Tom Kafafian Tom Kafafian Tom Kafafian

Today, when attempting to see if my man Tom Kafafian[1],[2] has posted any new blog entries, I found out that, at least on msn.com, searching for "tom kafafian" will yield MY blog post about Tom Kafafian before Tom's home page! In the interest of becoming the foremost Tom Kafafian aficionado (by the way, that's Tom Kafafian, not Tom Kavavian or Tom Kafavian or Tom Kavafian), I'd like to push myself even higher up the list. Therefore:

Tom Kafafian
Tom Kafafian
Tom Kafafian
Tom Kafafian
Tom Kafafian
Tom Kafafian
Not Tom Kavavian or Tom Kafavian or Tom Kavafian, but...
Tom Kafafian.

I've reprinted my initial reactions to Tom Kafafian's website below. My comments were originally posted in response to monstro's irate rant about the Tom Kafafian WinAmp Skin (see also monstro's illuminating follow-up, "Kafafian spelled backwards is devil"). What is the Tom Kafafian WinAmp Skin, you ask? Well, apparently the Tom Kafafian WinAmp Skin redirects web browsers to Tom Kafafian's home page, whether the WinAmp listener wants to go or not.

My initial commentary:

Having for some time now been an aspirant in the Order of Kafafian, I was excited to get Brian’s tip on the Kafafian Winamp skin. The website (www.tomkafafian.com) offers all that the neophyte to Kafafian lore could want: pics of Tom’s gratuitous bangs, his album cover art, setlists for concerts you’ll never see, and did I mention his fabulous bangs? It’s hard to decide on a favorite part of this website, but if pressed, I would have to go with the “Tom’s Hand-written lyrics and artwork” section, which attempts to prove the following things:

1. Tom’s lyrics were not, in fact, written by a supercomputer, but by a real man, with real feelings and real bangs, on real lined paper.
2. That anyone, regardless of preference in musical style, can carefully study the lyrics to Tom’s “At the Station” and begin signing Tom’s checks in no time.

Besides the lyrics, one gets to see the inner workings of Tom’s mind through all the stick-figures and scribblework adorning the lyrics. After seeing the artwork, particularly that on “Circles,” Tom takes a place in my heart right next to Stevie from Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent,” another diligent artist expressing similar breadth of intellectual pursuit.

If you live in the NY/NJ area, don’t bother to go to the website: you’ll be able to pick out Tom on the L.I.E. According to the “Bio” section, Tom writes most of his music while driving. Given that we already know that he writes lyrics by hand and includes doodling in the lyric-writing process, you’ll most likely see Tom on the motorway, veering wildly and “trading paint” with other cars while exploring the depths of the human soul. When his car rams into yours, please yell that Jason sends his love.

Since writing this, my fascination with Tom Kafafian hasn't ebbed one bit.