Left Unsaid 1: A train. A book. A walk-away.

This post starts the beginning of a new, "de temps en temps" section on conversations, etc. We'll call it "Left Unsaid." I was once told by a dear professor that, more often than not, we don't say what we mean. He elaborated on how this shapes the way we converse with and relate to each another. It seems that a significant piece of this habitual mode involves leaving things unsaid. While things get left unsaid often, the reasons behind doing so, the possibilities it engages or silences, and the effects it has on relationship x and all of our other ones, range.

With each post in this series, I hope to share look closer-- listen closer, even-- to these moments. The asides in our heads. The grappling with what we said and what we wish we said. The admittance to fascinations, transgressions, transformations. The finally-reached epiphanies. The not-so-epiphanies that help wipe the snow or bird poop off our windshields (or the windshields of others). The thank yous that are too weighty, necessary, or late. Flirtations with a person, place, or idea. The grounding of a conviction with words. This is a humble list that offers some of the countless permutations of this more-than-minute occurrence.

I invite you to send in a "Left Unsaid" moment or two. I do not want to foster negative consequences, though. I am also still hesitant to elicit too much about those whose voices are not conspicuously present on the site. There are wonderful sites for that sort of thing (i.e., Overheard in New York). There is much messiness that may come from that kind of display, though. That said, I open up "Left Unsaid" to you. Send in your stories rather than posting them in comments. As always, reply with comments to posts that speak to you. I ask for your patience with both the time and manner in which this section evolves.

The first offering: A train. A book. A walk-away.

The note above reads:

Hi. You are reading one of my favorite-- and one of the most influential books of my life.

Oh, and I'd love to have coffee w/ you, sometime. like in the next five minutes.

-Shahin {phone number omitted from picture.]

Who was this written to, and why?

While on the subway some days back, I noticed a woman reading Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy, easily one of the most important finds during my coming-of-age. The note was written as a means to share that fact with the reader, while positing the potential for some back and forth. Not in the proverbial date sense, per se. Moreso, I was awestruck by someone reading a book that has a certain place in my timeline. Since age fourteen (twelve years ago), it has lived on a shelf reserved for the most compelling, timely, and re-read books I own. To boot, it's not one many people casually discuss (like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez epic, or a Johnathan Safron Foer memoir) . If anything, I have this idea that me and many of my friend's parents have kept it in print. Seeing a stranger read it made me curious about her relationship with the book. It also sparked an interest in exchanging our thoughts on stories, personal and published.

On that train ride, I was reading Margaret Atwood's The Circle Game, a taut book of poetry. As you can see, I have something of a much-travelled and re-imaged copy. Midway to my destination, I wrote the note, figuring I should chronicle the moment, if not offer her my humble admission. There I was, a dishevelled book before a bearded fellow. And she, in some professional office uniform, replete with meticulously fallen curls. And that book. Appearances aside, there could have been an evening of astute conversation,if not a little close reading of our favorite books and own own stories. Appearances being as they are, I opted out from sharing the full intent of the blue-inked text.

The actual conversation:

* TL will stand in for the stranger's name (TL= train lady).

On the escalators leaving the station, she was right behind me, so I figured I would tell her ...
CE: That's one of my favorite books.

TL: Oh yeah, I just started it.

CE: It changed... it's probably one of the most influential books I've read.

TL: Well, I just started it. I have a bit to go.

CE: How did you pick it up?

[Now we are midway through leaving the station. Having just ridden the first escalator, we have admission/exit gates to traverse and a longer escalator to climb.]

TL: Well, I read Ann Patchett's book about her friendship [with Grealy].

[I think Ann Patchett, curiously perfect curly hair. By appearances and the look of the banter, I'm not convinced rapport could blossom. I become overtly aware and somewhat uncomfortable by my pedestrian relationship with The New Yorker culture in which I assume she's immersed. I, a visitor of that milieu, she a denizen.]

CE: Oh, so you know she's passed, then.

[And then it gets awkward. My habit of pushing the story further along than is needed makes this last line drag. Besides, bringing up death in polite conversation, after a Monday's workday, isn't the most graceful thing to do. Then the fates allow us to go about our own business. Which is to say that we approach the admission/exit gates, and I offer a polite closure, as we conveniently skedaddle apart.]

CE: Well, enjoy your night!

Semi-Closure:
There could have been been more back and forth--five seconds or five hours more-- who knows. Either way, we're linked by this web of readership. I wonder if what she gets from the book is anything close to what I did at 14, 17, 23, or even the next time I revisit those pages. I am curious about the impact the book may have on her. In a time of countless memoirs, Autobiography of a Face may come off as another endearing account by a cancer survivor. However, it can poignantly alter the way you to your self and those around you-- even a stranger. Approach it face to face, and you'll see what I mean!














Autobiography of a Face: book cover and my cover. I used to
have the book cover on my wall, circa 1996.

Margaret Atwood's The Circle Game: front and back.

Update: Computer Problems & Delays (Again)

To all our regular readers and other roamers,

Hello. How are you? I wanted to write you all in order to provide a brief update. My laptop has seen and worked through better days. It became sick early last week, essentially out of nowhere. I was able to quasi-diagnose the problem, and had someone look at it. They supposedly fixed it, but the computer was returned more or less as is (albeit, with a new fan), and with a more professional diagnosis of other problems. I was a little burned by the experience, but one peseveres, adapts, and moves on. I am ardently seeking a workable laptop to be the new conversations, etc. catalyst/computer, in its stead.

Unfortunately, what this has meant is that I am behind in posting. I have had three great interviews since the last post, have arranged several others, and if my plans work out, I will have great adventures this holiday, replete with captivating and quirky conversations for you to enjoy soon.

Also, I hope that you stay with us through 2008, as we will grow exponentially. There will be more posts, characters, conversations, and even more "etc." for you to enjoy. Posts will occur more often, so that you will have something new to read, listen to, view, enjoy regularly. Projects I am brainstorming will manifest, and there will be more to explore on this site. By this time next year, your friends will be telling you about conversations, etc., you will have provided us with countless suggestions for interview subjects, and we will all enjoy talks both long and short, all the more.

Thank you for your patience. Thank you for continuing the conversation, and hope to keep it flowing, on here and off, with each and every one of you. Contact me, as you like.

Shahin I. Beigi,
conversations, etc.
Founder and Fellow
Conversationalist

Po'Girl: Roaming Through Songs & Towns

Awna Teixeira, Allison Russell, and Diona Davies:

3 of 4 Po'Girls.

The road is still filled with them: wandering musicians who tear through and linger in venues and towns sprinkled across the map. They may have itineraries that are posted in newspapers, or on fliers and web sites. For those of us not on the road, the lists read like an alphabet soup of locales. The constellations musicians come up with for traversing states, countries, even continents, make some of us curious and long to travel, if not ramble along with them. When their maps include our towns (or nearby destinations), we have the chance to (if the stars are right) bask in their live tunes and tones. To make up for not dropping everything and following them to the next few shows, we concede and wait until the next time they come by, making it our beeswax to see them again (and again).

Po'Girl sauntered into Cambridge a couple weeks ago, and I did in fact make sure I saw them live (again). This is because, last February, on one of the iciest days in a sincerely cold week, they wandered into town and played Club Passim, warming up the room with a singular, stirring, hip-swaying music. I went to that show because I had yet had the chance to see The Be Good Tanyas, and at the time, their singer-guitarist Trish Klein, was a Po'Girl, too. More than that, the first Po'Girl album (which I knew from my record store clerk-and-curator days) suggests that the songs may play more poignantly live. Seeing them the first time, I was taken by each phrase, instrument change, and twist and tone of the show. The second time proved to be a refreshing reminder: the popular blues-folk-roots-jazz hybrid (add/alter as many appropriate hyphens) can blossom in earnest and evolve (even within a band), although it is being commodified, hip-ified, and de-sinceritized these days.

Outside the venue and after the show, we spoke about musicians we can't stop listening to, instruments we can't live without, and a few other things that get them through, on the road.

* Po'Girl's tour schedule can be found at their official site, or on their myspace page. Some dates include: Nov. 2, Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff, AZ; Nov. 8, Gig Artspace in Santa Fe, NM; Nov. 10, Lobo Theater in Albequerque, NM; Nov. 14, Cerritos Centre for the Performing Arts in Cerritos, CA; Nov. 17, The Mobius in Ashland, OR; Nov. 21-22, The Dream Cafe in Penticton, BC; Nov. 22, The Royal in Nelson, BC.

Roll Call/ Playtime

CE: One thing I’m going to ask of you all is to re-iterate your first name before you talk, because I am not used to your intonations.
Allison: Right, to know who it is [speaking].
CE: Right, right. Okay, so hello’s around the room. This is outside of Club Passim, October 16, 2007. Tuesday night. Talking with Po’Girl. My second time seeing them. Great show. Over a dozen songs. Then, two encores, blah, blah, blah. Okay.
[All laugh.]
CE: And your names?
Allison: Hello, I’m Allison Russell, from Po’Girl. It’s the second day of the tour. We’re getting ready to do a night drive, to get us as close to Philadelphia as we can tonight, before we all get too tired.
Awna: Hi, I’m Awna Teixeira.
Diona: And I’m Diona Davies.
Benny: And I’m Benny Sidelinger, the happy boy. [All laugh.]
CE: And Benny’s the newest official edition to the band. Benny, you started when?
Benny: Ah, in August.
CE: In August of 2007, shortly before the JT & the Clouds tour.
Allison: That’s right. That was a different band, though, that went on tour with JT & the Clouds. That was Sofia, Awna's and my side project.
CE: Right, right.
Allison: Yeah.

CE: Let’s start with the way you guys play on stage. I have some questions about that, then I have questions about how it compares to the way you play off stage.

So, I noticed that you guys do a lot of playing when you’re performing on stage. Everybody seems like they’re “playing” and enjoying it. There is a melding of sounds going on, and a melding of voice: “this is when this person jumps in, this is when that person jumps in.” It seems to be an ordered sense of play, though. I was wondering how you guys came to that way of working together. You know, how that evolved.

Allison: Yeah, I think it has evolved. It just comes from playing together a lot. And we’re all primarily ear-taught musicians. I play just off what I’m hearing, and listening to what other people are doing, getting inspired by that, and reacting, so. There definitely is a lot of spontaneous, improvisational stuff that goes on; of course, it’s within the structure of a song that we’ve, you know, hopefully run over at least once or twice before we [laughs] unleash it on an audience.
Diona: Sometimes. These days, sometimes not.
Allison: It comes just from playing for a few years, all together. Particularly, Awna and Diona go back about seven or eight years, maybe more than that. And we’ve all known Benny for the last, almost five years. Even though Benny is new to this project, we’ve played with him and his other project, The Shiftless Rounders, many times. So, I think what you are hearing is a level of comfort and familiarity that we have with each other.

CE: Definitely, definitely. And when you write the music in the studio, does it have that kind of melding feel, too?
Diona: Yeah. Usually we start--seems to me--we introduce a song on the road, learn it, and kind of hash it out. Then we have this little package of songs that we go in the studio with, and arrange them more in there.
Awna: A lot of stuff happens in the studio, too. I think that’s because everyone is... like, we’re there: we’re in the studio, there is not a whole lot of outside influence. Most studios don’t have windows, and you kind of don’t know the time of day. We get to focus even more on the songs than we ever have, really. You’ll get in the studio and you’ll record, and then, afterwards, you’re like: “Damn, this harmony would have sounded good!” After the recording happens, then all these things change or flourish with the song.
Allison: Hmm mhmmm.
Awna: You’re just focusing so hard on it for a really long time. In my opinion, the best thing any musician can do for themselves is to record. It betters you.
Allison: You learn a lot.
Awna: Yeah.

I Want to Play Double Fiddles!

CE: And yeah, there is a knowing between you guys. Even though it comes out playfully, it is not a loose playfulness, in the sense, “What’s going to happen next?” It seems like the snapping and the “this instrument comes in at this time” quality occur naturally, with an understanding of the way it all works together, the way you guys work together, and this whole thing.

Speaking of instruments, y’all each play a bunch of different ones. I had a few questions about that:

A) Do you guys teach each other some of the instruments?

B) Are there instruments that you are working to include?

C) It seems like you enjoy hearing each other play the various instruments. When you watch each other perform, it looks like you’re thinking “Hey, wow! Wow!” Are there any songs in which you look forward to hearing each other play the other instruments? For example, when Allison plays the guitar, or Diona plays the glockenspiel.

All: Yeah, yeah.
Diona: I hadn’t played the glockenspiel for a while. Whoo! That was exciting!
Allison: I think we definitely do encourage each other. For example, I keep hinting to Benny that I was up for him to give me some guitar lessons. Broadly hinting, you know. And I’ve been getting into playing keys more, which has been a fun thing. I haven’t done that on stage yet. I’ve done it on recording. But yeah, we do encourage each other to try new things. Diona started playing accordion a little bit, because Awna has one. And then with certain songs, there’s definitely a push and pull, and people going out of their comfort zones, and you come up with a different sound. Sometimes, it’s great to have someone who’s less proficient trying the instrument, and they come up with something entirely different, and maybe that fits really well into the song. Or, even though I will never be the virtuoso guitar master that Benny is, sometimes I can hack something out, and then he’s free to play dobro, and that’s beautiful, or banjo, and he’s a wonderful banjo player. You know, this kind of thing.
Awna: And there’s this the whole world of Benny. He has a huge repertoire of old time banjo songs, and different kinds of stuff that we need to explore. He plays fiddle, too. That’s another element that we, I mean, I would like to hear...
Diona, Allison, Awna: Yeah.
Benny: I want to play double fiddles!

Benny Sidelinger: Guitar Luthier, Guitar Slinger.
[Also, the fourth Po'Girl.]

Diona: Yeah, yeah.
Benny: I almost brought my fiddle onto this tour, but then I chickened out.
Allison: Aw.
Benny: I didn’t, because the back of the car is so crowded.
Allison: We need a tickle truck that travels behind us, that has a bigger inside than outside, that will magically transport us, without having to take airplanes and dealing with that.
CE: Or, people that are willing to let your borrow instruments in various towns. Something like: “We need your violin tonight.”
Benny: That gets tricky, when you start using other people’s instruments. It can be hard, especially with wind instruments. Allie had to borrow a clarinet last night. You know, it’s just not, --especially a clarinet--it’s the type of instrument that, you just—it’s in your mouth. It’s such an intimate thing to be acquainted with. I think it’s tricky, to play other instruments.

It took me a while to get used to playing the banjo these girls had, because… my banjo is quite a bit different.

Allison: Better. Your banjo’s better. [Laughs].

Benny: Their banjo has a decent pick-up in it, and I’ve been sticking with that, because they’re used to that. It would be tricky to just grab someone else’s banjo. Banjo is another one that’s sensitive.
CE: And the violin, too.
Allison: Are you a violin player?
CE: Yeah. I’ve been playing for the last 15 years. But the last couple years, I haven’t had a working one. People say, “Oh you should get this kind of violin, or that kind of violin.” I don’t have enough extra money to get a new one, yet I don’t need more than a piece that sounds like I need it to sound. Something that feels right, but something that I can mess with, because I’ll do off things, like use soft branches, instead of a bow. I pluck a lot. When I was a kid, I didn’t want to keep my parents awake, so I started plucking a lot. I realized I plucked 80 percent of the time, and bowed 20 percent of the time. I’m almost uncomfortable with bowing. You could do a lot of other stuff without the bow.
Awna: Right.
CE: But yeah, it’s so singular.
Benny: So, the fiddle. Actually, I picked up a fiddle yesterday, that-- once in a while you pick up a fiddle that just feels right. You’ve never played it before, but everything there just fits you. I had that experience with my friend’s fiddle. I wish I could have acquired that, somehow.
Awna: You weren’t speaking so broadly.
Benny: I know. “I really, really, really, really like this fiddle! How many fiddles do you have?” Of course, the guy’s got five fiddles. He could have four fiddles, you know?

Awna: It’s almost like they choose you, sometimes. That’s the way it was with my accordion. I found it at Value Village one time, for forty bucks and I lost my mind. I started screaming in the Value Village because I was like, it just felt, everything felt right and I felt like I could play it instantly, even though I had never played accordion before. But I only had twenty bucks, and it was 40 dollars. This lady was like, “Oh my god, you really have to have that thing,” and gave me 20 dollars. That’s how I got the thing.

And it was just like, I put it on, and it suctioned itself to my body.

Allison: They haven’t separated ever since. [Smiles all around.]
CE: What’s Value Village, by the way?
Allison: Oh, it’s a chain of thrift stores across Canada. It didn’t realize that you guys don’t have it. It’s like a Sally Anne’s, basically.
Benny: Or Goodwill.
Allison: Exactly the same thing.
CE: Do you remember which city the Value Village was in?
Awna: Yeah, in Victoria, BC.

Po'Girl Covers: Maps and Songs

CE: Diona was explaining what parts of the map you folks are from… If you would, just restate it for the interview.
Benny: I’m from Maine, originally, and I live in Olympia, Washington now.
Allison: I’m from Montreal, Quebec, born and raised. I did about a seven year stint on the west coast of Vancouver, where I met all these guys initially. But now, I haven’t lived anywhere since December, because I’m just on the road all the time. Although, I do have a storage locker in Vancouver. I also have a bedroom at my friend’s house in Montreal. So, I don’t know what that means. I, I’m in between.
Awna: And I’m from Toronto, originally. I have stuff in the same locker with Allie, in Vancouver, and then I have stuff in boxes in Toronto. So…
Diona: I’m from BC and I live on an island in the middle of the water called Galiano.

CE: Nice. You were talking about mixing instruments around. I’m excited about your covers. When a band you’re into covers a song, it's great when they put the song in their sound, or they push their sound with it. And I hear that from you guys, from the couple times I’ve seen you perform “The Partisan,” which I knew, coming from Leonard Cohen.
Allie: Yeah, we do too. We learned it from him, originally. Not directly from him—I wish—but yeah, from his recording.
CE: And the Bessie Smith song from tonight, the way you guys made it your own.
Allie: Yeah.

CE: I was wondering:

How does a cover come into the repertoire? How does it go from being introduced as a possibility, to getting played on stage? Are there any covers that you want to do later on?

Allison: We’re always thinking about different songs we want to do, particularly from other songwriter friends whom we adore, like Carolyn Mark, Chris Brown, Kate Fenner, and Jeremy Lindsay (who was with Po’Girl last time we were here). There are a lot of people whose songs we love to play. And then, certainly, classic, older songs and jazz tunes that really resonate. Certain songs resonate with you. And then you bring it to the group, and if it resonates with everybody, then it gets played. Ultimately, what decides it, often, is audience reaction. If we play a song a few times, and people just aren’t that into it, we kind of get demoralized with it, with that song, and you give up on it.
Benny: You can’t get too attached, I think, to even your own songs. In the end, you gotta just go with what works.
Diona: Sometimes, it doesn’t. We played a song once, for a whole room full of people, and no one even clapped.
CE: Was it in Boston, because they can be that way?
Diona: No, it wasn’t. It was [somewhere else].

CE: Speaking of audience responses: when I hear “Home to You” and a couple songs from the first album, I connect with them quite a bit. I was wondering, would you share some stories about people coming up to you and saying, “I connect with this song, because…”? You know, that kind of thing. [Lyrics to Po'Girl songs available under the music section here.]
Awna: Lots of different things. We’ve had people follow us around. Like, they just happen at one show on a tour, and find out about the rest of the shows on the tour, and just decide on a whim, after that one show, to come to six or seven shows. That’s wild. That is like, you’ve just decided, last minute, to take time out of your week and drive around the country to come see us, again and again and again. Then, some will request certain songs, or do research on the history of the different things we’re talking about. There are lots of incredible things that happen. I think, as the music’s coming out of you, sometimes you forget that it’s actually affecting people to do stuff like that. It’s an amazing thing to do, to affect people like that.
Allison: A few times, we’ve had come up to us about certain songs, particularly when they’re dealing with the death of someone close to them.
CE: Which songs inspire this?
Allison: Well there was one woman, on the last UK tour. She loved “To the Angry Evangelist,” because it reminded her of this person she had lost recently. And, “’Til It’s Gone” is another one.” And “Drive All Night,” too.
Benny: “Prairie Girl Gone.” A lot of people write to us about that song.
Allison: That’s right. It’s a song that I wrote about my grandma, who now is dead from Alzheimer’s, but at the time, she was living with Alzheimer’s. You know, it was really awful to watch someone ---a very cerebral woman-- have her mind taken from her. I sing that song and, of course, for me it’s deeply personal; but, I’ve had a lot of people come up to me about the song, particularly people who’ve been touched by it, and had people in their lives that they loved lost to Alzheimer’s. Hmmm.

Pizza! Dobro! Jamborees!

CE: Hmmm. I don’t want to hold you up too much, maybe a couple more?
All: Sure, sure.

CE: By the way, there’s a place, right by where Peet’s Coffee is, if you guys are starving and need amazing Sicilian pizza. It’s two slices for four dollars. It’s called Pinocchio's. It’s world famous, but it’s just right there.
Awna: Sicilian pizza is a whole other story than just regular pizza.
CE: Yeah, and they make tomato and basil.
Awna: Sicilians make the best pizza. Seriously.
Allison: We love Sicily. Awna and I went there with our Sofia project and had a great time.
Awna: We basically lived off wine and pizza.
Allison: For ten days, all we could afford!

CE: Tell me about some bands with whom you like performing. Obviously, with JT and the Clouds. Jeremy and I have actually been emailing back and forth, and we’ll be having a conversation soon enough. That last album, The City’s Hot, Yeah the City’s Hot, when I first got it, it’s all I listened to. For four months. I still can’t get over it.
Allison: I know, I obsessively listened to that album.
Awna: Yeah, do you have a copy?
Allison: No, I don’t have a copy.
Awna: They kept having to take it back to sell it. They were selling out of it. They would say, “I’m sorry, I’ve gotta sell it!”
Allison: Ah, and now I don’t have one! Ah, how could I have left Chicago without getting one from Drew. That album kills me. It just… the new one is going to be just as good, if not better.
CE: So, as Sofia, you guys were recording with JT & the Clouds?
Allison: We did, we did. We recorded four tracks with the Clouds while we were in Chicago, and that was so much fun. We want to do more. We’re going to do a tour together in January, on the west coast. It’s always a pleasure to get to play with them, to get to play with The Shiftless Rounders, Carolyn Mark, and last night, Luther Wright and the Wrongs.

CE: You must play a lot of folk festivals, with a range of folk acts?
Allison: Have you been to any Canadian Folk Fests?
CE: No, no.
Allison: You would love it. The concerts always have great lineups, but my favorite part are the workshops, which aren’t workshops in the way maybe people think about them in festivals here, where someone teaches you guitar. They just throw people together from various bands, and give you some ridiculous topic, and then you just play music together and see what happens. Sometimes people are afraid to extemporize a little bit, so they turn it into a songwriters in the round, which can be beautiful, too. But, a lot of the times, it turns into a jamboree, by the end of it!
Benny: Hillside Gospel Jam! Best workshop ever! It was at this festival called Hillside.
CE: In what town?
Benny: In Guelph, Ontario.
CE: Oh, yeah. Guelph. Great music scene there. I have some friends playing music out there.
Allison: You should go. It’s in the third week in July, or something.
Benny: Yeah, it’s so fun. The Shiftless Rounders, Po’Girl, and The Be Good Tanyas. All of us knew each other’s songs-- we had already collaborated. And Josh Ritter, he was the host of it. He kind of led it. And then Paul Reddick, he’s a very famous blues harmonica player.
Allison: He was amazing.
Benny: He was into the dobro: he would take a harmonica solo, then yell, “Dobro!” every other time around. He just kept making me take solos. We have a great recording of that. The nicest letter we’ve ever gotten was from the guy who recorded it. He was just so into it. He gave us some of The Shiftless Rounders tracks, and then some of the tracks from Paul Reddick. We have it on our web site now, with the letter. The only mp3’s we have up are those tracks that everyone was playing on, all the girls singing and everything, I put the letter on there too, because it’s such a cool letter. I think that was one of my favorite musical experiences of my life.
Diona: That was a really, really great time.

CE Speaking of the road, any rituals you guys have?
Allison: We have a group hug before every show. And I use a lot of essential oils. And I do a lot of calisthenics in hotel rooms, while watching mindless television.
Awna: We always try to make sure that we stop to enjoy stuff around us, rather than just driving to a show and playing, driving to a show and playing. Like…
Diona: Hot springs.
Awna: Hot springs. In the summer, swimming holes. We make sure that we are enjoying, as we go.
Allison: And I like running. I go running in every new town we go to.
Benny: Also, we like meeting locals. All of us are big on meeting people in the community, and taking time after the show, when we can, to hang out with some of the local people, and absorb the culture of the places we’re in.

Allison: And pay attention…
Awna: …to what’s going on. Because, it can get, it feels almost strange sometimes, when you’re moving so quickly, in a plane, in a car, you’re doing a little show, and you have your little group of friends you do it with. And you move around. You can get really lost in that. Sometimes, if we get in a cycle—I know we’ve done stints where we’re on our seventh show in a row, or eleventh show in a row, and you’re just trying to make it to the next place. And you’re there, and then you forget, and then all of a sudden you start feeling lonely. "Oh, right. What are we doing?" We’re good at keeping in check.
Allison: We try to.
Awna: Yeah, yeah.

CE: Have you guys been to Philly before?
Awna: Yeah, yeah.
CE: Do you know about Gianna’s?
Awna: No, no.
CE: I’ll write down a few places. And are you going to Baltimore?
Allison: Driving through.
CE: There’s a great, tiny folk instrument shop to visit, if you’re driving through.

Home To You (the album), and at a
venue nearby (hopefully).

Carye Bye: Red Bat Biking, with Postcards in Tow

Carye Bye as Red Bat, as Carye Bye. It will make more sense
after you read the interview.
Photo by Jonahthan Maus.

Collections. Creations. Caravans.

Each conjure up certain images, to any given reader. The images, in turn, speak to that person's interests, worldview, and how they may choose to spend their time. I will share what the first word suggests for me.

Collections. As anybody who has stepped into an apartment I have lived in would know, I'm a collector. I collect records, postcards, bottle caps, rocks, books. I hold onto other objects and ephemera, too, but this list may give you a sufficient idea--an image--about me. Each object carries its singular history, while relating to the others (in both the space of my room and narrative of my disposition), and ultimately solidifying their collective existence in a subjective and earnest reverence. Friends and acquaintances learn about my fascination for things through conversation, but there's nothing like stepping into a room replete with tangible histories. No doubt, it is not for everyone.

While researching possible fellow conversationalists, I explored the topic of eccentric collections and their collectors. I came across Carye Bye, Portland-based collector, artist, and bike tour guide. After reading about her bathtub postcard collection (and online museum), I sought these other interests and activities of hers. I came to see that she basks in the applications , possibilities, and communities that come along with each persona. Puns intended: she hops into the various realms, and soaks them up quite a bit. The sum is greater than the parts, it seems, but each element of: Carye's collection of cards, production of artwork, or bicycling activities proclaims its singular disposition and placement in the landscape of her daily life.

Since I can't quite hop on a plane to Portland, Oregon and step into that landscape, Carye and I opted for an email interview, which you see below. Enjoy the snapshots that she shares from the collection of her creative and well-crafted caravan of activities.

A brief aside about Carye's personality and persona in Portland:
I work at a crafts gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Earlier today, a woman stepped in the gallery with a unique handbag, which was made from the covers of a hardcover children's book. We spoke a bit, and she explained that she was part of an arts co-op in Portland, Oregon. To entertain the possibility, I asked if she had heard of Carye Bye, the paper artist. She admitted that she did, and raved about her various and exciting projects. Excitedly, she asserted, "Carye's a spitfire!"


My Hobby is Now a Full-Time Job

CE: I first heard about your bathtub postcard collection, and then came to find out that you are busy with other interesting projects. Could you share a bit about them?
CB: I definitely put myself out there. I started the Bathtub Art Museum online in 2003 to show off the bathtub postcard collection. I'm a professional letterpress printer & designer, so I participate in Portland's many art fairs, and have my postcard art in shops around town. I also lead free bicycle tours of small museums and organize the annual Bunny on a Bike Ride. I definitely have three persona in Portland.
CE: How many years have you been busy with these things?
CB: I've been collection postcards, specifically bathtub postcards since 1992.
I started Red Bat Press in 2002.
I've been active in the Portland bike scene since 2004.
CE: Do your endeavors satisfy any childhood or adult passions?
CB: I've always been playful and curious, so all the things I do are about that. I also like meeting interesting people, and through my interests I've met collectors, artists, and self-propelled bicyclists that are all doing amazing things.
CE: In hindsight (and given your mood today), tell me about a project that you're most proud of or content with?
CB: I'd say probably the fact that my hobby of making wood-cut/letterpress postcard art has actually turned into a full-time job.
CE: What would you want to do that you have yet to really engage in or explore?
CB: I keep busy with all my interests-- too busy. I think in five years, I'll be involved in less long-term projects, and be more involved in day to day happenings, such as: waking up, randomly pointing to a map and making a day of exploring, deciding one day to only eat yellow food, laying in the grass and listening for an hour. I've spent so much of my life planning and documenting. I look forward to fleeting moments in the now.
CE: Are you reading any good books these days?
CB: Sadly, it's been a while since I've read anything good. Though not too long ago, I did read a travel book of a fella and his wife who bike around the world, but after the married couple break up on the road, I just lost interest. It was that dynamic that I found interesting, even though, when I picked it up, I thought it was a solo journey.
CE: What is the last song that grabbed you?
CB: I was recently on the road with my Dad and his wife Edna. I was in the back seat of the car. Edna put in a Paul Anka "best of" CD and sang along to all the songs. I'm not sure what it was, but listening to the old 50s tunes about love with the sun pouring in the windows was strangely memorable and meaningful.
CE: What is the last thing that made you laugh or smile?
CB: Our orange cat rolling around on the carpet.
CE: Who moves, surprises, or inspires you the most?
CB: I think I'm inspired by friends around me, who just make things happen. They push me to to do the best. Yet, they can easily convince me to run off and play. It's hard to be disciplined worker, when you work for yourself.
CE: Whom do you miss today?
CB: My grandma. I was looking through her letters from around January. Six months later, she's not able to write anymore as her health and days on earth have declined. I looked at her letters in a new way today, and will miss those letters coming in the mail.
CE:Tell me about a good conversation you've had recently? With whom would you like to reconnect?
CB: The Daniel Family in Florida (my aunt, uncle, and cousin). I hadn't been to visit in 4 years, and it was the first time I really had the chance to speak with each, individually and collectively. I enjoyed getting to know them better, and I think they enjoyed learning about me as well. We live on opposite corners of the US, so visits will be infrequent.
CE: Is your boyfriend an artist, too? How do you inspire each other? Where do the two of you like riding bikes?

CB: He's not an artist professionally like me, but he's creative in building things, and has talent in the arts, but hasn't developed that side of himself. He worked as an engineer for seven years in a cubicle, and is finally free, as of last year.

We like to ride bikes to explore different areas around Portland. We love to go bike-camping. Just pack some food, strap a tent and sleeping bag to the bike, and go. In a week and a half we are biking for 11 days to the Idaho-Canadian border, from Portland.

Bike-camping with her fellow, Matt.
Where they're going, they won't need (paved) roads.

Smelly was a U2 Fanzine, Kudzu was a Minizine

CE: You have been making zines for quite some time. Tell me about your first zines.
CB: I started making zines in high school. I must have been 15. I'm not sure of my inspiration, but I must have seen others and decided to make my own. I made quite a variety. Smelly was my U2 fanzine -- I completed seven issues. The Bizzare was a joint zine with my friend Erin where we focused on different themes. Issue number four was bathtubs, and that was when I started collecting postcards. I also made mini-zines such as one on kudzu (a vine-like plant from the South), which I sold in the lunchroom for a quarter. I asked each person if they knew what kudzu was, and followed up with: "For a quarter, you can find out."
CE: Do you have at least one copy of all the zines you have made? Have you been making zines lately?
CB: Yes, I do have at least one copy. The Bizzare made it to, I think, 6 issues. Kudzu was a minizine, Rolf Zombie was a one hit wonder I made with a boyfriend. Smelly, my U2 fanzine, had 7 issues. The Nickey Rose tribute zine was my last one. I've been wanting to make a zine of all my letters to the editor, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
CE: You have taught quite a bit,with a range of populations, over the years. What do you enjoy most about teaching? What is the most challenging aspect? Do you have any of your student's work on display in your house?

CB: I've taught off and on. In college, I taught art and photography as a volunteer teacher at a local charter school (ages 10 - 18). I loved my students and enjoyed organizing art shows for them. I've taught a few workshops for adults, but not many. When you teach art, it's a challenge to not judge too much and to realize potential. When I was taking art in high school I was obsessed with the band U2 so much of my art was influenced by them. My art teachers were good: even though my subject manner was not high art, I was not criticized.

CE: It appears that some of your activities (biking, zine making, etc.) are collaboration-heavy. What do you enjoy about collaboration?
CB: Actually, I'm less of a collaborator these days and more of a contributor. Collaboration can be hard with someone like me who has strong opinions and particular expectations. I do better if I think of an idea and mostly bring it to a finished product, but ask for feedback and some collaboration along the way. I work solo mostly, but I contribute to larger events. For example, recently in Portland, we celebrated Pedalpalooza – two-plus weeks of bike fun. I organized three events for the festival.

CE: You seem to relate well to animals on paper. How do you relate to them in person? Do you have affinities to certain animals? Do you own or co-habitat any? My vegan friends call their pets "companion animals" to remove the possessive/speciesist connotation of "my cat," which I always thought was problematic anyway.
CB: Yes, I'm an animal fan, and will go to an animal in the room often before the person. I love cats and lizards. I co-habitat with my boyfriend's cats, Ember and Skie. My cat Scooter passed away just shy of his 19th birthday about three years ago. I had gotten him as a child, and we moved from Minnesota to California to Portland together.


CE: What type of people come to your letterpress demos?
CB: Either people interested in learning letterpress, or people who know nothing about it and who randomly walk by and wonder what this old press is all about.
CE: Have you made a print which was surprisingly popular? Have you made a piece which was poorly received?
CB: My St. Johns Bridge, which has now kicked off another 6 bridges and counting was hugely popular as a calendar, so I made it into a postcard. All my cards eventually have sold; though, I wish Hello Sailor was more popular. The card cracks me up.

The bridge that launched
a set of cards.

Bikes, Haiku, Tours

CE: You have a couple different bike personae. You give various bike tours. You also dress up and do other especially unique things in your local bike scene. How did you get involved in playing dress up and getting on your bike (the Bunny on a Bike Ride, the Red Bat character)?
CB: Well, I live in a unique city, Portland, where the adults enjoy dressing up. There is never just a party. There is always a theme: all red, pirate, the 60s, etc. So, bike culture is the same. In fact, I just lead a ride called The Twin Spin, where 11 pairs of "twins" came dressed alike. My press is Red Bat Press, so somehow I got the idea to make a Red Bat costume of Halloween. My mom helped me make it, and since then I've worn the costume for fun on numerous occasions.
CE: About your bike postcards: are any of these portraits of friends or people you know? How did you come up with the illustration/print style that is evident in these post cards? Are any of the cards especially popular?
CB: I now have 10 art postcards by Red Bat Press with bikes. One of them, "Shift to Bikes," is about a local group of bicyclists that get together for bike fun and activism. All the characters on that card represent someone I know in the bike community. The cow is a friend of mine who has a cow suit he sometimes wears to bike rides. The "Everybody Bike" postcards is popular and the "Bunny on a Bike" (one of my first cards) has been reprinted probably 10 times.

Everybody Bike. As they say in Boston,
as they do in Portland.

CE:Share some of the bike haiku. Who wrote them?

CB:

tires sing a sweet song
asphalt played like a cello
traction symphony

I make a set of Bike Haiku Stationery - and there are 4 haiku written by various Portlanders. The haiku are painted on art tiles at co-housing community near where I live.

CE: Your bike tours sound just like the thing I would want to do today. How many people go on an average ride, if there is such a thing? How is your relationship to the museums and art sites which you tour? Share a few fun or favorite stories from this experience. Do riders surprise you with their insights on things which you've seen countless times?


CB: I lead monthly bike tours to small museums in the Portland area. I average between 5 and 20, with usually around 8 – 12 people per ride. I like to do themes. We've done: Trainspotting, Craft Beer, Off Beat Art, Great Collections, Fame & Glamour. I get along very well with many of the small museum directors or collection owners. I've had more difficult times working with businesses. On the Craft Brew tour, I had a hard time finding a small craft brewery to give us a tour on Saturday. The brewers work weekdays and are not interested in working another day just to please a geeky bunch of curious cyclists.

Almost every tour has something that I can only call magical -- some kind of amazing shared experience happens. On one tour we visited the Kidd's Toy Museum. I did not expect the owner of the collection to be around, and he ended up taking us into some secret places that will never be again. The museum was spread out through his automobile business.He was retiring and sold it, and was consolidating the collection into one building. Our group felt very privileged to have the last viewing of Mr. Kidd's secret upstairs toy room.

CE: Have you seen the documentary The Cruise? It's about Timothy "Speed" Levitch, a NYC tour guide. It was directed by Bennett Miller, and only after his film Capote came out did The Cruise become easily available. Anyway, it's one of the most influential films of my life. In it, Levitch talks about whom he would like to give a tour to (essentially, his dream group). Do you have a dream group? He also compares his method and personality as a guide to historical figures. Are there any historical figures, celebrities, or personal acquaintances whose traits you try to embody while giving the tour?
CB: I think I have seen The Cruise, but a while back. As a tour guide, I'm not at all like Timothy. I'm a much better coordinator, and less of an entertaining tour guide. I leave a lot of the tour guide role to the museums or collectors. My favorite kind of group is one that shows a lot of glee and giddiness when we are in presence of amazing artifacts or hearing amazing stories along the tour. I scheduled a tour on the theme of Book Arts on Memorial Day weekend, and only had 3 others show up, but the three were so excited and into the tour. That it is one of my all time favorites. Our group felt like many, even though there were just a few of us. When I give a tour, I'm just myself - a little too honest, into what I do, and hoping to excite others.

CE: You seem to go up to Alberta quite a bit, for your art. Could you compare the art communities you have been a part of in Portland to those you have been a part of in Alberta?
CB: Every last Thursday, there is an art walk on NE Alberta Street in Portland. This is my 6th summer going out there! Hard to believe. I like to go because it's free to do: I just set up my little table display on the sidewalk and the people come. Sometimes, people come just to see me, but mostly I meet new people and see a lot of friends. I have a lot of art friends from Alberta Street. What I don't like so much now is how early I have to set up. The sidewalk space has become so popular that I HAVE to go out early, or I'm afraid I won't have a good space to set up. Alberta St. is part of Portland, not Canada!
CE: Ah. As I heard once in a movie: "How interesting, how bizarre." In other words: woops!

It's a bathtub party! On a card! This reminds me of a
Red Hot Chili Peppers shirt (Tour '96) I used to have.

"Hey, do you want to see my bathtub collection?"

CE: I found you first by way of your Bathtub Art Museum web site, where you showcase your bathtub postcard collection. In your bio, it explains that some showed up in your zine, The Bizzare, when you were in high school. What has led you to collect the postcards, all these years later?
CB: As mentioned before, my friend Erin Howk and I started making our own photocopied magazines and one was called The Bizzarre. Issue #4 happened to be about bathtubs. I started keeping my eye out for anything bathtub, and collected three postcards. Always the collector sort, I felt that once you have three of one thing you have a collection, and I've always liked postcards, so I started to pick up more postcards, and before i knew it (okay 10 years later) I had accumulated 200 bathtub-themed postcards. It was my secret little question (dirty secret)! New friends would come over, and I'd whisper, "Hey, do you want to see my bathtub collection?" Anyway, I decided to created a public online museum in 2003 so I could share it with more people. I called it the Bathtub Art Museum, because it's about Art of the Bathtub.

An influential work on paper, by the artist
at a younger age.

CE: Share a few stories about when, where, and how certain postcards were found, bought, or received. Are there any that have specifically strong emotional resonance with you?
CB: I have dug through boxes and boxes of postcards in my lifetime, but lately I find a lot of my really great finds on ebay. One postcard I have that I got when I first started collecting was one of 2 women and 2 men in 1 bathtub, with the title "folks are real friendly." This one I got from my friend Erin, who found it in Wisconsin, where she went to college. 10 years later, in the space of about a year, I found four more versions through ebay. In fact, some took some digging and select searching to find, and often I had to buy lots of postcards just to get the one. The five versions are all by different artists, and often highlight a different state, but are all based on the same idea or original drawing.
CE: Do you collect bathtub shards or any other tangible bathtub paraphernalia?
CB: It occurred to me that it would be amazing to have shards for walkways, mosaics, or hedges in this bathtub garden. Yes/No? I do want to someday have a bathtub garden, and then I'll probably actively collect bathtub pieces.For now, I do not. I collect doll house bathtubs, valentines with a bathtub, and for awhile, I collected rubber duckies (but kind of got bored with that one).
CE: Have any of the bathtub public shows of the bathtubs caused controversy? Do you get letters or complaints from parents or "concerned citizens" about the cards?
CB: Never. I only have a few postcards that I consider 18 & over (all found in San Francisco's Castro gay district - go figure!). I always try to keep the Bathtub Art Museum okay for all ages, though a few of the illustrated postcards could be considered a little risque.
CE: Have you ever put a story to any of the cards? Would you make bathtub-related work for Red Bat, or are these passions separate? Forgive me if I overlooked the cards.
CB: My press does have three bathtub themed art postcards: Bathtub Diver, Bunny in a Bath, and Bat Tub Party (halloween).
CE: What is the funniest or most ridiculous positive response to the collection? Any negative response?
CB: Most people find it really fun. I've gotten pretty much only positive feedback.
CE: Do you ever get pop culture theorists, history or art history scholars (or the like) seeking out the museum for research?
CB: I have had students doing research papers use my museum as one of the subjects, and people writing articles on collectors as well have contacted me. One student writing a report was pretty harsh on my museum in the sense that I wasn't doing a lot of things Museums should be -- such as having a good mission statement, and other such things. Truly I'd love to have my museum more official, but right now it's only me, and I have a million other projects dividing my attention.
CE: I really like Clutch McBastards's card. What is your personal or professional relationship with him. If I wanted to look at more of his work, where should I start?
CB: I work with Clutch at the Independent Publishing Resource Center. He's a funny guy and a great cartoonist and zinester. He is the Zine Librarian at the IPRC and draws a daily comic. I'm proud to have made it twice in the illustrated form in his last addition. He runs Tugboat Press, if you want to learn more.
CE: Bathtub cakes: tasty, or better to look at?
CB: I only tried one - these were for the Bathtub Art Museum's third birthday last year. I mostly got photos. The winner of the contest, John Dovydenas, was the one I got to taste, so maybe I was biased after all!
CE: What is the Adult Soap Box about?
CB: The Adult Soap Box derby is an annual event (that I have yet to see) of adults racing their own home-made derby cards down Mt. Tabor (a small, extinct volcano) in the heart of Portland. Last year, some ladies made a bathtub and dressed up in towels, but I guess they badly crashed.


"Rubber Duckie" and other Favorites

CE: Favorite songs about Bathtubs? Favorite songs to sing in the bathtub?
CB: "Rubber Duckie," by Ernie. I hardly ever take a bath, so don't sing.
CE: Dream bathtub and bathroom: what does it look or feel like?
CB: I like the idea of an outdoor bathtub, if you lived in a private forest.
CE: Favorite bathtub scene in a movie? Favorite painting or photograph that includes a bathtub?
CB: There's some great bathtub scenes form old movies. Like The Seven Year Itch, with Marilyn Monroe. She's in the bathtub, while a plumber is working on it. Hilarious! Favorite painting... The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David. Mainly because you'd have to be a history or art history major to know that there is a bathtub in the painting. Marat spent most of his life in the tub because of illness, so his desk was built over his tub. One day he was assassinated while in the tub, and the painting is about that.
CE: Favorite songs about art? Favorite song about letter writing?
CB: Art: " Vincent (Starry Starry Night)," by Don McClean (about Vincent Van Gogh). Letter writing: a song by Neil Finn, where he says a line: "He won't write you letters, full of excuses..."
CE: Favorite color?
CB: Muted green, dark red, yellow together.
CE: Favorite songs about bikes?
CB: "Bunny on a Bike," a song by Wes Kempfer about all my little Red Bat Press character cards.
CE: Favorite bike in a movie?
CB: The obvious is Pee Wee's Big Adventure.l
CE: Favorite bike you've ever owned?
CB: I have one bike, a black Puch Mixte. It's been a reliable steed for seven years.
CE: Any new characters or big changes for Red Bat Press on the Horizon?
CB: I 'm still working on finishing the Portland Bridge Series. I want to make a new mermaid, and maybe some dragons and other Chinese characters, but who knows.
CE: Given your mood and schedule today, where would we go in Portland to have this interview (instead of via emails, 3000 miles away)?
CB: Probably by the river, looking at Portland's bridges.

This machine...
is fantastic!