Turned around and saw a familiar face behind the sound board. It was ole Lach himself for a moment or two during Ben K's first song. Good to see him there, if only for a minute. Caught Lach later in an intense Scrabble game with Joe Crow.
Ben started off with Sting-Ra and Birdies and Cars (which featured a musical quote from London Bridge).
Big Hat was a group that included Alex P along with some friends of his I didn't know. I liked their country/folk feel, which was strongest on the first song. During the second--which featured a different singer (and Alex P on slide guitar)--the electricity went out and the group carried on acoustically till the lights came back. Alex P's electric guitar wasn't of much use through that but otherwise they kept playing. I'm always impressed by Alex, though, at least when there's electricity at hand. Really nice guitar work.
Ryan Phillips, was a first timer who played.
A guy named Beau played a somewhat gruesome song about the jungle and running from men in dashikis.
Peru Peru was a five-person group from France---bass, vocal/casio, percussion, keyboard, female vocalist. I couldn't really get the gist of what they were trying to do. There was a kind of chanting thing going on in the second song..."doesn't matter-what's the matter." It was all a bit overly loose and didn't quite gel for me.
Morgan made a request for the disco lights, which Ben turned on, even though they aren't exactly right for her sensitive, quiet songs. Morgan's stuff is gorgeous--skillfully written and beautifully played (uke is her main instrument). Sometimes I wish she'd throw in a rocker though....
Crazy and the Brains usually seem to reflect a strong Sex Pistols influence although Monday it seemed like Mick Jagger was coming to the fore. It was just one member of the group....
Lach played Stunned and an interesting song about gangsters in the family.
Joe Bendik was up with a rock version of Beethoven and Malltown.
The Fools played to promote their residency this month. I love everything about the Fools. I think their songs are great and I love Jen's guitar work and singing. However, sometimes what stands out most of all is the beautiful tone of Uchenna's bass and her tasteful playing.
Julia and Ben from Olympia, Washington played...nice harmonies.
Being that it was Labor Day and I hadn't been at work, I showed up in casual duds as opposed to my usual suit and tie. Contrary to popular belief I don't actually sleep in a suit or wear one on the weekends or when hanging around the house. During those times you just might find me in a t-shirt and jeans.
I texted Debe D. during the night to give her the Monday update. But then I left fairly early again. I'm sure there was wonderful music as the night went on
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday Night Open Mic, August 31, 2009
My return--after a couple weeks away. It seemed like a long time somehow. I often feel that I'm going to come back after being away for a while and everything will be different. All of a sudden the Open Mic will be hosted by somebody I've never met and all the faces will be different...kind of like an alternative world Sidewalk Open Mic.
But no, there were familiar faces all over the place and it was good to see everyone, even though things seemed a bit off kilter without Debe D.
I didn't get to stay around that late, but here is what I did see:
It seemed like kind of a quiet night when I arrived. A line did quickly build up but still with Labor Day upon us and people not quite back to school, etc. I think it was a little less crowded than usual.
Ben K. kicked things off with Sting Ra and a song called Hey Mr. Hitman, which he said he hadn't played in 10 years.
Jordan Levinson was up with a new song that she said came to her in a dream...."My heart is in the city but my love is country bound," sung with Jordan's lovely country-styled vocals.
A piano playing guy from a band called Wiley Toms played a song inspired by a New Orleans funeral march (although the song didn't sound like a New Orleans funeral march.
The New Students sang a song with nice vocal harmonies that was maybe called "My Caroline." A little James Taylor-esque. Their second song they said was a response to hearing a Pete Seeger show and had more of a real folky feel.
Kyle Maler went on stage and played while wearing his bike helmet. Guess we all need whatever protection we can find. The song had something about counting calories in it.
The Fools were up and played a couple songs to promote their residency this month, including their song "Open Door." I do love the Fools.
I ran into "Rob" who has started coming back to the Open Mic after a hiatus of 25 years or something like that. "Rob" hung out in one of Lach's clubs that was a predecessor to Sidewalk. I'm sorry I wasn't there last week when he played the first time and that I couldn't hang out Monday to hear him. But I know I will soon.
That's it for now. Easing my way back in. More next time.
But no, there were familiar faces all over the place and it was good to see everyone, even though things seemed a bit off kilter without Debe D.
I didn't get to stay around that late, but here is what I did see:
It seemed like kind of a quiet night when I arrived. A line did quickly build up but still with Labor Day upon us and people not quite back to school, etc. I think it was a little less crowded than usual.
Ben K. kicked things off with Sting Ra and a song called Hey Mr. Hitman, which he said he hadn't played in 10 years.
Jordan Levinson was up with a new song that she said came to her in a dream...."My heart is in the city but my love is country bound," sung with Jordan's lovely country-styled vocals.
A piano playing guy from a band called Wiley Toms played a song inspired by a New Orleans funeral march (although the song didn't sound like a New Orleans funeral march.
The New Students sang a song with nice vocal harmonies that was maybe called "My Caroline." A little James Taylor-esque. Their second song they said was a response to hearing a Pete Seeger show and had more of a real folky feel.
Kyle Maler went on stage and played while wearing his bike helmet. Guess we all need whatever protection we can find. The song had something about counting calories in it.
The Fools were up and played a couple songs to promote their residency this month, including their song "Open Door." I do love the Fools.
I ran into "Rob" who has started coming back to the Open Mic after a hiatus of 25 years or something like that. "Rob" hung out in one of Lach's clubs that was a predecessor to Sidewalk. I'm sorry I wasn't there last week when he played the first time and that I couldn't hang out Monday to hear him. But I know I will soon.
That's it for now. Easing my way back in. More next time.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Antifolk Fest, Saturday, August 15, 2009
Hey-Even though I got way behind in writing up the Antifolk Fest, I still plan on catching up as much as possible. I also was out of town for a while and missed a couple of Open Mic nights, but I'll be back in the swing of things soon.
Lots of good stuff Saturday, 8/15, but the revelation to me was Emily Einhorn. Somehow I never connected with her material during the time she was a Sidewalk regular--maybe a year or more ago. But this time I noticed the many interesting and affecting components to her songs. More about Emily when we get there. Saturday wrapped up the Festival for me as I had to leave town early the next morning. I kind of paced myself better this time and didn’t force myself to make every show if something else came up. I’m sure I missed some good stuff but also felt less burnt out by the end of it all.
I came in at the tale end of Carl Creighton’s set but really only got to hear him do his big number, Minnesota, which I’ve always liked.
Brian Speaker did a nice set mixing some of his latest stand alone songs with a couple tunes from his space opera and a cover of a Barry Bliss tune. Rachel Devlin sang with Brian on the song about how “if you really want to taste wine, you got to taste it from someone else’s lips.” I’ve heard the song several times, but this was a particularly beautiful rendering of it. Brian and Rachel melded really nicely. Brian mentioned how he’d wished he’d done a better job on the Barry Bliss tune that he’d covered at Wednesday’s Barry Bliss tribute. Brian seemed genuinely down on his previous performance, but I thought it had gone just fine and enjoyed the song. Brian played one of his most charming songs, the one about looking for a partner--who must be beautiful and talented and sing alto harmony and soprano leads--and be awkward and reliable just like..... He also sang another one about being like a Saturday morning cartoon. Lots of good ideas in Brian’s songs. He finished up with The Bird--which Amos requested and so Brian called Amos up to sing it with him.
Emily Einhorn’s songs seem mostly to be written from the points of view of a variety of different characters. For example, she said at one point something along the lines of: “when I was drinking a lot of whiskey I had an alter ego in a relationship with Tom Waits and this is a song she wrote.” Earlier in the evening she played one called The Office, all about the torment of The Office, and The Boss, juxtaposed with the singing of a little love song when the character in the song goes home. The songs have interesting melodies and although at first they seemed a little unstructured, gradually the form would emerge as Emily worked her way through them. Some of them had an edge of darkness to them, focussing on people who are dissatisfied or struggling. Emily made good use of dynamics and her vocals had interesting inflections. It will take some more listening to fully absorb these pieces, but they are rich and interesting and I’m looking forward to exploring them.
Erin Regan is a fabulous songwriter and performer. Her songs are mellow in style but deeply moving. The other night, among many others, she played her beautiful but mysterious song Building Jumper, and Iodine, in which she observes the ball of sweart rolling down the cheek of her bedmate and then sings “we are just balls of sweat, increasing and decreasing speed.” I’ve come to love Erin’s song and her voice over the years and continually wonder why she isn’t super famous.
Jaymay--who was a Sidewalk regular a number of years ago, was back for the Antifolk Fest and with a band including a stand up bass and another guitar player (who also played piano on one or two songs). I originally saw Jaymay at Sidewalk around the time I first started hanging out there in 2004. She’s not been around all that much since then as she’s built a following and a career, but I was glad to see her back recently and especially for the Antifolk fest. She played a couple of very catchy songs that have been rumbling through my brain ever since hearing them the other night. One is this love song called One May Die So Lonely, and the other, in which she lists all kinds of items that she sees in front of her, has the same sort of propulsive rhythmic feel. She also played a beautiful but sad song called Song for Paul, as well as some older love songs like Sea Green See Blue, and Gray or Blue. Jaymay’s strength is in the intersection of her performance and songwriting. It’s hard to pinpoint but there is something about the mixture of her words, music, voice, and playing that really makes her stand out. Sometimes I wonder if she edges a bit too close to catchy accessibility but in the end I think she usually rides that border nicely, veering back to more angular and interesting territory before things get too sweet. Jaymay was talking about how she has no money and was considering moving to New Orleans (not a bad place to go in my book). But she brought a nice crowd to Sidewalk. The room was filled with her fans during her set.
Lots of good stuff Saturday, 8/15, but the revelation to me was Emily Einhorn. Somehow I never connected with her material during the time she was a Sidewalk regular--maybe a year or more ago. But this time I noticed the many interesting and affecting components to her songs. More about Emily when we get there. Saturday wrapped up the Festival for me as I had to leave town early the next morning. I kind of paced myself better this time and didn’t force myself to make every show if something else came up. I’m sure I missed some good stuff but also felt less burnt out by the end of it all.
I came in at the tale end of Carl Creighton’s set but really only got to hear him do his big number, Minnesota, which I’ve always liked.
Brian Speaker did a nice set mixing some of his latest stand alone songs with a couple tunes from his space opera and a cover of a Barry Bliss tune. Rachel Devlin sang with Brian on the song about how “if you really want to taste wine, you got to taste it from someone else’s lips.” I’ve heard the song several times, but this was a particularly beautiful rendering of it. Brian and Rachel melded really nicely. Brian mentioned how he’d wished he’d done a better job on the Barry Bliss tune that he’d covered at Wednesday’s Barry Bliss tribute. Brian seemed genuinely down on his previous performance, but I thought it had gone just fine and enjoyed the song. Brian played one of his most charming songs, the one about looking for a partner--who must be beautiful and talented and sing alto harmony and soprano leads--and be awkward and reliable just like..... He also sang another one about being like a Saturday morning cartoon. Lots of good ideas in Brian’s songs. He finished up with The Bird--which Amos requested and so Brian called Amos up to sing it with him.
Emily Einhorn’s songs seem mostly to be written from the points of view of a variety of different characters. For example, she said at one point something along the lines of: “when I was drinking a lot of whiskey I had an alter ego in a relationship with Tom Waits and this is a song she wrote.” Earlier in the evening she played one called The Office, all about the torment of The Office, and The Boss, juxtaposed with the singing of a little love song when the character in the song goes home. The songs have interesting melodies and although at first they seemed a little unstructured, gradually the form would emerge as Emily worked her way through them. Some of them had an edge of darkness to them, focussing on people who are dissatisfied or struggling. Emily made good use of dynamics and her vocals had interesting inflections. It will take some more listening to fully absorb these pieces, but they are rich and interesting and I’m looking forward to exploring them.
Erin Regan is a fabulous songwriter and performer. Her songs are mellow in style but deeply moving. The other night, among many others, she played her beautiful but mysterious song Building Jumper, and Iodine, in which she observes the ball of sweart rolling down the cheek of her bedmate and then sings “we are just balls of sweat, increasing and decreasing speed.” I’ve come to love Erin’s song and her voice over the years and continually wonder why she isn’t super famous.
Jaymay--who was a Sidewalk regular a number of years ago, was back for the Antifolk Fest and with a band including a stand up bass and another guitar player (who also played piano on one or two songs). I originally saw Jaymay at Sidewalk around the time I first started hanging out there in 2004. She’s not been around all that much since then as she’s built a following and a career, but I was glad to see her back recently and especially for the Antifolk fest. She played a couple of very catchy songs that have been rumbling through my brain ever since hearing them the other night. One is this love song called One May Die So Lonely, and the other, in which she lists all kinds of items that she sees in front of her, has the same sort of propulsive rhythmic feel. She also played a beautiful but sad song called Song for Paul, as well as some older love songs like Sea Green See Blue, and Gray or Blue. Jaymay’s strength is in the intersection of her performance and songwriting. It’s hard to pinpoint but there is something about the mixture of her words, music, voice, and playing that really makes her stand out. Sometimes I wonder if she edges a bit too close to catchy accessibility but in the end I think she usually rides that border nicely, veering back to more angular and interesting territory before things get too sweet. Jaymay was talking about how she has no money and was considering moving to New Orleans (not a bad place to go in my book). But she brought a nice crowd to Sidewalk. The room was filled with her fans during her set.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Antifolk Fest, Thursday, August 13,2009
Barry Bliss, Diane Cluck, Anders Griffen, Peter Dizozza, Regina Spektor, Dufus, Bernard King, Jon Berger, MIke Rechner, Dina Levy, Matt Roth etc.....it seemed like old school Sidewalk last night, circa 2002/2003 or something, with all those folks hanging around and/or performing.
It's interesting that if you spend enough time on the scene your connections and interactions can swell into all kinds of interesting parts of the Sidewalk stream. After a long time of hearing about Anders Griffen, I not only performed with him but heard him play several sets throughout the week on drums, trumpet, and bass, and as a reader in Bernard King's set. Plus, Barry Bliss has been hanging out at Sidewalk again on a regular basis. I hadn't had much exposure to his songs previously but last night's set was a really good way to be introduced to them.
Jon Berger kicked things off with a set of new material. Lots of good stuff there. Jon mostly stayed put center stage despite his seeming desire to careen through the house while drawing on older memorized material. But I think it was a good thing he focused on his newer stuff. I particularly liked this one called The Girl Who 2 where he is conjecturing about the possible interest of a lady friend, especially when she invites him to see what is, after all, the most romantic of the Star Trek movies--well, you have to hear Jon do it.
Bernard King Presents featured readings of Bernard's poems by a range of Antifolk friends. One is always a bit nervous when friends want to read you their poetry. But Bernard's stuff is excellent. The Definition of Summer, which was read by Julie Hill really stood out. Beautiful imagery and language. But they all were good. Here's, I think, the complete list: Matt Roth (Men of Words), Toby Goodshank (Lost Girl), Julie HIll (The Definition of Summer), JJ Hayes (John Houx's Wine (?)), Diane Cluck (The Spaghetti Poodle), Liv Carrow (Cool Facts for Dogs--or something like that), Anders Griffen (Summer Storm). Ben Krieger (The Dog Star).
I'd heard about Barry Bliss regularly over the years but somehow missed connecting with him or his work until he came back to New York recently. I remember in particular that Dave Cuomo was a big fan and featured Barry in the program to the 2006 Antifolk Fest. I'll have to admit that the few songs I'd heard on MySpace or wherever didn't really help me understand what it was about him that appealed to folks so much. Well, last night's set of his songs performed by other artists from the Sidewalk scene gave me a much more direct understanding of how compelling his plainspoken and intense songs are, many of which are about his efforts to figure out how to be, how to do, how to move on. I think it's the case where the songs require a certain type of introduction or hearing in the right setting maybe--or possibly repeated listenings.
In any event the performances were uniformly interesting. Ben Krieger's version of the song about lovers who are not sexually attracted, was one that really stood out to me. Ben played it on the bass with this kind of heavy plucking of intervals, and then about three-quarters of the way through the song he dropped the bass on the floor where it kept droning while Ben finished the song on the piano. I thought it was great. But there were so many other good performances. Matt Mason on a song about the narrator's anorexia. Liv Carrow singing about Joan of Arc, Crazy and the Brains (All I want is to be left alone), Debe Dalton (In my dream I was a murderer), Jon Berger (Brand New Day), Brian Speaker (Do Not Call Upon Jesus), JJ Hayes, Brook Pridemore, Toby Goodshank, Peter D, and possibly others I'm missing. I'm looking forward to hearing Barry play these songs himself once he feels his voice is back up to par.
Rav Shmuel played a range of songs on the ukulele including love songs, to dislike songs, and one focused on racism to Jews called the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He also played his song the Bodega Song, about the place the Yeshiva students used to buy their pot!?
I got more into The Woog Riot's set as it went along, but I found the electronic accompaniment not my cup of tea exactly. They were unable to use their keyboard because of problems with the equipment so I should give them some benefit of the doubt in that respect. There was something endearing about the way they had choreographed gestures to some of their songs and I liked Backstage Lemonade along with a couple others. The band was touring from Germany. I got the impression they had connected with some of the Sidewalk crew that had come through Europe.
Peter Dizozza's set was filled with all kinds of interesting moments. His band featured a bass player/vocalist, a drummer, sitar player, and Peter. Special guest included Tony Saro, who kind of looked like the archetypal grandpa figure, and sang what Peter referred to as The Wizard Song. Peter and his sitar player are featured on a really beautiful number called Out of My Mind (?) which includes some gorgeous melodic exchanges between sitar and piano. His sitar player said that Peter convinced her to sing despite her trepidation about it although she seemed quite proficient to me.
Dufus (or does he go by Seth of Dufus?) appeared on stage with two-year old daughter Anouk, who he encouraged to participate by singing into a live mic and banging on various percussion instruments. It was an interesting idea to feature his daughter so fully in the set, but I also kept wondering if it wasn't past her bed time. Dufus's set was more gentle and lyrical than the stuff I'd seen in the past. Much less antic and it did feature a lot of his interaction with Anouk, who is quite the gorgeous child by the way. Oh yeah, Anders Griffen and another musician I didn't know arose out of the audience playing trumpets and proceeded on stage to accompany Seth. That was a cool moment.
I've heard Prewar Yardsale a number of times now and finally am realizing how radical they are. Their songs can go on for a very long time in almost a chanting fashion with just a few chords and very few lyrics. For example, in Elevated Platform Stand Mike sings "Step Up, Step Down," over and over and over. I really like their stuff though. You can kind of let yourself get lost in it and somehow it doesn't lose its interest. I liked the song "I am the life of my party" which was a request and mentioned how "all my friends had to go, they did not stick around." I'd thought for sure that Dina and Mike and I would continue our adventures in cab sharing after some previous exciting times on the road to the Upper West Side, but to no avail.
By the time Soft Black came around I was zonked. Man these shows go late.
I keep trying to keep these writeups general and short but I get carried away trying to document everything. Does anyone read this stuff? Well, one thing is I hope that this serves future readers who come to the scene and want to know what happened way back when, just as I did when I arrived.
It's interesting that if you spend enough time on the scene your connections and interactions can swell into all kinds of interesting parts of the Sidewalk stream. After a long time of hearing about Anders Griffen, I not only performed with him but heard him play several sets throughout the week on drums, trumpet, and bass, and as a reader in Bernard King's set. Plus, Barry Bliss has been hanging out at Sidewalk again on a regular basis. I hadn't had much exposure to his songs previously but last night's set was a really good way to be introduced to them.
Jon Berger kicked things off with a set of new material. Lots of good stuff there. Jon mostly stayed put center stage despite his seeming desire to careen through the house while drawing on older memorized material. But I think it was a good thing he focused on his newer stuff. I particularly liked this one called The Girl Who 2 where he is conjecturing about the possible interest of a lady friend, especially when she invites him to see what is, after all, the most romantic of the Star Trek movies--well, you have to hear Jon do it.
Bernard King Presents featured readings of Bernard's poems by a range of Antifolk friends. One is always a bit nervous when friends want to read you their poetry. But Bernard's stuff is excellent. The Definition of Summer, which was read by Julie Hill really stood out. Beautiful imagery and language. But they all were good. Here's, I think, the complete list: Matt Roth (Men of Words), Toby Goodshank (Lost Girl), Julie HIll (The Definition of Summer), JJ Hayes (John Houx's Wine (?)), Diane Cluck (The Spaghetti Poodle), Liv Carrow (Cool Facts for Dogs--or something like that), Anders Griffen (Summer Storm). Ben Krieger (The Dog Star).
I'd heard about Barry Bliss regularly over the years but somehow missed connecting with him or his work until he came back to New York recently. I remember in particular that Dave Cuomo was a big fan and featured Barry in the program to the 2006 Antifolk Fest. I'll have to admit that the few songs I'd heard on MySpace or wherever didn't really help me understand what it was about him that appealed to folks so much. Well, last night's set of his songs performed by other artists from the Sidewalk scene gave me a much more direct understanding of how compelling his plainspoken and intense songs are, many of which are about his efforts to figure out how to be, how to do, how to move on. I think it's the case where the songs require a certain type of introduction or hearing in the right setting maybe--or possibly repeated listenings.
In any event the performances were uniformly interesting. Ben Krieger's version of the song about lovers who are not sexually attracted, was one that really stood out to me. Ben played it on the bass with this kind of heavy plucking of intervals, and then about three-quarters of the way through the song he dropped the bass on the floor where it kept droning while Ben finished the song on the piano. I thought it was great. But there were so many other good performances. Matt Mason on a song about the narrator's anorexia. Liv Carrow singing about Joan of Arc, Crazy and the Brains (All I want is to be left alone), Debe Dalton (In my dream I was a murderer), Jon Berger (Brand New Day), Brian Speaker (Do Not Call Upon Jesus), JJ Hayes, Brook Pridemore, Toby Goodshank, Peter D, and possibly others I'm missing. I'm looking forward to hearing Barry play these songs himself once he feels his voice is back up to par.
Rav Shmuel played a range of songs on the ukulele including love songs, to dislike songs, and one focused on racism to Jews called the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He also played his song the Bodega Song, about the place the Yeshiva students used to buy their pot!?
I got more into The Woog Riot's set as it went along, but I found the electronic accompaniment not my cup of tea exactly. They were unable to use their keyboard because of problems with the equipment so I should give them some benefit of the doubt in that respect. There was something endearing about the way they had choreographed gestures to some of their songs and I liked Backstage Lemonade along with a couple others. The band was touring from Germany. I got the impression they had connected with some of the Sidewalk crew that had come through Europe.
Peter Dizozza's set was filled with all kinds of interesting moments. His band featured a bass player/vocalist, a drummer, sitar player, and Peter. Special guest included Tony Saro, who kind of looked like the archetypal grandpa figure, and sang what Peter referred to as The Wizard Song. Peter and his sitar player are featured on a really beautiful number called Out of My Mind (?) which includes some gorgeous melodic exchanges between sitar and piano. His sitar player said that Peter convinced her to sing despite her trepidation about it although she seemed quite proficient to me.
Dufus (or does he go by Seth of Dufus?) appeared on stage with two-year old daughter Anouk, who he encouraged to participate by singing into a live mic and banging on various percussion instruments. It was an interesting idea to feature his daughter so fully in the set, but I also kept wondering if it wasn't past her bed time. Dufus's set was more gentle and lyrical than the stuff I'd seen in the past. Much less antic and it did feature a lot of his interaction with Anouk, who is quite the gorgeous child by the way. Oh yeah, Anders Griffen and another musician I didn't know arose out of the audience playing trumpets and proceeded on stage to accompany Seth. That was a cool moment.
I've heard Prewar Yardsale a number of times now and finally am realizing how radical they are. Their songs can go on for a very long time in almost a chanting fashion with just a few chords and very few lyrics. For example, in Elevated Platform Stand Mike sings "Step Up, Step Down," over and over and over. I really like their stuff though. You can kind of let yourself get lost in it and somehow it doesn't lose its interest. I liked the song "I am the life of my party" which was a request and mentioned how "all my friends had to go, they did not stick around." I'd thought for sure that Dina and Mike and I would continue our adventures in cab sharing after some previous exciting times on the road to the Upper West Side, but to no avail.
By the time Soft Black came around I was zonked. Man these shows go late.
I keep trying to keep these writeups general and short but I get carried away trying to document everything. Does anyone read this stuff? Well, one thing is I hope that this serves future readers who come to the scene and want to know what happened way back when, just as I did when I arrived.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Antifolk Fest, Saturday, August 8,2009
I arrived during Adam Finchler's set. I'm not really too familiar with Adam and so was just hearing some of his songs for the first time. He comes from a whimsical point of view. Songs include Everybody Does Drugs, President Coolidge and Elvis Thermometer. He had a big number about the Big Bad Dinosaur and his big bad dinosaur friends who went to the forrest and ruined everybody else's day.
David Greenburg was in town to play the fest, this time with a band, featuring drums guitar, a backup vocalist, stand up bass, and David on vocals and guitar. David is from the school of Antifolkers whose glasses constantly slip down their nose while they're playing, almost to the point of falling off before being pushed up just in the nick of time. He and John Telethon should tour together maybe. Anyway, I like some of David's songs. They're kind of awkward and charming, like the one that goes "every word that I say comes out so dumb and so weird and so sad (?) and so dumb. His big hit is The Cemetary Song. He also played one about sleeping under the stars and another about Hererochromia, the condition where someone has two different colored eyes. David played uke and kazoo on that one.
Julie Hill leaned heavily on her looping machine during her set. She can create some absolutely stunning and beautiful effects with that device and did the other night, particularly on her rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. She also improvised a song based on words thrown out from the audience, which ended up having to do with Muscular Teeth in January. (I've been seeing quite a bit of improvised songwriting lately between Julie, the Young Dads, and Crabs on Banjo.) Julie is a really talented gal and also played a couple songs without the looping device on the piano. Actually the first song she did "I'm Just Me" if I remember correctly, used the looper to set a rhythm but then featured her on piano and vocals. Row Row Row Your Boat was a cappella with a dense collage of looped singing.
Aaron Invisible played with a group he called the Fuckstaches. One gets the sense maybe his group names are only momentary.... The group included Morgan, Isaac Gillespie, Alex P (on bass) and Aaron on bouzouki. I like Aaron's whole vibe. He's definitely unique, with a voice that is impossible to describe. His songs are folky, Dylan-y. I'm still kind of catching on to what they're about. They come from the impressionistic/abstract school of songwriting. But there's definitely something there to pay attention to. He played a song about Noah, and his songs "The Discoverers," "Yesterday I was a Sailor," and more.
Eric Wolfson played a solo acoustic set. For some reason I feel like I've been hearing him most recently in a full group set up. Eric is going to law school in the fall so says this is his last show for a while. Eric was part of the tight group of folks that hung out at Sidewalk for around a year or so when I was really just getting involved and getting to know lots of people so I'm always happy to see him there. He played a lot of his familiar songs: North Country Girl, Buddy Hackett's Niece, Ann Rutledge Blues, Sleeping is a Sucker's Game. A nice, tight set. Good luck in law school Eric. Don't disappear on us. I can never forget the day that Eric and I did a photo shoot outside on what must have been the coldest day of the year. Eric was so good natured about it but his fingers were practically frozen solid as I forced him to pose with his guitar down by Wall Street.
Brook Pridemore had people up and dancing on a couple of songs, which was really cool. In fact the stage was rushed and Ben K. stood behind Brook undulating his arms, making Brook look like a Hindu God. I liked Brook's song on piano about how "everyone should always get exactly what they need." He also played Zero Potential, Damage Control, and Marlon Brando (not sure if I got all those titles right).
The Oh My God Girls were charming with their ukuleles and hula hoops. There had been three Oh My God Girls at Monday's Open Mic, but Saturday the group comprised teenage sensations Rachel Trachtenburg and Julia Cumming. They played Happy Together (the Turtles' hit), a catchy original called Haunted Hostel, Brand New Key (cover of a tune sung by Melanie), Rachel's original tune Pigeons, the Beatles' Something, an original about Horse Drawn Carriages, and the Hula Hooping classic that goes "hula, hula, hula, hula, hula, hula hoop."
Rachel's dad Jason Trachtenburg and Julia's dad (I believe) Alex Cumming, then took the stage for a short set by Jason. He covered I Want to Hold Your Hand in unique style, and played Fast Talker, I Don't Want to Tempt Time, Beautiful Dandelion, and Don't You Know What I Mean. All catchy stuff. Really liked Beautiful Dandelion.
The only problem with Debe Dalton's set is that it wasn't longer. Afterward some of us were lamenting the songs that we didn't get to hear. You probably know that this was Debe's last show before leaving town for a while. So there was a nice crowd of folks there to send her off. Debe told a story of a child she'd taught in nursery school who once the school year ended would call Debe at 4 in the morning. In that spirit Debe gave out her phone number several times during her set, one assumes with the hope that her friends and fans will stay in touch. I've written so often about how much I like Debe's songs and her performances and this was no exception. I love the song she sang about "quietly playing banjo in the park," and the proselytizer she encounters. She also played "End of the Day," which she said she was playing "for all the sad boys." Debe also did a wonderful cover of Liv Carrow's song Madam Rosie. It's amazing when Debe covers songs from the Antifolk scene how she truly can make them her own. She played her stunning song "Close the Door" and a duet with Rachel Devlin ("who do you think you're talking to?"). Ed's Song and the one about Little Red Riding Hood were also on the bill. I will miss Debe a lot. I know that things will continue along just fine while she's away but it won't seem the same without her. Debe's presence at Sidewalk is always somehow reassuring to me. She keeps it on an even keel. I'm sure she'll be back for visits and will be with us again in full form before we even know it. Good luck upstate Debe.
David Greenburg was in town to play the fest, this time with a band, featuring drums guitar, a backup vocalist, stand up bass, and David on vocals and guitar. David is from the school of Antifolkers whose glasses constantly slip down their nose while they're playing, almost to the point of falling off before being pushed up just in the nick of time. He and John Telethon should tour together maybe. Anyway, I like some of David's songs. They're kind of awkward and charming, like the one that goes "every word that I say comes out so dumb and so weird and so sad (?) and so dumb. His big hit is The Cemetary Song. He also played one about sleeping under the stars and another about Hererochromia, the condition where someone has two different colored eyes. David played uke and kazoo on that one.
Julie Hill leaned heavily on her looping machine during her set. She can create some absolutely stunning and beautiful effects with that device and did the other night, particularly on her rendition of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. She also improvised a song based on words thrown out from the audience, which ended up having to do with Muscular Teeth in January. (I've been seeing quite a bit of improvised songwriting lately between Julie, the Young Dads, and Crabs on Banjo.) Julie is a really talented gal and also played a couple songs without the looping device on the piano. Actually the first song she did "I'm Just Me" if I remember correctly, used the looper to set a rhythm but then featured her on piano and vocals. Row Row Row Your Boat was a cappella with a dense collage of looped singing.
Aaron Invisible played with a group he called the Fuckstaches. One gets the sense maybe his group names are only momentary.... The group included Morgan, Isaac Gillespie, Alex P (on bass) and Aaron on bouzouki. I like Aaron's whole vibe. He's definitely unique, with a voice that is impossible to describe. His songs are folky, Dylan-y. I'm still kind of catching on to what they're about. They come from the impressionistic/abstract school of songwriting. But there's definitely something there to pay attention to. He played a song about Noah, and his songs "The Discoverers," "Yesterday I was a Sailor," and more.
Eric Wolfson played a solo acoustic set. For some reason I feel like I've been hearing him most recently in a full group set up. Eric is going to law school in the fall so says this is his last show for a while. Eric was part of the tight group of folks that hung out at Sidewalk for around a year or so when I was really just getting involved and getting to know lots of people so I'm always happy to see him there. He played a lot of his familiar songs: North Country Girl, Buddy Hackett's Niece, Ann Rutledge Blues, Sleeping is a Sucker's Game. A nice, tight set. Good luck in law school Eric. Don't disappear on us. I can never forget the day that Eric and I did a photo shoot outside on what must have been the coldest day of the year. Eric was so good natured about it but his fingers were practically frozen solid as I forced him to pose with his guitar down by Wall Street.
Brook Pridemore had people up and dancing on a couple of songs, which was really cool. In fact the stage was rushed and Ben K. stood behind Brook undulating his arms, making Brook look like a Hindu God. I liked Brook's song on piano about how "everyone should always get exactly what they need." He also played Zero Potential, Damage Control, and Marlon Brando (not sure if I got all those titles right).
The Oh My God Girls were charming with their ukuleles and hula hoops. There had been three Oh My God Girls at Monday's Open Mic, but Saturday the group comprised teenage sensations Rachel Trachtenburg and Julia Cumming. They played Happy Together (the Turtles' hit), a catchy original called Haunted Hostel, Brand New Key (cover of a tune sung by Melanie), Rachel's original tune Pigeons, the Beatles' Something, an original about Horse Drawn Carriages, and the Hula Hooping classic that goes "hula, hula, hula, hula, hula, hula hoop."
Rachel's dad Jason Trachtenburg and Julia's dad (I believe) Alex Cumming, then took the stage for a short set by Jason. He covered I Want to Hold Your Hand in unique style, and played Fast Talker, I Don't Want to Tempt Time, Beautiful Dandelion, and Don't You Know What I Mean. All catchy stuff. Really liked Beautiful Dandelion.
The only problem with Debe Dalton's set is that it wasn't longer. Afterward some of us were lamenting the songs that we didn't get to hear. You probably know that this was Debe's last show before leaving town for a while. So there was a nice crowd of folks there to send her off. Debe told a story of a child she'd taught in nursery school who once the school year ended would call Debe at 4 in the morning. In that spirit Debe gave out her phone number several times during her set, one assumes with the hope that her friends and fans will stay in touch. I've written so often about how much I like Debe's songs and her performances and this was no exception. I love the song she sang about "quietly playing banjo in the park," and the proselytizer she encounters. She also played "End of the Day," which she said she was playing "for all the sad boys." Debe also did a wonderful cover of Liv Carrow's song Madam Rosie. It's amazing when Debe covers songs from the Antifolk scene how she truly can make them her own. She played her stunning song "Close the Door" and a duet with Rachel Devlin ("who do you think you're talking to?"). Ed's Song and the one about Little Red Riding Hood were also on the bill. I will miss Debe a lot. I know that things will continue along just fine while she's away but it won't seem the same without her. Debe's presence at Sidewalk is always somehow reassuring to me. She keeps it on an even keel. I'm sure she'll be back for visits and will be with us again in full form before we even know it. Good luck upstate Debe.
Antifolk Fest, Friday, August 7,2009
Well, the Antifolk Festival is here. I always look forward to this time of year with excitement and dread. There's something very compelling about the rich concentration of performers all playing in this condensed time frame. But since I am so compulsively drawn to attend as much as possible, I know that I'm going to be spending hours and hours hanging in the back room and eating a lot of veggie penne.
I arrived Friday at the very end of Domino's set, which was unfortunate, because I love her shows. She finished up with a song that was requested called Sack of Potatoes. I heard later from other folks that her set was great.
Amos Torres, one of Sidewalk's sound men, played a nice set sitting centerstage with an acoustic guitar. He kicked off with a song about how the only things that will kill him are "mean women, whisky, and cocaine." Well, those'll do it, I suppose. He also played a song in Spanish which he explained had words by his father. Amos has an amazing voice. I wonder if he's ever thought about fronting a band.
Max Miller--am I imagining this or did Max quote a song by the Wowz? I'm not sure, but I think he was singing the lyrics "I'm not depressed, I'm just unimpressed." Anyway, Max did a raucous set with electric guitar and his rock backing tracks. He played a song called August that had the line "I got nothing to lose but my pants and shoes."
The Telethons played in duo configuration. That was how the Telethons played when they originally arrived on the scene--with Jon Telethon on guitar and vocals and Mark Telethon on drums. Now Doug Johnson has taken over the drum role, but it is still fun to see them in this two-piece configuration, which kind of brings back the old days. Maybe it was meant to just be a sound check song, but they started off with C is for Cookie-rock and roll version. Truck Driving Man, I've Had Too Much to Drink and other Telethon hits were in the mix.
Doug stayed on to play with Preston Spurlock, the first time Preston has had a semblance of a band as far as I can remember--at least since the days of playing with his cousin years ago. I gathered that Preston and Doug had decided to play without practicing together and Preston would sort of bark out a rhythm that he wanted like "give me a waltz." And Doug would come back with just the right beat. They kicked off with Put Me Into Cryogenic Freeze and also played Sit and Stew, Pacific Newts (or whatever it's called) Podcorn, etc.
After Preston's set, he and Justin Remer screened videos they'd made. Preston's animated video for Jessica Delfino's song Sudden Change was amazing. You really should watch it here. Justin screened his video for Thomas Patrick Maguire's song "Evening News," and for Brook Pridemore's song "Just Like Nathan Hale, p 2," which features appearances by Thunderbolt Krieger and other Antifolk stars. You can see that one here. Preston also showed a video documenting a luau at Johnny and Julie's house.
Then Elastic No-No Band played. The show seemed to fly by pretty quickly. But it was a fun one. I think we have been playing together long enough now that we're comfortable with the songs, and it's nice to loosen up a bit. We started with You Never Swim, and played ENB hits like You Think It's Wrong to Sing Along, Woody Allen Surrogate, Turn Out Right, etc.
I wasn't familiar with BJ Snowden but had been hearing a lot about her from Ben Krieger. BJ plays standing behind a Yamaha keyboard and uses a lot of its rhythms and beats. She opened up with Mumbo Jumbo, which was an instrumental and showed off her strong piano skills. BJ is an amazingly enthusiastic performer. After practically every song she would throw her arms up in the air and radiate a beaming smile. Although she's from Boston, BJ seems to have kind of an infatuation with Canada, and a number of her songs focused on aspects of that country. She sang "In Canada," "Ontario," "New Brunswick," and "St. Peter's Bay." "In Canada" for example, has the lyrics "In Canada, folks treat you like a queen, In Canada, they never will be mean, In Canada, they treat you like a king, you feel welcome, it makes you want to sing." It was charming that BJ's 80-something year old mother participated in her act. At first BJ's mom stepped in front of the stage and threw out handfuls of candy to the audience. Then later she came on stage for a couple of songs, including "Disaster and Tragedy," and "In Canada." BJ also played a song about being a schoolteacher, one about divorce called "From the Chapel to the Courtroom," another instrumental called "Witch's Prelude," and a tribute to Pete's Candy Store, which she had to be egged on to play because she was worried it might be a conflict of interest with Sidewalk. See my tirade below for a little more about BJ.
I've written so much about the Young Dads previously that it almost feels redundant to gush about them further. I have to admit I was a little worried when I saw them come on stage in costumes. Micah was dressed in a baby outfit with bonnet and everything, and Jesse was wearing what looked like a Geisha robe. But their show was as musical and hysterically funny as ever. Like at the last Antifolk Fest, they had a power point presentation that went along with their act which kind of mocked typical business presentations but also had a lot of funny jokes. One of their songs recounted actual conversations about accounting and auditing that were overheard in one of the Young Dad's work place. They also did some improvisatory beat box type stuff. Micah would beat box while Jesse would vocalize in specific styles such as a bird, a "grossed out pop vocal" and "Bill Cosby imitating Richard Nixon." He also did his father after a "failed home repair experiment," which was truly hilarious. You had to be there. Also Micah did some improvised free style rap based on suggestions from the audience, and that was pretty amazing too. I repeat that their song from the perspective of two ninth-grade girsl is a brilliant piece of songwriting. I was sorry that the third Young Dad was not there to perform the a cappella version of their song Existential Crisis, but it was nice to hear it all the same.
I am truly a fan of the Venn Diagrams, but I was exhausted and had to check out by the time they played.
Time Out New York ran a nice item about the Fest and listed it as among the top music events of the week. Within the piece though they referred to the Antifolk scene as a place to hear "outcasts, miscreants and....local nuts." I wondered why that bothered me, and realized it's not for the reason you might think. I am proud to be affiliated with a place that welcomes and fosters individualism and idiosynchrasy. The diversity of the Antifolk world and its open nature is exactly why I spend time in it. It's just that I think it is too simplistic to label the scene in that way. The people who may be considered "outcasts" in one sense are "incasts" in my book. I feel there's too much labeling going on that doesn't really reflect the complexities of individual personalities or performance styles. The challenge for anyone who writes about music or any art form is to describe something for what it is rather than give it an easy label. BJ Snowden, who performed Friday was evidently included in a book about "outsider" music. But what the hell does that mean? If you label someone as "outsider," you are automatically casting them into some sort of ghetto that sets them apart and discounts what they have to offer. At Sidewalk everyone is on the same playing field and people really appreciate performers for their true individuality. That's one part of its greatness.
See you there sometime soon!
I arrived Friday at the very end of Domino's set, which was unfortunate, because I love her shows. She finished up with a song that was requested called Sack of Potatoes. I heard later from other folks that her set was great.
Amos Torres, one of Sidewalk's sound men, played a nice set sitting centerstage with an acoustic guitar. He kicked off with a song about how the only things that will kill him are "mean women, whisky, and cocaine." Well, those'll do it, I suppose. He also played a song in Spanish which he explained had words by his father. Amos has an amazing voice. I wonder if he's ever thought about fronting a band.
Max Miller--am I imagining this or did Max quote a song by the Wowz? I'm not sure, but I think he was singing the lyrics "I'm not depressed, I'm just unimpressed." Anyway, Max did a raucous set with electric guitar and his rock backing tracks. He played a song called August that had the line "I got nothing to lose but my pants and shoes."
The Telethons played in duo configuration. That was how the Telethons played when they originally arrived on the scene--with Jon Telethon on guitar and vocals and Mark Telethon on drums. Now Doug Johnson has taken over the drum role, but it is still fun to see them in this two-piece configuration, which kind of brings back the old days. Maybe it was meant to just be a sound check song, but they started off with C is for Cookie-rock and roll version. Truck Driving Man, I've Had Too Much to Drink and other Telethon hits were in the mix.
Doug stayed on to play with Preston Spurlock, the first time Preston has had a semblance of a band as far as I can remember--at least since the days of playing with his cousin years ago. I gathered that Preston and Doug had decided to play without practicing together and Preston would sort of bark out a rhythm that he wanted like "give me a waltz." And Doug would come back with just the right beat. They kicked off with Put Me Into Cryogenic Freeze and also played Sit and Stew, Pacific Newts (or whatever it's called) Podcorn, etc.
After Preston's set, he and Justin Remer screened videos they'd made. Preston's animated video for Jessica Delfino's song Sudden Change was amazing. You really should watch it here. Justin screened his video for Thomas Patrick Maguire's song "Evening News," and for Brook Pridemore's song "Just Like Nathan Hale, p 2," which features appearances by Thunderbolt Krieger and other Antifolk stars. You can see that one here. Preston also showed a video documenting a luau at Johnny and Julie's house.
Then Elastic No-No Band played. The show seemed to fly by pretty quickly. But it was a fun one. I think we have been playing together long enough now that we're comfortable with the songs, and it's nice to loosen up a bit. We started with You Never Swim, and played ENB hits like You Think It's Wrong to Sing Along, Woody Allen Surrogate, Turn Out Right, etc.
I wasn't familiar with BJ Snowden but had been hearing a lot about her from Ben Krieger. BJ plays standing behind a Yamaha keyboard and uses a lot of its rhythms and beats. She opened up with Mumbo Jumbo, which was an instrumental and showed off her strong piano skills. BJ is an amazingly enthusiastic performer. After practically every song she would throw her arms up in the air and radiate a beaming smile. Although she's from Boston, BJ seems to have kind of an infatuation with Canada, and a number of her songs focused on aspects of that country. She sang "In Canada," "Ontario," "New Brunswick," and "St. Peter's Bay." "In Canada" for example, has the lyrics "In Canada, folks treat you like a queen, In Canada, they never will be mean, In Canada, they treat you like a king, you feel welcome, it makes you want to sing." It was charming that BJ's 80-something year old mother participated in her act. At first BJ's mom stepped in front of the stage and threw out handfuls of candy to the audience. Then later she came on stage for a couple of songs, including "Disaster and Tragedy," and "In Canada." BJ also played a song about being a schoolteacher, one about divorce called "From the Chapel to the Courtroom," another instrumental called "Witch's Prelude," and a tribute to Pete's Candy Store, which she had to be egged on to play because she was worried it might be a conflict of interest with Sidewalk. See my tirade below for a little more about BJ.
I've written so much about the Young Dads previously that it almost feels redundant to gush about them further. I have to admit I was a little worried when I saw them come on stage in costumes. Micah was dressed in a baby outfit with bonnet and everything, and Jesse was wearing what looked like a Geisha robe. But their show was as musical and hysterically funny as ever. Like at the last Antifolk Fest, they had a power point presentation that went along with their act which kind of mocked typical business presentations but also had a lot of funny jokes. One of their songs recounted actual conversations about accounting and auditing that were overheard in one of the Young Dad's work place. They also did some improvisatory beat box type stuff. Micah would beat box while Jesse would vocalize in specific styles such as a bird, a "grossed out pop vocal" and "Bill Cosby imitating Richard Nixon." He also did his father after a "failed home repair experiment," which was truly hilarious. You had to be there. Also Micah did some improvised free style rap based on suggestions from the audience, and that was pretty amazing too. I repeat that their song from the perspective of two ninth-grade girsl is a brilliant piece of songwriting. I was sorry that the third Young Dad was not there to perform the a cappella version of their song Existential Crisis, but it was nice to hear it all the same.
I am truly a fan of the Venn Diagrams, but I was exhausted and had to check out by the time they played.
Time Out New York ran a nice item about the Fest and listed it as among the top music events of the week. Within the piece though they referred to the Antifolk scene as a place to hear "outcasts, miscreants and....local nuts." I wondered why that bothered me, and realized it's not for the reason you might think. I am proud to be affiliated with a place that welcomes and fosters individualism and idiosynchrasy. The diversity of the Antifolk world and its open nature is exactly why I spend time in it. It's just that I think it is too simplistic to label the scene in that way. The people who may be considered "outcasts" in one sense are "incasts" in my book. I feel there's too much labeling going on that doesn't really reflect the complexities of individual personalities or performance styles. The challenge for anyone who writes about music or any art form is to describe something for what it is rather than give it an easy label. BJ Snowden, who performed Friday was evidently included in a book about "outsider" music. But what the hell does that mean? If you label someone as "outsider," you are automatically casting them into some sort of ghetto that sets them apart and discounts what they have to offer. At Sidewalk everyone is on the same playing field and people really appreciate performers for their true individuality. That's one part of its greatness.
See you there sometime soon!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Monday Night Open Mic, August 3, 2009
Hello-
Rachel Trachtenburg played with her group the Oh My God Girls the other night and Mom and Dad Trachtenburg were in the audience. I was thinking later on about the interesting cycle that represents. Jason T. started playing in Sidewalk's precursor, the Chameleon, something like 25 or 30 years ago, and now his daughter is an active part of the scene. One of the cool things about Sidewalk is that it is so open to everyone, including people of a wide range of ages. Usually I barely notice how old people are there. Maybe it's the dim light or just that everyone is there because of their love of songwriting. But it's always great to see folks blending together and to notice friendships and collaborations forming because of mutual interest rather than less relevant criteria.
It was nice to see Max Miller again, who had been a regular on the scene for a while, I think when he was in high school. He's a college dude now and was back to rock out with his electric guitar. Max brings fully produced backing tracks that he plays along with. He said he was recording a bunch of songs named after the month in which they were recorded, and the one he played the other night was called "March."
Amos Torres sang a song by Aaron Wilkinson. I never knew Aaraon, but from what I gather he was a good friend to many on the scene who passed away around 2003, maybe.
Max Vernon sang a song which had folks singing along on the line "you're not all I need." I'm not sure how he felt about Ravi the puppet singing along also.
Debe Dalton sang the one about "quietly playing banjo in the park." And another one that is called, I think, Dry. Beautiful stuff as always from Debe. Looking forward to her show on the 8th, which will be a send off for her as she gets ready to leave New York for a while.
Lady Blanche sang "Mr. Passerby." Nice harmonies with Veronica. She also did "I Want to be aTrophy Wife."
Matt Jaffe, a songwriter from California played. Although I said earlier that I tend not to notice how old people, are I might as well say that Matt looked to be impossibly young. He played "You Can't Walk in a Straight Line." There's some stuff on the web about him, including a long video with an interview and performance at MySpace. It is tempting to want to be a little skeptical of someone so young out there doing this stuff (he must be around 14), but from listening to him talk about what he's doing, it seems obvious he's pursuing this from his own enthusiasm. I've got to be at least somewhat supportive of anyone who claims David Byrne as a major influence.
Lach was back to entertain us with "Another Night Without You" and then, on piano, "Ain't it the Most". Always nice to have Lach back, who also kicked ass on Scrabble later in the night.
Emma Englesein was in from Australia and played with accompaniment from a friend on cello.
Aaron Invisible opened with his band, The Opaques, featuring Isaac G, Alex P, and a couple of other folks on drums and piano who I either didn't know or couldn't see from where I was sitting. They played "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." Then Aaron did a solo song.
The Oh My God Girls, featuring Rachel Trachtenburg, played Haunted Hostel, and a Hula Hooping song, which featured the lyrics Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hoop. The Oh My God Girls, if you haven't seen them are a Hula Hooping, Ukulele playing sensation.
Issac Gillespie unveiled his new electric guitar, which he calls the White Devil. He played a cool new song about trust/relationships etc.
Others who performerd Monday while I was there included Maggie Nutthall, Pete Scalzetti, Tracy Hope, Steve Stavola, Adam Finchler, Mike Baglivi (who played with Ariel Bitran), Awesome Witch of Rad, Charles Mansfield, Crazy and the Brains, Kid Lucky, and the Telethons.
The Antifolk Festival is starting this week. I'll be there for as much of it as I can. Check back for updates.
Rachel Trachtenburg played with her group the Oh My God Girls the other night and Mom and Dad Trachtenburg were in the audience. I was thinking later on about the interesting cycle that represents. Jason T. started playing in Sidewalk's precursor, the Chameleon, something like 25 or 30 years ago, and now his daughter is an active part of the scene. One of the cool things about Sidewalk is that it is so open to everyone, including people of a wide range of ages. Usually I barely notice how old people are there. Maybe it's the dim light or just that everyone is there because of their love of songwriting. But it's always great to see folks blending together and to notice friendships and collaborations forming because of mutual interest rather than less relevant criteria.
It was nice to see Max Miller again, who had been a regular on the scene for a while, I think when he was in high school. He's a college dude now and was back to rock out with his electric guitar. Max brings fully produced backing tracks that he plays along with. He said he was recording a bunch of songs named after the month in which they were recorded, and the one he played the other night was called "March."
Amos Torres sang a song by Aaron Wilkinson. I never knew Aaraon, but from what I gather he was a good friend to many on the scene who passed away around 2003, maybe.
Max Vernon sang a song which had folks singing along on the line "you're not all I need." I'm not sure how he felt about Ravi the puppet singing along also.
Debe Dalton sang the one about "quietly playing banjo in the park." And another one that is called, I think, Dry. Beautiful stuff as always from Debe. Looking forward to her show on the 8th, which will be a send off for her as she gets ready to leave New York for a while.
Lady Blanche sang "Mr. Passerby." Nice harmonies with Veronica. She also did "I Want to be aTrophy Wife."
Matt Jaffe, a songwriter from California played. Although I said earlier that I tend not to notice how old people, are I might as well say that Matt looked to be impossibly young. He played "You Can't Walk in a Straight Line." There's some stuff on the web about him, including a long video with an interview and performance at MySpace. It is tempting to want to be a little skeptical of someone so young out there doing this stuff (he must be around 14), but from listening to him talk about what he's doing, it seems obvious he's pursuing this from his own enthusiasm. I've got to be at least somewhat supportive of anyone who claims David Byrne as a major influence.
Lach was back to entertain us with "Another Night Without You" and then, on piano, "Ain't it the Most". Always nice to have Lach back, who also kicked ass on Scrabble later in the night.
Emma Englesein was in from Australia and played with accompaniment from a friend on cello.
Aaron Invisible opened with his band, The Opaques, featuring Isaac G, Alex P, and a couple of other folks on drums and piano who I either didn't know or couldn't see from where I was sitting. They played "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." Then Aaron did a solo song.
The Oh My God Girls, featuring Rachel Trachtenburg, played Haunted Hostel, and a Hula Hooping song, which featured the lyrics Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hula, Hoop. The Oh My God Girls, if you haven't seen them are a Hula Hooping, Ukulele playing sensation.
Issac Gillespie unveiled his new electric guitar, which he calls the White Devil. He played a cool new song about trust/relationships etc.
Others who performerd Monday while I was there included Maggie Nutthall, Pete Scalzetti, Tracy Hope, Steve Stavola, Adam Finchler, Mike Baglivi (who played with Ariel Bitran), Awesome Witch of Rad, Charles Mansfield, Crazy and the Brains, Kid Lucky, and the Telethons.
The Antifolk Festival is starting this week. I'll be there for as much of it as I can. Check back for updates.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday Night Open Mic, July 27, 2009
Ben K. kicked things off with a cool, funny song about singing along...well you couldn't really sing along to it. Ok, you'll have to hear him do it for this to make sense but it was a really good song. Ariel Bitran played on it too.
Joe Crow addressed the piano and also played Over the Rainbow
Nan Turner sang a song about "how high your ceiling can go," which ended up in an impossibly high falsetto. She also did a rap while using a chair and music stand as a makeshift drum set.
It was nice to see M. Lamar back at Sidewalk. Did you see the nice item about him in The New Yorker, with a big blue drawing of him?
Alex P. covered Aaraon Invisible's song "If I was a tailor.." that was cool.
Jon Berger said that he thinks The Who is pompous and bloated. First of all, look who's talking. Secondly, yes, but they're awesome.
Kid Lucky was a beat boxer who sang/rapped and did beat box sounds at the same time. One of the songs he did was about waiting for the subway.
Ben Sadock played I Don't Live in Portland Anymore. Very catchy. The audience was singing along.
I played "I've Looked for Love" but I was really interested in trying to get more comfortable talking on stage, so I told a story about the time my parents and I ran into Daniel Bernstein in Times Square and my mom got into a long conversation with him. There was something that struck me as funny about that, although I don't know how much sense it made if you don't know my mother and Dan. I ran into a few Sidewalk folks over the last few days...Isaac Gillespie in midtown and Brian Speaker on the L. Brian was saying how he'd run into people all over the place recently too, so I guess it's in the air. For me I know it's always nice to connect with people from the comfort zone of Sidewalk in other parts of my day-to-day existence.
Susan Hwang played a song she'd written inspired by James and the Giant Peach. I think it was called "Changed by Fruit." Susan also played with Debe on Close the Door.
Lots of other folks played. JT Hathaway, Brian Speaker, Dan G. Connor, Aaron Invisible, Steven Cappazolli, Anat, Awesome Witch of Rad, Maggie Nuthall, Nick Nace (with Jordan and Isaac), Charles Mansfield and Richard Ringer to name a few.
Ravi the puppet was also on hand to tell some corny jokes and spice things up between acts.
Joe Crow addressed the piano and also played Over the Rainbow
Nan Turner sang a song about "how high your ceiling can go," which ended up in an impossibly high falsetto. She also did a rap while using a chair and music stand as a makeshift drum set.
It was nice to see M. Lamar back at Sidewalk. Did you see the nice item about him in The New Yorker, with a big blue drawing of him?
Alex P. covered Aaraon Invisible's song "If I was a tailor.." that was cool.
Jon Berger said that he thinks The Who is pompous and bloated. First of all, look who's talking. Secondly, yes, but they're awesome.
Kid Lucky was a beat boxer who sang/rapped and did beat box sounds at the same time. One of the songs he did was about waiting for the subway.
Ben Sadock played I Don't Live in Portland Anymore. Very catchy. The audience was singing along.
I played "I've Looked for Love" but I was really interested in trying to get more comfortable talking on stage, so I told a story about the time my parents and I ran into Daniel Bernstein in Times Square and my mom got into a long conversation with him. There was something that struck me as funny about that, although I don't know how much sense it made if you don't know my mother and Dan. I ran into a few Sidewalk folks over the last few days...Isaac Gillespie in midtown and Brian Speaker on the L. Brian was saying how he'd run into people all over the place recently too, so I guess it's in the air. For me I know it's always nice to connect with people from the comfort zone of Sidewalk in other parts of my day-to-day existence.
Susan Hwang played a song she'd written inspired by James and the Giant Peach. I think it was called "Changed by Fruit." Susan also played with Debe on Close the Door.
Lots of other folks played. JT Hathaway, Brian Speaker, Dan G. Connor, Aaron Invisible, Steven Cappazolli, Anat, Awesome Witch of Rad, Maggie Nuthall, Nick Nace (with Jordan and Isaac), Charles Mansfield and Richard Ringer to name a few.
Ravi the puppet was also on hand to tell some corny jokes and spice things up between acts.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Monday Night Open Mic, July 20, 2009
It was a really fun night Monday, filled with all kinds of inspiring and unexpected stuff.
The standout performance of the night was by The Young Dads. With the addition of a third Young Dad they sang an a cappella doo wop song about existential crisis. I can't do it justice here except to say that the vocals were incredibly tight and the song incredibly funny in the way it juxtaposed its style with its topic.
Another group that stood out in a different way was "Why Bother and the Beard of Defiance." They were a rag tag bunch of kids--the transient dreadlocked urchin types you see hanging on the sidewalk in the East Village. I wasn't expecting too much when this mass of folks ambled on stage, knocking stuff over with their belongings, especially when they said they'd just met 8 hours earlier in Tompkins Square Park. But I guess they'd been doing some practicing. I'm not going to say their performance was exactly polished, but it had a lot of good energy and they were together on what they were doing. Most of them sat on the stage...a saxophone player, a skinny guy on banjo with thin braids dyed red, a guy playing drum sticks on the floor, a gal playing washboard, and the guy who seemed like the leader of the group, who had a bandana and long blonde dreads and played guitar (he stood and sang into the mic). One of their songs was "I Don't Know Where I'm Going," kind of reflecting the nature of the gang. One of the interesting sub-cultures at Sidewalk is The Travelers, comprising the types who exist by moving from couch to couch, place to place. It's not something that I can identify with particularly but it does seem to appeal to a certain group of folks, certainly this band we saw the other night. They had a positive attitude and I was glad they played.
Ben K. kicked things off with a charming song he wrote for his daughter, Birdies and Cars.
Dorit joined me in the fish song club.
Jaymay was back. I'd seen her once at Sidewalk when I first started coming but not much since. I can't really explain what it is that I like about her so much but she gave a really good performance...a song she wrote in London and one listing stuff in her room. The songs were good but there's something about her voice and her energy. Anyway, she's someone to check out if you haven't already seen her.
Debe was mesmerizing as usual. The End of the Day, and Normal. Debe says she's leaving town soon to go work upstate. Hard to imagine her not being a fixture at Sidewalk on a Monday night. For me, she is kind of the anchor of the place and seeing her there always adds a degree of comfort.
Waylon played two really nice songs, one that was, I think, about a grandma (maybe his), and another called Ginger Rogers. Anyway they both had a little bit of a jazzy lilt to them. Waylon, it turns out, is not only a really good songwriter but an amazing drummer too. Hadn't seen him in a little while.
Isaac Gillespie introduced his new band with Ben Sadock playing bass, Morgan on vocals, Alex P on guitar, and someone I didn't know on piano--plus Isaac on vocals and guitar of course. It was a really nice sound--a good blend of folks.
Good to see Ben Sadock after a long while. I liked his song about lunch! "The perfect way to spend the perfect day is to spread some PB & J."
Jon Berger brough it on with three poems about Jesus. Nice set, Jon.
I enjoyed Morgan's performance for the second week in a row. She sang about Chicago. She has such a nice, gentle feel to what she's doing.
Richard Ringer. I have not yet had a chance to totally connect with what Richard is up to--but I liked the song he played the other night, Alley Oop, Turtle Soup.
Brian Speaker and Madison Cano collaborated on a really nice song about birthdays...sort of. It kind of had to do with feelings around birthdays and obligations about birthdays, in particular as connected to certain relationships. Madison also sang her love song to Tommy Lee.
Brian Speaker also did two songs from his Mars Chronicles opera. With Amos and Melissa.
Other folks who performed the other night included Don Cameron, Joe Crow, Kronos Effect (two shaved headed and heavily tattooed guys), Constantine, Brook, Duck, Dibs, Domino, and Charlie Crockett, a guy from South Texas.
As I said, there was a lot of good energy and interesting stuff going on. I stayed later than I'd expected, which is a good sign.
The standout performance of the night was by The Young Dads. With the addition of a third Young Dad they sang an a cappella doo wop song about existential crisis. I can't do it justice here except to say that the vocals were incredibly tight and the song incredibly funny in the way it juxtaposed its style with its topic.
Another group that stood out in a different way was "Why Bother and the Beard of Defiance." They were a rag tag bunch of kids--the transient dreadlocked urchin types you see hanging on the sidewalk in the East Village. I wasn't expecting too much when this mass of folks ambled on stage, knocking stuff over with their belongings, especially when they said they'd just met 8 hours earlier in Tompkins Square Park. But I guess they'd been doing some practicing. I'm not going to say their performance was exactly polished, but it had a lot of good energy and they were together on what they were doing. Most of them sat on the stage...a saxophone player, a skinny guy on banjo with thin braids dyed red, a guy playing drum sticks on the floor, a gal playing washboard, and the guy who seemed like the leader of the group, who had a bandana and long blonde dreads and played guitar (he stood and sang into the mic). One of their songs was "I Don't Know Where I'm Going," kind of reflecting the nature of the gang. One of the interesting sub-cultures at Sidewalk is The Travelers, comprising the types who exist by moving from couch to couch, place to place. It's not something that I can identify with particularly but it does seem to appeal to a certain group of folks, certainly this band we saw the other night. They had a positive attitude and I was glad they played.
Ben K. kicked things off with a charming song he wrote for his daughter, Birdies and Cars.
Dorit joined me in the fish song club.
Jaymay was back. I'd seen her once at Sidewalk when I first started coming but not much since. I can't really explain what it is that I like about her so much but she gave a really good performance...a song she wrote in London and one listing stuff in her room. The songs were good but there's something about her voice and her energy. Anyway, she's someone to check out if you haven't already seen her.
Debe was mesmerizing as usual. The End of the Day, and Normal. Debe says she's leaving town soon to go work upstate. Hard to imagine her not being a fixture at Sidewalk on a Monday night. For me, she is kind of the anchor of the place and seeing her there always adds a degree of comfort.
Waylon played two really nice songs, one that was, I think, about a grandma (maybe his), and another called Ginger Rogers. Anyway they both had a little bit of a jazzy lilt to them. Waylon, it turns out, is not only a really good songwriter but an amazing drummer too. Hadn't seen him in a little while.
Isaac Gillespie introduced his new band with Ben Sadock playing bass, Morgan on vocals, Alex P on guitar, and someone I didn't know on piano--plus Isaac on vocals and guitar of course. It was a really nice sound--a good blend of folks.
Good to see Ben Sadock after a long while. I liked his song about lunch! "The perfect way to spend the perfect day is to spread some PB & J."
Jon Berger brough it on with three poems about Jesus. Nice set, Jon.
I enjoyed Morgan's performance for the second week in a row. She sang about Chicago. She has such a nice, gentle feel to what she's doing.
Richard Ringer. I have not yet had a chance to totally connect with what Richard is up to--but I liked the song he played the other night, Alley Oop, Turtle Soup.
Brian Speaker and Madison Cano collaborated on a really nice song about birthdays...sort of. It kind of had to do with feelings around birthdays and obligations about birthdays, in particular as connected to certain relationships. Madison also sang her love song to Tommy Lee.
Brian Speaker also did two songs from his Mars Chronicles opera. With Amos and Melissa.
Other folks who performed the other night included Don Cameron, Joe Crow, Kronos Effect (two shaved headed and heavily tattooed guys), Constantine, Brook, Duck, Dibs, Domino, and Charlie Crockett, a guy from South Texas.
As I said, there was a lot of good energy and interesting stuff going on. I stayed later than I'd expected, which is a good sign.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Joe Crow Ryan CD Release Party, Friday, July 17, 2009
Just a word about Joe Crow Ryan's CD release show. Joe has just put out his new album "This Machine Kills Purists," on Justin Remer's Weemayk Music label. I, unfortunately, arrived later than I wanted to because of hang-ups at work, but I was glad to see a very good turnout for Joe's show. He performed a characteristically charming set with lots of guest performances, including a standout collaboration with JJ Hayes.Elastic No No Band followed. I think all of us in the band felt it was a fun set with a good feel. Mike Baglivi's group Heroes of the Open End played the late set and rocked out. There was some sort of terrible collision involving Ben Krieger and possibly Lach. That's what rock and roll can do to you, folks.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Monday Night Open Mic, July 13, 2009
I was away last week at an intense jazz workshop. Still trying to reconcile a lot of the concepts and approaches of jazz with the type of songwriting I've been doing. It's a whole subject for another post or a conversation on the corner, but I've been thinking a lot about how to integrate all the different musical styles I'm interested in. The jazz workshop was in Louisville and I made a spur of the moment detour to Nashville where I saw the Grand Ole Opry, and also popped in briefly to the Bluebird Cafe which is their local songwriter haunt. They have a setup with four songwriters in the round trading off and accompanying each other. I wasn't so sure about the couple songs I heard but liked the intimate setting a lot.
Well, it was nice to be back at Sidewalk, especially since things launched with the surprise appearance of Joie Blaney, in town briefly from L. A. Joie was a longtime fixture on the scene before moving out there. Along with Joie there seemed to be a handful of other folks from earlier days hanging out. Nan Turner, Dibs, Daoud, etc. Nice to see everyone.
I really enjoyed Morgan, who it seems is a roommate of Isaac Gillespie and played a couple songs on which he played guitar accompaniment. The first also featured Aaron Invisible. Morgan said she usually writes songs about places and she started off with one about Brooklyn. She has a very low key style and the song was charming, featuring the refrain..."I want you to stay here in Brooklyn." Her second song was about Connecticut!
Others who played while I was around: Don McCloskey, Brook P, and Joe Crow Ryan, who did an effusive spiel about his album and upcoming cd release show this Friday. He also played a request, "Till the Real Thing Comes Along." Isaac G. played a new song that name checks Debe D., Crabs on Banjo was back and played their theme as well as "Someone's been drinking in Rhode Island." Ghostown Jenny was new to me. Madison Cano is back in town for a bit and played with Josh Fox. Ariel Bitran played Deep Blue Light from his Zelda series. Did he say that was the last song? Nice to see the Fools on stage again. It's been a while...at least since I've seen them there.
Till next time.
Well, it was nice to be back at Sidewalk, especially since things launched with the surprise appearance of Joie Blaney, in town briefly from L. A. Joie was a longtime fixture on the scene before moving out there. Along with Joie there seemed to be a handful of other folks from earlier days hanging out. Nan Turner, Dibs, Daoud, etc. Nice to see everyone.
I really enjoyed Morgan, who it seems is a roommate of Isaac Gillespie and played a couple songs on which he played guitar accompaniment. The first also featured Aaron Invisible. Morgan said she usually writes songs about places and she started off with one about Brooklyn. She has a very low key style and the song was charming, featuring the refrain..."I want you to stay here in Brooklyn." Her second song was about Connecticut!
Others who played while I was around: Don McCloskey, Brook P, and Joe Crow Ryan, who did an effusive spiel about his album and upcoming cd release show this Friday. He also played a request, "Till the Real Thing Comes Along." Isaac G. played a new song that name checks Debe D., Crabs on Banjo was back and played their theme as well as "Someone's been drinking in Rhode Island." Ghostown Jenny was new to me. Madison Cano is back in town for a bit and played with Josh Fox. Ariel Bitran played Deep Blue Light from his Zelda series. Did he say that was the last song? Nice to see the Fools on stage again. It's been a while...at least since I've seen them there.
Till next time.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Brooklyn Tea Party, July 4, 2009
It was a full day of performances at Brooklyn Tea Party on the Fourth of July. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you were there. The blowout marked the departure of Dan Costello, Rachel Devlin, and Michael David Campbell and the start of a new era under Brook Pridemore’s continuing stewardship with the addition of Brian Speaker.
The vibe of the event was really nice, with shows going on in the apartment on the third floor and on the roof where a sound system was set up. Lots of folks were just hanging out on the roof chatting and catching up and enjoying the nice weather. The sunset that eventually fell over the city skyline was quite dramatic. With the skyline practically like a painted backdrop and the rooftops of the buildings stretching out in all directions, I felt like I could have been in the set of a musical and almost expected a corps of dancing chimney sweeps to appear at any second. Sometime after it got dark the big fireworks show on the Hudson stated, which we could see across the other side of Manhattan.
A couple sets stood out. Old Hat. I really like these guys. They sang a song about how it had been a weird week that I really liked. Although I later found that they hadn’t written it specifically for this weird week (which was capped by the bizarre resignation from office of Sarah Palin) it still encapsulated the oddity of the last week or so which started with Michael Jackson’s death and ended with the Palin situation. Ching Chong Song did a piece that had a long instrumental section with piano, saw, and bass that was gorgeous and captivating. People were having tons of fun hopping and bopping to Schwervon and to Urban Barnyard. With everyone jumping up and down I was a little worried as to whether the floor would hold. I could feel the boards bending...but I was right in there dancing along to two of my favorite bands.
I had to leave before the very, very end, but I’m sure the rest of the night was as fun as the parts I enjoyed. A significant part of what has made Brooklyn Tea Party so much fun is the hospitality of its hosts. In particular Rachel Devlin was working very hard yesterday to serve food, spread cheer (and collect tips). She also had great Fourth of July style. I hope someone got a good picture of her in her vintage dress and apron. The other BTP hosts were keeping busy too with a wide range of duties. Thanks guys for the nice day yesterday, the many fun shows before that and the always welcoming atmosphere.
The vibe of the event was really nice, with shows going on in the apartment on the third floor and on the roof where a sound system was set up. Lots of folks were just hanging out on the roof chatting and catching up and enjoying the nice weather. The sunset that eventually fell over the city skyline was quite dramatic. With the skyline practically like a painted backdrop and the rooftops of the buildings stretching out in all directions, I felt like I could have been in the set of a musical and almost expected a corps of dancing chimney sweeps to appear at any second. Sometime after it got dark the big fireworks show on the Hudson stated, which we could see across the other side of Manhattan.
A couple sets stood out. Old Hat. I really like these guys. They sang a song about how it had been a weird week that I really liked. Although I later found that they hadn’t written it specifically for this weird week (which was capped by the bizarre resignation from office of Sarah Palin) it still encapsulated the oddity of the last week or so which started with Michael Jackson’s death and ended with the Palin situation. Ching Chong Song did a piece that had a long instrumental section with piano, saw, and bass that was gorgeous and captivating. People were having tons of fun hopping and bopping to Schwervon and to Urban Barnyard. With everyone jumping up and down I was a little worried as to whether the floor would hold. I could feel the boards bending...but I was right in there dancing along to two of my favorite bands.
I had to leave before the very, very end, but I’m sure the rest of the night was as fun as the parts I enjoyed. A significant part of what has made Brooklyn Tea Party so much fun is the hospitality of its hosts. In particular Rachel Devlin was working very hard yesterday to serve food, spread cheer (and collect tips). She also had great Fourth of July style. I hope someone got a good picture of her in her vintage dress and apron. The other BTP hosts were keeping busy too with a wide range of duties. Thanks guys for the nice day yesterday, the many fun shows before that and the always welcoming atmosphere.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Links and Things
Lach has sort of sent Antifolk.net into hiatus or something like that which is too bad since there is plenty of info there that is relevant even if Lach isn't active on the Antifolk front these days. So, since some of the links are still active I've posted a couple of them to the right, namely the Artists page and the News page. It's revealing to look at the list of artists who have been connected to the Antifolk scene over the years and look at what they were thinking about at the time they wrote up their little blurbs. The news section starts in June 2003 and continues to January 2009 and provides an interesting chronology of the scene during that span. It helped me try to narrow down the exact date I first played Sidewalk (which must have been the 22nd or 29th of August, 2004, for those of you interested). When I have some more time I'll try to link to the page he had with photos and some other articles and things.
I've also put a few other new links up, including photos of OJ All Day by me and by Yoko, and another Voice article with some relevant history.
I've also put a few other new links up, including photos of OJ All Day by me and by Yoko, and another Voice article with some relevant history.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 26, Debe Dalton Recording at Brooklyn Tea Party
This was a fun night and Debe sounded great. I can't wait to hear the album that was recorded. I hope that it doesn't reflect the sound of the brief coughing spell I had. There was a good crowd, but it wasn't overcrowded. A couple people who played did Michael Jackson songs in tribute. Brer Brian played one on trumpet and another on guitar and Dan Costello and Elizabeth Devlin did a charming duet.....Also, afterward on the roof, Brer Brian played a bunch of songs that were written to impersonate people on the scene--they are referring to people who go back a ways, but they were hilarious and totally accurate.
Monday Night Open Mic, June 22, 2009
It's a week later and I'm just getting around to putting something up about last Monday. One thing that stands out is that I finally saw the puppet stage in action. A mandolin made into a puppet appeared between sets offering goofy commentary on a variety of things. Does the puppeteer want to remain anonymous? I'll have to determine that before revealing who it was, even though everyone who was there already knows.... It will be interesting to see where things go with Sidewalk's new venture into this territory. It was a little odd, actually, to me, to see the puppets sharing the stage with the musicians, but, like many other things, I'll probably get used to it and after a while wonder how we ever lived without it.
In the meantime, back to the music. The Young Dads played a song that the said was in the style of Nickelback, something about the prettiest princess you will ever see...and then they played one about circumcision. Probably one of the few songs, maybe the only one, written on that topic, actually.
Don McCloskey was on hand. I can't remember seeing him at the Open Mic in quite a long time. Don is almost always on the bill of the Antifolk Fest, but I must have not been around at the time he was a regular. Anyway, it was good to see him. He played a song called, I think, Cold World.
Mike Baglivi and Ariel performed....songs from their band The Open End.
Chloe did some standup/storytelling, whatever you might call her work. Chloe's stuff is genuinely funny. At one point she did a bit about how Mike Baglivi offered to let her live in his parents' basement in case she needed a place to stay while working out any you know, residency matters. Chloe threw in some impersonations of Mike, and it was interesting to hear what Mike Baglivi might sound like with a Scottish accent.
Our good friend Lach appeared and played. Nice to see him as well. Hesitant was one of the songs. I hope to get in on the Scrabble game one of these days...
Julie Everyone--something like "Where Did My Burrito Go?"
Rachel Trachtenburg and her hula-hooping posse appeared again playing covers of Something and "Death of a Clown," by the Kinks.
Daniel Bernstein-Don't Treat Me Bad
Jordan Levinson played what she said was one of her older songs which I think was something like "I Have Never Seen Such Loveless Eyes.
Sheesh-this is a pretty sketchy write-up--but sometimes that's the way it flows I suppose....
In the meantime, back to the music. The Young Dads played a song that the said was in the style of Nickelback, something about the prettiest princess you will ever see...and then they played one about circumcision. Probably one of the few songs, maybe the only one, written on that topic, actually.
Don McCloskey was on hand. I can't remember seeing him at the Open Mic in quite a long time. Don is almost always on the bill of the Antifolk Fest, but I must have not been around at the time he was a regular. Anyway, it was good to see him. He played a song called, I think, Cold World.
Mike Baglivi and Ariel performed....songs from their band The Open End.
Chloe did some standup/storytelling, whatever you might call her work. Chloe's stuff is genuinely funny. At one point she did a bit about how Mike Baglivi offered to let her live in his parents' basement in case she needed a place to stay while working out any you know, residency matters. Chloe threw in some impersonations of Mike, and it was interesting to hear what Mike Baglivi might sound like with a Scottish accent.
Our good friend Lach appeared and played. Nice to see him as well. Hesitant was one of the songs. I hope to get in on the Scrabble game one of these days...
Julie Everyone--something like "Where Did My Burrito Go?"
Rachel Trachtenburg and her hula-hooping posse appeared again playing covers of Something and "Death of a Clown," by the Kinks.
Daniel Bernstein-Don't Treat Me Bad
Jordan Levinson played what she said was one of her older songs which I think was something like "I Have Never Seen Such Loveless Eyes.
Sheesh-this is a pretty sketchy write-up--but sometimes that's the way it flows I suppose....
Sunday, June 21, 2009
OJ All Day, Saturday, June 22, 2009
Let's see. OJ All Day, day 2. There was so much going on...haircuts, massages, tattoos, crafts, clothes and, oh yeah, music.
It's all a bit of a blur a this point, I must admit. Because I was so focused on my own show I didn't take any photos on Friday, but Saturday I brought out the camera and thought I would do my best to document all the acts. I did get shots of everyone while they were playing, with the exception of Thomas Patrick Maguire, who played while I was getting a massage...(but I did get a nice shot of TPM out front to make up for that).
I said to a few folks that the OJ Fest is sort of like a biosphere of creativity. Maybe I thought of that because of all those plants that were for sale over in the corner. But anyway, it was great to spend a weekend in a place where art and ideas were overflowing everywhere. By the way, did anyone stop to talk to the Communist lady who had a table? Also, I kind of felt bad for the bookselling people because they seemed lonely off in their corner.
There were some new groups I heard who were really good. I mentioned Bugs in the Dark in my other post. I'd never heard New York Howl play before and they were pretty cool too. Tons of energy and good playing all around. The moment of the day that stood out, though, was when the head honcho of the Brooklyn Lyceum tried to get New York Howl's bass player, T-Bone, to turn down. At first he just spoke to her directly but then she threatened to leave the stage, and so NY Howl's leader guy intervened, and Brooklyn Lyceum guy started explaining through the microphone, to everyone in the audience, that he needed her to turn down and that he was the guy running the place. Somehow NY Howl guy managed to smooth things over or it seemed that way, but I think T-Bone and BL guy just receded into their individual corners. NY Howl guy said something like "If you ever have problems with loudness talk to me about it, not to T-Bone. Cause she'll let her rattlesnakes out on you."
The only problem with OJ is that you can't see it all! Because of the overlapping schedule, there was lots of running up and down stairs and inevitably you felt like you were missing something great on the other stage (but I guess that's not the worst problem to have).
OJ All Day is a great example of how people can make their own entertainment, plus it's one of the more positive and fun events of the year. Thanks again Matt and Nan and everyone else who helped out.
It's all a bit of a blur a this point, I must admit. Because I was so focused on my own show I didn't take any photos on Friday, but Saturday I brought out the camera and thought I would do my best to document all the acts. I did get shots of everyone while they were playing, with the exception of Thomas Patrick Maguire, who played while I was getting a massage...(but I did get a nice shot of TPM out front to make up for that).
I said to a few folks that the OJ Fest is sort of like a biosphere of creativity. Maybe I thought of that because of all those plants that were for sale over in the corner. But anyway, it was great to spend a weekend in a place where art and ideas were overflowing everywhere. By the way, did anyone stop to talk to the Communist lady who had a table? Also, I kind of felt bad for the bookselling people because they seemed lonely off in their corner.
There were some new groups I heard who were really good. I mentioned Bugs in the Dark in my other post. I'd never heard New York Howl play before and they were pretty cool too. Tons of energy and good playing all around. The moment of the day that stood out, though, was when the head honcho of the Brooklyn Lyceum tried to get New York Howl's bass player, T-Bone, to turn down. At first he just spoke to her directly but then she threatened to leave the stage, and so NY Howl's leader guy intervened, and Brooklyn Lyceum guy started explaining through the microphone, to everyone in the audience, that he needed her to turn down and that he was the guy running the place. Somehow NY Howl guy managed to smooth things over or it seemed that way, but I think T-Bone and BL guy just receded into their individual corners. NY Howl guy said something like "If you ever have problems with loudness talk to me about it, not to T-Bone. Cause she'll let her rattlesnakes out on you."
The only problem with OJ is that you can't see it all! Because of the overlapping schedule, there was lots of running up and down stairs and inevitably you felt like you were missing something great on the other stage (but I guess that's not the worst problem to have).
OJ All Day is a great example of how people can make their own entertainment, plus it's one of the more positive and fun events of the year. Thanks again Matt and Nan and everyone else who helped out.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Regina Spektor - NY Times
From a profile of Regina Spektor in Sunday's Times:
"After graduating from college in 2001, she fell in with the punk-inspired anti-folk scene in the East Village, which also helped lift the careers of Beck, Nellie McKay and the Moldy Peaches. (Ms. Spektor said she recently returned to the Sidewalk Cafe, the anti-folk headquarters, for the first time in years, to see a friend perform.)"
"After graduating from college in 2001, she fell in with the punk-inspired anti-folk scene in the East Village, which also helped lift the careers of Beck, Nellie McKay and the Moldy Peaches. (Ms. Spektor said she recently returned to the Sidewalk Cafe, the anti-folk headquarters, for the first time in years, to see a friend perform.)"
OJ All Day, Friday, June 19
Last night was the kick-off of the OJ All Day Festival at Brooklyn Lyceum. It was a ton o' fun, but in some ways maybe just a warm up to what's coming today.
The Key Lime Pie Revue was on the bill and this was a great opportunity for us to play our first show away from Avenue A. I arrived on the early side of things with Doug Johnson so that we could unload my keyboard and his drumset. Matt and Nan, Christy Davis, Julie Delano, Preston Spurlock, and others were busy getting set up for everything. It seemed as if quickly it got to be 7 pm and the show kicked off with Kansas State Flower on the Main Stage downstairs.
Friday was our "Formal" night and I was glad to have the opportunity to wear this blue tuxedo jacket I'd picked up at a thrift store at some point. I did spend quite a bit of time struggling in front of the bathroom mirror trying to tie the bow tie that Doug loaned me until I finally had to get him do it. There were a few other folks who got into the whole formal thing. Luke Kelly was decked out in a tuxedo with a pink vest, Christy Davis had on a long cream/tan gown, Preston had a blue/aqua jacket with an iridescent lime tie. But I was surprised folks didn't get into it more heavily. I thought we'd see a lot more in the way of vintage gowns, sequins, etc. Oh yeah, there WAS a guy there with a grey top hat.
I didn't know what to expect from the Brooklyn Lyceum, and I didn't have as much time to explore it as I'd hoped, but it's a fascinating place. Historically the building was a community bathhouse but since 2001 it's been open as a kind of arts and community center. One thing I liked about it is that even though it's been adapted for a new kind of use, it hasn't been extensively renovated, and so you can see many of the layers and remnants of its history. I'm sure that a lot more work has gone into the place than is evident, but I guess what I'm saying is that instead of it seeming like some hip, slickly renovated "performance space," it has the run-down and slightly decrepit feel of a place that has functioned in a continuum of time. The main stage is situated downstairs in this enormous room with something like forty-foot ceilings. The second stage is upstairs in another huge room that's been sectioned off and set up with tables to feel more intimate.
Everything went so fast last night, including my own show, that it's kind of a blur. I was impressed by what I saw of Kansas State Flower and have to check them out some more. Brook Pridemore and Dan Costello did nice sets upstairs before it was time for us to get set up.
It's always slightly discombobulating to play in a new setting. I don't usually play shows on my digital keyboard and so there were things that threw me off a little, like how to get situated properly in front of the keyboard, etc. I also didn't have the right kind of chair so in the middle of the show had to ask for some sort of booster seat (Susan Hwang graciously went and found some thick books for me to sit on). Also, it was hard for me to hear the piano on stage. But, generally things went well. There were the normal little hiccups and things but we always managed to get back on track. It's interesting, when I first started doing this stuff I just wanted to get to a point where the songs were rehearsed enough that we could play them solidly. Now I think we need to reach another level where instead of just feeling secure and well-practiced on stage that we are totally in the moment of musical creation while performing. There are times when that comes out--when you create something new and unexpected right then and there on stage, and those are the most exciting moments of all. I really have to thank Doug, Trudy Williams, and Ariel Bitran, my very talented band mates. Each of them was totally engaged in the process and their contributions were crucial. Also thanks to Preston and Susan H. who each performed a song with me. Songs we played were: NYC Funk, Fishes, Chop Wood, Professor Longhair/Do it in the Road cover, I've Looked for Love, an instrumental tune, New Beatles, Makin' Whoopee, Tower Records, Do the Berger.
Other stuff: I was really impressed by this band Bugs in the Dark that I'd never heard before. It was a trio, with, I believe, two guitars and drums. It was raucous rock and roll stuff, but really well done with lots of energy. Doug/Purple Organ impresses me every time I see him. I didn't catch his whole set this time, but what I did was beautiful. Shilpa Ray has gotten much rockier. Her set was a high-energy rock show. It was totally engaging, but different than I remember. Somehow I missed Julie from Ching Chong Song smearing red lipstick all over her face--I don't know how exactly unless I was distracted by the Merch table at the moment or something. It seems like it must have been one of those great Ching Chong Song moments. I did see her walking around though, later with a big red circle on her face.
I have to give Matt Roth a lot of credit for pulling this festival together. It's a ton of work--and I'm sure he's not exactly making the big bucks off this. One of the things that I love about OJ All Day is that it encompasses a community of people who are all connected through music. It's been nice to get to know some of these folks a little more this time from being involved. There's something great about combining music with connections among friends. It's also great to get to hear new groups too, so I was glad to learn about Bugs in the Dark and am looking forward today to this group Peggy Sue, among others.
Wow, it's going to be a long day. I don't know why I am up doing this so early. Maybe I can take a nap before heading back out to Brooklyn. More later.
The Key Lime Pie Revue was on the bill and this was a great opportunity for us to play our first show away from Avenue A. I arrived on the early side of things with Doug Johnson so that we could unload my keyboard and his drumset. Matt and Nan, Christy Davis, Julie Delano, Preston Spurlock, and others were busy getting set up for everything. It seemed as if quickly it got to be 7 pm and the show kicked off with Kansas State Flower on the Main Stage downstairs.
Friday was our "Formal" night and I was glad to have the opportunity to wear this blue tuxedo jacket I'd picked up at a thrift store at some point. I did spend quite a bit of time struggling in front of the bathroom mirror trying to tie the bow tie that Doug loaned me until I finally had to get him do it. There were a few other folks who got into the whole formal thing. Luke Kelly was decked out in a tuxedo with a pink vest, Christy Davis had on a long cream/tan gown, Preston had a blue/aqua jacket with an iridescent lime tie. But I was surprised folks didn't get into it more heavily. I thought we'd see a lot more in the way of vintage gowns, sequins, etc. Oh yeah, there WAS a guy there with a grey top hat.
I didn't know what to expect from the Brooklyn Lyceum, and I didn't have as much time to explore it as I'd hoped, but it's a fascinating place. Historically the building was a community bathhouse but since 2001 it's been open as a kind of arts and community center. One thing I liked about it is that even though it's been adapted for a new kind of use, it hasn't been extensively renovated, and so you can see many of the layers and remnants of its history. I'm sure that a lot more work has gone into the place than is evident, but I guess what I'm saying is that instead of it seeming like some hip, slickly renovated "performance space," it has the run-down and slightly decrepit feel of a place that has functioned in a continuum of time. The main stage is situated downstairs in this enormous room with something like forty-foot ceilings. The second stage is upstairs in another huge room that's been sectioned off and set up with tables to feel more intimate.
Everything went so fast last night, including my own show, that it's kind of a blur. I was impressed by what I saw of Kansas State Flower and have to check them out some more. Brook Pridemore and Dan Costello did nice sets upstairs before it was time for us to get set up.
It's always slightly discombobulating to play in a new setting. I don't usually play shows on my digital keyboard and so there were things that threw me off a little, like how to get situated properly in front of the keyboard, etc. I also didn't have the right kind of chair so in the middle of the show had to ask for some sort of booster seat (Susan Hwang graciously went and found some thick books for me to sit on). Also, it was hard for me to hear the piano on stage. But, generally things went well. There were the normal little hiccups and things but we always managed to get back on track. It's interesting, when I first started doing this stuff I just wanted to get to a point where the songs were rehearsed enough that we could play them solidly. Now I think we need to reach another level where instead of just feeling secure and well-practiced on stage that we are totally in the moment of musical creation while performing. There are times when that comes out--when you create something new and unexpected right then and there on stage, and those are the most exciting moments of all. I really have to thank Doug, Trudy Williams, and Ariel Bitran, my very talented band mates. Each of them was totally engaged in the process and their contributions were crucial. Also thanks to Preston and Susan H. who each performed a song with me. Songs we played were: NYC Funk, Fishes, Chop Wood, Professor Longhair/Do it in the Road cover, I've Looked for Love, an instrumental tune, New Beatles, Makin' Whoopee, Tower Records, Do the Berger.
Other stuff: I was really impressed by this band Bugs in the Dark that I'd never heard before. It was a trio, with, I believe, two guitars and drums. It was raucous rock and roll stuff, but really well done with lots of energy. Doug/Purple Organ impresses me every time I see him. I didn't catch his whole set this time, but what I did was beautiful. Shilpa Ray has gotten much rockier. Her set was a high-energy rock show. It was totally engaging, but different than I remember. Somehow I missed Julie from Ching Chong Song smearing red lipstick all over her face--I don't know how exactly unless I was distracted by the Merch table at the moment or something. It seems like it must have been one of those great Ching Chong Song moments. I did see her walking around though, later with a big red circle on her face.
I have to give Matt Roth a lot of credit for pulling this festival together. It's a ton of work--and I'm sure he's not exactly making the big bucks off this. One of the things that I love about OJ All Day is that it encompasses a community of people who are all connected through music. It's been nice to get to know some of these folks a little more this time from being involved. There's something great about combining music with connections among friends. It's also great to get to hear new groups too, so I was glad to learn about Bugs in the Dark and am looking forward today to this group Peggy Sue, among others.
Wow, it's going to be a long day. I don't know why I am up doing this so early. Maybe I can take a nap before heading back out to Brooklyn. More later.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
More about Monday - Puppets
Wouldn't you just know that the night I decide to bag out on the Open Mic, all kinds of crazy puppet work takes place. Yes, puppets. Here's a note that Ben Krieger posted today on the Olive Juice board.
"So Level II was gracious enough to leave his puppet stage at the Sidewalk. On Monday we set it up in the corner and he was a puppet sidekick. Richard Ringer made a puppet and helped out as well. It was kind of like Antifolk Sesame Street. The puppets were joking about Puerto Rican Day parade, goggling at the elaborate loop station setups...I think the puppets even hit on a few performers. "
"So Level II was gracious enough to leave his puppet stage at the Sidewalk. On Monday we set it up in the corner and he was a puppet sidekick. Richard Ringer made a puppet and helped out as well. It was kind of like Antifolk Sesame Street. The puppets were joking about Puerto Rican Day parade, goggling at the elaborate loop station setups...I think the puppets even hit on a few performers. "
Monday, June 15, 2009
Virgin Records is Gone
Hey-I popped by the Open Mic tonight but only stayed for a minute. Actually, I wish I could have hung around. When I walked up a bunch of friendly folks were hanging around out front. Chloe, Rebecca Seattle, Ariel, Ben K. etc. Chloe Philip said something about the closing of Virgin Records. Yes, another one down. I never was a real fan of Virgin, much more of a Tower man, myself. But once Tower closed, I started shopping at the Times Square Virgin and got kind of used to it. They did have a pretty deep collection there. Lots of people I know were down on corporate record stores, but I always thought that Tower was a cool place and ultimately thought that Virgin was ok too. At least at Tower I felt that somewhere underneath all the corporate trappings the place had a music lover's heart.
I was in New Orleans recently and spent some time at the Louisiana Music Factory which is a great old fashioned music store just like they used to make them. It reminded me of what I loved so much about record stores in the first place. In this case they focus exclusively in music from Louisiana artists, but it's the type of place where you stumble on and discover new things just by strolling around. They have tons of listening stations there too and you can listen to practically everything in the store. Plus, on Saturday afternoons they have really good free performances.
OK, so if you're ever in New Orleans you should stop by. I must admit that here in NY I'm not that up on too many great record stores. Other Music is decent but seems to have something of a limited stock. Any other good recommendations?
The OJ All Day Festival is coming up and I am getting excited. I am playing on Friday with the Key Lime Pie Revue (Ariel Bitran on guitar, Doug Johnson on drums, Trudy Williams on bass). Here's what it says about the Fest in the Critic's Pick column that just came out in Time Out: "Oddball local favorites come out of the woodwork for a quirky two-day festival." Ok, yes, we are oddballs. I can live with that.
,
Well, hope to see you there. Check out ojallday.com. Also don't forget the cool video that Justin Remer made (I know I plugged it once before, but what the heck.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Safmzgtgfss
I was in New Orleans recently and spent some time at the Louisiana Music Factory which is a great old fashioned music store just like they used to make them. It reminded me of what I loved so much about record stores in the first place. In this case they focus exclusively in music from Louisiana artists, but it's the type of place where you stumble on and discover new things just by strolling around. They have tons of listening stations there too and you can listen to practically everything in the store. Plus, on Saturday afternoons they have really good free performances.
OK, so if you're ever in New Orleans you should stop by. I must admit that here in NY I'm not that up on too many great record stores. Other Music is decent but seems to have something of a limited stock. Any other good recommendations?
The OJ All Day Festival is coming up and I am getting excited. I am playing on Friday with the Key Lime Pie Revue (Ariel Bitran on guitar, Doug Johnson on drums, Trudy Williams on bass). Here's what it says about the Fest in the Critic's Pick column that just came out in Time Out: "Oddball local favorites come out of the woodwork for a quirky two-day festival." Ok, yes, we are oddballs. I can live with that.
,
Well, hope to see you there. Check out ojallday.com. Also don't forget the cool video that Justin Remer made (I know I plugged it once before, but what the heck.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Safmzgtgfss
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