Quiet Eyes and Crying Eyes: Pacific Grove Art Center 3/17/12

By Taylor Jones

            Left foot, right foot, left foot, right; I march up the stairs of the Pacific Grove Art Center with intent to explore the exhibit titled The Quiet Eye: Walls, Windows, and Walkways, a collection of photographs by Peggy Downes Baskin. Step into the gallery and you’ll find yourself strolling through texture-filled images from around the world, traveling in the mind to Italy, Spain, France, Guatemala, Ireland, and the United States just to name a few. Baskin’s work in this exhibit is peculiar because there are no human subjects (the closest thing being a mannequin in an Italian storefront), and rather focuses on a range of textures from intricate architecture to rugged walls that look as if you can reach in and scratch the peeling paint off.

One of my favorite photos is titled “Staircase, Amber Fort,” taken in Jaipur, India. The iron, spiral staircase is two stories high, anticlimactically leading to a closed off doorway. It looks like the inside of this building has been charred by a fire, but it gives the image a wise appeal, as if the stairs have witnessed a lot through the years they have remained standing. Another photo, “Wall Detail, Duomo,” taken in Florence, Italy, displays the same spiral theme. An ivory-white beam curves around the corner of a building, with matt-pink walls on either side.

The Quiet Eye is an appropriate title for this collection. Since there are no humans in the frames, I feel a sense of stillness and serenity in each of these photos. Nothing is disturbing the subjects; they are patient enough to wait for the click Baskin’s camera.

The floorboards creak and mumble to one another as a glide across them to the next room. This room is filled with art from the Middle East, most of them depicting the war between Iraq and the United States over the past decade. I take a seat at the piano and start to play some scales. The music puts a smile on my face, but it soon turns to a grimace of concern when I look around the room and see expressions of pain and suffering on the artists’ subjects.

The piece that most dynamically shouts its message to me is Mohammed Al-Sadoun’s “Burned Door.” Al-Sadoun made a habit out of burning beautiful old doors of Baghdad in front of live audiences as a means to protest the destruction of homes during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. This work is powerful because it feels like an artifact that takes you to the destruction and chaos of a war-stricken nation.

Another strong piece of art rests on the back wall: a tall black and white painting of a young Iraqi boy holding a rifle that appears far bigger than him. The painting is based on a 1990 photograph, and depicts the life of this child from a rifle-making family. The use of black and white in this image creates a clear message: war affects all people, and children are unfortunately exposed to the violence that comes with it.

These two exhibits are drastically different in their atmospheres, the first providing a looking glass that points around the world, and the latter providing insight into the problems faced in the Middle East. As the saying goes, “art is a weapon loaded with the future,” so keep your creative mind alive, the Pacific Grove Art Center hopes to see you in their future.

Contact: trudeaupublishing@gmail.com

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A Day In The Factory

"Liz" 1964 Lithograph Print

By Taylor Jones

Let’s take a walk down the streets of New York City. We pass by the hot dog stands, cross over lanes of traffic, and wander into Andy Warhol’s Factory, “a creative space for adults and kids.” Pop Icons, the current exhibit at the Monterey Museum of Art, displays the work of pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. I step through a door that leads to “The Factory,” an imitation of the Manhattan loft where Warhol lived and worked from 1962-1968.

After World War II brought an end to the Great Depression, Americans began to spend money again. The booming economy caused for a steep climb in mass production and mass media, which were both exploited in pop art. Working with commercial products, Warhol became fascinated by Hollywood lifestyle and American consumerism. He surrounded himself with groundbreaking artists, musicians, and movie stars, to serve as his main friends and critics. Pop art seeks to portray what is in the media and relevant to youth culture, resulting in Warhol’s use of newspaper clippings to make his prints.

The first image in the gallery is Warhol’s lithograph (a print made from a silkscreen reproduction of another photograph) titled “Liz.” This portrays Elizabeth Taylor, a Hollywood star, with colorful and exaggerated features. Her solid black hair doesn’t have much detail, making it look hand painted. She wears turquoise waves of eyeliner that flow over her tan skin. Cartoon red lips are positioned over her own, matching the red background.

In the next piece, titled “Campbell’s Soup I (Onion),” Warhol demonstrates his interest in American consumerism. He felt America was great in that people of different social statuses purchase essentially the same goods. Portraying many commercial products such as Coca-Cola, Warhol commented, “a Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.” Like Coke, Campbell’s Soup is a product that almost all Americans are familiar with. Beside this three-foot-tall can of soup is a smaller can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. Although this particular can is orange and turquoise, it makes me realize that most people in America can associate with this image, having seen it around their kitchen cupboard countless times. Warhol’s art inherently connected with the young people of his time because it highlighted what they were seeing in the media and brought value to images of the everyday.

As advertising became more prevalent in peoples’ lives with the development of television, politicians latched onto this medium of broadcasting to drive their campaigns. Thus, politicians seemed far more accessible to the average American. Warhol observed the youth in Americas’ plight and how their attention was drawn to politics. Taking advantage of their limelight, Warhol reproduced many prints of the Kennedy family. While I study a piece from 1966 called “Jacqueline Kennedy III,” my eyes drift between four different photos of the former first lady. In one frame she looks happy, in the next two she looks concerned, and in the last she is attending John F. Kennedy’s funeral. The print is entirely black and blue, and the misaligned photos appear to be simply thrown onto a desk, signifying the frenzied state of mind Jacqueline must have felt around her husband’s assassination.

Serial imagery—when an artist creates a series by relating subject matter or a theme over several works of art— is a widely used practice in pop art. Similar to photojournalism, serial images go together to tell a story. Warhol’s print titled “Electric Chair” speaks against capital punishment by presenting the death penalty in various perspectives. He took a gritty old photo of the electric chair and printed it in many different colors, each with an individual mood. I believe one interpretation of this series of images is to exploit how people may have become desensitized to the practice of capital punishment as it grew more widely publicized.

Roy Lichtenstein’s art is displayed on the other side of the room. In the early 60’s, his comic-book style was inspired by cartoons he saw on his child’s bubble gum wrappers. Lichtenstein popularized the pattern of Ben Day dots, using small, closely placed dots to form a complete four-color image. As an art enthusiast, Lichtenstein made statements in his art that relate to stylistic themes of Picasso, Monet, and other painters. One of these connections can be seen in his rendition of Monet’s series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral. Monet portrayed the cathedral at different times of day, which Lichtenstein represents in six different prints. Each frame conveys the outline of the cathedral in only two colors, created from the Ben Day pattern. The mood of the prints changes from bright yellow (a sunny afternoon) on the left, to dark blue (the dead of night) on the right.

By challenging assumptions about the value of art, Warhol and Lichtenstein opened the creative doors to artists of the future. They presented their art in a form that everyone could recognize, through reproducing prints of advertisements, political figures, and celebrities. Art evolves in accordance with culture, and as the media grew evermore prevalent in the lives of American people throughout the 50’s and 60’s, popular art changed to depict real-life events and culture in a colorful, interpretive fashion.

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Theory of Mind: St. Olaf College Band at Sherwood Hall

By Taylor Jones

With programs opened wide like newspapers, audience members trickle into Sherwood Hall, Salinas, to watch the St. Olaf College Band perform their 2012 winter tour, titled Winds In Motion. The ensemble hails from Northfield, Minnesota, and has traveled to countries including Japan, Norway, England, Ireland, and Mexico under conductor Timothy Mahr since 1994.

Narrow columns of wood line the high walls, popping like pinstripes, and the sections between them flow like rivers to a sea of blue that covers the ceiling. One by one, band members file up the staircase. Each instrument they carry adds more depth to the stage and more sound to the frenzy of tuning and warm-ups. The band is made up of nearly one hundred students, spanning a wide range of majors from music to biology, and tonight their differences in study are dwarfed by their shared passion for music.

One student with an obvious passion for music is euphonium player Eric Choate, a music theory and composition major. Mahr welcomes Choate to the conductor’s chair to direct a piece he developed titled “Windmills.” The song sways back and forth between two gentle chords, and the percussionists’ syncopation between ambient bells and triangles create an effect of distant wind chimes on a farm. You can close your eyes and picture a lonely windmill being comforted by a slight breeze. Ending in a slow fade of woodwinds, you focus intently on the decrescendo until the bassoons’ very last breath.

The orchestra has an immense presence, and although they are a large group, their sound blends like fresh cream on hot chocolate. It is almost as if you can see the sound being passed from section to section. Horns blend into the clarinets as they trade the melody, and each transition is carried out with undoubted ease. The music is so filled with emotion and depth that you cannot do anything but pay attention and soak it all up. I am transfixed. I cannot think about anything outside of Sherwood Hall, and not due to a personal lack of cognizance, but rather due to how gripping the music is.

The ensemble begins “Symphony No. 9,” —a segment of the seventy-four minute symphony they will be performing in May— with a very slow dialogue between the grand piano and the claves. This dialogue soon evolves into an open conversation with layers of brass and woodwinds. The song builds as if the musicians were climbing a mountain. And when they reach the top, they convey a feeling of overwhelming achievement. Somehow this brings me a great sense of nostalgia and I feel like crying. In fact, I feel like sobbing. With restraint, I keep my composure, but what is interesting to note is that all forms of music can make you share an emotion (let’s say this emotion is your “destination”), but concert music differs in the journey to that destination. It can take you on an adventure, make a couple of wrong turns, get you lost, and you’ll finally end up somewhere you didn’t expect to go, but inevitably enjoy the visit.

            In admiration of this music, I am baffled at the amount of people in the audience who do not show the musicians their due respect. Mind these rules at any performance and you will be appreciated: turn off your cell phone (vibrate doesn’t count), do not bring a baby, and do not clap until the conductor’s hands are down. The only things pending my zone of listening to the music are a few ring tones and kids playing around.

            Next, Mahr presents a piece that he composed called “Passages.” The song is dedicated to a late friend Mahr performed with while they were students at St. Olaf. Mahr says the work is symbolic of the “passages in our lives,” transcending many moods and stages. The piano starts; life begins with a feeling of lightness and love, followed by darkness and grief. The music is personified as it battles and recovers from tragedy. Wielding his instrument like a samurai, a percussionist lets the vibrations of the crash cymbals carry the sound throughout the hall. The band starts tapping their wrists, simulating a falling rain. The rain is a sign of the man feeling down, but he soon regains his spirits in a triumphant uproar. After life’s many twists and turns, time slowly comes to an end as the chimes strike like a clock tower. With a last farewell from the piano, the cycle of life ends in a reflection of how it began.

            On a final note, the band performs “Limerick Daydreams,” a song that relies on a speedy percussion section. It begins in a mysterious mood, the snare drum turned off to create a jungle-type tone. With powerful movement, trills run through the clarinet section, which are soon interrupted by a bursting transition into a tribal drum break. The drummers are syncopated with each other like machines in a dynamic call and response between themselves and the rest of the band. This debate comes to an end as the music takes on a gentle feel, like a hot-air balloon that got lost in the clouds and stumbled across a hidden castle in the sky. As quick as the percussionist raises two sticks high above his head, he suddenly strikes down at the China cymbal, unleashing a crash that brings the piece to a close and the audience to their feet. A standing ovation is much deserved after St. Olaf has proven to be such dynamic performers.

            Alas, the last trick up their sleeves is to invite the Youth Orchestra Salinas (YOSAL) onstage to perform “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” with them. Mixed into their prospective sections, the children wear ear-to-ear smiles on their faces as they play alongside the college students. Mahr has a few kids come up and conduct the song with him, amused by a tidal wave of bubbles that flow over the musicians. The St. Olaf Band proves how the musical theory of mind brings people of all ages and ethnicities together. When the rest of the world can’t seem to live in peace, music allows us to live together in harmony.

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A Spark of Laughter

By Taylor Jones

            Moseying into the newly opened Stardust Playhouse in Monterey, the crowd gets acquainted with their friends and their little red seats as they prepare to enjoy an evening of comedy. Tonight’s presentation of “The Marijuana-Logues,” written by Arj Barker, Doug Benson, and Tony Camin, features a collection of monologues detailing both the stereotypes and the realities of smoking pot. The show’s director is CSUMB film student Kirsten Clapp, aided by her mother and co-owner of the theater Judie Swartz.

About forty or so chairs line the intimate theater. I sit facing the green, yellow, and red stripes on the backdrop, and in its center rests a bold, black hemp leaf. In contrast, an ocean of blue splashes over the walls that surround the audience. But all of this artistry would fade in shadows if not for the three miniature chandeliers that hang from the ceiling, their crystals dancing with gleam from the light. While listening to Bob River’s song “What If God Smoked Cannabis?” playing overhead, I’m getting a strong hint of what tonight’s subject matter will cover.

Photo by Nate Phillips

“Marijuana…say it…” pleads actor Allen Aston, sporting a tie dye shirt with a picture of the Earth covered by a peace symbol. “Marijuana!” echoes the audience in response. After Aston and his fellow performers Patrick McEvoy, Drew Davis-Wheeler, and Tyler Shilstone get the crowd comfortable with the word, they explain how they simply want us to loosen up and give the plant a chance in the name of comedy. Matter of fact, why don’t you say it out loud right now? To yourself or a friend, to a spouse or a neighbor, or even to a small child (alright maybe not a small child), because marijuana is what this production is about anyways, so best get comfortable.

            As the play progresses, I become increasingly familiar with vocabulary such as “jazz plants”, “El Diablo de Verde”, and “John Claude van Amsterdam” just to name a few. Shilstone provides a raving sense of humor in his outside-the-box thinking and blunt delivery. In one instance, he debated that smokers don’t use weed to hide from their problems, on account of “that’d be a lot of weed to be able to hide behind!”

            During a brief intermission, “marijuana fun facts” play over the speakers while a classic “cigarette girl” in a deep red, vaudeville dress sells a wide assortment of munchies, ranging from Cheetos to Kit Kats and M&Ms. Without these fun facts, I may never have learned just how delicious chocolate pudding is…. that it is in fact “seriously, delicious.”

Davis-Wheeler poses an interesting and valid question to the hypocritical police of Las Vegas, Nevada. He questions why he could be in Las Vegas and be arrested for carrying small amounts of ganja, while people are free to gamble their life-savings away and practice insurmountable counts of intoxicated sex with prostitutes. In his defense, Davis-Wheeler stated “all I [hypothetically] wanted to do was smoke some weed in my hotel room, eat a Snickers, and go to bed – without bothering anybody.” And you know what? I agree that the law is partial. If Americans “enjoy” the right to purchase alcohol, knowing the risk of abuse could be harmful, they should be able to purchase marijuana and use it responsibly. 

Sometimes I feel like the use of N.P.S. as “non-pot smoker” is somewhat condescending to those who don’t smoke the lean green, and places “pot-smokers” into a stereotypical image of someone who all too often sits on their behind and plays video games all day. Smoking pot is not so black and white as television and movies make it seem, it is more accurately a rainbow-tie-dye mixture of personalities and characters.

“The Marijuana-Logues” proved to be a very funny performance and would be entertaining to all adult audiences. It definitely sparked laughter in me as well as the rest of the crowd. Thanks to Stardust Playhouse on 2115 Fremont Avenue, Monterey County now has a new source for theater. This coming weekend will be your last chance to catch the show, so don’t miss out.

      —Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27 & 28^th at 8 p.m.  

          Sunday, Jan. 29^th at 2 p.m.

Links:

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http://www.stardustplayhousemonterey.com/

Revolution Rock: A Story of The Clash

 By Taylor Jones

After bursting onto the punk rock scene in the mid 1970s, British boyos The Clash awed world audiences in 1979 with their third album, London Calling, delivering youthful punk messages packaged in their own brand of ska and reggae seasoned rock n’ roll. No other band has ever adapted so well to spread their punk music, an art form so misunderstood by the snobby old man who looks down upon the “hooligans” running amuck up and down the street. However, this music speaks to those kids. It speaks to the tattered down teenager who watches greed and corruption run the world until punk music sympathizes with him and shouts “fuck em’ if they aren’t gonna take you for who you are,” stopping the Earth in its tracks for but a moment before launching it back into orbit.

            So what was so different about The Clash? The answer lies in the fact that their music didn’t merely speak to Jimmy Jazz getting harassed by the police, it spoke to the world and to future generations. Singer and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer once said “London Calling” was written for anybody who has kids, because we must keep this world turning and functional for hundreds of generations to come. The title track kicks off the record and describes the foretelling of a disastrous London, stricken by the plight of war and nuclear power, not to mention the teeming zombies. And while their songwriting seeped with punk attitude, their experimentation with reggae and ska styles tossed an island spice over their 1950s American rock n’ roll influence. Thus, The Clash produced a sound of their own that was accessible to countless more listeners than the brute, in-your-face punk of say the Sex Pistols. Granted, if you’re listening to the Sex Pistols, you desire their crude rawness that drives “civilized” people away, which is the reason you know punk music will always retain its controversial edge.

           The Clash, consisting of singer/guitarist Joe Strummer, lead guitarist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, and drummer Nicky “Topper” Headon, were not only successful due to their versatility in music, but also for their lively stage presence. Often dressed in a collage of Spanish and English military attire, The Clash conveyed a wild energy (like that of Strummer’s signature jungle callings) that demanded the crowds’ attention. They’d strut on stage, pick up their instruments, and boom! They chase you like an off-roading eighteen-wheeler from hell and the only way to save your life is just to dance! Strummer and Jones would perform their iconic one-footed passing of one another from opposing ends of the stage while Simonon and Headon always locked in with each other just behind the ever-pushing pulse of a live performance.

          Notably, Simonon takes over vocals on his composition “The Guns of Brixton,” condemning police brutality and impending race riots of Brixton, south London, where he grew up. This song is an example of Simonon’s reggae influence, specifically mentioning Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come,” but casts a heavy shadow of discontent through struggle-filled lyrics. Simonon’s voice is considerably lower than Strummer’s, and by singing with a monotonic laze, he provides the darker atmosphere that “The Guns of Brixton” demands.

          As we recently reminisced over the ninth anniversary of Joe Strummer’s death, we embraced the fact that his message will continue to live on through his music. The last named track on London Calling, “Revolution Rock,” (not to be confused with the hidden track “Train In Vain” which was added to the record at the last minute) promotes The Clash’s self-held and evident belief that their music was breaking stylistic barriers and opening up the doors to future punk rock bands (i.e. everyone from Social Distortion to Green Day). While The Clash exploited the trifles of war, the corruption of greed and advertising, psycho hysteria, drugs, government wrongdoing, and police brutality, their contribution to the punk revolution is forever solidified in vinyl grooves through the lyrics “everybody smash up your seats and rock to this brand new beat!”

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Contact: taylorjones9393@gmail.com

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:

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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

           

             

A Close Up Look at Washington D.C.

By Taylor Jones

            Skipping school, meeting kids from all over the country, and visiting Washington D.C. for a week, who wouldn’t want to go on the Close Up trip? But that’s just the half of it. This year the Close Up program provided over two hundred high school students from several states and Puerto Rico with the opportunity to enjoy a hands-on experience of how the United States federal government operates.  We all learned (or in some cases forgot) the names, dates, and legislation taught in the classroom, but a textbook really cannot convey the same sense of tangibility as actually visiting our nation’s capital. Information about Abraham Lincoln can be acquired in school, but ceases to be applied until you really climb the steps of the Lincoln Monument, reach the top, and after a deep breath release a much-deserved “wow.” And that’s not all; we toured the city and received an education that would never be replaced. 

            The seven of us from Pacific Grove High School were grateful for our venture to Washington D.C. and experienced a wealth of opportunities. Among these outings were visits to the presidential monuments, war memorials, the Capitol building, the Library of Congress, Ford’s Theatre, and the Smithsonian Museum. One of my favorite stops was an overnight trip to colonial Williamsburg, where the buildings and atmosphere of the 1700s has been preserved. Here we went inside America’s first governmental body, the House of Burgesses, and developed a greater understanding of how our country began. I thoroughly enjoyed Williamsburg because everyone there is dressed up like a colonist, acts like a colonist, and really makes you feel like you stepped in a time machine and dialed in 1770. By walking down the main drag, you can go inside the authentic stores and learn how the silversmith made their craft, how the printing press operated before industrial machinery, and even taste a sample of spiced hot chocolate or tea in the local tavern. Overall, Williamsburg provided for an educational contrast between the past and present governments of America. 

As warm sunlight glazed the brand new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington D.C., I studied his message that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Appropriate for the Civil Rights movement when King made this statement in 1965, his timeless words are entirely applicable to our modern world. Take for example the United States’ seemingly endless debt, fighting for democracy in the Middle East, and an economic downturn that has left roughly ten percent of American’s without jobs in 2011. Each of these issues reflect the words of Dr. King, and as students gathered from across the country on Close Up we learned that our salient responsibility of becoming functioning adults in society is to cooperate and compromise with each other. No one will ever live in their dreamt Utopia, simply because everyone has a different view of what that ideal society should entail. Thus, we need not follow the example of the United States’ current gridlocked Congressmen, but rather set the grounds for compromise like our Founding Fathers before us.  

Ready to Start: TEDx Youth Monterey 11/19/11

by Taylor Jones

Contact: taylorjones9393@gmail.com

What gets a bunch of sleepy teenagers up at 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning? The answer is simple: TEDx Youth Monterey. For more than twenty-five years, the TED exhibition has been traversing the globe, hosting TED Talks in which presenters enlighten the audience about their “ideas worth sharing,” ranging from “the myths of ADHD” to “riding New York subways in your underpants.”  Today, hundreds of kids and a scattered handful of adults gather in the World Theatre at California State University of Monterey Bay to experience TEDx Youth Monterey, a special TED event held annually since 2009 in devotion to the young people inspiring the innovations of tomorrow. 

Floating upon billowy clouds projected from theatre lights, I feel a sense of curiosity, determination, and appreciation for higher learning among the audience members as they file into their seats. The first presenter, Johan Khalilian, appropriately fits in the “determination” category. Khalilian grew up in the rougher side of Chicago, which he comically relates to the polar opposite of Disneyland, where Mickey Mouse is a drug dealer and Minnie Mouse is a pregnant teen. He paints a picture of a harsh environment and goes on to talk about how his high school counselor discouraged him from pursuing the University of Chicago, the college of his dreams. However, Khalilian argues that you should always believe in yourself without letting others put you down, because we can choose to be either “a product of our dreams, or a product of our environment.”

As Andrea Blunt steps into the spotlight, she emits a presence like she’s been onstage many times before. In fact, the singer-songwriter has performed with countless artists, playing all kinds of music including classical, hip-hop, punk, and folk to name a few. Today, she plays her original song “Iron Spine,” which blends her variety of musical influences to create her own unique sound. What is also notably unique about Blunt’s solo performance is that she accompanies her vocals with an accordion, giving the song a broad, full sound as she pumps air in and out of the chamber. With the accordion, she shows her classical and folk training by composing an enchanting melody (that would continue playing in my head for days afterwards). Her enticing voice demonstrates her pop elements, belting lyrics such as “losing my head start” and “breaking my own heart” and carries a performance that duly receives a standing ovation.

A student from Robert Lewis Stevenson High School named Richie Senegor rolls his mobile science lab on stage next. In his presentation titled The Science of Science, Senegor speaks out for the importance of science in not only education, but in our everyday lives as well. Realizing the youths’ epidemic of losing interest in science, Senegor determines the main problem being there is simply not enough “discovery” anymore. Kids grow endlessly tired of homework and rote memorization and therefore do not find the subject very engaging. However, Senegor’s proposal promotes a method of teaching in which labs are constructed by giving the students an end result and letting them figure out how to get there themselves. Through this method that Senegor has tested on his classmates, student will experience the frustration of having no idea what to do, experimenting with variables that may help them or divert them, and inherently bring back the “discovery” in science.

Bring Music “Bach,” presented by violinist Iljin Cho, expresses the importance of keeping arts and music alive in schools. He argues that music opens up our minds to more vast fields of thinking, leading to better mental and physical health. As Cho questions, I also ask “why are we cutting music in schools? Why are the arts the first programs to go?” I don’t understand how the arts, the basis for any culture, can be selectively diminished from our school systems. On a bittersweet note, music, art, drama, photography, dance, and other kinds of creative classes are the only things keeping some kids in school. I, for one, know my school life would be much less enthralling without the opportunity to play music and express myself everyday.

After performing in TEDx with my own band, Mozzo Kush, I am so honored to have been a part of such an inspiring event. We played the single “Checked In to Check Out” off of our new album Mozzo Kush and had a blast doing it. I thank CSUMB and the organizers of TEDx for putting the show together, because without them none of this could have happened. Whether or not your dream is to sail across the Pacific Ocean, build your dream house for the homeless, or develop a tri-photo code to encrypt messages, you have a dream—it’s never too late or too early to follow it, so why not start now?

Links:

http://www.facebook.com/trudeaupublishing

http://www.tedxyouthmonterey.org/

Birth of the Cool: The Alternative Café 11/5/11

By Taylor Jones

“So that was during the time I spent in Tennessee when I used to hitchhike across the country,” explains the elderly man next to me sporting a circular, brown-rimmed hat along with what appears to be a green, pinstriped shirt. Yes, it is definitely green. Tonight at the Alternative Café in Seaside, California, the “jazz & beyond” music of the Something Cool Trio evidently attracts an audience with a wealth of life experience, and suitably, since pianist/vocalist Bill Minor has traveled the world and will sing songs in English, Greek, Italian, and Russian. Along with Minor this evening are his band mates Jenn Schaaf on drums and Heath Proskin on upright bass.

Captivated by the current exhibit “Guardians,” featuring work by artists Cory Benhatzel and Matthew Linares, I admire the vivid textures Linares uses in order take the observer to another dimension. I’m looking through a portal into an almost video-game kind of world where objects are floating around with a sense of unsettling ambiguity, yet setting a serene mood through the smooth, shaded color scheme.

After pushing aside the black curtain from backstage, the trio picks up their instruments and starts off their set with a Thelonious Monk standard called “Ask Me Now.” This song demonstrates how the Alternative Café’s acoustics are perfect for a jazz combo, in that you can hear Schaaf playing brushes without needing to mic her snare. Being a drummer, I know one of the hardest parts of jazz drumming is brush technique, and Schaaf gracefully shows the audience just how it’s done by never letting a moment go untouched by the gentle glide of her fluid hands.

An interesting aspect of the Something Cool Trio is Minor’s experiments in combining his original poetry with backing music, which acts as a soundtrack to the story. As he begins to recite his poem “My Father’s Things,” the music appropriately follows. Minor shares a deep emotion from his personal life with the audience as he conveys a story of how his father lost his memory with age, and how he could no longer recognize his own son. Minor moves on with the story, elaborating on how his father never used to sing, but one day when his mother was playing piano, his father miraculously burst into song. Minor knew that his father’s true love for his mother had persisted despite his loss of memory.

While living in communist Russia, illegally listening to black-market jazz records, Minor became fluent in the native language, and brought it back to the Alternative Café for us tonight. Schaaf turns off her snare and hits the drums with mallets as the band kicks off a Russian waltz. This tune shows how Proskin on bass is the glue between the drums and piano. By locking in rhythmically with Schaaf and working out melodic progressions with Minor, Proskin proves that a tight jazz combo operates through individual feats of musicianship as well as a keen sense of communication.

Minor hypes up the next song as “the most beautiful love song ever written,” which is apparently “Creep” by Radiohead, a favorite cover I’ve heard artists such as Yann Brown and Angels In the Alps perform in their own interpretations. Something Cool Trio also took the song and made it their own, keeping the original melancholy energy of the verses, but changing up the chorus drastically. Rather than a rude, distorted guitar bleeding into a belting chorus like Radiohead, a piano pickup leads to an upbeat, swing chorus, in which Minor’s vocals resemble a mixture of Willie Nelson and Randy Newman. Thus, I think we can agree that they made it their own.

After taking the audience on an adventure around the world, reciting a poem in Greek and singing a love song in Italian, Minor takes us south to Brazil by performing the Stan Getz & João Gilberto classic “The Girl From Ipanema.” Schaaf tightens her brushes and once again demonstrates her precise control, turning off the snare to enhance the relaxed, Latin feel of the song. As Proskin drops out on the bass, Minor picks up a small conga drum and begins a percussion feature with Schaaf, coordinating dynamics together to give the duet movement in not only volume, but also intensity. When the torrent of percussive juices is finished and the audience reality checks back in to Seaside, California, the performance is met with a magnanimous applause.

So what is “cool” to you? Does being cool mean being the most popular kid at school? Does being cool mean doing what everybody else is doing? To me, being cool is doing what you want to do and expressing yourself the way you naturally feel. Tonight, the Something Cool Trio was just that, cool. Not only did they express themselves, they expressed themselves in four different languages, in song and poetry, and through an assortment of musical genres that will surely please your ears.

Links:

http://trudeaupublishing.blogspot.com

(All photos by Taylor Jones)

Art by Matthew Linares

Art by Matthew Linares

Something Cool Trio: (left to right) Jenn Schaaf, Heath Proskin, Bill Minor

From Backstage

The audience

Heath Proskin

Drums n' Bass

The Bridge School Benefit Concert: 10/23/11

By Taylor Jones

taylorjones9393@gmail.com

In 1986, legendary folk-rock star Neil Young of Buffalo Springfield, along with his wife Pegi Young, started the Bridge School foundation in order to specially educate children born with severe physical and speech impairments, including their son Ben who has cerebral palsy. Acting in compassion and inspiration, the Young family started an annual concert series to raise funding for the school, its resources, and its international accessibility. Today we gather at the sold-out Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, to celebrate the twenty-fifth annual Bridge School Benefit Concert.

Upon entering the gates of Shoreline, I find myself immersed in a sea of audience members. They come in all shapes and styles: big, small, short, tall, indie, rocker, punk, hippie, black, white, orange, blue, and all colors of the rainbow, each one just as excited for the day’s musical acts and happy to contribute to such a worthy cause.

Armed with his acoustic guitar and harmonica, Neil Young traditionally opens the show with his song “I Am a Child,” performed in dedication to the students of Bridge School. After he and his wife Pegi welcome the attendees to the festival, Young introduces the first performer of the day, Beck Hansen, better known simply as Beck.

A said apprentice, Beck toured with alongside Young when he was first getting off the ground and learned the ‘tricks of the trade’ through him. Today Beck plays with the band mates he recorded the album Sea Change with for the first time in ten years. Performing a collection of melancholy, yet uplifting melodies, the band blends together very well despite their time apart. The bass player plucks an upright bass in adherence to the all-acoustic event, while Beck coordinates progressions with the piano player. Ending his set, Beck takes us back to Odelay of 2004 and bumps the “jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow” of the classic track “Where It’s At.”

A Bridge School veteran Norah Jones takes the stage next. However, this year she has brought a new country-folk sound as opposed to her previous, smooth jazz and soul vibes. Jones being a talented singer, pianist, and guitarist, pulls of her new country act with ease. Accompanied by a drummer, upright bass player, and a guitarist/vocalist, Jones conveys her Western storyline tunes by hitting tight harmonies with the male vocalist. Although this set provides a new reflection of Norah Jones, including a touching rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” I would have liked to hear her vary her style, because she only played country and strayed from the warm, relaxed sound of the Norah Jones I fell in love with.

As the day progresses and the grass on the lawn becomes hardly visible, Los Invisibles featuring Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman strut out on stage. Awing the audience with their Latin flavor and rhythms, Los Invisibles perform an assortment of Santana songs, which feature none other than the infamous Carlos Santana himself. With an array of material dating from early Santana to modern songs like “Smooth,” the band does not cease to impress with their tight arrangements. But of course, no Santana concert can be complete without an uncontrollably skilled drummer, who was Dennis Chambers last time I saw Santana, and is Cindy Blackman today. As the rest of the band cuts out, Blackman forcefully urges the momentum onward with her driving drum solo. Following a few minutes of technical smashing and bashing over independent rhythms, Blackman begins a solid beat to groove on while the band gradually builds the song back up.

Let me put on my jacket and my beanie, for the sun is setting and the night show is about to start. Foo Fighters are the first act under the spotlights and plan to perform “songs that sound good when you play them this way [acoustically],” jokes lead singer Dave Grohl. Going in to the show, I suspected Foo Fighters would play selections from the album Skin & Bones, a live recording of their 2006 show at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. Suitably, they do perform many of these songs, including a version of “My Hero” in dedication to Neil Young and his efforts to put on the concert every year. They also play hits such as “Times Like These,” but sometimes can get repetitive by spending too long on jams that are based on one simple riff. Ending their set with a solo performance, Grohl plays an emotionally gripping version of “Everlong,” my favorite Foo song. However, I wish the rest of the band had played the song with Grohl. One reason it is my favorite Foo song is due to the fact that Taylor Hawkins straight up nails every drum fill and displays an incredible amount of endurance to rock so unrelentingly hard. Overall, the Foo Fighters were great but could have been better.

Nobody quite exudes the essence of “suave” as much as jazz singer Tony Bennett when he gets a hold of the mic, and after more than fifty years in the music business, it’s rightfully so. While Beck was learning the ‘tricks of the trade’ from Young, Bennett had written the book and mastered all of them. Bennett warms the hearts of the bay area when he performs his signature song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Playing with musicians including Howard Jones, a favorite drummer of Count Basie, Bennett’s band presents a vintage sound that has blossomed from their decades of experience in jazz. As Bennett spins one last time and accepts his applause from the audience, he clears the stage for the next artist, Dave Matthews.

Accompanied by guitarist Tim Reynolds, Dave Matthews begins his set with an acoustic guitar as well. These two guitarists prove that they can thoroughly jam on a song and give it plenty of movement without needing a rhythm section. Performing the song “You & Me” off the Dave Matthews Band’s latest album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, Reynolds demonstrates his unique style of acoustic shredding, in that he can play varied, polyrhythmic melodies like a sitar player. One of the best aspects of the Bridge School Benefit Concert every year is the collaborating between artists, so I love when the duo invites Young onstage to perform the song “Oh, Susanna” with them.

Contributing many of the collaborating artists of the night is Arcade Fire, whose band members take part in multiple songs with other performers. Opening with the song “Intervention” off of Neon Bible, Arcade Fire kicks off their set with a sense of resolution and grandeur that is almost untouchable by their contemporaries. Continuing with the song “Rebellion (Lies),” the entire audience helps chant the lyrics, in addition to the empowering shout-chorus of “Wake Up.” When I saw Arcade Fire at the Outside Lands music festival, they had a larger setup with two drum sets and people moving around everywhere. However, tonight they take it down a notch and provide for a more intimate show using full acoustics, upright bass, a twin piano, and one simplified drum set. In the song “We Used to Wait” off of their latest album The Suburbs, singer Win Butler shares the message that kids today aren’t patient enough to appreciate a song or record as a holistic piece of artwork, and would rather succumb to listening to the popular choruses of whichever songs happened to get radio play. After my second time seeing them, I believe Arcade Fire is truly a treasure of our generation and a quintessential live show.

The Bridge School Benefit Concert and the coming together of musicians symbolizes the power that everyone possesses to help others in need, and to contribute to a cause that really makes a difference. Shown by the sold-out venue, music is the one entity that truly unites us as humankind. On behalf of the audience here at Shoreline Amphitheater tonight, I would like to thank the Young family and the Bridge School foundation for putting on such a fantastic event.