Arts
The Arts section of Orient Lodge
Music Monday - Shanna Underwood
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/17/2011 - 07:59What is it that makes us unique, that makes us more than just another number, more than just a punched card afraid of being bent, folded, spindled or mutilated? What makes us different than part of a demographic whose cookies are being traced with every click we take?
Perhaps that is some of what drives my blog, an effort to explore and express my uniqueness and to find it in others. Perhaps some of that is what I’m looking for when I seek performers to highlight in my Music Monday blog posts.
Shanna Underwood captures some of this. In her Sonicbids submission she writes
As a traveling songwriter, part-time archaeologist, and part time English as a Foreign Language teacher, I think I bring a unique perspective and sensibility to my music.
She does, and it comes through in her music subtly. In Picket Fences she sings
I want to go deeper than the American dream allows
A red rose is not what this is about
It echos again in Wandering,
Twenty-thousand miles, a suitcase and denial
Won't bring me any closer to someone I don't know
The title of her song, Appalachia to the Himalayas also reflects this sensibility.
What is Shanna looking for in her wanderings from the picket fences and Appalachia to the Himalayas? What are we all looking for? Someone to love? Someone to make us feel special? Someone that we can make feel special? There is earning in her voice as she sings her songs, an authentic sounding yearning that we need to hear more of.
So, some day, take a moment to sit down and listen to Shanna Underwood’s music. Think back about your own travels, and where you want to be going. It will help put things in perspective.
Music Mondays - Americana
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/10/2011 - 06:42Friday night, I went to see Harpeth Rising at The Buttonwood Tree in Middletown, CT. I first learned of Harpeth Rising from their Sonicbids submission to Orient Lodge. It was a wonderful show, and my regard for Harpeth Rising increased greatly. They identified themselves as Americana in their submission, which is as good a category as any for them.
Of the sixty-seven submissions to this round of reviews, twelve identified themselves as Americana. I’ve listened to nine of them, and I want to highlight a couple.
The first group I want to highlight is Harvey Branch String Band. Maybe I just have a thing for Americana bands named after rivers and featuring female banjo players. I also like it that the instrumentation lists a kazoo as one of the instruments. The Harvey Branch String Band is just plain fun. I also like it that they played at the Special Olympics Winter Fest in Indiana on Sunday.
The second group I want to highlight is the Twangtown Paramours. They actually submitted their music in the last round, and I really liked them. I almost selected them that time, but there were several other good groups and I just couldn’t work it into my schedule. So, this time, I’m glad to highlight them. They are polished and have great lyrics. Perhaps some of this is because “Mike T. Lewis has played guitar for a million and a half years, and bass for about half that long.” He also “had a #1 pop hit in South Korea on Yang Pa’s first album called ‘A Heartbeat Away’. It sold over 800,000 units”. I should try to find a recording of that some day.
Mostly, they are playing around Tennessee, with trips into Virginia and West Virginia. They seem like a band that would be fun to go hear at a coffee shop some day.
They don’t have much of a presence on Twitter, but they are listed as musicians contributing to the Acoustic for Autism project. Gotta like em for that.
They do have some videos up on YouTube, and so perhaps the best way to illustrate who they are is to feature this video:
Happy Music Monday, everyone.
Can’t Find the Revolution
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 01/07/2011 - 07:42This evening, weather permitting, Harpeth Rising will be playing at The Buttonwood Tree in Middletown, CT. Last June, I reviewed them on my blog. In December, I started a new job at Community Health Center, Inc. in Middletown as their social media manager. On December 26th, Fiona interviewed Jordana Greenberg of Harpeth Rising on Fiona’s Radio Show. Now, there is a winter advisory in effect. So, I will be up in Middletown today, hoping that Kim and Fiona will be able to join me to hear Harpeth Rising in concert in the evening.
The song by Harpeth Rising that I associate most strongly with is “Can’t Find The Revolution”. It talks about a woman who has sold her Harley Davidson because she’s got no time to ride. She’s trapped inside a swivel chair, pushing papers back in Silicon. Her boyfriend used to be a poet and a minstrel who is now pushing the assembly line. In the end, she quits her job, buys a Harley Davidson, gets back on the road, only to be told by old friends that she’s changed more than she knows.
As Joni Mitchell reminds us, something is lost and something is gained in living everyday. She also reminds us that we can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came.
I carry some of that searching for the revolution and longing for my words to make a difference. I can’t go back to my days of writing my poems in a little black book as I hitchhike across the country, because like the heroine of the song, I too, have changed more than I know. Yet it is a bit of a circle game, and perhaps, even though I sit in a swivel chair in Middletown, I’m not trapped. Perhaps, I’ve found my revolution, at least for now.
That old desire to use one’s words to make a difference, it feels like CHC is giving me that opportunity, to use social media to build healthier communities. There is that old quote attributed to Emma Goldman about how if she couldn’t dance, it wasn’t her revolution. How do we give people struggling with difficult situations the health and opportunity to dance?
Well, tonight, Harpeth Rising is going to play at the Buttonwood Tree. I’m don’t think it is a great venue for dancing, even though Harpeth Rising is the sort of music I would expect to see folks at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival get up and dance to, but I hope to be tapping my feet along to their music this evening.
No, I’m not going to go hitchhiking across the country any time soon. I’m not going to buy a Harley Davidson. I’ve changed more than I know. I can’t return. But there is something gained. It is a good job where I hope I can make a difference in people’s lives and it is a chance to listen to some great music.
I hope you find your revolution.
Music Monday - Fiona’s Edition
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 07:03With the final day for submitting music via Sonicbids to Orient Lodge Music Review for this quarter passing last week, I saw a flurry of new submissions. Sixty-seven have been submitted. I’ve written eight reviews already, so I’ve met my minimum goal. Over the next few weeks, I’ll try to get through all the new submissions in hopes of not missing something special that came in at the last minute.
This week, I’m going to lump five different performers together. My preference is towards singer/songwriters, Americana and eclectic music. Several submissions have more of a pop and/or rock feel to them, and while they are pretty good, are not the sort of things that I would normally review.
Sunday, my nine year old daughter Fiona had a friend over and I had them listen to several of these musicians, and here are a few top picks from them.
Starting off at the top of the list is Myla Smith. Myla has a great voice and a lot of studio experience. She began singing in church choirs when she was young and then was part of a group of singers for the PBS show “Barney and Friends”. All of this comes through in her music. Myla is the sort of singer that I wish more nine year olds were inspired by.
Coming in second for Fiona was Tori Allen. Like Myla, Tori has some Texas roots. In Tori’s case it comes through with some hard driving country music. Fiona likes country and her interview with a young local country singer helped get me going with my music reviews and inviting musicians to appear on Fiona’s Radio Show.
Third on the list was the only male performer, Jacob Vanags. Fiona’s friend Jamie really liked Jacob’s music and commented about who well he used some really large words. I think she was struck by his use of circumnavigate in the song “Public Transit”.
In fourth place was Briana Lynn. It is hard to find much of anything about Briana online. She has her MySpace page with eight friends, and that is about it. In her submission she writes,
I have been writing music since I was young and I am now trying to slowly take the steps to let others hear my music. I believe I have the potential to be a more than successful singer songwriter. I haven't got a huge following because I feel awkward doing self promotion, but I can't stop writing.
Well, she really should work on her self promotion because we all liked her music. Perhaps a little bit of it is like writing a blog post. Blog posts, tweets, songs, short stories, novels; they all have lives of their own. We write and then we set our writing free. Some people like some of the stuff we write, other stuff falls flat, but our writings have lives of their own, and the success or failure of one piece or another is just one more step in building up our library of works.
Rounding out the list was Amy Petty. By the time we got to her, Fiona and Jamie were losing interest in the whole process and wanted to go play cards, so probably Amy didn’t get as much attention as she deserved. Also, Amy is a little more edgy, more towards the sort of music that I like. I really like Amy Petty’s music and note that she played at the Berkshire Women's Muse Fest in 2009.
With that, as I like to do for my Music Monday posts, let me end with a video. This one is of Amy singing at A Celebration of the Song at The Sheldon in St. Louis, MO, also in 2009.
Music Monday - Francesco Bonifazi
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 07:52Today is the final day that performers can submit their electronic press kits (EPKs) to me on Sonicbids for this set of reviews. Performers are asked to fill out a pretty standard questionnaire, that includes, “Are you a current reader of the Orient Lodge Music Review” and “Briefly describe why we should write about you”.
People who are regular readers will know that I like to highlight unknown and out of the ordinary performers. Francesco Bonifazi said that he is not a regular reader, yet in telling me why he thinks I should write about him, he hits the note that resonates here.
He starts off:
I suspect that my music is not exactly like anything you've heard before....so please keep an open mind. When I tell reviewers, radio hosts etc. that I'm a world-champion whistler they wince and think it's going to be a cute novelty act
He’s right. His music is not exactly like anything I’ve heard before. That is part of the reason I like it. It is not some cute novelty act and, yes, he is a world-champion whistler. I followed up on this claim. He won first place in the Popular Music category at the 2003 International Whistlers Convention. This year’s convention will be in Louisburg, North Carolina, April 6-10, 2011.
His whistling covers a broad spectrum of genres with a jazz being an important focus and I listened to quite a few tracks. “Angels” is one of my favorites:
Sometimes it feels like an angel brushes my skin.
They're all around us and from within.
Soft and smooth like a feather on a warm summer wind.
And there's kindness in the music of their gentle wings.
There is some impressive whistling on this track.
He sent me a link to one video. It is about twelve minutes long and not greatly edited. However, if you skip the first the first seven and a half minutes, there is a really fun section where he does Take The A Train, with some nice whistling and a kid in a Santa hat coming up to dance.
However, if you want to watch a video that really captures his whistling process watch this one:
Francesco Bonifazi is currently putting together a tour of the north east in the Spring and working on a second album focused on Acoustic/Americana/Audult Comtemporary music.
