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Interview with THE GOOD ONES Producer, IAN BRENNAN

February 17, 2011 in Global Destruction, Interviews, Music, Politics, With Video

When we mention “two-time award nominated producer, Ian Brennan,” a good percentage of mainstream America would likely assume that we were referring to the creator of the FOX network’s musical sitcom, GLEE.  We aren’t.  Although his work may be less recognizable among the soccer mom and mall-frequenting tween sets,  the Bay Area producer/musician/writer/indie-promoter is, arguably, much more prolific than his prime-time Hollywood namesake.  [Please note that this is not a claim that Brennan is likely to make himself or one that he is even likely to concern himself with.]

Through various successful ventures, Ian has consistently proven himself a modern day Renaissance man, drawn to any project or cause that he finds substance in and feels that he has the ability to be beneficial towards.  Besides working on his own music, Brennan produced the debut release from Rain Machine (aka: Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio) in 2009, and has received Grammy nominations for his work on albums for both Rambling Jack Elliot [I Stand Alone -2006] and Peter Case [Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John - 2007].  He’s been a highly successful concert promoter- raising over $100,000 in charity funding from benefit shows- and booked the music for the free “Food Not Bombs” 20th anniversary show (feat. Fugazi and Sleater Kinney).  Over the last 17 plus years, he has worked as an expert on the subjects of violence prevention, anger management, and conflict resolution (both as a published author and lecturer) and, in 2008, created San Francisco‘s Sidewalk Homeless Memorial, raising awareness for the numerous casualties that annually befall individuals who are living on the streets.  Brennan has worked in public radio, written a music column, directed a weekly public-access TV show, and even created the original “Boxing Bush” online video game, after unsuccessfully extending a challenge to the former U.S. President to compete against him in an 8-round charity boxing match.  For his latest project/labor of love, the Bay Area-native has focused his sights overseas and unearthed the soulful music of a relatively unknown Rwandan trio known as The Good Ones.  At a time when bad musical theater renditions of 80s covers by Twenty-something actors posing as precocious teens are being credited with breaking Billboard Top 100 records held by the likes of The Beatles (who they cover!), James Brown, and Elvis, music this unpretentious, pure, and untainted by over the top marketing gimmicks is more essential than ever. Read the rest of this entry →

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WU-Tang’s “Protect Ya Neck” by Lewis Floyd Henry (One-Man Band)

August 20, 2010 in art, Global Destruction, Movies / Television, Music, The Web, With Video

There used to be a guy who fancied himself as a “street musician” who would set up across the street from my apartment every night and blare obnoxious guitar riffs through a pocket amp.  He had, what seemed like, no more than a rotating 3-song setlist.  He mostly just played Jimi Hendrix covers, using the muddled distortion and the fact that he was a black man with a guitar in Seattle to his favor.  The drunken frat boys and under-dressed skanks, clopping around like clydesdales ate that shit up.  Then again, they only caught about 12 seconds of it as they wandered by in a drunken stupor.  Try putting that 12 seconds on repeat for hours.  It was a smooth move for the “guitarist” and he marketed himself wisely.  Who’s gonna talk shit to this guy around here?  Nevermind the fact that the one thing that he produced was obnoxious and that he wasn’t actually Hendrix.  This Seattle; that would be sacrilege.

Today I witnessed a video of a man who I actually would have appreciated having perform in my neighborhood.  This footage isn’t devoid of gimmicks [he's a one-man-band playing a Wu-Tang song, for chrissakes] but something about it still holds genuine.  It’s actually pretty awesome and, although this particular footage is of the musician performing a cover, he is much more than a one-note.  In fact, through my research, I’ve discovered that he’s much more than a street performer, or even a musician, but that’s not important for now.  We’ll get back to that more after the video. Read the rest of this entry →

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[Watch in Full] J DILLA Documentary from Stussy X Stones Throw

February 26, 2010 in Movies / Television, Music, With Video

Whether you knew him as Jay Dee, Jay Dilla, or simply James Dewitt Yancey, when the Detroit native, super-producer/MC died from from the rare blood disorder TTP,  he had already managed to make an incredible impact during his mere 32 years (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006).  Among his family and friends, Dilla left behind an allegiance of fans, admiring colleagues, and an irreplaceable gap in the music industry.  He also left behind endless new fans, imitators who were forced to discover their own sound, and a posthumously ominous swan song entitled DONUTS, which he perfected on his death bed.

On Feb. 13, STUSSY paid tribute to Dilla through collaborations with Yancey‘s estate and Stones Throw records.  Stage one involved the clothing company’s release of a limited edition T-shirt, featuring a classic image of the producer take from Raph Rashid‘s photography book “Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios“.  From there, Stones Throw embarked on multi-city in-store release parties for this shirt.  The main project that was birthed through this collaboration, however, was a 3-part documentary, offering insight into Jay Dee‘s character and time on this planet.  Each piece has been being released one at a time and, now that the final installment has finally arrived, we’re pleased to provide the documentary to you now with it’s pieces back to back and in it’s entirety.

Enjoy
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Wesley Willis’s Joy Rides hits DVD

December 17, 2009 in art, Movies / Television, Music, Reviews, With Video

This month has proven to be a particularly great one for me as a Wesley Willis fan.  Not only was I offered an original piece of art by the late, great artist/musician, but I was also mailed a copy of an amazing documentary about Willis for review.

I first discovered Wesley‘s work when I was in high school and I was immediately drawn to it (pun intended).  Clearly the man had some obvious points of comic appeal, such as extreme moments of profanity and graphic references to bestiality, but there was definitely something deeper to him, even if it wasn’t always easy to determine exactly what it was.  The documentary Wesley Willis’s Joy Rides has successfully managed to capture and express those difficult to verbalize qualities, which made Wesley such a remarkable and inspiring individual.  One quote from the film, which most aptly sums up this phenomenon, was made by Willis‘ friend/art patron, John Stulgate, who said,  “You could see people’s hearts through their interactions with Wesley Willis.”

Although I had been a long time fan, I didn’t get a chance to see Wesley live until 2002.  The show took place in Seattle at The Graceland (now, El Corazon) and Grand Buffet was opening.  I’ll never forget walking from the bar through the doorway into the venue.  I saw Wesley immediately; he was staring frighteningly out of the corner of his eye and in my direction from behind the merch table.  Due to his immense size and weight, Wesley could be a daunting figure and his breaths were loud and heavy like a tranqued hippo.  I, eventually, made my way over to the table to say hello.  I had brought a sniper deployment manual and a 25¢ hardcover book about rottweilers for him to sign, in lieu of my Book of Mormon and 100 Deadliest Karate Moves books, which I had temporarily left in California.  He signed the sniper book but, once he got the rottweiler book in his hands, he was mesmerized.  “Can I keep this book“, he asked.  “Sure“.  After that, it was like I wasn’t even there, so I slipped away as he focused intently on pictures of similar looking dogs.  When the show ended, Wesley headed back behind the table to flip his wares.  I bought a live EP and asked him if he liked the book.  “I got that right back here!” he said.  Then he added, “I wrote a song called ‘Suck a Rottweiler’s Ass‘.  I’m gonna write a song called ‘Suck a Rottweilers Dick‘!“  So I told him, “You need to write a song called ‘Suck the Stripes off a Zebra’s Dick‘.” Read the rest of this entry →

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Phifteen Years of Bluegrass : Phish – 1994 Bluegrass Documentary [WATCH]

November 15, 2009 in Movies / Television, Music, The Web, With Video

PHISH BLUEGRASS

[Scroll to bottom for MP3 Download of 11/19/94 "Parking Lot show"]

Years ago, when I lived in Olympia, Washington, something odd happened.  I couldn’t receive any television stations, so I attached a set of bunny ears to achieve a  few of them.  One day I decided to move my furniture around, which included plugging my TV into the outlet on the other side of the room.  When I did that, I lost all of my channels that I did get but, when I disconnected the bunny ears, a whole bunch of extra ones came through for the first time.  One of the benefits from this was that I wound up with two different PBS stations and PHISH was scheduled to be featured on Austin City Limits.  I was excited to watch the program, but I had a birthday party to attend, so I set my VCR to record it and blasted out to the soirée/BBQ.  When I returned home to check the video, I was treated to an unexpected surprise.  Although I had successfully recorded an episode of Austin City Limits, it wasn’t the episode with PHISH on it.  Apparently, at the exact same time, the WILCO/Bela Fleck Bluegrass Sessions episode was airing on the other PBS station and I had recorded that one.  Bela Fleck was performing with Tony Rice, Sam Bush, Vasser Clements, etc and the error turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Over the next year or so, I watched that footage excessively and it became one of my favorite things to space out to in awe.

Tonight, while my sister was visiting, something equally as fortunate took place in reverse.  She has recently become increasingly interested in Bluegrass music and, after her ringtone of a bluegrass breakdown went off, I decided to search out the version of “Salty Dog” that Fleck and his crew had performed on ACL all those years back.  To my surprise, after typing “Bluegrass Sessions” into a YouTube search, I found a PHISH video instead and this whole scenario came full circle.  Many of us are aware of the Vermont 4-piece‘s remarkable ability to transition through various genres and their penchant for busting out favorites like “Uncle Pen” and “Old Home Place” but, although they had demonstrated those influences in the past, this video displays a time when the quartet truly began to focus and venture seriously into such Bluegrass territory.  Posted by Youtube user jlaughli, the clip is from 1994 and was the first part of a 9 part “documentary”.  Fans of the group should really enjoy viewing this home footage, which features Mike on banjo, Page on upright bass, and even drummer, Jon Fishman playing the mandolin.  The youtube poster did not create the documentary, it was filmed by Rev. Jeff Mosier, but we’d like to give him huge props because, it is really nice to finally see it all in one place and so easily accessible.  To make it even easier to locate and view in it’s entirety, we have provided all 9 parts of the full documentary footage below.  Seeing as yesterday marks the 15 year anniversary of when the recording of this footage originally began, I feel that there is no better time for us to put this up, than now.  Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry →

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Sufjan Stevens Films Something Concrete : “The BQE” Reviewed

October 5, 2009 in art, Global Destruction, Movies / Television, Music, Reviews

Sufjan-Stevens-BQE-Super-8

Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Sufjan Stevens earned his most notable success through 2005‘s Illinois album.  The 22-song ode to the Prairie State launched both Stevens and his “50 States Project” into the public eye.  In 2006, he followed it up with The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album and a 5-disc box set of Christmas music but, since then, the releases have pretty much ceased.  There’s a strange conflict created in the logic of many of Sufjan‘s fans because, although they want to hear a “new” project from him, they are also focused around what the next installment of the last (50 States) project is gonna be.  People would often prefer to buy the same album over and over again than risk having an artist grow in a direction that is uncomfortable for them to deal with.  For anyone with logic and reasoning skills, it’s clear that Stevens will never write an album for each of the 50 states, unless technology and/or his work ethic changes drastically.  I don’t think that the artist’s intentions or claims are dishonest but, even by churning out an album every year, it would still take him until the age of 82 to finish the project.  Music aside, I am acquiring a growing respect for Sufjan‘s approach to the creative process, which involves healthy doses of patience, a virtue that I have trouble possessing.  His focus seems to be more about the process than the result and, whether or not you enjoy those results, his dedication and sincerity is undeniably commendable.  He seems to be content with investing as much time to create, or even re-structure, a project until it’s just the way he had envisioned.  In fact, October 6th marks the release of Run Rabbit Run, a reworking of his 2001 Chinese Zodiac-themed, electronic album Enjoy Your Rabbit; this time, with all string instruments.

Recently, I had the opportunity to view one of Steven‘s most ambitious projects yet.  In usual Sufjan fashion, The BQE is based around a very specific theme; The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.  Like the 50 states Project, it’s geography based, and the music is completely instrumental, like that of Enjoy Your Rabbit.  There is one aspect that puts The BQE in stark contrast from any of his previous work, however, and that’s the fact that it’s also a film. Read the rest of this entry →

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