TJ And Dave's T.J. Jagodowski and David Pasquesi
More Ringing Endorsement
Welcome to Ringing Endorsement, wherein Decider speaks to local people of note to get their hearty recommendation of an event, restaurant, or whatever strikes their fancy. This week, T.J. Jagodowski and David Pasquesi, stars of the iO staple TJ And Dave, give thumbs up to two Chicago bands. Their new documentary, Trust Us, This Is All Made Up, receives its Chicago première tomorrow night at Columbia College's Film Row Cinema.
T.J. Jagadowski: I'd recommend JC Brooks And The Uptown Sound. Sixties-style original soul music, and they’re just fantastic.
D: How did you find out about them?
TJJ: A buddy of mine used to play out by himself in this rock band, and then he was like, "I want to put together this soul group," and did that, I think, maybe three years ago. And they just have gotten better, and better, and better, and it’s just such a fun, danceable show to go to. And as far as I know, there’s so few people writing original, classic soul kind of music. It’s real different and such a blast. They can convert a room.
D: Do you think it’s picking up a little bit thanks to the likes of Amy Winehouse or Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings?
TJJ: As much as anything, it was just like [what] he realized—“Man, this is always the music I go back to.” Whether it was the '80s or the '90s or now, the tunes he just enjoyed the most were like Stax. It was always a passion. I’m sure some of it is being benefited by that now, but for Billy [Bungeroth], who put the group together, it was just an abiding passion of his.
D: Anything available for download or purchase?
TJJ: I think so. They just had a CD-release show at Empty Bottle—a great place to see music. I think there’s an album out there now, and I think you can maybe download some of the music on their MySpace, I believe.
D: Is there one particular song you would recommend?
TJJ: I love a song called “Hold You Back.”
David Pasquesi: I'd go with The Ike Reilly Assassination, a band whose music we play at our shows.
D: And how did you come across its music?
DP: I’ve known Ike for a long time. He was in—I did a one-man show a long time ago—[to himself] a one man show… I did a one-man show, it had about eight people in it, and he was the band. But I’ve known him for 20-some years.
D: What do you think lends the Assassination so well to a TJ And Dave show?
DP: Some of the songs are funny, and they’re unusual and loud and fast and they’re fun.
TJJ: And he’s a local product as well, which is groovy.
DP: Yeah, we’re big fans of Chicago.
TJJ: That’s the other local thing we want to plug—Chicago.
