By now, if you're in New Jersey or anywhere near it, and if you've got a propensity for catchy, sharply-written piano pop, you surely already know John Paciga. Other Side Of Town, his recent debut album, startled with its freshness and its ambition: here was a set that sought to establish Paciga as an heir to the tradition of Elton John and Billy Joel. There was plenty of Broadway grandeur in his playing and writing, too, along with the compassion and abandon associated with newer, punk-influenced piano pop-rockers like Andrew McMahon and Ian Axel of A Great Big World. Yet the most astonishing thing about Other Side Of Town may have been John Paciga's age. He was only 17 when he made it - still a high school student, in other words - and as of this writing, he still hasn't graduated (he's due to don the cap and gown in a week).
