P.O.S. (right) performs at the Minnesota Music Awards Wednesday, Sept. 22

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 22, 2004 2:44 AM

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Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 21, 2004 11:55 PM

Directions to the Radisson St. Cloud

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DIRECTIONS TO THE RADISSON SUITE HOTEL ST. CLOUD

FROM MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL-VIA INTERSTATE 94

·        INTERSTATE 94 WEST TO

·        EXIT RIGHT ON EXIT NUMBER 171 HEADING NW ON CTY ROAD 75 (APPROXIMATELY 4 MILES)

·        TURN RIGHT ON WASHINGTON MEMORIAL DRIVE

·        GO TO 2^ND STOP LIGHT AND TURN RIGHT ON HIGHWAY 23

·        TURN LEFT ON 4^TH AVENUE

·        RADISSON WILL BE 2 BLOCKS DOWN ON THE LEFT SIDE

FROM MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL-VIA HIGHWAY 10

·        HIGHWAY 10 TO

·        ST. CLOUD EXIT-HIGHWAY 23 WEST

·        AT 4^TH AVENUE TURN RIGHT

·        RADISSON WILL BE 2 BLOCKS DOWN ON LEFT

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 21, 2004 8:55 PM

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Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 13, 2004 9:07 PM

Democracy: Practice makes perfect

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If you're as absent-minded as I am and forgot that your Minnesota Music Awards ballot was due today (or never heard about it at all--next year, I hope they'll add a fax or email option), at least don't forget to cast your vote in the primary election Tuesday, September 14. This is another election where there are so few voters, your vote ends up counting extra. Polls close at 8:00 p.m. Here's more information on how to vote, where to vote, and who to vote for:

The Green Papers 2004 Election Page

Minnesota Secretary of State page

Star Tribune elections page

Where to vote

League of Women Voters Elections Page

As you go in: Here are a few last laughs on the Sloganator, which managed to rewrite the Bush/Cheney slogan in countless ways.

Putting it in perspective: Women's suffrage photos at the Library of Congress

One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage: An Overview

Oh, and Steve Perry's right about the Democrats, nationally at least: "Given the choice between winning what might prove an unruly victory and running yet another me-too campaign that will likely lose (but without upsetting their real base, which consists largely of the same funding sources as the Republicans), they take the second path every time."

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 13, 2004 7:55 PM

The Passion of the Mallman

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The only way to truly do justice to Mark Mallman's recent performance of a 52.4-hour song would be to make a 52.4-hour version of Billy Joel's video for "We Didn't Start the Fire." In lieu of that, here's a rundown of what happened when a local piano man got onstage at the Turf Club in St. Paul last weekend, and rocked for three days straight.

Day One

Saturday, September 4, 5:35 p.m. Mallman is rushing around setting up equipment in the Clown Lounge downstairs, where a small group of onlookers is gathering. He's wearing a zebra-striped top under a jacket, spectacles, and a few days' reddish beard. On his keyboard sits the phone-book-sized blueprint of "Marathon 2": 628 pages of lyrics and charts in a three-ring binder that's over twice the size of "Marathon," the original 26.2-hour ditty he performed here in 1999.

Except for bathroom breaks, Mallman plans to play around the clock, with the help of 75 other musicians working in shifts. I ask him if he has anything to tell fans before doing this. "It's not going to be good," he says. "It's going to be long."

6:15 The first band is alternating verses and guitar solos with a simple, catchy chorus: "Here I am/Singing again/Going to make it through/Marathon 2." So far, it sounds like any other good song, except it doesn't end.

6:52 For a moment, "Marathon 2" nearly stops. Mallman admonishes the musicians: "You got to keep going. We almost had to start over already."

6:55 The bandleader says to the audience, "For the first six hours this is going to be about high school. And death. Actually a lot about death."
He flips ahead in the lyrics. "I see that at 1:45 on Monday I talk about killing. Here's a page without death."

8:15 The timer counting down the 52.4 hours breaks. Mallman doesn't notice until later. "That clock used to mean something," he says.

1:07 a.m. Thanks to hourly lineup changes, the music morphs from mid-tempo rock to jazzy reggae to a Metallica cover. Mallman is wearing a bunny mask now, his band going full throttle for a packed room. "I'm way shooting my wad here," he says.

Day Two

Sunday, September 5, 4:45 p.m. Mallman has moved the song upstairs, where a sparse crowd regards him with blank faces. He's singing variations on "Away in a Manger."
Stage manager Wilson Webb reports that during the night, Mallman nearly hit a wall. "He was playing a bunch of Pink Floyd-inspired improvisational stuff."

Between 2:00 a.m. and noon, everybody but a core group of musicians--Ryan Olcott, Jacques Wait, and Peter Anderson--was forced to leave the bar. The remaining participants took turns sleeping, and at one point, Mallman was playing alone.

To pull off the transition from the basement, Mallman began playing along with a drum machine in the Clown Lounge, pumping the beat through amplifiers upstairs, where Anderson began drumming. Then the singer came up to join in on a second keyboard.

5:39 Mallman makes his band take off their shoes, and says he'll pay a couple of band members five bucks each if they exchange socks.

6:34 He flips up the "Gone pissin'" sign on his keyboard and disappears, as a cellist and guitarist exchange solos. Volunteers are making sure Mallman has enough to eat onstage--but not too much at once, or he'll succumb to full-stomach fatigue.

10:25 Mallman looks pale. His handlers say he's in trouble. Greek history scholar Aaron Poochigian climbs the stage to tell the story of the first marathon runner. "And what happened to him?" Mallman asks.

"He died of exhaustion," Poochigian says. The crowd cheers.

11:05 The show is kicking into high Springsteen gear for a full house, with Ev Olcott on sax and Rich Mattson on guitar. I've seen as much Mallman in the past two days as I have over the past six years. Yet "Marathon 2" never gets boring, partly because Mallman himself can't get bored, or he'll fall asleep.

12:18 a.m. Mallman just drank a shot of Jagermeister offered by a fan. He turns to Mattson and violinist Jessy Greene, and says, "You're both looking very attractive to me right now."

Memorable lyric of the weekend: "In the roar of the book fire/Where do you keep your dreams, desire?"

Day Three

Monday, September 6, 3:19 p.m. Last night ended in a free jazz jam, with an overnight shift by members of Ouija Radio. Now Mallman is playing a "power ballad." "I think I'm just going to quit," he says. The sparse assemblage answers, "No!" Mallman's bruised fingers are covered in duct tape.

8:48 After an energetic hour with Martin Dosh on drums and St. Patrick Costello on bass, Mallman grows belligerent. He stuffs a banana in his mouth. "John Lennon never ate a fucking banana onstage," he says.

Signs reading "No shots please!" (referring to alcohol, not photos) have been taped to the monitors.

10:10 After squealing a duet with saxophonist Mike Lewis, Mallman, his voice shot, has his customary backing band in place: Pony on bass, Mark Landre on guitar, and Peter Anderson back on drums. Singer to audience: "Why would I put myself through this much torture if it wasn't to have a good time?"

10:20 The crowd roars as Mallman crosses the 52.4 hour mark. A giant banner with stars and stripes unfurls behind the band: "Mission Accomplished."
Somebody shouts for an encore, and Mallman obliges with a much shorter son.

10:50 Backstage, I ask Mallman what he's going to do now. "Take a shower," he says. "Maybe watch A Clockwork Orange and fall asleep."

Did he ever feel like he was going to pass out? "All the time. But dude, it's so fucking easy. My dad ran a 50-mile trail run in the rain. His toenails fell off. And he's like, 'I don't know, I'm worried about your voice.' He ran for 11 hours in the rain. All I'm doing is sitting down, drinking."

Complete set of Complicated Fun photos from "Marathon 2"  David De Young's account at HowWastheShow.com  Chris Riemenschneider's review in the Star Tribune (after this news blurb)  Mallman's "Marathon 2" mission statement  Mallman's "Marathon 2" thankyou email  Mallman's cool web site  Scholtes 1998 profile: Meet Mark Mallman, Part Shut-In, Part Showman  Maerz review of another Mallman show  City Pages Best Vocalist (Male) of 2000  Scholtes review of The Red Bedroom  Scholtes review of the Future Wives EP  Here's the version of the above article that appeared in City Pages

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 10, 2004 5:41 PM

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Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 10, 2004 5:27 PM

Mallman thankyou

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From "The Passion of the Mallman":

Here's the version I got of the letter Mallman sent out to many, many fans, friends, and musicians:

Peter -

Wow, you stayed a long time - I hope you had fun! I had a blast. I'm sending off thank yous to everyone who performed. Half of the email is personal to each person, but the other half is the same, here is what it says...thought you'd be interested....

...The rest of my email that is a form letter because some of my fingers are black and blue and it hurts to type. But please read it, because I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

It�s Tuesday night and I�ve been sleeping on and off for the last 24 hours � I didn�t realize what a toll all that physical movement and lack of sleep would take on me.

EVERYBODY I asked to be a part of this is someone that I�ve seen exhibit a great passion for music in some form, from the less experienced to the true masters like Rich Mattson and Jessy Greene � everybody was GREAT!

I want to give a special shout out to Marty Dosh for playing on his Birthday. If you see him, give him a pat on the back, his hands looked like bubble wrap after how fast Paddy D4, myself, and Kermit Superhopper made him play non stop for that hour � Marty, I warned you.

Also, if you need a soundguy, Matt Donarski ran sound for more than 25 hours! Bless him.

When I walked off the stage, after the encore, it felt like any other show to me, it didn�t seem like 52.4 hours of constant music � the power of music is an enigmatic force out of which it continually surprises and enlightens. We do not choose to do this, it chooses us � at that must be treated as something precious � because what kept me awake, and what keeps me alive, is our uniqueness as players, and our similarities as musical persons.

I am at the point of tears as I type these very lines, because so many people were willing to help me achieve my crazy vision. I know MARATHON 2 seems crazy, but craziness is something very important to the integrity of waht I do - and I've so much gratitude for helping me create the ultimate realization of rock craziness.

It was a vision in my mind that needed to be realized�-and I am so very very very grateful to you all for helping me realize the single most intense musical experience of my 31 years on this earth.

I would like to close with the opening lines of the Marathon song�

It started out as a joke I told

But destiny soon revealed would unfold

Into a heap of madness on a journey of the mind

The Marathon would be like none of any kind

�Let�s rock like the pros rock it, let's rock it in prose.

--Mark Mallmen

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 9, 2004 3:05 PM

Mallman Mission Statement

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From "The Passion of the Mallman":

Here's the "Marathon 2" "MISSION STATEMENT":

MARATHON 2 : (or, How I Will Rebuild What Once Never Existed)

I cannot express enough my thankfulness to all the individuals who took time out of there lives to make this happen � from the rotating cast of nearly 75 musicians � to the people who took charge of audio, lighting, scheduling, promotions, feeding me, among others.

It is true that I spent months writing the roughly 500 pages of lyrics and charts for Marathon 2, I could not have done any of it without my friends and coworkers in the Twin Cities music scene that helped make this event possible. The completion of Marathon 1 in 1999 left me with a profound sense of accomplishment, joy, and inner faith. Since then, I knew I would do another � and it is also safe to say that there will be more MARATHONS to come.

Popular music has always been structured in 2 � 4 minute schemes of repeating verses and choruses along with a bridge. As I am ever searching to perfect my craft as a songwriter to this form, I have also an affinity toward smashing the walls that define the structure itself. MARATHON 1 + 2 have been exercises in formula deconstruction.

As you listen/view - I hope you too can challenge your notions of structures within your own reach �possibly to stretch, bend, shrink, smash, or distort them until they become something new - take time to address the walls that confine you � how can they be realigned, shifted, changed?

These SONG-EXTREMETIES called "MARATHON" have given me a greater awareness � an awareness I hope to use as goggles for seeing through the dense fog of mediocrity and conformity that consumes the day to day activity of "the real" world.

--Mark Mallman

September 2004

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 9, 2004 2:54 PM

Mallman photos for Jane

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Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 9, 2004 12:30 PM

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Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at September 9, 2004 8:08 AM

Toots and the Maytals: Never Grow Old

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I have decided, after witnessing Mark Mallman's 53-hour concert at the Turf Club last weekend (stay tuned for photos), and watching the new documentary about Joe Strummer today, that I want to live to see the 100th anniversary of rock&roll, in 2055. (I will be 86 that year.)

My other inspiration is Toots Hibbert, who calls whatever band he's playing with Toots and the Maytals. (That's him above, Frederick "Toots" Hibbert in the center, in 1963 with the real Maytals: singers Nathaniel [Jerry] Mathias and Raleigh Gordon.) Toots is among our greatest living Jamaican soul singers, and no one in Minnesota who loves reggae or classic R&B should miss his early-evening show this Friday at First Avenue (here's my preview in City Pages). (Too bad the Black-Eyed Snakes play the night before at the Triple Rock--they'd make an inspired opener.)

I interviewed Toots in 2001 for City Pages, painting a flawed portrait that at least got across my feelings about "Pressure Drop." (I also added some political shade to a story that, when most people tell it, leaves out United States foreign policy in Jamaica. See also my review of Life and Debt.) There are two problems with my Toots piece: First, Hibbert is not the only guy who says he invented the term "reggae": Clancy Eccles made the same claim more loudly to reggae historian Steve Barrow.

Second, I attributed a quote from Studio One musician Johnny Moore to an interview with Mark Gorney, when in fact Gorney, an excellent and knowledgable world-music publicist for Worldisc, lifted the Moore quotation from a book (though he couldn't say which, when he wrote to correct my mistake). Back in 2001, Gorney had his own theory on the etymology of "reggae," which he laid out in email:

The word comes from "reggay"/"raggay," which references probably either or all of:

- "streggae," slang for loose girl

- regular, everyday stuff ("it just reggae, man...")

- "we called it raggay then because that was what the rhythm sounded like" (Ernest Ranglin, and that is an actual quote)

In my opinion it was born in the summer of 1968, mostly at West Indies Recording Ltd., by producers Lee Perry and Clancy Eccles, musicians Hux Brown, Jackie Jackson, Aubrey Adams, Ernest Ranglin, Hugh Malcolm and Gladstone Anderson, engineer Lynford "Andy Capp" Anderson and many singers such as Perry and Eccles, the Tennors, Monty Morris, and countless others. Producer Bunny Lee accurately states that it was the organ shuffle that was put in the rock steady of the same year that helped shake it up and change it, and people liked it. "Say What You�re Saying" is a great example of that, because that is rocksteady with that organ shuffle thrown in. "People Funny Boy" by Lee Perry is another example of the surging, urgent new sound, the aggressive, riffing guitar. Busting out of the somewhat rigid confines of rock steady.

 

Toots' guitarist Hux Brown thinks it came from Upsetters guitarist Alva "Reggie" Lewis but I don�t agree with that.