ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 29) the idea that genres, and artists, can’t keep evolving. There is no such thing as a pure form of something. Why aren’t you allowed to grow or push it? I think I learned that in art school: push the idea past the point of comfort, and then ask whether my project says to my audience what I intended. Is it evident? I know that I didn’t want to write about the same things or use the same instruments all the time. So I always found it odd that people resist natural progressions. I think that’s what makes you an artist, isn’t it? I’m used to it, because I grew up with free-form radio in New York, when you could hear Pat Metheny next to Tom Petty next to Steve Forbert. Yeah, music now has formulas of what makes a hit and producer-driven bands. They all sound the same to me. There is just too much desire for separation, or desire for compartmentalization for things that implicitly belong together. I was fascinated to learn that you don’t have unrecorded songs you wanted to put on the box set. That seems so counter-intuitive because your work is so deep, especially in light of what we’re taking about. Aren’t there things that just didn’t work? If I didn’t want people to hear it, I’m not going to let them. Think about poor John Lennon. The guy died, and a bunch of stuff he never intended for people to hear, they dig through his garbage for it. There’s no respect for the artist’s intentions. Leave the guy alone! Even if we think it’s good, it’s not cool. The intention is what matters. It’s how they wrote the songs in the first place. I don’t want to read people’s diaries after they die. Let the music speak for itself. I’ve always found what I do for a living to be very strange. I mean, interviewing artists is weird. If you wanted to talk about it, you’d be a lecturer, not a musician, right? The problem is things are often very tabloid. I want to hear more about how they made it, the actual process,
: Did you know...
In October 2016, Montecito had 15 sales with an average sale price of $2,992,667 and a median sale of $2,575,000.
34 MONTECITO JOURNAL
the things that inspired them. Were they obsessed with a certain chord, or did a certain instrument change their mind? Was there a kind of recording advancement that changed their game? But I don’t (care) about who they were married to. So which one of those lands for you? What’s driven you the most? That’s difficult to answer. I just spoke at a panel at a conference for women music producers, the first ever. We could not stop talking about what inspired us in music for a couple of hours. It was just a great, validating, life-achievement moment. I can’t even remember what we said. But it was like my prom, it was my wedding, the greatest day of my life! It’s going to be online, and some of that (those topics) is in there, but I’m still in that hazy afterglow where I can’t remember a single thing I said. Well, how about this: In an interview I read, you said that money has a bizarre psychology that will really mess with you. You called it “a wild horse of a jerk.” As someone who grew up poor, how have you been able to channel your success back into your work, or at least stay creative even when you’re not as hungry? It never goes away. You always think you’re a dog that isn’t going to get its next meal. Some people can relax into it, but I’m still in that mindset, and I’m an over-worker and workaholic. It’s not good, but I just try to talk myself down, tell myself to calm down and rest because you can’t do the work otherwise. It’s one of those toxic feelings you get as a young person that never leaves. Not that I want to disown it, but it would be good to feel a little secure.
Campbell Hall hosts Ping Chong
of credentials include writings songs for Stevie Ray Vaughan (“Crossfire” and “Willie the Wimp”), The Fabulous Thunderbirds (“Why Get Up”), John Mayall and Waylon Jennings (“Jacksboro Highway”). There’s also “Anything Made of Paper”, composed for the West Memphis 3’s Damien Echols, which he recorded with Johnny Depp and was featured in the West of Memphis documentary film and soundtrack. Carter, whose grandfather was first cousin to A.P. Carter, scion of country royals the Carter Family (Mother Maybelle, June Carter Cash, Roseanne Cash), has also released a number of albums on his own, the latest of which, Innocent Victims and Evil Companions, out last February, is a fine set blending blues, soul, country, and rock in the best Austin traditions. Beaver Nelson opens the 8 pm show at the Lobero.
The Carter Connection 4 Q’s with Ping Chong
Austin, Texas, has been Sing Like Hell founder-producer Peggie Jones’s adopted home for nearly two decades. On Saturday, she’s bringing one of the city’s foremost songwriters back to Santa Barbara in Bill Carter, whose list
PATRICE SERRANI 805.637.5112 | patrice@PatriceSerrani.com
Beyond Sacred is the latest installment of Ping Chong + Company’s Undesirable Elements project, which explores issues of culture, identity, and difference. The interview-based production delves into the diverse experiences of Muslims in the United States through the words and stories of the five cast members who share the common experience of coming of age in post-9/11 New York City at a time of increasing Islamophobia. The participants range from the religiously observant to those who identify only as “culturally” Muslim, and from those who were born into the faith, to converts. Ping Chong, who received the 2014 National Medal of Arts, the highest artistic award to an individual artist in the United States, founded his company back in 1975, co-wrote the piece after interviewing the participants for several hours in a form he has used successfully for more than
• The Voice of the Village •
20 years covering communities from African-Americans to teenagers who lived through war, adults who were abused as children, and the disabled, among many others. He talked about Beyond Sacred over the phone earlier this week in advance of the performance on Saturday night at UCSB Campbell Hall. Q. Why do you think the Muslim community seems to be so much more deeply misunderstood, beyond just about any other sect in America? A. It’s not as if they are the first people who have even been victimized. Every new immigrant group has historically been demonized. In this case, it’s more dangerous because of the fundamentalists who are a perversion of Islam. But it doesn’t help that the media focuses on sensational terrorism involving Muslims and nothing positive. Where do you see representations of them as just ordinary people going about their lives? My work as an artist-citizen – which is how I think of myself – I have a responsibility to give space, and equal time, to those whose voices are drowned out by lies. I understand it was tougher to find volunteers for this project compared to your earlier ones because they were afraid of reprisals. I understand that. If this nation goes to war with China, I will have to be careful walking down the street. It depends on who is currently being demonized. You can be born in this country, but suddenly you’re not thought of as an American. But who decided who an American is? That’s complicit in this project. So, yes, it was more of a challenge. A lot of people were afraid to come forward. But young people do want to get the word out that they just want a good life just like anybody else. How is it to put together these shows 17 – 24 November 2016