It’s been a long time coming, Greensboro. A LONG time. But this morning, looking at the joy on people’s faces, as they shivered in the early morning light after getting up at ungodly hours and braving icy roads, it was clear that something great has happened here. For 45 minutes this morning, Greensboro pushed aside it’s ugly politics, bitter rivalries, and endless finger pointing to celebrate bravery, progress, history, and our collective future. The International Civil Rights Center and Museum is officially open and though it holds images and memories from a dark and turbulent time, it looked beautiful from where we were standing.
There were a lot of inspiring people on Elm Street today and a lot of people who’ve seen this city through all sorts of rough times. It seems only fitting that the best quote of the day came from Franklin McCain, one of the original Greensboro Four: “Never request permission to start a revolution, ” he said. There’s an attitude we can all get behind. As we trudged through crunchy snow and shimmery ice all the way home, it was hard to ignore the stunning morning that had unfolded. February never looked so good.
More photos can be seen on our flickr page.
Sitting in the same tiny room for twelve months can make you a bit stir-crazy. Carolyn and I, on more than one occasion, have asked ourselves “what the hell have we been doing all day? all week? all year?” Sometimes the dishes will pile up or the dust-bunnies will start hopping about the floor, which admittedly, I’ve been less than attentive to lately. It’s easy to get a little melancholy when it gets dark around 5pm and you work out of your house.
So, I said, why don’t we just take a look at what Monkeywhale has done this year. Surely we haven’t been as lazy as we THINK we’ve been. So, here goes. A quick recap as a list in no particular order followed by a long thank you list in no particular order:
1. worked out of our house
2. Shot a documentary as part of the international documentary challenge
Post Production on Saving the Monkeywhale, 2009.
3. Shot, produced et al., an award-winning 48 hour film which also happened to be a musical
Mike working on the storyboards for Love is Dead. 48 hour film festival, 2009.
David taking a nap after shooting for 24 hours straight. 48 film festival, 2009
4. Put together a very successful 3 day MUSIC FESTIVAL
Holy Ghost Tent Revival. Save the Monkeywhale Festival, 2009
Bruce Piephoff. Save the Monkeywhale Festival, 2009
Matty Sheets, Katharine Whalen and Josh from House of Fools. Save the Monkeywhale Festival, 2009
5. Participated in the 2nd Annual ArtBeat Festival by interviewing:
i. Dmitry Sitkovetsky, conductor of the Greensboro Symphony and the European Strings
ii. Preston Lane, artistic director of Triad Stage
iii. Elena DeAngelis, Managing Director of the Greensboro Opera Company
iv. Josephus III, spoken word artist
Shot 4 dotmatrix project performances and posted 3 videos.
Shot, edited, and posted seventy-seven Harvey’s Kitchen Sessions. Yes. Seventy-Seven. We actually shot more than 77 but we’ve only POSTED 77.
Here’s a list of those 77 plus ones I haven’t edited yet:
The Radials, Martha Bassett, Citified, Josh Neas, Molly McGinn, Pete Schoth, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Sirius B., Eric Robertson, Mike Tourek, Big Bang Boom, The Crap Rock Allstars, The Tremors, Laurelyn Dossett, Joe Garrigan, The Garrigan Brothers, The Alcazar Hotel, Katharine Whalen’s Lucky, Come Hell or High Water, Brian O’Sullivan, Sam Frazier, Frank Stasio, Justin Catanoso, Bruce Molsky, Corporate Assassins, Bart Trotman, SeaHorses, Blind Pilot, Andy Coon, Filthybird, Hiram Ring, Lost in the Trees, Brenda Schleunes, The Never, Sam Quinn + Japan Ten, The BuzzKillz, Albina Savoy, Ray Burnett, Jeri Rowe, Irata, Stephen Van Vuuren, Brian Clarey, Lovinder Gill, Ed Cone, Richard Clabaugh, Samantha Crain, Frontier Ruckus, The Lake Isle, Jim Avett, A Tribute to Mark Sandman w/ the Alcazar Hotel, Stephaniesid, Now You See Them, Invisible, Josh West, Hope for a Golden Summer, Tim Betts Band, House of Fools, Colin Hay, Emily Moore Band, Jill Andrews, Steel Train, The Waybacks, Nate Nelson, Thayer Sarrano, Lyndsay Wojcik, Pearl and the Beard and a number of others …
We also appeared on Frank Stasio’s show, The State of Things, for WUNC, were listed as one of the web’s best out-of-context concert series by Paste Magazine (helping create an entirely new Meme), appeared in Go Triad, Yes Weekly and the News and Record, and garnered an audience of over 78,000 viewers. Our sessions appear on over 33 different websites including Muzzle of Bees, Paste Magazine, German, French, Australian and English Music blogs. Many of our sessions get more than a thousand views in the first day of posting. Oh, and we’re now syndicated via Roku and Boxee which means our audience is increasingly watching the sessions on their televisions.
All that along with doing our commercial jobs which pay the bills.
So what does all this mean? I have no idea. Carolyn and I still work out of our house which we rent. We have lovely neighbors and we just adopted two very special cats named Leo and Eleanor and no we haven’t been approached about a reality television show.
Here’s the thing. We’ve met some really fantastic people this year, people we would not have met had we not gone headlong into these projects, so even though the year was something less than a financial success the personal rewards were great. There’s also no way we could have accomplished any of these things without a great deal of help from some really fantastic people.
BIG 2009 MONKEYWHALE SHOUT-OUT
Anna Pearsall and Michael
Chris Johnson
Shanti Calabrese
Matthew Morrison
Katharine our neighbor
Matt Thomas
Ueli Schweitzer
Matty Sheets
Barry Staples
The spirit of Baffi Lungi
The spirit of Sharky
Heather Moore
Donna Smith
Kara Green
Alex and Jenny Maness
Joe Garrigan
Heineken
Badminton
The Flat Iron
John Rudy and Europa Cafe
Zach Hadgraft
Adam Braun
Driveway Moore
Rosemary and Owen McGee
Myles McGee
Mark Wagoner
James Marshall Owen
William Dawson,
Katharine Whalen
Cece Mathis
Don Ravon Gaye
Josh Neas
Lisa Dames
David Butler
Jennifer Dalton
Emily Stuart
Emily Sulecki
Kit Dean
Mikey Roohan
Tom Ehlers
Stephanie Mirabelli
Jimmy Rhine
Jamie Coggins
Nine Mile Records
Compass Records
Ramseur Records
Trekky Records
Family Records
Good Ship Records
Doc at Blind Tiger
Wendy Lou and Fred Gillespie
Molly McGinn
Chris Jackson
J Eric Ussery
Diego Diaz
and Frank
Jim Avett
Sean Coon
Andy Coon
Jeri Rowe
Ryan Snyder
Brian Clarey
Christian and Courtney Reynolds
Julie Welch
Ashby Pettigrew
Carole Perkins
Frank Stasio
David McLean
Pete and Anne Schroth
German Valle
The good people at 223 Post
Mike Tourek
Emily Moore
Betsy Blake
Joshua West
Wayne Reich
Mark and Janis Dougherty
Altina Layman
Danielle Wagner
Mike Lowe
Chuck Folds
Dan Kelly
Stephen Van Vuuren
Matt Mandarano
The King’s English
Decoration Ghost!
2010 is shaping up to be an interesting year. I’ll begin it with the resolution that we’ll only produce a total of 24 kitchen sessions as we focus our attention on new projects. That’s 2 a month. We’re already booked through April with bands playing from as close as Greensboro and as far afield as the United Kingdom. I resolve to read more, to create more art, and to finish pre-production on The Pongist whilst simultaneously paying the bills through better commercials and documentaries. Who’s in for the 48 hour film festival in 2010?
I hope you all have a great New Year and thank you for supporting us. The “you” also includes David Moore who took the Aycock Historic District Badminton Trophy away from Aycock this Thanksgiving, buried a venison sausage in the snow, and braved an entire bottle of ginseng eyedrops for “science.”
Pearl and the Beard are cool. There, I said it. And when I say cool, I don’t mean “too cool for school”, not gonna talk to you at a bar, blowin’ through this little town straight back to Brooklyn, cool. I mean cool in the way that bands with three people who wear glasses are cool. Cool in the down to earth, funny, caring for each other, interested in what you’re doing, wanting to go out and eat Indian food after your session, way. Read Post
Love these guys. Their cd, 1988, has been on constant rotation in our house since the morning they dropped by to visit our Kitchen. Also, it features some very hot photography by Nashville-based photographer Rachel Williamson. Smart move, fellas! This album is good stuff, indeed. Sometimes they remind me a bit of Ryan Adams, but without the gut-wrenching desire to end it all. They’ve got their own thing for sure, which you can clearly hear (and see) in their video.
Friendly, polite, funny, and obviously having a good time out on the road, Michael Ford, Jr. and the Apache Relay might just become your newest favorite band. Paste Magazine didn’t name them one of the “Eight Most Auspicious Musicial Debuts of 2009″ for nothin’. Here they are when I wasn’t awkwardly holding the boom mic. Read Post
Lyndsay Wojcik came to visit us from the fair city of Asheville, NC. After honing her skills in Nashville for several years she’s made Asheville her new home and just happens to be neighbors with our newly beloved friends Now You See Them. Lyndsay’s got all sorts of talent and charm and her tour schedule is not for the faint of heart. Check out her video and stay tuned for a second one coming up soon. Lyndsay was joined here by (the also very talented) Matt Williams and Shane and Dulci, 2/3 of Now You See Them. Lots and lots o’ fun, these kids. They make us smile. Read Post
Wendy Lou rocks our world. And possibly yours’, although you probably didn’t even know it. Wendy is a “satellite whale” (©2009 William Dawson) straight outta the kind city of Asheville, NC, where she works tirelessly day and especially night to hook up people and ideas and art and technology and business in ways you didn’t even know existed. Designer, developer, techie, writer, tweeter, blogger, photographer, event planner, educator, grant writer, networker…you name it, this lady can do it and do it well. And all of these things are done with passion, enthusiasm and energy that frankly leaves us speechless. Read Post
The following turned out not to be true, today … but, our sources indicate that myspace will be transitioning to a subscription-based streaming music model to offset the costs of music royalties, so keep an eye on any changes.
Here’s a couple of links of interest: Read Post
A number of months ago. I couldn’t tell you how many. A number. A band drove down from Asheville, NC who just really knocked our socks off. They were unsigned, energetic, all living under same roof, had been in NY and toured Australia. Now You See Them. After the kitchen session was over they drove back up the mountain to that magical city of micro-breweries, music mavens and havens, I got on the phone with the members of Holy Ghost Tent Revival. I just thought, these guys would sound great together. Read Post
They’ve just moved to Greensboro from Hickory, NC. I am very glad. The three piece consists of guitar, drums, and vocals. Very mid-fi.
Wow. Thayer Sarrano and Nate Nelson. Wow. Quiet, lovely, modest, good-spirited and really, really beautiful music-makers. It was a treat to meet these guys and hear their songs in our Kitchen as leaves blew by the windows and fall began to settle onto Greensboro. Perhaps I’m biased because some of their songs sound like early Cat Power (who is one of my all time faves) or maybe it’s because Thayer was such a good sport about leaning over the edge of our bathtub and submerging her head in the water for several takes, but it’s fair to say I’ve become a big fan overnight. I’ve listened to both of their cd’s several times and heard “Jump In the Water” over and over again as Harvey worked his magic on their video and I’m still struck by how beautiful it is. Read Post
“The Junior League Band is an old-time inspired rock band fronted by the Georgia grown banjo, vocalist, Lissy Rosemont. Based out of Washington, DC, this nationally touring band has been compared to “Alison Krauss and the Band” by the Washington Post, and touts Levon Helm’s own horn players on their catchy single “South Carolina Blues.” [...]
“Anna Vogelzang is a songwriter splitting her time between Madison, WI and Chicago. She has shared the stage with the likes of Regina Spektor, Deer Tick, and Nat Baldwin, among others. Her fifth studio album, Paper Boats, was released earlier this year by Slothtrop Records.”
Dark altostratus clouds were encroaching into our neighborhood as we set up [...]
Here’s Monkeywhale’s submission to the 2009 48 hour film festival.
Additional writing credit should go to Mike Lowe, who worked on Swim Film’s production, “Polish Versus” this year. They deservedly received awards.
Every element in this short was created and edited within a 48 hour timeline and no alterations have been made since.
Many thanks to everyone who [...]
New Jersey. Yes, this band is from New Jersey. They’ve performed on the Conan O’Brien show, been featured by Spin Magazine, performed at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Coachella, and were formerly signed to Drive-Thru Records.
We had to wait until close to the release date of their newest album, “Steel Train” before we could post [...]
Here’s part 2. It’s been a few weeks since part 1. Molly McGinn and Molly Miller after completing their first album “North, South” with Kasey Horton and produced by Jim Avett, are now beginning the process of recording their second album with 3 time grammy award winner Steven Heller and Laurelyn Dossett at Echo Mountain [...]
Around a year ago, Molly McGinn ventured into our kitchen with a small outfit she hustled together from local musicians which she fondly called her “Buster Dillys.”
Over the course of the following 15 months or so she encountered Molly Miller and together with Kasey Horton they formed Amelia’s Mechanics, very quickly releasing their first album, [...]
