#brooklyn folk festival

[pers-books]

‘We don’t disappear after 30’: the Old Lesbians telling a century’s worth of raw, revealing stories

Featuring more than 900 candid interviews, the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project seeks visibility for those long denied it

Arden Eversmeyer, the late founder of the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project. Photograph: Meghan McDonough

Two women who met as teenagers, fell in love, and stayed together for 69 years – spending all but the last decade of their relationship in the closet. A woman who, in her 70s, finally decided to come out to two friendly lesbian strangers she saw together at the grocery store. One woman, born in 1918, who found herself in a lesbian bar one day, not knowing such a thing existed, and finally felt at home.

These are all stories pulled from the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP), a catalogue of more than 900 interviews with lesbian seniors in the US. Arden Eversmeyer, a retired Houston schoolteacher who devoted her retired years to campaigning for visibility for older lesbians, who she felt were missing from the cultural discussion, began interviewing women in 1998.

She grew a team of interviewers – all of them also old lesbians, as they call themselves – to travel around the country speaking to women. These transcripts, audio recordings, and photos of the subjects live in an archive at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. After Eversmeyer’s death at age 91 in November 2022, a dedicated group of friends and fellow activists took up the cause. Last month Meghan McDonough, a Brooklyn-based film-maker, released a documentary called Old Lesbians telling the story of OLOHP, commissioned by Guardian Documentaries.

Barb Kucharczyk speaks in a scene from the film. Photograph: Meghan McDonough

Eversmeyer and her team recruited interview subjects through a word-of-mouth network, and by placing ads at venues such as women’s music festivals or the free magazine Lesbian Connection. The only requirement was that the woman be over 70 years old and identify as a lesbian – she didn’t have to be out publicly, and could remain anonymous. (The age requirement has since been loosened.)

“Arden’s famous quote is, ‘You don’t have to climb Mount Everest to have an interesting life story, because the the fact that you are a lesbian in our culture makes your life story interesting,’” said Barb Kucharczyk, an air force veteran and OLOHP interviewer who served more than two decades in the military, including under the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Interviews are conducted loosely and conversationally. Not every question relates to a woman’s sexuality. There are a few standard questions: where were you born? what did your family look like? What did your folks do for a living? But the point is mostly to make women feel comfortable and open up.

“We’ve tried to make it as gentle of an experience as we can for the women,” said Kucharczyk, who is 76 and lives in Sumter, South Carolina. “It becomes a chronological discussion of their life story. At some point in time, they will talk about being a lesbian. But we don’t walk into the door with 47 questions about how they found out they were, or how they were treated. We want the woman to tell her own story, and if the details about her lesbian lifestyle are slim, that’s OK.”

Still, the project is a raw and revealing look at what life was like for lesbians in the 20th century. Women who came of age before Stonewall and the sexual revolution describe what Kucharczyk calls “hidden lifestyles” that they kept secret, living in fear for their safety. There are harrowing descriptions of conversion therapy, ostracism and physical attacks.

(If clicking the link above doesn't work, here's the direct link to the documentary: https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/may/22/old-lesbians-reclaiming-old-age-and-queerness-through-storytelling)

Ethyl “Ricci Cortez” Bronson, an exotic dancer and member of the Burlesque Hall of Fame, who later opened the first “gay girls’ bar” in Houston, told Eversmeyer during an interview that took place shortly before Bronson’s death in 2008 that her club was regularly raided by cops. “A lot of the girls in slacks and pants had been hauled off to jail in the raids,” she said. “They even put me in handcuffs and carried me out to the police car. In my own bar! This is what we went through to get open bars, open gay bars.”

Some of the women interviewed for the project asked to speak anonymously, or on certain conditions, like that their name only be revealed after they died. This did not affect their candor when speaking on the record. “Women were open with us as long as they knew that this was not going to be published,” said Edie Daly, an 87-year-old retired intensive care nurse who splits her time between Florida and Massachusetts. “Some of these stories are still closed, because even though they have passed, they were in fear of outing themselves or someone else.”

Daly said some women were able to break through their hesitancy because they wanted to leave a record of what had happened to them. “We talk about how we would love to know what the suffragists’ individual stories were, and we don’t have that, because a lot of women’s stories are lost,” she said. “Women have been erased from history, and so this is our attempt to rectify that in some small way.”

Edie Daly holds up a blue t-shirt with the words 'THIS is what an OLD LESBIAN looks like!' at home in Northampton, Massachusetts. Photograph: Meghan McDonough

Lillian Faderman, an award-winning scholar of lesbian history and professor emeritus at Fresno State in California, sat for her own interview with Eversmeyer. When she came out in 1950s Los Angeles, she used fake IDs to get into what were then called “gay girls’ bars”.

“As a young lesbian, my feeling was that what happened when you reach 30 or older was that you probably died,” Faderman said. “There were simply no role models, and I don’t think it’s quite as bad today because of social media, but for the most part, I think that young lesbians still have no notion that we don’t disappear after 30. I think it’s important for them to understand that they have a future outside of youth.”

Faderman hopes that the interviews “send a message to the people in our community for posterity, that we are here and flourishing”.

“We’ve always been here,” Daly added. “But now we have visibility, and a voice. And it’s not just visibility of old lesbians, it’s the visibility of all strong women.”

This June, another Pride month unfurls over the backdrop of attacks on LGBTQ+ Americans. The FBI has warned that celebrations could be targeted by terrorists, and Target rolled back its Pride merchandise after last year saw conservative backlash that in some instances led to angry shoppers confronting workers. That’s partly why Kucharczyk believes it’s more important than ever to look toward the past.

“Does history repeat itself? Absolutely,” Kucharczyk said. “You’re watching it happen right here, right now. I hope the message that young folks take away is to be aware

of this history, because if you’re aware, you can see the tidal wave that’s coming up.”

[littlemisscreator]

Cosma's Nightmare Time!

That's right, folks! Your girl's planned out a whole Nightmare Time fan-series! 20 episodes of both canon characters and my OCs getting put into situations, including rewrites of three of the original episodes!

Heavily inspired by @pastriibunz Nightmare Kai-me!

Forever and Always

Olive is overjoyed when her sister Emma marries Paul Matthews. Finally, they'll have a happy, stable life, a life that'll go just how Olive planned it. But all is not as it seems, and soon Olive discovers her sister and brother-in-law might not be what they seem

Honey Queen

Summer is in the air, and the annual Honey Festival is steadily approaching. Linda Monroe and Zoey Chambers will do whatever it takes to win the crown at the Honey Queen Pageant. For Marcella Johnson, however, it just seems to be a fun little thing to try out, much to the confusion of her competitors. It's not about having fun, it's about winning!

Hey Melissa!

Savannah and Rose find themselves tangled up in shenanigans with Sav’s co-workers, including Office Creep 2 Freddie Briggs and office secretary Melissa.

Loser Status

Max's friends have had enough of him, and finally stand up to him. Unfortunately, all this does is make Max announce them as losers. And by next Monday, everyone at school seems to know it. The strange part is, no one seems to remember them being popular at all. The gang must work together to adjust to their new social life and find out what changed them from clique to geeks

Rinse Re-Pete

Max Jagerman falls and dies in the Waylon Place, comes back as a ghost, and kills anyone he deems a ‘nerdy prude.’ But where the story changes here is that Peter Spankoffsi - with the help of a certain yellow goat - is given the chance to stop it from happening. Pete is determined to stop anyone from dying, to make sure no one is harmed, no many how many loops he has to go through to do it. But as the loops go and Pete's sanity wears down, his objective changes from making sure Ruth and Richie live and making sure Max stays dead.

The Kitty Cat Club!

19 year old Melissa Hey loves two (well, technically 4) things - cats, and her childhood friends Aubrey, Krissy and Mina. But as close as the girls are, they're growing up, and soon they'll be adults with busy lives and little time for each other. The girls are desperate for a way to spend time with each other. Luckily got them (and less luckily for everyone else), the creeps at Melissa’s internship give her an idea

Siren's Serenade

After almost drowning, Rose Spankoffsi’s body starts to change in strange and unusual ways - ways that are weirder than puberty. Rose isn't sure what's going on, but what she does know is that she's getting more scaly and her singing voice is getting better. On top of that, three mysterious women seem to be following her wherever she goes. Slowly, Rose starts to adjust to her new gifts, and suddenly she's questioning if she wants to keep her humanity at all.

The New Kid

Sunset Jagerman is sick of her brother, point blank. So when she sees him picking on shy new kid Jordan, Sunset befriends him out of spite. Slowly, the two’s bond becomes genuine, and they begin to like each other’s company. But Jordan has secrets, secrets he doesn't want Sunset finding out. Sunset tries not to push, but when curiousity gets the better of her, blood starts to get spilled.

Forget Me Not

Gone are the angsty, lonely, grieving days of Savannah Lamb’s teenage years. Sav has a job she's pretty okay with, a decently sized apparenment to herself, and most importantly, co-workers she can consider friends. It doesn't get much better for this. Unfortunately, a certain Lady in Black has other plans, ones that include getting Sav to dig up a memory that has haunted her for years.

Cheerleader 3000

Lacey Brooklyn Brent is the perfect cheerleader. Preppy, full of energy, always positive. A little too perfect, at least to Brenda and Stacey. The girls try to let their suspicions slide, but when Lacey starts acting weird and getting more and more defensive about cheer - well, the popular girls aren't exactly known for minding Thier own business

The Hatchet Girl

Max Jagerman’s bullying chased Lindsey Topet out of Hatchetfield High in sophomore year. So it's a wonder to anyone why she decides to come back to the same place that caused her so much pain. Well, that is until the popular kids start dying.

Space Star

Rose is a Spankoffsi. She is also the perfect little actress. Nobody wants two lords in black fighting over them, but unfortunately for Rose, she ends up caught in a fight between T'noy Karaxis and Pokotho to be their specialist little toy.

Universal Revenge

Angelou Brailer was once in Max Jagerman's little posse, until he got kicked out. When he returns to Hatchetfield High, students are immediately enamored by him and the chrisma he radiates. Max is determined to drag him back down again, but comes to discover Angelou has different plans, as well as some… divine intervention.

Little Candy Shop of Horrors

Stephanie Lauter makes an unusual new friend at the new candy store in town. One that's sweet, and craves it too. Unfortunately, Steph's new friend’s favorite treat is red and sticky, and is instant on Steph getting it for her.

Heart Eyes

Marcella has never really liked love triangles in fiction. So, when she finds herself in one, she's not very thrilled. Especially not when then triangle consists of her long time crush Bill Woodward and an Eldritch Eye God.

The Nightmare Well

After a visit to a mysterious well, PJ finds herself having frequent nightmares. What's more is that she finds herself coming back to the well over and over again, becoming more enticed to jump inside. She enlists Reese's help, but it soon becomes apparent the well has no intention of leaving her, or anyone, alone.

Pretty and Perfect

Lola Drayson is sick of being a Nerdy Prude. So when a beautiful red haired woman offers her the chance to be everything she's ever wanted to be - perfect, pretty and popular - Lola jumps at the chance. Lola is thrilled by her new life, despite her best friend Michelle's concerns. But beauty comes at a cost, and Lola's dreams are soon to become a total nightmare.

Web of Melodies

Michelle signs up for the town Talent show, hoping it'll take her mind of the weird visions she's been having recently. She's happy to meet most of the other performers, but one in particular seems somewhat suspicious. And when an old friend shows up, Michelle realizes just what she's getting into.

Honey Queen, 2009

What happened at the 2009 Honey Festival? How did six (known) people end up dead? That's for Christine Jagerman to know, and you to find out.

Grace Chasity and T'noy Karaxis VS The World(s)!

Tinky's been having a little too much fun lately, but luckily Grace is willing to help him clean up his mess. With a lot of annoying comments, of course.

[tamapalace]

New York City Tamagotchi Club Schedules “Into The Tamaverse” Party

This looks like a lot of fun! The folks over at the New York City Tamagotchi Club just had a successful meet up on Saturday, July 13th, 2024. They announced their new logo, gave away a Tamagotchi Connection and 2 DLC codes, and enjoyed the Highland Park!

For August they’ve already scheduled another meet up, this time it’s a party! That’s because there is so much to celebrate, including the Tamagotchi Connection, Tamagotchi Uni Angel Festival, Tamagotchi Monster Carnival, and 50th Anniversary Hello Kitty Tamagotchi Nano!

That’s right the “Into the Tamaverse Party’ is scheduled for Saturday, August 17th, 2024 from 12:00PM - 3:00PM at BrookLAN which is a venue that is the self proclaimed home for gaming and esports, they have both food and drinks available for purchase. BrookLAN is located at 339 Troutman St, Brooklyn, NY 11237. There will be some exciting giveaways that will be announced soon on social media.

There is no fee for admission, but you will need to register for the event in advance here. Have fun!

[mixtapemag]

JULIEN BAKER AT THALIA HALL

Photos by Christopher Hall

Julien Baker kicked off her fall 2024 tour with an unbelievable show full of twists and turns on Monday night in Chicago. Julien walked on stage solo to start the set - launching into "Guthrie." The set saw live debuts of "Conversation Piece" and "Crying Wolf" and the debut of a brand new song named "Middle Children."

Julien introducing "Middle Children" was met with an excited roar from the crowd before the room fell completely silent - each human being in Thalia Hall feeling new Julien music wash over them. The song was beautiful and synthy and full of harmonies. It feels like a big new warm direction for JB.

The rest of the setlist bounced back and forth between Julien backed by her big band and just her and a guitar. There was a funky "Shadowboxing" and a big loud "Turn Out The Lights" which kicked off the encore. A one-two punch of "Ringside" and "Hardline" off of Little Oblivions closed the night.

Monday night was the start of a multi-city North American tour that runs through the end of October. Julien and the band sound spectacular and you should make it a priority to get out to a show ASAP.

Check out everything Julien Baker over here.

Previously on Mixtape:

Photos of Julien Baker at The Kennedy Center.

Photos of boygenius at connect festival.

Photos of boygenius at pryzm.

Photos of boygenius at the piece hall.

Photos of boygenius at way out west 2023.

Photos of boygenius at the idaho botanical garden.

Photos of boygenius at the forest hills stadium.

Photos of boygenius at the fox theater.

Photos of boygenius at the premiere of "the film".

Photos of Julien Baker at Fox Theater.

Photos of Julien Baker at 9:30 Club.

Photos of Julien Baker at Amplify Decatur.

Photos of boygenius at Brooklyn Steel.

Photos of Julien Baker at Shadow of the City.

Photos of Julien Baker in Prospect Park.

Photos of Julien Baker at White Eagle Hall.

Photos of Julien Baker at Union Transfer.

Photos of Julien Baker at Outside Lands.

Photos of Julien Baker at Newport Folk Festival.

Christopher Hall posts over here. Go see Julien & the band.

[postitforward]

Hey there, lovely folk 👋

Welcome back to Mindful Mondays!

Whether you’re decompressing from festive stress or meditating your way through the winter days, we’re here for you. And the good news is we are creeping every-closer towards the new year, which means a new start, and that bit closer to warm, sunny weather. We can’t wait. ☀️

And if that feels like a long long time, we’ve got something to help you make the best of these winter days: introducing, Breathwork to Connect to Nature Meditation! 🏞️ Nothing helps body and soul reset like time spent in the beauty and wonder of nature, and here on Tumblr Live, we are bringing it straight to you with this calming meditation. Whether it’s complimenting your winter days, or helping you make it through, there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

And we’ve got the perfect guide, too. Meet Liana! She is a rainforest vine that is rooted in the Earth and uses trees to climb to the light, and she wants to help you to do the same. Liana acts as a vine for divine energy to work through her to align others with a higher vibrational state. As an energy worker, she is a certified White Light Reiki Expert Practitioner and VortexHealing® Practitioner. Liana utilizes gentle breath work, vocal toning, cacao, and mindfulness meditation in her practice to silence the mind and induce a transcendent state. She knows her stuff, too: she regularly leads energy healing events in NYC and sees clients out of her home office in Brooklyn. This incredible work has been work has been featured in Essence Magazine, Sheen Magazine, Yahoo Lifestyle, and Black Girl in OM. In 2017, she was listed by Essence Magazine as one of the “Self-Care Sistahs That Helped Redefine Wellness.” And she’s here to help you find a little spot of wellness and a little spot of sunshine.

We’d love it if you could join us for just ten minutes of quiet breathing here on Tumblr Live, where we are bringing nature to you.

🧘 WATCH: Nature Breathwork with Liana from HealHaus, 1/16, 10am EST 🧘

#holidayblueswithtumblr

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Jeff Buckley; Obituary

June 7, 1997

Jeff Buckley, guitarist and songwriter, drowned on May 29 aged 30. He was born on August 1, 1966.

ALTHOUGH he was the son of Tim Buckley, one of the most influential American folk-rock singer-songwriters of the 1960s, Jeff Buckley was thought by many to have eclipsed his father's career with his 1995 debut album, Grace. A collection of unusual cover-versions (Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah , Benjamin Britten's Corpus Christi Carol ) and his own compositions, Grace was a showcase for Jeff Buckley's astonishing vocal talents.

Once described as "a choirboy singing in a whorehouse", he could go from dirty-kneed, Kurt Cobain-style screaming to the purest top C in a breath; before embarking on a scat-jazz odyssey that would last ten minutes or more. Employing a mixture of folk, funk, grunge and jazz, Grace won Buckley the Rolling Stone Best New Artist Award in 1995.

On May 29, while working on the follow-up album in Memphis, Tennessee, Buckley and a friend went to a marina on the Mississippi to relax. Buckley, fully clothed, waded into the river singing, and was swept away by the wake of a passing boat. His body was found a week later.

Jeff Buckley never knew his father - Tim was a lothario with a drug-habit that kept him restless. Although Tim released eight critically-acclaimed albums, his sales were always disappointing. He left Jeff's mother when Jeff was six-months-old, leaving her to support Jeff and his younger brother through a variety of dead-end jobs. They had a nomadic existence, moving from state to state; and the pressure of his mother's work left Jeff to bring up his younger brother on his own.

Although he dedicated the song Dream Brother to Buckley senior, Jeff was frequently disparaging of his absent father - claiming he inherited his musical talent from his mother. At one of his London concerts in 1995, a member of the audience kept shouting out Tim Buckley's name - Jeff responded by miming the inhalation of heroin and falling to the ground in convulsions, before "dying" by the drum-riser. Tim died of an overdose in 1975. He was 28.

As a result of such an unconventional upbringing, Jeff Buckley turned to music at an early age. He was a regular on the New York folk scene, playing to crowded bars in rough-and-ready half-hour slots. One of his trademarks was to begin singing soft and low, gradually raising the volume and pitch until the audience became totally silent and entranced.

His first, limited-edition live album, Live at the Sin-e , was released on the independent label Big Cat in 1994. Such was its critical success that Sony Records signed him up for his first proper release, the Grace album, within months.

Buckley was disparaging of his status and burgeoning "legend" - and often bemused by record companies waiting on him hand and foot. One of his favourite jokes was "How many Jeff Buckleys does it take to change a lightbulb?" "Oh, it's okay, Jeff, we'll do it for you, we know a guy in Brooklyn who's wonderful at changing lightbulbs. He'll do it for a couple of points (royalties) on your album."

Although the Rolling Stone award raised his profile in the US, it was in Britain and Ireland that Buckley's career was based. His audience was diverse - from fortysomethings checking out Tim Buckley's son, to more avant-garde teenage girls, impressed by his cheekbones and haunted eyes. John McEnroe and Chrissie Hynde were regulars at his concerts - Hynde and McEnroe once spending an evening jamming with him after a particularly triumphant London appearance.

Songs such as Last Goodbye - a shivering blend of folk, blues and Buckley's scatting, ululating voice; and the dolorous, harmonium-led Lover, You Should Have Come Over - had marked Buckley out as a new Van Morrison, someone with limitless talent and range.

His last British appearance, at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, was a chance to premiere new material, post- Grace. Songs such as the astonishing What Will You Say When You See My Face - built around Eastern chord-structures and endless, despairing blues arpeggios - confirmed that Buckley was on an artistic roll that might have resulted in dozens of treasured albums.

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, Coen brothers)

14/02/2024

Inside Llewyn Davis is a 2013 film directed and written by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake and John Goodman.

The film is inspired by the life of folk singer Dave Van Ronk, active in New York in the sixties.

It participated in competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Grand Prix.

New York, February 1961: Llewyn Davis is a struggling young folk singer whose recent solo album, Inside Llewyn Davis, was a flop; being without money and nowhere to go, he sleeps on the sofas of friends and acquaintances. One evening, after playing at the Gaslight Café in Greenwich Village, he is beaten at the back of the venue by a mysterious and rude individual for reasons not immediately specified.

He subsequently accepts Jim's proposal to record a new song, agreeing to be paid immediately 200 dollars in exchange for the transfer of the copyright, in order to have the money for the abortion.

The young man accepts a ride to Chicago in the company of the laconic poet Johnny Five and the grumpy heroin-addicted jazz musician Roland Turner; during the trip he reveals that his musical partner, Mike Timlin, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge.

In an expanded version of the film's opening scene, Davis performs at the Gaslight and Pappi reports to him that a "friend" is waiting for him in the back; Davis then watches a young Bob Dylan perform on stage.

The film starts from the Coen's reflection on the rebirth of interest in folk music in the sixties, and in particular that despite the genre's exquisitely rural identity, in that period it was followed above all in a metropolis like New York, and that so all its major performers were natives, like Brooklyn's Dave Van Ronk and Ramblin' Jack Elliott.

When writing the screenplay, the pair of directors drew mainly from Van Ronk's autobiography, published posthumously in 2005, The Mayor of MacDougal Street but, even before starting to write it, the Coens had started from a single idea: imagine Van Ronk getting beaten up outside Gerde's Folk City in the Village.

Producer Scott Rudin, who had previously worked with the Coens on True Grit and No Country for Old Men, collaborated on the project. StudioCanal helped the production financially in the absence of a US financier/distributor.

On May 9, 2013, shortly before the presentation of the film at the Cannes Film Festival, the red band trailer and a new poster were also released.

The soundtrack was curated by T Bone Burnett, songwriter, producer and Oscar winner for the song The Weary Kind, and by Marcus Mumford.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Sonic Youth - Club GEBA (Personal Festival), Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 5, 2011

We began way back in 1981 in New York City. And we're finishing up the #SonicSummer Sonic Youth live bootleg listening adventure in 2011 in ... Buenos Aires? Who could've guessed. For the ultimate Sonic Youth in 2011 experience, go straight to the truly awesome Brooklyn performance which got a deserved physical release via Silver Current this year. But after that last NYC gig it wasn't all over for SY just yet, despite the crash-and-burn of Kim and Thurston's marriage. The band had several South American festival commitments — and surprisingly, they all agreed to fulfill them. Hurray?

Steve Shelley: I thought we might cancel the South American shows, that it could go either way. Oh, boy, it was a difficult tour.

Kim Gordon: A lot of the crew had worked with us for years and were like family members. Thurston sat at one end of the table, with me at the other end. It was like dining out with the folks, except Mom and Dad were ignoring each other.

Doesn't sound like fun, does it? And yet! This Buenos Aires performance — the beginning of the end — is extremely fun, with a go-for-broke madcap energy, perhaps fueled by the fact that everything was rapidly falling apart. It might also be fueled by that crazy Argentinian crowd, who manage to accomplish the unlikely task of turning several Sonic Youth songs into fútbol chants. Seriously! Listen to them hollering along with "The Sprawl," a bizarre and kind of beautiful thing.

Whatever the state of their personal relationships, Sonic Youth could still generate plenty of heat together onstage, whether they're floating through "Kotton Krown" or going deep in the valley for another "Death Valley '69." Thirty years after they emerged, this band remained a force to be reckoned with. RIP Sonic Youth! Sonic Youth forever!

[b-sai-des]

A New Frontier: South Asian Fusion

In terms of any actual formal music knowledge, I come from the side of Carnatic music, the Indian classical music style, having been learning the mridangam for around ten years under my guru, Sri T.S Nandakumar. I am always eternally grateful for all that he has done for all of us students, and one of the many things I admire about sir is his willingness to explore unconventional avenues with the mridangam. The mridangam is a two-sided barrel drum usually played as an accompanying instrument in a Carnatic piece that may feature vocals or violin, and veena as well. Nandakumar sir is a renowned accompanying artist, but he’s also given his students many opportunities to perform like chamber concerts and arangetrams. One really unique thing he’s done is a large orchestra of mridangams and other Carnatic percussion instruments at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, which he’s done for multiple years and encouraged even younger students to practice and perform there. It’s unusual for the mridangam to take such a center stage like that, where you have around 100 players playing together in an epic display alongside veena and violin. It was also cool to see Nandakumar sir bringing in western drums into those performances as well, along with drum pads there and in other performances. Having that exposure from a young age really opened my eyes to the potential of Carnatic music elements in contexts that you don’t normally see, and I got curious about what else is capable. Carnatic music for example utilizes many, many different talams (time signatures) apart from just 4:4 (Adi in Carnatic music), and it would be really interesting to see how that could be utilized more generally.

South Asian fusion is a huge, diverse space that’s hard to really pigeon-hole because of how many types of South Asian music there are (Carnatic is just one, there’s also Hindustani, Sufi music, folk music, Bhangra, etc.), along with different genres that they are mixed with like jazz, rock, pop, etc. You had mingling in the past, like Ravi Shankar and The Beatles. Later on it grew, definitely a more recent phenomenon and likely accelerated due to immigration and assimilation in the west. Younger generations are really at the forefront on it  – you see a ton of high school and college clubs doing Indian music or dance fusion. Rutgers has many, including RU Dhol for example. Some of these student clubs lean more on the side of Bollywood-oriented stuff, and there are times that can overshadow other ways to explore the genres – my sister sometimes talks about how the South Asian fusion club she’s part of really neglects classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam or Kathak. In that club it’s seen as the less hip thing, and people will say “it’s cool that you’re so confident to perform that” rather than actually having an interest in it and the people who want to share it. Then again, I'm talking about high-school pettiness here – it's not like this everywhere. RU Dhol combines South Asian instruments and styles of playing with western equivalents. This performance places electric guitars next to the Indian classical violin style in a really fun way.

One of my biggest experiences with South Asian fusion is with Brooklyn Raga Massive. My aunt is a Bharatanatyam teacher, and in 2018 or so she had collaborated with a theater director for a production of Jungle Book, where her students performed Bharatanatyam in a song. After the show, we had met some of the other musicians involved in the show, since my cousin learns Carnatic singing, my sister Bharatanatyam, and I mridangam, and we talked to a percussionist who was part of Brooklyn Raga Massive. He had told us about them – they do daily events at a Prospect Heights venue along with bigger events and performances, and he encouraged us to come on a Thursday where they hold an open mic jam session. We definitely got excited about this, and we went one evening.

The venue was a real hole in the wall type bar with a small stage and seating area in the back, and there was a decent and rather diverse crowd of people. Dim lights and creaky wooden floors, very aesthetic. It’s interesting because now they’ve grown immensely as an organization, and I don’t believe they still have events at this place. It was really cool to see the really different talents displayed there – one woman performed a really interesting singing performance which now I can’t pinpoint what style it was. You also had more traditional classical instruments like tabla and sitar. What’s really cool is that even though I was only in eight grade and my cousin was only in ninth grade, they gave both of us the opportunity to play with them, and they were super friendly and inviting, even despite any mistakes or hesitation I had. There were no judgments, just the spirit of experimenting and playing. I still look at that night with a lot of fondness. 

What I played that day, it was really incredible to get that opportunity and for it to be so low-key and welcoming. My cousin is also there on the stage (dressed in white), he’s an incredibly skilled Carnatic vocalist.

Recently I was inspired by all this and for my midterm assignment for the class I’m writing this for, I made a music track with mridangam and electronic effects in Ableton (free trial came clutch). I initially spent a lot of time worrying about doing it right and perfectly planning everything, but it only came together when I just let go of that and just messed around, re-arranging recordings of me playing and layering effects. Just doing it was fun, and I learned a lot from it.

shameless plug to my video

There’s a free-ness with something like this that’s a really different experience from traditional Carnatic music. At the same time, there’s a level of playfulness with Carnatic music too, as when you’re playing on stage you don’t practice with the other artist beforehand, and what happens there is often unexpected and exciting, and I’m reminded of that when I see jazz music too. To me says a lot about the inherent commonalities in what makes music so rewarding to make and experience.

[markcampbells]

As ever, I am both nosy and greedy, so: 💫🌿🕯️🎀

Em, I'm so sorry, I saw you of all people sent me asks for this and my brain shorted out like my Playstation in a recent thunderstorm. 😂 (The Playstation is fine! My brain is debatable.)

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

I really, really appreciate when people call out specific lines or moments they liked! It helps me understand what it is about the stuff I write that resonates with people, and it's just always nice to know what people liked about something I created. I also appreciate the comments I get occasionally where people tell me I helped them view a character differently or consider something they hadn't before! It always feels funny and gratifying to get people thinking differently about something we both know really well.

🌿how does creating make you feel?

Is there any other answer than "like a merciless god?" No, in all sincerity, great. Writing has been my main creative hobby (reading book buying is probably my main hobby in general) since I was ten years old, and nothing has really come close to it in terms of me having an outlet and a way to do something that's, by and large, for myself. I do work with partners, I go in and out of writing fanfiction (we are in an "in" phase at the moment), but I have my own original stuff that I pretty much write for myself because I don't aim to publish, and it feels nice to be able to do what I want and write what I want to see in the world. I've sometimes considered writing something longer I would submit to an independent press or something (I usually get this urge each year after the Brooklyn Book Festival, aka The Day Trai's Wallet Cries, because you spend the day talking to all these folks from indie presses and seeing authors like "yeah! I want to do that!!!"), but for right now, I'm happy making my own little worlds and characters who owe their existence to me.

🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?

pack up the life that's left is probably the hardest thing I've written for McKirk, and in some ways, in general. My dad died when I was young, and in a few ways, that's why McKirk resonates for me so strongly as a character dynamic--AOS Jim's entire life is shaped by his father's death, and even if TOS McCoy's loss of his own father was sort of a last-minute retcon of his character in some ways, it's so wrenchingly acted by DeForest Kelly (and, I think rightfully, called one of the best Trek scenes ever by people who know what they're talking about) that you can't help but accept it as the major moment it is, so when you combine those two characterizations together into one ship where these characters can share those emotions with each other... it's a lot. And it's a kind of relationship I have personal experience with, because my high school best friend lost his father when we were teens, and we've been each other's confidants and consolation in that regard for at least fifteen years. Jim never knew his dad, while I knew mine to a certain extent, but the thing we have in common is that grieving as an adult hits somewhat differently. For myself, I had a period of a few years in my late twenties where I kind of had to reprocess all my grief and think, fuck, I'm a whole person my dad never got to know. And in a lot of ways, I'll never really know my dad beyond what my family and his friends can tell me. I wanted to explore some of those same feelings for Jim--what would it make him feel to learn that his mother had kept a tangible connection to his father from him? And once he's processed that new connection, what will he do with it? While I don't personally observe any faith, my parents had an interfaith marriage, and I grew up most connected to my father's Jewish family. My mom, after his passing, made sure to observe certain customs, including marking my dad and his parents' passing with a yahrzeit candle each year. Because I work with the fanon that Jim is Jewish, with my personal spin on that being that Jim feels somewhat alienated from his faith on the whole post-Frank but is trying to regain it, I knew I wanted to include that in the fic, and so did the best I could to represent that tradition. I have to admit that the most gratifying and touching thing about getting this fic out into the world was the people who took the time to comment by sharing their own stories about loss, and what it meant to them to see a Jewish mourning custom reflected in fic. I really was not expecting that kind of response and it made the effort it took to pull the story together so worth it.

🎀 give yourself a compliment about your own writing

I try as hard as I possibly can to get the emotional side of my work right, and sometimes that gets really difficult when I'm writing about something I haven't personally experienced. I think, in that regard, the thing I'm proudest of is the second chapter of your hands can heal.... I have, honestly, been deeply fortunate to never experience severe mental illness or emotional abuse, and both things figure heavily in Bones' background in that chapter, conveyed to my readers by some fairly sparse flashbacks. I knew I had done my best to write the work in a way that felt true to me, but I wasn't really going to be sure if I had gotten it right until I heard from readers, and the comments I've gotten in response over the years about getting those aspects right have meant more to me than practically any other feedback I've ever gotten.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/13/2022: NOCEBO (2022)

First things first: Right now, IMDB and Wikipedia are listing only director Lorcan Finnegan's creative partner Garret Shanley as the writer of NOCEBO. In reality, the Irish co-production is also written by Ara Chawdury, a Filipino woman who largely referenced her lifetime of research into her own family for this folk horror story involving her ancestors' religious practices. The movie is brand new, of course, so hopefully all the usual online resources will catch up soon enough.

The film itself is a curiosity, not because of its ethnographic content, but because the story is deadly serious, but the execution skews pretty campy. This review is really spoilery, but I think many viewers will cotton to what's going on right away: Eva Green plays a children's fashion designer who becomes abjectly, undiagnosably ill after an unspecified personal catastrophe. She blames her frequent memory lapses when Chai Fonacier surprises her on her doorstep, insisting that she has been hired to help out around the house. The young Filipino woman soon reveals that she is a kind of witch with the power to cure or destroy a person, and her desperate employer blithely assumes that she'll stick to the former option. Though Fonacier's true motivations are revealed slowly throughout the movie, it becomes obvious quickly that Eva Green's clothing is produced in a sweatshop where a devastating tragedy took place, and the young witch is here to enact her revenge.

The ending credits include a line that says "JUSTICE FOR KENTEX WORKERS," referring to a notorious 2015 factory fire that killed 74 people in Manila. NOCEBO is laced through with genuine angst about the perilous state of affairs for invisible brown labor, as Ara Chawdury noted in her introduction to the film at the opening night of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Chawdury also acknowledged the risk she felt as a writer in vilifying poor Filipino workers, but all things considered, it's hard not to see Chai Fonacier's character as the hero, at least by the end of the film. She is a magnetic performer whose emotional performance does a lot of heavy lifting for what is a fairly simple tale of revenge.

But, at the same time that Fonacier is delivering an appropriate sense of real-world horror, NOCEBO has sort of a campy sensibility that I thought they might have pushed a little further still. The key image of the film is a zombie-like hound who deploys a whirlwind of large, pulsing ticks that trigger Eva Green's illness, and she has increasingly elaborate hallucinations about these insects that are frankly delightful, especially when they turn up at a fashion shoot and cover the dancing child models (who are "urban, ethnic, Southeast Asian!"), leaving behind infectious lesions. It's possible that this wasn't meant to be as much fun as I actually found it, but I'd like to think the filmmakers wouldn't begrudge me my good time. I also enjoyed the fact that they cast english rose Eva Green, and they just have her look completely wrung out for almost the entire movie—clammy, balding, and generally beat to shit. I appreciate the feeling of righteous vengeance that drives the plot about labor exploitation, but I also like it when movies take a little revenge on attractive people. NOCEBO just might have a little something for everyone.

[mannytoodope]

Richard Pierce “Richie” Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was a singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music had elements of folk, soul, and r&b. He was a talented guitarist with a precise and technical way of playing. He often stopped in the middle of a song to tune his guitar. He would often play soulful covers of pop and folk songs. He covered various Beatles songs. Havens opened at the 1969 Woodstock Festival with a memorable performance. Havens’ material varied from political to light folk songs. He began his career singing doo-wop on the corner of his neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and sang gospel in a church. At 20, he moved to Greenwich Village and performed spoken word poetry a lived as a beatnik. After two years there, he picked up a guitar and played in various folk circles around the Village. He was signed to Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman, and got a record deal with inciting the Verve Forecast record label. He released Mixed Bag in late 1966 and had several classic hits for Haven, including “ Handsome Johnny,” co-written by actor Lou Gossett Jr. and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “ Just Like A Woman. Havens may have covered several songs, but take made it seem like they were their own. He released five more albums that ranked high on the Billboard charts. He was soon able to start his record label and tour more festivals. Havens received various awards and had and contributed music to multiple projects. He was a folk tabor that left a legacy influencing and inspiring artists today.

[nwbeerguide]

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery releases the upcoming plans for National Record Store Day, including this year's beer - Catchy Chorus.

Press Release

MILTON, Del. ... The Official Beer of Record Store Day for eight consecutive years, Dogfish Head will celebrate this year’s holiday, slated for Saturday, April 22, with the release of a new, music-themed beer, Catchy Chorus. Brewed in collaboration with Record Store Day, an organization dedicated to showcasing the culture of independently owned record stores, Catchy Chorus is a double dry-hopped double IPA inspired by the four “magic chords” (E, B, C#m & A) that make up many of the world’s most popular melodies.

Blending Eureka, Bravo, Calypso and Azacca hops, Catchy Chorus comes together in hop and grain harmony to build an unforgettable sensory song. Clocking in at 9.0% ABV, this symphonic sipper is bursting with citrusy and tropical aromas and flavors. Catchy Chorus is now making its way to taps and shelves in 4pk/16oz cans in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Track some down using Dogfish Head’s Fish Finder. 

“As a bunch of beer geeks with music problems, Record Store Day is always one of our favorite days of the year, here at Dogfish Head,” said Dogfish Head Founder & Brewer, Sam Calagione. “We are honored to continue our partnership with Record Store Day, working alongside them to bring together independent beer and independent music stores, and what better way to do just that than by brewing a beer rooted in the notes that collectively create so many top hits!”

To complement the launch of Catchy Chorus, Dogfish Head is teaming up Brooklyn Bowl to host Record Store Day-themed events in select cities across the country.   

Saturday, April 15 – Record Store Fair at Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn: 

Taking place from 12-3 p.m., this daytime record fair will serve as the official kickoff to the year’s Record Store Day festivities. In addition to assembling an array of local, independently owned record stores ahead of their biggest sales day of the year, this event will offer on-site raffle and giveaway opportunities, DJs spinning vinyl tunes and of course, Dogfish Head beer specials. Beyond sipping and shopping, attendees can expect meet and greets with a myriad of beer and music legends, including: 

Sam Calagione, Founder & Brewer at Dogfish Head Craft Brewery 

Carrie Colliton, Co-Founder of Record Store Day 

Lenny Kaye, Guitarist for the Patti Smith Group & Curator of NUGGETS Compilation 

Monte A. Melnick, Former Ramones Tour Manager 

Richard Barone, Author, Recording Artist & Producer 

John Holmstrom, Founding Editor, Art Director & Production Manager at PUNK Magazine

This event is free and open to the public. For more details, visit www.dogfish.com/events.  

But that’s not all! Later that evening, Dogfish Head is proud to present a special live music show by psych-funk trailblazers, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. The first 20 fans to arrive at the show and visit the Dogfish Head pop-up will receive a copy of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s new Record Store Day vinyl signed by the band and Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione. The record, which officially drops on Saturday, April 22, features a live recording of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong’s 2022 Record Store Day show at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, a performance sponsored by Dogfish Head. 

Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available HERE for $30 each. 

Saturday, April 22 – Official Record Store Day After-Parties at Brooklyn Bowl Locations Nationwide: 

After digging through record bins in the morning, beer and music enthusiasts can spend their evenings at one of the Official Record Store After-Parties. Presented by Dogfish Head, folks in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Nashville can keep the off-centered celebration going at their local Brooklyn Bowl location. From musical performances and giveaways to Happy Hours happenings and beer specials, there’s a little something for everyone to enjoy! For more details, please visit www.brooklynbowl.com/shows/all. 

To learn more about Dogfish Head and Record Store Day, check out www.dogfish.com and www.recordstoreday.com, respectively.  

XXX

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery:  Dogfish Head has focused on brewing beers with culinary ingredients outside the Reinheitsgebot since the day it opened as one of the smallest American craft breweries more than 27 years ago. A Delaware-based brand and supporter of the Independent Craft Brewing Seal, Dogfish consists of Brewings & Eats®, an off-centered brewpub, Chesapeake & Maine®, a seafood and cocktail spot, Dogfish Inn®, a beer-themed hotel and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery®, a production brewery and distillery featuring the Tasting Room & Kitchen and Dogfish Head Distilling Co.® For more, visit www.dogfish.com. 

Record Store Day: 

Record Store Day, the organization, is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and promotes independent record stores year-round with events, special releases and other fun things.  

Record Store Day, the global celebration of the culture of the record store, takes place annually. The 16th Record Store Day is coming up on April 22, 2023.

[pulsdmedia]

The Week Ahead 7/29-8/4

The Olympics are giving us major patriotic feels, and although we might not be ready to do a backflip like Biles, we're doing the only sport we know how to do best - ruling the streets of NYC with pulsd in our pocket!

$59 NY Times-Praised Jazz, Drinks, & Bites Experience For 2, LES

A reflective oasis in downtown at the border of the East Village and Lower East Side, Only Love Strangers brings equal parts allure and energy, serving exquisite cocktails alongside Mediterranean inspired cuisine focusing on Spanish, Italian, and Greek influences. Sip on a Bebop (tequila, apple, beet, citrus, pomegranate), dip homemade Oregano Lavash & Crudités into a mezze ensemble, and be treated to a dreamy live jazz performance. What more could you ask for?

Krispy Kreme Celebrates 'Freedom' by Providing ‘Freebies’

Krispy Kreme Rewards members can celebrate FREEdom throughout the month of July with a free doughnut every Tuesday and a free iced coffee every Friday with any purchase.

$59 Rooftop Moroccan Nights Experience For 2 + Food & Drinks

Forget the ordinary in favor of Elsie Rooftop's Moroccan Nights Experience - think exceptional cuisine, inventive drinks, and jaw-dropping entertainment amidst a gorgeous rooftop scene. Devour indulgent fare & drink from a spiked tea pot as talented belly dancers, singers, and the like blow you away with their alluring acts...

NBCUniversal Olympics 2024 at Rockefeller

Throughout the Games, Rockefeller Center will serve as the hub for Team USA fans, featuring Parisian food, photo-ops, watch parties, athlete visits, and more. Fans will be invited to pose for photos with iconic symbols of the Paris Olympic Games.

$39: 100+ Beers, Wines & Spirits, Waterfront Views For 3.5 Hours

This Saturday, The 2024 Brooklyn Summer Beer Wine & Spirits Festival is ready to serve up 100+ styles from craft breweries, wineries, distillers, purveyors, and more from all over the globe, plus waterfront views, music, food - what are you waiting for? At Brooklyn Navy Yard on the waterfront, let the fresh breezes of this weekend rendezvous cool you off, and in light of this being the last month of summer, go big as exquisite libations like ice-cold beers, craft expressions of small-batch spirits, and dreamy bottles of luscious vintages fill your souvenir tasting glass...

Join Brooklyn Bowl for a Night Full of Music From Charli XCX!

A neon-filled night of (hyper) pop perfection, this night is for those die hard brats and folks just looking for a good time. With BRAT by Charli XCX taking the world by storm, and coining of the term ‘brat summer,’ it’s going to be a show to remember.

[mixtapemag]

boygenius at forest hills stadium.

photos by christopher hall.

boygenius rolled their Re:Set music festival into a sold out Forest Hills Stadium on Saturday night. They are the best band in the universe at this moment. They are one body moving together - eyes, lungs and heart. An astounding combination of friendship and art. Their microphones voltroning together to form a hurricane gust of love for 100 minutes.

They blessed us with a brand new song - Boyfriends - on Saturday. Another deep sea plunge into the sublime. When one of your favorite bands plays something you've never heard before it sometimes lifts you off the soles of your feet. You have no reference to where it will go or how it will end. Each new note and chord change sending you somewhere you've never been before. Most of the time you go to concerts to hear the songs you've heard one thousand times before - to sing along, to bring you back to the moment you listened to it with someone else. From here on out, I'll remember who I was standing with on that tennis court whenever I listen to Boyfriends.

Previously on Mixtape:

Photos of boygenius at the fox theater.

Photos of boygenius at the premiere of "the film".

Photos of Lucy Dacus at All Things Go.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Red Rocks.

Photos of Phoebe Bridgers at Roskilde.

Photos of Phoebe Bridgers with Special Guest Lucy Dacus at Forest Hills Stadium.

Photos of Phoebe Bridgers at Kilby Block Party 3.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at The Stone Pony.

Photos of Julien Baker at Fox Theater.

Photos of Phoebe Bridgers at Leaders Bank Pavilion.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Brooklyn Steel - Night Two.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Brooklyn Steel - Night One.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Variety Playhouse.

Photos of Julien Baker at 9:30 Club.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Forest Hills Stadium.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Webster Hall.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Moroccan Lounge.

Photos of Better Oblivion Community Center at Outside Lands.

Photos of Julien Baker at Amplify Decatur.

Photos of Lucy Dacus at Newport Folk Festival.

Photos of Boygenius at Brooklyn Steel.

Photos of Phoebe Bridgers at Newport Folk Festival.

Photos of Julien Baker at Shadow of the City.

Photos of Julien Baker in Prospect Park.

Photos of Julien Baker at White Eagle Hall.

Photos of Julien Baker at Union Transfer.

Photos of Julien Baker at Outside Lands.

Photos of Julien Baker at Newport Folk Festival.

Christopher Hall tweets over here. We're in Love.

[lucloulou1963]

Charlie Parr - Full Performance (Live at the Brooklyn Folk Festival)