By Lorin Drinkard
Unabashed public transit supporter Jason Mendelson is setting WMATA’s Metrorail system to music—one train station at a time. Below he shares thoughts on his ROY G B “MetroSongs” project and accomplishing his musical goal (86 stations, 86 songs).
On his musical bio:
“Technically, I started playing music at age 4 with a simple chord organ my grandparents got [for] me. At age 10, I joined the school band and learned trombone, which I played until graduating from the University of Tampa in 1998. I started fooling around with guitars and keyboards as a teenager. I learned about recording by helping a professor build the college music department’s studio in 1996.”
On being an Alexandria resident:
“My wife and I lived in and near Tampa our whole lives. Last year, with our wedding approaching, we realized we were both ready for a change of scenery, and these strange things we had heard of called ‘seasons.’ I fell in love with [Northern Virginia] instantly. In Tampa, everyone owns a car. Heck, everyone’s dog owns a car.”
On lyrics:
“Some songs practically wrote themselves because of their locations’ rich history. Others required a little more creativity, like ‘Van Dorn St.’ For that location, which is near a popular parcel delivery service’s local hub, I chose the perspective of a truck driver ending his shift and getting ready to ride the train home to his family … and dinner!”
On each station’s musicality:
“I’ve toyed with elements of power pop, folk, country, swing, blues and electronica, in addition to good old rock and roll. I’ve recently taken a particular interest in trying to sound like specific artists as well, like Steely Dan, Belle & Sebastian, Kenny Howes, Elvis Costello, Stereolab, and most recently, with ‘New York Avenue Invasion,’ The Beatles.”
On boarding the Party Train:
“’Pizza Party at Virginia Square’ from ‘Volume Two: Party Train’ is based on a true story. I was riding the Orange Line … On one side of the train were three or four couples. … A girl on the other side of the aisle sat with two boxes of pizza. The guys in the group were eyeing that pizza, and the girl was happy to share. … I usually hate to see people breaking the no-food rule … but I have to say this was absolutely hilarious.”
On the 86 song finish line:
“Originally, I wanted to finish one line at a time … ‘Volume 2’ covers lots of lines, not just Red. It covers locations where there are really fun things to do, like falling on your rear end ice skating at the Archives, dancing like a fool at a Clarendon nightclub, or hanging with the neo-hippies in Takoma Park. I have done all three of these things.”
(November 2011)
