Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
>Is there a circuit of
>clubs serving up enlightened pop music on an irregular basis? 

my theory is that every town has at least one cool place to play. the
problem is finding it or, once you find it, getting booked into it.

for instance, i really dig playing folky places but dont usually get
booked into them because i'm scarier than the average folky. At least,
thats what the bookers think. i've had a number of such clubs tell me
that they can't book me even if i'm playing as "Stew" because I come
from the band with the scary name. 

to answer your question Ed, i play everything from standard rock clubs
like the Crocodile in Seattle to more experimental friendly joints
like Tonic in NYC. And everything in between. I really dig the NY
Knitting Factory and a groovy joint called the Speakeasy in Austin.
Duffy's Tavern in LINCOLN NEBRASKA absolutely rules! Not to mention
Java Joes in San Diego or Cafe du Nord in San Francisco. And the 12 Bar
in London is amazing.  The stage is built in front of a fireplace
thats been there since the 1600s. Sam Bonds in Eugene Ore. is another
fave. One of the coolest places in the world is The Way Club in St.
Louis. And playing the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the London Astoria were
definite highlights of my life. Not exactly dives but nice joints
anyway.
  

    
>"Jacques Brel is Alive and Well
>and Living in Paris" was a major influence in my life

That makes two of us. I saw it on channel 9 (!!!) on a saturday
afternoon somewhere in my teens and I was just...it was one of those
moments where you wanna call everyone and say "check this out" but i
couldnt even move i was so riveted. 

>the kind of music and
>(translated) lyrics that kind of got absorbed right into my soul,

thats exactly why i think hes such a genius and why, for me, he gets
the edge on Dylan. Brel just grabs you by the collar... his music is
smart as hell but he hits you on a gut level, on a family level, on a
"we're old friends so we can cut the bullshit and speak of such things"
level. 

>I saw it performed
>as a cabaret show at the Century City Hotel aeons ago,

the pangs of envy. i've never seen it but have met many who have. And
yet, i've met many who havent seen the movie of it that I've seen.

Have you read the book that one of the producers of it wrote about the
whole experience of putting it on in NY for the first time? 

i got more to say about Brel. i'll be back later.
  

    

I'm another one who was impressed w/ "Alive and Well."  I saw it in SF when
I was a teenager.

I was also pretty blonw away by "Hair" as a teen in SF.
  

    

My first exposure to Brel was his album "Live From The Olympia," recorded in
about 1962 or so. My high school French teacher lent it to me when I told
her I was a songwriter. "Learn from the master," she said. And I did, for
sure. Anybody interested in Brel should get hold of some live recordings, as
he was an incredible performer as well as composer. He had a deeply
evocative voice.

His song La Statue, in French, is one of the greatest chansons ever written.
It's a shame Rod McKuen massacred so many of his lyrics in English
translation, Seasons In The Sun being the greatest atrocity, a pale shadow-
version of the original Le Moribund. If You Go Away is another pretty bad
translation when compared to the original Ne Me Quitte Pas. Sorry to be
snobby and high-falutin', but it's true.
  

    
No question about it. My French is marginal at best, but it's good
enough to know that Brel might have been idiosyncratic and all in ways
that didn't always map to the American experience, but McKuen managed
to make good songs lame and maudlin.

McKuen, now there's a sidetrack. 
  

    

Just a quick note; when last we met I was slowly discovering that
critical analysis wasn't getting me anywhere with this material.  When
it was pointed out that this music reflected a motoring-around-LA POV,
I got out of my studio, stuck the CD in the car stereo, and have been
appreciating it as street fare.  I'm finding it much more congenial.  I
had the same thing happen with Galactic, actually.  Also John Scofield
with MMW.

Some things are better in the car.  It's too complex for background
music, but for deliberate attention in a balanced listening environment
through reference monitors, I found it kind of angular and a little
mannered.  In the car, though, it smokes.  Fat, crunchy rhythm section,
and the vocal harmonies are more lush in a small space.  I'm picking
up more layers in the mix, and more layers in the meaning.

The bass is way up in the mix for a car stereo with a serious sub, but
I trimmed it back.  The whole mix has a sort of old-school brittle-mid
aesthetic to it, which actually works really well with the
arrangements.  Singing along works much better in motion, as well. 
Getting a hint of a Zappa vibe to some of this.

More later.  Carry on.
  

    <scribbled by brian Wed 20 Mar 13 18:15>
  

    
!!!
  

    
Zappa used to talk about mixing songs so they'd sound great on
shitty car stereos and boomboxes, since that that was the only
way they'd ever be presented to most of the potential audience.

Stew, the sound for your show at the Metro last month was
great.  I enjoy some shows where the instruments sound great but
the vocals are lost in the mud, but it was a treat to hear all
of your quips and all the song lyrics.  I think that made the
difference between the kind of reaction where a few people get
a joke and laugh immediately and the rest slowly figure out
what was said, and the one where everyone understands it and
responds instantly.

Your material is great!  I'd like to hear it produced so that
no one has to ask for lyrics sheets.  Maybe there's a personal
aganda here because too many years of loud shows have left me
with some hearing loss that makes it difficult for me to pick
vocals out of some dense productions.
  

    
That's great, Brian!

However: this topic is about Stew.
  

    

Chuck slipped, with greatly-appreciated on-topic content.

One of the reasons the Metro show worked so well was that the place is
designed as a performance space (as opposed to a beer hall with a stage
shoved in as an afterthought); another reason was that the audience was en-
tirely attentive to what Stew and Heidi were doing.

(I was the opening act that night, and I benefited tremendously from those
circumstances as well.)
  

    
Hiya Stew,
What is the deal with the hidden tracks?  As much as you dislike printed
lyrics, I'm sure my loathing for hidden tracks exceeds it.  I haven't had a
chance to pick up the new one yet, but of the other four 'ficial releases,
three feature these hazards.  _Joys and Concerns_ is especially egregious,
with the final track including the listed song, 9:00 of silence, and four
more songs.  Please, I beg of you:  no more!
  

    
(Re printed lyrics: for listeners who like to sing along with a record, it's
harder to when the lyrics aren't written down.  Not reading them as
standalone poetry, just as a handy guide.)
  

    
(It's also a real pain for reviewers who are trying to quote accurately
when the lyrics aren't written down. Potential for disaster abounds.)
  

    
Jeez, <mcow>, I thought mine was just a bad burn.  My ripper went to 
loopville on that one.  

Stew, we gotta be able to rip these into our portable music devices.  9 
minutes of silence might put me into a coma sittin in front of my 
computer.  Or, I might end up falling into some work.  
  

    
Interesting. I was playing some of Stew's records last night, and was
thinking the same thing. These "hidden" tracks contain some good stuff
(as well as some self-indulgent stuff), including songs we have no idea
about in terms of title and so on. And I agree: I'd rather hear the
record without these super-long pauses, hear all of it, and then move
on to the next one or the next thing I'm going to do. What, indeed, is
the rationalization for these things? 
  

    

A couple of the hidden tracks are among my very favorites, so my 
frustration was in not knowing their titles.  Eventually I found out that 
the beautiful acousting song on Post-Minstrel Syndrome was "Heidegger in 
Harlem," and thanks to this interview I know that the catchy one at the 
end of Naked Dutch Painter is "Happy," and I know who wrote it too, 
hurrah.
  

    

I like the hidden reprise of the vamp to Bermuda Love Triangle. 
Surprised the hell out of me the first time.  Of course, now that I
know it's there I just FF to the track.
  

    

Stew, I'm curious about what seems like a late start in pop music.  You 
learned to make music as a kid, and now in your late thirties you're 
building a reputation as a hot new songwriter; what were you doing in your 
twenties?  You've spoken a little here of making experimental music, and I 
gather you were in Europe for a while.  What were you up to?
  

    
folx - sorry about the day away. had some musical responsibilities.

>Your material is great!  I'd like to hear it produced so that
>no one has to ask for lyrics sheets.

thanks for thinking its great! but it'd be nice if y'all made specific
reference to what tunes or records yer talking about. its been my
understanding that on our records our vocals tend to be louder than the
average trippy indie pop band. However, on Welcome Black, because of
the fact that the solo record that came before it, The Naked Dutch
Painter, sounded in places like a poetry reading with musical
accompaniment, i was interested in taking a less  respectful approach
to the lead vocals. 

>bbraasch:
>9 minutes of silence might put me into a coma sittin in front of my 
>computer.
>axon:
>the hidden reprise of the vamp to Bermuda Love Triangle. 
>Surprised the hell out of me the first time

This is what I love! The story behind Haydn's Surprise Symphony was a
major MAJOR influence on me. Its why TNP would sometimes come out for
our local shows and without warning do an entire set of our "greatest
hits" instrumental stylee, or do an entire set of covers without
warning people, or do a dinner theater interpetaion of The Doors The
End as performed by the characters of Family Affair ("Buffy" "Yes Mr
French?" "I want to..." 

The response to hidden tracks has always perplexed me. The first
reason i put hidden tracks on PMS was to separate them from the album
proper. I wanted to do a commercial for my solo career. 
Also, i see hidden tracks as those "free" eps you sometimes got along
with the record. No obligation to listen. I know these days most people
are not kicking back with headphones in a comfy chair listening to my
music. They are in fact washing dishes or playing with their 3 year
olds. And I like the idea that the hidden tracks jump up and
scare/surprise them. I REALLY like this idea! This is one of my quirks,
ok? 

As for making them sometimes difficult to find, in the case of "Joys
and Concerns" well, i admit theres a hint of sadism involved. While I
am generally a nice fellow I do love to annoy people with music. My
absolute favorite thing to do when i was 16 was place headphones over
the ears of whichever one of my bandmates was stoned into
unconsciousness, then play something really horrifying while turning it
up gradually. In some ways, i havent changed much.
  

    
Another artistic goal successfully met! 

I was wondering, as I was playing through the TNP records last night,
just what the chronology of the TNP and Stew albums was. Smile has them
all (c) and (p) 2002, and I know that's not right. And, lest this seem
like some sort of anal exercise, it's about wanting to say something
about how this music has evolved. 
  

    

I totally agree with you about hidden tracks, Stew.  I put one of my
Mutilaudio sound collages on the end of "Solo Acoustic," and got EXACTLY the
response I wanted: it begins with the sound of coffee beans being poured into
a grinder, and it scared the shit out of various people who had left the CD
on after the music ended.
  

    

Post Minstrel Symdrome, 1997
Joys and Concerns, 1999
Guest Host, 2000
Naked Dutch Painter, 2002
Welcome Black, 2002
  

    
>I'm curious about what seems like a late start in pop music.  You 
>learned to make music as a kid, and now in your late thirties you're 
>building a reputation as a hot new songwriter; what were you doing in
>your 
>twenties?  You've spoken a little here of making experimental music,
>and I 
>gather you were in Europe for a while.  What were you up to?

Actually, i'm a proud 41. But its nice to be considered hot and new,
nonetheless.
In europe i was learning how to be a human being while looking for
salvation in "experimental" music. I'd given up on pop. I had an
absolute blast in both areas. In a very special area of Berlin that Ed
Ward knows quite well called Kruezberg i got to live out the boho
expatriate fantasy to the hilt. We were adopted by the anarcho-squatter
world so we never had to pay a dime for rent and we even had a hiding
place for whenever the cops would raid the place. And of course being
vaguely left-wing musicians from america didnt hurt. One night we were
sitting around stoned and someone said "It'd be great if we could have
our own performance space" and honestly about 2 weeks later these guys 
built a little pre-fab house on one of the busiest corners in
Kreuzberg. We stole electricity from somewhere next door and boom we
had our own space (Ed, fyi it was the corner of mantueffelstr and
oranienstr diagnal from gorlitzer bahnhof). Only germans would do that.
American bohos woulda been like "Yeah man, lets build our own space"
and it woulda never happened. While i am usually deeply put off by the
germans mania for being thorough to the point of scary, in this case it
was a cool thing.
  

    
oh, about the "late start" i think i just got a late start in the
serious BIZZ aspect of music. I've been in bands since juniour high.