Archives
Published October 26th, 2005
Locals Only : A New American Revival : Singer-songwriter Chris Chandler Tries To Bring Back The Protest Song
Kilroy, who became friends with Chandler after hearing him play
in New Orleans in 1999, was asked by him to create enhanced content for his
11th album, American
Storyteller: Tales of a New American Revival. Kilroy’s experience
included creating two Web sites: one was the antiwar democracyrising.us, and
the other was Dennis Kucinch’s presidential campaign site.
“In the course of helping Chris with the project, I had to hear the songs
a lot,” says Kilroy. “And I’m like, ‘Something in
the Air But It’s Not on the Airwaves’ needs a video. So I told
Chris, ‘I can help you.’ And he was just like, ‘Okay, how’s
Monday?’ And he pretty much got in his car and came out and we did it.”
“I wrote and directed the video and she shot and we edited it,” says
Chandler. “I’ve been wanting to speak in that voice — in
video — for a long time.”
The track revolves around a recasting of Thunderclap Newman’s 1969 hit “Something
in the Air” into which Chandler interjects commentary about how the media
has downplayed current antiwar sentiment and protests, comparing it to the ’60s
when tunes like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Eve of
Destruction” were released on major labels and played on mainstream radio.
The video adds visual impact to Chandler’s words with a mix of graphics,
protest footage and scenes shot around Kent, Ohio, where Kilroy and Chandler
set up shop, spreading word through the grapevine to find actors. An image
of a young woman dancing to music on an iPod recurs; the young woman, played
by local musician Sarah Rolan, also appears as a war widow, opening and closing
the video in a cemetery. The day they were to shoot the scene, reality intruded
upon storytelling.
“Sarah showed up to shoot the scene on Tuesday,” says Kilroy. “She
was pale and shaken — she had just found out that one of her best friends
was killed on active duty the day before. But she still wanted to do it. Nate
Deyarmin, Sarah’s friend, just turned 22 the day before he was killed.
He was a weekend reservist who signed up to learn how to fix cars; he had no
idea he’d ever be sent to Iraq. We had decided not to use any soldiers’ names,
but then this kid dies, and Sarah asked us to dedicate it to him. It made it
way more personal.”
Kilroy says the video, which is posted at chrischandler.org, has had over 30,000
hits, thanks to articles, cable airplay and people passing the word.
“We got overwhelming response from it,” she says. “Most people
who see it cry. I was surprised at the high number of men who wrote me and
said, ‘Darn you, I was at work and this thing made me start crying.’”
Chandler, who has toured constantly for 16 years, will finally make it to Cleveland
this week, playing Akron’s Lime Spider and Cleveland’s Barking
Spider. Actually, it’s not precisely his first time.
“I played the streets of Cleveland in the late ’80s and early ’90s,” he
says. “I was just wandering around the country opening up my guitar case
and playing on street corners. I was there a couple of weeks. But basically
for the past ten years or so, I call up a place and ask to play and if they
say yes, I go there. That never really never happened in Cleveland.”
Chandler’s blending of amusing, perceptive verbal snapshots and commentary
with music, created with the help of musician David Roe, lends itself to an
offbeat show.
“I love the stage, and I know enough to know that an evening of just
straight spoken poetry becomes dull,” he says. “I had to come up
with ways to make an evening’s entertainment. I pride myself on putting
on a very different show. I run all over the place, and there’s no telling
what’s going to happen. People ask me what I do for a living. I say I
stand on chairs.”
Broadview Collective
Broadview Collective
(self-released)
paulstranahan.com
Much like Birth, the avant-garde jazz act that was kicking around town a couple years back, the guys in the Broadview Collective approach jazz without a sense of reverence. And that’s a good thing. The opening track here, “It’s About Time,” sounds like a King Crimson guitar duel, as Mike Barna and Jeff Charmek trade licks like two wrestlers trying to pin each other. The liner notes list Barna as the guy playing in the left channel and Charmek as the man you can hear in the right. Not sure if that’s just an inside joke, but it makes for some good musical fireworks. Admittedly, the noodling gets a little out of hand in “Piece for 2 Guitars,” and “Cool Riff” is a little too reminiscent of those indulgent Steve Howe solo albums. But the frantic fretwork of “Monkies Uncle” and the spooky theatrics of “Gollum” make up for it. Anchoring the whole thing is drummer Paul Stranahan, who also gigs in his own band, the Paul Stranahan Trio, and keeps time with Rare Blend. He’s in good form here, too, and keeps up even when the pace quickens. The guys haven’t played out much due to their busy schedules, but when they do, they’d do best to take this hard-rocking stuff to the indie club circuit, which they do, apparently, since four of the tracks here were recorded live at the Grog Shop.
— Jeff Niesel
Colorforms
Colorforms
(self-released)
Weightlessness is the theme throughout this Cleveland trio’s debut release. Self-described as “drone-based psychedelic,” Colorform plays meditatively and shifts into effortless transitions from one piece to the next. This CD is layered with analog and digital synths, guitars and sparse spoken-word samples. Colorforms doesn’t barrage the listener with tricks and surprises, which can be both good and bad. The lack of intensity provides the listener with an escape of sorts. The deliberate pace and aura of a tune like “Snshn” sets the mood for the rest of this mellow and melodically suspended album. Colorforms’ satiated and eerie collage of sounds would have been the perfect soundtrack accompaniment for the now-defunct X-Files.
— Pete Mihalek
