kristin

I’ve been practicing for hours…I have to learn Throwing Muses and Kristin Hersh songs for these retrospective-y shows I’m doing in New York and London. You’d think I’d be familiar with Throwing Muses and Kristin Hersh songs by now, but…you’d be surprised. It’s like asking someone to recite passages from old diaries. They resonate but I can’t quite remember how they go or why I still keep ’em around (and why are there so MANY?).

It could be an attitude problem because right now I’m not a fan of either of those 2 artists (did we have to make up ALL the chords?). I finally gave up and wandered into the bedroom across the hall where Billy was playing the silver baritone guitar he bought in Ann Arbor (I’ve always coveted it) and the children were writing songs. Much better songs than the ones I’ve been playing, though no less odd.

The best one was about a salmon with a toothpick in his forehead who learned to acclimate himself to the jolts of an electric eel with the help of jellyfish. It rhymed “cheddar cheeese” with “sandwicheeees” and it was called, “The Fear of Shocking Things”.

I was still laughing when Wyatt (the 8 year old) said, “Mom always gets the present mixed up with the past” and did a fair impression of me drawling, “I remember now.”

Maybe that’s my problem. I only remember NOW.

Love,

Kristin

I woke up with 50FootWave blasting a song called “One Train” in my head. This is an old folk song that the band has never even heard, much less played, but honestly, it sounded great.

In the shower, I dismissed the idea as ridiculous (50FootWave and folk songs don’t share a lot of common ground), but that only made it play louder. I often find that when I cut a song from a record or take a lyric, bridge or melodic line out of a song, it will repeat in my head indefinitely. Really, for years, I will be haunted by these aborted pieces of music. It’s icky.

I mean, I try giving them the benefit of the doubt, as I’m not heavily into editing anyway, but either they’re not very good or they’re out of place or redundant or just half assed ideas. Misfits.

I’ll give this one the benefit of the doubt and ask Bernie and Rob if they want to try “One Train”, but they’ll probably look at me funny. They don’t even know that there’s a whole NUTHER new song they have to learn for the recording session later this month.

I tried hard not to write it, but that just made it angry.

Love,

K

For various reasons (touring around the world, moving around the country, heat waves, global warming, black magic, etc.), it has been summer in our lives for about 3 and a half years. Anyone who knows me at all knows that this is a very bad thing. One long, stupid summer.

I’ve sewn the straps back on the same sundresses over and over again. Even dental floss wasn’t keeping my summer clothes together at the end.

Then, yesterday, it happened: fall.

Lordy, what a relief. And what a season! Why do we even HAVE the other ones? Leaves should ALWAYS be red. Air should ALWAYS be…what’s the fall word for air? “Brisk”.

We drank our coffee hot instead of iced and then I proceeded to bake everything I could think of: cinnamon rolls, bread, cupcakes, cookies…in long sleeves! Remember those?

Now our household is busy and happy. Spazzy, even. We were pretty calm when we were listless. Now we can’t sit still. I got up at 4 a.m. to practice(!)

And practice I did. These new 50Foot songs were written all over the place, so this morning in the pre-dawn dark, I got to visit Amsterdam, Atlanta, San Francisco, Providence and some field in Scotland. I never could have done all that in the crushing heat of summer. I would have given up after Atlanta.

This is too much sitting still. I’m gonna go walk the dog again. See ya.

Love,
K

That beautiful creature, John Delf — Throwing Muses, 50FootWave and KH sound person extraordinaire (WAY more than ordinary), has blessed us with yet another beautiful creature in the form of his new baby girl, Matilda Grace. The 50 Foot Fam would like to congratulate John, his lovely wife, Carol, and new big sister Maisie (presently recording her first horse-themed, flute solo CD) and welcome little Matilda to planet earth.

This story on copy protection and music piracy aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” this morning.

There was an experiment done with chimpanzees a few years ago. When a small group of chimps was given a small quantity of bananas on a daily basis they shared them among themselves, equally and happily. When that same group was given a surplus of bananas, the dominant chimps stole, hoarded and defended the entire supply, resorting to violence if necessary.

It just struck me this morning, maybe especially, amid the horrifying stories in the news right now how ridiculous this idea of music piracy is. The idea that ultra-rich media companies and even ultra-rich “rockstars” can’t bear to have their own fans (people who genuinely derive pleasure from listening to their music) make copies of their CDs, for fear of lost revenue.

I don’t believe there is such a thing as a music pirate. Yes, some people share files on a huge scale, but think about it, who’s being harmed there? It only really impacts artists & companies who spends so much on the mass-marketing of their product that every last dollar must be squeezed from every available sucker –er, I mean consumer.

Believe me, if 50FootWave’s songs were file-shared extensively, it would be a minor miracle, yes, but also a real shot in the arm for our visibility. In other words, file sharing could only “hurt” us, if we were enormously successful. Insert logical disconnect here. If we spent stupid money making and marketing our CDs then we’d need stupid money in return. I get that. But when does it ever help to restrict the marketplace or private consumer behavior?

On a smaller scale, artists like us stand to suffer greater harm from lost CD revenue, because every CD sale impacts our bottom line directly. And yet it will never make sense to be ‘grabby’ and forget the big picture. It’s music. We’re all so used to people getting rich from it, we forget that makes so little sense. Music was a nice business, it should never have become an industry.

I’m on one side of this, I know — but it’s relevant — after many years as a signed artist, with large advances at my disposal, way more people heard of my band without ever hearing the actual music. That band is dead now. My new band is finding it harder and harder to find the small audience we require to sustain ourselves. I find it hard to care about file-sharing when all I ever really wanted was for people to hear, not buy my music.

I always had faith that if the music found it’s own good people, the money would follow. After all, who in their right mind would become a musician if money was their primary concern??

It remains way more important to me that my music be heard than bought.

There is no such thing as a music pirate in my world.

File sharing is constructive, not destructive.

Share the she-it out of my stuff. Let me worry about the “damage” it causes.

Love,
Kristin

p.s. I know, this is all so “duh” — we’ve been over it and over it. I’m just venting. What’s a blog for after all?