SOME WICKED: Dashiell Brown's Blog

     Last night in St. John’s was the latest best show you never saw, unless you were there, and it was packed. I knew it would be a good show after I interviewed Geoff Berner ‘cause he’s quite a character. (Here’s my podcast of our conversation. Here’s my article in Current Magazine, pg 5.) And an incredible performer. Here’s a guy who knows how to interact with his audience, get ‘em dancing, get ‘em drunk (not that locals here have a problem doing that, they never need encouragement) and get ‘em talkin’. That’s what I’m sure lots of people are doing today: talking about last night. Talking about Berner’s dynamism, Davies’ insane fiddle playing, Adams’ smile that was plastered over his face for the whole show, man they had fun and so did we. But why it was a seminal show is because the audience was psyched, excited, chomping at the bit for more. Shit like this doesn’t drift into town too often, and everyone that was there knew it. The highlight was when Allison Corbett and Leila Qashu got up on stage, and the women had a threesome! (of fiddlers, that is.)

     The only reason I even saw the show was because his new release, Klezmer Mongrels, was sitting on the shelf there at CHMR, and I put it in for a new spin, I couldn’t resist the cover with the breastfeeding dog and the tentacles. When I heard the “dirty” klezmer pouring out of the speakers, I was hooked. This guy is one of the most original artists out there, and one of the most fun. I’m also a big fan of Klezmer, which I saw tons of bands while living in New York City and going to the Knitting Factory. I took my date (now my wife) to the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, but I was into Klezmer way before I went to New York. I was a folk dancer for about 20 years in Solvang, the Danish capital of America, getting in the garb with the tassels on the knee-high pants, the lederhosen during Oktoberfest. (Solvang is about 45 min North of Santa Barbara, CA. See the movie Sideways and Solvang is a few minutes from Sideway’s Los Olivos and Santa Ynez Valley, home of the Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch (I went to high school there.) Want to see Solvang? Check out Ethan Turpin’s Youtube channel, Bright Eye Cinema; he was also a member of the Solvang Village Folk Dancers, still in operation today run by my dad. One of the dancers would always bring his accordion to our house and play tunes.) I also played clarinet in high school, so that might be another reason I was attracted to the sound. The majority of the music I danced to as a kid came straight out of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and of course Scandinavia, where Berner is apparently going to visit now that his tour his over. And if you want to hear some great music, check out Scandinavian bands like Garmarna, Hedningarna, and anything else on the Nordic Roots Sampler. The most wicked thing about some of this music is the prominent sound of the nyckelharpa,

put it together with techno and you have some of Garmarna’s best tunes. It’s off the hook. Garmarna is the band that inspired me to do my own blend of electronic folk. (See Circuit Tree.) But since I’ve been dancing in the streets as seen in Turpin’s vids, it’s clear to see why I was so attracted to the Swedish sound, it’s velvet on your tongue. We actually have our own version here in St. John’s called The Dardanelles who are clearly inspired by Scandinavian music. Also, when the throat singers perform here at the Storytelling Festivals, very similar origins, being way up North, there’s some throat singing on the Nordic Roots Sampler by a band called Wimme. Read the book Out of Tuva for more about throat singing and just search it on Amazon. Also check out Sainkho, who’s Tuvan and does some crazy improv throat singing. See? You start writing about Klezmer and you get to Tuva. The joy of writing…it’s the process, not the product. I think that’s why blogs have taken off the way they have. Every single one of us is a writer.

oh, wanna see some crazy stuff, a bunch of women playing tons of accordions and banjos? check out the bonus features on the latest Jazz Singer DVD. there’s all these crazy vaudeville acts, you get to see what people did when there wasn’t the media onslaught of today. for fun, people actually got off their asses and went outside.

and have you heard Bruce Peninsula yet? Arcade Fire meets Nick Cave. check it.

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I am now uploading shows on my website for your listening pleasure.  Each podcast will be on for one week, which will then be replaced with the next latest podcast.  CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST PODCAST.  This podcast includes a lot of music from my cd collection, so it’s rather “classic”, ha ha.

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