“...Skafish, an eclectic performer who defies general categorization will deliver a high-energy showing of pop, rock and even classical music...
...His current live show is a one-man performance that includes a variety of abstract props, blow up dolls and even a troop of live cheerleaders. Musically enigmatic as ever, Skafish blends such early punk era hits as “Sign of the Cross” and “Joan Fan Club” with new material from country funk to pulsating techno rhythms.”
- Tom Lounges – “Entertainment” - Griffith News-Wednesday, April 7, 1993
“Hold onto your hats! That blast of raw energy hitting the area is not a tornado - it’s Jim Skafish...Even his friends, he will tell you, say he’s turned hyperactivity into a career....
“It’s like I turn everything up to a 10. All of the fear, all of the anger, all of the love, all of the sexuality. It all comes into every performance. I lose 6 pounds a show.”
…His tall, imposing figure and piercing eyes - made even more startling by heavy eyeliner - contrasted with his melodic voice and polite manner make him seem a cross between Svengali and the kid next door who serves Mass on Sundays.
You won’t find Skafish serving mass, but his Catholic childhood has provided plenty of material for his creative energy. Tonight’s show will feature three songs - “I Survived Catholic School,” “Sign of the Cross” and “Is it a Venial or Mortal Sin?”
“I call it the spiritual segment of the show,” he says....
“I was such a misfit in school,” he says. “The teachers never liked me because I was different, and the kids for the most part were brutal and cruel.”
His art reflects the turmoil of those times, but the bitterness is gone and he speaks about them philosophically....
His goal in his art and his life, he says, is to keep growing and evolving to become a person “who is more at peace, who is more spiritual, who is more humanitarian, who is more self-sacrificing...”
- Connie Sowa-Jamrok – “The Region’s Best Kept Secret: the Music of Jim Skafish: hyperactive rock” - The Times - Friday, April 9, 1993
“Those planning to catch East Chicago rocker Jim Skafish at Club Dimensions tonight can expect a bit of theater: Skafish dressed as a “wicked nun.” There will be also some early Skafish tunes, plus a sampling of his album “Best Kept Secrets” and “a lot of brand new things,” he said. Skafish is currently working on a long form video.…
…Also on the “what’s new” list: Skafish’s new track, “Body Parts,” was getting some play on local radio....”
- Bob Kostanczuk – “SKAFISH LIVE IS‘ NUNSENSE’” - Post Tribune - Friday, April 9, 1993
“ ‘I really liked the Rolling Stones and the fact that they were outrageous and bad, and that mothers didn’t like them,’ recalled East Chicago avant-garde rocker Jim Skafish, who has also taught a college course on the history of rock‘ n’ roll. For Skafish, it was the dangerous image and visual ambience of the Stones, rather than the music, that was truly alluring. “My mother hated them, so I loved‘ em,’ he said....' ”
- Bob Kostanczuk – “From Liverpool to Gary...Invasion starts here” - Post Tribune - Sunday, September 26, 1993
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