Animal Awakenings

Just posted online from my Budokon Kancho, Cameron Shayne. Gets to the heart of the practice. - DB

Oh, Canada

By Jill Ettinger

Canadians look like Americans; they even sound like us at times. But upon increased exposure, it becomes clear that there are vast differences. For one, music. The genres reflect a vast territory of frigid land. Long winters are embedded in their soundtracks, the faint glow of the northern lights seeping with eerie reflection.

I visited last week, privileged to see two great shows. One was via a good friend of InnerContinental, Canadian’s award winning Eccodek . I’ve heard the founder, Andrew McPherson, DJ before, but the live band was something else. Surreal, psychedelic and hypnotic beats become undeniable. They rocked Guelph, a small, conscious community an hour outside Toronto, alongside jam funk band Brainfudge. A lot of thinking arose regarding this type of remote living. Creativity flourishes in the quietude and introspective opportunities of such small towns. Living so close to Manhattan, I’m bombarded with the best music shows ad libitum. It’s impossible to see them all, and yet while sitting in a crowded, cozy club in Canada, I realized just how much art makes up our world family, despite our unawareness of it. Tucked away in the corners of our planet, this pulse is thriving and working its way into our hearts through musicians and artists creating in obscurity.

Over the course of the few days I spent in North Country, the phrase “kill them with kindness” kept popping into my head. Canada, I concluded, could obliterate us in a war if the concepts of humility and pleasantry were the only weapons. I was generously given many gifts: Besides the endearing charm and hospitality of new friends, I was treated to yet another incredible show, this one in Toronto proper. It’s always great to see live music of artists I’ve no expectation of. Kevin Breit, a guitar wild man (plays with Norah Jones), and Harry Manx put on an outstanding show at Hugh’s Room. The music of Breit and Manx is folky, bluesy and progressive. Manx plays the mohan veena with a Hindustani classical influence, banjo and guitar, blending alongside Breit’s unusually penetrating guitar into a harmonious convergence incredibly heart wrenching and purely, proudly, Canadian. I had to chuckle when they opened the show with none other than a cover of New Jersey’s favorite son, Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.” Manx is particularly charming, he exudes a sexy sensibility in his use of classical Indian ragas, soulful voice and lightness in progression.

Despite my preconceived notions about rabid Moose attacks and Gordon Lightfoot sightings, I was showered with another side of Canada. Mapley sweet sweater clad Canucks, you’re all right after all.

Here’s Harry Manx’s gorgeous bluesy “Bring That Thing.”

Reinventing a Pop Star

By Derek Beres

Before Amy Winehouse catapulted into American consciousness as the next coming of Brit soul divas, Joss Stone dropped The Soul Sessions. It was 2003; she was 17. Like Winehouse, she had to deal with a cultural blunder: she is white. And like Winehouse, to fans of music, that doesn’t matter. This girl has lungs, and a heart. The ten songs on Soul were tributes to legends, albeit more obscure ones at that. (Even the Aretha Franklin track she covered is not among her most popular.)

As the industry demands, the ability of Stone’s own songwriting skills was put into question. Sure, the girl can belt out a few standards, but can she produce anything of equal merit? After 2004’s Mind, Body & Soul, most thought the answer simple: no. It wasn’t a bad record by any means, it just wasn’t that interesting. Some considered her a fluke at 18 years of age. What’s a girl to do? The obvious: dye your hair, change your image and get a pop producer.

Stone’s answer: red, body paint and a nose ring, and Raphael Saadiq. First off, Introducing Joss Stone is an excellent record. Again, like Winehouse, she took advantage of a sound somewhere between vintage and Hot 97. Basically, it sounds like what Motown artists would have done with ProTools. Her voice sounds much more upfront than the last outing, but more controlled than her debut. Common comes on and, for the most part, reproduces any Gap ad that he’s done recently; Lauryn Hill offers not much more than having her name on the booklet.

It’s understandable that Stone would see these names as a crutch. Truth is, she doesn’t need them. On the surface they may add some sort of visual appeal to eager consumers, but on a musical level it detracts. As does the image change. A woman is free to become what a woman chooses to become. This just seems forced. If it weren’t for the fact that the album was so damn good, I’d write her off as nosediving a la Nelly Furtado, choosing glitz and glam over honesty and songwriting. I’m hoping the extra make-up and loss of clothing are part of Stone’s quest to self-knowledge and creativity. She’s got a voice that can hold up for some time, if she doesn’t allow all the pretty things between here and there consume her.

Here We Are Now [Pt II]

by Jill Ettinger

In high school, I had a tenable relationship with punk rock. I even shaved my head.  I may (may!) have bitten a few people. But that’s what the teenage years are for. It’s cathartic. Life is absolutely absurd and once the id starts to wrestle with itself, pure insanity is usually the indicator that all is going well. In my experience, it’s much easier to recover from the ego-freakdown at a younger age, and any child of mine that doesn’t bug out to the extreme will get locked in a room with Fugazi blasting until he or she does. (They’ll thank me for it later!)

So when I found myself all wrapped up in patchouli and pad thai just a few short years after combat boots and Exploited records ad nauseaum, I knew something was off. Though the manic behavior of tenth grade no longer controlled my life, there were parts of me still drawn to the music from back then. So I kept listening to the Nirvana record. And then, something clicked. Though high school was much closer than it seemed, I was light years from it. Couldn’t even look at it yet. But I could revel in its haunt. Grunge was a flashback to a time without identity. Like the Dead-grip I was surrounded by, identity was scaring me. It is after all, just a commitment. A choice. And at that age, saying I was anything firmly one way or the other seemed to defy what being twenty-one was all about. At the same time I was discovering the Seattle sound, I was a bicycle messenger. For the first time in my life, I was working out a lot of things through my body rather than inside of it. Grunge was a perfect soundtrack. There was intensity, melody, wisdom and disdain.

Life is emotional. Complex. It rains. It rages. The dripping melancholy sounds coming out of the NW nearly fifteen years ago, echoed the diaspora of our American landscape as in, it is almost-a-country. We had landed, killed all the Indians, tore down the forests and drifted off, built cities and retreated to them without ever really identifying ourselves as a collective or a culture. We forgot about it and the American “culture” we’re pigeonholed in has become a trite and blasé one. It has no character.  It needs to be locked in a room with punk rock records.

There’s a quote that’s usually attributed to Nelson Mandela about what frightens us most being our light not our darkness. We cower in our ability to shine. There is much to gain with expressing ourselves to the fullest without fear of being accepted or understood. Sometimes that can only happen though if we go to the deepest darkest and even crankiest places first. You never know what beautiful and meaningful things might be hiding there. Introspection forces the dumpster diving into our raw core.

Grunge music was the prophetic psychogenic reaction to our lack of identity. The tragedy of Kurt Cobain’s death was as critical a sound off as the first time his wailing guitar screeched across MTV. It showed us that the process is sometimes loud and painful, but like anything else, it cycles through itself into something hopefully more rewarding. Though there were other incredible talents to emerge from the Seattle scene, Cobain and Nirvana were the extremely hard to scratch itch of a culture disconnected from its own skin.

It’ll be thirteen years next week since Cobain died. A lot has happened since then. But in Seattle tonight, it’s still raining.

Tapping into Alternatives

This press release sent to me via SXSW publicity merits reading in full. It’s refreshing to see organizations - especially one of this stature, one of new music’s most important outlets in America - changing, quite literally, the structure of their operations in order to think broadly. It’s also a powerful message that, despite political pleas that alternative (read: non-oil) energies cannot be profitable.

SXSW GOES CARBON NEUTRAL

Austin, Texas - January 17, 2007 - South by Southwest Music, Film & Interactive Conferences (SXSW) in Austin, Texas has announced that it is partnering with Green Mountain Energy Company, an Austin-based renewable energy market leader, to offset 100% of carbon emissions arising from SXSW business activities. SXSW is now a Carbon Neutral company and intends to reduce carbon emissions where it can and purchase carbon offsets where it cannot.

SXSW has offset 100% of 250 metric tons of carbon emissions by purchasing 376MW of Texas wind energy carbon credits from Green Mountain Energy Company. In addition, the company has given a $5000 donation to the Austin Parks Department for the purchase and maintenance of native trees.

“Once we set the goal for SXSW to achieve carbon neutral status, our staff took a very active hand in gathering all the pertinent information about our activities which generate carbon emissions,” said Managing Director Roland Swenson. “An important lesson we learned was that any business can achieve this goal with some work and a willingness to invest in new activity. While the amount of carbon emissions generated by SXSW alone is relatively small, if every business took similar steps, it would make a profound difference to
our planet’s future.”

“SXSW recognizes that environmental issues are now an important measuring stick that distinguish one event from another and one company from another,” noted Una Johnston, SXSW’s UK & Ireland Manager and now its Environmental Consultant. She used the standards, guidelines and tools contained in the World Resources Institute’s GHG Protocol to calculate the carbon emissions for the year September 1, 2005 to August 31, 2006. SXSW agreed that this 12-month period would be designated as the baseline year in order to use it as the benchmark against which future reductions in carbon emissions can be measured.

“This base line analysis was much easier to do than I had anticipated,” said Operating Director Eve McArthur. “We had great cooperation in data collection from the City of Austin, the Convention Center and Austin Energy. SXSW wants to take responsibility for its own carbon emissions first and to work for positive change on the environment among all of our stakeholders. The increased awareness has already resulted in our staff making steps to reduce their own emissions.”

Johnston calculated that SXSW carbon emissions arise from gas and electricity usage in its offices (18%), from electricity usage in the Austin
Convention Center and all the showcase, movie and party venues that it contracts with during SXSW each year (55%), and also from business travel (27%).

“It’s important to say that SXSW is not simply offsetting its carbon emissions,” explained Johnston, “we are preparing an emission reduction
strategy for the next four years as part of an environmental policy initiative. Roland and Eve have already taken steps to reduce our footprint
by replacing the inefficient heating and cooling system in the office and adding insulation to the building. When SXSW takes place in March, the Festival will be working with Ecology Action of Austin to recycle all waste from our outdoor parties and events and will use biodiesel in generators and production trucks.”

“Climate change is a global challenge with serious consequences for our social and economic infrastructure as well as the natural environment. However we all realize that long-term solutions require emission reduction efforts by the entire economy,” continued Johnston.