The News Review:
- Jon Ginoli’s story so far? Dreams do come true
- Stoking Careers in Frenzy of South by Southwest
- Music of anger and protest in “Vortex”
Jon Ginoli’s story so far? Dreams do come true
San Francisco Chronicle
It wasn’t until Ginoli came to San Francisco in 1989 that he could envision an audience for his idea “because it seemed so preposterous. Ginoli’s timing was perfect according to Matt Wobensmith who founded the utpunk fanzine and record label in the early ’90s. “Pansy Division is super ballsy” said Wobensmith who released one of Pansy Division’s early singles “Bill & Ted’s Homosexual Adventure. “When I first met them I thought there’s no way in the world this is going to fly. Lots of people thought they were crazy. But the band (Ginoli bassist Chris Freeman and then-drummer Jay Paget) took advantage of the rebellious cultural climate to build a following.
Stoking Careers in Frenzy of South by Southwest
New York Times
”But most musicians here were less concerned with the interests of the music business than they were with reaching listeners. They might be quiet like the Low Anthem a Rhode Island trio that played somber songs pondering fate and eternity. They might be hectic like the Arkells a Canadian group that played upbeat folk-rock songs with the manic intensity of a punk band. They saw their future not in stadium tours or rock-star indulgences but in the pragmatic steps of setting up another tour or doing another studio session. Mica Levi leads one of the most innovative bands I heard at the festival Micachu and the Shapes: a trio wielding unconventional instruments in the smart snappy jaggedly off-center songs they recorded on their debut album “Jewellry” (Rough Trade). Her ambition? She shrugged. “I’d like to make another album” she said.
Music of anger and protest in “Vortex”
The regonian – regonLive.com
Folk and rock music have proud traditions of protest songs from “Go Down Moses” to “This Land Is Your Land” to “Eve of Destruction. ” Punk music was a backlash against Margaret Thatcher’s no-jobs no-future Britain. Even classical music whose refined image is rooted in the church and aristocracy has a formidable history of protest from Haydn Beethoven Prokofiev Shostakovich Britten Corigliano and many more. No musical voice in the Northwest is more original impassioned or memorable than his.
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