Kevin So

Excerpt from The Times (Northwest Indiana), August 24, 2000

So Finds Fullfillment Blending Musical Styles

BY TIM SHELLBERG

Times Correspondent

Lionel Richie made a lasting impression on a young Kevin So.

"I was taking private classical music lessons, and when I was over at my

cousin's place, she was blasting "Easy" by the Commodores," he recalled.

"Maybe a year later, I saw them on 'Solid Gold' and there was Lionel Richie

playing an upright piano and smiling from ear-to-ear. And I thought to

myself, 'This is what I want to do.' "

After making a name for himself on the East Coast, So is now trying to

establish himself in the Chicago music market. The Boston-bred

singer-songwriter -- who moved to Chicago nearly a year ago, is scheduled to

perform tonight at Front Porch music in Valparaiso.

Born to Chinese immigrants, So's musical journey began when he was a

youngster, playing and learning classical piano ("my sister and brother were

taking lessons, and I felt like I was missing out on something"). After

hearing "Easy" and seeing Richie and the Commodores for the first time, So

followed a path that led him to singers and pianists such as Barry Manilow

and Billy Joel.

"Playing the piano and singing was a form of expression that was a sacred

place for me," he said. "For me, it was a challenge figuring out the chords

and trying to figure out what, say, Lionel Richie was playing and singing

these songs."

A poetry writer from as far back as he could remember ("I wouldn't buy

cards, I would make cards with little poems on them"), So began writing his

first songs when he was in his teens. The inspiration, he said, was puppy

love.

"I was about 16 or 17, and I started having crushes on girls, and I started

writing songs about how I felt," So said, laughing. "The roads of poetry had

crossed paths for me, and there I was at the crossroads."

Musically, So has moved well beyond the mostly mellow stylings of Richie,

Manilow and Joel; he has added guitar to his repertoire, and has released

five recordings since 1996 (his latest release, the limited edition

nine-song "Different" EP, was released earlier this year) which fuse

together everything from acoustic blues and folk to jazz and hip-hop.

"It might not be so evident the first time you hear it," he said of his

musical mix. "You may hear acoustic guitar and vocals at first, but if you

listen closely, you'll hear all the subtle things I do (around the song). I

like to let the listener make up their mind for themselves. Someone might

say to me, 'You sound like Elvis Costello.' And that's cool to me because

he's a fusion of all those styles too."

"Music is music when you get down to it," he added. "You can fall into all

sorts of categories, like oh, that's jazz or that's hip-hop. But it's all

music. People have just given names to it."

Lyrically, So occasionally draws from his family and his musical heritage.

In regards to his Chinese roots and family upbringing, So hopes his lyrics

which pertain to his heritage give listeners a new insight to the

Chinese-American male.

"Look at these billboards out there; do you see a Chinese American male in

those ads?" he said. "You'll se a Chinese-American female in those ads, but

not a male. There's nothing for me visually to connect to. All I see on TV

is the way a white guy dresses and the way a black guy dresses, and I have

to fit into that and I feel uncomfortable. So I write from that point of

discomfort sometimes."

Last September, So left his Boston digs and moved to Chicago. He currently

resides in the city's Wicker Park neighborhood. So said he took a cue from

musical heroes such as Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Paul Simon when he left

Boston for Chicago almost a year ago.

"They left their homes and moved on to a different place just to see what

would happened," So said. "Change is good. I felt like I established myself

in Boston as far as I could personally take it as far as building a fan

base, so I thought I should move to a different place to see how my fan base

could grow there."

"Chicago's a city like Boston, and the people are so cool," he added. "I

liked the feel when I played out here before, and I felt that this would be

a good starting point for me."