Last night I went to the Red Horse Cafe and heard the very talented Jason Fleitz and Leslie Graves perform. Jason is a skilled guitar player with a gentle and soulful voice. He writes lovely songs. Singer/songwriter Leslie Graves, who also has a great voice, impressed me with her songs based on New York Times stories.
Apparently these songs were written for a show called Times 365:24:7 which played at Bone Orchard and The Brick Theater March 14th through April 11th. Missed it
Many people worked together to create this theater piece- the
actors brought in published news stories, interviews, and their own
perspectives to contribute to what became the script. It sounds like it was an interesting show.
Leslie Graves writes of the show:
know exactly what the piece needed sound wise. I gathered and created
what I thought might fit, and when I was at a loss I busied myself
writing little songs inspired by news stories – which is one of the
ways I create my own world/cocoon – writing songs. It was a relief to
write about other people’s stories and not consider myself. The songs
are not complicated and came out easily – maybe because I’m not
‘creating my own story’ in this process, it is allowing me to be less
critical. And also they feel fleeting – like news stories – here today,
gone tomorrow. But anyway, I have been having a light-hearted time
writing them.
Here are some songs. A few of them appeared in the show. The haunting song, Ms. Emily Upp, about a young woman that went jogging in Riverside Park and lost her memory, was my favorite last night. Some of the others are quite short, like Leslie says, fleeting.
recession psychosis
plane lands on the Hudson
no more appetite
Ms. Emily Upp
plane crashes near Buffalo
madoff goes to prison
la brain
woman hit with bow and arrow in the bronx
aig give it back
remote control killers/oh brave robot