Molly Johnson

By Brian Barney Those familiar with Molly Johnson’s past remember her as the founder of the art-rock band Alta Moda from the early 80’s and as the lead singer for The Infidels in the early 90’s. Following the footsteps of fate has led her to what is most likely her true calling as one of the premier jazz singers of today. Her latest release, Another Day, is a collection of sultry, smoky jazz interpretations where her Billie Holiday-meets-Janis Joplin voice shines through with a captivating style that gives fresh meaning to vocalizing. Stand out tracks "Sleep in Late" and "He’s Got My Heart" display a sweet eroticism that could serve as ambience to any occasion; while the title track picks things up with enough punch to keep things more than interesting. While the record’s flow veers between lush and layered to almost jumpy, the continuity remains true where jazz, blues and soul enjoy a happy union. Johnson’s accomplishments extend beyond the world of music — her Kubaya Foundation’s efforts have raised over one million dollars to date for the care of people living with HIV and AIDS. Her move from alternative rock to jazz has been a successful one, and this latest release is proof positive of a career that should be long and prosperous.

Whirlwind Heat

By Brian Barney The first big thing to come from Jack White’s (of The White Stripes) new label is a hot little art-rock trio called Whirlwind Heat. At first glance, Do Rabbits Wonder? looks pretentious with mod Warholesque art work and songs entitled by color: "Black," "Tan," "White," etc. After a spin or two though, the infectious Devo-meets-Iggy Pop approach shows an irresistible flavor that takes raw intensity and style well into the area of accessibility. The beats have a straight-ahead, nearly house feel with vocals that, while sometimes brash and a little bit scary, are interesting and definitely in the pocket. The overall mood and motivating element, however, is David Swansons’ Moog synth. Undulating, innovative and overbearing, the highly recognizable sound of the 70s dinosaur of keyboards is brought back to life with a subtle aggression giving the disc a flowing theme from beginning to end. Although Jack White’s influence may not be that discernable musically, it is comforting to know that he seems intent on searching out talent that is truly alternative.

Lucinda Williams

By John Hughes The brilliant Ms. Williams, 50 year old alt-country chanteuse, angst goddess, poet and daredevil, has added nine great new songs to her legacy as one of the most underrated songwriters in a generation. World Without Tears was recorded live, and the results are incandescent. Never before has Lucinda sounded so raw and exposed. Her singing is ringed with fire. Never before has her band sounded so hot and free. For nine songs, she rocks, rages, mourns the world’s pains, declares her love, flirts, yearns, and tells the hidden truth. It’s exhilarating, gorgeous music ‘n message. Of course, there are more than nine songs on this album. There are thirteen, and the four lesser ones are ballast, which weighs the ship down a little. Her anger at the preachers she was subjected to during her Nashville years, expressed in “Atonement,” and her grief over life here, emoted in “American Dream,” are not served by songs worthy of Lucinda Williams. But even in these, the musicianship behind her and the intelligent lyrics she’s written manage to limit the damage. Much is being made of the concept that with this record she’s leaving her Americana roots behind. It’s true, you can hear more of Keith Richards, Paul Westerberg and Patti Smith between the grooves than you can of Loretta Lynn. But Lucinda Williams has, for several years, been a musician beyond category, playing what moves her at the time, with all the greats imbedded in her soul. She’ll never not be alt-country. She’s just that and a whole lot more. This is a marvelous CD.

Turning the Mind Into an Ally

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Drop City

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Levity

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A Mighty Wind

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By Jon Anne Willow It’s happening around the world. Corpus Christi, Texas; Tarifa, Spain; Hood River, Oregon; Vancouver Island, British Columbia; The Florida Keys. And now it’s reached the Lake Michigan coastline. The mitigating condition is wind on water: the sport is kiteboarding. It’s a solo sport, but full of camaraderie. It’s wild to watch, and must feel more wild to do. Using a lightweight (usually inflatable) kite attached to the body with a harness, kiteboarders use the wind to flip, skip and, literally, fly over the water. Some call it the sport of the future, and some say the future’s already arrived. Kiteboarding (also known as kitesurfing, fly surfing, and kiting) has grown at a phenomenal rate in the last five years, but was only conceived in 1979, when William G. Roeseler first published a paper on kite sailing. His son Cory became a pioneer of the sport in its current form. Darren Mathers, a transplanted Liverpudlian, all around water sport expert, and employee of Southport Rigging in Kenosha, says growth of the sport in this area mirrors the general trend. “About a year and a half ago, I would have said 6 or 7 people were into kiteboarding around here. Now, I’d say around 60 or 70. That’s Chicago to Door County. It’s growing really fast.” Gene Likhtered is one of Wisconsin’s early adopters. A Milwaukee resident, Likhtered has been boarding about three years. He used to windsurf, but made a transition to kiting because it was more fun in the light wind predominant in this part of the country. A quiet, rugged young man, Gene has the look of someone who’d rather be outdoors. He sits calmly across the desk during our interview, but his eyes stray often to the window, where a beautiful spring afternoon bears promise to brisk evening winds on the lake. He’s heading up north for the weekend with some friends, gear in tow, hoping for a chance to fly. I ask him about the conditions here in comparison to major kiting destinations. “The wind here is definitely not as consistent as in some other places,” he muses. “You have to watch all the time for conditions to be right, but it’s worth it. And there are some pretty good spots up in Door County and down further south of here.” Mathers mirrors Likhtered’s thoughts. “It’s not ideal, but it’s worthwhile. The wind conditions here are generally gusty. We get good wind and we get poor wind. For Lake Michigan you have to pick your location based on wind direction.” Simple beauty. The beauty of kiteboarding is its simplicity. All that’s needed is wind and a kite. Even the board is optional, especially for beginners. Kiting can be done on land with a mountain board (an all terrain skateboard), on snow with a snowboard and on water with or without a kiteboard. This makes it the perfect sport for Midwesterners, who enjoy wind, water and snow in abundance, but don’t necessarily have access […]

June 2003

By Jon Anne Willow Dear Readers, With summer just around the bend, the thoughts of many turn to lighter matters. It’s the thing to do, especially for a population whose warm weather days number fewer than national postal holidays. It’s the perfect time to feature one of the fastest growing and exciting sports in the world — kite-boarding. This may or may not be your first exposure, but its’ star is rising, and with good reason. I hope you enjoy the piece, and maybe even take a kiteboarding lesson yourself. I think I might. And even though our realm of concerns expand to vacation scheduling, festivals and backyard cookouts in the summer months, it’s important not to forget that the world is turning around us. We are all weary from endless news of the war, the economy and other harbingers of bad times to come (and some that have already arrived). But as citizens (used in the broadest sense of the word) of both America and the world, it’s crucial we not forget to pay attention to the signs of change around us as acutely as we note the sound of the neighbor’s lawn mower and the birds of early morning. Change is in the air. But how that change is manifested in long term ways is still up to us. Really. One more quick note:Due to the popularity of the Danceworks Kid’s Art and Essay Contest, we’re extending the deadline for entry through the first week of June. Kids from all over the city are entering, so get your submissions in soon. For details, check our website at vitalsourcemag.com, email me at editor@vitalsourcemag.com, or call our offices at 414.370.5351. Peace, Jon Anne From the Publisher:As an immigrant, I often wonder about my role as a member of the society that has accepted me as one of its own. Often, I see myself as an equal in a land that accolades itself as a melting pot embracing every possible racial and ethnic background as its own. Yet there are times that I fear when it comes to it, I will be treated differently because of my Middle Eastern background. Given the current course of events, anyone in my position most certainly feels this way. However, there is this confidence I have always put in the American people, which I have often asserted in past writings. My belief in the fact that an informed America will always side with the underdog has always and continues to form the basis of my strong admiration of this society, despite its sometimes seemingly callous disposition. There are times in the media when the portrayal of people of the Middle East fuels the fire of hatred, and it is unfortunate that there are some who buy into this misrepresentation. I know that fear is the factor that some elements utilize to stir up hatred and I know that lack of understanding leads to fear, and it is only logical to maintain misinformation to upkeep fear, […]

Jon Anne Willow gives “A Little Respect”

It was the late 80s, when black turtlenecks and mascara for all ruled the world. On one hot dance floor, two crazy kids find love and a little respect.

The Slightly Crunchy Dad

By Lucky Tomaszek My husband loves our kids, and he loves being a dad. From the moment our first child was born, he was a changed man. He is as crunchy as I am, even if he doesn’t like to admit it. The funny thing is, he doesn’t look crunchy. Allen is a former Marine who never grew his hair out when his tour was over. He’s spent almost a decade working a corporate job and he fits the fashion mold; twill pants, polo shirts and dress shoes. He drives a late model car and has learned to golf. He certainly wasn’t raised crunchy. He was a fairly typical latchkey kid with parents who worked outside the home. In honor of Father’s Day, I spent some time talking to a couple of slightly crunchy dads, getting their perspective on parenting. Sometimes it seems like dads are just along for the ride. I must say there are times when I feel like Allen is just going along with my desires to keep the peace. But the time I spent talking to him and to Matt, dad to 3 year-old Maddie and new baby Ellie, made it clear that they support what we do. What kind of dad did you think you’d be? The first thing I ask Allen is something I’ve wanted to know for a long time: What kind of dad did he think he would be before he had kids? His answer: “I didn’t really think about it. I’m a typical guy, I thought about how I was going to support the family rather than the day to day raising of the kids.” Well, that’s not quite what I was looking for, but it seems to be the norm. Many apparently don’t spend hours reading, researching and fantasizing during pregnancy like women tend to do. I asked Matt the same question. He replied, “When we were expecting Maddie, I thought we’d be typical. We’d go to the hospital and have the baby. And then we’d come home and have months of getting up several times a night to feed the baby a bottle. You have to watch them and keep them safe all the time, and I expected that. But this is a lot easier than I expected parenting to be.” Co-sleeping keeps dads close. Matt goes on to share a little of his story with me. “We had a bad birth experience in the hospital and my wife was pretty upset by it. We started sleeping with Maddie as soon as we came home from the hospital, mostly because it made breastfeeding easier. The bottles went right out the window, because breastfeeding became so important to her after the disappointment of the birth. Anyway, we’ve been doing it so long, I wouldn’t want to do it any other way now. It’s adorable to wake up next to her.” Allen agrees with Matt’s last statement about waking up next to the kids. It makes the occasional tough co-sleeping night […]

Evan Dando

By Jeremy Saperstein Me, I always thought the idea of Evan Dando was a great one — a pretty-boy pop singer with the right influences, impeccable taste in covers and a band that friends were always telling me I should check out. I did, and aside from some truly great moments (the ramshackle video for the Lemonheads’ cover of “Mrs. Robinson” where Evan is wearing a Gram Parsons t-shirt, or the heart-rending cover of “Frank Mills”), his career left me feeling like I had feasted on a mouthful of cotton candy. Now, after a long stretch in which he seemed bent on following the same self-destructive path so many other talents — lesser and greater — had blazed before him, he releases a full-on solo album (although I had never thought of the latter-day Lemonheads releases as anything but) which shows him to be all that and a bag of chips. The solo setting seems to give Dando room to be a little laid back and rough’n’ready, lightly experimenting with alternative instrumentation & sounds throughout, most notably on the syncopated “Waking Up”. Simple pop gems abound as well: “Hard Drive” (co-written with Australian pop wunderkind Ben Lee) and “In The Grass All Wine Colored,” which sounds lyrically as if it was a first line from Walt Whitman’s Leaves Of Grass. All in all, this CD has been in my car player for most of the first nice days this summer — and it’s been a perfect soundtrack for them.