vigoronline

Anthony Fantano (on right) and a fan. Photo by Leon Laing.

Thanks to modern technology, a music journalist can become an internet personality. Case in point: Nardwuar, the famous and quirky music journalist, and Anthony Fantano. With his popular YouTube channel called The Needle Drop, Fantano was able to take his show on the road. His second to last stop on his tour was in Harrisburg.

On The Needle Drop, a music-related video blog on YouTube, Fantano reviews albums with wit and no mercy, rating them from one to 10. At press time, The Needle Drop has 1,521,567 subscribers. Fantano, also a video producer, proclaims himself as the “internet’s busiest music nerd.” Like me, he wanted to become a cartoonist as a child.

The music critic held his show at HMAC on June 24. He came on stage as Cal Chuchesta. Chuchesta, one of Fantano’s characters known for his poor taste in music, is Fantano’s roommate. The character gave a spoof rap performance during the show.

During the Q&A portion of the show, I said the late Jimmy Wopo filmed a video in Harrisburg with a local artist. With the recent deaths of Wopo and XXXTentacion, I asked what would Fontano tell the youth today? “Cut yourself outside of that situation,” he says about being in harms way.

Aside from incorporating music and politics into his show, Fantano also made fun of Paul Joseph Watson, a YouTube personality and conspiracy theorist. Fantano also tells vigoronline.com that Kids See Ghosts is one of his favorite albums of this year.