From: owner-bklist-digest@smoe.org (bklist-digest) To: bklist-digest@smoe.org Subject: bklist-digest V1 #11 Reply-To: bklist@smoe.org Sender: owner-bklist-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-bklist-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "bklist-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. bklist-digest Sunday, January 26 1997 Volume 01 : Number 011 Today's Subjects: ----------------- ARTICLE: The Trials of Brenda Kahn (2/2) ARTICLE: The Trials of Brenda Kahn (1/2) Re: ARTICLE: The Trials of Brenda Kahn (2/2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 12:20:30 -0800 From: Gordon Wong Subject: ARTICLE: The Trials of Brenda Kahn (2/2) ... continued from part 1 of article "But the few people who actually feel guilt over there (Sony) are going to licence it back to me, which I'm in turn going to licence to Shanachie records, and they're going to release it." Destination Anywhere is finally coming out, on American micro-label Shanachie Records, a full two years later. Even after getting abandoned by Sony, Kahn found that the sheer strain of dealing with lawyers and more was enough to make her nuts. Doing the only thing she could to save her sanity and remind her fans she was still alive, she scraped together the money - saved up from her American Express temp job - - for a 7-inch on her own Through Being Cool records. "They were totally new songs I recorded (last) summer [1995], and I put it out because the negotiations between Sony and my lawyers and Shanachie were such that I had no idea when it was going to be resolved. And it was the only thing I owned, that I could put out myself, and I just said, 'Fuck it, I'm gonna do this and then whatever it does, it does.' At least people will get to hear it, people who are fans. So many people have been writing to me on the Internet asking me when the new stuff is coming out and I was like 'God, it's sitting here!'" Part of the problem with Sony was over Kahn's sound; two backing bands Kahn assembled, Grout and the Misdirected, were not seen as suitable directions for her previously folk-inflected style. After opening for Dylan in Luxembourg and France, she "came back to New York and I was really into this band thing. They wanted me to be Bob Dylan, this solo acoustic (performer). I really like that part of what I do, but it wasn't all that I was up to at that point. Plus, it gets to be kind of a drag doing everything yourself on stage, and it's fun to play with other musicians, and it's a different kind of energy. It's what I grew up on, I was never really a folk girl ... I was a big Clash fan." With a new/old album coming out soon, Kahn is still working on her writing and songs, choosing sides of her concerns to focus on. "I was thinking about it the other day, because Goldfish Don't Talk Back is incredibly political, and (Epiphany)'s kinda the opposite, it's so personal. (Destination Anywhere) is more personal too, and the stuff I'm writing now is even more political, but the context is even more convoluted than it was. There's a song I'm writing now, the lyric goes: 'There's a doctor every minute that diagnoses fright / I see you stand knee-deep in acid saying everything's alright.' It's very much a statement on this whole idea of doctors, or anyone else, these authority figures that (people) give all their power to. "I'm really into the ideal of taking the power back into your own hands, and I think part of that is my own experiences: doing everything myself, then being on the big label, and now taking it all back into my own reality. But I think it's also the times, I see it everywhere." It's easy to see a link between Kahn's experience and her work; nothing creates a distrust of authority like being subject to its whims. Kahn's also working on more personal and sentimental songs. "I've been in a relationship with somebody for a couple years now, and my songs are reflecting that too, that other reality of being involved with someone for a while instead of a weekend." She laughs, "You have to dig a little deeper." Stable relationships, 'do it yourself' ethics, and knowing where you stand: for Brenda Kahn, things are looking reasonably bright - or at least brighter than they have in the past. Nonetheless, Kahn isn't worried about losing sight of her muse in the glare. As she explains it, her music is a simple function of lunacy and luck. "I have a good friend who once told me 'Brenda, I don't think you'll ever be well enough to make bad art.'" ========================== QUESTIONS and COMMENTS [1] This article mentions a place called DIY ... what's that? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 12:20:28 -0800 From: Gordon Wong Subject: ARTICLE: The Trials of Brenda Kahn (1/2) MAJOR PROBLEMS, THE TRIALS OF BRENDA KAHN by James Rocchi (ID Magazine, 06/13/96) There are certain paths which, after they've been taken often enough, cease being the road less travelled by and start being the way to familiar places. The tale of one person and a guitar has taken fictional forms from Johnny B. Goode to Mr. Adams' first real six-string; in the real world, it has manifested itself in such artists as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Billy Bragg. Even though the tale has become familiar, that doesn't mean it can't change and turn, suprising not only the spectators but the people involved. As our tale begins, it seemed apparent that Brenda Kahn was taking such a path to success. She debuted with an independent album entitled Goldfish Don't Talk Back, and quickly became noticed for her high-voltage intense vocals, acoustic guitar skills, and her thoughtful songwriting: New York poetry mixed with life stories and love stories, substance abuse, spite, and sympathy. It led to a contract with the Chaos division of Sony records. Her major label debut, An Epiphany in Brooklyn, was released in 1992. Tours of Europe with Bob Dylan and America with Jeff Buckley followed soon after. A follow-up, Destination Anywhere, was scheduled for release in February of 1995; a three song advance EP, King of Cairo, went to press and radio; review cassettes of the full album were sent to select press outlets. It is now 1996. Brenda Kahn has no long-term, multi-album record contract. No major label deal. No tour support. She's been working as a temp at American Express. "I've been thinking of writing a movie, actually, about someone who's totally ripping off a corporation while they're doing a temp job," she says on the phone from her New York City home. "I have to say it's the hugest drag, and I hate it, and I hate getting up at 7:00 in the morning. It's terrible." Everything is different except her voice, her guitar, and her art. Going from DIY to the Big High Buildings and back again, Khan has developed a laissez-faire attitude seemingly made out of two parts cool to one part shock. "It's intense. It's back to square one, kinda." The tale of how it all happened is rendered even more harrowing by the realization that this must happen to other artists and bands the world over, every day. The tale only attains the possibility of a happy ending when it becomes clear that Kahn is still making music, still writing songs, and still playing them live. The reason for Khan being dropped from Sony can be attributed to a variety of factors. "For one thing, I was signed officially to Chaos, and Chaos folded. But that was all internal politics, and then the guy who signed me got fired, so that was more internal politics ..." Kahn pauses, frustration and humour mixed in her voice. "I don't know, cause it's a great record!" What made it even more shocking was that the decision was made two weeks before the album's release date, when rave reviews had already appeared in Interview and Alternative Press, and the advance EP was getting picked up at radio. The album was already quite old at that point: it was finished six months before the planned release date (February 1995), and most of the recording had been done a year before that. And although Sony didn't want to release the album themselves, that didn't stop them from hanging on to the rights to both the recorded album and the songs themselves. "It was bad, it was a bad day for Brenda Kahn," says the woman herself. ... to be continued ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 25 Jan 1997 22:27:11 -0500 (EST) From: DelphiBlue@aol.com Subject: Re: ARTICLE: The Trials of Brenda Kahn (2/2) In a message dated 97-01-25 15:27:00 EST, Gordon Wong wrote: << QUESTIONS and COMMENTS [1] This article mentions a place called DIY ... what's that? >> DIY means Do it yourself. <> It means going from independent recording to the established major labels, and back to the independent Do-it-yourself way again. Dennis in the delphi ------------------------------ End of bklist-digest V1 #11 ***************************