Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
>And when do we see Stew on the road supporting Rodewald's solo act?

You have no idea how much i'd love that. Though its been difficult cuz
we're so busy with my solo thing and TNP,  we are slowly working our
way into her solo record. Collaborating with people whose voices and
songs i love is a sincere vacation for me. I cant wait til her stuff
comes out. We're looking at the first half of next year for sure. And
besides, after releasing two records this year I, no, rather the
audience, deserves a break!

I guess lotsa folks here might not know that Rodewald was in a pop
band in the 80's called Wednesday Week. She wrote their two hit tunes
and got to ride around in way more limosines than I've ever been in!

Oddly enough, Rodewald's role in my solo work has become as central to
it as her role in TNP. For me, TNP always has to have a strong female
element. Especially when its live. And i just simply like being in
bands with women. TNP started off with 2 women and, even though we dont
have another woman anymore as permanent member, we always strive to
have that element included.

But the funny thing was somewhere along the way her voice started to
become a crucial part of the solo thing as well. I had a revelation
onstage one night somewhere on tour when she came in on "The Naked
Dutch Painter" and I decided to drop out and just let her take it. What
was already a pretty quiet club grew even more silent. And i realized
at that moment that her voice was fleshing out the tune conceptually as
well as musically. So the women in "Re-hab",
"NDP", "North Bronx French Marie" and what have you, sorta get some
representation there - if you know what I mean.

It also helps that she comes from a musical theater family so anytime
we wanna throw in some crazy cover we just call her mom and shes got
the sheet music. And were she a straight rocker how the hell would I
ever get her to understand why I'd wanna cover a tune from "Pippin"???

As far as the new record is concerned, its a first for us to have
anybody else writing music but me. Shes always been heavily involved in
arranging stuff with me but "Out Now" and "Watering Hole" are her
musical creations. I'm very proud to have those numbers on the record
and most folks seem to really gravitate towards "Watering Hole" as the
central cut on the record.

As far as there being a solo Stew w/out Rodewald, sure. I wanna do one
of those "all by myself" indulgent records sometime next year. My
dream is to play drums on my own record some day. It would HAVE to be
my own record cuz Rodewald wouldnt let me do it on a TNP record!
  

    
Scenario: Somewhere along the line, a fantastically popular act covers
one of your songs. Pretty soon, you've banked some serious coinage.
You decide to start Stewpot Records so some of your favorite artists,
who haven't been as fortunate as you, can have a chance at the brass
ring. You are now in a somewhat godlike position, so no one's going to
say no to you. Your first four releases are... 
  

    
hmmmm. this answer will have to change every day. today i'd start with
Probyn Gregory's solo record. He's been slaving away in TNP, the
Wondermints, the Eels and Brian Wilson's group for awhile now and for
many different reasons hasnt put together his own thing. I'd send him
in with a nice budget cuz i know he's a perfectionist (which is why
being in TNP has given him many gray hairs.

Next would be a record by Fatego, a trio we just ran into in Mesa
Ariz. a few weeks ago. The songwriter, Mike Montoya, is a real find.
I'm in too big a rush to properly describe their music but they are
fantastic.

3rd would be a big budget record by WACO, a Silverlake new classical
ensemble with vocals.

4th would definitely be a free jazz outfit of some sort. I'd put them
in a $2000 a day studio and just let them record their next 20 records
in a week.

Tomorrow i'll have a new list.
  

    
(When you're in less of a rush I hope you get around to describing Fatego.)
  

    

W.A.C.O. made one of my favorite albums of 2001. They have to be heard.
Impossible to describe.
  

    
Just a note to the myriad Stew fans who are reading this, but are not members 
of the WELL. You can join the conversation, too - just email your questions 
and comments to inkwell-hosts@well.com, and we'll post 'em for you.

Now, back to the beat!
  

    
Fatego are led by a cat named Mike Montoya. I will go out on a limb
and say mike is mexican american but the truth is i dont know. What i
do know is he sometimes sings in spanish, mostly in english, is very
clever, funny as hell and his band caught my ear while we were on tour
in mesa ariz by opening with a tune with a jazzy cabaret lilt that
coulda been off a Georges Brassens record. That NEVER happens on the
road...or in LA for that matter. I'm terrible at describing music. I'll
find their website address and put it up here.
  

    

Can we talk about "Watering Hole"?  That song is so complete, in concept and
execution, that I find it interesting that Heidi wrote the music and you
wrote the words.

The sitar guitar, the etheral organ stabs, the coke spoon rustling in the
chest hairs -- the song is a fuckin' movie.

Die she give you the music with all those sounds in place?  If so, you filled
in exactly the picture that belonged there.
  

    
Or did the lyrics come first?
  

    
Yeah, that's a sorta cliche question to ask a songwriter, but it never
loses its fascination for those of us who don't write songs: does the
music or the lyrics come first? I know at the end of "Naked Dutch
Painter" the narrator talks about going off to write a poem about it
all, which may or may not be what happened. 

But there's another question that's more Stew-specific: what do you
have against including lyrics to your songs with the albums? I'm told
you really oppose the idea. 
  

    
>Can we talk about "Watering Hole"?

i was presented with a demo with all the music intact, including the
vocal melody & electric sitar part (which was originally gonna be more
of a fuzz guitar thing). 

oh god, the "ethereal" organ stabs...how sweet of you to put it that
way. i recorded those while apologizing to rodewald saying "hey, i know
i'm playing this badly and this organ sound sucks but dont worry, i'll
throw on a better one tomorrow." I never got around to re-doing it.
  

    
> what do you have against including lyrics to your songs with the
>albums? I'm told you really oppose the idea. 

i just think the whole point of pop song lyrics is that they are to be
sung & listened to but not read. i'm not a poet. There are not even a
small handful of rock/pop songwriters that i consider poets. (WARNING -
the last thing i wanna do here is start a discussion about who thinks
who is a "rock poet" so please lets not go there brothers and sisters).
  

Remember the 70's when every album had those awful "handwritten" lyric
sheets? My god, the idea that CHICAGO had a lyric sheet but Dylan
never did is something worth thinking about for a sec. There was
something weird about that, no?

Theres another reason for no lyric sheets: on all my records I think
--with the exception of Welcome Black--, i try to make it so folks can
understand the lyrics by sticking the vocal way up in the mix.

For the record, I'd say Field Commander Cohen and Dylan are the only
cats that come to mind that I could call poets. Brel obviously but he
aint pop/rock. Maybe i'll think of some more.

Lotsa folks think "poet" is the highest compliment you can give a
songwriter -- like it puts them into this elite class. But thats
bullshit -- i'll take chuck berry any day.
  

    
once i had a job at a publishing company that handled willie dixon's
music. I had the mind blowing task one day of organizing & filing
original lyric documents of his. I mean i was handling the actual
handwritten or typewritten originals. It was dizzying to just be
holding these documents and to also learn right there that what he did
and what hank williams did and all those other american song lyric
genuises did
was they poeticized the way people really spoke. I mean on paper "Hey
good lookin', whatcha got cookin'" aint exactly The Four Quartets but
when he sings it that lyric owns you forever.

So being a poet is just being a poet. It aint better or cooler than
simply being a lyricist. I like being called a "singer/songwriter". It
implies that I can more than likely walk and chew gum at the same time.
  

    
Wow, and how many people here can say that! 

You know, your mention a few posts back about wanting to cover a song
from "Pippin" made me wonder if you've had thoughts of approaching the
musical stage with a project. Fortunately, you're no Andrew
Lloyd-Webber, but someone with your talents might be able to make what
I consider a very degraded medium vital again. 
  

    
>Fortunately, you're no Andrew Lloyd-Webber,

hmmm, i'd say UNfortunately when you compare our bank accounts. 

Yeah, theres definitely serious talk of taking what we do at the rock
clubs and bringing it into a theatrical setting. But we're starting
small. At present we're just working on a small cabaret presentation --
that is to say, an evening of music and words -- an attempt to connect
some of the dots between the tunes - an evening of entertainment that
would flesh out the autobiographical aspects of the songs. 
I'm really looking forward to this because i'm starting to feel
restricted in the typical rock setting. When i perform with this comedy
ensemble called Sit & Spin they always do 70 seater theaters and its
so pleasurable because in that setting you can really use the room -
the room already loves you when you walk out -- its dark and quiet and
everyone is looking at you and waiting for you to entertain them. And
you have a more intimate arsenal at your disposal...subtle facial
expressions, whispers, glances...


And hell, its just more adult. 
  

    
Yeah, no offense, but your shot at teen-idoldom is flat over. 

I'm curious about this Sit & Spin thing. Can you say a little more
about it? It's a comedy ensemble, you say, so are you, like, musical
relief? When I think comedy I, like probably all too many people, think
standup. This is clearly not that. 
  

    
>Yeah, no offense, but your shot at teen-idoldom is flat over. 

You havent seen me moonwalk, buster! And i can grab my genitals with
the best of them. Of course, at my age I'm grabbing them because...oh,
wait, this is a family conference.

Sit & Spin is in fact a comedy ensemble but it is comprised mostly of
writers not stand-up folk - although there are some actual comics in
there. The thing i dig about it is folks actually read their stuff
onstage. So theres this literary bent to it which takes it out of the
stand-up vibe. And yes, i am in fact musical relief. But the fact that
my songs are funny doesnt hurt. Jill Soloway is the head of the group
and she writes for 6 Feet Under. 
  

    
Back to lyrics for a moment: in my defense, I hear badly. We have a
whole topic about Mondegreens here, but those are the amusing
mishearings, not the nonsensical mumblings I'm often singing. I will
write out lyrics so I can sing along, which can be time-consuming and
error-filled. You do sing clearly, but I want to be sure I catch the
wordplay that is often buzzing along there.

I went online to try to find lyrics for "Doubting Uncle Tom" and
"Ghetto Godot" and you should see what's there! For instance, I'm
pretty sure you sing of Morehouse and DePauw Universities, not
Whorehouse and Deep House. But I could be wrong.

I'm still working out the backing vocals to "Man in a Dress," too.
  

    
In fact, <esau>, I think you just missed some of the aforementioned
wordplay. Course, I didn't write the songs, but... 

I mean, Stew, you're not bitter because you didn't get into Morehouse,
are you? 
  

    
this is going to sound stupid but, because i often change words here
and there (especially when i've been singing a song on the road for too
long), often i'm not sure what the hell the lyrics are on the original
recording. and since i dont listen to my own records...

i'm pretty sure "DOT" has morehouse and whorehouse in it. at least i
know thats what i used to sing live -- havent done that one in a long
time, however. i'll have a listen.

i'll have to take a listen to ghetto godot as well. its been a while.

i remember "man in a dress" backgrounds being particularly funny...to
me at least...at the time. I've actually been planning to bring that
one back in the solo set. i think one actually goes "I vomited
projectily." sweet, huh?
  

    
>you're not bitter because you didn't get into Morehouse,
>are you? 

HAH! no. the "whorehouse university" thing was just a sound-image to
add to the nightmare world of the song. i got nothing against
morehouse. and for the record, i was wrong earlier - i dont think
"morehouse" is mentioned at all in the song.
  

    

It's the line after "no natty dreadlock" in "Ghetto Godot" that I've never 
made out.
  

    

> My god, the idea that CHICAGO had a lyric sheet but Dylan never did is
> something worth thinking about for a sec.

HA!!


> they always do 70 seater theaters and its so pleasurable because in that
> setting you can really use the room - the room already loves you when you
> walk out -- its dark and quiet and everyone is looking at you and waiting
> for you to entertain them.

Having just returned from a two-week tour of mostly smoky beer-pumping
hellholes, I weep with envy.
  

    
Aw, but I bet Stew's played his share of smoky beer-pumping hellholes,
too. What kind of places *do* you play, anyway? Is there a circuit of
clubs serving up enlightened pop music on an irregular basis? 
  

    
Email from Linda Castellani:

Hi Stew -

I'm another one who saw you at Oakland Metro on what was a truly magical
night.  It was the first time I'd ever been exposed to your work, and I fell
completely in love with both you and Heidi and your humor and your work.  I
thank you for that night, and I have to say that I crave more.

What I've been waiting for you to talk about is Jacques Brel, tantalizingly
mentioned as a recent inspiration of yours in some of the promotional
material I read about you here on the WELL.  "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well
and Living in Paris" was a major influence in my life, the kind of music and
(translated) lyrics that kind of got absorbed right into my soul, bypassing
any sort of judgemental filters that sometimes annoyingly get in the way of
enjoying other music.  In fact, I was so into it that when I saw it performed
as a cabaret show at the Century City Hotel aeons ago, the intensity of my
connection to it completely freaked out one of the performers, who broke
through that invisible fourth wall, jumped off the stage and came and stood
in front of me, shouting Gotcha! and instantly turning me into a shy puddle
torn between slinking away in embarassment and staying for more of the music
I loved so much.

So, I'd love to know more about Brel and his connection to you.  And I have
to add that I was also born in and grew up in LA listening to 93 KHJ and that
I will always remember them fondly because they took a silly letter written
by a lovestruck 15 year-old (me) about Davey Jones and used it to engineer a
meeting between me and the Monkees.

Very happy you're here, Stew, and looking forward to more!!