I just came back from a Web Writing conference in Washington, DC, that famous "Land of Lincoln," "Cradle of Life" and "Sweet Home Chicago." I was hoping to make it down to the Jim Henson & the Muppets exhibit at the Smithsonian, but no such luck.
Instead, I'm paying tribute to the music of Sesame Street, which got its start on public television in DC 40 years ago. Here are some of my favorite "classic" performances:

James Taylor & Oscar the Grouch - "Whenever I See Your Grouchy Face"
Sure, James was probably on a heroin binge and hanging out at the dump when some cameras just happened to show up, but it doesn't mean it's not a good tune.

Stevie Wonder - "Superstition"
This is why Stevie was it in the 70s. The badass "too large for prime time" band, the 4 year-old go-go girl on the fire escape -- what more could you ask for?

Smokey Robinson - "You Really Got A Hold On Me"
There's a few seconds where that U gets a hold of him like only a trained physician should. Yikes!

Alice Cooper - "School's Out"
The adults are laughing because they know they're warping the minds of oh-so-many children.

If that's not enough for you, check out "Songs from the Street: 35 Years of Music," a 3-disc retrospective of Sesame Street songs from 1968 - 2003 (although suspiciously absent is "Teeny Tiny Little Super Guy," my favorite song and segment when I was a kid).

Special thanks to The Daily Naked's collection of Sesame Street videos.

Hoots & Hellmouth - "This Hand is a Mighty Hand" from Ian Messinger on Vimeo.

Hoots & Hellmouth - "The Good I Know You Know"

A few months later -- okay, 6 months, several tours and the near completion of a yet-to-be-released album later -- I caught up with Burgundy Bearded Bard himself, Mr. Sean Hoots, to finish the interview (note: actual bearded status may vary by state and time of reading).

Me: "Folk Music" is usually defined in academic circles by two criteria: how the music is played (the sound being created by "unschooled" musicians using "rustic" instruments), or by who is playing the music ("the folks," as it were). But you guys have really invented a third criteria: the makeup of the audience, in this case a set of "folks" all their own who seem as integral to the band's force as the music itself. How do you explain the Populist aspect of the music and live performances?

Sean Hoots: i think music, in its very nature, is a unifying force. it's one of those few essential common threads that runs through every culture as far back as we can fathom. while there may be a visible physical difference between the performer and any given audience (but not always!), the music that is shared creates a free-access psychic superhighway that allows energy to travel both ways between the crowd and the stage. it's a complete circle...a closed circuit of spiritual shazaam. and no, the circle will not be broken. by and by, lord, by and by.

Me: You've said in Origivation that you "respect tradition but [aren't] trying to be traditional." Where do you see yourselves in the "folk music" tradition?

SH: like any other link in the chain...we're just happy to be strung along.

Me: Would you consider yourself part of the "Freak Folk" movement, or do you see yourselves as more traditional -- either through instrumentation or purpose -- than other acts labeled as such?

SH: i suppose we're all freakish in some manner given our disposition against the seeming status quo in our current culture. but at the same time, i am inextricably part of that very same culture just by being alive...producing expressions, commentary, explosions of untellable intent. we are all part of a greater fabric, but luckily we get to be in charge of our own little sections. i like to decorate mine with fragments and scraps from all over.

Me: Where does the new material fit into all of the above? How different is it from what's come before? (Feel free to plug the upcoming record -- and does it have a name or release date yet?)

SH: any new material is different from that which precedes it in linear terms only. taken as a whole, it all hovers about a central muse-axis (where x is spirit, y is flesh and z is the mind). we've been working a lot of these "newer" songs out in the live setting in recent months, and they're just about in fighting shape. we hope to release a fully realized recorded collection of them upon the masses in early '09 sometime.

Me: Going back to Andrew's story below about not having to come up with a name for the band, how do you turn what started out as a casual collective into a touring and recording workhorse? And what kind of implications and expectations does a sophomore album carry with it for a band that started as a happy accident?

SH: the thing about happy accidents that no one ever wants to speak to is that even though there may not be any tears shed (and thus it is more or less "happy"), there are still dents in your fender from the collision (it is, after all, an "accident," y'know?). but we've been banging around this ol' body with a hammer now for a good little while now, and we like the work. we've always been men of a puritan labor ethic. music provides the inspiration about which we are busy building a hive. we feel this music is worth cultivating and, ultimately, exploiting, and to that end, we've been lucky enough to find the assistance we need along the way from some very able-bodied and minded people who share our vision. as long as doors keep opening, we will continue to explore new rooms. the sophomore dance should be fun. butterflies in the stomach, a little too much of yer father's cologne...but even so, it's just a practice for the prom, so we're not applying the senior pressure just yet. i mean, it's just music, right?!

There will be more videos from the Fire performance up on YouTube in coming days -- just search for user "MyOtherCentaur" and revel in the glory.

Hoots & Hellmouth: What Good Are Plowshares...
by eikonproductions

Hoots & Hellmouth - "Rattle These Bones"

"Woooo, I feel like I've just been to church!"

There's no better way to describe the live experience of Philadelphia's Hoots & Hellmouth than those words, spoken to me after leaving their show at Johnny Brenda's last November. And make no mistake, it is an experience: anyone who asks you to go to a Hoots & Hellmouth "show" is missing the meat of the thing. This is a traveling Tent Show Revival disguised as a band -- frantic, frenzied and absolutely determined to save your soul, or at least your faith in music, come hell or high water. They're the space and symbiosis between Saturday night at the Jukehouse and Sunday morning at the Church house. You can find salvation in either one or both, and the trail of sweaty believers they leave behind each time they play their "rambunctuous Americana for Old Souls" is a testament to their abilities and commitments.

Yes, I refer to them as some kind of larger institution or archetype because while they may take center stage, they're still a part of the congregation, and any band that truly becomes a "band of the people" without trying to is a band of heft and startling significance. Take a listen above and a look below.

Me: Since we're still so close to the start of the year, what were your favorite 3 albums from 2007? Feel free to plug lesser-known locals or tour mates.

Andrew "Hellmouth" Grey: birdie busch- penny arcade
dr. dog- we all belong
the teeth- you are my lover now
isn't philly wonderful?

Me: If you and yours (yours being the "& Hellmouth" segment of the band, of course) could be in any other band or make a record backing another musician, who would it be? I'm thinking more of someone whose music you could make an interesting contribution to rather than just a dream gig (although the two can obviously be one and the same).

AG: after a not-so-secret, eleven year love affair with his music, i would be honored to lend my services to mark kozelek of red house painters and sun kil moon fame. as far as my ears are concerned, his music speaks a certain pure and rare honesty, which ignited a flame in my once 18 year old heart to create music and not abide by the expectations of any particular genre or scene. unfortunately, i don't know what i could offer him musically... maybe some backing vocals or a cymbal swell here or there. although i fashion myself as one who plays guitar, my chops don't touch those of the KOZ.

Me: If you had to change the band's name for any reason -- perhaps there's a cockney British "'Oots & 'ellmouth" -- what would you change it to?

AG: that's a tough question given that we never thought about a band name in the first place. sean's last name is "hoots" and my nickname/solo moniker was "hellmouth." at the onset our musical relationship, sean and i would frequent an open mic in west chester run by our good friend max speigel, and when our turn came around, he would yell out, "hoots and hellmouth." after that, we breathed a sigh a relief because we would never have to think of a band name...until now (albeit a fake one). a list of "just in case" names:
the free willies
lad zepplon
the iron maidens
bang bang
the rob berliner experience
2001: a hellmouth odyssey
incahoots

as you can see, we benifited from a serendipitous branding.

Check back in the next 48 hours for the second part of this interview, with my own video from their gig at The Fire tonight!

The new business cards are in, and they look pretty sharp. Clearly, they're the only thing I have to talk about:

Thanks to Says-it.com's Concert Ticket Generator for the idea, and everything other service or program I had to use to actually get these printed (seriously, I can order this as a coffee mug from Says-it, but not as a card?)