Greetings from the U.S.! It's a warm, rainy New Year in Virginia! Mark Moogalian and Isabelle Risacher, husband and wife duo of Secret Season, released “Paris Rain Dances” in 2012. Moogalian is a Virginia native, a teacher, and a hero. Risacher is from France, where the couple live and work. Moogalian's website contains his and his wife's photography and art, and his novel, Mr. Farride, which is a narrative about the psychosis of a lonely actor. The title of this album, "Paris Rain Dances," calls to my mind the traditional Native American rain dances. Like these songs, rain dances were performed together by men and women. (Other dances were performed only by men.) Traditions varied across tribes. Some dances were performed for the beginning or end of a season, and others for the year. The dances were intended to bring rain, to celebrate the spiritual relationship between people and the Earth, and to cleanse the spirit. Turquoise stripes, like the color on Risacher's face, held a special significance in traditional costumes. Blue colors represented wind and rain. In traditional face paint, a red stripe on the nose represented knowing or trusting in your chosen path. For a leader, it signified that the leader had gained the trust of the people. Moogalian and Risacher have released two albums since "Paris Rain Dances," but from the vault, I give you a track-by-track review:
FACEPAINTING MUSICIANS GALLERY!!! Sources:
Dance www.indians.org/articles/rain-dance.html https://dance.lovetoknow.com/Native_American_Dances http://www.native-net.org/na/native-american-rain-dance.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainmaking_%28ritual%29 https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-c1-drought-rain-dance-20140306-dto-htmlstory.html Paint http://native-american-totems.com/sacred-path-medicine/native-american-face-paint/ Annunaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anunnaki
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Photo: on the left, Sammy Snider of Don Fredrick catches some rays from the analog projector light show by @razzinaro, and center, Landon Avila plays rhythm electric 12/12 Poor Boys, Lombardy Ave.
If you are wanting to listen to a laid-back, getting low (as in, ya know, sungken feels,) 7 piece combo, hold the sauce! And check out Don Fredrick at their upcoming show at the Broadberry, Dec. 21. I’ve enjoyed getting to know their music this year. Like the shrimp on my sandwich on Thursday 12/12 at Poor Boys on Lombardy, they were perfectly cooked, and good-spicy. In one of my favorite vocal performances, Will Cummins skreeked and shrieked along with the wavering Country Breakfast Shorty on into “a song about bugs,” and the house was certainly dancing -- on their toes. I also enjoyed some aspects of the lead guitarists' performances: they were all-electric -- Dan Flaherty sharing melodies, and Gionfriddo dropping a particularly noisy riff on an opposite beat. I don’t know whether Don Fredrick is playing to the season, with the early-setting sun and cozy appeal of indoors, but at the last two shows – Fuzzy Cactus RVA on 11/15 and last Thursday night at Poor Boys on Lombardy, the band fulfilled its role as headliner by winding the night down rather than ending on a crescendo. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I swayed happily to the final soothing, crooning soundwaves after midnight in December, and they made me remember outside, where the cool, mild night shone quietly under a big, huge full moon. OK OK, I helped yell for one more song and then house Deejay Thomas hopped back on, and some of the band started a dance party, chanting along with the beats. ***Edit: I just listened to a The War on Drugs song on 88.5. Remembering that, according to Facebook, Don Fredrick listens to them, I began to re-hear the exploratory guitar melodies from the Poor Boys set again in my head. If the speaker from Country Breakfast Shorty ventured into a synthesizer mirage and the guitars narrated their footsteps... Right now, you are transported --walking, watching your feet, in the periphery of traffic lights and all you can hear is "Under the Pressure." Maybe its the season, and maybe its a wind-down off their current fave jams... One of my faves -- Donald Fagen!! <3 Missangelbird, Richmond, went on before Don Fredrick, and they played an upbeat, spirited set. Their recorded tracks- Ghost, Midnight Air, are like, light-hearted emo, if it’s possible? Mysterious, and beautiful, and fleeting. Mysterious because I was standing under the speaker for this show, watching the band play, and able to decipher only the quality of singer, Erica's, voice, not her lyrics. Besides "hammock rock," one of my favorite sub-genres would have to be "dream pop." I think this group has some pop! Before their performance, Crystal Flowers, a Richmond band, a large group with a clear-voiced lead singer/guitarist, presented a quirky rock set. At times, they played to the considerable strength of their saxophonist, and jazzed it up. The audience really started dancing when the band settled into their grooves, whether rock or jazz. The set ended with a little of the mellow intro of “Déjà vu Don,” final track on Don Fredrick’s latest album, Lombo, and then, a tempo cover of MGMT “Electric Feel.” Perhaps lovely vocalists wove together the four performances of the night. Theo Biddle made a stage debut to kick things off, and I don’t think he had any stage fright. I remember a couple of distant, light, love songs that rolled over hills on soft, electric arpeggios, reaching for sun like a Fleet Foxes melody. Don Fredrick’s bassist, Sebastien Ricard, and drummer, Pat Bowdring, lent their nimble talents to the first half of Theo Biddle’s set as “The Biddle Band.” Deejay Thomas also wove the evening together, hopping up between the four guest performances with ready beats, samples and synth-mixes, creating a peppy, out-there atmosphere. Many thanks to the Thursday night host called Prsmcat, and the Voodoo Room staff. We’ve been talking about getting foodie on this blog, so I’ll say: I love the bar shows. Along with a casual atmosphere, enjoy delicious food if you stay in one place long enough to order in time, and an evening of nuanced music performances. Shrimp update: Lauren, a new chef, and I ate at a cocktail bar next to the very-city, split-level kitchen, and she informed me that the small shrimp on my sandwich were new to the menu, encouraged me to try the Jambalaya next time, and also the hand-prepared collard greens, which are a labor of love. |
AuthorWe are Kieran and Michelle, two 32-year-old William & Mary grads living in Virginia. Archives
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