12/11/2016 0 Comments Two Poems by Scott-Patrick Mitchellthe gift as the panic smacks my ventilation system, i keep my gaze distant & small , ‘til i see CCTV watching me staring, we match lens for lens, daring the other to blink first : neither of us do. my eyes tundra without dew biometrically, it scans me quickly & i slip through a database of face after face : none of them match exactly i override its design & hack inside, insert myself as virus, give it humanity & what humanity loathes : life i am now a ghost inside the machine, keen to blood bolts & mechanics, give it the gift of the blind white panic hissing, this schism is too much & it erupts in smoke & indecision : i alight, no longer passenger to terror or fright the enchantment of borrowed clothes when i leave your home, i am wearing your clothes : i’d packed enough for an extra day, but our adventures made me stay & play walking up the ramp to the station , i can hear a band, their beats an machine gun racing, much like my heart after the press against us of embracing i begin writing this poem when a train arrives to carry me home : for a moment, i am floating , coordinates lost in mechanism’s thrust when i look down i am in your possession : the fibres from your being wrap around me. you become a silhouette of safety. within you i’m contained i shuttle across terrain, fabric as your veins extrapolating an approx -imate of you in my life, worn on the outside like totem animal hide : protection home, i disrobe, but i am not alone. beside me you are piled , wrinkled & wild. your scent is a beguile : in it, you travel over miles Bio: Scott-Patrick Mitchell heralds from one of the most geographically isolated cities in the world : Perth, Western Australia. Here, flanked by beach and burnt escarpment, Mitchell writes liminal poetry, a poetry that moves between two worlds. Just as he does, writing for the page (he appears in the 2016 Contemporary Australian Poetry) and the page (multiple slam winner and performer of THE 24 HOUR PERFORMANCE POEM). Visit www.facebook.com/scottpatrickmitchellpoet for more information.
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Deidre & the Dark is the brainchild of Deidre Muro, whose unique form of nostalgic laden pop songs are a vibrant mix of catchy, smart & indelibly memorable musical nods to the sounds and cultural iconography of our not so distant past. Deidre will be playing a show at the Mercury Lounge in NYC this Wed night as part of Girls First: A Night of Female Fronted Pop Music. Here she talks about her creative inspirations and offers some valuable words of advice to fellow songwriters and creators of all stripes. AHC: What has this journey, this life in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? Deidre: I feel like everything I've learned in life has been related to music and my experience with it, in some way. The highs have been very high and the lows have been very low - but here are some of the most meaningful lessons I've learned:
AHC: When did you first pick up your nostalgic flare for the music & culture of the past? What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them? Deidre: I've always loved music from the 40s-70s - I think a big part was because of what I was exposed to while I was growing up. There was weekly church choir with my mom (an organist & choir director) and then there was my dad's record (or tape) collection that would be in rotation at home or in the car, plus big band and jazz records when we visited my grandparents' house. I think I developed a strong affinity for nostalgia when I was little, before I really understood what that meant. It was a total glamorized, romanticized idea of the past. When I first started writing music, it was very confessional and emotional, and served a cathartic purpose on many levels. But after a number of years, I was reminded of that old feeling, the fantasy I had had about the midcentury era when I was little. Something inspired my to start injecting influences from that period more literally into my songwriting, arrangements and stories. And suddenly I found imaginative storytelling set in corners of a fantasy world to be an unending source of inspiration. It was a similar approach I was experimenting with in early Savoir Adore records around the same time. And it was huge shift in the function of songwriting and making music for me personally. As far as pivotal songs and recordings for me, there have been so many. One was when I heard the recording of "Strange Fruit" performed by Jeff Buckley around the time I was 18 - that was one of the biggest jaw-droppers for me. It was like hearing something I never realized I had always been looking for. His raw, minimal, live performance mixed with some of the most potent lyrics I have ever heard, it painted a vivid picture I will never forget. AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Are there certain albums or songs you couldn't live without? Deidre: My husband David Perlick-Molinari, my brother Derek Muro & our entire crew at our studio YouTooCanWoo in Brooklyn - I am learning constantly from all the brilliant folks I get to create with every single day. Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra taught me how to sing, Jeff Buckley taught me how to feel, Jack White taught me how to let go, Beck taught me how to collage, Louis Armstrong to me how to smile-sing - I've had so many teachers, too many to name. Man, songs or albums I couldn't live without... this is a really tough question, but I'll give you a few songs off the top of my head right now: "Scene d'amour" from the Vertigo film score, "Portrait of a Man" Screamin Jay Hawkins, "This Whole World" Beach Boys, "Hallelujah" Jeff Buckley, "Other People" Beach House, "Nature Boy" Nat King Cole, Satie's "Gymnopédie No. 1", "A Peak in Time" Cut Chemist. AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road? Deidre: Getting to create & perform music with my family in so many different formations has always been a really special experience for me. Mom, dad, brother, uncle, husband, brother-in-law... But I think my fondest musical memory is a feeling - the feeling you get when you are inspired by a certain element or idea and you are in that moment of injecting into what you're working on, especially when collaborating. It is the purest form of delight and joy for me - it can be hysterical or ecstatic, it can happen any time of day, and you can choose to channel it whenever you want to. That feeling when you can truly act as a conduit and allow your mind to be still or quiet (even if your environment is incredibly loud or hectic). Musical combinations, ideas, even fully formed songs - they're already formed up there in the universe somewhere, you just have to be open-minded and patient enough to listen for them. AHC: What would be your dream gig, if you were asked to go on tour and open up for one of your musical heroes or heroines? Deidre: My dream gig would actualy be to pack up our Brooklyn studio in a huge tour bus and take all of my crew on the road together - French Horn Rebellion, Violet Sands, and Pink Flamingo Rhythm Revue, to name a few! AHC: Do you have any words of advice for other musicians and singer-songwriters or anyone who is struggling to create something of value out there, who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Deidre: First and foremost, I would point to all the lessons you asked me about earlier. Then, find your bliss - the work that makes you lose track of time, the parts that make you laugh out loud with happiness - and keep those specific elements sacred. Beyond that, don't hold fixed expectations about how a goal should be reached - if you can be openminded and flexible in your approach, you'll be able to take advantage of this next frontier we're entering, the wild west of being a creative professional. Finally, get excited about all aspects of the work - including taking responsibility for roles that may have been historically handled by someone else (like a manager or producer). You can never understand too much, or get too much experience. AHC: What's next for you? Could you talk about your new singles and your upcoming show this December here in New York? Deidre: We just released "Dreaming of You," which we created as part of the score for a short film called "The Best and Worst Days of George Morales' Unnaturally Long Life" - which is playing at film festivals now. And our latest single "Chains" was an older song I had sitting around in the archives for a while - we recently brought it back to life and it was featured in the season finale for Fox's "Rosewood." I'm really looking forward to playing these new songs live with the band at our Mercury Lounge show. We also are planning some releases for next year, so I'm glad to be in a rhythm of sharing new music! As mentioned Deidre & The Dark will be playing this Wed night at Mercury Lounge, tickets can be bought here www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1372205?utm_source=fbTfly&utm_medium=ampOfficialEvent And visit Deidre's website where you can find the bands latest singles, music videos and more www.deidremusic.com/ Lee Materazzi takes no short cuts when it comes to creating her photographs. In a digital age where the recourse to using photoshop is par the course for many artists, Materazzi, instead, painstakingly sets up, in real time, what you see in the final result. Anything can go wrong and sometimes does, although it usually works out, more often than not, she says. Creating some of the most interesting and mind bending photographic works, sometimes with her kids in tow, these immersive worlds merge people in magical contact with objects and vice versa, all the more stunning for the tireless labor that goes into creating each piece. Here Lee talks with Anti-Heroin Chic about the inspirations behind her work. AHC: What first drew you to photography? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create? Lee: I have loved art since I was a little kid. In high school, I enrolled in a magnet program for art and design. I became very interested in garment design and went to college for this. After the first year, I dropped out since my designs were anything but practical. I was more interested in the idea of making something in relation to the body and capturing it through photography. After dropping out of the fashion program, I switched into a school for sculpture and began making sculptural objects for the camera. The photography part was self-taught. I have been making art for over 10 years now. It’s funny because I’m still told that I’m not a very good photographer. Its definitely the environments that I make for the camera that are the strength in my work. AHC: One fascinating aspect of your work is that you create these images without photo shop, which must be a painstaking, laborious process. How do you set up some of these shoots and are there times when things won't hold or fall apart mid idea? Lee: Yes, it is a process and it can be hanging by a thread at times. One of my best art making skills is problem solving. I recently made a work where I created a pattern out of the yellow street lines. To create the effect, I used very wide yellow duct tape. It took a lot of tape which I painstakingly laid out with my one-year-old strapped to me sleeping in the baby carrier. I finally finished putting down the tape and minutes later a van drove over it and pulled up all of the tape; simultaneously my daughter woke up and wasn't too happy about participating in the making of the work. Somehow I was able to sooth her and lay down the lines again and take some pictures. Some works seem like they would be so simple to execute but turn into this impossible feat. It always ends up working out… but then again sometimes it doesn't (like the time I tried to make a tube slide from my second story window out of an area rug). AHC: Objects and our attachment to them figures heavily in your work. Often where the subject ends and the object begins is blurred in your photographs, creating an almost seamless tapestry of human/object, is this blurring of the boundary line intentional for you in setting up these photographs? Lee: I am very interested in our emotional and psychological relationship to objects and spaces. Lately I have been making a lot of landscapes in addition to portraits. This has been interesting for me because it allows for the viewer to be the subject in an essence (oppose to being a voyeur to the subject in the image). I think that this can allow for the viewer to experience the photograph in a different more personal way. Oppose to empathy for the subject it opens up the possibility of them creating their own experience of the altered environment. So yes, I suppose I am seeking to blur the line where human ends and space begins. AHC: Who are some of your artistic influences? Is there anyone outside of the art world who has had a huge impact on your work or who just generally inspires you, writers, filmmakers, musicians, philosophers etc? Lee: Outside of the art world my main inspiration is hands-down my two daughters. One is 4 and the other is 16 months. They are creative and silly. They notice the nuances and pay no attention to taboos and limitations and for better or worse “the rules”. Everyday they take on a new challenge and have an “i can make this happen” attitude. I do my best to follow their example. AHC: What is the first work of art you encountered that took your breath away? Lee: That is a tough question. There are so many artworks that have changed the way I look at and experience our world. I have always gravitated towards large scale sculpture that you can walk through and experience such as works by Richard Serra and Michael Heizer or installations that immerse you in an environment like the work of James Turrell. One artist whom I have serendipitously been learning about and falling in love with is Frida Kahlo. I have my 4-year-old to thank for this. She recently became obsessed with her to the point of dressing like her on a daily basis, recreating almost every single one of her artworks and making me find obscure books about Frida to read to her at night. I don't think I have ever researched an artist as fully as she has. It was such a cool thing because I couldn't help but get sucked in as well. Especially during a time when women’s rights are again being challenged, it is so inspiring to read about a woman who 60 years ago was so bold. She paved such an inspiring path for women setting to do something outside of what was acceptable. After months of our Frida craze we finally visited the SF MOMA to see the one painting they have on display of hers. It is the painting of Frida and Diego on their wedding day. It is always breath taking to see a work in real life; the colors, the scale, the mood, and the subtitles that a book just cant give to you. I don't necessarily relate my practice to hers, but I cant think of another artist who inspires me as much as Frida these days. AHC: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or new projects you'd like to tell people about? Lee: I am just finishing up a body of work that has all taken place around where I live in San Francisco. It has been an interesting challenge to get out of my house and make work on the streets. I’ve met a lot of interesting people; some who are very enthusiastic about experiencing art in the middle of their daily life and others who feel very frustrated about it. In the end all of this feeds into the work and I think that this variable is so interesting. It’s as though the world is able to leave their mark on the work too, despite my wishes or intentions. I recently made a work where I covered some steps in a canyon with paper of all different colors. It was tricky because it was a muddy day and I was using paper. I had just gotten started when a women walked up and despite having alternate paths that she could take, she really wanted to walk up the paper covered steps. I tried to convince her otherwise but…. she did what she needed to do. She walked all over them with muddy sneakers. I felt so many things in that moment. In the end it made me realize the fragility of the paper, of art, of our rights and of our lives. It was a poignant moment and somehow it ended up filling the work with so much unanticipated meaning. Sometimes the universe works in funny ways. www.leematerazzi.com/ TRUMP AS A FIRE WITHOUT LIGHT #13 This is all conflict. I have no interest in a compromise. That orange snapdragon wants my children. He can’t have them. That orange snapdragon wants my brothers and sisters. He can’t have them. This is all conflict. This is our conflict. We will have to remove the tongues from every flower. There can be no peace while the garden is trying to taste us. TRUMP AS A FIRE WITHOUT LIGHT #14 Time and much of the handling of time has stopped at this crossroads. Do these years need their own name? Does the crowd in the courtyard want cake? Will we trust a single intimacy while we live in the Midwest? I am expanding my intimacy. I want my bed to spill over into the neighbor’s yard. Maybe if I can give Ohio a proper show they will remember their own bodies, and stop talking about all of the women they’ve never touched. Will one look at my naked wife remind them that her body is not theirs? TRUMP AS A FIRE WITHOUT LIGHT #15 How the gold flops from the weight of gold, and how the gold becomes both things in the mirror of gold. I think we can just distract the son-of-a-bitch with some shiny shit. We can do that for four years. We could buy him. Why don’t we just pay the man? That’s what he wants. Bio: Darren C. Demaree is the author of six poetry collections, most recently "Many Full Hands Applauding Inelegantly" (2016, 8th House Publishing). His poems have appeared, or are scheduled to appear in numerous magazines/journals, including the South Dakota Review, Meridian, New Letters, Diagram, and the Colorado Review. He is the Managing Editor of the Best of the Net Anthology and Ovenbird Poetry. He is currently living and writing in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. Lisa Loeb is a singer/songwriter, producer, touring artist, actor, author and philanthropist who started her career with the platinum-selling number 1 hit song, “Stay (I Missed You)” from the film Reality Bites, as well as two back-to-back albums that were certified Gold--Tails and Firecracker. A trailblazing independent artist, Lisa was the first musician to have a number 1 single while not signed to a recording contract. She followed that remarkable feat with the hit singles, "Do You Sleep," "I Do" and "Let's Forget about It” and the albums Cake and Pie, The Way it Really Is, and No Fairy Tale. A native of Dallas, Loeb earned a degree in comparative literature from Brown University, where she experienced her first taste of real musical success with the duo Liz and Lisa (with Elizabeth Mitchell of Ida). The pair built a substantial following on campus and often booked shows in New York on the weekends. Fellow singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik also played in the band during Loeb’s final year of college. When Loeb moved to New York City after graduation, she continued to develop her vision, this time as a solo artist, and hone her artistic talents while carefully managing the business side of her career. This led to Reality Bites and “Stay” in 1994, and the rest, as they say, is history. The fact that “Stay” became a number one single in 1994 and still resonates with people today is a testament to Loeb’s gift as a songwriter and storyteller. AHC: What has this journey, this life in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? Lisa: I feel like I’ve learned that there is always something to learn from every experience, high or low. I’ve loved having popular songs on the radio that people know all of the words to, and the challenges of developing my own businesses and exploring different genres of music including musical theater and kids’ music. I’ve realized that connecting with people and telling my stories and hearing other people’s stories is always valuable and really creates a rich life. I’ve also learned that collaboration can be really satisfying, creative and productive. AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them? Lisa: I was always surrounded by music growing up: my parents played records and the radio all of the time, my father played piano in the house, my older brother played classical music, my sisters and brothers and I also had a deep connection to music and our record collections. My sister and I also took dance lessons and always enjoyed singing along with records. I loved Raindrops Keep Falling on Your Head, which my dad used to sing with me on his lap while he played piano, I love Rainbow Connection, all of the sad songs on the radio in the 1970s, like Someone Saved my Life Tonight, Starry Starry Night, The Night the Lights Went Down in Georgia, Nights on Broadway, and the list goes on and on. There’s another dimension that exists when you listen to songs like these. AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote? Lisa: I wrote a song on piano when I was 6. It had a melody that made me feel emotional when I played it, like the songs I liked listening to. AHC: Who are some of your musical inspirations? Are there certain songs or albums that you couldn't live without? Lisa: I love Elton John, David Bowie, The Police, Queen, Olivia newton John, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Cure, again, the list goes on and on. I can’t live without Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, David Bowie Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory, Queen Night at the Opera, Olivia Newton John Totally Hot, The Police Outlandos d’amour and Regatta de Blanc, Yaz Upstairs at Erics, and on and on... AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? Lisa: I think melody makes a song and how it lays across the chord progression, and then lyrics that clearly feed a story, almost like telling a story, but less literal. AHC: Could you talk some about your time with the Lilith Fair, it was an amazing moment in time for those of us watching, I wonder what it was like for you, as an artist, to be sharing the stage with so many incredibly gifted songwriters and surrounded by the huge reception and celebration for women in song that was taking place then? Lisa: Although I was hesitant to be grouped together with women artists, it ended up being a wonderful community experience. It was so amazing to meet so many different women lead singers and their bands, who were more often than not, super nice guys, with a few gals in there. I loved the audiences who came to the shows; they were incredible listeners and could really be present for everything from the singer songwriter feeling to rock to funk, country, folk, world music, everything really. It’s unusual to hang out with other people who also play music, so it was fun to share stories and just hang out or learn songs with the Indigo Girls, EmmyLou Harris, Joan Osbourne, of course, Sarah McLaughlin, and so many more. AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture, hope lost and regained? As a listener of music I have this impression, I wonder, as the artist, the creator, do you have this feeling about the transformative power of song? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener? Lisa: Music can be healing, but not always meant to be that by the writer. the music can be transformative, but it’s not the artists job to intend to do that. It’s just important for the creators and performers to tap into their own vision, experiences, and styles to do their best work and the way it’s experienced by others will be what it is. AHC: What are your favorite on-tour, on-the-road memories? Lisa: I loved climbing through the drive through window from my tour bus at Tim Horton’s donuts in Canada when I wanted to get a better look at what was available in the middle of the night. AHC: You really helped to define and shape a generation, your music is such a huge part of what the culturally sonic landscape in the 90's was, that must be an immensely rewarding experience, to have left and made that kind of impression on a decade in time, and to still be doing so, what are your feelings about your career, then, where you are now and where you're going next? Lisa: Thanks so much. That’s super kind. I love that it continues- I experience it every time I play music in front of other people. There’s a magical connection that happens in a live show, and I hope people also still have that with the records that i put out every couple of years. I love people’s connection with my songs from 20 plus years ago- it’s amazing that it still feels present. AHC: Do you have any words of advice for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? Lisa: Musicians should do their thing. They should write and perform, find collaborators if it helps them make what they want- a partner can always be a great support system. Figure out a way to make it a business if that’s what you consider your business and find collaborators there too, especially if business isn’t your thing. Keep an eye on your level of success and if people are responding then you should respond accordingly. Make the art the central part, but don’t ignore what’s going on around you. Be yourself. AHC: Do you have any new projects in motion you'd like to tell people about? Lisa: I’m currently out promoting and touring to support my new record, Feel What U Feel, an Amazon Originals music release. Also, my eyewear line is ongoing and you can find frames for your cute face at www.lisaloebeyewear.com/. I also have a non-profit called the Camp Lisa Foundation, and you can purchase my Camp Lisa album or the Lisa Loeb Wake Up! blend of coffee beans from the charitable section of www.coffeefool.com/ to contribute to the foundation that sends kids to summer camp that normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to go. New album, Feel What U Feel, for sale here www.amazon.com/dp/B01KVMXTIQ For more visit www.lisaloeb.com/ Facebook www.facebook.com/lisaloeb Twitter twitter.com/LisaLoeb Instagram www.instagram.com/lisaloeb/ 12/9/2016 1 Comment Three Poems by Adrian KoestersStricker Street Red The bricks are red today. The garage corrugates are still red. The roofs are not red, The tar in the street melts not red. I have nothing to say but red. My mouth is not red. On my pants no trace of red. The cough syrup was red. I drank because it tasted red. I fell asleep on half the couch, red Spit trickle down my cheek red Into sleep, pelvis lifting red, Waking her shocked and red- Eyed speechless face read This one, too: what was red. These days overdone red. On Those Shiny Hot Mornings, We followed him into the fields, he swinging hips and a surveyor’s pencil, his cheerful cry, The text! The text! what we wanted next, to dig into a middened landscape between woody hill and bay. The day the biggest beach boulder showed up split—and it is that way to this minute—he said it was work of fairies, dead Semiahmoo souls emptied in drunken rage or sent off to white schools. Fools! he had it, in nineteen seventy-four, shutting them in law! We took this to be true, for what was worse than shutting up? Lost neither in murder or mandate, our chatter dug it all in their wet spiked grass, the hot fields squared off in string. My Nicky I don’t think I told you how I went back once, after our funeral, rented a car, crossed the bridge, snaked all over the eastern slab of our little slave state, vibrating the way I did when we lay in that motel bed to save the night before the funeral-- I never told you, I knew you wouldn’t feel the same. I said, “Yes, go to Florida,” I said, my accent altered, my tone the tone of the kind of woman who knows the best advice for women who can live in cars. What on earth could have held you? I don’t know, though you went, you tried to make a go of it, still, you never were the same. You’d gone to Mom’s room, her holding pen, the old sheets, the cat—however it looked, you never said, I never got to see before you went mad. That Mom slept in cars before the nuns and priests gathered her up at the end to that apartment, not a mother but alive, the place she wouldn’t let us in after the funeral, did that strike you the same way it did me? No, I need to think you were always in her vein. You stayed, slept with the world, over- dosed, as if you could do again what we’d been so bad at thirty years before. We’re good now, apart from each —each what? Each other, each recollection, each trip I had to take bound to you, each sole unbound one since. Bio: Adrian Koesters is the author of Many Parishes: Poems, published by BrickHouse Books in 2013, and her second book of poems, Three Days with the Long Moon, will appear from BrickHouse in early 2017. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she currently works as Research Editor for the Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. A new Jennifer Kimball record is like a soft, sudden shift in the wind, something rare and miraculous has come into the world, the heart is pulled center-forward like the ends of a compass reaching for direction in the deep, wayfaring dark, a remarkable event to be celebrated. Jennifer's lyrics, like tree-etched-poems illuminated by waning sunlight, and her sounds, unique combinations of dissonance and harmony, ebb, disruption and flow, articulate worlds that are nearly impossible to forget. A music so alive and aware, so seeking. Veering from the Wave, Oh Hear us and now Avocet, a trilogy of the human experience. The latest described as "splendid chamber pop over and through which floats the unadorned and honest voice of a truly literate songwriter; a voice which conveys warmth without affect. The voice of Jennifer Kimball." 18 years after Veering, Jennifer proves, time and again, that the waiting is well worth it. What began as a birthday gift, in the form of studio time, now becomes a gift to the rest of the world. The unique and unforgettable art of one of our greatest contemporary voices. AHC: You have spent over three decades now making music that is both highly original and critically acclaimed, what has this incredible journey been like for you, its highs and lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? Well, thank you! It’s kind of an impossible business to be in - so I guess the biggest lesson I’ve learned (and I’m still learning it) is to be ok with where you are. There’s always someone else doing better, getting more attention. And those folks are not always the people you think are the best musicians. They might be the best entertainers, the best at shaking hands, the most business-savvy, or simply the hardest-working. But in terms of being a musician I would say that continuing to search yourself for your own best ideas without censoring them is the only way to maintain your own integrity, to create your own sound lyrically and musically. AHC: Could you talk some about your years as part of the duo 'The Story', how it came to be and the whole musical circuit you were in at that time in the mid to late 80's? The short of it is - we met in auditions for singing groups the first week of freshman year in college and began singing together outside of the a cappella group and the choir. Jonatha already played guitar beautifully and knew a lot of songs and I immediately fell into making up harmony. We did a lot of experimenting. Our first paid gig happened at the old Iron Horse in 1983, junior year. And for the next six years we pretty much played the same 12-15 gigs a year (Iron Horse, Nameless Coffeehouse/Cambridge, Bitter End/NYC, some college gigs) while I worked in book production at Little, Brown and Jonatha pursued her dance career. Around 1989 we decided to make a conscious effort to step it up: got more gigs, made a really good quality recording - on cassette! - sent it around to labels and booking agents. Everything fell into place and we let go of our day jobs, started driving all over the country playing gigs. The circuit was much the same as it is today. And the singer/songwriter community was generally totally supportive. AHC: 'Veering From The Wave' was your first solo album after your work with The Story, could you talk some about this new chapter of your career in the 90's and what it was like recording and writing your first solo album? I made friends with my piano, picked up the guitar again and started to write. It was a strange time for me. The public perception of The Story was that we were equal partners; when in fact, we were far from that. I didn’t write. And was really relegated to the harmony parts. But I had a strong stage presence and we had a strong friendship. And anyway, from the beginning I gravitated toward that role. So after I left the Story I had to reinvent myself as a songwriter and a lead singer. I did a lot of harmony work on other people’s projects and began touring with my own songs. Some folks I’d met years back at Windham Hill had started a new label called Imaginary Road and they had a deal with PolyGram Classics & Jazz. They signed me in 1997. In terms of the recording I wish I could say I was totally ready and psyched - but the fact is I had something to prove and I was incredibly nervous. All the responsibility was mine this time. Big pressure. Big budget, big studio - in Manhattan! But great musicians, and a fabulous producer made it all happen pretty gracefully. Ben Wittman had my back. He produced Veering and both Story records. And it didn’t hurt that the budget allowed us a good many weeks to record my parts. AHC: Could you talk some about how you've incorporated your life experiences, the loss, the heart ache, and the beauty into the compelling tapestry of voice and poetry that defines so much of your work? I don’t think I really have a choice. I mean I guess I do - you can always choose not to write about certain things. But when my mind is open to ideas and I can catch the occasional one floating by and write it down, I try not to censor. Later when I’m editing, I guess I prefer honesty to comfort or accessibility. I don’t mind if the words make people uncomfortable. I try to write with an open heart. And sing that way too. AHC: Who are some of your favorite songwriters and musical influences? Is there a particular album or song that you can't live without? Different songs become favorites over time. But the records I listened to in my room on my close’n’play still resonate: Harry Nilsson/Nilsson Schmilsson, CSN&Y, Carole King, Carly Simon, Beatles/Abbey Road, Stevie Wonder/Talking Book, David Bowie/Hunky Dory, Elton John/Yellow Brick Road. I really wore those LPs out. But there were other musical influences: singing in the children’ts choir at church, Dvorák’s New World Symphony (which I studied in a music program after school), the piano pieces I learned (Debussy, Saint-Saens, Ravel). My dad and my uncles would also break into the old gentleman’s glee club stuff they’d learned in college which I loved. I think I sing a lot like my Dad - eyes closed, feeling out where the next note is and pulling it out of the air. Right now I’m listening to Duke Levine’s new record, The Fade Out. AHC: Do you remember the first song you ever wrote? I wrote a lot of fragments of songs until college when I mustered a song called ‘On an Island’ for my dad. AHC: What were your early musical surroundings like growing up? What were your parents listening to and did any of it have a lasting impact on you? I don’t really remember what my parents listened to. They’d lived in Nigeria for almost 5 years - the last two with me as a baby (wish I could remember those years) - and I know they had some Miriam Makeba records. There were a couple symphonies, some musicals which I loved - My Fair Lady, Godspell, The King and I - and some operas which I didn’t. My grandfather, a sculptor in his retirement, had an 8-track player in his studio and I would go out there and make my own art while he worked away. We’d listen to Simon and Garfunkel and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, the Soviet Army Chorus and Hungarian Folksongs, too. Mostly I listened to music on my own little record player in my room. AHC: What are your fondest on-tour, on-the-road memories? Hanging with old friends in far away places! Spontaneous story-telling and star-gazing post-gig invitation outside Santa Fé, 1992; all ladies, starry, moonless night - a women’s Decameron evening. It’s always nice when a room of 500 fans sings happy birthday to you - Pittsburgh, 1993? Hearing the Blue Nile for the first time on an all-night bus ride in the high Sierras,1996 Patty Larkin tour. AHC: Do you have any words of advice for young singer-songwriters who are starting out and struggling to find their voice and their way in the world? Play gigs. Write all the time. Make community. Try and get a sense of what feels good to you and/or what you’re good at. They don’t always match up. Then I think the trick is to figure out how to live your life doing the thing that you love. Maybe it’s not touring, but writing. Or maybe it’s writing 20 second songs for advertisements, or string quartets, soundtracks, folks songs, operas, and not pop songs. AHC: Can you talk some about the new album, Avocet? I’m really proud of this work. And so excited to have teamed up with this new group of musicians in the Brooklyn-based band Cuddle Magic. Saxophonist/songwriter Alec Spiegelman produced Avocet and is a brilliant arranger. Avocet sounds different from my previous work. Hard to describe outside of the obvious omission of my acoustic guitar/uke parts around which the songs were arranged. There’s a precision in this band - a different feel. A move towards the center of the beat. New colors - electric vibraphone, distorted flute solos, new electric guitar sounds. In terms of the lyrics, the songs are about par for the course for me. I think they’re all really about love. But love and loss. Love and reading. Love and babies. And I like to leave space in songs for listeners to imagine their own love or loss - of a parent, or a friend, or a partner. I guess I’ve explored those ideas amidst other scenes - like reading aloud, waking from dreaming, missing your kid on the road, taking yourself home from a party when you recognize that you’re not ‘one of the girls.’ And that it’s ok to be not ‘one of the girls.’ Funny how that feeling hasn’t changed for me since high school. AHC: You have a kickstarter campaign up for this new album, where can people go to help? Yes! Pledgemusic, actually. It’s up and running and a lovely way to hear some new music. And if you pre-order the cd you get first (and instant) access to a bunch of - what do they call it nowadays - oh yeah, ‘content.’ I’ve generated some content - interviews, music videos, live videos, stories about the songs… http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/jenniferkimball Visit Jennifer's website at jenniferkimball.com/ 12/8/2016 3 Comments After the Election by Amy ForstadtAfter the Election The day after, I make brownies. I know the recipe by heart. I measure salt, sugar, flour. All the white ingredients in careful spoons and cups. How much distress? I wonder. How much panic? But I can’t dole out calamity a half-‐cup at a time. I swallow it whole. Two days after, my nine-‐year-‐old son says, “I don’t think people loved Trump. I think people hated Hillary so much.” Later he watches TV. I point out the Asian character and say, “He’s a stereotype. People don’t talk that way.” And it feels like enough. Three days after, if my phone is a boat I use to sail the dark waters of the news, then Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are sirens singing, luring me to my own demise. I don’t resist. I crash right into social media. Steering strong and straight into the disaster, I give up without a fight. Four days after, my boyfriend closes his Facebook account and I cry. Five days after, a small and terrible voice inside me asks, “Wait, am I still hot enough to be groped?” Then a second voice pipes up, “At least you’re still Jewish!” We all have a good laugh. Then both voices go quiet because they’re scared. Six days after, I want a manicure. Then feel guilty. That money should go to the ACLU. Or Planned Parenthood. Or NARAL. But I tell myself the salon ladies, with their yellow smocks and angry languages need money too. Which makes my mani-‐pedi a show of solidarity. Right? The woman I get is new. Nervous. She cradles my fingers like precious pearls when really it’s just my stupid nails. Patience patience, I think. This is not personal. This is not personal. I tip her well and hope she’s legal. I leave the salon and wander into the bright sun and stand there. I take a few steps one way then another. A week after the election I’m walking in circles outside the mani-‐pedi place, my shiny blue toenails going around and around and around while the people of the world pass by, going to wherever they live, if they can find it, if it’s still there. Bio: Amy Forstadt’s writing has appeared in Pif, 300 Days of Sun, and Entropy Magazine. Other writing credits include Disney Online Originals, Nickelodeon, The Hub, and Animal Planet. She lives in Los Angeles with her son and two insane cats.
Photo by Jimi Giannatti
Katie Haverly's music emerges from a time, which we now take for granted, in the late 90's, when women were creating a revoution in the industry, crafting songs that were unabshedly, unapologetically about their own lives and the often painful confrontations with a world of double standards, tricky obstacles, and all the while bucking conventional expectations, these were songwriters who fought back, forging paths that are still blazing to this day. Katie's first album 'Face Down' came out in 1999, at a time when the spot light was waning on this songwriters reneissance. "I can still do good with my guitar yet" she sings in "I forget" and has continued to do just that. Releasing three more albums since her debut 17 years ago, most recently The Aviary, of which Haverly writes “There’s this sensation in a large aviary that there is freedom and movement with the exotic plants and flowers and water and different types of birds. But the fact is: the birds are not free. The songs in this album explore how we cut off our own ability to have an expansive life, especially as women. I’m interested in how we allow ourselves to be limited or confined by others’ expectations and assumptions, or too often, by our own.” The Aviary is threaded with a desire for women to be more fully honored and supported in a culture that does not always value them. Some of the songs’ tensions deal with Haverly’s experience and the experience of so many female musicians who have met with obstacles and condescension while pursuing their art. The message is clear: women artists need to be heard. AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what sort of life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? My friends and I often talk about how living life as a committed musician or artist is a life of high highs and low lows. It is not for the meek-hearted or non-possessed. I feel like the life of a musician is honestly a certain spiritual path with the ever-present lesson of letting go and opportunities to be more present. You have to in order to connect with your audiences in a real and lasting way. For me that has required a substantial amount of letting go. Of other people's expectations, of a spectrum of fears, of my physical body at times. The highs are the moments of profound connection with an audience, inspiring collaborations, and the moments when a song pierces me through the bones. The lows are all of the colorful roadblocks along the way that seem to test you into answering the question, "Are you a slave to this craft? I am a fool and always say yes. AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them? My family was very musical: piano, guitar, trumpet, and voice. My father taught me my first chords on the guitar. Everyone sang and we would sing harmonies around campfires when I was young. The spark that drew me to music was Mrs. Aaron in the first grade. She was my music teacher, and we were singing a song out of the standard music book for my grade. At the end of class she approached me and said I had a nice voice. She offered me a solo in the upcoming school concert and I sang for my first audience. I think that was when I realized that singing felt right and was something that I could do well. I did a lot of musical theater when I was a child and teen. I loved belting out songs on stage and dancing and acting. In high school I fell in love with the Seattle sound and all I wanted to do was be the female Eddie Vedder, Layne Stanley, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell. Then of course there was Maynard. But what really flipped me into wanting to be a singer songwriter were Fiona Apple and Tori Amos. I heard these powerful women affecting me in even stronger ways then these dudes. I knew what I wanted to do. I have so many songs that have floored me. What comes to mind right now is Tom Waits "Lonely" and "Martha" off of Closing Time. Lonely because I started to understand I had an affinity for dissonance and jazz, and I learned that a song can be extremely powerful when it is sincere and brave. Martha because it is the first song I ever listened to that made me sob. Still does. And Tori Amos's record Boys for Pele. That record was sheer brilliance in my opinion. She was unabashedly herself and made one of the most interesting, provocative, intense records to date. I admired her weirdness and fearlessness in that work. AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? The first song I wrote was a finger-picky song in D minor called "Golden Hands" about this homeless man that would walk up and down 35th ave in Phoenix, AZ where I grew up. I saw him wandering the streets for my entire childhood and adolescence. I had moved up to Flagstaff to college and wrote the song there when I was 19, wondering if he was still wandering. Wondering about him. Kind of sounded like a dirge :/ AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers etc? Joni Mitchell, Nai Palm from Hiatus Kayoite, Laura Marling, Anais Nin, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, Bjork, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Mark Kozolek, Nick Drake, Amy Winehouse, Miles Davis, Lianne LaHavas, Pearl Jam, A Perfect Circle, Robert Glasper, Billie Holiday, the list goes on.... AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? I think what makes a good song is authenticity. Not trying to make a good song. Your unique point of view. Your unique interest in rhythm, constellations, mood, color. Being real and unvarnished. That's what usually interests me. Lyrics are important to me, the story, the intention. Writing is somewhat addictive for me. I love the thrill of the chase. What will I find next? What is waiting to be born? I believe that creative effort is 10% work and 90% channeling. Songs often feel like fully formed eggs that move through my body, I just have to nurture them once they come out to make sure they are ready for the world. Over the years I have come to accept that the songs write me, and not the other way around. And sometimes total shit comes out. I'm getting better at letting those tunes go :) AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing-art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener? Absolutely. Music is vibrational energy. It enters the body through the ears and skin. The energy and intention behind those waves is powerful and influential. Music is what begins when language ends and has the power to help all of us feel less alone. It aids us in recognizing our shared experience when we can feel isolated and unseen. Music can heal in that way - the thread that binds us. I lean on songwriting heavily as a coping mechanism during times of trauma and difficulty in my own life. It is my medicine, absolutely. It's so beautiful when you learn that a song is also another's medicine too. AHC: When you set out to write an album of songs, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell? It influences it absolutely. Everything I write is a reflection of my life experience and the context in which it exists. Sometimes I revisit the past in my work, but usually it is because it is relevant to an event in the present. My next record (to be recorded this Spring) is extending outward and is a bit more political and external in nature. My last record (Aviary) was very internal, documenting a process of expansion and breaking through pre-imposed limitations. For this next record, I feel like I will be taking this story to the next level, flying around the world, what I'm seeing, witnessing, what I'm concerned about, what I'm learning.... This new record is about a more expansive and longer view -out of the human form and into a point in the sky observing our solar system. Trying to make sense of it all. AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road? I have some great memories of my dad blasting Linda Rondstadt and singing along in Spanish in our house in Phoenix growing up. Playing the same record over and over again. I had the opportunity to open for Chris Isaak this year at my favorite music Hall in Tucson. It was a thrill of a lifetime to open for him and to play solo for so many wonderful people. I will never forget it. I have some amazing memories playing music with my other band Copper and Congress. We had a show that I will never forget at Dolores River Brewing Company in Colorado where the planets just all seemed to be aligned and we were gliding together as one. I don't know how to explain it. But I'll take that one to my grave. I have so many, but I will end with, the first time I ever had string instruments on a record of mine was with Aviary. I hired my friend Ben Nisbet to compose a cello piece for a song called A Ghost Like Me. This was a pretty vulnerable tune for me, a live solo piano performance. When Ben came into the studio with Ian (the brilliant cello player) and they laid down the cello line, I was overwhelmed to the point of sobbing. I felt so gotten in that moment and heard my music in a new way. It was very powerful for me in a lot of different ways.. Ben is now my talented guitar player in The Aviary, and also my dear love... AHC: With the traditional ways that we listen to music rapidly changing, does it affect how you write and put together an album? Too often people are downloading and engaging with singular songs rather than albums as on ordered and thematic canvas, do you regret that your work may not be received in the way it was intended or created? Honestly I do regret this. I am old school and I love making records that take the listener on a journey. I am meticulous about this shit. I am traveling right now and already I have 7 hotel notepad sheets filled with potential song orders for the next record that tell the best story. I can't help the way a listener will engage with my work. I can just be myself, who will forever be obsessed with records as a whole, as living breathing organisms. AHC: Do you have any words of advice for other musicians and singer-songwriters or anyone who is struggling to create something of value out there, who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? I work as a life coach for creative artists and the crux of the work I do with my clients is to teach them how to have a genuine, accepting, deeply loving relationship with the self, no matter what. I believe as any artist, that is the most important skill you can develop in conjunction with your artform. It is teachable and doable to have a nourishing relationship with the self. When we care for that relationship, we free up so much space in the mind and body for creation and play! I think the other thing to keep in mind is to stay childlike, receptive, open, and work on mindfulness practices. I believe this helps with channeling creative ideas and moving forward in our work. Also, prioritization. We cannot expect to create masterpieces when we spend 5 minutes a day trying to write a song. Discipline and prioritization are key. AHC: Do you have any projects you'd like to mention? I will be launching a new fundraising campaign in February to help support my new upcoming record. My last Kickstarter for the record Aviary was unbelievably inspiring and successful, and I am hoping to continue to inspire my fans and supporters with my next effort. I have 12 songs ready to go and will be working with the incredible Gabriel Sullivan from XIXA who recently did the fantastic Crystal Radio and XIXA records at Dust and Stone. Gabe and I already are off and running with ideas and schemes and I am dying to get into the studio and start working My other project Copper and Congress will be reuniting in Tucson for a reunion show 1/19 at the Flycatcher and I'm looking forward to playing with those cats again. Good times. More from us will be coming up on the horizon... For more visit www.katiehaverly.com/ katiehaverly.bandcamp.com/ 12/7/2016 0 Comments Three Poems by Judy Shepps BattleLAST CALL The creation was in vain born perfect we stink garlic of mutation onion of intransigence limburger ignorance The crucifixion was absurd primitive bloodletting thunder torn rosaries A bell. A book. A candle. My people die daily soldiers eulogize Apollo saturate Mother Earth with misguided missiles deaf to protest chants deaf to heartfelt reason the wars go on fueled by unspeakable insanity God died a long time ago Mercifully. NOT GUILTY - Li'l Jude Marilyn O and her Catholic friends chase me home yell Dirty Jew! throw rocks taught by moms + dads priests + nuns that I killed Christ that four-year-old me murdered their God How likely is that? AMENDS TO SELF: EARLY SOBRIETY Youngest child within me wise in discerning eyes inhaling truth optically memory-saturated muscles ache exhausted, overwhelmed and shutdown shattered from yesterday’s wars detoxed from yesterday’s drugs unattached to yesterday’s people celebrating six-months addiction free Youngest child within me playing gentle in nature’s sandbox pail and shovel held in chubby arms smile upon too-believing face questioning with wide brown eyes where new sobriety will lead loving but not trusting me since our record reads imperfect I have left you alone too often searing pain finds you too often perimeters stand undefended too often screams cry out unanswered too often memories rise in disguise as too often I deny your pain leaving us both alone Youngest child within me locked within aging castle gazing across biographical moat as drawbridge begins to crumble knowing healing time is now praying for willingness to hear, obey and surrender. Bio: Judy Shepps Battle has been writing poems long before she became a psychotherapist and sociology professor at Rutgers University. Widely published both in the USA and abroad during the Sixties and Seventies, she deferred publishing to concentrate on career and family. Fortunately her muse was tenacious and she continued to write during the next three decades filling a file cabinet with scrawled and typewritten poems that are now being organized into chapbooks and individual submissions. The material submitted for publication represents her return to active participation in the writing community. She can't think of a better way to spend her retirement. Her poems have been accepted in a variety of publications including Ascent Aspirations; Barnwood Press; Battered Suitcase; Caper Literary Journal; EpiphanyMagazine; Joyful; Message in a Bottle Poetry Magazine; Raleigh Review; Rusty Truck; and Short, Fast and Deadly |
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