Jason Rossi

It’s Christmas time! Tis the season for expanding waistlines, alcohol laced eggnog, Xmas party hook ups and head thumping mornings, filled with regret!! ? Ok! ok! Slow ya roll grinch, it’s not all bad. I actually really enjoy the holidays these days. The excitement that crackles in the air is intoxicating. Sure Santa might technically no longer exist, but the memory of him attached itself to the same area of grey matter where other issues hang out, like the ones that pay for my shrink’s second home, and left a magical elf dust trail of happy thoughts, full to bursting anticipation and of course presents!
It is however important to remember, even if only for a quick 5 seconds, what Christmas is actually really about. It’s about the birth of baby Jesus. How poor Mary missed out on the fun part of making babies, but luckily for her got to experience giving birth on a cold barn floor with no epidural! Merry Christmas Mary! So in true Xmas spirit and with a tip of my hat to the soon to be birthday boy’s future career, please meet Jason Rossi…. The hottest carpenter this side of Bethlehem.
Born and raised in Queens NY, Italian Irish, Rossi is to carpentry what Daniel Day Lewis is to movies. A quiet brooding ‘leave me alone I have a job to do’ stud muffin. With his strong hands and muscle bound

arms he can manipulate wood into everything from the skeleton of a house to the furniture that clutters up your home and makes you feel good about yourself. Many a celebrity can point to things in their house that Rossi has made for them, which I am sure would make for some pretty interesting gossipy cocktail hours, but ya barking up the wrong tree if you think a few martinis are gonna make this wood man spill his guts… With a quiet confidence shrugging off his rugged shoulders, he is more happy propping up a bar, Guinness in hand, chatting to the old codgers, that call said bar home, than chatting to any of us about, “oh my god she wears what at home and does what with her rolling pins?!”
And that is only half the story. Come night time Rossi shakes off the wood shavings from his thick wavy salt ‘n pepper mane (think slow mo) swaps his hammer for his 95 Gibson Hummingbird guitar and pens songs for his band Love Taps. Formed in 2012 with his hot babe wife, their sound is like a folky fairy tale drinking a pint of beer while on a trip with the circus! Rossi’s voice, once aptly described as being a panty dropper, is a leg crossing mixture of vulnerability and raspy strength, while his lyrics draw upon abstract thoughts of what is going on in his life. Their self-titled album Love Taps was completed this year and can be heard up on

sound cloud https://soundcloud.com/ franco-rossi-are-lovetaps and they also made a video for the song A Pear Of Trees, with their buddies Feral productions, that can be seen at http://vimeo.com/114890118. But before you put your twitter/Instagram on high alert for a mass media onslaught of Love Taps carnage, you should know that Rossi is more likely to be found at home putting his baby girl to bed than breaking hotel rooms and vomming into swimming pools. He is a quiet man with simple tastes, who dreams of Irish coastlines and days spent digging for worms with his kids. Social media, schmoozing, fake friends, self promotion are not in this old school man from another era’s DNA…… And how do I know all of this? Because, I am the wife (yep, cough, the hot babe wife) of this here beautiful Rossi and if you don’t mind I shall take my leave about now and let you get on with reading what Rossi has to say about this world, before whisking him away for a big fat snog under the mistletoe at home. So until next year, lads and lasses, Happy Holidays and let’s make 2015 the year you take that first step towards making your own dirty hands and wiggly worm dreams a reality…

Who is Jason Rossi?
A father and husband, songwriter, door slammer, leafy street dreamer.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A boxer. The older kid down the street would schedule my after school fights with other kids on the block. I got into it a lot when I was a kid.

How did you get to be where you are?
Personally or professionally? Professionally I took a leap and started my own carpentry and custom millwork company over a year ago…it’s a lot different than just being a mule for someone else. I’ve still got a lot to learn about the business side but I’m really enjoy being my own boss.
Personally, I’ve had to dismantle myself slowly over several years and make some changes even if it meant bathing in a slop sink for 6 months like a man-bird. Turned into the most important time of my life.

If you could go back in time and give your 16-year-old self some advice what would it be?
Don’t be so resentful. And learn to say NO!

If the cupboard in your bedroom would lead you to another world what would your Narnia look like?
Me, my wife and children living in our country home in Ireland where people come to visit….sometimes. Where our hands are constantly dirty. And our panic days are now picnic days.

By day you are a ….. by night you are ….?
Carpenter…..Jimmy Fallon’s #1 fan!

What was one of your favorite past projects?
Recording a record with my wife. In fact, our daughter was in her belly so we were all there! I don’t generally like recording, but I did like those sessions very much. Oh and building our home, our nest.

What are you working on now. and what do you dream of happening in the future?
Right now I’m just keeping that sketch list long because in the future I’m hoping I will have figured out a new approach to writing songs. Not as fragmented and not trying to sound like something else.

What song do you love that you keep secret cause its too embarrassing to say publicly you like it?
“I will always love you” by Whitney Houston may she rest in peace. Or almost anything by Meatloaf.

Which version of “Halleluja” do you prefer, Jeff Buckley or Willie Nelson?
Jeff Buckley. May he rest in peace. The best example of simply capturing a moment in time I can think of.

Are you a morning person or night person?
I prefer the still morning.

Any advice for peeps just starting out?
Don’t keep your guitar in its case. If it’s not out, you won’t go to it. And read “The Great Gatsby” once a year was the advise given to me…that should be passed on.

Is there a quote or mantra you live by?
Be assertive on your own behalf.

Also, there was a quote I found in JD Salinger’s, “Seymour: An Introduction” that I typed on a small strip of paper and hung it on my walls, then I just carried it around in my wallet through my 20’s and 30’s…..”My credo is stated. I sit back. I sigh- happily, I’m afraid. I light a Murad, and go on, I hope to God, to other things.”

This year I turned 40..and I burned that damn piece of paper on my wedding night so I guess it’s up to me now….