#spanier

[bisexual-evanbuckley]

Ian Spanier Photography ~~ Oliver Stark

[prettyfamous]

Carlos Valdes | Ian Spanier | April 2023

[digitalfountains]

Effy Turner & Iona Catherine by Grant Spanier

[theprofessorofdesire]

[forustothinkistobealive]

Okay, aber Spanien hat schon mies unsportlich gespielt oder?

[lovelybeautifulsleep]

photo: grant spanier model: madeleine agency: arquette agency

[schnaf]

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[chicinsilk]

Pierre Balmain Haute Couture Collection Fall/Winter 1953-54. Geneviève presents a pale blue, strapless evening dress (ball gown) to British actress Edith Evans and Ginette Spanier, director of Maison Balmain.

Pierre Balmain Collection Haute Couture Automne/Hiver 1953-54. Geneviève présente une robe du soir (robe de bal) bleue pâle, sans bretelles à l'actrice britannique Edith Evans et à Ginette Spanier directrice de la Maison Balmain.

(Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

[tejedac]

Les harmonies vintage · Playlist

Cab Calloway & his Orchestra · Ted Lewis · Scott Joplin ·The Ink Spots · Muggsy Spanier · Sister Rosetta Tharpe · Jelly Roll Morton · Rose Murphy · Leo Monosson · Kid Ory · Vera Lynn · Comedian Harmonist · Al Bowlly · Mezz Mezzrow · Carroll Gibbons · Elizabeth Cotten · Barnabas von Geczy · The Mills Brothers · The Firehouse Five Plus Two · Mississippi Sheiks · Sippie Wallace · Walter Barnes & his Royal Creolians · Cannon's Jug Stompers · Savannah Churchill · Frank Stokes · The Andrews Sisters · Bunny Berigan · Blind Boy Fuller · Gus Viseur · Barbecue Bob · Harry Roy and his Bat Club Boys · Robert Wilkins · Marek Weber · Tino Rossi · Django Reinhardt · Coleman Hawkins · Red Nichols · Tiny Parham · Mamie Smith her Jazz Hounds · Paul Specht · Ma Rainey · Robert Pete Williams · Sam Morgan's Jazz Band · Bernie Moten · King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band · Sam Lanin and his Orchestra · Tony Murena · Original Dixieland Jazz Band · Helen Kane · Ray Ventura · etc,

[jazzrestoration]

What do you think about this Muggsy Spanier restoration ?

[prettyfamous]

Carlos Valdes | Ian Spanier | April 2023

[digitalfountains]

Effy Turner & Iona Catherine by Grant Spanier

[sinceileftyoublog]

GUM Interview: Use It or Lose It

Photo by Grant Spanier

BY JORDAN MAINZER

One of my recurring dreams involves missing chunks or even the entirety of festival sets of my favorite bands. I'm always glad when I wake up, remembering that it's the dead of winter, reminiscing on the musical events of the previous summer and looking forward to the months to come. At the same time, I'm taken by the fact that these anxieties are all-but made-up by my brain. "Race To The Air", the lead track from Jay Watson's latest GUM album Saturnia (Spinning Top), puts a positive spin on similar perturbations: rushing through a festival crowd so you don't miss a band playing your favorite song. With sweeping strings and elongated jams with squalling guitars and drum fills, it's the soundtrack of passing by the various stages and the disparate sounds you hear, or perhaps even the contradictions within your favorite song itself, the product of a restless head.

Watson, while raising his newborn son, worked on the Saturnia songs, essentially, in his restless head. Though they certainly changed from conception to recording, each song is an homage to music-making and how it can shape the inner workings of our minds. The sort-of title track "Saturnism" refers to an old-school term for lead poisoning, inspired by Watson and his then-pregnant partner and their child moving into a new house that had lead paint on the walls, about which Watson became paranoid. "An avalanche of cognitive dissonance and harmony / Eloquently null and void / Consequently paranoid / And even though I try to fight / There is a sore upon my mind," he sings, his worries lurking behind every note on the record. There's "Muscle Memory", whose antithesis is crippling doubt, not being able to play music after periods of inactivity. The very title of "Fear Of Joy" suggests that behind everything positive is something else sinister, or vice versa, a shimmery, tempo changing, bossa nova-imbued song that's unexpectedly life-affirming. "If you've had enough of living / Think of someone who loves you and stay," Watson repeats. "Someone who loves you," could be Watson's partner and children; perhaps it's his songs. After all, Saturnia is his declaration that writing and recording is the most remedial act of all.

I asked Watson some questions over email about Saturnia, healing, playing live, and his songwriting tendencies. Below, read his responses, edited for clarity.

Since I Left You: A lot of Saturnia seems to deal with the tangible aspects of music (how it sounds, playing it) versus the more abstract aspects of it (the compositional process, the context). Do you tend to think about music that way?

Jay Watson: I think the way that I think about music is always a mix of those two elements, the practical and the abstract. Purely practical, and the music is rote and stale, and purely abstract, and it's not that enjoyable to listen to.

SILY: The title "Muscle Memory" makes me imagine you, after months of writing in your head, picking up your instruments to bring to life what you were thinking. Do you find you need some warm up time after long periods of inactivity?

JW: To be honest, my ability to write and play music drops off so quickly after a period of inactivity that I'm terrified of taking a break. It really is a muscle you have to keep active.

SILY: "Argentina" is an old, retro-sounding riff you wrote juxtaposed with unexpected tempos. Does layering seemingly disparate elements help you avoid wearing your influences too much on your sleeve?

JW: I didn't really think about it like this. I think that writing with this sort of critical thinking in mind prevents ideas from being interesting or natural or honest. In terms of influences, I have as many as ever, but I find they don't come out as obviously as they used to.

SILY: How does the visual identity of Saturnia (the album art, the videos) complement and/or contrast the music itself?

JW: It's all a reflection of where I'm at at the time, musically and visually. I try not to keep it too focused all together because it can come across a bit product-y when everything matches perfectly.

SILY: The title of the album is an old name for lead poisoning, referring to your paranoia about lead-based paint in your new house. Was making this album therapeutic in helping you conquer that fear?

JW: For sure. Most of my music is about fear and love and how it's related. Making music is my way of dealing with that without having to explicitly talk about it all day.

SILY: The song "Real Life" reminds me of something from Beck's Sea Change. Even if that wasn't an influence or even if Beck isn't someone you listen to, do you admire artists like him with shapeshifting musical personas?

JW: Yeah, I've always wanted to make any music that I've felt like, even if it doesn't come out in a realistic way. The attempt and failure to do a style of music authentically is where new ideas lie, I think.

SILY: How are you bringing the Saturnia songs to the live stage? Is adapting them to a performance as artistically rewarding as writing and recording them in the first place?

JW: It's artistically rewarding for sure, especially because I get to improvise on guitar a lot more than on the recordings. I've been having so much fun just making up lines and melodies and noise on the spot.

SILY: Are you the type of songwriter that's always writing? Anything else next for you?

JW: If you don't use it, you lose it! I've got a lot in the pipeline, but not much time to finish it all, so I'm just trying to get things done one at a time.

SILY: What have you been listening to, watching, and reading lately?

JW: I saw this band Geese in the US, which blew me away. I've been listening to their new record. I've been digging the new Tex Crick album Sweet Dreamin'.

[nudesnoises]

Grant Spanier

[audreys-hepburn]

BRENDAN FRASER — photographed by Ian Spanier for Backstage