Hola, amigos. How's by you? I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but I been weighed down by a shit-ton of trouble. Trouble getting out of bed, that is! Also lately, I've found that I've been eating a lot. Mostly gummi bears and hamburgers. I had a hamburger last night at Skillet that was pretty good. I paid an extra $3 to replace the french fries with their poutine. If I can give you some advice, it is this: DON'T DO THAT!

Otherwise, last week I was in Chicago. The streets are crumbly there and all of the plants are brown and dying. I ate so much food and gained at least twenty-two pounds. There was pizza and BBQ and bagels. The bagels were the worst. First off, when you're in the Midwest, you have to pronounce them beg-els. Also, the lady at the bagel shack was totally mean. I tried to order a bagel but she was talking at length to a goon about a dog. Then, when she asked what I wanted, I told her but she didn't hear any of it. Her ears were all closed up. This usually only happens to me only at Subway. I'll order a sandwich and I have to repeat everything three times. Wait, maybe it's my manner of speaking! Maybe I'm a mumbler! I called the bagel shop on the phone just now and friendly-pranked them, claiming to be Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. How nice of me.

At a party in Chicago I talked to Darren Hacker about Jan Terri. It seems that he's making a movie or a book or both about Jan Terri. I've been writing to Jan Terri lately because I want to write a story about her. When people are mean to Jan Terri, it makes me so sad. Jan Terri is one of the few forces of absolute good left in the world. I did an interview with another member of the Jan Terri Appreciate Guild, Garrett Kelly from Hollow Earth Radio. Read it after the jump!

In case you're unfamiliar, Jan Terri is a Chicago musician known mostly for her quirky videos and extra-catchy songs. She was really active in the later 1990s & early 2000s, but she's been scarce since then. There's so much more to learn about her, check here, here and here.

CAPERIN': What do you like about Jan Terri?

Garrett Kelly: I have a number of reasons that I would consider myself a fan of Jan Terri. She is not part of a "scene". She is DIY without the DIY brand. She puts out albums on her own JT record label, her music videos filmed were put together by friends and family. She believes in herself. For that, I admire her confidence and courage. But most of all, her songs just get stuck in my head - which I think is the mark of any great pop musician. I have been playing music for almost 15 years and not once have I ever written a song where someone has said "man, I can’t stop singing that one." Drives me crazy. When I think of her, I sometime feel like Salieri in Amadeus sulking over the genius of Mozart.

How did you discover Jan Terri?

I often find myself searching for shit on YouTube to play on Hollow Earth Radio. I look up things like: "fight at school," "band practice," "spying on neighbors," "neighbors having sex," "i’m so depressed," "terrible guitar solo." I think in this case I was searching “worst music video ever” and came up with Jan Terri’s “Losing You." The rest is history.

What do you think makes people not like Jan Terri?

From a fan’s perspective, I find it hard to understand why someone wouldn’t be able to appreciate her work.

I do know that for a lot of people, their first reaction to her videos is to laugh. In some ways, I think that’s ok although it kills me to hear that she’s not interested in playing in front of crowds because people make fun. I’ve been thinking about what makes people have that initial reaction - and I remembered this interview with Richard Hell where he quoted Nietzsche, saying "Anything that makes you laugh, anything that's funny indicates an emotion that's died. Every time you laugh that's an emotion, a serious emotion that doesn't exist with you anymore."

I’ve been wondering if maybe that’s it? Specifically, I think people don't know how to react appropriately to folks like Jan Terri who have that kind of self-confidence - she truly believes in what she’s doing and for a lot of people, that feeling doesn’t really exist for themselves anymore.

Would you say that your admiration for Jan Terri is actual affection? Or is there a degree of sympathy involved? What about other fans?

For me its 100% total affection that’s deepened over time. I recently had the opportunity to talk to her on the phone for a while doing an interview on HER. She’s a rad lady. I will admit, I’ve laughed at some of her videos the first time I saw them. “Get Down Goblin” and “Journey To Mars” are hilarious! But they’re supposed to be funny, I think?

However, Jan’s got a lot of layers. “If You Want A Divorce” is one of the saddest songs ever written. There’s a lot to learn from Jan.

What would you like to see of Jan in the future?

I would love to see her perform in public on a nationwide tour, but I think it would have to be done in the right way and I would want her to be 100% comfortable with it. It would have to be a Jan Terri Appreciation tour.

I was working really hard to get her to play in the Pacific NW for Magma Fest this past year, but unfortunately she had to have foot surgery at the time. I was thinking if she had a big energetic backing band (Heatwarmer, for instance!), new audiences would see how fun her music is and she’d get the appreciation she deserves.

She also talked to me about how she has a couple of albums on the shelf that she needs to raise some money for to release. I really think if she set up a Kickstarter it would catch on. Who knows what treasures are left to be unearthed?

There you have it, Caperers! If you missed Pizza Fest over the weekend, you are a blockhead. It totally ruled. There are so many great things happening! We are so lucky to be alive!