fR321 PAGE 21_Layout 1 27/01/2010 17:16 Page 1
21 f
root salad
12 shots from the fRoots
Rocket Launcher
a dozen leading questions to fire at Tim Eriksen
If you were given the funds to organise a club five minutes before showtime to play My parents. They were always the loud-
concert bill, who would the artists be? for about a dozen bored drunks. We fin- est people in the room until I started going
Cordelia’s Dad, Esma Redzepova and
ished and loaded out asap without wait- to hardcore shows and singing Sacred Harp.
Bad Brains.
ing to get paid our 20 bucks, but lost the
Who was the last-but-one musician or
Which totally obscure record do you most
last hotel room in the county to some peo-
singer you lusted after?
treasure and would like more people to
ple who had flown in for the big football
Lemmy. No, wait, Dot Wiggin out of
know about?
game. We got back in the car half dead
the Shaggs.
and soon found ourselves lost in the Chilli-
You mean other than my own first
cothe National Forest without a map until,
If you had a rocket launcher, who or what
dozen or so recordings? (Actually, even I
near daybreak, we finally found a cheap
would be the target, and why?
don’t own a copy of some of those.) Most
motel. We spent most of the next day lying
Evil – because it’s bad.
of the recordings I listen to with any regu-
in a field looking at the clouds overhead
larity are easily available (Ramones, Black
Tim will be performing in the UK this
and wondering why we hadn’t gone into
Flag, M.S. Subbulakshmi); home-made and
summer and leading Sacred Harp work-
something more profitable like, uh, what-
non-commercial (a zillion friends’ bands,
shops: confirmed dates so far include Sum-
ever it is people do for money. Crystal
merTyne Americana Weekend, Gateshead
Oromo gospel rehearsals and Sacred Harp
meth? Real estate?
(23-25th July) and Sidmouth Folk Week,
conventions), or things I picked up in places
What’s the professional achievement
where he’ll be from 1-3 August, with a rare
where they’re not obscure at all (Selma
you’re most proud of?
Cordelia’s Dad reunion show on the 3rd.
Bajrami in Sarajevo, Mohamed Kooshin at
the Somali mall in Minneapolis). One CD
That’s hard. Becoming completely at
For more info on Tim’s upcoming dates
that might fit the bill is Accidental Nostal-
ease with my voice, for one. Making Bob
and his latest CD, Northern Roots Live In
gia by performance artist Cynthia Hopkins
Copper cry one time when I sang Awake
Namest (Indies Scope MAM 451-2), see:
You Drowsy Sleeper (what a man and
and Gloria Deluxe. The recording suffers a
http://timeriksenmusic.com F
singer he was). I
bit from studio/ bedroom hesitancy but, as
managed to help
a reminder of the show, it’s one of the best
Sacred Harp music
things I’ve ever owned.
through Hollywood
What was the best live gig you ever saw?
without making too
Most of the best music I’ve ever expe- big a mess of things,
rienced was in something other than a gig, which was harder
but the contenders for paid gigs in reverse
and less profitable
chronological order are: Bijelo Dugme in
than it probably
Sarajevo, 2005 (KM 20); Esma Redzepova
sounds, and at one
and Ansambl Teodosijevski in their first US
point very nearly
appearance at a Puerto Rican wedding hall
devolved into a fist-
in Inwood, NYC 1997 (USD 15); Thyagaraja
fight with famous
Aradhana 1988, at the Thyagaraja Sathgu-
people. No exagger-
ru Samajam in Chennai, featuring unan-
ation.
nounced appearances by M.S. Subbulaksh-
What’s the most
mi and K.V. Narayanaswami (50 rupees);
embarrassing thing
back to back nights in London, 1982:
you ever did in
Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring at the Royal Bal-
public?
let and Angel Witch at the Marquee (can’t
remember the price); The Ramones at
School. Well, the
SUNY Stony Brook, 1981 (Ca. $5) – my first
kindergarten
punk rock show that wasn’t me and some
through PhD part
friends in somebody’s basement.
anyway.
And what was the worst?
Which song or piece
Let’s just say it involved a singalong of
of music would you
Kumbaya.
most like to have
written yourself?
What was your own best ever gig?
Every Sound
Appearing as the ‘folk singer’ in Evan
Below, which I did
Chambers’ amazing symphonic piece The
write so it probably
Old Burying Ground at Carnegie Hall in
doesn’t count. Other-
February 2008. The CD’s coming out this
wise I Am Sitting In A
summer!
Room (Alvin Lucier),
And what was your worst? Aber Mi Dojde
Ah, so many memories! Probably the
Donke (Macedonian
time Cordelia’s Dad finished a noisy rock
traditional), or The
set at about 2 am and had to drive straight
Old Burying Ground.
to the next gig nearly a thousand miles Who was the first
east. (Booking agent apparently didn’t musician or singer
own a map.) The last 150 miles was a con- you were inspired to
struction zone, and we finally got to the emulate?
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