Coming Soon: Billy Talbot in Conversation

Less than one month after sitting down with Stephen Stills, I had the opportunity to speak with Crazy Horse bassist/vocalist Billy Talbot about the release of his latest solo effort, On the Road to Spearfish, as well as life on the road with Neil Young. Look for the interview in the October issue of Long Island Pulse. The full transcript will appear in a later Island Zone Update ... Enjoy the rest of the summer!

STEPHEN STILLS: 50 YEARS OF MUSIC AND COUNTING ...

photo by Eleanor Stills

Stepping into a modestly large suite of an Upper East Side hotel, I come face to face with the only artist ever to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice in the same year. In 1997, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Stills accepted his nominations into the prestigious pantheon for his pivotal roles in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills and Nash. The Springfield, which also included Neil Young, Richie Furay, and Jim Messina among its members, revealed Stills as a musical genius. His eclectic blend of folk, rock, blues, jazz, country, and Latin is unique in the musical universe, and his influence upon popular music cannot be underestimated. Crosby, Stills and Nash has become an American institution of sorts, with anthems such as “Carry On”, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, “Love the One You’re With”, and “Southern Cross” permanently woven into America’s cultural tapestry.

Now, I’m not one of those guys whose handshake is more of a bone-crushing display of strength, but it’s no cold and clammy claw either … just your normal, average, hey-how-you-doing-nice-to-meet-you variety. Time stops as I realize that the man whose hand I’m shaking is wincing in pain. “Hey, it’s not a contest!” he says through clenched teeth, leaving me absolutely mortified and at a complete loss for words. (Stills has carpal tunnel in his right hand, which he later explains.)

With that inauspicious start, Stephen Stills and I sit down and begin one of the few interviews granted for the release of Carry On, a 4-CD boxed set featuring 82 songs, including the essential recordings, live cuts, new mixes, and 25 previously unreleased tracks, spanning 50 years of a career that can only be termed extraordinary. From his earliest recording at age 17 to a live version of Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country” from CSN in 2012, a lifetime of creativity is anthologized with loving care and exquisite production with the help of Graham Nash and long-time friend and CSNY archivist Joel Bernstein. We spend the next half hour or so covering as much ground as time and memory allowed.

Stephen Stills: [Laughter] You can tell I’ve been doing this all day. I get really acerbic by the end of the day!

Roy Abrams: I know that you really don’t like doing interviews …

SS: No, I detest it, pretty much. [Smiles] I mean, it goes to the question of why you started playing an instrument in the first place, because talking wasn’t quite enough. And to analyze it and talk to somebody after the fact seems … I don’t know, I thought Miles Davis was just great. He always scared everybody so bad nobody ever talked to him, and that sounds great to me! [Laughter]

RA: Regarding the process of compiling the tracks included in the boxed set, what was it like to revisit the earliest songs, the alternate takes, and the unreleased material?

SS:  I gave a lot of that to Graham [Nash] to do. Graham is the one who said, “Me and Joel [Bernstein] will do your boxed set.” I said well, you’ll do it with me, but if you want to go and pick some of the work, go ahead, because I was facing a room the size of this [sweeps his arm around the hotel suite] completely full of two-inch tapes, so and somebody had to go through all the awful stuff and the “before-we-learned-it” stuff and find the gems. So they did the first rounds. I basically kept myself at a very distant mode so when they were prepared to bring me a set of choices, I would really listen to it. I wouldn’t even listen to the whole thing; whatever my first decision was, that was it. “No, let’s use the record. No, that was a great alternate take.” And those were all those mixes that we did on the night we cut them, and I sat down at the console and did them myself … I was very generous with giving other people producer credit but make no mistake about it; virtually every song I ever did was my own [production]. I didn’t easily put myself in the hands of others.

RA: On the CSN 2012 DVD, you referenced three pivotal experiences from your youth that left an indelible mark upon your muse: seeing the nighttime Zulu parades in New Orleans the night before Mardi Gras when you were six, being surrounded by salsa music when you were a teenager, and the discovery of old blues music with your best friend.

SS: There’s a little piece of [that] in everything I do. All those blues records that we sat around listening to, we learned to play to Jimmy Reed, which is where everyone should learn to play lead, and I found that I had that in common with my British guitar master idols; they all learned to Jimmy Reed, because that was the first thing you could play, and it taught you how to keep a groove.

RA: You were recognized and hailed as a musical genius by the late Ralph J. Gleason of Rolling Stone through your work with Buffalo Springfield. How did accolades of that nature affect you at that point in your career?

SS: I’m curious as to why Jann Wenner has forgotten that! [Laughter] The first column that Ralph Gleason wrote about me was before Rolling Stone existed and he wrote a half page about the Buffalo Springfield, and he knew exactly what we were doing. My mother got [the article] and she saved it for me. That’s why I can’t remember what month it came out, because I didn’t read it till months later. I went back to visit my mother in Palo Alto, and she had kept it. I wish I could find it in the archives, because it was like, “Buddy! That’s what I’m trying to do!” My confidence just soared. You have to remember, I was really bashful except when we were at our business. But I was socially just completely inept and it just gave my confidence a tremendous boost.

RA: Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun was another pivotal figure in your career who championed your work with Buffalo Springfield and CSN in the early days. What are your memories of him?

SS: He came into the studio, and I just hit it off with the guy immediately because he was the guy who would get in the car and go down and search for the musicians. If you want to have a record company, that’s what you did. Go find them, record them, and fight to sell them, and pay them. But getting money out of him was like pulling blood from a stone. But that’s another story—it’s the businessman in all of them.

RA: Regarding the success of CSN and CSNY and the impact that both groups had upon popular music and culture, did you see it coming?

SS: One could only hope, but when the reality of it hit, I ran like a scalded cat. I went back to the racetrack and started galloping horses, just for something else to do, to get away from all those people who were so obsequious. It was a little teeny version of what the Beatles went through, but it was weird; everybody was weird. Joni Mitchell wrote a great line about it in "Both Sides Now" ... you have to look at the lyric, but it’s about that moment when you look over and you’re famous and your friends aren’t.

RA: Any particularly memorable musical experiences from your solo career?

SS:  Well, working with a horn section took me back to my school band days, and I actually started paying attention to the written music and working with the London Symphony guys on “To a Flame” and [producer] Arif Mardin, and how he drew that arrangement out of me by about ten minutes into it he realized that he wasn’t going to write a note; it was all in here [points to his head] and he made it his business to draw it out of me. I’d say, “You finish that line,” and he’d say, “No, you finish that line. It goes this far, now what?” He was such a gentleman and so kind and it was like composing and going to music school at the same time. I got a year’s worth of musical training out of that for the three hours that we spent devising that arrangement that was played by the London Symphony guys. That was a great moment in my career.

RA: Manassas, your legendary band with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman, is very near and dear to many people—

SS: Only arcane music freaks! They have a whole Stephen Stills section [in their private collection]. I get letters from people that are quite odd. Who is it out there that gets this stuff? It’s greatly appreciated, I must say.

RA: Watching live performances of Manassas, one can see that the band meant a great deal to you as well.

SS: Well, until it didn’t! It became too unwieldy because there were so many guys. Al Perkins was the key behind it and Chris [Hillman], but Al’s the first steel player that I met who knows how to take his hands off the strings. He actually had a double neck with a little velvet rest to put his wrists, and then he could stop playing for entire sections where it wasn’t called for, and it allowed the whole [song] to become more of an orchestra.

RA: CSN’s performance at Westbury last June was fantastic, and you seemed to be having a tremendous amount of fun onstage. At one point, you referred to the revolving stage and suggested to David and Graham that you rename yourselves the Lazy Susan Band!

SS: We detested [the revolving stage], but it was the greatest show of the tour! [My attitude] came from sitting around on my ass waiting for Neil [Young] to get the Buffalo Springfield together and having my financial house almost fall apart and so I just got my head cleared and said, “I’m really delighted to be here!” Something about the commitment that Graham had made to making the boxed set and … we got nicer to each other.

RA: The last time we talked [in 1994], you described how you felt about making music with David and Graham, saying, “The noise that we make when we open our mouths is a gift from God.” Do you have anything to add to that statement, or does that still sum it up for you?

SS: That’s true! That was true from the moment it happened in Cass Elliott’s house. I mean, it’s a combination of neurological accidents, I mean, Graham’s North of England Celtic thing with my little gravelly whatever the fuck it is and David’s Glenn Yarbrough smoothie sort of California crooner thing that all just sort of worked together instantaneously.

RA: Beginning with “For What It’s Worth”, you’ve always been politically outspoken. What are your thoughts on the current political climate?

SS: It’s like the Tower of Babel; it’s hard to believe this shit. They make this ridiculous device of the filibuster as it’s now being implemented where you have to stand up there and talk until you have to pee in your pants! Piss in a cup under the desk and keep talking! Fuck you! You can’t hold up the business of the country just because … we don’t have any judges, all these appointees aren’t getting made because they don’t like him [Obama] because they’re still fucking racists. They’re pigs, they’re fucking morons, they’re useless, and they’re an embarrassment to the promise of public service.

RA: What’s your take on America’s youth culture today compared with that of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s?

SS: It’s in transition right now. They think Facebook is it, but they’re getting somewhere, they’re beginning to find their own groove, and that’s hopeful to me. There’s a nasty streak of political incorrectness that kind of irritates me; like, I was in a hurry trying to get to the airport, and this guy’s on a bicycle, and he stays in the middle of the road when we’re behind him on a hill, and we can’t pass him because it’s dangerous, and he does that, and you could see that he’s doing it on purpose. I eat meat, I think everybody should be able to smoke pot, and I don’t believe in censorship, and I’m also in the Bill Maher school, I believe that religion is a neurological disorder … but I’m not an atheist. I believe in God, there’s something.

RA: From a guitarist’s perspective, can you talk more about the creative process and how it feels to be at the top of your game, after 50 years?

SS:  Well, if you’re Rick Rubin, you spend a couple of weeks putting [guitar parts] down as overdubs. If you’re me, you can do it all day. You know when you start, and you know how long [until] it’s going to end, and you let it tell you, and your guitar and you become alive, and then you look at the band and say “We’re coming down now.” As a jazz musician, that’s how you play, that’s how it’s done. It hasn’t changed in a hundred years.

RA: After decades of performing, how do you keep the “fun factor” intact?

SS: Keep changing the arrangement! People [may] think it’s odd if they don’t listen and then it annoys them, but if they actually listen, they find something new and fresh in it. [Regarding performing], don’t you know that when you’re on, you’re on, and when you’re off, you’re off? When you’re on, you’re on, and you walk on and there are people there and they paid money to come and see you, so get your shit together! Quit fucking around! I’ve seen a film of me drinking onstage and abusing the privilege, and believe me, that only happened for a couple of years and I never did it again in my life and you do the best [you can] and if it sounds good, and you’re really connecting, you bring it. It’s when you find your 99 mph fastball, you find the slot, and you can throw breaking shit, and you’ve got your whole bag, your arm comes alive, and there you go! And when it finally dies, you know when to take a hike! I’m almost there, but only because it hurts. I’ve got carpal tunnel [in my right hand] and this is all getting withered. [Wraps his left hand around his right wrist] I couldn’t put my hand around my wrist like that ten years ago.

RA: The coming year is looking to be a big one for you as the legendary 1974 CSNY concert at Wembley Stadium is being readied for release on CD and DVD. Recently, Graham Nash alluded to a possible CSNY tour to follow. Care to comment?

SS: Man plans, God laughs!

RA: Final question … can you talk about your thoughts on the legacy of Stephen Stills?

SS: No! I’m not going to review myself! No, I’m a job creator—I’m not going to do your job for you! I just know that it was really fun to do, and I’m not done yet. There’ll be probably two more discs of archival stuff.  Beyond that, I don’t know. We’ll see what the future brings! Right now, as soon as I get finished talking to you guys, if I ever do before I slit my wrists ... [Points to his head, laughing] Melted brie! You didn’t used to have to do this; you put your stuff out, and they bought it like hotcakes, and you never talked to anybody.

©2013 Roy Abrams
Note: an edited version of this interview appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Long Island Pulse

Coming Soon! Stephen Stills in Conversation ... full transcript!

Summer is unofficially here, I'm officially married as of May 25, and the July Music & Art issue of LI Pulse will be out soon, featuring an interview with Stephen Stills, conducted in NYC on April 22.
Stills has recently released Carry On, a 4-CD boxed collection spanning five decades and five hours, containing the musical record of a true genius. I've interviewed David Crosby and Graham Nash numerous times over the past twenty years for CSN, CSNY, Crosby-Nash, CPR, and solo ventures ... but encounters with Stills have been far fewer. Our last conversation took place in 1995 after a triumphant solo performance at the legendary NYC club Tramps. Stills had just mesmerized a packed house with a set that featured an acoustic medley of songs from Manassas (which moved Atlantic Records mogul Ahmet Ertegun, sitting two tables away from me, to tears)  and concluded with a blistering version of Crosby's "Long Time Gone." That night, Stills and I spent a good twenty minutes shooting the breeze at the after-show party. Clear-eyed, sober, and articulate as hell, he was curious to hear my opinion of the show. Mentioning the Manassas medley and "Long Time Gone" as particular highlights, Stills nodded his head, showing both appreciation and agreement in one movement. I've seen CSN (and Y) in every possible permutation from 1977 through the present, and have to say that the combination of having seen Stills onstage with CSN last June at Westbury and the experience of immersing myself in the 4-CD collection for the past several weeks has elevated my respect for this artist to a new high level. Look for the interview in LI Pulse next month . The Island Zone Update will feature the full transcript within a few weeks.

- Roy Abrams
  Long Island, NY

Long Island's music community steps up to help out after Sandy

Rather than sitting here just thinking about how great it's been to see so many of Long Island's bands and solo artists stepping up to the plate with numerous benefit concerts and charitable activities aimed at helping those on Long Island who were the most severely affected by the onslaught of Sandy (residents of the devasted Barrier Islands from the areas of Atlantic Beach, Lido Beach, and Long Beach, and points East to Lindenhurst, Massapequa, and so many other places) I would put it out there in words ...

What I see happening throughout Long Island's music community is a common instinct to work together and help others in their times of need: By addressing this serious issue through the numerous benefit concerts and charitable activities already mentioned, Long Island's music community is comprised of true community leaders.

The efforts of artist extraordinaire Ed Ryan and his wife Rain are one shining example, the upcoming concerts headlined by Taking Back Sunday with supporting band Bayside are yet another ... and if I were to list the others I've learned about thus far, I'd be going on for quite a while. That, esteemed reader, I leave up to your curiosity and interest.

Bravo to all involved!!

-Roy Abrams
 Long Island, NY

Mayve -- Doing Everything Right: Live at Club Revolution/Rick's Rising Stars Showcase -- August 29, 2012

Taking the stage for their short but fiery 5-song set, the four musicians better known as Mayve proved beyond any reasonable doubt that they are poised to climb the next rung in the proverbial ladder of success. Their well-crafted songs are instrumentally and vocally arranged in a manner that highlights the individual strengths of each band member while merging to form a sound that they can truly claim as their own. This, in itself, is an all-too rare achievement these days, given all of the … ahem …. creatively challenged groups of hacks somehow finding their way onto radio airwaves that were, at one time, reserved for real musicians. “Wait just a f***ing minute!” you might cry out. “What do you define as “creatively challenged” or “real musicians”??” “Well,” I might respond, “you could have tuned into virtually any radio station years ago and heard artists who actually stood out from each other – and while they may have certainly been influenced by each other, they never stooped to the levels of near-apelike mimicry that seems to be the norm among music aimed towards younger listeners … the so-called "core market” of the recording industry.
 
Anyway, I digress … where was I? Oh … Mayve. The rhythm section of bassist Mike Gusman and drummer Vinny Nuzzi are one of the tightest I've heard in a long while, providing a solid launching pad from which lead guitarist James Smith and vocalist/guitarist Nick Micheline are able to take flight. Smith uses his guitar effects to create an almost symphonic layering of melody upon intricate chordal voicings, while Micheline's lean, propulsive rhythm guitar hovers just underneath a tenor voice that wraps itself effortlessly around the lyrics' melody.

Speaking with bassist Mike Gusman after the set, I learned that the band is relatively fresh out of the gate, having formed in February 2012. Gusman is the most recent addition, having joined the band in May. Given what I had just witnessed onstage, I asked Mike to explain how the band was able to get itself to that level of performance. The answer? Practicing two nights a week for four straight hours. These musicians know how to use their time productively!

Just take it from someone who was fortunate enough to have been exposed to a great number of real musicians who were creatively blessed during my years involved with Long Island’s original music scene: Mayve is the real thing on Long island today. Combining songs that actually make you want to listen with a compelling live performance that defines the band as professionals, Mayve offers an alternative to the glut of sound-alike bands heard all too frequently on the radio these days. With their combination of innate talent and an outstanding work ethic, Mayve is doing everything right. My prediction? If they continue on this path, commercial success will surely find them. Find out more about Mayve at www.facebook.com/mayvemusic

Mayve onstage at Club Revolution, 8/29/12

(photo by Eric Gordon)

 

Mayve in conversation: The Rising Stars Interview, 8/29/12

(L-R): Vinny Nuzzi, drums; Nick Micheline, vocals, guitar;

Mike Gusman, bass; James Smith, guitar

 (photo by Eric Gordon)

 

 

 

 

Joel Rafael in Conversation: The Living Room, NYC, June 19, 2012

"Be a good listener because the story is happening all around you."
-- Joel Rafael

On a beautiful late spring evening in NYC, I was lucky enough to find a parking spot on the street in the Village, and made it down to the Living Room for the 2012 Folk Alliance New Music Showcase, featuring a spellbinding live set from California-based singer/songwriter Joel Rafael performing songs from his newest album, America Come Home (with a surprise walk-on by Graham Nash). I had a chance to speak with Joel outside the venue after his performance. Read on and enjoy!

Q. That was a great set!

A. Thanks, man.

Q. How did you get involved with Folk Alliance?

A. It was something I had heard about from some other people who play music; in L.A., actually. It must have been in ’97 or 96 for the first time that I took my band out there – it was in Canada that year. They moved from year to year. At a certain point, things were really changing in Folk Alliance. On the Board, at least five people sort of got up and left because they didn’t like what was happening; the executive direction was changing; Louis [Meyers] took over as Executive Director, and I threw my hat into the ring … I got elected by the skin of my teeth but I’ve been on [the Board] for two terms now.

Q.  I was reading your bio on your website – 1978 seems to have been a pivotal year for you. What happened?

A. I had been doing stuff prior to that but ’78 was when I started approaching recording seriously. There wasn’t the kind of potential to be able to do that on your own, like there is now. But I was able to raise some money and I recorded a couple of songs. I researched where you could get a record pressed; there weren’t the templates for the artwork and all that stuff. Initially I put out a single, and then in 1980 I put out an album with a friend of mine. Actually, a couple of the songs off that album are on my new album because {the older] album had no distribution. It was really an experiment. There’s some good stuff on it, and I just felt like well, maybe I’ll put some of the songs on the new record, try to  get a little bit more exposure, get a few more ears.

Q. I’ve been listening to the new album (America Come Home) and I love it; it’s instantly familiar, comfortable, and real. You probably hear that all the time.

A. No, I don’t hear that all the time. It’s a great compliment, and I appreciate it! [Laughs].

Q. I’m hearing a cool mix of sounds in there … the Byrds; a lot of Guthrie; certainly Dylan; Tom Petty. I was telling Michael [Jensen, CEO of Jensen Communications] that the fabric of your music is woven by a master hand who knows how to put it together.

A. Well, that’s very kind, I appreciate that. You know, in the music business, you kind of have to have a gimmick. My gimmick has always been that there’s no gimmick. What you see is what you get. It’s all about the songs, and so … but it’s been really rewarding because my career has been fairly long, actually, and at this point, I’ve been able to travel on the songs and go to places like Italy and Spain, and find that there’s people there that have actually heard my songs already; it’s pretty cool. Music actually travels pretty far!

Q. America Come Home is your fourth release on Jackson Browne’s independent label, Inside Recordings?

A. It’s the fourth physical CD release; actually it’s the fifth CD release – two CDs are in the Woody Guthrie set. There’s two original records already out on the label, and there’s two albums in Songs for Woody Guthrie – Volumes One and Two.  The new one is the fifth album to come out: America Come Home [released July 17].

Q. How did you cross paths with Jackson Browne?

A. Jackson is somebody who I got onto early in his career. It’s kind of ironic that we’re working together in terms of me being on his label. It’s really awesome that he extended the invitation. You know, for someone like me to have distribution is a major thing. I’ve been following him since the very beginning; one of my kids is named after a song on his first record – “Jamaica Say You Will.” Over the years, I’ve met Jackson a number of times and eventually we started to get to know each other and he heard some of my stuff, some of which was being recorded at his studio at the time, and he invited me onto the label.

Q. How did the connection form between you, David Crosby, and Graham Nash?

A. A few years back, ultimately I ended up on the same management roster as Jackson, and then a few years back, Graham Nash’s manager [Gerry Tolman] was killed in a car crash. Within a year or so after that, he came over to the same management roster as me, and so I met Graham a couple of times; it gave me an opportunity to meet Graham and David and one day they heard some of my music. They really just kind of volunteered to sing on my stuff. It was on the Thirteen Stories High album on a song called “This Is My Country” and then after they sang on it, Crosby, Stills and Nash were out on tour [2008], and Graham started coming out after the intermission and doing that song. It was a really good antiwar anthem. This was just before the last presidential election so it was really cool for me. All of a sudden I had people calling me from Chicago and Texas and saying, “Hey, I just went to see Crosby, Stills and Nash and they played your song!”  I hadn’t even heard it yet; a few months after that they were back in California and I was at one of the shows and they actually invited me up to do my song with them. That opened up the door to be able to sing with them a little bit more, and then when this new album was coming out they both just approached me and said, "Hey, do you want us to sing on something? Just let me know!” And I said, “The title track would be awesome … "and they were glad to do it. I was quite honored for them to be a part of it.

Q. From a songwriter’s perspective, how do you view a lot of what’s being played on the radio from the major labels?

A. I don’t pay a lot of attention to the major labels. To tell you the truth, when people ask me what I listen to, I’m almost embarrassed but I gotta be honest: I don’t really listen to much. I’m pretty involved in making music. There’s a lot of music I like; don’t get me wrong. I don’t really listen to the radio much. They always say that songwriters should listen to the radio and try and pick up on what’s going on. In terms of what’s being done these days, I think there’s some great stuff out there. There’s a lot more in the pipeline now than there used to be because the music business has kind of turned into the record business. The indies are picking up the slack and bringing it back to the music business. I’m pretty active in Folk Alliance International; I go their conference every year; I’ve been on the Board of Directors for a couple of terms and so I get a pretty good feel for what’s coming in to the folk community. The folk community is alive and well. It’s cross-generational. We had a lot of young kids coming up. That first band that was on earlier, the Stray Birds, they were excellent! They’re from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I hadn’t heard them before but I know they’ll be at our conference and we’ll be showcasing them. John Fulbright is making a lot of waves right now, from Oklahoma; he just got a great review in Billboard. Everywhere he goes people have been really impressed with his songwriting. His new record just came out on an independent label. So there’s a lot of young people who are making great music and they’re not isolating themselves off in their own demographic. They’re mixing it up with the old-timers, the veterans, the people who’ve been doing it for a while, and seeking out the leaders in the field and learning from them. So there’s this great interchange of music going on in the folk community unlike any other genre. Folk music to me is almost anti-genre. You say, what is folk music? To me, it’s about anything that carries the song to the people; it could be in any style. Woody Guthrie, when he got to New York and they started calling him a folksinger, said he’d never heard the phrase “folk singer” or “folk song” until he got to New York. To him, a song was just always a song. It was a good song or it wasn’t a good song. If it's a good song, you keep singing it, and there’s a lot of different ways you can sing it. So that’s what I like about having my feet planted in the folk community even though I think my music kind of rolls over into some other areas: The folk community is my community; it’s cross-generational, you’ve got all ages there; it’s not age or youth-generated so a guy like me can continue to make music and feel comfortable in my community. You’re not pushed out when your hair turns gray.

Q. What words of advice would you have to give – not so much to the seasoned songwriter – but to the ones just starting out and testing their wings?

A. Well, I think the best advice I can give anybody about songwriting in terms of styles … one thing that I learned is that every time I think I know what the formula is to write a good song, eventually I realize the formula is that there is no formula. The other thing I would say is: Be a good listener because the story is happening all around you. Like Woody said, everything in the world is music and the story of the people is the song. So, when you’re talking with people, listen to what they have to say, listen to their story. Seek out the words that come out of their mouth that just sound like lines. Poetry and prose are just all around us all the time. The only other thing I’d say, especially to people coming up that are flooded with influences and stuff, is something that I heard Arlo Guthrie say about Woody, which was to sum up Woody’s philosophy of music and life: It’s better to be a failure at being yourself than to be a success at being somebody else. Don’t try to be somebody that you aren’t; try to figure out what it is that you’ve got to bring to the table and then just work on that. There’s gonna be influences and you’re gonna be influenced by people, and that’s all really good. Emulation is part of the learning process but eventually you come out of that with something that’s your own take on it.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JOEL RAFAEL HERE

-Roy Abrams

 Long Island, New York

Jumpstart Tomorrow/Rick Eberle's Rising Stars/Club Revolution/June 27, 2012

For this writer, stepping into Club Revolution in Amityville on a recent Wednesday night was like stepping back in time. It had been a full decade since checking out what was happening on Long Island's original music scene. Back in the mid-'90s, Long Island was home to a thriving original music scene, virtually bursting at the seams with talent whose depth and scope resulted in a rare achievement: A top-rated radio show (The Island Zone) focused on those very artists and bands whose music drew in listeners from across the New York Metropolitan area. This, in turn, generated enough public interest to spur the venerable record store chain, Sam Goody, to initiate a weekly Saturday afternoon live in-store concert series at its Roosevelt Field location. Store manager Fred Conforti -- a self-confessed wannabe club promoter -- was an integral force in making the concert series a reality, and also championed local artists by devoting an impressive amount of store space to independent CD releases. I vividly remember receiving a phone call from Fred informing me that the aggregate weekly sales from Long Island's original artists had ranked Number Two among its overall report -- which included Billboard's Hot 100 artists. Not only were local independent artists receiving the respect and credibility they deserved through commercial radio and record retail support, there were many live venues where original music was welcomed with open arms. However, despite all the signs of an emerging scene bubbling to the surface, some of the area's largest venues routinely shut their doors to original artists, citing the success of cover bands who were regular performers at their establishments as a reason to maintain the status quo.

One young artist had become a keen student of the support structure that had been built around local independent artists and refused to take "no" for an answer from the owners and managers of those larger venues. Rick Eberle, vocalist/guitarist/songwriter for the band Iridesense, formed a coalition with two other area bands -- This Island Earth and Early Edison -- and approached the management of Mulcahy's in Wantagh with a simple yet brilliant concept: Book a show featuring full sets from all three bands, promoted heavily by all three bands utilizing all available outlets, and produce a major turnout. The triumvirate, called Pop Conspiracy Productions, achieved spectacular success with the concert. Several hundred fans turned out for what proved to be an amazing night of live original music which I will never forget. It was a triumphant achievement for Rick Eberle, whose refusal to take "no" for an answer served as both a role model for others to follow and his personal pathway to a future career.

I initially met Rick while he was still in his teens, performing with Iridesense at the legendary under-the-radar indie hangout, The Raven, back in 1994. Fast forward to 2012: Today, Rick Eberle is an established success in his own right as an artist, businessman and champion of local independent artists. He is hoping that Club Revolution (formerly Ollie's Point) will emerge as a hub of Long Island's original music scene. With Rick's involvement, I have no doubt that Club Revolution may become just that.

On Wednesday, June 27, I had the pleasure of attending an evening of live music dubbed "Rick Eberle's Rising Stars" which featured four local original bands of varying ages and genres. While I give hearty kudos to both The Royal Guard and Two Cent Sam for their solid performances, I was most impressed by the first band on the bill, Jumpstart Tomorrow. This North Babylon-based group consists of Tyler Winn (lead vocals, bass), Brandon Winn (lead guitar), Mike Falsetta (rhythm guitar), and Danny Roller (drums, backing vocals). A particularly impressive aspect of this band lies in its collective youth: The members' ages range from 16 to 18. Citing influences ranging from The Maine, Blink-182, All Time Low, 3rd Eye Blind, and Green Day, Jumpstart Tomorrow's songs are decidedly radio-friendly, and their live performance showcased just how tight these four young musicians are as a band. Drummer Danny Roller struck me as almost Keith Moon-like in his intensity, providing a bedrock of rhythm that was both metronome-perfect and brimming with exuberant energy. Mike Falsetta and Brandon Winn's guitars worked seamlessly together, with Tyler Winn's bass playing serving as the glue to the mix. Speaking with Tyler after the set, I learned that the band's close friendship was viewed by all four members as the core of their existence. My own experience has taught me that this is not only an essential element of being in a band; it is also the key component that allows a band to remain intact.

My personal pick from their live set was "Found You Out" from the band's EP, Can't Get Enough. I checked out several of the songs online and I can safely say that Jumpstart Tomorrow has a great deal of potential for success. They can write hook-laden material which beg for radio airplay, and given where they are today as songwriters, I can only expect greater things to come in the future. In my opinion, "Done With It" is the strongest track on the EP and an obvious choice for a single. The song is a winner both lyrically and musically, and Tyler's vocals -- free from the auto-tune found elsewhere on the EP -- bring the track home. Three suggestions I would make to the band are (1) avoid using auto-tune in the studio -- it's an overused effect and robs the vocals of their character; (2) practice the vocals until you get them where they need to be; and (3) focus on ensuring that the vocal performance is on the same level of consistency as their instrumental performance in a live setting. While the recording studio allows for near-unlimited flexibility in laying down a vocal track, on stage, you only get one shot.

I believe that with more time, practice, and live performance experience, Jumpstart Tomorrow will emerge as a powerful new voice of original music from Long Island. For anyone interested in checking out a promising new band, I highly recommend this one. You can find out more about Jumpstart Tomorrow (and hear some of their songs) at: http://www.reverbnation.com/jumpstarttomorrow.

-Roy Abrams
 Long Island, New York