Halloween Music Time Machine: Destination - 1964

By David Glassner

Originally published October 2010

I hate Halloween. I have for a long time now.

It started in 1979, when I was ten. Halloween fell on a day when my best friend and trick-or-treat cohort had Hebrew school. I decided to wait for my good buddy to return before heading out for our tricks and treats. That left us barely an hour of daylight before the neighborhood was unceremoniously turned over to the rowdy teenagers.

God had other plans.

As I anxiously awaited his return, my soon-to-be former best friend listened to the solemn rabbi explain the evils of celebrating Halloween. When he returned that evening, the now-brainwashed shell of a best friend looked at me with spaced-out eyes, shrugged, and delivered a nonchalant, “Who needs all that candy, anyway?”

Some people are so easily persuaded, I thought as I began applying green paint to my face and body. After slipping into my intentionally ripped white pajama bottoms, I sadly and incredibly Hulked alone through the neighborhood, battling the brisk twilight air and time itself in search of treats.

This year, I’ve decided to find a better Halloween by taking a musical time machine to a classic live date by one of my favorite artists. I’ve chosen 1964, a relatively safe time: five years before my birth and two years after the release of Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s dreadful novelty hit, “Monster Mash.”

With the question of when decided, the question is where.

Sure, I could point my machine toward Ipswich, England, where the Beatles are playing the Gaumont. Although I’d love to see them live, I’m nervous about traversing the ocean on my first trip through time. Besides, a Beatles show in 1964 barely clears half an hour, and I’d be lucky to hear a note over the screaming.

Two other favorites are playing historic shows closer to home: one in New York, the other in my current city of Los Angeles.

Bob Dylan is in New York at none other than Philharmonic Hall. It’s going to be a fantastic show, and not just because it finds Dylan in a particularly charming mood, chattering and joking with the enthusiastic audience between songs. Soon, that friendly stage persona will become considerably more elusive.

Tonight, he’s giggling at his own jokes and forgetting lyrics here and there. “I have my Bob Dylan mask on,” he wisecracks at one point. For most of the evening, it’s Bob alone with an acoustic guitar and harmonica. Later, Joan Baez will join him, occasionally sounding determined to outsing him.

But that’s not what makes this night truly special.

Alongside familiar songs such as “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” Dylan is performing material that won’t appear on an album for another five months. What will the faces in the crowd look like as they encounter “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” and “Gates of Eden”? How many will realize where he’s taking them?

Yep, Halloween at Philharmonic Hall in 1964 will be a night to remember.

But it’s not that simple.

Some 3,000 miles away, Thelonious Monk is playing the It Club in Los Angeles with one of his greatest quartets. Where Dylan stands on the cusp of a new creative peak, Monk is fully matured and at the height of his powers.

With Larry Gales on bass, Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, and Ben Riley on drums, Monk will swing hard through familiar standards and less frequently heard compositions from one of jazz’s great songbooks. If I can persuade the time machine to let me stay another day, I can catch the following night’s sets, too.

For my money, Thelonious Monk is the most creative pianist ever recorded. Only Monk can make something so wrong so damned right.

Monk. Dylan. New York. L.A. Decisions, decisions. Luckily, I still have a few days to choose.

Fortunately, for those without a time machine, both engagements were beautifully recorded and are available on CD. Dylan’s Halloween concert finally appeared forty years later as The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964 — Concert at Philharmonic Hall.

Monk’s performances from October 31 and November 1 are collected on Live at the It Club — Complete. If you’re new to Monk, or to jazz itself, this set is a wonderful place to start.

Between them, these collections contain plenty of tricks and even more treats: over four hours of musical perfection recorded on the same Halloween weekend, a continent apart.

So tell me, what are you doing this Halloween?

Album Review: Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - Lonely Avenue

 

HORNBY TURNS OUT TO BE FOLDS’ BERNIE TAUPIN

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue
By David Glassner

Ben Folds’ last long-player, Way to Normal (later remastered, reordered, expanded, and improved on Stems and Seeds), found the master ivory-smith stretching beyond his piano roots with mixed results. Lonely Avenue, his collaboration with bestselling British novelist Nick Hornby, is a welcome return to the hooky, piano-based, smart power-pop that made Folds a college-campus favorite.

On Lonely Avenue, Folds challenges himself by composing music to Hornby’s lyrics. Best known to music fans for High Fidelity, Hornby proves an ideal collaborator, allowing Folds to stretch melodically and structurally and approach songwriting from new perspectives. Although Folds is a fine lyricist himself, his words can be a bit on the nose: light on metaphor and leaving little room for interpretation. The blunt demands of “Song for the Dumped,” from 1997’s Whatever and Ever Amen, make the point.

On the character-driven Lonely Avenue, Hornby communicates layers of emotion with remarkably few words. Many of these songs have an almost Rod Serling-esque emotional zap at the end: a line or two that suddenly brings everything preceding it into sharper focus.

Such is the case with “Claire’s Ninth,” about a young girl whose separated parents reunite for her birthday. Seen mostly through the child’s eyes, the occasion is an ordeal of staged normalcy. Then the final line shifts the perspective to her parents, turning the celebration into a sad memorial to their failed marriage: “It used to be our birthday too.”

“Working Day,” meanwhile, juxtaposes an artist’s insecurities with the exaggerated confidence needed to keep creating. Its abrupt swings between self-doubt and bravado initially seem contradictory, until the ending reveals them as familiar parts of a working day. It’s no surprise that these songs carry such literary qualities.

On the surface, “Picture Window” tells the story of a sick child and a mother confronting the promise of a new year. To my ears, the chorus’s repeated invocation of hope, a word still resonating as a campaign slogan, also suggests a broader reading: the disappointment and anxiety accompanying the cold realities of the post-election Obama era. Hornby treats hope as both an irresistible temptation and a potential betrayal.

The album’s most famous subject is teenage Levi Johnston, portrayed here as the reluctantly recruited fiancé of Bristol Palin, daughter of former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. While the chorus of “Levi Johnston’s Blues” mines Johnston’s social-media bravado for comedy, Hornby treats him sympathetically: an 18-year-old caught in circumstances far beyond his control.

The song has no fewer than three melodic hooks. One lies in the bass-and-piano motif of the verse, another in the especially memorable pre-chorus, and the least catchy of the three, intriguingly, in the chorus itself. That unconventional balance illustrates how working from someone else’s lyric sheet pushes Folds into unpredictable territory. The results reward repeated listening.

Folds returns to many of the electronic textures he explored on Way to Normal and his earlier experimental project, Fear of Pop. Where those textures sometimes jarred on Way to Normal, here they feel part of a cohesive whole.

Much of that cohesion comes from Paul Buckmaster’s delicate string arrangements, which adorn five of the album’s 11 tracks. They also recall Elton John, unsurprisingly: Buckmaster’s arrangements grace “Tiny Dancer” and numerous other recordings from John’s catalog. The connection makes the Folds-Hornby partnership feel all the more like a meeting of composer and lyricist in the John-Taupin tradition.

Despite its collaborators and guest musicians, Lonely Avenue often feels like one of Folds’ most personal, one-man-band productions. That’s an intriguing result for an album on which he shares top billing.

At the time of writing, three bonus tracks accompany the release: two original songs and an alternate pop arrangement of “Picture Window.” They’re worth hearing for completists, though their B-side status feels deserved. “Christian Life” is the strongest of the three.

Readers familiar with Hornby know he is a true music junkie, a man who regards musicians as something close to divine. Whether the Folds-Hornby collaboration continues beyond Lonely Avenue remains to be seen. For now, Hornby can say that, with a little help from a friend, he stood alongside his heroes.

9 out of 10 stars

Things You Need To Know About Pomplamoose

Before you go running for the hills screaming, “What is Pomplamoose! Is it contagious? Is it delicious? Does it cause Cancer?,” let me assure you that Pomplamoose is harmless and appears to be having a great deal of fun in San Francisco.

It is contagious. It is delicious. And while it doesn’t appear to be causing anyone any severe Cancer, there can be no doubt that it is most certainly addictive.

That said, I will tell you everything you need to know about Pomplamoose before I share with you where to get real authentic Pomplamoose. (Unfortunately, I can’t share this information just yet, for fear of losing your audience forever!) 

Pomplamoose Are Two People Who Make Music

Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte write and record great pop music. In the case of the latter, they also have a penchant (and talent) for recording cover versions of past and present popular songs they have admiration for.

Nataly sings all of the lead vocals (and most of the back-up vocals, sometimes having her vocals octopl-tracked, but we’ll get to that later), plays the majority of bass parts, whistles (albeit poorly), and God knows what else. She is also fluent—and on rare occasions likes to write and sing—in French.

Jack seems to be musically capable of doing pretty much anything but most often can be seen playing guitar, twinkling on his 120-year old upright piano, banging away on the drums, adding percussion, singling back-up vocals, or even adding a counter-melody via a professional toy piano or xylophone.

While I haven’t truly deciphered who is writing the core material, my hunch is that it’s very much a collaborative effort. As far as I can tell, Nataly and Jack adore one another.

Pomplamoose Have a Credo

Specifically, "What you see is what you hear. (No lip-syncing for instruments or voice), If you hear it, at some point you see it. (No hidden sounds.)" This refers to their main form of expression and distribution; the music video, which they have updated, refashioned and molded into something they call, "VideoSongs." 

The somewhat confusing credo above happens to be what distinguishes a "VideoSong" from the olde-fashioned music video you (or your parents) grew up with in the 80's. To perhaps put it more simply, Jack and Nataly literally VIDEOTAPE the creation of every single note in the process of recording their music. This allows them in the end (I would assume towards the end of the mixing and mastering process), to edit a video which is completely "live" and in sync with the recorded audio. Still confused? 

To simplify further, when you see Nataly singing on camera, you are also hearing her sing the identical take on the record. If you hear Nataly singing three-part harmony behind the lead vocal, you'll see three additional little Natalys singing next to her on screen in what often visually resembles a musical comic book (which judging by their taste in t-shirts, seems to be a medium they have affection for) or the opening credits to The Brady Bunch. When you see Jack sitting at that antique upright piano whose exposed hammers are visibly dancing right in front of his face, you are hearing that exact performance on tape. When you see Nataly and Jack sitting on the floor, Indian-style playing "Pattycake," a microphone is present, capturing the "performance" for the percussion track. 

With all due respect (I believe to Jack, who—if the dateline serves me well—created the VideoSong concept), I think the term "RealityMusic," (i.e. reality TV meets music) describes their form of expression better than "VideoSong." The down-to-earth, wholesome demeanor of Nataly and Jack, plus their favoring of acoustic and analog timbres in their music, lends them a very homegrown feel which also bolsters the "reality music" vibe.

Pomplamoose Will Make You Dance

I'm not talking to the chicks out there who dance all of the time. I talking to the macho men out there... oh, and the music snobs (I'm sometimes guilty of the latter); the ones that normally wouldn't be caught dead dancing or are more comfortable in the realm of playing air-this or air-that, or simply nodding their collective heads. You will dance. Worse yet, you may even spend hours dancing in front of YouT... oops, I almost slipped and told you!

Pomplamoose will also make you laugh heartily at times and often have you smiling ear-to-ear. If for some reason, you have absolutely no interest in feeling happiness, you should avoid Pomplamoose at all costs.

(If you're discovering Pomplamoose for the first time) 
Pomplamoose is the Best New Show of the Fall Season!

Often at the tail of their VideoSongs, you'll be treated to Jack and Nataly sharing a little bit of themselves by addressing the viewer directly or through a bit of behind the scenes footage. Whether they are trying to sell you a super-soft t-shirt, telling you about an cool new record by an artist they admire, plugging an "upcoming" gig which in reality already happened a year ago and 2,000 miles away... you will watch them.

The more you indulge in Pomplamoose, the more Pomplamoose you will crave. The chemistry between Jack and Nataly (and partially as a result, the chemistry they share with their audience) is infectious. The more you watch them, the more you'll regard them as friends... or at least, you'll wish you were. In addition to the reason above, this phenomenon can also be attributed to the intimate status with which they bestow upon their audience as a fly-on-the-wall during their creative process. While there is nothing overtly sexual in any of their VideoSongs, one can easily be reminded of how William Hurt gushed to Holly Hunter about their own collaboration in the 1987 film Broadcast News, "It was like... GREAT SEX!"

Jack and Nataly are having so much fun doing what they're doing, that you can't help but subconsciously place yourself in their shoes. You want to have the fun you see them having on camera, and as a result and a testament to the power of the imagination, you suddenly find that you are. My wife likes repeating funny things I say because she says, "It's fun saying funny things." Don't be surprised if upon repeated viewings or listenings, you find yourself mimicking what you've seen Pomplamoose do on camera. It's fun doing fun things.

Whether they're joking with one another, or engaging the camera directly, the interaction between Nataly and Jack is delectable. As Lucy is to Dezi, as Edith to Archie, plus a dash of how Bruce Willis' "David" was to Cybill Sheppard's "Maddie"... Nataly and Jack have "It." Up until the recent night when I discovered Pomplamoose for the first time, I had probably never spent more than twenty straight minutes on YouT... damn, I almost gave it away again! Soon, I promise. I know your mouth is watering.

Pomplamoose Just Might Be Revolutionary

As far as I can tell, Pomplamoose have come up with what is perhaps a new genre or even a new form of media. They have also in the process, tapped into the very life-blood on the new musical economy and zeitgeist, perfectly fusing music, video, the internet and reality TV into something truly unique and original. They have already collaborated with the occasional special guest, Ben Folds (through whom I owe my discovery of Pomplamoose) and Earth, Wind and Fire's Allee Willis.

My guess is that very soon, you will see other artists flock to Jack and Nataly to receive the Pomplamoose production treatment. I also think they will serve as an inspiration for many young artists from all disciplines. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to one day find them occupying the throne previously occupied by Prince, Jam & Lewis, The Dust Brothers, as the producers du jour. It would certainly be a refreshing turn from the current artificiality that tends to dominate the pop charts.

Pomplamoose is Free!

Please don't run away from me just yet, but Pomplamoose share themselves for free on YouTube. Currently, they have close to 40 VideoSongs available for your immediate consumption, almost half of which are originals. Some of the cover versions are better than others, and your preference there will most likely be driven by your like or dislike of the original composition.

When "Pomplamoosing" the songs of their contemporary peers—such as the case in their remake of Beyoncé's "Single Ladies"—they seem to always best the original hit version. (They have also recorded music, videos and VideoSongs as solo artists, so once you've engorged yourself on Pomplamoose, you can continue to snack on their solo endeavors, or Nataly's project with another singer-songwriter, Lauren O'Connell called, My Terrible Friend.)

If you want to take Pomplamoose on the go (you will), their music is easily and affordably available at traditional online music outlets, iTunes, Amazon or their via their own website. If you're among the few that have a brick and mortar music store nearby, don't bother looking for Pomplamoose there. Not only are they unsigned to a record label (they are keenly aware that in today's landscape—while a record deal may be a luxury—it is not a prerequisite for success), they have never pressed their music onto CD.

That said, I will now offer a four-song introduction to the art of Pomplamoose; three originals and the aforementioned Beyoncé cover. Once you've digested these, you can head over to YouTube, to dip into the rest of their oeuvre on their own channel. I have a hunch you will.

Don't say I didn't warn you.