H2M and The Greek.

EMPAC was my first residency and I don't think I was prepared for that type of immersion. 15+ hour days? Yipes! But in the end the tech was there and the script and structure was there (big ups to Sarah Gancher!). Honestly, though, by the end, there wasn't much of my mind there. Let's just say I'm glad to be home and resting peacefully.

One of my favorite (and harrowing) moments was our brief showing for invited guests and fellow resident, Dimitris Papaioannou, who was working on his new piece, Primal Matters. Papaioannou is a Greek avant-garde choreography who choreographed the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. He had some amazing input for our show and talked to us about the use of the "ridiculous" in our piece. Such a gracious and insightful man. We were all lucky enough to see his work and help him in return with our comments. Something that was very moving for me was to hear his own frustration with his work and where he felt it was failing. To see such a well established artist have doubts about his work put me at ease with the doubts that I have about my own work with Hand2Mouth. It help me recognize what it means to be an artist and what comes with the territory, that we will always have those moments of doubt and they are what push us forward. I am thankful to EMPAC for creating an environment where an exchange like this could occur. 

On a side note, the perfect storm that created EMPAC's coffee shortage while we were there was having a Greek choreographer and a Portland, OR performance troupe at the same residency. See you in NYC!

Easy Loving

HILARIOUS.

In trying to find a karaoke version of Easy Lovin' I unearthed some incredible treasures. Witness these versions of Loretta & Conway singing this song live, featuring:

(a) their near inability to keep a straight face while singing the lyrics (or to look each other in the eye)

(b) the number of times Loretta gets out of time with the song 

(c) Conway's grimaces while singing

(d) THEIR COSTUMES!

(e) HER HAIR!

BONUS: After the Fire Is Gone, also featuring an incredible dress, an orange suit, a sparkly guitar strap. And check out HIS hair in this one!

Send My Love To You

Live version which is pretty different and features (a) much stronger more interesting singing by Will Oldham (in my opinion), and (b) the performatively interesting concept of a second guitarist strolling onstage halfway through the song to put on his guitar and add another layer to the music.

You Don't Bring Me Karaoke Flowers

Oh dudes... dudes. There is a treasure trove out there.

You MUST watch this karaoke video, with some dude singing only the Neil Diamond parts ("karaoke duet - male part only - you be Barbara"). The video is lots of flowers bursting forth into glorious life.

Young Love

Check out this crazy psychedelic video of a young Lesley Gore performing "Young Love"! At the end these bizarre screams -- presumably of an audience of young girls? -- come out of nowhere.

Also these lyrics are amazing:

They say forever boy and girl

there's just one love in this whole world

and I know I've found mine

...

Young love, first love

Filled with truth, devotion

Young love, a love we share with deep emotion

I Feel Love

I love this performance for many reasons, not the least of which is that Donna Summer is smokin' hot! Other things to love:

- The solo performer into full band reveal, especially at the end when the lights are more pulsating. You know that there are at least 6 people back there, but they only show the full band a few times and it's such a tease! Just the barest glimpse of backup dancing. As I mentioned before, I love the lighting in these concerts - focused spotlights, rich colors flooding and moving across the stage, pulsing lights, lights + fog, etc. Actually, a lot of looks are things Chris has played with in other shows - except a moving spot. That would be awesome.

- Her moves - Her upper body shifting from fluid to robotic. At some points she also backs off the mic and doesn't even try to pretend to sing into it and it sounds like all the vocals are coming from the backup singers you can't see.

- Accumulating harmonies: by the end they're in 4 part harmony

The McGarrigle/Wainwright Saga

Pardon me if I'm dominating the blog.

Structural idea for the "Concerts" section: a series of solos / duets / group songs that seem to speak to each other -- different songs from different points of view about the same love(s). Inspiration: The McGarrigle/Wainwright clan.

I actually can't decide if I like this for Concerts or not. Might be too insular. But here it is. By the way there are about five million songs I could post about them -- but I will pare it down to THREE which is VERY DIFFICULT.

Kate McGarrigle's "Go Leave" which I mentioned in another post but here it is again, this is her performing it in 1984:

(Kate's sister Anna also wrote the gorgeous song "Kitty Come Home" which I wish I could find live... I put it in the Dropbox if anyone wants to listen, it's so lovely.)

Moving on... Loudon Wainwright's "Father and a Son" plus "Rufus is a Tit Man" -- performed in 1998:

(by the way, to hear Rufus' perspective, listen to "Dinner at Eight": " why is it so, that I've always been the one who must go, that I've always been the one told to flee, when in fact you were the one long ago actually in drifting white snow who left me...")

Martha Wainwright's "Bloody Motherfucking Asshole" -- this version isn't the greatest audio wise but it features some audio difficulties and someone shouting out a request, wondrous cliches:

(There's also this song Father/Daughter Dialogue... but I can't find them singing it live.)

OKAY I can't narrow it down to just three! Last one: this clip of Rufus, Loudon, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Roche singing Rufus' song "Poses" -- I think in 2011? It's so beautiful, and Martha looks just like a young Kate. Heartbreaking. 

(Or you can watch this one, with Martha singing backup with her baby son. NOW I'LL STOP.)