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Questions and Answers with Rita Houston of WFUV
Her official bio labels her “a nationally recognized tastemaker”—and that’s no exaggeration. Indeed, this week, the Smoke-Filled Room welcomes a radio personality whose voice should be familiar to all those jaded New Yorkers (and web radio listeners) craving an alternative to commercial radio. Rita Houston is the Music Director of WFUV, appropriately located at the left end of the radio dial at 90.7 FM. FUV, or Fordham University’s Voice, while affiliated with Fordham, is managed and staffed with industry veterans. The station’s roster of hosts boast familiar voices from the golden age of New York radio, like Pete Fornatale and Vin Scelsa.
Houston and her team at WFUV have created a listener-supported station that inspires uncommon loyalty. And it’s one that nurtures and champions new artists that wouldn’t normally get airplay in the nation’s largest media market. But the station also maintains an intimate family-like vibe—as a rule, the hosts exude warmth and the station is alternative but never edgy.
We recently caught up with Houston on her way to—where else?—a Bob Dylan gig to chat about the decline in political songwriting, the myth of the NPR crowd, and why Steve Earle and Ani DiFranco always win.
Questions and Answers with Lee Ranaldo
As any Smoke-Filled Room regular can tell you, we spend a lot of time in this space talking about what it means to be politically active and socially engaged. Some of the musicians who stop by to chat with us are activists in word, some in deed, and perhaps a few in both. Sonic Youth, though, is one of those rare bands that have demonstrated their politics largely via their creative process and career choices—creating an unusually democratic songwriting process, maintaining a DIY ethic while recording for a major label, and nurturing a burgeoning alternative rock movement that followed in their wake. While Sonic Youth members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are perhaps the most visible of the bunch, especially when it comes to politics (Gordon was, most recently, a much-celebrated and high-profile member of “Obama Youth”), guitarist Lee Ranaldo still manages to make his influence felt with his guitar playing and songwriting—particularly on the band’s just-released record The Eternal. We caught up with Ranaldo, the man Rolling Stone calls the “33rd Greatest Guitarist of All Time,” to chat about how it feels to come home to an independent label, Gordon’s headline-making Radiohead dig, and elevating subtlety over sloganeering.
Crawdaddy!: Congratulations on the new record! Let’s talk a bit about the songwriting process and then transition into some more political talk. To an outsider, and perhaps some fans, Sonic Youth is somewhat unusual in that you all seem to be influential in the creative process. Is that a fair assessment?
Questions and Answers with Patterson Hood
Here in the Smoke-Filled Room, we often find ourselves bemoaning the dearth of political activists on the scene these days. Not today. Today we extend our heartfelt birthday wishes to a man who has largely shaped our very concept of the protest singer. That man, of course, is the incomparable Pete Seeger, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday in high style with a star-studded concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Not surprisingly, all the proceeds from the event went to a good cause—the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a non-profit organization created to defend and restore the Hudson River. Among the dozens of A-listers who showed up to pay tribute to Seeger were Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and a good friend of the Smoke-Filled Room, Ani DiFranco. Most importantly, for our purposes, was the involvement of Patterson Hood. Hood, who is best-known for leading the powerhouse Southern rock group Drive-By Truckers, is a formidable activist in his own right, and his new solo record, the delightfully titled Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), is due out later this month. We caught up with Hood to talk about sharing a stage with the Boss, what to expect from Obama, and the cause closest to his heart.
Crawdaddy!: First of all, congratulations on the release of your new album, which comes out next month and will mark the end of a very long process of writing and recording. Are you relieved? Sorry to see the end of it?
Patterson Hood: Very relieved. It’s been an extremely long process. I’m very proud of the album and have wanted to see it come out for a long time. It also clears the way for me to do other things, too.
Questions and Answers with Slaid Cleaves
Here in the Smoke-Filled Room, we make it our business to keep a keen eye on politics and current events. But with the presidential election, legislative politics, and everything else going on in the world (pirates!), we haven’t quite had the time to delve into our current economic troubles. But who better to talk declining economic fortunes than Texas troubadour Slaid Cleaves? Cleaves is an Austin-based rock and folk guitar-slinger in the tradition of Woody Guthrie—though he’s a bit more subtle in his delivery of the truth. From his early days playing Texas honkytonks to the release of his new album, Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away, Cleaves has painted extraordinarily vivid portraits of ordinary men and women just trying to stay sane and make ends meet. We caught up with the gravelly-voiced Cleaves to talk about Stephen King’s taste in music, Woody Guthrie and the Death Star, and the fragmentation of American culture.
Crawdaddy!: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. So, you mentioned you just finished pumping gas. Are you out on the road touring?
Slaid Cleaves: Yeah, the record comes out tomorrow (April 21st). I thought it’d be out earlier this year, so I booked all these tour dates and now I’m out here and the record’s not out yet. But I’m out here playing shows and telling people about it.
Pondering the Dearth of Conservative Rockers
I’ll admit to being a bit old-fashioned. For one thing, I continue to buy my music on vinyl and shiny silver discs. But since Crawdaddy! has been an online publication for a couple of years now, it’s probably time I started embracing the world wide web a bit more fully, which means a more interactive type of commentary here in the Smoke-Filled Room. You know, Web 2.0 and all that. So, for this week’s column, I headed straight for the user comments section of last month’s installment. As it turns out, relatively few of what I’m sure is my large and loyal fanbase decided to leave an online comment. Still, one reader did take the time to share their perspective. I got called some names (“spineless guppie” was a particularly good example and, incidentally, would also make a decent band name) and you, the readers, also took some shots (you, friends, are apparently “whiny, elitist, knee-jerk, bleeding-heart, uber-liberal members of the Democrat Party”). But, more importantly, last month’s commenter raises a decent point. Namely, do we in the rock ‘n’ roll media treat conservatives unfairly?
Part of the trouble with tackling such a question, of course, is the seeming dearth of conservative rock ‘n’ rollers, at least among the ranks of outspoken musicians. As I mentioned last month, there are a few notables, including Ted Nugent, a recent interview subject in the Smoke-Filled Room. But, for the most part, rock ‘n’ roll does seem to be populated mostly by liberals. I got to wondering about the root causes of this phenomena and sent a quick email (see, there I go embracing technology again) to some Smoke-Filled Room friends and alums asking for their take on the seeming absence of outspoken musicians hailing from the right wing. (Consistent with this month’s user comment theme, this also seems like a good time to encourage you all to chime in below.)
Tommy Womack, an old and loyal friend of the Smoke-Filled Room and an unabashedly liberal rock ‘n’ roller, chimed in succinctly, observing, “Ted Nugent is more than enough for the whole genre”—a comment that, while quite possibly true, doesn’t really get us any closer to answering our question. But quips about the Nuge aside, are a handful of conservatives—including some who, frankly, have become caricatures—really enough? Perhaps. After all, the aims of rock are many but they can’t be said to include a politically balanced artistic discourse. So, our question seems to have morphed a bit: It’s not really why we don’t have many right-wing rockers around but, rather, should we even care? Enter Will Kimbrough.
Wisdom for Politically Outspoken Musicians
For the past year or so, I’ve filled this space with questions and answers. From Ted Nugent to Ani DiFranco, musicians of all political stripes have been kind enough to share their rants, raves, and reflections. And this month’s column is by no means intended to announce the end of such conversations. On the contrary, I’ll continue to track down those unique characters that make the intersection of music and politics such a fascinating place for observation. Still, there are certain times when I’ll take over an installment or two, not as an interruption to our question-and-answer sessions, but as a supplement. And, after a year, this seems as good a time as any to pause and take a look back.
Indeed, it would be negligent not to stop and reflect on the conversations that have appeared here in the Smoke-Filled Room over the last year. And what a momentous year it has been—especially for our main concern, the intersection of music and politics. From a pair of hotly contested primaries to a historic general election to the continued waging of war on multiple fronts, the past 12 months have captivated the country and the world. And, whether they realize it or not, the musicians I’ve featured here have had a lot of wit and wisdom to share.
But it’s not just musicians who have valuable insights. Sure, I’m no Ted or Ani, but I like to think I have my fair share. It’s in this spirit that I humbly offer these three pieces of advice to the musicians I’ve interviewed so far and those whose moment in the Crawdaddy! sun is still to come—some lighthearted hopes and words of wisdom for the politically outspoken musicians of the world.
Questions and Answers with Janet Bean
President Obama has already been occupying the White House for a couple of weeks, but here in the Smoke-Filled Room, we still haven’t quite gotten over the inauguration. Indeed, Americans from coast to coast welcomed the new President with great pomp and circumstance and, in many cases, with very loud rock ‘n’ roll shows. One of the best was staged by natives of the President’s hometown. “Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change” was organized largely by the owners of the hip and always politically aware Chicago club the Hideout, and the show greeted the new administration with an all-star bill of fellow Midwesterners that included, among other rock luminaries, Ted Leo, Tortoise, Andrew Bird, and Eleventh Dream Day, who were founded in 1983 and mixed Neil Young’s electric guitar wizardry with the energy of punk. We were lucky enough to have the chance to catch up with Eleventh Dream Day’s Janet Bean to chat about the perils of compromise, how President Obama inspired her to get a new pet, and my great taste in art.
Crawdaddy!: Let’s start out with the Chicago inauguration gig… how did it come together?
Janet Bean: That gig really came together because of the sheer chutzpah of Katie and Tim at the Hideout and the ethics they operate the club under—and live their lives under. They created this sense of community through the club because they are so active in issues of social justice within the community, and it brings out the best in everybody. They are always willing to help out. I’ll call them up and ask for a benefit; I’ll say I want to do this event on what’s going on in the Congo to raise awareness, and they’re always on board. So, because of their political activism, they inspire and foster a great environment, and that’s how the gig came together.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Working on a Dream
(Columbia, 2009)
“Yes, there’s a new Bruce Springsteen record out, and yes, it’s pretty okay. Good, even. But as much as people will have you believe he’s experiencing a creative renaissance that rivals Bob Dylan’s last three records, it’s not exactly true.” That’s my fellow Crawdaddy! contributor Mike Conklin weighing in on the Boss’ latest Columbia LP, Working on a Dream, last week in these very pages. And Conklin, as usual, is right on. Working on a Dream occasionally inspires but, with perhaps one exception, is never revelatory—a record that fans will enjoy but that will eventually be relegated to obscurity amidst a catalogue teeming with classics.
As with Springsteen’s past several albums, Brendan O’Brien produces. But unlike on the album’s recent predecessors like 2002’s The Rising and 2005’s Devils & Dust, Working on a Dream often puts O’Brien’s snappy pop production front and center. The production values don’t suit the Boss and the results are disappointing. But it’s hard to blame the producer entirely for a pedestrian effort. Indeed, 2007’s Magic, also produced by O’Brien, introduced a Boss for the digital age and, surprisingly, largely succeeded. Indeed, the real trouble with Working on a Dream is that it lacks both the vigor and poignancy that’s always been Springsteen’s trademark. Whether it was tales of teenagers up to no good on Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. or helping a nation cope with tragedy on The Rising, Bruce, at his best, has always sung, and the E Street Band has always played, like it mattered. Alas, there is no urgency here.
And if the album’s production is lacking, the lyrics are where it falters even more dramatically. Springsteen has inexplicably saddled himself with the triteness and clichés of throwaway tracks, like the banal “Queen of the Supermarket” and the plodding “What Love Can Do.” Where The Rising gave Springsteen a chance to help the nation mourn 9/11, Working on a Dream showcases a decidedly positive outlook—clearly many of these songs were conceived before the scope of the nation’s current economic turmoil was apparent. A good attitude, of course, is not necessarily an impediment to a great record. But Working on a Dream’s strongest tracks are its most heartbreaking—a handful of stories of anguish and grief: The album’s closer, “The Last Carnival”, a loving and moving tribute to E Street Band keyboard player Danny Federici, and the bonus track, “The Wrestler.” The latter, stark and haunting, is culled from the soundtrack of the superb film of the same name, and flawlessly encapsulates that movie’s sense of profound melancholy. It is the album’s only superlative track, and has earned a place among Springsteen’s best.
The album’s final songs help its case, and we’re left with a record that is flawed but often enjoyable. For every maudlin moment, we’re rewarded with something like “Outlaw Pete”, a strange and rambling, though oddly affecting, story-song with a dust bowl aesthetic. In the end, Working on a Dream can most fairly be described as a middle-of-the-road record, though boasting a handful of exceptional numbers. Indeed, as Conklin would say, “It’s pretty okay. Good, even.” But, sadly, not much more.
Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]
Tags: Bruce Springsteen, Working on a Dream, Brendan O’Brien
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Andrew Bird
Andrew Bird
Noble Beast
(Fat Possum, 2009)
Andrew Bird is poised for a breakthrough; no doubt busy making the transition from indie darling to mainstream rock ‘n’ roll star. Or at least that’s what Jonathan Mahler’s recent fawning profile in The New York Times Magazine would have us believe. According to Mahler’s piece, Bird’s label, Fat Possum, is hoping to sell at least 25,000 copies of Bird’s new LP, Noble Beast, during the first week of its release—or more than double the first-week sales of Bird’s highest seller to date, 2007’s Armchair Apocrypha. But if Bird is looking to spread his wings and endear himself to the masses, you wouldn’t necessarily know it from listening to the new album itself, which seems to have less grand ambitions. That’s not to say it’s not a superb record. Indeed, Noble Beast may be Bird’s most accomplished record to date—but it’s more focused and smaller in scale than its predecessors, eschewing grandiose chamber pop for an eclectic set of neatly-arranged acoustic rock. Some of the baroque elements of Bird’s previous albums remain (and Bird’s vocals still occasionally recall the soaring operatic musings of Rufus Wainwright), but the crisp melodies of songs like the album’s opener “Oh No” and “Tenuousness” are less ornate, though certainly no less pleasing—grounded in straightforward acoustic guitar figures.
Noble Beast was no doubt a struggle for Bird, who seems to have made an effort to suppress some of the instrumental tangents, alternately frustrating and charming, present on Armchair Apocrypha and 2005’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs. The songs that make up Noble Beast, with several exceptions (including the over-long “Masterswarm”), are more concise and restrained. Indeed, in a recent interview Bird articulated precisely this tension, observing, “I have some irrepressible pop impulses to write an appealing, concise song. And I also have some irrepressible kind of restlessness as well, and I need to keep myself interested. When I’m left to my own devices, there’s a struggle. Like a song like ‘Fitz and the Dizzy Spells’, because you know it wants to be this pop song, but it has so many digressions in it.” On Noble Beast, it’s largely the pop song that triumphs over the digressions—and the album is better for it, though the listener should be comforted by the knowledge that Bird’s creative impulses will never be fully restrained.
As with his previous releases, Bird’s lyrics on Noble Beast are hyper-literate and dense, though sometimes maddeningly so. Indeed, his phrases can be challenging to unravel, with his meaning obscured by inventive wordplay and alliteration. On this count, at least, Noble Beast is not entirely unlike portions of Paul Simon’s Graceland and other works where the character and quality of a lyric can sometimes take precedence over its precise meaning.
Bird is a classically trained violinist, and though his fiddling skills are employed liberally throughout, his virtuosity never overwhelms the songs, instead adding the satisfying flourishes that distinguish Noble Beast. And with melodic pop choruses worthy of the Shins, Bird seems to have come upon a pop-music formula that’s unique yet rooted in the familiar, all combining to make Noble Beast immensely rewarding.
Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]
Tags: Andrew Bird, Noble Beast, Fat Possum
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Questions and Answers with Jim Musselman
by: Matt Gewolb
Crawdaddy!: First of all, congratulations on the release of your 100th record. Did you ever think when you started Appleseed Recordings that you’d reach that kind of milestone?
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by: Matt Gewolb
published: September 1, 2009
in column: The Smoke-Filled Room
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