Steve Krakow is a one-man cultural industry. Under the alias Plastic Crimewave he leads a grimy psych-rock band that bears his name (the latest of many such groups), plays psychedelic banjo solos, and creates a hand-drawn Reader comic called the Secret History of Chicago Music about underappreciated local musicians. He also writes Galactic Zoo Dossier, an extremely intermittent but lavishly lettered periodical that celebrates mind-altering music from around the globe, some of which he’s released via his Galactic Zoo Disk label, an imprint of Drag City. The Plastic Crimewave Vision Celestial Guitarkestra, the opening act at many a Hideout Block Party, invites anyone with an instrument, amplifier, and power strip to raise the roof with a free-form drone jam in the key of E. And last but not least, since 2004 Krakow has been organizing the more or less annual Million Tongues Festival.
“I’ve always thought that it would be really great to have someone with a long, extended career, who doesn’t really play out much anymore—someone from overseas,” says Krakow. “I don’t know how I fell into the ‘psychedelic Japanese ambassador to Chicago’ role, but somehow it happened in the late 90s, and I was as thrilled as anyone because I love that stuff. It’s exciting for me to get something that you couldn’t normally see. And I go over to Japan every once in a while, and I interviewed Narita when I was over there last time. He’s still doing stuff in Japan, and there are so many people who worship High Rise—so get this guy over here!
