From: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org (headline-girl-digest) To: headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Subject: headline-girl-digest V5 #219 Reply-To: headline-girl@smoe.org Sender: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk headline-girl-digest Saturday, October 19 2002 Volume 05 : Number 219 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Now: Finer Gryner: Rising Star's Music Biz Education [Paul Schreiber ] Re: emm in print [Candace Smith ] Re: emm in print ["Tab Siddiqui" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 21:25:08 -0700 From: Paul Schreiber Subject: Now: Finer Gryner: Rising Star's Music Biz Education http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2002-10-17/music_feature2.php FINER GRYNER RISING STAR'S MUSIC-BIZ EDUCATION BY SARAH LISS Emm Gryner's not one to hold a grudge.When the pride of Forest, Ontario, was rudely dropped from her major label in the wake of 1999's massive Polygram-Universal merger, did she sit around on her ass feeling sorry for herself and planning ways to take down the Man? Nope, she returned to her own indie Dead Daisy fold and released the lovely, stripped-down Science Fair, at the time the best album of her career. And when a certain brassy Canadian chanteuse (OK, it was Jann Arden) crassly sniped in her diary (excerpts were published by Insomniac Press) that she'd like to feed Gryner a sandwich, the waifish singer-songwriter didn't take it to heart. In fact, rumour has it that Gryner's gonna contribute vocals to Arden's upcoming album. "How'd you hear that rumour? Did I say that in my online journal? I'm such an ass!" laughs Gryner, huddled in the cavernous basement of the Masonic Temple before taping an episode of the Mike Bullard show. "Yeah, she invited me to sing on her next album after she came to one of my shows in L.A. I think she's great, fuckin' funny. "We're gonna have a Celebrity Death Match in Calgary, later on the tour. It's planned. And there'll be free sandwiches for everyone. BBQ!" Sandwiches aside, Gryner doesn't need anyone to take care of her. David Bowie is one of her biggest fans; after the major merger fiasco, he handpicked her to be one of his backup singers on tour, and she appears on two of his recent albums. Her label's doing well, she's started producing other artists, and she just released her sixth disc, Asianblue (Dead Daisy) to solid reviews. Asianblue is Gryner's most ambitious album so far. You can still hear the same soaring melodies, intensely personal confessions and stream-of-consciousness lyrical musings, but she's dropped some of the morose moodiness that cast a shadow over her earlier work. The acoustic sway of Northern Holiday could be a Ron Sexsmith tune (Gryner even name-checks Sexsmith on the song), although he might not agree. She's also mastered the art of the catchy-but-not-irritating hook: lead single Beautiful Things is a perfect pop song, building toward a glorious adrenaline rush and a sing-along chorus. Gryner's fleshed out her sweet, girly tunes into lush popscapes. Part of that is stellar production. She enlisted Wally Gagel, the man behind discs by the Stones and Folk Implosion, to help her out with half of Asianblue. Luckily, he agreed to do it on indie scale, accepting a cut of the profits from records sold instead of a massive upfront fee. Since they had to work around his schedule, Gryner ended up relocating to L.A., which wasn't entirely a positive experience. "I think it's a great place for some people, but not for me. I love the seasons, and I love people whose word means something. In L.A. there are beautiful people, but they're miserable people -- I think I can safely make that generalization. I like a city where people's interests are really diverse, not just focused on entertainment. "I go hiking every day in L.A., and everyone is looking at each other to see if there's someone famous nearby. After being there for a while, I went back to New York, and there was none of that. I was, like, "How come they're not looking at me? How come that person's not looking at that person?' People there were busy doing things! It seemed so novel." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 00:39:24 -0700 From: Bob Subject: yay beautiful things in top ten at muchmoremusic! that was a great suggestion.. http://www.muchmoremusic.com/top10/ Keep voting! >Hey everybody-- I'm confused. >Where can I see the music video for Beautiful Things? >I didn't know it was on the internet yet. >Linzi As far as I know it's not online yet (anyone got a clip?) You can see it on the cable TV music channel MuchMoreMusic, available in Canada. Bob http://www.angelfire.com/indie/emmgryner/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 03:24:11 -0700 (PDT) From: Candace Smith Subject: Re: emm in print That's unfortunate that Emm only sees the stereotypes of Los Angeles. Part of the reason might be is that she really only hangs in Hollywood (and apparently hikes the Santa Monica/Hollywood hills) but doesn't see anything else. Like NY, or many of the other major metropolitan cities, there are different sections to the city and everything doesn't necessarily surround Hollywood. True, there are a lot of people in the entertainment industry here but does one really think that 3.5 million of us in the city base our lives around it? Actually, Emm's perception of LA is similar to a lot of people that come here but, like her, the entertainment business is usually what brought them here in the first place. I still think LA has the best music scene in the world. There's the East Los Angeles sect that includes the huge Latin American influence where bands like Los Lobos, Ozomatli, Pastilla, Maria Fatal, and East LA Sabor Factory make their home. There's the South Bay and Orange County region where punk band rules in the name of Social Distortion, Bad Religion, and NOFX. There's the hip-hop world of Mid-city and North County (Jurassic 5, Black Eyed Peas, and Madlib). There's one of the biggest Bluegrass and Mountain Folk scenes in the world right in the San Fernando Valley. Then there's the controversial Southern California rave scene that has been getting all that bad press.. . Pop/rock dominates the Westside with bands like Phantom Planet, Maroon5 (formerly Kara's Flowers), and the Foo Fighters to name a few... The huge and diverse singer-songwriter scene with Aimee Mann, Fisher, Lisa Germano, Grant Lee Phillips, Kim Fox, Fiona Apple, Jude, Sheila Nicholls, Mia Doi Todd and didn't Jason Mraz just move here??... One of the best alt-country scenes around with Beachwood Sparks, I See Hawks In L.A., Ryan Adams, Rhett Miller, Minibar, eastmountainsouth... Not to mention the great Silver Lake/Echo Park scene led by Beck, Imperial Teen, Anna Waronker, Weezer, Redd Kross, Folk Implosion... I could go on and on but, I know, I'm soapboxing this a bit (just a bit?!?!). ... Anyway, I just think it's kind of surprising that Emm would put this gigantic city in a box like that. Especially with our huge Filipino community here (the largest population outside of the Philippines) and a growing local fanbase that obviously adores her -there was a Filipino festival I went to recently and they were playing Asianblue during the mainstage changeover music. One thing I can't argue with is the weather but that's why everyone here takes vacations to Vancouver, Colorado, and Nebraska during the fall and winter. Interesting article though. . . Oh well, we'll miss you, Emm!! \\\\\\\\\ ~Candace~> ///////// p.s. Just saw Bright Eyes twice earlier this week and Thom Yorke was in the audience for one of the shows. I've seen Conor at least 25 times over the years and these didn't go too well. The sound in the venue didn't help much either. Why people are comparing him to Dylan I'll never understand. Beck also did a secret show last week and Thom was there as well. Don't you think it's fate that Thom and I were meant to be together? Joseph Arthur this weekend, Foo Fighters and Tegan & Sara next week, later Bic Runga, Ron Sexsmith, and Shortlist Awards with N.E.R.D and DJ Shadow. November: Ladyfest!! > > Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 22:50:04 -0700 (PDT) > From: "AK" > Subject: emm in print > > http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2002-10-17/music_feature2.php Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 16:36:33 +0000 From: "Tab Siddiqui" Subject: Re: emm in print AK wrote: >http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2002-10-17/music_feature2.php Okay, can I just respond to this? While any press is great and all, I think it's an absolute *crime* that Emm has not been on the cover of either of the two Toronto weeklies, despite her years of hard work and talent. Far lesser artists have appeared on the cover of both NOW and eye, total newbies (see last week's NOW cover on the admittedly good Nathan Wiley) and utter has-beens. And yet here she is getting a tiny feature yet again. I don't understand it. Luckily there are other papers in other places with less inflated sense of self that have put her on the cover, including Hamilton's VIEW Weekly last week (and I'm not just saying that because I wrote the piece, seriously ;)). Sorry, I just wanted to grumble about that. - - Tab. _________________________________________________________________ Unlimited Internet access -- and 2 months free! Try MSN. http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/2monthsfree.asp ------------------------------ End of headline-girl-digest V5 #219 ***********************************