Here are drawings I made last summer of Kirtan Choir. It was fun to open for them and they played a very cool set of improvisational music inspired by classical music and experimental styles. Below are drawings of Ba’cuntry Bruthers, one of my favorite bands of all time, and the subject of many a drawing by me. They don’t play often enough, but last week Fairbanks got two wonderful shows in Ester at the Malemute Saloon and Ivory Jacks.
This weekend is AYP so I”ll be posting many more new drawings, also my friends Feeding Frenzy are going on tour with Netherfriends all over Alaska. They play the Pub Friday with Work, and The Marlin on Saturday. Also I just booked Lenka Dusilova (August 3) and Broombox (august 12) for the fair. Busy weeks coming up, lots more drawings on the way.
Kirtan Choir
CJ Boyd of Kirtan Choir
CJ Boyd of Kirtan
Kirtan Choir
Bacuntry bruthers with special guests Sabe Flores (Cello) and Jess Penya (percussion)
Bacuntry Bruthers with guest Jake on Bass (sorry the paper was crumpled, Miro used it to make a paper airplane)
Chris’ mural is finally up! I got to help paint it and it was fun. While I was filing in greens and reds I remember thinking, why am i 29 years old and this is the first time I have worked on a mural?
Thanks so much to Chris Green for hosting this wonderful day in appreciation of comics, and for Brady and Rebecca File for bringing up Jeffrey Lewis. I have been a fan since I heard his album “the last time I did acid I went insane and other Favorites” back in 2001. I played his songs on KSUA while I was a DJ there. It was so nice of them to feel I was an appropriate opener. I played two “Damn you Damn you Damn you,” “Sometimes it all reminds you of a story” and “Dancing in the street” as well as old favorites “anthropic principle lullaby” “Homonculus Reductio Ad Absurdum” and Ileah even requested “William H Macy.” It was nice to get a request, though I hadn’t done that song in five or six years, I tried to remember it; I did an a cappella version and forgot the ending. Ah well.
I enjoyed Jeff’s set immensely and he played my request: “Broken Broken Heart.” In that song there is a line “thank you pain for teaching me, thanks but its been more than enough.” This line reminds me that every aspect of humanity/psychology is there for an evolutionary reason, those who felt what we know of as heartbreak” had an evolutionary advantage over those who didn’t. The concept is kinda buddhist, and just one of many amazingly clever lines in Jeff’s songs. He also played an old favorite “Back When I was Four.” He even played a song from his first album and nailed it, “The last time I did acid I went Insane,” with a very weird poem at the end, long and rambling , psychedelic and strange recited by his brother and him in unison. It was nice to hear “Seattle” and these other old tunes. Sometimes touring musicians don’t play songs from their early career, wanting only to promote the new material. He played one Crass song as a request “punk is dead” and one that was maybe by Jack Lewis (I assumed as he sang the lead) about a band of teenagers on tour getting into fights, drinking too much and trashing hotel rooms.
I found it especially inspirational to see pages of his notebooks that included Rom, robot knight. The character has been an obsession for Jeffrey, and he has traditionally started each notebook over the years with a drawing of him. He redrew pages of Watchmen with Rom replacing characters and also pages of Daniel Clowes “Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron.” Sometimes Jeff and Rom were teammates, other times mortal enemies, with Jeff blaming Rom for his comics addiction, and cursing him to a life of loneliness. Jeff is seen throwing the robot knight out of a helicopter, and as he falls he shouts “Jesus Fucking Christ!”
Jeff and I also discussed some aspects of the phenomenon of traveling book presenting. He commented that there was a certain justice in traveling with books, as they inevitably get damaged and this forces the performer to continually create new material. It was great to get to see him play in my home town.
On sunday I got to catch “The Glass Bead Game” a band that played in Fairbanks at the Howling Dog back in 1972 and 1973. Riff Rafson plays bass, he and I would talk music and economics back when I was friends with his daughter. Pat Fitzgerald plays drums, and he was the sound engineer for the first and third Paper Scissors albums. Bill Black was playing Harmonica and he was my 2nd grade teacher. He always just nods at me and politely says hello, even if he’s in the audience to one of my weird shows at CCH.
Glass Bead game were a very fun 9 piece band playing blues and 70s covers. Their horn section really was the icing on the cake, with harmonica, and two flute players, Al green on sax would sometimes play two trumpets, providing a delightful chorus effect, or would play a midi synthesizer breath controller. It was pure prog! Phil on keyboards always added something pleasant to the song, but I’m a sucker for blues piano and b3 organs. Donna on flutes sounded amazing, etherial, psychedelic and joyful. Props to Josh Bennet doing sound for mixing all those instruments live into something coherent. http://www.srsalaska.com/srs/Home.html
Here we have a preview of a new Planeswalker, I’ll throw in my two cents on her.
Black has had tutors before, but never a card that specifically gets swamps
It can be used with Spellshaper effects, like an Urborg Syphon mage, though that effect seems only good in EDH. So… yeah, after turn 4 you wont miss land drops, but what a shame if you draw a land, then you’ll feel silly. It can be used to shuffle a deck for Senseis Divining top or ponder. Combo with Landfall such as Ob Nixilis? An underused card called Savor the Moment could ensure land drops.
Ability two: here we have sorcery speed removal or pump, and though it is flexible, it is expensive. She makes any creature a shade? Well, you better hope you have trample or flying because you can’t choose the creature after blockers are declared. It will kill creatures sometimes, but if their best creature has toughness higher than the number of swamps you control you’ll feel pretty frustrated.
The way they design plansewalkers, you read the first two and then get all pumped for the final effect. If you are like me, you were thinking, Ok, those effects are synergistic and slightly interesting, the “ult” will surely be amazing… ok … what is it?
Lake of the Dead? I’m all for nostalgia, but… was anybody really missing this card?
That’s disappointing. I mean, it doesn’t only “not” win the game, it “can’t” win the game. Many other ults on planeswalkers can win the game on their own, but this one just sets you up to do something else. What are you going to do? Cast a Drain life effect? Cast a huge flying demon? Cast a Bonfire of the Damned for some number large enough to win? Too bad that requires a few mountains too, and another mythic card… and Chandra had that effect “built in.” Chandra! The “unplayable” bastard redhead stepdaughter planeswalker. How underwhelming. In modern or EDH it could fuel out an Eldrazi in Mono Black control… on about turn… six… if your opponent doesn’t interact or damage her. If you are playing nothing but swamps, (and that of course can include fetch lands and shock lands) you can get 20 mana on turn 6… or 24 and keep her around on turn 7 but why would you ever want to? Its not like she’s going to do anything. Maybe you could use her second ability to pump your demon or eldrazi… on like turn 20 or so. Maybe the Ravnica block will give us something to do with 20 black or colorless mana.
So what else could it have been?
Well, Hecatomb comes to mind, and would have been synergistic with the other two effects. They may have thought of it and shot it down as being too similar to Koth of the Hammer. The effect makes more sense in red these days. Maybe it could have been “remove a card in your graveyard from the game to do 1 damage to any creature or player.” It could have been infect damage. I’d like to see a planeswalker really abuse the graveyard like Psychatog. He or she could go well with Tibalt the fiend-blooded. He could have a self mill effect for a loyalty counter adding ability, removing cards to deal damage as a loyalty removing ability and then what would be logical for an ultimate…. hmmm. well, Yawgmoth’s Will of course! A man can dream.
Hooka the Opium Addled
2UB Loyalty 3
+1: target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into the graveyard . If that graveyard has 15 or more cards in it, put 5 cards instead.
-2: remove x cards from your graveyard from the game, Hooka does x damage to target creature.
-6: you get an emblem with “you may play cards from your graveyard as if they were in your hand. If an instant or sorcery would be put in your graveyard, remove it from the game.
One might question if it is wise to have the word “terrible” in your name, but this band sounds pretty amazing. Their lead singer’s voice is rough, low and gravelly, like a Tom Waits/Man Man thing. They have a player who supplies trumpet and trombone, and another who adds sweet layers with a violin. There is a slow, groovy New Orleans vibe to it. Songs were often complex arrangements, with multiple slow parts, sometimes making me wish they would just play a regular predictable chorus/ verse style song. The album art and song topics can sometimes beat you over the head with “misery sorrow!” I liked it when the band let loose and had more fun; they did so on their closer, a rollicking singalong tribute to whiskey and marijuana.Their keyboard player, Sarah has some pipes on her as well. When she howled “I gave my life to science” on an epic Blues song; we were all convinced this band rocks. She picks up the accordion sometimes and provides more textures. Its great when she joins in on vocals with Kent. We thank them for driving up their 7 member band to play at the Marlin, and I recommend you catch them if they come to your town.
Oh she was gorgeous, Norma Shearer. I recently saw her in “The divorcee,” “A Free Soul” and “Marie Antoinette.” If you like old movies, check these out!
Here is a piece I worked on last summer, just getting around to posting it now. Why hasn’t anyone offered me a job on a children’s television show yet?
Haute Couture
Haute couture, Haute couture
where style is demure
and fashion is pure
trace it back a century through time
just say no to the assembly line
wear your clothes, know this for sure
haute coture is always made to order.
Charles Fredrick Worth emigrated to France
started out making drapes before he made any pants
his dresses were all the rage in the 1870s
used the finest silks, spared no amenities
soon people traveled to Paris just to get fitted
cheap and plain were completely omitted
brought attention to outlines, removed excessive ruffles
so go ahead and eat those bonbons and truffles
hedonsits should be comfortable, no room for pain
helped defined the demimondaine
he designed for Austrian princesses and Cora Pearl
Sarah Bernhardt, most famous actress in the world
first to put on labels, to dispel doubt and rumors
before him there were no celebrity costumers
(more than just a Morissey song)
Christian Dior, Christian Dior, world war 2 its Christian Dior
while other rich folk fled France for their lives
he put clothes on german general’s wives
you can hate the nazis but admit they had flair
please but don’t shoot the fashion designer!
inspired heavily by flowers and nature
helped make the torso popular
give the rich what they deserve
his dresses tended to emphasize curves
thank him for costuming the soubrette
and wow he could emphasize a silouhuette
Coco Chanel in 1910
brought modernism to the world of fashion
she worked with unbridled passion
casual elegance was the rule of the game
now perfumes and handbags carry her name
first a night club singer, then a modiste
in 1910 opened her first boutique
slept with some of the worlds most famous men
like igor stranvinsky (rite of spring)
uncompromising, refused to marry, go to hell
“there are many wives but only one Chanel”
she took charge in a men’s world
not bad for a little girl from Saumur
in 1943 she was arrested as a spy
controversial its true, a victim of the times?
dress for success, dress to impress
Thank Coco Channel for the little black dress
(more than just a They Might Be Giants song) Did you know that the character of Edna Mode in “The Incredibles” was based on Edith Head?
haute couture,
let me give you a tour
put it on the cover,
don’t be obscure
if your a fashion lover
emphasize allure
you cant get more pure than
haute couture!
trace it back a century through time
just say no to the assembly line
creative entrepreneur to ensure
haute coture is always made to order
Edith Head would be sittin back grinnin
costumed three generations of beautiful women
known for wearing dark glasses
and tricking out celebrity asses
and hosting awesome soirees
with a wicked display and a kickass buffet
her stitches graced the world’s most famous hips
so think of her when your licking your lips
designed costumes in black and white for film
but transitioned to color gracefully
hugely influential on everybody
dressed marlene deitrich and grace kelly
ginger rogers and peggy lee
rita hayworth and hedy lamarr
audrey hepburn, elisabeth taylor
natalie wood tippi hedren
katherine hepburn sophia loren
patricia neal and doris day
won an academy award for Roman Holiday
As Jeffrey is coming to Fairbanks soon and I have been listening to his album constantly, I thought I’d post a review. More drawings are coming soon. Thank you for the comments and in advance for coming to see me play live!
Upcoming shows
June 15th at College Coffeehouse– 8pm free, with Sabe, Travis and Luke.
June 25th at the Fairbanks downtown market with Sabe and Luke. (free)
and June 30th opening for Jeffrey Lewis at Wall of Balloons. (donations may be accepted, but I think that it is free- this is more like a comic convention/celebration than a rock show)
Jeffrey Lewis (New York City) A Turn in the Dream Songs (2011)
Rough Trade
Key song “How Can it be?” Cult Boyfriend”
Recorded at Analogue Catalogue, Manchester UK.
Engineer ?
Producer ?
Packed full with brilliant observations, the title comes from the song “To Go and Return” in which Jeff makes the charmingly insightful observation that our lives are wishes come true from previous generations, which took many years to reach the star who would grant it, and then many years to come back.
Jeff is confiding in us his secrets and imparting us with wisdom. Any adventurous spirit will find many lines that resonate, suc has this one: “I’ve got too much confidence to only do things that make sense” in Water Leaking Water Moving.
In “When You’re By Yourself”- he describes perfectly the experience of being alone at a restaurant, how you have to take your pack with you when you go to the bathroom, how you fear that the waitress will think you’re done with your food before and waste some of your precious calories! Songs like this one remind me of my travels and unique experiences. “How can Jeff have had the same thought?”
Throughout the album are guest musicians which lend their talents. “To Go and Return” has some saxophone noodling, and mandolin by Franic Rozycki. “Reaching ” has female vocals, and “How Can it Be” has members of Dr. Dog singing back up vocals. That song is the shortest and catchiest song on here, it seems like a part two to a previous song, “Broken Broken Heart.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b9MRNEMmI4
“So What If I Couldn’t Take It” has numerous laugh out loud moments. Including a scene where homeless critics rate Jeffrey’s suicide attempt, and disappointingly lower their scores when they see that he survived. He also makes a jibe at Pitchfork, the music criticism site.
The best of these songs may be “Time Trades.” This is the kind of song that may make you cry, or upon listening instantly call up an old friend or family member you love and insist they “listen to this song right now! “That’s what I did for my dad.
Compare solos in “Cult Boyfriend” or the elaborate fingerpicking on any of these tracks to his earlier work and you’ll see how far Jeff has come. His voice may take some getting used to, but we got used to Alec Ounsworth, and Bob Dylan. Any fan of They might be Giants, Todd Snyder, Kimya Dawson, or Jeff’s own inspiration The Fuggs, would do well to give this, his gentlest and most colorful album a listen.
Avery Wolves (Fairbanks, Ak) Wreckin With the Wolves.
Recorded at Northern Lights Mortuary (not the name of a studio, an actual mortuary… don’t ask) with Nathan as the Engineer.
Mixed by Nick Forkel
Nathan Harris – Upright Bass/ Vocals
Jason Dahlke – Drums
David Keller – Guitar
Fairbanks’ Avery Wolves released their six song EP this spring and it doesn’t disappoint. The vintage art from Shawn Tickenson is fun and fits the music well.
“Harlot of the Waning Moon” features fantastic back up vocals. The bass is up front and center in these recordings, as it should be in psychobilly.
“Lady Luck” has a perky bounce to it and the morbid joke, “its all fun and games until somebody dies.” These recordings are polished and clean. There seems to be no clipping and the guitars distortion is turned down. You might expect more chaotic punk madness if you’ve seen the live show. Live, the solos are longer, the tempos are faster, and you get to watch Nathan’s goofy stage antics, climbing on his bass, playing it with his feet, tossing it around like a swing dance partner, etc. These songs aren’t contributing much new to the genre, but they are accessible, squeaky clean and all are catchy enough to make you sing along. To some, this kind of music is vintage and nostalgic, to a new generation, it means something completely different.
I asked Nathan who writes the songs. He said he writes about 40% of the lyrics, and Jason writes the other 60%. I asked what non music elements influence his songwriting and he said “violence!”
Daughter of a banker and a baroness
Audrey Ruston was destined for success
ballet school as a girl, modeling as a teen
but her voice was adorable and her eyes had a gleam
so she went to Hollywood to try to become a star
after “Roman Holiday,” we knew she’d go far
who is that adorable bright eyed doll?
in S”abrina” she was the butler’s awkward daughter
“Funny Face” with Fred Astaire, could she be hotter?
perfect casting, what serendipity:
Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffanies”
in “My Fair Lady” she learned where the rain fell
in “Robin and Marion” shed again cast her spell
In her later life she devoted herself
to poor children, with UNICEF
then cancer took her in 1993
the whole world mourned the tragedy
Cutest face of all time? I’m glad to help you learn of
Screen actor legend: Audery Hepburn
LAura Gibson played with Haifa at The Civic Center last week. Here are some drawings.
Laura Gibson played a wonderful show with songs that are timeless. Nothing in them gives away that they were written in the current or previous decade. She sang through an affected mic sometimes, giving her voice the tone of a trumpet. She played a nylon stringed guitar, and put it through some wild effects sometimes. I was very impressed with her multi-instrumentalist Sean, who acted as an entire rhythm section for her. I think shes kind of like Sufjan Stevens.
Haifa was great again as always, The amazingly talented Sam Heirrod has a dream team of musicians with him. This time with a tuba player named Charles. It’s like Beruit, meets hip hop, with some jazz and operatic signing from Rebeca File thrown in. Its nice to hear her originals such as “With Salt” given the full band treatment. They are playing at the UAF Botanical garden this summer.
Upcoming shows: Laura Gibson, playing two shows – she’s a multi instrumentalist from portland- I haven’t seen her before, June 1st at the pub and 2nd at the Alaska Land Civic Center (known as Pioneer Park civic center to people who arrived here in the 2000s)
I’m playing a show on the 15th with several of my favorite local songwriters. I hope to have a full band at this show, and my cellist will be playing with me because she will be back from boston. Ryan Bateman, Sabe Flores, Emily Anderson, Hannah Corral and Luke Nielson are all invited to play a few songs
June 25th I am playing at the downtown Fair in lovely downtown Fairbanks.
June 29 and 30th : Jeff lewis is coming to play and he’s one of my heroes.
This is just one of his many amazing songs. To assign some adjectives to Jeffrey Lewis: intellectual, wordy, self reflective and deep- like a modern Phil Ochs or Shel Silverstein, and he makes comics. What if Tom Leherer had been a sociologist and a commented on the 90s/2000s indie scene instead of been a Math professor and commented on 60s politics. My friend Chris Green is unveiling a mural (that I helped a little on) and I will be presenting comic performances at that show too.
I am not playing Angry Young and Poor, but I am playing the Fair in August and the August Trapper Creek.
Here are drawings I made at Trapper Creek.
Green Tara played a set with Goat Rodeo backing her up, it was Awesome!
Haifa played a delightful set Sunday afternoon, including the fan favorite “it’s your birthday!”
Green Tara played a set with Goat Rodeo backing her up, it was Awesome!
I worked for hours on this, thank you Claire and Emilia, who helped immensely.
Clucking Blossom 8 has come and gone and it was a wonderful day, with memorable performances and sunny weather.
Again I brought a kiddy pool and filled it with corn starch for toddler’s enjoyment. I played a set at 5:00 with Amelia and Luke from Eating For Two. I also gave a performance of “Punned down in Cold Blood” my silly collection of puns
Some of the highlights were a Reunion of sorts of the BaCuntry Bruthers, with Amanda Bent of Jazz Farm joining on bass. Bucktoof was absent, but Huck and emit took turns playing drums with their feet while playing banjo or guitar. Huck gave us a debut of her fiddling skills on a song she called “Dog found a rabbit, was gone a long time.”
“Annie where the Sun don’t shine” played their kooky version of blues. Eli and Megan have played for years as “Not Enough Flannel,” but as a back up band for Juneau’s Annie Bartholomew and her enchanting voice.
We were blessed with the presence of two Anchorage bands: PJ Franco and the Burnouts and Pretty Birds that Kill. Both put on exciting and noisy shows.
Here are most of the drawings I made. I should have acquired model release forms for everybody, I suppose. If you have a problem with your image being on my website, let me know. I am available to make drawings at your event.
I worked for hours on this, thank you Claire and Emilia, who helped immensely.
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 