Cradle Wave

This wave is a momentous force
Bound always forward
In the cradle of civilization
It rushed toward the shore, toward disintegration

Inevitable is the crash, the foam
The roiling erosion of stone
Receding or proceeding
It carries away bones and misery, or

Inundating the land and the people
The wave risks all,
Never returning to the sea
Souls thrash under the flood

Grasping at freedom and anarchy
Yet hope and liberty remain submerged
For now looking up from below, still
Yearning for what they have not

The Western horizon trembles softly
Cowering with unknown contingencies
The fear of losing control, Revolution wrought by
The critical mass of inequality

Kyle Dawkins (of Maps and Transit) Speaks!

According to the Maps and Transit site, "Kyle Dawkins has released two solo recordings under his own name, Conasauga (2002) and Walls became the world.(2004) and is a member of acclaimed chamber ensemble The Georgia Guitar Quartet. He lives and works in Athens, Georgia."

Collaborator and wife Julie Phillips is "a trapeze and aerial silks instructor at Canopy Studio and is a member of their acclaimed repertory company. She is also a bassist, percussionist, and writer."

The following is an email interview with Kyle Dawkins conducted in late 2010 after the release of the Maps and Transit project Songs for Divining in September, 2010.

AT: The instrumentation on the album is so unique and was dubbed "folktronica" at some point. How much of the sound is guided by the instruments themselves, or is it the sound in your mind's ear (so to speak) that dictates those choices? Can you recall any "happy accidents" as far as combining instruments to achieve a brand new quality of sound? Which instruments might be on your "dream list" regardless of cost -- is there a sound you're chasing that you could harness with a little help from Bill Gates?

KD: Many of the "happy accidents" happened as a result of the unpredictability of the stringed instruments that I was using. I've got some old mandolins and other stuff that have these really idiosyncratic, messed-up tones as a result of warped necks, frets, etc. I thought it gave the songs a sort of creaky, homemade feel. I love the sound of really antiquated or broken-down acoustic instruments. You can get sounds out them that you couldn't get otherwise if it was a new instrument off the shelf somewhere. Lately, I've been really into mellotrons. I love the often out-of-tune, fluctuating tape loops and it's spooky sort of canned sound. I used a bunch of "virtual" mellotrons from different sound applications on my computer but it's really hard to approximate the sound of a real one which I've yet to even try out. So yeah, I'd like a mellotron from Santa or Bill Gates.

AT: I'm sure this varies greatly, but how long does it take you to create a song in this way, with all the layers and pieces? Also, do you give express consideration, as you work out a new track, to how it might be performed live?

KD: I'll usually write the songs and then Julie and I will listen to it and figure out ways to juggle the parts using a combination of samplers. Usually the parts that would be interesting to see played live are the ones we rehearse and the more textural sounds we farm in using the samplers. The sampler parts are usually the ones that are more computer-based and aren't necessarily playable on guitars or mandolins or whatever. Usually a song will take me a day or two to write and a couple more days of Julie and I rehearsing and listening. Some songs seem to take forever though for whatever reason. Lately, we've been in the process of planning more collaborative song writing processes where we build the songs up as a duo instead of a composition that was written on a computer and figured out later as a band performance.

AT: Besides Applachia, which other regions of the world seem to contribute to these compositions. Is the Celtic tradition something you look to or particularly enjoy outside of writing and performing?

KD: I sometimes draw a lot from Asian and mid-Eastern folk instruments and melodies, some Sufi, and Indonesian music too. The Celtic influence is there mostly as a point of reference for certain melodies.

logo courtesy of  Georgia Guitar Quartet

AT: You both are into fine art and design (and you've collaborated with painter Chris Wyrick in the past), so if you were to assign a color scheme to this album, what would it be? To put it another way, what is the "look" of your sound?

KD: I wanted some parts of the album to have a murky, underwater, brambles-and-vines-everywhere kind of texture combined with the feeling of hearing music from the inside of a dusty music box. Those aren't colors exactly but they're places. I don't usually get a sense of color when I'm writing music as much as a sense of texture or place.

AT: As I listen to your album, I see so many images in my mind, and I know that response is individual to the listener. Have you ever been approached by filmakers who want to use your music as a soundtrack to a "talkie" ?

KD: I haven't done any soundtracks but it's something I've always wanted to do. Filmmaker anyone? Email me at kyledawkins75@gmail.com

Image by Bob Brussack courtesy of Athensview.com

AT: Along those same lines, it would be amazing to see some of your aerial artistry set to this music (and I have live at Canopy Studios!). Have you considered making a music video incorporating your other artistic endeavours?

KD: We've been in conversation about doing something like this with different people around town so yeah, hopefully something will be in the cards soon.

Songs for Divining ~  listen and download
Maps and Transit on Myspace ~ listen and enjoy

* Take note of an upcoming event featuring Julie Phillips' aerial work and Kyle Dawkins' guitar:

The Canopy Studio performance will feature aerial artistry on trapeze and silks with accompanying compositions by Brian Smith (Georgia Guitar Quartet) with Dawkins on guitar, among many other talented musicians.  It's bound to be an enchanting, memorable event that shouldn't be missed.  If you can be in Athens, GA, score some tickets!

Two shows plus an open house prior:

Saturday, March 19th @ 7:00  & 

Sunday, March 20th @ 2:00 

Sunday, March 6th @ 4 - 6 pm Canopy Studio open house

Maps and Transit ~ Songs for Divining

Kyle Dawkins' string work is precise and warm like a distant voice emanating from a light-soaked church. His musical partner and wife, Julie Phillips, adds clarity and depth with xylophone and bass to make the most recent project from Maps and Transit feel gently sculpted, more manually hewn than digitally. Its sound gives a cinematic impression, painterly and full of atmosphere; even the air in the room where you listen seems to change -- though almost imperceptibly -- from the very first notes. The handy term "folktronica" has been used to describe the overall impression, but such labels only limit the scope of the duo's latest work, Songs for Divining, released on Camomille Music.

More than pairing strings and percussion with laptop beats, the pair has created an amalgam of timbres to make an ethereal whole beyond categorization. Nevertheless, with a fisheye view, the organic sound at its heart envelops influences from chamber music to hushed rock to jangly mountain field recordings.

Songs for Divining ~ cover art by Vincent Fugere

The album's electronic sounds, far from evoking cold circuitry, resonate as naturally as the analog instruments. Subtle beats, faint tones, and counter-rhythms trickle down from the Appalachian terminus, only an hour's drive from the heart of Athens, GA, where Maps and Transit makes its home. Sonic textures sizzle and fizz beneath bent banjo notes and mandolin tremolos, held together by a windy backdrop, realizing what Dawkins refers to as a "brambles-and-vines" landscape that gives the project a vast root system and a distinct sense of place.

Polyrhythmic galloping and Celtic guitar lines in 'Three Pendulums' help envisage a wide green plain unfolding before a group of haggard wanderers. As a glistening sea rises in the distance, the mood lightens, hopeful yet cautious. The sauntering cycle of the tune seems to skirt the cliffside along the way, pushing a tenuous fragility that's quietly thrilling.

During 'Ponds', Dawkins' nylon strings zing like a faint sitar, but once layered with counter-melodies, the guitars swirl, falling into banjo as snare and hi-hat add accents. Later, one hears rustling cicadas on a nightbreeze, somehow welcomed from thin air yet completely native. These are the often subtle qualities that make Songs for Divining transcendental, intoxicating, and resistant to genre pigeonholes.

Further on, crows create a chorus that binds 'Mr. Arrowood' to an hour of fading light, just as the table is set for a rollicking, quasi-funk patch which features Phillips' talent for adding timely percussive accents as well as driven bass guitar. Time shifts and shuffling, courtesy of a beat-up mandolin, keep things off-kilter contributing to a brief extraterrestrial notion. Here the pair lithely tramps a route seemingly bushwhacked by the likes of electronica heavies Aphex Twin or Amon Tobim. Without straying too widely, though, the song is resolved with a familiar, delicate banjo as birds again take wing.

These nine compositions by Maps and Transit flow down and through a riparian zone, like a creek bound to join its kin, less a riled river and more a hundred life-supporting rivulets finding their entropic course. The listener, too, can find a route through time and terrain, first in the blind, then sensing the way under the quiet guidance of this duo's thoughtful musical vision.

Maps and Transit released Songs for Divining Sept. 17, 2010 on Montreal's Camomille Music.

Academy Awards Contest ~ Take Two

Calling all cinephile prognosticators!

The 83rd Annual Oscar Nominations were announced last week, and I figure since it was so much fun last year, why not do another "stab-in-the-dark" contest? Who's got the time to see all these films? Who's got the plain old intuition? Let's see...




If you want in, post your picks as a comment below this post. I'll go first, but I wouldn't recommend following my lead -- I haven't a clue this year.

Good luck to one and all!

And the nominees are:

Best Picture ~

“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right ”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Direction ~

Darren Aronofsky for “Black Swan”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
David Fincher for “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper for “The King’s Speech”
David O. Russell for “The Fighter”

Actor in a Leading Role ~

Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role ~

Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actor in a Supporting Role ~

Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Actress in a Supporting Role ~

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Adapted Screenplay ~

Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for “127 Hours”
Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”
Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich for “Toy Story 3″
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini for “Winter’s Bone”

Original Screenplay ~

Mike Leigh for “Another Year”
Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson for “The Fighter”
Christopher Nolan for “Inception”
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for “The Kids Are All Right”
David Seidler for “The King’s Speech”

Animated Feature ~

“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3″

Art Direction ~

“Alice in Wonderland”: Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″: Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
“Inception”: Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)
“The King’s Speech”: Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
“True Grit”: Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

Cinematography ~

“Black Swan”: Matthew Libatique
“Inception”: Wally Pfister
“The King’s Speech”: Danny Cohen
“The Social Network”: Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit”: Roger Deakins

Costume Design ~

“Alice in Wonderland”: Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love”: Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King’s Speech”: Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest”: Sandy Powell
“True Grit”: Mary Zophres

Documentary (Feature) ~

“Exit through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

Documentary (Short Subject) ~

“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Foreign Language Film ~

“Biutiful”: Mexico
“Dogtooth”: Greece
“In a Better World”: Denmark
“Incendies”: Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)”: Algeria

Music (Original Score) ~

“How to Train Your Dragon”: John Powell
“Inception”: Hans Zimmer
“The King’s Speech”: Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours”: A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network”: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song) ~

“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″ Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Visual Effects ~

“Alice in Wonderland”: Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″: Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter”: Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception”: Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2″: Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Check back some time after the show for the winner; I'll post it in the comments!

Thanks for playing!

Odd Trio: Now with Caffeine!

Seriously, it (read: jazz-fusion by ultra-gifted, classically trained players) is a good time, and that can't be denied. I'm not just being neighborly when I say that hearing Athens' own Odd Trio makes for a night of level eleven, funk-shock treatment, delivering all the positive, residual effects only that kind of instrumental intensity can provide.

Check out my latest review of the gig on Athens Music Junkie.

Find the Odd Trio @ Facebook

Kerouac to Brando: "...put up your dukes and write!"

The following letter was a plea from a counter-culture idol to a budding star of the gritty, NYC film culture to get something done, to get (more) famous, to get rich. Kerouac uses words like "wanta" and calls the American movie industry an "outmoded dinosaur" as he goads Marlon Brando into turning On The Road into a feature.

letter hosted on boingboing.net

Thanks to legend-in-the-making, singer/songwriter/producer/bizarro West Coaster Chuck Prophet for posting this via Twitter or Facebook or some such socio-digital vehicle. Cheers, Chuck!

Portlandia: Smart, Funny, Timely TV

Portland map art via chemofski

This new series on IFC was featured at the close of NPR's Morning Edition. It seems like NPR is sort of the "exposure machine" to rival the Kodak Brownie in its day. Fred Armisen (of Saturday Night Live fame) and Carrie Brownstein (of the band Sleater-Kinney and an NPR alumna) riff on what it means to be a Portlander, with all the granola pride and flakey-punk goodness that entails.

This is the kind of comedy that we could use a little more of in the mainstream. Enjoy!

Have you ever been engaged in one of these "one-upsman" kind of conversations about art or books or music? I absolutely love how they literally devour the written word at the end. IFC's Portlandia is a spin-off of a shorts project found at THUNDERANT. Another irrevrent segment, "Dream of the 90's" is hilarious, too, in a Flight of The Conchords vein -- check it!

Drip Drop

Since the snow and ice event on Sunday, the South has been slowly, very slowly thawing out daily only to completely refreeze again by sundown. So far, schools have had an unprecedented 4 consecutive snowdays! We're calling it

"Snowcation 2011".

I saw these thousand icy fellows, and they reminded me that it's not so chilly everywhere especially at the poles, forgotten places that are supposed to be solid, untouchable geographic constants. This installation by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo, sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, sought to highlight that environmental fragility. These little guys say so much by simply sitting there dripping!

Nele Azevedo's Melting Men on the Concerty Hall steps at Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin:

unurth.com

one fresh Melting Man in Berlin from unurth.com

fisheye view of Azevedo's Melting Men greenupdate.wordpress.com

The little fellows can be seen in photos from around the world spreading awareness about climate change.

The Tones Between: Photographs by Greg Seman

In 2008, I made a point to present some of my favorite images by photographer Gregory Seman. Since then, my old friend's profile has grown higher while his work continues to delve deeper into the subtle quietude of landscapes we foolishly careen past so much of the time.

Marquette Rooftops, 2008 : Greg Seman

The places are beautiful, but more than place, Seman is capturing time and light in a way that the old masters would revere. He's represented by the Halsted Gallery in Bloomington Hills, Michigan, as well as in the cloud at Greg Seman Photography. At Halsted, his name appears alongside the greats: Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier Bresson, Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunnigham, Yosuf Karsh, Michael Kenna, Andre Kertesz, Edward Steichen, Jerry Uelsmann, all those Westons, Minor White -- among well-renowned others and some whose work I still should seek out.

a favorite by Minor White (1908 - 1976)

Today, I'm so proud to have, by chance, found a Greg Seman image in the February 2011 Special Issue of B + W. I picked it up as I do on most book store stops, and as I flipped through the images within I thought, "Maybe I'll just glance at the table of contents just in case..." and, in fact, there it was on page 139:

Ice Flows, Frankfort Pier, 2009 : Greg Seman

The 'Merit Award' shot, taken along the Lake Michigan shore, is emblematic of his compositions -- dynamic nature, refined vision, impeccably smooth tonalities, juxtaposed textures, pristine printing technique -- and the result is a sense of that spot at that moment, something that couldn't be recreated if a person gazed out from there, even an hour later. The skill and diligence it takes to craft such a vision is laudable and worthy of the respect that's begun flowing just like the ice pictured above.

Moonlit River, 2007 : Greg Seman

Basquiat & Os Gemeos | Banksy & Guetta

Street art is not what it used to be.

portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat by Warhol

Grafitti: unappreciated by the masses, produced by so-called "street urchins", miscreants and punks, disdained by the authorities, loathed by real estate agents. It still exists in this form. Just look around on the train, the warehouse, the stop sign; what's in that kid's backpack anyway, and why is he running? Maybe you should get a phone number, then give the kid some time to get famous.

A Basquiat sold by Phillips de Pury & Company:

a song at $4, 562, 500 US

Today, Os Gemeos of Sao Paulo, Brasil, lead the new guard of street artists turned gallery darlings. Count the late Jean Michel Basquiat (a.k.a Samo) as one of the first to make the lucrative transition, however deadly that shift may have been for him.

 Os Gemeos work on the street in Sao Paulo: Dailyserving.com

Now Banksy, the subversive street artist, lampoons the entire affair in a new film called Exit Through The Gift Shop. The film details the travails and artwork of one Thierry Guetta, a Frenchman of substantial eccentricity and at least some talent.

a more literal work by London-based Banksy

In the vein of many 'mockumentaries', it's hard to tell the real from the invented in Guetta's story (essentially the story of Guetta filming Banksy at work on the street). Is the film a document of Guetta's rise in the fine art circles or is it an intricate fabrication meant as hype, at once skewering the highbrow collectors and bandwagon trend-surfers? It's hardly a risky game for Guetta whose work is somewhat derivative anyway -- he rips off Warhol without shame and splashes paint around like Pollock. At the hands of Banksy, established cynic of the pavements, he's in for a catapult ride into the stratosphere of high-art superstardom, earned or not.

Guetta's "Le Bistro" signed by Mr. Brainwash, an alias: ukstreetart.co.uk

In any case, Exit Through The Gift Shop is supposed to be a visual treat. So we'll see: who's famous, who gets famous, or who's a famous fake.

The trailer - banksyfilm.com
Guetta's purposely confusing site - mrbrainwash.com
Here's Banksy! - banksy.co.uk
outlines the film's conjured "controversy" - markphilipvenema.worpress.com
a review - slugmag.com
another Basquiat painting (just because) - markphilipvenema.wordpress.com

One more review & one more typo

I done done it, again!

After listening to a solid solo set at a local coffee shop / bar / music venue, I was inspired to write a little something about the performance by Athens' troubadour Don Chambers. So, I did. Here it is on AthensMusicJunkie. Head over and enjoy.

Name Time ~ Name Place

It's that time again. The name here has grown old, and its meaning was somewhat convoluted to start. Res ipsa loquitur was supposed to drum up some discourse, and as a "lucky charm" of sorts, it failed, but I'm not giving up -- on to the next name!

In the running were these little Latin gems:

* absit invidia or "let ill will be absent" - just so warm and affable a sentiment

* audi, vide, tace or "hear, see, be silent" - the Czech secret service's motto, sort of ominous

* aut viam inveniam aut faciam or "I shall either find a way or make a way" - so positive!

* carpe vinum or "cease the wine" - why? why not (I resisted an easy pun with that one!)

* esto quod es or "be what you are" - sort all inclusive and touchy feely

* quantum libet or "as much as you wish" - read now, read on, read later, whatever

* quis leget haec? or "Who will read this?" - yep, I know at least one guy

In the end, after a pleasant perusal of useful, artful, and otherwise entertaining phrases, I'll land on ad rem for its rather succinct meaning, something I aspire to be: "to the point"!

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims

Featuring Brian Smith, one of the musical neighbors from across the street:

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims from Paul Hamilton on Vimeo :

I [created this] brief demo with the Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims.

As a pianist I have collaborated with Robert since 1997 - we are long time friends/colleagues. His talent is immeasurable. In 1999 he won the Gold Medal in the American Traditions Competition, in Savannah, Georgia. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005, and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2009 as a guest of Jessye Norman, as part of her HONOR! festival. I was fortunate to play the piano for him on his second appearance, and this was my Carnegie Hall debut. We're performing together in Gibraltar this month (Dec. 20)!

His new partnership with the GGQ is nothing less than extraordinary.
Their arrangements are completely original: with Southern twang and classical
arch! Their artistry is of the highest calibre.

Caleb Vinson (Vimeo user) and I filmed this with two Canon 7D's, in Dekalb, Illinois. The audio was recorded live.

Caleb's exceptional camera moves are his trademark. I have not seen anyone use a DSLR the way he does: it proves that with practice and discipline it is possibe to achieve extremely fluid and unique moves. Well done Caleb!

We're both proud to have captured this short rehearsal with the GGQ and Robert!

Please support these exceptional musicians, you can purchase the music here:

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims

Find out more:

The Georgia Guitar Quartet - classical guitarists and more

Robert Sims - the superb lyric baritone

The Musicsmiths - flute and guitar duo

The Odd Trio - jazz, funk, original compositions, varied freakouts

Maps and Transit - ethereal folk and electronic music

In the Land of the Maya...

...activists at the Belizean "Reef Summit" ask if this is...

image provided by:  New Scientist

...at least for their beloved coral wonder. Even as world leaders meet in Cancun for climate talks this week, this sandy but hearty group, and indeed all the world's environmentalists, consider what the future holds if climate change is not addressed earnestly and pro-actively. The ancient Maya predicted that 2012 -- or Decemeber 21st to be exact -- would represent a moment of "great change" for the world and all her children. We'll see...

Hunt around for yourself; it's practically impossible to read anything online that isn't coming from the New Age sects, Christian fundamentalists, or good ol' doomsday fanatics -- some of whom are one in the same!

 

image from lamanai.net

However, I can proudly say that the first I learned of the Mayan astrological predictions was on a visit to Lamanai, a grand Mayan ruin within the Belizean rainforest, then accessible only by boat. The Mayan curator of the site's tiny but fascinating museum explained the ancient warning signs of an impending disaster in 2012.

He spoke of:

* drinking water relagated to "egg-shell containers" -- bottled water perhaps?

* "noisy, giant dragonflies carrying men" -- helicopters he surmised.

* and finally the acceptance of "one world currency" -- could that be the dollar?