I Don't Belong to Anyone

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Artists send their love to a Louisville icon



Sculptor Kevin Titzer lives in Saguenay, in the Canadian province of Quebec. “Gotta live somewhere,” he laughs. Geography and movement aren’t usually themes in the Evansville, Ind. native’s work, but his ongoing series of shows focused on interpreting music through visual art has led him all over the continent.

His new group show, inspired by the 20-plus years of Louisville native Will Oldham’s work in and around music, features four native artists (two who still live in Louisville) and almost two-dozen others from various locations. It’s the third show of its kind curated by Titzer. The first, in Seattle, paid tribute to They Might Be Giants in 2005. The second, on the Pixies, was seen in Venice, Calif., in 2011.

It wasn’t planned as a traveling showcase. Titzer created the first show while he was still living in Evansville, showing it in a Seattle gallery because they were showing other works by Titzer at the time. “I pretty much didn’t know what I was doing the first go-around,” he says.

The Pixies show was even more of a challenge. “Doing it long distance, it was a really tough show to get through,” he says. “So this time I felt, ‘I want to do something a little closer to where I’m from.’” By the time it starting coming together, however, he had moved to another country.

Titzer decided on Will Oldham as the subject. “At the end of the Pixies thing, I felt, like, ‘Oh, I’ve done my big commercial’ — not that the Pixies are that big and commercial — but, ‘I want to do my underground show. A little low-key show.’”

His plans shifted again, and “Troublesome Houses” (named for a 2010 song Oldham recorded as Bonnie “Prince” Billy) grew into a big project featuring artists from Portland, Ore., to Hamburg, Germany.

Titzer has been a fan since first hearing Oldham’s Palace Brothers, going back as far as Oldham’s early music days in the ’90s. A number of Louisville musicians attended the University of Evansville back then, he says, including the Watson Twins, and cross-pollinations between musicians and artists from the two cities influenced people in both places. It was one of the last pre-Internet exchanges of its type.

“I feel really old,” laughs the 41-year-old. (Oldham is now 43, and LEO was born two years before Oldham’s first record was released.) “Obviously, I’m biased in feeling nostalgic about that time, but it was harder to discover things,” says Titzer. “We got the job done by word-of-mouth, or zines … I think you appreciate it more when you have to do a little bit of research, not just a Google search.”

As Oldham’s career progressed, artistically and commercially, Titzer felt inspired by seeing his peer thrive. He says more than once that, despite not actually being from Louisville, he feels an affinity with the place and its people. As an artist from Evansville, “I can relate (to Oldham). If a guy from Louisville can go at it and be successful, and, on top of that, do it all on his own terms — which has always been impressive — then I can at least get off my ass and keep moving.”

Titzer has been getting off his ass for 15 years now. The contemporary art magazine Juxtapoz wrote, “Kevin Titzer makes some amazingly bizarre sculptures, the kinds that make you feel uncomfortable and inspired at the same time,” and the first gallery to exhibit his work was Louisville’s Images Friedman. He says he listens to a lot of music while working in his studio, often using its inspiration to fuel his own creativity. One of the artists included in this show is Jon Langford, a prolific visual artist and musician best known for leading the band the Mekons. Oldham wrote a song dedicated to that band at the beginning of his career.

Titzer has not met Oldham but says Oldham has approved the tribute. Titzer laughs when asked if he wants to meet its inspiration, and notes how awkward meeting a well-known figure can be when they don’t know anything about you. “He seems like a really nice guy … More than anything, I hope he sees the show and likes the artwork.”

‘Troublesome Houses: Art Inspired by Will Oldham’
Nov. 1-Dec. 14
PUBLIC
131 W. Main St.
louisvillevisualart.org
(Opening reception Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.)

"No Bad News" by Kevin Titzer

C. 2013 LEO Weekly

Dumpstaphunk: Good for the soul

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Many people can do an impression of Aaron Neville, the great soul, funk and pop singer. His son Ivan is one of them. But Ivan, now 54, long ago proved himself to be his own man, playing keyboards solo and for Keith Richards’ X-Pensive Winos, Bonnie Raitt, The Neville Brothers and even the Spin Doctors (just being a New Orleans Neville isn’t enough to pay the bills).

For the past decade, he’s led Dumpstaphunk, a lively band whose funk thrust simultaneously takes listeners back to the genre’s glory days in the 1960s and ’70s and moves the form into the future. The multi-generational band also includes Ivan’s cousin Ian Neville on guitar, drummer Nikki Glaspie and two bassists, Nick Daniels and Tony Hall. Inspired by Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament, able and willing to play all styles, Dumpstaphunk fuses funk, soul, rock and distinctively New Orleans rhythms into a crowd-pleasing smorgasbord.

Despite the fun unavoidable in their sound, Neville and band like to sing about issues at times — some of their new songs include “They Don’t Care” and one named after that most sensitive of New Orleans topics: “Water.”

Dumpstaphunk is a party band, he says, but some of their songs say a little something. “When people come to see us, they’re coming to have a good time, and then here and there we sneak a little message in. We’re trying to please you; we’re not trying to shove any opinion down anyone’s throat. When you have a chance to say something positive, or something that we feel needs to be said, we have the tendency to say it.”

How’s New Orleans been lately? “It’s cool. It’s still coming around,” Neville says. “People are coming down here, they’re bringing their business down here, the tourist thing is doing well … our football team is just crushing! (laughs). I’m very happy about that. New Orleans is doing good; we have a lot to be happy about.” They also have the best food in the world and the best music in the world, he adds.

Can music help people? “Oh, absolutely,” Neville says, “in many different ways. It helps people to heal from certain things that are going on in their lives. It helps people to sometimes get away from otherwise stressful things going on. Music is not only an escape but it is a healing tool, as well. Music is definitely good for the soul.”

Dumpstaphunk has taken their music to many festivals and jam-band gatherings, playing to all sorts of adventurous crowds, but nothing had prepared them for their latest adventure: opening for Lionel Richie. “Um, it’s a different crowd for us,” Neville says. “It’s not, you know, who we often see, but it’s good to play for an audience that may not be there to see your band. It’s good to be exposed to a … a vastly different audience.”

Again, bills have to be paid.

The members of the band range from early 30s to mid-50s, and drummer Glaspie is the newest member, having joined two years ago. The Berklee grad had previously played in Beyoncé’s all-female band and met Neville through another funky band she had played with, Soulive. Glaspie had been making annual trips to New Orleans’ Jazz Fest, meeting Neville in 2004 when Dumpstaphunk was just beginning and not even a full-time band yet.

“She can hang with the best of them,” her new boss says with a hearty laugh. “We don’t have to curb our behavior that much. As far as we’re concerned, she holds her own. The beautiful thing is that we do have a female perspective, and that’s a cool thing — also, the voice! We’ve got a female voice, and she’s a badass drummer, so all that wrapped up is a beautiful thing.”

That female aspect was important to the band, whose primary inspirations — Sly Stone, George Clinton — had incorporated multiple singers of all types in their family-style music.

Dumpstaphunk’s latest and second full-length album is called Dirty Word, so I asked Neville what the dirty word of the day was. He laughed and replied, “Funk!”

Dumpstaphunk with Mojoflo
Thursday, Oct. 24
Headliners Music Hall
1386 Lexington Road
headlinerslouisville.com
$15; 9 p.m.

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Thao goes behind bars

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Thao Nguyen stepped away from the music business a couple of years ago, and it was the best thing she could have done for her career. After five years and three full-length albums, the San Francisco resident put her numerous instruments down and went to prison.

She wasn’t in trouble. Nguyen had as much, if not more, passion for women’s advocacy than she did for music. She decided to act on her interest by volunteering with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners. She was stunned to meet many women whose crimes had been committed while defending themselves from domestic violence attacks.

Noting that many of her fans are likely also fans of the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” Nguyen was asked if she enjoys the series and sees any validity to its depiction of women in prison. “Yeah, on a lot of levels. I have, like many, devoured it. At first, I was a little skeptical, of course, but around the third or fourth episode, when they start presenting the different stories of all the folks inside — obviously, there are concessions made to be entertaining, but the compassion demonstrated is what needs to happen on a greater scale.”

Her compassion was formed, to some degree, by absorbing music from different cultures. As a child, she was obsessed with Motown. An older brother turned her onto hip-hop, and she couldn’t escape ’90s pop. As she began playing guitar, she discovered rural blues, old-time and bluegrass.

The fourth album by her band, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, is called We the Common. It has received much acclaim since its release last winter, and the band has spent a lot of time playing at festivals since. Nguyen has been glad for the chances to be heard, but says she’s found the best crowds are, not surprisingly, the nighttime crowds who have already starting getting loose. “It always feels more natural to play in the evening time … it’s an easier crowd. But last week, at Austin City Limits, we played in the daytime and people were acting like it was the nighttime,” she laughs.

Nguyen has displayed a sharp sense of humor in several online videos and has been whipping out her cover of Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy” on her current tour. Nguyen says, “It’s one of the highlights — for me — of the set. I do it more often than I don’t do it … It’s so hard not to. But it’s better when it’s a surprise.”

Combining humor and activism comes naturally to the musician, noting that her humor helps keep her messages from becoming too tedious for fans who like the tunes but don’t otherwise care. “It’s important for me to be accessible and to be pretty straightforward about what I’m about.”

Her non-musical work has helped her grow as a songwriter. “I think so. I think the songs are more outward-looking and outward-reaching … I think there’s a level of consciousness and humanity in these songs that didn’t exist before, and that’s because of all the people I’ve met, and all the amazing strength I’ve witnessed.”

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down with The Fervor
Sunday, Oct. 20
Zanzabar
2100 S. Preston St.
zanzabarlouisville.ticketfly.com
$15; 9 p.m.

Photo by Nick Walker

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

Aimee Mann: Louisville’s other movie star

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Throughout her 30-year career, Aimee Mann has accomplished much: hit songs and MTV stardom in the ’80s, receiving Academy Award and Grammy nominations for the same song in the ’90s and paving the way for musicians to escape the major-label system by self-releasing music at the turn of the century. But what people might not realize is the impact Aimee Mann has had on the Louisville movie scene.

Part of the reason is that “Pleased to Meet Me,” the movie in which she stars with fellow musicians John Doe and Joe Henry, won’t be released until Oct. 10 — and that’s only in New York. A local release date hasn’t been announced yet for the movie, which was shot in Louisville over three weeks last year.

“We were trying to have a day off there, but we couldn’t,” Mann says of her time as a movie star. They ended work some days early enough to get late dinners, but not much more. “I’m very disappointed, because I’m now intimately acquainted with a half-dozen restaurants in town I’m really dying to get back to.” Often spotted at Please & Thank You, Mann and her costars also managed to eat at Jack Fry’s three times during their stay. “I really do love that town,” she says.

Henry, whose brother David lives in Louisville and co-wrote the movie’s screenplay, is “a real foodie,” Mann says. “He swung this arrangement where he was going to write about Louisville for (AFAR Magazine), so we all ate out on someone else’s dime.”

(A fun side note: Joe Henry’s wife is a sister of Madonna (yes, that one). Mann’s husband is musician Michael Penn, whose brother Sean was once famously, loudly married to Madonna.)

Mann laments that she won’t get to see more of the city when she returns for this weekend’s concert. “When you’re on tour, it’s a lot of in-and-out. You get into town, you go to the venue and you’re pretty much (stuck) at the venue. It’s not so easy to get out ... That’s just the way it is. You’re there to work.”

Mann has appeared on numerous TV shows through the years, including a buzzed-about recent “Portlandia” sketch, but the music-centric “Pleased to Meet Me” is her first major role. Mann didn’t have time to be nervous, though, because the very indie production couldn’t afford it.

“I don’t really act. I think acting is very difficult,” she says. “But because the part was enough like … I could envision myself in that situation very easily, so I just did, like, ‘How would I react?’ I didn’t have to formulate a real character-character.”

It’s Mann’s second role in a movie significant to a Louisville audience. Though her role as a German nihilist who loses a toe in 1998’s “The Big Lebowski” was filmed in her hometown of Los Angeles, LEO readers don’t need to be reminded what that movie means to Louisville.

About her other locally notable movie role, Mann laughs, “Yeah, people are really into the ol’ ‘Lebowski.’” She hasn’t performed at any of the Lebowski Fests yet, and didn’t know it was a possibility — her impression of the festival was that actors from the movie just show up. “What does that consist of? What does one do? You know, I had two lines in German. It’s not like I was a big player.” Informed that bands do perform, she brightens and exclaims, “Well! It’s looking totally different now.”

Mann’s current project is The Both, a collaboration with another acclaimed singer-songwriter, Ted Leo, in what she calls “kind of a power trio” format, with Leo on guitar, Mann on bass and Scott Seger on drums. This tour sees Leo opening with a solo set, and then joining Mann for a few songs during hers.

The Both has been recording an album, and Mann’s label, Super Ego, hopes to release it in February. “Part of the fun of the project has been trying to find the place where we meet,” she says about working with the punkier Leo. Thin Lizzy emerged as a shared reference point. “I think we’re also both in the mood for that band experience … sometimes being solo, when you have all the responsibility and all the attention — it’s just a different experience. And it’s fun to be part of a group.”

Aimee Mann with Ted Leo
Sunday, Oct. 6
Clifton Center
2117 Payne St.
cliftoncenter.org
$34-$38; 7:30 p.m.

Photo by Sheryl Nields

c. 2013 LEO Weekly

It's all in the game

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The Louisville/Bloomington post-punk band Waxeater issues a challenge to the smartest, savviest Americans this month: Sure, you love “The Wire.” But have you made an entire concept album all about “The Wire”?! With song titles like “Omar Comin’,” “Game Recognize Game” and “A Man Has to Have a Code,” Waxeater’s Baltimore Record will make you say “Sheeeeeit.” The band plays Third Street Dive on Oct. 20, and the album will be available for purchase there.

LEO spoke with guitarist Rob Montage.

LEO: Whose idea was this?

Rob Montage: It was mine. I had it floating around for a couple of years when I started writing songs that were about the show. I was, like, “I should write a whole record about the show.” It became, “Let’s have a pop culture hook while also talking about our own stupid problems, which are so much less important than the problems of the people on that show.”

LEO: Are you comparing yours versus theirs?

RM: Not necessarily. More like plot references and character references to the show while also talking about not necessarily my problems, but middle-class, white punks who grew up in the city, like, “We have problems, too, we have bills and we have relationship issues …” But then, let’s take a step back and look at real problems.

We’ve never taken a very serious angle to anything, so it felt like a good way to talk about some semi-serious stuff while also being sarcastic about everything, too.

LEO: Does that make this your “growing up” record?

RM: I guess (laughs). There are serious things going on, but it’s also a record about a TV show. We didn’t sit down and write a Propagandhi album.

c. 2013 LEO Weeekly