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 Excerpt from CAD MAGAZINE (U.S.A.) by Koop Kooper "When I was asked to write for CAD, one of the first people I thought I needed to interview was a man who describes his music as ' Tease Torch and Noir' , a mysterious character who swans in and out of this city, with so little effort, that you'd think that it was little more than a train station for him as he stops off in L.A., London, and other destinations the world over while spreading his gospel of dark jazz. The man I'm referring to is Jimmy Vargas , a self described burleycue croonoir, hustler, gnostic racketeer and all round satanic good guy. When one first hears his music it is a moment of rebirth, you will never listen to lounge music, swing or just plain ol croonin the same way, Vargas' cocktail noir is like nothing on this planet, and like the guy himself who is most certainly unlike anyone you will ever meet. One Saturday afternoon, I waited at a small cafe located in the dirtiest and most sinful part of town. I wondered why Vargas inhabits such areas that most people would avoid. As I pondered my own safety, nervously sipping my coffee and hoping some bum wouldn't knock food over my Ricardo jacket, Vargas appeared out of nowhere with his dancer muse Mia Mortal , the couple are not only blessed with movie star looks, but also an air of danger. I can see why Vargas feels safe in the worse part of town, I don't think even the most hardened criminals would try and put the bite on him as there's a chance he might produce a gun and knock off some cat just as he would knock off a burger with fries. Wearing a black suit with pinstripes, a fedora delicately positioned with just a hint of dark glossy pomp peaking kinglike above his forehead, and eyes that shoot carefully across the landscape of this divesville locale, Vargas slid into a chair across from me and started tapping his cigarette on a gold case. His resume and life is scattered with incongruence which tends to add more mystery to the man, and I suppose a little danger as well, for when you look into those eyes you know he has seen more than most men and probably a few things men should not see. His accent is difficult to place and his language flows rapid like tommy gun fire, all the while his eyes dart from place to place then off to a distant time that he remembers all too well. The first time I saw Vargas play was to a packed house in a venue called the Marquee, as part of one of his own burlesque productions back in 2005 called the 'Grindhouse' , a travelling carney calvacade of his, which featured the darkest creme de la creme of sight acts, ghostly stripteuses, contortionists and fire eaters..." To read more, go to JimmyVargas.com |