The past few weeks were a blur. April turned out to be a slow month for me freelance-wise, but in May things are definitely picking up. Also started a part-time job at REI selling bikes, kayaks and canoes, so I'm learning about all the gear too.
I had two stories in this week's Night&Day (which is the Union-Tribune's entertainment section), and I have two more coming out next week (including a huge piece on an exhibit on art from the Vatican stopping in San Diego). But first this week:
The Pacific Beach Block Part is a free, annual festival in party central: P.B. Here's the Night&Day cover story I wrote last week. The cover art is great (see above). I actually hung out for the photo shoot. Ernie Grafton from the Union-Tribune shot photos of Anya under the Crystal Pier in P.B. during a sunny afternoon. Good stuff:
Good Day Sunshiny!
Anya Marina multitasks her way to the Pacific Beach Block Party
By Chris Nixon
May 6, 2004
Anya Marina's sweet sunshiny songs and breathy vocals reflect her sweet sunshiny personality. But by a simple twist of fate, the local singer-songwriter and radio DJ almost didn't get to sing her sunshiny songs in sunny San Diego.
"I moved down to San Diego and two months later I'm out of a job with a studio apartment I have to pay rent on in P.B," said Marina over a coffee at the Starbucks on Mission Boulevard in Pacific Beach. "I started playing gigs in my unemployment, doing open mikes at Java Joe's.
"I was able to get a little foothold in the great nurturing San Diego music scene. Everybody was so helpful. Mike Halloran has pretty much kept me employed over the years at different radio stations: 92.1 FM, Y107 in L.A. and now FM 94.9."
Marina's patience with San Diego paid off. Balancing her full-time radio gig at FM 94.9, her acting career and her life as musician, the slight singer carves a creative existence out of the local music scene. She DJs Monday through Friday from 6-10 p.m. at the local station, while also holding down the San Diego music show the Local 94/9 on Sundays from 8-10 p.m.
Among the radio gigs, Marina's songwriting career seems about to take flight.
Her debut EP, "Exercises in Racketeering" – recorded with help from Unwritten Law's Scott Russo – won her great local press. CityBeat named Marina as one of the "Best Unsigned" acts in San Diego. She looks to release her follow-up full-length album "Miss Halfway" this summer.
But she's still looking for a label to release the disc. What do you have to do to get music critics and label pundits to help a sister out?
In the meantime, Marina prepares for her first gig at the Pacific Beach Block Party: "I just went to Kono's for the first time, because I'm trying to immerse myself in P.B. culture," said Marina. "I lived in P.B. when I first moved to San Diego. Kono's has an amazing view and pretty greasy, awesome food."
She'll perform on the Local 94/9 Stage at Gresham Street and Garnet Avenue from 11 to 11:45 a.m.
Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.
Anya Marina's 10 favorite albums:
1. Beatles' "The White Album"
2. Elliot Smith's "XO"
3. Sinead O'Connor's "The Lion and the Cobra"
4. Nirvana's "Nevermind"
5. The Pixies' "Doolittle"
6. Liz Phair's "Exile In Guyville"
7. Stephen Malkmus' "Stephen Malkmus"
8. G. Love and Special Sauce's "G. Love & Special Sauce"
9. Rugburns' "Taking the World by Donkey"
10. Sheryl Crow's "The Globe Sessions"
– CHRIS NIXON
And here's the Slipknot story:
Slipknot promises to 'offer a dose of reality'
By Chris Nixon
May 6, 2004
Gut-splitting. Severe. Massive. Fearsome. These words articulate the crux of Slipknot, an irate metal collective from Iowa set to detonate on an unsuspecting mainstream America.
Full of rolling farmland and desolate plains, the unlikely breeding ground of Iowa spawned one of modern music's most fierce combos. From their hometown of Des Moines, Slipknot rose out of the Midwest prairie in 1996 like a nine-man revolution against insular God-fearing, family friendly life.
When you think about it, a band like Slipknot – with its vitriolic metal railing against ignorance and conformity – could only come from a bastion of family values. Despite developing a hardcore grassroots following affectionately referred to as "maggots," Slipknot remains outside the musical mainstream of America. And that's just fine with lead singer Corey Taylor and his tribe.
"I think a lot of the popular music that's out there today is very slick, very packaged and very plastic," said Taylor via his cell phone during the band's current tour. "We offer a dose of reality in a world that lives in illusion. We pull back the rug and show what's going on underneath. As long as we're on that level, I don't think we'll be on the level where we're playing the Super Bowl or anything. But you know what? We can live without that."
Like a Halloween party gone awry, this collective dons menacing masks and matching red jumpsuits. Band members – simply using monikers numbered from zero to eight – burst out of the late-'90s rap-metal explosion.
Rougher than Limp Bizkit and more musically deft than Korn, Slipknot rose above the metal glut with haunting turntable samples, dense percussion, hard guitars and Taylor's angst-ridden lyrics. The band's music struck a chord with America's disaffected youth, but the brutal nature also pushed away certain demographic groups.
"Not everybody is going to like this music," said Taylor, who also goes simply by the numeral "#8." "As much as I would love to be embraced by everybody, it's just not going to happen. It makes you appreciate the people who are really into your music even more. It's a really good feeling, to know that we started in a basement in Des Moines, Iowa, and basically worked our way to (playing) pretty much all over the world. How many people can say that?"
With a mind-shattering live show and two bombastic studio releases ("Iowa" in 2001 and 1999's self-titled debut), Slipknot exudes a frenetic energy. The band's high-profile slots on Ozzfest (1999, 2001 and 2004) have afforded Slipknot a taste of notoriety.
After building up metal cred for the past five years, Slipknot might be poised for surprising success. Reason No. 1: Legendary knob-twister Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) produced the band's upcoming release, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)" due May 25. Rubin delved into the band's psyche by adding more atmospherics and more contemplative passages.
"(Rubin) basically told us, 'Look, you're really good at what you do, but now it's time to expand on that. Now, it's time to break out of the box and show people there are so many sides to you guys,' " said Taylor. "And that's basically what we did. I think this is our best album yet."
With Rubin's help, the new album will certainly open up new avenues and audiences for Slipknot. But the band hasn't forgotten it core constituency: kids dealing with the frustrations of growing up, looking for any release from the pressures of modern life.
"We're saying what every kid wants to say, but maybe they haven't found their voice yet," said Taylor, who takes the SOMA stage Sunday with the rest of his band. "We're saying it to the individual, but we're saying it to the world as well: There is a way to get through it and go on with your lives.
"Being a teenager these days is even worse then when I was a kid. It's brutal and it has scarred a lot of people. (Our music) lets you know you're not alone. You're not going through this alone."
Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.
