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Chapter 14: Jeffrey Lewis
EDIT:
i'm pretty sure i should be best friends with these two. i randomly met helen on the way to my first jeff lewis show and she let me walk with her because i was lost. and she's from austin. jeff has a comic book about living in austin from 2001...i wish i could find it. he and i share one of my worst and weirdest habits. he says a lot of things i wish i could.
i just wrote a paper about musical kinship and mixed tapes as communication, so it's been difficult for me to think or talk about music lately. and i live in the wrong city for that. but yesterday i was thinking about antifolk and folk punk and what it is i like so much about them, analytically speaking, and i think i like the answer. i definitely agree with what jeff lewis says about antifolk, that it's about challenging yourself to make something different and unique, but there is a strong sense of community among the musicians and among fans and between those worlds. the musicians speak to a certain kind of person...kimya dawson is a really good example, especially with her new fame. she sings a lot about when sad kids are happy ("if you want to cut yourself, remember that i love you") and that's usually a middle class high schooler ("send me an IM i'll be your friend"), so there's a definite demographic there. the diversity and specificity of the different singers/bands/sub-genres make antifolk unifying in a unique way. it almost forces you to hear music that you would not seek out, and might not like, but can enjoy. and folk punk, well...it's like realistic punk life. it's more about acceptance than denying things like sincerity and sweetness and love. it accepts the middle-class upbringings and the white picket fences. but it the anti-societal principles are the same.
which is, i guess, ironic because every community (which is what i called the separate fan groups in my paper because it's an ischool buzz word) is, by definition, juxtaposed and opposed to society. society is practical; communities are emotional.
See? I do have more to talk about than boys. It's strange to let my brain relax and see how much bigger it has become. Not to say i'm a genius, but I can see how what I've learned in one semester of grad school has helped me become smarter in so many different aspects of my life. That's made things more difficult just as much as it's made things easier.
I'm starting to like Austin a lot more every day. I wish I could make friends with the people Helen and Jeff know from here. Not because I'm a crazy stalker but because hanging out with them and Dave and Jack in New Orleans was the most comfortable I've ever been around people I'd never met before. Those are the kind of people I'd like to meet here.
Anyway all of this music talk has reminded me it's been months since I played the cello. So. Bye.
Click to viewEDIT:
i'm pretty sure i should be best friends with these two. i randomly met helen on the way to my first jeff lewis show and she let me walk with her because i was lost. and she's from austin. jeff has a comic book about living in austin from 2001...i wish i could find it. he and i share one of my worst and weirdest habits. he says a lot of things i wish i could.
i just wrote a paper about musical kinship and mixed tapes as communication, so it's been difficult for me to think or talk about music lately. and i live in the wrong city for that. but yesterday i was thinking about antifolk and folk punk and what it is i like so much about them, analytically speaking, and i think i like the answer. i definitely agree with what jeff lewis says about antifolk, that it's about challenging yourself to make something different and unique, but there is a strong sense of community among the musicians and among fans and between those worlds. the musicians speak to a certain kind of person...kimya dawson is a really good example, especially with her new fame. she sings a lot about when sad kids are happy ("if you want to cut yourself, remember that i love you") and that's usually a middle class high schooler ("send me an IM i'll be your friend"), so there's a definite demographic there. the diversity and specificity of the different singers/bands/sub-genres make antifolk unifying in a unique way. it almost forces you to hear music that you would not seek out, and might not like, but can enjoy. and folk punk, well...it's like realistic punk life. it's more about acceptance than denying things like sincerity and sweetness and love. it accepts the middle-class upbringings and the white picket fences. but it the anti-societal principles are the same.
which is, i guess, ironic because every community (which is what i called the separate fan groups in my paper because it's an ischool buzz word) is, by definition, juxtaposed and opposed to society. society is practical; communities are emotional.
See? I do have more to talk about than boys. It's strange to let my brain relax and see how much bigger it has become. Not to say i'm a genius, but I can see how what I've learned in one semester of grad school has helped me become smarter in so many different aspects of my life. That's made things more difficult just as much as it's made things easier.
I'm starting to like Austin a lot more every day. I wish I could make friends with the people Helen and Jeff know from here. Not because I'm a crazy stalker but because hanging out with them and Dave and Jack in New Orleans was the most comfortable I've ever been around people I'd never met before. Those are the kind of people I'd like to meet here.
Anyway all of this music talk has reminded me it's been months since I played the cello. So. Bye.