Alternative China in New York

For MORE than just this week Columbia’s Arts Initiative, with minimal help from ARC, brings the latest Beijing music scene to your very doorstep.  Organized by the Chinese record label Maybe Mars and the rock club D-22, it’s THE CHINESE UNDERGROUND INVASION TOUR, featuring Carsick Cars, PK-14, White and Xiao He.

Anti-Cantopop, this group of performers work outside government-controlled media channels, with a sound building off of New York’s No Wave of the late 70s and EU Industrial.  Add to this the PR blub; “The Beijing musicians have nonetheless reconfigured this urban western vocabulary to fit with Beijing opera’s traditional delight with textural experimentation and China’s centuries-long history of infatuation with shimmering melodic structures.  With the sound of broken-down machines cranking out lovely pop songs, the unique sound emerging from China’s music underground illuminates the new social void, aggressively questioning the moral and social basis of the fragile modernity on which it subsists.”  What more could you want?

This series of shows feature the best and brightest:
Carsick Cars is China’s premier underground band.  They’ve played with Sonic Youth on tour, and their 2nd CD was produced by Wharton Tiers.  Their song “Zhong nan hai” has become an anthem for this new Chinese counterculture.  Talk about diverse appeal, Kanye West posted one of the band’s videos to his blog while the Wall Street Journal offered praise!

White is the leading experimental band in China, minimal and mechanical, the latest CD produced by Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzende Neubaten.

Xiao He is described as a surreal folkie, drawing critical acclaim from recent shows in Europe, with a “progressively eclectic sound that draws upon traditional instrumentation and vocal arrangements looped within his live performances.”

P.K. 14 was called by Time Magazine one of five top bands in Asia and one of the most influential bands on the burgeoning Beijing scene.

Accompanying the live shows is a not-to-be-missed gallery exhibition and book release for Sound Kapital, a remarkable photographic overview of the bands and fans by photographer Matt Neiderhauser.  It’s at the Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main St. @ Water, Brooklyn, 718-666-3049, running from Oct 28 – Nov 29.  Opening reception Thursday, Nov 5, from 7-9, with a pile of music afterward.  I’ll be there, so come by and say hello…

Here’s the short list of Confirmed local shows:
Weds 11/4 – Manhattan  – VON  – Xiao He & Shouwang (from Carsick Cars)
Thurs 11/5  – Brooklyn, NYC  – powerHouse Arena  – Xiao He, Carsick Cars & P.K. 14
Fri  11/6  – Brooklyn, NYC  @  Glasslands  – These Are Powers, Soft Circle, Carsick Cars, P.K.14 & Xiao He
Sat  11/7  – Manhattan  @  SANTOS Party House  – P.K.14 , Carsick Cars, Antimagic, BJ Rubin, Knyfe Hyts
Sun  11/8  – Manhattan  @  Columbia University  – Xiao He
Fri  11/20  – Manhattan  @  Ding Dong Lounge  – Octagon, Carsick Cars, P.K.14 & Xiao He
Sat  11/21  – Williamsburg  @  Secret Project Robot  – Carsick Cars, P.K.14, Xiao He,  Aa, Knyfe Hyts 81 & others…
Sun  11/22  – Manhattan  @  PERFORMA’s Grande Finale  – Shouwang, Xiao He, and many others…

Get the whole schedule and any changes here.

And as music could never happen without devotion AND finance Columbia’s Alumni Arts League will present a Sunday brunch with alumni Michael Pettis and Charles Saliba to discuss current events in China, from financial markets to rock and roll, over a private brunch with an intimate group of fellow Columbians and Asian Cultural Council guests.

Charles and Michael are the force behind the D-22 club and the Maybe Mars record label, the folks behind this current tour.  It’s Sunday afternoon on Sun, Nov. 8, and alums can get details by calling 212.851.1879.

Another Great Donation -wanna help catalog?

Today, me and the boys picked up a generous donation of over 6000 LPs from Jerry Rappaport.  Now Jerry has the life, a former record exec. he runs a swell hotel with his wife in Grenada, La Sagesse, and they just planted some mangostein trees -  he’ll let you know how they’re doing in about ten years.  But for now he’s back in NYC, and cleared out a rental space of about half his collection to donate to the ARC.

Here’s Keith Streng, just before rushing off to a rehearsal and gig as a member of the Fleshtones, helping to unload the truck.   Nice boxes.

The collection is swell too!  Tons of world music and reggae from Jerry’s days at Mango, and a pretty good batch of R&B, and blues recordings from the 60s – right up our alley.  We took the am to pick them up, and jumped right in to cataloging that afternoon.  Always nice when you have six Misty In Roots LPs, and someone donates six you didn’t have.  And you gotta love a guy with 16 Elis Regina albums!

Fred is down for the count.                               Juan surveys the field.

AND – We are looking for folks to volunteer @ ARC and help catalog all this great stuff.  If you have a 4 hr block, at least once a week, give us a call!  212 -226-6967

We Built This City On…

It is a little known fact that the ancient Nabataeans were early adaptors of new sound recording technologies.  They began with cylinder discs (called columns) but found them awkward.  Later, around 70 BC, they sliced the cylinders into wafer thin segments, well thin for the time, and began recording on the flat side.  Thwarted by a region-only spindle size and fierce competition from the Hittites (every tune a Hitt!) and the Phoenicians (the original Purple Reign), they were soon forced out of the market.  Not to mention the freight, as these babies were 33 1/3 tons.  Alas, here at Petra, unshipped goods, in a format that defies migration, linger still.

But, I may be mistaken about all this.  What I do know is that the walk through Al-Siq, and the first glimpse of the Treasury through the slice of rock, luminous pink curtained black, is a remarkable thing and well worth a trip through time.

All I can think of is our last administration, and the inability to tackle any problem successfully, and how everything was ‘hard work”   Please.  Have a look at Ajunta, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, Petra.  Imagine signing off on 40 years to carve a rock facade and we can’t rebuild twenty rows of wooden shotgun houses in New Orleans!   Disgrace, I mean I digress.

I’ve spent the last 10 days here in Amman Jordan setting up the first stages of Muslim World Music Day (formerly the Muslim Music Crash Course) at Columbia Universities Middle Eastern Research Center.  It has been a whirlwind of meetings, show-and tells, planning, report writing and visits to archives, schools, libraries, embassies, musicians and government offices.  The project director handling things from Jordan – the man with ALL the contacts – is Kareem Talhouni.

If you don’t know, Muslim World Music Day is an attempt to catalog all the relevant recording in the world, in one day, and surround this core database with informational and entertaining content, online.  Read all about it at our pre-website blog  www.arcmmcc.wordpress.com

One nice find was a thesis, written in English, but only published in Arabic, on Jordanian music, written by Prof Abdel Hamid Hamam the Dean of the College of Art and Design, University of Jordan.  Written in Wales no less.  We will excerpt it in both languages on the Muslim World Music Day website.

Equally amazing is the work of Dr. Mohammed Taha Ghawanmeh , Music professor and Dean of fine art @ Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.  Dr Ghawanmeh has spent his life collecting the traditional music of Jordan, and the result is a 500 cassette edition, each cassette one hour long and accompanied by a booklet of lyrics, notation and explanatory notes.  This is hard work at its very best.  Only two sets of the series now exist and I can only hope that some scholars or universities that read this could find this work useful for their institution of scholarly pursuits.   Here’s the contact for the fine arts dept :  fac_finart@yu.edu.jo and Arabic speakers can call +962 79 574 3535

By the way on the road to Petra I has coffee, and after a 800 step climb rested in a rock solid tea room overlooking the rose red monestary.  Life used to be so hard…

My favorite reaction to the project was from a woman at the Center who wanted to know if every whore and slut who parades nearly naked on the TV, shaking her stuff, and singing in Arabic would be a part of the website.  She then showed me a few of Nancy Ajram’s videos (mild by my standards) and then exclaimed with a smile, “This is my favorite!”  And shaking her shoulders, “I love to dance to this one.”   Hey, Nancy was on Ophra last month!

With downloading so prevalent and pirating commonplace, music shops have all but disappeared in Jordan – one small chain, The Music Box, holding its own.  Plus the visual versions are very seductive as DVDs and music on TV predominates.  Live music is scarce in formal performance.  This photo is from a concert at Al Hussein Cultural Center taken by Robert Reeder, an ex pro photographer visiting Amman.   Musically, it was the kanoon playing of Tewfik Mirkham (sp?) that was luminous.

My endless search for actual music collections was finally rewarded on the last day of my visit to Amman with a trip to The Jordan Radio and Television Corp.   Our animated host, Ms. Hala Zureiqat, Director of Jordan Television, listened to our pitch, conferred with her Director, then nearly shouted, “We’re in!”   What has made this trip rewarding is that so many people in the region are willing to support the Muslim World Music Day -  a new idea, on first hearing – so enthusiastically.

In one of the rehearsal rooms we were treated to a short concert by 73 year old singer Mohammed Wahib – sweet, toothless and energetic.  The song is, “Slaima.”

The station has saved nearly its entire history since the 60s on reel to reel tape, and it is mostly catalogued.  The recent past is digitized and can be called up inhouse, electronically.   But for me the real fun was to finally see some real vinyl – 45s, LPs and a full shelf unit of approx 4,300 seventy-eights.

We will work to make sure this material is cataloged for the project and who knows what trash or treasures we will unearth.  Maybe an early Nabataean disc?

When You Loose Your Marbles…

The IASA conference (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives) wound up today here in Athens and two of the final sessions got to the heart of what is going on in the field. One room touted music minus 1, that one being people. Maybe a bit harsh, but hoards of companies and schools are developing software extorting algorithms, extraction strategies, automated annotation tools, Zipf’s Law, mood sensors, music fingerprinting, and possibly gog and magog as timesaving devices. In the other room, the peaceable kingdom pointing out lost heritages, indigenous peoples music, and detective work through a variety of diasporas – that preceding clever software that will certainly not survive the decade, is at least a half century of at-risk music culture. Its not that you have to choose sides, and I’m all for smart people with shinny new software. It just seems like having to rinse dishes before you put them in the dishwasher.

For a better was to clean a plate, a new friend Chris, who runs a music studio here, took a carload of us out to his favorite taverna for mezes. This is like tapas, shared plates Greek stylee. Small fishes – sardines, anchovies, smelts, were prepared a variety of ways, drowning in olive oil, raw, sauced or lightly fried. Many salads and a new one on me, saganaki, a 45-sized square of fried cheese. Someone suggested that a third serving of octopus wouldn’t hurt.

Now these someones were from a whole lot of somewheres -two ladies from Mexico, an engineer from the UK, Chris the Greek, Carlos from Brazil, Javos from Israel and me amerikanski. Exactly the lineup you want at a conference, and certainly one that made for an enjoyable five hour dinner.

One nice thing offered by the confab was a series of local tours to music related Athen’s orgs. As guests we were given some CDs, and a few music books, and forced to go to roofgardens to chat, snack and hava a little wine. (note: build roofgarden at ARC). Visits were to three centers in the Plaka: The Folklore Archive and the National Music Collection of the Academy of Athens, The Museum of Greek Folk Instruments =1200 instruments and The Institute for Research on Music & Acoustics (IEMA) / Music Documentation Centre.

Ar the Folklore Center I saw wonderful folk art birds that were twirled, and made a bit of noise from bells when the Swallow Song was sung, and saw the enormity of their task at this archive, when songs came in with Byzantine notation.

I returned later to the Musical Instrument Museum. Here I got the incredible book that I passed up the closing diner for (both about $100), on greek instruments. Pricey, but clearly it will vanish when sold out. The museum store bargained, and we sealed deal with two shots of a clear resin liquor. All shops should do this.

With my first free afternoon in a week I climbed the highest hill in Athens, Lycabettus, to visit, what else, St George’s Monastery. Worth the effort with spectacular views of the city, the sea, and the overwhelming smell of pine and sage with every step. Uh, a lot of steps.

After endless heavenly weather, I visited the Acropolis with a threat of rain. Up at dawn, Orion outside my balcony (reminds me – buy new belt) arrived in sun with clouds looming, nary a tourist in sight, but hoards from tour ships and buses on the horizon. In fact hiking the main path I was the only one afoot. And it was, miraculously, National Monument Day and everything was free. I remember visiting in 1983 and how you just followed the crowd to find your way.

Anyway a leisurly visit, and then to the spectacular new Acropolis Museum, just opened this summer. The entire top floor of the exhibit is a lifesize shell of the Parthenon, with all the existing original pieces in their proper place, plaster copies when known, with the real thing almost at eye level outside the window. Much of the floors are transparent, making you woosy, but able to peer down at all the archeological sites discover while they were building the museum. Truely amazing, and so beautifully done. Of course you notice what’s missing from the Parthenon, which brings us back to the conference.

Authenticity, quality, preservation best practices, and migration are major concerns of archivists, and were endlessly, rightly addressed here in Athens. But up on the hill is evidence of the challenges and proofs that something, anything is better than nothing. The sketches of J. Carrey are the major source for much of what we now know about the Parthenon’s sculptures, he being an amature fascinated in the late 17th c. Then illegal downloader, Lord Elgin, pirated away a trove of marble that would have never survived the Taliban of its day, the Church. Other righteous hoards pecked away at imagery and the ideas they represented. So we are left with a vague overview and some cold copies mostly. What’s left references the original magnificence, and while not enough, pays tribute to the value of endless copying, and those with more passion than permission.

In the future we will only know about these recordings, when they excavate this shop in Monastiraki, sometime around 3012.

Speaking of tripe it was off to the meat market yesterday for a worker’s stew, and later that evening to the suburbs for a heavenly meal at Metohi, featuring kabob-less cooking from the island of Limnos. Internet broken at hotel, so I’m on the street using some office worker’s connection. Later today off to Amman Jordan to jumpstart the Muslim Music Crash Course. More soon.

Greek Garage

Breezy, sunny and delightful weather here in Athens, Greece. Attending International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives, IASA, where I will giving a short talk this Thursday. So what did I do 20 minutes after getting off the plane? Why, go record shopping of course.

A quick trip to a flea market in Monastiraki where I knew there was a concentration of vinyl shops along Ifaistos Street. Now these fleas wear gold vests, because even $1 LPs in my world were $26, per bad example…

So I yearned for and could not afford 60s Greek Garage compilations at $80, and settled for a modern retro single of swingin’ surfish sound by The Teddy Boys from the Crypt. There were some street vendors that had piles of stuff at 1 Euro each, but US stuff was crummy, and I had little enough knowledge to judge the Greek. All in all the market here is way below French standards, too pricy and few breathtaking items.

Here’s a hurdy gurdy man working this tourist in the area.

In the evening there was an opening ceremony in the incredible Zappeion. Not THAT Zappa, but was indeed funded by two brothers named Zappa. Here, above the double colonnade, a perfect circle framed the atrium and an azure sky knocked everyone out at twilight, as a mixed choir from various ensembles from the city of Athens offered modern composed secular works.

This first day of the conference has been committee meetings and getting to know the various folks here and what their collections are all about. More later.

Ellie + Emily

Here’s another early Ellie Greenwich release, as a member of the Raindrops.  It feature’s her song, Hanky Panky (written with Jeff Barry), that became a hit by Tommy James and the Shondells.   I saw it performed by Mr. James, at the Carousel Teen Club, outside Yougstown Ohio, around ‘66 or ‘67.

About the same time we found Ellie’s LP, a friend of a friend sent along this musical conversation, touching on location, death and poetry, while in a doctor’s waiting room…

Guy: You like music?
Me: Uh, yes.
Guy: I like music! I got ah M-P3. I put all my records on it.
Me: Wow.
Guy: YEAH! Over a hundred of ‘em. It’s all classic stuff. Not this new bullshit.
Me: Uh-huh.
Guy: Gram Parsons. Greatest musician ever!
Me: Really.
Guy: Born right here in Florida (points to the linoleum floor) but everyone thinks he’s from Texas.
Me: Oh, really.
Guy: YEAH! Not that I have anything against Texas. I love Texas. There’s no state like it.
Me: No argument here.
Guy: You ever been?
Me: Yes I have.
Guy: It’s a great state. No place like it! You know if it weren’t for Gram Parsons there wouldn’t be any Eagles. Yeah, you give a listen to “Burrito Deluxe” and you’ll know where that whole style of music comes from. It’s from Texas, not California.
Me: Well that’s enough damning evidence for me.
Guy: Damn right!
Me: You know that you can recite most poetry written by Emily Dickinson to “The Yellow Rose of Texas?”
Guy: NO! [long pause] Really?
Me: Really.
Guy: [Blank expression] I don’t know much of her stuff.

Me: Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

Guy: Fuck! That’s good. Who was that?
Me: Emily Dickinson.
Guy: She’s from Texas, huh?

Board Member Ellie Greenwich Dies

A founding member of the ARChive’s Board of Advisors died today.  With sadness we report the death of songwriter Ellie Greenwich.  Pretty much a recluse for many years now, her great music lives on through classic songs like  “And Then He Kissed Me,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Chapel of Love,” “River Deep, Mountain High” and “Be My Baby.”   She also sang some perfectly silly ones like “Niki Hoeky.”  Her version of this is rockin’.  Do Wah Diddy, she will be missed.

…above LP from the ARC collection :   Ellie Greenwich Composes Produces and Sings. (United Artists, USA, UAS 6648, LP, 1968).

Oh No, we gotta listen to ALL of them?

Freddie, who does the weeding @ ARC, was comparing our three copies of the LP “Combo” by  Henry Mancini and His Orchestra ( RCA Victor Records, LPM-2258 , 1961).   We sell third copies, keep two of everything.  Well why not hava listen he sez to himself he sez.  Lo, it turns out two copies of the  album play “Moanin’” as the first track on both sides, but lists “Powdered Wig” as the first track on side two.  So that means we gotta keep ‘em all.  But what it really means is that we should be listening to ALL TWO MILLION RECORDINGS at ARC.  Freddie will start Aug 24, when he gets back from vacation.

Brazil or Brasil

ARC is busy building a comprehensive Brazilian collection here at the Library.  To our shame there is currently no major institution in the States actively building a comprehensive collection of this great music.

Our chief advisor in all this has been Béco Dranoff.  I have known Béco as a DJ and producer (Bebel Gilberto, Red Hot + Rio)  for many years, but now he is a film maker, and launches his latest career in a spectacular fashion this Friday at the MoMa in NYC.

So do try and get one of the few tickets left for “Beyond Ipanema: Ondas brasileiras na música global (Beyond Ipanema: Brazilian Waves in Global Music”)  This Friday, July 17, 2009, 8:00 p.m.  It’s good enough to launch the series of summer films at the museum.

Written and directed by Guto Barra, Béco Dranoff, here’s the pitch from the MoMa site – “For decades Brazilian music has captivated audiences worldwide. What makes Brazilian music such a powerful force? Why does bossa nova still lure DJs and producers fifty years after it was created? Why does the Tropicália movement resonate so deeply with the alternative-rock crowd? Beyond Ipanema explores the Brazilian music experience outside of Brazil, accompanied by a specially curated soundtrack featuring Brazilian classics reinterpreted by a new generation of artists. World premiere. 89 min.”

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/7005

http://www.brazilnyc.com/2009/07/beyond-ipanema-brazilian-waves-in-global-music/

Back to ARC : The Brazilian Collection is growing rapidly – watch this space for new developments!

Some RIPs

Ghostly Visit to 54 White St

Well, the Summer Sale is over and was a great success.  Thanks to all who braved the rain and helped us out by carting off our wretched excess.  We’ve neglected the blog for a while, so here’s some recent things that caught our eye/ear.  And it’s more than the weather that has made me a bit cranky.

Midsummer Night Swing (a fine roster of entertainment from an organization that I boycott because of the segregation of a paying and not paying sections, non payers getting lousy sound) will feature our very own archivist – DJ: Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus.  Fred will play the pony, twist and way funkier stuff, pre –mid + post The Chubby Checker set.   It’s this Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 6:30.  Dance Lesson at 6:30, Live Music at 8:30, Damrosch Park, 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam.  They don’t say it upfront (because they are ashamed) and they hide the single event price (pushing an $80 batch of tickets), but you can actually get on the dance floor for ONLY $15.

Other shocking news is that one of the best Rai singers is in the clink.   Reuters reports that Cheb Mami (Mohamed Khelifati ) got 5 years from a French court for trying to force his girlfriend to have an abortion.  It wasn’t just that he offered a strong polemic; it seems he had her kidnapped, drugged, and he and his henchmen attempted an amateur operation at the star’s villa in Algeria.   A light sentence if you ask me.

I‘ve often abandoned artists with reprehensible acts in their resumes.  Not that my vote counts, but if you shoot your wife in the head (Wm Burrohs) or seem ‘fascinated’ by fascism (any old Futurist), or that joining the Hitler Youth is good training for being the Pope, well, you lost me.

A speaking of the wrong person in a nice place, Prince is once again slated to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival – the closing act no less.  What, they couldn’t book Hanna Montana?   That there is so little imagination left in this world is baffling.  Prince is but one of too many non-jazz acts, making the festival indistinguishable from all the other Euro summerfare.  Call me naïve, but I believe a jazz festival should book jazz artists.

On the bright side, one donation during the sale brought in a signed copy of, Have Guitar Will Travel, by that world renowned jazz artist, Bo Diddley.  For youguns out there, the calling card and travelin’ theme on this LP comes from a late 50s-early 60s TV western “Have Gun Will Travel” starring Richard Boone.  His character, Paladin, was a mustachioed knight-errant, schizo-ing between tails and all-black westernwear.

Finally, I’m torn between my hatred of the lowest common denominator and corporate media rule, in an AP story of Disney having its lawsuit dismissed against the masterminds (?) behind the animated comedy (?) Family Guy, for their off-color parody of “When You Wish Upon A  Star” from Pinocchio, sung by Cliff Edwards (Ukulele Ike).  The only thing worse than a lame parody, it the protection of an imagined sacred source.

So in memorial, after you hit Forest Lawn for a MJ deathpeek, grab a uke and mosey over to visit Cliff Edwards at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park in Burbank.  We have no idea where Vibe is buried, but it’s gone too…