Colin McGrath Talks About "Yellow Brick Man"

Colin McGrath is a storyteller. Each song in his latest CD, “Yellow Brick Man” captures a moment in life, which he expertly crafts vividly in words and music. In my recent interview with Colin, he shares the stories behind his songs, and tells of how his classical background influences his unique style of folk music.

Faith W: Was there a theme, a motivation, or a message on this CD?

Colin McGrath: The title song of the album is “Yellow Brick Man,” and that one has kind of a telling story behind it. One time I was looking for a bass in a pawnshop on Flatbush Avenue near my house, and I was trying all these basses out, and this guy comes in, and he’s got a guitar. He walks in, plops it on the counter, and slides it underneath the bulletproof glass, and he looks at the guy and says, “Yellow Brick Man, what have you got for me today?” It was just one of those things that I overheard, and I was like, “Oh wow, this is cool. What’s this story about? Who is this guy?” He looked like he was trading in his instrument, trying to see what he could get for it. He made an impression on me, so I started writing a song from his perspective. It’s about being at a crossroads in your life, realizing that you need to give up something in order to get to the next stage. I felt in some way at a similar crossroads in my life just because in the last three years I’ve become a dad, and trying to make music and have a family is a challenge.

FW: Congratulations, and congratulations on facing the realization of the challenge, too. It can be rough; those first few years especially. Let’s talk a bit more about the theme of the album.

CMcG: Yeah, that crossroads theme comes back in different ways throughout the album, particularly on songs like “Walls.” And sometimes you think you are giving up something for good and it actually comes back later on. There’s a song on the album, “St Anthony’s Return” …

FW: I was going to ask you about that…

CMcG: Yeah; St Anthony is the patron saint of all things lost. There was a time when I was swimming in this river with my wife and we hadn’t been married all that long. We were going down this river, and I looked down at my hand and I realized that I had lost my ring. I was really, really disappointed, and I was like, “Well, I gotta find this thing.”  So it was one of those moments where you’re like, “this is not a wise decision, I should just forget about it and move on.” I was just determined to find it though, and somehow when I put my mind to it, all these events came together and allowed me to get the ring back. I knew that I needed to find an underwater flashlight so that I could find it, because it was really dark and the river was really big. I walked down the road, and there just happened to be a store that sold underwater flashlights. I told the woman at the store what happened, and she said, “Well, say a prayer to St Anthony, and maybe he’ll get it back for you.” That’s the first I ever heard about St Anthony.

So I was saying this little prayer, kind of this little sing-songy thing, and I was looking into the water with the underwater flashlight, and lo and behold, there it was. I saw it twinkling there at the bottom of the river, and after some really strenuous effort, I was able to get the ring back. It felt like such a huge victory to me.

Sometimes you can intervene with fate and cause extremely unlikely things to happen. You know, people can disappear from your life for years and you realize that you really miss them, and then just like that ring, they will reappear because circumstances align themselves in these crazy ways. The ring became kind of this symbol for me, of being able to re-connect with important things that were missing.

FW: Okay. That’s exactly what I got from the song.

CMcG: Oh, really?

FW: Yeah. That’s one of my favorite songs on the CD.

CMcG: Cool.

FW: I also like, “Early Game”.

CMcG: Nice. I feel like that one is the oddball of the album, really. That one, and maybe “South 2^nd Street” are on the fringe. But those are two of my favorites on it too. I’m glad to hear that they spoke to you.

FW: Yeah, I like that and “South 2^nd Street Serenade”. The video is just very interesting.

CMcG: That’s my man JP Bouchard. He’s done some great work with a lot of famous people like Norah Jones, and They Might Be Giants. I felt very lucky to work with him, he’s an old friend of mine, getting busier and busier every day. He really liked the South Second Street Serenade, and he was like, “I’ve got some of these clips that I think would really work with this.” I’ve watched the video many times, and each time I get something new out of it.

FW: I think that it’s going to be one of those pieces that I keep coming back to. The two songs, “Early Game” and “South Street Serenade” are so different than the other songs on the album. How did they end up on the CD?

CMcG: Well, there are musical/production elements of “Early Game” and “South Second” on a lot of the other songs. Also, they are both about escapism somehow, and that relates with the crossroads theme: just wanting to escape from the weight of big decisions and responsibilities. Take off. Play the early game.

I also wanted the end of the album to go into a wordless space. When “Early Game” hits, I feel that there is a kind of launching that happens. I write a lot of instrumental music, and sometimes I don’t like to have any words at all. Just music.

FW: Sometimes you don’t need the words. You know, I actually wanted to thank you because in listening to your CD and reading your bio I was inspired to break out the String Quartet in F Major by Ravel that I had not heard in many, many years.

CMcG: Oh yeah? You’re a fan of that stuff?

FW: Yeah!

CMcG: Cool! I’m thinking about Le Tombeau de Couperin. Michael Holt from The Mommyheads  performed that at a show I saw recently and it just totally blew me away. I remember in college one of my housemates was an amazing piano player and he would play that piece, and I would just lie down, sometimes underneath the piano and just float away.

FW: Yes, Ravel’s work can cause you to do that. And I want to thank you for reminding me because I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to classical music in some time because I’ve been listening to so many other things. I can see glimpses of your musical influences here and there, and it melds well within your work.

CMcG: Thank you.

FW: You’re welcome. I have a question, and it may seem a little weird, but I’m going to go with it. I’m going to give you a choice of several words to describe your songwriting, and I want you to pick one and tell me why you picked it. The words are: snapshot, sketch, and painting.

McG: Well, my album “Window Seat,” was more of a snapshot. It was about making observations and taking pictures of things that were going on outside of myself. “Yellow Brick Man,” is more like a painting. I say that because it’s taken a long time to give birth to this album, and there are so many layers on it. It’s a little bit like one of those old paintings where somebody’s head has been painted in two different directions and if you dig deep enough behind those layers of paint, you’ll see that the picture looked entirely different. These songs are like that; they’ve gone through lots of changes and lots of revisions.

FW: What’s in the future? What are you working on?

CMcG: I have a friend who sings a lot of the harmony on the album, his name is Jason Harrod. He used to be in a pretty well known duet called Harrod and Funck, and we’re actually working on some hymns. There’s something that I’ve always really liked about hymns; the way the harmonies move, the lyrics are heartfelt and innocent in a way. And I’m not a particularly religious person myself, though I definitely think a lot about spirituality. For some reason when I hear hymns it kind of connects me with the place that I’d like to go spiritually. So we’re working on that. And I’ve got a bunch of instrumental stuff that I’d like to put out too.

FW: I’d like to hear that. You have such a diverse musical background, and it really shines through.

CMcG: Thanks Faith, it’s been a pleasure talking with you!

Leon Finney III Inspires Inner-City Youth Through Art

On occasion, The Lobes will stumble upon someone who uses an art form other than music to make a difference in the world, and deserves to have their voice heard. Leon Finney III is an artist from Philadelphia, who inspires the lives of inner-city youth through art. I had the opportunity to speak with Leon about his inspiration, his art, and the work he does to keep art in public schools through his “1 Touch of Color” foundation. 

Faith W: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me about your work. Let’s start with the piece that you have at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Leon Finney: That piece has been there since I was 17, since 1997. I won an art contest and the president of the museum pulled me aside and asked me if she could have the piece.

 That piece is part of their private exhibit. It’s actually inside of one of their corporate offices, and every year, during the month that I originally entered that contest, they bring it out for public viewing and it sits on the wall that’s across from the cafeteria.

FW: This is not a painting, and most people who know your work think of you as a painter. Tell me how you created it.

LF: It’s a collage, and it was done with paper bags, newspaper, and trash that I found. It’s a self-portrait. I also used a lot of different types of glue so that I could get different textures, and tones.

FW: Are you still doing collages?

LF: I still experiment with collages, and I want to do some projects, but I haven’t had the time to actually sit down and get back into that zone. I’ve been doing a lot of portrait work, and that’s been taking up a lot of my time.

FW:  You also do something in conjunction with Citibank for Black History Month, correct?

LF: Yes. Four years ago I started doing an annual art exhibit at Citibank for Black History Month. I’d go to different schools and teach the kids a few things about Black History, and then we’d express ourselves through artwork. After they learned some things, and created a painting, we would have an exhibit to show what we’d learned.

FW: How did you get started with that?

LF: I like to be involved with my kids, and since they started taking art out of schools, I wanted to do something that would allow me to bring it back. So, I donated myself and my time and the supplies; then it was just about finding a place that wanted to go in on it with me. Citibank was really good, and they said they wouldn’t mind helping me out, and they actually came up with a few dollars to give to the kids, so that all the kids were winners just for participating.

FW: Are your children artistically inclined?

LF: My daughter is. My son, he’s color-blind, so he gets a little jealous when he can’t figure out colors, but he can draw pretty well. My daughter, she’s an artist. She’s even better than me when I was her age. She’s really talented.

She sits down with me, and I really don’t want to teach her. I just want her to watch, and pick up her own stuff. She’ll just draw, and paint, and do her thing. The thing I tell all my students, and it’s kind of like what I live by is, “I can teach you how to draw and how to paint, but creativity comes from within.” So, looking at her work you can really see where the creativity comes from.

FW: What motivates you in terms of creativity?

LF: Prayer, and my dreams. I’ll dream about some crazy thing and I’ll wake up and say, “I have to paint it.”

Like the “Anticipation of War” piece;  I had a dream about it, and I woke up and just painted it. Something just sparks while I’m asleep and I just go in on it.

FW: So, you just wake up and say, “That’s it. I have to get this out of me…”

LF: I don’t care what time of night it is. I started “Anticipation of War” at 2 o’clock in the morning, and it was finished a day and a half later.

FW: I don’t know how many people know this, but “Anticipation of War” has a companion piece, doesn’t it?

LF: Yeah, it does. And it’s a painting of the person that he’s looking at. So, unless you’re friends or family, that piece has not been shown to you.

FW: Will that piece ever go public?

LF: Yes. I’m going to bring that out when I come back to Philadelphia.

FW: Excellent. You also have a foundation called “1 Touch of Color”. Tell me about that.

LF: The 1 Touch of Color Foundation is based on what I told you that I was doing with Citibank. But in The 1 Touch of Color Foundation  we were painting murals inside of inner city schools like Potter-Thomas, Fairhill and Houston. I believe that blank walls leave blank minds.  Kids that see nothing around them all day, more than likely they are going to do nothing.

I wanted to take the effect that the outdoor murals have on people and bring it inside. When you see a mural, it brightens up the area, and it causes you to stop, and talk about it. That’s the feeling that I think should be going on inside of schools, so that the kids feel appreciated.

FW: What else inspires you?

LF: The thing that inspires me is God. I feel like what I do is a gift. I can be as creative as I want, but I am nothing without God. My second inspiration is my grandmother. When I was 3 I drew my first picture and she put it her wall, and she put the next picture on the refrigerator, and it made me feel so good. After that, I just wanted to draw anything to make her happy because she made me feel like I was the best artist in the world.

My favorite artist is Raphaelle Peale. I love his use of color and I really love his still life. I like another artist named Frederic Church. I started doing landscapes because of Frederic Church.

FW: Do you still have work at the Lucien Crump Gallery? Tell me about your connection to this gallery.

LF: I still have a few pieces there. Lucien was a really good friend of mine, and a great artist. After he passed away I kept in touch with his wife, and I ran a lot of the programs on his behalf. Lucien Crump was the first African American art gallery in Philadelphia. So it was pretty cool for her to choose me to continue his legacy.

 

The work of Leon Finney III can be seen at The Lucien Crump Art Gallery, 6378 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144

Adam Cross Talks About Sirens

Interviewing  AdamCross was like interviewing an old friend; he has an easy-going personality, and a great sense of humor. We often went off on tangents, and talked things that won’t make it to The Lobes. The subject matter jumped from relationships, to Meat Loaf (the singer, not the food) to the scary mental image of Adam with Tina Turner’s legs. At one point, Adam actually interviewed me, which totally caught me off guard.

In this interview, we  discuss  what made him drop out of law school to play music, and everything that went into the making of his new album, Sirens.

Faith W: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today.

Adam: Thanks for taking the time to interview me.

FW: It’s my pleasure. So, like I was telling you on Twitter, I was checking out your music and it’s really good.

Adam: I’m glad you liked it.

FW: It’s better than me saying, “I was listening to your music, and it gave me a stomachache…” (laughing)

Adam: “…and I kind of wanted to kill myself.” (laughs)

Haikaa Talks About "A Work of Art"

After interviewing singer/songwriter Haikaa, I was reminded of the opening lines of one of my favorite Walt Whitman poems, “A Song of Myself”:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you

Haikaa’s song, “I am Work of Art” is a celebration of each of us, and a message that she aspires to spread to the world. We talked about her Work of Art Global Project, how she recorded “I Am a Work of Art” in 20 different languages, and what drives her to make music.

Faith: Thanks for taking time out to talk with me today.

Haikaa: Thank you.

FW: I just wanted to start by talking about some of your projects, which are quite impressive. Tell me about the Work of Art Global Project.

Haikaa: That project was based on a song that I wrote called, “ A Work of Art”, which is basically a song about self-acceptance, and celebrating the diversity in the world that results from the uniqueness of every individual. I’ve always been a believer in diversity just because I was raised surrounded by so much diversity, and that was something that I wanted to share musically.

Once the song was ready I decided to see how many versions and in how many languages I could record the, song because it did feel like a very universal message to me. So, based on the mathematical concept of six degrees of separation, I started to contact my first degree contacts, and say, “Hey do you know someone who would be willing to write a version of my song in Mandarin?” From there it branched out, and in a period of about a year and a half I had finished and recorded 19 versions of the song, and counting, because I have more people working on different versions.

Daniel Levi Goans and The Creation of Brother Stranger

Faith W: I really enjoyed listening to Brother Stranger. This is your second album?

Daniel Levi Goans: Yes, m’aam , this is my second folk album. I was in a band before this and we had a couple records out. We formed in 2003, and it was more like an indie, rock/pop sound, and I was not the lead singer. So this folk stuff is what I’ve been doing for the last three and a half years or so.

FW: What led to the transition to folk music?

DLG: In the old band, the other guys were older than me, and they were married with kids and they were like, “We want to take a break.” And was writing a bunch of songs on my own and I just wasn’t really using them. It was just like an expression to myself.  A buddy of mine heard one of them, and said, “I think you’re a folk singer, and you need to start recording these songs.” He said he listened to that song 25 times in two weeks. This was about three and a half or four years ago, while everything with the band was winding down.

I’ve always liked folk music. It’s always been the music of story, and community. I’ve always been drawn to it. When I write, I like to tell stories. My father is a storyteller as well, so when I started writing it came out in that genre.