This was a collaborative effort as part of our new collective, MWP,  shot together with Mark Wagoner Productions.

I’m sure it wasn’t easy having 3 camera operators in the museum with the constant clicking of shutters bouncing off the clean white walls and a dolly moving all about the place.  So,  I want to thank Xandra (curator of exhibits) for her patience along with the rest of the staff who do some pretty amazing work.

The exhibit is a survey of Leo’s work over the past 20 years with pieces on loan from all over the country.

This is something you shouldn’t miss.

Praise for Leonardo Drew:

In the second gallery, Leonardo Drew is showing new rust-covered reliefs and sculptures that, despite their look of neglect and decay, are overworked. Time hangs heavily, and theatrically, on these pieces. One, a series of distressed glass and wood boxes, each containing a little bit of detritus, suggests reliquaries.

The largest piece, more characteristic of Mr. Drew’s work, is a wall-size relief whose small compartments are packed with paper, small objects or closed off with little squares of fabric or colored-paper collages. Toward the work’s center, one box contains a carved, gargoyle-like face.

These works are so seductive as to be manipulative, part of the manipulation being that it is hard to tell if Mr. Drew’s rich patinas are the result of artistic intention or time’s inexorable march. In the end, one leans toward artistic intention, which then implies a toxic level of artifice. It’s like looking at a stage set whose effects are meant to be read from a distance and thus seem overwrought when viewed more closely.

Roberta Smith, The New York Times

Tomorrow night kicks off opening night of the exhibit with a sold-out artist’s lecture at 6pm followed by a reception from 7-9pm.  If bad weather keeps you away (which we hope it won’t) the exhibit will be up until May 9th and I promise you that you don’t want to miss it.  Be prepared to lose your mind a bit.  That’s what it’s all about, right?  Here are a few sneak peeks from the last few days.  Video coming soon.

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Harvey's Kitchen

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Harvey's Kitchen

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

Leonardo Drew, "Existed", Weatherspoon Art Museum

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.”

Many thanks to Jocelyn, Emily and Jeremy for a fabulous time and for the countless hours I listened to these songs over and over again.

When people put on cute dresses for their Kitchen session and bring us cd’s and adorable tote bags (featuring three pairs of glasses!) and are really lovely and don’t mind standing around in a cold, damp backyard at night and then tell all their friends to tweet the hell out of their video once it’s up, they earn big points with me.  In Pearl and the Beard’s case, they didn’t even need the points.   Their music is so beautiful and interesting and unique that they could have been jackasses and I’d still have to tell you to check them out.  Luckily for us they were just the opposite.  So take a listen and watch their videos and keep your fingers crossed we can get them to come down here again and play a show somewhere fun.

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Pearl and the Beard, Harvey's Kitchen

Sometime in the middle of evening I saw this enormous 2 masted gaff-rigged ship sail across the barn doors.  A few conversations ebbed.

I had spoken with Jeremy a few weeks prior to their arrival and they were kind enough to forward me a couple of songs they were considering performing in our kitchen.  The image of the ship was, in my opinion, just what one of the songs needed.

Also, inspired by Mark Wagoner’s experimentation with a pin-hole adaptor on his video camera, but lacking the necessary equipment I thought perhaps I could come up with an interesting effect by punching a hole into a lens cap.  If nothing else it made for an asymmetrical vignette.

Pearl and the Beard.  Great musicians from Brooklyn and signed to the boutique label, Family Records, won us over with their beautiful music, wit, and love of Indian food.

Keep an eye out as the band returns to the south in March, perhaps as a monkeywhale presents event.

Their second song will appear as a single take.

Praise for Pearl and the Beard:

“Sweet, gentle and scrumptious, the music of Brooklyn trio Pearl and the Beard conjures up lazy summer afternoons at just the time we need that kind of thing most. The group consists of just three souls—Jocelyn Mackenzie, Emily Hope Price and Jeremy Styles—but its sophisticated vocal harmonies and crafty arrangements make a big impression on the combo’s recently issued debut CD, God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson.”

-Time Out New York

“The Brooklyn, NY-based trio Pearl and the Beard are known for infusing a little happiness into their dark and alluring folk songs.”

-John Schaefer, WNYC

“Pearl and the Beard play lovely, thoughtful folk ballads that are perfect for cozy, lazy Sundays. Each musician is also an exceptionally talented vocalist, and the rich vocal melodies are carefully arranged around warm harmonies. There is a wide range of mood and emotion captured here, from soothing to brooding, with just a touch of Gothic drama. This is really exceptional songwriting, and the interplay between vocalists reminds me of Dirty Projectors more than any traditional folk act.

-Flagpole Magazine

“The Brooklyn trio… features silky, three-part vocal harmonies, equally alluring and arresting. Blending campfire folk with damaged marching band dirges, this group of NYC folksters has stumbled upon a new, happier breed of freak folk… Behind the group’s charming veneer are moving, honest stories wrapped in gut-churning cello, propelled by melodies that burrow themselves into your brain and call it home.”

-Beyond Race Magazine

Credits:

Director of Photography/Editor: Harvey K Robinson

Still Photographer:                   Carolyn de Berry

Cello/Vocals:                           Emily Hope Price

Vocals/Melodica:                      Jocelyn Mackenzie

Vocals/Bowed Guitar:               Jeremy Styles

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.

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Michael Ford, Jr. and The Apache Relay, Harvey's Kitchen

Well, here’s a band from Nashville Tennessee that’s really been making waves in the past few months.  Their debut album, 1988, produced by Doug Williams (The Avett Brothers “The Gleam”, “Second Gleam”, “Four Thieves Gone” and “Mignonette”) is really quite something.  Carolyn and I have listened to it over 40 times.  Well, a lot of times.  I can’t say definitively if it’s actually been 40 times.

The band is comprised of  Kellen Wenrich, 19, on fiddle, Brett Moore, 20, on mandolin, Michael Harris, 21, on guitar and Michael Ford Jr.,21, lead vocals.  The performance in our kitchen included a guest appearance by Andy Moritz of Cadillac Sky.

They’ve performed with the likes of Jill Andrews and Paleface and they’ve been Monkeywhaled in our kitchen.

So, it’s Christmas Eve 2009.  The presents have been wrapped.  The cats are tearing about the house with ribbons in their mouths and we’re looking forward to a lovely meal with my family tomorrow. I hope you enjoy the session.

Praise for Michael Ford Jr., and the Apache Relay, 1988:

“While my favorite tunes fit squarely into the peppy category (”Sugarcane”, the album’s opening track is my favorite number on the album), it is in the softer set, with songs like “Return & Leave”, “Blue Eyes”, and “Sun Child” that Ford Jr’s vocal is most prominently showcased to expose an emotive quality that compels the listener to really dig-in and listen closely.”

Twangville.com

Rachael Maddux of Paste Magazine rated 1988 as one the most auspicious debut albums of 2009.  High praise indeed.