The past of a future Tony winner
The Negro Problem — Heidegger In Harlem
(from the CD Post-Minstrel Syndrome, Aerial Flipout Records 1997)
Charity and I made a blitzkrieg trip to New York over the weekend to see Passing Strange, the new musical written by and starring Stew, in its Broadway incarnation. I cannot praise it more highly, and seriously, if you have the slightest excuse to make it into Manhattan in the next few months, go. Hell, just the fact that it’s not based on a movie makes it worth supporting, but it’s funny, thought-provoking, and at times, pretty heartbreaking, and both the songs and the performances are first-rate. (Make a note of the names Daniel Breaker and Colman Domingo: stars in the making, I’m telling you.)
It was particularly great sitting there in the front row of a Broadway theater as someone who bought the first Negro Problem album way back when. I mean, if anyone from the mid-’90s LA underground pop scene was going to make a hit Broadway musical, it was Stew, but actually seeing that come to fruition was just one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had as a fan of a particular artist. It was also cool as a fan because even though only one song from the show is re-purposed from the days of the Negro Problem (the chorus from “Come Down Now,” from Joys and Concerns, appears in the second act’s climactic ballad), any writer has pet themes, symbols and allusions, and it was fun to note the cross-references.
These two songs are from the unlisted bonus tracks that appear at the end of the Negro Problem’s 1997 debut album. I interviewed Stew for a now-defunct magazine some years ago, and one of the questions I had was why several of the best songs on the entire album, particularly these two and another longtime favorite, another solo track called “Club Girl Terrain,” were left off the album proper. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember what he said, and I don’t feel like digging out the back issues in the basement to find out, but basically, I think it was basically that he didn’t think they fit the sound or themes of the album, but he liked them too much to get rid of them.
–Stewart Mason
Basic A said,
April 7, 2008 @ 11:45 pm
What were some of the other good bands from the “mid-’90s LA underground pop scene?”
Stewart said,
April 8, 2008 @ 8:07 am
Cockeyed Ghost was a favorite of mine, the Wondermints were quite popular, I always liked the Jigsaw Seen…there were a ton of others.
Pup Don said,
April 8, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
Wow, here’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while. I was very privileged to have seen them perform live because my roommate worked with the guitar player and he was the one who took me to their shows. I wish they had done a live record because hearing Stew sing Ken by himself just on guitar brought a sorrow to the song that the quirky instrumentation of the album cut seems to lack. They also took the sparkling piece of pop confection, Mahnsanto (an ode to a long lost Disney attraction) and ran so far with it that it blossomed into a wall of pure sonic energy rivaling (do I dare say it) the Velvet Underground’s epic Heroin. They are great on CD but live they were out of this world. I’m so happy Stew has taken his musical genius all the way to Broadway, but we’re sadly missing him here in LA.
Steve D said,
April 10, 2008 @ 9:09 pm
I also saw Passing Strange last week. It was a rare event in that I went with high expectations and the show was more then I could have hoped for. Really brilliant. Funny, joyful, heartbreaking and just great songs.
They also are cutting the live soundtrack for the show this week. It will be released in June. Anyone not familiar with Stew or TNP..well, do yourself a favor and check him out.
Regarding Cockeyed Ghost…if you want to check them out go to Amazon and you can purchase a just released “best of” Cockeyed Ghost aka Adam Marsland. It’s only 6 bucks (his way of trying to get the music heard) and has 20 tracks. Really a VERY good introduction to Adam’s music. It’s released under Adam’s name so look for Adam Marsland and buy it. You could do a lot worse with 6 bucks.
stew said,
April 13, 2008 @ 9:36 am
Baby Lemonade and label-mates Velouria, PG-13 and of course Cockeyed Ghost were four of my favorite bands in that thing we used to call the LA Pop Scene. Jigsaw Seen were also amazing. And The Andersons were arguably the best of the lot. A spell-bindingly large percentage of their songs sounded like instant classics. I don’t think any band in that scene came close to capturing their live vibe on record. Not even sure if any of us wanted to. I wanted to make Post Minstrel Syndrome as live as possible until I heard Lemonade’s 66% Pure Imagination and realized the studio could be our friend.
I think the idea behind the hidden tracks was that some of them could act as a preview of my solo work, others just didn’t fit into the groove of the record proper, and lastly, it was just so much fun having hidden tracks back then. It was new and exciting.
thanks for the kind words here about PS. someone just sent me this link and I was pleasantly surprised to see someone referencing stuff like Camelot and H in H. Old school, indeed.
thanks,
/stew
Stewart said,
April 13, 2008 @ 2:26 pm
Stew! Never expected you’d see this! Cool. Anyway, thanks for the show. I really just can’t say enough about it, and kind of like I was saying above, part of me is really tickled that someone from that scene finally broke through like this. I’m just really proud of you and Heidi both.
You must have been over the moon when the guy from the New Yorker compared you to Sondheim, huh?
stew said,
April 13, 2008 @ 10:42 pm
>You must have been over the moon when the guy from the New Yorker >compared you to Sondheim, huh?
i don’t read reviews and i honestly didn’t know that had ever been said.
thats pretty wild. but journalists do that kinda schtick alot…its their way of forcing their readers to sit up and take notice of cats like me more than it is a deserved or valid comparison. remember, im 46 and i’ve been in this game for 30 years so it takes alot to excite me. i’m not worthy of a sondheim comparison anymore than i’m worthy of a shakespeare comparison. and sondheim couldn’t rock a dive bar to save his life. so we’re even.
Randy said,
April 16, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Stewart (or Stew), been all over the world wide web trying to get ahold of Stew’s Sweetboot & Muddy Sweetboot (collections of odds and ends). Any kind souls out there be willing to trade (or something?) Thanks in advance.
Randy said,
April 16, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
In regards to the above comment @ the Sweetboots, here’s my contact rmarlin@ranchlife.org P.S. For anyone interested in Stew related goodies, check out The Lullabies and Mr. Smolin. More info on Stew’s website.