Tools for Tunes
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- Published on Wednesday, 15 February 2012 14:40
- Written by Matt Robinson
Arts & Business Council offers new help for musicians
THE BOSTON MUSIC SCENE IS ONE OF the richest in the world. With two conservatories and Berklee pumping out talent across all genres every year, there are more young and hungry artists in Boston than almost anywhere else.
In an effort to support these often struggling stars of the future, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (www.artsandbusinesscouncil. org) is joining with Berklee and Ernie Boch, Jr.’s Music Drives Us organization to launch a new professional development program aimed at helping Boston’s many deserving young artists reach their goals by reaching more fans.
Known as the Musician’s Professional Toolbox (MPT), this condensed MBA-style program (which is modeled after ABC’s successful Artist’s Professional Toolbox) will take place on 
Mondays from February 13 through April 28. Each element of MPT will serve to improve musicians’ business sense and also their vital marketability. In addition to speakers and seminars, participants will be able to enjoy and benefit from one-on-one advice and emerge not only with new information, but also with an actionable marketing plan, promotional materials, and the support of an ever-widening group of musicians and other key industry contacts.
“With the launch of this program, Boston’s aspiring musicians can benefit from the knowledge of business leaders and musicians who have tapped into their entrepreneurial spirit to flourish professionally,” says A&BC Executive Director Jim Grace. “We believe participants will gain valuable skills and insights that can translate into immediate benefits as they rise to the challenges of their careers.”
At the official launch event, participants will be invited to a series of workshops and will also be given the opportunity to hear a kickoff keynote address by Peter Spellman, director of Berklee’s Career Development Center. “I think the series is promising as musicians seek to find their legs in the new music economy,” Spellman says. “It’s a trying time for the whole music community and this workshop series is designed to provide tools, resources and strategies to help musicians set their sails on these turbulent waters.”
Another participant will be author and consultant Angela Beeching, who mirrored Spellman at the Career Services Center at New England Conservatory for many years before moving to direct the Center for Music Entrepreneurship at the Manhattan School of Music. As Beeching has taken APT courses in the past, she has sen first-hand how effective it can be for artists of all kinds. “The APT programs has been running successfully now for a while,” she observes, “so I’m very glad the stars were all aligned in 2012 to make this happen for musicians.” As the sessions will be limited to groups of 30, Beeching looks forward to working with each artist individually. “I am hoping that this program will be a fascinating exploration,” she says. “Each musician [will come] with his or her own set of goals, concerns, opportunities, and challenges.”
The series will culminate wit h the Rethink Music conference which will take place April 23-4. From business models to copyright challenges to new means of distribution, this Berklee-based conference will bring the ABC’s of music to the A&BC program. “I am so glad to see what the Arts & Business Council is doing - both with this program and in partnership with Rethink Music,” says MPT participant and Michelle Conceison, who is the head of the music marketing firm Market Monekys. “Boston has always been a thought-leading city. We have such a vibrant and collaborative music community, and a long heritage as a launchpad for new talent.”
So if you are a musician who has been at it at least five years who needs a bit of support to take that crucial next step, it is as easy as A&BC.
“We’ll address the question every musician today must answer,” Beeching says. “It’s a brave new world, what’s the future you want to create?”
Picking Up the “Pieces”
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- Published on Wednesday, 15 February 2012 14:38
- Written by Matt Robinson
Filmmaker Bob Rafelson coming to Suffolk’s Modern February 21
AS DETAILED IN ART SINGER’S NEW book, Boston’s Downtown Movie Palaces (which was recently released at the recently-refurbished Modern Theatre), the Hub was once a true hub for Hollywood productions. Instead of having an IMAX spectacle forced down your throat, cinephiles went to e grand palaces that were spectacles in themselves.
These days, much of the grandeur of that era is gone. Fortunately, some who remember and who contributed to it are willing to come back and bask in the glow of yesteryear.
Since reopening the Modern, Suffolk University has been hosting many such movie masters through their Suffolk Cinema Series (www.moderntheatre.com).
Among the noted auteurs and filmmakers Suffolk has included in its series since 2008 are Michael Cimino and Dennis Lehane. On February 21, Suffolk will bring award-winning writer/director/ producer Bob Rafelson to the Modern for a lively discussion with noted arts enthusiast and Suffolk Scholar-in-Residence Robert Brustein. In addition to working on such celebrated films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and The Black Widow, Rafelson was also involved with the hit TV series The Monkees.
Despite his acclaim, Rafelson admits that he was not confident as a young filmmaker. “I didn’t think I had the ability,” he explains. “It seemed to me that the guy who was in the booth, say for television, or on the floor for theater, behind the camera for a movie was a genius. And I didn’t feel like I was one.”
Perhaps that is why Rafelson tried his hand at so many parts of the process- working as a director, producer, editor, and actor. When asked which he enjoyed the most, Rafelson replied, “the only one of those that I could say I truly am devoted to is directing.” He notes, however, that a director has master several roles, including that of coauthor and/or head writer.
Among the other topics that fellow writer/director/producer Brustein will touch on during his conversation with Rafelson are the importance of casting, the excitement of “discovering” stars (Rafelson is credited with bringing Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Lopez, and Arnold Schwarzenegger to the screen), his lasting relationship with “Jack” and the tricks of the trade when it comes to directing sex scenes (such as the famous one from “The Postman Always Rings Twice”).
When asked about his own experiences with Rafelson, Brustein said that the first film he ever saw by his interlocutor was Five Easy Pieces and recalls being struck by “the power of the acting, the flow of the script, and the way Rafelson managed to plant a convincing Brando-type outsider inside a highbrow cultivated family.” When asked what he sees as the theme that runs through Rafelson’s work, Brustein’s suggests that it is “the link between popular culture and high art.”
Though Rafelson has not produced as much lately, Brustein also suggests that his work still holds up. In fact, he suggests, “I don’t know if a good film ever ages.” Even though the culture of America (and the world) has changed, Brustein says that the message of Rafelson’s films is as true as ever. “Tell the truth,” Brustein advises his fellow writers, “and your work will last.”
As Rafelson’s television work may not seem to coincide with his films, Brustein hopes to discuss with Rafelson the arc of his career and the creative choices he made. “I hope to talk about…the unexpected curve of his career from master film-maker to TV Monkee-maker,” Brustein says, admitting he “knows nothing” about the first music video stars, “and how he manages to combine so effortlessly the talents of rock singers, prizefighters, strippers, and movie stars.”
After Brustein interlocutes with Rafelson, the audience will also be allowed to address the Hollywood legend with questions of their own.
Just don’t ask him for a turkey sandwich!
Frozen Ropes
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 23:18
- Written by Matt Robinson
“69˚S” strings up the story of Shackleton
SIR ERNEST HENRY SHACKLETON WAS THE leader of the famous (but perhaps ironically titled) Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole. After establishing a record for the farthest south latitude ever reached by men in 1909 (falling just over 100 miles from the South Pole), Shackleton returned to Antarctica in 1917 in an effort to cross the continent. Unfortunately, his (again ironicallynamed) ship, The Endurance, was caught in the ice for many months, during which Shackleton and his crew faced trials few men have ever endured.
This happy story is the subject of the latest production by the puppet masters of Phantom Limb - 69˚S – which will play out at the Paramount Theatre February 7-12 as part of the 2011-12 Arts Emerson season (www.artsemerson. org).
Combining highly-articulated puppets with dance, film and music by Kronos Quartet, 69˚S tells the story of Shackleton’s superhuman crew in a way that is both impressively mechanized and touchingly human, focusing on the relationships that allowed the captive men to survive on the ice. In the process, the show also comments on the state of the environment and how man’s reach so often exceeds his sense.
Based on actual records from Shackleton and his crew, as well as polar scientists and environmental researchers, 69˚S takes theatergoers into the heart of Shackleton’s nightmare and into the face of the one facing us all.
“It started originally with a staging idea,” explains Phantom Limbs’ Erik Sanko, “which involved putting marionette operators on stilts. Around the same time Jessica had been saying that she really wanted for there to be a boat in the next set that we did.” Thus began Limb’s own poleassisted race to the Pole.
“We wanted to find out what impact that story has now,” adds Jessica Grindstaff. “And that’s how we sort of came around to this idea of looking at 69 degrees south and [Shackleon’s] moment of crisis.”
The show takes its title from the latitude where The Endurance eventually sank and where Shackleton’s “crisis” reached its highest point. “We are interested in looking at what the modern 69˚S is,” Sanko explains “and how we approach it, looking at how to recalibrate our ambitions and goals to have a holistic impact on our community and environment. 69˚S.”
As part of their research, Sanko and Grindtsaff wen tfrom Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH to Antarctica to find printed and more permanent records of Shackleton’s trip and its impact on the southernmost landmass in the world and the world at large. “I went down there with a little bit of an attitude,” Grindstaff recalls.
She says that she had arrived thinking about how we humans “always have to explore everywhere and be up in everyone’s business,” and that she left with a “totally different” feeling about the perilous place. “There’s just so much respect for the continent down there,” she says. “ People are so serious about what they are doing ... it’s serious business, and there’s fascinating work being done.”
One of the most important parts of this “work” is the study of global warming that is being conducted in Antarctica. “Obviously, that’s the topic of conversation,” Grindstaff says, noting that this “conversation” is raised in the second act of the performance.
So even if the closest you came to the South Pole was a trip to South Boston, join Phantom Limb on what Sanko calls “an artistic and emotional journey that explores the symbiotic relationship between humans and the environment” and that reinvigorates “the spirit of foregoing individual glory for the sake of collective survival.”
Just be sure to dress warmly!
Silent No Longer
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 23:22
- Written by Matt Robinson
Alloy Orchestra presents “Wild and Weird” films at Somerville Theatre
THESE DAYS, IF A film is not in IMAX or at least digital 3-D, there may not be an audience for it. If the soundtrack has not been run through ProTools, there may not be an ear to listen.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Was a time when people waited for weeks for the latest black and white celluloid to come to their town so they could hunker down for the afternoon with a tub of popcorn and the sweet strains of an live musical performance wafting through the theatre.
Fortunately, this truly fine art of real-time film scoring has not died. On February 4 at 8 PM, the world famous Alloy Orchestra (www.alloyorchestra. com) will bring their genre-defining live performance back to the Somerville Theatre in support of Wild and Weird, an appropriately-entitled festival of silent short films to which the Orchestra will add their improvisational magic.
While AO is known for scoring such classics as “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Metamorphosis,” founder Ken Winokur says that this series will be special even for them. “These are all films that defy the stereotypes of what silent films are,” Winokur says.
As they are so different from anything his band has worked with before (and also from so many other silent films), Winokur and his fellow Alloy-ists Terry Donohue and Roger Miller spent an inordinate amount of time preparing this program. “I have been looking at these films for years,” Winokur says, “thinking about how to put them together to show to audiences.”
The resulting collection, he says, is “fast paced, humorous, and sometimes just downright weird.” Working with silent film producer David Shepard, Winokur has also released a DVD of the entire series. However, as any fan can tell you, there is nothing quite like a live AO show!
From Wadislaw Starewicz’s 1912 film The Cameraman’s Revenge, to Hans Richter’s 1926 Dadaist masterpiece Filmstudie to J. Stuart Blackman’s 1909 Princess Nicotine, these films run the gamut in topic and technique, but all of them are brought together by AO’s stunning scores and energetic accompaniment.
So even if you are a jaded IMAX-aholic, come back to a simpler (and in many ways better) era of film with the help of Alloy Orchestra and have an experience that is wild and weird and a whole lot of fun!
Bo-Wee
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- Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 23:09
- Written by Matt Robinson
“Major Tom” gets MAJOR reworking in Trio tribute
FROM THE THIN WHITE DUKE TO ZIGGY STARDUST, DAVID Bowie has had more artistic incarnations than most 20 people. And yet people continue to take inspiration from his expansive catalog and to try to take it in even further directions.
Among the latest (and potentially most diverse) of these artists is the Brooklyn-based jazz combo Wee Trio (www.weetrio.com) who will bring music from their new Bowie tribute Ashes To Ashes - A David Bowie Intraspective to The Lily Pad in Cambridge (www.lilypad. com) on February 11.
“The name was kind of a play on words,” explains the Trio’s James Westfall, noting that the nominal inspiration came both from the Nintendo Wii (which hit stores around the time the band hit its first gig) and the fact that they were able to fit their large instruments (a bass, drums, and a vibraphone) into one of the band member’s small cars.
As they offer a combination of sounds that is almost as novel and expansive as Bowie himself. It makes sense, then, that they tried to capture the Bowie catalog on their new album.
“David Bowie is an artist that is always evolving and always changing with the times,” Westfall observes. “His music breaks genres from folk to punk to rock to electronica….Artistically, this is something that we strive for individually.” As jazz is a similarly- evolving art form the two coincide and support each other well. “Though he isn’t a jazz musician per se,” Westfall notes, “he is an artist that inspires us.” Even so, he emphasizes that, as they are a trio rooted in jazz, they bring a jazz sense to Bowie’s rock and pop proclivities.
“As an acoustic vibraphone trio we want to play the music while still staying rooted to the music that influences us day to day,” Westfall says. “Naturally because we are well studied in jazz music our interpretations on Bowie will naturally have a jazz spin on it and will be heavily improvised.”
Having downloaded the entire Bowie catalog (Legally, Westfall notes), the Trio pored over Bowie’s scores of compositions, looking for those that would be done the most justice by their unique combination of sounds. “We each listened to the records and chose four of our favorite songs and transcribed them,” Westfall recalls. “We narrowed down the songs to the best fitting songs for the group and slightly arranged each song while keeping true to the original spirit.”
Among the tracks that made the cut are “Battle For Britain” (from Earthling), “The Man Who Sold The World” (from The Man Who Sold The World), “Ashes to Ashes” (from Scary Monsters), “1984” (from Diamond Dogs) and “Sunday” (from Heathen).
As diverse and career-spanning as the tracks are, Westfall feels that he and his Wee companions have been able to bring new life to these seminal songs.
“We feel that covering another’s song is worthless unless one can make that song different than the original,” Westfall explains. “We don’t want to be a David Bowie Cover band. We want to show how this is all just music and not about genre.” Having already covered selections from the catalogs of Nirvana, Aphex Twin and Sufjan Stevens (as well as pages of great original material), the Bowie material is just the latest in the Trio’s evolving and expanding catalog of provocative performances.
“For us it’s about playing good music,” Westfall says, “whether that be Louis Armstrong, Beethoven, or David Bowie….
For the fans of Bowie, we hope to give them different renditions on their favorite songs. We hope that we can give jazz fans a deep respect for artists in other genres outside of jazz and classical and for them to recognize the brilliance in David Bowie.”
