Wright Park Fusion

Okay, so as far as music goes, you'll mostly hear me talking about the now-mostly-defunct This Shirt Is Pants (probably in an effort to unload some of our pile of CDs on you... it's true, I'm shameless) or Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind, the group of my dad's that I've been playing with (March 27th, 7-9 PM at Rhapsody In Bloom, by the by). But in truth, my musical heart will always be in one place: Mr. Fusion.

I started playing and writing with my buddy Erich nigh on 8 years ago, in the Spring of 2000. Over the years we've played a small handful of shows, recorded one album (admittedly demo-quality) and accumulated a catalog of (apparently) 40 tunes. I'm sure we could have a lot more, honestly, but it's been a very off-and-on process, with large gaps (months, nearly into years sometimes) where one or the other of us will be busy with school or work or some other thing.

However, we've finally reached a point where we both have quality full-time, fixed schedule jobs, some spare time, and a large build-up of creative energy, so Mr. Fusion is happening again. Unfortunately I live in an apartment, and Downstairs Man is not always pleased to hear us a-rockin', despite our best efforts to keep it quiet. Saturday, however, we had a brilliant idea. The weather is starting to be more reliably decent (or at the very least dry), and so, after the latest request to keep it down while Downstairs Man graded papers (can't fault him for that), we decided to pack it up and head out to Wright Park (a whole block away).

It worked out great... we found a spot right by the park's cannon, just off G, sat down on a couple rocks and played to our hearts' content. It is always good to have a chance to up it to full volume... I'm a fairly loud singer, and the doumbek can rattle a room a bit, if given the chance. Better still, we had a chance to entertain a few passers-by, be they walking their dogs, carrying groceries, going for a jog or just looking for someone to talk to (and my, wasn't that an interesting conversation...).

Anyway, we both had a lot of fun, and, weather permitting, I suspect it will be turning into a regular thing. So if you're ever wandering around Wright Park on a nice Saturday afternoon, don't be surprised if there's music in the air... it's probably us. Taking back the park for acoustic musicians everywhere. Or something. You may even start to see us elsewhere... Frost Park? Tollefson Plaza? Who knows? If there's a couple places to sit and no-one to complain about the volume of our un-amplified guitars, anything is possible.

Also within the next couple months I'll probably start posting samples of our renewed recording efforts. Good times to be officially had by all.

Freedom Of Art In Tacoma

A couple different diatribes have come up recently in the Tacoma blogland, and they've got me thinking a bit (as I am wont to do, from time to time).

The first is a Matt Driscoll interview with Girl Trouble's Bon Von Wheelie over at Spew. The main focus of the interview is on the world of pay-to-play, and the battle against it. This is something I know a bit about. This Shirt Is Pants played a few shows for Big Time Entertainment, one at Studio 7 and three at Hell's Kitchen. We, I think, had an advantage over some bands, in that we knew exactly what we were in for. A couple of the guys had worked with them before, and so we were under no illusions. But we were also one of the older bands on the bills (in our early 20s)... I saw a lot of junior high and high school kids desperate for a chance to play on a stage. It's likely that they ended up there the same way we did: we could get a show at a decent club with no resume, no demo. That's the attraction, even if the end result is an empty pocket and a sour taste.

Honestly, in those shows, the worst part was not Big Time themselves. The worst part was the treatment from venue staff, particularly at Hell's Kitchen. The sound techs were well aware what kind of show they were doing, and it showed. They clearly didn't give even the slightest crap about the quality of the show. The lease was paid, and it was their job to watch and make sure nothing exploded. And I really think they were missing out on a great opportunity. Yeah, there were some crap bands. But there were also some remarkably talented kids. And how many of these kids were discouraged by poor treatment from venues? This is the biggest harm that I saw come out of pay-to-play.

The second blog that caught my eye was a rant about the lack of genuine art in Tacoma from Voronoff the GhostCritic (also known as Aaron Trotter). Growing out of the aftermath of Steve Craig's passing, Trotter's vision is of a Tacoma where artists nurture each other, where art happens spontaneously at the true whim of the artist, rather than living on conventional gallery walls.

I went out and did ArtWalk Thursday night. I had (embarrasingly) not once set foot in the new Tacoma Art Museum or the Museum of Glass, after a childhood of going to the TAM three or four times a year. So I finally went to both. I started out with a lap around, and they are pretty cool buildings. But upon entering, I found myself utterly unimpressed. I am by no means an art critic, or a visual artist, so maybe I was missing something, but I've seen a decent amount of art. I've seen art that made me think, made me wonder, genuinely grabbed me by the [insert anatomical bit of your choice] and made me feel. And this weren't it. Oh sure, there was a lot that was pretty, that held some level of aesthetic, but that, to me, does not make art worth my time.

The only work that I saw that genuinely gripped me in any way was one large piece by Mary Mann at the UWT Art Gallery. It wasn't visceral or anything, but at least it caught my eye and my interest.

The fact is that both of these articles speak to the same issue, the same need. For any artistic community to flourish, be it visual, musical, theatrical, anything, it needs both artists and patrons. Artists can come together and work, draw and paint, play and sing, encourage and inspire each other, but all that creates is art for artists, and that's simply pointless. Art is a means of communication. Artists can talk all they want about not caring what people think of their art because it's personal expression, but the fact is that they wouldn't be expressing at all if there wasn't something they wanted to get out there. And if they are limiting their audience to simply other artists, then they are, frankly, useless. The best thing a song can do is reach the heart of a non-musician. The greatest goal of a painting should be to grip the soul of a passer-by who has never once laid brush to canvas.

Unfortunately, to do this there must be an outlet. This is why musicians need concert venues, and why making these places utterly uninviting to the unknown band can utterly kill a local scene; why artists need galleries, and why restricting them to a few contracted and conventional painters rips the soul away from an art community. What Tacoma lacks is any other option, though. A place where unknown artists can walk in the room and slap something on the wall. A place where a few friends can get their bands together and put on a free show for the rest of their friends. A place where we aren't restricted by ticket fees for all but a few brief moments. People people shouldn't be appreciating art in two-hour-a-month increments, but in every moment that they have available. Musicians should be living music, whether they are sitting at work programming computers or sitting at home blogging nonsensically. And artists should be living art. But more importantly, everyone else should, too.

So what do we do? Does a property owner downtown step up and offer his space, as Voronoff suggests? Do established local artists who needn't worry about their ability to get shows like Von Wheelie carry on crusading against pay-to-play? Or do all the people who suffer most, the people who are being fought for, step up on their own?

I don't really know what I'm suggesting. I'm more fishing for ideas than anything. There is always talk of co-op galleries, musician-run venues, but they all suffer from a lack of groundswell and group organization. A co-op can only survive with a large number of people to spread the load. Likewise, regardless of intentions, two or three local musicians starting a venue often fail because two or three people who just want to play music are rarely capable of managing an operation like that. But we need something on all fronts. Something to maintain the creative fire that keeps starting, sputtering and dying. There are sparks where there ought to be continuous flame.

Anyway, I think I'm done for now. I fear that if I go back and read this I will discover that it actually makes no sense whatsoever. (I also fear that I may have only written it as an excuse to speak academically and seriously about people called Voronoff and Von Wheelie). So I shall defeat my fears by NOT going back and re-reading it. If it is nonsensical then so be it. I spend much of my life trying to confuse people anyway, so it's all good.

Art Your Little Heart Out, Tacoma

Like art? Movies? Music? Theatre? Then Tacoma's the place for you this weekend. There seem to be a remarkable number of different events all converging on these next few days. I'll do the highlights, and let you look into particulars yourself (lunch break isn't THAT long, after all)

Art

What's today? Thursday. Which one? The third one, of course! That means it's ArtWalk time in downtown T-town. Per usual, all the museums, galleries, etc from one end of downtown to the other are free to all. Highlight this time around? I'd say the Renoir as Printmaker exhibit at the TAM. It opened on the third Thursday of January, but I was on my way to Toronto, so I missed out.

Music

Everyone's blogging about it. It happens every year. If you don't know about it, you probably just aren't paying attention. Wintergrass!

One of the largest bluegrass festivals in the country, this marks the first year for the festival in the Hotel Murano. Which means very little, because it's been in the same building (the former Sheraton) for years. Mostly just means that there will be much more glass surrounding everyone. Already this morning I could see people hopping on the Link or walking up the hill carrying guitars, fiddles, mandolins and what-have-you.

My act of choice for the weekend? Pearl Django. I've heard these guys' spin on the hot jazz genre a few times before, and they are beyond solid. They'll be at the Marriot at 5:50 on Saturday, and the Varsity Grill stage at 7:45.

Theatre

The Northwest Playwright's Alliance are having their first fully-staged festival over the next two weeks at Theatre On The Square. I spent four summers volunteering at the now defunct Pierce County/South Sound Playwright's Festival, and it's great to see something step in and fill the void. This year's festival features three full-length plays and a number of shorter pieces. And fortunately for those of you distracted by other art forms this weekend, everything is running again next weekend, as well.

My play of choice (if I only go one night): Brent Hartinger's Geography Club. Hartinger's novel of the same name achieved 1) a lot of critical acclaim and 2) a place on a number of school banned book lists for "promoting the unsafe activity of meeting people on the internet to young people" (translates roughtly to "Crap, if we say we don't like it because it's about gay kids, they'll jump all over us. What other excuse can we whip out?").

Movies

To top it all off, the Grand Cinema is hosting their annual Oscar Party at the Rialto on Sunday. Anything make this more special than previous years? Well, for one thing, four of the five best picture nominees have been at the Grand in the past year (heck, three of them still are). But more on that later.

Also running at the Grand is the opening of animated film Persepolis. A French language film about the revolution in Iran, it promises to be very interesting fare.



That's all I've got for now. I'll come back later and turn more of these things into links.

Ten Years of Rocking/Folking/Who knows what...

Mr. Freitas recently posted about his 10th blogging anniversary, and asked who/where we were 10 years ago. Upon reflection I've realized that 10 years ago (or thereabouts) was actually my first appearance on the Tacoma music scene.

I was in 8th grade, 14 years old. I'd played piano for about six or seven years, guitar for three or four. I'd played saxophone in the school band for four years, so I'd performed music, but not as a spotlight player.

So my dad, my brother and I started getting together and playing music. My dad on guitar, bro on bass, me on keys. Our first gig was at Shakabra Java (I would link, but it appears they've been link-farmed), in their now defunct performance space, opening for whatever real band my dad was playing for at that point. If memory serves, we played three songs: Riders on the Storm (The Doors), (All I Have To Do Is) Dream (Everly Brothers) and Walk of Life (Dire Straits).

It wasn't until the following year that I first sang in front of a crowd. Same deal at Shakabra, singing Romeo & Juliet (Dire Straits again). I would call it a great performance, but it was what got me liking it, largely because I actually had a number of friends come to that show.

Since then I've made the rounds of styles, groups, venues and qualities. In 9th grade I played CougFest, a Curtis Junior High battle of the bands, in a classic rock cover band called Prefect (very, very bad). In 10th I joined some of my friends in a punk/metal/wait-what-the-hell-did-he-just-say? outfit called Blarg!. Blarg!, too, played only one show: a battle of the bands at the U.P. Festival. We remain somewhat legendary for it, though... the only people on stage at that festival in KISS-esque makeup, singing about Muppets on killing sprees, Walt Disney curing cancer, and other lovely conversation pieces. Blarg! was also the first band I played with to produce an original studio recording, Blarg! Theme Song (yes, the lyrics are "B! L! Arg! Blarg!", in case you wondered).

That year I also started playing music with my friend Erich in what would become Mr. Fusion. He ran off to Alaska for a bit, but when he returned we started hitting up the Victory Music open mic at the Antique Sandwich Company, and thus began the era of me performing my own songs (well, technically I wrote Muppet Attack, but I didn't sing it, so it doesn't really count). Over the years, Mr. Fusion has played at Kokopelli's (victim of the U.P. Clown Center fiasco), Shakabra, the Pierce County AIDS Walk, and a student-produced benefit concert at Curtis High School called Symphonic Band Aid, and recorded an 11 track CD in my video productions teacher's backyard.

Stuck in the middle there were a couple performances (in my Frenzy Blarg persona) with cover band ∏ Eating Contest, at the old (pre-Brick City) Club Impact and the aforementioned Symphonic Band Aid.

After graduating from PLU, it really started to pick up with the formation of This Shirt Is Pants. The first "real" band I've been in (and when I say that I mean we were, for while, practicing regularly and performing nearly once a month), TSIP allowed me to play at Studio 7 in Seattle, The 4th Ave in Olympia, and numerous shows at Hell's Kitchen in Tacoma. And lest we forget, our fine debut at the Gonyea Boys and Girls Club.

TSIP has taken a bit of a dive (naturally, right after shelling out a bunch of money for a professionally produced EP - we've got lots if you want one! :D), but oddly enough everything seems to be coming full circle. Mr. Fusion has started writing and recording again. I'm back playing at the Antique on occasion. And, rounding off 10 years, last summer the Izenmen played at the Proctor Farmer's Market, and on Sunday I played with my dad and his friend Goodwin (Out of Sight, Out of Mind) at the Wright Park Conservatory (photos by Freitaka)

So... 10 years, 7 bands, 12 tacoma venues and countless tunes later, here I am. Better than I was before, though no better known. Heck, I have friends and co-workers who don't know that I sing. But that's alright. I've never played for recognition. I'm just as happy to walk off the stage and have no one recognize me once I'm back in the audience. I just love to play. And I'll still love to play in 10, 20, 30 years. Will it be in Tacoma? Who the hell knows. But it's been good to me so far: a great place to play a show for your friends and then fade away, on to something else, with just a vague memory in a few people's minds... "Were they really singing about vengeful Muppets? Nah, couldn't be..."

Henry Butler @ Jazzbones Tonight

Still looking for something to do in Tacoma on a Friday night? Well, ordinarily I wouldn't suggest coming to me for recommendations on that front. Usually my Friday night consists of staying in, drinking wine and watching a movie, and I'm sure you could have thought of that on your own.

But if for some reason you have, I would be inclined to recommend Henry Butler at Jazzbones tonight at 9 PM. Butler, blind since birth, is a masterful blues/boogie/New Orleans (and yeah, New Orleans counts as a genre) pianist, as well as a classically trained vocalist. I'm listening to his latest, 2004's Homeland, right now and it is genuinely fantastic stuff. Extraordinarily energetic. I can't wait to see what he's like live.

And anyway, it's Jazzbones, which means sushi time! (or, if you're not into that sort of thing, a solid cajun menu).

Tonight, 9PM, $12. 21+, of course.

That is all.

Prepare to Folk Out at the Conservatory

What? Rock gets to be a verb. Why not folk?

Aaaaaanyway... every second Sunday of every month throughout the year, Tacoma Metro Parks hosts an acoustic concert, featuring local musicians, at the lovely W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park. Shows start at 1 PM and last about an hour and a half. This particular Sunday will feature the Conservatory debut of yours truly, the Izenmaniac himself.

Primary billing goes to those who booked the gig, Don Izenman (look! he has the same last name as me! weird...) and Goodwin Trent. The two of them have been making music together in Tacoma for years in a variety of groups. Mr. Trent, as fine a bass player as you are likely to meet (his bass has no frets, I can't work it) is currently recovering from major back surgery (is there such a thing as minor back surgery?), and so, to fill out the ensemble, Don enlisted his youngest spawn, some weirdo named Joe.

Maybe Goodwin will feel great and I'll just hop in on a few songs. Maybe I'll be playing along for the entire hour and a half. We shall see. I can promise that it will be fun no matter which of us is playing when. You can expect a blend of folk, country (the good kind) and acoustic rock, with both covers and a few originals peppered in.

In addition to the music, Saturday is also the opening of the Hilltop Artists glass exhibit, so that display will be in full swing for the show. Free music, free art, oodles of plant life... what more do you need?

Plus, for only the second time ever, you get to see me performing on a mandolin. How cool is that?

Sunday, February 10th. 1 PM - 2:30 PM. Be there or be whichever polygon you find the least cool.

The Beginnings of an Idea: tacomamusic.net

It is known by most that I play a lot of music. I play shows (occasionally) with three different groups; I have recordings with two bands in addition to my solo work. About a month ago I decided that I wanted someplace to post these things on izenman.com. I wanted to be able to have my songs, shows and photos divided up into my various projects, albums, etc, with information at the band, album and track level.

This idea bounced around in my brain a bit, eventually coming to this: if I was already going to have multiple bands for one user (me), why not allow multiple users? From there it snowballed into something much more complex and, I think, worthwhile.

What I propose is this: a comprehensive resource for musicians in the Tacoma area. Multiple bands per user. Multiple users per band. An event calendar that can be filtered by band, venue, genre, anything. Song and video uploads. In short: total promotion, total sharing of information, to anyone who's interested.

I know there are things like imeem and MySpace out there, but I feel like the small community aspect can be what really drives it. It's for the community, and should be built on the strengths of the community.

So... are you a musician? Or a music lover? Or have a friend who has a friend who knows this guy who is? I have an idea of what I want it to be, but the best people to come up with feature ideas are the ones who might use it. The bands, the fans, the venues. I would like, if possible, to have this be something of a group project. I'm already talking to one fellow blogger about doing the graphic design.

You don't have to play an instrument. You don't have to write code. Just let me know what you think this ought to be. I've established a development blog for the project where I will be cataloging my design and coding efforts, discussing features, announcing launches, etc at http://blog.tacomamusic.net. Anyone who wishes is free to follow along, comment, or shoot me an e-mail about any of it.

I posted a bit about this in the feed»tacoma forums, but got no response. Hopefully as the ball starts to get rolling other people will get excited about joining in the process.

Izenmania Studios Open For Business!

Well... "business" is kind of a strong word. Nobody's going to want to come to my apartment to record except for me. But that's alright.

I've been playing music for most of my life, and recording in earnest off and on for the last quarter of it. My first serious band, Mr. Fusion (an acoustic songwriting collaborative duo), recorded our first album in 2003 in the University Place backyard of my high school video productions teacher. This Shirt Is Pants finished up a debut EP in September at Pacific Studios in downtown Tacoma. But the one thing I've always wished is that I had time with the recording gear to lay down tracks and write overdubs on the spot, which has been prevented by either time or money on previous projects.

Well, no longer! With the purchase of an M-Audio FireWire 410 interface and a microphone, I have transformed this corner of my apartment into a mess o' cable and blinking lights, and have commenced to annoy neighbors by singing very loudly along to music they cannot hear.

I started out with a brief equipment test, and I'm pretty happy with the sound quality. While certainly limited, Garage Band is demonstrating surprising flexibility, especially considering I don't necessarily plan on using it to produce professional-quality stuff. At some point I'll probably get something fancier, but for now I'm just pleased to finally have an outlet for the ideas in my brain.

I'm also hoping that this upsurge in creativity will drive me back into the Tacoma music scene a bit. TSIP seems to be dying a slow death, and I think it would be a lot of fun to get out there with some of my own songs and start playing shows. For now I'll stick to documenting the recording process, and maybe looking around for some like minded musicians who can help me out with instruments that I don't play, but want to use.

But first... more playing with toys! I like toys. Toys are good.

Upcoming: Colonies @ The Viaduct 8/24

Alright, down to the nitty and the gritty...

If you asked Colonies, they'd probably say they were a Seattle band. Which is fair. They live in Seattle, they work in Seattle, they play in Seattle. But in my mind, they will always be inextricably linked to Tacoma. I went to Curtis High School with guitarist Christian Powers in University Place, then a couple years later he popped up again at PLU in lovely Parkland. So to me he'll always be a Tacoma boy, and his bands Tacoma bands.

I've seen Colonies twice so far, once at Jazzbones, once at Hell's Kitchen. The band (in my opinion) was better at the HK show, but lost out a bit due to certain qualities of the technical staff which will be detailed when I get around to reviewing venues.

I always find it difficult to pin down any band (especially my own) to a particular genre, but Colonies' MySpace claims that they are Indie / Experimental Pop, and I see no reason to argue with that. There's a solid balance of music vs. noise that powers the group, and all the members are quite good at what they do.

In addition to rocking a few socks in the live setting, Colonies has spent much of the last year working on their debut album, Sleep Patterns, and it's time for their efforts to pay off. They've got a CD release show this Friday, August 24th, 6:00 PM at The Viaduct. Other bands on the bill are Piko Panda, Trans Union, Don't Tell Sophie (the only one of these I've seen... they'd like to be Modest Mouse, which could be either good or bad, according to taste) and Trip The Light Fantastic (Christian tells me good things, though I unfortunately missed them at the last show). Cost is $6.

Honestly, I'm as excited to see the venue as I am to see the show. I've only heard a little about The Viaduct, but in principle it's great. As their page states: "The folks that brought you The Junkyard /The Frameshop and The Hall have teamed up to start Tacoma's newest and only all ages venue that is not run by a church or a bar." My band's audience (our friends) is mostly under-21, so an all-ages, all the time venue is always a great thing to see. Parents will likely be happier about watching their kids go to an all-ages show if they know there isn't a bar attached. And while I've nothing against church-run venues on the whole, I do have my complaints about Tacoma's most prominent such establishment.

Anyway, it's roundabout time to get back to work. Hope to see you at the show. I'll be back on Saturday with a review of the show and possibly the record, plus some thoughts on the venue.

Let's see if I can keep this up...

Okay, introductions:

I'm Joe. I've lived in the greater Tacoma area my entire live. Grew up in University Place, attended uni in Parkland, and finally moved into the heart of the city proper after graduation in 2006. Nowadays I live on the downtown/Stadium District fringe, and work for downtown web developers SiteCrafting.

I've been peripherally attached to the local music scene in one form or another for quite a few years. I started playing at Shakabra Java with my dad and my brother when I was 15, and through high school played with a number of groups of varying quality, most notably Blarg! and Π Eating Contest.

In 2001 I started Mr. Fusion with my friend Erich. Mr. Fusion is a collaborative musical effort: between us we have two guitars, a keyboard, a doumbek and a pair of bongos, and we've both been known to play all of them, write, and sing.

In 2006 I started playing with my cousin Jake Westhoff and longtime bass player Tyler Killen in what would become This Shirt Is Pants. We eventually brought in drummer Adam Zack and hit the ground running, playing in Tacoma, Seattle, and various parts in between. We've just finished recording a debut EP (tentatively titled Coming Out Of Our Pants... anyone who gets that joke has my undying admiration) and are gearing up to take on the local scene headfirst.

Anyway... that's what this blog is about: my experiences as a musician and music lover in Tacoma. Going to shows, experiencing venues and clubs as someone who 1) listens to music, 2) plays music and 3) loves beer. There'll be a few extraneous restaurant reviews and other Seattle/Tacoma nonsense tossed in, but for the most part, I'm here for the rock.

Enjoy!