SXSW: Ibeyi

Ibeyi
Waterloo Records
SXSW
March 20, 2015

For several years in my childhood, I pretended that I had a long-lost twin. I read one of those stories about twins separated at birth who meet later in life and found they led similar lives. That seemed so cool that I liked believing that somewhere out there was another version of me, living a similar life just different enough that it might be only one parallel universe over. Sometimes I still like to imagine this is the truth and will one day run into myself in the grocery. And, this song will be playing:

History is full of awesome twins. Castor and Pollux. Zan and Jayna. And, of course these two.

In the music world, my favorite twins have been Aaron and Bryce Dessner. Of course, they're still up there. But, they face some competition from Lisa-Kainde and Naomi Diaz, the French-Cuban twins behind the duo, Ibeyi. These two received a lot of attention and accolades from SXSW goers as they played a Waterloo Records in-store (where I saw them), the Bungalow, and a set I wish I'd seen at Central Presbyterian Church.

You know you're a crowd pleaser when it's raining steadily outside Waterloo Records and no one is leaving, in spite of no umbrellas or ponchos. 

Ibeyi means "twins" in Yoruba, a language these twins sing in, along with English. Lisa (on the left) is a vocalist and plays piano. Naomi is the percussionist and a vocalist. They use some looping and overlays throughout this set. Minimal, yet gorgeous. 

Lisa and Naomi are the daughters of Cuban percussionist, Anga Diaz. Both he and their older sister have passed away in the past ten years, so tragedy is familiar to them. Yet hauntingly beautiful music still flows from these women. Family seems to be important to them as one of the best parts of this set was seeing their mother is part of their set-up crew.

Behind every great musician, there is usually a family member or friend who tirelessly supported them in multiple ways. They are a huge chunk of the encouragement who brought musicians this far, even when that path isn't always easy. 

Ibeyi is finishing up a US tour leg, but are heading out internationally in April. Now is the time to see them because they have the potential to be headliners. And, while I wish them success, their music favors an intimate setting. 

Wonder Twin powers activate? They already have.

I Have a Dream

Actually, I have many dreams. There is no better time than New Year's Day to list some of the ones I have for this year, in no particular order but with a whole lot of INFP:

1. Get stronger.  One of my top goals is to live a long, healthy, happy, fulfilling life and one of the best ways to encourage that is to develop inner and outer strength. To stay active, cultivate intellectual and recreational activities and hobbies, eat (mostly) healthy, and love others well and without fear.

2. Spend quality time with those I love both near and far.

3. Keep up with the live music. Starting with Free Week. And then letting live music inspire me to practice playing music on my guitar and keyboard. Music is part of my history and my future and I cannot wait to integrate it into my 2015 life.

4. Coding. Erica and I have some big creative/business dreams and coding is a key skill for these. Plus, it lets me use that logic part of my brain.

5. Visit more National Parks. Because I have a lot of pages in my passport book to fill. And, really, just to travel. In 2014, I was incredibly fortunate to travel to London, Portland, and San Francisco. The memories and experiences are priceless. There is so much more to see in this world and so I aim to take at least two trips this year. Speaking of London, my best friend, Krissy, will be in the US this summer and I cannot wait to see her again. And it will be nice to have her travel here again, though I hope and plan to get to London again one day. 

6. Be creative. There are so many creative projects I love: sewing, painting, drawing, crafting, cross-stitch, crochet, etc. I completed several in 2014 but want to create even more this year.

7. Read. A lot. 24 books by the end of 2015. You can follow me on Goodreads if you want to know what I'm reading.

8. Write. My mom and her sisters worked diligently and lovingly to create a written family history and I want to add my stories to pass on. And encourage my brothers and cousins to contribute!

And, of course...this blog. :)

9. Try new things and learn daily, while still valuing what is already known and done.

I think these dreams are all attainable. Now it's time to start living them and seeing them unfold. Here's to a happy 2015!

The Power of Voodoo

It all comes back to David Bowie, doesn't it?  Credit for this entry's title goes to David Bowie for this little ditty:

You remind me of the babe. / What babe? / The babe with the power./ What power? / The power of voodoo. //

While in Portland, I didn't experience voodoo, but I did experience Voodoo Doughnut.  

Yes, I got VD in Portland.  Haha. I cannot take credit for this joke, though.  They have already made the bumper stickers and display them in this glorious doughnut display case.

I planned to go to Voodoo Doughnut and had the good fortune of serendipitously stumbling upon it while wandering.  Tip:  The line is always out the door here. OK, it was at least out the door the two times that I went. Be forewarned, though, that I've heard this is the norm so plan accordingly if you're looking to get your doughnut fix.

I tried three different types of donuts (descriptions via Voodoo Doughnut):

1.  The Voodoo Doll Doughnut:  Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake! My favorite as evidenced by the fact that I ate two in 24 hours. The cutest doughnut you'll ever eat.

2.  The Old Dirty Bastard: Raised yeast doughnut with chocolate frosting, Oreos and peanut butter!

Tasty. A winning combination (just like the Wu-Tang Clan. RIP ODB.)

3.  Dirty Snowballs Doughnut: Chocolate cake doughnut with marshmallow topping, dipped in coconut and a dollop of peanut butter in the middle!  This one was ok, though not ok enough to finish. A bit dry; I saved my stomach reserves for my second voodoo doughnut doll.

Yum.  Half of this box belongs to me and the other half to my friend.  From top right, we have:  Dirty Snowballs, Voodoo Doll, Old Dirty Bastard, and Captain my Captain doughnuts.  

Voodoo Doughnuts is more or less a required Portland stop.  Enjoy your sugar, friends. It's worth it.

Which Voodoo Doughnut sounds best to you?  Leave your answer in the comments!

Roll On, Columbia, Roll On

"I pulled my shoes on and walked out of every one of these Pacific Northwest Mountain towns drawing pictures in my mind and listening to poems and songs and words faster to come and dance in my ears than I could ever get them wrote down..."

~Woody Guthrie, Columbia River Collection Songbook

Disclaimer:  I am completely following the lead of this website by using that quote as the intro to this blog entry as it is perfect for describing a newcomer's view of Portland.  The Columbia River Collection is a set of songs Woody Guthrie wrote during an extensive stay in Oregon and Washington at the invitation of the U.S. government.  Our friends at NPR music wrote a nice summary of the endeavor that makes me somewhat long for these days of yore, riding in a Hudson Hornet, taking in the mountains, waterfalls, and rivers as songs dance in my ears.  

My Portland adventure was mostly due to Pickathon (more on that later).  However, I arrived a day and a half early to play the tourist. In upcoming blog entries, I'll highlight some of my stops, suggestions, and highlights. In the meantime, enjoy this Portland playlist.

Kishi Bashi

Kishi Bashi
The Mohawk
May 9, 2014
Setlist

One of my top 2012 albums was Kishi's Bashi, 151A and I saw him for the first time in 2013 as part of that tour. K Ishibashi is a musician who plays and records under the name Kishi Bashi. I'm not quite sure how to categorize his music. Wiki tells me it's:  indie pop, indie rock, psychedelic pop, electronic, and experimental. That sounds about right.

K just recently released his second full-length album, Lighght, which is pronounced as if it only had one -gh.  As you can see, he is having fun with its related tour.

Spoon

Spoon

Hotel Vegas

May 6, 2014

Setlist

The setlist: I love how they put the details on it because they know they'll be given away. A nice gesture for the fans.

Ah, the elusive secret show.  Truth be told, I had no idea what a secret show was until I moved to Austin.  Secret shows are especially the rage during ACL and SXSW as we all wait anxiously to hear which will be confirmed. Some secret show rumors are quickly quelled and others persist, even into the next year.  (We are still speculating when Daft Punk is going to play their secret show on the Capitol steps.)  They also become somewhat of a myth and sometimes it's hard to remember exactly what happened.  Right now, I'm trying to remember if Kanye really played an ACL secret show at the old Seaholm Power Plant or if that joins the stuff of lore, like unicorns and Cerberus.  Sometimes, the memories are as elusive as the shows themselves.

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Every once in a while, a secret show unattached to a festival pops up.  This time, Spoon played a secret show at Hotel Vegas--the first show they've played in about two years. It's in advance of their eighth album, which will be released later this year. I have researched release date, album title, and new singles and found nothing. My Magic 8 Ball is only repeatedly telling me, "Hazy. Try Again." Here we are again with the elusiveness. 

The secret show ended up not being so secret as Spoon posted it on social media.  But, hey.  I'm not going to criticize an effort to get more fans there.  That may perhaps be easy for me to say because I got in, but I also didn't get into the Beck Austin City Limits taping after waiting for over three hours in serious heat.  One rule of music is that "you win some and you lose some" so just get out there and keep trying because with persistence you'll get your unique experience.

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Hotel Vegas only let in approximately 175 people.  It was the kind of intimate, enthusiastic setting that music lovers dream about.  

Hello, fellow music lovers. You're fun. And I mean that.

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My good friend, Erica, and I have many conversations about life, especially as it relates to creativity and goals.  We also share a love of community and are equally excited to find ourselves at the point of collaborating and knowing others who share similar passions.  We call it finding our tribe.  

I expected to go see Spoon alone.  However, I remembered that a new friend is a huge Spoon fan and invited him; he and his girlfriend enthusiastically joined me.  I give you this analogy:

my friend : Spoon :: me : The National

What was it like to have both the company and to experience Spoon vicariously through one of their biggest fans? Well, it was just plain awesome.  I also noticed several familiar faces from other shows and connected with two women who I know through social media.  Never underestimate going to shows alone or putting yourself out their and introducing yourself to strangers. You might just find your tribe in unexpected places at unexpected times.

Photo Credit: Do512.com  ||  Find me in this picture.

The National, Part II

The National
Moody Theater, ACL Live
April 21 and 23, 2014
Setlist

It wasn't until this past year that I started joining the music lovers who hang back after a show, trying to get the setlist or other memento from those bands whose words and songs we cling to.  We're a slightly rabid lot, honestly, though subtly so.  I've also met some of the kindest, funniest, most passionate people while lingering. Music brings people together.

Setlists never seemed important to me until I started wondering what story the bands wanted to tell that night.  I'm sure that song selection is often arbitrary and largely designed to woo and ignite the crowd in a particular way. To leave us believing that we just had the best night ever and need to tell our friends to buy the albums.  But I'm not that entirely jaded.  I think there is more to a show and musicians and that music always comes back to story.  And now, in addition to the experience, I turn to the setlist to better know it.

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On nights one and two of their three-night stop in Austin, The National opened with "Sea of Love" and "Don't Swallow the Cap", respectively, which are both high-energy, fast-tempo songs that can rally a crowd into moving and singing.  On night three, they opened with a song that I didn't expect:  "Start a War" off Boxer.  It's a slower song with no particular lyric meant for shouting or starting the night with intensity--as might happen with  "Graceless" or "Squalor Victoria".  

But, in retrospect, this was the best song to prologue the story that I heard that night.  I emphasize that this is the story that I heard. If you were there, perhaps you heard a different one.  Perhaps you didn't hear one and just enjoyed the music. But that's another aspect of what I love about music:  you experience it and feel it uniquely, as you need and want to at this time. So, take from it as you will.  This is the story I heard.

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We expected something, something better than before/
We expected something more

-Start a War, The National

For me, everything is a love story.  Not necessarily romantic love.  I live entirely from the heart (wishing I lived more from the head). In the relatively short time I've lived this life (short since I'm aspiring to live to at least 100), I've learned that ultimately, it's love that defines and matters the most.  And, so all of our stories--for better and for worse-- somehow grow from and return to it.

Love stories. Not Hollywood romantic-comedy style. Hollywood gives us an expectation of love that doesn't mesh well with the reality.  There is no perfect love story.  We know this (and by this point, dear reader, you have probably lived enough to know this) but it's still hard not to enter our next relationship expecting something, something better than before.  That this time, the one we love won't have a quirk, a flaw or twenty, or a physical trait our ideal doesn't.  That this time, you won't have some sort of struggle together: financial, emotional, health. But they do. You do. We always do.  

Do you really think you can just put it in a safe, behind a painting, lock it up and leave?

Yet, at some point--with the right (imperfect) person and in the right (imperfect) time--you both decide not to walk away even though you could.  It's comfortable and less vulnerable to keep all the emotions locked up in a safe. Plus, you can hide them behind a painting that you have artfully created to represent the parts and design that you want to show.  But, if you do and if you leave, then you lose the love. 

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All the very best of us string ourselves up for love.
- Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, The National

During their recent tours, The National close with an acoustic version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks".  I think part of this is because, at the end of the day, we all want to sing along with people who are--at least for the moment--living the same life.  It's emotional, it's meaningful. And, The National simply gives us that shared moment to take with us.

But, I also think it's the end of the story that I heard that night.

The lyric above is one of my favorites in terms of defining relationships. Dark and pessimistic, right? Not really.  Part of loving someone is willingly hanging your real self up for them to see--fully exposed--and trusting that they won't cut you down.  And this is hard and vulnerable and, if you've ever been cut down before, seemingly impossible to do.

However, you can't love someone if who you are and what you feel is in the safe  So, whereas that lyric initially sounds dark and depressing, if you think about it, it's a comforting thought to know that all of us flawed, imperfect jokers can be loved for who we are and what we feel--by other right (imperfect) people in the right (imperfect) times.  And that's how tonight's story ends. Journeying to that point where the cost of sacrifice doesn't matter for the benefit of love.

Finally, that's why I think it's also perfect to end the night with an acoustic song.  Singing along to a song stripped bare of studio enhancements and audio engineering.  It's a send-off, the musical bon voyage, to strip ourselves bare, be who we are.  Love people who are ultimately just like us. 

Swans are a-swimming. We'll explain everything to the geeks.

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