The Carolina Chocolate Drops
Thursday, March 11, 2010
By Ryan Alons
A professor of mine actually stopped class and started talking about the Chocolate Drops yesterday. It was like “Before I talk about Documentary Film today, I’d like to know who went to the Carolina Chocolate Drops?” I raised my hand eagerly. I was the only one out of about twenty students, which I have to admit was a little awkward.
He was then like, “What a great show, right?!” and I was all like, “Totes!”
In the middle of class we started to talk about their dynamic performances. Dom Flemons spun the guitar around and flipped under his leg and then played it behind his back. Rhiannon Giddens loved to give impromptu jigs at the side of the stage. Justin Robinson played everything from the Jug to the Auto-harp!
Not only were they steeped in the Appalachian music tradition, but also they were living the tradition. After the show the band talked about how musicians used to travel from town to town and learn songs to bring home. They were not just covering “Hit ‘Em Up Style,” they were bringing that song home.
So we talked about this as the class started to doodle in the margins of their notes. Finally he said “Calvin students are so lucky to be able to see such amazing artist for five dollars.”
Well, if Calvin students are so lucky, then where were they Tuesday night? The show was sold out and 90% of the audience was non-student npr listeners. Now we love all those folks off campus but we love Calvin college students too!
We’re doing this all for you, students!
Who else enjoyed the show Tuesday night?
A reflection on Eric Bibb’s Calvin performance
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
From Ryan Alons, the SAO student worker:
I speak as a blue outsider here. On average I listen to late aughts alternative music, which has taken an ironic position. Parody everything and believe nothing. Snark has replaced honesty. It isn’t hip-moustache anymore. It isn’t cool to string out the soul on a guitar. Vampire Weekend has been one of the biggest bands of 2010 (it has been a long year already!). What do they sing about? How tight their diamond slippers are?
So for me it was great to see an experienced blues man get on the stage and shoot straight. Cheesy lines such as “my favorite pocket/ you know the one I’m thinking of/ I’ve got a pocket in my heart for your love” caught my attention, not because I had to shoulder a scoff, but because I was convinced of the honesty of the line. His
Then there was this line that ignited something huge: “If God saved Daniel from the Lion’s Den/ why doesn’t he save everyman.”
While the bubbly Eric Bibb of ‘Pockets’ was still present on the stage, he suddenly became the dynamic troubled Christian, unsure yet confident. It is unusual for an artist to find inspiration from every aspect of the human experience, and touch every respective joy and tragedy equally. In fact his level disposition gave me the strength to mull over powder keg questions along with him.
Eric Bibb asks questions, but provides us answers as well. He is not a man holding some book; he is a man whose life is a book. And he is still writing new songs! Booker’s Guitar was an excellent blues album that dropped this year!
Is it a blues thing to be so broad and honest about everything? I’d love to hear you blues experts out there give me a line! Why do artists now days have to get so specialized about a subject? What was your reaction to the show Tuesday? Is there anyone who didn’t like it? What am I missing?
So ... what do you think? Anything to add?
1 comment on "A reflection on Eric Bibb’s Calvin performance"
I’ve been an Eric Bibb fan for a few years now but this is the first time I’ve been able to hear him live. His performance absolutely blew me away. Musically, he was fantastic throughout the whole concert. And you’re right, Ryan-with some of his songs, the lyrics are more bubbly and can be interpreted as cliché, but as you mentioned, he’s an artist whose integrity comes through with every line; you can tell that he actually means what he sings. A song like “I Heard the Angels Singing” shouldn’t work musically-the whole song consists of only a few chords. But the depth of the lyrics and the conviction with which Bibb delivers them makes it one of his best songs (in my book anyway).
And what was just as awesome to witness was how humble and friendly he is; it was clear that he’s someone who appreciates and loves his fans. During the concert, Bibb invited the audience to sing and clap along to several songs and he responded warmly to audience feedback whether it was a question between songs or during a song to shout “Glory!” or “Alright!” And afterward, during the discussion with him he was really genuine and sweet. Before his encore, Bibb let us know that it was a special night for him, too: “I’m gonna remember this one; I’m gonna have a special pocket.”
Here’s a quote about his music that I read somewhere and really love: “His music is often described as blues, and that’s certainly one source he knows well. Like Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder though, he also draws on gospel, jazz, and soul and weaves all those deep roots together into something both fresh and timeless. When he sings, it is very clear indeed that when you get deep inside the spirit of music, there’s no need to choose or to worry about a name for it anymore.” I love that Eric Bibb’s music doesn’t fit into one neat box, but rather is something that is influenced by and borrows from various genres under the umbrella of folk music. As Bibb said on NPR this past weekend, “Music is a fluid thing that disrespects boundaries, and I think we’ve gotten too used to categorizing music.”
I wrote a review of the concert for Chimes. A friend of mine told me that I wasn’t quite as critical as he would have liked, but I told him that there wasn’t much to be critical of—it was truly an amazing performance. The only thing about the concert that disappointed me was the poor turnout; I feel like a lot of people in the Calvin community don’t know Bibb’s music, which is sad in itself—I wish more people had given it a chance. Where else will you ever get to see an act like Eric Bibb for $5?
Jen Bengtson
Posted by Jen Bengtson on 03/01 at 03:31 PM
Interview with Dave Lyzenga about Joanna Newsom
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Joanna Newsom is an artist who generates a polarizing effect. Her fans and detractors are like oil and water. Dave Lyzenga is a former Cultural Discerner and Student Activities Board member (and a major fan of Joanna Newsom). This is an interview with him in preparation for Joanna Newsom’s visit to Calvin College Chapel March 12.
When I first heard Joanna Newsom I thought immediately of a more organic sounding Björk. Just like with Björk, it took a few listens to align myself with Newsom’s quirky nature. When did you first hear Joanna Newsom and what was your reaction?
I first heard Joanna right after Ys was released in 2006. At first, I scoffed at the mere five tracks, and then scoffed again when I saw that these tracks averaged over ten minutes in length. Then I saw the overly ornate album artwork and decided that I already knew this artist was committing the primordial sin for music elitists everywhere: trying too hard.
Finally, I heard her voice. If there was any doubt in my mind that the album wasn’t contrived before, it was instantly removed on the first seemingly intentional screeching break in her voice in the opening song, “Emily.” To me, it was clear that this Joanna Newsom was manipulating her work to be as irritating and inaccessible as possible so that she would either get points for being “out there” and highbrow, or that she was alienating people in order to be left only with a rabid fan base and be crowned “not for everyone, but great for few.”
I was listening at work, and I begrudgingly let the album play through to completion so that I could say that “I had tried it” when asked by future Newsom evangelists. I was struck a few times by musical phrases or lyrics that caught my attention away from my CIT job long enough for me to give it a real listen, but I was mostly underwhelmed by the album that had received so much praise.
To this day, it’s still a slight mystery as to why I came back a second time. I want to say that I was clever enough to recognize that this album in particular would have a staggering amount of growing power for me, or that it would later be called “one of the year’s most rewarding albums” to re-listen to far and wide, or that she would go on to date Andy Samberg and that I would later find this merger of two worlds mildly hilarious—but I didn’t realize any of that.
I think what it was for me, and what it is for many other listeners out there, is that she captured me with a winning formula: just enough clearly distinguished lyrics, just enough orchestrated strings movements, and just enough accessibility to what it was that she was really saying to get me to listen just one more time, even though I wasn’t listening devotedly. From there on out, it was like she was on a campaign to build on those winning moments and slowly introduce me to new ones. I am still shocked to find that the process is continuing.
So that’s it. Three years later, I went from someone who was adamant in rebuking the devoted to someone who tells that exact musical redemption testimony. I was lost and now am found. I would disgust myself if I weren’t me.
It’s the elephant in the room in any conversation about the spritely Joanna Newsom: what do you say to the detractors of her Björk-child vocals? What are those people missing?
Like I said, I’ve become sort of a missionary of Newsomness, so I have experienced this hesitation from a lot of people to whom I recommend her. I still can’t listen to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and honestly claim to be enjoying myself for the very same vocal reason. It really might not be “for everyone.”
I think the only thing that really bothered me, specifically, about her voice is that I thought it was inauthentic—that she was attempting to sound ridiculous for the sake of being different. From what I have read and seen in interviews, however, she simply calls her voice “untrainable,” and is saddened when people refer to it as childlike, because she feels that her lyrics are anything but naive and innocent. I personally believed her (and how could I not with that naive and innocent child-like voice?), and it just wasn’t really much of an issue for me from then on out.
Her later work has sort of hammered out a lot of the vocal quirks that people were initially surprised by, but I think the biggest thing is just to try it. If you like it even a little, go back and start the process of really listening. In my mind, she is a poet before she is a vocalist, and if her singing doesn’t bring you back, hopefully the years of classical harp training, the dense lyrics, and the song craftsmanship will bring you back along with the quirks.
Others say that she is too silly or precious to be taken seriously. Why should we want to be listening to metaphorical story about a monkey and a bear?
This comes back to the previous issue of authenticity. Imagine reading Animal Farm without having had any recommendation from anyone or knowledge of its existence beforehand. It would likely appear to be a goofy story about talking animals that are oddly mean to each other and you’d hate it. You would, don’t lie to yourself.
Perhaps this is a bad example, because I’m not that big of a fan of the book, even having it explained (I blame high school), but I can appreciate the idea of it after I’ve been given some context. More importantly, after understanding what I’m reading and who wrote it, I’m not worried that this author is trying to fool me into thinking they are credible so they can pop out of a cake and shout, “Gotcha!” if I enjoy it and analyze it.
Joanna Newsom’s lyrics are cryptic, verbose, and full of allusions. I can see why some would view them as overwrought. However, they are also intricate, provocative, and, above all, they are sincere. In my mind, if an artist is sincere, silliness is irrelevant.
Newsom describes her works as being biographical, yet her lyrics seemed to be ripped straight from Ole English Literature. How do you think Newsom is able to reconcile those two themes in her work? Is it similar to the way that she reconciles folk and classicism? Is it the harp she plays?
I think some people simply have a draw toward communicating classicalism in the same way they might have a draw toward communicating through pop culture references or through recorded video or what have you. Olde English vocabulary and sensibilities seem to have stuck with Joanna Newsom, and it seems that she simply speaks that language. I think most artists are autobiographical in at least some way, but Joanna Newsom does make it abundantly clear that her songs are inspired by her life.
“Emily” is a song largely inspired by her sister, who is an astrophysicist and also sings background vocals on the track. “Cosmia” deals with the death of a close friend. “Sawdust & Diamonds” was at least partially based on the earliest memory Newsom has of dreaming as a child. While “Monkey & Bear” may not be as obviously based in reality, Newsom has said that each of the songs at least somewhat tells a story from her life, and in my mind, this is true for any artist. Something that the artist experienced inspired their piece, and it that way it is all autobiographical.
People have referenced Shakespeare to describe what it’s like to listen to Joanna Newsom. She is one of the few artists to seriously use ‘thee’ in a lyric and actually pull it off! Do you think that’s fair? Maybe Canterbury Tales, instead?
I might call it something more like early colonial, but the style changes from piece to piece. I can’t help but think that if there had been a woman with the mind of a modern feminist somehow placed in a puritan village and handed a harp, the result would sound very much like what Joanna Newsom produces. She sings about her love who has gone to the west, sea stories from passing ship captains, and the smell of stone fruit (which I personally had to Wikipedia to discover she is likely talking about a peach). Canterbury Tales would certainly be in the list of potential influences and time-period-speak.
Hmm… am I allowed to talk about both Björk and Joanna Newsom in the same sentence?
Only if there are an even number of negative qualifiers, I think.
As a former Student Activities Board member, you’re familiar with our mission here at the Student Activities Office. Why do you think that Joanna Newsom makes for a fit in the Calvin concert season?
Through all of this, I really can’t speak for anyone other than myself. For me, Joanna Newsom is one of the most thought-provoking and lyrically powerful artists who is currently making music. Her work is dense, overwhelming, and profound. From everything that I’ve learned from the Student Activities Office, this is that for which Calvin strives: a sincere artist who captures her or his perspective of the world and presents it in an intentional and artistic way.
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Goodby, Vic Chesnutt.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Communications professor, FFM committee member and all-around-friend of the SAO has written an astoundingly beautiful eulogy for Vic Chesnutt. Here’s an excerpt of the piece, which deftly weaves together tribute, personal biography and artistic analysis:
Read the obituaries. Listen to his name being mentioned by important people in the music industry; “he lived to fight,” “he was such an inspiration,” “he was one of the strongest people I knew.” All admirable epitaphs, but strangely similar. Some are talking about his music, but most are talking about the spectacle. I’m not willing to deny the fact that Vic Chesnutt lived as a person with a disability, but I am willing, more than willing, to let that only be one part of my memory of him. Like all of us, he was a combination of things, a combination of talents, demons, stories, experiences. (Read more…)
Chesnutt was slated to perform and be interviewed as part of last spring’s Festival of Faith & Music, but had to cancel last minute due to illness.
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Two favorites: David Dark on The Mountain Goats
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
In a recent “exegesis” for the resurrected online magazine Killing the Buddha, David Dark writes about how John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats is helping to bring the Age of Irony to a close. Dark and Darnielle both took the stage at Ladies Literary Club this past fall for a lecture and concert, respectively. Will there be a meet-up in the future (*cough, cough* FFM 2011)?
1 comment on "Two favorites: David Dark on The Mountain Goats"
That would be awesome. David Dark was my Sophmore English teacher in high school. He was the best high school teacher I ever had!
Posted by Taylor Fleet on 02/06 at 07:46 PM
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