ThePostmOn delivers

A guidance counselor once told Anthony Postman, “It’s better to be a master of one thing than a jack of all trades.” But Postman didn’t listen, and the Reno music scene is better off for that.

Postman, who goes by the moniker ThePostmOn, has become a jack of all trades to the music scene: working as a DJ, playing guitar and percussion, hosting a radio show, setting up concerts and working on a myriad of other tasks in the music industry.

His musical odyssey began at a young age when he started playing the violin. Soon after that, he sat down behind the ivory keys of the piano. A few years later, the guitar joined his growing repertoire of instruments. Percussion instruments would follow, and then being a DJ.

“The more you can do in the music, the more you’ll be working,” the outgoing Postman says. “That’s the common equation. If you can diversify and work in other areas, you might be working more.”

Postman’s musical world is focused on reggae and world beat. Living some of his formative years in the San Francisco’s famed Haight/Ashbury district exposed Postman to a variety of music, but he fell in love with reggae. Now he works to bring reggae back into the collective consciousness of Reno music lovers.

With reggae mostly absent from the radio, and with national reggae acts bringing in as few as 40 people at shows, Postman says he remembers a fellow reggae promoter saying that he would never bring a reggae show to Reno again. This saddened Postman but did not break his resolve.

Now, Postman brings his reggae sound as a DJ at the Zephyr Lounge every Tuesday night. He spins with The Brian Landrus Project Wednesdays at The Garage inside the Reno Hilton and—for the first time in a few years—has brought reggae back to the Reno airwaves with his show Reggae fi’ Real on KUNR 88.7 Thursday nights. Postman’s day job is teaching guitar at Modern Guitar, which he credits for allowing him to make music a full-time job.

“I praise Jah daily for that,” the dread-locked Postman says. “Teaching has made me a much better musician and has taught me a lot about people.”

Teaching comes naturally to Postman, who was an explainer at The Exploratorium in San Francisco when he was 14. There, he would explain the science behind the museum’s hands-on displays.

But while teaching is a large part of who Postman is as a musician, playing or being a DJ on stage is where he shines. Tuesday nights at the Zephyr, Postman stands behind his CD turntables spinning, scratching and smiling his way through all forms of reggae, ska and world beat. And despite the recent lack of reggae in Reno, the crowds have obviously not forgotten the appealing, mellow sounds and conscientious lyrics that have made reggae popular.

The thoughtful lyrics of reggae are part of the appeal to Postman, who says that reggae musicians and singers speak to people who think for themselves.

“Reggae is music with integrity and a conscience,” Postman says. “That’s why I play it.”

And he hopes people will continue to come listen to his music with an open mind.

“I have seen [Reno’s music scene] go up and down in waves," Postman says. "But I hope it just keeps going up from here."