Trudeau Publishing: the alternative cafe

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Aporia and the Funky Sailor at the Alternative Café 12/17/11

By Taylor Jones

While the stars glimmer in the air tonight, they shine inside the Alternative Café, freshly painted on the deep purple walls of their current art exhibit The Socio-Network. This collection is a display of works from artists around the world, gathered through the means of social networking sites and blogs. I walk past the Christmas tree in the show room to find my seat and casually study a piece by Eugene Plotnikov titled “Alone on the Moon.” The work depicts a disembodied junk figure who is pushing a baby robot in a shopping cart across the moon, looking with remorse toward another moon in the distance. However, not quite as far away as the moon is tonight’s main attraction, the smooth and Latin jazz of the four-piece called Aporia.

My attention is suddenly drawn to the stage when a familiar face, bass player Heath Proskin of the Something Cool Trio (who I saw perform last month), begins playing his upright bass with a bow. Once Proskin tunes and prepares his instrument, vocalist Julie Capili, drummer Jen Schaff (also in Something Cool), and saxophonist/clarinetist Stu Reynolds join him and begin to play “In a Sentimental Mood” by Duke Ellington. Proskin closes his eyes and travels to his musical zone where he begins to pluck a Latin take of Ellington’s song before transitioning into the calm, original interpretation. In this laid back mood, Reynolds shares his clarinet’s warm tones with the audience.

Next, the group performs Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” in which Reynolds switches to his saxophone and starts to harmonize with Capili, not quiet synching up or blending like it should. Nevertheless, the song really kicks into gear when Schaaf and Proskin lay down a stinky beat that would make Mark Wahlberg’s Funky Bunch weep in shame. When I saw this rhythm section play with Bill Minor in the Something Cool Trio they were still very tight, but relaxed and restrained. Tonight they really come alive playing with Aporia, shown as Schaaf channels a keen sense of intensity in her brush playing and dynamically expresses herself.

Another form of expression can be observed on the wall about five rows behind me in Max Capacity’s Andy Warhol type pop art. One of my favorite pieces in the exhibit is Capacity’s bright pink Godzilla, instilling fear in the hearts of doomed citizens with its bright orange teeth and piercing green eyes.

When Aporia breaks into Reynolds’ original song “Samba for Two,” Schaaf makes friends with a pair of maracas and progresses the song by integrating a samba pattern on the snare. Her kick drum sits on the downbeats while the hi-hat clicks on every up beat, giving the song an assertive sense of motion. Then the beat breaks down for a drum feature between Schaaf and Reynolds, who picks up a small, metal drum and rubs it to make a squeaky sound, uncomfortably resembling the cleaning of a window. Alas, the drums naturally fade out and leave Reynolds playing a solo on his bass clarinet, producing a wealth of low tones that carry throughout the café. Inconspicuously, the drums and bass start to merge back into the song as they end with a grand a tempo reprise. Overall, this original arrangement by Reynolds proved very interesting in that it took the audience on an adventure through many different moods.

Being a jazz musician myself, I know Reynolds tells the truth when he says to the audience “improvisation is at our hearts,” for they really show it in this next exercise. Reynolds says they are going to create a song on the spot and asks for the help of the crowd in constructing the tune. Rhythm is the basis for music, so he asks someone to clap a rhythm, “any rhythm.” Feeling like this is my time to shine as a drummer, I clap a traditional bossa nova pattern, and instantly Schaaf and Proskin start jamming. Next, Reynolds needs a key signature, so someone shouts “G Minor” and he begins to riff away. Not only do they make a melody on the spot, but Capili attempts to improvise some lyrics too, and it’s hard to make lyrics when someone shouts the topic “modern fashion.”

The group ends with the Thelonious Monk jazz standard “’Round Midnight,” beginning with a traditional interpretation and evolving to a unique Aporia spin of funky grooves. They play through their hip version and fall back into the “swing” of things, ending with a decrescendo that leaves a lone Proskin playing his bass, sounding like a badass funky sailor.

Aporia: defined as “A philosophical puzzle or a seemingly insoluble impasse in an inquiry,” performed in such a way tonight that will indeed leave us all with one question: “when can I see them again?”

Links:

http://www.facebook.com/trudeaupublishing

http://aporiajazz.com/

http://www.thealternativecafe.com/index.php

Stu Reynolds

Heath Proskin and Julie Capili

(Left to right)
Jenn Schaaf, Proskin, and Capili

Reynolds, Schaaf, and Capili

"Alone on the Moon" by Eugen Plotnikov

"Godzilla" by Max Capacity

Friday, October 14, 2011

Western Specimens: The Alternative Café 10/8/11

By Taylor Jones

taylorjones9393@gmail.com

Nearing the shadows of this cold, autumn night, I gratefully enter the warmth of the Alternative Café, a welcoming venue that I feel more and more compelled to attend after every show I see here. As I set my glass of water down on the circular, mosaic table, I start a conversation with tonight’s featured act, Zoe Boekbinder. While we discuss the release of her new album Darling Specimens, she tells me of the success she celebrated at her CD Release Party at Viracocha in San Francisco. Born in a farmhouse in Ontario, Canada, Boekbinder spent parts of her youth in California and became interested in pursuing music during her last year of high school, encouraged by a friend in her theatre group. Starting in 2004, she spent five years touring with her sister in their duo called Vermillion Lies, achieving success with their circus and cabaret theme on stage. In 2009, Boekbinder began to pursue a solo project with a sound she describes as “ragtime pop,” and continues the adventure tonight by performing at the Alternative Café. As we talk, her touring partner Alexander Thompson, playing under the alias The Alexanders, sits down and joins the conversation. Amongst discussing our favorite music and rap artists like Odd Future, Thompson explains to me how he recorded his new album Western Medicine over the past year in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thompson plays guitar, trumpet, and sings, and is preparing to perform his rockabilly folk music tonight. Boekbinder and Thompson met through a similar booking agent when they played a show together in Athens, Georgia, where they exchanged CDs and hit it off, resulting in their current tour together.

Once again enjoying the comfort of the front row leather couch, I notice the room is filling up earlier than usual and I have a good feeling about the show. Before Boekbinder and The Alexanders are set to go on, an opening rock band from Oakland called Warbler takes the stage. Starting off their set with a chilled-out sound of ambient keyboards and electric guitar plucking, they progress into a heavier, indie rock riff that turns them into a mix of the raw element of Dawes and the electric element of Phoenix. The intro of their next song begins in a similar mood, leaving the drums out in order to sustain the mellow scene. However, the drummer should turn his snare off since vibrations from the amplifiers are causing his drum to rattle and take away from the energy of the performance. As I watch the keyboardist, I admire the clear plastic back of his setup, allowing the audience to look inside and see all of the synthesizers and mechanisms he uses. On one song, he uses these synths in cooperation with various foot pedals to create a soul-powered organ. While the bass player plucks a wild west sounding line on his five-stringed Yamaha, the singer/guitarist stomps his foot pedals for live looping and effects including distortion, reverb and delay, an effect much loved by Brent Smith, the guitarist in my band Mozzo Kush. Warbler has definitely worked on live transitioning in their set, for after the end of the previous song, the drummer starts playing a floor tom and rim pattern that leads into a precise entrance of the other instruments. Although these musicians blend together to create their own sound, that sound often just gets too loud and repetitive. As Scott Grover, owner of the café, once told me, you have to “play to the room,” and in this case that means don’t play so loud that all the sound is going to echo off the walls and feedback directly into the mics. Overall, Warbler has a distinct sound, but does not vary their style enough to keep the audiences’ interest.

Sitting down on a wooden chair, Alexander Thompson of the one-man-band The Alexanders presents himself in a blue and yellow striped sweater over a collared shirt, looking through hip, dark rimmed glasses that almost scream “indie musician!” Kicking off his set with a song called “Big Boy,” Thompson surprises me with a soothing voice that has some pop influence, with lyrical schemes like Feist and Brit-pop artist Kate Nash, but keeps the music indie by incorporating his folk guitar melodies. On another song called “Gay Friends and Sugar Cookies,” Thompson explains how the title didn’t win him many fans throughout the Midwest, so he’s been more open to playing it in California. After this happy song that displays his soft sound and voice, he changes the mood by playing “Misery,” a tune that reflects the story-telling songwriting style of Paul McCartney. While playing “Jesus Plays Roulette With the Sun,” Thompson plays a bass line on the low E string and strums the rest of the chords to accompany himself like Jimi Hendrix did before Noel Redding joined the band. Thompson owns his folk-pop sound and compliments his touring partner very well.

When featured act Zoe Boekbinder steps on stage in her rose covered jacket, she debuts not only her new CD, but a wide smile and a welcoming presence that makes the audience temporarily fall in love with her. Boekbinder is well known for her Boss loop machine, which she uses to harmonize with herself as well as to launch drumbeats and other pre-record patterns. In order to do this, she needs two mics, one to record her live loops and another to sing overtop of them. Her “ragtime pop” sound resembles the vibrato of Shenandoah Davis, who coincidentally produced her latest album Darling Specimens. With Davis, Boekbinder searched through her house for objects to hit with drumsticks, including lawn mowers, glass, pianos, and even recorded the crunch of chewing celery. After obtaining these samples they sent them off to various electronic beat makers to produce some very interesting loops, resulting in a song called “Artichoke.” The song “Salt Water” also incorporates a lot of these out-of-the-ordinary sounds for percussion instruments, while Boekbinder plays guitar and sings over them. Although the beats are intricate and innovative ideas, the artificial aspect of the pre-recorded beats interferes with the natural flow of the music at times. She shows on songs like “Just Because” and “Sour Lemons” that when she plays all live, with just vocals and guitar, the songs come out much more gripping. On the next song, which she is yet to title, she explains how she had taught loop machine classes at New Folsom Prison and asked inmates to write words for her melody. As a result, Boekbinder transposed these hip-hop lines to fit her song, a folk adventure with questioning lyrics like “where would I be without my hook and verse?” After leaving the stage temporarily, she teases the encore-pleading audience by waving her hand in and out from backstage. Following this toying, she takes the stage again to end with her own, comical version of “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé. Since she starts the loop really fast, she commits to the beat and tries to sing the song at an incredible pace, engaging the audience in belting the chorus and giving everyone a heartfelt last laugh. Once she finishes, the appreciative spectators line up to buy her new CD Darling Specimens as well as The Alexanders Western Medicine.

Links:

http://trudeaupublishing.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Alexanders/132830603442993

http://www.zoeboekbinder.com/

*(All Photos by Richard Herbert)

Lights inside keyboard

Warbler

The Alexanders (Alexander Thompson)

Zoe Boekbinder

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Simple Living at The Alternative Café: 9/29/11

By Taylor Jones

Ask yourself one question: “have you ever smelled that oddly comforting, musty air that puffs out from under the cushions when you fall into the warm embrace of a leather couch?” Well if you sat in the front row at the Alternative Café last Thursday to hear folk singer-songwriter Kenny Chung and Texas rocker Daniel Whittington, you most likely would have. As the audience mingles, I sit down and talk amongst new friends, one being Jordan Levine, the sixteen-year-old drummer hired by Daniel Whittington. While we wait for the show to begin we talk about bands we both admire including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Raconteurs, in addition to the unique art that fills the room. Studying the café’s new exhibit “Imaginary Maps of the Real World” by Czechoslovakian street artist, Ales Bask Hostomsky, I find myself entranced by the abstract urban images he uses to depict the clash of social struggles and political propaganda he’s encountered between his life in the Czech Republic and the United States. Leaving my post on the couch for a while, I stroll around the café until the lights dim and I know the show is about to begin.

Opening the bill tonight is local Pacific Grove artist Kenny Chung, a young singer-songwriter on the rise. Chung kicks off his set with an original folk song called “Talkin’ Early Mornin’ Ramblin’,” displaying his multi-instrumental talents by playing acoustic guitar, harmonica, and singing. In this song, Chung channels the energy of one of his greatest influences, Bob Dylan, narrating a social commentary about how people needlessly fight and argue with each other, because at the end of the day we are all human and we all have far more similarities than differences. After a round of applause from friends and passerby drop-ins, Chung begins to play “My Woman,” a song about unrequited love. This blues shuffle describes how he gives his woman all he has to give, but nevertheless she treats him like an animal, alluded to by such imagery-evoking lyrics like “she makes me sleep in the stables.” The shuffle pattern of this song is driving throughout, and as a drummer I think incorporating a rhythm section would solidify the effect of the beat and make the groove of the song more defined. Next, Chung covers “I Don’t Live In a Dream” by Jackie Greene, another one of his favorite artists whose set we saw together at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival. After studying Greene’s song, Chung didn’t just cover the tune on a whim, he really took the time to capture the intended emotion of the song and put himself in the place of a man recognizing reality. Ending with his newest song “I’m Still Here,” a piece filled with much dynamic movement and a chorus resembling an early Neil Young, Chung demonstrates that his songwriting is improving with every show. After the performance I interview Chung about his music, and he states that his latest song entails how a lot of his friends have moved away to college, and he is “still here,” going through his own kind of schooling making friends and connections while learning about the music world first hand. He says that when people graduate high school, they don’t always keep in contact as much as they’d like to, but it’s only natural because everyone is out starting to live their own individual lives. Appropriately, Chung’s EP titled Simple Living is a collection of songs written during his time in the Monterey Peninsula and can be downloaded via Bandcamp.

Strapped with his polished acoustic guitar, Daniel Whittington takes the stage for the second act along with his three band mates Marc Davison on guitar, Brett Whittington on bass, and Jordan Levine on drums. Only their third performance with this lineup, the group plays what Whittington describes as “Texas rock,” which sounds a lot like the down-to-earth, easy listening aspects of Ryan Bingham. Obviously comfortable on stage, Whittington demonstrates his southern hospitality and talks to the audience like he’s just playing a show for some old friends. This personal aspect of his performance really enhances the mood of the show. Davison, rocking a FDNY sticker on his Fender, utilizes a plethora of effect pedals to create his own polished, graceful sound like a country/soul version of The Edge from U2. To complement the guitarists of the band, Brett on bass and Levine on drums hold down steady grooves together to support Whittington’s melodies. As Brett plucks a consistent bass line, Levine drifts into a second-line feel on the snare to create a steady blend of rhythm. While introducing his song “Talulah,” Whittington jokes “this song is like one of those ‘choose your own ending’ books” since he felt the lyrics could either be about a baby or a prostitute. As the tune progresses, Davison’s electric guitar adds layers of sweet honey-like tones to complement Whittington’s acoustic performance. Although Whittington’s style is very polished and impressive, his compositions tend to be consistent in slow songs that don’t contain enough elements of movement. As an artist, you have to keep the audience’s interest with frequent musical changes in order for them to maintain interest. After “Talulah” the band starts to pick up the pace of the set and plays some heavier rock songs, which Levine plainly enjoys by changing the beat and thumpin’ those toms. The band ends their show with a song called “Taking You Home,” on another rockin’ note and bids the audience goodnight, telling them about their CDs for sale at the merch table. Whittington’s latest album Private War and additional music is also available via Bandcamp.

By the end of the show, Kenny Chung’s EP titled Simple Living represents the relaxed folk and blues atmosphere provided by the Alternative Café tonight.

Links:

http://trudeaupublishing.blogspot.com/

http://kennychung.bandcamp.com/

http://music.danielwhittington.com/

(All photos by Taylor Jones)