Will Call #4 — “Inkless” Live Storytelling

Podcast (will-call): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

PLUS: Music from Moon Hooch, Munk Duane, and Wishbone Zoe; AND Tuesday Teas return to Williams College.

This was a tremendously fun show to put together. Great music from local and reasonably local artists, news of live storytelling later this spring, and a chance to hear Williams College faculty authors discuss their latest works all make this an hour you won’t want to miss. Did we mention zombies and calculus? Check it out and leave us a comment below.

This Is Cave Music

I don’t get many urges to run out and start taking both saxophone and drum lessons, but after hearing This Is Cave Music by Moon Hooch, I really started to wonder whether or not I could set my professional life on a new course, a jazzier course.

The sound created by Wenzl McGowen, Mike Wilbur, and James Muschler is so unique, so addictive, I had to see it, as well as hear it, for myself. Check out this Moon Hooch performance in the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series, below, and then consider buying a copy of This Is Moon Music either directly from the band, through iTunes, or through our own affiliate link with Amazon.com

Moon Hooch on NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert

Inkless Live Storytelling Experience Begins by Asking,
“How the _____ did I get here?”

Joey Chernila, founder and producer of Inkless, is passionate about stories. Your stories. His stories. The stories of the guy who backed into your shopping cart in the parking lot and laughed crazily as he drove away like Daffy Duck behind the wheel of a Buick Skylark. The story of your third grade teacher who left mid-year while you were at recess and sent the class a box of pumice stones from Hawaii, but no explanation whatsoever about her unannounced evacuation your elementary school.

What he really likes is stories told live, unscripted, and brimming with all the emotion and reflection you get when the atmosphere is intimate. Like it will be on May 29 at Six Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge when he launches Inkless, the Berkshire’s own live storytelling experience. Think “Moth,” but really close. And you might run into your raconteur next weekend at Guido’s. Contact Joey for more information or to sign up to tell your tale.

Munk Duane releases “Argue With Gravity” and We Have No Argument with That

Munk, the pioneer of podsafe music, achieves new levels of sophistication, but somehow manages to keep the emotional truths deliciously raw. With a “just-tapped” sense of honesty, “Argue With Gravity” presents listeners with a hard-won wisdom that is matched by an absolute mastery of the craft.

Here on the “Will Call,” we spin “Arguing With Gravity.” Check out another track from this release, “Stupid Pride,” on the Greylock Glass’s news podcast, the Top Left Corner.” Then, once you’ve gotten completely hooked on the sound, head on over to iTunes or Amazon.com (through our affiliate link) to pick up your copy of the CD or digital download.

Wishbone Zoe Shines a Bright Light on Some Oddities

I have visited the place where some of Wishbone Zoe‘s Oddities live. And I’m willing to give you a tour if you like having your synapses assaulted by penetrating surrealism delivered with breathtaking auditory agility. The 2014 release, “All Of These Oddities,” showcases the errant bits of reality that surface after we’ve tried to keep them at the edge of our peripheral vision, that become audible at inconvenient times, that brush lightly against the back of our hand in a not-quite-by-accident kind of way.

Beyond the brilliance of the lyrics, the voice of Saera Kochanski will impress you with its seemingly bottom stores of power pushed through a small, precision-machined port. Kochanski does not care if her singing about, thus drawing uncomfortable attention to, the “not-so-okay in the world” makes us squirm. Someone’s got to do it. And here on “Will Call” we’ll give a listen to “The Greatest Show in Town.” Check out “Idealism,” over on the news podcast of the Greylock Glass, “Thew Top Left Corner.” Then slide yourself on over to CDBaby or Bandcamp where you can pick up a copy of her CD or digital download. And WHILE you’re listening to the album, be sure to spend some time taking in her Kochanski’s visual art at her other web site, Sunbeams & Turpentine. No reason your eyes should get away clean.

Upcoming Shows:

April 17: Easthampton MA–@ Platinum Pony –Fossil’s Dream CD RELEASE

April 24: Springfield, MA—@ The Bing w/ Mark Schwaber

April 25: Amherst MA @ Amherst Sustainability Fest

Tuesday Teas at Williams College

Tela Zasloff, of the Greylock Independent, and I spoke with David Pilachowski, Director of Libraries at Williams College, about the return of a fascinating program of author events open to the public. Enjoy engaging talks by author faculty members as they discuss their most recent works in an intimate setting.

Williams College will resume its Tuesday Teas series beginning in April. The program aims to celebrate Williams authors and honor their scholarly and creative works. On three consecutive Tuesdays in April, and the first Tuesday in May, faculty authors will discuss their most recent publications and reflect on the writing, creating, and publishing processes. The teas will take place at 4 p.m. in the Class of 1987 Forum, Sawyer Library, level 1. All of the events are free and open to the public.

Each tea will consist of a 20-minute presentation followed by a Q&A session. The full schedule is as follows:

April 21, 2015

Colin Adams, Thomas T. Read Professor of Mathematics, will present a lecture titled “A Novel Approach to Getting Across Math” focused on his book Zombies and Calculus (Princeton University Press, 2014).

April 28, 2015

Amy Holzapfel, associate professor of theatre, will discuss her book Art, Vision, and Nineteenth-Century Realist Drama: Act of Seeing (Routledge, 2014) in a lecture titled “The Realist Theatre of Zola, Ibsen, Strindberg, and Hauptmann.”

May 5, 2015

Rhon Manigault-Bryan, associate professor of Africana studies, will present “Between the Living and the Dead: Writing History, Popular Culture, and the Lived Religion.” This lecture discusses her two new books: Talking to the Dead: Religion, Music, and Lived Memory Among Gullah/Geechee Women (Duke University Press, 2014) and Womanist and Black Feminist Responses to Tyler Perry’s Productions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

The series was initially hosted in the Stetson Faculty Lounge, and was put on hiatus at the onset of the Stetson renovation project in 2009. It returned last year to celebrate the last semester in the old Sawyer Library, and this year will celebrate the first year of the new library.

The series is organized by the Williams College Libraries and co-sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.

“Wildwood Bride”

A stroke of pure luck brought us through the time warp back to 2005 when I was hosting a different podcast and had just discovered the band Jaded Mandolin. While that group has since disbanded, the members are busy with solo projects. Molly Pinto Madigan, the silver-throated leading lady of the erstwhile folk/roots combo, has JUST released (like, a couple weeks ago) a new CD, “Wildwood Bride.” Molly invited me to share a track from this collection with you, and I had a tough time deciding between them all. For this episode, I decided to settle on the title track.

At first listen, I find the scope of the work to be grand, soaring between epic, aggressive, and dramatic down to humble and vulnerable. I’ll listen a few more times and maybe update this note.

For now, why not go buy a copy of the CD or digital download at either CD Baby or through the Greylock Glass’s affiliate link with Amazon.com (wherein your purchase helps support this site).