On this morning’s “Expanding Awareness” program, Victor and his guest Bonnie Faith will be discussing enlightened ways to nurture yourself. If you’re not in the Boston area, you can listen online. His shows are also archived for two weeks.
Victor Robert Venckus presents his Lucid Sounds/Expanding Awareness program on WZBC 90.3 FM (Boston College Radio) every Saturday from 7am - 11am. He begins with New Age, ambient, Native American and world music, with a weekly astrology report from Dietrich Pessin at 9:30 am. Expanding Awareness is at 10am, featuring interviews on paranormal, holistic health, environmental, animal rights and occasionally human rights topics, with listener call-in participation. The broadcast is now archived for two weeks. Victor has been on the air, in some guise or another, since 1975.
Man, I love these guys. I first discovered them via The Airborne Toxic Event, when I went absolutely batshit nuts over the first three Silverlake bands I heard - TATE, Castledoor, and The Deadly Syndrome (that now legendary final Spaceland residency show in January 2008). From there I started researching all the bands that played around Silverlake and Echo Park, and it was a revelation. Not unlike the one I had in the early 00’s when I discovered - 10 years after everyone else in America - the whole New Zealand Flying Nun thing. And not unlike the NZ stuff, there’s this lyrical sophistication and slightly off-kilter quality running through many of these bands that greatly appeals to me. The Henry Clay People has this intelligence and quirkiness in vast overflowing abundance. Mix that with classic and punk rock sounds, a bit of country-flavoring and indie rock sensibility, and you’ve got something pretty damned irresistible.
The Henry Clay People formed in 2006, though they had an earlier incarnation as the more punkish Vallejo By Knife. They released “Discover The Mystery and Eat It” (2003) and “Birdman and (the) Squid” (2005, on Double Helix Records), though Wikipedia has “Birdman” being a HCP release, so the jury is still out on that one. “Birdman and (the) Squid” was recorded by Dave Newton of The Mighty Lemon Drops, and included, in addition to Andy and Joey Siara, Eric Scott on drums and Noah Green on bass, who would become The Henry Clay People. From 2006-2008, they played what Web In Front called “a two-year, 140-show residency of L.A.”, building a large following of fans and something of a notoriety for completely unhinged, communal performances.
A month-long residency in February 2008 at The Echo coincided with their “Working Part Time” EP. A full-length album had been in the works, but when the residency came along, it was decided there wasn’t enough time to finish it, so as fortune would have it, they teamed up with JAXart Records to put out a vinyl single and digital 5-track EP. [JAXart specializes in really nice, limited edition, wicked collectible vinyl singles that include a digital download; a sweet deal, and I strongly suspect the HCP one won't last for much longer as they pick up more and more fans outside of L.A. - so yes, grab yours now.]
The Henry Clay People’s New Year’s Eve Spaceland show proved to be a pivotal moment for the band. They gave a special nod to their friends The Airborne Toxic Event by covering “Sometime Around Midnight” just before… yup, you guessed it. After which Noah Green proposed to his girlfriend, on stage. As it happened, they had just been asked to join TATE for their first headlining tour in the U.S. Noah and Eric, not able to commit to so much time away from home, had to drop out, but were replaced by Mike Hopkins and Jonathan Price, who are also in the band i make this sound. I marvel now at how quickly they pulled together this new lineup, because they sounded just fantastic in Boston and NYC.
Things are really taking off for The Henry Clay People, and deservedly so. Back in May, they joined Ben Harper & Relentless7 for an 11-date cross-country tour, and appeared at the Sasquatch Music Festival. They will be performing at Lollapalooza on August 7, the Austin City Limits Festival on October 2, and are on tour with The Airborne Toxic Event and Red Cortez starting on September 17 in Pomona, CA, ending in San Francisco on November 2. The band is currently “reek ord ding”, which happily must mean a new CD to buy at the shows! Can’t wait to see them again… a joyous time indeed.
Bowery Ballroom, NYC
Blacklist The Kid With The Red Moustache
Wonderfully quirky, uplifting, bouncy and joyous, with some crazy guitar moments like at the end of “Social Sc*entology”, and lyrics that are sweet, silly, and sophisticated and make me laugh out loud. In terms of sensibility and their play on words, they bring to mind Eno’s early solo work. High praise indeed. Their stuff has a way of seeming tight and musically complex, yet loose, sloppy, playful, rambunctious and fun at the same time. Especially evident on a song like “The Gentle Charm of the Soviette”. Delightful guitar interplay on “Children of the Chin” and absolutely great lyrics:
“The party host a proper parasite, we’ll move out to the cheaper city lights tonight. To the center of an industry, where those in-dus-tri-ous people are all smiling at me. Or we can melt into the summer sun, and we can kill or love or whatever, whatever comes….”
Their music just makes me smile with some sense of nostalgia for if not simpler, than at least more straightforward times.
“I bought a dog in Minnesota, I bought a dog, because the price was right…” - “Fiche Bag”
Live [Mondays (at the Echo) Vol. 7 - February 4th 2008]
You just know that any live recording that begins with the lead singer announcing “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, my little brother just went to go pee, so soon as he gets back from urinating, we’ll start this… we’ll kick this jam off” is clearly not going to be a pretentious affair. A brilliant chronicle of a great live band absolutely in their element, this was recorded at their first residency show at The Echo, and includes three tracks from their just released EP as well as the b-side of the 7″ vinyl single, “Echolocation”. Also, “Fine Print” and “Bulls Through” (also from For Cheap Or For Free), “Children of Chin” from Blacklist, “There Were Trees”, and two Operation Ivy covers, “The Crowd” and “Knowledge”. Amazing energy, terrific sound, a rollicking good time and friendly atmosphere, playing for their hometown fans.
For Cheap Or For Free
Just as crazy and brilliant as their earlier work, and bursting with energy. This album has perhaps more of a straightforward classic rock and punk sound, albeit still with the HCP’s trademark off-kilter personality. Closes with a few quieter, more introspective songs. I like the way the album flows. Really nice.
We had dreams, they were better off dreams, so you kept them away from me. But the time will come, yes the time will come, and we’ll need them. This ain’t a scene, it’s just a generation caught in between… This ain’t a scene, it’s just a place to be. We won’t settle down until we’ve seen everything that we’ve paid to see.” - “This Ain’t A Scene”
“We were doing nothing but paying our rent, taking all the holes in our lives and filling them with cement…” - “Bulls Through”
“I Was Half Asleep”, one of my favorites, is an introspective sad and sweet reflection on relationship issues, that midway slips into some lovely pedal steel and soft honky-tonk piano. “Two by Two” is wistful hometown nostalgia with harmonica.
[Apologies if I got any of the words wrong. Please guys, with the new album... lyrics! Even if it's just online, or scribbed on a piece of tissue, photocopied, and stuffed into the CD case. Thanks!]
End of an Empire (Fuel TV)
Discography
Discover The Mystery and Eat It (2003) as ‘Vallejo By Knife’
Originally known as The Weather Underground, the group formed mid-2004 with singer/guitarist Harley Prechtel-Cortez, bassist Ryan Kirkpatrick, drummer Diego Guerrero and guitarist Sho Bagley. Sho left around the middle of last year, and was replaced by Edmonton native Calvin J. Love. Adding a Canadian to the mix made the band even more diverse, as they already have Guatemalan, Mexican, and Irish ancestry, which comes out at times in beautiful ways, in their sound and subject matter. The new band member, new songs, and inevitable linking to the ’60’s/’70’s leftist group (often as important to journalists as their songs) inspired them to change their name to Red Cortez. Their first show was Nov. 11, for the debut of Indie 103.1’s “Check One Tuesdays” night at the Echoplex, opening for Earlimart and Afternoons (good heavens, what a lineup).
Their music has a social relevance and an energetic urgency, with influences ranging from blues and Latin-tinged folk to 60’s garage and punk. Lyrically it’s like beat poetry, as they sing of displaced Guatemalan field workers (”Fight Song For The Desalojos”), Beat Generation Neal Cassady, day-to-day struggles and inner turmoil, introspection and solitude. They’ve been described as “rootsy gospel”, and their live shows are compared to evangelical church services. Web In Front said of their recent Taco Zone benefit at Spaceland: “the band has developed a searing tightness and live authority which, coupled with their already galvanizing intensity and collection of searching, powerful songs of introspection and revolt, has pushed them to the very forefront of la la land live acts”.
Fell on the Floor - manic and urgent, biting lyrics, with the refrain that gets stuck in your head, “try to pretend you know everything don’t you, you know everything don’t you, everything don’t you”.
Trainwreck - fantastic, quirky vocalization; seriously infectious; something you want to jump up and move around to.
Letters - a song of defiance. A woman continues to receives letters from her soldier husband, even though he has died, and chooses to believe he is still alive. The stubbornness of the human spirit. Powerful.
Bird in the Hand - beautiful, introspective, heartfelt; about moving beyond life’s hardships.
All Ye People - a modern day hymn . “Come all you strangers, your life’s in danger, you’re living too close to discourse. He trembles his hand, loosens his tie, the only thing you’re killing is time… Your walls are coming down, but there’s no one around to witness it.”
Discography (EPs)
as The Weather Underground When I Was a Soldier (May 2007)
Beggar’s Ballad, How Many Operations, Nickel & Dime, Turncoat’s Palace, When I Was A Soldier
Psalms & Shanties (October 2007)
Neal Cassacy, Old Man Jude, Poete Maudite, Something’s Gotta Give, The Outsider Benches
Bird in the Hand (May 2008)
All Ye People, Bird in the Hand, Fight Song for the Desajolos, Little Sparrows in Boyle Heights, Trainwreck
as Red Cortez Hands to the Wall (2009)
In the Fall, Fell on the Floor, Laughing Streetcar, World at Rest, All the Difference
On Saturday’s “Expanding Awareness” program, Victor and his guest will be discussing Native American spirituality. If you’re not in the Boston area, you can listen online. His shows are also archived for two weeks.
Victor Robert Venckus presents his Lucid Sounds/Expanding Awareness program on WZBC 90.3 FM (Boston College Radio) every Saturday from 7am - 11am. He begins with New Age, ambient, Native American and world music, with a weekly astrology report from Dietrich Pessin at 9:30 am. Expanding Awareness is at 10am, featuring interviews on paranormal, holistic health, environmental, animal rights and occasionally human rights topics, with listener call-in participation. The broadcast is now archived for two weeks. Victor has been on the air, in some guise or another, since 1975.
On this morning’s “Expanding Awareness” program (happening as I write this), Victor will be airing a previously unheard (on his show, anyway) Alan Watt’s lecture entitled “The World As Just So”. If you miss this ’cause I’m posting so late, you can catch it online for two weeks.
Victor Robert Venckus presents his Lucid Sounds/Expanding Awareness program on WZBC 90.3 FM (Boston College Radio) every Saturday from 7am - 11am. He begins with New Age, ambient, Native American and world music, with a weekly astrology report from Dietrich Pessin at 9:30 am. Expanding Awareness is at 10am, featuring interviews on paranormal, holistic health, environmental, animal rights and occasionally human rights topics, with listener call-in participation. The broadcast is now archived for two weeks. Victor has been on the air, in some guise or another, since 1975.
Well, that’s how it is with us bipolar types. One minute, all is dark and unfathomable, and the next minute, your favorite band is announcing a show in less than 2 months’ time, about an hour’s drive from you. It’s at these moments when one realizes that life is inherently a good and happy place.
We may not have indie rock festivals here in New England, but dammit, we sure do have block parties! Thank you, oh thank you, WBRU! And thanks so very muchAirborne Tox.
transcendental meditation, crystals, sun salutations, i-ching, tarot cards, past life regressions. crying, screaming, dancing. consultations with psychics, with astrologers, with psychologists, with charlatans. clean diet, exercise, qigong, drugs, drinking, no drugs, no drinking. live music, bird-watching, getting lost in the woods, getting lost in a book. self-analysis, mindlink, manic mind, empty mind. gardening, ouija boards, going to the movies, long drives, walking around in a crowded city, sitting in a darkened room. i have a home depot full of fancy tools, and sometimes i can’t hammer a fucking nail into a board.
My first introduction to Sharon Robinson’s music was at Leonard Cohen’s amazing performance at the Wang Theatre a few weeks ago. He had brought with him a stellar collection of musicians, each one fascinating in their own right. Sharon, I learned, is not just a gifted vocalist, but has collaborated with Mr. Cohen for many years, and has written quite a few songs with him, including one of my all-time favorites, “Everybody Knows”. She, along with the Webb Sisters, contributed lovely backup vocals, and she did an amazing solo performance of “Boogie Street”, to enthusiastic cheers from the audience.
Her vocals on her debut album are quiet and subdued, like a simmering tea kettle. One has the sense that at any moment, she could let loose in a major hellfire way. One disappointment, I’d say, is that she doesn’t. Her voice is beautiful, but she plays it conservatively, as does the band, which I realize is probably the style of what is known as smooth jazz, and which I’m sure will appeal to lovers of that genre. In all honestly, it’s not the type of music I listen to very often, and I don’t have a real feeling for it. Which doesn’t make me the person best suited to write about this recording, so I’ll just speak to the individual talents contained within. Sharon’s luscious voice is front and center, as it should be, flowing like warm honey. Accompanying her, all highly skilled musicians, from Christopher Bruce on guitar to Jay Bellerose on drums and percussion; Patrick Warren, synthesizers and Joey Waronker, percussion; and Nate Wood, additional drums, guitar and keyboards. James Harrah, Mike Turk, Bob Glaub and Michael Gold add guitar, harmonica, bass, and vocals on individual tracks. From all corners I could imagine enticing riffs bubbling up from the rich musical pool, but as is par for the course with this style of music, I suppose, it just doesn’t happen to the degree that I keep hoping it might. Production is impeccable and the sound is very smooth and polished; perhaps too much so. Personal preference, but when I hear raw talent like Sharon Robinson’s, I like it to stay raw, with as little production as possible.
Sharon’s solo songwriting ability stands out on the tracks “Party for the Lonely” and “The High Road” (the latter of which was performed by Bettye LaVette on her album “I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise”). The three songs co-written with Leonard Cohen are, of course, brilliant. “Everybody Knows” is quite simply one of the most amazing songs ever written. “Alexandra Leaving”… lyrically haunting, and I’d love to hear this with the barest of accompaniment; solo piano or guitar, preferably. On “Summertime”, there’s a wistful melancholy, a quietly simmering passion which she inhabits. The best version I’ve heard is one performed with the wonderfully talented Javiar Mas on guitar on TV Finland’s morning program back in October 2008.
My hope for her next album is one that is stripped down with a more minimalist production. Possibly combining solo accompaniment from Javiar Mas with some larger bluesy R&B arrangements that she can sensuously weave around and occasionally let loose on. That would be a glorious thing indeed.
Sharon Robinson’s shiver-producing performance with Leonard Cohen on “Boogie Street” (from the “Live In London” DVD)
The last time I saw the wonderful Silverlake band The Local Natives (also at T.T.’s, with The Union Line & Voxhaul Broadcast) was back in January, and I was amazed at how good they were. It was a Sunday night, the weather was cold, slushy and miserable, and there were maybe 20 people in the audience, most of them the other band members and their friends. Even so, and considering they had come from L.A. cross-country to play for us, they put on an enthusiastic, fantastic show, and this really impressed me.
Local Natives @ T.T.'s
Fortunately, this night was quite different. No more snow, thank god, and on tour with Portland-based Blind Pilot, who seem to have quite a loyal (and large) following. I wasn’t previously familiar with their music at all, but I’m sure glad I am now!
The Local Natives were even more marvelous than I remembered, no doubt feeding off of the already large audience who really seemed to enjoy them. Even in their recorded music, but especially live, there’s an enthusiasm and joy of playing that comes through and is quite infectious. You can tell they’re having such a good time, and they have such a tight sound (with incredibly nice harmonies). I realize now what an amazing song “Airplanes” is, and some in the audience were clearly already familiar with it (no doubt from MySpace). They performed songs from a fantastic 5-track EP they just put out (featuring tracks recorded at Rede Rockets Glare Studios and two from their Daytrotter session), plus “Stranger Things” and three I didn’t know, which I annoyingly indicate as “??” in the setlist.
“Cards & Quarters” has a really cool, rhythmically-changing beat and very pretty guitar. Beautiful vocals throughout from Taylor Rice and Ryan Hahn, who were also on guitars. They performed a wonderful Talking Heads cover, “Warning Sign”, and really make it their own. That song seriously rocked. When I first saw them I thought they reminded me of a looser and friendlier Talking Heads; maybe it was just a similar sort of vibe, or the truly jamming percussion. But I was probably too insecure to mention that at the time. Now that I see they do such a marvelous job with one of their songs, I’ll go ahead and say it. I also see in my scribbled notes, “beautiful violin (viola?), with keyboardist on vocals and guitar”. So I’ll mention that Amanda Salazar on violin (hoping that’s her name, as I’m looking at the EP) and Kelcey Ayer were great on this song, but yes, it’s one of the tracks I didn’t know. Andy Hamm on bass and Matt Frazier on drums were superb as well. They ended their set with “Sun Hands” which, done live, is a building, hypnotic, tribal ritual.
Blind Pilot
Blind Pilot up next, and looking back, I’d have to say what an inspired pairing, even though they’re quite different musically. Same infectious joy, however. How to describe Blind Pilot? Mountain Appalachian hillbilly hoedown, casual and fun but musically rich and inviting… danceable, joyous, at time wistful and melancholy, but with great warmth. Lovely vocals from Israel Nebeker, and a fascinating line up of guitar, ukelele/banjo/mountain dulcimer, harmonium/keyboards/trumpet, drums & percussion, stand-up bass, and vibraphone! Sounds crazy, and it is, but it’s also quite beautiful. People were simply knocked out by these guys. The rest of the audience were obviously more familiar with the music than I was, but they seemed delighted to be seeing them in person. It can’t be easy for a small indie band to make the trek from Portland to the East Coast, so I think everyone is especially appreciative here. And to play a show at T.T.’s… well, it’s an awesome little venue and we love it, but ya know, it ain’t the Orpheum.
Listening to their wonderful CD now (”3 Rounds and a Sound”), they’re lyrically lovely as well. Which I could tell during the show, but of course you can’t always make out the words, and you’re naturally focused on the amazing instrumentation, as it’s live and right there in front of you. Sitting quietly at home, the vocals come to the fore and can be pondered over and admired.
“The screen went blue before I touched you and my ride went home. All the photos came out lonely but we were not alone, talking of everything we could not hold… We were stronger than the preachers. We were wiser than the law.” (”Things I cannot recall”)
Greatly enjoyed these guys (and gal) live (and a really nice version of “A Whiter Shade of Pale” during the encore). The CD (which can be purchased directly on the MySpace) lists Blind Pilot as: Israel Nebeker - vocals, guitar, bass; Ryan Dobrowski - drums, percussion; Kati Claborn - vocals, mountain dulcimer, banjo; Shawn McLain - violin; Ian Krist - vibraphone; Dave Jorgensen - trumpet, Rhodes; and Skyler Norwood - vibraphone, bass, orchestration.
Thanks so much, Local Natives and Blind Pilot, for an awesome evening of music… Come back soon!
Setlist
(Local Natives)
World News
??
Airplanes
Cards & Quarters
Warning Sign (Talking Heads)
??
Stranger Things
??
Sun Hands
(Blind Pilot)
??
The Story I Heard
Two Towns From Me
Oviedo
Go On, Say It
Poor Boy
Paint or Pollen
Things I Cannot Recall
One Red Thread
I Buried A Bone
??
(encore)
The Bitter End
A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
Six Feet Under(?)
On Expanding Awareness tomorrow morning, Victor will be interviewing practitioners at an Open House at the Theosophical Society in Arlington, Massachusetts.
Victor Robert Venckus presents his Lucid Sounds/Expanding Awareness program on WZBC 90.3 FM (Boston College Radio) every Saturday from 7am - 11am. He begins with New Age, ambient, Native American and world music, with a weekly astrology report from Dietrich Pessin at 9:30 am. Expanding Awareness is at 10am, featuring interviews on paranormal, holistic health, environmental, animal rights and occasionally human rights topics, with listener call-in participation. The broadcast is now archived for two weeks. Victor has been on the air, in some guise or another, since 1975.
