Category: chickfactor poll question

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cf poll: have your kids inherited your musical genes?

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have your kids inherited your musical genes?

claudia the magnetic fields: eve is definitely musical. she was singing in tune along with records (or with me) at 6 months old. she sits and listens to albums in a way that people watch TV. she just sits on the couch and stares off, clearly trying to understand how songs go. she also retains melodies that she has only heard once. this was amusingly demonstrated when I took her to a christmas lightshow event which featured a parody of toto’s “africa.” within minutes, she was walking down the street singing the hook intro line to that song, and now she still sings it. ¶ the thing that she appears to have also inherited is my uninhibited attitude toward singing. while occasionally she drops to a self-conscious whisper when asked to perform a song (lately it is “rain rain, go away”), I frequently witness her singing quite proudly to herself on buses and subways. story songs, where she processes events of the day, or memories, or sensory experiences in a sort of abstract melody.

corin tucker: my son definitely has some musical talent, and my daughter loves to sing as well.

kim baxter: yes, he loves playing music, dancing, learning the lyrics to songs, and making up his own songs.

daniel handler: no, but he has my wife’s sense of rhythm, and you can keep your dirty jokes to yourself, buster.

jessica would-be-goods: my daughter taught herself to play the guitar (aged about 12) by listening to early bowie songs and has a lovely singing voice.

matt lorelei: ursula certainly likes to make noise. she’s finally embraced dancing so we have dance party before bath time complete with shakers, drum, sleigh bells, and glockenspiel.

bridget st john: definitely in spirit and in desire to play different instruments. she has a great feeling for and love of music. and is an extraordinary poet and writer.

kelly velocity girl: the youngest certainly has inherited the show(off)manship gene. I know there is a slumberland supergroup in all of these kids somewhere.

alicia the aislers set / magic trick: yes, she is insane! she has the most incredible ear.  ever since she was really small, she could sing songs, with melody lines, in the key that she originally heard it, by memory! my grandma was a music teacher, and always thought that I had perfect pitch as a kid. sometimes I think that about lida. she’s playing a lot of piano right now. recently learned “home sweet home” by the crew…

andrew eggs/talk it: if they do I will strongly discourage them.

mike black tambourine / manatee: so far theo hasn’t shown much interest in making music, but he definitely likes listening to it and can be quite opinionated. he’s a quite a good listener, picking out lyrics I never even noticed (sometimes not a good thing) and learning his subgenres with some accuracy—punk, funk, ska, etc.

gordon the fan modine: they both sing little ditties all the time. it’s wonderful.

tim dagger: sophia has rhythm and loves playing instruments (she was recently spotted banging away on stew and jen’s mini drum kit in their house).

photograph of claudia by gail o’hara. 

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cf poll: how has your munchkin(s) affected your musical career?

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how have your offspring affected your musical career?

jessica would-be-goods: what career?

stephen the real tuesday weld: “dad, is this your music?”“YES!” “it’s not very good, is it?”

kim baxter: after having our son, it was definitely a struggle trying to figure out how and when to play music. but since my husband and I are both musicians, it was a no brainer that we had to figure out a way to keep playing. we’re both happiest when playing, recording, and touring, and we wanted our son (who’s now 3) to see us working really hard at doing something that we love.

corin tucker: it’s tricky to tour when you have young kids. mine are both in school now so we’ll see if it’s any easier.

gordon the fan modine: made it necessary.

matt lorelei: well, stephen and I have toddlers so being away from home to tour isn’t really an option. but that’s ok since touring is sort of a drag anyway. it mainly makes logistics difficult. but on the other hand…

kelly velocity girl: they’ve actually encouraged me to play again. my oldest constantly begs me to play guitar, showing the complete lack of a critical faculty in this regards on her part. when I do play she prefers only the strumming songs, none of this fancy dancy finger picking slow sappy nonsense thank you very much. total rockist.

daniel handler: fun to have a kid at soundcheck.

claudia the magnetic fields: the birth of my daughter two years ago has affected absolutely every aspect of my life. I solo parent a two and a half year old, which means that my brain is almost constantly fogged in and I have limited free time. so the music management work that I used to rip through in a week, now can take me months. emails are dropped, calls not responded to. ¶ we took her on the road in 2012 for nearly 9 weeks. it was ridiculously intense. there was a lot that was fun and joyful, but I can’t say I’d want to do it again, at least not with that aged a person. just the 24 airplane flights alone with an 18 to 20 month old spinning around on my lap was enough to wipe me out. not to mention all the cars and trains and new hotels each day, constant moving and rushing about. ¶ musically speaking, I find myself newly engaged in singing and playing instruments. she inspires me to engage creatively more, building and drawing things, reading books aloud, singing songs together. and I purchase a lot of kids albums and kid-friendly folksy or pop albums. so perhaps the great upside to this relationship is that I have a newfound curiosity in the musical world and in my musical self, which perhaps I had lost sight of.

mike black tambourine / manatee: not much, since I don’t have one. I still have a band (manatee) and manage to write and rehearse once a week, and play some shows here and there. theo is actually a bit of a fan of manatee and has come to a few of our gigs, which is quite fun.

andrew eggs/talk it: it is just the greatest thrill when your kids like a song you wrote. sometimes I hear my oldest son singing the melody of one of a song by my new band and it’s just the coolest thing.

bridget st john: I’ve written children’s songs I probably would not have otherwise written. I gladly put my career on major hold to raise her. she is trying to help me get more involved with all that current technology can provide to help my career.

alicia the aislers set / magic trick: well, I was skeptical at first and didn’t fully absorb that it would really affect things on such a drastic level. I remember seeing rose melberg when I was pregnant and she was like, yeah, the first three years it’s pretty impossible to do much else. I was like, nawww!, I can do it!! and then, low and behold, things were much harder to balance. I just wasn’t physically able to tour or get enough hours to give as much of myself to music. I was able to record with still flyin, which I was grateful for, as it was such a large band that they weren’t necessarily depending on me to tour or whatever. I was super stoked for the support I got from them in that I was able to take lida on tour for two weeks when she was 1 1/2. that was awesome. these days I have a new band called magic trick, and we just released our second record. I’m not able to go on all the tours. it’s financially and family-wise not the easiest thing to do to pack up and leave for 3-4 weeks at a time. but tim, my bandmate, is awesome in that we knew this from the beginning. and we started off working together primarily in the studio. we didn’t envision a band, that tours, etc. they are actually out on tour now across the states touring with father john misty, with a friend sitting in for me. and that’s ok. it’s my choice.  I do the west coast shows, local stuff. lord knows I’ve spent enough time on the road.  (I’ll pass on the boredom of soundcheck, ha ha). it’s just not worth it for me to miss my daughter for that whole time. I find real satisfaction in the studio and local shows. the occasional adventure, like with the aislers set, or something, is cool, but I feel like I am much more able to prioritize in a healthy way. sometimes, like now, I miss them (the band), but until we as musicians can actually support a family on touring, etc. that’s just not gonna be a possibility. at the same time, sometimes playing a show or something, there are those transcendent moments when I feel like this (music) is what I should be doing all the time. it’s what I’m good at.

photo of jessica griffin of would-be-goods, london, 2001, by gail o’hara.

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cf poll: what dish do you wish you could re-create at home?

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what meal do you wish you could re-create at home?

fran cannane: really great curries especially those from malabar restaurant crows nest in sydney. (listen to a new cannanes tune, “bumper,” from their forthcoming small batch EP out on march 19)

corin tucker: japanese traditional udon soup. I’ve tried making it at home but there’s a lot of expertise there.

james dump/yo la tengo: cookie puss. (yo la tengo has an ace new album out called fade; two dump LPs are being reissued this spring on morr music)

kim baxter: conveyor belt sushi with the conveyor belt coming out of the kitchen into the dining room. (kim baxter’s latest album comes out march 15 on blue vinyl; her band is touring europe in april)

daniel handler: cruda at esca.

stephin the magnetic fields: the tomato cobbler at mary mac’s tea room in atlanta, GA. I bought the cookbook, but I can barely boil water.

rachel blumberg: I once had these tomatoes at a venue in italy. the tomatoes were the reddest red I’ve ever seen. they were grown in the volcanic loam on the side of mt. etna in sicily. they were served with fresh basil and olive oil. it was amazing. so good it made me weep. we had that with the most amazing bread and there were mushrooms too, sauteed in garlic and wonderful wine. it was all so simple and perfect. the only way I could ever recreate it would be to transport those tomatoes through a portal. I dream about those tomatoes. (rachel, who is interviewed in the latest chickfactor paper issue, has a new shop here)

gordon the fan modine: coal-fired pizza. (fan modine have a new one out this year)

hannah grass widow: pierogis.

joe pines / foxgloves: a steak that stephen wood would consider worth eating.

matt lorelei: I’ve been trying to re-create tartine bakery’s sourdough bread at home. getting close.

ian musical chairs: burekas!

tim dagger: that pasta/sausage with vodka sauce at la buca in portland.

bridget st john: a meal made entirely of ‘raw’ food.

pete paphides: a generic chinese beef curry like the ones you get at take-aways; a lamb balti like the ones you get at brilliant birmingham balti houses. once in a while, a big mac.

gail cf: everything on the menu at angelica kitchen (I have come close to mastering the miso tahini spread, soba sensation and noodle salads) and the mushroom ale pie at mildreds.

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cf poll: what drink goes with what album?

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what drink goes with what album? (question by daniel handler)

gail cf: veuve clicquot goes with everything. I would imagine the special 20th anniversary “chickfactor” cocktail, created by the acclaimed booze handler daniel searing (from such bands as big jesus trash can, the saturday people and glo-worm), would go nicely with the chickfactor mixtape (pictured below).

daniel handler: rye neat, fire! you liked me five minutes ago

delmonico served up followed by bottle of chianti, divine comedy, casanova

chartreuse martini, st. etienne the sound of water

constantly warmed-up highball, the clash sandinista!

empty out the cabinet and experiment with weird liqueurs, 69 love songs

I could play this all night. and have.

stephen the real tuesday weld: tea, with anything.

james dump/yo la tengo: coffee and/or seltzer pair perfectly with all records.

stephin the magnetic fields: still trying to figure that out.

corin tucker: for me it was whiskey and “my aim is true” by elvis costello. these days it is kombucha and fiona apple.

the legendary jim ruiz: gary mcfarland’s “soft samba” album is best enjoyed with the soft samba coctail. pour two ounces of dry (fino) spanish sherry over two ice cubes in an old fashioned glass. add half an ounce of tropical fruit juice or pineapple juice. add a dash of angostura bitters.

gordon the fan modine: J&B scotch and soda and the kingston trio’s “goin’ places” will take you somewhere pretty specific.

matt lorelei: a shandy for smiley smile. or maybe a dolores park swizzle with st. george’s absinthe (rum, lime, maraschino, absinthe, bitters).

bridget st john: a good red wine goes with most albums in my collection!

fran cannane: red wine goes with all cannanes albums…increasing in price and quality over the years.

joe pines / foxgloves: red wine with loveless, early-evening white wine with bryter later, late-night whiskey with magnetic fields’ distortion, tea and panettone with u2’s war, tea and a biscuit with reading, writing & arithmetic, hot chocolate with deacon blue’s oooh las vegas.

kelly velocity girl:
heavenly vs satan – heavenly
harviestoun bitter & twisted
playing lightly, stinging ever so slightly. best ingested on a mild early summer afternoon.

“strawberry wine” – my bloody valentine
jj prum wehlener sonnenuhr riesling kabinett (cool vintage please)
while the title seems to beg some fruitified concoction, let the mild sweetness and filigreed acidity take you where you need to go. for the spring time please.

suburban light – the clientele
jw lees moonraker
a gentle warm up after “the football crowds have all gone home”. is there is a bit of mist on a late fall afternoon? check.

for if you cannot fly – small factory
corpse reviver #2
turns winter into summer. the punch bowl serves a as suitable object to jump off of when in the throes of pop ecstasy.

photograph of the chickfactor cocktail by daniel searing.

 

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cf food poll: what is in your rider?

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rachel blumberg: common items on most riders for tours I’ve been a part of include synergy kombucha, emergen-c, hummus, tofurkey, veggie tray. very healthy. matt had one dill pickle on his rider. maybe to make sure people are paying attention to detail, sort of like the brown m&ms.

corin tucker: coconut water. the young people like it.

hannah grass widow: lily is gluten free. so lots of rice cakes, hummus, veggies. also cider instead of beer.

stephen the real tuesday weld: absinthe, water, grapes, the times.

bridget st john: water backstage and onstage. a good red wine for after I play. only vegetarian food – light and lots of green! 2 direct boxes. a piano if possible. 2 guitar stands (if I am away from home and cannot pack them to fly).

stephin the magnetic fields: hummus…which I can no longer tolerate the sight of.

gordon the fan modine: chartreuse but nobody takes us seriously. or is frightened of what would happen.

james dump/yo la tengo: office supplies, local yellow pages, shoelaces, old newspapers, champagne.

matt lorelei: ho ho ho. good one, gail. um, “please pay us”?

darren hanlon: lundberg santa fe BBQ rice chips and a map to the nearest pinball machine (both requests have only been fulfilled once).

jennifer o’connor: amstel light and seltzer.

daniel handler: water, coke, uniball pens.

fran cannane: anything we can get.

joe pines / foxgloves: microbrewery-quality lager and a copy of the london review of books signed by robert forster. if every other band soundchecking has 6 members or more, then better add a copy of the cantos of ezra pound.

photo of rachel by gail o’hara.

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food poll: what is your favorite food-related song or album?

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gail cf: “birthday cake” by cibo matto (pictured). “hot burrito #1” the flying burrito brothers (elvis c’s version is good too). “lemon cake” by containe. “candy” the magnetic fields.

daniel handler: wingdale community singers, “sugar and salt.”

hannah grass widow: “pig out” by shonen knife.

pete paphides: al stewart’s down in the cellar – a concept album about fine wine!

stephin the magnetic fields: shonen knife: “I wanna eat choco bars.”

james dump/yo la tengo: black flag, “black coffee.”

corin tucker: I have a 7-inch by an australian band called the claggs with a song about chips and gravy.

darren hanlon: “cheeseburgers in paradise” by jimmy buffet.

bridget st john: “suzanne,” leonard cohen.

gordon the fan modine: “I want candy.”

matt lorelei: “vegetables,” the beach boys. that’s sir paul mccartney on carrot don’t you know. or maybe “bite” by the chills.

dawn cf: modern lovers “ice cream man,” barbara manning, “your pies.”

tim dagger: descendents “I like food.”

joe pines / foxgloves: siouxsie & the banshees: “hong kong garden”. the cat’s miaow: “ice cream”. lloyd cole: “ice cream girl.”

vintage photo of cibo matto by gail o’hara, from the cover of chickfactor #8, new york city, 1994.

 

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cf food poll: have any musicians influenced your eating habits?

daniel handler: I usually foot the bill while dining with musicians.

stephin the magnetic fields: stephen sondheim freely admitting he is unable to cook at all has made me feel better about my own disastrous attempts.

corin tucker: seth, sara and mike (from corin tucker band) are all pretty much foodies and are very adventurous. we had a really fun tour of japan where we tried octopus balls in osaka. I liked the flavor but had a hard time with the chewiness.

ed shelflife: the fat boys.

bridget st john: john martyn revealed the mysteries of indian spices and the joys of grilled tomatoes!

gordon the fan modine: I look after ash’s goats and chickens a lot and get amazing eggs and veggies in return.

darren hanlon: it’s hard not to eat hot chippies while mark monnone (lucksmiths) is around.

james dump/yo la tengo: the fat boys, big pun, poison idea.

stephen the real tuesday weld: don brosnan and I talk about the dukan diet a lot.

gail cf: connie containe/pacific ocean influenced me hugely by cooking vegan food for me a million times and taking me to angelica kitchen. lupe too when we were flatmates as she is the queen of the improv vegan bakers.

fran cannane: james dutton (cannanes) is a fine cook. david nichols is an inspirational vegetarian.

tim dagger: tears run rings, I’ll now try seitan.

allen clapp: jill pries clapp! she’s been vegetarian since the late 1980s. I’ve been a vegetarian for 8 years.

joe pines / foxgloves: my interest in the go-betweens is gradually leading me to consider eating kangaroo. I am told that it is both healthy and tasty.

 

 

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cf food poll: what venue has served you the best eats?

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the legendary jim ruiz: I remember I ate my first tempeh reuben sandwich at the black cat in washington, d.c., in the ’90s. unforgettable.

john the magnetic fields: vega, copenhagen. helsinki hudson is a close second.

hannah grass widow: great american music hall.

corin tucker: I like the burgers at maxwell’s.

james dump/yo la tengo: maxwell’s, now and forever.

ed shelflife: cameo gallery in brooklyn that has the lovin’ cup cafe upstairs. good vegan options.

daniel handler: slow food festival, san francisco.

gail cf: I’ll have to say bunk bar.

pete paphides: festival food is the best food. the stall just beside the main stage at the green man that serves traditional welsh meals. faggots and home made chips with stellar gravy; beef stew with moist, heavy herby dumplings!

stephin the magnetic fields: helsinki hudson, in hudson, NY.

fran cannane: I remember most the butchersville pub in louisville, kentucky, in may 1991 as I was so amazed they would give us food for free. I cannot recall this ever happening to us in australia. no idea what the food was though.

kim baxter: rotown in rotterdam. it was so good that we went back for breakfast the next morning.

allen clapp: slims in san francisco has a wonderful veggie buffet!

matt lorelei: einstein a-go-go in jacksonville, florida. sadly it is no longer, but the spread they had for us was amazing. that’s the best we’ve ever been treated.

gordon the fan modine: the rooster’s wife in aberdeen, NC. they sit everyone down to a home-cooked meal from their garden in a beautiful old southern home.

stephen the real tuesday weld: blois festival france.

jennifer o’connor: it’s all a blur honestly.

ian musical chairs: maxwell’s, hoboken, NJ.

bridget st john: otterton mill, devon, UK.

jim ruiz photo courtesy of jim ruiz.

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cf food poll: what is your signature dish?

frankie-rose

frankie rose: mexican food. pozole. enchiladas, which I made in glasgow, because there was a little mexican specialty shop that had all the ingredients.

cf: a lot of people in the UK don’t even know what mexican food can be like.

frankie rose: actually they don’t know what they’re eating. what they thought of as mexican food — I think they have tacos and burritos — but an enchilada was like a really foreign… they’d never even heard of it before.

gordon the fan modine: curried beets with beet green and almond “saag” and cucumber raita.

daniel handler: dandelion green pesto on gnocchi with aged gouda.

hannah grass widow: I’m told I make very tasty salads.

stephen the real tuesday weld: peanut butter, slightly burnt toast.

kim baxter: does taking the family out for conveyor belt sushi count? If not, I make a pretty good guacamole.

darren hanlon: wasabi mashed yams.

corin tucker: my son loves my beef tacos. I like to cook for him.

james dump/yo la tengo: v getting food from taco bell and pretending I made it from scratch.

fran cannane: mushroom fajitas this week.

tae won yu: it changes with the seasons. in the summer, I do homemade pasta with pancetta, heirloom tomatoes and basil. I also like risotto with mussels. seafood stew with coconut milk, very easy to make. I rely on seafood stew, never fails, always good. simple, cheap. I love getting an aged ribeye from ottomanelli. a perfect steak seared and basted in butter, that’s amazing.

allen clapp: spinach and cheese omelets. I’ll make ’em for anybody. It’s really the only food I know how to prepare, thanks to my older sister who taught me this skill when I was in second grade.

joe pines / foxgloves: baked salmon with lemon, leek, risotto, rocket salad + pinot grigio. or we could just go to the chinese, it’s only 5 minutes down the road.

matt lorelei: pasta with chard.

jennifer o’connor: vegan cajun cornbread casserole.

pete paphides: apparently it’s my wraps. the sweet potato falafel, tzatziki, red onion, tomato, mango chutney and coriander goes down well – although recently, I’ve been making this: peppered mackerel, tahini, tomato, red onion and toasted pumpkin seeds. also, roast red peppers stuffed with pearl barley, figs, goats cheese, caramelised onions, cumin, chilli and cinnamon. whilst I’m blowing my own trumpet, I prefer my tomato and basil pasta sauce to any other one I’ve eaten elsewhere. liquidised caramelised onions – that’s the key. my kids (and bob stanley) like my wholemeal pizzas.

janice cf: pizza.

stephin the magnetic fields: vegan bento box. I assemble a beautiful lunch.

tim dagger: toast.

gail cf: asian noodle salads. blueberry peach crumble. hummus.

rachel blumberg: I make a really mean eggplant parmesan. did it again the other night. the secret is the sauce. it’s all about ratios and timing and cooking it slow and low! I also love making soup and curries.

bridget st john: roasted vegetables with quinoa.

frankie rose photo by lauren bilanko.

 

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chickfactor food polls: best towns

what is the best country/city to tour when it comes to eating?

ed shelflife: I have to vote for portland, oregon!

fran cannane: mexico, japan and the usa. england is really coming into its own I have to say.

stephin the magnetic fields: stockholm: I live for their industrial-strength combination of horseradish and mustard.

corin tucker: france is pretty amazing, for someone like me who has a sweet tooth.

daniel handler: san francisco, bologna, vancouver.

hannah grass widow: I like eating in new york for the polish food. although I must say we have pretty great food in san francisco.

james dump/yo la tengo: japan and nashville.

frankie rose: san diego. amazing mexican food there everywhere. we just randomly walked into a mexican place recently and I had the best lobster burrito I’ve ever had in my life.

bridget st john: kyoto, japan.

stephen the real tuesday weld: los angeles – hands down.

rachel blumberg: new york is pretty fantastic, city wise!  I look forward to polish food, pizza, katz’s, and then all the nifty new places. oh, I had the most amazing ramen ever in new york. georgia recommended it. I can’t wait to go back. my favorite country for eating on tour is france because of all the amazing cheese back stage. ohhh the cheese….

joe pines / foxgloves: arlington, virginia, for ray’s the steaks, where I was taken by my friend stephen wood – a keen supporter of both pop and steak.

jennifer o’connor: southwest usa.

mark teenbeat/unrest: there was an incredible restaurant in minneapolis called the sri lankan curry house. probably the spiciest food I have ever had. it’s unfortunately not there anymore.

ian musical chairs: big cities seem to be the best for food with more veggie options. chicago, boston, and nyc are pretty amazing. israel has fantastic food. there are so many countries I’d like to eat in!

gordon the fan modine: everything is at your fingertips in NYC.

rachel blumberg: new york.

gail cf: portland, oregon!

allen clapp: new york, ny! I love being able to walk out of the club after a show and have the whole world at your feet. In san francisco, everything shuts down way too early, and it’s like walking out into a foggy ghost town (which is kinda cool — but not if you’re hungry).