Urban Folk

Two singer/songwriters. One long-ass interview.

FEATURING DAN COSTELLO PAUL ALEXANDER ANDREW HOEPFNER ALEC WONDERFUL JUSTIN REMER
ERIC WOLFSON DEBORAH T CHRIS MAHER MICHAEL MCHUGH BROOK PRIDEMORE JON GLOVIN WITH
BELOWSKY DAVE CUOMO BEN KRIEGER CINEMATOGRAPHER HERB SCHER DIRECTED BY JONATHAN BERGER
 URBAN FOLK: NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE, NUMBER NINE...

Well, start of a new year; start of a new era. Urban Folk is soldiering on, with a few personnel changes, and we hope you’ll
stay with us for the journey. Luckily, we’re free, and if you decide to no longer read, we’ll be able to find a couple of bums or
fishmongers who’ll happily take the papers off your hands. We don’t need you. We’ll be fine without you, you’ll see.
Seriously, stick around. We’re desperate. It’s you urban folk to which Urban Folk is dedicated month after month. Without
you, we’re nothing. Don’t go anywhere. Well, you can go somewhere, but... look, just read the issue. Guaranteed to love it,
or your money back... Jonathan Berger, Emperor-in-Chief

Urban Folk Wants You! Contribute, distribute, submit materials,

buy ads, sell ad space, be a part of it all, whore your family for
our own insidious purposes... We’re community, so join on in!

IN THIS ISSUE:
THE COVER DAN COSTELLO AND PAUL ALEXANDER (PHOTO BY HERB SCHER) 1
LETTERS TO EDITOR THE EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE ANSWERS ALL THE QUESTIONS YOU DARE TO ASK 3
DAN & PAUL PAUL ALEXANDER AND DAN COSTELLO ARE INTERVIEWED BY DAN COISTELLO AND PAUL ALEXANDER 4
BELOWSKY SOME BALD POET GETS THE TREATMENT FROM ANDREW HOEPFNER 8
DAVE CUOMO THE CREATOR OF URBAN FOLK QUESTIONED BY THE CREATOR OF ANTIFOLK, ALEC WONDERFUL 10
ANTIFOLK FESTIVAL, 2006 IN A TIMELY MOVE, JUSTIN REMER REVIEWS THE SUMMER ANTIFOLK F ESTIVAL 12
ANTICOMPILATION OVERVIEW OUR OWN JONATHAN BERGER BEGINS REVIEWING THE HISTORY OF ANTIFOLK COMPILATIONS 15
PAUL’S PERSPECTIVE COVER BOY PAUL ALEXANDER TALKS ABOUT WHATEVER HE’S TALKING ABOUT THIS MONTH 16
EXEGESIS TRUE STORY: ERIC WOLFSON EXPLAINS THE GENESIS OF “TRUE STORY!” 17
BEN KRIEGER UF CONTEST RUNNER-UP GETS HIS FROM DEBORAH T 18
ON TOURING CHRIS MAHER EXHAUSTIVELY DESCRIBES A YEAR ON THE ROAD. WELL, THE FIRST PART 22
INVISIBLE NOISE DAN COSTELLO REVIEWS THE LATEST SERIES OF WEBSITES WHERE HE LURKS 27
MICHAEL AMERICA A COLLECTION OF THOUGHTS AND ESSAYS FROM EARLY ANTIF OLKIE 28
GET IN THE MINIVAN BROOK PRIDEMORE. ON THE ROAD. WITH DANS COSTELLO AND TREIBER. NEED WE SAY MORE? 30
SUBWAY STORIES WHAT HAPPENS ON THE SUBWAY STAYS ON THE SUBWAY - EXCEPT FOR THIS 32
RECORD REVIEWS UH... THESE ARE THE RECORD REVIEWS. WHERE WE REVIEW RECORDS . GET THE CONCEPT? 33
DETRITUS YOU KNOW ALL THOSE STORIES YOU DIDN'T READ THE END OF? HERE THEY ARE! 39

UF Addresses
urbanfolk.org
myspace.com/urbanfolkzine
urbanfolkzine@gmail.com
Jonathan Berger
1119 Longwood Ave.
Bronx, NY 10474
Advertising Rates
Full Page Back Cover $110 6.8" x 9.5"
Full Page $100 6.8" x 9.5"
Half Page $60 6.8" x 4.7"
Third Page $45 4.8" x 4.8" or 2.2” x 9.5”
Quarter Page $25 3.4" x 4.8"
Ads should be emailed to urbanfolkzine@gmail.com as jpeg or pdf
Checks payable to Jon Berger (cash payable to Jon Berger, too)
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 2
 Letters to the Editor
you folks ask, and Urban Folk responds
Hey,
You know, you wrote about a night at the Living Room
where I played earlier this year, but you didn't mention
me at all. I was first on the bill, and all thirty people there
said I was the best thing on the bill (my girlfriend's sister
told me so). Just thought you should know.
Jack Uller
Dear Jack,
There must be some kind of a mistake; we don't do live
show reviews. Why? Beats us; maybe because no one
but Debe Dalton has ever submitted one.
Of course, we're rectifying that with this issue, as we
defy current events and write about the Summer AntiFolk
Festival. It's on Page 12. It's good; trust us.
Dear Urban Folk,
I didn't notice pint-sized power pop folkster Dave Cuomo's
name in the masthead of Issue 9 of Urban Folk. What
gives? His Subway Stories made the zine - hell, HE made
the zine! What did you do with your diminutive dictator?
Has there been some sort of a coup in the hallowed halls
of the finest AntiFolk zine known to man, woman and
beast?
Signed,
Anonymously Ignorant
To Whom It May Concern:
Dave Cuomo, the founder and guiding spirit of Urban Folk,
has taken a much-needed vacation. After a ten-week
cross-country gig schedule, and with a brand-new debut
album to promote, Dave Cuomo, editor in chief, has taken
on the title of Dave Cuomo, former editor in chief. We'll
miss him, of course. It was Dave's energy and excite-
ment, along with the pages and pages he filled month
after month, that kept the dream alive. No one else could
possibly fill Dave's shoes - not without splitting the seams.
Dear Folk at Urban Folk,
Why do you spell AntiFolk like that?
William in WilliamsBurg
Dear WiW,
Why don't you?
It doesn't seem like there's ever been a consistent spell-
ing of AntiFolk out there in the great wide world. The
obvious one is anitfolk, but, lacking capitalization, it sort
of just sits there. Then there’s anti-folk, which is a little
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 3
better, but suffers from the same problem. More popular
is Antifolk, but what does that represent? Nothing but
Anti, my friend, nothing but Anti.
AntiFolk, however, taking from the great circle of life (the
NYAF logo), gives representation to the two equally im-
portant aspects of the word: Anti and Folk. AntiFolk?
Get it? Hey, if you don't like it, make your own fanzine…
Yo, UF!
So who's taking Dave's place in the Captain's chair?
Please tell me it's not that fat-headed Jon Berger. His
ego and drive to monomania will be the death of the pub-
lication. You can find someone better than Berger to take
the helm, right? Like a greasy bag of donuts, or an adopted
sloth - adopted into a colony of mold.
Please tell me you've found someone better to run the
azine. Please?
Sincerely,
Hateful on Haight
Hey, HOH,
You know, if you send a letter like that, you shouldn't
attach a return address.
See you soon…
Dear UF,
What is Urban Folk?
Ian in Arkansas
Dear I in A,
Urban Folk is an electric shock in a vat of lime jello.
Urban Folk is saying "Fuck" 14 times in nine different
languages.
Urban Folk is the mystery dance - without a beat.
It's the third Bully Goat Gruff. It's the red-headed step-
child, all grown up.
Urban Folk is a drop in the bucket, a day at the beach.
It's about artists being sincere, and arch, and clever and
irksome, and artful (yet artless) and raw and smart and
different - sometimes, just for the sake of being different.
Urban Folk is a misnomer.
Dear UF,
But what is Urban Folk, really?
Irksomely Artless
Dear IA,
See Page 41.
 Dan vs. Paul
two of our feature writers interview each other
Paul Alexander & Dan Costello photos by Herb Scher
Dan Costello and Paul Alexander have a lot in common: they’re both songwriters, they’re both white, and they both
write for Urban Folk. Beneath the surface, though, there are substantial differences: Dan has a beard, while Paul is
clean-shaven. Paul is married; Dan is single. Dan’s last name is that of a celebrated singer-songwriter (no relation),
while Paul’s belongs to a celebrated black singer-songwriter (what? You never heard of Arthur Alexander?). Most
important, though, is the process that they each endured in 2006. Costello and Alexander recently met in the same
place (the Sidewalk Café) to discuss the trials, tribulations, and triumphs encountered in making their first albums.
Making A First Record Dan: I wanted to make a solid record that was a retro-
Dan: How long were you writing songs and playing songs spective of my music to date. We figuratively put to bed
out before you made a record? the 60 songs we started with.
Paul: Years. I played with bands since high school. Paul: You started with sixty songs?
Dan: Did you make records with those bands? Dan: Every song I had ever written.
Paul: I did, I made a record with my high school band, Paul: I edited some before I went and sat down with a
and I guess we made some short albums with the col- producer. I probably started with at least fifteen, some
lege band. We sent a lot of tracks to local compilation were more like sketches or pieces of songs. Which is
albums. where that one we did in the studio came from. It went
Dan: I had never done that before. I had done theater in from fifteen, it got cut to eight and I had to write two new
college and we had made soundtracks to them, but never songs for the album. Which is a cool thing.
proper tracking, mixing and mastering. Dan: There's like two of them that didn't show up on this
Paul: So this was all brand new to you? one, that a couple people are really pissed off didn't show
Dan: Yeah, I was really glad to have my buddy Ben Godwin up, and because the next record's gonna be a hip hop
producing it. I had NO IDEA what it involved. I think the record, I'm retooling them to fit that record.
thing that got me about making a first record was like,
Joie Blaney here at the club, he was always like, "Just Motivation
have something to sell, even if it's crap, but people wanna Dan: Why did you
buy something, so just have something for people to buy." make the record? I
And I was doing these home recordings, but I couldn't made mine to put the
ever think of sending them to radio, or even into a com- first stage of my
petition. bullshit aside, and be
Paul: I feel the same. I wanted something I was proud of. able to start from
Dan: Are there things that surprised you about making a ground zero again.
solo record? I know I was almost over the songs before What about you?
we even recorded them. Paul: I wanted some-
Paul: Even halfway through, I wanted to work on the next thing to sell at shows,
one. In a way, it kills the songs, it forces you to reinvent I wanted to have a col-
them. Like when I do them live, I have to do them differ- lection of these
ently, because I'm so tired of doing them the same way. songs that I could
Dan: On the other hand, at least now there's a definitive leave them be and
version of them. know that they have
Paul: Exactly. It's like you put them to bed.. a home. I kept bang-
Dan: I wish I had written a brand new song for my album. ing my head against
We did my record so fast and on such a shoestring, the wall with stupid
there wasn't time for that. ideas, like I'll go find
Paul: New songs are great because you're not so set. some people and
It's brand new so it can be whatever. So you and your they'll help me get
producer, you and your band, whoever's working with you, some money together
can make it something that you created. and then a record
Paul Alexander
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 4
company will help me make an album. I was drunk in a cab and I said "okay" and then we just
Dan: Yeah. started. We took a leap, and y'know, he did it pro bono.
Paul: And so I just wanted to do it on my own, for myself. He didn't charge me to produce the record, he wanted
Dan: You can get so disaffected that it's like, "I want to me to have a record, and we essentially worked out this
put it out myself." cooperative agreement where he would produce my
Paul: Yeah, I think that's where I was at, so that's why I record, and I would help him sell his, and then it turns
wanted to do it, too. Just like anything you do, it's just out I ended up producing his new record. So we've been
like building a house and at the end you want to be able creative partners back and forth quite a lot. But I still feel
to look at it and achieve something. I wanted to build a like I owe him so much, he basically taught me how to
house for my songs and say "I did this" and no matter record. I didn't know, I never would have made it, or as
what else happens, it's always gonna be there. That's professionally or as quality without his help. Who was
what's so cool about doing an album you can be proud your producer?
of. It's cool to have a four track demo, that'll leave ya Paul: His name's Benjy King, and I didn't meet him in
wanting more. And of course I want a second album; I quite as cool a way, but I love him, he's definitely a friend
have ideas and I'll never stop, but no matter what else at this point. But I met him because I knew I wanted to
happens, now I have this thing that's a representation of make an album so I went looking for people.
me, and it's always gonna be there. Dan: Yeah.
Dan: We keep calling it a record. Someone pointed out Paul: And everyone I found gave me songs and dances.
to me, it IS a record. It's a document of where you were. It was about money for them. Or it was about points on
My dummer quit the project a week and a half before we the album.
started tracking, and I was in love with a girl who was Dan: Points on the album, like, percentages?
really far away. I was broke. I was getting sick and all Paul: Yeah. Stupid stuff. So this one guy, I don't even
these things. And my buddy Lach, god bless him, called remember his name now, he came to see one of my
me up. And said, "You know this is the way it's sup- shows, and then kinda said "I like you, but you need a
posed to go, right? You know that this is what making a lot of work, and so as much as I'd like to, I've got this guy
record is. It's all this stuff that's going on with you, the for you." and he gave me Benjy's number. Benjy's like
girl in Australia and the drummer that you can't find, it's this producer - mentor - I don't know, spiritual guru...
all of that stuff, it's part of the document. Enjoy it. Don't Dan: He coaches people.
forget that." Paul: Yeah, that's what he is… he's a teacher. I tell him
Paul: Yeah. that all the time. He taught me how to break the songs
Dan: It can be real stressful when you don't know what's down, how to change the keys. The two new songs that
going to happen next. I wrote for the album, I wrote them in a different way than
Paul: It's true, and it's true in life, just enjoy it... making I might have if I haven't worked with him. He got me a
an album is a hell of vocal coach, and he helped me find the musicians for the
a lot of fun. You know album. It was cool.
that, I don't have to tell Dan: It seems like a very different process that I went
you. through.
Dan: Oh god. Paul: Definitely.
Dan: Ben and I talked about this, a producer's role on an
Producers. indie project is to make sure it gets done. Like, it's not to
Paul: Who was your make big artistic decisions all of the time, but to keep it
producer? on schedule. But it seems like in your project, he was
Dan: Ben Godwin, much more creatively involved in shaping your sound.
former Brit in Brook- Paul: He was, and it's not that he changed my sound,
lyn. He was an engi- but maybe.
neer over there for Dan: Shaping, I didn't mean changing.
years, came over Paul: "Shaping" is a good word, I like that. He did, he
here, started coming shaped who I was as an artist and shaped who I was as
to my shows, needed a person.
a job, I got him a job Dan: Are you happy with the way you're represented?
working sound here, Did you have to give in at all?
at some point he's Paul: I did, specifically on the song "Rosalie." Then there's
like "why don't you a couple of songs I wouldn't have done the chorus like
have a record? It's this, or I wouldn't have done the background vocals like
time we should have this, but on a whole, listening to it, it's me, it is who I am.
a record for you," and Some of it's a bit overproduced, but it is what it is...
Dan Costello
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 5
Dan: Hey, some of my record's overproduced and it's my
fault. I could have said no.
Process
Dan: you made your record on tape?
Paul: Most of it. That was a fucked up thing... it wasn't
Pro Tools. If I was playing my acoustic guitar out of time,
then he would stop and say, here's a metronome, go
home and practice.
Dan: See, that's old school in a really good way.
Paul: Oh, yeah!
Paul: Still, I'm definitely gonna do my next record as live
as possible. I mean, this one's great, it sounds like the
band's all in the same room, 'cause that's what you can
do, but it's all tracking, man. I played my acoustic guitar,
no one else was there.
Dan: See, I don't like that.
Paul: It worked out.
Dan: I wanted a Highway 61 sound. I wanted you to hear
the room. So I had specific room mic tracks. We mixed
room mics in, otherwise it wasn't gonna feel right. Tracked
records, they sound really sterile.
Paul: That's what I'm saying. The next time I make an
album, I want to practice a band.
Dan: That's the thing. We talked before about Janis
Joplin’s Pearl, which is a fuckload of people in one room
making a record. And it's one of the most exciting records.
It's like WHOOO, the band's just rocking the shit out of
these organ parts and these drum parts, it's all happen-
ing together. You can hear her dancing around the room.
Paul: You can hear the interaction between the players.
It's so much different than, I'm chilling with headphones
on, jamming with a guitar player. I mean, it's amazing
that technology allows us to do that, but it's not the same.
Bands
Paul: Where'd your players come from?
Dan: Basically I cast it from my friends. I wanted a big
record. I knew I wanted three distinct sounds on the
record. I wanted a jazz trio, I wanted a country band, and
then I wanted this rock and roll quartet. So in order to do
it, I had to find some people who could do it all, and then
I had to fill in the gaps. So I got a really good jazz bass
player, but all the fun comes from the fact that it's Eric
Wolfson, and Andrew Hoepfner, and background vocals
by David LK Murphy. Brook Pridemore's playing ukelele
on the record… it's all AntiFolk artists.
Paul: It's great they're all friends. I got top notch players
and had a friend, Matt Wigton, play bass on a couple
Paul vs. Dan
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 6
songs, but for the most part they weren't guys I knew.
Dan: I'll never be able to replicate the energy of my record.
It was 23 people. My brothers are on it, and my brother's
girlfriend sings on it. My girlfriend sings on the record,
and she wasn't even my girlfriend yet! Crazy shit.
Paul: See, I learned so much, and I'm so much of a bet-
ter musician doing the album that I did. And I don't regret
any of that. I named it Despite Everything You've Planned,
because this isn't the kind of album I went in to make. I
wish I had friends on the album, I wish I had all the band
playing in the same room...
Dan: But you had aces playing on your record. Your guy's
old school and he had a lot of contacts.
Paul: Some of these guys are fucking ridiculous. And he
sent me to good people, he sent me to Don Lawrence,
who voice-coaches Bono and Christina Aguilera, who I
never could have gotten in with. I mean, I paid him, but I
never would have gotten in to see him if he hadn't gotten
that call.
Dan: Do you wish you had a band that you played with
all the time?
Paul: Yeah. Next time, I'm going to use the band that I
put together for the release party.
Dan: That's what I want for my next studio project. I want
to go in with a band that I play with all the time. Then we
can just have fun in there. I don't wanna be teaching parts
in the studio.
Paul: I love this city, but everyone here does a thousand
things. They're either songwriters or session players who
play on twenty other things to make a living. So I either
have to pay a band, or get cats who are just hobbyists
and happen to be really into your stuff.
Dan: We should be so lucky that people pay us like that
some day.
Selling An Album
Dan: In terms of making money off the record, what have
you done so far?
Paul: It's selling okay. Some stuff needs to happen; stuff
like CDBaby. I don't really know how I feel about CDBaby.
I really want to find a medium to sell it through my website.
Dan: I do both. Of course, I haven't sold a record through
CDBaby.
Paul: That is really interesting. I don't wanna say I know
I'm going to sell em, but I have a lot of friends in the
Midwest where I'm from who are really anxious to get
ahold of it.
Dan: It's all about pointing people in the right direction,
so if someone wants your stuff, they're gonna be able to
Dan Costello & Paul Alexander
get it. And because of CDBaby Dan: I think a level of confi-
my stuff's on iTunes now, and dence helps sell a record. If I
some people have bought some get up there, and I have a great
stuff. show, I'm going to sell a couple
Paul: Selling the record has been copies of my record. People
mostly for me, just getting out are going to be into it.
there. It's been great to force my- Paul: I agree. If I go out on a
self: "shit I should go to this open night and play a show, I'm sell-
mic, because I have an album to ing some CDs and to me,
sell." Or "Man, I should be doing that's success. It's not a lot
some shows again." of CDs, but it's gonna add up.
Dan: I'm not doing enough of that.
I thought at some point, that it The Next Record.
was such a great record that ob- Dan: The next record…. I went
viously it was going to sell... but, from having this huge thing,
you know how many great records which I really don't know if it
don't sell. says everything I want it to
Paul: I can think of two. say, and now I want to be like,
Dan: If I had it to do again, I would "Now I want to say exactly
spend as much money promot- Dan Costello takes it on the road what I want to say."
ing the record as making it. Ben's still gonna listen to stuff
Paul: I wish I had that much money. and tell me what he thinks.
Dan: Well, that's about choosing the right things to spend Paul: That's good.
on. Unfortunately, the way things get to people is expo- Dan: We'll probably take it somewhere to be mastered.
sure, and a lot of the way it's built right now is you have But in terms of creating the songs and the tracks and
to pay for that. things -
Paul: It's true. Paul: - The meat of it, you're going to do at home.
Dan: You have to pay for print ads geared specifically Dan: I'm going to have full control and ask intelligent
towards people who are gonna buy it. Not like, trying to people what they think.
turn on people who don't buy music, but trying to turn on Paul: That's cool.
people who read, Urban Folk Magazine, y'know. You buy Dan: I think I'm going to write mostly new songs for the
an ad in Urban Folk... album. The old record was mostly a retrospective of songs
Paul: But are people gonna read your review and are to date, and this one is like, "New." I don't want it to
they gonna be interested and are they gonna go to a sound like a historical document, I want it to sound -
show and are they gonna buy an album… Paul: - It's gonna sound fresher, a little bit new. But you
Dan: Or at least they're gonna go to your website and can do that now, because you made the first album.
check it out, or tell their friends about it. Dan: Put all those songs to bed. What about you? What's
Paul: Right: "I've heard of that guy," It makes you more the next record gonna be like, what are you going to do
legit, too. It helps spread that word of mouth. differently?
Dan: You could spread yourself so thin, bugging all these Paul: I'm not going to spend as much money, so in that
people at all these different places. way you and I are similar. I'll still probably go somewhere
Paul: I know. It sucks. People come to my open mic, but it might be to my buddy Brian Speaker's house, or it
and I've been selling a lot at my open mic, which is flat- might be just recording in a club and then recording some
tering, but they're all my friends. But my wife tells me, new vocals and mixing. But it's definitely going to be
"You want to give that away, but you paid a lot of money more organic - like you did. There won't be fifteen guitar
for it." It puts value on it. parts, or strings, or whatever. It's gonna have two guitars,
Dan: Right. a bass, drums. It's gonna just be songs, not production.
Paul: To give it away, what are you saying about how Dan: Pulling it back.
valuable this piece of art is? Paul: I want to write for an album, if there are seven songs
Dan: I think we have to turn around the download world, that all seem to speak to me about the same thing, then
where people are used to getting stuff for free. They think it's gonna be seven songs.
if it's available for free then that's the way it should be. Dan: So I think we spent all this time worrying about
Paul: It shouldn't be. People worked hard on that, I don't these little things, and the thing we realized about mak-
care if you did it on a 4-track or whatever, that's ing a first record and trying to juggle all these things is
somebody's passion and that's worth something. that in some way it's a really good representation of us
(continued on page 39)
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 7
 Best Damn Slice
get to know the most outspoken, neurotic, baldheaded
dynamo of spoken word south of 23rd street
Andrew Hoepfner
thought they sponsored the deadly virus in “Race for the
Coffee fiend
21st Century.” What gives, Belowsk? “F—k it, man, I’m
The baristas of Union Square know Belowsky’s face and an entertainer,” the unconcerned poet might shrug to ide-
can recite his coffee preference by heart. The poet gorges alist accusations. Belowsky is no political buff, and thinks
on caffeine like it should be made illegal, despite wicked recycling is for c—ts, yet still somehow captures the
withdrawal migraines that confirm his legitimate depen- outrage of the counterculture. Love it or leave it.
dency on Colombia’s magical, bountiful bean. “It’s better
Glamorous international past
for you when you mix some cream in, isn’t it?” he ner-
vously asks, like the chain smoker who switches from In Los Angeles, Belowsky once delivered one-liners on
Lights to Ultralights. the Sunset Strip. He also ran with a celebrity PR agency
in London. He sweated in the discos of Israel and Aus-
Uncompromisingly monogamous
tralia. There’s even a Belowsky recording with some guy
Belowsky’s only in love with one man, and his name from Oasis. Now inhabiting the East Coast, the Manches-
rhymes with Bukowski. Spend an evening with him, and ter native is well-suited to be that romanticized gutter
you’re sure to receive a narcissistic yet enjoyable edu- hobo with a poem that reads, “Buddy, I done it all.”
cation in Belowskology. You’ll hear him brashly curse
Works the room
his “shit gigs” and celebrate with childlike giddiness the
times he “hit it out of the ballpark” (Belowsky is always a Belowsky rarely steps foot onstage during a performance.
very honest critic of himself). Be prepared to get an ear- He opts to work in and around the room. “The stage alien-
ful about his occasional love stints at Whole Foods, and ates the audience. The stage is for wankers,” he snarks.
to hallucinate visions of Belowsky T-shirts, mugs, and
DVDs displayed elusively somewhere in the retail shops
of the future.
Awesome pizza poem
Akin to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, as encompass-
ing as Sinatra’s “New York, New York”, Belowsky has
concocted a Big Apple classic as joyful and limitless as
the city that begat it. Cramming Bloomberg, 50 Cent,
Matthew Broderick, and a host of other Manhattanites
into his anthemic rant, Belowsky sculpts a pedestal for
the godlike New York style pizza slice. Fortunately, “Best
Damn Slice” is one of his newest works: the man is in
his prime.
Fucking hypocrite
Belowsky’s “Mall of America” compels me to abandon
the consumerist cauldron and embrace a simple exist-
ence on the commune. “Junk Food Junkie” makes me
want to barf up all those grade D bean burritos I bought
at the Bell. Ironically, a Dunkin’ Donut and Starbucks
coffee combo, a literal smorgasbord of corporate con-
glomeration, is classic Belowsky dining. Starbucks! I
Belowsky takin’ it to the street

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 8

Icon worship
For the woman lucky enough to make it back to
Belowsky’s apartment, you will find it starkly bare with
the exception of a few framed photos. Mohammed Ali.
James Dean. Belowsky, did you forget your mother? The
man cares not for the obscure, fetish-like influences of
the music snobs, or the stuffy, unfathomable immortals
of literature and academic poetry. Belowsky much pre-
fers the larger-than-life icons of 20th century pop culture,
JFK to Pauly Shore. Somehow, the guy managed to make
a show stopping tribute to the glory of Larry King. No
small feat, in anyone’s book.
Stays greasy
One of Belowsky’s signature works, “Stay Greasy”, is a
motivational speech of sorts that adorns the audience in
a slimy, gooey assault of namebrand hair products.
“You’re ultimate! You’re mega! You’re extreme!” he
praises like a Madison Avenue lunatic. If you can inspire
us with Vidal Sassoon sculpting gel, Belowsky, then why
are you sticking around here at these dive clubs? The
advertising business is calling. He’s staying greasy, that’s
why!
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 9
Tasteless
At the 2006 Winter Antifolk Fest, Belowsky’s set followed
a dramatic poet who read one serious piece regarding
his grandmother’s suicide. “Suicidal grandmas?”
Belowsky later joked as he sauntered from table to table
between his own poems. “It seems to me that by the
time you get to 78, you’ve forgotten that you wanted to
kill yourself!” Hiding behind a wave of chuckles, the pre-
vious performer exited silently from the room.
Man of mystery
Ask Belowsky what he’s doing during the day, and you
will stumble upon a curious caper. He’s always “heading
out to Jersey,” and he refuses to utter a word more.
Invasion
Belowsky began his West Coast takeover in October
with four appearances at the Standard Hotel.
www.belowsky.com
 Dave Cuomo
what the fuck happened?
Urban Folk’s errant leader, Dave Cuomo, has left the fold. After an exhaustive ten-week tour, Mr. Cuomo has decided
to opt out of the responsibilities of the regular publication. But still he cannot escape the Urban Folk.
A contributing columnist since the beginning of the zine, Alec Wonderful had some questions for Dave Cuomo, and
has deigned to interview the (former) editor, for his own (former) publication.
Alec: Sorry I’m late. I was doing something important.
Ready? Here we go…
Back when you started this paper, you begged and begged
me to be a part of it. You even found a way past my
security protocols. And now you’re quitting. My first ques-
tion to you is this: How did you get my phone number?
Dave: I tried all 9,999,999,999 combinations. Trust me, it
was worth the time to sell your number later.
Alec: What? Good thing it’s been switched since then.
Dave: But I reached you here...
Alec: It’s that kind of drive you used to have for the fanzine.
Are you using that now, living the folkstar lifestyle?
Dave: Nope, I tried drive and didn’t care for it much. I’m
trying out being a bum for a while.
Alec: Bumming? Living off of used canned goods? Sleep-
ing with hobos? Dancing a jig for pennies a day?
Dave: Being a folkstar on the road meant a lot of sleep-
ing in the car, in flea-infested squats, and eating mostly
what I could steal, bum, or dumpster.
Alec: Yes, I used to dumpster dive. Of course, I owned
the dumpster... Is that how you made ends meet on the
road? Not all gold and flowers, was it?
Dave: Flowers are free, and you can’t eat gold… but yes.
Alec: The touring was bad?
Dave: It was fucking fantastic! I’ve never felt so happy
and free in my life.
Alec: While eating from dumpsters you didn’t even own...
Dave: I don’t believe in private property – plus I’m a damn
good cook, with whatever I got.
Alec: Meaning, like, possum from the road?
Dave: I was tempted, very tempted, but didn’t go that far.
I decided, though, that if I killed anything with my car it
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 10
Alec Wonderful
would be my duty to eat it, out of respect.
Alec: What was the reaction you got on the road? What
sorts of people appreciated what you did? Did anyone
compare you to me?
Dave: Uh… before that: I should also say that along with
the crumbs of society I was also usually living off the
kindness of strangers who really are quite kind. Sleeping
often in the cafes I played, getting fed by people who’d
seen me play or met me on the street and took pity. I
was really grateful and a little renewed in my faith in hu-
manity. Cheesy, but one hundred percent true. Now: I
think me and you are going for different things. You’re
perfect and exude that with every beautiful note. I don’t
believe in perfection, I found so much beauty in the im-
perfections and horror of everyday life. I think people
appreciated that. Reaction was really good, actually.
Made so many friends and got the feeling that it really is
possible to connect with people through song. It’s a re-
sponsibility I’m trying to live up to in the writing.
Alec: So how many groupies did you bag?
Dave: I’d never tell, let’s just say I tried real hard to not
make the tour about sex at all. Like I said, though, no
one’s perfect
Alec: Will you tour again?
Dave: Little ones here and there, and at least two big
cross-country deals a year is the plan.
Alec: My boy Roger Manning used to do that.
Dave: He’s a lucky man.
Alec: Now he builds websites. Can you build websites?
Dave: Fuck no, I make a mean pizza, though. Did I men-
tion I missed my job while I was on tour? Fucking bi-
zarre; never happened before.
Alec: Being paid is a powerful thing. Does this make you
more of a homebody now that you’re back?
What’s the plan for you now? Why are you
out of the zine business?
Dave: I love my job, love making the best damn
pizza you can imagine – and I do! I also love
singing. Fortunately, I work at a bar where I
can travel whenever I want and for however long
I want. I think pizza and folk music are both
what I want to do with my life, and will always
do both. If there were an anarchist revolution
tomorrow, and we could do whatever we became my first song in 8 months. I
wanted, I’d do exactly what I’m doing got three more coming right behind it.
now. Make pizza and sing songs on the Alec: What about the CD? It’s been in
weekend. I realized I want to be happy the works forever. There was a CD re-
more than I want to accomplish impor- lease in September. Is it available any-
tant things. Cooking and singing make where? Do I like it more than when I
me happy. Deadlines, pressure, and first heard it?
business end shit make me miserable, Dave: Fucking A right, you do! Master-
actually. After feeling so free, how could ing with Larry Hammel made a world of
I go back to being miserable? difference. I’m actually proud of it, which
Alec: But what about the power? The I’ve never said about a recording before.
fame? The glory of fanzine groupies? I Response has been really good, too.
mean, you’re not on tour anymore, so Except track seven, and every one else
groupies should be a priority again, right? agrees it’s a skipper. You can get it on
Dave: Yeah... power just means respon- the website very soon, but for now go to
sibility, which does not make me happy. everreviledrecords.com and you can get
I don’t know if fame would make me yourself a copy.
happy. It might, but I do know that sing- the little guy himself Alec: I keep forgetting to talk to Billy
ing for a bunch of punks in a basement Bragg about your outright theft of his
somewhere does. I’ll stick with what I know for now and song. Of course, as a communist, he might not care.
let life go where it’s gonna go. Can I be honest? One- Dave: That’s my theory. I hope his socialism is sincere...
night stands depress me every time. Next time I see him live I’m gonna tell him I have a present
Alec: That’s why I leave before dawn. Makes it easier for for him – if he promises not to sue me first. There was a
everyone. great band, Discount, who did an unlicensed 5-song Billy
Dave: I remember... Bragg cover EP. When Billy found out he was thrilled and
Alec: Do you have to work on Sundays? put it on his European distro. The Columbian band I cov-
Dave: I do, and I always enjoy it. When I told people that ered can’t sue either, because they don’t have the same
on the road, they got seriously pissed at me. People copyright laws down there, I’ve been told.
seemed to identify with that song the most. It was so Alec: Well, in conclusion, you sound content and inex-
much easier to write about work when I hated it. I’m try- plicably happy with your life. Any comments to the mil-
ing to figure out how to write a song about loving your lions of Urban Folk readers who hate your abandonment
job, but it’s kind of tough and I’m pretty sure it’s not and leaving them in the arms of that poet kid?
going to excite people nearly as much. Dave: I’m really sorry! I wish I had more drive and could
Alec: You’re not a bad prose writer. One of the top five at keep doing it, but I hope everyone is happy for me. I’m
Urban Folk, at least. Do you plan on keeping a hand in actually generally happy for the first time since moving
the zine, or write elsewhere? here. Not to mention that Berger is qualified and will do a
Dave: In my head I’m saying yes, yes, yes, but ask the fantastic job, as he always does. Far more qualified and
new boss, the great and capable Jon Berger whether or hard-working than I ever was. But help the guy out how-
not I have a habit of promising shit and not following ever you can. It’s a community paper and if the commu-
through. The heart is willing, but the rest of me is pretty nity wants to help make it work, it’ll be even better, and
lazy and carefree these days. Berger will have his job become that much easier.
Alec: It sounds it. Alec: Jon Berger. The bald guy?
Alec: I don’t see how you can make great art with that Dave: Bald sweaty guy...
lackadaisical attitude, but then, I don’t see how anyone Alec: Whatever... Final thoughts?
else makes art, anyway. Variety is what makes life Won- Dave: Thanks to everyone who supported this magazine
derful, I guess. Any stories of the road you can share? and made it what it was! I complain, but it was a plea-
Dave: When I left town I hadn’t written a song in 8 months. sure to steward this thing. We have an amazing commu-
All wrapped up in making an album, making a website nity here in New York and across the country of
working on publicity type bullshit, working on the maga- songwriters, punks, bohemians, and poets. It was great
zine, deadlines, the usual bit, where’s the love of life to to get to know it and learn about it through the maga-
inspire any kind of writing or art? Not until I lost my mind zine. All the great music I heard was more payment than
and started yelling at no one on the way to Vancouver, I could have asked for. I see only good things on the
realizing I had almost no money, no show for four days, horizon as the community becomes more cohesive and
nowhere to go and no one expecting me; when I hit rock connected. I feel lucky to be a part of it!
bottom I felt total elation and started singing gibberish at Alec: What better way to conclude... other than telling
the top of my lungs. I polished up the gibberish and it you all to buy my new album(s).
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 11
 The Festival!
impressions of the ‘06 summer antifolk festival
Justin Remer photos by Herb Scher

There was one point during Creaky Boards’ set at the The night The
2006 Summer AntiFolk Fest where they did a song about Bowmans played
playing at the Sidewalk Café. It was a ditty in the vein of was a long one for me.
Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music” (which name-drops It was Friday night,
a bunch of then-recent soul singers) or The Righteous and Elastic No-No
Brothers’ “Rock & Roll Heaven” (which name-drops a Band, of which I am
bunch of rockers dead too soon), wherein Creaky Boards the lead singer, was
lead singer/writer Andrew Hoepfner name-dropped a bunch the first act at 7pm
of people influential to the AntiFolk scene. (we were excellent –
shame you missed
About two-thirds
it), and I stuck around
of the way
until my eyelids
through the
started getting
song, Andrew
droopy in the middle
took some time
of Chris Barron’s set at about 12:30 the next morning.
to talk about how
he wrote the I was partly surprised to see the room was not all that full
song, which in- for Mr. Barron, seeing as he was one of the name attrac-
volved thinking of tions (next to Suzanne Vega, whose set I missed inten-
what names of tionally so that you could have a little more room to see
people important her – you can thank me later). I guess everyone didn’t
to AntiFolk would work in what rhyme patterns, and tak- spend a good chunk of their pre-teendom trying to mas-
ing it from there. He observed that most of the perform- ter the lyrics to “Two Princes” by Mr. Barron’s group Spin
ers he mentioned in the song weren’t at the Creaky Boards Doctors, as I did for
show, and that most of the performers at the show weren’t no apparent reason
in the song. (although this training
has helped me im-
I mention this not to bring up something about the chang-
mensely when I’m
ing face of AntiFolk – hell, I’ve only been around for a
stuck for a song for
little under 2 years – but to warn those of you reading
karaoke). People did
this who were part of the AntiFolk fest that you will prob-
come in as his set
ably not be mentioned in this piece. As I was left out of
progressed, maybe
the Creaky Boards song, so too will you probably be left
because everyone
out of this article. It doesn’t mean I don’t like you (gosh,
can do with a little
I hope Andrew Hoepfner still likes me, now that I think of
whicka-whicka-
it); it just means that I write in a long-winded fashion, and
whicka whick whick
brevity (i.e., not writing a novel-length narrative of the en-
guitar playing (ac-
tire fest) is the soul of wit. Also, I only saw about half the
companied by stand-
fest (ha H A!).
up bass) and post-
One of my absolute favorite moments of the Fest was neo-hippie philoso-
noticing that Dan Fishback’s jaw had literally dropped phizing. As I said,
while watching The Bowmans. Like a nebbish in a Jayne though, I got sleepy
Mansfield movie, he had to consciously shut his mouth and had to leave be-
again. The Bowman sisters’ harmonies created some- fore I found out if he played “Two Princes” again, as he
thing so special that I’m sure it left more than a few folks has with the Moldy Peaches in the past.
open-mouthed.
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 12
Phoebe Kreutz, who played just before Chris Barron,
made me intensely jealous. I mean, she’s an excellent
songwriter, a great singer, and an able character actor

Barry Bliss
(meaning: she slips in and out of different personas ef-
fortlessly depending on the requirements of her song).
And seeing as Elastic No-No Band travels a similar road
as Phoebe Kreutz, known sometimes as “Joke Folk,” it
peeves me mildly that she seems to get more laughs
than us. It peeves me in an inspiring way, though. All
those laughs are earned, for sure. She has a tune called
“Song to Make You Cry” that made us weep all right –
Wednesday, January 10th
weep with laughter (betcha didn’t see that one coming)! at 9pm
For a spell, Phoebe Kreutz had the versatile guitar man
Casey Holford onstage to help her out. Casey also had a
set that night, which was pretty great. He played some
new tunes, and some older ones, including “Junk,” which
Sidewalk
I had shouted out as a request. After the gig, I bought
Casey’s last album, All Young and Beautiful, off of him. I
have since listened to it quite a few times, and I think it’s Also:
excellent. On recording, Casey’s stuff has the sort of
slick layered pop-rock sound you’d expect from Foun- 7:30 Ben Garber
tains of Wayne, but without making you picture New Jer-
sey. Three of my favorite songs I’ve heard him play are 8:00 Rachel Lipson
on that disc back-to-back-to-back: “Beard Song,” “Junk,”
and “Summer Storm.” Get the CD: it’ll be good for your
10:00 Hillary Huffard
soul. 11:00 Beau Johnson
Something else that was good for my soul (what a crap
segue this is) was Frank Hoier’s performance at the Fest.
I told Frank as much after he was
done, and I wasn’t blowing And speaking of pomegranate juice…
smoke. Frank specializes in the No… I got nothing with that.
kind of Americana and folk as-
sociated with Leadbelly, Guthrie, Um… I don’t know, I’ve got so many
and early Bob Dylan, but he mixed ideas about the other folks I saw,
doesn’t do it in a way that makes like stalwart Debe Dalton, the original
him sound stuck in the past. His 2-man lineup of Creaky Boards, the
love for the music – and skill – abrasively humorous spoken word set
really shows you why people re- by Jon Berger, the astonishing music/
turn to old scratchy recordings performance art set by Elizabeth Devlin,
of “Goodnight, Irene” and the superlative set by Dan Penta, the
“Hobo’s Lullaby.” But, of course, British set by Ben Godwin, the Ameri-
most of Frank’s performances can set by Kevin Johnston, the
are originals that just evoke that Czechosolvakian set by Dan Costello…
old-timey feel that makes you sorry, I got a little off-track there. (After
feel closer to your fellow man. all, everyone knows Dan is from Slovakia
When Frank did a John Lennon and not the Czech Republic.)
cover, the impromptu sing-along This is the point where I’m realizing I’ve
of the chorus “One thing ya can’t got so much to say, I have nothing to
hiiiiide, is when yer crippled say. I enjoyed this fest, and I can hardly
insiiiiiide” did us all a lot more wait for the next one. Maybe next time,
good than ten bottles of pome- I’ll see you there.
granate juice.
P.S. I forgot to mention Lach. He was
there too.
www.elasticnonoband.com
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 13
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 14
 AntiComps
historical antifolk compilations, part 1
Word on the street is that Crafty Records is putting out an AntiFolk compilation. This is not an original concept.
Every couple of years, somebody gets the bright idea to release of these comps. Travel, then, back to the dawn of
time, to the birth of the AntiFolk era, and listen to the clarion call of early AF albums, and just what they meant.
White Trash, Volume 1, NY Music
(109 Records)
Steve Gabe was just sitting in his clothing store/art gal-
lery when Ron Katz came in and asked him if he wanted
to release an album of the AntiFolk who participated in
the Tompkins Square Park riots. It was an earlier time,
1988, and Gabe, who’d already released several albums
on his 109 Records (109 St. Marks
was the address of his store),
quickly assented. Don Fury pro-
duced the mostly minimalist tracks
from 14 artists almost twenty years
ago. “We made the record that would
become the document of the
AntiFolk scene,” Gabe asserts,
“Mainly due to the Village Voice de-
voting a lead music article to review-
ing the record.” Power of the press…
Lots of the acts are folk you’ve never
heard of. Mark Zero starts things off
with his “White Trash,” which risks falling into cliché (but
maybe didn’t at the time), and ends it with Resibaum’s
sneering, incredible “Blood on the Pavement”, featuring
Gabe’s accompaniment on bass. In between, Tom Clark
does his folkabilly “Trouble at Home,” Joe Hurley (of
Rogue’s March) presents a rambling, fascinating musi-
cal travelogue, “All Quiet on the Western Front.” There’s
some guy called Lach, doing a notably nasal “Poor Town”
I wonder if he still knows the song. Despite the rapid clip
of the recording, some people present some pretty over-
blown affairs: Lauren Stauber sings over a keyboard-gen-
erated beat on the epic “Prisonville Blues,” “We’d be
getting high, day and night, wondering why there was
nothing to do.” Billy Syndrome rocks insanely out with
“Have You Seen the Cows.” It’s a track that’s clearly
proud of being loud.
White Trash, Volume 1 made a fair amount of noise at
the time, prompting Gabe to want to release Volume 2.
Jonathan Berger
Broome Closet Anti-Folk Sessions
(109 Records)
“When I tried to put together White Trash NY Folk Vol.
2,” 109 Records’ Gabe explains, “too many of the artists
wanted to go punk rock.”
He scrapped the name, but kept the spirit. “I asked my
friend and well-known folk artist Roger Manning if he could
put together a real ‘Best of Anti-Folk’ record.”
Manning had been recording his own al-
bums on 4-track at his small Broome Street
apartment, appropriately called the Broome
Closet.
Featuring five spoken words breaks from
King Missile’s John S. Hall, as well as songs
from the likes of Cindy Lee Berryhill (fresh
off her major label foray) the aforementioned
Kirk Kelly, and, of course, Manning himself.
Broome Closet “got a nice write up in
Billboard’s Grassroots section. “
These songs are all minimalist, like the
AntiFolk we newbies know and love. In most cases, the
songs are recorded solo. Sometimes without accompa-
niment. Along with Hall, Maggie Estep does a spoken
word piece that precedes her major label debut No More
Mister Nice Girl by several years.
“It had the distinction of having been the first album Pale-
face and Maggie Estep appeared on,” Gave notes proudly.
Paleface, then a fine young contender, had two tracks
on the release, one the very clever and amazingly suc-
cinct “Galaxie 500 Party Song,” then, near the end, the
extremely, extensively epic “There’s Something About a
Truck (I Don’t Know What It Is).”
Billy Syndrome appears again with a suddenly timely
song, “Funky Stairway.” In it, Syndrome grunts and
sweats, funk-style, over a particularly potent banjo. Re-
corded decades ago, it’s a fitting testament to the re-
cently passed Godfather of Soul.

The 109 Records releases are available today on one CD, in reverse chronological order. The content of the two
records may cost less to own today than they did three decades ago, when they first appeared.
http://www.cafepress.com/artmonkeynyc

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 15

 Paul’s Perspective
Taking that next step…what next?
Paul Alexander

For the last however many months, my musical mind pay attention seems to get
has been mired in making an album. That process gave harder by the second. In-
me purpose, it gave me a debt to recoup, but above all stead of writing this article,
else, it gave me an excuse for secluding myself, taking I really should be spending
over my entire musical life. Now, with the recording and my time out there pound-
mastering complete, the photographs taken, the graphic ing the pavement, because
design done, albums pressed, and my requisite release I think Dave Cuomo, the
party all behind me, I am left with nothing but debt, a Bowmans, Alex Lowry, and
dauntingly large number of albums to sell, and a head every other independent
full of questions - most of them boiling down to, "What touring artist I know has it
next?" right. Even with the increas-
ing exposure internet (and
Sure, there's CDBaby and iTunes and, maybe your friend
even in-store) distribution
Tom's told you, you can even sell your music on
can offer, I am certain that
MySpace. But is that enough? If my sales thus far are
nothing sells albums better
any indication, I don't think so. I am trying to get my
than getting out and play-
CDs into local record stores; it will soon be available on
ing killer shows to a live audience.
my newly redesigned website, and I recently discov-
ered that Borders will even stock your album if you play I'm proud of my completed album, but I know I can't rest
at their stores. Getting distribution really doesn't seem on my laurels - and I can't afford to underestimate the
as hard as I thought it might be, but getting people to power of persistence, persistence and more persistence
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 in the process. Moving to New York City was Step One
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for me. Step Two was going out to the open mics, getting
Crowin’ @ the Creek
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my ass kicked, and realizing I wasn't as good as I wished
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 I was. Step Three was trashing all my old songs and
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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 writing a shitload of new ones to reflect everything I'd
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Paul Alexander’s open mic
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learned. Then came independently producing my album,
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 because persistence hadn't yet brought me a record deal
(now with a chance for features!)
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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 - something I'm now glad about - and I thought I needed
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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 an album to up my credibility and get to Step Five. That's
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Tuesdays - 7.30
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figuring out how to sell this damned thing, and it's involv-
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ing that bitch persistence once again. After all, making
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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 an album, like writing an article, can be rewarding in it-
The Creek and the Cave
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self, but I have to keep reminding that the real reward is
12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 the cash. My disc is a personal call to action that I have
one stop east of Grand Central
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12345678901234567890123456789012123456789012345678901234567890 to heed for the whole endeavor to be worth the blood,
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on the 7-train
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sweat, and tears it cost. Miles Davis once said, "The joy
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10-93 Jackson Avenue
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is in the pursuing, not in the attaining," so, though I'm
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Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 16

 Exegesis
The True Story of “True Story” (TRUE STORY!)
“The truth?” said Crowley. “The truth is at the bottom of a bottomgless pit.” - J. Harr, A Civil Action
The whole thing started innocently enough: Dan Costello
was on stage at the Sidewalk Café earlier this year sing-
ing his signature talking blues-turned-protest song, "Saga
of Lorimer Jail." "Now I told you this is a true story, and it
is a true story," he says at one of the talking breaks in
the middle of the song. "TRUE STORY!" I hollered back
from the crowd, which got enough of a positive response
that I did it the next time he sang the song. And the next
time. And the next. Before long, I was hollering it after
anyone said true story, or just a story that was true, or
sounded like it should be. And with each time, more and
more people seemed to be joining in.
I think part of the reason why it struck a chord and caught
on was that it was like an old jingle that you could hum
but couldn't quite name; a face you had seen before but
couldn't quite remember where. In truth, it was an allu-
sion to the second season of The Real World - as some
may recall, each of the seven housemates spoke a dif-
ferent part of the voiceover that began every episode, with
Dominic, the rock critic Irishman, kicking things off: "This
is a true story," he began, before lapsing into that fateful,
echoed rallying cry: "TRUE STORY!"
Dominic shouted those two words at one end of the real-
ity craze ("real people" in "real situations"), a craze that
quickly spiraled out of control with each successive show,
namely, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Survivor, Ameri-
can Idol, and whatever comes next (my vote: Who Can
Survive an American Idol?). Dan Costello stands on the
other end of that reality, an end that has gone through
the sobering truths of September 11th and the disturbing
lies of the Bush administration. While Dominic uses one
of the most complex media of postmodern society - "re-
ality" television - to say his line, Dan uses the most ba-
sic form of truth telling available in American song - the
blues - to say his.
Now, obviously, not all of this was going through my mind
when I belted out that first "True story!" - not consciously
anyway - I was just going fer a cheap laugh. But as it
began to catch on and slowly turn into an all-purpose
rallying cry, it was clear that there was something bigger
here. It got to the point that, when it became apparent
that the song would become a key track on Dan's up-
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 17
Eric Wolfson
coming album, he more than once pulled me aside: "Hey
man, can you stop doing that 'true story' thing? I don't
want it to get old before the album comes out." I always
told him, yes, I would try to stop, and then went ahead
and did it again. And more often than not, someone else
was already doing it anyway.
Several weeks later, I found myself in a recording ses-
sion for Dan's album, standing alone in the studio with
headphones on shouting "TRUE STORY!" as the engi-
neer, the producer, and Dan himself looked on through
the control room's glass. "Try shouting towards the
screen," said one; "Just get into the feel and don't worry
about anything" said another. We were doing the over-
dubs to "Saga of Lorimer Jail," and it was up to me -
under the recording team's guidance - to get it just right,
to capture the truest "TRUE STORY!" Somewhere along
the way, something had gotten lost; this phrase that had
once seemed so natural and organic now turned back
on itself to become as stale and programmed as
Dominic's cry in those endless Real World marathon
weekends.
The phrase had become a punch line. At the Antihoots, I
began shouting things to self-consciously mock the
phrase (Lach: "Did anyone see what's going on in Israel
this week?" Me: "JEW STORY!"). Others quickly got
the joke and fell into line, making their own variants on
the line or just saying "TRUE STORY!" with a smile and
wink that was more about mocking how the words
sounded than referencing truth they might still contain.
At one point, I shouted "TRUE STORY!" to performers
who announced their song was based on a true story
and I got stared down; the story proved to be about how
their cousin had committed suicide because he was gay.
It turned out that Dan was right all along - maybe be-
cause it was his song that unleashed it, he alone under-
stood the power and responsibility implicit in those two
words. It went from a Declaration of Independence to a
Pandora's Box in a matter of weeks; for once in America's
recent years, the truth was out for anyone to have and
hold, and no one wanted to let go that quickly. Even if it
meant risking the loss of what made those words so
powerful in the first place.
 Ben Krieger
contest loser tells some
Deborah T
There’s something oxymoronic about Ben Krieger. He’s ultra-casual in appearance and yet subtly sophisticated in
behavior. He’s married, but trying to score dates with alleged AntiFolk superstars.
Ben Krieger, after hearing of the Win a Date with Alec Wonderful contest, generated in a little less than 24 hours a
fully produced pop song called, yes, you guess it. “Why I Wanna Date Alec Wonderful.”
He did not win the contest, perhaps because the reclusive Wonderful is homophobic, or heterophilic, or just was
threatened by the pure pop power of the song. We don’t know.What we do know is this: Ben Krieger had the most
Urban Folk response, and we just had to talk to him. Our former Contest Coordinator asked the tough questions.

DT: That was quite an impressive little ditty you shot off
at about lightning speed. The recording quality is also
really nice. I'd have to say that one of the things that
interests me the most about what you do, is the layering
of sounds that you incorporate, often playing most of the
instruments yourself…
BK: Usually, most of my stuff comes out so quickly, so
any song that I've even done with other people, I've al-
ways recorded it on my own first, so I can bring it to
them… like my old band, GunStreetRadio.
DT: What happened to GunStreetRadio?
BK: Uh… I broke them up. It was really my first band,
and I tried really hard to make it a democratic process.
And, then I realized, once I'd done that, that it meant
everybody had a say, so… I just decided to pull the plug.
DT: How long ago was that?
BK: It was about a year ago, and it's kinda why I wasn't
really involved with the AntiFolk scene, or anything, until
the Fall of 2005, because I was really more of a band
kind of person… I would go to band shows.
DT: Well, I have to say, I'm really glad you've come on
the scene.
BK: Thanks. It's a cool little scene. There are a lot of
fantastic writers. The one tough thing about listening to
bands is, whether it's their choice of instrumentation, or
just the clubs being loud, it's hard to focus on the
songwriting. It's interesting to sit down and listen to ev-
erything that they're doing.
DT: So, that's the main thing that you've been getting out
of the experience?
BK: Yeah. I think there're a lot of good writers on this
scene, but it is tough to find great ones. There's a big
difference between the people I really enjoy listening to
and the people who really push me. Y'know, like "Wow…
there's something that I could really take from them," or
"I'd like to try that."
DT: There's something I often wonder about the commu-
nity; because it's so tight-knit, and because people are
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 18
friends with one another, I wonder how much we would
like each other's music if we had heard it elsewhere…
BK: That's the tough thing. I'm a huge music fan, and I'll
go see a lot of shows, but I almost always go to shows
because I really like the music. And, a couple of times
I've gotten a sense from people where they'll tell me, "Oh,
thanks so much for coming out… I'll definitely have to
make it to one of your shows sometime."
DT: It becomes a deal.
BK: And it doesn't have to be… I will see them play 10,
15 times, and I don't expect the same in return. They
don't have to even come once! I think ultimately, that I'd
like to have my friends and people come, but, ultimately,
you wanna get people that are there for the music. So, I
don't mind if they don't come. But I will gladly go and see
people all the time. And, sometimes I'll go see some
people as a favor, I'm just not gonna see them as often.
DT: You had a tour this past spring with Mike Ferraro.
You guys went down the Eastern Coast, right?
BK: That was a lot of fun. I haven't gone out on tour that
much. There are so many cities there that have really
good scenes. It was the first time that I utilized MySpace
to contact a lot of musicians and network that way, which
is one of the good things about MySpace… I'm not crazy
about it, but as far as a worldwide database of musi-
cians… it's really good in that sense. The tour was in-
tense. I don't know when I'm gonna go out again. I think
in order to go out on tour, you really need to have a goal
set, as to what the tour is about.
DT: And, going out to make money is probably a little
unrealistic…
BK: You can break even on tour, I think. If you work your
ass off, you can. But, you really have to think carefully
about it. I mean, I almost did. I got really close, and if I'd
made the conscious choice to eat some more canned
beans, and not sit down at a diner a few more times, I
would've broken even. And, if I'd managed a couple more
home-stays… it was little things like that; organizational
things. The more you tighten up, I re- everyone's in. I mean one of the best
ally think you can break even. But times I've had at Sidewalk is when the
ultimately, you have to be able to do rappers got up on stage, and you could
more than that in order to pay rent, just feel how some people were com-
so… it's not easy. pletely into it, and some people were
DT: Something you said… that all art- completely uneasy… It totally disrupted
ists are egotists and that it takes ef- the comfort level at the Sidewalk. That's
fort to focus on somebody else, and a really good feeling. You know, that
not bring things back to yourself? you really got a little bit stirred up. I
BK: It takes a lot of effort. A good friend loved it. I think they were great. But
of mine put it really plainly that "ac- some people were clapping along,
cusing an artist of being self-ab- some people weren't. That's much bet-
sorbed, is like accusing a fish of ter for me than like a whole bunch of
swimming." There's nothing really people cheering along to some left-wing
wrong with it. I think it's hard to write song.
songs outside of yourself. A lot of DT: You record constantly.
people write songs about things that BK: Yeah, I started keeping track of it
they're going through, and things that about four years ago, and I end up av-
have happened to them. And, I think Ben Krieger, taken by Ben Krieger eraging about 100, 120 songs a year.
that's probably why a lot of people DT: How many of those will you want
don't "make it", or at least that their writing drops off after to play again?
their twenties, probably because they're so focused on BK: at this point, I'm probably up to about 700, and there's
their romances or their drinking, that they don't learn how probably about 150 - 250 that I have played at one point
to write about other things, or at least, translate that en- or another, and would gladly play again. I'd say a good
ergy into other topics. Then again, there are exceptions 60-70% of stuff that I perform, is stuff that other people
to the rule. Robert Smith has been writing break-up songs have pointed out as something that they really like. I'm
for the past 30 years, and he's still great at it. And, he's terrible at choosing my own material.
married. Again, there's no rule. DT: You're involved with Jezebel Music, right?
A lot of songwriters feel like when they try to write about BK: Yeah, I'm involved with them. I've been doing a lot of
things outside of their own little world, it just doesn't come writing with them. And, we've talked about actually doing
off strongly. They don't feel as strongly about those things. an event where artists cover each other… It would be a
It's very kind of passive y'know: “Republican's suck.” That big kind of party event, where that's the focus of it. It's a
kinda song. But they don't really think, or they can't ar- nice idea. People will cover like Dylan or Elliot Smith,
ticulate why they think republicans suck, as much as and those people have been covered enough. There's a
they can think about or articulate why their ex sucks. lot of really great writers in our own backyard. I find it
They have a huge list, and they've done their homework, really refreshing to take a break from my own material,
and they've lived why their former boyfriend or girlfriend is and play other people's songs. I mean, I listen to other
a shithead, and they can write about it. But, ask 'em why people who are around. I love Brook Pridemore. I love
Bush is an asshole and I don't think they'd write more Julia Marvel. I love Dewey Kincaide and the Navigators.
than a paragraph. And, y'know it's fun to cover those people. There's prob-
DT: I wonder how many people are really saying some- ably a couple other side projects that I'm releasing just
thing unique about that… and it's preaching to the choir, for the hell of it… things that I know are never gonna be
anyway. on a big CD, but are kind of a specific interest. I have a
BK: And that's one thing that has always kinda made me project that's based on an old video game from 1991.
uncomfortable about being at the Sidewalk, is when some- And, I wrote about five or six songs around it, they're all
body will get up there and sing a "Fuck Bush" song. recorded and done. I'm gonna release that on a site, and
Everybody's gets into it, and everybody's cheering. There's that's just totally for people who are fanatics of that game.
nothing that bothers me more than a group where I do little things like that just to keep myself busy.
http://benkrieger.com/

The Contest
Alec Wonderful personally selected the winning entry of the contest several months ago, but has
refused to offer up any details of his date with contest victor Alicia Wonka.
Will the Urban Folk-reading public ever get their chance to hear of Ms. Wonka’s romantic exploits?
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Alec Wonderful allegedly replied, “No comment.”
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 19
 Voted one of the top 5 albums of 2005.
Voted one of the top 5 live shows in Chicago in 2005
CHICAGO INNERVIEW MAGAZINE
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Alex Lowry’s psychedelic neo/anti-folk pop is an offbeat offshoot where the hurdy gurdy man takes us on a
twisted magical mystery tour. Hot wired and intense, even in its quieter moments, this is challenging, innovative
music that pushes established boundaries with alarming ease.”
CREATIVE LOAFING, ATLANTA
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“On the 13 tracks of the band’s new release, Awful Joy, beauty, banality and brutality coexist - fragile and sincere -
in fingerpicked guitars, whinnying harmonicas and cascading pianos. The result is as strange and beautiful as any
acid excursion. As Lowry puts it in “Arkansas,” sometimes the real world can ruin our good time, but it still
contains the only magic that we know of, so what’re you so scared of?”
CHRIS GLENN, THE PITCH WEEKLY—KANSAS CITY
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Listening to Alexander Lowry’s sedated croon on ‘Fourth Of July,’ it’s a certain kind of soul that makes itself
known. Not fragile, but vulnerable, his voice wavers just a bit in that post-Violent Femmes
show of sensitivity...”
JJ KOCZAN, THE AQUARIAN WEEKLY—NEW JERSEY
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Lowry’s quietly strange brand of neo-folk music is akin to an ocean breeze stirring the hot, heavy summer air: It
refreshes and delights, and leaves listeners smiling about the pleasant little surprises that await in life. Such a
pleasing discovery is bound to unassumingly tuck itself away into one’s soul, to be remembered and treasured
for a long time to come.”
KATHERINE LATSHAW, ENCORE MAGAZINE—WILMINGTON/CAPE FEAR
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“. . .he is creating music that is timeless and groundbreaking. . . .More than just the production. . . the songs
themselves come through as a force to be reckoned with”,
DAVE CUOMO, BLOCK MAGAZINE, NYC
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*--*

“Love, self-discovery, fist fights, there’s a little bit of everything on “Awful Joy.” Mostly love, though. I mean,
there is a sunflower on the album cover.”
CITY WEEKLY, OMAHA
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Lowry employs a mish-mash of styles and a delightfully off-kilter weirdness to both his writing and delivery
that makes the man—and the band, crackle to life.”
LAURA BLACKLEY, ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES—ASHEVILLE, N.C.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Their elegant mix of unpredictable song structures and dynamics, almost-morose melodies and tunes, and
straight-beat grooves are along the same vein as recent works by Flaming Lips, Elf Power, Modest Mouse and
Portastatic. . .artistically spectacular.”
T. BALLARD LESEMANN, CHARLESTON CITY PAPER—CHARLESON, S.C.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 20

 Named One of the Top Emerging Artists of 2006
THE DELI MAGAZINE, NYC
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Lowry’s ostensibly part of the neo-folk revival over-running the East Village, but this disc is all over
the rock time line, from Ziggy-era Bowie to Yoshimi-Lips, with twangy intervals, chamber pop stops
and even a prog-rock touch or two along the journey. He is not to be missed.”
JOHN SCHACT, CREATIVE LOAFING—CHARLOTTE
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Alex’s songwriting operates within a timelessness that can’t pigeonhole his sound to a particular era
of music. . .his songs possess an edgy, angry, sarcastic, yet lovable uniqueness. . . the guy is clearly
shooting for a seat among the giants “
JEZEBEL MUSIC, NYC
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“The way Lowry manages to wrestle a melody out of all the seemingly disconnected layers of sound
is a beautiful mystery that, whether it be serendipity or sheer diligence, makes the songs not merely
intriguing but flat out catchy. .It’s not often, as in “4th of July that you hear cello and banjo working
together but it is that sort of collage of sound and Lowry’s dreamy fits of language that make this
record not just a solid work of art but such an unadulterated and immediate joy.”
ROBIN CRACKNELL, AMERICANA UK
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Lowry might be a bit off his rocker but he has a mastery for crafting clever and intelligent pop
hooks. . . .The East Village might be the proper place for him to call home but after a single listen
he’ll find himself at home in your stereo and music rotation.”
SMOTHER MAGAZINE
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

lowry
“It’s a mellow minefield. . .His singing isn’t pretty, but it’s earnest and sad and tough to ignore.
His guitar work on the other hand, is pretty, and nimble and country-tinged too.
This music isn’t pop or rock or even alt-country, really, but a mish-mash of all three.
Do not miss this band.”
BIRMINGHAM WEEKLY
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Awful Joy is the new album from singer-songwriter Alex Lowry, and its adventuresome sounds
tear apart the guy-with-guitar stereotypes as they weave through atmospheric soundscapes,
alt-country ballads and psychedelic pop numbers. Hints of Bowie, Zappa and more.
FLAGPOLE MAGAZINE, ATHENS
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Lowry has in ‘Awful Joy’ created an album of music that acts like water on a watercolor,
blurring lines between genres and re-sorting them into something new and vital.”
DAILY VAULT, JASON WARBURG
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

* Friday, January 19th 2007 at NORTHSIX *

66 N. 6th Street Williamsburg
Jezebel Music 2nd Annual Common Ground Benefit
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 21
 After the Electric Moon
travelogue 2006 (part 1 of 2)
Chris Maher
There were no people, no cars, no bars, no cheers, no
jeers, no noisemakers or countdowns. Not even a tum-
bleweed. Just me and a three-foot-tall bronze statue of
Woody Guthrie standing together in the footprint of a flood-
light.
It was New Year's Eve and I was in Okemah, Oklahoma,
a long-dead dustbowl town famous as birthplace of Woody
Guthrie. Just before midnight, I had driven to Okemah
from a town called Henrietta, where I had rented a room
with my tour-mate Sonya Cotton. It was the fifth day of
our 'Manifest Destiny Tour', a brief jaunt across the United
States that found us crossing sixteen states in ten days.
The Guthrie statue had been decorated with an oversized
red bow tied to its neck and a rope of Christmas lights
strung around its guitar. I took a picture to commemo-
rate the occasion and welcomed in the New Year, 2006.
I made a vague resolution - simply, 'to tour more' - but
standing there alone in Okemah, I had no idea just how
far this resolution would take me. Eleven months later,
I'd strap on my Martin 00-15 and play the biggest show
of my brief career, opening for M. Ward in Paris, after
nearly 50 shows across two continents.
The remaining dates of the Manifest Destiny Tour went
by quickly. I lived off of Veggie Subs from truck-stop Sub-
ways and miscellaneous packages of dried fruit, seeds
and nuts. We played Albuquerque, Phoenix and Los
Angeles. By the end of the trip, Sonya and I had worked
up a few songs that we'd play together, either in her set
or mine. Including gas, two nights in motels and other
miscellaneous costs, we spent (collectively) a total of
$358.12. Not bad for a week and a half on the road.
I spent the rest of January and half of February working
as an A/V tech in California after which I drove north to
Seattle. I split the month of March between the North-
west and New York, where I began to prepare for another
tour. In April, I'd join Huggabroomstik, The WoWz and Le
Horror Me for a tour through Germany and the Nether-
lands. Lovingly, we dubbed it 'The April Fools' Tour'.
At the end of March, I parked my car at a friends' place in
Seattle and hopped a jet to NYC. Two days later, I was
on another plane bound for German. The night before I
arrived, Adam Green, the Jeff Lewis Band and Jack "Only
Son" Dishel played a show in a 1,500-seat soccer arena
that the three New Yorkers already in Berlin - Sam James,
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 22
photos by Dibson T. Hoffweiler
Johnny Dydo and Dashan Coram - had gone to with the
local Berlin crew. I was a day late and a few hundred
dollars short.
I landed in Tegel Airport on April Fool's Day where I was
greeted by Dashan and some of our German friends: Sibsi
Hoffman, the mastermind of the April Fools' Tour, Heiko
"Le Horror Me" Gabriel and Christine Foissner. Fresh off
the plane, I joined Sam, Johnny and Dashan at Heiko's
flat, where we did a phone interview with some guy named
Martin who was putting together a piece on AntiFolk for
some German radio show.
That night, we went to a loft party somewhere in Kreuzberg
where our friend Jules was spinning records. Sam, Johnny
and I played an impromptu set that included WoWz songs,
Sam's songs and my songs. André Herman Düne and
Clemence Freshard were there and requested Sam's
"Seagull," which we gave a dark, dirge-like treatment.
Afterwards, we got down to Jules' 45s.
The remaining April Fools arrived one-by-one. First Neil
Kelly, then Dibson T. Hoffweiler, and finally Simon Beins.
We played our first official show of the April Fools' Tour
at Hotelbar in Berlin on April 4th.. What a party! The
place was packed to the brim. Heiko played, then The
WoWz, then a few songs from Dibs and a couple from
me ("mE=mc2" and "Heather"). Finally, I strapped on a
borrowed bass and joined Huggabroomstik, as I would
every night, to close the show. It was one of the best
shows I ever played with them. Everything was ON. The
audience reception was a revelation: People GOT it. As
Jules apparently said: "For the whole set, the music tee-
bands on the run - well, on the roll...
tered on the edge of collapse but to everyone's surprise, his best American curse words. Rik apologized for the
it never fell apart. Completely amazing!" club's poor hospitality. Soon, all a little agitated, we were
The next night, I played a full solo-set with the WoWz, back in the van: The WoWz were expected in Den Haag
Kitty Solaris and Azaila Snail at another Berlin venue for a house show.
called Schokoladen. This, too, went extremely well. I On our way to the house, we got lost and had to pay a
opened the night and after my set, an audience member cabbie to let us follow him to our destination. When we
came up to me and expressed this outrageous compli- arrived, we were surprised to find a fancy house in an
ment: "Tonight, you were better than Bob Dylan!" The upscale neighborhood. The audience was made up of
WoWz capped off the night with one of the best sets I've well-dressed 40 to 60 year olds and a few of their chil-
ever seen them play. Due to time and sound constraints, dren. There was a table full of delicious food and expen-
they closed their set with unamplified versions of "Apoca- sive wine. Though we were all disheveled and had arrived
lypse WoWz", "646" (on which I played percussion), and considerably late, the WoWz managed to win over the
André Herman Dune's "Orange Hat". When they were audience and at the end of the night, the owner of the
done, the crowd kept clapping and cheered for at least a house handed me an extra 50 Euros to contribute to our
minute. tour. "For your brothers," he said.
Early the next morning, Sibsi and Heiko went to pick up
our rented tour van, a nine-seat Mercedes Benz, with the Our first show back in Germany, at Stereo Wonderland
words "On Tour" painted in English on the side. It had a in Köln (aka Cologne), was a huge disappointment. That
tall roof and more space than we could fill. We hit the guy Martin who interviewed us for the German radio show
Autobahn and headed to Hamburg, where we played a came early but left before anybody played. The crowd
show at a small bunny-themed venue called didn't exist and we had to give the club 40 Euros at the
Hasenschaukel, close to the Reeperbahn. Before the end of the night. When the show was over, we decided to
show, a few of us went to visit some Beatles' landmarks hightail it to Sibsi's parents house in Stuttgart, the town
like the Davidwache police station, the Kaiserkeller and where we'd be playing the next day. A few minutes into
the site of the Star Club. At the end of the WoWz set, all the trip, Neil, who was sitting bitch in the front of the van,
of us attempted a cover of the Beatles' "Sie Liebt Dich" crawled over Sibsi and puked out the passenger side
(in English, perhaps?) that left the audience slightly per-
plexed.
After Hamburg, we played four shows in three days in
the Netherlands. The first was a fully amplified, mara-
thon-length show in Zoetermeer at a youth-center called
Latenstaan. We were paid handsomely but despite a
venomous WoWz set, a giant-sounding Huggabroomstik
show (including a 20-minute version of "Automatron") and
a spur-of-the-moment Morningsides set we couldn't seem
to engage Holland's youth. Nearly two hours of unre-
hearsed covers, from "House of the Rising Sun" and "Hey
Jude" to "Smells Like Teen Spirit", didn't work, either.
Our show in Amsterdam was a lot better. Café Bax fed
us delicious food and the audience was far more respon-
sive. The next day, exhausted, we made our way to an
afternoon show in an old medieval town called Nijmegen.
A fella named Rik Kaez had arranged for us to play an
afternoon show at a restaurant/venue called Eet-en
Biercafé Camelot. I met Rik back in the Summer of 2005,
when he played the AntiHoot. He reminded me of a cross
between Turner Cody and Kurt Cobain. Unfortunately, the
show was a drag. Heiko, Dibs, The WoWz and I had the
opportunity to play short sets but before Huggabroomstik's
could play, the manager came and told us to stop.
"I'm sorry, we can't have you play, the customers aren't
enjoying it and the owner doesn't think its appropriate
dinner music."
Neil and Dashan were furious. Dashan turned on his bat-
tery-powered amplifier full-blast and started playing noise
guitar on his way out of the venue. Neil let loose some of
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 23
window, spraying vomit all over the side covered "Big Mouth Strikes Again" for
of the van as we sped down the Autobahn Christine, a song that Huggabroomstik
at 120 km/hour. would later record for some UK Smiths
Our stay in Stuttgart was a much-needed tribute compilation.
break. Sibsi's folks' place was large, The next day, after taking some group
warm and welcoming. We got to take photos in front of the tour van, the re-
hot(!) showers in a clean bathroom. We maining eight of us left for Darmstadt,
each got our own cots to sleep on (no leaving Neil and Christine behind to wait
one on the floor!). We spent the day for their ride-share to Berlin. (Christine
hanging around, playing piano and re- would continue on to Leipzig, where we
laxing. As a result, that night's show at would meet up with her two days later.)
Schaufenster Mitte was a much more In Darmstadt, our show was in an old
spirited affair than our last few. We all mansion called Oetinger Villa that was
played sets, even Sibsi, who performed given, by the city, to a group of punks
in front of his parents for the first time. who turned it into a co-op, venue and
art-space. It was enormous. There were
Next, we played Deggingen, a pictur- Chris Maher’s back stained glass windows and large wooden
esque village in the hills of Southern Germany where Chris- staircases, four or five different floors with hallways lead-
tine grew up. Christine's mother, Peps, had invited us to ing everywhere. The room where we were playing had
play in her living room. To our dismay, Deggingen would mile-high ceilings and a gigantic stage.
be our last show of the tour with Neil, who had to leave This was the first ever Huggabroomstik show without Neil
for the USA the following day. and we expected the worst. It wasn't. It was chaotic, but
There was no PA so we all played unamplified, save for magnificently so. The set was heavy on Dashan songs
Dibs' guitar and my bass during the Huggabroomstik set. but we threw in some Neil songs and took turns singing
At this point in the tour, it was common practice for people where we knew the words. Heiko played electric guitar
to jump up and play "Barcade" with Heiko. This night, I through the board. Sam played percussion. Dibs broke
joined in the jumping and added some piano. After the three guitar strings. I broke a bass string. Dashan broke
regular sets, Sam and I harmonized on an impromptu off the neck of his guitar - a guitar Mike Rechner had
version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues". I followed that given to him years earlier.
with a stab at "Why Don't We Do It On the Road?" Neil Despite these setbacks, we kept going. We jumped off

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 24

the stage. We climbed on things. We let feedback roar.
Apparently, the guy who 'wrote the book on AntiFolk' was
in attendance and Sibsi said he loved it. After
Huggabroomstik finished, we retreated backstage but the
audience refused to leave. We decided to attempt one
last song: A tongue-in-cheek version of Mr. Big's "To Be
With You" with Sam James leading us through it.
By our last full-day on the road, Sibsi and Heiko had
grown tired of babysitting us Americans. On the way to
Leipzig, we hit standstill traffic and Sibsi decided to take
an alternate route down a winding, two-lane road through
the countryside. At one point, Sibsi underestimated the
pickup of our van and as he made a lane pass, we nar-
rowly missed a car heading straight for us. When we
finally arrived in Leipzig, we kissed the ground.
The venue there was called Blickwinkel, booked for us
by Christine and Sibsi's friend Fabrizio Steinbach, who
plays in Barbara Manning's band. The place was rather
sterile and had odd pink and blue lighting. A loud wed-
ding reception was going on next door. Fabrizio had ar-
ranged for a radio interview to promote the show and we
sent Sam and Heiko as missionaries. Unfortunately,
morale had hit an all-time low and when it came time to
play, everybody turned in less-than-stellar sets. The
Huggabroomstik set was especially bad, easily our worst
show of the tour. Afterwards, we all went out to a dance
club and tried to forget our cares and lift our spirits.
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 25
The next morning, we drove back to Berlin and that night,
we played an illegal space in Kreuzberg called West
Germany. It was on the second floor of what may have
once been a large supermarket. Julie LaMendola and
Dan Gower of Ching Chong Song were in town to record
with Kevin Blechdom and so they played the show with
us. It was the last "official" show of the April Fools' Tour
and the last scheduled WoWz and Huggabroomstik sets.
Huggabroomstik didn't play, however, as Dashan, Johnny,
Dibs and I decided to play a Secret Salamander show
instead.
Easter Sunday was our last day all together in Berlin.
We had one more show scheduled, at the questionably
named King Kong Klub, where Dibs, Dashan, Heiko and
I played full solo sets. It happened to be the last night of
live music at the Klub and so the show received a fea-
tured write up in a free Berlin daily newspaper. The write
up included a color picture of Dibs. As a result, the place
was packed. While at the Klub, the WoWz decided to
play one more set, a rambunctious affair that included
Sam James pleading for kisses. I didn't think my set
went particularly well but a number of people came up to
me afterwards and said they loved it. One woman even
bought me a chocolate Easter bunny.
Two short days later, I was in Paris with Dashan, playing
a show with Prewar Yardsale and Lapin Machin that David
Herman Düne had set up. It was I was back in Paris on
at an upstairs venue called Le the 26th, playing at
Kitch'up, just a short walk away Mains D'Ouvre. I was
from Moulin Rouge. During my exhausted and ready
set, Dashan joined me and we to go home. Jimmy ar-
played two of his songs. Lapin ranged for us to crash
Machin and Prewar Yardsale at his friend Francois'
each played great sets and get- house. I woke up early
ting to hang with Mike Rechner on the 27th, took
and Dina Levy reenergized me. some Tylenol, and
On the 21st of April, I parted made my way on the
ways with Dashan and took a Metro to Charles de
train to Bordeaux. On our way Gaulle.
to the Montparnasse train sta-
tion, I was fined 35 Euros by the I was on my AirFrance
Paris Transit Police for misplac- back to JFK when,
ing my Metro ticket. I discovered merch on tour - there was a lot of it somewhere over the
it later deep inside a pocket. In Bordeaux, I played a Atlantic, the pilot informed us that one of the plane's en-
show at an underground, cave-like venue called El Inca, gines had failed, and that we would have to make an
which was arranged by a woman named Capucine Frey. emergency landing at a small airport in St. John's, New-
I had gotten in touch with Capucine via MySpace at the foundland. The pilot assured us that we still had three
suggestion of Eric Bling. The show was a blast. El Boy working engines and that he didn't see a reason to panic.
Die jumped up on stage, introduced himself, and played I wasn't didn't until an Italian woman next to me realized
harmonica on one song. I ended with a cover of Bob what was going on and started screaming and crying,
Dylan's "Mama, You Been on My Mind", a song I'd been crossing herself.
playing with Sonya Cotton four months earlier. After the As we approached St. John's, the flight attendants in-
show, Capucine's boyfriend, Jimmy Kinast, asked me if I structed us to prepare for an emergency landing and to
wanted to play in Paris on the 26th, at Mains D'Ouvre. brace ourselves for a potentially rough touch-down. As
"Yes!" I said. I stayed with a writer named Florent who we began our decent, I started to think of all the people I
gave me my own room and a spare set of keys so I could wanted to see again, everyone I should have been nicer
come and go as I pleased. to, everyone I've ever loved and missed. I considered writ-
ing them all a note, in case the plane crashed. If I wasn't
After a couple of days in Bordeaux, I took a train back to incinerated in the debris, I figured the rescue team might
Paris with the intention of going straight to Annecy. The find the notes and pass them on.
Coming Soon kids were opening a show for Architecture Thankfully, we made a smooth and safe landing in New-
in Helsinki there the following day and they invited me to foundland, We were put up in a hotel for the night and
come see it. Unfortunately, I missed the last train to early the next morning; we boarded a chartered Delta
Annecy and had to spend the night in Paris without a plane that took us the rest of the way to JFK. We touched
place to stay. I split my time between a 24-hour internet down in New York at around 5pm EST and I had to rush
café and a Hippopotamus restaurant, where I ate crème down to the Sidewalk Café, where I was scheduled to
brûlée and drank coffee. play a solo set at 9pm. I felt as though my body was
I left early the next morning and finally met up with the falling apart - and with reason: I found out later that I had
Coming Soon crew. We spent the afternoon at Guillaume been running a 101 degree fever the whole night. After a
and Charles Bosson's parents place, a beautiful lakeside delirious solo set that I can barely remember, I played
property, and then went to the venue, where we all hung another with Huggabroomstik, to celebrating Neil's birth-
out until the band played. Their show was fantastic. It day. Dibs was still in Europe, so we played with Neil's
was divided into a Bear Creek portion, featuring young younger brother, Luke, on guitar. After the show, I treated
Leo's songs, and a Coming Soon portion, featuring myself to a cab and, once home, slept for two months
Guillaume and Ben Lupus' songs. Charles joined the band straight.
for much of the Coming Soon portion and at the end of To Be Continued…
their set, they invited me and some others onstage to http://www.myspace.com/chrismaher
help sing the last song, "Outcast."

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 26

 Costello’s Web
online music
Dan Costello
I can’t just write about MySpace anymore. It doesn’t show off all the cool original shit people are doing on their own
webpages and other music sites. Of course, there’s lots on MySpace too, so when it works (which it sometimes
does), there is certainly some stuff to check out there. Happy Surfing!

Elastic No-No Band - “Run DMC” Garageband.com is a
semi-cool site where musicians post stuff and other
musicians rate it. Some people think Elastic No-No Band
are not exciting. But I do, and I think the lyric “why you
chasing after cleverness like a fat girl on crutches?” is a
particularly funny jibe. Garageband.com and Elastic No-
No Band are both worth checking out. Let’s storm the
castle and hang our pictures on the walls. Go sign up
and give Elastic No-No Band five stars at
garageband.com/artist/elastic
“Black Stallion”. Whoo Boy. It’s like the MC5 wrote a
rock opera.
Herman Dune - Herman Dune has this simple video for
a cover of Nina Simone’s “Black Bird”. A single camera
shot, and the lyrics scroll at the bottom. Ya Ya’s delivery
is so honest, there’s nothing extra. Their website is so
straightforward. Everyone who wants to know what a
website is supposed to do should check out
www.hermandune.com

The New Familiars (Fedor and Guthrie) - I think even a
lay-person can hear vibe between performers, even with-
out knowing what’s “different” about it. Music’s fun when
great musicians are clearly enjoying themselves. These
guys are a good reminder of that. Check out “The Storm”
at myspace.com/fedorandguthrie
Wooden Ghost - Brooklyn Psychedelic Rock. I enjoy
the Neil Young vibe but more than that, I enjoy the re-
lentless bass guitar notes in the breakdown on “Last
Chance”. It’s like having a subwoofer for an alarm clock.
Check it out at woodenghost.com
Elliot Jack is a quartet from Birmingham, UK. They sound
like Nick Drake and Antony and the Johnsons with some
really cool samples. Lush, warm arrangements and
electronica never fit so well together. Listen to “Do Things
That Scare You” and the others at myspace.com/elliotjack
The New York Howl is punk and soul outfit featuring
the wonderful Brer Brian. They have this Doors-meets-
in-Asbury-Park-at-Jack-White’s-house sort of groove.
Grimy guitars, classic church keyboards, and great bari
sax layers matched with poetic hooks. They have a re-
ally startling video of their music behind a Betty Boop
cartoon and some hula dancers at myspace.com/
thenewyorkhowl. But what you really wanna hear is
Michal Towber - In mid-December a group called
Witchfinder General came through Sidewalk Cafe. To add
to the confusion, there was a heavy metal band in the
80’s that also took the name of that low-budget, UK hor-
ror cult classic. But the band at Sidewalk was all young
and thrilling and shit. And not heavy metal, either. They’re
the new band fronted by Michal Towber, a noteworthy
New York City songwriter in her own right. Go to
www.michalmusic.com and catch up. It’s well done stuff.
Randi Russo - Speaking of well done... The tracks I’ve
heard from the new album Shout Like A Lady sound re-
ally polished, but that doesn’t mean boring like main-
stream crap (Does anyone else have bad dreams about
A&R men who say, “You just need a little polish...”?).
Polished like thoughtful, meaning the mics were in the
right places to capture great sounds. And you can really
hear it on “Dead Horse, Live Ground” at myspace.com/
randirusso
Jason Trachtenberg and Julie LaMendola -”Giving
Kisses”. Trachtenberg usually writes obscure pop bal-
lads based on photographic slides. Julie LaMendola (of
Ching Chong Song) usually writes nonsequitor operatic
rants accompanied by piano and saw. This is a match
made in AntiHeaven. I mean, I can’t even tell you. Just
fucking listen. They make no sense and all the sense
there ever was. myspace.com/trachtenbergandlamendola

The selection of artists reviwed above is 100% subjective. You wanna submit your online presence for shout-out in
UF? Email me at urbanfolkzine@gmail.com and I’ll check you out. As long as you aren’t one those snobs who put
“40-second song samples” up for streaming. Whole songs only, yo. With the volume of submissions getting larger,
we can’t reply to everyone, and we won’t write about everyone, but we are listening, fo’ shizzle.
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 27
 America Speaks Out!
Oldtime AntiFolkie on various subjects...
Michael McHugh aka McQ/Mike America

Michael McHugh, one of the original East Village artists, is still vitally involved in music. As a booker, poet, host and
rockstar, McHugh (Sometimes, McQ, sometimes Mike America) has been connected with that which is urban folk
pretty much forever. Here, then, are some poems, some reviews, some musings... a veritable clearinghouse of old
school AntiFolk ideas... Enjoy.
Remembering the C-Note

The AntiFolk Fest kick off out in Tompkins Square Park
was decent last Saturday. There were solid acts like Anne
Husick on the bill. Being one of the “Pioneer Artists of
the Antifolk Movement” myself, I felt I should review the
annual summer ‘AntiFolk Fest’ which featured Suzanne
Vega headlining at the Sidewalk Cafe last night.
I have to give credit to The Fort’s “AntiFolk head honcho”
Lach for getting Suzanne Vega to play in a dark cramped
East Village room… for the tipjar! My first chance to see
her for free in a quarter century. But it was not to be. Of
course, Vega’s upcoming CD is supposed to feature
(some of her first recorded) topical post-9/11 songs, and
she’s trying to establish “cred” with “East Village
Hipsters.” 25 years after Vega rose to pop stardom from
out of the ashes of the dying West Village folk scene
she has finally embraced the AntiFolk movement! She’s
spent plenty of time hanging with West Village song-
sters like Jack Hardy. Now she’s come over to hang with
that AntiFolk Pied Piper named Lach in his domain.
Unfortunately, I didn’t stay for the show. It was too
crowded. No seats left and little standing room. The act
that was on (Olivia Mojica) was barely audible and the
room was too mobbed. I would have stayed if it weren’t
for that stupid wall that divides the room making anyone
who can’t get a seat inside unable to see the stage when
entering the room. If Ronald Reagan were alive today
and hanging out on the “AntiFolk Scene” he would say:
“Mr. Lach... tear down that wall.”
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Befriend us!
myspace.com/urbanfolkzine
The C-Note on 157 Avenue C closed a year ago with an
all night open mic hosted by fave MCs Lorraine Leckie,
Jon Berger and Dylan Nirvana. Some highlights: Julian
Velard played early gigs at The C-Note and now is a
staple at The Bowery Ballroom and Joe’s Pub - he came
back and did some great songs on that ole C-Note pi-
ano. Lorraine Leckie played a great set and one of
America’s best songwriters - David Massengill (Joan Baez
covered him) played toward the end of the night. It was
great hearing and seeing old pals Kathy Zimmer, Jenn
Richman, Canada Anne, Tamara Hey and of course -
John Hodel. Things ended as they started - with the
singer/songwriters.
Over eight and a half years I booked such a range of acts
- from that back-up singer from a local pop act doing
opera over dance tracks, to latin rock and jazz, modern
and post-modern and classic jazz, blues, bluegrass,
country (Lambchop, Jack Grace, The Cobble Hillbillies),
folk, cutting edge new acoustic (Regina Spektor and
Rachael Sage both played the C-Note), classic new wave
(Annie Golden and The Shirts), cutting edge new alt rock
and alt pop (Breaking Laces, Brilliant Mistakes). So much
good music...
The experiment was to take acts from the West Village
who’d never even been to Avenue C and book them along
with the best acts on the exciting local scene. We had
the wild time. The room was packed a lot and we booked
so many great acts. Jules and Ira ran a good little room.
The acts loved the sound, the vibe and the backline. We’ll
miss it. Well - it’s time for me to go west - ”bringing it all
back home.” The C-Note was my first chance at booking
a room but the other bookers - Dan Herman, Dayna Blitz,
Frank Wood, Alan and Chris also brought in great acts.
We’ll all miss The C-Note.

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 28

The East Village is Dead “I Dig Antifolk Music”
this scene is a pale ghost I dig antifolk music and I’d love to get the chance to flail
of what it was and sing it -
I left the west village cause it sucked I think it’s the least tonal acoustic music going down
got over to the east village today!
which then moved to Brooklyn Michelle Shocked is so rootsy,
now I mostly just stay home online she’s funky just like Bootsy -
20 years ago there was a flier and she’s so glad she has a chance to play!
posted in the basement of the speakeasy I dig antifolk music it’s a whole Alphabet town thing -
the last home of the dying nyc folk scene Beck used to play for free beer there, he was a loser
the folk brothers - lach and kirk kelly proclaimed back then -
that the west village was dead but now he’s selling product and he’s a huge rock star
and they proposed to dance on it’s grave and I know he really loves to say...

now it’s 20 years later and “I dig antifolk music” - I can really crank out on that scene
the east village is dead I think I can play twisted songs if you know what I mean
it died after 9/11 but if you’re stuff’s well crafted,
it died after the smoking ban most likely you’ll be blasted
it died after landlords jacked their rents because this music’s a primal scream!
and everybody moved to Brooklyn or the moon
or wherever they are now I dig antifolk music -
they sure aren’t coming to new york city to hear live music Joe Bendik’s Acoustic Hardcore now -
the east village dead antifolk was too mellow for him -
sutra live music shows die he’s punked out yes and how -
cbgb’s died with patti smith’s show But Joie Dead Blonde Girlfriend no longer has green hair
continental has no more live music now
it’s a ghost town and Hodel’s playing the Sidewalk oh wow!
the clubs are shutting down
the tourists who own the condos I dig antifolk music and I’d love to get a chance to play
don’t come out to hear music and sing it -
thanks mayor bloomie and yer developer cronies I think it’s the most honest cool sound going down today
for ruining nyc night life but if we really say it our radio can’t play it
because the music’s too underground hey!
the east village is dead
you want vibrant culture? I dig antifolk music -
go to paris or london or somewhere else Lach and the Trachtenbergs are the rage -
here it’s just starbucks and the gap they’re got a cool hip stylee - they command the stage -
you want culture? and now those Service Monkeys (Service Monkeys)
one word: williamsburg they really think they’re funky (so funky)
all those pseudo-hipsters dressed like matisyahu - but are they really ready to say...
that ain’t hip!
“I dig antifolk music - it’s a whole world wide movement
the punk scene was hip
I hear -
the beats were hip
on several continents they’ll play it for free beer -
the hippies were hip
The radio plays a token - but now Beck and Michelle
the sidewalk in it’s time was hip
have spoken and sung
now it’s the father and the son playing to five antifolkies
it seems like just a cult following career!”
the c-note was hip
now it’s a critically lauded burger joint
Oh I dig antifolk, I dig antifolk music,
i’m still hip but i’m surrounded by a sea of corporate
I dig antifolk music...
squares
the east village is dead visit us: urbanfolk.org
i dance on it’s grave.

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 29

 Get in the Minivan
a quick one while he’s away
I.
Over the last week, I’ve been traveling through New En-
gland for the first time in my life (not including one trip to
Boston two years ago, for a show that barely happened
and therefore doesn’t count). Ivan Sandomire and I left
town for what I called the “A Quick One While He’s Away
Tour 2006,” largely because it’s only two weeks long,
and was happening mostly because Ivan was visiting us
from California, and we convinced him to come on a road
trip.
I’m traveling from town to town (which are all very close
together, strange, considering how much wide open space
there is to be had), going into all of each town’s book-
stores, accosting well-meaning rural book purveyors for
the whereabouts of back issues of McSweeney’s Quar-
terly Concern. Not sleeping enough, not eating enough,
not listening enough. Dan Treiber talks almost constantly,
mostly pontifcating on the prospects of each evening’s
show, how terrible that local act in Portland was, etc.
Ivan is very Zen-like, going into every town uncertain if
the crowds (mostly punk audiences) are going to accept
him, and accepting his fate as each show unfolds. This
is very much home away from home for me, more of the
same things that I look forward to when I go on tour.
Until Ivan gets a call from an actor buddy, offering a rela-
tively high-profile role in a new independent movie, a pros-
pect Dan and I urge him to take, even as we’re cursing
fate and the patron saint of bad timing. Strangely, we’re
close enough to home (Brattleboro, VT) to take Ivan back
to the city and pick up Dan Costello as his replacement.
We had a shift in traveling companions like this once
before, when David LK Murphy left tour last summer to
go to Germany with his sister, and Ivan joined us. That
rift wasn’t startling in the slightest, given that we antici-
pated Ivan’s arrival and Murph’s departure from the very
beginning, and, considering the twice-exploded van that
came later in that tour, change in personnel was the least
of our concerns.
This time, however, the change was a total shock.
On one hand, I’m very excited to be traveling with Dan
Costello, and I think his new album is the dog’s bollocks
(this is something my English stepfather says, which
literally means, “dog’s balls,” but is supposed to mean,
“very good”). What’s weird is the months of anticipation
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 30
Brook Pridemore
that led up to Ivan joining us again, the multitude of emails
I sent out about the tour, and the T-shirts with our names
on them that have all been wiped clean (fguratively). Al-
though the guy in High Falls had never heard my music
or Ivan’s, and was mostly disappointed that we weren’t a
cover band, he gave me quite a little bit of hassle for
showing up with a different artist than who I had originally
confrmed.
I am not disappointed that Ivan had to leave tour, and I
am certainly not disappointed that Dan rearranged his
entire life to come and play shows with me for a week,
with absolutely no notice. I have had some of the most
fun shows I’ve ever played over the last week, especially
meeting up with Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains in
Vermont, and meeting the Creepy Muffns for the first time
in New Hampshire. Rather, the development of the past
few days has left me a little shaken. As though I still
have a multitude of things to see before I’ve seen every-
thing – which is something I haven’t felt in a long time.
II.
With our change of cast joining us, we bumble around
upstate New York for a couple days, then progress into
Buffalo and Ontario.
We play at a house party in Buffalo, where we’re treated
to General Tso’s tofu and the promise of middle-of-the-
night swimming in an Olympic-sized pool. The tofu’s
edible, but the trip to the pool is nixed after we hop this
giant fence and see the pool has already been drained
for the winter – in August! Somewhere in there, I think to
myself, “It’s weird how often I get paired up with loud-ass
hardcore bands that set my teeth on edge.”
At about that moment, around the corner, the drummer
from one of the bands says to someone, “You know, it’s
really weird how often my band gets paired up with some
fuckin’ kid with a ukulele.”
I’m a big fan of Canada. I love the scenery, how every-
body there does more drugs than I do, how it’s so clean
and bland. If I could start a useless fan club for some-
thing that doesn’t already have a useless fan club (as-
suming it doesn’t), it would be for Canada.
One thing I hate, though, is crossing the border in these
enlightened times. Seems like, growing up in Detroit,
you barely had to flash your library card to go through
customs. Nowadays, we seem to get hassled on at least
one of the crossings, if not both. The first time I went into
the Great White North for gigs, we got stopped and ha-
rassed on the way back through, locked in this office
with an agent saying, over and over and in different ways,
“How many CDs did you guys sell in Canada?” And I
sweat bullets under interrogation and nearly broke. I look
out the window, and this agent goes through my guitar
case, trying to figure out if my kazoo’s a pipe.
This time, though, no problem, and we spend the after-
noon as stupid tourists at Niagara Falls with all the other
stupid tourists. What a view. I consider man’s obsession
with water that either falls off of something or gets shot
up into the air, and how, while it’s always pretty, I have
never understood it. Now I get it. Sorta.
Toronto next, and veggie dogs from street carts that have
more relishes than you could imagine. We play between
cover sets from a guy named Dave Matthews. Me and
Costello keep saying, “It’s really cool to be here in Toronto,
playing a show with Dave Matthews.” No one gets the
joke. I abandon the shit PA and play in the street, trying
to stir the locals out of their apathetic binge drinking.
Kitchener, and our friend Lucas Stagg, blur past, except
for a couple of jerkoff bands trying to keep us from play-
ing, and doing my set while one band’s tearing down and
the next one setting up. We return to the US with no
hassle, which, really, is almost as disconcerting as be-
ing stopped.
Typically, when I gig, I go through Detroit at the end of
the trip, to give the trip a homecoming feel, see old friends,
etc. We do the same thing on this trip, but seeing how
this tour was so short, the homecoming feels premature,
like, “Hey, I can’t be almost home. I haven’t even lost ten
pounds yet!”
I hear that KISS song, “Detroit Rock City,” in the venue,
and discover that the main riff is almost the same as
“Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” by Spinal Tap. Even
though Kiss wrote “Detroit Rock City” a full decade
before Tap came into non-existence, I
still hold them responsible
for stealing
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 31
from Christopher Guest. Tell me: why’s Kiss always got
to rip off the Tap?
Next: we make the first trip back to Columbus, OH since
the disaster three years ago, when we pull in to the High
Five, a local punk club that in the middle of a manage-
ment-change and a transition into a gay bar. What this
means to us, strangers in town, is there are two people
(the porter and the bartender) at the club. The owner of a
competing room walks in the door and offers us a better
gig. We drive across town, are politely but resolutely re-
fused stage time by the presiding band, and walk out-
side to find our van being towed away by local grease-
monkeys.
I start to get jealous of Dan Costello. For a long time, I’ve
been taking this travel thing for granted. I’ve been spend-
ing every day out of New York stuffed in the van, my nose
buried in a book – usually the same book over and over –
waiting impatiently for the next town, where I don’t talk to
anybody, just stuffed in a corner, drinking myself stupid.
Every night. It’s almost like I’ve begun to resent traveling,
even though this is supposed to be the part of my life
that I look forward to.
This is Dan’s first series of days on the road, and I’m
envious of his wide-eyed approach to the whole thing. I
forgot a long time ago that this van-life is something that
a lot of singers don’t ever get to do (Treiber and I once
assessed that only about five percent of the thousands
of small bands and folksingers in the US ever tour). I’ve
been lazy (even though I booked this particular tour my-
self), and I’ve been irresponsible with the task of deliver-
ing my songs to new people. I’m largely miserable in my
life at home (when I told my Dad about how I don’t think
I’m as happy as I was before, he pointed out to me that I
hated Michigan, too), and I’m self-sabotaging on the road.
Dan seems to love it all - Costello, not Treiber.
On the last date out of the city, we leave Columbus at
6AM to drive straight through to Baltimore. In attempting
to book the show, I agreed to come to a house and play
sets during this couple’s baby shower. I thought, “Punk
Rock Baby Shower? Awesome!,” even though the kid
kept saying stuff like, “I can’t reallly guarantee that this
is gonna be a good gig. It’s gonna be all about my friend
having a baby, and all the great times she’s got to come.”
In a fit of desperation for a gig, combined with the novelty
of it all, I agreed to the show.
Arriving in Baltimore, which has always struck me as a
grittier version of Old New York (with more crime and
tons of dogshit), the scene looks unpromising. No one’s
at the door (of the gigantic warehouse, a la the shelled-
out walkups in Bushwick), so we stand around my friend
Kevin’s car – also his home. Kevin, the only guy in town
we know, tells us to park on the bridge (over an inactive
(continued on page 39)
 Subway Stories
if you’ve taken public transportation,
then this has happened to you!
XVIII.
I wish I had headphones. If you’re reading this, Santa,
and it gets published before Christmas (or even after,
and you’re got a Good Gifts for Tardy Boys program or
something), keep in mind: I need headphones.
I’m relatively new to the MTA, but not so new that I haven’t
seen the “entertainers,” guys like UF’s own Brer Brian,
who go up and down the middle of the train, playing their
songs, busking for tips. Sometimes, they’re good; some-
times they’re bad, always they’re distracting, taking my
focus away from the pornographic comic books I too fre-
quently carry.
On my own late night green line, there’s an old guy, with
a horrible laugh, and he usually stumbles on the Ex-
press, and he proceeds to fail to play for stop after stop.
I can’t tell if he’s drunk, or senile, or comedic, or nuts
(I’m betting the latter). He cracks corny jokes, occasion-
ally diddles a tiny tune on his Casio, but mostly he just
focuses attention upon himself. He may ask for money,
but it’s clearly a sideline to being center stage. He’s onto
something. The train, especially late night, can be an
excellent room to find a captive audience, where atten-
dance is mandatory and escape difficult. He’s got a good
little scheme going.
I fucking hate him. I’ve got a book to read (Wait, did I
already admit to the Tijuana Bibles? Never mind) and
important thoughts to enjoy and appreciate. I’m usually
just coming from a club where I was already listening to
music I didn’t like; why would I want a repeat on the
train? Where are my headphones?
everreviledrecords.com
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 32
Jonathan Berger
After a couple of journeys suffering through this keyboard
playing nut job, I decided enough was enough. One late
rainy night, when I saw him coming on my uptown ride, I
stood up and headed for the doors to the next car.
“You forgot your umbrella!” he called out from the center
of the train.
“Thanks,” I muttered, and rushed back for the necessary
retrieval. The umbrella had sentimental value (I stole it
from Breadfoot). I picked it up and headed out again.
“You know I’m just going that way next,” he said, adding,
“heh heh heh.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I replied, and doubled back for the
opposite door. I sat down in my new, quiet car, opened
up my bag, and began to read.
“Wonder Woman,” I said, “How do you do it?”
XIX.
So blissed was I, I guess, that I didn’t notice my train
was running express in the Bronx until I reached Hunts
Point, and had to double back to get home. As I waited
for the downtown local, I saw a familiar ragged keyboard-
carrying man, glancing my way, double-taking, and then
approaching.
“You’re the one!” he shouted, all humor gone, “You’re the
one who left. Why did you do that? Why did you leave?”
“I didn’t want to hear your show,” I said.
“It all fucked up after that,” he cried, “Some dyke bitch
started yelling at me, wouldn’t let me sing.”
“Okay,” I said, “But I didn’t want to hear it.”
“If someone’s going to make the effort to try to sing and
perform, and, and everything, you should let them.”
“I did let you,” I replied, “I just didn’t want to be there.”
“You motherfucker,” he yelled, but I didn’t quite hear,
because the train came in. He entered, and so did I,
and we continued our discourse.
“I got a right!” he bellowed, “I got a right to do my thing!”
I didn’t touch the fact that we were not a willing audi-
ence, that we didn’t ask to hear him, that his art wasn’t
particularly good. I didn’t bring up any of that. I just
said, “Maybe you’ve got a right to perform, but that
doesn’t mean I have to listen.”
And I reached my stop, and I got off, and I haven’t seen
the guy since.
 Record Reviews
Send to J. Berger - 1119 Longwood Avenue - Bronx, NY 10474
by the editorial collective (unless otherwise noted...)
Breadfoot featuring Anna Phoebe
Teo with Leo
This album of acoustical instrumentals from New York’s
quiet guitarist Breadfoot and Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s
British Anna Phoebe has only seven tracks, but they’re
all wonderful.
This simple and elegant release could be the soundtrack
of a simple and beautiful movie, like Brokeback Moun-
tain, where emotion and pain underlie most every frame.
It’s good. It may not always rivet your attention, but it’s
fine driving music for a long, lonesome trip. And
Breadfoot’s liner notes are in his imitable down-home
style; always a treat. Tea with Leo is one strong brew,
and I ain’t lyin’.
http://breadfoot.com/
Casey Holford
All Young and Beautiful
In one of the Talking Heads’ most famous songs, the
narrator asks, “Say something once, why say it again?”
After listening to Casey Holford’s latest CD, one is
tempted to answer that, by saying it again, you find you’re
saying something else. That answer might seem a little
ethereal, but bear with me.
There’s a lot of repetition on All Young and Beautiful.
This isn’t such a shock; after all, most pop songs are
built to be memorable for their repeated hooks, and the
album is definitely pop music at its most crowd-pleas-
ing. That is assured by Holford’s constantly inventive
guitar-playing and seemingly 80s-inspired candy-coated
production, which somehow refuses to be cheesy.
But what Holford seems to do on this album, besides
making some of the hookiest damn songs this side of
Top 40 radio, is to use repetition to explore what else he
can get those pesky words to do for him. As an example,
he obviously found the title “Something’s Wrong” so
fraught with possibility that the album features two en-
tirely different songs with that name back to back.
Within the songs too, he seems to be constantly repeat-
ing phrases but he uses the opportunity to mutate their
sounds into different musical shapes. The best example
is probably in his tale of youthful facial hair “Beard Song,”
where he talks briskly about the girls who wanted him to
shave his beard or grow it different ways. Finally he says,
“Then I met a girl from Sa-a-an Diego,” and the song
lingers for a moment. He repeats, “Then I met a girl from
San. Dee. Ay. Go.” And again: “I met this girl from San
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 33
Di-AAAAY-go,” before finally delivering the punch line,
“She wants me to grow it my way.” At this point this line
is such a hard-won victory that Holford celebrates by sing-
ing the phrase “My way” ten or twenty more times. The
repetition here is more than just playful melodic experi-
mentation, it creates dramatic tension.
This exploration of what Holford can get the sounds of
words to do seems like an extension of what he does
with his lyrics. Holford’s songs mostly seem to be about
what it’s like to live. It’s a pretty big topic, so Holford
explores it through a lot of little topics: what it’s like to
move, what it’s like to get your feet soaked in a storm,
what it’s like to get bombarded by junk mail, what it’s
like to ride the Cyclone. The cumulative effect creates a
portrait not just of the songwriter, but of the experience of
post-collegiate adulthood, as viewed with a childlike cu-
riosity. (Justin Remer)
caseyholford.com
Dan Costello
Halloween Baby
AntiFolk favorite son
Dan Costello, the pi-
ano-playing, hip-hop
swinging, show-tune
loving October 31
birthday boy, said he’d
be able to release his
album a month after
he went into the stu-
dio, and by god if he didn’t succeed. He speedily pro-
duced (well, Ben Godwin produced it, but still…), then
released an album of varied arrangements and exciting
songs, selected, as most debuts are, from his entire back
catalog. There’s the party sound coming from tracks like
“This is the Last Time (The Pot Song)” and the title track,
there’s the atmospheric depression of “Maria with the
Long Legs” and “Be Your Man,” and, of course, there’s
the blue-eyed rap “Stuck Outta Luck.” This release goes
everywhere that Dan Costello songs go, representing his
schizophrenic style quite ably. At times, Halloween Baby
hews close to one character, then spins violently onto a
different track. Was this his intent? Probably. Does it
always work? Nope. The songs are not segregated into
distinct units (his categories: jam songs, jazz songs,
acoustic songs), nor are they integrated fully, to effect
effortless transition from cut to cut. The album, as a whole,
is somewhat jarring, particularly when “Be Your Man”
transforms the mood away from party, and into some-
thing fatr more atmospheric, or when “Eyes Open Wide”
goes into “The Pot Song.”
Of course, this is faint critique indeed.( “Dan, your artis-
tic vision is too wide; you’re just too good a songwriter…”)
In any case, the mild complaint speaks to the songs not
at all. Some of them are cool. It’s hard to listen to “Stuck”
without bobbing your head, the most rhythmic effort we
urban folk are ever known to make. “Hiring Man” keeps
it’s chant-along impact on the record, which is no small
feat. And while I’ve never particularly liked “The Pot Song,”
it certainly has the proper woozy boozy arrangement,
straight off of Blonde on Blonde. Costello’s voice, so
strong on stage, sometimes flattens out on the album,
like on “I’m Sorry.” Nonetheless, Halloween Baby serves
as a powerful showcase of his art to date.
www.dancostellomusic.com
Elastic No-No Band
The Very Best Of Elastic No-No Band So Far (’04-’06)
Elastic No-No Band, aka Justin Remer, has been bounc-
ing around town for over two years now, handing out
demos, wearing his bathrobe, basically making a nui-
sance of himself. His low-key joke-folk is funny enough,
sure, but the slacker ideology behind it seems to sabo-
tage people’s interest. Yeah, yeah, we get the name; it’s
a play on Elephant’s Memory. And you look best in the
morning, messy and unkempt: the whole hippie thing.
We understand. Can we move on now?
But ENB will not let us move on, not just yet. With the
release of this “greatest hits” package, the man has cho-
sen the best of his thousands of mp3s (his website cur-
rently holds 51, no doubt some sort of alien depot refer-
ence) to showcase on a real, honest-to-goodness CD,
with a cover and everything. Perhaps this is Remer’s at-
tempt at credibility.
But even this, ENB’s desperate plea for respectability,
still smacks of limited commitment. Most of the songs
selected continue to sound like demos. While some in-
clude the added accompaniment of live band mates
Preston Spurlock (of the Sewing Circle) and Herb Scher
(of Urban Folk), the sound is still very much the work of
a man who, according to his bio, just likes “making lo-fi
CD-R albums for his friends.”
It’s sort of a shame Remer doesn’t take himself and his
humor more seriously. “Let’s Fuck” is even better than
the title suggests (“I just like to hang out with my duck.
Well, that was a stupid rhyme. Never mind. Let’s fuck”).
“You Think It’s Wrong” is the right direction in all ways.
Remer develops the mood of a sensitive song with a lilt-
ing melody and an optimistic attitude (“But being tone-
deaf is OK, you were probably born that way. It’s called
amusia, and there’s nothing that you can do, so just
accept it; it’s a part of you. Oooh…”), plus the multi-
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 34
tracked choruses at the end… Beautiful. “Jeanette is
Working” is another example of ENB trying to get out
from under Allan
Sherman’s shadow.
The production re-
mains demo-low.
Even with the band,
it’s like Remer just
pushes the start but-
ton and goes for it.
It’s even unclear if the
greatest hits are just
that. Spending some
time at Remer’s site
with his scads of
demos is a rewarding
experience. Maybe, then, this cry for attention is less a
statement of what he has already accomplished, and
more a hint at what is to come; the artist is not empha-
sizing the irony of The Very Best, but rather the promise
of So Far. (Jonathan Berger)
www.elasticnonoband.com
Frank Hoier
Love Is War
Frank Hoier fits into a familiar New York folk singer per-
sona. He plays acoustic guitar and wears his harmonica
around his neck. He busks the subways and the parks
with an open guitar case for tips. His songs draw heavily
on traditional folk and blues. Hoier’s new release, Love
Is War, recorded at Olive Juice studios, is free of bells
and whistles, capturing the artist in nine solo perfor-
mances.
What’s notable about Frank Hoier is that he does the job
exceptionally well. His songs are all catchy and melodic.
His arrangements are minimal and tasteful. And best of
all, Hoier has a beautiful voice that evokes all the sweet-
ness, humility, and genuineness that audiences have
come to sense in him, as a musician and as a person.
Kindness and likeability shine from the disc’s opening
track, “41st St Blues,” where Frank gives loving shout
outs to all the girls with casts, eye patches, and panic
attacks. While many New York songwriters branching
from the Dylan archetype come off as hacks, Frank Hoier
has a distinct magnetism, and is currently one of the
city’s best in this vein.
The nagging thought when I hear Love Is War is that
maybe Frank’s love for traditional blues and folk is pre-
venting him from challenging himself. His songs and per-
formances are great, but now that he’s mastered arith-
metic, it’s time for him to start multiplying. Beck and
Jack White are two great artists who started in a similar
place. Beck found his voice through weird humor, irony,
and hip-hop. Jack White played super loud and aggres-
sively. If Frank Hoier can find his own twist on the rudi-
ments that he’s mastered, there’s no telling what beauty
will come from this skillful and authentic folk singer.
www.myspace.com/frankhoier
Jeffrey Lewis
Tapes from the Crypt
Tapes from the Crypt documents the early musical ef-
forts of one of the Lower East Side’s most compelling
artists, Jeffrey Lewis. AntiFolk historians will delight at
hearing the stylistic blueprint of Lewis’s sound, which
has steadily gained attention from 1997 to present. As
the title implies, the music is delivered in beautiful lo-fi
rawness.
Jeff’s wordy, super-analytical lyrics are in full effect on
“Bite the Bullet (Get a Job)” (“I’ll live with my parents,
share a room with my brother, bring a peanut butter sand-
wich to lunch...”) Early delving into unconventional song
topics (“The Complete History of Jeff’s Sexual Conquests,
vol. 1") and noise rock (“Gravity Sue”) are here, as well.
“Together We Form” Jeff features Jeff playing music back
and forth with a boom box recording of himself (Jeff1:
“you’re really not that good at that sort of playing” Jeff2:
“shut up!”). “Flippity Floppity” hints at Jeff’s humble be-
ginnings (“they played at open mic nights across the
land, and they never made much money, but they had a
lot of fun”). His Name Is Water is a nice peek into the
bizarre sort of track that musicians usually keep to them-
selves.
As for flaws, “Songs about Songwriting” gets old fast,
perhaps appropriately. “Clyde and Alyda”’s lengthy nar-
rative is the least interesting on the CD. Beyond these
small bumps, Tapes from the Crypt remains easily one
of the best demo collections I’ve ever heard.
http://www.thejeffreylewissite.com/
Jonathan Berger
96
Jonathan Berger’s got something new to sell. It’s a book
of poetry. I think it’s his best of the year. You should go
out right now and buy it, immediately. Put the paper down
right and find Jon Berger and buy his product. Pay double
if you have to. So? What the hell’re you waiting for? GO!
(Jonathan Berger)
myspace.com/jonathanberger
Just About To Burn
Just About To Burn
So the Mighty Paleface got together with a girl named
Monica and an elusive guitar player known as Breadfoot.
Paleface had the songs, Breadfoot had the notes, and
Monica played the drums like Meg White had taken a
couple more lessons. Their songs had a country feel,
and the lyrics were the finest pages out of the PF
songbook. And then, they just kind of stopped.
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 35
Right around the opening date of the 2004 Summer
AntiFolk Festival, Just About to Burn was suddenly mi-
nus a Breadfoot. Paleface and Monica wrote up an hour’s
worth of new songs and made their public debut without
a musical director. A long time went by, and the band
fluctuated before recruiting Lenny Molotov on lead and
steel guitars.
Nowadays, Just About to Burn sounds very swampy, like
Credence had their heyday in New York rather than SF.
JATB is an incredibly
solid, danceable live
band these days.
This CD, titled simply
Just About to Burn, is
the original trio, PF,
Breadfoot and Monica,
ten country songs, lyr-
ics about relationships
and New York City.
The eponymous Just
About to Burn album
is a great snapshot of
a band finding its sound. It’s also a great flyer for what
they have the potential to become. (Brook Pridemore)
http://palefaceonline.com/
Langhorne Slim
When The Sun’s Gone Down
When I saw Langhorne Slim at the Sidewalk Café some
years ago, I heard his high, nasal, plaintive, annoying
voice and walked out. The music left no impression on
me, the voice was a joke. Now, after hearing When The
Sun’s Gone Down, I’m forced to admit that Mr. Slim does,
in fact, possess talent.
His voice becomes appreciably better when given the
right musical environment. It’s my opinion that on this
recording, Langhorne Slim has found what works for him:
simple, tasteful, arrangements that drive the music along.
His methods are basic, usually consisting of drums,
banjo, guitar, bass – and, less often, organ and trom-
bone. He employs these instruments in a variety of styles,
from a rollicking, bluegrass-inflected, hoe-down to lyric-
oriented guitar-driven folk. His voice is still high, but the
instrumentation emphasizes its pleasant and emotional
aspects. While our Mister Slim has undoubtedly grown
as a musician, however, he must still grow as a
songwriter. The best song and centerpiece of this disc,
“Checking Out,” was written by James Jackson Tothe.
Though Langhorne does an admirable job of taking own-
ership of the song, it’s still a shame that his own lyrics
fail to compare. It seems that he is bogged down in trite
generalizations that limit the listener’s attachment.
Hopefully, by the time his next full-length record is re-
leased, he’ll have developed a more personal and idio-
syncratic style of songwriting to go along with his perfor-
mance. Until that time, Langhorne Slim is still a very
enjoyable folk and bluegrass inflected troubadour. (Jon
Glovin)
http://langhorneslim.com/
Lowry
Live in Atlanta (Unplugged)
Alex Lowry has an ear for production. He’d been playing
for months in NYC solo, before putting together his
AntiFolk supergroup Lowry, which is when it all came
together. Whether it’s the quality of players (Both Bow-
man twins and Steve Waitt have been in the Lowry tour-
ing company), or the arrangements he dictated, the whole
is certainly greater than the sum of its parts. Awful Joy,
the Lowry studio concoction, got rave notices right here
and elsewhere, and variations of the combo have been
touring off of the release ever since. But how is the show
on tour? Can Lowry bring it on stage? Live in Atlanta
seeks to answer that question… and does so, quite suc-
cessfully in the affirmative.
The band sounds amazing. The arrangements are fre-
quently stunningly beautiful, with the Bowman harmo-
nies and strings adding layers to songs that sound so
much better in more orchestrated settings. The material
is nothing new to the Lowry fan, mostly replicating cuts
from the Joy, calling into question the purpose of this live
disc. That studio album’s producer, ET Feigenbaum, edits
and masters this one, and, while some of the transitions
at songs’ ends and beginnings sound amateurish, the
overall sound is excellent. The next big question is will
Lowry maintain the excellence on future releases? It ap-
pears the band changes line-ups like some Urban Folk
writers change shorts (once a month or so), will his next
set of collaborators live up to the promise of this batch?
Time and fans will tell.
A fascinating metatextual aspect of the album arises at
those same transitions. The audience at Eddie’s Attic
sounds perhaps ten strong, and the applause following
each piece is slight, and somewhat sad, considering the
obvious effort put into the art. Which doesn’t make Live
in Atlanta any less powerful a document, but a some-
what stranger one.
lowrymusic.com
Matt Singer
All Us Heathens
Matt Singer is all about words. All Us Heathens, his most
fully realized recording to date, hops between rock and
hip-hop, bluegrass and jazz, while somehow still holding
its ground as a solid folk record. His songs change topic
like most people breathe, jumping from the awkwardness
of childhood to love, to Jesus, to Jews, to welfare reform,
to the hand of judgment to trick-or-treating on Hallow-
een, and back to being “the awkward fat kid.” Whereas
his last full length, Sublimation, unfolded over a simple
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 36
background of acous-
tic guitar and standup
bass, and 2004’s
“White Men, Grey
Suits” single split the
difference between
acoustic folk and
heavy beat hip hop,
“All Us Heathens”
finds Matt Singer
dressed in a more
rustic outfit. Think
Bringin’ It All Back
Home meets Fear of a Black Planet meets A Prairie
Home Companion. Yes, this is one complex package.
The lyrics jump, the genres drift, and All Us Heathens is
highly recommended. (Brook Pridemore)
www.mattsinger.com
Paul Alexander
Despite All You Have Planned
Paul Alexander, in his years on the acoustic scene, has
always been a solo player. Sure, there’s been the occa-
sional mewlings, like, “Oh, I’ve got these jazz guys who
want to back me up. They’re monsters. Really great.”
Did they ever actually back the boy? Not that I know. In
fact, Paul Alexander seems to lie all the time. He’s been
talking about this album of his for… well, as long as Ur-
ban Folk’s been coming out, and that’s, like, months
now. Will he ever get it done? Ever?
Looks like he did. Despite All You Have Planned finally
arrived in the early Fall, and it is a doozy. If you’ve been
listening to his material at open mics like DTUT or Match-
less or his own local club, the Creek and Cave, then
you’ve probably heard most of the material, though he
has a propensity to play the same “hits” over and over
again. The album, understandably, digs deeper, and wid-
ens his sonic palate dramatically.
Ably produced and played by Benjy King, the ten songs
sound gloriously slick, reimagining Alexander’s basic solo
songs into orchestral exercises. The material divides
evenly between romantic ballads and songs of self-actu-
alization. The latter suffer from the typical problem of the
form. After all, more sophisticated people don’t want to
write silly love songs, but how deep do you expect to get
in 200 seconds of pop? Still, Alexander attempts the
profound, sometimes hoping for a better world by being a
better man (“Flood me with sincerity,” he sings in “Who I
Am”).
The release is generally genial, but occasionally, the
claws come out. In “Honestly,” he states, point of fact,
“You will never be what you were meant to be.” The song
transforms from humble beginnings into an inadvertent
nihilist chant.
Some of the love songs, too, become starkly bitter. “Bye
Bye” begins with “Caught in your shit today,” and cho-
ruses “I just can’t live this times when it feels so good to be down,” but also
lie.” The music builds to tells the listener “Where you wanna go, it’s all in
create a haunting docu- your mind.” It’s a choice to be happy, it seems, one
ment of heartache. that Russo is not yet prepared to make.
Most of the songs are Other choices are made on this CD. Shout takes
positive, though. Par- bigger chances than any earlier Russo release with
ticularly sweet is “You’re some successes, and some failures. The title track
the One,” with a slow, is liltingly melodic, building from slow acoustic be-
sincere delivery pre- ginnings to a martial stomp with musical flourishes
senting an environment that never disguise the somewhat simplistic rhyme
for this potent love song scheme. Still, the song’s quiet feminism makes a
that risks schmaltz in statement that may well be the album’s declaration
the chorus, but still of intent: developing conscious woman rock. “West
achieves powerful emotional intensity. Coast Girl,” a subtle attack on consumer driven culture,
This is an exquisitely constructed album, which prom- is strengthened by lyrical references to noir fiction, a genre
ises good things to come from the artist – if he can ever that also deals primarily in atmosphere, to great visceral
get that band together... (Jonathan Berger) effect. “Go West Coast,” she chants, unfeelingly, pre-
http://myspace.com/palexandermusic senting her ambivalence on her sleeve. Her punk energy
is missed, but something new has been added.
Randi Russo There’s sophistication on Shout Like a Lady, with a vari-
Shout Like a Lady ety of new, mature sonic elements. Lenny Molotov, a multi-
Hot on the heels of 2005’s Still Standing Still EP, Russo’s instrumentalist who plays guitars and keyboards through-
back with a full-length that takes her some distance from out, creates varied backgrounds that no doubt help lighten
her prior raw, gothic sound. Make no mistake, she hasn’t the mood occasionally, particularly in “Ceiling Fire.” This
changed that much. If you’re depressive, Russo is an track is dynamic, melodic, and – rare for Russo – opti-
artist to avoid – best listened to in daylight, where the mistic. The chorus lifts, a pleasant change and a high-
darkness she evokes has less reach. “Where You Wanna light of the album. It’s the kind of thing Russo should be
Go” states quite clearly in its bridge, “There are some doing more of in future releases. (Jonathan Berger)
http://www.randirusso.com/

Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 37

Trevor Exter they find a way to make their five selections musically
Water eclectic. From the surf-abilly of “Surfin’ Sewer Rat” to
This, Exter’s second al- the rootsiness and Frampton-style talking guitar of “Duck
bum during his time in a l’Orange” to the power-pop of “Baby Pigeon,” the group
AntiFolk, is his AntiFolk never fails to surprise.
album. You know: di- The highlight of this brisk, sour-note-free EP is probably
rect, honest, one man “The Manger Song,” which in a just world would become
and one instrument. a holiday standard alongside stuff like “O Rest Ye Merry,
Nothing to distract from Gentlemen.” Told from the point of view of the rams
the songs and perfor- whose Bethlehem manger was infringed upon by Jo-
mance except maybe seph and Mary, the song has the giddy feeling of a re-
some tape hiss. There ally hip nativity play – a feeling enhanced by the vocal
ain’t no tape hiss here, appearances of Dibs and Casey Holford playing a ram
though. This 7-song EP sounds great. So does his voice, and Joseph respectively. The rams and other manger
and his cello playing. It’s all good. If only… animals are told to quiet down their complaints, since, in
If only “Let Me Hold You” were more instrumentally dis- future, they’ll have bragging rights about being the first
tinct. You can barely tell that the excellent Exter is play- creatures to see Jesus and, way in the future, will be
ing some funky ass cello. It sounds like guitar here. Is turned perennially into lit-up plastic lawn ornaments.
that an accomplishment? Maybe. But it’s distracting from In a nutshell, five songs is not enough; Urban Barnyard
what his art is. needs to enter Magnetic Fields territory and deliver their
If only more tracks were like “The Money Men.” It starts own 69 Duck Songs, or something like that. (Justin
sharp, and grows beautiful through the hooky chorus, Remer)
ending with the extended croon, “I love being alone…” urbanbarnyard.com
before going into the sing-along “Na-na”s, which never
seem to quite work on stage. “Grow Up,” meanwhile, is
mean, funky, and angry. Everything a good cello song Hey!
should be. Missing copies of earlier issues of Urban Folk?
If only the album were slicker. Did you know you could get them @ the website?
This album is an admirable testament to the purity of It’s true!
Exter’s distinct and exceptional vision. Now that he’s
gotten it out of his system, just imagine what he’ll be
able to accomplish.
trevorexter.com

Urban Barnyard
That’s the Idea
Urban Barnyard is an AntiFolk supergroup comprised of
Phoebe Kreutz, Casey Holford, Dibs, and Daoud Tyler-
Ameen. Ms. Kreutz sings lead, and the songs on this 5-
song EP share the earnestly cynical funny lyrics of her
solo work. After countless listens, the line “People never urbanfolk.org
wonder where their pile of poopy went,” still forces a laugh. You can also order the print copies for two dollars
That line is from the closing track “Surfin’ Sewer Rat,” each, payable to: Jon Berger
which imagines subterranean rodents hanging ten on
1119 Longwood Avenue Bronx NY 10474
human refuse, backed by a guitar part not unsuited to a
record by… er… The Trashmen.
Urban Barnyard, as their name helpfully indicates, per-
forms songs about animals in the city. The lyrical ap-
proach is generally to humanize the animals in question,
or maybe to animalize the humans. For instance, the
tune “Baby Pigeon” can be heard as a funny song about
a mama bird feeding her young, but with lines like “If
you’re not real, then who’ve I been throwing up into?,” it’s
hard not to suspect the song’s also about acting mater-
nal in a person-based romantic relationship. Or drop us a line at urbanfolkzine@gmail.com
Though Urban Barnyard’s focus is solely animal songs,
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 38
 stories completed - by paul alexander,
dan costello, brook pridemore...
Alexander & Costello - continued from page 7
and we kind of lost ourselves in it.
Paul: Yeah, very well said.
Dan: And the next one is going to be a lot more us.
Paul: It's going to reflect the new us, and we're different
people - we're different people every day. I'm going to
have a lot more of an idea about what has to go on the
album. We have all these ideas, it's so distracting to boil
down what you're supposed to be capturing in that docu-
ment.
Dan: Yeah, our next records will be better because of the
last one.
Paul: Yes. Very true.
Dan: But making a first record, it's hard.
Paul: But I had a good time doing it.
Pridemore - continued from page 28
stretch of highway, completely deserted, supposedly the
only legal parking around), warns us the gig probably
will suck, and leads us to an internet cafe. When we
finally enter apartment building, we’re told our friend noise
musician Dan Deacon, lives there. Neither Treiber nor I
have the guts to knock on his door, ‘though Treiber swears
it’s me being a pussy.
At the party, our hopes sink lower and lower. The house
has the same, shelled-out feeling as the rest of Balti-
more. The residents tell us there’ll be food soon, and
we’ll play sets for everybody, but nobody ever feeds us,
and different party games – like a bike race around Bal-
timore (great for us out-of-towners) keep pushing us fur-
ther back. When I see the baby shower recipient, she
seems ecstatic to have so many friends helping her cel-
ebrate, and then looks puzzled, even harangued, by our
presence. We killed ourselves, driving from the ass-crack
of dawn, to wait hours on the pleasure of a pregnant
lady, and then not play. We eventually leave Maryland
for home, tails between our legs. For the first time ever,
I’m jealous of the punks in Baltimore.
We play a few in-town gigs over the next few days, and
I come to miss touring, like always. I wish I had a good
story about touring – every previous trip, I have at least
one incredible experience. Five months later, I’m still
thinking about how jealous I am of Dan Costello’s wide-
eyed amazement of the road, and all those piss-poor
kids of Baltimore, who had everything, and nothing, all
at once.

Currently in pre-
production of a
feature film
entitled
Talkin’
New
York
featuring
artists
and music on
the Antifolk scene.
Urban Folk Issue Number Nine - Page Number 39
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