Entries categorized as “Interviews” 93 results

Mike Scales writesArtist Spotlight: Why?

(Photo by Jacob Hand)

On their fourth official full-length effort, Eskimo Snow, Oakland’s beloved psychedelic folk-hoppers WHY? take a decidedly less hip-hop approach to their song-writing. Recorded during the 2007 sessions that birthed Alopecia, the band’s last, more robust and rap-inspired record, the 10-song set reveals a lighter and more spacious side of WHY? – songs that feel more like “song-songs” according to frontman Yoni Wolf.

“Eskimo Snow is intentionally what it is I suppose,” the singer/rapper cryptically states in a chat with CHIRP. “But [it’s] not like we said before we made it, ‘let’s make an album that is not rap’ or anything like that. It’s just what we happened to come up with.”

The more live and stripped-down feel on Eskimo Snow was no doubt made possible in part by session players Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson of the Minneapolis-based outfit Fog who rounded out the band to 5 members in the studio. The two longtime collaborators and friends of WHY? will also be joining them on the road this time around and the whole band is doing what they do to prepare the 40+ date trek which will include stops in Australia and New Zealand. “The Fog boys are most definitely in tow in a big way, they are sounding strong; sounding super!” Wolf enthuses. “Of course, we’ve rehearsed an awful lot for the tour. And between rehearsals Broder likes to jump rope, Josiah [Wolf, Yoni’s brother and drummer] likes to work on this house (today he was putting up insulation) and the rest of us…do other stuff I guess.”

“Other stuff” for Yoni meant recently lending his consuming and reviewing skills to TheYoundAndHungry.com with his version of a New York vegan restaurant review. “Though I was extremely busy, my friend Jena asked me to write that,” he admits. “She’s the kind of very attractive woman you find it hard to say no to. So, I did it and I’m glad I did! It was a lot of fun and I could see myself starting a whole new career. I am surely a big fan of food.”

In true WHY? fashion, cooking up another uniquely awesome record called for another batch of unique and awesome album art. To help him flesh-out the many ideas he had for the look of the album, Yoni enlisted the help of photographer Phoebe Streblow and layout artist Sam Flax Keener. The resulting image utilizes paint, photography and collage and vividly depicts a mummy figure with a bouquet of flowers for a head and an eerily lit purple wall for a backdrop. “It is my favorite WHY? cover so far,” Yoni says. “It took me a long long time (months) to come to this idea after having so many others, but I think things finally came together. I had a lot of help from my friends on it.”

As one of the founding members of the anticon collective, Yoni Wolf knows all too well the value of a supportive group of forward-thinking friends. Although some of the crew have branched out to other bands and labels, anticon remains thick as thieves and has injected some young blood (in the form of Serengeti & Polyphonic, Tobacco and Anathallo) to help keep the operation afloat. “I love all those guys,” he says of the label’s rookie acts. “They probably wouldn’t be a part of the label if I felt differently. We are doing quite a few shows with Chicago’s own Serengeti & Polyphonic [on this tour] and we’ve toured with Anathallo (also a Chicago band) and Tobacco in the near past. I’m very much looking forward to the future of anticon.”

Why? is playing tomorrow night (Oct. 5th) at the Bottom Lounge

CHIRP DJ writesPilfered Punch lines in the Chicago Comedy Scene

Sampling and trading jokes are a common occurrence that famous comedians have to deal with; they also deal with the annoying hassle of their jokes being stolen. Joke stealing appears to be occurring more frequently and lately it is happening in Chicago.

“It’s survival of the fittest,” says South Side Comedian Kevin White, who has had several jokes stolen and later used on national TV.

It may be survival of the fittest; but also stealing jokes can affect a comedian’s own creditability as well as their professionalism. Some comedians who are victims of theft can shrug it off and continue writing new and even better jokes, while others suffer setbacks.

Comedians may spend months writing jokes and perfecting them, but to later have them stolen can be emotionally upsetting, professionally frustrating, and offensive.

Chicago Stand-Up Comedian Damon Williams referred to theft in the comedy world as great minds thinking alike and having the same joke is just a coincidence.

But Williams adds, “There is a fine line between stealing and sampling. As a comedian you often run into a situation where you have the idea but another comedian has already fleshed that idea into a joke.”

Radio host and stand-up comedian Brian Babylon disagrees. He says he seen his fair share of “Carlos Mencia’s” in the Chicago comedy world, referring to the largely publicized accusations of Mencia plagiarizing jokes from other comedians.

Most famously, popular stand-up comedian and UFC announcer Joe Rogan confronted Mencia on stage about his alleged plagiarism. George Lopez, of “The George Lopez Show,” has also made accusations of Mencia stealing his material.

What does this say about the world of comedy? About Chicago Comedians? Does joke stealing prevent local comedians from making it big?

“This is a business,” says Babylon who believes a comedian’s jokes is their property. He feels that it is not unreasonable to assume that a comedian can become financially affected when theft occurs.

For comedians who steal, “They don’t really think about the integrity side of it, because they just don’t feel like they are stealing anything. They just feel like they are doing the joke better than the comic who first put it out there,” says Mary Lindsey, Bronzeville comedy club owner of Joke and Notes. “It happens all the time,” say Lindsey.

Lindsey says ninety percent of the time the audience do not recognize the joke is stolen unless they are heavily involved in the comedy business. Lindsey attributes joking stealing in Chicago, to the over saturation of comedy in the city and every person believing they can easily become comedians.

Burt Haas, comedy club owner of Zaines, attributes some of the theft to the demands of the entertainment industry. Celebrity comedians are under constant pressure to produce jokes faster than they can handle and sometimes the only recourse is stealing.

When asked directly about their thoughts on joking stealing the Chicago Comedians responded with mixed feelings.

“It’s desperation and I’m aggressively going after that person. You’re an intellectual thief.” and “You will become notorious for stealing,” says Babylon.

Williams adds, if a comedian has their material stolen they should not, “dwell on it.” He believes one stolen joke does not affect comedians from making it out of Chicago or establishing a name in the comedy business, he advises local comedians who are victims of theft to keep writing.

White initially felt upset when his jokes were stolen and also felt he could not make it big if his jokes were making it to TV before he did. Later he was flattered by the theft of his jokes, because it shows he is a good writer and his jokes are good enough to make it on to national TV.

Many comedians reach a point in their career where they are desperate, under pressure or are on stage performing and need a joke to save them from getting heckled. In the culture of comedy, many concepts like grasping, reaching, and stealing seems to be a natural occurrence.

Are there rules in the comedy world? What can be done about joking stealing?

Williams says the universal rule in comedy is if two comedians have the same joke then the first person to perform the joke on TV is the one that validates the joke.

Timing is most important in the comedy culture because comedians have to constantly write material that is funny enough to perform and funny enough to make it on national TV. Sometimes the best way to protect their material from being stolen is to perform it live on TV, and even that is not always good enough.

“Getting the strongest protection possible is the first step toward getting their work protected,” says Exavier Pope, Chicago Entertainment Attorney.

Pope says there are many steps a comedian can take to protect their material, which first includes getting all work copyrighted by the U.S Copyright Office.

Copyright law protects any expressible forms of ideas or information that are substantive, discrete, and fixed in a medium which includes jokes and other written material. Once a copyright has been obtained, the next step would be an order to “cease and desist” to the party committing the infringement, then move towards establishing the extent of the infringement and seeking monetary damages.

“The entertainment industry can be cutthroat at times” but Pope says the rule of thumb is, “First in time, first in line.”

CHIRP DJ writesAn interview with Ma Dukes

Putting J-Dilla’s fifteen year career into perspective is like trying to contextualize Michael Jordan’s impact on Chicago, Nike and the NBA. It’s an insurmountable task really, and while I was preparing for my interview with Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey, mother to Dilla and executive producer of the Jay Stay Paid album, I couldn’t help but wonder what more can be asked that hasn’t been asked already? Better yet, how do you address Dilla’s life and death with a mother, who is now suffering at the hands of the same debilitating disease that took the life of her son just three short years ago? In the brief hour long interview Mrs. Yancey managed to set me at ease by answering my questions in ways that left me informed, inspired and believing that the rhythm that traveled through Dilla is something that is inherently born in all of us. Sure it’s difficult to believe that the average joe, music producer or not, could actually share something in common with arguably the greatest beatsmith of all time, but believe me it’s true. It was as much tragic as it was touching, and a feeling best summarized by Ma Dukes herself, “Love is the strongest thing in the world and it ties all of us together, and I don’t care who we are or what we are about we all can be changed and touched by love”.

Since James’ passing, you seemed to have inherited a lot of attention-some good, some bad-have you had time to sit back and let everything digest? Have you had time to mourn?

I just began to realize this year that I didn’t mourn, but I do have a broken heart. At my home there are pictures everywhere [laughs], it’s like a museum here, on all walls, on every shelf, on top of the TV, anything that moves and even on my bed-stand is Dilla. So I have pictures of Dilla in every capacity, and it helps me because I talk to these pictures at times. I just realized how difficult it can be, I do have a broken heart. We were like one because I was with him for the last couple years, but I didn’t mourn because of the suffering he had, and because he had so much music here. I have a confidant because my husband and I get in the car and we put on some of his music and it just makes us feel real good. We talk about things and feel better, so no, I haven’t mourned.

His spirit is till resonating.

It is! And the way it has affected them is that they share.

Dilla’s passing helped shine a light on Lupus, a disease that you’re now battling. Could you tell me a little bit about the disease and what a typical day is like for you?

A typical day…it’s random you never know what to expect [laughs]. It’s an autoimmune disease. A cold wind blows or you turn the wrong way, and then you end up with a bad flu. And even though they can use a flu or pneumonia shot you’re still susceptible to just about anything. I don’t go out much in night- air because I know crazy things can happen, and because I have rheumatoid arthritis. I have a severe case of that, and it’s sort of like in the same family but I cannot distinguish when I’m being attacked by that or Lupus. That was the cause of the heart attack I had in December, not anything Lupus related, but the rheumatoid arthritis aggravated that. One would think it would never affect the heart, but I’m finding that it happens often. So I had to learn to thank God, and I really paid attention to my diet after that. So I do a cardiac diet as a rule, and I don’t really go too far because I have to really think about what it is I do. Life with lupus is hard because so many things come into play. The medicine I take, it’s meant to treat Cancer, and it kills bad cells, but in the process it also kills some good ones. You’re constantly trying to kill the body to prevent being broken down all at once. I’ve been blessed because being with Dilla and watching and working with him in his treatment taught me naturally how to do some things. I’ve really been blessed by that.

How so?

Well, it opened my eyes. Anything I look at and the things I experience through this illness really serve as a point of contact. It reminds me of how my son felt, which I think is very very important. And it brings me closer to his spirit; I believe that his whole work here was about love. I was telling everyone it’s not just about the good things, but it makes you aware of the bad types of love. We need to be aware of what’s going on in our lives, and he brings his vision to us in different phases of his music. For instance with Donuts he breaks it down to variations, he wants us to be conscious of what we’re doing and be able to think about the things that we do and to make it mean something in our lives.

It’s [lupus] an eyeopener it makes me more aware, more conscious of the love and the care that I wish to help and that I can give to children with Lupus. You know anything we can do to bring a smile to the face of a child with lupus whether it be a sunshiney day of camp where they can do these things to make the pain go away. It’s so important because you don’t know from one day to the next if you can move or if you’re going to be on a machine all day. See you don’t know how long you got to live and that one day of sunshine can mean so much. I just wish we can be more conscious of what we do in our time and what we give and say with the people we come in contact with because you never know. It can be one or two words that can make someone’s day, and it can make them think how blessed they are.

It seems like doctors are still having trouble diagnosing Lupus.

They really do, Dilla had been in and out of the hospital for four years before they even found out that he had Lupus. He was having all sorts of bouts with everything; his kidneys shut down several times…everything. And even though he was in the hospital for three or four months at a time they didn’t check him for Lupus. I think that because he was male might have had something to do with it because for the longest time it was believed that males couldn’t get the disease. But without knowledge of family history, I just don’t know-it could be something in the genes. Three or four people in a generation with autoimmune disease is not normal to me. I mean we were never sick other than my sister being diagnosed with Lupus no one was ever sick and she never got hospitalized.

What’s the status on the J-Dilla foundation?

Yes, yes we were forced to take it down because of the estate problems. It was a tricky situation because they weren’t adamant about taking it down they just tried to be a thorn in our side. It was done as professionally as it should have been. We even went through attorneys before we even set things up, and it was done legally in the state of California. We got things going and I had no reason to believe that we couldn’t work together with the estate. They told me they were going to set it up in a better way and I would run the foundation while they helped run it with me, and I would be an intricate part. And I was like okay we’ll do that, and I had no reason to believe that they weren’t going to try and do that [laughs], and they had no intention.

So I said well that’s alright, because of my illness I was not spiritually able to fight and I’m not going to give in to myself, and trying to fight these people was too much. So I just decided to let it roll and try to get my strength together, but now that the tide has turned I’m going to restart the foundation but this time I’m going to go international. So I’m very happy, and I take my hat off to’em even as a block they gave me for a couple of years, it’s gonna be good because we’re gonna go bigger-where all of his fans will take part.

What stage is it in now?

We’re in the early stages and there are so many individuals…oh my god both abroad and here that are waiting and we are going to work together. We’re probably going to have a forum probably within the next month, the people from Suite for Ma Dukes are some key organizers in it, and then we have people from Australia and Germany. Oh my goodness everywhere people are taking a part in this.

I wanted to talk about Suite For Ma Dukes. That album really took hip-hop appreciation to another level.

You’re right about that, there’s something about people who don’t know or understand hip-hop-it’s because they don’t listen. The album made other listeners aware to the fact that they can get so much from hip-hop there is so much there. I mean not every artist is gifted or knows how to deliver to every ear, but there is certainly a message. The writing, I mean there just not jotting down lyrics they’re taking their time, months and months trying to get what’s in their heart on paper. And so it’s another avenue and it opens the eyes and ears of the people who have never been there before and people begin to realize that there’s a lot to hip-hop it’s not like they thought. Unfortunately we hear some things that are not good for hip-hop and we just have to close our ear [laughs].

In the song “Antiquity” the rain hitting Carlos’ bomb shelter studio was left in because Miguel and Carlos felt that it was Dilla making his presence known. Does Dilla still speak to you in his own way?

Yes, he does! And it’s funny because it’s just not in the music there’s certain things I see or hear in my mind. There was a time when I woke up at 4:00am to total outrageous sunshine in my window. I was wondering [laughs], I thought I had overslept! But the sun doesn’t shine at 4:00am in the winter time in Detroit. I got up out of the bed and outside it was pitch black, but in my window the sunshine came in. And it’s just like the music in your mind that you can’t get it out of your head: confirmation.

I know you’re still very fond of Detroit, and I’ve read in interviews the urgency behind programs for the youth.

There are no real recreation areas in the neighborhood that I lived in. There is one that’s maybe a mile from me that is never open; I guess the city doesn’t have the funds to keep it open. There were two others in the area but both those are shut down. The area is so torn. To give you an example one of the photographers that does a lot of work for Stones Throw, said that when he came down to Detroit it reminded him a lot of Katrina. It wasn’t downtown Detroit where the neighborhoods are nice this is in the hood and it does look like Katrina; boarded up, burned up, vacant lots and houses with no windows no doors, open air holes, it’s just horrible. Places are so unsafe for youth. I remember there was a time in Detroit when they had a vacant building the city would get them boarded up or torn down so nobody would get raped or use drugs in there, but I actually can tell you there are no less than sixteen vacant houses on my block. You have to come down to the neighborhoods to see how people are really living. I mean if it wasn’t for a guy like Amp Fiddler, Dilla may have never been discovered. He didn’t charge anything to teach Dilla how to work the board.

Can you tell me about the Jay Stay Paid album?

Well the experience has been spiritual in a way because it was like a gift. Pete Rock was a gift-he was Dilla’s idol. [Laughs] It’s funny because Pete would always say that he idolized Dilla. Dilla had a profound love for Pete and his work, he meant everything to him. The love he had for Amp in guiding him was the same love he had for Pete. It was like Pete was way up there and Dilla just wanted to be in that area. I know Dilla’s smiling from Heaven at Pete who knows Dilla’s work and knows what he was feeling. It’s just short of Dilla coming down and finishing the work himself.

Will the proceeds of this album go to the J-Dilla foundation?

It’s my hope that when the proceeds go to the estate some will come our way, which will help Dilla’s children. This will keep their education going and much of the proceeds will go to the Lupus foundation as well.

I know music is something that is part of you, weren’t you going to make an album?

Yes, I had promised Dilla [laughs] two little jazz albums. It was supposed to be me recording some standards that he wanted me to work on. And I hadn’t gotten to those yet and of course I was going to write some, and I guess I was so overwhelmed with his passing then I got sick and I just decided to put it to the aside. I don’t know if I was feeling sorry for myself or what, but I don’t feel that way anymore and I told my husband that I would do it toward the end of the year. And I told my husband he better get ready because he plays the upright bass. I intend to see it through because it’s something I promised Dilla, and it’ll be a tribute to him.

You’ve been a fan of music before and now after your son’s life. What sort of impact have you seen him make on the world and what sort of imprint has that left on you?

The imprint it left on me was that I have to open my eyes, and I can’t sit around, but to make it big and spread it as wide as possible because it’s a message not just for Detroit but for the world. You know he made a statement during the time he was in ICU, it was sort of an out of body experience, but the statement he made was “I need more time. I want to give my gift back to the world”. And I will never forget it because when he came to, and was able to come out of the hospital he was with us almost year after that, and I realized he was talking to the master and he was given the time he needed to complete the work he needed to complete. The fact that he wanted to give his gift to the world he has done that, and I want to see that all his work is given back to the world, and I can’t let anything go. I have to keep a promise not just the promise that he made, but for his fans.

We must acknowledge that love stands, and to be able to receive it through music is so personal…it’s such a beautiful thing. When Dilla was in that hospital he was tied to like fifteen different machines at one time and each one of those had monitors making all types of music. Beeps and horns all going at the same time. And all I can think of is he’s listening to all this hour after hour day after day what type of beat is he coming up with now [laughs].