[grrrrr....i may be headed for facebook, finally, after all. the myspaces thwarts us as we attempt page updates (half yer text eaten up at random). some links mysteriously morph into non-functioning hybrids at the click of "preview"--wtf? i can't for the life of me get the oregonian or fluxblog or concert coop links to work, but if you go to oregonlive.com or fluxblog.org or concert coop.com you can see those reviews/interviews. fucking myspace--! grrrr!]
You always hear about the thick skin you need to develop as a performer/artist. It is true that it can never be thick enough, no way! The other side of the coin is the kind of amazing generosity of those writers who pick you out of the mile-high pile and take the time to listen, then say something truly thoughtful.
These are nice reviews/interviews I’m sharing, of course (knock on wood!). I’m happy to report that “Ugly Sister” seems to be going over well. Most of them are really really nice, some of them almost thesis-like, some of them tempered w/ “hmmms”--but all thoughtful. For that, I’m truly thankful. Because as hard as it is to be a musician, I wouldn’t want to be a reviewer for all the money in the world.
As I mentioned above..."fucking Myspace!" I was really happy with and grateful for one particular feature this week, and I can't get the link to work here, grrr. It's from Matthew Perpetua at Fluxblog, the very first mp3 blog in the land, ever. I ran across his uncannily spot-on summary of "Susan Storm's Ugly Sister" the same week that I ran across a snotty/sneery review from another source who didn't "get" what I'm "trying" to do at all, and wasn't interested in getting it. Perpetua's Fluxblog writeup made me feel human again, and so delighted that someone so perfectly got what i was "trying" to do. So, here it is. [he features an mp3 a day on his blog--you can go there and download it for free for a limited time]
fluxblog.com
June 17th, 2009 7:24am
Dismissed With A Glance
Susan Storm is the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, and her
superpower is that she can become, well, an invisible woman. Susan
Storm’s Ugly Sister, an invention of songwriter Rachel Taylor Brown,
did not need to be bombarded with cosmic radiation to acquire a similar
talent — she’s simply found that her homeliness allows her to escape
the notice of most everyone. The character is bitter and disturbed, and
indulges in revenge fantasies in which she uses her “invisibility” to
her advantage in murdering oblivious men. Brown’s arrangement and vocal
performance is brilliant, emphasizing her character’s extreme
discomfort and ethical conflict, as well as projecting a sort of sullen
placidity that is periodically interrupted by tiny outbursts of
simultaneous rage, angst and guilt.
zaptown interviewabsolute punkwillamette weekthe oregonianblitzmag (scroll way down!)
news4uopbmusic/zaph mann on musicportland mercuryportland tribunestatic multimediafrantikmagplayback: stlconcert coop podcast interview(the concert coop interview was fun! it’s not up yet, but should be soon)
xor