A trip to Chicago to enter the Lutsko-verse - Scott Stephenson editorial

In the first ever travel edition, The Chaff headed to Chicago and turned an enquiring eye towards the most serious man in all of songdom - musician, truest President, and King of Halloween, Nick Lutsko, intending to descend through the Inferno of fandom that are his loyal subjects.

 

The Chattanooga-based musician performed with his 100K Band at the Park West Theatre on April 7. The vaudeville house, built in 1916, was a fitting venue for Lutsko’s post-modern variety show. The Chaff sent its investigative news team down to Chicago to discover what makes this brash young man and his brass-having band so popular with its rabid fans.

 

There are many entrances to the labyrinth of Lutsko fandom, but there are two roads most widely travelled. The first comes via a “Scylla of Silliness” - hearing a pandemic-era YouTube song like “Boat Parade” or “Spirit Halloween Theme Song”. This era 
of Lutsko involved forcing reality meat through the rapid-fire funhouse grinder of his mind and presenting something palatable to an increasingly ravenous fan base. 

 

Many audience members expressed gratitude for the distraction of Lutsko's steady output during the pandemic. “He’s built an insane world, on par with Tolkien,” declared local fan Ben, a sentiment with which all in earshot agreed.

 

The other route is the “Charybdis of Seriously Skilled Songcraft" that one finds on his earlier albums like Swords, a collection of songs that approaches perfection. “Nick is talented in that he can be in both lanes,” explains Jose, a fan-in-waiting.

 

Whichever path one chooses, from there, the options are limited only to how far one is willing to go down the rabbit hole.
There’s his Patreon account, to which fans pay a monthly “tax” and pledge fealty in exchange for bonus content and membership to the Zoom group, which meets for online events. These range from formal Halloweens to fascinating crowd-sourced songwriting experiments akin to musical meditations at the mountain of madness. During these sessions, Lutsko engages endlessly with his patrons, staying up late to sing, give feedback to burgeoning artists, and observe 
the fan-made sideshows spiralling out from his creative circus. “We’re like the island of misfit toys,” commented Gremlissa, Zoom party legend and Greta Gremlin doppelgänger.

 

Dive deeper down into Lutsko-land and join the Discord group, a disjointed, rambling army of all things Nick, ready to mobilize and minionize against any Muppet at a moment’s notice. This place is a Faulknerian fever-dream of inside jokes “Inceptioning” infinitely inward towards comedy oblivion.

 

One can also pay VIP fees to meet Lutsko pre-show to experience the intimacy of access. The Chicago meet-and-greet 
was marked by Lutsko’s trademark redamancy, as he rounded up guests he felt weren’t getting enough attention. In this pocket universe, it’s like getting noticed by Elvis, and the excitement in the air was palpable.

 

Those at the soundcheck were treated to a performance of crowd favourite “Haunted by the Ghost of Ernest P. Worrell”. 
British textile artist Rachel, who uses her considerable talents to create yarn-based representations of the Lutsko-verse, said, “All I can say is you can’t explain Nick Lutsko,” she exclaimed. “If you’re not here, where are you?” enquired fan Molly Bear.

 

The band, well worth the quoted $100,000, are not just musicians - they’re an essential part of the world that’s been built. Sax player and perennial heel Cowboy Jon was kind enough to chat about the tour. “The audiences have been so much fun… you can’t plan on it being successful.”

 

Cowboy Jon’s protégé and bandmate, wunderkind Asa Williams, was clearly having a lot of fun on his Cameron Crowe-style journey of discovery. He offered up this wisdom. “The most important thing on this tour is doing a good job and representing the group. There’s positive things in everything… limitations create environments to be creative!”

 

The overall effect of the evening was an endless deluge of songs both fresh in mintage and delightfully vintage, leading the rapt crowd on an apocalyptic journey of musical absurdity, leaving an audience united in laughter.