Flann at the Air Sex Competition

While Bellingham has had its cast of characters in the nightlife scene over the years, there are few that stand out as much as the legendary Flann O’Malley lead singer of Styff Anyss and overall rock ‘n’ roll badass. His genius has now been brought to the big screen, thanks to local filmmaker Justin Foy, in the aptly titled American Rockstar a film about the life and times of Bellingham’s ultimate rockstar.

Foy realized Flann’s true star potential while working on the 2006 Hollywood film The Visioneers, which starred Zach Galifianakis and Flann worked as an extra. “Both of us knew we had to work together because we had an outlet,” Foy said. He knew he had to capture the unique spirit and celebrate the man, the myth, the legend.

Justin started filming in April of 2009 and wrapped on Halloween. Initially, Flann’s band, Styff Anyss was the primary focus of the film because it was the only real place he could be showcased as a performer. But, slowly, the film morphed into so much more, as all good documentaries do.

It became, instead, the journey through Flann’s rock ‘n’ roll world.

Throughout the film, Flann travels between Austin TX and Bellingham WA to play shows and compete in air sex competitions a new outlet of his creativity, all the while, his longtime band is on the rocks and he’s desperately trying to keep it together.

At its core, the film is about the trials and tribulations of Flann trying to keep up the rockstar lifestyle showing the glamorous nights and dirty days of being a performer. One scene has Flann and Poops doing janitorial work at the Nightlight Lounge. Two people cleaning up the party all had enjoyed the night before.

Fans of the Bellingham music scene will enjoy as well as lament the shots where Flann and Styff Anyss play in the now defunct venues the Rogue Hero and Nightlight. Throughout, American Rockstar has Flann performing at The Annual Chicken Fried Chicken Party, The Nightlight, The Rogue Hero, The Green Frog Acoustic Tavern, The Sports-Plex and at a few venues in Austin including The Alamo Draft House (which was the first movie theater in the US to serve beer), and at the New Movement Theater.

Like a good rock star, Flann describes the movie as “Good times, hard rocking sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.” It’s the sex that defines his favorite scene, which involved Flann winning the Air Sex Competition at the Nightlight a riotous performance where Flann pretends to have sex on stage while music thumps over the speakers, leaving the audience in delightful tears.

While Flann is the focus of American Rockstar, the film is also a who’s who of Bellingham’s rock ‘n’ roll night life with the infamous Poops (a good friend of Flann’s) frequently appearing a role he took to with pride. “They wrote a book about me…. Everybody poops, I’m just glad it’s not a scratch and sniff.”

A variety of people came together in the post-production process of American Rockstar, namely Matt Hocker as producer with Adam Foy, and Matthew Bergsma as secondary editors. But, Foy is the real hero behind this – It is his labor of love, his trophy piece. During the editing process, he would hold little focus groups at his house, showing different segments, getting feedback, then going back to the editing room just to re-appear with another segment to show to his friends.

Foy has managed to get the movie submitted into three prestigious film festivals – The Los Angeles International, The Doc Utah, and The New York City United. In Bellingham, the film will premiere at the Pickford on August 27 and 28.

The film is a little piece of Bellingham for everyone to enjoy. It shows us that just a few people who are willing to let go and virtually bare all for the masses to enjoy, really gives a special spice to life. Foy sums the film best as “bizarre but tasteful.”

American Rockstar shows at the Pickford Cinema on August 27 and 28 at 9pm.

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

In this day and age, the definition of “reinventing yourself” has become somewhat lax when it comes to established, legendary artists. All it seems to take is a ho-hum, mailed-in album, new haircut, some strategically placed TV appearances and a good review or two from the critics. Next thing you know, said artist has “still got it.”

Lately, however, jazz legend Herbie Hancock has taken things to a new level.

While his new album, The Imagine Project, does indeed share some of the sarcastic criteria listed above, the music–and soon-to-be-released, accompanying documentary–is above and beyond one of the more ambitious and, so far, well-received projects of his career.

“The project was started two years ago,” said Hancock. “But I didn’t want to make another ‘record.’ It’s gotta have a purpose.”

Eschewing the tired, uninspired, pale geometry of the ‘12 more songs for the record company’ format, he initially got his cue from the dour times that have been in abundance the past couple of years.

“I wanted to address… somehow musically, an issue of today,” he said. “The economic crisis…globalization, fear of big business, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer. We should be embracing globalization… it’s here.”

One day, his attorney and friend called with the idea that he thought Hancock would be interested in; the idea of an album that would promote global unity, with guest musicians from around the globe to complete the metaphor.

“Imagine” by John Lennon was the springboard,” said Hancock, explaining the project’s title. The album was recorded in seven different countries, but in a sense, there were more involved.

With all of the nationalities of the guest musicians–which included Dave Matthews, Seal, Pink, John Legend and Susan Tedeschi among others–there were in fact 11 countries represented.

While Hancock certainly has his share of clout in the industry, it didn’t necessarily make things any easier when it came to planning the logistical nightmare of putting together such a record.

“We put a lot of thought into it,” said Hancock. “It was a lot of work. It was a different design for each song.” He added that it was as if it were a new album for every song, given the eclectic nature of the song selection.

Included on the ten song disc are the aforementioned Imagine, A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke), Tomorrow Never Knows (The Beatles) and Don’t Give Up (Peter Gabriel). However, Hancock said that it was more of a collaborative effort, as opposed to them blandly following sheet music that he wrote out.

“I didn’t want to tell people what to do,” he said. “I wanted more collaboration to reflect more of a group effort.”

Another interesting facet of the recording is that it was done almost exclusively live with no overdubs or ghost tracks, which says a lot considering that most of the folks involved have never worked together before.

“A lot of people are surprised to hear that,” he said. “But (recording live) is the way it should be, it’s what I’ve always done.”

All of the ambitiousness of this undertaking does beg the question: how will Hancock and his band pull it off live?

“We had to think about that,” he said with a chuckle, acknowledging that it’s virtually impossible to have even a few–much less all–of the guest artists accompany him on the road.

But, as it turns out, much of the talent needed is right under his nose. Many of his musicians in the current band lineup are more than capable of handling the vocal duties captured on the album.

Hancock said that of the recording’s ten songs, only two will need additional pre-recorded assistance. However, the tracked music is merely of the background, accompaniment nature. In addition, the band has software that lets the pre-recorded sounds loop over and over, so as to not limit the improvisational abilities of the band. That said, the organic, live element remains; ’street cred’ stays intact.

After finishing the European leg of his tour mid-summer, his U.S. tour begins this month. He plays the Mt. Baker Theater on Aug. 28.

The live show will feature the new album, but many of his old classics will be on display as well.

“We have a medley of what we call the ‘legacy pieces,’” he said. “There are certain songs people want to hear.”

However, for the most part, he wants the focus to be on the new album.

“I’ve done a lot of albums where it’s about ‘me,’” he said, alluding to his prior penchant for coming up with the perfect solo or arrangement. “This one’s not about me, it’s about us, as a human species. The focus is not on me, it’s on humanity.”

Catch Herbie Hancock at the Mt. Baker Theatre on Aug. 28.

Goodness Gracious: The Heligoats

Goodness Gracious: The Heligoats

“My heart aches to get back home to Bellingham,” says Chicago transplant and The Heligoats mastermind Chris Otepka. “I have been there for over a year, but I’ve been away more than I have been home.” Following the release of The Heligoats’ third album on Portland label Greyday, Otepka has played over 80 shows in the last 130 days. “It’s been a really wonderful and crazy six months,” he says.

The new record is Goodness Gracious, an enthusiastically sincere record with a three piece backing band cohesively producing an indie-rock classic.”It’s nothing cutting edge,” says Otepka.”It’s singer songwriter based and a little strange, yet accessible.” It is ultimately a feel good pop album with a quirky feel both musically and lyrically, evoking comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel and the Long Winters. “A lot of love went into this record,” says Otepka.

And the band has been receiving a lot of love in return. Finding its way onto college radio stations around the nation and attention from NPR, Otepka is grateful. “I have been putting out music for a long time, touring and spreading little seeds. It’s nice to see what blossoms.”

Beginning nine years ago, The Heligoats has been a solo outlet for Chris Otepka outside of the band he was played in at the time. “It (The Heligoats) was a receptacle for songs that didn’t make the cut with the other band…I did a lot of four-tracking and put out cassette tapes.” Over the course of nearly a decade, The Heligoats have seen various incarnations, ranging from Otepka playing alone or with a violin and/or trumpet to playing with a full band.

The current form of The Heligoats involved the collaboration between Otepka and another Chicago-based band. “It grew out of a new friendship with this band. We learned some songs, recorded them, and toured,” says Otepka. A simple formula that allowed the band to criss-cross the nation twice since February, followed by Otepka touring with Clem Snide around Spain and the U.S. again. Otepka describes the experience of recording Goodness Gracious as very organic and homegrown, including producing the album sleeves at Bellingham’s Bison Bookbinding.

“Being in a band from Illinois, I had the opportunity to travel to the Northwest and see Bellingham a few times,” says Otepka. “My friends (here) were very encouraging to come combine forces musically and professionally with them.” Those friends were none other than members of the band The Librarians, a band that Otepka is also a member of. When in Bellingham, he also works at Bison Bookbinding with band mates Carly and Kevin. “I am excited for autumn and to help print at Bison again,” he says. “And I need to sleep in the same place for a while, not in hotel rooms or on people’s floors.”

Otepka continues to move forward with music, and shows no signs of slowing. While back in Bellingham, he will be recording with the Librarians and playing local shows as both The Heligoats and the Librarians. They will be playing at both the Subdued Stringband Jamboree and The Summer Meltdown. “The Jamboree is going to be really fun. It’s the 10th anniversary, and there will lots of reasons to celebrate,” says Otepka.

For more information, visit myspace.com/theheligoats

Chatham County Line

Chatham County Line, a bluegrass and folk quartet from Raleigh, North Carolina, prides itself on unrivaled song producing skills. The group will offer locals a first-hand taste of their delish, Americana sound when they perform at the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern on Aug. 6.

“Songwriting is always paramount to what we do,” said band member Chandler Holt. “Everything else is just an attempt to make it pull harder on your heart strings.”

The band’s edge clearly stems from their writing, and Holt says fellow band member Dave Wilson scrupulously crafts his lyrics, which are never haphazard and usually pertinent to most folks.

Wilson also believes there is something distinct about the band’s harmonies.

“We really feel like our strong suit is supporting the words of a song with the right instrumentation and feel,” Wilson said. “When you add the power of three to four part harmonies over those distinct instruments, that is where the power of CCL lies.”

The band has a very strong base of fans at the moment, Wilson said. “On this last run, fans drove from as far as four hours away to see our show. The songs in our catalog have touched a nerve with folks all across the world and it is them who we refuse to let down.”

CCL performed at sticky-hot, crammed, and sometimes sold-out, concerts throughout the East Coast portion of their current CD release tour, which they kicked off in Columbia, South Carolina on May 28. The group is estimated to have played 1,000 shows since the band started in 1999.

“[Our shows] have basically earned us everything we’ve accomplished,” Holt said. “Without constant touring, I don’t think anybody would know who we are. We’re proud of our studio releases, but our live show is what ultimately keeps people wanting more and more.”

The band released their latest album Wildwood July 13 on Yep Roc records. Wildwood is the band’s fifth release and first ever self-produced album. Some of the group’s musical influences include Bob Dylan, The Band and Wilco, with lyrical content and a vibe on Wildwood that is reminiscent of Neko Case. The ballad “Alone in New York” is one of the album’s genuine gems.

“The best part about the record is we built it ourselves from the ground up,” Wilson said. “There is no auto-tune and no special effect hiding what really happened when the tape was rolling. What you hear is what you see and what you get.”

For CCL’s members– Wilson, Holt, John Teer, and Greg Readling, the album is the most robust project of their career together. Wilson plays guitar, harmonica and sings, Teer also sings and plays the mandolin and fiddle, Holt plays the banjo and provides vocals, and Readling also supplies vocals and the 3/4 bass, pedal steel and piano.

“We are at a musical and creative peak at the moment and the response of the fans on the first leg of the tour has us juiced up for some serious West Coast fun,” Wilson said.

Zeke Hutchins, a world-renowned, idiosyncratic drummer who pals around with CCL, assisted Wilson with the composition of a few tracks on Wildwood. Wilson said Hutchins brings something unprecedented to the album.

CCL has never performed in Bellingham before, but they hope their reputation for eliciting fervent emotional responses will impact concertgoers.

“Ideally, we make people laugh, cry and forget that there is anything else going on in the world,” Holt said. “We’ve had a lot of couples meet or even fall in love at our shows. It’s really amazing that something like that happens so often.”

The band members originally crossed paths in 1996 via Wilson, who is one of the founding members of CCL. Wilson was living at the “Blue House,” a now-notorious Raleigh party-pad for budding musicians in the mid 90’s, and gigging with Readling in a band called “Stillhouse.”

As the account goes, the authentic country tunes Stillhouse had been playing intrigued Holt and Teer, and the two started sitting in with the band. Over some beer one crisp evening, Wilson propositioned Readling, Teer and Holt regarding the formation of a bluegrass band.

“When we first started hanging out on the front porch and running through the classics, it was the few original tunes that we had in the bag that would make the ears perk up, Wilson said. “It is those original sparks that have led to the band you see today.”

The CCL music fans encounter these days has been described as rock and roll heaven, and the band has a dense discography to back it up. The group’s first album was self-titled and released in 2003.

“The eponymous debut was on Bonfire Records, which was a small imprint of one of the owners of Yep Roc Records and Redeye Distribution,” Wilson said.

After the first full-length, CCL released their next three albums on Yep Roc– Route 23 in 2005, Speed of the Whippoorwill in 2006 and IV in 2008. “It was a very small leap for us to move to Yep Roc for Route 23,” he added.

The band will pump-out a few tracks from their releases of yesteryear during their stop in Bellingham, but will showcase Wildwood as part of the CD release tour.

“We hope that the fine folks of Bellingham will take it upon themselves to come out and enjoy a night of inspiring music,” Wilson said. “If you like the sound of strings and voices raised in unison telling a tale that resonates in the mind and the soul, you will not be disappointed.”

For more about Chatham County Line, visit chathamcountyline.com and see them at the Green Frog on August 6.

Subdued Stringband Jamboree 2010

Subdued Stringband Jamboree 2010

Subdued Stringband Jamboree 2010

Two of the area’s most popular festivals are the Flowmotion Meltdown and the Subdued Stringband Jamboree, both celebrating 10 years of providing good and diverse music to the Pacific Northwest.

Both festivals take place in August and feature vastly different styles and concept the Subdued Stringband Jamboree is more of a down-home type festival in which all the music has a heartfelt and honest vibe to it, and the Flowmotion Meltdown is more reminiscent of a larger festival, like a Lollapalooza for jam bands.

Subdued Stringband Jamboree

The Jamboree got its start a decade ago when Robert Sarazin Blake, Bruce Shaw and Mike Davis were hanging out at the Grand Alehouse. “We thought it would be fun to have a festival. The next day I went to Korby Lenker’s house and we found the one Saturday in August that we didn’t have gigs. I started making phone calls.”

Initially slated to be held at a riverfront site in Maple Falls, the jamboree was moved at the last minute to a friend’s place in the foothills boasting a huge yard. The next year, the festival settled in at its current home, the Deming Logging Show grounds.

When the jamboree began, Robert saw it as a musicians cooperative, but after a couple years realized it works more efficiently overseen by one person with a supporting crew. It’s now Robert’s baby.

According to Robert, he’s “always” thinking about next year’s line up, but usually gets it all dialed in three or so munch beforehand. “I go through a process, every spring when I get home (from touring), of looking around town and seeing what’s happening in the clubs. This gets me excited to do all mundane tasks required,” he stated with a laugh, adding, “Members of the staff and community would be happy if it got started earlier. But one of the nice things about calling the event subdued is we get to act that way.”

Two-thirds of the bands playing the Jamboree are local folks. Overall, half of the performers are new to the festival and the other half are returning acts. “Putting together a lineup is like cooking. You need just the right amount of certain ingredients, and a willingness to disregard the recipe.”

As to the next 10 years, Robert says, “I’m feeling the circular nature of life more than ever lately. The next 10 years will look a lot like the last 10 years. Deep, huh!” He added, “A few years ago, I embraced the jamboree as my summer work. It was clear to me the Jamboree was important to enough people to take seriously I occasionally wonder what my life would be like without it, but I act on intuition and intuition has kept me going. We could use a little growth but growth and exposure can be fatal. I want to keep going. I want to maintain the subdued vibe.”

While Robert is the key ingredient to the Jamboree, he cites Bison Bookbinding’s Kevin and Carly James, as well as Justin Smith, Julia Spencer and Mary Berchard as all-important components to making things work. In June, the staff increases to 10 and in August, 100-plus volunteers help prepare the grounds for the festival.

Robert notes it’s not just the music that draws folks in. “There are some people who come for reasons that have little to do with the stage music. They enjoy jamming, hanging, camping, cooking, and experiencing the alternative reality of a festival.”

In the end, while the festival can be sometimes difficult to put together, Robert loves it. “There are moments I’ve had at the end of the festival, on stage with all the bands and volunteers that is the purest joy I’ve ever felt.”

In this year’s line-up, Robert notes some of the acts people should check out include Anais Mitchell, Jefferson Hamer, Louis Ledford, CR Avery, The Heligoats, and Rachel Ries. “It just might be Timmy Sunshine or Lovage who steal the show,” he added. “A local band playing for their identity has something professional musicians can’t touch.”

The Jamboree takes place Friday, Aug. 13 and Saturday, Aug. 14 at the Deming Log Show Grounds. Camping, including a subdued family section, is available, as well as a number of vendors. For information and ticket prices, visit stringbandjamboree.com.

Summer Meltdown 2010

Summer Meltdown 2010

Summer Meltdown 2010

Summer Meltdown 2010

Summer Meltdown

Like the Jamboree, the Summer Meltdown also began as a party featuring a few bands in a friend’s yard this time at a location on the San Juan Islands.

Over the decade, the festival has grown, making its way through four different locations, including two in the San Juan’s, one on Camano Island, two in Sedro-Woolley and the last five in Darrington.

“We love it in Darrington, but in many ways are still emotionally attached to the Sedro-Woolley site. We put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that site – hacking campsites out of blackberry brambles with machetes, hand painting all of our signs, building the stages from salvaged wood,” said festival director Andrea Wood.

While the group loved Sedro-Woolley, Darrington has afforded them the size to allow for the festival’s growth and where they can work through the permit process.

For Andrea, her favorite moment occurred in 2004 when the northern lights played across the sky and Flowmotion had one of their best sets. “I think the two must be related.”

While Andrea has a favorite memory, she’s most excited about the festival as a whole. “But my real favorite thing about Meltdown isn’t a particular moment, it’s the way it has evolved overall and watching it serve as a platform for so many people to discover talents and skills they didn’t necessarily know they had, and meeting so many people that I can’t imagine not sharing this life with. Those two things have been the greatest rewards of doing this.”

The planning for the Meltdown is a year-long process, according to Andrea. “So much of what we work on, both as Flowmotion and Terra Roots, ties back into the Meltdown. It’s the culmination of many projects throughout the year.”

Two-thirds of this year’s Meltdown bands are from Washington and all but a handful are from outside the Northwest. “We’re focused on providing a platform for all the great music we have here. I think our talent buyer has the toughest job of the fest. She is bombarded with suggestions and requests year round, not just from musicians and agents, but from all of us on the staff as well… putting in plugs for our favorites. There is some method to our madness, though, and it’s mostly about fitting the pieces.”

As for the next 10 years, Andrea simply states, she hopes for “A little bigger and a little better each year.”

The festival is organized by Flowmotion and Terra Roots Foundation (the non-profit behind the Meltdown and other projects), but Andrea states it takes literally a “thousand willing participants that make it what it is.” Not just the performers, but the attendees, volunteers, vendors and sponsors all working on every level, a huge community effort. “Community has a lot of different definitions, and I think we see many aspects of it at the Meltdown.”

As is the case every year, the highlight is Flowmotion’s set, but Andrea is also looking forward to Mother Hips, Department of Energy and Acorn Project. She added, “I think the crowd favorites this year will be Manooghi Hi, Delhi 2 Dublin and The Mutaytor. They all have really unique things going on. We’re also bringing back Five Alarm Funk, who was hands down the favorite act of 2009.”

The Meltdown takes place Friday, Aug. 6 through Sunday, Aug. 8 at the Whitehorse Mtn. Ampitheatre in Darrington. For tickets and other information, check out summermeltdown.com.

Atomic Burlesque

Atomic Burlesque

Atomic Burlesque

Susanna Welbourne, who is better known as Kitten LaRue– the founder of Seattle’s internationally esteemed burlesque troupe the Atomic Bombshells, will be the first person in Bellingham to crawl out of an over-sized oyster shell on stage. Welbourne will channel the burlesque legends of Bourbon St. and the MGM era by reviving Kitty West’s infamous “Oyster Girl” routine as part of the troupe’s July 10 “Nightfall in New Orleans” performance at the Mount Baker Theatre.

“I originally became interested in burlesque because I was kind of raised on MGM musicals. My grandma really loved those,” Welbourne said. “When I moved to Seattle, I wanted to start a troupe with the concept of recreating glamour and a feeling that doesn’t exist anymore– that harkens back to days gone by.”

By focusing more on what they choose not to reveal, the Atomic Bombshells bring an old-fashioned innocence and playful, teasing nature to audiences with winks and smiles. Their performances have been compared to an all-female variety show including various aspects of entertainment such as humor, fashion, jazz, sex appeal and show-stopping choreography.

“Our level of dance ability sets us apart,” Welbourne said. “All of the girls are really amazing dancers. And our costumes– we have an incredible costume designer. We have costumes that people loose their minds over.”

After Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana, Welbourne began working on “Nightfall in New Orleans” to pay homage to her Southern roots. In light of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, she said it’s a more poignant time than ever for the troupe to bring the show to Bellingham. The troupe first performed “Nightfall in New Orleans” in 2008.

“It’s the one that is nearest and dearest to our hearts because it’s a sentimental tribute to our hometown,” Welbourne said. “More than our other shows, it really goes into the history and the classic tradition of burlesque in New Orleans.”

The Atomic Bombshells first dazzled Bellingham with their “Lost in Space” routine last April and Welbourne said the troupe is looking forward to bringing “Nightfall in New Orleans” North.

“[Last April] everyone was so excited and appreciative and warm,” she said. “They were a great audience.”

Featured on the Emmy award winning, PBS documentary series “Full Focus,” MTV.com and magazines such as GQ and Bust, the Atomic Bombshells have been receiving critical acclaim since their formation in 2003. KPLU Radio called the Atomic Bombshells “The New York Yankees of burlesque!”

What’s more, the Atomic Bombshells were the first burlesque troupe to perform at the celebrated Triple Door in Seattle. Perhaps this is due to the fact that some of the ladies were members of the notorious Shim Sham Revue in New Orleans– learning to bump and grind from the original stars of burlesque’s Golden Age.

Despite the hype surrounding the troupe, Welbourne said the women in the Atomic Bombshells are not required to meet certain principles of beauty. She said the seven women in the troupe have plenty of curves, boast different heights and sizes and are between the ages of 22 and 35.

“The girls in my troupe are all very athletic, trained dancers,” Welbourne said. “You will see that none of us are really your standard Barbie doll image of femininity.”

She said being the artistic director of the Atomic Bombshells is not always pie in the sky– there are natural complexities the women and their host, Jasper McCann, must sort out.

“The most challenging part about producing or directing is juggling seven high maintenance egos,” Welbourne said. “There are some real characters in our group–real talent and real characters. I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”

The Atomic Bombshells have already performed all over the United States and Europe, but they plan to continue bringing their celebration of the female form to even more hungry audiences in the coming years.

“The future has great things in store for us,” Welbourne said. “We are going to continue being fabulous and trotting around the globe and bringing our gospel of glitter everywhere we can.”

“Nightfall in New Orleans,” is scheduled to take place at 8 PM on July 10 at the Mount Baker Theatre. Tickets are $24 and can be purchased online, in-person or by mail, phone or fax.

For more information on the Atomic Bombshells, visit www.theatomicbombshells.com.

“Chris’s music mirrors his personality; he exudes honesty, romanticism, intelligence, and optimism. Through his music, Chris somehow conveys even the most morose thoughts in an uplifting way. The end product: a youthful and endearing spokesperson for the gay community.” –Jaimie Donatuto, What’s Up! Magazine, March ’99.

“Chris’s music mirrors his personality; he exudes honesty, romanticism, intelligence, and optimism. Through his music, Chris somehow conveys even the most morose thoughts in an uplifting way. The end product: a youthful and endearing spokesperson for the gay community.” –Jaimie Donatuto, What’s Up! Magazine, March ’99.

Over the 12 and a half years of running What’s Up!, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing, befriending and knowing countless bands in the Bellingham music community, been to more than 1,000 sets and have heard more demos and CDs than I can count. Some you remember, some you don’t.

Singer-songwriter Chris Riffle captured my heart with his stunning melodies and sweet vocal delivery. For the few who’ve been in Bellingham since Chris Riffle first graced the pages of What’s Up! Magazine back in March of 1999, the name has a wonderful, though elusive connotation. You see, with the story of Chris Riffle, comes the story of a young man who captured a local scene’s heart, and slipped away.

When we caught up with Chris back in the spring of 1999, he was filled with excitement. His album, which was recorded at Fairhaven Studio, was slated for release at the end of March on Fury Records and the world was his oyster.

Then March turned to April, and the CD still wasn’t out. Spring turned to summer, then to fall and winter, with Chris Riffle waiting on Fury to release his CD. While playing shows in town, Chris began to feel the itch to move to Seattle and did in early 2000. The record, which was being paid for by Fury, was now in limbo with a disagreement over money between the label and the engineer. Chris, being young in a big city, had a carefree attitude and didn’t worry about the release. He lost track of Josh Sanchez, the label head at Fury Records and lost track of the producer and engineer.

“Literally, it got lost,” said Chris with a laugh. Two years later, Chris bumped into the engineer, exclaiming, “Oh my gosh, you have my album!” The engineer gave him the tapes, Fury didn’t return his calls about the disc, Chris said, so he decided to release it on his own.

While the CD didn’t make much headway in the music scene (Chris admits he knew nothing about putting a CD out), it did find it’s way into a Tower Records downtown, where it was noted as a staff recommendation.

But by then, Chris was in a different lifestyle music, sadly, wasn’t his focus. For the next five years, Chris would still play the occasional show, but he had landed a regular job and lived what could be considered a fairly regular life. “I wasn’t playing music much.”

In 2007, Chris’s boyfriend was accepted to Cooper Union in Manhattan, a privately funded art school. The two decided to make the leap and move to New York. “I was in Seattle and stuck in a 9 to 5 job and I wasn’t doing music as much as I’d like to,” adding, “I was looking for a way out.”

“It was really daunting at first,” said Chris, “I was really overwhelmed. It took me four to six months to pick up my guitar and get into.” After getting a job at a local coffeeshop, Chris began working at playing live. He played an open mic at the Sidewalk Caf , a hip venue known for its thriving open mic scene. The club booker instantly fell in the love with Chris and gave him a show. “Then I started playing some shows there, but it was pretty mellow.”

While working at the coffee shop, Chris began meeting the people who would form his live band, starting with Paul Davis on drums, a world-class drummer who recently returned from a European tour where he played drums for a touring production of “Westside Story.” Being involved in the Broadway music scene, Paul connected Chris with John McFaul on bass and Jason Smukler on piano. The band was born.

It was another chance meeting at work that took Chris from playing to recording and propelling his once dormant musical career forward like never before.

One day last year, Jimi Zhivago came to the coffee shop. An eccentric looking man, Chris instantly thought there was something unique about him, but had no idea he was a musician, much less a world class one. He not only produces an XM radio show for the Living Room, a hip New York venue, but is a professional musician recently as part of the backing band for a Central Park show that included Ben Gibbard, St. Vincent as well as Simon and Garfunkle. One day Jimi came in carrying his guitar and Chris, sensing an opportunity, gave Jimi his demo. The next day, Jimi came in and asked Chris if he wanted to release the demo.

“Meeting him was the biggest thing. I got to skip a lot of leg work,” Chris said with a chuckle.

Suddenly, Chris found himself with a break. He went into the Magic Shop, a great studio in New York, with Jimi producing and Steve Rosenthal engineering the recording.

The end result is Introducing, a beautiful, yet more mature extension of the Chris Riffle sound that won Bellingham’s heart over 10 years ago. The album was self-released in January, with the hope that it will eventually be picked up by a bigger label. Jimi has begun taking it to major labels (where he is well connected), but so far, he hasn’t made any headway.

“A lot of what they’re coming back with is business is so different now, they’re not signing people, they’re dropping them.” While a major label might not be an option today, Chris would love the chance at a smaller label. “Even if it’s a smaller label if there’s a fit with, it’d be great to do that.”

In the mean time, Jimi connected Chris to someone who is working on radio promotions. “I’ve gotten really positive feedback,” he stated. “I was the artist of the week in a couple stations. That went really well.” He added, “I wasn’t expecting I – I don’t think she (his promotions manager) was expecting either!” Chris even received letters from station managers saying how they loved the record and to let them know when he’d be out on tour.

Which lands him in the present, having left Bellingham just over 10 years ago, Chris visits on his first official tour (he has played in town a few times over the last decade) a two-week trip through the West Coast, with Jimi accompanying him for the shows. He left town with fans believing in his promise and talent and he comes back, beginning to embrace and exceed the expectations. What seemed like a lost dream has now become a reality for Chris Riffle, and it’s only beginning.

Catch Chris Riffle on July 30 at the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern. For more information about Chris, visit chrisriffle.com or myspace.com/chrisriffle.

Pinback Presents: The Rob and Zach Show

Since their inception, Pinback has eclipsed the standard alternative rock sound with a cloak of muted intensity that charged an entire generation of music. And now after a slew of successful releases, the band has decided to strip their live presence down to something much more simplistic. The more deconstructed “Rob and Zach Show,” coming to the Wild Buffalo on July 6, exhibits the band’s songwriting process more than anything and goes straight back to the basics. Instead of a full band, the core two members plan on playing a set that will give fans a more unique perspective on the recordings themselves.

One winter in 1998 Zach Smith (a former member of Three Mile Pilot and the primary member of Systems Officer) and Rob Crow (formerly of Thingy, Heavy Vegetable, and Goblin Cock) decided to form Pinback. Three Mile Pilot former member Tom Zinser contributed percussion and before long they had recorded, mixed and mastered every song themselves via Zach’s computer. They released their debut This Is A Pinback CD in 1999 and two years later Blue Screen Life under Ace Fu Records along with a few EPs. As far as Pinback’s future recording goes, it’s been announced that Brooklyn-based label Temporary Residence Limited which hosts bands Black Heart Procession, Explosions in the Sky, and The Books will be backing up their newest record. It’s set to release sometime this year.

Pinback’s songs are always a bit unique structurally. They always seem to bounce back and forth between emotions with their poppy chorus-verses and odd narratives, and the vocals act as a hushed backdrop to the surrounding melodies. Layering is a major element to the band’s sound and their paced, talk-singing harmonies fuse well into the lull of a simple guitar melody and amalgamation of dreamy bleeps and bloops. There’s a way their songs capture your attention and have a way of creeping into your emotional wiring and just like in other well-crafted songs, certain parts just take you to a place that a minute ago didn’t seem so familiar. They manage to find a balance between beautiful complexity and starkly natural by varying different segments of the songs and culminating them into their final products. The beauty of Pinback’s songwriting is it’s core simplicity and their live show is trying to encompass that.

This is a band that can inject variety and spontaneity into their craft but still keep everything in a cohesive perspective. Usually their lyrical content is somewhat diminished and downtrodden, and at times, deeply philosophical. The two like to write about the ocean and their immediate surroundings at their home in San Diego and often talk about water and time’s movement and flow. Their songs act as haunted, aching lullabies about sailing off to a distant shore, finding a new start, and wondering what went wrong, and when Zach Smith’s growling bass comes in it adds a whole other gloomy variance to the music’s melodic mood. This, along with Pinback’s swooping mathy guitar riffs and simple, subdued drum patterns.

It’s an exciting thing to have a band like Pinback come into Bellingham and peeking into their creative process will be that much more engrossing. With a new album in the works and a full-fledged tour underway, the band’s three year hiatus has come to a comfortable close, and it’ll be interesting to see in person the atmospheric evolution of the band since their last release.

Pinback presents the Rob and Zach Show at the Wild Buffalo on July 6. For more information about the band, visit myspace.com/pinback

Art by Cynthia Camlin

Art by Karen Rudd

Art by Mark Ruwedel

Cynthia Camlin’s most recent work isn’t merely about the ecological issue of melting polar ice shelves that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Camlin, who is an assistant professor of painting at WWU, wanted to effectuate art that is unpredictable, organic and capable of evoking a psychological metaphor. Her work in the “Extremities” series captures all of these elements.

“[The paintings] are images of a disaster–beautiful images of a disaster,” Camlin said.

Three of Camlin’s 52 x 60 inch paintings from “Extremities” will be featured in the exhibit “Critical Messages: Northwest Artists on the Environment.” The show will take place between April 12 and May 29 at the Western Gallery, Hallie Ford Museum of Art and the Boise Art Museum.

To craft the calamitous turquoise and cyan icebergs in “Extremities,” Camlin initially dropped watercolor into pools of water on paper, letting the color swirl in an irregular fashion.

Once dry, the patches have a variable, marble appearance that represents the mysterious and unknown changes to the undersides of icebergs.

On top of the dried watercolor pools, Camlin uses watercolor and ink to build the solid forms of icebergs that appear to be melting–a portrayal meant to conjure thoughts of degradation and global warming.

Camlin says her paintings generate images of the submerged parts of icebergs that are not available in underwater photography, noting that the depictions people see of icebergs beneath the water’s surface are faked in Photoshop.

Her views of icebergs in general are clearly invented as well. She is the first to admit her paintings are not scientific.

“My works are more like poetry than prose,” she said.

The Critical Messages exhibit will also display work from 25 other artists living in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Idaho and California. Various types of media will be included in the mixed media exhibit such as painting, sculpture and photography.

The pieces in the show are distinct while still maintaining one major component in common. Each work focuses on one of eight environmental issues facing the Pacific Northwest: growth, waste management, production and consumption, transportation, wilderness and wetland preservation, biodiversity, climate change, and energy.

“Contemporary artists are at the forefront of critical dialogues about social, political, and environmental issues,” Sarah Clark-Langager, curator of the show and director of the Western Gallery, said in a prepared statement.

Clark-Langager has wanted to help coordinate an environmental art show for years but was inhibited by obstacles such as lack of funding and timing constraints. Thanks to a grant proposal written by Debra Jensen, however, the exhibition won a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) award, making the show possible for the first time.

“I knew the NEA grant deadline was coming up and I decided I’m not going to talk about this anymore–we are going to do it,” Clark-Langager said.

With funding secured, Clark-Langager asked WWU’s Huxley College what they considered to be the 10 most salient environmental concerns facing the Northwest. Once the issues were decided upon, Clark-Langager and her team looked for artists to represent those dilemmas.

“There are some artists who are very strong on the issues and there are other artists who touch on the issues–leaving things vague about how they feel,” Clark-Langager said.

Clark-Langager also submitted an essay for the exhibition catalogue along with William Dietrich, an assistant professor of Environmental Studies at WWU. Her essay is about how the artists in the show respond to the grim topics at hand.

She believes ecology has been an escalating theme in the Northwest since the 1990’s for several reasons, such as the influence of Asian philosophy and theology and heightened local awareness due to undeniably lush surroundings.

Clark-Langager says artists from around the country explore environmental topics, but the Northwestern connection to the environment runs deep. She remembers meeting school children in New York who had never been to a forest or farm.

For more information about the exhibit, visit westerngallery.wwu.edu/ or call 650-3900.

Caleb Barber. Courtesy photo

Caleb Barber. Courtesy photo

In the burgeoning Bellingham poetry scene, poets can be found reading their prose at Anker Cafe’s Poetry Night every Monday night, week after week. One such poet, Caleb Barber, is releasing his first book, titled “Beasts and Violins.” He’s also been published in such papers as New Orleans Review, Naugatuck River Review, Los Angeles Review, Poet Lore, High Desert Journal, Other Poetry, and Plain Spoke, among others.

April being National Poetry Month, we caught up with Caleb just before he headed to New York.

Brent Cole: Tell me about when you first began to write poetry. What was your first poem about?

Caleb Barber: I started writing poetry pretty young, for school assignments and things like that, and the teachers always thought it was something special, but my dad had been reading me “real” poetry since I was a kid, so I think I always knew it was crap. I was measuring myself against Theodore Roethke even as an elementary school student. But you have to start somewhere. I wrote a poem for my grandma when I was six or seven that was about the color blue. That was one on the wall at her house for a long time. In middle school I wrote a poem about a crow I raised that eventually flew off. That was up in a hall at Shuksan Middle School for a few months.

BC: Most folks, at least artistic people, have attempted poetry at some point or time. When did you realize it was more than just a hobby, but something you wanted to pursue more enthusiastically?

CB: Yeah, poetry can be a difficult art to exist in since everyone has their own idea about it because it’s so accessible. I made it into Best American Poetry 2009 and I constantly fear people will think it’s one of those big, hardbound books you pay $75 to get a copy of. You know–a scam poetry thing. But it’s the real deal. I guess it’s just like anything.

There’s the sort of start-up poetry a lot of people do great in (local readings and Kinko’s chapbooks), and I really admire that. Those people are my friends. But I have an ego to maintain, so I like the journals and independent presses. Bound books. I went for that. I’m a pretty average musician and there are a lot of pretty average musicians, and I felt I could standout in poetry, so that’s where I put my concerned effort. It comes more naturally.

BC: How long have you been writing?

CB: I got my BA in English/Creative Writing from WWU in 2003. I did some okay writing there. Mostly short stuff, but I was starting to get curious. I was only 19 when I graduated, and I had some time to kill before I felt like I had to do anything of note. So I worked in Alaska, moved to Arizona, moved to Montana, took a trip to Europe. So it goes, I got my heart beat up a little during all of that, and that gave me the need to dig into the art. Try to come up with something meaningful out of myself. So I feel like I’ve only really been writing since I was 22 or so. That’s the stuff in my book.

BC: When was the first time you read poetry in public? How did it go?

CB: I read once with my Aunt Tess Gallagher at Village Books when I was a young kid. She’s a well-known poet and she asked me to read one of her late husband Ray Carver’s poems in celebration of his birthday or something like that. The audience was very kind. It was a poem about the family dog getting killed by a car and being sort of happy about it. I have read a lot down at Poetry Night over the years and Robert does a great thing down there. Everyone should go.

BC: When not writing poetry, what do you do? What’s your day job?

CB: I work up at Pro CNC near Cordata. It’s a machine shop and I am in charge of most of the assembly work. I’m the “Lead Assembly Process Technician”, but nobody else typically works with me. I’ve been there four years making aircraft and medical stuff mainly. The repetition of putting in bolts and screws can free up your mind for other things, so I’ve made the most of it. A lot of the poems in the book I wrote while driving parts down south.

BC: Have you been published before?

CB: “Beasts and Violins” is my first book, but I’ve been in a lot of literary magazines. Getting in places that end in “Review” are my favorite because they sound very official, but I’ve been getting a kick out of journals in other countries lately. I’m in a journal out of Edmonton called Alien Sloth Sex. I was in another one from back east called Makeout Creek. Often I send to places because of the name.

BC: Can you tell me about getting your book published?

CB: I met one of the main editors from Red Hen Press, Kate Gale, because she was a guest speaker for my grad school. I’m pretty steady in my machine shop trade, so I did a low-residency MFA program based off of Whidbey Island called The Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. They have 10-day residencies twice a year where it’s just concentrated writing and lectures for about 12 hours a day. I met Kate there two different times and we hit it off. She asked for my manuscript and ended up offering to publish it. I had it easy. It’s typically much more difficult. My girlfriend Rachel Mehl has to send to prizes and query and do all the real work of a poet.

BC: What’s the writing process like? Did you collect poetry you had before, or write with a specific theme in mind?

CB: I wrote an unpublished chapbook called “The Dammed River,” which was a bunch of poems I wrote camped out at Baker Lake in the back of my truck with my dogs in the off-season. I liked the bleak, cold mood of that book, but really it was a bit dark. So I took the best parts of that and wrote some funnier, more light-hearted poems and ended up with something much more representative of myself. That became “Beasts and Violins”, which was my master’s thesis. The theme of it presented itself when I was putting it all together. I had a good time ordering it and found many threads to connect.

BC: Speaking of which, where do you draw your inspiration from?

CB:I draw my inspiration mainly from the day-to-day. Nothing spectacular really happens in my poetry. It’s mostly small moments and conversations. I’ve had the pleasure of having one best friend for over 25 years. Just watching him perched on a stool smoking cigarettes can get poems happening. Cool observation is something I find very meaningful.

BC: Do you find yourself writing about a specific subject? What do you write about?

CB: I write a lot about places I’ve been. Traveling around in the Western States really made this book. Going from Arizona to Montana is like rolling in the snow after a sauna. That sort of jolting adventure keeps you sharp. I’ve been pretty stable in Bellingham for a while now. I grew up here. It’s the perfect place to edit and refine the work. I just bought a house in town. Now I’ll be traveling for the book and I’ll get back into the creative side of art, which I’m looking forward to.

BC: When writing, do you write quickly, or labor over every word?

CB: I write pretty quickly, typically on scraps of paper right after something’s happened. I was on part-time for a couple of months last summer because of the recession, and I was having these fantastic afternoons riding my bike around and going swimming with my dogs. One time, I ended up racing a couple of hobos back and forth across the Nooksack River, up near Marietta. I wrote a poem about that right there on an old receipt from my truck’s glove box and didn’t edit it much at all. I believe we only have limited engagement with the muse.

BC: How many poems do you think you’ve written?

CB: Maybe 400?

BC: What’s next for you? Did you say you’ll be doing a book tour?

CB: Yes, Rachel and I are leaving for New York, then hitting AWP in Denver on the way back. AWP is the big Associate Writing Programs literary conference that all the presses go to. It’s in a different city every year. I’ve never been to either of those places, so I’m very excited for the whole thing.

BC: After doing the book tour, what are your plans? Working on another book?

CB: I’ll be doing as many readings as I can locally and I’m about 35 percent into the next book, which I’m thinking of calling “The Sudden Rooster.”

Catch Caleb Barber at Village Books on April 29. For more about him, check out calebbarber.com.