took these, and where?
Jerry: James Fraher took them when I was a sit in model for professional Blues Players, like BB King - and Magic Slim, in Chicago. Magic Slim once joked that he liked my pictures so well he would use them instead of his own on his CD cover. I would sit in until they got there, he would set everything up, you know, the lighting, and that way he could take the perfect pictures of them when they got there. Being a photographer he noticed me. He said he chose me because when I was on stage I had so many different looks, like the way I held my guitar; he noticed how much passion I have for music. That’s how I got the job.
Trashing hotel rooms, bare knuckle street boxing, jumping from moving vehicles…who knows what musicians do in their time off stage? And after hearing some of Brent Mitchell’s lyrics—involving men killed by their wives, peyote induced confrontations with the devil, even perfectly sober confrontations with God or the religions claiming to represent a deity—one might hesitate interrupting the musician in his spare time. However, the casual question preceding the formal interview (“How is your day going?”) produces the most shocking answer of all:
“Pretty good so far. I just got back from a run to try to clear my head of all this textbook babble; I’ve been taking a break from writing my Buddhism term paper and studying Islamic jurisprudence in the meantime.”
After becoming a celebrated participant of 716: Fine Art gallery’s “open mic” nights, she was invited to perform a featured acoustic concert there this past June (prior to 716 moving to Racine). After a 24 set, an energized audience was still eager for more.
She loves music and it shows upon first meeting her.
Rachelle is always looking for opportunities to express herself, so do not be surprised if you see her spontaneously playing around Kenosha and Racine’s coffee shops.
She has promised to keep us posted on the release of her upcoming album.
