Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Navigating the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and a couple band recommendations


Carolyn Wonderland

Every time I look at the line-up of this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, I notice another ridiculously awesome name buried in the mix: Patti Smith! Joan Baez! Sharon Jones! Elvis Costello! David Grisman! Trombone Shorty! Gillian Welsh! Ralph Stanley! The Indigo Girls! Conor Oberst! MC Hammer (had to mention)! The list just keeps going and going.

And what? Hardly Strictly is free??? Are you serious?? (Sorry, it's free every year, this 10-year anniversary line-up is just sort of blowing my mind.)

You know what that means: throngs and throngs of people descending on Golden Gate Park. How does one navigate this experience without getting totally frustrated? Golden Gate is not the easiest to get around for masses of people.

My advice: Don’t get overly ambitious about seeing every act you’re excited about. There’s just too much and it's too spread out. Pick one, maybe two a day, and just go with the flow. You’ll end up seeing something amazing that you weren’t expecting. Find a spot and stick with it. The line-up is full of so many amazing musicians that you’re going to see something good, I promise.

READ MORE ABOUT MY PICKS: Carolyn Wonderland, the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the California Honeydrops (suddenly I want candy)!

the Carolina Chocolate Drops

Friday, September 24, 2010

How to participate in a jam session as a vocalist


Last weekend I found myself in a jam session among professional musicians at a party at Sonic Zen Studios in Berkeley. As a vocalist who dabbles in playing instruments, rarely do I feel confident enough in my playing ability to pick up something more than a tambourine in these kinds of circumstances.

I walked into the party and a jam session, full of professional musicians. The jam session had already begun. I sat down, listened for a while and then, of course, got myself a tambourine.

Then they hooked up a microphone. I decided to not even consider not singing. I jumped right into it and had the most positive jam session experience I’ve ever had.

How does a vocalist “jam”? These are things I’ve figured out over the years.

1) Be very conscious about how much space you are or are not taking.
As soon as a singer begins to sing, the ear focuses on them. It’s just how the ear is trained. A bass guitarist or drummer can keep playing, and should keep playing unless they are making a specific statement to drop out. A jamming vocalist needs stay very conscious about taking up too much of the attention and stay sensitive to what the other musicians are doing. If the keyboardist and drummer are getting something going between them, you want to be sure not to step on their toes until the back-and-forth is over.

2) Dealing with lyrics.
How does a vocalist deal with this whole word and lyrics situation? Well if you are a poet, you probably won’t have any trouble. I’ve never considered myself a songwriter or a poet. And I've never really felt that words come easily to me. But this evening, words sort of came out in a stream of consciousness, or as a couple words and then some “Bla-dee-bla-dee-bla” nonsense syllables. I don’t think it really matters if you scat or sing words, but when out pops some funny or thoughtful lyric, people react to it.

3) Think like a horn player.
Play your melody a few times, riff on it a little bit. Then drop out for a while, come back in with some back-up, simple lines with some oooo’s or aaaah’s or back-up vocal type punctuation at the end of phrases. (Think Motown or soul back up singers.) Then come back in with the melody.

4) Don’t be afraid to be dramatic or silly, just don’t over do it.
Make funny voices, sing real low, real high, scream. Just don’t let that be all you do. Save it for special moments.

5) Don’t be shy to use material that isn’t yours or something you’ve been working with on your own.
There’s nothing wrong about quoting someone else. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with bringing in something that you’ve written on your own. You never know what kind of ideas someone else in the circle might bring into the mix that you wouldn’t have thought of. It could make an idea blossom into something bigger the next time you work on it.

6) Milk a good idea, just know when it’s time to move on.
When you get something good going, and the other musicians seem to react well to it, work it. And then when you feel that you’re ready to move on, do it.

The more you jam, the more comfortable you’ll get. You’ll start to get more confident in following your gut and your abilities to make things up on the spot.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Chanticleer sings of the earth and stars on "Out of This World" Bay Area Tour

The men of Chanticleer

On Sunday evening September 19th at 5pm, Chanticleer performed at the gorgeous San Francisco Conservatory of Music, about a block over from their Hayes Valley headquarter offices. It was the second concert in that space and the fourth concert on their “Out of This World” tour.

“Out of This World” features pieces across vocal musical history from Gregorian chant to Eric Clapton that speaks of the earth, stars, planets and the heavens. What is so brilliant about this programming is the variety of ways the celestial bodies are used in description and representation depending on the genre and era.

For example, the medieval compositions chosen sing of angels, Mary, Queen of the Heavens and the light of Jesus Christ while the Italian madrigals compare the “earthly” love of another human to that of the stars. Romantic poets describe inner heaven and modern compositions literally describe the earth from an orbiting spaceship, mechanical satellites and star clusters. Exploring how poets have perceived "outer space" in the last five hundred years is such a fun and interesting way to organize a concert of vocal music!

READ MORE OF MY REVIEW HERE

Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria" was not on this programme, but it's purdy:

Saturday, September 18, 2010

My picks for the SFJAZZ Fest 2010 Fall Season

Check out my picks for the SFJAZZ 2010 Fall season, my favorite "festival" in the Bay Area, including:
- Nellie McKay - a tribute to Doris Day
- Olodum
- Taj Mahal, Toumani Diabaté and Vieux Farka Touré - tribute to Ali Farka Touré
- Meklit Hadero
- Lila Downs
- Slavic Soul Party!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Jessie Woletz: the woman behind the Seaweed Sway & grassroots music promotion in the Bay Area

Please meet my friend Jessie Woletz, fellow lover and promoter of local music. We met when I was singing with the all women's choir Conspiracy of Venus and learned of a little project she's called the Seaweed Sway.

I'm in awe of what Jessie is doing for San Francisco's music scene and we have been supporting each other in our endeavors.

Please read my article about her and the Seaweed Sway HERE and come see one of her Seaweed Sway showcases on the third Sunday of every month at the Make-Out Room in San Francisco.

This is the first article in a series interviewing folks behind the music in the Bay Area's music scene. These folks are making it possible for musicians to get out there and do what they do best. You know, people like me! We need to support each other as well as the musicians we love.

Stay-tuned for profiles on the gentlemen of Chasing the Moon and the Joyce McBride of Conspiracy of Venus.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Thank you Flying Spaghetti Monster for giving me the internet and this video

I just wanted to thank YouTube, the internet and the powers-that-be for giving me this video cover of the "Bed Intruder Song" for Tsugaru Shamisen! This is Mike Penny, and he is badass on this instrument.

If you haven't seen the original yet click here.

Brilliant.

Friday, September 10, 2010

"Double Rainbow" and "Bed Intruder Song": The Gregory Brothers and Auto-tune

"You are so dumb, home, home, homeboy" says Antoine Dodson

Okay fine, I give in. Theses songs are totally catchy and I totally admit that I can't stop watching/listening to them. I might even download them.

So, according to the New York Times, the "Bed Intruder Song" has made it to the 39th spot on itunes as well as number 89 on the Billboard chats. The Gregory Brothers have split the proceeds of the song with "unintentional singer" Antoine Dodson who is using his money to move his family out of the projects. That might be the best part about this story.

So if you've not seen this yet, watch it. If you've watched it a million times, here it is again: "Bed Intruder Song"



I'm a little late to the game with this one, but this is "Double Rainbow" inspired by this video of a guy freaking out over a double rainbow in Yosemite. It's intense.



I'm finding that you need to have a certain sense of humor to really appreciate the ridiculous awesomeness that is auto-tuning. Musicians, like Ke$ha (article soon to come), have instead of using it to "fix" pitch and instead use it in the open to create pitch.

Love it or hate it, you have to admit that when use right, it's absolutely hysterical.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Green Day plays one helluva live show and is just enough angsty for this 30-year-old

Billie Joe is a whore for attention, I'm sure of it
photos from live105.radio.com by white menace


There's something pretty special about seeing a band play to its hometown/area while at the same time badmouth the area that you grew up in. Hearing Billie Joe tell San Diego and Los Angeles to "fuck off" right after playing there is pretty hysterical.

There's also something really special about being angry about a ticketing will-call snafu that almost sent me home, and then being able to work it out to some perfectly angsty pop punk. I love being 30 and still able to bounce around with the teenagers.

I love Green Day's interaction with the crowd. It's really physical, letting them pull and push them around, from both the pit and the stage. It was also fun to see Green Day show off their chops, both with their own music and covering other music. (See the setlist here, you'll see they covered quite a few rock tunes from Journey to Zeppelin.) Billie Joe proved that that nasaled vlocal thing is just for aesthetic value, because his vocal chops on those hard rock covers were pretty spot on.

Read my review of the Saturday, September 4th show at Shoreline Amphitheatre on examiner.com HERE

Billie Joe encourages fan to stage dive