Interview with Micah Wolfe | Sound Authors Radio

January 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent:  Welcome back to Sound Authors.  Now my next guest on the show is Micah Wolfe and that was one of the songs from his upcoming audio book called Anti-Bushism.  He just released his book itself, also called Anti-Bushism.  Tell us a little bit about that poem Micah Wolfe, called Capital.

Micah Wolfe:  Well that one was a reflection I wrote after I had been in DC and I was actually there in October of 2001 and George Bush had just announced that we would attack Afghanistan so I was just thinking about that and with 9/11 being so fresh on my mind it just kind of spilled out thinking back on that trip to DC and what it all meant being there.  just some of the images I saw remember like I said that circle of cops, I just saw like FBI and police, they were just in a circle and I said if walking by I could only imagine what they were thinking and discussing.  It was a pretty tense time for the country.

Dr. Kent:  So now you are a teacher in Seattle and this book is called Anti-Bushism.  How did you get into that?  What are you doing now in terms of the election and all of that?  What are your thoughts?

Micah Wolfe:  Well for me I definitely hope that Barack Obama wins.  I think that he’s got a lot better ideas than john McCain and like your previous caller was saying, or your previous interview, it seems like McCain is willing to sling a lot of mud and just say a lot of stuff that’s not true.  The most surprising one that I saw was I don’t know if you seen the ad about Barack Obama wanting to have sex education in kindergarten but I think that’s pretty ridiculous.

Dr. Kent:  When I look at that ad, what I find disgusting, I always look at the picture they choose and they pick a picture of him looking especially scary to kids.  You know?

Micah Wolfe:  Yeah.

Dr. Kent:  It is such, I like still what Barack came out and said, its silly season.  That was one of the most incredible quotes he’s ever said and I really think this is going to be an election that can change everything.  so this Anti-Bushism, the book, it’s a bold title and a bold statement, but honestly at this point, there’s not many people, including John McCain that would argue with you, that George Bush was a pretty terrible president.  But how terrible was he?  Why did you write this book and why is Bush in your title?

Micah Wolfe:  Well just a lot of my poems came from things that he said that really upset me and policies that he passed from the patriot Act that really infringed upon our citizen rights to privacy and the first response to Hurricane Katrina and the disaster after that.  I just remember watching, he flew over in a helicopter and I just wish that we had a president that would’ve been on the ground in a boat trying to help people get out of there.

Things like that and also just leading us into this war in Iraq, I think everybody remembers him saying there’s weapons of mass destruction and then having to take that back you know.  Our soldiers are on the ground already fighting so I think there’s a litany of things that he did that were harmful to our country and our reputation worldwide and also our economy.

Dr. Kent:  Now this book itself is a collection of poetry that you’ve written.  Its all of it is very passionate.  All of it is very political.  Now what’s your plan for what’s coming up next?

Micah Wolfe:  What’s coming up next?  I think I’ve been looking through my poems and I think my next one is going to be about kind of the green movement and trying to get people to take care of the earth a little better and appreciate nature for what it is instead of what we can use it for and just trying to that’s something I’m also passionate about, just trying to create a more sustainable earth so that its around in the future for our children and grandchildren.

Dr. Kent:  Now are you hopeful politically?  Do you think Barack Obama will win and if he does do you think he really can change things?

Micah Wolfe:  I think I am hopeful he will do a lot of good and hopefully more quickly than john McCain would.  I feel that Barack Obama is more apt to do that.  And I think that Obama, he has my hope with him so I think things will change.  How much we have to wait and see.

Dr. Kent:  I sure hope so.  Well there’s one more poem we’d like to listen to from your upcoming audio book.  I’m sure you’re excited, it’s a 40-poem book called Anti-Bushism and that’s going to hit the streets I guess in the next several weeks and it’s an audio book format so hopefully it’ll come out on I-Tunes and places like that.  What are your thoughts about reading a poem out loud versus reading a poem on the page?  Of course Galway Kinnell just before you, man what a voice when he reads poetry.  What’s the difference between reading out loud and looking at the page in front of you?

Micah Wolfe:  I think when you hear the author’s voice it just brings out the passion and emotion that the author is trying to convey.  You don’t have to guess, you really just feel it so I think that’s the power of going to hear live poetry and listening to audio books of poets.  You don’t have to guess.

Dr. Kent:  Well it’s been a pleasure speaking with Micah Wolfe.  His book is called Anti-Bushism.  I’m going to play one more poem from that called Mirror and we can all check out Micah’s website online at micahwolfepoetry.com.  It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Micah Wolfe:  Thanks for having me.

Dr. Kent:  Of course I wish you all the best with your work and I hope Obama can take the White House, we’ll see.

Micah Wolfe:  Me too, thanks.

Dr. Kent:  This is a poem out of Micah’s book called Anti-Bushism and here it is.  It’s called Mirror.

Micah Wolfe:  Mirror.  How can you proclaim an acceptable amount of violence and turn around and tell us your not tyrants?  You won’t leave without your contract for oil, gallons of blood spilled for exhaust comes out to spoil?  So how can you tell me this is fighting terrorism, when you’ve blended our terror with patriotism?  And you claim to profense your day of fighting terror, of bad news Mr. Bush, I hate to be the cartoon who sponsors the terrorism of its own people.  That what you say and what you do are far from equal.  China is a country you could never reprimand.  Then you’re in Sudan trading oil for cash in hand, but what flows toward the death of innocence.  Be afraid to look in the mirror because it won’t make any sense.  I’m tired of death for capital gain.  Take up arms Mr. Bush, take up your fight, experience pain for oil will run out.  Seek an alternative and so change can end a war, simply let life live.

Dr. Kent:  That was the poem Mirror from the Anti-Bushism audio book coming out soon by Micah Wolfe.  His book has already been released and that’s a sample of his audio book.  Well it’s been a pleasure speaking with all three guests on the show today; my first guest was Tawan Perry, the author of College Sense, what high school and college advisors don’t tell you about college.  My second guest was Galway Kinnell, it was an honor speaking with a Pulitzer Prize winner and his latest book is called Strong as your Hold and it has a CD of poems read by the author.  Of course we had the honor of hearing a couple poems from him as well.  And also new selected poems published by Mariner books.  And then my last guest was Micah Wolfe and his book, Anti-Bushism.  We’ll see you next week; be safe.

Posted by admin | Filed Under TRANSCRIPTS, Pop, Experimental, Jazz, Poetry, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST 

Interview with Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir: Bob Keelaghan | Sound Authors Radio

December 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment

[Music]

Dr. Kent:  That was a song by the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir called Dumb It Down from their new album and I am excited to have one of the members on the show today. His name is Bob Keelaghan.  Welcome to the show.

Bob Keelaghan:  Well, thanks for having me, I’m much obliged.

Dr. Kent:  I came across this music while surfing CDbaby and what a fascinating sound.  Its half old time music, half Tom Waits.  Where did you come upon this sound?

Bob Keelaghan:  Well I don’t know I guess its sort of like for me personally its I grew up in a household where there was rock and roll from my brothers and sister and folk music from my parents and in my fathers case Irish music.  So I had a mind towards both worlds.  My initial first love was rock.  When you’re a kid you listen to like your Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and stuff and as you start getting more mature as a person and musician you want to find out where that comes from.  Also I had teenage exposure to Stevie Ray Vaughn.

For me it took going back further and further to find those sources and it just kind of led me back to early delta blues and also country music.  So it’s kind of like a convergence of going back to the source but also have a knack.  I guess it’s a contemporary perspective from rock and roll and some weird stuff like Tom Waits, ### and other innovators.  Judd Palmer who is the other name, musical guy in a band, he had more of a love for John Lee Hooker when he was a teenager as well.  And I think some of that early blues sort of led him back too, like those same sort of sources.  And that’s what I’ve started going for you know?

Dr. Kent:  Do you check out the early records from the 20s?  some of the style that you all sing in is very reminiscent of that early rough blues straight off of the streets; kind of yell as loud as you can so people on the streets stop by and give you some money kind of blues.

Bob Keelaghan:  Yeah definitely; like myself I’m a big fan of people like Skip James, River Davis, Booker White all of those people like that and I know Judd was a big Howard Wolff fan as well and Howard Wolff got his talent from people like Charlie Patton.  When I sort of deeply got into this music is was just the idea that like listening to those old recordings from the late 20s or early 30s, you get by all that scratchiness on it and you realize that everybody can sing, everyone can play, there’s no faking it.

If you play the house party somewhere in the southern united states in the 1930s or if you’re playing a house party anywhere with that kind of music in that era, you don’t have an amplifier to rely on.  You’ve just got your instrument and your voice and you had to be heard, whereas nowadays if you’re making a record you can rely on the studio.  You can rely on an amplifier to get your noise across.  But paying attention to the way they did things back then its a lot more pure, a lot more direct I guess.

Dr. Kent:  That’s what’s so fascinating about coming across your record; it was really a surprise to find a band that’s really getting out there.  There are a few out there, there’s a few bands that can really play street music.  For example, what’s their name from oh I can’t remember.  A live show from you guys must be the way to see you and I read that you were just in the UK.

Bob Keelaghan:  Yeah, we just did a five week tour of the UK and Ireland.

Dr. Kent:  How were you received?

Bob Keelaghan:  Oh tremendously, it went way better than we ever could have expected.  We did a bunch of festivals and club shows and there wasn’t a dog in the bunch.  So it was pretty tremendous.

Dr. Kent:  And it’s neat.  Once you search out fans of this kind of music they’re pretty die hard and what fascinates me is I’m a huge fan of Captain Beefheart and the weird Tom Waites stuff.  This is so much there but at the same time its really not.  This is really true ethnic music.  Did you write all these tunes?  Are some of them public domain?  What’s the story on that?

Bob Keelaghan:  This is our third CD and on each of those we’ve got a mix of originals and covers.  I don’t think we’ve ever gone more than about three covers per CD.  On the new one our covers are kind of straight up.  I mean the Funhouse Song and ### Express and there’s also a Balfo Brothers Song called Vows to Balfa and its just kind of wherever our listening takes us.  At certain times we look for inspiration in what you do and sometimes it goes back to dredging up an old song and just reworking it.  Its either I’m sitting around by myself or Judd is sitting around by himself and we’ll be playing the guitar or banjo and something will come out.  You know, one of these songs will come out and we just bring it to the other guys.

Dr. Kent:  How did you go about writing a song in this style?  What are these songs about?  Are they ramps?  Are they personal?  Do you write love songs?  Do they just come out by the sound?  How do you do it?

Bob Keelaghan:  Its probably all of that comes into it.  I think it depends on what we’re going through at the time I guess.  Like our last CD Fighting in Onions, I think there was a lot of despair on that one probably just because various personal circumstances going on.  So it was the sort of thing where after we recorded it I realized there was a fair bit of bleakness in it.  The new one, I think it’s more uplifting.  There’s some of it is kind of funny when you see reviews coming back on things.

The new one I think there is both just kind of philosophical thoughts about the world like in Judd’s case there’s song like 10,000 which is his ode to nature in 10,000 years.  Or Go Back Home, which is the idea of just going back home after a long time and seeing how much has changed and maybe how you don’t fit in.  For my part, I’m probably a bit more of a ranter but I guess maybe I kind of rant in a vague way.  I think for me it’s just like what’s on my mind, whatever I’ve got to get out.  Maybe it’s either a mourning death or there a bee in my bonnet I’ve got to get out and that makes me feel better.

Dr. Kent:  What’s the next step for the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir?

Bob Keelaghan:  We’ve got to do some shows over the side of the Atlantic, depending on when it fits into our schedule respectively.  We don’t know; there’s talk of going back to the UK for more shows.  I think also with this new CD I think we’re sort of pushing some of the boundaries of sound.  I think we’re at the point now where we’ve got to throw out a few more curve balls.  So we’re going to start writing again and see where that takes us.  We’re not the sort of guys that plan ahead too much; circumstances come up and we go with it.  Wherever the road takes us.

Dr. Kent:  The last question I’ve got for you and then I’ll play the track you were just talking about Go Back Home.  One question about the title of your band.  Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir.  Now did mountain gospel come first and you said well we got to say we’re agnostic or how did that come out?

Bob Keelaghan:  There are a number of stories about how it came about.  Several of the bands I think actually were playing in a gospel choir beforehand.  It was a weird gospel choir; it dealt with spiritual issues like it was a weird thing they got tied up in.  When that band split the other members of that choir obtained legal rights to the name.  It split because I think Judd and Vlad were in that band and they wanted to go in a heavier direction and basically because of the legal issues is where the agnostic came out of as well.  They were sort of tied more to the idea of a heavier agnostic sound as opposed to like a new age spiritualist sound.

Dr. Kent:  Well I love the title; also 10,000.  There’s a picture of a $10,000 bill.  Explain that quickly and then we’ll go.

Bob Keelaghan:  I was in a Chinese grocery store and I saw a package of banknotes and things that Chinese Buddhists burn at certain festivals to enrich their ancestors in the afterlife.  I was looking at that and we have this song called 10,000 years and it turned out also to be the budget record.  The bill was in the denomination 10,000 and I thought this is a great coincidence and it would look really good as a cover.  So we went with that and within that we play music that’s based on ### and this is our way of saying thanks.

Dr. Kent:  Well it’s been a real honor speaking with Bob Keelaghan with Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir.  Here is a tune called Go Back Home.  You wrote this tune?

Bob Keelaghan:  Judd wrote that one.

Dr. Kent:  It’s been an honor and I’ll continue to check out everything you do.

Bob Keelaghan:  Well thank you very much; it’s an honor on our part too, thanks.

Dr. Kent:  Here’s Go Back Home from the latest album 10,000.

[Music]

Dr. Kent:  That was a song from the album 10,000 by the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir.  We’ll see you next week.  This has been another great show and my name is Dr. Kent and this is Sound Authors.  Have a safe week.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Gospel, Bluegrass, Folk, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST 

Ken Peplowski | Jazz Clarinet

December 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

 
icon for podpress  Interview with Ken Peplowski [12:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What a player! It was a blast speaking with Ken Peplowski on the show about his music and instrument, the clarinet. More about Ken Peplowski from wikipedia:

Ken Peplowski (born May 23, 1959) is a jazz clarinetist born in Cleveland, Ohio, known primarily for playing in the swing music idiom. He is sometimes compared to Benny Goodman in terms of tone and virtuosity. For over a decade, Peplowski recorded for Concord Records; his most recent albums have appeared on the Nagel-Heyer Records record label.

In 2007 Peplowski was named jazz advisor of Oregon Festival of American Music and music director of Jazz Party at The Shedd, both in Eugene, Oregon

Discography

Posted by admin | Filed Under Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST 

Interview with Marybeth D’Amico | Sound Authors Radio

December 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment

[Music]

Dr. Kent:  That was a gorgeous tune from Marybeth D’Amico and she’s my next guest on the show and she’s going to talk about her story.  That’s a song from her album Heaven, Hell, Sin and Redemption.  What a great title for Halloween day.  Welcome to the show Marybeth D’Amico.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Hi Kent.  Thanks for having me.

Dr. Kent:  Now am I saying that name correctly.

Marybeth D’Amico:  D’Amico, that’s right.

Dr. Kent:  Now what are you doing in Germany?  You’re an American singer/songwriter hanging out over there.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Yeah, I moved here quite a few years ago with my husband.  We’re both American but he grew up over here and wanted to move back so I ended up here and it’s a very opposite hill of the Alps.

Dr. Kent:  How’s your German coming?

Marybeth D’Amico:  It’s pretty good.  I took some German in school so that’s no problem.

Dr. Kent:  You’ve got some amazing reviews on this thing and it’s so beautiful, the whole album.  But let’s talk about Halloween.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Thank you, okay.  I deliberately sent you some really dark ones.

Dr. Kent:  Do you miss it?  In Germany they don’t have this.  They sort of think this is a fun American holiday.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Do you know what just happened?  Two little kids just came to the door here for trick or treat a minute ago so it’s coming over here now.  We were actually not prepared for them because it’s not really their holiday, but Halloween has become extremely popular over here in Germany.

Dr. Kent:  Did you tell them trick?

Marybeth D’Amico:  We gave them some German Christmas cookies and sent them on their way.

Dr. Kent:  One of my favorite things to do is scare kids and tell them I want the trick and most kids just run away screaming because they think I’m a scary guy.

Marybeth D’Amico:  No, I’m not that mean.

Dr. Kent:  So let’s talk about your music.  What inspires these songs?  These are some dark songs that we’re playing.  The song Ohio, and it was going to be Love Song but we switched it up with Where I Lay My Baby Down.  What inspires you to write these songs?

Marybeth D’Amico:  Yeah I thought that fit better too for Halloween.  Well I see myself as kind of an observer and I see a lot of things.  I think of songwriting as kind of my pulpit where I get to talk about whatever I want to and if you want, I’ll tell you a little bit about the inspiration for Ohio, the song you just played.  Last year I read a letter that was written to the BBC by a guy named Kenny Ritchie so this Ohio song is pretty much a true story.  A Scotsman who’d been accused of setting a fire in which a girl was killed and put into prison in Ohio and was on death row.

On the 20 year anniversary of being in prison he wrote a letter to the BBC, what is it like here in this prison.  I read that letter and sort of stored it away in my brain as I tend to do.  One day I was kind of messing around on the guitar and I said to my daughter, what does this tune make you think of?  And she said I don’t know and made some suggestions and I said it kind of reminds me of somebody in the electric chair or something.  Somehow that story about the guy I’d read about in Ohio came back to me and I ended up writing it about him.

Dr. Kent:  Wow; and now how about political season?  We’re in the middle of both Halloween and political season here.  How’s that treating you over there in Germany?

Marybeth D’Amico:  People here are pretty interested and I think they want the candidate who’s on the left to win.

Dr. Kent:  Barrack Obama, right.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Its kind of the general feeling here.

Dr. Kent:  Your music in Germany, have you done some touring around and do you get a great reception over there?

Marybeth D’Amico:  I’ve done some touring.  I’ve done more touring ironically in Holland more than Germany.  I think partly because of the English language is very well established in Holland and the singer/songwriter tradition is well established there so I think I’ve had my best success so far in Holland.  We’re going to be going up there in November again.

Dr. Kent:  Your sound is so much like your hero Patty Griffin.  It’s got the edge of the south, the United States.  Your singing is what turned me onto your music.  It’s got a little edge to it.  Where’d you develop your voice?  How did you do that?

Marybeth D’Amico:  Just kind of me singing.  I don’t really know what to say, it’s just the way I sound.  I’m pretty much a latecomer to song writing.  I only started writing about five years ago.  Growing up I was involved in a lot of music things like choir and band and school musicals.  That’s right, I was Annie get your gun in the school musical.

Dr. Kent:  The whole album is dark.  It’s perfect for Halloween.  You already talked about death row in Ohio and you go into sex scandals and breaking away from fundamentalism, all sorts of good things in there.

Marybeth D’Amico:  I don’t think I could be writing if I was 21.  I had some years to form some opinions about things and I like to talk about them but I like to present them in a way that’s sort of not a downer.  I like the sound of it to be sort of uplifting if that makes any sense.

Dr. Kent:  Oh and it’s gorgeous.  It really turned out beautifully.  What’s your next project?

Marybeth D’Amico:  Thanks a lot.  I only self released this in July so my project is to bring this album as far as I can.  I’m going to go into the UK next year and have a tour and try to get a little more established there.  Then if I get a good response I already got a few songs I can put to another album.  But as you know being an independent musician is an extremely expensive process.  I didn’t skimp; I went to Texas and got some very good musicians to play with me.  I figure either do it right or don’t do it at all.  So if I get a good response then I’ll keep going.

Dr. Kent:  One interesting thing is that I believe I got in touch with you through Marcus Rill, who is another amazing musician, singing similar music in Germany.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Marcus and I were together.  When I first started my first set of songs in 2006, he helped me produce an EP with five songs on it called Waiting to Fly.  But then I noticed Marcus always does his recordings over in the states and then I copied his idea in the United States when I came out with my solo album.

Dr. Kent:  Wonderful; well this album is gorgeous, it’s perfect for Halloween.  Folks should go out and get it but the songs are really uplifting and they’re dark but uplifting at the same time, as great singer/ songwriter music really is pretty often.  So this album is called Heaven, Hell, Sin and Redemption.  It’s been an honor speaking with you and we’re going to go out here on Sound Authors with the song Where I Lay My Baby Down.  Tell me a little about the song and then we’ll go out.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Okay, this was a quick song to write.  I was again strumming a tune on the guitar and suddenly this vision of a prairie wife popped into my mind whose mourning her child.  I have to admit I think I was partly inspired by Little House on the Prairie because I read those books to my girls and there is a true story in there where the author of the book loses her baby and this story goes on and it inspired me to write this.

Dr. Kent:  It’s been an honor speaking with you.

Marybeth D’Amico:  Thanks for having me on the show.

Dr. Kent:  Marybeth D’Amico has a website marybethdamico.com and here’s a song from her album Heaven, Hell, Sin and Redemption called Where I Lay My Baby Down.

[Music]

Dr. Kent:  That was Marybeth D’Amico from her wonderful album Heaven, Hell, Sin and Redemption.  Thank you for tuning in to Sound Authors this week.  Be safe and have a happy Halloween.  It’s a wonderful beautiful sunny day out here in New York.  We’ll talk to you the next time.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Pop, Experimental, TRANSCRIPTS, Folk, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, Jazz, PODCAST 

Interview with Circus Contraption | Sound Authors Radio

November 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent:  What a song!  That’s a tune by Circus Contraption called Elephants on Parade.  Circus Contraption is a non-profit collective of more than a dozen physical performers and musicians.  They come out of Seattle Washington and their music is extraordinary.  I haven’t seen the act, but the music is amazing.  I’ve got a couple guests on the show; one is Kevin Hinshaw and the other is David Crellen and they’re both from Circus Contraption.  I guess David is not answering but we have Kevin on the line.  Welcome to the show.

 Kevin Himshaw:  Hey, how are you doing?

 Dr. Kent:  I’m great.  Tell me a little bit about this Circus Contraption.  What is this?  When I stumbled across it, I thought it was just music but it turns out it’s a whole theatrical work.  Tell me about it.

 Kevin Himshaw:  Yeah it’s true.  It’s a beast with many heads.  So yeah, people will come across it in many different ways.  But the group started and it’s now in its tenth year.  It’s a small troupe of about 13 of us based in Seattle, Washington that yeah has been performing circus arts and music and in various ways for those ten years.  So yes, if you come to see one of our full productions, you’ll see jugglers, acrobats and aerialists, puppetry, some clowning, all intermixed with more theatrical elements and we have like a six or seven piece live band that accompanies the whole thing and plays live original music for all of our shows.

 Dr. Kent:  That’s what I love is I heard the music and said man, these guys know how to play.  There’s an element of Tom Waite’s, there’s an element of the real circus in there.  What inspired the music?  The acting?  What am I not seeing onstage when I’m listening to the music? 

Kevin Himshaw:  Well, I mean yeah, there’s elements of the surreal and the physical performance and musically there’s certainly some Tom Waite’s influence and Danny Elfman and kind of the Tim Burton type things sometimes.  From the music side, we have many members of the group who’ve written music over the years so we pulled musical influence from all over the place too.  It ends up being a pretty interesting mish mash of things that somehow manage to hold together despite their disparate origins.

 Dr. Kent:  Tell me about what these, what your events are like?  How does it happen?  How does it hold together?

 Kevin Himshaw:  Well, I mean it varies.  I typically think some of our biggest productions we’ll put together like a two hour full-length theatrical production.  That’s more like going to a circus themed theatre than say going to Barnum & Bailey Circus Show but you have all the performers and musicians there for that and we usually do that run for awhile.  We’re based in Seattle but we’ve taken that show on tour and have gone to New York to do it off Broadway a couple of times and I hope to do that again. 

 We’re taking kind of a variety version of that to push through a few of our shows through November.  So that’s one thing that we’ll do.  Right now we’re doing a series of weekly cabarets that are a mix of performers from our own group and performers we know who are here based in Seattle.  It’s actually a pretty thriving circus community or we’ll put together a variety cabaret show each Friday night involving the acrobats, aerialists or whoever we get to come in and play music for them and stuff.  So we’ll do that and we put together a super scary Halloween show for Halloween, which is the tradition of our theatre.  There’s always a variety of things we can do.

 Dr. Kent:  I have a couple of questions for you.  One of them is, I had the pleasure of hanging out with a fellow named A.J., who was the original Ronald McDonald, but he grew up as a carny.  He grew up as the son of a man who owned a traveling circus and he told many stories that really turn heads.  He’s working on a book and there’s so many ideas I mean talk about the carnival atmosphere.  What it used to be like at a carnival.

 Kevin Himshaw:  Well let’s see, what can I say about that?  I think we try to draw on some of that you know.  We had done some of our shows and tried to create some of that before the show that midway feeling of you just walk in the door and you’re overwhelmed by the sights and smells and walking through the games. 

 We would have games for people to play as they came in.  its certainly one of the things that people associate with the sort of seedy underbelly aspect of the fact that you’re going to see the show and be entertained by these people.  But there’s something rather unsavory about the characters involved and so that aspect is kind of important to this and its something we seem to convey I think sometimes in our group.  Whether or not that’s us in real life or not.

 Dr. Kent:  You yourself, Kevin Hinshaw, I guess your name is Camelio on stage?

 Kevin Himshaw:  Yeah, that’s me onstage.

 Dr. Kent:  And you are a clarinetist, pianist, accordionist, composer, treasurer, webmaster, director of small packages according to your website.  What does this group mean to you?  What is this all about?

 Kevin Himshaw:  Well, its been I mean a group that I’ve been a member of the group for over eight years now so its something I wanted to do as a little side project that had a way of taking over my life but it’s a really fun, interesting group of people who are able to tap into this darker side of entertainment that I think people enjoy and particularly right now. 

 So it’s a fun, yeah, its I’m not sure what the best words are to describe it but it seems to be one of the things where if people normally hear the circus then there’s an association with you think of kids, animals, elephants, and ring masters and that’s not us.  We’re a different version of that; we’re not that type of circus.  It’s more adult and we do some performances for kids but it’s always been aimed at an adult audience. 

 You know, kind of the red velvet curtains, candles on the table kind of feeling so that you can anyway.  It’s that, there’s something that it taps into that I think people enjoy because it’s a little less wholesome than you think of a traditional circus being.

 Dr. Kent:  Apparently you also have a PhD dissertation.  Are you Doctor Hinshaw?

 Kevin Himshaw:  Technically, I’m Dr. Hinshaw yes.  I have a PhD in computer sciences.  That’s my other life.  I lead kind of a split life.

 Dr. Kent:  Wonderful.  Well it’s really a pleasure speaking with Kevin Hinshaw of circus contraption.  I’d like to play another song here and hopefully we’ll have a minute to chat afterwards.  I’ll play the whole song.  Would you rather hear Raining Pianos or We’re All Mad?

 Kevin Himshaw:  Oh I say go for We’re All Mad.

 Dr. Kent:  Talk about that song for one second.

 Kevin Himshaw:  Oh, this is one written by one of our key main songwriter/singers right now.  So this is the first track off our most current album, definitely written from I think he and some friends were having darker visions of where this world is headed and I think that was the inspiration beyond the song.

 Dr. Kent:  It’s a song called We’re All Mad from the album Grand Traveling Dime Museum by Circus Contraption.  Here we go.

 [Music 51:04 – 54:22]

 Dr. Kent:  What a song from Circus Contraption, the song We’re All Mad.  Kevin Hinshaw is my guest on the show; we’ve got about a minute left.  Tell me about that sound and about the show.  Is this something you want to keep going?  What’s your plan?

 Kevin Himshaw:  Oh I mean it’s something we’re hoping to keep going.  We had a new full length show we did earlier this year that definitely was a hit.  That’s coming up as to kind of where we’re going next.  I think we’re planning on trying to bring that in February or so of next year and run it here and hopefully try to get that out on tour.  So that’s something we’re looking forward to. 

Dr. Kent:  The sound is just extraordinary to me.  I’m a huge fan of Tom Waites, a huge fan of Out Jazz and the funny thing is that there almost seems like there’s a little bit of metal in there.  There’s almost a little bit of folk music.  Its fascinating sounds coming out of that album. 

Kevin Himshaw:  Well thank you very much.  I think we’re able to tap into a variety of styles and pull them all together.

 Dr. Kent:  Well it’s been an honor speaking with Circus Contraption.  Their website is circuscontraption.com.  The newest album is Grand Traveling Dime Museum.  I wish I had the chance to check them out when they come to New York.  I’m going to do my best.  It’s been an honor speaking with Kevin Himshaw.  We’ll see you next week on Sound Authors.  It’s been a real pleasure speaking with Erica Ferencik, author of Cracks in the Foundation.  That’s a book about real estate and about the comedy; her character is selling an outhouse.  

The second guest we had on the show was Nuala Gardner, she’s the author of A Friend Like Henry and we talked about autism and all of that.  In the political season, autism has come up between the candidates; it’s a fascinating story, it’s already an international bestseller. 

 My third guest was Richard Singer, author of Daddy, What is Success?  And more interestingly of course wants to break the Guinness book of world records record for the quickest run across the country in 46 days.  My last guest was Circus Contraptions Kevin Hinshaw, the clarinetist, composer, treasurer and much more.  Be safe, we’ll see you next week.

Posted by admin | Filed Under TRANSCRIPTS, Comedy, Folk, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST 

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