Man... I'm such a slacker! I totally spaced on the duologue this week and had to ask for volunteers on my Facebook page this morning! lucky for me, Beth came through! It was such a pleasure getting to know her better....
me: hey! you're a lifesaver - again!
and actually this is perfect, since i interviewed all the other ladies who took part in our little leonard cohen escapade...
Beth: cool
me: here's the first duologue i did, with explanation: http://thisbluesinger.blogspot.com/2010/08/wednesday-duologues-brendan-boogie.html
so you can read it and opt out if you like :)
Beth: let me grab my breakfast really quick
okay
me: breakfast is key.
Beth: Hey. sorry my internet has been acting up
Blog sounds cool
me: no worries. got breakfast?
Beth: yup
me: good. i have coffee, so i think we're all set.
so usually i start with the question, "who are you?" but lately i've been thinking the chats are so abstract - we don't really have any picture of the chatters. we could be typing naked on a ferris wheel, for all anyone knows. (which would be awesome.) so i think i'm going to start out by asking: what's one object in your immediate environment?
Beth: Humm, I am surrounded by a ton of worldly stuff...I hat three hats from Mongolia I got as a Christmas present from my former boss.
me: wow! my boss always just gives me a desk calendar...
2010 is cats.
so not as cool.
Beth: that's a good way to have cats...as a picture so they can't sit ON the stuff you are trying to work on, or wine at your door for hours on end.
me: so true. i have one of those at home. major whiner. do you have cats?
Beth: no, no pets. I live vicariously through other people and their owning of pets
me: smart woman.
okay so - who are you? :)
Beth: Classical musician who started playing viola with rock bands when she was 15, ex-pat from Arizona, Arts Administrator
Beth: A band from Tucson called Pathos. They hired my string quartet at the time to play on their record, then I played with them live as part of a symphony and part of a string quartet.
me: Pathos - what kind of music?
Beth: Stupid f-ing modem.
me: aw. don't worry about me, i'll be here all day - do you want to try to press on?
Beth: yup
((don't want to start working yet))
me: cool.
so Pathos sounds like metal to me. was it?
Beth: no... I am trying to find a website... It was the follow up project to a hugely popular hardcore band, but it was nothing like that
sending you an mp3 form 1996
TIME MACHINE!
me: oh sweet!
what.
Beth: The internet is a time machine
me: ohhh i thought it was gonna be a song title.
but i do have a time machine question.
either way, that's a pretty sweet segway.
Beth: nice
me: sooo as everyone who reads these interviews is probably sick of hearing by now, i'm kind of obsessed with Doctor Who. do you know the show?
Beth: YES
me: ...
REALLY?
Beth: I have trying to convince Johnny that it is awesome and he needs to watch
I have to admit to liking the new ones better than the old ones
me: i adore this latest season. such good writing.
and matt smith is so perfect.
Beth: the old ones, it really depends on who the Dr. is.
I haven't seen the most recent ones, only up to the end of David Tennant
me: ohh.
i started with this season - i had it recommended to me, and then i went back to series 1 of the new ones.
finished all of those in about a month :)
and now i'm going all the way back.
Beth: last one I saw was where the Dalek come back to take over earth, and the Dr. dies, and DonnaDr happens.
It is a good show.
I have been re watching Quantum Leap lately
me: oh really? the specials after that were really good, especially the end of time. do you remember the episode in the library with river song?
i LOVE quantum leap.
Beth: Silence In The Library was so good!
me: yes! so in the latest season, River's a recurring character. and i guess next season, we find out who she really is.
okay so the question! [with apologies to the folks at home for the digression] is - the doctor shows up in your backyard. do you go?
Beth: Honestly, I don't think so. Maybe for a short non life threatening trip, but the actual idea of "space" freaks me out.
me: wow... okay, so for the short, not scary trip, where/when would you want to go?
Beth: possibly back in time to various events in classical music history. Paris 1913, 18th cent Austria...then I would want the Dr. to just take me to another world. Let him tour guide.
me: oh wonderful! Aaron (our keyboard player, who's really a classical player gone astray) wanted to visit his favorite classical period as well. but so far, i don't think any of the indie rocker types have answered that way.
maybe having video of most of rock history makes a difference :)
Beth: Did he just play at the Wilburys Cover Up?
me: yup!
with George Harrison/Jason Dunn
did you have fun playing that show?
Beth: yes! I did the string arrangements for Orbison. It took many hours, but it was fun to transcribe that stuff.
me: oh nice!!
it sounded sooo good. i was really really impressed by that set.
Beth: Thanks! I think Brendan and the band nailed it.
me: absolutely.
what's your favorite part of playing rock shows?
Beth: The part where I actually play. The physical aspect of paying an instrument, specifically a stringed instrument. I have been doing it for so long, I can't imagine life without the ability to play instruments.
me: i've never thought about that before, although i feel that way about singing. this might sound weird and be hard to describe, but what does it feel like to play the viola?
Beth: Relaxing.
It is actually really hard to get a good sound on violins and violas, but you are really just using simple physics. Getting gravity and friction to combine into SOUND and feeling. It is different with an electrified instrument--the sound isn't from internal energy.
Like singing, I would imagine.
me: right, although i feel like wrestling with nothing but your own muscles - and mind! so much mind over matter for me in singing - isn't as much of a relationship as playing an instrument. or does the viola feel like an extension of you by now?
Beth: It is an extension, but still very physical. I don't do anything else like it in my day-to-day.
me: what classical playing do you do, currently?
Beth: gah!
I freelance, so the classical gigs change all the time.
me: gotcha.
so... i'm curious. what freaks you out about space?
Beth: Most recently I played in the Boston Opera Collaborative production of The Marriage of Figaro, played in the orchestra for a Doctoral violin recital at BU, and have had a few auditions.
Space..well for starters, heights freak me out. I don't like being on planes, though I like traveling. The idea of infinite nothingness, ungrounded, that beyond me, in every direction, forever, it never ends.
Causes me anxiety.
me: hm. yes, when you put it that way...
so to travel, do you mostly roadtrip?
Beth: no, I fly, just try to be unconscious with sleep. Driving takes too long for the few days off I have (if any) a year.
me: ah, yeah. makes sense. do you visit arizona regularly?
Beth: Try to at least once a year. Went in February, going in December, then again next May.
me: i've never been there.
or to the southwest at all.
i'm from iowa originally.
Beth: It is beautiful. Unlike any other part of the country.
me: but i think that's the only part of the country i haven't visited.
Beth: Most of the country really looks similar. Rolling green hills, pine trees...same types of houses and signs...
Southern AZ and parts of NM are vastly different.
me: what do you see when you think of home?
Beth: color
things are brighter and more colorful there.
me: a totally different palette, i would imagine
me: oh wow
my friend's restaurant with the red awning.
me: that seems such a stark contrast to boston... do you get homesick often?
okay i want to live there.
Beth: yes, but I know that I can't live there. My friends and family are there, but not my future and career.
people are nicer and more vibrant. there is more outdoors, and more going on during the weekdays.
me: since moving to boston (and it could also just be getting older and reflecting on these kinds of things) i've become a lot more interested in/attuned to the seasons. what are seasons like in arizona?
Beth: Summer, Gravel, Winter, Hippie
me: !
Beth: It is HOT, 110 degrees, from April to October, then it gets "cold" (does get to freezing at night, but it doesn't snow), then in February the hippies show up with the Gem Show, then it gets HOT again.
Oh!
and at some point in Sep/Oct the city covers many of the roads with gravel to make up for all the tar that melted away during the summer.
me: wow. Summer, Gravel, Winter, Hippie. that should be an album title, i'm thinking.
i love it.
growing up, did you wonder about snow and stuff like that? or did you love the heat?
(or both)
Beth: snow and rain are still very novel and enjoyable for me.
I do miss the heat--soak to your bones heat. I'm freezing right now in my house.
I'm part lizzard
me: i do feel like from about october to june, i can never get warm here.
Beth: need a sun rock
me: i spent way too much money for a year or so on a gym that had a sauna.
Beth: Healthworks!
me: that's the one!
in brookline. i loved it, but i didn't go enough to justify the dollars.
Beth: yeah...I did that when I first moved here.
exactly the same!
me: how long have you been in boston?
Beth: now I am looking at photos of Tucson on the internet and missing it.
4 years
me: same here.
not touched up at all
me: gorgeous.
i feel like there should be a better word for longing for a place. "homesick" seems like it's tied to family - and only applies to the place you're from... and "nostalgia" is more of a time-longing thing. but i get pangs of really missing places. i've moved around a lot. and "homesick" doesn't seem to capture the feeling.
well... autumn in new england is splendor... so we've got that to look forward to, at least?
Beth: Yeah, I long for place I have only visited a few times on trips...
me: right, yes.
this time of year i think about colorado. when the aspens go all gold.
i've only been there once, many years ago, but i still get pangs of wishing i could go back.
once during the fall, i mean.
i spent a summer in boulder. i love the smell of colorado.
sun-baked trees and a kind of freshness in the air.
Beth: I spent a week in Boulder one August, and just biked around everywhere. It was so hard to stay indoors.
During the summer I miss the red dirt and trees of North Carolina in 1996.
me: what are the trees like there?
Beth: I just remember the aspect of real, huge, green trees, it was the first prolonged time I had spent away from the desert. I had been traveling a lot at that point, but 6 weeks living in the woods is vastly different.
me: yeah, i can imagine... why 6 weeks in the woods?
Beth: Brevard Music Center.
me: lovely.
if you were going to pick up a new/different instrument - in another life, maybe - what would it be?
Beth: Clarinet (don't tell Johnny), or I would focus more on piano
me: sweet. if you could play with any band - let's say past or present - who would it be?
Beth: Andrew Bird
me: i LOVE andrew bird.
Beth: listening to him right now
me: song?
Beth: At the end of Noble Beast, Souverian
me: awesome. i'm going to listen now, too - it'll be very ...
what's the word.
no idea. like we're hanging out.
a friend took me to his show a couple of years ago and i hadn't heard him much at all - it was so transcendent.
i had so many ideas during that show.
very inspiring.
Beth: yes. I first heard Weather Systems in a cafe in about 2003, then saw him at a small venue in Tucson, where is was just him, and sometimes his brother on bass. It was amazing to see him 5 feet away from me, making all that noise just by himself. I saw the show last year at BoA Pavilion, and at SXSW.
me: longterm relationship, then!
Beth: Yes, and I used to listen to Squirrel Nut Zippers, too.
me: rule.
well we've been chatting awhile and you did mention something about work - shall we get to the last two questions?
Beth: sure
me: so you get to choose them - one to ask me, and one you'd like to answer.
Beth: Okay
Do I have to come up with the questions?
me: oh - yeah!
sorry, i didn't explain that properly.
whatever you want to ask me, and then whatever you'd like the world (i.e. the 20 people who read my blog) to know about you!
Beth: How did you start singing in bands?
me: i ask myself that all the time.
;)
so, i've been singing since forever.
choirs, voice lessons, my high school musical... i was marian the librarian. anyway
and in my college years (in boulder, actually) i made a list of the things i wanted to do before i die. shave my head. write a book. be in a band.
but it wasn't until i moved to boston that it ever came up as a possibility! and, actually, it was mostly because i had nothing to do here :)
Beth: How did you end up in Boston?
me: i moved here with my girlfriend who came here for business school. long story. i started temping at MIT and stu worked in the office at that time, and since i had no friends here, i rather forcibly made him be my friend. he was from nebraska. anyway, he was starting a new band and on a whim, basically, i decided to audition.
i liked the songs he and aaron were writing. they were catchy and heartfelt.
the rest is history. :)
with a bit of drama in between.
the end
p.s. i really love it, though.
Beth: Cool
hum... what do I want people to know that doesn't sound too self indulgent....
me: i say be self-indulgent. it's very rock-n-roll... :)
Beth: Okay. Rock and roll it is. I rehearsed and performed with Cat Power on The Greatest Tour while she was in Tucson.
They started the tour in AZ, and had their rehearsals with the Memphis Rhythm Band before the first show, so I got to work with Al Green's band and Chan.
me: when was that? that's awesome!!
was that your favorite show?
Beth: 2006
it was cool, probably not my favorite
it was great to meet and hang with all those great musicians
me: do you have a favorite?
Beth: no, there are too many. I have had the great opportunity of performing all over the world, so it would be hard to say... There are some personal triumphs in there, but happened so long ago, I am working on new triumphs and favorites.
me: awesome.
well, thank you so much for coming to talk with me. i love it that i got to know you better! - AND i won't have a blank blog today :)
i've been such a slacker.
Beth: Good luck!
I am too cold to work!!
me: sauna time!
Beth: I wish I was rich and had one in my house...
me: or swedish!
well i hope you find a way to get warmed up! jessica sun lee had a heated bra idea recently.
...
i love it when i end these things really awkwardly.
Beth: nice!
that would solve SO MANY problems
me: right?
Beth: I see a patent in her future!
me: totally. here's to the heated bra!
Beth: Cheers!
me: cheers!
1 comments:
cheers! ;-)
Post a Comment