This week we hear from The Shakes, an acoustic band out of Keezletown Virginia, and the musical injection to The Blue Hotel play which art in its second and final week. For full info on the play and an exchange with the director, Michael Trocchia, please wander down to the post below this one...
The Blue Hotel play performance schedule:
Wed, Feb. 25-Sat, Feb. 28 8pm & Sun, Mar. 1 - 3pm
Catch The Shakes live for pre-show music on Feb. 28 7:30-8pm
Court Square Theater, 311 South Main Street, Harrisonburg, Virginia
The Shakes are: Mark Lane, Dan Easley, and Crystal Shrewsbury
And their main website: http://www.towndowner.com/
According to The Shakes myspace page...
"Mark writes the songs, sings them, and plays guitar. Classic rock, country, folk, and blues all make their appearance. His lyrics ask epistemological questions in a style of which Strunk, White, Waylon and Johnny might've approved.
Dan adds support and color to the tunes with an array of instruments and vocal stylings. He has devoted much of his life to the study of popular music from the 1600's to today in an attempt to amass a great big bunch of old tricks up his sleeve.
Crystal plays a strong and steady upright bass. In a past life (and still, from time to time) a bass clarinetist, her string bass experience is in traditional Appalachian old-time music. She provides a solid grounding and careful eye (and ear) to the whole circus.
Dead sober as they may be, their music often sounds a bit drunk. Blame the intoxicating splendor of life itself. Ain't we got fun?"
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Yes we do, and here at the world's greatest Stephen Crane blog we also have comments from Dan Easley and Mark Lane of The Shakes. When reading please bear in mind that both men responded separately and at different times, to the questions below. The third Shakes member, Crystal, apparently had the good fortune not to get involved, as often happens when we of the Red Blog of Courage approach unfamiliar women.
Pat: I found out about this event through an email from the theatre. How do you think myspace and the internet has worked to promote the event so far? What other forms of advertisement are being used?
Dan: I've used the internet in promoting my own work since 1995 or so; so, it's natural that we'd use myspace and other internet services to help promote our band and works. We've had a fair share of interest from local traditional media, especially the local papers, but the internet certainly helps break geographical boundaries with awareness.
Mark: I think it has worked pretty well. Michael has done a great job of getting people to become friends of the play on Myspace, and a Facebook event was created as well. I know I passed it on to the Shakes' mailing list. Just getting the event name in front of people, a lot, is probably important. Vern Zehr created a wonderful poster and flier that was heavily distributed all over the surrounding area in restaurants and businesses as well.
Pat: Who is/are the primary mover/s of the Blue Hotel play, concert & art events and how did they come to approach you and commission the music for the play?
Dan: Michael Trocchia, the writer and director of the play, has been a considerable force. It was his idea to adapt the play, and his idea to have us compose original music for it. I'm under the impression that his wife and the theatre company have both been very supportive - I'm not sure how one man alone could accomplish what he has in the last few months.
Mark: Well, namely Michael Trocchia is the prime mover of the Blue Hotel play and the events surrounding it, though once the ball got rolling there has been a tremendous amount of involvement from the community in the various coordinating events surrounding the play. Michael began talking to me about potentially writing some music for an adaptation of the Blue Hotel he was working on back in the spring of 2008 or so. I can't remember when it was that the arts grant came through, but we had agreed to the project before that time, as it appealed to us anyway.
Pat: Did you and the other band members know about Stephen Crane and/or The Blue Hotel story prior to being approached to do the music?
Dan: I suspect Mark did, as he's rather literary. My tastes tend towards the "Beat Generation" writers, as well as German and Russian literature. Since we've done the music I've grown an interest in Twain, Crane, and their ilk.
Mark: I hadn't read "The Blue Hotel" but I had read some other work by Crane in high school and college. I was an English major in college.
Pat: Can you describe the creative process The Shakes went through when coming up with the Blue Hotel songs?
Dan: Mark and I wrote most of the lyrics individually. The music was an even collaboration between he and I and Crystal, our bassist and bass clarinetist. My aim, and I believe Mark would say the same of his approach, was to try to express the same moods and situations as were in the story, without making too many concrete references to plot, character, or location.
We wanted something that would both enhance the playgoers' experience - reiterate in a musical way the themes presented in the play - while also something that would stand on its own, with or without a familiarity with the story. I'm afraid I'm too close to all three works - Crane's, Trocchia's, and our own - to know if we succeeded. I've heard a few compliments so far, but the great public unveiling won't be for a few more days.
Mark: I read "The Blue Hotel" a couple times when Michael first approached me about writing some music for his adaptation. About half of my writing comes from the Crane story initially and then when Mike was able to give me a draft of his script I read that and began writing songs from that as well. I wrote "Johnnie's Theme" first. The line, "Johnnie, you're a dumb son of a bitch" just wouldn't get out of my head for about a week.
I played that for Dan and Crystal, they jumped on board with the project, and the whole thing really started to work itself out. The Blue Hotel marked a real growth for us in the studio and in our writing as we all shared in responsibilities that normally are left to one person or another. About half of the songs on the CD are character-driven, and the other half attempt to reflect the emotions and atmosphere in the story/play, such as the winter storm and the Swede's slow march through the harsh night to the bar. Also, the song order on the CD is loosely intended to follow the structural narrative of the play.
Pat: How many Blue Hotel songs were recorded and which is your favorite?
Dan: We recorded 14 tunes; nearly half of them instrumentals. My favorite is "The Winter Winds". Within the story, it plays as the Swede is walking from the scene of the fight on to the bar. We tried to make it both a triumphant jaunt and a march to the death. Mark's brief lyrics for it can apply to just about anyone anywhere. We spent a lot of time on the arrangement because the theatre's going to be dark when it's played. I think the three of us really worked as a whole on that tune.
Pat: Aside from the free tracks on myspace, can someone purchase a cd or download an mp3 of these songs?
Dan: Absolutely - in fact, we encourage it! We always release our records as free downloads at http://towndowner.com/. We also offer them for sale via CDBaby http://cdbaby.com/cd/shakes2 , iTunes, and at our live performances. It's important to us to have them available for free - I believe music is a cultural treasure too valuable to be threatened by capitalism. It's also important that people support us financially, whether it's via buying a CD, or just throwing some money in the hat. I quit my job and began living on meagre savings a month or two into this project. I live in a tiny shack on someone else's land. So does our bass player. We're really serious about our music.
Pat: Are you satisfied with the way your music was integrated into the play, or do you know yet?
Dan: Well, I'll see a rehearsal in about a week. From the plans I've heard, I'm satisfied. Early on in the process I was worried there'd be too much music used - outside of Brecht & Weill's work I'm not a big fan of musicals. I think the director's been very tasteful in his application.
Mark: I have seen a dress rehearsal of the play and I am positively thrilled at the way Michael has incorporated our music. He has been a tireless supporter of The Shakes and for that I thank him. The seamless integration of the music with the action on the stage is at times filmic and grand. I think this is going to be a unique theatre going experience, at least in Harrisonburg, and it is a real pleasure to witness Michael's long-held vision coming to fruition. That The Shakes have been able to take part is icing on the cake.
Pat: How would you like to dedicate the rest of your musical career to exclusively producing and performing Stephen Crane inspired tunes?
Dan: I wouldn't. I suspect Stephen Crane would've similarly answered any similarly-worded question. It was an extremely satisfying project, and I'm really happy to have gotten to work on it with Mark and Crystal and Michael. They've been a joy to work with. If I were to again write tunes inspired by another artist, I'd prefer, for my own amusement, that it were a very different person - perhaps Marcel Duchamp.
Mark: I can't say that I'd care to. I will say that I think "The Monster" would make a terrific film.
Pat: What else should people know about all this?
Dan: This is what we do. Very rarely do people out of the blue respond. In ten years of promoting music I've been a part of on a website, yours is the third email from a stranger I've ever received. If someone hears what we've done, I'd love to get an email. Doesn't have to be long, or even complimentary. A simple "I know you exist." would suffice.
All that said, if someone lets us in their ears for a little while, that's a kindness, and an opportunity to have some (hopefully positive) affect on their life. So, we owe them a thank you.
Mark: This is being put on by a community theater. Power to the people.
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Next week on this blog, we'll run post 3 of 3 on The Blue Hotel play...in which PERSONS show and tell us how things went down. In other words, the as yet undiscovered PUNCHLINE, and in this cunning age of ENLIGHTENMENT, who could dare miss it?
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