SOUNDNEWS VOLUME
61 – Spring 2008
Commentary, News
and Events
(scroll down for THREE LIVE EVENTS!)
PLUS NEW JOANIE PALLATTO MUSIC VIDEO ON YOUTUBE:
“IT’S NOT EASY-CD VERSION”
Southport Records
http://www.chicagosound.com
American
Idolatry on Fox, Bottle Water Segregation, Smoking Prohibition
by b. p. sparrow
When the hit
reality show American Idol dusts the 80th Academy Awards
ceremonies in national viewer ship by several million it lets you
know just where the minds and hearts of the American public are.
Even if the bloated gold statue show is like a side view of Paris
Hilton’s left cheek, it still does say something. It seems that
the American mind is mushing out, like a brain puree of soft light
tissue, or a Disney movie about some lost puppy dog in Beloit,
Wisconsin.
The
mouth-full-of-cotton Paula Abdul has to be on some LA form of
downers. And Simon always lashes into something that he
doesn’t like, before he sees or hears it. What the bloated I-pod
audience really wants is to be witness to the bad and out of tune.
The same way folks want to hear about some movie star in rehab. The
third critic, a large black man that once played bass named Randy
Jackson, usually states "A couple of notes were pitchy" and is
perhaps commenting on the pitchlessness of the spectacle that we all
live in.
Talent is forced to
learn dated pop songs that their parents and grandparents remember
(the ones on da couch). These young singers can not sing new pop
songs because they do not exist, unless you want to do a cover of
50 Cent’s "Get Rich and Die Young," in the minor key of the
castle by the moat DX7 groove.
We are the children
of Ted Mack and the original Amateur Hour, treading water in
a sea of Geritol. We ignore the minds of the creative youth,
and bury prematurely the art of those who live past youth, say into
their 50's. We underpay the artists and create living gods of
baseball and hockey players. The Americanization of Idol is the
decentralization of our hearts, minds, brains and human integrity.
Howard Reich
To The Rescue...
With the shrinking
staff at both the Tribune and Sun-Times it is very amazing that
veteran writer Howard Reich continues to explore the musical
landscape called "Chicago Local." A recent feature in the Friday
Section on Southport veteran horn man Bobby Lewis was a pleasant
surprise. Also going back to the legendary days of Chicago's
Northbranch Saloon on Armitage, circa 1979-80, Reich supplied
another fine feature on resilient tenor sax player and composer Mike
Finnerty in that same Friday section! And in within the same month
a rare Tribune Magazine cover story on classical violinist Rachael
Barton... this is what Chicago writing is all about. Does Howard
Reich ever sleep?
Lost Jazz Man
Lloyd Sachs...
See what happens
when you write jazz and features for over 20 years for the
Sun-Times? Well if you are our man Sachs, and you get "bumped"
upstairs to the hallowed editorial board, you end up fired! All
artists will miss the craggy humor of Mr. Sachs... after he was let
go last month. Is this the same company that sold its riverside
downtown land to Donald Trump and moved its printing plant? Hey
corporate cats, ever heard of leasing to billionaires? Lloyd we
hope you end up at The New York Times!
WTTW and
Black People…
A fine multi part
show on the ancestry of black people in this country ran recently,
we salute WTTW and it’s window to the world, the real world...
Tax On Water
Bottles
As the City of
Chicago taxes us to death, they put a tax on fancy bottles of water.
In the last period Peanut Butter, Mayonnaise, Ketchup, and Coffee
have lost the use of glass as a container form. This is bottled
water segregation. You can no longer reuse that Mayo jar for
storage. That Peanut Butter jar will not hold nails or nuts and
bolts… more plastic… more waste as we move backwards on this planet.
Thousands of
Batteries Wipe Out The Universe
Ever try to get a
replacement battery for that cell phone? If you can find it, it
will cost about 1/2 the value of the phone, like $30. So throw away
your phone and get another. The Grand Waste. With each new
electronic toy is a new battery, size and voltage. Hey, that Canon
mini DVD camera, the battery costs $65 and only fits model
277777790000, and the Camera is $275?
Save Your
Lungs, Lose Your Liver
The Great
Prohibition 2008. No smoking in Chicago bars. But you can drink,
drink and drive anything. Bacardi 151 on fire, 9 Millers. The
Prohibition of smoking awaits a modern day Al Capone to open smoke
free joints in Kankakee, IL.
THREE LIVE EVENTS FROM SOUTHPORT RECORDS!!!
Event #1:
Southport
Records CD Release Performance
Joanie
Pallatto - "It's Not Easy"
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
12:15pm
Admission is Free
Chicago
Cultural Center, Randolph Café
Jazz, Blues &
Beyond LunchBreak Series
78 E. Washington
St., Chicago, IL 60602
312-744-6630
“Joanie
Pallatto has a voice that is forever young, and enchanting.”
Lee Prosser - jazzreview.com (February, 2008)
“However, it
may be Pallatto's intelligent and creative songwriting that is the
star of the show.”
Brad Walseth - jazzchicago.net (March, 2008)
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
along with Southport Records will present a free concert in the
Randolph Café on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 from 12:15-1:00 with
vocalist and songwriter Joanie Pallatto. The live event is a
part of the celebration of Pallatto's new Southport CD, "It's
Not Easy" and will feature songs from the CD, with Dave
Gordon on piano, Alejo Poveda, drums/percussion and
john E. Magnan, electric bass. Special musical guests are
John Devlin, guitar and Bradley Parker-Sparrow, piano.
Vocalist-Songwriter
Joanie Pallatto delivers ten original songs with her clear, soulful
voice on "It's Not Easy" from Southport Records, from mellow
jazz-tinged vocals, pop-reggae fun, flowing ballads to fiery Latin
grooves. The CD features Fareed Haque, Howard Levy, Alejo Poveda,
Eric Hochberg, Bradley Parker-Sparrow, John Devlin, john E. Magnan,
Eldee Young and Michael Raynor (and Magic, the Dog.)
Liner
Notes (excerpt) by b. p. Sparrow:
"It's Not Easy is a record. There isn't a side A and B, but the work
falls from the voice and heart of Joanie Pallatto. Images flow in
black and white, with color past small towns, exotic locations and
large smoked out cities. Musicians blend like families at a
picnic. Time is frozen, and no one ever leaves, but stays the
season."
Jazz, Blues &
Beyond is LunchBreak's Tuesday program featuring jazz, blues and
gospel music.
The Chicago
Cultural Center is located in downtown Chicago at Michigan Ave.,
with entrances at 78 E. Washington and wheelchair accessible at 77
E. Randolph (312-744-6630).
This event is
presented by The City of Chicago, Chicago Department of Cultural
Affairs and Southport Records.
For more
information on programs presented by the Chicago Department of
Cultural Affairs, call 312-744-6630, or
visit
www.chicagoculturalcenter.org. For more information on
Southport Records, call
773-281-8510, or
visit
http://www.chicagosound.com
Programs
presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs are
partially supported by grants from the Chicago Cultural Center
Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency
#
# #
Event #2:
Steppenwolf
Theatre Company
2008 Traffic Series
Tatsu Aoki’s
Miyumi Project: East Meets the Rest
Friday, May 9,
2008
7:30 p.m.
$40
Steppenwolf
Downstairs Theatre
1650 N. Halsted
St., Chicago, IL 60614
312-335-1650
http://www.steppenwolf.org
Plus:
Southport Records CD Release Concert and Reception!
In conjunction with
the May 9th Steppenwolf performance, Southport Records
will celebrate the release of the fourth CD from The Miyumi Project,
"The Miyumi Project Live In Poland."
A champagne
reception will follow the event! Artists and Musicians attending
the reception will be on hand to sign copies of the new CD release.
There will be a giveaway with 10 free "The Miyumi Project-Live In
Poland" CDs, along with the grand prize package of 11 Tatsu Aoki CDs
from the Southport Records Catalog.
Tatsu Aoki
and his band, The Miyumi Project, celebrate the collaboration
between African-American and Asian-American jazz artists with a
multi-generational group fusing avant garde jazz with taiko
drumming. Featuring many of Chicago’s leading musicians, including
Mwata Bowden, Jeff Chan, Jonathan Chen, Amy
Homma, Cinatsu Nakano, Yoko Noge, Melody Takata,
Joel Wanek, Francis Wong and Hide Yoshihashi, this
performance will also feature members of the Japanese American
Service Committee’s Tsukasa Taiko Youth Program.
"Miyumi
Project... 10 best of the year” (2001)
The Chicago
Sun-Times, Lloyd Sachs
"Tatsu Aoki... 1
of 16 Inspirational Artists of the Year” (2001)
The Chicago
Tribune
Tatsu Aoki is a
prolific musician, bassist/composer, educator and ensemble leader.
He is the international producer for Chicago’s Southport Records,
founder and artistic director of the Chicago Asian-American Jazz
Festival and is an artist-in-residence at the Japanese American
Service Committee. Aoki began his artistic collaboration with
Southport Records on the CD "If It Wasn't For Paul,"
a direct to digital recording with label co-founder and
pianist/composer Bradley Parker-Sparrow. In the last ten
years Aoki's Southport excursions have included recordings with
Famoudou Don Moye, Roscoe Mitchell, Von Freeman, George Freeman,
Fred Anderson and Joanie Pallatto.
Southport Records
was founded in 1977 by pianist/composer/engineer Bradley
Parker-Sparrow
in response to the
lack of production of new music in Chicago, from Chicago. The label
focuses on new music of any form from Chicago artists and projects
it to a world market.
The "Southport
Quartet" CD Releases Of the Miyumi Project Opus:
1. "The
Miyumi Project" S-SSD 0078 May 2000
2. "Rooted:
Origins of Now" S-SSD 0092 March 2002
3. "re:
ROOTED" S-SSD 0122 July 2006
4. "The
Miyumi Project-Live In Poland" S-SSD 0125 May, 2008
# # #
“Traffic
continues
Steppenwolf’s season-long conversation about what it means to be an
American – this time with a decidedly made-in-Chicago focus.
Traffic provides a vibrant platform for dialogue between our
multi-generational audience and an eclectic pool of artists,”
comments Director of the Traffic Arts Series, Sylvia Ewing.
“Traffic provides the opportunity for Steppenwolf to
be a place where people come together for an experience that bridges
entertainment and discovery, the familiar and the unknown.”
Chicago Public
Radio (WBEZ, 91.5 FM) is planning to re-broadcast the
one-night only Traffic events as part of its
partnership with Steppenwolf.
Steppenwolf is
located near all forms of public transportation and is wheelchair
accessible. Street and lot parking are available. Assistive
listening devices are available for every performance.
# # #
Event #3:
THE PARTY
GOES ON…
Southport Records CD Release Celebration
Joanie
Pallatto “It’s Not Easy”
Friday, May 9th
10:00 p.m.
$10
Katerina’s
1920 W. Irving Park
Road, Chicago, IL 60613
773-348-7592
http://www.katerinas.com
Vocalist-Songwriter
Joanie Pallatto delivers ten original songs with her clear, soulful
voice on "It's Not Easy" from Southport Records, from mellow
jazz-tinged vocals, pop-reggae fun, flowing ballads to fiery Latin
grooves. The live event is a part of the celebration of Pallatto's
new Southport CD, "It's Not Easy" and will feature songs from the
CD, with Dave Gordon on piano, Alejo Poveda,
drums/percussion and john E. Magnan, electric bass. Special
musical guests are John Devlin, guitar and Bradley
Parker-Sparrow, piano. Musicians from Tatsu Aoki’s Miyumi
Project are expected to join in and jam!
Katerina’s –
an eclectic club with its soul in the arts. Southern European Cuisine is served until 1 a.m.
# # #
See Joanie
Pallatto’s 4 Music Videos on youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/joaniepallatto
NEW
VIDEO:
JOANIE PALLATTO-IT’S
NOT EASY-CD VERSION
See and
hear Joanie Pallatto sing about life - at home, in the shower, and
with her dog, Magic. Fareed Haque plays the guitar, from the
Southport CD "It's Not Easy" (© 2008 Southport Records) Directed by
B. P. Sparrow. On-camera Joanie is with her Mother's Martin guitar,
circa 1945.
Visit Joanie
Pallatto on myspace!
http://www.myspace.com/joaniepallatto
Southport Records
http://www.chicagosound.com
773-281-8510