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<a href=" http://www.kristinhersh.com target="_new"">Kristin Hersh</a></p>]] ...

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Source: http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/index.xml

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<title>Warped Reality</title>
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<copyright>Copyright 2014</copyright>
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<title>West Side Revival: The Columbus Theatre </title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ColumbusTheatreMarqueeRough.jpg"><img alt="ColumbusTheatreMarqueeRough.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ColumbusTheatreMarqueeRough-thumb.jpg" width="495" height="279" alt="Providence, RI Venue The Columbus Theatre" title="After a long renovation, the COLUMBUS THEATRE is once again a thriving arts + music space."/></a> 
A marquee first lit in 1926 is blazing once more: Providence, RI’s venerable Columbus Theatre <a href="http://columbustheatre.com" target="_blank">Columbus Theatre</a>, which opened when 10¢ matinees were the rage, reopened after extensive renovations in 2012 and has been ramping up its calendar of shows ever since.
Booking is coordinated by a collective that also helms a small recording studio upstairs. So far they’ve brought some heavy-hitters to town — last fall Bonnie Prince Billy, Bill Callahan and Cass McCombs all played in rapid succession — but they’ve also gained a reputation for an eclectic and forward-thinking booking philosophy.
Some upcoming shows that will be worth your while: 
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/RoughFrancisDeathVessel.jpg"><img alt="RoughFrancisDeathVessel.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/RoughFrancisDeathVessel-thumb.jpg" width="215" height="496" align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5" alt="Rough Francis + Death Vessel play the Columbus Theatre" title="ROUGH FRANCIS (RiotHouse Records) + DEATH VESSEL (SubPop) play the COLUMBUS THEATRE in March."/></a>
TONIGHT, March 22: Rough Francis + Ravi Shavi 
ROUGH FRANCIS is a young band with an unusually heavy sense of history. Three of the Burlington, VT-based band’s members — Bobby Jr., Urian and Julian — are the sons of Bobby Hackney Sr., bassist and vocalist of the legendary Detroit proto-punk band <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/arts/music/15rubi.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">DEATH</a>, who crafted a uniquely fiery brand of propulsive rock in the era of MOR disco. (Their amazing story is told in the 2012 doc, “A Band Called Death.” <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/470647/A-Band-Called-Death/trailers" target="_blank">Watch the trailer</a>.)
Although they began as a tribute to Death, the band quickly found their own style — showcased on its rough-and-tumble, gritty debut, “Maximum Soul Power” (Riothouse Records). 

Openers RAVI SHAVI kick up a righteous groove too — be sure to show up early!
SUNDAY, March 23: Death Vessel + Purple Ivy Shadows 
Joel Thibodeau’s <a href="http://deathvessel.com" target="_blank">Death Vessel project</a> is as otherwordly and delicate as the moniker suggests. Sometimes the band is just Joel and a rotating cast of guests — but these days the lineup includes Jeffrey Underhill (Honeybunch), Rachel Blumberg (The Decemberists) and singer-songwriter Liz Isenberg.
And be sure to catch a super-rare set from the reunited <a href="http://purpleivyshadows1.bandcamp.com
" target="_blank">Purple Ivy Shadows</a>, who released some excellent records on Dark Beloved Cloud and Slow River before calling it quits in the 2002. Do not pass go!
THE COLUMBUS THEATRE | 270 Broadway, Providence, RI 02903 UPCOMING: 
Mar 28: Magik Markers with Pixels 
Mar 29: Lonesome Leash with Diane Cluck and Orion Rigel Dommisse 
Apr 1: Arc Iris Record Release Show with Sugar Honey Ice Tea + Chris Daltry (The ‘Mericans/Purple Ivy Shadows) 
May 10: Sharon van Etten
Purchase tickets at Olympic Records, Armageddon Shop, and at ColumbusTheatre.com.
COLUMBUS MARQUEE SHOT BY ROUGH FRANCIS.
]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2014/03/west_side_revival_the_columbus.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2014/03/west_side_revival_the_columbus.html</guid>
<category>Providence</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 22 Mar 2014 17:41:11 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Throwing Muses Week: Home Is Where the Heart Lies</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/KH_FirstBeach_JoryHull.jpg"><img alt="Kristin Hersh on Newport's First Beach | Photo by Jory Hull" title="Kristin Hersh: “Everybody from an island has an island-based psychology.”" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/KH_FirstBeach_JoryHull-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="260" /></a>
<h2>Kristin Hersh on the Places that Make Up Throwing Muses’ DNA</h2>

Songwriter Kristin Hersh has called Throwing Muses’ new album + book <a href=" http://www.throwingmuses.com" target="_new">Purgatory/Paradise </a>
“a keyhole view of our goofy world.”
It’s also a ramshackle map dotted with places and memories — a kind of Rough Guide to Throwing Muses, or a music-based 36 Hours in…<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMusesWeek02.jpg"><img alt="ThrowingMusesWeek02.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMusesWeek02-thumb.jpg" width="150" height="140" title="Throwing Muses WEEK? More like Throwing Muses FORTNIGHT." hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right"/></a>
While the band’s hometown of Newport, RI, is a subtle but pervasive influence, Purgatory’s 32 songs careen restlessly from place to place —to New Orleans, Hersh’s sirensong “Bayou Paris”; down dark Portland highways, into the Palm Desert and across sticky Coke-spattered sidewalks in Providence, RI — but they always, always return to the windswept grandeur of Aquidneck Island. 
I asked Kristin to tell me about some of the places that MADE the Muses — and how they continue to influence and shape the band, which is still a beautiful work in progress after 30 years.<h3>
 How has being from Newport, a tiny town at the edge of a very big ocean, influenced your songwriting?</h3>

Kristin Hersh: Everybody from an island has an island-based psychology: you know that you're essentially safe. All you gotta do is wander around in order to get to where you're going. Because circles are all you're meant to move in and god introduced confines and expanses at the same time.<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ArthursSeatEdinburgh.jpg"><img alt="Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland" title="Kristin: “You climb past ruins and picnickers to be moved to tears by wildflowers.”" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ArthursSeatEdinburgh-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="312" /></a>
<h3>
This is kind of metaphysical, but what places give you strength + make you feel like you can accomplish anything?</h3>
KH: Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh: you climb a hill past ruins and picnickers and end up moved to tears by heather and yellow wildflowers. Texas hill country, where the air feels infused with potential. 
Forest Park in Portland, OR, sucking down the chlorophyll. 
Anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. Sachuest Point nature preserve, here on the island. 
And New Orleans: voodoo plus alcohol plus forgiveness.<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TheBellsThen.jpg"><img alt="The Reefs (M Davis Residence), Breton Point, Newport" title="Once one of Newport’s greatest estates, The Reefs fell into disrepair in the 1960s —only the ruined stables, known as the Bells, remain." src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TheBellsThen-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="321" /></a>
<h3>
Purgatory Rd. + Paradise Ave. are an actual crossroad in Middletown, RI. Name 5 other places that are part of Throwing Muses’ DNA.</h3>
KH: The Bells, a graffiti-covered wreck of a wreck of a building on Ocean Drive. It's where skaters and burnouts partied when we were in high school. 
The Cliff Walk, in Newport. We'd stumble down the cliffs to hide with our friends by the water, drink beer, and play guitar and boom boxes.<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TheBellsNow.jpg"><img alt="The Bells, Brenton Point, Newport" title="“A graffiti-covered wreck of a wreck.” | Photo by Jory Hull" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TheBellsNow-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="276" /></a>

Dave's parents' attic, our practice space when we were 14. We left spray painted messages and drawings for each other on the walls. A far as I know, they're still there.
Second Beach in Middletown. The suffer end is for surfers, the other end is for beached whales. We hang out in the middle.
The Salvation Army on Broadway in Newport. Nobody there has any teeth. It's where we bought (and still buy) our clothes, furniture and Christmas presents.<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/NOLAcirca1878.jpg"><img alt="New Orleans Street Plan circa 1878" title="Kristin Hersh calls New Orleans a “Bayou Paris.”" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/NOLAcirca1878-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="276" /></a>
<h3>
Places past, present, loved, hated — go with your gut instincts. </h3>
KH: Little Five Points, Atlanta, GA. Where I was born, where my hippie home movies were filmed. Where I got the accent you can only hear when I'm tired, drunk, or both.
Athens, GA, where Vic Chesnutt lived when he lived. His house was my safe house. Can't say that I really feel that safe anymore.
Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, TN, where my family is from, where my grandparents lived and where I learned all the Appalachian folk songs on "Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight."
The Living Room!! We opened for REM, X, the Meat Puppets and the Violent Femmes there and played our first headlining show (where they paid audience members a dollar to come in).<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/LivingRoomAtticSplit.jpg"><img alt="The Living Room in Providence. RI/Throwing Muses in 1985 | Photo by Paul Robicheau" title="The Living Room in Providence, RI, where the Muses played their 1st shows, and the stairs to the attic space where they practiced." src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/LivingRoomAtticSplit-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="257" /></a>
<h3>Investigate</h3>
Read the CD, listen to the book —Purgatory/Paradise lets you determine your own experience. It’s totally choose your own adventure, but I went for the listen first, then listen-and-read, then listen again approach. (And I’m still listening.)
Find your own way of diving in — knowing full well that, no matter how you get there, the rewards will be huge. 
<a href="http://www.throwingmuses.com" target="_new">Buy Purgatory/Paradise </a> 
<a href="https://twitter.com/throwingmuses" target="_new">Throwing Muses on Twitter </a> 
<a href="https://twitter.com/kristinhersh" target="_new">Kristin Hersh on Twitter </a> 
<a href="http://www.lakunadesign.com" target="_new">Lakuna Design</a> 
<a href=" http://www.cashmusic.org" target="_new">Cashmusic.org</a> 
<a href=" http://www.kristinhersh.com" target="_new">Kristin Hersh</a> 

 IMAGES: <a href="http://allkindsagirls.blogspot.com/2013_03_01_archive.html" target="_new">LIVING ROOM</a> (FROM ALLKINDSAGIRLS BLOG) | ATTIC BY PAUL ROBICHEAU, 1985 (SCAN COURTESY OF C. PUFFER) | <a href="http://www.vimeo.com/20344267" target="_new"> FIRST BEACH, BELLS STILLS BY JORY HULL</a> ]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2014/01/throwing_muses_week_home_is_wh.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2014/01/throwing_muses_week_home_is_wh.html</guid>
<category>Throwing Muses Week</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jan 2014 22:33:29 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Throwing Muses Week: Providence Music Underground </title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMuses_JNarcizo.jpg"><img alt="ThrowingMuses_JNarcizo.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMuses_JNarcizo-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="363" align="center" alt="Throwing Muses, 1985 | Photo: J. Narcizo" title="Throwing Muses in 1985 | Photo by J. Narcizo"/></a> 
Can you go home again?Back in high school, I distinctly remember vowing to leave Providence and never come back.Since then, I’ve ping-ponged back and forth so many times it’s a wonder I don’t have whiplash. And yet — there’s something about this town that’s magic. Weird magic, but magic nonetheless.And for me, the town’s allure was solidified through music.Two bands in particular formed the soundtrack to my Providence adolescence: Throwing Muses and Coat of Arms.
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMusesWeek02.jpg"><img alt="ThrowingMusesWeek02.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMusesWeek02-thumb.jpg" width="200" height="187" title="Throwing Muses Week at Warped Reality Magazine" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right"/></a><h3>Keeping Providence Weird</h3>Mid-80s Providence was your typical post-industrial city — economically downtrodden and pretty damn culture-deprived. But, like anywhere, there were beacons of hope around if you took the time to look for ‘em. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that comics and music got me through high school.
I’ve seen the Muses enough, and in such far-flung venues, that I no longer even truly associate them with Providence (or Newport), or think of them necessarily as being a local band. Coat of Arms, on the other hand, bring me right back to Providence, c. 1987. I’d just moved back here from California. I’d started to get into weird comics (the weirdest I got at the time was Love & Rockets —I know, NOT WEIRD. But, context is everything, and I lived in a tiny cultural wasteland) and I figured it was time to branch out into music. <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/CoARoustCassetteCover.jpg"><img alt="CoARoustCassetteCover.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/CoARoustCassetteCover-thumb.jpg" width="260" height="382" width="220" height="363" align="left" hspace="7" vspace="7" alt="The cover of Coat of Arms’ ROUST! self-released cassette tape, from 1987." title="Coat of Arms released ROUST! in 1987, around the time a local paper called them “too big for their britches.”"/></a>I became friends with the school’s lone acid freak, who got me into the Velvets and Eno. (That was a slow process, but I got there eventually.) Somewhere along the way I bought a slew of cassettes by local bands like Sleep that Burns, Stained Rug Theory, and Coat of Arms. <h3>Coat of Arms: Party Band for Weirdos</h3>
Coat of Arms stood out. They had a rep as a party band, but they also weren’t afraid to use instruments not seen in your typical 4/4 lineup (flute, banjo, violin). 
And their sound was comparatively sunny-sounding and all-American, fitting in nicely with their contemporaries (fIREHOSE, Pixies, Muses, Lemonheads). Songs like “Common Ground” and “Indoor Poolz” were giddy and effervescent, equal parts power-pop and kitchen-sink glam. (“(When I) Touch You There” went all jangle-pop on us.) The band’s reach often exceeded their grasp, but that was part of the fun. Thankfully, their one-off reunion in 2006 didn’t add any gloss to the proceedings. (And no, the cheekily earnest cover of “Borderline” didn’t count.) <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/CoatOfArmsSubjectToChgCAGE1.jpg"><img alt="CoatOfArmsSubjectToChgCAGE1.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/CoatOfArmsSubjectToChgCAGE1-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="363" alt="Coat of Arms + Subject to Change Flyer, 1985" title="Flyer advertising Coat of Arms/Subject to Change show at THE CAGE, 1985" hspace="5" vspace="5"/></a>
<h3>Throwing Muses: Fearless + Beautiful</h3>Back in the socially awkward years of late high school, Throwing Muses’ first album and the subsequent Chains Changed EP were the most cathartic albums I owned. Although I was also a big Joy Division fan, I preferred the conversational, open-ended quality of singer/songwriter Kristin Hersh’s often harrowing narratives — they were fearless but also approachable, humane, sharp. They felt like real life to me. <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMuses1987.jpg"><img alt="ThrowingMuses1987.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMuses1987-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="363" align="center" alt="Newport, RI band Throwing Muses in 1987" title="Throwing Muses in 1987. L-R: Leslie Langston, David Narcizo, Tanya Donelly and Kristin Hersh" hspace="7" vspace="7"/></a> I don’t think I’d ever seen a songwriter write so matter-of-factly, and so un-self-pityingly, about some of the bleakest experiences of her life — or with such wry humor. The Muses didn’t really fit in to the Providence scene, and maybe that’s why I loved (love) them so much. But then, I’ve always loved the outliers, the outsiders and the oddballs.
<h3>Investigate</h3>Coat of Arms singer Pip Everett’s got a couple of bands going right now: The Hope Anchor + Everett Bros. Moving Co. Follow <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/hopeanchor" target="_new">The Hope Anchor</a>. 
Pip also just recorded a track (or two?) for Tanya Donelly’s next Swan Song series. Not sure when it’s coming out — <a href=" http://www.tanyadonelly.com" target="_new">check Tanya’s website</a> for release dates. 
<a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/hopeanchor" target="_new">The Hope Anchor</a> 
<a href="https://twitter.com/throwingmuses" target="_new">Throwing Muses on Twitter</a> 
<a href="https://twitter.com/tanyadonelly" target="_new">Tanya Donelly on Twitter</a> 
IMAGES: THROWING MUSES IN 1985 (PHOTO BY J NARCIZO) / COAT OF ARMS’ ROUST! CASSETTE (1987) / COAT OF ARMS + SUBJECT TO CHANGE FLYER, 1985 (COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN PUFFER / 1987 MUSES PIC CREDIT UNKNOWN — GET IN TOUCH IF IT'S YOURS! 
]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/12/throwing_muses_week_providence.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/12/throwing_muses_week_providence.html</guid>
<category>Throwing Muses Week</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Dec 2013 10:58:43 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Throwing Muses Week: Dave Narcizo on Designing 'Purgatory/Paradise'</title>
<description><![CDATA[<img alt="TMusesPurgParaEarlyLogoDeta.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TMusesPurgParaEarlyLogoDeta.jpg" width="490" height="367" title="Early logo sketch by designer David Narcizo for Throwing Muses’ new album + book, PURGATORY/PARADISE" alt="Designer: LAKUNA" />
It’s Throwing Muses Week here at Warped Reality (I can hear you now: “Isn’t it always Throwing Muses Week?”) — starting with a sneak peek at the design process behind their beautiful new album, Purgatory/Paradise.<img alt="Spacer.gif" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Spacer.gif" width="504" height="29" align="center"/>

<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMusesWeek02.jpg"><img alt="ThrowingMusesWeek02.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMusesWeek02-thumb.jpg" width="200" height="187" title="Throwing Muses Week at Warped Reality Magazine" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="right"/></a>

David Narcizo tackles design problems every day at <a href="http://www.lakunadesign.com" target="_new">Lakuna</a>, the graphic design studio he owns with his wife, Misi.
But designing Purgatory/Paradise, the lavish new book of essays + music by <a href=" http://www.throwingmuses.com" target="_new">Throwing Muses</a>, the groundbreaking band he’s drummed for since 1984, presented a special set of challenges: "I had to be careful not to overthink it," he tells me over coffee at his Newport, RI studio. 
In the 10 years since Muses’ last album, the band has become fully-listener supported with the help of <a href=" http://www.cashmusic.org" target="_new">CASH Music</a>, a nonprofit that makes open-source tools for musicians. (Muses singer <a href="http://www.kristinhersh.com" target="_new">Kristin Hersh</a> is a co-founder + board member.)
Free from music industry constraints, the band could release music whenever — and in whatever form — they wanted. 
And with 32 songs — culled from a whopping 75 — recorded over 10 years, something special was in order.
But what?
It’s one of those great — and daunting — creative questions, acknowledges Narcizo.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have [Throwing Muses] my life for 30 years,” he notes. “Part of that good fortune is the chance to combine my current job (Lakuna Design) with [the band] — it feels like the beginning of another chapter in Muses world.”
Take it away, Dave… 
<h3>Learn to Let Go of the Past</h3>
The Throwing Muses collection Anthology (4AD, 2011) had a complete design that was scrapped. 

Early on in the process I shared some sketches with Vaughan Oliver [legendarily cantankerous designer of multiple Muses sleeves].<img alt="TMusesAnthologyItinerary.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TMusesAnthologyItinerary.jpg" width="490" height="367" title="Getting personal: Throwing Muses’ 2011 ANTHOLOGY collection was a visual scrapbook full of photos, tour itineraries + other ephemera. | Designer: LAKUNA" />

Now, in the early days of the Muses we were surprised by how off-putting we were to people. We thought if we put photos of ourselves on the sleeve — show we were “normal” — that it would change the perception of us. Vaughan would argue vociferously against it — he always wanted to preserve the mystery. 
So with Anthology, I wrote to him and said, “Hey! There’s not a single picture of us in it!” And he wrote back: “What a mistake you’re making!” [laughs]
So I scrapped that design and reworked it to include all kinds of ephemera that was personal to the band: tour itineraries, ticket stubs, etc. 
<h3>Use Process to Take a Step Back</h3>
I always design a cover opened. One thing I remember Vaughan saying was, “Don’t worry about the cover too much” — he was basically saying, “The cover doesn’t have to be the main event.” That was freeing to me.
With Purgatory/Paradise, I wanted the cover to have a vintage book feel to it — I wanted the light to feel magical but not spooky.

<h3>Prompts Are Good</h3>
Kristin sent me a list of words to get me started on the overall look + feel: colors, names, places, objects. <img alt="TMusesPurgParaSpreads.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TMusesPurgParaSpreads.jpg" width="245" height="566" title="Page spreads from Throwing Muses' PURGATORY/PARADISE have a bright, collaged feel." alt="'Purgatory/Paradise' Designer: LAKUNA" hspace="5" vspace="5" align="left"/>

Then I received all the essays. I realized there were a LOT of words. 
I knew I was going to need buckets of assets.
Some of them are mine, some are K’s. I created collages behind the text, some specific to what she’s talking about, some more allusive. I didn’t want to be too precious about it. 
There are lots of photos of Newport in there. Like Brenton Point — we joke that it’s our “photographer date spot” because it’s where we ALWAYS took photographers. Chains Changed was shot there.
It was a lot of trial and error until I settled on collage out of necessity — to treat every page like a separate layout. 
The intro is more geometric. When it gets into songs the look is more collage-y.
I had to be careful not to overthink it. When it’s about you you’re less willing to go with one idea. I was trying to exercise restraint. 
<h3>Evolving Beyond the Album (While Still Loving the Album)</h3>
One of the things that K and I have been talking about a lot recently is that it’s taken us a long time to get to this place — we’ve evolved past the album. 
It’s odd because, almost more than anything else we’ve done, this record really feels like an album. 
And yet, at the same time, I feel I’m ready to let go of albums. 
I don’t think we have to think in those terms any more — we can record and then, maybe after the fact, decide, “Oh, this all works together as a collection. We’ll package it up and then make it something tangible that people can have.” <img alt="TMusesPurgParaCloseupType.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TMusesPurgParaCloseupType.jpg" width="490" height="367" title="Looking closer: Clean type treatment lets the strong visuals rule the page." alt="'Purgatory/Paradise' Designer: LAKUNA" hspace="5" vspace="5"/>
Maybe it’s one song, maybe it’s a piece of design —or writing. Releasing “stuff” — whatever form that takes — when we feel like it. 
Bands should never break up. We’re always going to be around, in some form. 
<h3>Shows in 2014?</h3>
Bernie [Muses bassist] hurt his thumb, so we’re going to play shows in 2014. 
Jeff Craft, our booking agent, is going to try to book us into places that are just unique and fun — like the De La Warr Pavilion [a Modernist-era concert hall] in Sussex, or the Islington Assembly Hall. 
The first show that’s been announced will be part of <a href="http://schedule.noisepop.com/event/2014/02/28/throwing-muses" target="_new">NoiseFest in SF</a>.
<h3>Investigate</h3>
<a href="https://twitter.com/throwingmuses" target="_new">Throwing Muses on Twitter</a> 
<a href="http://www.lakunadesign.com" target="_new">Lakuna Design</a> 
<a href=" http://www.cashmusic.org " target="_new">Cashmusic.org</a> 
<a href=" http://www.kristinhersh.com target="_new"">Kristin Hersh</a>]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/12/throwing_muses_week_dave_narci.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/12/throwing_muses_week_dave_narci.html</guid>
<category>Throwing Muses Week</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Dec 2013 07:54:45 -0500</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Celebrating 20 Years of Belly’s STAR</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/BellyPressConfTuxSmallHoriz.jpg"><img alt="90s Buzz bin band BELLY at a 1993 Boston press conference celebrating the release of their debut, STAR." title="BELLY celebrating the release of their debut album STAR at a 1993 Boston press conference. | Photo credit: Andrea Feldman" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/BellyPressConfTuxSmallHoriz-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="367" /></a> 
 Belly’s Star sounds so bright and timeless, it’s hard to believe it’s 20 years old. You heard me right: TWENTY YEARS! 
In honor of this milestone, Belly singer/songwriter Tanya Donelly has <a href="http://tanyadonelly.bandcamp.com" alt="Tanya Donelly, Swan Song Series 4" target="_new"> released her original demos for the band’s classic debut</a>, packaged with 4 new songs as part of her Swan Song Series marking her unofficial-official “retirement” from the music biz. 
Recorded onto a reel marked “Breeders Demos” (the sequel to Pod was originally meant to showcase Tanya’s songs), the demos have been bootlegged across the internet but never officially released as a matched set. 
The demos have a delicate, hushed quality (Donelly calls them “quiet and spidery”) that is really special. If you haven’t heard them, treat yourself to the whole set — a steal at $4. 
To celebrate, I’m posting my Belly interview from the very FIRST print issue of WARPED REALITY, published a few months after Star came out. 
<h2>Nice-T: Tanya Donelly Gets Her Own Band at Last</h2> 
Tanya Donelly and her band Belly breezed into the press conference wearing white tuxedos and corsages. “It’s a contest to make ourselves as uncomfortable as possible,” laughed lead singer and songwriter Donelly. 
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TanyaSmilingSmall.jpg"><img alt="Belly singer/songwriter Tanya Donelly onstage at the Paradise, 1993" title="Belly singer/songwriter Tanya Donelly, 1993 | Photo credit: Scott Kardon" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TanyaSmilingSmall-thumb.jpg" width="300" height="400" align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5"/></a> 
“…and to hope that it rubs off on you,” quipped bassist Gail Greenwood to all of the journalists present. 
A short while later, one intrepid reporter got up and asked the band,” How was prom?” — to which Tanya mock-tearfully replied, “I’m still a virgin, so it didn’t go so good.” 
Alright, so prom was a bust, but things are definitely going well for Belly. 
Since its release in January [1993], their debut album Star has sold more than 200,000 copies. 
Tanya’s winsome and dark fairy tales, partnered with her strong sense of melody, have garnered the band both popular and critical acclaim. 
So what does all this success mean to the band? 
“It means we can afford some new duds,” laughs drummer/graphic designer Chris Gorman, referring to the bands’ formal attire. 
For Tanya, it means being (at last) in the spotlight — an exciting but sometimes nerve-wracking prospect. 
For 8 years, she was second guitarist and occasional songwriter for her stepsister Kristin Hersh’s band, Throwing Muses. 
For one album and an EP she did the same for Pixie Kim Deal’s band the Breeders. 
In 1991, after Throwing Muses’ Real Ramona tour, she decided to strike out on her own. She recruited Muses bassist Fred Abong and childhood friends Tom and Chris Gorman — Belly was born. 
Tanya is adamant that she wasn’t creatively “stifled” in the Muses: “It was the kind of situation where the two songs you heard were the two that I’d written that year,” she explains. “I had just recently started to write more. And any small tensions that did happen — well, I left before it could get weird.” 
Tanya notes that she could not have left the Muses before that. Not only did she not have enough songs, but she wasn’t ready to form her own group, either emotionally or practically. 
To her, being the center of attention means “having to show you’re a fun person all the time.” 
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TanyaDonellyGailGreenwood.jpg"><img alt="TanyaDonelly and Belly bassist Gail Greenwood joking around, 1993" title="Tanya and bassist Gail Greenwood share a joke at the Paradise, 1993 | Photo credit: Scott Kardon" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TanyaDonellyGailGreenwood-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="367" align="center"/></a> 
But she’s learning, thanks to Gail, who’s extremely funny and with whom she shares an excellent rapport — and to her own growing confidence as a songwriter and performer. 
Tanya isn’t letting all this “flavor of the month” status in the fickle alt-rock world — Buzz Bin on MTV, Rolling Stone photo shoots, Gap ad — go to her head. 
And the band’s live show is gelling too. When I saw the band at CMJ in October, Tanya seemed shy and barely talked to the audience. 
By contrast, at a recent show at the Paradise in Boston, Tanya joked between songs, even going so far as to have the lighting engineer illuminate the big zit that she was “cultivating” on her nose. “I rub butter in it every day!” she laughed. 
What does the future hold for Belly? The next album is going to be more collaborative,” promises Tanya. “We’ll be doing nude performance art,” quips Tom. “After that,” continues Tanya, “I don’t know — we don’t have a lot of foresight. We’re just touring for a while, and then we’ll be making another record, and then we’ll be touring again!” 
I’m sure that the next time around, prom will be perfect — or as Gail would say, “Kill-ah!” 
*** 
<a href="http://tanyadonelly.bandcamp.com" alt="Tanya Donelly, Swan Song Series 4" target="_new">Buy Tanya’s Swan Song Series on Bandcamp</a>. 
PHOTOS: TUXES BY ANDREA FELDMAN | TANYA + GAIL SHOTS BY SCOTT KARDON]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/11/celebrating_20_years_of_bellys.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/11/celebrating_20_years_of_bellys.html</guid>
<category>Interviews</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 23 Nov 2013 17:40:04 -0500</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>NYC Adventure: Mission Chinese, ‘Experimental Jet Set’ + WD~50</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/NYC_Open24Hours.jpg"><img alt="NYC_Open24Hours.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/NYC_Open24Hours-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="335" /></a> 
Last weekend I made a totally spur-of-the-moment decision to go to NYC, which is how I found myself crammed into a corner table at <a href="http://missionchinesefood.com/ny" target="_blank">Mission Chinese Food</a> listening to a group of foodie hipsters talk about “the really authentic places in Flushing” and amusedly watching them try to eat vinegar peanuts with chopsticks. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/MissionChineseFood_OrchardS.jpg"><img alt="MissionChineseFood_OrchardS.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/MissionChineseFood_OrchardS-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="392" /></a>
This was my 2nd trip to Mission, the hole-in-the-wall SF transplant run by bleach-blond culinary madman Danny Bowien, he of the sk8r shorts and genius way with Szechuan peppercorns.
On first visit, I fell hard for the restaurant’s Twin Peaks fetish and mashed-up menu that mixes the best of old-skool Chinatown with a modernist twist. 
Visit #2 found me on less of a ma-la high, mostly ‘cause I decided to order some underdogs off the menu. No mapo daofu for me (it’s as f’ing good as the hype) — I went for the smashed cucumbers (deliriously good) and the pork jowls with mint, black beans and stir-fried radishes. 
The jowls were … solid. Not earth-shattering, but ok. For one thing, jowls are deeply fatty, and — thanks to some covetous eyeing of my neighbors Chongqing wings — I wanted something crispy and a bit more toothsome. 
But sometimes you just have to recalibrate your expectations and go with it. (The Black Lodge — a demented concoction with Fernet Branca and grapefruit — might have helped me along.) 
From MCF I headed over to the New Museum to indulge in some pure ‘90s nostalgia. Yes, I’m talking about “Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star,” a curious wormhole into 1993 — a year that’s hard to pigeonhole, but if pressed I'd describe it as a watershed when gender and personal politics in art became deeply intertwined. 
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/AndresSerrano_MorgueSuicide.jpg"><img alt="AndresSerrano_MorgueSuicide.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/AndresSerrano_MorgueSuicide-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="367" /></a>
The nascent Internet became an increasingly powerful tool to create communities and rally around like-minded ideals, including the creation of art. (One of the last copies of <a href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(art_project)" target="_blank">“The Thing,”</a> an early art net-community BBS, is included in the exhibition.)
Highlights: Haunting portraiture by John Currin, Andres Serrano, Nan Goldin — all emerging talents at the time.
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/FGonzalesTorresInstallation.jpg"><img alt="FGonzalesTorresInstallation.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/FGonzalesTorresInstallation-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="368" /></a>
Most haunting of all? Felix Gonzales-Torres’ “Untitled (Couple),” a string of lights that bisects the room and casts white-hot reflections across all of the art hung around the periphery. (Gonzales-Torres is one of the many artists in the show whose career was cut short by AIDS.) 
In the same room, Kristin Oppenheim’s fragile interpretation of the Beach Boys’ “Sail On Sailor” brought a kind of closure to the show as a whole. 
I rushed up to the top of the building to watch the sun set over the Bowery, then zipped downtown to meet my cousin and his fiancée at her <a href="http://www.pushcartcoffee.com" target="_blank"> bakery on Clinton St. </a> (got the grand tour).
They rushed off to a birthday party in Williamsburg and I rushed a few blocks north to <a href="http://wd-50.com/about" target="_blank"> WD~50</a>.
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/WD~50_Signage.jpg"><img alt="WD~50_Signage.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/WD~50_Signage-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="330" /></a>
If you haven’t heard of WD~50, it pretty much introduced American diners to the concept of “<a href="http://www.jwu.edu/newsletter.aspx?pageid=63584" target="_blank">modernist cuisine</a>,” AKA “sci-fi food for intellectuals,” or (for the less snarky among you) “using science to push the boundaries of what food can be.” 
Almost 10 years old, WD~50 has lost some of its “young upstart” luster — but the restaurant’s menu still hits a satisfying balance between novel treatments of the familiar and comforting (“bone marrow,” popcorn soup, s’mores) and wilder flights of fancy (smoked duck with parsnip “ricotta”; cucumber gelée with chartreuse and pineapple sorbet).
I was alone, so I ate my meal at the bar, chatting with the trio of bartenders and jealously eying their lineup of rare and underutilized booze, including an incredible array of amari. 
I started my meal with Rye Not, a perfectly balanced concoction of rye, blood orange and orange blossom water. Wines: a floral Sylvaner and a light, jammy Dierberg Pinot Noir. I finished the meal with a glass of Aveze, a rare gentian liqueur from France. 
Restaurants with a reputation for intellectualized, complex menus often have somewhat aloof or diffident service. Too often places totally overdo it, hovering at the table or fussing over every last detail, to the meal’s detriment.
Not so at WD~50, which offered some of the most warmly unobtrusive service I’ve encountered in a high-end restaurant. Friendly-but-detail-oriented was the prevailing tone — from the hostess, bartenders and sommelier down to the guy who brought out my soup spoon.
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/WD_AmazingBar.jpg"><img alt="WD_AmazingBar.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/WD_AmazingBar-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="368" /></a>
I’m not saying it was a perfect meal. The punnily titled “pho gras” struck me as self-satisfied — the flavors just didn’t come together. For one thing, the broth wasn’t hot or rich enough to properly meld with the cool slab of foie. 
And what to do with the lone chicarrone hanging out by itself with a small daub of sriracha? It felt incomplete, and I resented the onus being on me to figure it out. 
Thankfully other dishes delivered in unexpected ways: 
<ul><li>The richness of the mushroom jerky served with the Wagyu flatiron</li>
<li>The salty, chewy fried black olive puffs that enlivened the monkfish with red pepper oatmeal coulis</li><li>The black sesame powder that brought a savory bite to the bright, beautifully presented passion fruit “tart” </li><li>The genius combo of cucumber, chartreuse and pineapple.</li></ul>
I was having such a delightful time that I miscalculated and totally missed my bus, necessitating an overnight stay and a breakfast trip to Má Pêche. (Life is rough.)
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/%2BWD_PassionFruitTart.jpg"><img alt="+WD_PassionFruitTart.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Andrea/images/%2BWD_PassionFruitTart-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="368" /></a>
On my next trip I hope to check out Wylie’s new venture, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/dining/wylie-dufresne-prepares-you-for-a-cubist-spin-on-pub-grub.html?smid=pl-share" target="_blank"> Alder</a>, due to open later this spring. ]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/03/nyc_adventure_mission_chinese.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/03/nyc_adventure_mission_chinese.html</guid>
<category>Travelogue</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 10 Mar 2013 17:06:16 -0500</pubDate>
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<title>In Memoriam: Susan Curran</title>
<description><![CDATA[Just days after she had received the diagnosis for the cancer that would end her life, my best friend Susan Curran gifted me with a magnet that proclaimed (in a jokey retro font): "I may be old, but I got to see all the cool bands."
At the time it was a joke between us, since we were both reaching "that age" where early shows are a blessing and SEATING is a fucking godsend. 
<img alt="Susan+I_BeautyBarNYC_2005.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Susan%2BI_BeautyBarNYC_2005.jpg" width="500" height="381" align="center"/> SUSAN & I IN NYC, 2005
Now that she's passed away at the untimely age of 41, I want to say, "We're NOT old, and you had way too much time left. SHOULD have had so much more time left. Damn it, who's going to see the 20th anniversary LAST SPLASH shows with me?!"
But she didn't, which seems radically unfair. Fate works in some twisted ways. It hasn't sunk in and probably won't fully for a long time to come.
Susan started WARPED REALITY with me and rapidly became someone I considered an essential collaborator. The two of us had a kind of wonderful mind-meld: each of us spurred the other to greater creative heights. And we unfailingly trusted one another's creative judgment and advice in all things: editorial, aesthetic and personal. 
More than that, we were best friends who had more adventures than I can count. Usually, music was the spark but we loved seeing the world together when and where we could. Travel to Glasgow to see Prolapse and Arab Strap at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut? Why not. Take two weeks to go to London for the 1st time and celebrate 4AD's 13th anniversary? What the hell. 
Once we graduated from college and settled into careers, those spur-of-the-moment adventures became fewer and far between. But we still found the time, whether it was spending New Year's Eve in Paris with Susan and her husband Matt or meeting up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to attend the first-ever Smorgasburg, we MADE the time. 
I'm thankful for all those wonderful memories now as I contemplate a Susan-less future. Much love into the ether, Susan — we all love you and miss you.]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/01/in_memoriam_susan_curran.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2013/01/in_memoriam_susan_curran.html</guid>
<category>Obituary</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Jan 2013 13:48:08 -0500</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Glowing Abstractions from the Basement</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Mariscal_DesignMuseum_Monoc.jpg"><img alt="Mariscal_DesignMuseum_Monoc.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Mariscal_DesignMuseum_Monoc-thumb.jpg" width="495" height="371" align="center" hspace="4" vspace="4"/></a>
Blevin Blectum 
Area C 
tfo 
The Salon 
Providence, RI 
Dec. 2 
Friday I went to <a href="http://www.thesalonpvd.com " target="_blank">The Salon</a> to see Area C, Blevin Blectum and tfo do their thing. 
Maybe “see” is the wrong word: the Salon’s subterranean music space is dark and cavelike. But the vibe is friendly, the drinks are delicious (The Bushwick, I’m looking at you) and the acoustics surprisingly sharp. 
The show turned out to be a refreshing hybrid of extended DJ set and traditional concert, where each group’s music flowed fairly seamlessly into the next. Tonally it’s well-orchestrated, upending the usual ascend-to-the-crescendo cliché by being alternatively high-energy and reflective.
As one half of barmy SF acid-techno duo Blectum from Blechdom, <a href="http://www.blevinblectum.com" target="_blank">Blevin Blectum</a>’s OG persona was Gidget-Goes-Psych-Out, but these days, with her stick-straight black hair and pale, painted face, she’s affecting a more intense pagan techno goddess vibe. I half expect dry ice and fog. 
Tonight she unveils “Beast 6,” a trippy, collagist mashup of medieval Tolkein mythos, absinthe-soaked visuals and snakelike beats. Billed as a “MixedMediaMultiMonsterMusicMonstrosity for light, sound, people, & shadow,” it lives up to its billing as a wild, enthralling ride — equally chaotic, surreal and hypnotic. 
I find it a lot more thoughtfully-paced and palatable than what little I’ve heard of Blevin from Blectum —which I describe to a friend as “like being stuck in a centrifuge with a bunch of ping pong balls.” 
Erik Carlson’s solo project <a href="http://www.areacmusic.com/index.shtml" target="_blank">Area C</a> is unhurried and pastoral. Using just a beat-up old Rickenbacker and a slew of effects pedals, he fills the room with beautiful sound textures —fitting, given that his day job encompasses sound and installation art. It’s lovely. 
Providence DJ-and-everything-but-the-kitchen sink duo <a href="http://www.tfomusic.com" target="_blank">tfo</a>’s closing set continues the soundscape vibe, with the eerie, almost human tonalities of violin subbing in for Area C’s guitar abstractions. 
The two have been doing a lot of soundtrack work lately (including the monumental 12-hour score for Gus van Sant’s Endless Idaho), so it makes sense that 1) they’ve built such a level of trust that they leave a lot of room for one another to maneuver and 2) this is primarily a mood piece that amplifies the spectral qualities of the violin to great effect. 
But overall it’s uplifting, not spooky —ending the evening on a resolutely optimistic note. 
PHOTO BY A. FELDMAN | DESIGN MUSEUM, LONDON]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/12/glowing_abstractions_from_the_1.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/12/glowing_abstractions_from_the_1.html</guid>
<category>Live</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:33:46 -0500</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Nothing Lasts Forever</title>
<description><![CDATA[<img alt="LeeThurstonKim_BloodMusic.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/LeeThurstonKim_BloodMusic.jpg" width="379" height="285" align="center" />
I’m still shocked that Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore have separated after 30 years together and 24 years of marriage. 
As a band, <a href="http://sonicyouth.com/main/index.html">Sonic Youth</a> is undeniably emblematic of the couple’s creative and personal partnership; news of the split cannot help but leave the band at a major crossroads. A Matador press release puts the band’s future at “uncertain,” and leaves it at that. 
<img alt="ThurstonGtr_BloodMusic.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThurstonGtr_BloodMusic.jpg" width="382" height="284" align="center"/>
Sonic Youth sprang out of NYC’s fertile and fractured No Wave scene of the early 1980s. Some of the bands — von LMO, Swans — were heavy and masculine, often violent and over-the-top. Sonic Youth, despite their emphasis on guitar abstraction, brought an intriguing balance of masculine and feminine energy. 
Going all the way back to the beginning, you can hear that energy in one of their very first shows, from 1981’s Noise Fest at White Columns. Vocal duties here are shared by Thurston, Kim and artist friend Ann deMarinis, who left to pursue performance art.
Video stills are from Charles Atlas’ rare and wonderful oral history of the mid80’s NYC scene, <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0093802/">Put Blood Into the Music</a>. (Here’s hoping this gets proper release some day.)
<img alt="SteveKim_BloodMusic.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/SteveKim_BloodMusic.jpg" width="374" height="287" align="center"/>
(Wow, is that a CHROME t-shirt?!)
<img width="65" hspace="5" height="16" align="left" alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/1_NoiseFest_18-6-81.mp3">Sonic Youth, “Track 1” (Live at White Columns | Noise Fest, 6.18.81)</a> 
<img width="65" hspace="5" height="16" align="left" alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2_NoiseFest.mp3">Sonic Youth, “Track 2” (Live at White Columns | Noise Fest, 6.18.81)</a> 
<img width="65" hspace="5" height="16" align="left" alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/3_NoiseFest.mp3">Sonic Youth, “Track 3” (Live at White Columns | Noise Fest, 6.18.81)</a> 
<img width="65" hspace="5" height="16" align="left" alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/4_NoiseFest.mp3">Sonic Youth, “Track 4” (Live at White Columns | Noise Fest, 6.18.81)</a> 
<img width="65" hspace="5" height="16" align="left" alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" /> <a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/5_NoiseFest.mp3">Sonic Youth, “Track 5” (Live at White Columns | Noise Fest, 6.18.81)</a> 
STILL FROM CHARLES ATLAS’ “PUT BLOOD INTO THE MUSIC”]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/10/nothing_lasts_forever.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/10/nothing_lasts_forever.html</guid>
<category>Obituary</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:56:00 -0500</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Scarce’s Joyce Raskin: Teaching Girls to Rock, One Chord at a Time</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/JoyceRaskin_Scarce.jpg"><img alt="JoyceRaskin_Scarce.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/JoyceRaskin_Scarce-thumb.jpg" width="495" height="393" align="center" hspace="4" vspace="4" /></a>
Local rock dynamos Scarce have set sail for a week of West Coast dates in support of singer/bassist Joyce Raskin’s new YA novel, <a href=" http://hmhbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=1426898" target="_blank">“My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star”</a> (Houghton Mifflin) and <a href="http://www.girlsrockcamp.org/supporters/grca" target="_blank">Girls Rock!</a>, a national organization that empowers girls through music. 
It’s a cause that’s near and dear to Joyce’s heart, both as a mom and as someone who found music at exactly the right time. 
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Misadventures.jpg"><img alt="Misadventures.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Misadventures-thumb.jpg" width="190" height="285" align="right" hspace="4" vspace="4"/></a>EMPOWERING GIRLS THROUGH MUSIC 
“Music was —and is— such an incredible outlet for me,” she says. 
“That’s what I love about Girls Rock! Doing music for the love of it is so positive and powerful. Their whole focus on the experience feels so punk rock —like a budding revolution!” She laughs. “It reminds me of growing up in DC at the height of the DIY Dischord scene. That community was so supportive, and Girls Rock Camps have that same spirit.”
Joyce volunteers at the Boston and RI rock camps as much as she can. Teaching teens has been a huge source of inspiration to her. 
 
“It’s so cool how much they support each other. It’s all about playing and sharing and being in the moment. And whatever these girls do with it, they’re going to be amazing. They’re going to have these skills forever.”
She’s not just talking about barre chords and rock star moves. “The girls always ask me, ‘What’s your advice on becoming a rock star?’ and I always tell them, ‘As a woman, you’ve got to respect yourself. It’s important. Respect yourself and others will respect you. Focus on finding your own inner strength.”
ROCK N' ROLL FOREVER 
Joyce’s music education began abruptly when he older brother Steven volunteered her for bass playing duties in a friend’s band. Amazingly, she said yes. “I worked so hard at it,” she says. 
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JKE7VbLt5fY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
And she stuck with it, joining scrappy punk rock bands and finding inspiration in the community-minded and mixed-gender energy of the DC scene. 
“I was so lucky to be a part of that community,” she says. “People like Ian [Mackaye, from Fugazi] were doing it out of passion. Music was so attainable. There was no focus on becoming a rock star —it was all about the music.”
Music quickly transformed her sense of self-worth. “It gave me the power to rise above teenage insecurity. I had a secret life outside of junior high misery.”
WHAT IT'S LIKE BEING A ROCK STAR, A TEENAGER + A GIRL —AT THE SAME TIME 
“Misadventures” follows a similar trajectory. Joyce’s heroine, Alex, doesn’t have superpowers. She’s not model-pretty. She’s just a shy 14-year-old who picks up a bass and changes her life. (But not overnight.)
Joyce doesn’t sugarcoat what it’s like being a teenager. There are cliques, catfights and petty betrayals. Through it all —stumbles and triumphs alike— Alex picks herself up, dusts herself off and keeps going. 
“Every step along the way is a little step, but she’s moving forward and figuring things out,” Joyce says. “In the end, Alex doesn’t become a rock star, but she becomes her own person.” 
And isn’t that better than any fairy-tale ending? 
<h2>LINKS</h2>
Get in touch with Scarce on <a href="http://twitter.com/#/scarcerocks" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/scarcerocks" target="_blank">Facebook</a>. <a href="http://soundcloud.com/search?q[fulltext]=scarce+the+band" target="_blank"> Listen to 6 new Scarce songs</a> on Soundcloud.
Joyce has set up a special <a href=" http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/teenrockstar" target="_blank"> Facebook page for girls who rock</a>. You can also watch her <a href=" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsINXH9PVvk" target="_blank"> Video Guitar lessons</a> that match up with the chords in the back of “Misadventures.”
<h2>TOUR DATES</h2>
All book events will feature a reading by Joyce and a performance by Scarce and other musical guests. Exene Cervenka will be joining them for the 7/24 reading at Stories Books & Café.
July 23, Pasadena: 
Vromans Bookstore, 3pm 
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
July 23, Los Angeles: 
The Viper Room, 8pm sharp* (opening for the Posies) 
8852 West Sunset Boulevard
July 24, Los Angeles: 
Stories Books and Café, 4pm 
1716 West Sunset Boulevard 
w/Exene Cervenka
July 24, Long Beach, Calif.: 
Alex's Bar (562-434-8292) 
2913 E. Anaheim St.(next to Auto Zone; entrance in back) 
July 26 San Francisco: 
Apple Store, 7pm* 
One Stockton Street 
July 27, San Francisco: 
Girls Rock Camp lunchtime show 
Grant and Green Saloon, 10 pm* (free) 
1371 Grant Ave (btwn Green St & Vallejo St)
July 29, Portland, Oregon: 
Girls Rock Camp lunchtime show 
A Children's Place Bookstore, 5:30 pm 
4807 NE Fremont Street Portland, OR
July 30 Seattle: 
Rain City Rock Camp, 4:30 pm 
The Blue Moon Tavern, 10:30pm* 
712 NE 45th St (btwn N 7th & N 8th Ave) 
July 31 Seattle: 
Secret Garden Books, 2pm 
2214 NW Market Street Seattle, WA
* = full rock show
JOYCE PHOTO BY TIM MAHONEY]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/07/scarces_joyce_raskin_teaching_1.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/07/scarces_joyce_raskin_teaching_1.html</guid>
<category>Interviews</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:26:03 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Marissa Nadler | Live at RISD</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Decasia_BMorrison.jpg"><img alt="Decasia_BMorrison.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Decasia_BMorrison-thumb.jpg" width="495" height="371" align="center" hspace="5" vspace="5"/></a>
The term “freak-folk” is often bandied about when describing Boston-area musician Marissa Nadler’s work. 
She recently stopped by her alma mater RISD to talk about artistic process and what drives her to create. Along the way, she cheerfully upended all the usual clichés attached to her music: “sepia-toned,” “ethereal” and “death-obsessed.” 
A funny, down-to-earth presence, she was refreshingly open about her struggles with stage fright, as well as those of balancing painting and music. 
“There’s a mythology that surrounds my work,” she said. “But that’s not who I am. It’s just what comes out in the music.” 
A self-taught guitarist and singer who’s been writing songs since she was a teenager, she didn’t begin playing in public until she arrived at RISD in the early 2000s. Upon receiving her MAT in 2004, she taught briefly, but has been touring and playing music ever since.
After the intensity of school, she stopped painting for a long time. But she’s recently picked up the paintbrush again. She’s also started selling hand-crafted CDRs, original paintings and needlework items on <a href=" http://www.etsy.com/shop/Marissamoon6" target="_blank">Etsy</a>. 
As an artist, she doesn’t draw lines between her music and her painting and illustration work —it’s all part of a continuum. An obsessive creator by nature, she admits, “It’s hard to balance the two.” But she says it’s getting easier. 
I’m posting a couple of older tracks here: “Mexican Summer,” the luminous single from her 2006 album Songs III: Bird On The Water, and the Daniel Johnston classic “True Love Will Find You in the End,” from her <a href=" http://www.etsy.com/listing/56619714/covers-cd-a-non-official-collection-of " target="_blank">2010 collection of covers</a>. 
(Pay special attention to her exquisite trio of Townes van Zandt covers.)
Her new album, due out in spring 2011, will be self-released. Visit Marissa’s <a href="http://marissanadler.bandcamp.com" target="_blank">Bandcamp site</a> for more info. She's also on <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/marissanadler" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. 
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/MexicanSummer.mp3">Marissa Nadler, “Mexican Summer”</a> (from Songs III: Bird On The Water</a>, 2006)
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/TrueLoveWillFindYouInTheEnd.mp3">Marissa Nadler, “True Love Will Find You in the End”</a> (from Covers</a>, 2010)
STILLS FROM BILL MORRISON’S FILM DECASIA FOUND VIA JANVANEYCK’S <a href=" http://www.flickr.com/photos/darknessmoves" target="_blank">FLICKR SET OF FILM STILLS</a>. ]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/03/marissa_nadler_live_at_risd.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/03/marissa_nadler_live_at_risd.html</guid>
<category>Live</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:12:50 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Haunted Houses</title>
<description><![CDATA[<img alt="FrancescaWoodmanUntitled-s.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/FrancescaWoodmanUntitled-s.jpg" width="486" height="479" />
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ClaudeCahun_LesBras-sm.jpg"><img alt="ClaudeCahun_LesBras-sm.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ClaudeCahun_LesBras-sm-thumb.jpg" width="486" height="342" /></a>
<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/PaulNoug%C3%A9_LeBrasRevelateur.jpg"><img alt="PaulNougé_LeBrasRevelateur.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/PaulNoug%C3%A9_LeBrasRevelateur-thumb.jpg" width="486" height="486" /></a>
<img alt="Cocteau_BelleEtBête-sm.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/Cocteau_BelleEtB%C3%AAte-sm.jpg" width="486" height="371" />
<a href="http://www.kinolorber.com/film.php?id=1183">The Woodmans</a> (C. Scott Willis, 2010) will be screening at Providence's <a href="http://www.cablecarcinema.com">Cable Car Cinema</a> from January 28-February 3.
Images: 
Francesca Woodman, “Untitled (Providence),” 1975-78 
Claude Cahun, “Je Tends les Bras” 
Paul Nougé, “Le Bras Révelateur,”1929 
Jean Cocteau, Still from La Belle et La Bête
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Ombres.mp3">Amp, "Ombres"</a> (from Amp/3EF/Sadaar Bazaar split 7", 1996)
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/CarolinesSupposedDemon.mp3">His Name Is Alive, “Caroline’s Supposed Demon”</a> (from <a href= "http://www.amazon.com/Livonia-His-Name-Alive/dp/B00000B9FM">Livonia</a>, 1990)
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Wig.mp3">Gray, “Wig”</a> (from <a href= "http://plushsaferecords.com">Shades of…</a>, 2010)]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/01/haunted_houses.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/01/haunted_houses.html</guid>
<category></category>
<pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:24:34 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Trish Keenan: A Tribute </title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TrishKeenanBroadcast.jpg"><img alt="TrishKeenanBroadcast.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/TrishKeenanBroadcast-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="367" align="center" hspace="5" vspace="5"/></a>
It’s impossible to believe that Broadcast’s Trish Keenan is no longer with us. Shockingly, she passed away on Friday after a two-week battle with pneumonia.
From the moment I heard Broadcast’s first EP, The Book Lovers, I was hooked on their fractal pop, even if my initial impression of them was “Stereolab-lite.” (How wrong I was.)
The group gained strength with each release, creating music that was at once brazenly experimental and multidimensional, containing worlds upon worlds of influences in an evocative framework of puzzlebox lyrics and kitchen-sink psychedelia. Cinematic and sweeping, their songs were also dramatic and poignant, thanks to Keenan’s incisive lyrics and heartwrenchingly pure voice. 
<object width="466" height="354" ><param name="movie" value="http://warp.net/swf/warp_embed.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="file=http://warp.net/rss/rss.xml%3Fpl_type%3D5%26pl_id%3D1132&playerType=embed&playlist=bottom&fullscreen=true&controlbar=over" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://warp.net/swf/warp_embed.swf" width="466" height="354" bgcolor="000000" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" FlashVars="file=http://warp.net/rss/rss.xml%3Fpl_type%3D5%26pl_id%3D1132&playerType=embed&playlist=bottom&fullscreen=true&controlbar=over" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object>
Writing a tribute for webzine <a href="http://caughtbytheriver.net/2011/01/trish-keenan-remembered-by-bob-stanley">Caught by the River</a>, St. Etienne’s Bob Stanley wrote, 
<blockquote>“As attuned to pop and melody as she was to experimentalism, Trish wrote some beautiful lyrics: 'Come On Let’s Go' is a declaration of romantic independence (‘what’s the point in wasting time on people that we’ll never know?’); 'Tears In The Typing Pool' is a small town, small romance break up song of terrible sadness (‘The letters are sighing, the ink is still drying/I told you the truth and now I sigh too’); 'Before We Begin' an inspiring manifesto of winking hope (‘So here we are again, back to the beginning/So the salt will spill again, throw it over your shoulder’).”</blockquote>
Keenan’s honeyed vocals were always the calm point at the center of Broadcast’s kaleidoscopic, fragmented pop. Like their beloved Czech films from the 1960s (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders and Milos Forman’s Loves of a Blonde were particular touchstones, as was Hammer horror and British children's television), their music was constantly engaged in a push-pull against convention.
For Keenan, psychedelia had a kind of utopian power. In 2009, she told The Wire’s Joseph Stannard, 
<blockquote>“That’s what makes bands like The United States of America special: they represent for me a better 60s, one without sexism or racism, It always seems as though music is ahead of political correctness, or social thought.”</blockquote>
The Britain of her formative years, the 80s, was horrifically hidebound. 
<blockquote>“I discovered psychedelia and it seemed to have self-help properties that allowed me to let go of an immobilizing working class pride that was cementing a false identity in my psyche, stopping me from transforming.”</blockquote>
Broadcast began as a five-piece and eventually settled on the core duo of Trish and James Cargill. Moving from Birmingham to the British countryside helped cement their roots in British folk traditions. Their work became increasingly curatorial, drawing on myriad influences to fascinating effect. Their final release, 2009’s <a href="http://warp.net/records/broadcast/new-mini-album-broadcast-and-the-focus-group-investigate-witch-cults-of-the-radio-age-out-now-to-download">Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age</a> (Warp), hinted at an equally tantalizing future —one that will, sadly, never come to pass.
<a href="http://warp.net/records/broadcast/a-statement">Broadcast: A Statement (Warp)</a>
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/LovesLongListen-in.mp3">Broadcast & the Focus Group, “Love's Long Listen-in"</a> (from Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age, 2009)
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/GardenEarthlyDelights.mp3">The United States of America, “Garden of Earthly Delights”</a>
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href=" http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/Disquiet.mp3">Lubos Fiser, “Disquiet” (Original Soundtrack) </a>]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/01/trish_keenan_a_tribute.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2011/01/trish_keenan_a_tribute.html</guid>
<category>Obituary</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:13:16 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Kristin Hersh Reading in Providence, 11-10-10</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/KristinHershCrop_RatGirl.jpg"><img alt="KristinHershCrop_RatGirl.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/KristinHershCrop_RatGirl-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="483" align="center"/></a>
<a href="http://www.kristinhersh.com">Kristin Hersh</a> will be performing in Providence, RI tonight, Wednesday, November 10 at 7pm at the Knight Memorial Library,75 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI 02907. She will be reading from her fantastic new memoir, Rat Girl(Penguin Books), signing books and even playing a few songs. This event is free and open to the public. More info can be found <a href="http://www.provcomlib.org/calendarofevents.php?id=1174 ">here</a>. 
<h3>Rat Girls and Wolves</h3>Kristin Hersh has always been a fearless performer, but never moreso than in her new memoir, Rat Girl, which recounts a single momentous year when she was diagnosed as bipolar, found success with her band, Throwing Muses, and discovered she was pregnant.
In a weird way, Rat Girl is a love story. Not in any conventional sense of the word, of course — in fact, the father of Hersh’s baby is explained away in one sentence: “Some boys like little rat girls. Not many, but a few. I’ve always been grateful for the ones that did. Now I’m not so sure.”
This love runs deeper; its fierce light suffuses the book with a kind of purity: of music, of friendship, and of believing in something so strongly that it reorders the world. It’s about creating your own kind of family, your own tribe. 
Hersh’s tribe of fierce protectors includes her loyal bandmates: There's Tea, K's stepsister and best friend; Leslie, the zen bassist; and Dave, drummer extraordinaire and maker of wry quips. (Intent on a “girls rock” angle, myopic journalists often refer to him as the “token boy.”) 
<h3>Beautiful Old Betty</h3>Then there’s Beautiful Old Betty: erstwhile starlet Betty Hutton, hiding out incognito in Newport —or as incognito as you can get as a six-foot tall, gray haired dynamo in rhinestone-encrusted cowboy boots. They make a supremely odd couple, tiny Kristin and the sparkling Amazon with the glittering, sad past.
It’s Betty who is Kristin’s mentor, co-conspirator and soul mate. She goes to every Muses show (with her priest in tow). And she gives Hersh skewed but sage advice, forged by years of hard living in Hollywood: “Krissy,” she always begins (no-one else calls Kristin “Krissy”), “Work plus salesmanship equals sucess!” Or, more soberly, “Once you see your shadow, you’ll realize that the rest of your life will be spent staring it down, but you know what? You can do it.” 
 
<img alt="ThrowingMuses_Sounds1989.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/ThrowingMuses_Sounds1989.jpg" width="340" height="466" align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5"/>And there are a lot of shadows in Kristin’s life: Rat Girl depicts a world of constantly shifting boundaries, of a sense of self in dangerous flux. (Early on, Hersh describes herself as a “tiny rat girl with spirals for eyes.”) 
We follow, like Alice down the rabbit hole, as she negotiates the spiraling ups and downs of her manic state, which is characterized by sleeplessness, hallucinatory spells and frantic bursts of songwriting.
Hersh traces her mania to a 1983 accident when she was hit by a car. Sustaining a double concussion, she develops altered perception, a kind of sound synesthesia. “I’m not writing songs anymore… They’re writing me.” Where songs had previously been benign entities, they now grab hold of her and won’t let go until she wrestles them into a form. Ambient noise turns into bursts of color, gradually taking song shape. 
<h3>Music as a Saving Grace</h3>It takes a toll. There’s a suicide attempt (described as trying to “bleed out the noise”). Doctors prescribe various drug cocktails, which make her hands shake and muffle the world, blotting out the songs. “What’s left? What’s ‘me’? Anything?” she asks. 
 
And then she discovers she’s pregnant.
Recounted casually, the plot could turn melodramatic —or worse: soap operatic. And yet, it’s a testament to Hersh’s gifts as a writer that it’s never mawkish. She has an uncanny ability to render the most abstract, difficult to grasp aspects of mental illness in clear, vivid strokes. She writes with gusto, warmth and, above all, humor. Even at her darkest hour, Hersh never wallows. (And, if she ever skates close, Betty is there with a quip and some thoroughly unsentimental advice.)
Rat Girl is filled with upheaval and darkness, but it’s not a grim book. (It’s a damn funny book, in point of fact.) And it doesn't give anything away to say that the book's happy ending rests, in part, on Hersh finding a kind-of hard-won equilibrium in her life. 
In the end, music is her saving grace, a seriously double-edged way of sorting through the chaos: “The song heat would be unbearable if it weren’t so enthralling, like lying in the middle of the street in the middle of summer, enveloped in a calm danger.”
*** 
To accompany the book, Throwing Muses are releasing “The Season Sessions,” a quarterly project where they're recording all the songs mentioned in Rat Girl, one for each season. Here we have “Devil’s Roof” from the Fall session. More info about Throwing Muses’ latest projects over at <a href="http://throwingmuses.cashmusic.org">Cash Music</a>. 
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href="http://warpedrealitymagazine.com/DevilsRoof_Fall.mp3">Throwing Muses, “Devil's Roof”</a> (from The Season Sessions , Fall 2010)
KH LIVE PHOTO BY ANDREA FELDMAN | THROWING MUSES PHOTO © IAN T. TILTON (FROM SOUNDS, 1989)]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2010/11/kristin_hersh_reading_in_provi.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2010/11/kristin_hersh_reading_in_provi.html</guid>
<category>Live</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:53:11 -0500</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Theoretical Music, 1978-1983</title>
<description><![CDATA[<a href="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/SallyBlurredLumin-CShort.jpg"><img alt="SallyBlurredLumin-CShort.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/SallyBlurredLumin-CShort-thumb.jpg" width="490" height="367" align="center"/></a>
By now you’ve probably heard that pioneering No Wave trio <a title="Ut" href="http://www.utmusic.net" target="_blank"> Ut</a> has reformed and will be touring the East Coast in November. 
Their mini-tour starts at Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room, where musician David Grubbs and art historian Branden Joseph have organized <a title="Theoretical Music | Issue Project Room" href="http://www.issueprojectroom.org/2010/09/26/theoretical-music" target="_blank">Theoretical Music: No Wave, New Music, and the New York Art Scene, 1978-1983</a>, a three-day event examining the intersections as well as the failed encounters of art, music, and cinema in downtown Manhattan.
The festival starts on November 3 with a rare screening of James Nares’ No Wave epic, Rome ’78. November 4 features <a href="http://www.issueprojectroom.org/2010/09/26/theoretical-music-panels/" target="_blank">an evening of panel discussions</a> among some of the most notable figures to emerge from the art, music, and film scenes of the time. 
The festival concludes on November 5 with a concert performance headlined by the first New York appearance in years by <a href="http://www.issueprojectroom.org/2010/09/26/theoretical-music-concert/" target="_blank">Ut</a>.
Co-organizer <a href="http://www.dragcity.com/artists/david-grubbs" target="_blank">David Grubbs</a> was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the festival —and his enduring interest in No Wave.
How would you define No Wave? Art form? Anti-art form? Movement? 
The upcoming event that Branden Joseph and I have organized takes it as a starting point that most of the folks interested in the subject are pretty familiar with the canonical history of No Wave via No New York, via bands adjacent to but beyond the boundaries of No New York, and via Thurston Moore and Byron Coley's No Wave Post-Punk Underground 1979-1980 and/or Marc Masters' No Wave. 
Not to be too slippery about it, but defining or trying to articulate an essence of No Wave is not what this event is about. Instead, the impetus is more to get a sense of what has been obscured by reliance on a too-quick, too-thumbnailish of a grouping of these various activities under the heading "No Wave." That's why we're excited to be showing James Nares' films and to be talking about points of contact between music and visual art as well as between tetchy postpunk, post-Cagean new music, and dance music.
What first drew you to the No Wave scene? Why do you think it's still compelling? 
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. DNA. Mars. I heard recordings of these groups (I was a teenager in Kentucky) just as the last of them was about to implode (DNA), and they, along with Throbbing Gristle, seemed to me to be the ones who made good on punk's promise to flatten, to obliterate rock music. All three of those groups still sound positively glorious.
No Wave drew its considerable power from NYC's near-total desolation. Do you think it could have happened anywhere other than New York? Could it happen now? 
Year after year, it becomes a more demanding thought experiment to try to imagine Downtown as a desolate place. I mean, I suppose it can feel culturally desolate nowadays, but it's hard to remember what it felt like for me, coming to New York in the mid-'80s to play at places like CBGBs...
 How much did No Wave help explode the sanctity of the gallery space? How fundamentally did they shift established attitudes about how (and where) to make art? (This might be a better question for Branden.) 
Ooh, you're getting ahead of the game! Come to the panel discussions on November 4.
Glenn O'Brien once quipped that No Wave was a "Gong Show for geniuses." What are some of your favorite No Wave moments —could be music, film, performance, etc. 
That is such a marvelous description. What to add? Ikue Mori's drumming. The sound-signature of Mars. The psychotic laughing jags in John Lurie's film Men in Orbit. 
*** 
<a href="http://www.issueprojectroom.org/2010/09/26/theoretical-music" target="_blank"> Theoretical Music at Issue Project Room</a> 
<a href=" http://www.utmusic.net/news-tour-dates" target="_blank">Ut | News & Tour Dates</a>
<img alt="MP3.jpg" src="http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/images/Andrea/MP3.jpg" width="65" height="16" align="left" hspace="5"/><a href="http://warpedrealitymagazine.com/UT-BedouinLiveLondon1983.mp3">Ut, “Bedouin”</a> (Live in London, 1983)
PHOTO: SALLY YOUNG OF UT, 2010 | PHOTO BY <a title="C. Short on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cold_spell_ahead" target="_blank">CHRISTOPHER SHORT</a>]]></description>
<link>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2010/10/theoretical_music_19781983.html</link>
<guid>http://www.warpedrealitymagazine.com/2010/10/theoretical_music_19781983.html</guid>
<category>Live</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:40:27 -0500</pubDate>
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