#brooklyn folk festival

[fathersonholygore]

[Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2024] THE LAST SACRIFICE Explores Folk Horror's Roots & British Identity

The Last Sacrifice (2024) Directed & Written by Rupert Russell Featuring Geraldine Beskin, Gavin Bone, Janet Farrar, Leila Latif, Ronald Hutton, Adam Godley, Jonathan Rigby, Diane Rodgers, & Tim Stanley. Documentary ★★★★1/2 (out of ★★★★★) DISCLAIMER: The following essay contains SPOILERS! Avert thine eyes, lest ye be spoiled by the Olde Gods of Cinema. Folk horror has long been a sub-genre of…

[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.”

[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.

[cinderellaenjoyer]

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!

[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.

[thebowerypresents]

Geese Prepare for Next Chapter at Sold-Out Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday Night

Geese – Music Hall of Williamsburg – December 6, 2024

In a series of year-in-review features, several New York Times critics use variations on a term one of them called “algorithm breakers” — that is, output that eludes “easy categorization, keeping us off balance.” The term in that particular instance was for movies, but it could just as easily apply to other art forms. Maybe I liked it because it helps with a band not at all easily described: Brooklyn’s Geese. Not in the lazy “they’re genre-benders, wow!” kind of way, but because, like fellow shape-shifters (and recent tour mates) King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, theirs is a sound that thrives at the pressure points of where different rock styles clash into near chaos but hold steady to create invigorating music. They hit a little weird at first — and you’re reaching for why. But they’re under your skin already.

Geese’s first record, 2021’s Projector, had jittery post-punk for days, running the gamut from Television to Radiohead. The next record, 2023’s mesmerizing 3D Country, felt like a mutation, taking that sound every which way from chamber-folk to scuzzy-noise jamband, from pretty to zany to screamy. At times and in moments, they’re the kind of band you sort of can hear whatever sound you want in (I hear Beck at his most experimental). But in aggregate, they don’t feel derivative, and you’re more apt to marvel at how what they have hangs together at the brink of where it’s about to come apart at the seams and wobble off the front of the stage. 

Wouldn’t you know it: Geese also have a festival. Friday night was the second of three shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg, part of the band’s second-annual Geesefest, each with a different collection of cannily curated openers. (Friday had NYC’s Guerilla Toss, filling the room with big-rock-sound pow, and earlier, Philadelphia’s Cold Court, doing a ferocious jazz-punk thing.) Over a nearly two-hour set, Geese frontman Cameron Winter and his rambunctious cohorts served a little bit of everything, throwing back to Projector with “Rain Dance” and a punched-up “Fantasies/Survival,” peeling off more than half of 3D Country with standouts including a raging “Mysterious Love,” a woozy “Domoto” and, to close the show, the tender “Tomorrow’s Crusades,” Winter’s pained-happy falsetto carrying the “Where would I be without you” refrain. 

The story of the night, actually, was new songs: three billed as Geese tunes and one (the terrific “Drinking Age”) from Winter’s own just-released solo album. Each was a flavor of Geese, showcased in well-selected places in the overall set, without distinctly pointing to a direction the band might be headed with their next mutation. But most of all, the band seemed to love playing them, seemed to love their abandon, seemed to love their people, seemed to love this moment they’ve hit where they’re graduating to bigger things and have a lot of growth to celebrate. The crowd knew it, too: We all savored the rush of what already felt like an underplay-sized room for Geese. It’s the excitingly early, not just promisingly early stage: not quite Chapter 1 of their story anymore, and certainty that many more chapters are on the way. —Chad Berndtson | @Cberndtson

Photos courtesy of Toby Tenenbaum | @tobytenenbaum

[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.

[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.

[thejacksmit]

First Take: We Live in Time - the director of Brooklyn + Film4 funding = a great start to 2025

SYNOPSIS: An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.

Next year marks 10 years since John Crowley made the criminally underrated Brooklyn - and while there have been ups and downs with his work in the Hollywood system (infamously making The Goldfinch for Warner… and it bombing big time), at long last he is back making independent film with StudioCanal and A24. So ahead of its release on New Years Day on these shores and earning many plaudits at the BFI London Film Festival and various preview screenings during December, it gives me a lot of pride to say that he’s back on form with his latest work, which, believe it or not, was exec produced by one Benedict Cumberbatch.

Crowley does a hell of an effort to tell this story in 1 hour 48 minutes, with most of the film being all killer no filler - the nonlinear nature of it does take a bit of getting used to but ultimately that script from Nick Payne delivers a lot of light and comedic charm to really emphasise the darker moments of this film, of which there are many considering the subject matter. Tissues definitely advised, even recommended for the second half, and that’s about as much as I can say about the plot without revealing how it plays out. It’s shot brilliantly by Stuart Bentley, and with Bryce Dessner (of The National) on score duties, it looks like an A24 commission, sounds like an A24 commission, and importantly has the star power to prove it.

At its core are two performances from talents who arguably command any film they make - on their own, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield have had stellar careers but combined, they create some absolute magic and sell this plot so incredibly well with young Grace Delaney playing their daughter (and by all accounts forming a lifelong bond with Pugh and Garfield if recent Instagram posts are to be believed). Supporting them are talents like Niamh Cusack, Aoife Hinds, Kerry Godliman, Adam James, Douglas Hodge and many more, but it is the work of that main trio which take this film into the realms of a very special release. I honestly hope it opens well because it is not often that the local film industry can hit it out of the park like this.

THE VERDICT

We Live in Time is going to break many hearts when it goes wide in UK cinemas next week, and while it might get some awards nods from BAFTA at the very least, it's another gem supported by those fine folks at Film4, continuing their fantastic strike rate of backing homegrown talent. Yes, it takes a while to get into but by god does it stick the landing.

RATING: 4.5/5

[talltalestogo]

ALICE BROCK, WHOSE RESTAURANT SERVED AS THE INSPIRATION FOR ARLO GUTHRIE’S “ALICE’s RESTAURANT”, DIES

By Clay Risen

Alice Brock, whose eatery in western Massachusetts was immortalized as the place where “you can get anything you want” in Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 antiwar song “Alice’s Restaurant,” died on Thursday in Wellfleet, Mass. — just a week before Thanksgiving, the holiday during which the rambling story at the center of the song takes place. She was 83.

Viki Merrick, a longtime friend, said she died in a hospice from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Ever since Mr. Guthrie released the song, officially called “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” in 1967, it has been a staple of classic-rock stations every late November, not to mention car trip singalongs on the way to visit family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Ms. Brock’s restaurant, the Back Room, does not feature much in the song itself. Over the course of a little more than 18 minutes, Mr. Guthrie — doing more talking than singing — recounts a visit that he and a friend, Rick Robbins, paid to Ms. Brock and her husband, Ray Brock, for Thanksgiving dinner.

A shaggy-dog story ensues: Mr. Guthrie and Mr. Robbins take trash to the city dump, but, finding it closed, leave it in a ravine instead. The next morning, the police arrest them for littering, and Ms. Brock has to bail them out.

That night she cooks them all a big meal, and the following day they appear in court, where the judge fines them $50. Later, Mr. Guthrie is ordered to an Army induction center, where he is able to avoid the draft because of his criminal record.

Ms. Brock helped write the first part of the song, up until the trial.

“We were sitting around after dinner and wrote half the song,” she told the writer C.A. Sanders, “and the other half, the draft part, Arlo wrote.”

Mr. Guthrie first performed the song at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival, and it was the title track of his first album, released that fall, with its sardonic line “You want to know if I’m moral enough join the Army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein’ a litterbug.”

It became an unofficial anthem of the antiwar movement.

The song made Ms. Brock famous, too, even though by the time it appeared she had shut down her restaurant. It was an unwanted fame, she said, at least at first.

“I was very uncomfortable because public figures are not really treated with much respect,” she told WAMC Northeast Public Radio in 2014. “They really aren’t. Once your name is in the paper, people feel that they can go, ‘Oh, are you Alice? Turn around,’ like they want to see my behind or something.”

Through the 1970s, Ms. Brock tried her hand at other restaurants. After closing the last one, in 1979, she moved to Provincetown, Mass., at the tip of Cape Cod, where she took up odd jobs to support her new career as a painter.

And over time she came to accept the lot that fame had cast her.

“I resented it for a long time,” she told WAMC. “But I’ve come to realize now that people are just delighted when they hear my name, so how can I complain?”

Alice May Pelkey was born on Feb. 28, 1941, in Brooklyn, though she liked to tell people that she had been conceived in Provincetown. Her mother, Mary (Dubrovski) Pelkey, worked in real estate, and her father, Joe, was a printmaker.

She attended Sarah Lawrence College but left during her sophomore year, later citing her support for “unpopular political causes.” She moved to Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where she met Ray Brock, an architect and sculptor.

They married in 1962, and the next year they moved to Stockbridge, Mass. They both worked at the Stockbridge School, a private institution — he as an art teacher, she as a librarian — where they befriended Mr. Guthrie, a student there and the son of the folk singer Woody Guthrie.

Ms. Brock opened the Back Room at the urging of her mother, who also helped the couple acquire a deconsecrated Episcopal church, which they turned into their home and which is also part of the story told in “Alice’s Restaurant.”

In 1968, the director Arthur Penn made a film based on the song, with Ms. Brock played by Pat Quinn. (Ms. Brock served as a consultant and had a cameo.) Coincidentally, a scene in which the screen versions of the Brocks get married was filmed on the same day their divorce became official.

She closed the Back Room in 1967 and sold the church in 1971. Mr. Guthrie bought it in 1991 to house his archives and a community action center. By then she had moved to Provincetown, where she tried to put her fame behind her in favor of the tight-knit community she found on the Cape, which she considered her “chosen family.”

Over the last decade, Ms. Brock struggled with financial and health issues, and a friend set up a GoFundMe site for her — a situation highlighted in a 2020 feature on the NPR program “Morning Edition.” Fans of the song quickly opened their wallets, and within a few days they had raised more than $170,000.

[houseofloveconcerts]

Hannah Read

Hannah Read is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and composer. Born and brought up in Scotland and now based in Northern California, her music straddles both sides of the Atlantic. Equally at home improvising on fiddle, playing Appalachian old-time music or delivering finely wrought original songs, she is an artist that gets equal thrill touring as an International band leader, as well as a collaborative side-musician.

Her latest critically acclaimed album The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1 was released in October 2023. Described as “A memorable partnership between science and music” (The Scotsman), it is a concept album of fungi-inspired instrumental compositions. This body of work was commissioned by Edinburgh University and is a tribute to Hannah’s late father, world renowned mycologist Nick Read. Throughout this album, Hannah’s fiddle, electric and acoustic guitars meld with clawhammer banjoist Michael Starkey, upright bassist Jeff Picker (Nickel Creek) and mixing engineer Charles Van Kirk’s sound design. Composed over a week in May 2023 and recorded a month later in the Scottish Borders, this short window allowed for an uninterrupted writing process, producing something that feels fresh and experimental, yet organic and grounded. Prominent mycologist Paul Stamets has called it “a wonderful album of fungi-inspired music” and Hannah’s hope is that listeners will take themselves on a mindful walk through the woods and make their own adventure while listened to the album top to toe.

The Fungi Sessions follows Cross The Rolling Water (Hudson Records), her Appalachian old-time duo with Michael Starkey, released in 2022; “Gripping… all in all, it’s a foot-tappin’ delight, music and playing that draws you in the way lungs draw in air, the tunesmithery interspersed with fine balladry” (Songlines ****). As a songwriter, her 2018 highly celebrated debut solo release Way Out I’ll Wander (Hudson Records) is comprised of “nine gorgeous originals” (The Guardian). The songs unfurl around Hannah’s sterling vocal and deft instrumental work on fiddle and guitar, supported by guest musicians Jefferson Hamer (Anais Mitchell), Jeff Picker, Grammy award winning Sarah Jarosz, and album producer Charles Van Kirk.

After growing up singing and playing fiddle in Scotland’s rich traditional music community, Hannah deepened her musicianship studying at The City of Edinburgh Music School, The American School of Modern Music in Paris, and finally at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she immersed herself in the American folk traditions that had compelled her to cross the Atlantic. Soon she moved to Brooklyn, diving headfirst into a diverse and thriving music scene that yielded abundant opportunities for collaboration. Many of Hannah’s collaborative relationships — performing and recording with musicians including Lola Kirke, Tony Trischka, Sam Reider, Cassandra Jenkins, Jacksonport, Nora Brown, Jefferson Hamer, The Fretless, Tim Eriksen, and many others — emerged from late nights playing at Brooklyn mainstays like Barbès and Sunny’s Bar. 

Back in the UK, Hannah is equally in demand. She contributed fiddle, guitar, and vocals to the English/Scottish folk supergroup Songs of Separation, a project created in the aftermath of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The resulting record, Songs of Separation (featuring Eliza Carthy, Karine Polwart and others) won Album of the Year at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She has recently performed at festivals across the country including London Jazz Festival and Cambridge Folk Festival, both performing solo and in various collaborations.

Spurred on by this array of collaborations, Hannah continues to hone her solo career, opening for artists such as Darlingside and Kris Drever. She has arranged and recorded strings for Keenan O’Meara, Jacksonport and Ruby Landen. Also an accomplished music instructor, appearing on faculty at Shetland Songwriting Festival, Belgium’s Fiddlers on the Move and to over to North America, teaching at Miles of Music Camp in NH, The Omega Institute in NY, Alaska Folk Arts Camp, Louisiana's Blackpot Camp and many others. Hannah’s animating principles of curiosity and adventurousness run through all her work, and she continues to interweave these varied musical experiences from Scotland to New York and back again.