bentenlaughing

This interview was done a wee while back in March 2020 when Beverly was visiting Australia. Our world was beginning to change with COVID 19 and since this short but insightful interview we have each faced many limitations. Nonetheless I would like to leave the transcript as is for you to enjoy. Thank you for visiting my blog and reading and wishing each and everyone of you a year where health, freedom of movement and the joy of close companionship is once more a given. Janice Janice: Beverly, you are currently in Australia, visiting your family. I'm interested to know if working in Australia has had any lasting influence (or not) on the directions you've since taken? Beverly: Working in Australia was life changing for me. I came from a very hierarchical theatre world in German speaking countries. Not only was the director GOD, even the director of the Christmas Panto...., most of us actors waited to be told what to do on stage. Meeting all these irreverent perf...

A note on climate-change and music composition. This morning ash and charred leaves fell as I put shade cloth on my vegie patch (while wearing a mask).  I am living in a poorly insulated rental property which seems to heat up quickly and cool down slowly, and I have a chronic health condition (ME/CFS) which is exacerbated by the poor air quality. I don’t feel the need to ponder the intricacies of climate change and its causative impact on the current fire situation and impending heatwaves in my local area. This is not my area of expertise. But it appears (in addition to my somewhat disturbing subjective reality) that the science is in and there is no room for dispute. I will instead focus here on the relationship between music composition and climate change, as that is something rarely (if ever) considered. What is the relationship between climate change and our current way of “doing” the arts in general and music composition in particular? I would have to argue the ...

Dear bentenlaughing friends. I hope you enjoy Arterial Flow's new collaboration with gifted Brazilian singer/songwriter ERLER PINHO Some months back I invited Lee to translate our song Strange Day into Portuguese. Arterial Flow's "Strange Day" beautifully reinterpreted & translated by Brazilian singer/songwriter, ERLER PINHO . Arterial Flow members live on distant shores from me so it's an often slow process in developing tracks.  We rely on goodwill and our shared love of experimentation.  After ERLER PINHO translated Strange Day he then added a vocal to our original track. I decided it required a new treatment especially for him.  Kirk Kadish brought it magically to full realization and included my original backing vocals!  Thanks again Kirk & ERLER.  I love the final mix. In the new year I hope to do an interview with Erler so that you can learn more of his own formidable music as he's a great singer/songwriter .  Cheers from the ...

Jan.s:   Susanne, you're a powerhouse of a woman who writes about issues that matter! Bullying, burn victims,  to name a few.  Can you share with us what  your currently writing ? Susanne: Ships in the Field is my first picture book. It has been in my mind and heart for many years.  Writing it was an emotional journey that encapsulates my growing up from a refugee family.  I wanted to give a voice to the children and families who have been through war and migration to find laughter, hope and home.  When a ward winning illustrator Anna Pignataro illustrated of Ships in the Field received the manuscript she said that ‘it’s my story.’ Her family came from Italy.  It’s a gift that we were able to bring our own experiences to ‘Ships in the Field’. It is to be published by Ford St on 1 st February 2012   Jan.s:  Susanne:  You have a working relationship with your daughter...I'd love to hear more!!! Susanne: Eve...

This is an introduction to the process that I entered into in order to create ARTERIAL FLOW and I will be happy to share with you this process in future posts.  I'd love to receive your feedback! I'd like to begin by sharing part of the journey made to create 'Arterial Flow' with my collaborator Kirk Kadish. 'It is the mind that stops the flow and a change of mind that will release it too. We simply follow the course of nature, the natural pathways and rhythms, with our mind, and the fluids will respond'. 'The Wisdom of the Body Moving' by Linda Hartley. ARTERIAL FLOW: janice slater & kirk kadish 1: ARTERIAL FLOW (Arterial Flow) 2 VENUS RED (Venous Blood) 3 CAP ICE (Isoring Fluids) 4 CRYSTAL DELTA (Lymph) 5 CLOUD OF UNKNOWING (Cerebro Spinal Fluids) 6 PANAMA (Interstital Fuids) 7 BIOS (Cellular Fluids) 8 RHYTHM BRIDGE (Synovi...

With winter around the corner in the Land of Oz I've collected some recipes from family and friends to warm the cockles of your heart. From David Rowland's kitchen, a Blues pioneer of Australian music ..(drummer/Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues) ...(and interestingly enough with one of my own Mum's favourites) - a down to the bone recipe from his kitchen too! Pea & Ham for the Winter Blues Get a ham-bone from the butchers and a pack of dried split peas from the supermarket. Rinse the peas and leave to soak. Put it all in a pot and cook until tender. Season to taste and enjoy:) Thanks David. I've decided to cook it tonight!!!!Can't wait to tell you how it went!! The report is, not as good as Mums!!! Now for a recipe from my cousin Kerry Thorp! That same cousin who was born in America. I wanted to hang out with that cowboy kid and indeed I did but I never got to wear the suit! Well here's one of that cowboy's  favourite reci...

Jan.s: Jack...I'm listening to your solo tracks as I write. Your music has an edge, which is stark with flashes of fire, and it pushes many boundaries. Within an American context it rekindles in me some of the earlier musical forays made by musicians like Gram Parsons and Buffalo Springfield. Then there are your poetic musings containing both domestic and spacious universal landscapes.... Would you tell us about where and how you began playing... Jack: Geography played a significant role in the development of my musical tastes and aspirations. Oklahoma City was a wonderful musical crossroads in my childhood. My Kentucky born Grandfather, C.W.Clift, had albums by Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers, which touched me quite early. My Great Grandmother gave my brother and I Ray Charles’ albums, Modern Sounds In Country Music volumes 1 and 2, which reflected the cross-cultural influences of the era. But more importantly, radio station WKY was the most popular regional ent...

I'd like to share with you the first review that my sound scape collaboration with USA jazz composer Kirk Kadish has yielded...a great review from John Shanahan in his Hypnagogue Review...I'll share more with you soon on the process of how 'arterial flow' developed...meanwhile.... 'Strap in, friends. It's going to be an experimental ride. Courtesy of the boundary-free nature of the internet, Maryland-based Kirk Kadish and Aussie chanteuse Janice Slater, who have never actually met, have pulled together a twisted sonic knot of intriguing and often daring pieces of music. Largely based around taking Slater's voice and running it through an array of filters, processes and straightforward editing, it';s a solid effort with only minor mis-steps. "Arterial Flow" (the track) opens with tribal drums and a repeating sample of Slater's voice rising amid an effect like she's singing through the back of a fan. (This is not a critique of the soun...

Jan.s: You’ve previously shared with us some of the background to how your interest in music developed. A family sharing music, beginning with your Grandparents whom I believe are of Norwegian heritage. KAM: Aren't you something else?! My parents are of Norwegian heritage. My family hailed from Skien; Flekkefjord and Sogndal, the southern coast and the middle of Norway. I was fortunate to have travelled around in 1976 and saw the little towns that they came from. I was very lucky to have connected with some distant relatives in Sogndal and spoke what little Norwegian I knew with them and saw my Great Great Grandfather's farm on the hillside overlooking the fjord with gorgeous waterfalls... Thank God, I made that trip! I had studied Norwegian at the University of Minnesota back in the 70's, don't remember the language much now, but, I hope I have retrained the accent...that is a long story. I had a good friend Vivi in Oslo I stayed with and was able...

Jan.s: K, who were your musical influences? KAM: My first was my mother and older sister. We all hung around the piano and Mom and Connie played pop, jazz, show tunes, hymns, folk songs, and novelty songs from many eras. We mostly we sang the songs from the 1920's through the 60's, the Great American Songbook. I always loved best being together, listening to the lyrics and the sweet melodies with the family all chiming in. My grandfather was also a huge influence. He was a musician, orchestra and band leader, played cornet and violin and all the instruments a bit. His rendition of the "Flight of the Bumblebee" on his cornet was always amazing to me. He was a perfectionist/taskmaster according to his music students. For me he just was a sweet man tapping his toe with a musical twinkle in his eye. I learned to love music first at home. I sang my first solo at about six years old in church, with no fear whatsoever. Things changed later on. My first love...

Jan.s: Bobi...we're back in contact again after many many years and it's wonderful. We first met in the 1960's when you were in Sydney working for Dinah Lee. You and Dinah were the hippest gals on the scene! You emanated style and street smart...at the same time I found you always inclusive - both of you were, and with great smiles! I'd love you to share with us about what brought you to Australia and also about working with Dinah.... Bobi: Firstly, my sister Denise Austin lived in Sydney and was one of June Dally Watkins top models. She heard about a job coming up as a Store Model for Farmers Department Store on corner of George/Pitt Streets. Carol, the model who was leaving, was off to open Sportsgirl in Melbourne in 1964 - So having a job to go to, I flew back to Sydney, and flatted in Double Bay with another Kiwi, Jenny Steele, who was the Fashion Compere there. Fashion Co-ordination employed five girls including Judy who married Ken Done, the Sydney artis...

Jan.s: Peter, we go back to the sixties when you were playing with Max Merritt & The Meteors. I remember you guys either coming to our gig at Romanos for a late night jam with Little Sammy & The In People or us heading around the corner to hear you at one of your gigs...You worked with a variety of bands during that period but I'd like to ask you about the highlights... Peter: Jan, on reflection there have been lots of highlights in many little ways but maybe an outstanding one is that after many years I realised that the first song we (The Groove) recorded in the U.K. when we arrived was done at Abbey Rd., and written by David Most (Mickey's brother) & Clive Westlake called 'How The Web Was Woven'. Initially they were quite enthusiastic about it but later changed their minds & pulled it from us!  Subsequently they gave it to Elvis & he recorded it about a year after us! (and never had success with it anyway!) So we in a sense sung the 'de...