Jason Paige brings Pokemon nostalgia to life at 8th World Collectables

He starts his days in meditation at his Los Angeles home.

Those moments of solitude might be the only respite Jason Paige has to call his own.

The 50-something-year-old singer is the voice of the Pokemon Theme, "Gotta Catch 'Em All," which was featured in more than 80 installments of the mega-popular anime series and premiered on the debut episode, "Pokémon, I Choose You!" on September 8, 1998.

Paige stays remarkably busy performing at collectors' conventions, trading card shops, recording sessions, and private shindigs.

And the Pokemon Theme singer appears in person at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 8, at Kennett's 8th World Collectables.

"I'm at Collect-A-Con, the biggest Pokemon card convention in the world," Paige said Tuesday. "I'm having an amazing time."

A product of New York City's Fiorello LaGuardia High School and New York University's Experimental Theatre, he's no stranger to stages, studios, and cameras.

Paige fronted an iteration of Blood, Sweat and Tears, the rhythm-and-blues-based rock band blessed with strong songwriting and soaked in epic horn arrangements, and his vocal skills are well known globally.

Paige's rap performance on Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” at the Madison Square Garden 30th Anniversary concert, which was broadcast live on CBS, solidified his status as a premier vocalist.

"I'm a session singer," Paige said. "Or have been, or am known as.

"Throughout the '90s, I worked at bringing myself from jingle-house to jingle house," he continued. "From recording studio to recording studio, doing all kinds of sessions for TV, film, bands, backgrounds and TV commercials."

Which were the results of natural talent and years of training. Paige's band, What's Up, starred in a variety TV show during his early years, which preceded his rise to the theme-song top.

"The company that Pokemon hired, 4Kids Entertainment, also hired Paradise Music to produce a theme song for this Japanese TV show that was going to be brought into the States," Paige said. "The Japanese theme was a little bit inappropriate.

"So they wanted to re-record and re-write a complete and new theme," he continued. "Brave Music, Paradise Music, called me because they knew I would do it. And the rest is history."

Paige was called back again in 1999 to produce an extended version of the theme song for the album, Pokémon 2.B.A. Master, and he's recorded a metal version of the theme, as well.

Although his convention appearances facilitate communicating with and performing for huge audiences of fans, he's every bit as comfortable sharing his talents in the personal closeness of smaller groups of hard-core enthusiasts at collector's stores and trading cards shops.

"It's amazing to experience the intimate environment of a store and a community that is gathering solely for their love of Pokemon, around their local game shop," Paige insisted. "It's so much different than a Comi-Con or a big card show, where there are hundreds of vendors.

"This is just the distilled love of that one community," the singer added. "And where they go to express their Pokemon dreams. I like going to stores even more than Comic-Cons. It's just an intimate performance environment. It's an intimate social environment where we can interact and people can ask questions about my career outside of Pokemon, not just Pokemon."

Those performances don't demand full backing bands, and Paige has no fear when it comes to rousing his audiences to play with him acting as backup singers.

"I play songs, usually on an acoustic guitar, in the store or on the parking lot when the stores are a little too crowded," he said. "I sign autographs for everybody there.

"They bring me their amazing items that they've kept throughout their entire childhood," Paige emphasized. "And it's a real sentimental experience. At a card show, there are a lot of people buying, selling, and re-selling, or business-to-business trades and sales. So, there are a lot of autograph purchases that are bought for re-selling, whereas the heart of it all is in the store. In the local game shops. I'm real excited to come out and meet everybody there in Kennett."

Bootheel residents have that opportunity to relive their childhoods or to introduce their loved ones, friends, and neighbors to those carefree moments that populated their adolescent realities by heading to Kennett on Saturday and sharing in Paige's grand designs.

Jason Paige, singer, actor, and uber-talented voiceover presence, appears from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at 8th World Collectables, 108 Saint Francis St., just off the Kennett square.

Store owner Allen Johnson said the response to Paige's appearance is enthusiastic and that the show and meet-and-greet promises to be a red-letter day for kids of all ages in the Bootheel.