Finding Love at the Pitchfork Festival

When I was younger, finding new bands to love was as easy as turning on the radio. Now though, it's not so easy. I no longer enjoy listening to commercial radio because of, well, all the commercials! The portion of my brain that dictates musical taste also seems to have congealed around the grunge movement, which hasn't really existed since 1995.

This summer I decided to break out of my musical rut by attending the Pitchfork Music Festival. Pitchfork is kinda' like Lollapalooza, except smaller. It took place in Union Park instead of Grant Park, it featured 40 bands instead of 130, and a 1-day pass cost just $35 instead of $80. The bands are mostly less well known, too, which is great if you're on a mission to discover something new.

I bought tickets for Sunday, July 19. $35 (plus the Ticketweb processing fees) gave me the potential to hear 18 different bands. The biggest name was The Flaming Lips, who I've actually seen live before. A few of the others (Blitzen Trapper, The Vivian Girls, and Grizzly Bear) I had heard of. The other 14 were all new to me. I could have just walked into the park blind, so to speak, but instead I did some preliminary research. Which bands did I want to hear? What times would they be playing? How would I find them in the park? All of these questions were answered by visiting the Pitchfork website (www.pitchforkmusicfestival.com). In fact, if you're interested in learning more about the bands that played over the entire weekend, and even in hearing some of their songs, you can still do that via the website, as well. In addition to pictures and brief bios of the bands, the website features a streaming playlist of 48 songs (visit the "media" link to find it).

The first band I really wanted to hear was Blitzen Trapper. Formed in 2000 in the Pacific Northwest, this is a flannel-wearing sextet who have a hard-to-describe sound that is a little folkish, a little bluesish & a little rockish. The folk really comes out on gentle songs like "Furr," and the rock rocks on songs like "Love U;" with the lyrics "I love u like a shoe's got soooouuuuuullllllllll!" screamed out with a spine-tingling banshee wail. Next up was Pharoahe Monch, an MC & singer who's worked with Mos Def and had a song, "Simon Says," featured in the movie "Charlie's Angels." I'm no authority on Hip-Hop, but I thought he was pretty good. The "Monch" part of his name derives from the monchichi doll, so he must have a sense of humor. The woman singing backup had a great voice, and the DJ wasn't "pushing buttons back here," but spinning actual vinyl.

I took a break to visit the various food and beverage booths for refreshment, and then it was time for The Thermals, a trio (2 guys & a gal) from Oregon with a punk-pop sound that the website describes as "neo-grunge." They ably covered Nirvana's "Make You Happy" and Green Day's "Basket Case." After more food, NY band The Walkmen were up with one of the most impressive sets of the day. They have a noisy garage-rock sound similar to The Strokes and sounded great outdoors, especially the vocals. I thought the "The Rat" and "In the New Year" were two of the best performances of the day. M83 was the last new act of the day for me. Named after Messier 83, a spiral galaxy discovered in 1752, their electronic music - created with synthesizers, guitar, and drums - could be described as "spacey" or "ethereal" and was excellent chill out music.

Grizzly Bear did not sound so great outdoors, partly because the crowd was growing larger and more rowdy in anticipation of the Flaming Lips. Their beautifully harmonized vocals got lost in the hubbub, and the only song of theirs that I recognized was "Two Weeks. I think they'd play better in an indoor venue like the Chicago Theatre. I stuck around The Flaming Lips of course, but I've heard them before. Their shows are a lot of fun - much like their trippy music - filled with bouncing beach balls, confetti, and lead singer Wayne Coyne rolling out into the crowd in a giant hamster ball.

One downside to a music festival like Pitchfork is that some of the shows happen simultaneously on different stages. That meant that I missed a few bands that I would really have liked to hear. Three bands that I caught a just couple of minutes of, but that I think are worth checking out are: The Vivian Girls, Frightened Rabbit and Japandroids.

All in all, it was not a bad way to spend a Sunday and I also satisfied (temporarily, at least) my craving for new music.

Up Next in Rock Docs: Bob Dylan, No Direction Home

Wednesday July 8 at 7:00 PM (part 1); Wednesday July 15, 7:00 PM (part 2)

How does it fee-eel? Dylan fans will recognize this line from the benchmark song, "Like a Rolling Stone", which symbolizes the changes documented in Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home. This 208 minute film, which will be shown at the library in 2 parts, focuses on Dylan's early career, covering the period from 1961 to 1966.

Early in 1961, Bob Dylan appeared on the New York folk scene and quickly became its darling with his strong and original protest songs like "Blowin' in the Wind," "Only a Pawn in Their Game," and "Masters of War." Embraced by the queen of political folk music, Joan Baez, Dylan soon became a major figure of the genre. The film documents this early phase of Dylan's career and traces his transition from folk to electrified rock musician, to the extreme displeasure of his folkie fans.

Working with hours of previously filmed interview tapes and performance clips, Scorsese puts together an analysis through interviews of Dylan's initial rise to fame and his infamous transition to rock and roll in 1965 with the electric backing of Chicago's Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Among those interviewed on film are Odetta, Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie, Muddy Waters, the Clancy Brothers, Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg, and Johnny Cash.

In retrospect, it is clear that Dylan was too dynamic a musician, song writer, and poet to be boxed into the narrow folk genre. Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun Times, has the words for it:

"His songs led to change, but they transcended it. His audience was uneasy with transcendence. They kept trying to draw him back down into categories. He sang and sang,and finally...found himself a hero who was booed.... His music stands and it will survive."

Women in Jazz: Dinah Washington

Did Dinah Washington sell out? Critics accuse the sweet /salty-voiced singer of catering to the mainstream following her 1959 pop hit, "What a Difference a Day Makes". For the remaining four years of her career she concentrated on ballads with lush orchestration following the formula of famed, and commercial, R&B singer Ray Charles.

Born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1924, she was raised in Chicago where, from childhood, she became immersed in the world of gospel, playing piano and directing her church choir.

After winning an amateur singing contest she began singing in nightclubs at age 15. Discovered by a talent agent, she became known to bandleader Lionel Hampton who hired her to sing with his band. At this time she acquired her stage name, Dinah Washington. Dinah began her recording career in 1943 with Keynote Records. Her first hit was "Evil Gal Blues." From 1948 to 1955, she produced a string of top ten hits for the Mercury label.

Struggling with her weight, Dinah Washington died in 1963 at the age of 39 from an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol. As a singer, she was still going strong, making a Los Angeles club date two weeks before she died. Her death ended a tempestuous life during which she married seven times and had innumerable lovers. She had a huge influence on later singers Nancy Wilson, Ester Phillips, and Diane Shuur.

In her biography Rage to Survive the singer Etta James, who idolized Washington, reports that one night while she was performing she heard that Washington was in the audience. Deciding to cover one of Dinah's songs, James began to sing "Unforgettable." She had hardly begun when she heard a big crash. It was Dinah who screamed "Girl, don't you ever sing the Queen's songs!"(as reported in the web site Panache)

Dinah on You Tube

Here are some links to Dinah Washington performances:
Mad About the Boy
What a Difference a Day Makes
Clips from a BBC documentary about Dinah Washington
Stormy Weather

The Boswell Sisters (Women in Jazz)

It was lucky that the Boswell Sisters were brought up in New Orleans. With their natural musical talent and training combined with exposure to southern gospel and New Orleans blues, the sisters became the best jazz vocal group of their time - and perhaps of all time. See their performance of the Heebie Jeebies , and you will see that this last statement is no exaggeration.

Their influence on the Andrews Sisters is obvious. Ella Fitzgerald loved their music and developed her own singing style from Connee Boswell's. Connee, the middle child, (1907-1976), like Ella , could use her voice as a trumpet or oboe. All three sisters played instruments, but it is their vocal harmonies that really set them apart.

Martha, the eldest (1905-1958) who also played piano, described the sisters' harmonies this way:

"If we sang according to orthodox musical traditions, Vet (1911-1988) would be the high voice or soprano, I would be the middle or alto, and Connie would be the low, or contralto. But we don't sing in the orthodox musical way....Instead, when we sing as a trio we achieve an unusual...effect by deserting our own particular tone and singing in another tone. We call that blending." (from the fan site Bozzies.com)

The sisters began their career in vaudeville during their early teens, and made their first record in 1925. In 1930 they moved to New York and first gained national attention when they broadcast their own radio program. Their major recording contract was with Brunswick Records. They made many recordings between 1930 and 1935 with this label, which was a highly regarded jazz label of the time. The musicians with whom the Boswells worked and recorded during this period included Glenn Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, and Benny Goodman.

In the 1936, the sisters moved to Decca Records, but disbanded as group after only 3 Decca recordings. Connee continued to have a successful recording career with Decca. Throughout her career, Connee sang from a seated position due to an accident she had as a young child. Because of her disability, she was not accepted as a performer on U.S.O. tours during World War II.

The Boswell Sisters were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2001, a major musical about their lives, The Boswell Sisters was produced in San Diego.

RIP Koko Taylor

Chicago lost a blues legend with the June 2009 death of Koko Taylor from complications of gastro-intestinal surgery. She was 80 years old.

Known as the Queen of Chicago blues, the big-voiced Taylor helped to prove that the world of blues is not just for men. She came from a tradition of hard-belting blues women starting with Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Big Momma Thornton. A player in the Chicago blues scene in early 60s, she was discovered singing in a club by blues artist Willie Dixon in 1963.

She signed with Chicago-based Chess Records in 1964 and had a major hit with “Wang Dang Doodle” the following year. She transferred to another Chicago label, Alligator, in 1975 when Chess closed. Meanwhile she had formed her own band, The Blues Machine.

The 1984 Grammy-winner (for best blues album) was born Cora Walton, a sharecropper’s daughter in Memphis TN. She got her nickname because she loved chocolate. Her musical career began with gospel-singing in her local Baptist church. She married Pops Taylor in 1953. Taylor remained a devout Christian throughout her life, avoiding the hard drinking and drugging common in the music business. She remained an active performer until her death.

You Tubes

Here is a You Tube video of a young Koko singing Wang Dang Doodle with Little Walter on harmonica. Here is an older Koko singing I'm a Woman at the Kennedy Center tribute to Morgan Freeman.

Discography 1969-2007

Koko Taylor
Basic Soul
South Side Lady
I Got What it Takes
Queen of the Blues
Southside Baby
The Earthshaker
From the Heart of a Woman
An Audience with Koko
Taylor
Live from Chicago
Jump for Joy
Love you Like a Woman
Wang Dang Doodle
Force of Nature
Royal Blue
Old School

Bold = at Niles in Blues and Jazz

American Idol Fans Win Prizes Galore While Picking the Wrong Winner

Congratulations to the six winners in the American Idol elimination contest!

Jessie Amga won Jennifer Hudson's new Grammy-winning CD.
Catherine Foss won last year's runner up David Archuleta's new CD.
Alicia Cook won last year's winner David Cook's (no relation) new CD.
Elvira Resuli won Daughtry (the CD not the man).
Richard Englund won Carrie Underwood's latest CD.
Norma Englund, grand prize winner, won a deluxe version of Kelly Clarkson's new CD which includes a DVD; a tee shirt with sayings from Randy Jackson; and a Best and Worst of American Idol DVD.

Grand prize winner Norma was the only person who guessed correctly on three weekly eliminations. Two others guessed correctly on two eliminations. The surprising thing about the contest was how few entrants predicted Kris Allen's win. Out of 71 ballots cast, a full 49 had Kris biting the dust. It was especially noticeable that during Danny Gokey's elimination week, most of our contest entrants picked Kris for the loss. All I can say is, I'm glad you were wrong.

This is the end of Kris Allen love and American Idol love for this year. From now on, I promise to post about other things until next Spring, when AI fever returns.

It's Kris!

My wish came true. He won!

Kris Allen is your eighth American Idol. While some may see this as an upset, I say this win was predictable. Both Kris and Adam Lambert are madly talented and both deserved to win, but I think that Adam was too edgy for the American public. He may have also been a bit of a one-note artist, always giving stellar performances, but always in high dramatic mode. Kris did not have the best singing voice of this year's ultra-talented group of contestants, but he is the best musician of the bunch and a creative, versatile performer. Being the cutest has not hurt him either.

The fact is that both Kris and Adam are poised to have successful careers in music. Adam needs to find a band to become this generation's Freddie Mercury. Kris is a more unique performer who will make a place for himself in acoustic rock, but I can also see him as a jazz singer. Allison Iraheta can join them in stardom because women combining great rock voices with soulful delivery are basically non existent. She is the new Janis.

What I love about American Idol is that it brings wonderful talent to public notice, but more, that it tests the ability of each artist to sustain a high level of performance under conditions of great pressure. It is a true proving ground for talent. It is always clear that the last artists standing are the ones who can make it.