Young musician finds his voice.

Byline: Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard

CONCERT PREVIEW Dan Jones and the Squids with Jon Itkin and the Admonitions What: Itkin's final show as a Eugene resident When: 9 p.m. Saturday Where: Luckey's, 933 Olive St. Tickets: $4 to $5 at the door

Jon Itkin stopped trying to be Bob Dylan a long time ago - well he's only 23, so "a long time ago" can't be that long - but when he picked up the guitar at age 13, the singer-songwriter learned to play and write by mimicking His Bobness.

As an English major at the University of Pittsburgh, his music got in-your-face political. But by the time he came to Oregon about three years ago, he had changed his tune.

"I'd write songs to-order for whatever rally it was. Angry vitriolic songs," the University of Oregon senior says. "Eventually, I felt like I was banging my head against the wall. ...

`It was like trying to rally the people when there are like 24 of them."

Now, Itkin has settled into his own alternative country style, one that leans on imagery and spare wording to get a message out.

He's trying to make his statement by telling stories, creating characters - a sound he describes in his bio as "Nebraska-era Springsteen, Beck and Johnny Cash having a guitar pull at Armadillo World Headquarters."

On June 17, he will pick up his journalism degree and set about trying to make music his career. (Journalism, he says, is a backup choice.)

"I feel confident about my music. I put a lot of heart and soul into it," says Itkin, who was one of three finalists during this year's new song contest at the Willamette Valley Folk Festival. "At this point in my life, I feel like I am a pretty good judge of my stuff."

A nostalgic jones

Itkin's first "gig" was at a coffeehouse in Rochester, N.Y., where he got permission to set up his gear and play some songs with friends.

He posted signs around his school. To his surprise, 80 of his classmates mobbed on the 30-person-capacity shop.

"That was one of those moments. I was walking on air," Itkin says. "I made like 40 bucks. It was awesome. It was so great."

His unease with his plain, suburban upbringing influences his musical choices.

"It was this faceless nameless suburb, there was no community, no town," he says. "All we did when we were kids was get drunk in the park or get stoned in the park or go to the Pink Floyd laser show."

He's homesick for a home he never lived in.

"I really always had a nostalgic jones," he says. "I liked the black-and-white Looney Tunes. It's so easy to idealize. ...

`In my own mind I created this world where everything is peachy and classic - in soft focus."

On his first and only release, "Oregon," he spins tales of ending up in jail after a night of drinking, the state taking away his "momma," and the woes of the working man who can't retire on $12 an hour. He says his songs are not all true, but there's always a kernel of truth.

After going home to New York for the summer, the Northwest convert plans to return and make his home on the left coast. If this "rough-cut diamond," as The Oregonian calls him, makes the big time, he will look back at Eugene as the place he began to play seriously and where he cut his first album.

He'll be back through town soon, he promises.

"I feel good about what I've been able to accomplish here," he says.

You can call Serena Markstrom at 338-2371 or e-mail her at [e-mail].

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Jon Itkin plans to return to New York this summer and eventually make his way back to the Northwest. "I feel good about what I've been able to accomplish here," he says.