Fun 2 Know Podcast

On today's show saxophonist, flautist, composer, poet, Elliott Levin. Levin is a Philadelphia-born talent, who has traveled far and wide in his career, establishing himself as an iron man of music, ubiquitous across the city of Philadelphia since the 1970s, playing countless gigs across numerous styles. Soon after picking up the saxophone, Elliott fell under the spell galvanizing jazz pianist Cecil Taylor while Taylor taught at New Jersey's Glassboro State College. Levin first found acclaim touring around the world with Philly International giants Harold Melvin & The Blues Notes for over a decade and his career in jazz and improvised music has seen him performing and recording with The Sun Ra Arkestra's Tyrone Hill & Marshall Allen, Mother of Invention keyboardist Don Preston, Sonic Liberation Front, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, The West Philadelphia Orchestra and Odean Pope's Saxophone Choir and his poetry has been published in The L.A. Weekly. I'd been wanting to get Elliott in front of a microphone for sometime, and our conversation didn't disappoint. When I spoke to Elliott has was just back from a tour of Mexico and earlier this month he celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert in Philadelphia, leading a band featuring 99 year-old Sun Ra Arkestra bandleader Marshall Allen. We discuss his upbringing in West Philly, college in the turbulent early seventies, touring the world with The Blue Notes, his collaborations with Marshall Allen, poetry, his friendship with hippie legend Buzzy Linhart, a saxophonist's life during quarantine and more, as well as hearing a bit of the music Elliott has recorded over his career.

On today's show, it's the second appearance of writer Mike DeCapite (previously on F2N Ep. 20), whose latest novel, JACKET WEATHER was published in late 2021 by Soft Skull Press, home to works from everyone from Dennis Cooper to Noam Chomsky. DeCapite is originally from Cleveland and the son of novelist Raymond DeCapite, a novelist whose well-reviewed work was first published in 1960. Mike DeCapite moved from Clevleand to Brooklyn in 1987 and moved in the circle around fellow Clevelanders Pere Ubu, the seminal art punk group. DeCapite's poetic fiction would be appear in various publications over the years and his naturalistic slices of life have always revealed a deep connection to music and has made fans of an impressive range artists of various backgrounds; JACKET WEATHER includes blurbs from filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, Sonic Youth bassist Lee Ranaldo and writer Lucy Sante. DeCapite's 1998 novel THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD drew raves for Mike's story of kicking around with small time gamblers in the city of Cleveland, an excerpt from Mike's unpublished follow-up RUINED FOR LIFE would appear along with his father's work in Harper's THE ITALIAN AMERICAN READER, and now JACKET WEATHER arrives, further refining DeCapite's anecdotal storytelling to a fine point. The novel centers around a relationship DeCapite begins with June, a figure of romantic interest DeCapite had known casually back in the 1980s where she was doing P.R. for Pere Ubu. Now decades later, DeCapite is taken a back by the strong attraction he feels to a woman extracting herself from a curdled relationship. With the lightest of touches across bite-sized chapters, DeCapite casts an alluring story of unsentimental optimism in the just-dimming light of middle-age. Publishers Weekly said: "Spare and lyrical . . . DeCapite has a poet’s eye for the city’s majestic details, and illustrates how his characters come to see the same things differently over the years . . . A worthwhile meditation." — from Kirkus Reviews: "So very real . . . A sad but sweet song about the uncertainty of middle age and how funny it is when time slips away." We try an keep things loose and casual of these Fun 2 Know interviews, so much so people often think I'm just interviewing friends, but here I actually AM interviewing one of my closest friends, although it has been decades since I hung with Mike after work every Monday in San Francisco, where Mike would serve some ambitious entrees and we'd talk movies, music and writing. The last time I talked to Mike was just before pandemic restrictions hit in 2020, now, three years later, Mike was in Philly to do a reading with Warhol biographer Victor Bockriss and we sat down at the kitchen table the following day to record this interview where we talk about JACKET WEATHER, seasonal memories, '90s Dylan, middle-aged love, writing about sex and divining renewed inspiration.

It is the interview I conducted with director Sean Baker that planted the seed for today's episode, which is the long-delayed fiftieth episode of Fun 2 Know. It was three years ago that Rob Burson was in pre-production for his debut film HELL OF A HEARTACHE when he stumbled across the Fun 2 Know interview with Sean Baker, whose films PRINCE OF BROADWAY and THE FLORIDA PROJECT were inspirational as examples of vivid, compelling character studies made on a strict budget. Rob “friended” me on Facebook after hearing the interview and we would occasionally discuss film on-line while I was vaguely aware he was shooting a modestly-budgeted feature with a small crew near his home in Arizona. Then almost a year ago, just before X-mas, Rob asked me if I'd like to take a look at his feature, humbly asking me to keep my expectations low. Knowing the difficulties of such a limited budget I was prepared to look at the film with a forgiving eye but instead was a bit dumbstruck at the captivating, sure-footing telling of washed-up country star Bobbie Thompson and his unexpected saddling with a thirteen year old girl who may be his daughter. While the story of this pairs' relationship is humorous and engaging enough to sustain the film, HELL OF A HEARTACHE also reverberates with other ideas and themes, including modern masculinity and the lingering effects of violence against women throughout our society. Sharing the film with friends and family I'd become convinced HELL OF A HEARTACHE was a little miracle of a film, a masterful and very affecting work that somehow seemed to arrive out of nowhere with Burson, not only writing and directing with great feeling and subtly but delivering a performance any seasoned actor would be proud of. Yet, Burson hadn't acted since high school and his turn to filmmaking didn't come until he was in his late forties. We'll unravel just how this film got made in our interview, but I should first mention that all this led to the upcoming East Coast premiere of HELL OF A HEARTACHE on Thursday, December 8th at the Rotunda, on the 40th block of Walnut Street in Philadelphia, as part of the Bright Bulb screening series. Not only will we see HELL OF A HEARTACHE, currently unavailable through your favorite streaming service, but it will be followed by a Q&A with Rob, on his first trip to the East Coast. The screening is free and included is a second feature, from Australian director Gillian Armstrong, director of MY BRILLIANT CAREER and STARSTRUCK, we'll be seeing her nearly-lost 1987 feature HIGH TIDE, starring Judy Davis which also tells the story of a performer uniting with her abandoned daughter.

On today's show: Austin, Texas musician and thereminist, Aileen Adler. I first met Aileen back in the late '80s during the halcyon days of Tower Records, when we both worked at store #173 on South Street in Philadelphia. I moved to Alaska and then San Francisco in the early '90s, around the same time when Aileen moved to another artist's hub, Austin, Texas. We lost touch with each other for a couple decades after that, finally meeting up again in the Facebook era. From there it was that sort of half-awareness you got from social media, I'd see pictures of Aileen looking striking in theatrical clothing, entertaining at events, but what it was she was actually doing was somehow lost on me. Reading that she was back in Philly for a visit, I thought it would be a perfect time to crack the mystery of Aileen Adler. Aileen was always a dynamic character, and I wasn't disappointed. We discuss her early years arriving in the Philly, her move to Austin, singing and adopting the electronic instrument the theremin, visiting Morocco, blacksmithing and collaborating of John “Drumbo” French from Capt, Beefheart's legendary Magic Band. We'll also hear some samples of Aileen's music, with the group the Temple of Ape Collective, joined by the didgeridoo from her album, THEREMIN FOR THE MASSES, which you can discover at thereminforthemasses.com as well as Aileen's theremin joined by the pianist and composer Catherine Davis.

Our guest today, guitarist Nick Millevoi. To quote his bio, “Nick Millevoi is a guitarist and composer whose music searches for the sonic cracks between jazz, rock and roll, noise, and modern composition.” Nick has performed with Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma, the duo Archer Spade with trombonist Dan Blacksberg as well as making five full-length albums with the trio Many Arms. Since 2016, Nick's main vehicle is The Desertion Trio, featuring Johnny deBlase on bass and Kevin Shea on drums. Their first two records also featured Jamie Saft on organ and their third, the just-released TWILIGHT TIME on the Long Song label features guest stars Ron Stabinsky on organ and Sun Ra Arkestra vocalist Tara Middleton. It's a collection of radically reworked tunes from the oldies era and has already won notice from Rolling Stone magazine, who listed the new record's title cut as a “Song You Need to Know” in their May issue. Nick has drawn a lot of press over the years, he also writes for a number of guitar magazines, but I never really read his origin story On today's interview we talk about Millevoi's earliest music loves, playing his 8th grade graduation party, confronting the jazz curriculum in college, deflecting law school, touring with Many Arms, the music of Neil Young, Nirvana and Dick Dale, the inspirational Wildwood New Jersey, making the new record and future records he is destined to make.

Today, bassist extraordinaire, Jamaaladeen Tacuma. Jamaaladeen was our guest back in Episode 11 of the podcast, where we talked about growing up in Philly, his discovering the bass in his teen years, his joining Ornette Coleman's electric Prime Time band while still a young man, as well as his world travels and his love of fashion. A few months back I had him back as a guest on my show on WPRB-Princeton, at the time promoting his annual Outsiders Festival, where he's brought a number of improvised music line-ups for some incredible shows in Philadelphia. The 2018 edition brought back Ornette's Prime Time Band, now led by Coleman's son Denardo. I've edited the promotional conversation, but that still left much of interest. We discuss Jamaaladeen's recent TONIGHT SHOW appearance, his friendship with the band The Roots, the return of Prime Time, winning the Benny Golson award, working with the kid's rock sensations The Wiggles, Jamaaladeen's Red Carpet Room boutique, having kids, saxophonist Keir Neuringer and the Japanese sci-fi classic THE MYSTERIANS.

On today's show: music historian Elijah Wald. I was just hanging out in my South Philly neighborhood when I happened to get introduced to Elijah, a music historian who has written over a dozen books, mainly on the subject of roots music but also on subjects as diverse as hitchhiking, the cultural phenomenon known as “the Dozens” and the genetics industry. Elijah won a Grammy for his liner notes in 2002, had the book he co-authored with Dave Van Ronk adapted for the Coen Bros. 2013 film, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS as well as making the scene as a guitarist rooted in the folk blues tradition. It's just one of Elijah's books that we focused on in this episode, the 2009 publication, “How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music” from the Oxford University Press. The Beatles don't actually appear until near the book's climax, the book's main focus is as a corrective to past musical tomes that distort 20th century history by focusing on the canon of artistically “important artists” at the expense of minimizing many of the commercially dominant artists of their day. It's a rich and challenging book, impeccably researched as well as being highly-readable. We'll dive into the books many ideas, along the way discussing, Guy Lombardo, Paul Whiteman, Tom Waits and Ricky Nelson, as well as The Stones, The Beatles, Dylan and the Three Degrees as well as examining how gender biases cloud the story of 20th century music. You can find out more about Elijah at elijahwald–dot-com

Early on in the show's history I had Monnette on the short list of Philly-area musicians with which I wanted to interview. I'd long been a fan of the records she recorded in the mid-1970s for the prestigious Steeplechase label, a Danish label who continues today to make important records for artists who have gone slept-upon back here in the states, artists including Archie Shepp, Chet Baker, Jackie McLean, Dexter Gordon, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill and more. Monnette was spotted at the Newport Jazz Festival playing in Sam Rivers band by staff at the label who would go on to produce a trio of Monnette records starting in 1976 with TIME FOR A CHANGE then LIVE IN EUROPE and BRIGHTER DAYS FOR YOU. Ms. Sudler has continued to record regularly, playing over the years with the late drum great Sunny Murray, Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, and many more and has a plethora of awards she has collected across her active career. Monnette talks about her beginnings in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, her collaborations with vibraphonist Khan Jamal, her teaching and poetry and at the end, talks candidly about some of the personal and physical obstacles she's faced along the way, including her experiences at Muncie State Penitentiary. It's makes for one of the more moving conversations I've captured here at Fun 2 Know and I want to thank Monnette for sharing her story.

F2K Episode 44: The enduring musician, Kenn Kweder It's the show's proud third appearance from our most popular guest, musician Kenn Kweder. Kweder (who appeared previously in Ep. Six, Ep. Seven, and Ep. 30 of the FUN 2 KNOW podcast) has been a beloved fixture of the Philadelphia music scene since rising up from the Philly streets in the mid-seventies with his band, The Secret Kidds. In his first interview here we talked about his near-brush with national attention and its comedown but Kenn's real triumph is his unwavering dedication to live performance, playing a hundred-plus gigs every year for decades and being one of the free-est souls you'll ever meet. On this latest show we talk about Ken's influences and legends like Capt. Beefheart, The Stones and Bob Dylan whose performances he has witnessed over the decades. We also talk about what still drives him at sixty-five, hear near-unbelievable stories from a lifetime spent singing in bars, pay tribute to the drug Propofol, discuss the era of Trump, the MeToo movement, modern audiences and the glory of dying while on-stage. The ridiculously entertaining conversation with Kenn began as I was still setting up the mics, and Kweder went into the story of opening up for Patti Smith in 1975...

Kenn Kweder talks about his 1975 gig with Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. From the soon forthcoming episode 44 of The Fun 2 Know podcast...