J. $krilla

Musician, artist, promoter: J. $krilla, 30, is hot, single and available. Stop by his new store, The Culture Shop and Underground Apparel, and try him on for size!

J. $krilla, you are cute, cute, cute, no doubt about it! You're GORGEOUS! And excruciatingly sexy. But educate a white girl: $krilla?
It's slang for money. You know, dough, scratch, cash — back in the day we called it $krilla.

Ah! Well, as Vince Vaughn would say, "You're so money, baby!" You wear the $krilla well, my friend.
Thank you, thank you.

What's your real name?
Jermaine Jones is my real name. I use Love Jones for my poetry. And I use John Dough when I want to stay under the radar.

Under the radar? Looking like that? Impossible! You have an amazing sense of style.
I like to be unique, and I always want to separate myself from the crowd. Good or bad, I want to stand out. I want to pop.

I bet your closet is perfectly organized.
It is. I turned one room into an entire closet. There's a rack of suits, hats, my shoes are at the bottom, ties….

It's fly.
Like an airplane.

Good one! Where do you get your couture?
The Culture Shop and Underground Apparel!

Of course! So you've added a new venture to your long list of businesses! What was the inspiration?
As long as I've been in Paducah, I've noticed that musicians who would like to become professional — there's no venue here where they can promote and sell their CDs, their T-shirts, their posters and things like that. So I created the store for artists.

About 85 percent of our inventory is on consignment by local artists, musicians, designers — anyone with a unique idea who wants to sell a product. Everything I have is unique and local. I don't want anything you can find in the mall. If you can find it in the mall, I don't want it, and I probably wouldn’t wear it.

I'm lovin' Laura K's makeover!
Oh yes, she knows how to work it! We've got suits, shoes, jackets, handmade jewelry — one-of-a-kind pieces with nothing over $50. We have Roller Girls stuff and Obama stuff. And this whole rack here is free — it's dedicated to people in need.

We also have organic natural soaps, which I really love because they're made by tribes in Africa instead of by big conglomerations and corporations.

And we're going to do airbrushing, screen printing and digital graphics. We're doing to do our best to cover every avenue of visual and audio art.

I'm coming out with my own clothing line, too, which we'll have in the store. It will be called $krillinen, so look for that in a few months.

I will! And you've got great local music.
We've got Bawn in the Mash, the Poetic Justus CD that we did with Paducah Writers Group, Guerilla Poetry and Black Ink, Mack C from Hopkinsville, Big Dirty Red here in Paducah, Anthony William Herndon — he plays with The Great Gatsby Jazz Funk Odyssey. And there's me.

Looks like you've made a video!
It's an album. It's called My Life As a Motion Picture. I'm getting ready to drop the sequel to it — a CD and DVD combo called the J. $Krilla Presidential Album.

So you've got The Culture Shop, and next door, Director's Cut Studio?
Yes, I'm the producer, engineer, visionary and CEO of that. I've recorded with probably every good musician in the area including Bawn in the Mash and all the Gatsby guys. In fact, all the CDs I've got in the store, I've worked on in some way.

And my promotion business is Reel to Real Entertainment. So I'm always out supporting and promoting local musicians.

Who are your main musical influences?
Prince definitely. Tupac. Josh Paterson. Bob Marley. Lauren Hill.

Oh, Lauren Hill! You should date her
! I would. I will. I like Beyonce, too.

Jay-Z would kick your ass.
He would. I don't need those problems.

Do gorgeous women hang out in your recording studio?
No, no, the studio is for working ONLY.

J. $krilla, you're too handsome for working ONLY. There's no way you're single.
Yes, I'm single.

How many times have you been married?
Never.

Get out!
I've never been married. I can't afford it.

Oh yeah, we can be expensive.
I've heard. My dad's been married six times and he hates women. He married one woman twice and he hates her double.

J. $krilla, don't lie. I'm sure you have like 1,000 women you're dating.
I think the problem is everyone thinks I have a 1,000 women, and I end up with none.

It's hard to do what I do and keep a significant other. It's hard to find women who can appreciate the music scene and respect it and accept it to point that they know dating me would be a change of lifestyle for them.

Change of lifestyle? How so?
Musicians and promoters work on different hours, different time zones. It's a different lifestyle. We might be gone for a whole weekend or a whole week. We're in the studio for hours and hours.

A lot of women are selfish and they feel like time we spend in the studio could be spent with them.

J. $krilla! Look at you! Can you blame 'em?
I know now to give women a warning upfront so they understand my lifestyle.

It's difficult. Sometimes I think it's better to find someone in the entertainment and music industry, but then it's a different kind of conflict because you can't spend any time together.

You need a flexible, independent woman who's got her own life going on.
Exactly. The perfect woman for me — I need a woman who loves what I do but at the same time has a business sense and would like to take part and find her niche in what I do. The best way to spend time with me is be a part of what I do.

Someone to help with all your ventures.
I would love a girlfriend who'd help. I'd love someone with an MBA. A business major — someone who's into self-ownership and self-employment, and who'd enjoy fostering a business and seeing it grow.

OK, so an MBA/business smarts kind of woman. What else are you looking for?
I really don't have a type. I don't have a particular race, body style or age in mind. I'm open.


I like that you're open! J. $krilla, you need to come to our Singles Mixer and Speed Dating event at Harrah's, Saturday May 30.
I'll be there!

You can meet all sorts of great women, and you just have to talk with each one for two minutes. You can do anything for two minutes.
Hey now, I can do a lot in two minutes.

Right on! Wanna throw down any parting words?
Come in, check out the store and support our local artists. We don't want to lose our artists to St. Louis, Chicago and Atlanta — we want artists there to come to Paducah as the place to be.

I think Paducah is enjoying a new renaissance. Everyone has the opportunity to do something positive here. I love Paducah.

I love Paducah, too. Scratch on, J. $krilla! Scratch on!

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