Noise Pop 17: Martha, Ryan & Industry Noise

The 17th iteration of Noise Pop permeated much of my week and I still only attended a fraction of the festival's many offerings. Last week, I checked out the clear crisp photos of Lauren Dukoff — most portraits of the Devendra Banhart clan — on exhibit at Eleanor Harwood Gallery. This Friday, I attended
Industry Noise, where music makers and industry went head-to-head on where money was being made and how..what it all might mean in these highly digitalized, perilous-economic times. How do you make money when much of what used to be paid for is now free, many people pay more for a ring tone than an actual song and mp3s have co-opted CD quality? There were no clear answers & lots of opinion, but one important clue was provided by Tim Quirk, of Rhapsody: "There are a lot of different models out there, but we haven't agreed on one, because people who are used to making a certain amount are still arguing about what their cut is going to be."

Much of the discussion echoed the issues discussed in the book I've been reading "What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis, which I thought everyone on the panel (and the indie musicians in the audience) might want to read, as it clearly outlines the new 'rules' of media Google has pioneered. That is, if free is the business model how do you eat? Well it's gonna take the creativity that makes music to answer that question. And everyone agreed, people loved music, (if not all the same genre)....

So, as usual, after all the talk, I realized my own opinion hadn't changed much: I'm glad I'm part of both an arts and media community dedicated to following their noses...that routinely have to resourceful and above all, I appreciate LIVE music most... which is where I put my money Thursday for Martha Wainwright's turn at Slim's.

The great thing about festivals is you often go for one reason, and discover something new. I got to Slim's midway through local Ryan Auffenberg's set (missing opener Karina Deneke altogether due to checking out a new rehearsal studio), whose voice & tunes such as "Marigold" led me to revisit his myspace page. The next on the bill, AA Bondy, was a cross between Bob Dylan crossed with SF-fave Sean Hayes ( though a bit darker and edgier. Bondy's Mary&Jesus-laden lyrics featured blades at throats and a lot of the energy of his set derived from his rhythm section. I liked their energy as much as their songs.

A crowd had built by the time a just-off-a-plane from London-to-New-York-to SF, Martha Wainwright, took the stage. Wearing impossibly high looking red heels and claiming jet-lag, neither challenge impaired her vocal power or stage swagger. Many, many years ago, I saw her father, the brilliant songwriter Louden Wainwright III play and remember being struck by his penchant for constantly moving his body and wagging his tongue while he played as much as his songs. Musicianship was not the only thing he passed down to his daughter as she belted out her first tune solo-acoustic in full, clear tones. Featuring songs from her last Cd "I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too," I loved not only the prickly lyrics, but the fact that despite them, she's now married, evidently happily to her bass player. Introducing a new song, she explained "I was newly married, singing songs like [the CD title] and he was like 'who are these people? What's wrong with you?' so I tried to write a love song." It still wasn't necessarily hopeful, but it was true with the capital 'T.' Right on sister, for keeping the groove, the muck and the feeling. No one may know what it all means, but making the it feel and sound good can go a long way.

art in action

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," said Alex, after a very satisfying rehearsal for this weekends recording sessions. So the rest of the evening was cake: pit-stop @ Fly with Marissa and Maren, a couple of hours at Peter Hirshberg's art salon which featured some cool video installation. My pick a video by R. Luke Dubois (I believe) featuring every Academy Award winning movie edited down to a minute! I also had a blast fLip interviewing Christopher McVick of Gemini Disco....Then Noise Pop @ The Independent. Kelly Stoltz snippet below. The guy manages to be of the moment and draw on the full American canon of music. I didn't film one of the highlights-his mother, in for the show from Detroit, guesting on a song— she had two lines that came late in the tune: "dinner's ready", which she almost missed as she was having such a good time dancing center stage.

noise pop, etc

I didn't get into the Noise Pop show at The Independent last night (the Walkmen, who looked kind of cool during sound check), but I did manage to grab some tickets to Kelly Stoltz for tonight at the Western Addition club before dinner at Nopa (yum, got in on the communal table w/a friend). It's a local makes good show tonight-Morning Benders are also on the bill— and I'm looking forward to it hot on the heals of rehearsing w/Alex and Ben in prep for this weekend's recording sessions.

reading...listening

If there's two things that interest me more than anything it's change and process. Habits are just habits, but deconditioning, even if you know what needs to change is a chip, chip chip chipping away. It's what practice (spiritual, musical or otherwise) is about in my book. That said, I haven't been soldiering through having a bad cold during the past day and a half. So I've been crying uncle and taking inspiration instead, and reading a lot about other artists, and sleeping. Interesting article on artmaking in 1/28 New Yorker. Calvin Tomkins profiles John Currin and his pornographic painting. Also enjoying the current issue of Bomb on all things Brazil. Both New York I know, I know, but I've yet to find a California equivalent that equals either periodical. Continuing with NYer artists, I've been tipped off to Jeffrey Lewis, several times in the past week. He's at Noise Pop in March.

Talking Music

Noise Pop and City Arts Lectures Talking Music event "Remembering Nick Drake" turned into a fascinating discourse on the up and down life of artists, changes in the music industry, how good work survives and the tragedy—and mystery—of suicide. Nick's sister Gabrielle and producer Joe Boyd along with one of the local creme-de-la-creme of singer songwriters Jolie Holland discussed Nick's artistic mastery 30 years after the songwriter died from an overdose of antidepressants (A box set of Drake's work is being re-released along with a DVD "A Skin Too Few" hence the stateside appearance of his gracious sister Gabrielle and Boyd). Still in his 20s, Island Records had released three records of his elegant guitar-based poetic songs to little notice. The music; however, withstood the test of time and took off when "Pink Moon" appeared in a Volkswagon commercial several years ago. But Drake received little notice when he was alive. The support of both his label and loving family couldn't help Drake stomach the public's indifference or the realities of touring as an unknown. Other revelations of the evening included hearing about the beauty of Drake's mother's poetry and songwriting (both of his parents were musicians and his dad recorded the family signing from an early age) and the large influence it had on his life and work.

On the way home, Dave and I stopped at my favorite neighborhood bar Absinthe to continue the conversation over drinks. Having gone there post gig with a guitar on my back, I now know the host, Brad Smith, not only makes everyone welcome he's also a very fine banjo player. Brad was in the house so our talk inevitably turned to the line-up at this weekend's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest and other memorable shows. We're all looking forward to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, two of this generations most sensitive, excellent and humble songwriter/musicians. Hardly Strictly is full of the sort of musician who leave it to their chops to do the talking. Buddy Miller with Boz Scaggs, and the increasingly iconic Emmylou Harris are also must-see and hears.