Shauna Keddy

Politics, love, and photography: ‘Time Stands Still’ in Mountain View

Sue Vaughan
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Some people need to take photos to snap their chaotic perspective into focus. This is the theme of the 2009 Tony-nominated play Time Stands Still, which just enjoyed a successful run (ending Sept. 16) at TheaterWorks in Mountain View. I saw both the TheatreWorks version and the play on Broadway, and as a comparison, I found that this production kept the set and acting to high standards.

Two journalists, a couple, return from Iraq after documenting the affects of the American occupation. The woman photojournalist, Sarah Goodwin, was badly injured from a roadside bomb while on the job. This occurred when her partner, James Dodd, had already returned to New York City after witnessing an incident of especially traumatizing civilian deaths.

Although the play shows us the aftermath of their time documenting civilian casualties, their trauma is tangible. The play sparks many philosophical debates as you watch the couples personal lives, as they struggle to regain steadier footing back on home soil.


The juxtaposition between the main couple and their best friends — Goodwin’s editor Richard Ehrlich and his young, happy-go-lucky partner, Mandy Bloom — is fascinating. On Broadway the young woman was played by Christina Ricci, and in this production Sarah Moser does an exquisite job with this complex role.

Although Goodwin (Rebecca Dines, who did an amazing job portraying the fierce temperament of her character) has the most lines in the play, Moser as Mandy created a stereotype and then unpacked that two-dimensional portrayal. At first it’s easy to judge the personality type that Mandy embodies, and to assume that she “just doesn’t get it” compared to these worldly journalists. In comparison she seems shallow, fluffy and even stupid.

But Mandy has the pleasure of delivering one of the most striking lines in the play — as she turns to James and Sarah after a charged debate they were having with Richard, Mandy is able to have the last word, in complete exasperation and disbelief: “Why can’t you just let yourself enjoy life? You are always focusing on war and death, and I think if you can’t also enjoy being alive, then really, what’s the point?” This line drew an audible murmur of acknowledgement from the audience.

As a journalist and human rights activist I found this play incredibly fascinating. It highlights the differences between a passive observer and someone who can affect change, and the obligation some Westerners feel to forsake comfortable lifestyle options and put themselves in dangerous situations. How much can taking a photo of the slain bodies of innocent civilians in foreign countries really show respect to the victims? I would call the play an exploration of the lines between personal and professional, one country and another, taking a photo and actually understanding what is being photographed.

The production was amazing, and despite that some lines were delivered in exaggerated tones, I think that the hearts of Donald Margulies’ script and those bringing it alive, including director Leslie Martinson and scenic designer Erik Flatmo, shone through. (Playwright Margulies won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2000 for his play Dinner with Friends.)

A powerful work like Time Stands Still has the ability to motivate audience members to become politically aware and active. “Well, what’s the point of preaching to the choir?” James complains after he and Sarah return home from a political play with Mandy and Richard. “The audience is just going to say, oh how awful, how unjust! And then go back to taking a huge bite of their fancy appetizer.”

Avant-garde chaos to deep musical connections

Tony Robles
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Avant-garde chaos to deep musical connections

“How the hell did this happen?” asks Anthony (Ant) Anderson, sitting in Willard Park, Berkeley, on a sunny afternoon. Ant lives in a house not far from here known as Church, which is where his story – and his weekly jam sessions – began. The “this” in question is his role in both the evolution of Church, and the weekly People’s Jam night, which pal Dustin Smurthwaite created at a club in Oakland.

Ant was invited to live at Church by his friend Erico Cisneros, who he met at a show in San Francisco.  At the house, Ant met Michael Shaun and Emma James – beginning in May 2011, the trio began to celebrate the end of each weekend with Sunday night jam sessions. John Burke moved into the house later and became a central part of the Church house.

A variety of local East Bay musicians began dropping by and providing instruments, expanding the group jams. “We have friends who have given us speakers and a PA system, people donate phones, professional soundproof phone pads to keep the sound in, and people bring food and drinks,” Ant says. “Once, our friend even set up a whole bar. People have just been so giving.”

Well-known musicians began stopping in as well, including David Satori from Beats Antique.

Enter partner in music, Smurthwaite: one night Ant was playing with local folk rock band Whiskerman (led by Graham Patzner, brother of Anton and Lewis, who perform string metal in Judgement Day), and Smurthwaite was in the audience. “Before I knew it he just hopped onstage and grabbed a spare trombone…while I played trumpet,” Ant says with a chuckle, his characteristic grin spreading wide across his face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHQvIt4kfk0

“I just saw the opportunity,” Smurthwaite says from his practice space in an Oakland warehouse. “Most people didn’t even know I played trombone.” Smurthwaite is a multi-instrumentalist, who was more known for playing bass and keys back then. “All I had time for was basically giving Anthony a pat on the back before I began playing, and then we exchanged phone numbers afterward.”

In addition to the Church jams, Smurthwaite had been playing every Wednesday with Steve Taylor’s band at the Layover in Oakland. At the Layover, Taylor was playing improvised music – not quite a jam session – and when he got too busy, he asked Smurthwaite if he wanted to take over the event.

Smurthwaite ran the club night for a month or so, then called up Ant to join him and come on as the official host. It now takes place weekly in downtown Oakland at the Layover.

So what kind of music should you expect to find on your average night at People’s Jam? “The Jam is centered around funk, neo soul, hip-hop, jazz, and a crew of Balkan musicians who have also started coming through. We have numerous instruments regularly in the horn section, [we] often see a clarinet or two, and string players like cello or violin, when we can amp them. There is a strong Latin sound as well,” adds Ant.

The house band (known collectively as Bay Funk) consists of Ant, Smurthwaite, Cisneros on bass, Jesse Scheehan on tenor sax, Dan Schwartz and Patrick Aguirre on drums, Kevin Rierson on bass, Derek Yellin on piano. Vocalists Sarah Aboulafia, Sally Green and Povi Chidester also frequent the event, as well as Michael Shawn Olivera Cuevas, from the Church house, who is a poet, artist, and MC.

“It is all about communication with the band,” Smurthwaite says. “It’s best to be as direct as possible.”

Smurthwaite points out that People’s Jam has also been a great opportunity for people to express themselves during the Occupy Movement and economic crisis. “Your voice is amplified – people can here you. That’s a powerful thing,” he says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM3Z8Or-ACo

“It’s great because both [Church and People’s Jam] are free,” Ant says. “Although Sunday and Wednesday are unconventional nights for such parties, it benefits musicians because they can also play shows on busier concert nights.” He adds, “Also Sundays can be bleak, the end of the weekend, so it works out great because after Church, you have this extremely festive and positive feeling makes you feel stoked going into Monday.”

Both events – Sunday’s Church jam sessions and Wednesday’s People’s Jam at the Layover – maintain a grassroots mentality.

“I used to send out literally 300 texts to everyone I know every Wednesday inviting them to the Layover. It was really slow at first, as we started invited people from Church to come and they became the main core of people who began to attend. Church and the People’s Jam, side by side, began creating a community of people – that is how we came up with a core group of musicians.”

I have never been at an event quite like the People’s Jam. There are open mic nights and there are concerts – but the Jam finds the perfect in-between. The majority of performers are confident and relaxed. You can dance uninhibited and never worry about being judged, but you can just as easily sit at the bar and watch the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB9_bU8qiKg

It’s a safe environment for self-expression, and Ant and Smurthwaite work hard to keep it that way. Smurthwaite explained to me how they make a point to incorporate the diverse array of people that come through the Layover.

“At first we had nights where the music was just unintentional avant-garde chaos, it was like, barely hobbling along on one leg, trying to make it happen with barely any musicians and no audience. The audience has transformed over the past year from no one in the bar to an absolute army of musicians, getting so into it,” Ant says.

“I have heard at least five different people tell me ‘This is the best party I have ever been to in my life’, which I find mind blowing. A lot of people I know have met their significant other at Church or Layover, they have made friends there, formed bands. It is a constant thing I hear of, these new relationships and connections.”

People’s Jam
Every Wed/10pm, free
Layover
1517 Franklin, Oakl.
(510) 834-1517
www.oaklandlayover.com

Sweet: Berkeley Playhouse’s ‘Wonka’

Sue Vaughan
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Sweet: Berkeley Playhouse’s ‘Wonka’

Sometimes when the going gets rough, it’s time for a pinch of sweet nostalgia. Or, in this case, a metric ton of sweet nostalgia: through Aug. 19, the Berkeley Playhouse presents Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, a hilarious, heartwarming, and lively take on Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

As the title suggests, Willy Wonka (music and lyrics by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse; adapted for stage by Leslie Bricusse and Tim McDonald) stays true to the 1971 movie starring Gene Wilder (begone, Burton), with its familiar warnings about spoiled children and themes emphasizing the importance of family over materialistic obsessions. Plus, plenty of dark humor — some of which may go above younger viewers’ heads, but is not wasted on older fans of this twisted tale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMzzwzKKSY8&feature=bf_next&list=UU7jmsPkv0HHeZtax3i4v3WA

That said, the children in the audience seemed delighted by the production — Nina Ball’s set is quite impressive and not compromised due to limitations of stage compared to film, and the ensemble of teenage performers, fantastic dancers all, kept each scene engaging. The professional actors — particularly Vernon Bush as Willy Wonka — have great comic timing, with just enough sentiment to keep the story balanced between funny and touching.

Although some songs such as “Think Positive” are a bit cheesy, this production, directed by Elizabeth McKoy, also included downright funky numbers. The classic “The Candy Man Can” got everyone rocking in their seats. Bush’s performance retains the mysterious aura of the original character, while adding a more hip element to the fatherly yet obviously mad version Wilder portrayed in the film.

Bush — a featured vocalist at Glide Memorial Church; he also starred in Whitney Houston’s first-ever music video! — is a veteran performer, but he hasn’t done musical theater for over a decade. Though he did seem a bit rusty on line delivery, he more than made up for it in his superb songs and how light he was on his feet.

His Wonka tops off an enthusiastic cast, all of whom did an outstanding job bringing this uplifting story of underdogs (and candy … flowing chocolate rivers ahoy!) to life. Totally worth the price of a “golden ticket” ($17-$35 in this case) for you and a favorite young ‘un.

Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Thu/16 and Sat/18, 7pm (also Sat/18, 2pm); Sun/19, noon and 5pm, $17-$35
Julia Morgan Theatre
2640 College, Berk
www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Unhinged eccentricity: Outside Lands night shows

Tony Robles
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Last week saw two alternative rock favorites headlining local venues thanks to Outside Lands night shows: San Francisco punk-Americana duo Two Gallants, and master whistler-violinist Andrew Bird. Two Gallants rocked hard as hard as always, while Bird spun fantastical sounds and tales.

Two Gallants are most well known for their song “Despite What You’ve Been Told” (What the Toll Tells, 2006), which hit big as their career began to take off, leading to years of worldwide tours and a loyal following outside the Bay Area. Since then, shows in their home city have been even more appreciated and sought out by local fans.

Singer and guitarist Adam Stephens and drummer Tyson Vogel – best friends since childhood – are both strongly influenced by the blues. And its clear they give their all to every word sung and note played: be it a growling punk-inflected tune or a slower building, lovesick, blues-tinged ballad.

Their fifth studio album The Bloom and the Blight will be released Sept. 4, and the album cover features the duo goofing around as children. Vogel and Stephens are two of the most earnest musicians I have encountered; it’s always gratifying to hear them thank their home city for coming out to a show. And last Wednesday at the Rickshaw Stop, Two Gallants played with a fervor that was completely contagious. Everyone around me sang and danced their hearts out.

 

Two Gallants at Rickshaw Shop. Photo by Shauna C. Keddy

You can always count on the audience at a Two Gallants show to sing along at the top of their lungs to their hit “Steady Rollin” – “I shot my wife today, dropped her body in the ‘Frisco Bay…Death’s coming, I’m still running. Well I come from the old time baby, too late for you to save me. If I remain, then I’m to blame.” I felt so thankful for the Bay Area music scene while I rocked out with everyone else to this song, and for Vogel’s heavy drumming, and Stephens’ skilled guitar picking and harmonica playing. I even felt grateful during the opening set, for another local band: Future Twin, an act with hard-rocking, synth-filled songs and a great female lead singer.

The Rickshaw Stop was a classically humble choice for powerhouse Two Gallants duo. The red velvet curtains and comfortably small size always makes the venue feel welcoming, and the band played in front of a beautiful banner. True to their detailed album artwork in the past, the banner featured Tarot card-like artwork, depicting a person inside a sun, a snake wrapped around the sun, and a bird emerging from the center, with drops of water falling all around.

The huge crowd that packed into the Rickshaw left looking enlivened and delighted.

The following night brought Andrew Bird to the Independent, with Kelly Hogan opening. Bird has performed on more than 15 albums, with nine solo releases under his own name. His music only becomes more enchanting with each release.

His latest, Break it Yourself (Mom + Pop Music) was released this spring, and he is on a world tour with his band in support of this gorgeous album. Joining them is his sock monkey (adorned in a suit, button up shirt, tie and converse sneakers, no less), who can also be spotted in their appearance on Colbert Report, and all his late night TV spots. This is why Bird is so undeniably lovable – he embraces childlike whimsy, but it’s all rooted in musicianship. While some of Bird’s lyrics could fit in a childrens’ lullaby, each song explores things on a deeply philosophical level, with a sound that carries these explorations perfectly.

He embodies the creative force of an artist who is just brimming with ideas: unless he’s busy whipping up beautiful violin notes, his arms and hands are in almost constant motion as he narrates his tales. I pictured him as a wild conductor, conjuring the sounds around him as he closes his eyes and pictures it all taking form.

Bird and his band played each song last Thursday night with impeccable timing.

That’s something the Outside Lands night show acts had in common. Both Bird and Two Gallants can be counted on for precision in sound, yet both also employ just the right amount of unhinged eccentricity. Two Gallants music brings to mind traveling alone on a country road, and then finally finding your loved ones gathered around a fire by the rivers edge. Bird’s music could provide the soundtrack to a journey through an enchanted forest, complete with Dr. Seuss-like creatures. Conversely, While Two Gallants’ sound can often be stripped down, translating raw emotion, Bird is known for featuring rich instrumental layers of sound.

For his newest album Bird took time away from his home-city of Chicago and recorded in his barn in Western Illinois, self-producing his album there. His whistling talents are also featured in last year’s The Muppets (2011).

The stage at the Independent was adorned with Bird’s spinning two-headed contraption– which at first appears like an old gramophone. After some research, I discovered this is known as a Janus Horn (leave it to Bird to employ such an rare contraption), which spins in reaction to sound and creates a change in the sound pitch that it picks up.

Additionally, beautiful paper and wooden twisted conical shapes hung from either side of the stage and above the crowd, which turned slowly in time to the music as the lights shone through the sheer paper. Bird’s attention to detail and craft created an altogether stunning night.

Instrumental duo Silian Rail includes ‘every/one’

Tony Robles
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Do artists need vocals and lyrics to demand audience attention in a place like the Bay Area, where there are new musicians popping up left and right? Eric Kuhn and Robin Landy, better known as instrumental duo Silian Rail, have found the answer to that question to be a resounding “no.”

With a handful of locally well-received releases under its belt and an upcoming headlining show at Bottom of the Hill, Silian Rail has clearly made it work thus far without words. The band’s songs run on a driving rhythm paired with carefully crafted guitar work. The complexity of its sound has continued to kept critics and fans coming back for more – a happy discovery for many, that expansive instrumental music can hold their attention.

For a recent companion piece, however, the band added something somewhat foreign to its repertoire, through collaborations with other artists: vocals. “We do have a couple singers on this album,” Kuhn says.

“Our choice to be an instrumental band is not something we ever really talked about. The way we play together emerged quite naturally – [Landy] plays guitar, I play drums…We thought it would be a fun excuse to collaborate with friends and see what they would contribute.”

Silian Rail’s collaborative recent EP every/one (released in May of this year as a companion to the each/other album) will benefit United Roots Oakland, with all of the proceeds going towards its community engagement programs in the arts and media. That EP includes Lewis Patzner (Judgement Day, the Devotionals), Thao Nguyen, Andrew Maguire (Thao and Mirah, DRMS, the Devotionals), Colleen Johnson (Upside Drown), and Winston Goertz-Giffen (Saything).

“The Bay Area music scene is great – not just to blow smoke up the collective ass of the Bay Area,”  Landy says with a laugh. “It’s non-competitive and very supportive. It seems different than LA or New York in that way… I’m just guessing.”

Kuhn says the title of the album, every/one, is a reflection on the tension and paradox of the strength of a collective or a collaboration versus the importance of individual freedom.

“The songs are more or less all from a similar thematic world, which are various texts, films, experiences relating to non-normative psychological functioning – an attempt at sensitively referring to what is classically termed ‘mental illness’,” Kuhn explains.  

“[We] have a lot of empathy for these perspectives, and relate to them in many ways, and respect the non-normative psychological individual as being someone often possessing of an ability to see beyond the arbitrary limits placed on our experience of the world by the various social codes and ideologies that are part of the status quo. There is a wildness and also a directness and a poetic nonsense clarity that we find inspiring and that generally tickles our fancy.”

The band discovered United Roots Oakland at an Occupy Oakland event, where there were young kids free-styling. “It’s an awesome thing to have a creative outlet for kids, [and] to have competent adults there to coach them,” Landy says.

And since the EP was a collaboration, it seemed strange for the band to personally collect a profit from it, Kuhn says, which is they decided to donate.

Silian Rail has a long history of creative endeavors with other musicians. It first gained attention through its connection with other East Bay acts such as Tartufi, Birds & Batteries, and Low Red Land as the group Thread Productions. Although Thread is no longer active, a lot of what the group used to do still happens informally – the bands frequent each others’ shows, try to spread the word on upcoming concerts, and often perform live together.

“It was a hugely helpful idea at the time,” Landy says. “Lynne Angel from Tartufi still plays with us. Our new record is super lush, so we needed extra instrumentation, and she was kind enough to lend her talents. Tartufi still does a lot of broader community organizing around music. I have no idea how they find the time and energy to do it!”

Yet Silian Rail seems to pack in a lot projects in too. Its working towards scoring more film projects – its music has already turned up in various indie films, short clips, and videos, such as an ad for “Farm Fresh Cocktails” (which both Landy and Kuhn found quite odd). Essentially, the Silian Rail sound seems ideal for soundtracks.

But the band’s own music, of course, always comes first. They’ve both long been drawn to creating music. They were friends who grew up together in North Carolina, and parted ways at 13, only to find one another in California many years later.

“Having a guitar with me through adolescence was a lifesaver, having that emotional outlet.” Landy says, reflecting on the importance of music.
Another charitable activity on the band’s plate: it just finished a session at Bay Area Girls Rock Camp – a nonprofit organization that “empowers girls through music” –  in Oakland before our interview. At the camp, musicians teach workshops, host group activities, and perform live.

“Kids are so honest that we were more nervous to play in front of a group of five to 12-years-olds then we are playing a packed venue in San Francisco,” Landy says, “They asked us why we don’t have a singer.”

“With these arts programs, it’s not like if kids have something to do, their problems will go away, it is clearly more complicated; but music can serve as an outlet.”
Kuhn adds: “Music is a means of expression and communication that transcends a lot of barriers – things like technology – more than just language and culture. It holds a fundamental power to enable communication with people.”

For such a technically impressive band, I was impressed to find out that Landy had no formal training on guitar “I don’t really know what I’m doing at all, which has mostly helped my style evolve. I am free to experiment and do things in a different way. It’s all abut making happy mistakes; of course there are benefits to knowing what you’re doing, but it is also a benefit for me to not know. The way I learn things, it probably would have been a waste of time anyway.”

“I did play flute in band during middle school,” she says. “But guitar is basically the opposite of those instruments.”

While Eric had a moderate amount of formal training (he took guitar lessons in high school and “tried to be a music major in college”), he now learns to write for different instruments for new songs without proper lessons. “I needed to write violin and cello parts for songs I’m doing on the new album, so I sat down with a music book and did that.”

“I’m inspired by painters,” he muses. “The idea of fearlessly exploring new territory and always pushing ourselves to new places.”

Silian Rail
With Shuteye Unison, B. Hamilton
Thu/9, $10, 9pm
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th, SF
(415) 626-4455
www.bottomofthehill.com

A surprisingly sentimental evening with Chuck Palahniuk

Sue Vaughan
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A surprisingly sentimental evening with Chuck Palahniuk

“I write so that I don’t forget the fascinating and heartwarming things people tell me,” explained Chuck Palahniuk. He was at the Castro Theatre Mon/16 to chat about his newest book, Invisible Monsters Remix. Some audience members were disappointed that the event didn’t include a book signing — but no one could deny Palahniuk’s earnest nature and his deep connection to his fans.

To those who only know Palahniuk as the author of the cult hit Fight Club, one might think the man behind this contemporary classic of anarchy and disgust at our capitalist society could be a shady character. But the mind that concocted that (and other) twisted fables anchors his outlandish tales with an incredibly human element to his characters. If you look beyond Fight Club‘s bloody mayhem (vividly depicted in its popular film version), you’ll find a story of how a white-collar businessman combats loneliness and isolation, and finds fulfillment in embracing chaos. Palahniuk is certainly not afraid of being politically incorrect in his books, but he is a much more relatable guy than you might think.

He did not disappoint in entertaining the audience with his eccentric ways, but he also told many touching stories, and a few that incited guilty laughter. Palahniuk has been one of my favorite authors since I was 16, and listening to him read his short story “Romance” to the crowd was a complete dream come true. It was like Palahniuk was the coolest dad you’ve ever met, reading the kind of story you were never allowed to get your hands on. His pacing was impeccable, and he sat with his legs crossed and a giant stuffed tiger perched on his lap. (Anyone who asked a question received a tiger of his or her own, sometimes tossed into the audience by the author himself.)

Palahniuk has certainly had ample personal experiences that have shaped his explorations of the dark side of the human psyche — his grandfather murdered his grandmother before killing himself, and his father was killed by a vengeful ex of a woman he met through a personal ad in the newspaper. While completing an endless cycle of interviews and red carpet events with Fight Club stars Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, and Ed Norton, Palahniuk learned that his father had been killed and had to identify his body and deal with the proceedings.

He explained what a chaotic time it was — he loved the movie version of his novel, but his personal life was just too much to handle. He told us that while driving back home during the press onslaught of Fight Club, he decided he needed to pull over and get out of the car to lie down in the road. The audience at the Castro became incredibly silent as we all hoped this was not Palahniuk’s description of considering suicide.

Instead, he explained that all he wanted was for someone to notice him and call the police. When the policeman would arrive, Palahniuk imagined this figure of authority would carefully hold him and tell him everything was going to be all right.

“That’s all I wanted, for someone with authority to tell me everything was going to be OK, and then I could get up and move on. And so that’s what I did, I laid on the ground in my fancy suit … and I waited. And I waited … and no one came for a very long time. So I started to think, what would be an acceptable way that someone could be given a bit of affection in public, from a stranger. And that’s how I thought of choke: someone who would pretend to choke in public places to have that essential few moments of human connection. So I got up, dusted myself off and went home to begin writing Choke.” (Choke was made into a feature film in 2008.)

Fans were excited to learn that Fight Club was partially inspired by a group Palahniuk himself participated in called the “Cacophony Club,” made up of young professionals who needed a bit of organized chaos that could fit into a planned amount of time each week. (Their various pranks and shenanigans were, of course, to a much less violent degree than those enacted by Tyler Durden and his crew.) Another highlight of the night was the waves of laughter that greeted Palahniuk’s recounting of his struggle to get the book published, especially since it remains his biggest hit and became a ’90s classic.

During the question and answer period, Palahniuk gave this fantastic advice to a young man about becoming a writer: “Take the best part of a story idea you have and bring it to party. Tell all your friends and see what variations they have on it. That’s how most of my best work has grown. Friends can offer really interesting additions to the story, and you can make sure your idea has potential.”

At the end of the Q&A, tigers were distributed to those who could make baby shapes out of balloons. Popping balloons and pandemonium ensued as fans eagerly presented Palahniuk with their balloon children, or tried to snag a signature. Books were sold pre-signed, but Palahniuk graciously tried to sign a few books and agreed to a few photos with fans before being ushered off. He told us that the baby balloons will make sense next year — and with over 15 books so far in his highly successful career, I cannot wait to see what he has in store for us next.

Art breakthroughs and country music with Sonny Smith

Tony Robles
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Sonny Smith’s dedicated yet freewhelin’ attitude towards life and art have brought him to his ninth record release this week, Longtime Companion (Polyvinyl Records), with his band the Sonny & the Sunsets. Yes, amid traveling to Central America, undertaking the sprawling “100 Records” art project, writing and performing monologues, and providing scripts for theater and film, Smith found the time to record yet another album.

A longtime San Francisco music scene fixture, Smith is now giving the North Bay a try, specifically San Rafael, with his 8-year-old son. That said, Smith is nowhere near slowing down on his prolific cycle of creativity. His new record has a diverse, country edge. The title track from Longtime Companion features enough flute-work to feel reminiscent of Nick Drake, while the track “Year of the Cock” has a straight-up Johnny Cash vibe.

I spoke to Smith over the phone about his album release, songs as comics, and how having a family has changed his outlook as an artist. Sonny & the Sunsets play Amoeba Music San Francisco tonight:

SFBG How did your time in Central America affect your songwriting and creative influences?

Sonny Smith It was the first time I had my own breakthrough. I wrote a screenplay. I was sitting around playing guitar, trying out songs, and the screenplays became songs. I began writing songs that were linear stories with characters and plots and that stuck with me for years – it started there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV70ZV0bX1w

SFBG I read in an interview that after your “100 Records” project ended, you were interested in undertaking another huge project called “Record Plant” – are you still planning to get back to that?

SS Yes I have been thinking about that but it’s morphed into a project called “Protest Factory.” People would come make protest signs, like posters, and musicians would make songs to go with the signs. I would like the poster-making to be open to the public, not just artist friends such as musicians.

SFBG Do you visualize your songs in images, like the record covers musicians made for your project? Or is storytelling your main focus?

SS They go together: sometimes I draw comic panels first for a song idea, like a storyboard. It is like making a little mini movie, I draw it out and fit it all together. Sometimes in the end I discover it’s actually not a song, it’s a visual thing. It is a strange, weird process.

SFBG Did the recording process of the new album feel like a breeze compared to the “100 Records” project?

SS It was very casual, with a couple of friends, when we had time. Actually the “100 Records” project was pretty spread out, so it was fairly casual as well. This time around it was definitely beer cans and afternoons, no uptight studios and all that shit.

SFBG Do you make a point of creating theme albums or does a vibe just strike you as you write?

SS It’s organic. I don’t set out to make a themed record, but songs do come in groupings. It’s natural that you write a few songs and they all share a kind of theme. After around five or six songs, you start to see what it is, and that can inform the rest of the record a little bit.

I didn’t set out to make a country record, but since three or four country songs came out, once I had enough, I said ‘Oh yeah, this is definitely a country record.’ Then I decided to work on more country songs because then I knew I had a record. It was not preconceived – it’s midway through that you start to notice a theme.

SFBG How do you decide what will become a script, and what will become a song?

SS You embark on something, and at some point it reveals itself as what it really is and should be – a lot of things change midstream. For example, recently I started out trying to make a novel, and then I realized it just wasn’t meant to be a book; at some point I couldn’t force it, I could see that is what it is.

I did a play-monologue type thing this year. At first it began as comic books, but at some point I realized it was more of a monologue. I try not to deny it too much, and instead let it be what wants to be. My work does change a lot – if a song does not work for whatever reason, for example, then often I realize it is meant to be a poem. On the other hand, if a poem does not translate into a song, then I let it be what it is.

SFBG How did you end up working with Miranda July?

SS I met her when she was making her first movie [Me, You and Everyone We Know] and she read this cool story over music for a project I was working on. We only worked together for an afternoon and sent a few emails back and forth. You can’t really say you know someone or that it was much of an experience from that amount of interaction – well except we did go to Africa together for a brief love affair. [laughs]

SFBG Any other artists you’d love to work with?

SS One person I was thinking of recently is basically an intangible goal: when I was watching Moonrise Kingdom I was thinking that if I met Wes Anderson, I would see if he wanted to make a sci-fi movie with me. It’s unlikely, but you never know!

SFBG What is one really memorable moment of inspiration or just something that really stands out over your career so far?

SS There are great moments where you feel like you have broken through something – a personal breakthrough, where you did something you had in mind. If I happen to be with other people when that happens, it is exciting. When I was in Central America it was a pivotal moment where I said ‘What is being made here? This is really cool!’

The “100 Records” project came about because the visual artists – that ended up making the record covers –  were making covers that were going to be sketches inside a book. Then the art eclipsed the book idea. It was scary, I thought ‘Oh man, I have to do this?!’ Exciting too. I think it’s good to get in over your head, so you have to hike out, as long as it’s not too hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTxChvAp47U

SFBG Do you have a particular place where you’ve enjoyed performing most out of all your travels thus far?

SS The Make-Out Room feels like home. [Also,] we have played at a grocery store in Portland, right next to the broccoli. There was no sound system or stage, I just know the manager and we enjoyed playing there.

SFBG What made you choose San Francisco as your home base, and what’s your take on the current Bay Area music scene?

SS I was born here and left for a while – but when I came back, it was more like coming home. I don’t know if I would be staying for as long if it wasn’t for my 8-year-old girl. I try not to think about it too much. It’s an exciting music scene – but I think it has always been exciting and always will be, some years it just gets more attention than others.

SFBG How has having a family changed your approach to making art?

SS In the earlier years before they go to school, you have to exploit the little bit of time you have to yourself. It can help in a way, because once you have obstacles it actually makes your brain synapses work – you create solutions. If I was rich and lived in some pad and could sleep in until noon every day and lounge around a pool, that would not be conducive to being creative. Maybe that’s why often when people make that much money, they’re not as creative anymore. You need a balance. Kids are creative and much more free, so if you let that rub off on you at all then you’ll be effective.

Sonny & the Sunsets
Fri/29, 6pm, free
Amoeba Music SF
1855 Haight St.
(415) 831-1200
www.amoeba.com

The Grannies flaunt their finest digs for a good cause

Tony Robles
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The Grannies flaunt their finest digs for a good cause

The Grannies know how to have fun. After over a decade of raucous good times, including two European tours and years of stage antics, the six remaining members of the local punk band are back, playing in Oakland Fri/22 with Midnight Bombers and the Ardent Sons.

Yet this show extends past the chaotic atmospheres of a typical Grannies show. This show is a benefit for the son of founder and lead guitarist Sluggo Cawley.

Cawley’s four-year-old son Blixa was recently diagnosed with acute leukemia, and he’ll be undergoing treatment for the next four years. The Uptown is accepting donations above the door cover.

“My son is doing well,” says Cawley. “The initial shock is the most horrible. We went into the hospital for a regular checkup, and hearing that news was way out of our scope of reality. But there has been an outpouring of love and money; people offering help in any way that they can.”

Adding, “I used to be kind of a ‘people suck’ kind of person, but I have been proven wrong in the last couple months!”

He says total strangers having been sending in assistance. A punk band in Germany sent over a thousand Euros.

“We do have a lot of expenses, it will add up. I am not super religious, but if people offer us prayers and I appreciate it, every kind of good vibe or feeling helps.”

Usually, Cawley can turn to his bandmates for those good vibes — the Grannies is made up of Granimal, Granzig, Stagger G, Bjorn Toulouse and Drool Cup, who all rock out in full dresses and wigs, classic if outdated grandma-ware.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q78Rv9BeXlk

The group’s online persona is just as amusing. The San Francisco punk band, founded in 1999, notes in various online sites that its interests include knitting, reclining, drinking, burning, rocking, and sleeping. And the musicians’ cynical and ironic sense of humor comes across in songs such as “Denture Breath” and similarly silly album names like Taste the Walker.

Those musicians are excited to play the benefit tonight at the Uptown.

 “The Uptown is a really awesome club,” Cawley says. “[It was] the first venue to offer a benefit show, and for a Friday night, too!”

There’ll be an auction at the show as well, including the poster by well-known artist Gregg Gordon, who has worked on the graphics for Live 105 and its BFD show.

“After original horrible diagnosis, we feel really, really lucky that people have come to help,” Cawley says. “He is a beautiful blonde haired, blue-eyed kid. Right now he looks like a little old man, he has lost all his hair, but it doesn’t bother him. In 10 years it will all be behind him, he will be a normal teenager by then. Any adult in his situation would be worrying and complaining, I would be.”

“He is pretty awesome, I mean even when he had a bad fever for four days, he would still give you a smile.”

The Grannies
With Midnight Bombers, Ardent Sons
Fri/22, 9pm, $10
Uptown
1928 Telegraph, Oakl.
(510) 451-8100
www.uptownnightclub.com

Compassion and fervor in Berkeley Rep’s ‘Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men’

Sue Vaughan
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Compassion and fervor in Berkeley Rep’s ‘Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men’

“I want them to look at me, to look me in the eyes,” states Dael Orlandersmith, using a British accent to portray one of at least ten different characters she plays in her tour de force solo show Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men, at Berkeley Rep through June 23.
 
After 90 minutes, the audience was definitely squirming in its seats. Orlandersmith tackles a barrage of characters, each of whom related in some degree to the subjects of mental, physical, and sexual abuse of boys and men. But despite the challenging material, I do not think many viewers would have wanted the play to be any shorter. (“There was hope in it,” I heard an audience member say as we walked out of the theater.)

Orlandersmith, a Pulitzer finalist for her 2002 Yellowman, embodies a variety of people tied to the many facets of violence: onlookers, perpetrators, victims — and those who are perpetrators and victims. She represents a range of ages and ethnicities: children, a Latino father and mother, an African American hustler (aged 13), Irish parents. Her elocution is impeccable.

 Dressed in plain clothing, she remains onstage for the duration, signaling scene changes by turning and walking from the back to the front of the stage — where she resumes with completely different mannerisms. The stage looks a bit like a large ship plank or the abandoned foundation of a small apartment, very broken around the edges.
 
Huge, industrial-looking lights evoke the prisons, foster homes, crack dens, and seedy spots for sex solicitation that background her stories; they raise and lower for different monologues. Character names are projected along the wall after the first few appear, to help the audience keep track when they are revisited.

One character — a boy taunted in the school yard for being a “trick-baby,” a child of a prostitute  — escapes his abusive family life and becomes a writer (a character that Orlandersmith may have been able to draw most from her own experience as a writer who works to give voice to those who are oppressed by violent circumstances). As an adult, the writer works in foster homes, trying to break the cycle of violence and help children in a way he was never assisted in his darkest days.

But even though he understands why these children act out so badly, they still test his patience and he finds out one of the many corruptions in the foster care system — he does not get in trouble for hitting the child because they are allowed to spank children “who are bad.” When he learns about this rule, the character realizes his mistake; his awareness of his own actions and his need to challenge the system and make positive change inspires hope.

In the playbill, Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone speaks about Orlandersmith’s grace and understanding in approaching such a dark and seemingly impossible subject. He explains she shows us hope amid desperation and brutality. Although certain characters were much harder to handle than others, each one certainly gave the audience much to consider. Orlandersmith shows us how abuse is cyclical, it is a vicious cycle that is hard to break. Hard, but certainly possible.
 
Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men also addresses bureaucratic problems  — compounded by stereotypes and ignorance — that stand in the way of breaking this cycle of violence. A Latino boy growing up in the Brooklyn projects with his mentally ill, sexually abusive mother and in-denial father meets with a social worker, who tells him “It says here in your case file that you were molested by your mother. But you must be mistaken. Men molest men, women, girls, and boys. Women are mothers, mothers do not molest children — women do not molest their sons.”
 
With this example, Orlandersmith shows we still have some fundamental archetypes that need to be broken down, and double standards between the sexes is one of them. Both men and women can be aggressors. Although her play points out this harsh reality (and the frequent denial of it in our society), she also explores how characters break from their abusive pasts.

Thankfully, Orlandersmith provides enough balance in the play to keep the material from getting too uncomfortable and depressing. My personal favorite character was the “unofficial mayor of Central Park,” whose New York accent and physicality was hilarious and completely likeable.
 
I applaud Orlandersmith for her bravery in tackling this subject, and for her ability to explore her characters so deeply. Black n Blue Boys doesn’t engage in finger-pointing; instead, it presents each character openly. Although she knew certain details might cause revulsion, anger, and shock, this talented writer-performer encourages viewers to draw their own conclusions in the end. It is a truthful, compassionate look at a challenging topic, which, in the words of her final character, “doesn’t have to be all black and blue.”

Black n Blue Boys/Broken Men
Through June 23, $14.50-73
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk.
www.berkeleyrep.org

Beach daze with buzzing brother act Wildlife Control

Tony Robles
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What would it be like if a day of your life was filmed then released into the wilds of the web? Better yet, what if you and your brother were musicians, and you produced, directed, and released your first big, innovative music video – shot over a full day at Ocean Beach in San Francisco – and it ended up going viral on Youtube, before the release of a full-length album?

Well, your band Wildlife Control would be a rather buzzed about act. And it would leave the people wanting even more (debut EP Spin was released this March). Brothers Neil and Sumul Shah, hailing from a rural Pennsylvania town – now based in Brooklyn and San Francisco respectively – spent a day in early February filming said music video for their new single “Analog or Digital” on a windswept beach, using a unique combination of time-lapse and stop-motion techniques.

In the video, it appears that the background is moving faster than real time, while the band’s movements are stagnant, choppy, like a slow-moving slideshow; it creates an effect that looks their feet are closely hovering over the sand.

This effect was created by a series of more than 3,000 individual photographs. The process was tiring for the brothers, holding the poses for such a long stretch of time, “We got really stiff” laughed Sumul during a conversation at Cafe Mediterranean in Berkeley.

Wildlife Control’s sound is far from rigid, it’s based in breezy pop – poppy enough to appeal to mainstream audiences – and layered with rock’n’roll riffs, and some jazz influences. There are layers to peel back with each listen, more depth than initially meets the ear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boGyFAYomBo

“We grew up in a whole family of musicians, Sumul reflected. “Our parents both imparted the importance of music from an early age. They wanted us to dive deep into it. Our dad is a trained classical Indian musician.” In fact, he plays Tabla on their future full-length release. “Music was all around, all the time; from an early age we always heard good music.”

Sumul added that – along with that family of musicians – he was also inspired by teachers, other artists, and inspirational folk with a clarity of vision, ticking off a list that included Steve Jobs, the Beatles, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

“When we would go with our friends in their parents’ minivan, I didn’t get what they listened to. The cheesy kids’ music was just not what we were exposed to in our family,” he laughed. “There is a necessity to some extent to have music appropriate for kids, but I don’t believe they should need their own weird kids’ music. A child can appreciate music like the Beatles.”

While the brothers grew up surrounded by music and have been playing together for some time, they’ve just barely dipped their toes in the modern world of viral music videos. With the “Analog or Digital” video, they made a concerted effort to capture their personalities.

“We thought, what better way to do it then to film an entire day to ourselves, and then compress that down into the three minutes of the song,” Sumul said. “Certain aspects of it were very planned out, but otherwise we just wanted to have fun and be ourselves.”

The song is anchored by a steady drum line, and the story-telling of the lyrics instantly create a potential for nostalgia; the musical bridge adds a dramatic flair that makes the song all the more memorable.

“It’s interesting that it went viral; all we really want is to make music for anyone who wants to hear it and be exposed to it.”  Sumul said. “To live in an age where we can get so much fan response amazes us,” adding, “we totally live in the future and we love that.”

Wildlife Control
With Coast Jumper
Mon/18, 8pm, $13
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 800-8782
www.brickandmortarmusic.com

‘Wanted Man’: resurrecting Johnny Cash’s San Quentin concert

Sue Vaughan
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What did it mean for Johnny Cash to “Walk the Line”? At First Person Singular‘s one night only (May 28) performance of Wanted Man: Johnny Cash at San Quentin at Berkeley’s Ashby Stage, star Josh Pollock argued that we can all relate to the fine line that Cash walked his entire life.
 
He was never jailed for his drinking or drug problems, but as he performed at San Quentin prison — recorded for his now-classic 1969 album At San Quentin, the follow-up to 1968’s At Folsom Prison — he is said to have looked out at the inmates and thought how close he had been, so many days and nights, to tipping over a precarious edge. June Carter, God, and his guitar kept him on the right side of the law (rock ‘n’ roll fun fact: he was arrested, once, for picking flowers).

Pollock and backing band the East Bay Three did an amazing job capturing the spirit of Cash’s material. Before the show Pollock told me that he was proud to consider this reinterpretation sacrilege, though the audience certainly took nothing but raw pleasure in the performance.

Although the seats were mostly filled with older Cash aficionados, it was a still fairly diverse crowd, and boy did they join in when foot-stomping and hand clapping was encouraged. It was the kind of musical experience where you felt yourself completely enveloped with a feeling of community, and the passion of the music made you forget any trivial problems that had preoccupied your mind earlier that day.
 
Pollock’s theatrical idiosyncrasies, including some creative hand gestures when he did not have his guitar occupying his arms, were quite entertaining — he was sure giving it his all. The same can also be said for the East Bay Three, comprised of musicians well-known for their other projects.
 
Violinist Anton Patzner is an Oakland native, and his musical skills have brought him on world tours with the likes of no less than Bright Eyes, including a Late Show with David Letterman performance. His band Judgement Day (with his brother Lewis Patzner) is a “string metal” trio, accompanied by drums.

The Cash show gave Patzner the chance to utilize his violin skills, but he also played such offbeat instruments as a barrel drum (literally a barrel, upright). Watching Patzner bang the hell out of that barrel encapsulated a little taste of the level of fervor I imagine Cash faced, playing before those San Quentin fans over four decades ago.
 
Laura Weinbach of Foxtails Brigade offered a spitfire interpretation of June Carter, duetting with Pollock on “Jackson”. Weinbach’s inflection and guitar playing were both quite enjoyable. Joe Lewis on upright bass was also fascinating to watch; he played with pluck and great timing. An added treat was that Weinbach’s younger twin brothers made an appearance on trumpet and saxophone — and even had a whistling musical break. Their hand-snapping and dance moves were certainly among the most charming moments of the show.
 
During his rendition of “Starkville City Jail” — written about that infamous flower-picking incident — Pollock paused to ruminate on how much Cash’s shoes (“I started pacin’ back and forth and now and then, I’d yell/ And kick my forty dollar shoes against the steel door of my cell”) would cost now with inflation (he guessed $200).

 

Next up for First Person Singular — according to host Joe Christiano, “a performance series that draws from a variety of media to showcase the American voice” — is an all-duets installment of its “Hoot!” open mic night, Sun/10 at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Albany. 

Ash Reiter and Idea the Artist keep it sunny at Cafe Du Nord

Tony Robles
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Cafe Du Nord always feels cozy, and the sounds of Bay Area based Ash Reiter and Idea the Artist were a perfect fit for Wednesday night’s crowd of rapt listeners. Although Idea the Artist’s music was sometimes slower paced and more sentimental than Reiter’s rocking pop ballads, both vibes struck the right chord with this crowd.

A group of girls danced wildly during Reiter’s set, one wearing a glittery pink globe attached to a headband. While Idea the Artist (a.k.a. singer-songwriter Ines Beltranena) closed off the night with her soulful folk songs, Reiter’s set warmed up the audience on a chilly San Francisco night, giving us tunes to dance to and a reason to feel that the fun of summer is well on its way. And during that so-called summer, keep an eye out for Ash Reiter’s upcoming sophomore album Hola, which will be released later this summer. Along with a penchant for the warm months, the band thoroughly reps Bay Area. Lead singer Reiter and her eponymous band are based in the Berkeley Hills, and included a song called “Oakland” on most recent release release, Heatwave.

Idea the Artist’s album The Northern Lights Are On… was just released May 23, and recorded in Victoria, British Columbia (by Grammy-nominated producer Joby Baker). Her sound, recorded and in person, is lush and incredibly beautiful – it would be a perfect accompaniment to a dramatic coastal drive along Highway 1.

Beltranena’s voice is harmonized with beautifully, and also accompanied by piano, strings, guitar, bass, and drums. Purchasing a physical copy of her album is well worth it – each track is accompanied by her handcrafted artwork in the booklet, including photos of sculptures, paintings, and pastels.

She’ll be releasing a novel soon as well, which is a retelling of the Grimm Brother’s fairytales and Greek myths and legends, but according to Beltranena, darker. In her artist’s bio she explains that “ to ‘idea the artist’ is to realize that you alone are the creator of your colorful and potentially explosive existence, and that to see this, to know this, and to act on this, is to idea your artist”.

These are certainly two bands to watch for and, lucky you, both California native-led bands are set to go on tours soon. That is, California is coming to a town near you.

SF duo Tidelands returns with even more flugelhorn

Tony Robles
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0

We’ve Got a Map boasts the title of experimental folk band Tidelands’ upcoming sophomore album – and do they ever. You may remember seeing Tidelands’ stunning animated music video for their song “Holy Grail” last summer off debut album If….

Well Gabriel Montana Leis and Mie Araki are back this summer, with a relatively minimalistic follow-up to that orchestral introduction. And a show this week at Bottom of the Hill.

For the new album, which drops Aug. 7 (check track “The New Black” now on Bandcamp), Leis and Araki decided to play more of the instrumentation themselves, so they wouldn’t have to depend on a big backing band this time around. They wanted to conjure those immense sounds on their own. This gave them a chance to experiment with learning new instruments and therefore expand their creative endeavors.

Leis’ voice has the deep and theatrically clear pronunciations that bring to mind Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. Araki is a badass drummer from Osaka, Japan. A classically trained pianist and percussionist, she also plays the Moog synthesizers for Tidelands. Their music is certainly elaborate, but their newest album offers more simplicity. While their sound is still intricate, the two artists have taken it upon themselves to treat our ears to exotic sounds and old favorites such as the flugelhorn.

Beyond that stunning animated video, you may have heard the name Tidelands due to their collaboration with Magik*Magik Orchestra. The SF-based Magik*Magik Orchestra – currently on a world tour supporting Death Cab for Cutie – joined Tidelands for three songs on the new album, along with producing and arranging one of the tracks, “Twin Lakes.”

I wanted to find out just how the tides were rising for this local duo as their late summer album release approaches, so I spoke with them over a cup of tea at Revolution Cafe in the Mission this week prior to the show:

SFBG Has learning to play different instruments always been a strength for both of you?

Gabriel Montana Leis I have fallen in love with the flugelhorn – it would be easier to not do it, it is a physically challenging instrument, but I just can’t stop. I want to be better. I do have plans for improving my basic knowledge of other instruments, I would love to explore them more fully.

Mie Araki I would like to put a huge explanation mark, and underline to this point – it definitely helps to play other instruments. Leis has become way better than before, it comes from playing flugelhorn. We spend more time thinking, feeling what is going on. When I play classical instruments, there is not enough time to practice, because there are so many different styles and it gets confusing, but it does help you to learn more as a musician.

SFBG I read that Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead provided you with his first guitar, can you elaborate?

GML My dad was a friend and business acquaintance of Weir’s. He was someone that was around, who I knew. If I saw him we would certainly say hi and have a conversation.

SFBG Who are some of your inspirations and why?

MA Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, those are the guys [I grew up with]. Then I began to know the MTV people – Michael Jackson – the pop musicians. I also studied jazz – John Coltrane, Miles Davis, they are huge inspirations to me. Sigur Ros, Wilco, and M83 are current influences, so I have a lot of old and new inspirations.

GML Even our inspirations from when we were teenagers affects who we are now. Kurt Vile is a huge inspiration to us, as well as a Danish musician by the name of Efterklang. Their use of horns has really informed our work – it’s grandiose and glorious sounding, with happy choruses. St. Vincent is amazing too.

SFBG Did Death Cab’s tour with Magik*Magik Orchestra lead you to consider who you would like to collaborate with, if you could choose from any musician?

MA It would be our dream to have [Magik*Magik Orchestra tour] with us actually. We know them through John Vanderslice and his Tiny Telephone Studios in SF that we record in. It would be amazing to play at a venue like the Fox Theater, with a full orchestra like Death Cab did – that was a great show! We have a lot of people around the Bay Area that we would love to work with for collaborations, if we have that chance.

GML Minna Choi of Magik*Magik is part of Vanderslice’s world, his success is that he brings people together. With Choi, we understand each other musically really well.

SFBG Where did the inspiration for the album title come from?

GML We pulled the line We’ve Got a Map from one of the songs. It is about searching for a meaning, and the feelings surrounding it. It makes a statement for where we are at, what we are trying to achieve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFeSYklGag0

SFBG You mentioned that when you initially recorded the songs, you did not know how you were going to perform them live, what was the process of figuring that out like?

MA We start with a segment, phrase, motif and then Leis adds layers.

GML We actually did that at the recording studio this time, but we will take hours just figuring it out. It’s trial and error, and takes time, you just get better through effort and force of will.

MA  It’s tricky, it is an orchestration, a choreography. Sometimes the music comes first: but then we have to figure out how will we make it happen.

Tidelands
With Voxhaul Broadcast, Bad Veins
Thu/24, 9pm, $10
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th, SF
(415) 626-4455
www.bottomofthehill.com

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