Indie Hotspot – Page 2 – Agenda Magazine Archives

Carol Martini’s The Rose in the Boxcar

Carol Martini has been a songwriter since she was a child. She started out with the violin, and because she is a songwriter, settled on the acoustic guitar. The Rose in the Boxcar is her fourth independent CD, which is a compilation of her original material.

Her songs are literal, non-metaphorical. She tells it like it is in a simple, albeit charming method. She has a folksy style, which she has developed while working in coffee houses, small clubs, book and music stores and college haunts.

Carol’s messages are clear. In each song her point is grasped by both the very young and the very old alike. Each of the songs on this CD could be weaved together in one long medley—each is in a similar key. Her vocals carry the style of the old time folk artist, some of what you would expect from a lone guitarist trying to jump a train.

I enjoyed the third track “Bless the Heart.” It has a more mature sound than the first two. The tune tempts the listener to sing along. The tenth track, “A Storm in the Air,” has a bluesy feel and is more along the line of what I’d expect to hear from a seasoned folk artist. The eighteenth track, “Hobo Joe,” is my favorite. It is reminiscent of an old style church revival meeting. You begin to sing along and perhaps even dance.

If you purchase this CD, the fourth track, “99 Reasons,” is also worth listening to, having more of a Johnny Cash flavor, with a hint of blues and more rhythmic guitar.

Carol Martini dedicates this CD to her father. Her lyrics are reminiscent of a little girl paying tribute by pouring out her soul in her diary. While some of Martini’s songs are wordy and at times, a little too literal, her overall work is worth listening to. You can find her music at www.carolmartini.net.

Lisa Trimarchi

Liza and the WonderWheels – Meet the Animal

If you like not too hard-edged punk with a little bit of rock, you’ll enjoy Liza and the WonderWheels’ CD, Meet the Animal. This is a group of musicians that know their craft. The songwriting is great and the vocals are good. Liza Garelik has a decent voice and the instrumentals are tight and somewhat complex—they are interesting on their own with vocals reminding me of Blondie from the early 80s.

This being their second CD, Meet the Animal demonstrates that a good rock band can sound just as good live as they do on a recording. Ian Roure plays lead guitar and handles those psychedelic lines well, Andy Mattina really stands out on the bass, and Joe Filosa’s handling of the drums is expert. This is a tight band that can hold its own.

My favorite tracki is the third track, “Hush Not Sweet Pea,” a lullaby—it has a surprising sound where it starts off as a lullaby but surprisingly morphs into a hard rock-edge with a fold style. The lyrics here are good.

I also liked the fourth track, “What I Do for Payday?” This song has an infectious beat and nice lyrics. This has some good songwriting behind it, and the melody makes you want to sing along.

The fifth and sixth tracks lean toward classic “protest” rock of the late 60s and early 70s. “Clergy Man” definitely stands out as folk rock and has a message worth listening to.

What I like about Liza and The WonderWheels are good song writing, tight instrumentals, and lyrics that are neither too literal nor too abstract.

To learn more about Liza and The WonderWheels, visit their website atwww.lizasongs.com.

Lisa Trimarchi

A.i. and Soccermom at the Roxy

I’m not going to lie. I don’t like the Strip and the 80’s were the most worthless decade of music in the last half century. This is my opinion. Please don’t write me about the wonders of Duran Duran. It won’t change my mind. The only reason I mentioned it is that you should be forewarned about these sorts of things in a review. Think of it as a “Smoking isn’t the healthiest choice now is it?” label on a pack of Parliaments or finding out on a blind date about the “restraining order misunderstanding with the ex” before the hor’dourves. Always err on the side of journalistic ethics I say.

On a Wednesday night I was invited to go see A.i. perform at the Roxy. They have an 80’s sound; The Roxy is on the Sunset Strip; Hence the warning. The Roxy has a great history from Neil Young playing its opening to being Belushi’s last bar before OD’ing. The usual mix of doom and glamour that Hollywood wears so well. The bar is physically well designed with plenty of $5 parking, room to dance, and the ability to up to the stage for feeling the music. The downside includes a two drink minimum if you want a seat, the drinks are rather meek, and I’ve never looked at a concert calendar and said “Wow I have to go to the Roxy this week.” I’ve searched behind palms trees for Pehrspace more times in the last year than I’ve driven to Roxy but with the right vision it could become a destination again.

The opening band Soccermom is a four piece originally formed in Venice straddling the divide between new wave and New York art punk. Both laudable aspirations but during the show the adjective that kept coming to mind was wholesome. When lead singer Helen Nishimura screamed expletives while swigging Miller Lite and keeping her dress from falling it came across as cute and harmless. This isn’t exactly what a punk band goes for. The audience wasn’t much help. Even the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs would have trouble shaking down the house if the crowd kept a ten-foot invisible barrier.

Soccermom – http://www.soccermomband.com

The headliner was up and coming locals A.i. who’ve been getting airtime at KROQ. These kids are young but they’ve been bred into the business. Nick (vocals and guitar) and Zack (drums) come from a long line of artists and entertainers. Zack got his start at the age of 13 as the bassist for Steve Vai’s answer to boy bands Bad 4 Good. The last member of the trio is Milen Kirov (keyboard/synth bass) whose parents teach Bulgarian folk music. A.i. was previously signed to Dreamworks producing the uneven 2002 albumArtificial Intelligence before returning to the unwashed indie masses with the soon to be released Sex & Robots. This may be the most appropriate album name since Led Zeppelin’s IV.

The guys have the rock star look and the knowledge of how the music industry works. As I said in the beginning I don’t personally care for the 80’s but you can’t flip through a music magazine without finding some band rehashing old riffs and beats to force the shoe gazers back to dancing. That’s fine. We need more dancing and A.i. may ride that wave to success.

From what they played the upcoming album will be a more mature, more coherent collection of songs. They range from heavy synth rock anthems like “Far Away” to the more fun electroclash “Hey Now.” There are moments when they would tap into that same electrorock vein of LCD Soundsystem, Ghostland Observatory, or Junior Boys but then they’d switch course to less inspired fare. If you’re going to download one song I urge you to choose “Tell Me U Luv Me.” It is a hit waiting to happen. The song is so infectious it should come with penicillin. A.i. hasn’t swayed me from my neoluddite ways but they are definitely a band to keep an eye on.

A.i. – http://www.aimusic.com and http://www.myspace.com/ai

The Roxy Theater – http://www.theroxyonsunset.com

The Fratellis’ Costello Music

When I first heard about The Fratellis, I was pretty skeptical. Ever since The Libertines imploded, NME has heralded the UK’s next big band, and usually they’ve been a bore. For every genuinely good act like the Arctic Monkeys, there have been ten more disappointments like Razorlight, The Kooks, Babyshambles, and Louis XIV.

The Fratellis are deserving of their buzzworthy status. The Glasgow threesome —Jon Fratelli (vocals/guitar), Mince Fratelli (drums/vocals), and Barry Fratelli (bass)—formed in 2005. The Fratelli name is supposedly Barry’s mother’s surname, but then again, I wouldn’t believe a word these kids say. What I would do is jump around life a fool to nearly every single track. They don’t reach for epic melodrama. They don’t pull superstar poses. They just play happy light music.

I’m a sucker for clever word play and melody. In “Flathead” Jon sings: “Just because she feeds me well; And she made me talk dirty in a pink hotel; Doesn’t mean she’s got eyes for me; She might just want my bones you see.” Quirky, dancy, and melodic could be used to label nearly every song on the record.

The track “Whistle for the Choir” walks the line between romantic and jester with lines like “And though I may be a beggar; And you may be the queen; Though I may be on a downer I’m still ready to dream.” The track “Henrietta” explores seducing a housewife, and virtually every song is in some way light-hearted fare about dealing with the fairer sex.

If you’re in the mood for depth you’re better off listening to Saul Williams. The Fratellis’ strength is following in the footsteps of fellow Glasgowians Franz Ferdinand and Belle & Sebastian. Franz has made a career of solid indie rock, reworking eighties sounds enough for kids to dance to today. Belle & Sebastian are better than anyone else, except maybe the Lucksmiths, in telling a story no matter how tragic in a way that will keep you grinning.

The only big complaint I have with Costello Music is the replacing of “Cuntry Boys and City Girls” on the American album. I admit the title isn’t the greatest pun, but it was the second best track on the original album, the best being “Chelsea Dagger,” dedicated to Jon’s wife who was a burlesque dancer. Any song that can get approval from a party of hipsters and make my mom smile is a tune worth saving.

Whether at their concert or alone in the car, The Fratellis compel you to sing along at the top of your lungs. Go out right now and add it to your summer commute play list, and everyday will be sunshine and mimosas. The music isn’t eternal, but it sure is a lot of fun. I give the album 3.5 stars.

http://www.thefratellis.com

CD Reviewed by Justin Le Mort

Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black

A few weeks ago I was arguing with a friend from across the pond on which of us would claim Amy Winehouse for our own. I argued since she already had a boyfriend, it was too late for her to play the lesbian card. She countered that American imperialists have stolen enough women from England. I know what you’re thinking. Why fight over just another alcoholic twenty-three-year-old Jewish female Motown singer from London? O. K., maybe that wasn’t what you were thinking. This isn’t another cookie cutter chanteuse , and that’s the point. She’s not only reinterpreting the sound of a forgotten era, but she has the emotional sincerity to back it up. Our standoff was ended with the news of her marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil. I guess I’ll have to start wooing a Pipette.

Winehouse’s first album, Frank , was a huge success in England but wasn’t released stateside. I strongly recommend the album if you can find it. Her latest, Back to Black , raised her to new levels both commercially and artistically. After completing Frank , she met her eventual husband. Infidelity and the usual self-destructive behavior ensued, leading to an extended break-up laying the emotional groundwork to Back to Black , with such telling tracks as “Tears Dry on Their Own,” “Love Is a Losing Game,” and “Wake Up Alone.”

In a world of cardboard cutouts lip-synching prefabricated songs, an artist like Amy Winehouse is a punch to the gut. These songs aren’t only the despair of a regretful lover. They drip with innate sexiness and pays homage to Sarah Vaughn and the Shangri-Las without being bound to innuendo of their eras. Collaborating on the sound for half the album was New York producer Mark Ronson, who brought in the fabulous Dap Kings, best known for their work backing Sharon Jones. This perfect storm of Winehouse, her tumultuous relationship with Blake, Ronson’s vision, and the Dap Kings made this one of the best albums of 2007.

The first song and single is “Rehab,” inspired after her label attempted to get her treatment for alcohol abuse, to which, according to the song, she replied “No, no, no” just in time for the Spring wave of drunken debutantes. “Me and Mr. Jones” has possibly my favorite line of the year so far with “What kind of fuckery are we? Nowadays you don’t mean dick to me?” You never heard the Supremes say that.

Every song but “He Can Only Hold Her” is written in first person with words that could have been ripped from a journal. We may not agree with the way Winehouse lives her life, but we can understand the passions that went in to her songs, though at no point does she ask for our sympathy; and judging by her career, she doesn’t want it. It isn’t just the words. She has a gin-soaked voice, ill fitting of her age, and over her short career she has shown impressive musical instincts. If you still have doubts, go download the album’s namesake “Back to Black” or “You Know I’m No Good”; and if at the end of the song you’re not transported to a time when bars were smokey and jazz was king, then feel free to ignore me.

The problem with reviewing Back to Black is that Winehouse the artist and Winehouse the person are so intertwined that you can’t separate the two. On one hand you have this small woman with a beehive singing beyond her years. On the other you have a troubled woman who has a history of cutting herself, eating disorders, and substance abuse. During her Coachella performance, the crowd cheered every time she took a drink. Rarely have I been so disgusted at an audience. Winehouse has all the warning signs of a tragic “Behind the Music” episode. Maybe the marriage will help her live happily ever after. Maybe not. History is littered with the craters of shooting stars, but Amy Winehouse has created two records that should be in your collection, and that’s better than most. I give Back to Black 4 stars.

http://www.amywinehouse.com

A.i. (Artificial Intelligence) – Indie Hit Makers with a Retro-Futuristic Concept

A.i. (Artificial Intelligence) – Indie Hit Makers with a Retro-Futuristic Concept

If musical or artistic talent is hereditary, then A.i.’s Nick and Zack Young’s cup overfloweth! Their great uncle, Joe Young, was one of the founders of ASCAP in 1914 and one of the great songwriters of Tin Pan Alley. He wrote over 500 songs, including such hits as Al Jolson’s “My Mammy,” “I’m Sittin’ on Top of the World,” “Dinah,” “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue,” and Frank Sinatra’s “You’re My Everything.” It’s no surprise that these brothers started making music when they were children—Zack played the drums, and Nick, the guitar. A few years after that, Nick and Zack formed the group A.i. They signed with DreamWorks Records, and in 2002 released their debut album Artificial Intelligence. They toured and eventually lost their keyboardist one night before a gig. Once back home in Los Angeles, and only a week before they were to hit the road, they found keyboardist Milen Kirov. The three musicians had a magical connection and immediately started writing.

How did you guys come up with the name A.i.?

Nick: Actually, I came up with it a long time ago. Around 1996, I was in my dentist’s office and I was reading an article on artificial intelligence. Something about the name hit me. It was before the Spielberg movie and stuff. No one really knew what artificial intelligence was. We thought it was a really cool name. We decided to roll with it. It kind of represented what we were doing with our instruments and so forth.

How long have you guys been together?

Zack: Nick and I started the band around 1996, 1997. We hooked up with Milen four years ago, the fall of 2003. It’s almost a decade.

That’s a long time. So, I understand that you have an interesting background? You come from a filmmaking background?

Nick: Yeah, I guess. All our families are really creative. Our father’s a filmmaker, Robert M. Young. Our great uncle, Joe Young, wrote a bunch of songs in the early 1900s for all kinds of singers.

Milen: I am originally from Bulgaria, and my parents teach and perform Bulgarian music.

That’s interesting. Do you guys listen to a lot of that older music?

Zack: Just as of recently. Nick is kind of the Joe Young historian of the family. He’s kind of finding his roots. He’s been finding out a lot about our heritage—Joe Young, in particular. He was an amazing songwriter. He was the founder of ASCAP in 1914. He wrote a bunch of great songs. My dad used to sing us lots of the songs when we were kids.

Nick: We just kind of grew up not knowing what to do with ourselves other than making music.

So you’ve had a lot of support with your music, then?

Nick: Definitely. I think that all our parents have really been supportive in terms of letting us do what we want to do, really supportive in terms of the arts. I used to skateboard, and I think my mom was really happy when I started playing guitar. I wasn’t coming home all beat up and bruised and stuff.

Tell me about A.i. then. Tell me about your music, the sound, all that stuff .

We’re really excited about this new album called Sex and Robotsthat we’ve been working on. It’s really been this whole new vision for the band, kind of reinventing ourselves. Rich Mouser was an integral part of putting this album together. We had a lot of fun doing it, and we got to really experiment with all sorts of instruments and not be held back in the studio and just be able to do whatever we wanted to do. We’re really excited about this album.

Milen: I think the essence of A.i. is this co-existence with the human and the electronic, the robotic. Therefore, we called our album Sex and Robots. We use electronic instruments, but we play everything live; so, I think we have a huge variety of sounds to experiment with, and also make them come alive.

Nick: There are points where we are writing the music the way that cyber technology has gone in this whole Internet direction, and the way technology co-exists with us today. I’ve been really inspired to just play with these guys and use electronics and synthesizers, drum machines, and live instruments—whatever the song calls for to bring these songs to life.

Who is your audience?

I think the music speaks to a lot of different people. Our father—he’s old and he likes the music. We have young girls 15, 16. They respond to the music, sometimes 17, too. We design our music to speak to a wide audience, not pinpoint it directly. The girls are definitely more inspiring to sing to than guys. But if the guy’s listening to it, and he’s pretending to sing to his girlfriend, that’s okay too.

I heard your music, of course. I’m sure you’ve heard this comment a lot: It’s very retro ’80s. It reminds me of Devo and some other bands in the ’80s. Tell me how you decided to use that sound particularly.

When we were working with our producer Rich Mouser, we started going back to the great albums we loved, and we started listening to Genesis and INXS, Prince, and all sorts of things. We brought some stuff to Rich Mouser, and he heard it and immediately started playing us music that reminded him of our music. It kind of started off as an organic process—it wasn’t “let’s go retro!” All of our music is just coming from inspiration and making music that we like and what we want to hear. Real rock and roll is music that is searching and discovering something new. We started listening to stuff back when drum machines first came out and synthesizers were first coming out and people were experimenting. There were all these discoveries being made that people don’t do today because everything’s too simple today with computers … and everybody’s writing music on their computer. We always feel like we need to play live, and that’s one difference between us and other bands that play electronic music. We play live, and we don’t want to sit at a computer and play music. We need to be able to connect with the audience directly. We got inspired by the music of the 80s, the songwriting. We strive to write a good song, a good melody. I think that all those artists in the ’80s had these new, exciting instruments, synthesizers to work with, but they achieved writing great songs in the studio, using huge radio sounds but it was not only for the purpose of experimenting. The experiments were helping to create a beautiful melody or a good song all together. This is probably our biggest goal, and it gives us the biggest pleasure, that we can use any instrument that has been used in music in the past 30 years or so. We have acoustic instruments, we have analog instruments, we have digital instruments on the album. But in the end, with all of these instruments, all this experimentation, the result is a song with a beautiful melody.

That’s a good explanation. So who plays what in this trio?

My name is Milen and I play keyboards and a synth bass.

My name is Nick Young and I play guitar and sing.

And I am Zach Young and I play drums and electronic drums.

You guys used to be signed with DreamWorks? What happened with that?

We had a record that came out on DreamWorks in 2002. We put our album out in DreamWorks and they just didn’t really know what to do with us, or do anything with us. We got out of the situation with them, and we just found it really empowering to go into the studio and start making our second album. We had a different keyboard player before who ended up leaving the band, and we found Milen. We kind of needed to reinvent ourselves, kind of find that initial spark of why we like playing music together. That’s kind of where this whole new direction came from.

So you guys would call yourselves an Indie band, then?

Yeah, I would say so.

I heard you’ve had some success. You’ve been played a couple of times on KROQ. Tell us about that.

Cat Corbit at KROQ “Locals Only” show started playing one of our songs, “Tell Me You Love Me.” We ended up getting played on KROQ. We were on a show called “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” on 97.1, which was really scary at first ’cause these radio people are just so quick, talking and stuff—it actually went really well. Callers were calling in saying [whether or not they liked the song or the band]. We had great response from people. We played the first two songs on the record, “Hey Now” and “Tell Me You Love Me.” People loved them both. The challenge now is just for us to get out there and start playing night after night. We really just want to bring this music to people in person. From the beginning, we’ve tried to stay away from [using sequencers and drum machines] because we don’t want to be controlled—if we want to do a chorus twice the length or do a jam out, we’re not controlled by [any] machines. Even though we’re using a lot of cutting-edge technology within our instruments, we try and figure out ways to keep it live as much as possible. So, there’s not sequencing or anything like that—it’s all played live.

It’s interesting because it does have the electronic sound to it, and I saw the live show. A couple of times during your show, I thought it sounded so electronic, but I saw you slamming and hitting on the drum and thought, “Wait a minute, that’s coming from him!”

Zack: That’s definitely something we’ve done in terms of my drum set. We’ve done a lot of experimenting over the years and figured out ways to play a lot of these sounds. Because we used to go to shows and we’d go to a rave and we’d see all these people dancing and we’d see a DJ playing. We love a lot of the aspects of the music, but we were missing the live element of it—we’re musicians to begin with. We try to figure out a way where we could bring this music to life in a certain way and not be controlled by machines.

That’s unique. Tell me. What is the highest high that you’ve ever had while you’ve been in this prospect of Indie music.

Every time we play, that’s the highest high, knowing that moment, playing the music and getting that feeling, you know. That elevated feeling is the best. It doesn’t matter if we’re rehearsing in this room (their rehearsal studio in Los Angeles) or if we’re on stage—every new day, every new performance, every new song that we create, and just being in that moment of creating.

Have there ever been any lows?

Definitely, there have been lows. Luckily, we have been fortunate enough not to have anything catastrophic happen to any of us. There are times when we’re working on a song and we can’t figure it out—things don’t seem to click. There’s writer’s block—whatever you want to call it. There have been times where it’s definitely been hard, and especially being an independent band. There are a lot of challenges. There have been hard times, but the times when we all play together, we forget about everything else. That’s the best time.

Now I have one more question for you. As a band coming up, and trying to break into this crazy music industry, do you have any advice for a band whose trying to break in?

We’re still trying to figure out our own strategy. If you’re in it for a career, you have to love it. So, have fun doing it. I think the world in general can get pretty dry. A lot of lube and a lot of Viagra, and I think that you’re liable to break through the barriers. If you’re in music, for the wrong reasons … my advice is keep at it. Have fun. Keep writing. Keep playing. Just keep getting better. I think people will notice you.

Milen: Even though you might think you choose music, really, music chooses you. Business-minded people can help you with advice, but the main advice for a musician is just keep playing.

Nick Young, vocals, guitar

Milen Kirov, keyboards, synth bass

Zack Young, acoustic/electronic drums

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

Transcribed by Aiza Cayanan

Israel Film Festival – Ali Saam Interviews Asi Levi

I am here with Asi Levi, the star of the film “Aviva My Love.” She is a hardworking mother with a great deal of talent and passion for writing stories. Between her job and taking care of her family at home, she still finds time to write.

Ali – Hello, Asi. How are you?

Asi – Thank you. It is great to be here.

Ali – How do you think your audition for this part set you apart from others?

Asi- Basically, I don’t have a clue. Honestly, I know I did my best. Audition is a slick process. If you don’t get the part it does not mean you are not good. It means you were not suited for that part. I think it is important to be authentic, to be real and not to be excited too much.

Ali – How do you see the character you played, “Aviva,” and do you have anything in common with her?

Asi – We have a lot in common. Aviva is a very special character. We are similar in the fact that she is very committed to her family. As an actress I take the things that lead the character and I connect them into my personality and emotions. You always find a connection.

Ali – How did you prepare for the part?

Asi – I learned how to cook, how to cut vegetables, and how to break eggs with one hand. Other than that, I tried to learn about Aviva and understand her.

Ali – How long have you been acting?

Asi – Since I finished the drama studio, the end of ’95.

Ali – Did you study drama in Israel?

Asi – Yes, 3 years in drama studio. I started in theatre and TV and then film.

Ali – Is this your first film screening outside of Israel?

Asi – No, my last film, “Avanim,” was a big success in Europe and I was nominated for best actress in the European Academy Awards.

Ali – What is the message Aviva has for the audience?

Asi – To follow your dreams and that you can always find a way to have your family and career. Basically there is a huge message particularly for women, and that is to always follow your dreams no matter what.

Ali – You are a known actress in Israel, and you still had to audition for this part?

Asi – Yes. And I am still auditioning. We call it TESTING when you are in a certain stage of the game. You don’t audition on your talent; you audition to the part.

Ali – How was it working with Shemi, the director?

Asi – Amazing. He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He is very talented, but what is so special about Shemi is he is an enormously generous human being, and he loves actors. He adores actors. They are very important to him. This is not the case with every director. He also writes brilliantly. It is amazing that a man wrote this script. I think he has a woman’s soul.

Ali – Asi, thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing the film, and I wish you luck.

Asi – Thank you.

Ali Saam

Israel Film Festival – Ali Saam interviews producer Eitan Evan, director Shemi Zarhin, and founder of the festival Meir Fenigstein.

It is a soft and cool evening in Hollywood. I am at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to screen a film called “Aviva My Love” from the Israel Film Festival. There is a line of 40 to 50 people waiting to get their tickets and go inside to watch this film.

I met the founder of the festival, the producer, the director, and the star of this film; and had a chance to interview them and get to know more about the film.

Eitan Evan, the producer –

Ali – Hello, Eitan, and congratulations on the success of the film.

Eitan – Thank you, it is great to be here.

Ali – Where did you shoot the film?

Eitan – The entire film was shot in Israel. 60% of it was shot in Tiberia, and the rest was shot in Tel-Aviv.

Ali – How long did it take to make the film from conception to completion?

Eitan – Six years. However, in the meantime we also worked on another film. Once we finished the last draft, it took one year from shooting to releasing it. We wanted to release it in the summertime, so we waited until July to screen it; but the war between Israel and Lebanon started. However, we went ahead with the screening and the premier in Tiberia in an underground shelter. We got great coverage on TV, which brought us a big audience to see the film. We had the best admittance for this film in Israeli cinema for the past 20 years. It sold over 300,000 tickets.

Ali – Are you planning to release it internationally?

Eitan – Yes, We started with Chicago Film Festival and won the best script. I just came from Berlin Film Festival, where it attracted buyers and we are now in negotiation.

Ali – What was the budget of the film?

Eitan – About $1.2 million, which is a medium size budget for Israeli films. It is probably the size of the catering budget for the American films!!!!! (laughing and joking of course)

Ali – Thank you for the information. I wish you great success.

Eitan – Thank you.

Now I get to speak with Shemi Zarhin, the director and writer of the film.

Ali – Hi, Shemi, how are you?

Shemi – Thank you. Great.

Ali – How long did it take for you to find the cast?

Shemi – It really didn’t take that long because I already knew who I wanted to cast for this project while I was writing it. The main challenge in casting was to find the main character Aviva. It took four months of auditioning so many beautiful and talented actresses before we decided Assy Levy was the right actress for the part.

Ali – What about Assy caught your eyes for this part?

Shemi – Well, on the outside she looks very strong and you would think she will not break because of her strength. So when she feels pain you know it must go deep and you would actually feel her pain when she is going through it.

Ali – How long did it take you to write the script, and what inspired you to write it?

Shemi – I wrote the first draft 8 years ago and it took me 2 or 3 weeks, but I decided to put it aside for a year and do more research. So I rewrote it 14 times. When I submitted it for funding, it took me two to three times before it was accepted for funding.

Ali – How close are the script and the film to the vision you had in mind?

Shemi – It is very close. There are no exacts in art.

Ali – I would like to congratulate you on the film and I wish you luck.

Shemi – Thank you.

Now I finally was able to pull Meir Fenigstein, the founder of the festival, away from everybody so I could interview him and get more information on the festival.

Ali – Hello, Meir. Where are you from and where do you live?

Meir – I am from Tel-Aviv and live in California.

Ali – Have you always been involved in the film industry?

Meir – I used to be a musician in the early 70s. I played in an Israeli rock band called Poogy. It was the biggest rock band in Israel at the time. In 1976 I acted in a couple of Israeli films (“The Troop” and “Aunt Clara”) and I acted in Jerusalem theatre for a year.

Ali – How did you decide to start a film festival?

Meir – I moved to Boston to study music in Berkley College of Music. I then decided to switch from music, and that is when I found a new passion, creating a film festival. I thought this would be a good idea to stay in touch with Israel since I wanted to live in the U.S., and felt by creating a festival I will be in touch with Israel and I can also stay in the entertainment world. This also helped me to sustain my vision and keep it alive. So I did a small festival in Boston. Next, I did one in LA and one in Boston and then one in Chicago. On the 10 th year anniversary of the festival, I realized four cities is too much, so I mainly focused on LA and NY.

I stayed with those two cities for five years until the 15 th year anniversary when I decided I was getting bored with only two cities, so I went ahead and added Miami and Chicago to the list. By the 20 th year I noticed four cities getting to be too much work, so I dropped Chicago. I have been trying to sustain the festival in three cities.

Ali – Do you have a hand in picking the films that are admitted in the festival?

Meir – I have a hand in it but am not the program director. I have two American program directors that pick the films because I am Israeli myself and want this to be more objective. They recommend the films, and we discuss it and make the decision based on the quality of the film, the subject matter. I am happy to tell you this year we have even a greater lineup of films. The best that we have ever had. The films will be running in

After the festival we then move to Miami and then to New York.

Ali – What is your vision for this film festival today and the future?

Meir – The festival should continue in the three cities, bringing more American people to see the films. I am hoping to get the American audiences to come and see Israel through the lenses of the cameras of the Israeli filmmakers and not just the news and the headlines of newspapers and television.

I would also like to mention that one of the films in this festival that is called “Sweet Mud” got the first prize in Sundance film festival and also the winner of the youth category in Berlin Film Festival.

Ali – Are you going to take the festival to other countries?

Meir – Well, I have thought about taking it to some of the English-speaking countries, due to subtitle translation issues.

Ali – Thank you for your time, and I congratulate you on the success of the festival.

Ali Saam

San Francisco International Film Festival Interview with Graham Leggat

San Francisco International Film Festival – Fifty Years and Still Going Strong
Interview with Graham Leggat

“The San Francisco Film Society embraces the art, technology and innovation of the world’s most imaginative storytellers who use the moving image to celebrate humanity while educating, entertaining and enriching the audiences of the world.”

The San Francisco International Film Festival has been a visionary from its very beginning; and throughout its several decades, it has upheld that tradition. Each period of its life has been forward thinking in its own way, and it continues to be so. From December 4, 1957, when San Francisco International Film Festival founder Irving Levin kicked off the first International Film Festival, to the upcoming 50th anniversary, numerous people have contributed to the yearly endeavor of planning, producing, and staging what is the annual SFIFF. And this year is no different. Graham Leggat, the new executive director of the San Francisco Film Society gives us his take on the thriving and pioneering festival this time around.

Graham, what was it that made you decide to get involved in running the San Francisco Film Society?

Well, it’s one of the best planned film festivals in the country, if not the world. It’s a fantastic region for filmmaking, and in fact, renovation of all kinds. It’s an enlightened city government here and a great staff and board, and a fantastic film culture in San Francisco in both making films and watching films. There are some great writers here. I left a great job in New York. It is probably the only place I would have come to. The chance to run the show here was just something I couldn’t pass up.

Wow, that’s pretty amazing. And that’s quite a move, too. So what’s it like being involved in San Francisco at all as opposed to New York for you?

San Francisco is the opposite of New York. In New York there’s an overwhelming density of cultural offerings. And every sort of square inch of space has been developed in one way or another. San Francisco has a much greater openness. There’s much more opportunity, much more room to expand into new areas. San Francisco is a frontier for the kind of work that we do, and so in short, it’s extremely exciting to be here. This place is like a powder keg to me.

O. K., having been involved in this festival, why don’t you tell me about some of the highs that you’ve experienced.

Well, this is a big festival that tries to excel in a number of different areas, so we’re always trying to get the very best film speakers, interviewers, panelists, jury members, etc. And we hold ourselves to very high standards. Everyday we are on the phone or on email. I won’t say fighting, but doing our utmost to land films and talent that we think will be most exciting and most enlightening for our audiences, so all the highs and lows revolve around that, especially now, when we’re launching the program. We suffer setbacks and have glorious triumphs almost on an hourly basis. For a couple of weeks, it’s almost like a sporting event at this point. It has that kind of total engagement, an almost physical engagement and exhilaration; and like a sporting event, you don’t feel your injuries while you’re playing. You know that you wanted such and such a guest at such and such a film, and for some reason [he/she] is not available; and so it hurts a little bit. But you have to keep going as you would if you want to play. You just keep going and going. That’s the phase we’re in right now. Once the dust settles a little bit next week, we will know what’s in the program, and then we’ll start sort of shaping it, thinking about how we’re going to present it. And we’ll also notice things that we didn’t notice in the heat of the moment. For example, we have a suite of films about “X” theme or “X” region, which we may have been vaguely aware but didn’t realize fully until after the program is locked. Then we can start talking about motifs with journalists and filmmakers, and so on. It’s like putting the icing on the cake at the festival.

What’s the biggest film that actually came out of your festival?

This is the 50th International San Francisco Film Festival. We’re the longest running film festival in the Americas. No other festival from Alaska to Argentina has reached the 50-year markdown. So your question is not an easy question to answer since we have a full house section.

Tell me one or two that were great successes.

Back 20-odd years ago we did a world premier of She’s Gotta Have It by a little known filmmaker named Spike Lee. Since then he’s gone on to brilliant things. Last year, our State of Cinema address was given by British actress Tilda Swinton. She received a prestigious standing ovation after her talk. The transcript of that talk’s on our website. In the early ’90s’ festival, many Iranian films came to this country at a time when very few other cinemas were showing them. And Iranian cinema was one of the great national cinemas in the ’90s. The list goes on. The festival has technically invented beyond stage tributes, where actors, actresses, directors, and producers talk at length about their careers. We pioneered that in the late ’60s. We also were the first place to show the films of the great Japanese director Kurosawa. This festival has been a cultural treasure for the region, bringing the world to the Bay Area for literally half a century. It’s a pretty extraordinary legacy to have stewardship of.

Do you see certain trends in particular types of films that are coming in festivals annually?

You may say that, yes.

Is there any particular trend you are seeing a lot of in this particular festival?

Well, we’re not quite at the point where we can see that type of motif kicking out. But obviously the festival has always had a strong tradition of showing really good documentaries; and unfortunately over the last five years, the world has really gone to hell in a hand basket. So the documentary section despite—or probably because of—so many terrible state of affairs, for instance famine and so on, we have a very powerful suite of documentaries, and our audiences are very interested in them. So one trend is to see increasingly unflinching cold eye views of many of the difficult social issues around the world, whether it be global warming or wars in the Middle East or healthcare issues. We show all sorts of other documentaries, too, but you can see that documentarians with an eye for social issues are making stronger and harder hitting films. We see that very much in our festival.

What final words would you want to say in regards to this festival and possibly the future of it?

The San Francisco International has been visionary from its very beginning, and throughout its several decades it has upheld that tradition. Each period of its life has been visionary and forward thinking in its own way, and it continues to be so. We’re not only interested in upholding a great tradition, but in continuing to reinvent ourselves in relation to the contemporary world. So we have a section devoted to new platforms, new moving image platforms, and new audiences. We’re always so very interested in the amazing innovation and creativity that runs throughout the Bay Area. We have a special section devoted to the Bay Area filmmaking. We’re doing a world premier of a film called Fog City Mavericks, about the last four years of filmmaking in the Bay Area. As always, from the beginning, the city in this festival has always been very outward looking. This is a very international city. So the sense of bringing the world to San Francisco is something that is very important to us. So we’ll bring in more than a hundred filmmakers. And audiences just eat them up. They love it. It’ll be a blast!

For updates and to purchase tickets for the San Francisco International Film Festival, April 26 through May 10, visithttp://fest07.sffs.org.

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

Transcribed by Lisa A. Trimarchi

Sherby

CD Review
Sherby

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Sherby. I triedgoogling the name and according tourbandictionary.com , it is either a) really cute, sweet doggie or b) something stupid or humiliating; follows a previously embarrassing act. Needless to say, neither definition really describes Sherby’s second album Starfish Lane . Well, maybe the doggie one wasn’t too far off.

Cheryl Childers, aka Sherby, is a classically trained pianist, originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the same Winston-Salem that brought us Ben Folds and John Tesh. She furthered her skills in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee and California State University in Northridge. Her travels are reflected in her music, incorporating elements of classic pop, America, and occasional forays into rock.

Sherby is the type of musician that the industry needs. She writes her own music. She formed her own label. Most impressively, she founded Likwid Joy, a nonprofit devoted to helping underprivileged children by using music as a way to change lives. This career route may never earn a Behind the Music special, but it should earn some well-deserved respect.

Starfish Lane , named for a small stretch of road off picturesque Highway 1, is a delightful half-hour collection of pop. Some comparable names that jump to mind are Jenny Lewis, Natalie Imbruglia, and John Mayer minus the Y chromosome. The album is about evenly split between up tempo songs and slow ballads. Personally, I didn’t find the slow numbersparticularly engaging. They are well crafted, but the emotion behind them didn’t pull me in the same way that an artist like Neko Case or Cat Power does. The best of the bunch, “Seesaw,” is worth a listen for you to decide for yourself.

The uppers on Starfish Lane were immediately uploaded into my iPod in preparation for a sunny day. “Blue” is the type of song you’ll feel comfortable with after the first listen. In “Superhero,” Sherby makes supercalifragilistic sound sexier than Julie Andrews. That’s no easy feat without the British accent. The highlight song has to be “Honey,” the opening track. Think of it as prozac taken sonically. Advice like “My friends say enjoy the ride, and my grandma says it’s going to be fine; While the suns out you might as well smile” is as good as that of any therapist and at a fraction of the cost. A classic California sunshine pop tune made for walking along a boardwalk.

Sherby’s Starfish Lane doesn’t break new ground. No grand experiment. It’s simply ageless singer-songwriter pop by a woman who knows how to create a solid song. For this I give Starfish Lane3 out of 4 stars.

http://www.sherbymusic.com

Reviewed by Justin La Mort