"Context is crucial..."
Jon Kanis is an award-winning author and Grammy-nominated musician and producer who has traveled the world over entertaining folks from San Diego to Amsterdam — from Cusco to Tibet. With 35+ years of experience as a musician and mobile DJ, Jon can masterfully spin any tune out of the Top 40 (and beyond) from 1955 through 2016 from his 200,000+ song library. He is also an expert musicologist and journalist whose work has been featured in MOJO, UGLY THINGS, The San Diego Troubadour and The San Diego Reader. Born and raised in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Kanis has spent the last 34 years calling San Diego, California home.
"Is there anything Jon Kanis can’t do? Probably not."
— Beverly Paterson, Something Else
"On a whim, I picked up Encyclopedia Walking: Pop Culture & the Alchemy of Rock n Roll by Jon Kanis. The opening essay was on Ginsberg and Kerouac, and I thought: 'OK—cool.' Then there was an essay on Paul Williams (Crawdaddy!), which put a smile on my face. By the time I got to the 1960s–70s TV show SOUL! (Channel 13 NYC) written by Kanis in 1995—years before Gayle Wald's definitive book It's Been Beautiful—I thought “who IS this guy?” And after reading an essay on my own Listen Whitey! project, I thought: “Where has Jon been all my life?”
— Pat Thomas, author/producer/musician
"Encyclopedia Walking is a to-the-bone, walk-the-talk work of literature that informs and transforms...it is essential reading along with the works of Lester Bangs and Paul Williams.
— Terry Roland, San Diego Troubadour