SAL CATALDI: A WIZARD A TRUE STAR IN NEW YORK CITY

This feature appeared in Huffington Post New York September 2015

“I love variety and I think listeners do too! I love Django, progressive rock master Jan Akkerman, Jimi Hendrix, and John McLaughlin, ECM guitar greats Terje Rypdal and Steve Tibbets, folkies like Nick Drake, Pierre Bensusan and John Martyn, country, noise, ‘avant skronk,’ you name it! You have to give your listeners credit in that they like lots of things and variety, so why not give it on one album? I think it’s for people with open ears who can find the value in metal tones and ‘whammys’ and classic music, ‘out’ jazz, and Americana. When it comes to listeners, I think they’re way ahead of the gate keepers... corporate radio and today’s mega-record companies. They’re the ones who want to put things in neat little boxes, genres, not the listeners I want to appeal to.” Sal Cataldi

Millions, if not billions, of folks are unaware of the fact that Sal Cataldi has forged a presence in their collective and individual conscious by way of his decidedly eccentric career at the helm of Cataldi Public Relations wherein he and his staff have shaped several award winning guerilla marketing campaigns that defy convention. We have all journeyed to the center of Sal’s mind by way of television, radio, print, social, and digital media. It’s the stuff of pop culture that we the people of New York City continually debate, embrace, are fascinated by, oft imitate, and sometimes reject, but never forget.

Yet Sal’s laudable media career is, to my ears, interchangeable with his watershed canon as a multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, composer, producer, performer, and conceptual artist. His works on stage and in the studio with The Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom - which Sal describes as an “industrial/ambient jazz dub extravaganza” with drummer Doug Hitchcock and fretless bass virtuoso Percy Jones of Brand X and Eno renown; along with avant-jazz Afro-funk collective Collector, Brooklyn comedy rockers Frank’s Museum; The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players; and in the guitar orchestra of pioneering No Wave minimalist Rhys Chatham on his A Crimson Grail - Live at Lincoln Center (Nonesuch Records, 2011) collection, among other projects, are all worthy of exploration. When Manhattanites of a certain ilk carp o’er a New York City music scene which they claim has died and gone to Brooklyn, they should follow Sal Cataldi around. And he gigs in Brooklyn as well; so you have been warned!

Mr. Cataldi’s his latest endeavor arrives under the banner of Spaghetti Eastern Music, a moniker inspired by his reverence of conductor, orchestrator, and iconic macaroni flick soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone coupled with his modus operandi of “noodling and creating an environment where the guitar could do all the talking.” Sal’s Spaghetti Eastern Music album, with both instrumental and vocal tracks, is aptly titled Sketches of Spam - a phrase which derives from his fandom of Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Eric Idle, and Frank Zappa. “I am a huge fan of that kind of lush environmental music, proto-ambient, if you will. Funny thing is I had this title floating in my head for ten years before I made the album. And in that time, ‘spam’ means something completely different now to many people - junk mail vs. canned meat that soldiers ate in World War II.”

Though Sketches of Spam is a genre traversing song-cycle which simultaneously embraces and deconstructs folk, jazz, fusion, ambient, drum ‘n’ bass, metal, funk, punk, blues, and every permutation thereof - and many of which have yet to be tagged - Cataldi’s diverse compositions hang together as a collection, which is a rare feat in any generation of modern recorded music.

Sal’s alternative guitar tuning rendition of John Lennon’s “Ticket to Ride,” replete with harmonic overtones and a restated melody which floats over the bar-line quotes Delta blues with a tinge of Bob Dylan’s “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.” Fusion fanatics, myself included, will revel in the revved up “Slaka’s Sambo Sox” which Sal reveals to be founded upon “frenetic stop-time beats ala Alan Foster on Miles’ Agharta meeting a drone/mantra and serpentine fuzz guitar from the early Mahavishnu school.” Guitar players note that Cataldi actually pulls off John McLaughlin’s proclivity for playing in and out of time on that track.

Some of Sal’s Spam servings are also complimented by YouTube videos. Among those that struck me as essential include the visuals for “Slaka’s Sambo Sox” which juxtaposes ravenous varmints, competitive gluttons, and ravishing gridiron side-line entertainers. “It’s visual Dada, sublimely, watchable ridiculousness!” proclaims Sal. “Making a video, I just find images that match the mood. This is the great Coney Island hot dog eater Kobayashi battling a hamster in an eating contest, then you have speeded-up cheerleaders and, my favorite, a video of a dryer basically whirling with a brick inside until it falls apart. It’s really eye-candy, bizarre sweets, to make the listening experience fun.”

“NY Expats/Henry Miller Says” melds a spoken word diatribe from the iconic American writer as captured by writer/director Tom Schiller which resonates rather profoundly in the present day. Sal emphasizes, “well, like a lot of gents in their early 20s, I got seriously into Henry Miller, just as I was about to join society. After I had recorded the backing track, the atmosphere, I went looking for something to add to it. This rant by Miller comes from a documentary where he is talking, well, actually ‘bitching’ about his days in New York as he walks about the ‘Old New York’ movie sets in a Hollywood studio. When I laid it in, I realized it seemed to be the perfect statement about New York today; how inflated real estate is making a life making art impossible, how so many old institutions are falling by the wayside. I mean, the man is long dead and still making a lot of sense to me!”

Longtime collaborator and Grammy Award winning engineer Bob Stander renders electric bass passages which slice through Cataldi’s bleeps, blips, boinks and wayward guitar motifs on the opening cut “Downtown Uptight,” another track abetted by visuals which fuse vintage 1960s discotheque images from the Whiskey A Go-Go and German television which synch perfectly with Stander’s Motown grooves.

Much of Spam was waxed aboard Cataldi’s floating residence known as The Houseboat Garlic Knot which is anchored somewhere “in the waters off the Big Apple.”

“In general, living on top of the water definitely has an impact on a person. It creates a chill and an ambiance, there are lots of interesting noises at night, seabirds, the squealing of the dock lines and docks, the sound of sail lines gently beating on masts. I think there’s a romanticism and Zen vibe that has certainly found its way into the music. The experiences... the diversity, I think what I learned about music, improvising, writing songs, creating environments and presenting a show have all come to fore in this album.”

Sal the confessional troubadour materializes in “Momma Called,” “A Girl Like You,” and “Wild One” a trio of shoegazing offerings which could have wooed Carly Simon from Cat Stevens all those years ago. We’ll never know. But at least we have Sketches of Spam.

Sketches of Spam by Spaghetti Eastern Music out now and available via CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Rhapsody.

Sal Cataldi is live and in concert on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at midnight at Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen Street, New York City; and Friday, October 16, 2015 at 8:00 PM at the KGB Bar Red Room Lounge with dancer Callista Zaki and poet William Lessard, 85 East 4th Street .

Sal Cataldi photos by Ivan Singer

Sketches of Spam album cover photo by William A. Loeb

PAT THOMAS LIBERATES ALLEN GINSBERG’S LAST WORD ON FIRST BLUES

This feature appeared in Huffington Post, May 2016

Here’s a guy whose recording career starts with Dylan and ends with a Beatle! To a younger person who does not really know Ginsberg, I would explain that he was one of the few counter cultural heroes that goes through three distinct decades, and three distinct movements. He is an iconic figure of The Beat Generation of the 1950s: the jazz, the poetry, and the cigarettes. He is an iconic figure of the 1960s: LSD, meditation, and rock music. And I would not exactly call him an iconic figure of the 1980s, but he was on stage and recording with The Clash (Combat Rock / 1982) and revered by many of the punks - especially the ‘punk poet’ Patti Smith. This was a guy who was not just one thing.

It’s not like “oh there goes the old beat guy...or there goes the old hippie guy...’ Allen Ginsberg was three guys...and if you fold in his gay rights work...if you fold in his anti-Vietnam work.... if you fold in his anti-Nixon work, Allen Ginsberg is larger than life. His work is as relevant now as it was 30,40, 50 years ago. And if you just review those first couple of lines of Howl, they are as iconic as any Dylan or Beatles lyric....”

Record collectors, vinyl geeks (myself included), hipster history devotees, and barstool musicologists, among additional permutations thereof, owe hosannas aplenty to the ongoing life labors of Pat Thomas. Perhaps his name does not resonate with the masses - which speaks much to the genuine value of his vocation as the true greats oft go unnoticed - however Pat’s extraordinary work as a writer, journalist, re-issue producer, author, essayist, musical archivist, socio-political historian, and musician - among other endeavors, is really the stuff of legend. Look him up! Read his remarkable, watershed book Listen Whitey-The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975 (Fantagraphics) which we discussed for Huffington Post in January 2014 - http://huff.to/1SsHfhe .

I first encountered Pat during my journalistic pursuit of the illustrious, albeit notorious, and mostly forgotten singer - backing vocalist Claudia Lennear, whom the world later became aware of by way of Morgan Neville’s magnificent Academy Award winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom. Pat hooked me up with Claudia shortly after he commandeered the re-release of Lennear’s lost gem of a platter - Phew! My interview with Claudia can also be read on Huffington Post November 2013 (The Wonderfully Checkered Past of a Soul Rock Goddesshttp://huff.to/LrNFlz ). I cannot thank Pat enough for his selfless efforts on my behalf.

Mr. Thomas’ latest project is yet another essential addition to the literary and musical narration of these Unites States. The Last Word on First Blues is the first box set of Allen Ginsberg the “singer songwriter.”

The story for Pat started back in 1983 when he was watching MTV which, at the time, actually aired music videos and reported legitimate music news. Thomas heard about a collection of Allen Ginsberg singing his own compositions. “I immediately ran to my local record store and got the very last copy” he recalls with an air of victory in his voice that only true record geeks and collectors can appreciate. Note to younger readers: In better times, music retail outlets, as referred to by Mr. Thomas, were places where consumers paid for products known as records, cassettes, and compact discs.

The story for Ginsberg stretches back to the year 1971 wherein the poet called upon Bob Dylan, who had recently relocated back to Greenwich Village, to record songs that he’d written embracing a wide array of themes traversing homosexuality, politics, and governmental shenanigans, among other topics. At the time Dylan was somewhat off the radar, abandoning his albeit unintended “voice of a generation” status in favor of waxing rustic recordings, and no longer on the road, nor in the public eye. Apparently when Ginsberg said ‘jump,’ Dylan asked ‘how high!?”

Dylan, Ginsberg, along with Happy Traum (banjo), David Amram (horn, piano), and Arthur Russell, among others, commenced to recording Allen’s compositions- some of which saw the light of day when they were released as First Blues in 1983 thanks to John Hammond who issued them on his own imprint as the Columbia Records suits expectedly balked when they first heard Ginsberg’s most provocative libretto. That collection also included sessions from 1976 and 1981, with additional players including; Steve Taylor (guitar), Jon Sholle (guitar, double bass), and Ginsberg’s lover Peter Orlovsky (vocals, and lead vocal on “You Are My Dildo”), among others.

Fast forward to the 21st Century wherein Thomas, who had by then established a relationship with the Ginsberg family, was approached by Omnivore Records to expand on First Blues and Allen’s music; “the Ginsberg Estate gets thousands of letters praising his poetry. I was the one guy who writes to them praising the music. They turned me loose in his personal tape archive at Stanford! I spent years listening to hundreds of hours of Allen’s music...it was fun, entertaining, occasionally painful! You know, Allen recorded everything for his personal use- much of it was never intended for public consumption. But I just had to go through everything because I never knew when I was going to find real genius or something that had never made the final cut.”

The resulting collection is aptly entitled The Last Word on First Blues: a three CD set with eleven unissued songs from the ‘71 and ‘81 dates plus demos and live recordings (including a track with Don Cherry on kazoo), a full color 28 page booklet of rare photos (including a young Pat Thomas with Allen subtitled “The Punk Meets the Godfather”) and liner notes by Thomas which include insightful and informative interviews with a few of the core musicians.

“Ginsberg’s story as a poet has been told countless times, and many people have been interviewed on that topic. But no one has ever interviewed the musicians on the sessions. When I called Stephen Taylor, Allen’s longtime guitarist, to me it was like calling Keith Richards! The first thing I told him is that I wanted to be him through most of the 1980s. Another great interview was with David Amram. As a Jack Kerouac fan, he is already a legend in my book. And he’s been in many documentaries about Jack, but here is a guy who is almost 90 years old telling stories of hanging out with Dylan and Ginsberg in 1971 as if it happened yesterday.”

When Pat sent me the advance and I commenced to playing the tracks over and over, I was struck by how, to my ears, the collection reminded me of Dylan’s joyousBasement Tapes (1975) and expanded Basement Tapes Complete (2014). Ginsberg is ebullient throughout the recordings as are the other musicians. The passion, the humor, and the intensity of lyrics and melodies are irresistible - as I hope you will hear.

Pat concurs. “Oh yeah, Ginsberg could not be embarrassed! He may be the purest performer of all time. Allen could get up there and sing about homosexual activities when that was what he was in the mood for, he could show his vulnerability, especially in the song about his dad ‘Father Death Blues.’ If you listen to ‘CIA Dope Calypso’ he is out rapping the rappers! And what he sings is one hundred percent factually correct - Allen Ginsberg was a singing newspaper.”

“Ginsberg was a fan of everybody else, which you find true about a lot of the greatest musicians. I spent a weekend with Al Kooper, and one of the reasons why he got into music was so he could meet and hang out with everybody else- and he did! Sure, Allen had a big ego, but he was also the guy who spent years trying to get Kerouac published. He tried to get all of his buddies on the map even before he was necessarily on the map, Allen was a very giving guy.” 

When Thomas asked permission from Dylan’s camp regarding the release of new material - Bob’s people got back to him in 48 hours, a rarity for superstars of Dylan’s stature. “We’re in! Anything for Allen Ginsberg was their response” beams Thomas.

The Beatle reference to which Pat referred to occurred in the mid-1990s when Allen visited Paul McCartney at his home in England. Noting that he was planning to give a reading with Anne Waldman and various poets at the Royal Albert Hall and was seeking an accompanist for “The Ballad of Skeletons,” Sir Paul immediately offered his services. Macca and Ginsberg performed together at the famed venue. The song was later recorded and released and featured Lenny Kaye, who also produced the track and played bass, along with Phillip Glass on keyboards, Marc Ribot and David Mansfield on guitars, and Macca on drums, guitar, and organ.

“This set is essential for all Ginsberg fans, and a great bookend to Howl,” says Thomas, “especially for newcomers. You get a complete overview of the work of Allen Ginsberg - from his first great work to something that stands among his final major works.”

The Last Word on First Blues is out now on Omnivore Recordings and is available in CD and Digital formats at music retail.

For more information on The Last Word on First Blues please visit www.OmnivoreRecordings.com

The Last Word on First Blues was produced for release by Pat Thomas.

The Last Word on First Blues liner notes by Pat Thomas.

For more information on Pat Thomas please visit www.facebook.com/pat.thomas.18

Allen Ginsberg The Last Word on First Blues Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvVTyZK-bFA

Allen Ginsberg photo by Greg Allen.

INTO THE MYSTIC WITH JOE HURLEY: PREVIEW OF THE ALL-STAR IRISH ROCK REVUE IN NEW YORK CITY

This feature appeared in Huffington Post, March 2016

“Americans see themselves in the tunes, the melodies, and the lyrics of the Irish - and that comes across in the show. By embracing the Irish songbook, we’re pretty much holding hands across the water! It’s a joyful event with cracking songs from Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison... to songs that my father sang to me, and that his parents sang to him. For the person who is coming for the first time they’re going to hear wonderful Irish songs that they are familiar with, along with obscure ones. And they’re not going to hear this anywhere else thanks to the cross culture mix of all the artists who participate.” Joe Hurley

As Saint Patrick was deemed the Apostle of Ireland, surely Joe Hurley is the missionary of all things Irish rock ‘n’ roll in New York City. It’s a shame the two never met, as far as I know.

For those of you outside the musical circles of the metropolitan area, Mr. Hurley is a bona-fide local legend. A revered composer, singer, band-leader, actor, recording artist, artistic director of Ourland Fest, writer, and voice-over artist, among other titles, Joe Hurley’s resume is decidedly astounding.

To my ears, Hurley’s work at the helm of Rogue’s March which also featured J-F Vergel, Ivan Julian, and Adam Roth, among others, stands with the icons of rock prose who set their libretto to the swagger of a whiskey soaked pub band bar none. His collaborations span Ian Hunter, The Chieftains, PJ Harvey, Sam Shepard, Marianne Faithfull, Shane MacGowan, and Jimmy Webb to cite an extremely select few. Hurley, along with Johnny Depp, recently grabbed an Audie Award for the narration of the Keith Richards’ memoir Life. There is nary a stage in the Big Apple that Hurley has not traversed with great success, from Lincoln Center to the Central Park Summer Stage, to the dingy, durable dives that define Joe’s beloved East Village. His recent ensemble, aptly dubbed Joe Hurley & The Gents includes Patti Smith bassist Tony Shanahan, and guitarist James Mastro of Ian Hunter’s Rant Band.

The Irish Catholic London-bred bard is also the founder and driving force of another New York City institution- the annual All-Star Irish Rock Review, which traditionally commences around St. Patrick’s Day. The Revue was borne of modest beginnings in 1999 (“I didn’t want Prince to get all the glory!”) as a platform for Hurley and his multi-cultural cadre of simpatico artists to pay homage to the Irish songbook by rendering a mélange of Celtic compositions along with choice gems from the canon of Morrison, Morrissey, Boomtown Rats, Jim Carroll, Phil Lynott, U2, The Pogues, The Dubliners, and Sinead O’Conner, among many others.

Recalls Edward Rogers, another local rocker of renown by way of Birmingham, England who serves as Hurley’s co-host and also performs at the Revue, “I remember the early days at the Mercury Lounge. It was a small show by the artists who cared about the music that was dear to them. There is so much great material that came out of Ireland that people are not aware of. A lot of Irish bands were lumped in with the British bands - but the Irish culture is different than the English, they have a much more Celtic heart and soul to their music. Perhaps they had more obstacles to overcome, their country is smaller, and it was harder for Irish artists to get recognition.”

Rogers is not surprised that the Revue speaks to a wide audience regardless of their heritage, or political disposition. “The songs are universal and they speak to the heart” he waxes, “there’s always a little bit of Blarney, but there’s also a lot of soul, and there’s a little bit of tears too. You don’t have to be ‘green’ to get in!”

Hurley concurs. “I think the appeal of the Revue is the sharing of the human condition. Plus, there are so many people in America of Irish descent. America is such a young country, and there’s that need to connect with your heritage, your bloodline. When U2 first came out in America it was an enormous source of pride for Irish Americans. The Revue members are not all of Irish descent, just like if you look around the East Village when this thing started. The actors, songwriters, photographers, musicians, singers, fine artists, poets - we’re all ethnically across the board, we’re as culturally diverse and eclectic as it gets! Which is what the Irish are! And at the Revue, there is no artifice involved in any of the music.”

National Geographic, not particularly known for rock ‘n’ roll content, recognized Joe’s All-Star Irish Rock Revue as the #2 Star Attraction in their feature “The 10 Best Places to Celebrate the St Pat’s Season In America.” Says Joe “number one was the Parade in New York City!” Go figure!

The roster of past performers, which include Irish ambassadors among other officials, represents a veritable history of New York City’s artistic lineage, from Broadway stars to poets, journalists, actors, to indie rockers and permutations thereof. Joe revels in telling stories of unforgettable appearances by Ronnie Spector, Michael Cerveris, Pete Hamill, Colum McCann, Marianne Faithful, and Tony Visconti who, in a recognition of Irish rock icon Phil Lynott, rendered “Cowboy Song” and “The Boys Are Back In Town” at an early Revue in the same manner in which those tracks appeared on Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous - the historic double live platter produced by Visconti which inspired scores of rock bands worldwide. Exclaims Joe “and we’ve kept those two songs in our set the way Tony did them that night! That was a great moment for me.”

Rather than take up valuable space restating the Revue’s storied past, this year’s event, which takes place two days following St. Patrick’s Day, is impressive, as you would expect. In addition to Hurley and Rogers, the 2016 Revue will feature Willie Nile, Garland Jeffreys, Cait O’Riordan (The Pogues) Laura Cantrell, Mary Lee Kortes, Ellen Foley, Shannon Conley (Lez Zeppelin), Michael Cerveris, Pierce Turner, Carlton J Smith, Alphie McCourt, Sherryl Marshall, Don Fleming, Lianne Smith, Tony Zakowski, Alice June Blythe, Mike Fornatale, Al Landess, Gerard Gerard, Tami Lynn, Tammy Faye and Barry Reynolds, The Kennedys, Sasha Dobson, Tony Shanahan, John Rafferty, Jim Mastro, and Gary Thomas, among others. Hurley notes that there will likely be surprise guest or two who will probably adhere to “the Irish tradition of arriving unannounced at the last minute!”

The All-Star Irish Rock Revue Band also boasts New York City’s finest accompanists: drummer Steve Goulding (Graham Parker, The Mekons, Elvis Costello), bassist Sal Maida (Roxy Music, The Sparks, Cracker), multi-instrumentalist Jon Spurney (Passing Strange-Stew), vocalists Tish & Snooky, guitarist Chris Flynn (Rogue’s March), keyboardist Ken Margolis (The Smithereens, Cracker, Rogue’s March), violinist Deni Bonet (REM, Cyndi Lauper), and saxophonist Erik Lawrence (Levon Helm Band), among others.

Hurley notes that 2016 marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of Thin Lizzy’sJailbreak, and the thirtieth anniversary of Phil Lynott’s passing; two events which will be duly referenced this year. Members of All-Star Irish Rock Revues who have recently departed this mortal coil will also be honored.

Joe Hurley’s All-Star Irish Rock Revue, hosted by Joe Hurley and Edward Rogers commences Saturday, March 19, 2016 at the Highline Ballroom at 6:00 PM.

Additional information and tickets: 
www.highlineballroom. com
http://www. ticketweb.com/fb/6479145/highline

Joe Hurley Photo Credit: Gina Herold

Live Photo Credit: Laura Zotian