Rachel Taylor Brown welcomes you to her Parlour!

As a member of Chris Robley’s band the Fear of Heights, keyboardist/ vocalist Rachel Taylor Brown had already endeared herself to me with her warmth and unique charm. Then I heard the opening strains of her album Half Hours With The Lower Creatures, and knew that there was so much more to Rachel than I could have imagined. I mean, the woman made music out of cash registers, essentially walking a fine line between serious metaphor and blatant absurdity. And it worked! As I found out, this time and times before, she’s always got something interesting going on.

See the full post at Popdose.

Chris Robley gets his "proper" Parlour to Parlour episode

When I started this series, I had initially intended for the footage that became “Episode 0” to be just a practice run. After all, I wasn’t yet in the frame of mind to pry open the mind of Chris Robley and his band mates in proper interview fashion. But I always did intend for Chris to have a “proper” episode, so finally, here it is – and filmed in Chris’ home in Portland, Oregon, the way it should be.

See the full post at Popdose.

Le Switch's Aaron Kyle featured in Parlour to Parlour Ep. 9

My research skills were not at their best the night I first saw Le Switch perform live. At some point during the show at San Francisco’s Hotel Utah on October 25, 2008, frontman Aaron Kyle began to sing a song that sounded awfully familiar. Yet it was not a cover, that much I could tell. But how could that be? I haven’t heard anything else… wait a minute… THE Switch is how I knew them before! How did this not come up in any of my preparations? God, what an idiot.

See the full post at Popdose.

Parlour to Parlour heads to Correatown

Back in February of 2008, I was covering a show at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco for West Coast Performer Magazine. I had a friend helping out with photos, and second on the bill was another friend, none other than Chris Robley. Following Chris' set, I was expecting a full band called Correatown, but what I got instead was a solo acoustic set by one Angela Correa.

See the full post at Popdose.

Parlour to Parlour visits the Happy Hollows in L.A.

After having said my goodbyes to Evan, Brette and Aaron from the Parson Red Heads, I took to the road to make my next appointment. I was due to meet the Happy Hollows, who I had first heard during the same month I was first introduced to the Parson Red Heads. Sarah Negahdari's seemingly boundless well of energy meshed so well with the pulsating, borderline-hardcore rhythms of bassist Charlie Mahoney and drummer Chris Hernandez that I had to meet this band.

See the full post at Popdose.

Part Two of the Parson Red Heads' Parlour to Parlour adventure

On February 23, 2009, I awoke on Evan and Brette Marie Way's couch in their living room. It was a sunny L.A. morning, one that would be filled with music geek-out sessions, fruity crepes, friendly house cats, and of course, a fine interview for this very series. In part two of our visit with the Parson Red Heads, Evan, Brette and guitarist Aaron Ballard give a tour of their blissfully communal dwelling, and in the process, solidify the personal exchange that made this one of the key "parlour to parlour" moments of the entire series.

See the full post at Popdose.

The Parson Red Heads appear in the first of two episodes of Parlour to Parlour

To say that I was looking forward to taking Parlour to Parlour to L.A. would be the understatement of the year. Excitement was high for my visit to the city of angels, for I would be crashing with Evan and Brette Marie Way of the Parson Red Heads, one of the bands that had completely rejuvenated me last year. The couchsurfing aspect of the project began here.

See the full post at Popdose.

Parlour to Parlour Episode 4 captures The Aimless Never Miss

This episode was the third and final shoot for the day on Saturday, February 15. After our session with Eric Kuhn and Robin Landy from Silian Rail in their Oakland practice space, Robin took off as singer/guitarist Jonny Latimer and bassist Andrew Macy arrived. Kuhn was ready for a second round, and I was ready to finally talk to a band I had been admiring from afar for half a year.

See the full post at Popdose.

Parlour to Parlour goes instrumental with Silian Rail (Episode 3)

On the night of November 21, 2008, I found myself in the basement performance space of San Francisco's Retox Lounge, which was decked out with busted guitars, as well as seats and windows salvaged from a commercial airliner. The first band on the bill that night was Silian Rail, a guitar-drums instrumental duo that basically became my new Tristeza and Tortoise all rolled into one from the first tune they played.

See the full post at Popdose.

Ventresco Axelrod & Foss live @ the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair

Here's the main reason why I made it to this year's Haight-Ashbury Street Fair:

On Friday night, the young ragtime/jugband singer/guitarist Meredith Axelrod gave me a call to let me know that she, Craig Ventresco and Bill Foss would be playing a short set on the Masonic stage. I had been awaiting a local opportunity to get some b-roll footage of Meredith playing with her jug band, and finally I had it. It tightened up my weekend schedule, but it was well worth it.

Consider this a sneak peek at my upcoming Parlour to Parlour series on Popdose. Meredith will actually be featured in the second episode, and some of the footage from today's set will be spliced in there somewhere. But here, for your pleasure, is a full performance of a hit tune from -- wait for it -- 1875! No, that's not a typo. "Carve Dat Possum", according to Wikipedia, was written by Sam Lucas, and was "very popular" in its day.

This tune does not feature Meredith playing her jug, but it does include Bill on Mandolin and Craig (who has a humorous little quip at the end of the tune) on guitar. Since Meredith's vocals aren't clearly audible in some spots, here are the lyrics to "Carve Dat Possum." Someday I gotta try this dish:

Possum meat is good an' sweet
Carve him to de heart,
I always finds it good to eat,
Carve him to de heart.

Chorus:
Carve dat possum!
Carve dat possum!
Carve dat possum!
Oh charve 'im to de heart!

I retch up an' pull him in,
Carve him to de heart,
Dat ol' possum 'gin to grin,
Carve him to de heart,

De way I cooked dat possum sound,
Carve him to de heart,
I fust parboiled, den baked him brown
Carve him to de heart,
I put sweet potaters in de pan,
Carve him to de heart,
De sweetest meat in all de lan'
Carve him to de heart.

Steve Taylor live @ the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair

I was rushing on my way out of the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair when I turned the corner onto Cole Street and saw this dude singing and playing an electric piano in a shady spot next to some port-a-potties. The cover of his CD sitting atop his keyboard caught my eye, and it was just enough for me to realize: holy shit, it's Steve Taylor!

I gave his album Has the Size of the Road Got the Better of You a mostly favorable review in last September's issue of West Coast Performer Magazine, being that I really dug his early '70s pop style. His piano playing and voice were unmistakable, and of all the places to find him, there he was, next to some johns as opposed to getting paid to play on one of the main stages. This injustice better be corrected next year!

Steve graciously allowed me to tape him (yes, I just so happened to have my camera on me, how convenient). Here he his performing his song "Felicity," which is the second tune on the above mentioned album. Enjoy!

The Essex Green promotes time travel

"In my book..."

I'm fed up with that overused phrase! Few people who say it have written a book, and odds are if someone who says it has written a book, the thought following the phrase appears nowhere in the actual book.

But, in my BLOG...

(I don't like "blog" either -- it sounds like something you might pull out of your cold, sickly nose...)

Yes, in my blog, there are no clumps of mucus, hardened or otherwise. But there are some thoughts on a couple of bands I saw last night at 12 Galaxies in the Mission District with my friends Alan and Julian. Mind you, I was a bit inebriated at the time of said musical presentation, so this is hardly a real review, nor had I intended on even writing one. But it was such a fun time that the feeling is worth preserving.

The main attraction at 12 Galaxies was Kelley Stoltz. More on him later. It was The Essex Green who made the most splashing impression.

Three drunk music geeks watching The Essex Green sounds a little like this:

Alan: "The keyboard player is kind of cute."


MF: "Oh look, she's wearing a hippie skirt!"


Julian: "It looks like she's going out with the guy playing the Ric."


MF (to Alan): "Do you think he'd get pissed if you bought her a drink?"


MF: "Look at that sport coat and that shaggy hair and beard. Kinda looks like Barry Gibb."


Julian: "She's a flautist too!"


MF: "Maybe we'll hear 'Bungle In The Jungle' tonight!"


And so on and so forth on the outer appearances of the band. The music wasn't all that bad, if you like '60s folk-pop with the occasional heavy guitar rocker. They were channeling everything from the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas and Jefferson Airplane to It's A Beautiful Day to early new wave-punk sounds. If this band wasn't so tightly controlled and polished in their presentation, one could easily mistake them for a Bay area throwback band working to keep the Summer of Love alive. But they didn't have that loose, free, easygoing vibe that you get from San Francisco bands. As their myspace profile indicates, they're from Brooklyn, New York. A ha!

After waxing sarcastic on the Essex's "Revolver period" and puzzling over the fact that their lead guitarist wasn't given a star position on stage in spite of his being probably the best musician in the whole band, there was a seemingly interminable wait before Kelley Stoltz took the stage. By this time, I was starting to lose my ability to maintain clear memories. It was just too late for this headliner, "in my blog."

I remember Mr. Stoltz and his band opening with a new song that sounded to me like something the Modern Lovers would play, or as Alan and Julian heard it, "the Velvet Underground meets the Monkees." Same thing, pretty much. There were at least two between-song monologues on Don Ho, whose death was reported earlier in the day, and lots of bubbles blown from the stage. Not very tiny ones either, I might add. I had had enough of those before I got to the venue anyway, so it was all good.

Even better than either The Essex Green or Kelley was an awesome rockabilly band that played in between sets on the upstairs stage of the venue. Their sound was perfect -- the singer had that punctuating vocal "whoop!" down perfectly, the stand-up bass was thumping, there was just the right amount of twang in the guitar... the music this band played made me feel like I was being transported back to 1959. Sadly, I cannot remember the band's name, nor were they listed on the 12 Galaxies website or anywhere else I looked. I'd really like to know who they were, since I'd like to see them again and would gladly pay to see them headline. Anyone know?? Not me, too many margaritas...

As I was walking out of the venue, I passed by a blond in a stylish black and white checkered dress (at least that's what I think it was) who looked like she could have been Paris Hilton's twin. It was a sad reminder that it wasn't 1959, 1967, or even 1978. Nope, it's 2007, a time where there's no one prevailing or conferred style of hip for music, art, film, TV, or any of the arts and entertainment we enjoy. EVERYTHING is worthwhile to somebody, and we all know it thanks to the the increased speed at which information is exchanged in the 21st century. It just makes the kinds of hipster scenes we can find, like at last nights show at 12 Galaxies, seem all the more absurd. Of course, everybody else in the place could have been thinking the same thing, but if we knew that, we'd have a little bit less to laugh about now, wouldn't we?

From the archives: Juliana Hatfield

[Note: The following feature originally appeared in the November 18, 1997 issue of the University of Rhode Island's daily campus newspaper, the Good Five Cent Cigar. At the time, I was serving as Entertainment Editor, and scoring this interview was one of the major highlights of my time there. It had been sitting in a box for the better part of a decade, and now it lives on in all its reborn digital glory. A few very minor edits were made, but other than that, this is the whole article as it appeared in newsprint. Enjoy!]

The long haul of a musician can appear frustrating to listeners who are busy consuming each new hyped-up tune and band. However, a musician's perception of time can run a little differently.

It's been two years since Juliana Hatfield's last release, Only Everything, and a lot has happened since then. Bands have broken up, new ones have occupied the spotlight and some people may have actually changed their music buying habits. But Juliana continues to rock on.

Hatfield is currently on tour in support of her new EP, Please Do Not Disturb, which is due in stores on November 25. Her performance at the Met Cafe in Providence last Saturday was her third live appearance in the city since her 1995 tour with Jeff Buckley. In between live performances, she has been hard at work perfecting her next full-length length album, to be titled God's Foot.

Despite the lack of releases, Hatfield has continued to write more and more new material. She has perhaps written enough songs to fill up two CDs to capacity. Yet she is intent on making sure God's Foot turns out right.

"There was a time when it was finished and it was gonna come out, but I decided that I wanted to do more work on it. Right now the release date is still unknown," said Hatfield in an interview before Saturday night's show. She was able to offer a general description of some of the elements at work in the album's creation.

"I'm just experimenting a little bit with different instruments. Like there's some strings and weird keyboards and there's a flute somewhere, but it's nothing too bizarre or crazy." Hatfield's drummer, Todd Philips, added that "it's a lot like Smile in a way," referring to the legendary unreleased Beach Boys album. "There's so much different stuff going on. It's not like the rock record, it's not a pop record, but there's a focus throughout," said Philips.

So with diligent effort being put into an album that is being created for an artist's satisfaction and not a record company's release schedule, it could be as long as another year before it comes out. That's where Please Do Not Disturb comes in. Hatfield calls it "sort of a pre-album... it seems like [the songs] all fit together somehow. I didn't think they would fit on the album."

The six songs that make up the EP each seem to express a lack or a loss of something different. The opener, "Sellout," is a typical Hatfield rocker that tries to show "what can happen if you stray too far from yourself," as Hatfield stated in a press release.

"Trying Not To Think About It" is a light acoustic tune expressing Hatfield's feelings on the drowning of her friend and former touring partner Jeff Buckley.

In "As If Your Life Depended On It," Hatfield reveals she has "no one to go home to," as the lyric goes, with a cello mourning beneath the verses.

"Give Me Some Of That" could possibly be the most aggressively noisy track Hatfield has released, which is right in tune with the song's lyrics of pure envy ("give me some of that / you're so young / you don't even know / what you have").

Hatfield hopes her new EP "will bring joy to people's lives, to a handful of people who really care. It's not meant for mass consumption, it's not meant for even radio. It's just meant for... the die-hard fans and for music lovers who are lust curious and interested in hearing the development of my music." However, she doesn't go so far as to call it a "thank you" to the fans. "It's self-serving," she says. "I'm just fulfilling the need to have people hear my music... I did it for myself, but I'm glad that people who want it can get it."

The Show

Hatfield took the stage at the Met with her band following sets by opening bands Fuzzy and The John Street Porch Band.

Starting off the her set with "I Got No Idols" from 1993's Become What You Are, Hatfield delivered the goods with a great amount of enthusiasm and confidence, markedly more so than at previous appearances in Providence. "My Sister" received the expected boisterous response from the audience.

Only Everything was well represented, with slightly re-arranged versions of "Outsider" and "My Darling," along with more straight-ahead renditions of "Live On Tomorrow" and "Fleur De Lys."

A few songs from Hatfield's work-in-progress God's Foot were also included in the set, as well as "Sellout," "Trying Not To Think About It" and "Get Off," from Please Do Not Disturb.

Though she rarely performs material from her years with the Blake Babies, she ended with "Take Your Head Off My Shoulder," from the 1989 album Earwig, before returning for the obligatory encore.

The past and the future

So why is it so rare that Hatfield revisits the past on stage?

"That stuff is so old, you know. I don't wanna sing it anymore," Hatfield said. "I feel funny singing it. It's... way different from the person that I am now."

To have songs that one doesn't feel comfortable singing is a sure sign of the amount of time that has passed since that first record hit the stores. It's been 10 years, in fact, since the Blake Babies released their debut, Nicely Nicely. So how does it feel?

Hatfield said, "it just feels like not that much time has passed... I feel like I'm just beginning... I've made a statement, I'm not finished making it yet. It's gonna change a lot over the next ten years. I haven't finished what I set out to do, that's for sure."

As a further testimony to her confidence, Hatfield had this to say when asked if she had any regrets: "I have no regrets and I'm proud of everything I've ever done."