The Rocket Factory Rooftop; Discovery Pwrfl Power

Pwrfl Power

Francois Virot Ramona Cardova

Ok….I waited two years to see Ramona Cordova. Unfortunately, it was miss, not hit. I’ve only heard raves, so this was an off night due mainly to touring tragedies and mishaps. The mood didn’t strike him, as the audience tried to show him, love. He just wasn’t feeling it. I guess it is hard playing in the dark and being exhausted. Bad shit happens to musicians on the road. His truck broke down with all his belongings in another state, lost his cell phone that day, and the list goes on……… Although I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Ramon, I would have loved to see him at his best. Hope things get better, I love his music. The weather was beautiful, and a warm breeze filled the night air. The scenic view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge was breathtaking. The opening was The Spookfish, a one-man composer who creates moodscapes with beats on Casio and laptop. Listening to the sound on the rooftop was ideal. Ending the set with “Reef Gecko,” he composed on a plane ride from Florida the night before. Nice… Pwful Power (Kaz Nomura) was the delightful surprise of the evening. He just recently moved to Brooklyn from Seattle. He stood with electric guitar and began each song with a story or one-line setup. I laughed throughout the whole set. In one song, he started by pointing directly to a group of people in the crowd saying, “I like your jacket.” Everyone then turned from side to side, looking for a jacket on a warm night. How could he see us it was dark? Then the song began. You got a nice jacket / the best jacket in my town / can I have it for my birthday/. Another selection is “Let Me Teach You How To Hold Chopsticks.” / Your so pretty and holding them wrong / My dad used to beat me up because I was holding them wrong / and I don’t want to beat you up / because your so pretty / your so pretty / but your holding them wrong /. His amusing phrases have layers of irreverent philosophical humor that you can fully appreciate. Part of the charm is his childlike delivery. He’s a hoot but more. He is a dynamic musician with cool guitar moves blending classical fused with jazz, extreme abandon of abstracted scales, with scattered dissonant chord arrangements. Bought his CD and a homemade sponge for three bucks that his Grandmother made. So charmingly sweet! Francois Virot, like Ramon, was also suffering from tour exhaustion and illness but gave it his best shot. It was a rather disorganized, scattered set. His voice was about to go at any minute. So his usual coughs, grunts, and frenetic vocal styling were heard in all its glory but with a more hoarse and strained quality. I bought a tape of Yes or No, but can’t find a tape player that works. The recordings sound soooo good. Have to wait for the release. Say Fiesta MP3 Francois Virot

Alternative Venue Coordinators! Sleep When Dead NYC Entertainment 4 Every 1 Flickr set

McCain, the Internet & confessions of a Music Blogger

I am an anomaly. I am a 56-year-old music Blogger. I will admit that before starting this site, I was computer illiterate. Yes, I could surf the web, answer emails and send attachments. I understood the powerful ramifications of the online community but lacked the knowledge to implement my enlightened visions. I can now explain how it works without sounding ridiculous, but my implementation skills, while getting better, are still limited. I can envision trends and movements on the Web and see the power of new possibilities. As large corporations and media empires have access and visibility, so do others willing to take the time. The egalitarian nature of communication from many platforms is possible. My focus and contribution have been to the music community. I watched CSPAN and was drawn into a panel discussion by the Personal Democracy Forum in New York about how the Internet has been utilized in past and current presidential campaigns. The panel's mission was to be informative and nonpartisan. My eyebrows were raised when Tracy Russo (John Edwards campaign blogger) challenged Mark Soohoo, (the McCain McCain e-campaign director) about his candidate’s lack of computer literacy. While she made legitimate points, she was apologetic about swaying from the panel's intent. I share her concerns and think there should be no apologies when raising such a vital issue. Lacking a basic understanding of how the Web functions is a hindrance. To fully grasp the possibilities of this vastly growing entity, I think a president should have a grip on the potential future of this information evolution. He should envision where it is going. The global connectivity it provides has a broad scope of possibilities. It can be the catalyst for solving our world’s most difficult problems. Just imagine, the future of the global web community within fields of science, music, art, media, and politics to name a few. Just think YouTube was launched in 2005, and in just three years, a massive global community is developing with far-reaching significance. I might be old, but I welcome the renaissance of possibilities that is the Web.

Fascinating video: Information R /evolution

 

Tracy Russo response post

Wildebeest; Matthew Winn

So...... The always evolving and fascinating, Wildebeest (Matthew Winn) did a Pink Couch Session at If You Make It a while ago that was recently uploaded. Clocking in at twelve minutes, Wildebeest sings/speaks with a touring guitar, harmonica, a smoke, and a flask. He also has been performing similar long rants with chimes!

Recent Wildebeest MySpace Post News
I have published a short story New Reality Competition, and a book of poems Taste Lie Paper. Both are between 30 and 50 pages, cost 5 dollars, and can be obtained by emailing me.

Novice Theory; "Vignettes"

Unlike the Fox News Virus Novice Theory, AKA Geo Wyeth is worth spreading around!

 

Full Homophonic video interview at After Elton

o'death New Song "Home"

During the month of February o’death recorded with Alex Newport (Two Gallants, At The Drive-In, The Locust) behind the boards. They are sharing the song “Home” from Broken Hymns, Limb & Skin to be released sometime this year on their MySpace site.

“Home”, starts off slowly. The chorus of / home, home the air I breath / scaffolds and rises to break through, and breakthrough it does! Listen here.

Francois Virot & Ramona Cordova

I am looking forward to seeing two favorites, Ramona Cordova and Francois Virot in New York on July 1, 2008 Venue TBA........ repost of bulletin below...... REST IN PEACE FRIDO -- 21 JUNE 2008 Frido Korea, bless his little heart, passed away the other night before the Madison show. yes, the truck is dead. I'll be continuing the tour by public bus and some help from friends... François is not going to make it for the Canada shows, Burlington Vermont, or Biddeford Maine. He might meet up in Albany to continue the tour through the end, or it might just end up that he plays Cambridge, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York as his last four dates. let see! See and hear how awesome they are!!

 

 

Laurie Anderson; Words of Inspiration @ RISD commencement

Multi-media artist /composer Laurie Anderson said to graduates at RISD, “I can’t think of a better time to be starting out as an artist." Her inspirational commencement speech touched on her unconventional journey as an artist. She shared some survival strategies with the graduates. Communicating that working beyond conventional boundaries and taking risks helped her to invent and reinvent herself at every turn. Including her stint as the first and only artist in residence for NASA.

Anderson suggested that the artist could reach a wide audience today using great digital tools and do it without being aligned within an institution, collection, or corporation. With that in mind, the question of ethics and responsibility was brought up to ponder.

She quoted the first paragraph of George Trow’s book Within Context of No Context and then wove its premise, the “size of the con” from a social, cultural, and political perspective. Examining the power of the media to spin its own reality, she posed provocative questions, giving the listener a chance to weigh in cerebrally; “You have inherited a story-savvy government, one willing to use spin and multimedia to tell its stories. So what are the true stories?”

"Wonder was the grace of the country. Any action could be justified by that: the wonder it was rooted in. Period followed period, and finally the wonder was that things could be built so big. Bridges, skyscrapers, fortunes, all having a life first in the marketplace, still drew on the force of wonder. But then a moment's quiet. What was it now that was built so big? Only the marketplace itself. Could there be wonder in that? The size of the con?"
George Trow

"Artists really do see the world from a very different point of view", she went on to plead her case for the artist-in-residence program at NASA to be reinstated. Making a broad assertion of the possibility of the artist in residence in Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House. "There is a Department of Defense, Department of Health and Welfare. How about a Department of Art?"

I felt the need to share her words with anyone inventing their destiny through creative endeavors. More than ever, our world needs talented individuals who can disseminate, unravel, and envision new possibilities for the world. The time for her questions is appropriate now.

RISD Commencement Link

Something to Ponder!
"The work of television is to establish false contexts and to chronicle the unraveling of existing contexts; finally, to establish the context of no-context and chronicle it." George Trow

Sgt. Dunbar and The Hobo Band; Mountain Jam Winners to Hear!

Radio Woodstock and Warren Haynes present the Mountain Jam 1V from May 30th to June 1, 2008.

Just wanted to give a shout-out to the talented and awesome band Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned. They won the Mountain Jam competition and were chosen to open on Saturday, May 31st, on the west stage at 12:00 PM for a half-hour set.

Sgt Dunbar's nine players boast a crazy array of instruments: guitar, accordion, trumpet, trombone, flugelhorn, French horn, drums, mandolin, saxophone, violin, ukulele, singing saws, banjo, bass, typewriter.

Their passionate folk styling has a kind of sloppy gypsy jug band feel with full brass and awesome auxiliary detailing from the singing bow to the typewriter. Don’t be fooled this band of hobos can play and each member is a multi-instrumentalist.

Watching the constant instrument rotation is part of the fun, but the full-bodied charm of the sound they create is delightful.

They are DIY all the way and truly live by and play by the rule of the music community. They Share!!
Myspace B3neson Recording Company
New Release: The Thing About Time on Itunes

Homemade video!

The Crackerfarm Aesthetic

Lindsay Rome & Mike Beyer AKA Crackerfarm

The formidable husband and wife photography team Crackerfarm creates work that is cutting edge and passion directed in all areas of their domain. The essence of Crackerfarm is their fine art. Whether they are creating commercial work in music portraiture, fashion, music video or fine art photography, their aesthetic framework scaffolds seamlessly.Featured on the Crackerfarm website is an intriguing photo series of masked individuals posed stoically in a variety of settings. It is simultaneously unsettling and humorous. The individual subjects identity is hidden and therefore altered presenting a visual play. The internal identity and branded identity intertwine and form a contextual perception. Other photos juxtapose inanimate objects to construct a forbidden territory of taboo and edgy affectation.

In the field of music, most notable is their photographs and videos of Langhorne Slim and the Avett Brothers that follow both groups journey from grassroots to their rise to the national stage. Producing work out of passion and love has derived superb results. While their photographs are provocative, they also beckon the viewer with their humanity and warmth.

Their more recent entry into the world of music video and music film documentation is a welcome addition. Crackerfarm’s "EPK" of the Avett Brothers is a production that was assembled with snippets from their ongoing full-length documentary. It combines the grainy quality of old reel-to-reel film footage with a warm afterglow seen in vintage Photographs. They lovingly intersperse color shots with black and white without sacrificing the overall sensibility.

Crackerfarm’s more impromptu footage of Langhorne Slim and the Avett Brothers create an authentic moment in time. The viewer doesn’t sense the camera. It is deliberately there to capture. It is what the eye sees from a certain point of view but specifically it is what Crackerfarm sees.

The impact of the Crackerfarm aesthetic will continue to contribute to the world of art and music and broaden our perception with their artistry.

Interview:
OC Educational background? How did you meet?
CF In Ohio, I went to vocational school for photography my junior and senior years of high school in photography. I moved to New York for college after that. I went to SVA... that's where Mike and I met.

OC In what way does working as collaborative team effect the outcome of your work?
CF We have a very similar aesthetic and similar taste overall...our work might be the same if we made things separately.. but we pretty much collaborate in all ways on all the things that we do make..

OC Does it work more like a collaborative negotiation of sorts?
CF We really like the same things most of the time, but there is always negotiation...making pictures, and now video, is the thing we agree on the easiest in our relationship I think.

OC Is your art photography a separate entity from your music and commercial work?
CF Yes and no..we've always wanted the line to blend between the two and sometimes it starts to blur a little..that's certainly a goal of ours.

OC Does your commercial affiliations whether shooting for Urban Outfitters or going on a music assignment conflict or add to your artistic goals?
CF Commercial work is our bread and butter....we think of photography as both art and commerce..knowing how to take pictures is a trade for us sometimes and a meaningful form of expression other times.

OC It seems to me that people hire you for your aesthetic.
CF Thanks:).. for the most part maybe they do..but we try to work harder than most and to do it with a good attitude too so hopefully that comes across..

OC Are you ever concerned that becoming commercially successful will effect Crackerfarm's artistic goals? Do you take precautions?
CF I would feel happy and fortunate to become successful commercially..it would just allow us more financial freedom to make art or movies...or whatever else, babies?

OC When people hire Crackerfarm, how much control do you have in how your photograghs are represented?
CF Again, it sort of depends on the job.. sometimes we have total control and opportunity to see a project through to the end..other times though, we just take the pictures and whomever hired us does the rest...either way is cool with us..

OC Your music photography and video are presentations are obviously your aesthetic but also create iconic images that represent others. Is that aspect important you? Which comes first?
CF I think it ends up being very collaborative most of the time...we bring a little and they bring a little and when the interaction is harmonious and awesome I feel like that's when the work is at it's best..That's sorta the ideal situation..

OC What brought you to the music of the Avett Brothers and Langhorne Slim? Is this personal and outside of commercial endeavors?

CF We fell in love with Langhorne the first time we saw him perform..He was sharing a bill with Kimya Dawson and Regina Spektor at Tonic..he stole the show in my eyes. They were all great but I remember being entirely blown away by Slim. That was in 2001 or 2002..We met the Avetts because they hired us to do a photo shoot and we hit it off immediately. We went to see them play that night for the first time at The Living Room and were blown away in the same way that we were at that first Slim show..Both the Avetts and Langhorne are like family to us now..In that way it's extremely personal work because we really care about them as people. The work we do with them is as much about having a really good record of this exciting time in all of our lives as it is about photographing them because we have a career as photographers..if that makes sense..

OC Was music always a passion aside from photography?
CF For me it was.my big brother is a musician and since I was a little kid music has been extremely important to me.very cathartic and theraputic...I am not a talented musician however..so I find my ways of expressing my love of music I guess, visually..

OC Langhorne Slim "Rebel Side of Heaven" and the Jamie Lidell "Little Bit Of Feel Good" videos are quite a departure from the videos featured on your site, what does the Crakerfarm team bring to commercial videos, like art direction etc....?
CF We have started to venture into that world of motion pictures and it's exciting..those videos are ones that we conceived with the musicians and everything else we did ourselves.. with some help from an awesome team of course..

OC DIY Ethic, the Internet, offering work for free, do you think it leads to opportunities?
CF Yes indeed..those have all been important elements of our business growth for sure..very important ones..

OC Do you have future goals about video production and directing as it relates to music, and the EPK of Avett Brothers, is there a documentary in the making?
CF Yes we have many projects in the works..we have been shooting an Avett Brothers documentary for over a year now..Our goal is to release it at the same time as their next full length album..dunno exactly when that'll be but we're filming all the while.. We think that this will be an ongoing documentary, the afore mentioned release being the first of a series.

OC Anything I left out that you would like to say?
CF Thank you!!!:)

Avett Brothers sing "For Today"


Langhorne Slim Singing "We love the Animals"


Crackerfarm You Tube Channel

Langhorne Slim Sold Out Send Off @ The Mercury Lounge

Belated Review: Home at 2:45 up at 6:00 for work. Worth It!

In my other life, I am perpetually late, but not when it comes to going to see live music. So Wednesday night, sitting at the Pink Pony listening to the Clash on the jukebox and savoring my last taste of creme brulee, I was finished stalling. So I ventured around the corner to the Mercury Lounge for Langhorne Slim’s sold-out show. Defiantly too early!

One benefit, I watched the arrival of a slew of important people on a guest list to see the band J. Roddy Watson and the Business. All saying, “I’m on the List.” The back room was filled with about thirty people. The young man on the piano, with his support players on guitar, bass, and drums, was about to give the show of a lifetime, regardless of the statuesque audience. I’ve been to only one other “tryout,” and they are a bit awkward.

J. Roddy, with curly long locks, has a great voice and magnetic delivery of southern rip-roaring rock and roll. I’ve never seen anyone literally hump a piano. I wasn’t sure if the piano stool would slip under him or if the piano would slide across the stage from all the pounding and movement. Leon Russell on meth comes to mind! It was uproariously loud and resurrected the sound of classic rockn’ roll in the highest order. Dated, who cares. Oh soo good!
WOXY Session

                                                            Hoots and Hellmouth

I was there to socialize and see Langhorne Slim but decided to make a commitment to see Hoots and Hellmouth’s very enjoyable set. The trio of Sean (guitar), Andrew (Mandolin), and Rob (guitar) with the addition of stand-up bass and Bob Beach, a fierce harmonica player.

The set up of two wooden platforms in lieu of percussion offered a muffled stomp beat that worked nicely with the acoustic instruments. Authenticity abounds. Their instruments resonated while the gospelesque roots rock, soulful vocals, and rich harmonies rose to create a surround-sound effect. Hoots and Hellmouth's unpredictable styling provide a marvelous listening juxtaposition with acoustics that are both soft and furious. And when they come on strong, their flowing hair head-bangs to the rhythm, building a joyful experience to watch and hear!
Flickr Set

Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles

The lounge was packed for Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles with friends, fans, and those that helped along the way. The long-awaited release had finally arrived. We were all there, including five pals from Bermuda who flew in for the night to wish them well on their first headlining tour across the US.

The set began with Langhorne saying, “I promised myself I wouldn't cry.” This show was a tender affair with guitar tuning incidents and some sweet slim banter. The crowd ate it up and smiled, sweated, danced, sang along, clapped, and stomped to the love fest sendoff.

They worked the crowd up and slowed things down. When Langhorne sang Hummingbird unaccompanied, the crowd enjoyed silence with each heartfelt word. “We Love The Animals” was quite a rollicking affair. I had only heard the acoustic version recently uploaded by Crackerfarm on YouTube. The long set left the audience in a sweaty, smiling frenzy and slim invited some of the audience to join them on stage for a grand finale.

As the War Eagles left the stage, the last song of the night, “Rebel Side of Heaven,” was a bait and switch that worked its magic on the crowd, and was delivered with Slim, guitar in hand, and no mic. During the instrumental, he shyly smiled and said, “here’s my solo, guys.” And then, without the usual soulful swagger, he wittily and sweetly sang the closing line. / We ain’t going to hell / well we’re going to the rebel side of heaven /.

And heaven it was, maybe Slim didn’t cry, but many had tears of joy, including me. A night to savor!

Flickr Set

Slim singing "Hummingbird" @ The Mercury Lounge

"Rebel Side of Heaven," directed by Crackerfarm
My review of Self Titled