TAG SALE COSMOLOGY

New Song (Mother’s Arms) as Performed Last Week

Check out this video of Collin and I doing an interpretive dance to my new song Mother’s Arms. I made matching Star Trek-inspired shirts for this performance at Bar in New Haven, CT on November 18th. We had just made up the dance two nights earlier and hadn’t had much chance to practice…luckily the result was cool! Next time around, we’ll be a bit tighter. We hadn’t had a chance to practice with the projection, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the color shifts made it look like our uniforms were changing color too, hinting at the palette of the starship crew members’ costumes over the years.

BJ Snowden at The Slipper Room

Just to follow up…
BJ’s show at The Slipper Room did not disappoint. Can you tell how much I enjoyed it?

Wearing a sparkly silver top and shiny pants, BJ began her set by asking if the people in the audience liked to watch court TV. Without further ado, she launched into “Judge Joe Brown,” a catchy tune I was unfamiliar with but must now have.

The following are some of the highlights of the show:

- BJ announced that she would play a techno song, and the bass on her keyboard started thumping. Not sure of the name of this one but it was a pretty complex instrumental. Though the song technically didn’t have any lyrics, BJ leaned into the mic at one point and cackled extremely loudly like a witch….twice. It was great!

- BJ’s 85-year old mother Virginia Snowden sang along on “Disaster and Tragedy.” Virginia wrote the lyrics for the song, a tribute to 9/11, and BJ wrote the music. Virginia was wearing a BJ Snowden t-shirt and shiny pants that appeared to match BJ’s. Her energy and agility were impressive!

- During the performance of “School Teacher,” Virginia once again chucked hard gumballs into the audience. We giddily ducked and then gathered our booty.

- Laminated lyrics cards with pictures of BJ and various Canadian flags were passed out so we could sing along with “In Canada.” The lyric cards indicated that in the last chorus the words break down to la-de-de-de-de-dee etc, and indeed BJ started scatting up a storm toward the end of the song. This went on for a good 40 seconds or so before I realized it wouldn’t end anytime soon and began videotaping it. Another minute later and she was STILL scatting and her mother had gone up to the stage and pulled down a mic so she could join in.

-BJ’s son Andres Wilson joined the party with, as BJ called it, a Slayer-like solo. He did admittedly have some fancy fingerwork going on and it was heartwarming to see the whole Snowden clan united in musical harmony (pictured below).

See more pics on my Flickr page.
Go to BJ’s myspace page.

BJ Snowden LIVE Tomorrow Night

If you’re in the NYC area, you might be interested in seeing BJ Snowden play tomorrow night (Saturday 11/10) at the Slipper Room. Her performances are AMAZING. The first time I saw her she opened for Daniel Johnston (along w/Kimya Dawson) and I was just blown away. I had never heard her music before but it was so catchy in its buoyancy and simplicity. The main effect of her music is that is just makes me feel incredibly happy and fulfilled. She’s so full of life - such a diva of a different ilk - and her energy really rubs off.

You may have heard her most popular song “In Canada,” in which she pays homage to the friendly, welcoming people of our northern land mass neighbor. She was so inspired by her time in Canada that she actually composed a number of tunes about her experiences there (they appear on her album Life in the USA and Canada). My favorite is “Oh Nuffy,” a song in which we learn a few tidbits about Newfoundland (e.g. the fact that it’s an island and its connection with the Titanic.) The highlights are BJ’s spooky ghostly “oohs,” presumably referencing the victims of the Titanic, and a particularly otherworldly segment where her vocals are slowed and pitch-shifted and then suddenly racheted back up to normal speed. (Some other fave tunes by BJ: “Drug-Free” and “Conspiracy.”)

Anyway, after the show, I tried to track her down to buy a CD and she sent me to find her mother, who was in charge of the merch. BJ’s mom was a good-natured energetic older woman donning an intense wig - not your typical merch saleswoman. She was great though - it was a pleasure to, um, do business with her.

She came into town again some time later and my friend Fionnuala and I went to check it out. Fionnuala didn’t know too much about her but became a fan instantly. We had so much fun that night watching BJ in her sequined shirt hammering away at her keyboard that we literally had tears in our eyes. Her mother threw individually wrapped gumballs into the audience during one of the songs. And then BJ gave us B&W headshots and signed them. Yes!! I gave one to my Dad for Christmas that year (he had also recently become a fan).

So…if this sounds appealing to you, definitely come check it out! Judging by her myspace page, it seems that BJ’s most recent compositions are in homage to the Red Sox pitcher (?) Daisuke Matzusaka.

Pictured below: BJ, in a photograph from her website.

For the Love of Gene Rodenberry

Picard’s got a lotta love. Watch him get Vaudevillian.

Bobb Trimble’s re-released albums out today

Found this gentleman while searching for someone else on the Secretly Canadian site and checked out his myspace page. Even on first listen his songs resonate with their haunting and ethereal temperament. There are five melancholic songs from the re-issued albums on myspace, Harvest of Dreams and Iron Curtain Innocence, both originally released in the early 80s. You’ll get a decent earful on the site, as several of the songs are lengthy, changing forms at least once during play. I guess Bobb’s music is usually described as folk-psych but it contains elements of many other genres and influences, making its sound both nostalgic and ultra-modern. He reminds me a little of Syd Barrett or Skip Spence, except that almost everything about his music is more passionate - most notably his high sometimes-feminine voice.

Shown below are the covers of Iron Curtain Innocence, Harvest of Dreams, and Jupiter Transmission, a CD anthology released in 1995 with most of the material from these two albums. All dope cover art, I might add!

BobbTrimble.com
Secretly Canadian - re-issuing these two albums today 11/6/07.

Nice Album Cover

And the music is pretty cool too! Looks like it’s from the 60s/70s, but it was released in 2005. Check out the tunes. The band has a newer album too, released in ‘07. The new album cover is perhaps a step down from the exploding volcano pictured here, but the music sounds even better on first listen. Listen to samples here - and don’t miss Origin of Man.

Troubadour on MNN Cable Access

Eye Am, an organization dedicated to showcasing women’s films, just announced their 2007-2008 Winter Season lineup on MNN. My video Troubadour will be included in Episode 15, airing February 3rd. It’s also going to be running as a filler program with the hopes that many a manhattanite will find it while flipping through the channels.

The full schedule for the 07-08 season is as follows:

Episode 13 - Sunday December 2nd 9:30-10:30pm MNN.org/TWC 34/RCN 82 (in Manhattan): Giovanna Chesler, Naiti Gamez, Kim Kheilhofner, Margie Schnibbe

Episode 14 - Sunday January 6th 9:30-10:30pm MNN.org/TWC 34/RCN 82 (in Manhattan): Kim Kheilhofner, Lili White, Diane Spodarek, Katarina Jack

Episode 15 - Sunday February 3rd MNN.org/TWC 34/RCN 82 (in Manhattan):
Katja Straub, Lili White, Erica Magrey

Episode 16 - Sunday March 2nd MNN.org/TWC 34/RCN 82 (in Manhattan):
Selected works from the Female Eye Film Festival

Read the Eye Am blog for details about the films being shown.

Check out MNN’s website for info about their programming and how you can air your work on the channel.

Halloween 2007 In Summary

Halloween was weird this year. I really build it up and have impossible expectations annually, but my Halloween this year definitely suffered a strange sort of dampening. Most of our friends were too busy, too exhuasted, out of town, or working on things of greater importance, so there wasn’t much going on. I mean, there were plenty of parties the previous Saturday and on Halloween proper, but it wasn’t quite right. I guess what I’m usually looking for is one big party in someone’s apartment that involves dancing and everyone I know and like gathered in one place. These were the parties of the college days, when it was easier to get everyone to gather in one place. This is an unatainable ideal at this point, and I’ve pretty much come to terms with it.

At any rate, we had a good time. I finished a costume I was working on (Alien Priestess/Future Shaman) and was happy with the results.

Collin and I met up with Jen on Saturday night and checked out a party at Glasslands.

There were some animated characters in attendance. And some California raisins.

Afterward, we got some apps at Anytime and then parted ways.

On Halloween proper, Collin and I half-dressed up and went out to the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. We people-watched and saw a good Justin Timberlake and an ultra-scary zombie among other things [read: uncreative sexy costumes]. The zombie was a very heavy guy loping around by himself, covered with green smudgy makeup and blood. Disturbingly convcinging. Wish I got a pic.

For the full run-down, see my Halloween 2007 Flickr photo set.

Also, two excellent photos sent by Brina: her as the lady from Grey Gardens, and Joanne and her boyfriend as John and Yoko. Enjoy!