Haleiwa, Hawaii 2006 by Nolan Gawron

Back in the beautiful, peaceful, idyllic paradise known as Haleiwa, Hawaii, on the North Shore of Oahu (one of my favorite places in the world), is a small independent label called Brushfire, run by surfer and songwriter Jack Johnson. Extrememly diverse, the label provides a home to the most unlikely acts and seemingly unrelated musicians. The following two interviews are with artists both signed to Brushfire– and honestly they couldn’t be more different in style.

Neil Halstead, founding member of the now defunct British shoegazing band Slowdive, and the every now and then reborn alt-country band Mojave 3, Halstead has moved from 4AD to Brushfire where he has released his last two solo recordings. Somber, acoustic and existential, he seems especially far removed from our second Brushfire artist interviewee– the pioneer and continuing purveyor of hip hop/blues, G. Love.

After conducting these interviews, I realized there is one thread that ties both artists and the label owner together– despite being from Britain, Boston and Hawaii– they are all surfers. And there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

Part 1: Neil Halstead

From his pedal-pushing days in the spaced out, shoegazer band Slowdive, to his more grounded acoustic folk rebirth with the Mojave 3, Neil Halstead’s music has changed dramatically over his 23 year career. But, whether cosmic or country, there has always been an underlying somber, soothing and dreamlike quality that links his songs together. While they were once hidden by distance and distortion, his heartstrings now ring out as if they were strung across his acoustic guitar.

After five records with the Mojave 3, and still an occasional tour, Halstead has taken the band’s indefinite breaks to focus on his solo career. Even more stripped down, his country-folk style and imagery could easily be considered Americana, except for the fact that he’s British. Halstead’s calm and hushed delivery evokes a sentimental reverie, sincerity and melancholy. There’s a bit of hope and a lot of truth. I interviewed Halstead back in the fall before his US tour. His interview was short, relatively shy and not overly informative, but I love his work just the same.

Where are you right now?

I’m actually just in Reading. I was in London last night.

Are you still living out that way?

I live in Cornwall, which is about as south and west as you can go in England. It’s like the little toe at the end of the boot.

Can you explain the name and concept of the album title Palindrome Hunches?

I’d like to, but I don’t know what it means. I guess I like the idea that it’s a contrast of a palindrome where everything works out. Essentially that was it. It was one of the songs on the album, and I guess it just came from that.

Is there sort of a connection between the songs on the record?

I think that they all sit together in a similar mood. There are songs that are a little darker than the songs on the last album. They all sit together in a darker space.

Is there any particular reason for the darkness?

I think that’s just the way the songwriting went. A few of the songs are a little older, so they’re not all written at the same time period. They are a bit quite personal and they reflect certain changes in my life.

Are you in these songs? Are your songs biographical?

Yeah, for me songwriting is always about expressing yourself. So that’s me in the song. I suppose in some ways, the darker songs can be a darker take on my life. Then there are songs like “Wittgenstein’s Arm” [A pianist who lost his arm in World War I, but continued to play] which I was really inspired to write after reading about his family and their story.

The album has sort of an autumn feel. Was there any conscious decision to release this at this time?

No, actually I wanted to get it out much earlier—a year and a half now actually. It’s taken ages to get ready. I didn’t really think about the season, but you’re right– it kind of works.

Where did the idea for the limited packaging come from?

I guess it’s because I like to fill up a lot of notebooks. So we scanned some of the stuff and did something different. We did it like a notebook and I think it looks quite nice.

What is the significance of the artwork, the owls with bars over their eyes?

Yeah, I just found the image. I guess it was printed in the turn of the century. It seems to suit the idea of the record a bit. There’s the idea about the owls being wise and it seemed symbolic to mess with it a little bit.

Are you still an active surfer?

Yes. I surf as much as I can. Cornwall is the main part of England for surfing.

Traditionally surfers who sing tend to be happier. You seem to be one of the sadder surfer songwriters.

I’m not quite sure about that. They can’t all be happy. But maybe they are. I don’t know.  Maybe you’re right.  That could be true.

Have you ever based a tour around surfing?

Unfortunately not. I haven’t been able to do that. Maybe one day.

What is the official state of the Mojave 3?

I’m not sure we have an official status. We just did a few shows in China that were fun. We want to do another record, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet. Hopefully this year.

Did you say China!?

Yeah, we played in China a month ago.

How did that come to happen?

I think we all just thought it would be fun. I think everyone was keen to go and see China, play some music and do some gigs. We managed to get everyone and make it work.

Were they familiar with your work out there?

Yeah, for some reason Mojave 3 seem to be quite popular there. It was nice; we got really well looked after.

Looking way back, how did you decided to change your sound so drastically from Slowdive to the Mojave 3?

Well by the time I did the last Slowdive record I was about 24. The last record is really super ambient and experimental. Everything was built on loops and samples and it was a bit of a cold record. I took a break after that and I felt like I wasn’t into music anymore at that point. I felt like I needed to be re-energized and learning to play acoustic guitar and learning to play country songs was a way back into music for me because it was so different from what Slowdive was about.

The Mojave 3 seems like it could be described as an Americana band, but you’re from Britain. And in your solo work, you seem to mention specific places in America. Do you feel an affinity for the US?

To be honest the song about Kansas City is about meeting a girl at a bar in Kansas. As I said, most of the songs are about things that actually happened.

Do you think touring America has provided you with inspiration more so than Europe?

For me traveling is a big part of being a musician and it becomes a big part of your life. You did inspired by traveling wherever you go.

Do you ever miss electric guitars and distortion?

Yeah. I did some projects with some friends with big loud guitars last year, so I got it out of my system for now. But it’s good to mix it up for sure.

Have you received offers to reunite Slowdive?

Yeah. Sure. It’s a big part of the music industry these days. They are feeding off their own paws. The people with the money will never let it go free because it’s another way to sell you the same old shit. Maybe one day.

Part II: G. Love and the Special Sauce

Twenty years ago, after moving from Philadelphia to Boston, G. Love’s [born Garrett Dutton] musical career quickly rose from the streets and subway stations to regular club gigs that eventually landed him a record deal that brought him back to Philly.

After Mark Sandman of Morphine got G. Love a weekly gig at the Plough and Star in Cambridge, interest from record companies soon followed. The headstrong 20 year-old who started merging hip-hop with his Dobro guitar and Delta blues had created a signature blend of musical stylings very unique for the time.

Two decades later, G. Love is back living back in Boston. Nine LPs and several EPs deep, he is now signed to Brushfire Records, Jack Johnson’s label, a person who Dutton frequently collaborates with, and even had as a special guest on his record when Johnson was still relatively unknown. Ladies and gentlemen, G. Love.

Is this G.? Happy New Year!

Yeah, Happy New Year.

I’ve been in Boston long enough and have always been curious what brought you up to Boston in the first place and how you made it as a musician up here?

Well, when you get off the phone, you should check it out. I just put a blog up today about when I first met Jeff, the drummer and when we put the band together. It’s a pretty cool little piece. Basically I moved up there in ’92 and was a musician in Philly and went to school for a year up at Skidmore in Saratoga Springs. Basically a year after college, I wanted to get out there and get a band together and really do something with my music. I moved to Boston because, other than Montreal, I knew it was one of the only places you could get a permit to be a street performer. That was the first time I came to Boston, you know, I got a ride up there and went to Inman Square to get a permit to play in Harvard Square. I moved up and found a room in Jamaica Plain and I used to get on the 39 bus to Copley Square and hop on the Green Line to the Red Line with all my fucking shit. I looked like a homeless person, I had this cart with a folding chair, my amp, a mic-stand and all my gear and my guitar. I would wear a sear-sucker suit with Pumas with the fat laces and a sign and shit. It was pretty competitive out in Harvard Square and I wouldn’t make too much money, but I got my shit together and that led to some solo shows at the Middle East Bakery and the old Rathskellar in Kenmore Square, and then eventually I was opening up for a bunch of other street musicians at the Tam O’Shanter in Brookline and met my drummer there that night and we put the band together. Once we got our deal and hit the road… I mean Boston’s a really transient place. Everybody comes and goes. Back in the day, it was us, Jasper and the Prodigal Sons, and this band called Powerman 5000… and Morphine as well of course. Everybody kind of hit the road and then when I come off the road, everyone was gone. So I went back to Philly, where I was from. Then years later, on a night off in Boston, I went to see my new drummer’s ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend’s band and I met this chick and we ended up having a kid together and living in Philadelphia. When that didn’t work out, she moved to Boston. Now, I live in Boston and have been here for about 6 years or so. So I live here now, again.

Really!? I had no idea. You’re probably on the road most of the time. I feel like I would have seen you on the streets.

Not really. I’m home a good deal. We tour like 100-150 shows a year these days and I travel a bunch when I don’t have my boy, but I love Boston. It’s a place where I get down with my music and do a lot of shedding and I find it to be such a useful place because there are so many people who are here to learn music– and I can tap into all that music and those thousand different practice rooms where everyone’s getting it together and stuff. I feel that energy, you know?

Obviously you still have a big place in your heart for Philadelphia. The last time I was in Fishtown it seemed like it’s becoming the next Brooklyn.

Yeah, it’s funny because I think a lot of people from Brooklyn and other places in New York who are successful move down to Philly because it’s so much cheaper. There’s a good scene going on there. It kinda slowed down in the early 2000’s because of the economy, but last time I was there, I thought Philly is really popping off right now and that’s cool.

Over the years, do you feel like you’ve seen a change in your sound and your music? When you look back at your first record, do you see that as a dramatic change as to the music you record today?

Well, it’s funny. It’s our 20^th year right now. We started out with our first and second record and were very lucent of what we do. But over the years we’ve messed around with a bunch of styles and recording styles, but part of what we do stylistically and especially live, deals a lot with what we did on the first record. Actually, the last record we did, Fixing to Die, was really a tilt of the hat back to the time before I met the band, when I was really immersed into the Delta Blues and folk music and Bob Dylan. I think the next record is going to be back into the more familiar territory of blending the hip-hop and blues. I think that’s because of the confidence we felt with the last record—a really roots record—I think that the next record the recording style will continue to be really blues oriented and raw, and honest. Right now in the studio, I just want to make really honest and raw music without getting caught up in producing and stuff like that. My manager put it in a really good way… we’re in a really good position right now because we don’t need a radio hit and don’t need any commercial aspirations because no one really sells records anymore. We make our living on the road and we can write songs and be in the studio and it can all be about the music and the purity of the expression. Of course, as a writer, you always want to come up with some catchy shit that people want to hear, but just because it’s catchy, doesn’t mean it can’t be raw and dirty. For me there are no rules right now. It’s just about making amazing records. We’re gearing up to hit the studio in the spring.

What do you think about the term and genre “Blues/hip-hop”? Does that satisfy you as a category? Is there a better way to say it?

Well, you could say hip-hop/blues [laughs]

Right, right. But do you find that a strange term?

Well, no, because I made it up! [laughs]

Okay, that leads me to the next question… When you began, did you know of anyone doing anything similar to your style of blending hip-hop and traditional blues or do you see yourself as the originator?

Well I really believe that. I remember the exact moment that I stumbled upon it and I was playing on the street in Philly and I finished playing this sort of driving blues groove of mine, and it was just a two-chord jam like G-to-B, nothing fancy—and I just started rapping these lyrics from Eric B. and Rakim “Paid in Full” track over the groove I was playing and it just sort of happened and it worked. I was like, “damn that’s some shit right there!” and later that week, I wrote my first rap, “Rhyme for the Summertime”, which is on my first solo record. And that really was kind of an epiphany for me. That was back in 1991 or 1992 and I was like “oh shit, there’s no other white kid on the street playing Dobro and rapping I bet, anywhere in the world. Actually the next year I was out in Harvard Square and there was this kid up there and I saw him rap this De La Soul song, “Me, Myself and I”, and I thought that was pretty cool. But when we went to get our deal. We had a producer and after we made some demos, we went out to LA to meet with Columbia and he said, “hey we have some bad news. There’s another white kid rapping and playing guitar.’ I was like “how can that be?” And I asked, “What’s the kid’s name?’ and they said some guys name Beck or something. And they’re giving him the deal at Columbia. But a couple months later we signed our own deal at Epic and the first year, when both our records dropped, everyone was comparing the two of us. And I never even met the guy. We’ve only played one gig together at a Belgian Festival. One thing about Beck, and one thing that we thought was different between the two of us… yeah, his records were awesome and super raw, but a lot of it was looped, and more traditional hip-hop recording. What we were doing was something way different from all other hip-hop at the time, except maybe Rage Against the Machine. We were a white boy garage band doing our unique take on hip-hop, which was a unique blend and right away. Whether we sold a million records or not, we had a niche and we were connecting with people and that earned us our spot. We just keep producing material and keep riding around.

You did some of your early stuff as 10″s with Okey records, which is a traditional blues label, right?

Yeah, Epic actually revived that label, and that was an imprint for Epic and we were the first release on that along with Keb Mo and Poppa Chubby.

I was always curious where those releases came from. I had those early 10”s of yours and wondered when and why the label came back into print.

By the way, now that you’re on Brushfire, you must have some amazing business trips to North Shore, Oahu.

Ha! I wish there were more. I’ve been up to Jack’s spot and we did some shows with Slightly Stoopid in Hawaii this past June and we were out there for our day off. And I’ve seen him for a couple of days while he’s recording, but it’s funny, Jack and I are great friends and I consider him a brother and we have an amazing musical friendship—we’ve never stopped collaborating since the day we met. But, you know, I think people have this impression that I sit at his house in Hawaii and just surf all day and drink lemonade, but the reality of it is, we’ll more likely see each other in cities like Pittsburgh or some other random cities on tour. We’ve been surfing a bunch of times together.

I was going to ask if you were a surfer. Most of the people on that label are, even the ones you wouldn’t think.

Yeah, we all go surfing as much as we can. On this tour we play Boston, New York and Philly and we head down to Florida, so we have the boards in the trailer. Yeah, you know I surf a lot around Boston. My parents live down on the Cape so I surf a lot there. There are some really great spots up here.

I try my hand surfing in Truro sometimes… or Hampton Beach.

Right, right.

Is the band still the same? I know you have a lot of guests on your records. But is the core band still the same?

The core is a trio. It’s me and Jeffrey Clemens, who is the the original drummer and we have a Boston legend, Timo Shanko, on the upright bass. He plays in some other bands around town like the Dub Apocalypse. And Timo and I have a side-project called the Butter Band and we play a handful of shows a year on the Cape, Nantucket and around Boston. Timo and I have known each other since the early 90s when we first put the band together because he was up there and I was up there and we were all doing our thing.

Did the band change when you moved back to Boston?

No it was always a Boston band. Jimi Jazz was in the band for about 15 years and it just got to the point where he didn’t really want to be on the road anymore. I think the road was just getting to him. We’re still good friends and I’m sure we’ll make music again, but right now we have a really great unit which is Jeff, Kimo and I– and it’s just smoking. We have a lot of great improvisation and musical freedom and we’re doing some writing right now.

Thanks for your time G.

Cool man. We’re excited to be playing at home, in the town where this whole thing began.

This piece is dedicated to my surfing buddy, Beau Sturm, and his wife, Trina. Besides them hooking me up with tickets to see G., they are more importantly true pals. There are points in life where you think you’ve met everybody and think you’ve seen it all– then you realize you’re wrong and you meet new people who reaffirm your faith in friends and lasting friendships. Cheers. Thank you.

For more information visit:

Brushfire Records: http://brushfirerecords.com/

Neil Halstead: http://www.neilhalstead.com

G. Love: http://www.philadelphonic.com

A supergroup of sorts, yet leaving any ego behind, New Multitudes is a quartet formed to honor and record unreleased songs of Woody Guthrie on this, the centennial year of his birth.

Woody Guthrie wasn’t just the voice of a generation– he was the voice of several generations, and his legacy is destined to live on forever. Known reverently as America’s premier folk singer, Guthrie was the voice of the people, the voice of protest and a voice of peace. He sang for children, for the workers, for the underdog, and always against injustice. One of the most important storytellers of all time, he is not only known for his original songs, but also for keeping traditional tunes alive and relevant in our nation’s historical repertoire.

It is within this history of retelling the tales of others that the recent New Multitudes record came to be. Paying homage to Woody, and released as a tribute to the centennial anniversary of his birth, four of America’s most earnest troubadours have united to honor Guthrie by recording an album of his previously unreleased songs and taking those tunes on the road for a brief American tour.

First conceived by Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Gob Iron) back in 1995 as a potential collaboration between him and Billy Bragg, the idea fell through and eventually his old bandmate, Jeff Tweedy, would pursue the project with Bragg instead. Farrar would eventually return to the project, enlisting Anders Parker (his band mate in Gob Iron) and later Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) and Will Johnson (of Centromatic and South San Gabriel). Invited by Woody’s granddaughter, Nora Guthrie, Farrar and company were invited to the Woody Guthrie archives in New York City and rummaged through an overwhelming and well-organized file of unreleased Woody Guthrie songs.

Recording the songs over an extensive time frame, the four participants released New Multitudes on February 28 of this year on Rounder Records. Each member assumes the position of lead vocalist for three tracks each, alternating in sequence, and with each of the members joining in at the harmonies and backing instrumentation. In spring 2012, the band did a small big city tour to showcase the record with each member adding some of their own material to the each show’s set list.

The following interviews with Will Johnson and Jay Farrar were conducted separately, over the phone, and just a few days into the tour. Accompanying the interview are exclusive photos and videos from the band’s shows in Boston and at the Newport Folk Festival. Enjoy….

An interview with Will Johnson:

Nolan: Hey Will, how are you?

Will: Hey Nolan. I’m doing okay. I appreciate your patience in doing this and keeping the volley going. This might be a record. This might be one for the books in trying to organize an interview.

I know you’re busy and I’m just glad we get to talk. Where are you guys now?

We’re in Portland right now. We got in about midnight last night.

How have the shows gone so far?

It’s just been a ton of fun. We only have 2 under our belt and it’s been fun trying to assemble it and its been quick. We’ve had to do soundchecks basically as full-set run-thru rehearsal to make sure we have all our ducks in order. But I’m around some really great folks and just as I said when I was doing the Monsters of Folk tour, I have the best seat in the house [as the drummer]. This is a pretty good band and I feel very lucky to be part of it.

Is it just the four of you on stage?

Yes, it is.

Let’s start with the beginnings of this project. Who approached who and who joined on in time?

I guess going back to 1995-1996, Jay [Farrar] was in contact with Nora Guthrie [Woody’s granddaughter] and the idea was to work with Billy Bragg on some Woody Guthrie recordings. I guess the timing didn’t work out. I don’t exactly know the details, but it didn’t happen. But Jay attained to eventually get around to that on his terms. Toss that forward to 2005 and 2006, I guess he and Anders had Gob Iron and they went to the archives and started tracking with Nora’s blessing to put music to these lost and unrecorded Woody lyrics. That gained a little steam. Then in 2008-2009, Jim went by the archives and heard some of those recordings just to say he liked the songs that he heard. Then Jay extended the invitation to Jim and soon after they discussed it, they extended it to me. Then it started to snowball. Jim and I went to New York and cut our songs and got together for a followup session about a year later in March of 2010. So this record came from various corners of the universe in a way—recording sessions and different locations. But the cool thing is that we’ve all known each other for years and years and years through touring and recording and mutual admiration. I guess I go back to 1998 with Jay and Anders and Jim and I have known each other for years of course. It takes awhile to tell that story because it took that long to make the record.

Was everyone in the studio at once or did you guys do it in pairs?

Jay and Anders had the bulk of their tracks done before Jim and I came along. And they had various musicians record with them. The session that took place in ’09 shortly after I was invited involved all four of us. We were at the studio in Brooklyn for a week and we cut Jim’s three songs and we cut my three songs and we all played all over theirs. The session that took place in 2010 was mainly to get mine and Jim’s background vocals on Jay and Anders songs so that there’s a continuous run of fingerprints—everyone’s fingerprints are on all the recordings.

Did you get to go to the archives?

I still have not got to go. The way I received my choices and selections and song choices was from Jay, who had been to the archive several times. He sent me photocopies of 16 to 18 pages of Woody’s writings and scribbles and metered song lyrics… things like that. I went through those on my own time, but I still have to get to the archives.

Where is the Guthrie archive?

It’s in Manhattan as far as I know.

Is it open to the public or do you have to be specially invited?

I guess I’ll find out. I think people have to be in touch with Nora.

What has her roll been in this project?

I hope she goes to the New York show.

So you recorded for a week and just started practicing for the shows this past week?

That’s right. We went down to St. Louis and had three practice days at Jay’s studio doing the best we could to work out a set.

Does the song each person sings on the record reflect the song that they individually decided on to do, or was it a united effort?

I would say so. Speaking from my own experience, I got that mailer from Jay sand spread those pages out on the couch and just decided to find the things that came most naturally. It sounds a little cryptic but I started cutting demos within twenty minutes of opening the mailer. As far as the set we’re going to go straight through and then a mini second set where we do a solo song a piece and a solo song with the full band backing. It’s a full night of music for sure, but I think going in we wanted to perform every bit of the record for sure.

What did Woody Guthrie mean to you and did that view change in anyway with you participating in this project and recording his unrecorded songs?

It’s one of the most humbling feelings I’ve ever experienced. I feel I’m repeating myself with this, but I feel that it is truly one of the most highest honors that I could have ever experienced, either artistically, or in life. Woody Guthrie was always important to me as a kid, thanks to my folks and my grandparents and adults around me. By 1997, I really started exploring deeper into how complex and encompassing he was on all life levels. Just the breadth of his pallet became apparent to me. That Joe Klein biography sticks out to me as an important stage in me learning more about Woody and just how many people he affected. Once I read that book I started to look for more recordings. I guess it didn’t hurt that I was living with a semi-Woody obsessed roommate. So it was always around the house. We actually had a record player in the bathroom and whenever you flipped on the light switch it activated the record player. So, if we were taking a shower, the record player would go and there were a couple of Woody records that were on that record player for the better part of a year, which is great. Use the rest room, brush your teeth and you’d always hear Woody. That was such an important part of my life where I chose to dive in and wanted to learn more about this person.

I know that you and Jim are roadwarriors. Do you see an affinity with Woody Guthrie and that aspect of bringing his music on the road while rambling around the country?

Yeah, Jim and I met just from that sort of setting. It was the Jacket’s first U.S. tour and a good friend of mine was promoting the show in Austin. My friend had some really keen insight and is really responsible for forging the friendship and our friendship’s to flourish. He kind of insisted that South San Gabriel play that show with My Morning Jacket. And we played that show and friendships were forged immediately. Jim and I would send recordings to each other and we did tours in Europe and the US. That friendship flourished into the Monsters of Folk tour and this project as well.

When you approached Woody’s unreleased songs, to what degree did you try to consider how Woody would sing the song versus giving the song your own treatment?

That’s a really good question. On one song [“No Fear”], I took into account how Woody would have sang it and I could hear his voice so clearly when I read those words. Such simple lyrics and if you see the page, it’s scrawled out, it’s later in his life and his faculties were…um… his handwriting was a little shakey, and that makes reading those lyrics all the more intense. There’s still this fire, despite the condition he was in, but he was struggling with his handwriting. That song I did in fact hear his voice and I always kind of thought that Woody was one of the original punk rockers and when those lyrics–to my eyes, and eventually my ears– were very punk rock. Looking death straight in the eye and not being afraid of it. With the other two songs, I tried not to bring in too many outside influences and tried to let the lyrics guide me and let it unfold in a way that felt most natural. I thought it would be incredibly daunting, but I found the songs came very naturally and quick and I think that’s a testament to his voice and his songwriting.

An Interview with Jay Farrar

JF: Thanks for being flexible and thanks for your patience.

NG: No Problem. So are the shows going well so far?

JF: Yeah, really well. Even the first show. There’s always a first show aura I guess and it felt like we’d already been doing it for a while, so it’s going well.

Do you wanna give a brief history as to the beginnings of this project. I know you spearheaded it because you did stuff awhile back.

Yeah the idea of working with Woody Guthrie goes back to 1995-1996 when a request came through the record company. Son Volt was on Warner Brothers then and the idea was to work with unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics and to work with Billy Bragg. That didn’t happen, but the idea started then. Then in 2006, I approached Nora Guthrie and she said sure. At that point we started going into the Woody Guthrie archives.

So as far as the Billy Bragg thing, did Jeff Tweedy [former bandmate in Uncle Tupelo] just take and run with that?

I don’t know, but frankly I don’t really care which is important. This project finally came to fruition and it’s a great experience working with Will, Jim and Anders.

So you did some songs before this band got together?

That’s right. That’s reflected in the bonus deluxe version of the New Multitudes record, which has a lot of extra songs. Those were songs that Anders Parker and I got a head start on. We started recording, sometimes together and sometimes individually in 2006 and we started the process. Since the beginning this has been a side project and we just did what we could. Probably for the best, there was never any record company involved. The best example of that is that I once traded a guitar to make a recording situation happen. It’s always been an ad hoc situation to make this happen.

How did you come about meeting Nora Guthrie?

We met her while visiting the archives. She’s been supportive all along.

Tell me a little bit about the archives. Do you have to be invited there or can anyone go?

That’s a good question. I was invited because I approached Nora about doing a project with Woody Guthrie lyrics and I’m not sure what she thinks about anyone stopping by, but…. At the time in was located in upper Manhattan and it just occupied just a few relatively small rooms, but there was a vast amount of Woody Guthrie stuff there. It was essentially a repository of all things Woody and lyrics that had never been put to music. Originally I started with the letter “A” with the intention of making it all the way to the letter “Z”, but after about two days, I realized I was only on the letter “C” and wasn’t going to make it and started picking letters arbitrarily that I thought might be good like the letter “S”.

So everything is that well organized?

It is. It’s organized by pre-existing lyrics and then there are journals, which Woody often engaged in more of a free-form style of writing. Sometimes it was a stream of consciousness style, like in the song “Hoping Machine” which reflects Woody’s charms.

What was the craziest thing you found in the archive?

There are too many to mention, but when we found the song “Hoping Machine”, it was just in the middle of his journals where he would be writing routine stuff like “I woke up and drank coffee” and right after that he would launch into something philosophical, along the lines of  “Hoping Machine” which struck me to be a song where he’s talking about music as a language… where the mind which travels back to the laws of time and space.

Were all of these songs from a similar time period, or do you even know?

I started out concentrating Woody’s work in the 1940’s. That particularly interested me because it was a period where his guitar said “This Machine Kills Fascists”. And it was also a period where Woody went in and out of St. Louis, which is where I’m from. I think that “Hoping Machine” comes from the period. But, as Nora pointed out, most of the work that we chose was from a later period, maybe in the 1950’s when he was in California.

What did Woody mean to you before and has that perspective changed now that you’ve recorded his songs and even discovered his unreleased works?

I think going into the project I always thought that Woody was the first guy who though music could change the world. He was essentially the archetype. You can draw a flowchart with people that Woody Guthrie influenced along the way. But I think just visiting the archives it was amazing how prolific he was at creating. I think his first profession was a sign painter.

When you went into these songs, what part of you was conscious of giving the songs your own treatment versus the was Woody would have played them?

We didn’t really go into the writing or recording project with any game plan. We just wanted it to evolve and would reflect each of the various backgrounds that each of us bring to the background.

Would you say you wanted the songs to sound like how Woody imagined them, or did you try and do your own take on things?

There was never any conscious thought about how Woody would have sang it. But I think there are instances where we’re gelling enough to sound like Woody would have done it.

Scheduling and distance can take a toll, but when the stars align and time allots, they form one of the most important, intense, instrumental acts of all time. Combining cinematic rock music with the sensibilities and spontaneity of jazz, the Dirty Three are known for their tumultuous ebbs and sprawling flows. With Mick Turner’s signature pluck-and-drone guitar stylings, Jim White’s tender percussive brush strokes and Ellis’ possessed and passionate attempts to tame his wild violin, the Dirty Three venture through stormy crescendos and devastating comedowns as if they were weathering a storm in some seafaring tempest. While their records and live shows have become less frequent, any opportunity to witness the Dirty Three’s live experience should not be missed. Check out the following exclusive video to find out why. Notice the leg kicks, the laying down, the sway, the plucks and his comical interludes which grace the introduction to each song.

The following interview with Warren Ellis was done over the phone from his home in Paris and the exclusive photos and videos were taken a week later at the Ukrainian Federation in Montreal, Canada in a rare and recent eastern North American Tour last month.

So, you haven’t toured with the Dirty Three for about three years or so at this point?

I think the last time we played was in New York. I think it was 2009 or something like that.

Since you have all of these other projects like the Bad Seeds, Grinderman and soundtrack work, have your priorities with the Dirty Three changed over the years?

Well, I never really had a plan at the start. My plan was just that I liked making music, and when we formed Dirty Three, I realized I met three people that would be good to create a language with. Then other things came along. For me it’s always been about creating a language and continuing my involvement in music. I didn’t really have a plan as such. I don’t approach things in a different way. I don’t have priorities and nothing ranks above anything else. Historically, the Dirty Three will always be the most significant thing because I’ve been at it the longest. I started it and didn’t come in half way through the story, so to speak. There’s something quite different about that, but that aside, I see everything I do in music as something of an ongoing involvement in the story. If I think otherwise, you start not working to your full potential and you start undermining the work that you do. If I’m doing something, I go into it with the same energy. I know in order to stay in it, I need to continue to be challenged, and I know things need to change for me. Certainly making a new Dirty Three record is as big of a challenge as to make soundtrack for a film in it’s own way. Each thing presents a new home for me. But it’s hard to juggle everything at the same time.

The Dirty Three are based out of three continents at this point as well, right?

Yep. I mean every band I work with is in three different continents. I don’t actually live near anybody I play with. The closest person I live near is Nick [Cave], and he lives a couple of hundred of miles away. He’s a train ride or a boat away. I don’t know if that’s indicative of my character or what it is. I don’t actually live in the same city as anyone I play with. It just means that when I get together with them, we have to go for it. There’s a foot in every country. The internet has changed things like that completely. I can work for a theater company in Iceland and send them material. With the Lawless movie, I overdubbed a Willie Nelson track in my back shed and sent it off. You couldn’t have done that that easily ten years ago.

So the Dirty Three have always remained a band and it’s just assumed it would get back together every few years to record and tour?

It’s always been ongoing. At any given time, one of us is doing something else. Jim is doing other things and Mick does other things and paints and things like that. I think we realized in the 1990’s that if we spent any extended periods of time, like most groups, you’d just land up killing each other. We realized after the first five years of touring non-stop that we had to have a break from it. Any longevity is directly attributed to the fact that we have so many other things going on. Like anything we do, we take this time and when it happens it generally seems to be a good thing that we had space in between. The good thing about the Dirty Three is that we all go away and do other things and we all come back and bring new things from those experiences and that informs what you’re going to do next. It feels like a very great place to be in.

The newest record starts out much more abrasively than other Dirty Three records. Is there a reason behind that?

Well, to be honest, we had problems trying to make this record. Every time we tried, it was so familiar to our previous work that it was depressing. I think early on we realized the reality of our limitations of being a three-piece group and instrumental. You learn very quickly about what you can and what you can’t do. You realize that when you know you’re doing something familiar that’s what you shouldn’t be doing. Rather than augment the group over the years, we’ve added overdubs and keep the basic spirit of it as a three-piece and see how far we can go with it– instead of becoming a 7-piece band– because that’s the only way you can change the sound and ideas. And that’s always been a challenge. And it was especially a challenge with this last one because I was so busy with Grinderman and the Bad Seeds and the film stuff. That was taking up more of my time, and Jim was out with Cat Power a lot. It just meant that everytime we did find a space to get together we weren’t necessarily working out and we were playing stuff that was familiar. When we would play live, though, it still felt like we had something to say and there was something urgent. When we looked and listened to the live show, we realized we should approach recording that way and get to the studio and get into the writing process. We tried to structure it more and more with the most recent records. The first couple of tracks with the new record for this session felt like we had gotten back into it. They are there as a statement of intent and they got us excited again. It’s been a struggle to make this record. Not like a struggle to cure cancer, but you know what I mean. I wondered if we had said as much as we had to say, but we made something that we feel real good about.

Does everyone bring something to the table in the Dirty Three, or are you the main ideas man?

People will bring in different ideas, but the Dirty Three has always been about the sum of the kind of characters. It’s really driven by the three of us and that’s what determines what happens. Even if someone comes in with a specific idea, it changes pretty quickly when the three of us start playing together. It’s taken over by the group if you will. Nothing is done individually. We are very much a group in the purest sense. It’s like the way Neil Young sounds with Crazy Horse, and the way Crazy Horse brings something else to the music. I’m not saying we’re anything like Crazy Horse. I mean that we are really a group and they are a group and they do what they do. Like some of the great jazz combinations, the Dirty Three is a sum of its parts and if you take away anyone from it, the group is going to change dramatically. We’ve always known with the Dirty Three that if someone wants to pull the plug on it, then it’s the end of the group. I wouldn’t see the point in continuing on if any of us left.

Does improvisation figure into recording and/or live shows?

Yeah, it does. Recording and live. If you know our songs, you’ll be able to recognize it. There’s always room for us to take certain liberties– whether it’s with dynamics or with speed or melodically. That was always the idea with Dirty 3—that we didn’t get stuck in that routine of playing. The thrilling thing about Dirty 3 in the beginning was that there was always supposed to be a certain liberty taken on everyone’s part. It’s very much about listening to what everyone else is doing. We don’t have the chops of a jazz band for instance, but we also aren’t stuck in the same ways that the traditional rock band might be. It’s certainly not fusion, but we wanted to have the sensibilities of the way jazz people play so it’s engaging to us. Otherwise we’d get bored.

You’re very vocal onstage in between songs, but your songs are instrumental. Have you ever had to restrain yourself from trying to sing or write lyrics?

No, I don’t really have anything to say. I don’t feel an urge to express myself lyrically, nor do I know how to write lyrics. This way I’m not misunderstood. The group is not misunderstood. You take it how you want to. I’ve always liked poetry when I was a younger guy and I used to like writing it back then. I’ve always been a person who follows lyrics occasionally. But it didn’t matter that I didn’t know what the words were to a song like “Brown Sugar”. When I did figure out what was going on it seemed even more incredible than what I though it was. But it didn’t bother me that I didn’t know what was going on. It made it a little more fantastic and even more magical. I’ve always found that when I engage in something in a more linear way that I’m less interested in it. I’ve never felt a desire to do that.

Do you feel there’s anything thematically linked or visually generated in the new record?

With us it’s different. I work in bands that have lyrics. With Grinderman I can see that there’s a narrative in there and I see that it happens to us as an instrumental band. We put down a bunch of songs and as they begin to consolidate and begin to form a bunch of songs, you begin to get an album where a narrative seems to run through them. It seems to be really important, but when you start grouping things, things just start to take on a world of their own. I’ve seen this with lyrics and without. I guess that’s just the way it works. A lot of times I’ll go in to the studio… some of the time… most of the time… all of the time actually,,, you don’t know if you’re going to get anything or not. You don’t know if you’re going to get an album or a couple of songs or whatever. So it’s all very much about discovery. It happens with the soundtrack work as well. The thing I like about that is that is means you’re open to change.

How does the soundtrack stuff happen? Do they show you parts and you work from that or do you just see the script and work on it without any visuals?

Generally what has happened is we read the script and we have discussions about what we want it to sound like. Each time I work on the soundtracks with Nick [Cave]. It has to be determined what we can play between us and certain sounds might be suggested. Then we watch parts of the film, some sort of first edit. It’s kind of different for each thing. For Jesse James we were meant to get a cut and we didn’t, so we had 15 seconds of Brad Pitt trying to fire a gun and we kept going “does this work?… does this work?” We’d already booked the studio and we didn’t have the liberty of a lot of time so if we’ve penciled in a date and we don’t have anything, we still have to do something. I think many of the major things were made without us seeing much at all. We recorded them and Andrew landed up using the rough mixes we made in the film. That’s the great thing about soundtracks actually– if it works, it works. Sometimes it seems like it’s taylor-made, but it’s not.

Nick did the screenplay for Lawless, right? That must have helped in doing the sound for that film.

Well it does and it doesn’t. He did the Proposition too, and I think he had certain ideas. But with the songs in Lawless, there are songs and a score. When he was writing the script we had discussions about dropping Ralph Stanley’s voice on top of these ramshackle versions of songs. Things always change and things don’t always work out. There’s a continuing discussion all the time and the great thing is if you leave it open anything can happen and always does. The greatest things are the surprises. The great thing about Lawless are the tracks that Ralph Stanley is on that he would have never done before. It’s kind of an accident actually the way that happened. We couldn’t get him to even sing in the key we played in, let alone the 4/4. He just wouldn’t do it. He did the song in a certain way. We had a Skype conference with him in Nashville and it was one of the most surreal and memorable moments I’ll ever have in my life. It was just unbelievable. The result of Hal Willner being involved enabled us to get some of the most incredible covers ever, certainly one of the greatest Velvet Underground covers I’ve ever heard—and one of the hardest songs to cover. I think historically what came out in respect with the Link Wray song and taking songs back to where there came from is one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if you’ve heard them, but I think they’re extraordinary. I was sort of relieved to hear that Neil Young Americana record and it seemed like one of the first times someone has done one of those records looking back… and not just banged it out the same old way where you play with an acoustic guitar and that’s good enough. It was so fantastic to hear that and you could feel that. And you could hear Crazy Horse in there and the great thing about Crazy Horse with Neil young and the influence of them and those songs in there, I just thought it was fantastic and such a relief after all of these banged out things that people think you should do at a certain point in your career. And I think for me, those Ralph Stanley songs that he did [for Lawless] were just mind-boggling. To see him at work and for me to be told by a bloke that he likes his version better…to be told by Ralph Stanley [imitating Ralph Stanley] “Oh I like my version better.” It’s like, “you totally have a point” [Laughs]. It’s brilliant. It’s nice to get smacked around the ears.

Is there a new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds record on the way?

Well, I can’t talk about that.

It’s been a pleasure to talk to you…

You too. I’m looking forward to the shows. Have you seen the film? You have the soundtrack? What did you think about it?

I think it’s great.

I think there are aspects that have just never been done before. It was interesting because Lou Reed came in and had a listen to the Ralph Stanley version [of White Light/White Heat] and there’s no band that has had a bigger effect on me than the Velvet Underground—and to see his reaction, the guy who wrote the song– was unforgettable. You realize then that you have really seen something and something really happened in a great kind of way. I think that Ralph Stanley stuff is just incredible.

You said you did a Willie Nelson song from your shed. Was most of the other stuff also from afar or did you all meet in the studio?

The soundtrack was done in LA. All of the scoring stuff was done in LA. There was about 40 minutes of score. But we only put the songs on the soundtrack. The Willie Nelson song is something Harvey Weinstein should take credit for. He really made it happen. I can’t really take credit for it. I just had to throw some things onto it that kept it more in line with the rest of the music because it basically sounded like boot-scooter music when I got a hold of it. It’s just one of those things where when you have a bunch of people involved in something… and you’re like fucking hell, you know. The other tracks were done in Brighton, like the stuff Mark Lanegan did. Then the Emmylou Harris and Ralph Stanley songs were done in Nashville and Hal Willner went there and he’s amazing at working with people. And he’s basically the only reason the Ralph Stanely stuff was possible… because people trust him, you know. He’s fantastic the way he can coax things out of people. He went out there and sort of took the ball in his own court, so to say. The Mark stuff was done in LA. The originals were originally for Ralph Stanley, but that wasn’t possible, so we needed a plan B. So we had versions that he sent to us to show how he sang them. He didn’t even listen to what we sent him. The great thing about that is that its so daunting to do something outside of your comfort zone and I can’t imagine how threatening it must feel for an 85 year old guy to get “White Light/White Heat” thrown at him. And to his credit, he took it to where he understood it and he took it back to a place where it could have come from… Fire and Brimstone… you know, he made it into a waltz.

Again, it was a great pleasure. Thank you for your generous time. Safe travels to you, and I look forward to your shows.

My pleasure Nolan.

Today we have a large upper level ridge building over the Central US ,spreading into the eastern US de to a powerful trough making its way into the west coast, this upper level ridge will make for overall a very nice and mild week, until Sunday, then things get interesting and much colder by early next week

Today,  warm front just north o the area will lead to periodic cloud cover and disturbances riding this front will lad to the chance of isolated to scattered showers with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s NE PA , mid 60s NYC metropolitan area and low 70s Southern NJ and Philadelphia metro

Whats interesting is , this temperature gradient will remain through Thursday, with the Philadelphia area pretty warm while the NYC area not so much because of a powerful negative NAO block, we will have the warm front stall to the SW of NYC  and a polar maritime air mass trying to take hold

And you can kind of see this on the satellite picture above, that the ridge is being held back by a trough over the nort Atlantic with North NJ / NYC points NE not getting into the true warmth and ridging until Friday if not Saturday because of that

Wednesday, showers wil end with highs in the upper 50s to low 60s NE PA, NYC , Northern NJ while southern NJ and Philadelphia bask in the warmth, in th low to mid 70s

You can see the temperature gradient as winds are more out of the NE from NYC through NE PA but out of the west and SW over southern NJ, SE PA

Thursday will be similar to Wednesday temperature wise but with no chance of rain at all , it should be noted though with more of a maritime air mass in place ( off the ocean) lows will not fall all that much and not get too cold with lows each nigh in the mid 40s NE PA to lower 50s over NYC area , Philadelphia, Southern NJ will only drop into the mid 50s to low 60s

Friday, the ridge and warm front will finally attempt to cross through the rest of the area as a cold front begins to sweep east from th Midwest , highs will moderate to the low 60 NE PA to te mid to upper 60s NYC and Philadelphia metro remains in the low to mid 70s with lows again ranging from the mid to upper 40s NE PA to the upper 50s to low 60s southern NJ and low 50s NYC area

By Saturday, the ridge will be in place along the whole east coast but a cold front will be marching east, so while mild conditions are expected for all (mid 6os to mid 70s) clouds will be on the increase and a cold front with a POTETIALLY ( note the key word here is potential) a powerful storm system along with it, im going to do a post on that later.

Its going to get COLD next week behind this cold front , no other way to put it as the EPO transitions back to negative, a ridge will build into the west, a deep trough will build into the east and tempera fall to well below normal levels by early next week , of course the potential storm and its track will determine just exactly when this cold shot is going to take over

I think this cold shot unlike the others we have had so far is going to last quite long going into the Halloween time period and early November  as we enter a deeply negative NAO pattern with plenty of high latitude blocking which will really slow down the pattern

Originally created as a side project to coincide with his work in Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh quickly became Lou Barlow’s main musical outlet after being ousted from the band he helped create. After a notorious power struggle in songwriting with J. Mascis, Lou Barlow began pursuing his more autonomous endeavors.

In contrast to the towering guitar-based rock band that Mascis and Dinosaur Jr. would become known for, Barlow and his work with Sebadoh would soon led to Lou’s reputation as one of the pioneers in the lo-fi sound revolution.

While he has reunited with Dinosaur Jr. for the occasional tour and recording sessions, it is his work in Sebadoh that will always remain as Barlow’s secular masterpieces.

This interview with Lou was taken a few months back as he prepared to open for himself at the MIddle East Downstairs.

So I heard you’re hitting the road today. Are you driving straight to the east coast from LA?

I’m flying to New York tonight. Oh no, my band mates live in Brooklyn, so I’ll fly out there and practice for a few days.

What brought you out to California?

Low rent as compared to Boston. We moved out here 13 or 14 years ago and I wanted to buy a house and that definitely wasn’t able to happen in Boston.

Do you still feel an affinity for Massachusetts?

Yeah, of course I grew up there.

What is the difference between Sebadoh, Sentridoh and Lou Barlow?

Well, Sebadoh is me and my band mates. I guess Lowenstein and I have been keeping it going. It’s been the two of us with a few different drummers. Well, three I guess at this point. There have been a fair amount of drummers. We started swapping drummers out in 93 or so. Eric Gaffney is the original and he formed the band with me. We got Jason on board pretty soon after that in 1989. We toured after awhile and Eric kept quitting the band so we got Bob Fey and he played with us until about 1995 or 96. Then we got Russ Pollard. And now we have….

So Sentridoh and Lou Barlow are strictly solo acts?

I mean I guess when I made records with Lou Barlow it meant that I’d actually have people play on them with me. The thing with Sentridoh is it’s basically just me.

Was there ever an end to Sebadoh or has it always been active over the years?

We’ve always been active. We never gave up.

Did reuniting with Dinosaur put Sebadoh on hold for a bit?

Not really, it kind of facilitated it. When Dinosaur got back together for the first round of reunion touring, it sort of gave me the financial means to get Sebadoh back together with Eric Gaffney. I was able to make a leap and make this happen and buy plane tickets for everybody. Dinosaur kind of made Sebadoh possible. To be completely happy in Dinosaur I have to be doing other stuff. And if I’m doing other stuff I’m perfectly happy doing Dinosaur.

So on this tour you are playing solo and opening for Sebadoh? Is this a first… opening for yourself?

I guess it is the first time we’ve officially done it. I’ve always wanted to do this and take over the night and do what we wanted.

How did the reissues come to be? Was it your idea, or did the label come to you to do it?

It was the label. They said, “hey you guys should reissue these records”. And we said okay. I didn’t think there was any particular interest in it. I didn’t think there was a necessity to reissue, because they’re probably all still readily available in bargain bins everywhere and sitting in piles in warehouses. I think it is a gesture made by people and labels to say that you made an important record and you should reissue it. It was also the impetus of getting back together with Eric Gaffney and collaborating with the reissues of our really early records. I was very grateful for that. It facilitated Eric coming back into the band and doing the original lineup for the reunion tour in 07 and 08.

Did Harmacy get re-released yet?

No, because they wanted me to do that and I absolutely don’t want to pursue it at all. I just can’t get excited about that record and I also think it’s another one where I think its everywhere. I think anyone can find it and I don’t know how we could improve upon it unless we included the b-sides from that time, but the b-sides we did from that time I don’t know they were that great. After we redid Bakesale, I mean that was cool, but it’s not like they sold anything or we make any money from it. Only the very original reissues that we did with Eric was there any money involved. Maybe we would get some change from working on it. I mean Sub Pop lost so much money on Harmacy that when we get royalty statements its like, “oh now you only owe us $15,000.” It’s like oh great. And Harmacy precipitated this huge meltdown at Sub Pop and Sub Pop just totally reorganized itself after Harmacy and Supersuckers records. They made a lot of bad decisions at that time that it’s hard for me to get psyched about it.

Do you have a favorite record or time period with the band?

I really liked Sebadoh 3. That was a really cool record. It was schitzo-tense and really represents the introduction of re-writing members of the band. And we did Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock and Bubble and Scrape, and those records have such a good vibe to them. They were kind of self-produced and we did those before we recorded with other people and let other people determine how we sounded. We were actually at the boards with our friend Bob Weston mixing stuff and cranking EQ’s and doing all the crazy things that we could think of. Those records have a wild sound to me. Bakesale is cool too. It has a cool vibe too, but it’s pretty well-mannered compared to the previous period.

And you guys are putting out new stuff?

Yeah, we just did a digital EP that came out a few weeks ago on Bandcamp with 5 new songs. And we have 15 more songs in various stages of completion and hopefully we’ll release those early next year and start the whole cycle over again.

When people comment on Lou Barlow being part of the lo-fi revolution, do you see any merit or truth in that? Or was there just a time and place for that that was do to the technological limitations of the time? Was being lo-fi a conscious thing when you were recording?

I guess I never though too much about it. It was really just about making music. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s, going to a studio was a sure way to kill your music. Rock records in the 80’s and 90’s were horrendous sounding to me. I just did what I did to keep it interesting for myself and do things that I thought sounded good. Generally I wanted to keep it kind of crunchy and to my ears natural sounding. I mean we also literally recorded things on Walkmans to record records. But to me that wasn’t a radical statement or anything. I grew up in Massachusetts and there was a wealth of college radio and I was exposed to a bunch of independent spirited music early on, from the time I was 11 or 12. You go left of the dial, and even in Western Mass, I swear there were 10 different stations at any given time that were playing totally independent music like punk rock, hardcore, college rock… all that stuff was out there and I was hearing it. Rough Trade had a domestic thing back then too and they were just flooding stores with Young Marble Giants records. I heard all of that stuff. I just think that my music was a response to all of that.

http://northeasternnjwx.wordpress.com/summer-2012-forecast/

I basically called for an average to slightly above average summer temperature wise and rainfall around to slightly above average, and here is what happened

June temperature departures

]

June ended at or slightly below normal through out the area and around average to slightly above average rainfall wise

July temperature departure

However, this changed in July as a heat ridge just sat over the Mississippi river valley and sent heat wave after heat wave into the  east and throught most of the country, and so July ended well above normal temperature wise, rainfall was very diverse through the area, many areas got below average rainfall but the coast of NJ got well above normal rainfall due to sea breeze fronts enhancing thunderstorms and forcing thunderstorms to stall out right over coastal areas, the Philadelphia Metro area and East PA ended at or slightly above normal, while Northern NJ and the NYC metro ended below average to well below average

THE CENTRAL PARK NY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2012…

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1869 TO 2012

WEATHER         OBSERVED          NORMAL  DEPART  LAST YEAR`S
VALUE   DATE(S)  VALUE   FROM    VALUE  DATE(S)
NORMAL
……………………………………………………….
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH             106   07/09/1936
LOW               52   07/01/1943
HIGHEST           100   07/18        MM      MM      104  07/22
LOWEST             61   07/21        MM      MM       63  07/01
07/20
AVG. MAXIMUM     87.3              84.1     3.2     88.9
AVG. MINIMUM     70.3              68.8     1.5     71.6
MEAN             78.8              76.5     2.3     80.2
DAYS MAX >= 90     10               5.5     4.5       14
DAYS MAX <= 32      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MIN <= 32      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MIN <= 0       0               0.0     0.0        0

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM        11.89   1889
MINIMUM         0.44   1999
TOTALS           4.21              4.60   -0.39     3.03
DAILY AVG.       0.14              0.15   -0.01     0.10
DAYS >= .01        11              10.4     0.6        8
DAYS >= .10         7               6.9     0.1        7
DAYS >= .50         4               3.0     1.0        2
DAYS >= 1.00        1               1.4    -0.4        1

We see Central Park/NYC ended 2 degrees above normal temperature wise and 0.40 below average rainfall wise

Newark NJ

WEATHER         OBSERVED          NORMAL  DEPART          LAST YEAR`S
V              VALUE     VALUE            FROM  NORMAL    DATE(S)

……………………………………………………….
TEMPERATURE (F)
RECORD
HIGH             108   07/22/2011
LOW               52   07/12/1945
HIGHEST           104   07/18        MM      MM      108  07/22
LOWEST             64   07/21        MM      MM       65  07/01
07/20
AVG. MAXIMUM     90.1              86.0     4.1     92.5
AVG. MINIMUM     71.5              68.7     2.8     72.8
MEAN             80.8              77.4     3.4     82.7
DAYS MAX >= 90     16               8.5     7.5       22
DAYS MAX <= 32      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MIN <= 32      0               0.0     0.0        0
DAYS MIN <= 0       0               0.0     0.0        0

PRECIPITATION (INCHES)
RECORD
MAXIMUM        19.09   1897
MINIMUM         0.84   1932
TOTALS           2.27              4.76   -2.49     2.04
DAILY AVG.       0.07              0.15   -0.08     0.07
DAYS >= .01         9              10.1    -1.1        8
DAYS >= .10         4               6.8    -2.8        7
DAYS >= .50         3               3.0     0.0        0
DAYS >= 1.00        0               1.5    -1.5        0
GREATEST
24 HR. TOTAL    0.73   07/26 TO 07/26           07/29 TO 07/29
07/25 TO 07/26                    07/31 TO 07/31
07/26 TO 07/26                    07/31 TO 07/31
STORM TOTAL       MM                                 MM
(MM/DD(HH))            MM                    07/29(00) TO 07/29(00)
07/31(00) TO 07/31(00)1
07/31(00) TO 07/31(00)1

Newark NJ ended a whopping 3.4 degrees above normal and a full 2.50 inches below average rainfall wise

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=okx

Above is a link to access all data from July or any month you want for the NYC metro area and Upton NY forecast area

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=phi

This is a link to access all data from any month you want for the Philadelphia area and NWS Mount Holly Forecast area

I’m not going to post all the cities, but the point is that July ended very warm and above average.

August

August ,as we began to see the summer pattern break down, we cooled down and the area was average to slightly above average and rainfall was average to above average overall

SUMMER AS A WHOLE

Summer as a whole ended above average (the order of 1-2 degrees) and precipitation ended around average if you balance out both the very wet areas and rather dry areas

So overall I grade my summer forecast at a B- , I somewhat busted on the temperature call as I said average to slightly above and we ended a bit more than slightly above normal, the precipitation forecast went pretty good, some areas ended below normal, some areas ended way above normal so balance it out and we got around average precipitation this summer.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the summer, and now its time to get ready for Fall and Winter!!

English: Philadelphia skyline (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The construction cranes that now dot Philadelphia are a welcome sign that some business is getting done, but the steel structures tend to distract the eye from the local economy’s challenges closer to the ground.

The latest quarterly reading of Select Greater Philadelphia‘s leading economic indicators points to mid-2014 as the earliest point when employment in the 11-county region will return to its prerecession level.

A separate analysis of the Philadelphia market by PNC Financial Services Group Inc. recently concluded that the region will continue to lag behind the nation in economic growth, job growth, and income growth.

What’s going on here? Don’t we have an emerging entrepreneurial tech community, a growing business professional services sector, and an enviable cluster of top-notch higher education and health-care institutions?

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120810_PhillyInc__Reports_see_slow_recovery_for_Phila__area.html#ixzz23AG6vpUA
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Jason Pierce wasn’t easy to track down. He never has been. But at the last possible hour of the last possible day before deadline, he came through to talk about the recent release of his seventh album, Sweet Heart Sweet Light.

While his previous record was recorded after a near death experience with double pneumonia, Sweet Heart Sweet Light was written during another health scare, one he doesn’t like to talk about. This record wasn’t created with the help of illicit drugs like many of the previous ones. It was recorded under the influence of different substances—ones prescribed by a doctor.

Thanks to the kindness and access provided by Spiritualized’s management and the venue’s security staff, this interview is accompanied by exclusive live video and a few photos from their recent show at the Paradise Rock Club.

Without further ado… Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Jason Pierce……

What is the background story behind the cover art?

Wow. I wanted it to look like one of those medical logos. But most of all, more than making it look good on a 12” LP, I wanted it to look good on any scale, no matter how small it goes. I wanted it to look like a work of art. It kinda worked on each scale and it kind of looks like the Periodic Table as well, so it kinda worked.

It seems like an interesting choice to start with a 9 minute song. Was there any reasoning behind that decision?

No, it just kind of came out like that. With the record, I wanted to make the whole thing like a pop record, like the Beatles. Then halfway through I realized I didn’t really like the Beatles. Not that I don’t like the Beatles music, but I decided I wouldn’t like to make a record like that. The idea originally was to make all of the songs two and a half minutes so it would be about harmony and melody and not about that abstraction or distortion– but some of it just came about like that. You can’t really edit that down. In a way, with the album as a whole, all the songs lean up against each other and editing them down would have made them more fucked up than this freedom. All the songs lean against each other, you know?

How did the official music video for “Hey Jane” come about and was any of that your idea? Did the video give the song a different meaning in the end?

You know how that video came about… it’s how most videos come about. You commit to someone to make your video. We usually use the video money to have some fun like when we went to Mount Edna. But most of the times you commission someone to make something. And then someone makes it seem like it was their idea. But this time, I sent it out and people came out with their ideas. This time I hadn’t known what he had done and I let him run with it and I did the opposite and didn’t give him any input. My only input, if you can call it that, was to resist any further conventions of the record label to destroy what it was or to try and chop it down to vignettes. There’s all kind of restrictions.

Is it true that you scrapped the original mix of this record after you released promo copies?

No. You know I didn’t mix the record by sitting in a room and mixing the record. I started mixing it a year before I was finished and I was trying not to do any further recording and try and balance it. It wasn’t strictly mixing. But I sent out what I called a finished thing ahead of time to try and jump the gun. There’s so much importance placed upon lead-up time nowadays. It used to be you finished a record and had it out in the stores a month and a half later. Now, it’s 5 months ahead of time because magazine have 3 and a half months lead-up time, so they’re not writing about current affairs anymore– they’re writing about things that happened 3 and a half months ago. So, I figured we could get a jump on that and if I sent an early copy out for review, I could jump on tour right when I finished the record. And it kind of worked. Within a month I was on tour. There wasn’t a clever thought about it. I wasn’t trying to get a jump on journalists or trying to make a clever statement. Sometime down the line I said as a joke that people who review the record haven’t got the proper record anyway. Some people didn’t find that funny. Some people thought I was trying to make some clever point on the state on music journalism. I was just trying to get a jump on touring.

Is the record thematic at all to you?

Is there a thread through the whole record? Is that what you mean? Yeah, kind of. I kind of had a difficult time putting it together actually. Sometimes I think I just make a record to tour because I feel the need to get back on the road. I think that’s what is most exciting… when you’re not trying to tie it down and catch something and put it down forever and be able to hear it in 20 years time. There’s something exciting live when you’re pushing it and you’re within it, but you’re not trying to hold onto it. With this record, as I said, I was trying to make a pop record—I wanted to make something where you didn’t have to be hip to a certain style or music, you could just sit and listen to it like a collection of songs that really worked. My influences were Iggy Pop’s Kill City, Clear Spot by Captain Beefheart and Accelerator by Royal Trux. They weren’t albums that they were releasing into the stars or that would change music forever, they were just beautiful collections of songs. When I tried to put that down, it became very hard to make. Anyone trying to make pop music has nowhere to hide. Everyone knows the definition of pop music. You can’t hide in an abstract idea. I started thinking that the more abstract you go with music, the more you can start to say “oh you’re not really hip to this or you haven’t got the musical ear to understand this”. But with pop music, you can’t really hide behind anything. It doesn’t really come with a disclaimer.

How is your health these days?

It’s good I think.

Did your health problems affect your visions of songs and how you approached songwriting?

Yeah, I don’t know. They got in the way. The treatment was worse than the thing I was suffering from. I had to do the treatment, otherwise I was going to get worse. Really it was made under a whole set of conditions of what being cut off of drugs can do. And so that got in the way. I can’t really even listen to the record now because it reminds me of that time. And I’ve never really made a record like that before. I usually make records that make sense to me after. It’s weird because I haven’t really got a control record to compare with. I haven’t made a record that wasn’t made under those circumstances so I don’t know if it would have been made different, but I really think it might have been.

The last time I saw you play, you played stripped down with gospel singers. Is this going to be similar, or will it be a more all-out rock show?

It’s a similar lineup. I’d like to say it’s a sit-back show, but it’s a little more involved and still allowing the ideas of the new record. But I’d like to say it’s more pop. We’re traveling with the same girls who played on the previous record, but they’re not gospel singers, they sing pop music and they sing like Leonard Cohen or the Leonard Cohen singers. They sound more ethereal and spaced out. It’s not gospel anymore, it’s taken on it’s own thing.

You’ve always used religious allusions in your music. After the near-death health experiences, the Jesus references are still there. Are they any more realistic or are they still just reference points?

No. They never really meant anything religious. I’ve had trouble trying to explain this. It’s like “Heaven Sent Me an Angel”. It’s kind of a short cut in language. I read something this morning about the Beach Boys’ song with Brian Wilson. Even though it has God-reference in the title, the song has NOTHING to do with God. It’s about love. It’s like an economy of language. Really that’s my use of language. Having a conversation with Jesus, you know exactly what that’s about. It allows you to take things with few words to carry what the songs about. There’s no religion in these songs at all.

As far as touring vs. making records, which do you enjoy more?

Touring, always. I’m not trying to pin things down and hold onto things when I play live. You can push it around from the inside and make changes. I fucking hate making records, I really do. And it just gets harder. It changes the way you listen to music. It starts changing the way you listen to other people’s records. You get caught up thinking about what kinds of reverbs they’ve used. Once I get to playing again and I get on the bus, it all starts to make sense again.

When you guys play now, do you go back through the whole catalogue or are there songs you stay away from for any reason?

It’s not very thought about. It’s not really planned. We don’t sit around with a list of songs we can do. We play something and then we think about what leads into that. Nothing’s really out-of-bounds.

Your characters have names on this record, at least more so than usual. Are they based on real people

Yeah, but they’re a bit more fluid. I think there are about 3 Janes in there. There’s no single Jane.

Do you think your songs have turned into more of a quest for penance or redemption at all?

My songs? No, I’ve been trying to write pop songs. In making an album, you almost drain the songs of any substance. By the time I’ve finished the album, they almost have no emotional effect on me at all. It’s kind of wicked because I know it’s in there. I know that some of it really moved me and some of it had to be said like that. But now I listen to the album and I like the pop aspect of it, but I have a few chuckles after hearing some lines of it. But there was a time when the whole album and lyrics were important to me. But you can’t make records fast. I think most bands relinquish responsibilities and hire a producer who comes in with his own bag of tricks. I set out to make my own records. I have to learn it as I go along. I don’t write the finished song before we record it. I record enough ideas and add to it as we go along.

Like many indie rock bands of the 1990’s, Archers of Loaf achieved their greatest level of respect and relative success only after they had broken up. After releasing four studio albums between 1991-1998 on Alias Records, the band parted ways, but lead singer Eric Bachman never stopped making music. Releasing solo records as Crooked Fingers and eventually under his own name, Bachman quickly went from angsty, adolescent screamer to smooth, sentimental crooner. Now, 13 years after Archers of Loaf’s initial dissolve, Bachman is screaming again and the Archers are back together for a limited time to support their long overdue, welcomed re-releases of their classic records, Vee Vee and Icky Mettle, now available on Merge Records. I caught up with Eric Bachman over the phone to talk about the past, the present, and the fact that the past has become the present. Enjoy.

I guess let’s start with how this Archers of Loaf reunion tour come came about?

It was just good timing and serendipitous. Shawn Nolan was the manager of the Archers in the 1990’s and he became a lawyer. After a lot of work, he convinced Merge to reissue and license our records. The records originally came out through Alias records. When he convinced Alias and Merge to reissue them we thought… well, we had never lost touch as a band. We never thought we would play again necessarily, but we’d talk about it every five years. Matt was busy. I was busy. But when that happened, we realized we were getting older and that it would be real fun to do. So it just kind of made sense to do it now with the Merge reissues.

Was anyone especially hard to convince to get the band back together?

Well I was the hold out. Everyone else had been talking about it more than I had been. I had been in Taiwan teaching English and I came back and I spoke with Matt a little bit and thought I might want to do this now. A year or two before, I would have said no. I was working on other people’s records and my own records and just doing other stuff.

And the first reunion show was a secret show opening for another band?

Yeah. We didn’t know how it would feel to do it because it had been almost 13 years. We were always cautious. We were very cautious as people back in the day. So we thought let’s play a show if it goes well, great– if it doesn’t, at least we had fun show and it was kind of cool playing this show with the Love Language. If it doesn’t work then we’re gonna make an ass of ourselves. If it does work we can do more.

So it was it a secret billing?

It was. It was listed as “Special Guests”. We had mutual friends with the Love Language, and they do quite well. They were coming back from tour and we knew they were going to sell the show out anyway, so we thought it was a good place to announce… people we knew locally knew… it kind of leaked.

What led to the dissolving of the band in the first place?

I think it just ran its course. I think people had a good time with it, but we were going in different directions within the band. I think after 7, 8 or 9 years—I mean the band started in 1991 so we had been together for 9 years and Mark, the drummer, had health issues with his wrists and he brought up the idea to maybe call it quits. I don’t think he expected that the other 3 of us would call it quits as well, but we wanted to stop before we made a bad record. It was also the fact that we were tired of touring. We had toured a lot.

Is there anything you wish you had done differently back then that would have changed the course of the band?

No, not really. I’m sure there are things we could have done that were smarter in the way we handled things. We could have been a little more relaxed and kept a little money and not been so uptight about how we did things. But not really. I’m still here doing this probably because I’m maintaining this rigid control over what I’m doing. I have times where I’m like “oh we should have done this… we should have had a song in a TV show or signed with another label”, but those thoughts only last for a minute.

So was it hard to get your material back from the previous label?

It had been very difficult. Alias Records didn’t want to do anything with it. Merge, being such a great label was interested, and after Shawn convinced Merge to do it, she [Alias records] lightened up a little bit and realized it would be a win-win for everybody, which it certainly was.

What would be their reasoning behind keeping it dormant?

I don’t know, man. You’d have to talk to her about it. But the fact of the matter is that she was against it. Shawn Nolan, Archers’ manager back in the day who became a lawyer had been talking to her for at least 6 or 7 years and she didn’t want to do it. I think in time, his persistence paid off. She’ll make more money and we’re going to be able to tour and re-release something that we’re kind of proud of. So let’s do it. And she was cool enough to let us do it.

What did you feel back then versus now as far as Archers of Loaf’s popularity, significance and place in music history? Are Archers of Loaf one of those bands that people came to appreciate more in time?

I think it’s definitely more thought of now than when we were first doing it. We played many shows back in the day that only had 30 people there. Now we play shows and get a lot more people out. I’m grateful for that, but I also don’t take myself that seriously or the band that seriously. I don’t really care how we’re perceived. I don’t care if you think it’s the worst band of all time. It doesn’t matter to me because it was fun for me. I stopped and now I’ll do it a little longer. But it’s my past and I don’t look that way. I look forward. I’m honored if people like it, and I get a great deal of satisfaction now when people are smiling back at me. Back then I was angrier and I’ve since changed my relationship with the songs. Now it’s not about me saying something artistically, it’s about having a good time and having people smiling back at me. It’s more fun and lighthearted for me now than back then when I was too serious. We’re definitely bigger now than we were then though– at least as far as turnouts to our shows.

How many songs did you guys remember and are there any songs that you choose not to play?

They’re all hard to remember. There is a lot of guitar stuff and I think Mark and Matt get frustrated because they’re like “oh let’s play this” and Eric and I will be like “okay give us a month”. There are a lot of songs where I don’t know what I did. We had weird tunings. I don’t know where I stuck that wine opener in my guitar. I don’t remember a lot of things. “The Worst is Yet to Come”, on Vee Vee, was one of my favorite songs and I don’t know what to do or how to play it. Lyrically, at first I thought I’d have a hard time because they’re supposed to be sung funny, sarcastic and snarkey like a teenager would, and that was intentional. I thought I would be more resistant to singing the lyrics, but I haven’t had that problem at all. At this point I feel like I’m playing a character—I’m going back and playing myself when I was 20. It’s easy for me to say “this isn’t who I am, I’m going to put this mask on and play this way.” I don’t think it’s insincere because that’s who I was then.

With that being said, how would you say the songs hold up despite the generation gap?

I think they do, man. I think they hold up as much as they were intended to. But like I said before, I don’t take it that seriously. I’m doing it to entertain myself and if someone else can get some joy out of it, that’s great. I don’t think our songs were ever intended to be these epic, Leonard Cohen songs. They’re not legendary songs, they’re just fun pop songs. In that light, with what they really are, I think they hold up very well. When we’re playing them I don’t think they feel dated. The sound of the records is a little dated, but when we play the songs they don’t feel that way.

You had a great rock voice, but when you started doing solo records, you had a really beautiful crooner voice. Did you always know that you had that voice in you? The change in the way you sing is so drastic…

It’s not that weird when you think about it. I had a doctor that I would go to and get my hearing checked. Occasionally, I would get my voice checked too. Because I drank and smoked and didn’t treat my body right–whatever illegal substances that you want insert in there, I was pretty much doing. Those things are bad for your throat, so by 26 or 27, the last few years of the Archers, I started to sing softer because I still wanted to be able to talk when I was 50. If you listen to those first Crooked Fingers records, those are massively different than I sing now. I don’t wanna bore you with the details, but it was medical. The sound of my voice should be a cross-section of what not to do to your voice when you’re young. I obliterated it with the Archers and you can kind of hear it healing in the later Archers’ records and now it’s kind of healed. All I did was stop screaming. That’s all I did.

That being said, are you singing the same way as you did with the Archers?

Yeah, I’m screaming again. After a while it will start sounding like it used to. I’m 42 years old. I was 20 when I started singing with the Archers and I destroyed, destroyed my throat. I should feel ridiculous, but it’s so much fun and I’m getting such a positive response that I don’t. It’s definitely not the same sound. Even now when I’m doing it, I think its different even though I’m screaming and trying.

Is this Archers of Loaf reunion a one-time thing and then you go back to being Eric Bachman, the solo artist?

It’s unknown. We’ve been doing this for a year and a half now and we agreed with Merge that we would tour to support our re-issues. And it’s fun, you know. But I thought early on that would make a new record, but now I don’t think we will because we don’t have the time. We don’t live in the same town. We all have different lives. I’ve sat down and tried to go back. I need to just relax and not be so serious. I write stuff all the time, but it doesn’t make sense for it to be Archers stuff. I might go back to my solo stuff, but I might just join another band. I’m getting sick of running my own show. I will keep playing music, but I don’t think we’ll make another Archers record.

What’s the difference between a Crooked Fingers record and an Eric Bachman record?

I don’t think there is a difference. Originally the difference was that the instrumental records were Eric Bachman records. But the acoustic record where I sang could just have easily been called Crooked Fingers to be honest with you. It was one of those things where it was just me, an acoustic guitar and a piano, so I figured I may as well just use my name.

Do you miss the old days at all?

I don’t think like that. I don’t. I forget a lot of it. I spent a lot of that time drunk. It’s funny, but it’s true. So my memory isn’t that great. I guess it was great. But I also have memories of sleeping on a lot of floors and mice crawling over me. There are plenty of bad memories too. They were supposed to be good times, but they sometimes weren’t. I feel like the best musical memories I have were opening for Neko Case in Central Park or playing with Jose Gonzales in Europe. But that was all after the Archers. And I hate to say that because I don’t want to offend Archers fans or any of the Archers—but that’s how it is.

What would you say Archers of Loaf’s legacy is, or will be?

I wouldn’t. Like I said before, it’s not my job. If you wanna say that we’re more important than the Beatles then go for it. But it just doesn’t matter. If I thought about it that way, then I’m an asshole. It’s a way I’ve chosen to spend my life and it’s very important to me. And if anyone else cares, that’s great.

Beer-soaked, bourbon-bruised and heavy-hearted, Lucero stumble beautifully across the boundaries of country, rock and punk. They sing about the girls they’ve loved and lost, and all the miles they’ve traveled and drinks they’ve downed trying to forget them.

On their recent release, Women and Work, the band continues to wear their hell-bent hearts on their tattooed sleeves. Though there seems to be a new glimmer of hope in their songs when it comes to the “women”, in reality it’s the “work” that defines Lucero as a band. Averaging more than 200 days a year on the road, the idea of holding down a relationship isn’t exactly all that easy.

Doubling in size from a four-piece to an eight-piece, Lucero recently enlisted Rick Steff (piano/organ/accordion), Todd Beene (pedal steel), and Jim Spake and Scott Thompson (horns) to create a more fleshed out, big band, honky-tonk, Memphis-soul kind of sound.

I recently spoke with guitarist Brian Venable over the phone and had a follow up interview with lead singer Ben Nichols via email. The following transpired.

NG: Do you know how many days you spent on the road last year?

BV: Probably a little over 200. We did ten weeks on the Warped Tour and seven weeks with Social D[istortion] alone.

NG: Has keeping that sort of touring schedule started to take a toll yet?           

BV: I’m the only one with kids so it takes a toll on that. But this is what we do. Now we have 8 people on stage and 4 people on crew, so now we have a tour bus and everyone has their own bed. It’s not like we’re throwing everyone in a crowded van anymore.

NG: Do you want to talk about the theme of the new record and how that came about?

BV:  I think it was unintentional. It all kinda came together after the fact. We knew we wanted the first song to be “Downtown” and we knew we wanted the last song to be “Go Easy”.  Everything else just came together in the middle. “Downtown” was just sort of an optimistic, anything can happen, sort of a song, and “Go Easy” was such a ‘wow that was one hell of a weekend. I’m gonna go home and curl up in the bed’ song. Generally speaking you could imagine the record being one long weekend.

NG: How would you say this record differs from the last, or the entire catalogue for that matter?

BV:  I think we are always just trying to make a better record than the previous record and work out the kinks. The previous record we had finished recording and brought the horns in to see what they could do on tour. This record was the first record we did with the horns.

NG: Have you noticed a difference in the way you play guitar with the addition of horns and keys?

BV: Yeah, I pick and choose a lot more. It’s more of a big band feel. In the old days it was just the four of us and a lot of interplay between me and Ben and it was a different dynamic. Now that we have horns, pedal steel and keys, I can hit single notes and come out and play a solo. In ways it’s a little bit more subtle.

NG: Do you enjoy one more than the other?

BV: Well, I switched back to the Telecaster because it’s better instrument for solos. There’s something exciting about having 8 people on stage and being able to make all those parts work together. It makes us smile. It makes me smile. Some nights I forget to play certain parts because I’m just watching other people do stuff.

NG: Is everyone on the record on tour?

BV: Except for the backup singers.

NG: Would you say there’s a maturity and acceptance of lifestyle on this record?

BV: Yeah, I think so. We turned 14 this April. I had made a comment that this is our mature record, and sometimes that’s a dirty word in rock and roll. But for us, we’re wearing our influences on our sleeve a little more. We’re more comfortable saying ‘hey this is what we like’. We’re not going to make Tennessee over and over again. I think we’ve kind of settled down, and trying to become part of the Memphis music scene– but everything could change on the next record.

NG: What’s the reasoning behind the intro? It seems to be part of the song that follows it.

BV: I think at some point it was going to be a different song, but it kinda sets up the next track. It definitely accents the main song. It provides a nice buildup and then it just kicks in.

NG: The line “On shot of women, one shot of work, one shot is sweeter”, which is it?

BV: What’s funny is Ben introduces the song every night and says, “This songs called ‘Women and Work’, it’s about whiskey. So I think it’s just a drinking song. In our minds, it’s nice to have a lady, but what we do for work is ridiculously amazing, so I’ll stick with whiskey.

NG: Your fans constantly bring you drinks while your playing. Is there any point where you have to resist and keep your wits.

BV: It depends. We got a couple of people in the band that don’t drink anymore. I didn’t drink for a while. A lot of times you can take them, or you can just set them on your amps and save them for later. In the old days there was one night I didn’t drink anything, I was just curious. And I had 7 to 10 shots on my amp. I thought, ‘man it’s no wonder. We are lucky to be alive.’ That’s just outlandish. It’s hard to say no sometimes.

NG: Have there been any especially outlandish onstage incidents lately?

BV: The other night we played Colorado Springs and we were feeling pretty good and got all liquored up. By the end of the night all 8 of us had our shirts off. And we’re not attractive. It was pretty chaotic and fun.

NG: How did getting chosen to play this Metallica festival come about?

BV: From what I understand they handpicked the bands they liked. We have a friend in Austin that’s a bartender and his friend works for Metallica, and James Hetfield said ‘oh I like that hat, I like that band’. I was worried that it was going to be a lot of Sevendust and stuff like that and we’d be the little thing that didn’t belong. But it’s a pretty interesting lineup.

The following questions were sent and answered by lead singer Ben Nichols via email…

NG: Did you begin this record with a theme in mind or would you say it came about later? Or is the idea of women and work being a theme just wrong on my part?

BN: I’m not sure if it was ever intended to be considered a theme album. But the song “Women & Work” ended up setting a tone of the whole record. It was one of the first songs written. I wrote “It May Be Too Late” as a follow up to “On My Way Downtown”, but that is really the only direct link between songs I consciously put in there. Everything else just seemed to be coming from the same place. So hell I guess it is not a concept record but it is kind of themed.

NG: Would you say there is an acceptance of a lifestyle on this record more so than previous records?

BN: I think there was a sheer enjoyment of and appreciation of having such great musicians in my band. I’m having more fun playing now than I ever have before. And that is mainly because of the guys I’m playing music with.

NG: One shot of women, one shot of work, one shot is sweeter”…. which one is it?

BN: For me… I’d have to say women are sweeter. But I’m sure some folks would argue that. I guess everybody can decide for themselves. Maybe it changes from day to day.

NG: How would you say this record relates to the “Memphis sound”?

BN: For me it was a conscious combination of the Sun Studios and Stax Studios sounds. The horns can be soulful, but they can also be the sound of early rock & roll. I wanted to incorporate my love of early R&B and early rock & roll in a more overt way– and that is Memphis. By taking what we have always done and integrating a great Memphis piano player and horns as well as pedal steel I think we were able to make a kind of country soul record that hopefully just sounds like rock & roll.

You could read poetry during the lazy days of April or you could visit

The Tenth Muse – A Poetry Workshop with Diane Sahms-Guarnieri on April 21st or  Poetry Ink 2012 on April 22 and Northeast Philadelphia Memorial for Poet/Teacher Louis McKee on April 29^th.  Or follow  Recommended Reading for National Poetry Month

Founder and lead singer Dan Zanes would go on to become a Grammy Award winning songwriter for his family friendly songs, and earlier this month he reunited the notoriously volatile Del Fuegos for one more run of shows. The following is an unedited interview with Zanes about the now and then, and everything that happened in between. Enjoy

NG: So where are you living now?

DZ: I am in Brooklyn.

Do you still have an affinity toward Boston?

Oh yeah, when I lived there it was a jungle, but when we got back together that’s why we decided to do it in Boston.

When did you officially know it was time to breakup? I know you guys played a show last year, but…

Well, when Warren and Tom left the band after the third record. Even under the best of circumstances we were a tense and fearful group. But without them, things got more and more difficult and the lifestyle started to undermine everything. It was the first part of spontaneous combustion. There was another time when I made another record with Joe Donnelly and Adam Roth. It was probably never meant to be but when that record came out was right when Nirvana broke. We almost instantly felt like dinosaurs. By that point it was almost overdue. And it should have been, because if you look at it, everyone went on to do amazing things. It was an amazing way to waste our youth. We got to experience the “ups”, but we also got to experience the “downs”—and the downs were very meaningful. We all learned a lot from the art of it all.

I know you guys played last year, but why regroup now? Everyone seems to be regrouping. Are you in anyway trying to cash in?

No. I think I’ve actually had more fun with the band in the past year than I ever had before. But also, Kenny, who produced those shows, was willing and able to keep us going for a little bit. He connected with Frank Reilly who booked the Del Fuegos in the early days and is now one of the giants of booking agents, and the two of them put the tour together. We always wanted to do it, but we all have great day jobs and we never had the time to get the production.

Was anyone particularly hard to convince at all?

No one was hard to convince, but I think Tom, our bass player has the least amount of flexibility and has a very intense family life now. So he was the most challenging one. But he made it happen. That is a great thing. We actually just recorded an 8-song EP. We’ll have cds at the shows and have it on iTunes and all that jazz. We recorded it and mixed it and all that in a week and fleshed it out into a record to give something new to our fans. We’re really happy to be an oldies band. It’s a great rock n roll tradition.

Besides playing last year, do you remember your final show as the Del Fuegos and what was going through your mind knowing it was all coming to an end?

No, I don’t. I think I probably blocked it out of my mind. Undoubtedly it was a very painful experience. There were a lot of difficult years after my brother walked away… difficult for everybody.

Do you have any regrets about the old days?

No. There are a lot of things I wish I would have done differently, but there are more things that I think we were able to work through, and as difficult as it was, I think the universe… well, things happen for a reason and I don’t need to question it.

Looking back, how would you say the songs hold up overtime, and what would you say is the band’s legacy?

I think our legacy would be in our live shows. I think our recordings are incredibly dated and I don’t think any record should have that much reverb on it. When we did the third record, I think it was overblown and it was overblown to make up for weak songwriting. I think our legacy were the live shows. I think we had a lot of internal angst and I think we were able to work it out onstage.

Do you have any specific highlights you’d like to comment on?

I think the most memorable touring we did was with INXS. That was an eye-opening summer. We had never seen anything like that before. To see teenage girls going that crazy and to see band like that on the way up, getting so big, so fast, was a flash out of a real rock n roll story. And we got to see it right before our eyes. We were in a real good place that year, so we got to enjoy it while it was happening.

What prompted you to start doing family music after rock n roll and what did you do in between projects?

I went into hiding and turned my back on rock n roll entirely. I was just listening to gospel and bluegrass music. That was all I really cared about. I wrote some instrumental songs for some commercials and pieced together things here and there. When my daughter was born I had a solo record and was trying to think about what all ages music would look like. I was able to record something that I wasn’t able to find in record stores and made other kids tapes to hand out to their mothers. All of a sudden, no one cared about my solo record, but everyone wanted a copy of this cassette tape. And I had more fun doing it than I ever had in music before, so I stopped the pop music and went full-time into this family music.

How did that change your view of your early recordings? Was it in any way like repentance?

I was able to take my time with the Del Fuegos as music as a social thing and apply that to family music. I knew the value of live performance. A lot of people were curious. Here’s this guy going from rock n roll to family music. We’ll have to check it out. That really helped me.

How is it different playing in front of wild crazy adolescents in a rock band vs. playing in front of children and their parents?

Kids are everything I wanted to be growing up as an audience. Kids can have a wild dance party before lunch time. The whole idea that the Del Fuegos had was if the people aren’t dancing then it’s not even a gig. It was all about the audience being a part of what was happening. Kids are inherently uninhibited. They don’t need alcohol to loosen up like most adults do. The audiences are wilder now, but the underlying spirit of social music is the same.

Do you remember the music that was important to you as a kid?

Sure– Leadbelly. That was the model for everything I do now. It’s everything you need to know for a lifetime full of family music. The inspiration is all there, 100 percent.

Dan Zanes 20+ years later

I think I’ve become a better songwriter over time. I think the idea is the same. You dig down deep and add something emotional that means something to your audience and of course has meaning for me first.

And you have a daughter?

Yeah, she’s going off to college next year.

So as someone who grew up listening to your music as a child and now is at an age where she has probably grown out of that and now listens to what you used to play… how does she view your two distinctive musical styles?

I think there’s a fair amount of amusement. I think at times its kind of funny. She’s always been really supportive. But me and music is all she knows. She grew up with musicians coming in and out of the house all the time. Someone at her school told her about the Del Fuegos and she thought that was funny. It’s all kind of comical that we’re getting back together, but I think she appreciates that in life anything is possible. 

When alt-country began to reach the height of indie rock consciousness, the Scud Mountain Boys of Northampton, Massachusetts went from being a blip on the local radar to a universally renowned band back by Sub Pop, destined for reverence, but limited by brevity.

Led by singer/songwriter Joe Pernice, the band possessed the smoky whisper of hushed vocals and backcountry balladry with the southbound twang and slang of steel guitars. Not only was their career cut short, but their breakup led to over a decade of bad blood and non correspondence. Now, almost 15 years since their last show, they are taking their unsuspecting fans by surprise and reuniting for a small run of shows.

Since the premature disbanding of the Scuds, founder Joe Pernice has recorded with his brother under the self-explanatory moniker, the Pernice Brothers, recorded solo records, written two novels and founded Ashmont Records in Dorchester. I caught up with Joe Pernice from his home in Toronto (where he’s spent the last couple of years) to figure out how the Scud Mountain Boys started, why they ended, and the inspiration behind their reincarnation. Enjoy the ride through the backcountry and backcatalogue of Massachusetts’ greatest alt-country band. Cheers!

Nolan Gawron: So are you living in Toronto now?

Joe Pernice: Yes.

NG: So who is running the Ashmont Records Empire while you’re gone?

JP: Joyce is still in Boston. I do what I do from here. We moved from New York in 2004 and I lingered around, but I’ve been in Toronto since 2005, so it’s been a few years.

NG: So I guess most importantly, why reunite the Scud Mountain Boys now?

JP: Well, for me, a couple of years ago, a friend of ours from Northampton died. There was a memorial and there was a big show. I started thinking about it and I figured, ‘hey I should play that show’ and put all of our band’s differences aside. He was a good friend of ours, probably our biggest fan and just a genuinely nice dude. For some reason I chickened out of patching it up. When the band broke up, it wasn’t a very good break. Lots of feelings were hurt and things were said that shouldn’t have been said. None of that matters now. We were all pretty tight friends and went from being tight friends to not speaking. I chickened out, but it didn’t leave my mind thinking we should reunite. It was really the death of our friend that was a catalyst for me thinking about it. I listened to the music for the first time and though it was really very good and maybe we should play a show just for fun. In my mind, it’d be a great reason to patch up with my old friends. You get older and stuff really doesn’t matter anymore. It took awhile. I mentioned it to a mutual friend and he broached the subject to one of the guys, Tom. He was really cool and we started emailing. It took awhile for people to warm up. We actually got back together because I was playing a solo show back in Boston in September and I had corresponded with Tom and a little with Steve. I was playing a show in Boston and knew they were living close by. I knew Bruce was in Oklahoma so I knew he wouldn’t get a chance. I didn’t really hear from Steve, but I heard from Tom who said he’d love to go and I said, ‘Hey if you wanna sit in…”. Then I was going to be in Boston the next day and so I wrote an email to him and Steve and said ‘I’m going to set up a bass rig and a few mics and here’s my setlist. I’m going to play these eight Scud Mountain Boys songs. If you wanna show up and play I’d love it, but if you want to drive on, I understand too. I knew Tom would show up, but Steve showed up too. Not a word of conversation in 14 years and we had a drink before and shot the shit and it was all water under the bridge. I was getting chills really. It was very emotional. These guys were my good friends and man, they sat in and it was like we never stopped playing. It was tight and moody.

NG: Will Bruce be on the tour as well?

JP: Oh yeah, we emailed him later that day. After that show I talked to the guys and said ‘let’s book a few shows. What the hell.’ Bruce said he was on board and we started booking the shows immediately.

NG: So no one was especially hard to convince?

JP: No, it was easy actually. It was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I am the one who split up the band. I was the reason that it ended. I wanted to do something else. It may have been harder for me to get the nuts up to do it or to get the courage. When I did, I can’t say how hard it was to overcome, but it was easy to get together.

NG: What were the other members up to between then and now?

JP: I’m not really sure. I’m not kidding when I say I didn’t say a word with them. Not a word. Tom still played in bands. He and Steven still play with Ray Mason in western Mass. Bruce played with a few different bands before he moved back to Oklahoma. Tom got married and I heard that he had a couple of kids. But I was not involved in their lives and they were not involved in mine.

NG: Do you remember the last Scud Mountain Boys show prior to you reuniting?

JP: I do…very well. It was July 24 or July 27, it was a Sunday at TT the Bears. It was our last show and I had peaked. I peaked.

NG: How would you rate your level of success back then? I remember being in Australia 10 years ago and seeing a magazine rate “Grudge Fuck” one of the ten best alt-country songs of all time. That seemed very odd to me being 20,000 miles away.

JP: Maybe a little bit, but I still don’t know how into it people were. We really weren’t making records for all that long when you think about it. I think our first record came out in 1995, even though we made it the fall before. And our second record came out in February of 1995. And then we signed a record deal with Sub Pop and released our third record in September of 1995. It came out April of 1996 and the band was broken up by July of 1997. So we weren’t a band with product for very long. For me I was a little detached in a way. I had already started feeling like I didn’t want to do it. I was uncomfortable playing the music live and I think my vocabulary was starting to increase. My next record was more orchestral and textural. I stopped reading press, but the reviews of Massachusetts were glowing. But press doesn’t mean people listen to the records.

NG: Growing or maturing as a songwriter, how do you feel looking back at the old songs and them holding up over the years?

JP: I think they do very well and I’ve continued to play some of them over the time. The band had a downer vibe and really slow. I tried to make my lyrics be poignant and I recognize that by playing with various people over the years since the Scud Mountain Boys that everyone has a unique contribution and all configurations make a unique thing whether good or bad. The Scud Mountain Boys, in my mind, made a very unique sound that was a very good one and I think that the chemistry really lent to the songs being successful.

NG: Where did the band’s name come from?

JP: Steven and I were playing during the Gulf War. We had just gotten together and we hung out at my house in western Mass. We worked together at a bakery; that’s how we met. We hit it off, but I was about to start graduate school and I wasn’t about to be a musician. And he was of the same mind because he’d played with a bunch of people. When someone says “let’s jam’ you don’t know what you’re getting into. It could be two hours, but they could be the worst two hours ever. We got together and hit it off. The first number we ever played was “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” and we turned on the TV and the Gulf War had just started. So the term “scud” was everywhere and Steve…godbless him, came up with the name.

NG: Was it particularly difficult to get your recording rights back and release your old records on your label after being on Sub Pop?

JP: No, no. It was licensed to Sub Pop. They didn’t own it. It was like having a lease. The lease was up and because we weren’t talking to each other they were then out of print. No one could do anything with them until we reconciled. I had such a bad taste about it for a while. They were three records. People could burn them if they wanted them. I felt so beyond that. Sub Pop wasn’t going to pay royalties on that ever anyhow. So none of us were going to make any money on those going out of print… or staying in print for that matter.

NG: Are there any places you are especially excited to play? You’re playing in Boston at a new venue instead of an old favorite.

JP: In a way I’m really excited for all of these shows. It’s not a long stretch and we have no plans on what will come of it. I’m just happy to play music with old friends. I’m even excited to just go to western Mass and rehearse for a few days. Sitting around and playing like we did– It was always so casual. It was only after we were expected to tour as our job that I started to feel really anxious. Now I’m super-relaxed about playing.

NG: What do you do when you’re not playing music? Weren’t you teaching for awhile?

JP: That was a long time ago. I still have a publishing deal with Penguin in the states from my last novel and I’m chipping away at a new one. I have other projects. Currently I have a musical piece I’m working on and I’m collaborating with people in Canada in writing for television.

NG: Do you want to talk about the musical at all?

JP: Well, I’m sort of pitching it at a very large theater group… well they came to me. A theater company on Broadway asking me to pitch something. So I’m putting my treatment together and demo-ing a couple of songs. If they dig it I’ll keep going. It’s very exciting though—to have Broadway come after you.

NG: What do you think about the term “country” or what you did as country? Do you think you still play country even after the Scuds broke up and you continued on?

JP: When the Scud Mountain Boys were together we certainly recognized the influence of more old time stuff– certainly 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s country. It’s only when country went hairspray and the stuff that has survived that is considered mainstream country nowadays. I mean I love listening to it. When I’m driving I’ll put whatever the hot country station is and I love it because it’s horrible and it makes me laugh. The more crazy and Christian it is the better. It’s hilarious. I never considered myself part of that and never want to be. But if you’re talking about the stylings of old country music… certainly anytime the music I’ve made and the music of the Scud Mountain Boys, we touch on the country music that harkens back to an older time. I could listen to Charlie Rich and that’s country music. It’s phenomenal. I still consider myself someone who has no trouble entering into that. But I like the Buzzcocks too, you know.

Whether read literally or politically, the Hip-Hop Party for the People and the Tea Party seem, on the surface, to be unlikely allies.

But City Council at large write-in candidate Pili X, 26, and former gubernatorial hopeful Robert Allen Mansfield say the two groups have more in common than meets the eye.

“We both believe in holding the government accountable to the people they have to serve,” said Mansfield, a retired Army sergeant, citing opposition to the citywide curfew, stop and frisk policy and lack of transparency.

Since meeting X at a Temple University panel discussion over the summer, Mansfield has been mentoring him on the ins and outs of municipal government and grassroots campaigning. “As he would say, he doesn’t give me advice, he teaches me lessons,” X said.

The Hip-Hop Party formed in February from members of the Poor Righteous Party of the Black Nation, who met at a former North Philly shoe shop turned community center to discuss local issues. “We came together at one meeting and decided, instead of complaining about politicians not doing their job, let’s endorse our own member,” X said.

They chose the party name because many members were raised on hip-hop, not just as a music genre, but as a cultural movement. “Hip-Hop, in its true essence, is about political and social change,” X said. “We felt its language and culture spoke to us best.”

While Mansfield is helping the party with its formation and fundraising, he says that X’s ideological views are his own. “I don’t want him to be a Robert Mansfield clone,” he said. “It’s not fair to live my political philosophy through Pili X.”

Young movement growing

X is part of a growing trend of young people involved in city politics, which Mansfield hopes will continue.

“I think Isaiah Thomas was the catalyst to continue the movement of young people getting involved in politics in this city,” Mansfield said. Thomas, 26, came in eighth in this year’s Democratic City Council at large primary. The top five moved on to next week’s general election.

“Whether you like their ideas or not, young people need to be brought into the system. There’s a saying, it’s better to have someone inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in,” Mansfield said. “I’d rather in­vite them inside the tent be­cause if you ignore them, they’ll be outside the tent pissing in it.”

Hip-Hop’s issues

Pili X’s campaign issues include:
Increased investments in youth education, recreational activities and job training.

Transforming neighborhoods by turning abandoned buildings and lots into marketplaces, community produce gardens, youth centers and permanent housing for the homeless by having communities take control of the properties and using funds from decreased police overtime.

Ending the police-enforced citywide curfew and stop and frisk policies.

Abolishing the School Reform Commission in favor of a community-elected school board.

This Article was writing by Alexandra  Wigglesworth and
originally posted on www.metro.us/Philadelphia

Hosted by B2 Cafe [@ Passyunk & Dickinson St. -- Philadelphia PA]

Saturday – June 4 2011 [10a.m. -to- 4p.m.]

Where….

Hopefully I will have my own vendor space reserved to market, display, and sell my jewelry and other artwork / creative endeavors.

30 Spaces were available… currently, I am anxiously awaiting a response for Space Reservation availability.   I will update this post with any relevant news & info I receive from the event’s contact person as it comes.

For questions & info, contact:  tamanihanna@gmail.com 

(original flyer)

at B2 Cafe, S Philly (Passyunk @ Dickinson St.)

Tell me what you think below:

(… leave me feedbackand find my table at the event…i’ll reward my loyal customers and fans with a gift!)

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Music to pump me up and get the juices flowin’…

Download this mp3 from Beemp3.com

Scribe Video Center | providing media skills & tools to the Philadelphia community.

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The Founder Factory is an annual event created by Philly Startup Leaders, meant to help foster growth of an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, mentors, angels, VC’s, students, schools and government groups within the Philadelphia area.

Circulasione Totale Orchestra
Sat, 01/30/2010 – 8:00pm
International House Philadelphia

Trevor Dunn’s PROOFReaders perform the music of Ornette Coleman
Fri, 02/12/2010 – 8:00pm
Philadelphia Art Alliance

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3 reasons

(Photo: Rikard Larma/Metro)

The Roots drummer, ?uestlove, designed and recently released his own style of Nike Air Force Ones (major props to ?uest.  Someone should’ve given this talented brotha an endorsement deal years ago).  Air Force Ones have always been a staple in hiphop culture way before Nelly’s non rapping cohorts rapped about them.  They’re relatively inexpensive, comfortable, and the white and black ones basically go with any and everything (-sidenote- Does anyone know if those St. Lunatic idiots got paid by Nike for dedicating a song to Air Force Ones?  If not, they’re going up on the Tom Wall of Fame for their free advertising. Then again, I guess that’s no different from Cassidy big upping Patron, or every rapper shouting out their favorite drink.  IDIOTS!).  The ?uestlove designed Air Force ones are indeed different.  So different, that morons from as far away as Virginia camped out in front of a Philadelphia store to be the first on their block to rock the sneakers.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love a fresh pair of sneakers.  I’m a product of the hiphop generation.  I’ve owned quite a few pairs of Jordans, Air Force Ones, Shell Top Adidas, & Top Tens.  Shoot, I even rocked the old school Lotto’s (the ones with the detachable velcro signs), & Ellesse’s.  I’ve never waited in line for days for them though.  According to the Philadelphia Metro, people have camped out last Tuesday for the Friday release of the sneakers which are priced at $235.

This is crazy on so many levels.  I won’t get into buying over priced items made in sweat shops.  I won’t go nuts discussing how people in Bangladesh are getting paid peanuts to make an item that retails for over $200.  I won’t discuss our addiction to materialism.  I will however mention my generations utter apathy toward politics and social issues in general.  How is it, folks have a million and one excuses why they can’t vote, but they can sit in line for hours on Black Friday for a sale, wait over night in line for an iPhone, or camp out in front of a sneaker store for a pair of Air Force Ones.  How folks can say “I ain’t voting because my vote doesn’t matter,” yet not understand how much their dollar actually matters is beyond me.  I wish brothas would line up down the street to take SAT prep courses the same way we do to get into the club.  How many dead beat dads own iPods, iPhones, Playstation 3s, and the latest sneakers?  How many women own Prada bags while their child doesn’t have a computer? How many people will not vote on November 4th, 2008 for our next President, but will stand in line later in the month on Black Friday to get a bargain at Best Buy?

“Niggas can’t make it to ballots to choose leadership,

But we can make it to Jacob’s and to the dealership”

- Kanye West, “Never Let You Down”