The Kieffers - Santa Fe

Whistling all the way down to see Andrew Bird

chad — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:57:56 +0000

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Andrew Bird with violin in concert Category:Andrew Bird (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The boys and I saw Andrew Bird last week in his first concert here in Santa Fe. The shows at The Lensic always sound great and this was no exception. As we walked back to the car after the show, Owen commented on how his ears weren't ringing like they were after we saw Rush, and I could hear what he was saying perfectly well. I now have a strong preference for seeing quieter artists in smaller venues, and this show reinforced this bent further.

Andrew, the consumate whistler, was challenged by the thin air here at 7,200 feet. Fortunately, he paced himself, took time to hydrate, and completed a great two hour set. When he was done, he looked a hell of lot healthier than the weathered and worn Todd Rundgren, who I'd seen a few weeks earlier.

The stage was lit with slowly morphing primary colors. Three intricate polygon spirals slowly spun above the stage projecting shadows alongside silhouettes of the band on the expansive white backdrop. Andrew's trademark two-headed phonograph horns sat spinning upon amplifiers at the center of the stage behind the band.

Andrew didn't speak much, just a few comments here and there. He did comment on how subdued the audience was, but apparently we weren't as comatose as the crowd in Mesa, AZ the night before. Andrew's music attracts a calm listening audience who won't jump up to dance when he plays one of the few upbeat songs from his catalog, like "Break It Yourself."

I've know that Andrew makes extensive use of playback loops, but didn't fully appreciate his mastery of them until seeing him use them on stage. He started the show alone playing and recording a pizzicato rhythm on his violin, then playing the recording back on loop while layering a bow-played and whistled melody over the rhythm. Owen and Ryan were both impressed by Andrew's ability to whistle and play a xylophone in unison.

I had hoped to hear Darkmatter, Tenousness, and one of my favorites, Natural Disaster, but these didn't make it into the set. I really enjoyed hearing "Effigy", "Scythian Empires", "Give It Away", "Fatal Shore", and a fun cover of "Bein' Green." What I enjoyed the most was the band gathering around a single microphone to play bluegrass and blues covers.

I believe this is the set list, same as what he played in Mesa, AZ the night before. If you like Andrew and haven't seen him, I highly recommend catching one of his shows.

Carrion Suite
Sifters
Nyatiti
Danse Caribe
Desperation Breeds...
Polynation
Eyeoneye
Bein' Green (Kermit the Frog cover)
Lazy Projector
Acoustic Old Timey
Give It Away
Effigy
Trials, Troubles, Tribulations (E.C. Ball cover)
Dear Dirty
The Crown Salesman
Orpheo Looks Back
Plasticities
Lusitania
Scythian Empires
Fatal Shore
Tables and Chairs

Encore:
So Much Wine (The Handsome Family cover) (acoustic)
I'm Goin' Home (Charley Patton cover) (acoustic)

Twisters, Media Consolidation, and Thoughts on the Corporatizing of America

Amy — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:48:45 +0000

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So it was about 3:30 PM Saturday and the family and I were gearing up to head out to the Santa Fe Brewing Company for the Media Consolidation Panel meeting, where members of Indie 101.5 and local media were going to discuss the â€œbig boxâ€ intrusion into independent media outlets in Santa Fe. A friend of ours, who was already at the Brewing Company, called and said, "Um, just wanted to let you know that there's a tornado out here."

Pause. I asked, "What?" and he replied, "Thereâ€™s a tornado! It's out near the racetrack and we're watching it. It's pretty small, but it's on the ground ... " Then I asked him how many beers heâ€™d had.

I went outside to take a look, and sure enoughâ€”there it was, a small, skinny funnel cloud stretching from the ground to the clouds. Now, I'm from Oklahoma so my first thought was, "That's a puny looking tornado." But nonetheless, a tornado in Santa Fe County is a very rare event.

My second thought was, "Crap. This is going to affect the Media Consolidation Panel.â€ But we loaded up the family and headed out to the Brewing Company anyway. We got there to find Indie staff and other panelists and volunteers hurriedly moving the electronics from the patio to inside, which was a good thing as lightning was flaring. Once the panel discussion got going, the heavens opened up and it not only started to pour, but hail the size of half-dollars fell and covered the ground completely.

The noise of the rain and hail made it hard at times to hear what the panelists were saying, but it did not drown out the passion and vehemence of what everyone was expressing. It was moving to hear other people voicing the same concerns that we have about the potential homogenization of Santa Fe.

The times, they are a changingâ€”but there is hope. We still have a voice, and we can make it be heard. We donâ€™t have to sit by and let Santa Fe become â€œEverytown, USA.â€ If we lose all of our local media outlets to corporation conglomerates, then we lose the soul of our community. As I pointed out in my recent letter to the editor in the New Mexican, â€œhomogenization and Santa Fe do not mix.â€

A truly independent, local station should reflect the community it serves. It is the voice of the community, and it gives back to the community by advertising and promoting locally owned businessesâ€”not Home Depot, McDonaldâ€™s, or Applebeeâ€™s. As someone on the panel pointed out, for the last sixty years Santa Fe has been tourist destination because it is unique and different. We need to preserve these aspects. A tourist doesnâ€™t want to come to Santa Fe to hear ads on a â€œlocalâ€ station promoting a Great Value Meal at a chain restaurant; a tourist wants to hear about great local restaurants to visit, gallery openings, or a band playing at a local cantina.

Someone else on the panel also pointed out that Hutton Broadcasting, which claims to be â€œlocal,â€ has most of their shareholders in Florida. How much do you think those Florida shareholders know about New Mexico, much less Santa Fe?

Hutton is only concerned about their bottom-line profit, not our community, not our local businesses, nor our music lovers. They claim they will support local nonprofits and businesses, but their track record says otherwise. They give a lot of lip service in the beginning, but time will show that the big corporate bucks from national advertisers will be more prominent than local advertisers.

After the panel discussion at the Brewing Company was over, the weather started to clear up, with some sunshine out to the west. I thought it a great metaphor for what weâ€™d gone through during the panel discussion: it might be dark and dreary in this moment, but there is hope at the end.

If youâ€™re concerned about the nation-wide trend of local radio options becoming ghosts in the face of corporate profit, make your concerns known to the FCC; visit keepindiealive.com and take a few minutes to send a letter to the FCC.

Indie 101.5 may not be able to hold on to its current signal, but itâ€™s not going down without a fight. It will continue to stream live online, and the staff is searching other options for it to stay on the air. Keep in touch by visiting indie1015.com for further details.

Ryan Meets the Governor

chad — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:39:44 +0000

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Update: I was able to get the picts off the phone.

Ryan didn't have school this past Tuesday due to the mid-term election. For security reasons, schools across the country have decided that it's a big risk to have kids in class with adults coming in and out of the school to vote.

Since he was home, Amy and he came downtown to have lunch with me. We walked over to one of Amy's favorite restaurant's, The Shed. While waiting for our table I heard one of the other patron's talking about the governor and whether he called ahead when he stopped by to eat. I figured he had just left, but we wind up being seated across the room from him. I'm surprised the guy gets a meal down when he goes out, everyone in the room was asking him to take pictures with him, talking about his campaign ads, and, of course, the election.

Amy wanted to go over and say hi and had to work on Ryan to go over along with her. Ryan finally got over his shyness, they went over to the governor's table, and Ryan shook Bill Richardson's hand. Amy told me later that it made a pretty big impression on Ry who had to tell everyone about it later in the day.

If I can figure out how to get the pictures off my phone, I'll post them.

New operators and an updated format for KWRP radio

chad — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:08:16 +0000

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KWRP, a locally owned and operated radio station that I raved about last year, recently experienced a change. Broadcast Partners, LLC has taken over operations of the station under a local management agreement (LMA). The agreement is basically a lease in which the owner retains ownership of the frequency and equipment but the leasee actually operates the station.

I previously ranted that KWRP was "truly freeform", but their playlist was actually amerciana (country, alt-country, bluegrass, blues, etc.). After the switch to Broadcast Partners, KWRP's playlist is still mostly americana but now adds an eclectic mix of indie and alternative tracks.

The station has a few new sponsors but advertisements are not obtrusive and there are still no D.J.s between songs. Check out their playlist and give their new audio stream a listen at www.kwrp-1015.com.