thoughts-in-the-key-of-e

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

R.I.P.Pete Shelley

We will miss The Buzzcocks. I remember hearing them on the radio in DC in the late '70s and being unable to find their records anywhere. Someone mentioned “Yesterday and Today” records out in Rockville so I drove out there and went right to the B section -  which had several Buzzcocks LP's..... I was little confused to suddenly have so many options but there was this guy across from me looking thru the bins who looked like he could help. So I asked him which Buzzcocks LP to pick up.

He said "I doesn't matter - they are all the same". So I think I picked up the first two. In retrospect the guy was right. After picking up more Buzzcocks LP's over the years all of them have been remarkably consistent... full of two minute rock / pop jewels. 

The critics seem to consider their "Singles Going Steady" LP as the Buzzcocks masterpiece, reinforcing my associate's view at the record store that day. "Singles Going Steady" is a composite collection of disparate singles and LP cuts that somehow hold together perfectly, as a realized LP. So here is the opening song from Singles Going Steady - probably not getting much airplay these days due to subject matter and changes in our social culture. All two minutes of it.

Rest In Peace Pete Shelley.

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Spring Concerts

Going to these so far :

3/2 : Kodo Drummers : Brooklyn Academy of Music 3/30 : Sleaford Mods : Warsaw 4/1 : Nonesuch Celebration (Tribute to Bob Hurwitz) : Brooklyn Academy of Music 4/9 : Mark Eitzel / Howe Gelb : Rough Trade 4/11 : Trans Am : St. Vitus 4/20 : PJ Harvey : Brooklyn Steel 4/22 : Explosions In The Sky : Capitol Theater 4/29 : WFMU Record Fair (various bands) : Brooklyn Expo Center, Greenpoint 4/29 : Billy Miller Tribute (Norton Records) : Music Hall of Williamsburg 5/12 : The Feelies : Rough Trade 5/17 : Jambinai : Le Poisson Rouge 6/8 thru 6/10 : NOS Primavera Sound Festival : Porto, Portugal

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Tina Wemouth Writes a Letter...

To celebrate 25 years of BE WHO YOU ARE, i-D is collaborating with Bobbi Brown to bring you six women's letters of advice to their younger selves. Here, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club reflects on Jackie Kennedy, ancient Hawaiian wisdom, and raising sons worthy of great women.

https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/tina-weymouth-writes-a-letter-to-her-younger-self

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Leonard Cohen

“Well Marianne, it’s come to this time when we are really so old, and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine.”

Letter from Leonard Cohen to Marianne Ihlen, July 2016.

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

PJ Harvey

I have always admired her records but had never seen her play live until last year at Primavera Sound Festival in Spain.The presentation and vocabulary in her most recent tour was astounding. There is this angular architectural construction behind the band which looks like it might be lifted from The Barbican in London or maybe L'Enfant Plaza in DC - hard angles on a three dimensional relief structure.

The illumination of it seemed to be a gray light with some blue - when the musicians gradually emerged onto the stage dressed in black, the visual combination was like a black and white film. No color.The band emerged slowly as a quieter Salvation Army marching band walking from stage right to left slowly with drums and saxophones - not much else - and eventually took their positions on the stage.

The song list started with the slower ones as the band shifted from it's entry identity, very gradually into the rock band that we know. (You can see this certain progression in the photos on the link below). This would probably have been enough from a typical performance standpoint... to walk off when the collective energy is at it's highest. The usual formula.

But instead, towards the end they reduced their sound, slowly stepping it down with each musician setting their instruments aside....until the rock band we know dissolved into an acappella ensemble - only voices.

It was magical in Barcelona and my recollection of it was refreshed from the pictures from PJ Harvey's two nights here at Terminal 5 here in NYC (a place to avoid except in elevated circumstances). I didn't attend the T5 concerts suspecting magic doesn't happen twice.

But maybe it did. 

e

8/18/16

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/pj-harvey-began-her-two-night-stand-at-terminal-5-pics-videos-setlist/

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

This came along from somewhere (probably New Musical Express or some other British rock mag circa l976 - 1977) and is interesting only because it was written by Steve Morrissey - later know as Morrissey - the vocalist from The Smiths. There was no shortage of distant views of the early American punk scene from Europe, and especially the UK in the mid ‘70′s. How many European bands wouldn’t have been without The Ramones? 

 Most would agree that The Ramones were pivotal in their influence on the wider culture -  at least now if not then. But those of us that have followed Morrissey - from a distance - might wonder if he has changed his mind? I suspect not. His music with The Smiths and as a solo artist has had it’s moments - especially the early Smiths singles and LP which I love. But his songs thrive on an opposite composite of values than The Ramones.. self indulgence, romanticism, personal defeat, vegetarianism, etc.

He does what he does pretty well but might be the least qualified voice regarding The Ramones. 

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Sounds This Week

James Chance and the Contortions : Bowery Electric : 7/28

Swans : Bowery Ballroom : 7/29

Swans definitely still have it - hopefully James too.......?

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

introducing - The Ramones -

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Memorable Mentors

About Hans Christensen, by Maria Canale

One of the most important of life’s lessons came to me from my professor at RIT even before I started my freshman year.

I was visiting RIT as a high school senior with my mother. We were taking a tour of the School for American Crafts and upon entering the metals studio met Hans Christensen, head of the metals program.

Hans explained the curriculum and showed us some of the students’ work as well as a piece he was working on. I was so excited, and then my mother asked a question that made me want to disappear into the floor. “Will my daughter ever get a job and make a good living doing this?” she asked. Hans smiled and responded with that great Danish accent, “Of course she will make a living. It may not make her very rich but if she chooses a career that she really loves she won’t need lots of money : that’s only for people who don’t like their jobs. They need to make lots of money to make up for the lack of satisfaction they get from what they do.”

I chose a career I love and stuck with it, not always easy but I have a great passion for my work. Over the years I have met many people who envy the fact that I love what I do. While they talk of early retirement, I’m hoping that when I’m in my 80s I’ll still be designing jewelry.

 - - - Maria Canale, New York City

(From Rochester Institute of Technology Alumni Magazine. Article on Memorable Mentors)

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Primavera Sound Festival 2015 Part 3

DAY 2 : Thursday

This is when the "rock campus" aspect of the festival starts - we are staying just across the street so it's all easy, and no music starts until 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon. 

So out into the city during the day checking it all out... amazing. 

First concerts each day start at the Auditori Rockdelux - the Herzog & de Meuron  big blue cheesecake complex in the Parc del Forum. 

The Auditori is a big place - 3,500 seats or so (like The Beacon in NYC) and has the feel of an unused facility which it apparently is - a recent building idea vacated. It is designed in a sort of Soviet style... long hallways that seem to have no end, one walks under low compressed ceilings and wide stairways until you arrive at the big hall. After such an effort to get there you would almost expect to see something special but upon arrival the hall looks remarkably unremarkable. However, we are not there to look at the building, but to hear Arthur Russell's Instrumentals which are being performed there by Peter Gordon's ensemble before the big onslaught of evening ‘til dawn performances out in the Parc. The Instrumentals are a composite of 150 different parts / fragments composed in the mid 1970s and Peter Gordon's take on it somehow blends them all together seamlessly in his given time – (time is very strict at Primavera). It is odd separating one's self from the outside so early in Barcelona - the sun won't set for 5 more hours. Maybe it is the organizer's proposition, to gather us together inside before releasing us into the bigger Primavera world of too many choices? The Arthur Russell cycle is amazing ...we know it is composed of disassociated fragments  but suspect that  maybe it has been recast in the spirit of his life and memory. Very reverential.

Now the long walk out of Auditori Rockdelux but the walk in reverse is into the sun of Barcelona. Once outside another long walk across Parc del Forum to Heineken's hidden stage to see The Sierra Leone Refugee Allstars. This stage is in an underground concrete parking garage – dark and small - 100 people or so. But the Allstars get the place moving,  singing, dancing and playing songs about village life, dogs and life in general. They have a great sound – a celebration within the harsh parking garage.

It is still very much daylight when we shift over to Pitchfork's stage to see the Twerps.This is our first big festival and one thing we notice - there are big crowds for every act, even a young band from Australia with night club suntans. The Twerps play their set to a rousing response from a surprisingly large crowd but can't seem to understand the enthusiasm they are being showered with - they seem puzzled at first, then flattered, then annoyed. The guitar player (Julia McFarlane) mentions at the end, confused: "We are just a little band you know." I like them very much. They have a special way with their approach to sound. As with other Australian / New Zealand bands – chiming guitar rock, simple and complex a simultaneously.

Another long walk across the Parc to the big stages: Heineken and Primavera. Benjamin Booker is first on the Heineken stage which I have been looking forward to. The band (a trio) starts at 8:00 and is off to a good start but as time goes by we realize they are losing the crowd. Plenty of people are here to watch - 2,000+ but there is no energy or enthusiasm happening. Lynn mentions that his bassist and drummer both look like ice cream salesmen, and she is right - they do, with pleated slacks and striped boxy shirts. Nothing wrong with that….being a Good Humor / Mr Softee salesmen is never a bad thing you know.  It could just add to Benjamin B's star power, which unfortunately wasn't evident that evening. It was too bad - smaller stage next time?

Saw The Replacements set from a distance before arriving at Heineken's big stage for Antony and The Johnsons. I had never seen them before but tonight they were backed by Barcelona's Metropole Orchestra which pushed their sound over into another world - that and the screen projections which were images from some primal fantasy nether world of abuse and incest. It was a fascinating combination of old / new world sound with abtuse visual references to some primal place of pantomime and violence. Captivating and truly wonderful.

Pacing ourselves we made our way out of Parc del Forum just past midnight. We wandered past the Primavera Stage where Black Keys were playing., crossed the street – back home. The sounds went on for another 4 or 5 hours though. 

DAY 3 :  FRIDAY

Started the music day at 5:30 with José Gonzalez at Auditori Rockdelux. First time seeing him…. I liked aspects of his songs, nice acoustic guitar work, etc. The Auditori concerts are the early ones and there is nothing else happening.

We couldn’t decide who to see next (a constant problem at this big festival): Ex Hex or Fumaca Preta from Amsterdam. We went with Ex Hex at the Pitchfork Stage. They were fine – big crowd – but maybe being just a trio on a huge stage caused similar problems to Benjamin Booker. Their sound seemed too small to keep the big crowd involved. And there was a big crowd there to see them.

So -  back to the Heineken Stage to see Patti Smith opening her world tour where she played her debut LP “Horses” in its entirety. I have seen her play several times over the years but never like this…wild, confrontational and full of passion. Her set established a high water mark for the weekend, maybe not a challenge but a proposition that only a great veteran performer can make. Almost positioning herself as matriarch. She was absolutely brilliant and the crowd loved her.

And who would have expected it? A reminder reinforcing our love for the live sounds… anything can happen.

Back to the Pitchfork stage to see Perfume Genius. This guy plays sort of appealing electro pop… mild stuff but interesting. We were probably unfair to him though….seeing him perform just after Patty Smith who had taken the festival over.

Back to Heineken Stage for Sleater Kinney who were very solid as usual. Also – they happen to be a trio with a big enough sound to carry large crowds in outdoor spaces: Benjamin Booker and Ex Hex take note. Sleater Kinney has been around awhile and obviously knows how to adjust their sound to different circumstances and spaces. They also had their stage background banner with them they have been using throughout the tour… the one that moves and seems to animate itself throughout the set. It is especially dynamic when lighted properly outside… the sound, lighting and projection work at the Primavera Festival is close to perfect. We saw no technical glitches in production throughout our stay – ever. One wonders how they produce such a large festival with such attention to detail / sound / stage quality? And why the sound at so many NYC shows is so bad?  

We exited out around 1:00 or so, as the evening sounds rolled on without us for another 3-4 hours.

DAY 4 : SATURDAY

Patti Smith opened the day at the Auditori Rockdelux with what was supposed to be a spoken word / acoustic set. It started out so with a monologue about Joan of Arc (whose birthday or saint day it was). Then on to  some cover songs by and for recently lost musicians like Lou Reed. Patti is a grandmother now – so she did John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy,” in honor of her new grandson Federick, barely holding her emotions together… all quiet in the big hall for now. The band slowly adjusted the pace… maybe they couldn’t resist after such a stellar performance the previous night? Maybe they wanted to carry the chemistry on… anyway it gradually became an early evening rock show and they were on fire again, playing brilliantly. They closed the set with “Because The Night” and the place went crazy… everyone in the full house standing or jumping over rows of chairs. Tense situation if you looked over your shoulder. The security staff looking very concerned – for good reason. If it went on any longer it probably would have gotten out of hand.

Next up : Sleaford Mods from the UK. They played a short set in the temporary Ray Ban store. The place was tiny - we were lucky to get in line early for it. The store probably holds 50 people max and it was packed. They ran through a few of their tough British working class raps sounding great in the compressed space, throwing insults at Ray Ban… for shorting the crowd by giving the Sleaford Mods only 30 minutes to play. Do we love a band that antagonizes their sponsors? Yes we do. They seemed angry, unhinged and dangerous  –  a combination I like very much. (Wished I had seen them with Jo and John at The Wick, Brooklyn beforehand.)

Out of the little store and into the sunshine. I went off to see The Vaselines play in the Heineken underground garage while Lynn went to see Les Ambassadeurs at the bigger Ray Ban Stage. Vaselines were great as usual. Lynn liked Les Ambassadeurs as well, but there were somre problems. Primavera is very strict about start and stop times for each band. L.A. came out on stage  (all 11 of them) 10 minutes late and after some time finally got their groove going. When quitting time came they were signaled to wind things down, but they just kept playing. Lynn said the sound man kept making gestures, trying to get them to stop, which they wouldn’t do, After several attempts the sound man threw his headphones off and blasted the band with the smoke machine. They finally left the stage.

Foxygen was next on the big Primavera stage. Lynn and I met up and headed over to it, and got a good spot. We looked next to us and who was there but one of the ice cream men from Benjamin Booker’s band with his girlfriend.

Foxygen was really crazy: I guess the two point men are singer Sam France and keyboard player Jonathan Rado. The band is big 5 or so musicians and maybe 4 back up singers… who move like some combination of go-go dancers and cheerleaders. Sam France is a performance in himself and with the go-go girls and his buddy Jonathan dressed in his Evel Knievel red, white and blue fringed outfit surrounded by some impossible array of keyboards, they were a sort of 1970s excess aparition come alive. Sam spends a lot of energy running and dancing on and around  the stage – like the superstar he is and imagines himself to be. He falls down though from time to time while the band and the girls go-go-go. There was one pause though when Sam and the girls were catching their breath. He asked the crowd if they had heard…pause…had heard the news that his girlfriend and he had broken up. Posturing. He then assured us that he didn’t care about her and that he had broken up with his boyfriend too that day and he didn’t care about him either. “Fuck both of ‘em” he says. Later in the set the guitar player had an argument with the bass player and announced to the crowd that he was quitting the band. Foxygen has lots of these references…. parodies of the excessive rock star lifestyle. Foxygen are self indulgent for sure and almost believable. And they play really well. Not sure what the ice cream man and his girlfriend thought, but I loved them.

Next we walk back to the Pitchfork Stage to see Mourn – a Barcelona based punk band of  young15 year-olds. They are true to the spirit – 2 sisters playing classic 3-chord punk rock with nice shifts. I saw them months after at Rough Trade in NYC – it was their last US gig and they all had colds from being on the road in over air conditioned American hotel rooms. They (and their Dad) couldn’t wait to get back to Barcelona. And after being at Primavera who could blame them?

Short walk to ATP Stage to see Babes In Toyland, another power trio. Only problem was that Kat Bjelland’s guitar was stuck at customs in London. So she was playing a borrowed SG – sounding tiny – as she said “like a toy.” So they slogged through it doing the best they could. An unfortunate ending to the big stage line up at Primavera.  

DAY 5 : SUNDAY

Just a few bands left playing in Parc de la Ciutadella in the center of Barcelona. Caught the streetcar over to the beautiful park catching part of Jessica and The Fletchers (Norway) around 2:30 in the afternoon. Nice lackadasical sound on a hot day in the park. They also gained my respect with their pale complexions.

The next set was this great band from Korea - Jambinai, our main interest of the day. They combine traditional Korean instruments with tough guitar noise – very powerful interesting sound. And unique. An East / West split combo that has nothing to do with world music as such… much too tough. A better writer than me would allign their Korean traditionalism with the early 1980s NYC No Wave Scene… to generalize in a spirit of clarity. But they are much more than that – go see them if you can. And never compare bands to bands… or movements 

Lastly - The Ghost of the Sabre Tooth Tiger, Sean Lennon and his partner Charlotte Kemp Muhl’s band. There is a pretext before listening to this band. After noticing the obvious, one needs to recover from Sean’s eerie resemblance to his father… and Charlotte’s beauty. This takes some time but once it is achieved you can listen to their sound in a more objective context. I liked their songs very much – nicely crafted things with spaces in between for occasional solos. A sort of traditional rock structure but with enough interesting things happening to keep it alive.

And Liz Berg and Brian Turner from WFMU broadcasted as much of it as they could – tirelessly. You can go to the WFMU archieve and listen to many of the performances.

Primavera Sound Festival is truly great – spirited and adventurous curating. They say the crowd is 50% Spanish, 40% European 10% American, according to Liz.  Not a bad split.

We will go again in 2016...

e

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Primavera Sound Festival 2015 Part 2

The Primavera Festival is in its 15th year on the shores of the Mediterranean in Barcelona, Spain. It takes place in Parc del Forum, "a huge concrete leisure complex" in the northern environs of the city. Our impetus to go was based on 1) our love for the city and 2) Radio Station WFMU is aligned with it. They partner themselves with very few festivals: SxSW (probably because they have to) and Primavera. For us WFMU is the banner station for the best of progressive / regressive music forms of all sorts. Liz Berg and Brian Turner are the masterminds working tirelessly at  Primavera... sending the sounds out into the big world. 

Barcelona is a late night city - the festival begins around 4 in the afternoon and ends at 4 or 5 in the morning. Liz Berg mentioned that the demographics of the audience are 50% Spanish 40% mixed European and 10% other: Americans, Australians, etc. They say that it is the largest and most adventurous festival in Europe - 11 curated / sponsored  main stages spread around the gravel and concrete Parc del Forum + stages at clubs and parks downtown : 

Auditori Rockdelux (a big indoor theater w/ 3500 seats (an expanded version of The Beacon Theater In NYC with about the same capacity),  designed by Herzog & de Meuron, usually called The Forum Building but it is blue and looks like a floating blue cheesecake building.... triangular and suspended in a floating fashion on a concrete base. The feel is a convention center that has forgotten it's original purpose - or (probably) been deprived of it somewhere along the line. But there were great concerts there.

Ray Ban: has two stages. One of normal scale and a small place that looks a little bit like a pop-up sunglasses store. We saw an especially hostile performance by Sleaford Mods in the store... shoulder to shoulder with 50 or so others, mid-day with the sun shining down outside. More on that later.

H & M Pro: I don't know much about them. What do they do? A British department store?

Pitchfork;  Not sure what this outfit does either but I know that they appropriated their logo (the circle with the arrows within it  from the Three Arrows Cooperative Society in Putnam Valley, NY who appropriated it from The Austrian Socialist Headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Someone should press charges for this creative robbery.... no matter how post modern they claim to be or how it affects their brand. But Pitchfork hosted The Twerps and 1500 people showed up so we will give them a temporary reprieve from hostile legal action. 

Heineken: They had the monopoly on beer sales but I got used to it. They had a big stage opposite the main Primavera Stage.... where the big acts played.

Adidas Originals: It was a small building shaped like a tennis shoe that you were supposed to walk into and I suppose be impressed by. We never made it there for some reason but walked by it every day and night. Not sure what the folks in design / branding had in mind with the concept - we rock and rollers know the difference between good stupid and bad. Anyway - we never walked into the shoe because no one was playing there that we wanted to see. 

Primavera: One of the big stages for the bigger bands, curated by the point sponsors, I assume.

ATP: From the various All Tomorrows Parties festivals that have happened over the years in Europe / US, etc.  I guess they wanted to have a presence?

Bowers and Wilkens Sound System: Most of the events at this stage were DJ  / electronica sets - a big thing in Europe.

Heineken Hidden Stage: This was a small performance space in an underground concrete parking garage. 100 people max. The Vaselines played there - another highlight.

Ray Ban Unplugged: See above. This is the fake sunglasses store.

The festival spanned May 25th thru May 31st 2015- the main body of it happening the 28th, 29th and 30th. Their were side events in town before and after and it went like this:

5/26: The only thing happening this night was a club show down town (@ Sala Apollo) with Umberto & Antoini Maiovvi (Spain) opening  and Iceage (Denmark) headlining. We passed on this one although I hear good things about Iceage.

5/27: Same club: Sala Apollo, downtown

We turned up to see The Boreals (Barcelona) open,and  Ibeyi. (Cuba/France), the fabulous twin daughters of Anga Diaz, percussionist from The Buena Vista Social Club. I was worried that after seeing their video "The River" in NYC that the twins might have been drowned in the bathtub. (I generally don't like videos generally but love "The River" for a lot of reasons). But Ibeyi apparently survived it. They walked out on stage as though nothing had happened - they are very much alive and still singing in several languages. Hard to place their sound - fit them into the ancient to the modern category? Their pared down sound seems to span a long history and be very current at the same time. And the Yoruba culture apparently produces more twins than any other. So Ibeyi are ambassadors of sorts.

Boreals were cool too - nice fast punk rock from a local Barcelona band, playing their hearts out. 

5/28: Now we finally arrive at the concrete leisure campus by the sea where the main festival happens and check in around 5 o'clock. It is typical hot late afternoon in Barcelona and there is a cool bleach blonde guy in front of us alone wearing a powder blue suit and white boots, he waits patiently sweating through his fashion statement. I admired his posture... he was sort of sacrificial with such an outfit in a Mediterranean city, but very committed. Through him we now begin to realize that we are in the right place and on the cusp of the big action, although the evening's bill is just one stage (ATP) with 5 bands :

Las Ruinas (Barcelona) - cool punk power pop band

Panama (Australia) - electronic / synth / pop band

Christina Rosenvinge (Madrid) - A dichotomy of early '80's guitar rock + folk.

Cinerama (UK) - David Gredge's baroque ensemble separate from The Wedding Present

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) (UK) - Famous electro pop band from the 80s

Albert Hammond Jr. (NYC) - From The Strokes

Easy to see where such a line up is going to go. The linkages on the chain have always been the same, the big bands draw the crowds that the smaller bands need for exposure. Although each of these bands are different enough from each other they share a certain mildness - probably curated to be specifically so as openers for such an adventurous festival. Nothing too challenging...Las Ruinas plays a great set to a very small crowd including Lynn, me, and the cat in the powder blue suit, (I first assumed he was from England but now think he might be from LA.) The sun is going down when Panama comes on (these sets are 40-50 minutes each - very strict. No intros. No encores). They seem OK but are frustrated with technical problems. Maybe the barometric pressure change from Sydney to Barcelona threw the computers off? But they struggle through it... finished up and left the stage for Christina Rosenvinge. She is a veteran performer, has toured with Lee Renaldo for years and sounded great. (So she would be our 2nd recommendation along w/ Ibeyi so far). She has a special way with her sound. Maybe her long history has given her a special confidence with combining a hard guitar based sound in parallel with a softer sensitive one. A nice dichotomy that sounded genuine. I checked the guy in the powder blue suit, still nearby  who seemed to have a focused intensity on both her personally as well as her sound. I never met him formally, but if we did I suspect we would agree on her sound and presence. The Cinerama ensemble followed Christina Rosenvinge - a large group of 6 or 7 musicians with an equally big group of string players. David Gredge came out on the stage last looking especially good: Bright blue suit and freshly dyed black hair. Having only seen DG's other group, The Wedding Present we listened and are impressed by Cinerama's somewhat baroque sound - lots of body with romantic lost love vocals. It was all very effective. Under the circumstances... a rock concerto with concerns regarding hope, situation and recovery. 

Next up was Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes pulled off a nice deal at Primavera this year: they played  as a band + Albert and Julian Casablancas each did solo sets. So I guess Albert and Julian got paid twice). Anyway I found AHJ unimpressive... maybe I was still recovering from Cinerama's quiet sophisticated groove and couldn't manage the transition?  Not sure. But he pulled out of the slump with a great version of The Buzzcock's "Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn't Have Fallen In Love With." Like all Buzzcocks songs it was one that worked, and by doing so paid respect to a great band of singles makers and exposed one of his influences. An act of humility maybe assuming there was a large component of Brits in the crowd?  

Last up for the evening was OMD. Lead singer Andy McCluskey announced that group was Orchestral Maneuvres In The Dark.... "No Thoughts, No Culture... Just eletcro-pop for the rest of the evening". And that's just what they played, opening with "Enola Gay" first. 

The big stand outs were Chrtisina Rosenvinge and Cinerama for me, as different as they were from each other. The composite of seeing so many acts is a bit schizophrenic, but a good. The mind sorts the significance out later.

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Artisanal hay bale

You know - I bet there is such a thing as an artisanal hay bale. It arrives in Brooklyn loose, with all sorts of street matter ready to be structured into the bale. But there is this sensitive guy........ he's been to college, lives in Brooklyn and rejected the corporate life he studied for. With his beard, oversized glasses and top knot he sifts through the matter that will eventually be the artisanal hay bale. Cigarette butts, drinking straws, nails, used prophylactics, etc. are cast aside. The approved components are sent along to a machine (vintage of course) that creates the bale. The old machine is slow but eventually the bale is constructed and appears. Initially there is concern about the bale product the machine has produced... it isn't quite right. The proportions of the three dimensional rectangle seem a little off and the bale looks imbalanced. So there it sits at the end of the assembly line in what has suddenly become an atmosphere of concern. The whine of the baling machine is turned off to provide a less distracting atmosphere for the top knots to circle around and observe the bale. The situation is serious now, their oversized glasses have slipped down to the end of their noses and the group circles around and around the bale silently wondering if the bale is ready for artisanal prime time. As time goes by and the circling continues the tension increases. Nobody is saying so but they are thinking along the same track... is this bale marketable? Does it fit into their branding / marketing concept they all agreed upon over gluten free muffins and locally sourced coffee just yesterday? It was produced by a vintage machine after all in the old way for a new market. So maybe the previously perceived inadequacies of the bale are now a net positive, a more authentic old school bale evident from it's imperfections? After much discussion the bale is photographed from the specific angles the top knots eventually agreed on, in an appropriate setting.... appropriate in the Brooklyn way, an amalgam of formerly industrial landscape in the foreground, and an agrarian background... a big Santa Fe sun setting behind crops of locally grown vegetables, the diverse parts of the power point presentation all assembled seamlessly through a new computer program discovered accidentally by a Brooklyn hipster working part time @ Bloomberg to pay the now escalated rent on his studio apartment in Williamsburg. (Those of us looking in from the outside of the situation, and living in Park Slope have now become bored with the marketeers discussion and internal problems. We have our own concerns, mostly about the fate of the bale and are thinking along predictable (local) lines.... which urban farmer's market the bale is headed to : Grand Army Plaza? Fort Greene? Williamsburg? Union Square?) Eventually the bale arrives at Grand Army Plaza. It is purchased early by an exhausted jogger at the farmer's market, who is looking sweaty and miserable after running miles around Prospect Park for no apparent reason. The bale has been through it's own difficult history and a long vetting process and by extension is now quite expensive. The jogger's sensibilities are somewhat compromised from extreme activity but he justifies the inflated price in his compromised state before paying - it is locally produced, organic and sanitized of all urban contamination (by the college graduate). It feels even more authentic as the bale's history / trajectory is described by another disaffected college graduate volunteering at the Grand Army Plaza farm stand. He carries the bale home with what little energy he has left from the long run thru Prospect Park and places it on the top step of the stoop of his Brooklyn brownstone.... as some sort of prickly stool / chair. It is still a bale but he thinks it might also be a future place to relax after strenuous runs through the park or a place to sit after a stressful day at work.... a reliable addition to his domestic context he can count on, that never barks, cries or needs to be fed. And BTW : the bale is happy there - after it's tumultuous journey from being organic material, to being contaminated by urban cast offs and then being deloused by sensitive top knot, the bale is happy just to sit on the top step of the stoop and watch the baby carriages and dogs walk by on the Park Slope street . Gradually the bale's self esteem returns along with it's sense of purpose and sense of place. e

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Primavera Sound Festival 2015

Until recently I have never been interested in music festivals. They always seemed like too much at once.... that seeing and hearing so many bands at once in the end would be  reductive. The short term of it was always appealing though, an onslaught of so many different sounds at once and the requirements that such a proposition places on the listener...trying to stay with it with an open mind and adjust to the changes as best you can. The long term value was always the concern, that what one witnessed might be remembered only as a series of fragments.

But looking back there was a line of conversations and contexts from the past that , combined, might have at least posited the idea of going to Primavera :

- -Sometime in the early '90s we were out with a art gallery owner who had just returned from one of the many Bienale's - probably Venice, I can't remember. She was there for 3 or 4 days looking at what seemed to me an impossible amount of artworks. She  spent sometime describing the work she saw..... all the different media, contexts, architectural surroundings and atmosphere. At the end I asked her a  big question - after seeing so many objects at once how do you evaluate what you have seen? (From her description I imagined her mind becoming a dense cloud after seeing so much). Her reply was that she tries to see as much as she can. This lead me to ask : how do you arrive at what is significant after seeing so much. Her reply : "What you remember is what is important". I replied - "Is it really that subjective". She said yes. This was just a conversation but one I have always remembered.

- Eventually All Tomorrows Parties came to New York by default. The festival was originally planned for Asbury Park but after some complications was transferred to a warehouse + parking lot on the Lower East Side. The 3 days of bands playing on 2 stages was manageable after all. The diversity of sounds - credit to the curators - made each day special with a wild variety of sounds. We had a great time with good friends there.  A good start. The art dealer was right.

- In the larger world..... radio station WFMU has always been a guide for me. They only participate in 2 festivals : South x Southwest (I think because they have to) and Primavera which they have been part of for sometime - maybe since the beginning. They broadcast a lot of the bands live on their audio stream from a tent on The Primavera site - 4:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 in the morning, tirelessly..... walking out of the festival site when the sun is coming up, and returning the next day to do it all over again.

- Barcelona : This is one amazing city. A sunny place situated on the Mediterranean, it is affordable and manageable in size. Street scene is cool and  full of interesting buildings, parks and great food. Easy to get around on public transportation. We were there in 2012 and fell in love with the place.

These were the big factors in making Primavera an easy choice  - but others too. We were closer to old friends in Europe who met us in Barcelona. The EU seems to have made everywhere in Europe easily accessible for members with cheap airfares.

Bands / Music next............... e

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Primavera Sound 2015, Barcelona - pre-opening night - Ibeyi - fantastic young duo.

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Johnny Gimble

My eventual journey to West Texas probably began in the early '70s with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, who Bill Floyd put me on to. I then took the records to Rochester in the mid 70s where Gary Males and I listened to them over and over on long cold winter nights drinking Genesee beer and probably imagining the atmosphere and landscape described in the songs.

Lynn and I eventually spent some time in West Texas and Gary M. is still there. Maybe Johnny Gimble had something to do with that?

So thanks to Bill Floyd for putting us on the path. Music can be a soft force at times, moving us to new places we never imagined. All to say: that even the most arbitrary suggestion from a good listener can have a profound impact once it is put into motion.

-e 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/arts/music/johnny-gimble-who-fiddled-his-way-from-a-flatbed-truck-to-fame-dies-at-88.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

WFMU Record Fair:

I have been volunteering last 2 years for the WFMU Record Fair at the ticket sales table. Last year (@the downtown Armory in Manhattan) I was kinda working it out but learned that ticket sales is a good place to be.... watching the composite collection of the crowd and wondering about WFMU's demographic as we process payments and direct arrivals into the fair.

The turn out this year in Greenpoint Brooklyn seemed completely different than last year for a variety of reasons. The Brooklyn Expo Center is a glass enclosure with more exposure to and from pedestrian traffic. We found ourselves speaking more often to interested strangers asking about WFMU and the record fair.and afterwards noticing the same people walking out with bags of LP's. The age group seemed as broad as before but with more young attendees - probably due to the Brooklyn location and it's convenience. Maybe the architecture too - pedestrians walking by could see into the record fair space and I think they were curious. Obviously the recent interest in vinyl helped as well.

Downsides (if any)  : the ATM machine @ Brooklyn Expo Center ran out of cash early - some visitors seemed a little frustrated having to leave to get cash up the street. Sound quality - the live broadcast / bands  Saturday and Sunday all sounded hard and full of echo - I assume from the acoustics of room...... all glass and concrete. Food options - some complaints about lack of variety, etc, etc. Also - not sure if the 5 boro bike event made a difference or not, or the L train being shut down. I assume so.

The new space felt very fresh - full of light on 2 beautiful days. Lots of compliments on the bathrooms, maintenance and security being very helpful. And Liz Berg nearby to help with any confusion.

Looking forward to the next one.

- e -

[thoughts-in-the-key-of-e]

Bell House, Brooklyn, Friday Night

That was sort of exhausting - such a random bill of traditionalists / psychedelic and alt country. Don't know who put together the combo but it was a challenge.

1st Band : That wasn't Smokey Hormel but apparently some guy named Mike +  several members of Ira Reigning Sound pulled together for a blue eyed soul thing.OK I thought especially watching Dave Amels play the keys. The coat check gal and I were talking about his hairstyle. She says it has always been the same -  he sculpted it years ago and he  just keeps it going. I mentioned  the effect of the stage lights going thru it and suggested that it looked sort of like a back lit dandelion. She agreed.

2nd Band : White Hills combines metal / glam rock and performance art in an interesting way - they are young and willing to try some things out. But the embryos were on a different schedule tonight than before  - they seemed to arrive born already (last time they laid low on the stage twitching around, then became born, left the stage and then came back again...it  was really confusing). Tonight they were already on their legs when they went on stage, barely.The guy embryo reverted back to the incubation stage several times -  but the girl didn't. This poses a puzzling situation - the two of them are connected and separate at the same time. Was she oblivious to his his sense of dislocation and confusion or just involved in her own myopic evolution and never noticed? Would she revert back to embryo stage along with him if she knew? Hard to say. We can discuss this at length  next time @ Bar Tano.  For them tomorrow is another night. Maybe the band will have talk with the embryos and they will work out the ambiguities.  Anyway - I am happy to know about White Hills - they are young and have ideas. Bass player Ego Sensation is special - likewise with the lead guy and the drummer who wears the robes. Curious what the Primavera crowd will think of them in Barcelona - positive I bet.

3rd Band : Nude Beach. No comment.