Jim Boggia Interview   Coffee East March 22nd, 2008 Ruut will also be appearing on the show. Her interview is here.

Jim Boggia, in my humble opinion, is as talented as any of  the songwriters he has collaborated with, quite a complement considering that list includes Aimee Mann, Duncan Sheik and Jill Sobule. He appears for his first (hopefully of many) visit to Coffee East this Saturday evening.

MM: The Basics. Where are you from?

JB: I grew up in Michigan. Lived just outside of Detroit until I was about 7, then the middle of nowhere on some dirt road until I moved to Philadelphia.

MM: You are a major part of the Philly music scene. Whenever I think  of that
scene, I think of the amazing radio stations and personalities you guys have up there. How important is radio to a music scene, and how have the aforementioned people and stations helped you?

JB: Well, WXPN (the station of which you speak) has been fantastic to me and are great supporters of Philly artists in general. Sadly, there aren't that many XPNs in the country. I honestly think that radio is 
playing less and less a role. The same "too clever for their own good" thinking that has ruined the record industry has ruined commercial radio. They kept splitting the audience into smaller and smaller segments so that advertisers could target them more effectively and they've wound up killing the mainstream. There are no hits that sweep the nation and pervade everyone's consciousness like there was 30 or even 20 years ago and it's the over-segmenting of radio formats that is to blame.

MM: I discovered you as a member of 4 Way Street when you guys did aresidency at the Rams Head On Stage three or four years ago. I rememberthinking at the time, "if there was just a major television or radio outletfor these guys, they'd have it made." You hung it up after the one record. Why? What are the other members up to...(FYI Ben Arnold is playing here May 30)

JB: We hung it up because there were no major television or radio outlets for us! Really, 4WS was a very casual thing that was supposed to be one show, so the fact that we did it for three years or so still 
seems way beyond what we'd imagined. Everybody's off doing their own thing. I just played with Ben down at SxSW. Scott lives in Paris now. I never know whether Joseph is here or in Europe somewhere. Logistics like that kind of made it hard to continue as well.

MM:4) From the few conversations I had with you in Annapolis, I remember you as being someone very concerned/obsessed/intrigued by pop music. What, in your humble opinion is the state of popular music today?

JB: There really isn't popular music anymore. There's lots of music - and I think we might be entering the next really fertile time for some great music to be made - but none of it is popular. Music has ceased 
to be the centerpiece of popular culture that it was in the 60s, 70s and even the 80s. Currently, being good at playing Guitar Hero carries more cache than being good at playing guitar.

MM: Everyone at the Rams Head shows said you bear a striking resemblance to Steven Tyler. Have you heard that before?

JB: Yes. At the bank. Today. Please inform all beautiful, scantily-clad models that I am available for "Love in an Elevator". Does Coffee East have an elevator? Could one be installed?

MM: How would you define a good melody?

JB: The ones that are in your head when you wake up in the morning usually have something. I also think that melodies rarely exist on their own without the chord structure that they sit upon. The interaction between the movement of the melody and the movement of the chords is often where the greatness lies.

MM: You have worked with some major artists in the singer songwriter  field. (Duncan Shiek, Aimee Mann, Jill Sobule) Is there a common denominator in them in terms of what makes them tick creatively? Is there some sort of variable that they all possess?

JB: It varies. Sorry, that was a bad joke (you asked me to name a variable). To me, the three you've just mentioned all share a very high proficiency in the craft of songwriting that they then take and use at the service of something very individual.

MM: What are you most looking forward to in 2008?

JB: 2009. Actually, I just got back from three days at Abbey Road, so I'm thinking I may have peaked already for this year.

MM: Where would you like to see your career five years from now?

JB: I would like to sell more records than The Beatles, Elvis and Michael Jackson combined and be regarded as the singular force that saved the music industry and, coincidentally and through a strange series of events, brought peace to all nations.

Failing that, it would be nice to still be working.

10) Do you like coffee?

JB: Um . . . er . . . I love the smell of coffee. I'm more a tea with milk and sugar guy (it's the Ray Davies influence).