VIRB

From next-door neighbor to Lolla performer
By Jim DeRogatis

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/derogatis/497295,cst-nws-lolla05.article

"A few years ago, one of my next-door neighbors on the city's Northwest Side was an earnest young guy gearing up for his first year at DePaul University and eager to make his mark as a musician. Every summer, he'd sit on his front stoop at night and play his acoustic guitar, singing surprisingly sophisticated originals, as well as covers by Pink Floyd and Dave Matthews.

Now, Tom Schraeder is preparing to release a debut EP, "The Door, The Gutter, The Grave," and in the tough-sell slot of Friday at 12:30, he held forth on one of the smaller stages in the center of the park along Lake Shore Drive, winning over early arrivals at the fest (who had to endure an entry line three blocks long) and shining brightly as he delivered histunes with the exquisite backing of a seven-piece band that included cello, violin, standup bass, drums, keyboards and, best of all, a singing saw.

"God damn all you women who are the same," Schraeder sang in an endearingly gravelly voice and with a world-weary wisdom belying his age and experience. Combined with a moving sound equal parts alternative-country, cornfield psychedelia and Neil Young, tunes like this one marked him as a real talent -- and no, that observation isn't at all influenced by the fact that I can say I knew him when."