Reflecting Life

The occasion of a friend’s birthday rekindles “Home Reflections”. Musician, photographer and more, Shona McMillan met Allison Crowe when both performed at the “John Lennon Northern Lights Festival” – a magical time and happening in Durness, Scottish Highlands.

Imagery of the McMillans with Goldie, Snowy, the budgies – and a wee friend, Stewart Hall, dropped by for a visit – is accompanied by Allison’s performance of “When I’m Gone” – a tune from the pen of the great topical songwriter Phil Ochs. Shona’s poignant description of this creation on YouTube, old cine films shot by her family in 1960s Edinburgh, says best what it’s all about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF40lnbwOYk

It’s capped by Shona’s “mum's favourite saying which was the philosophy by which she tried to live her life: ‘I pass this way but once, any good that I can do - Let Me - for I may not pass this way again’."

Historic Cassidy Inn Disappears in Ring of Fire

The historic Cassidy Inn, where Clark Kent / Superman (Henry Cavill) was bussing as Allison Crowe performed "Ring of Fire" in a bar scene for the 2013 Hollywood blockbuster, "Man of Steel", has played its final note in a blaze. The entire building is now ash following a July 4th inferno.

Cassidy Inn inferno, July 4, 2016 - Nick Boyle Photography

The Cassidy, located just south of Nanaimo, BC, Canada was originally a coal miner's hotel, and, in later years, a biker bar, and, lastly, a movie set. Photos and more history of the building and MoS can be found in Allison's "Man of Steel" gallery @ https://www.facebook.com/23720081675/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10151670513006676

Hollywood movie director Zack Snyder talks about filming an scene in the historic Cassidy Inn with musician Allison Crowe – for “Man of Steel”, the 2013 reboot of the Superman film franchise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKhcg6tLYLY

Last night, July 4th, the Cassidy, a coal-miner’s residence and biker bar before it became an Hollywood movie set, vanished in a giant ring of fire. Word on this news story is @ http://www.cheknews.ca/fire-damages-cassidy-inn-195684

"The Pardon" Digital and DVD release

monterey media, an uniquely independent film studio since 1979, today announces the release of “The Pardon” in Digital (incl. iTunes). and DVD formats. The movie is now available for rent and purchase at Vimeo on Demand: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thepardon



“A very thought provoking,true crime drama that examines the muddy-grey areas where victims, justice and love reside” says Amy Handler, Film International. “Jaime King lights up the screen… compelling,” – Kam Williams, Baret News Syndicate. “Oscar nominee John Hawkes is riveting” – The Hollywood Reporter.

“The Pardon” trailer makes wonderful use of Allison Crowe’s version of “Hallelujah”, the Leonard Cohen masterwork. The film’s creators and distributors also have a presence on facebook - @ https://www.facebook.com/thepardonmovie and https://www.facebook.com/montereymedia

Skeletons and Spirits

Clock strikes 12 for the second time in a “Sylvan Hour” selection – awakening Allison Crowe’s “Skeletons and Spirits” in this recording from Salt Spring Island’s sylvan castle:

          

In 1933 Ladislas Starewitch and his daughter, Irene, produced and directed "Fetiche Mascotte" – in English “The Mascot” – and it’s an excerpt from this classic film seen here with Allison’s musical performance.

Skeletons and Spirits - Sylvan Hour from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

Stop-motion animation pioneer and imaginative genius Władysław Starewicz was born in 1882 in Moscow, Russia to Polish parents. Following the October Revolution of 1917, he resettled in France –adopting the name Ladislas Starewitch (or Starevitch). Creator of the first puppet-animated film, he’s legendary for his use of insects and other animals as film protagonists and for his fantastic, inventive, techniques.

Starewitch died in 1965 while working on “Comme chien et chat” (“Like Dog and Cat”). Since 1991, his granddaughter, Léona Béatrice, together with her husband, François Martin, has been restoring and bringing to the world his wonderfully artful films: http://starewitch.pagesperso-orange.fr

There Is

There Is from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

“There Is” – time for the next revolution of Allison Crowe’s “Sylvan Hour”. For visuals we cut once more to “The Chase”. Michèle Morgan and Robert Cummings seek a way out in this 1940s film noir.

A Case of You

A Case of You from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

Allison Crowe uncorks vintage “A Case of You” – off her “Sylvan Hour” album – with passion and artistry recognizing two great Canadian musical inspirations intertwined in the song – its writer, Joni Mitchell, and muse, Leonard Cohen. Cinematically, Frank Borzage directs the adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” –scenes hear featuring the film’s leading stars Helen Hayes, Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou.

Effortless

“Effortless” sailing from Allison Crowe's "Sylvan Hour" into scenes from “The Chase”, a 1946 film noir – screenplay by Philip Yordan based on Cornell Woolrich's novel, “The Black Path of Fear”. Directed by Arthur D. Ripley, produced by Seymour Nebenzal, the movie’s stars appearing here are French actress Michèle Morgan and American Robert Cummings.

Sylvan Hour Chimes Darling Be Home Soon

This beautiful solo performance of "Darling Be Home Soon", penned by the great American songsmith and musician John Sebastian - a hit for The Lovin' Spoonful in 1967 - leads off Allison Crowe's Sylvan Hour. The video features scenes from the 1932 film adaptation of  Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" - directed by Frank Borzage and featuring here the wonderful Helen Hayes.

"Sylvan Hour" is now! Simply gorgeous. Gorgeously simple.

Allison Crowe music from the "sylvan castle" is available via:

Bandcamp @ http://music.allisoncrowe.com/album/sylvan-hour
+ CDBaby @ http://cdbaby.com/cd/allisoncrowe12
+ Amazon @ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X0TZPDA
+ iTunes @ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sylvan-hour/id990555727
+ Spotify @ https://play.spotify.com/album/6aghUiFU1nE7ICTciRLodN and more.

Soon, everywhere :) 

16 Songs

“16 Songs” now showing in your home theatre – on any size screen. Allison Crowe’s century-spanning mashup of great music and movies is a global cultural festival that can be enjoyed in “Couch Mode” – which, its host site, Vimeo, explains is: “The chillest way to watch all your favorite Vimeo videos from the comfort of your couch, Lay-Z-Boy® or any other plush sitting apparatus.”

Steep the tea, brew the coffee, mull the wine, pour anything that you wish to enjoy this golden hour+ http://vimeo.com/couchmode/album/3076464/sort:preset/106154608

And, if your player doesn't show this player - you can find  "16 Songs” directly @ http://vimeo.com/album/3076464

       

Throw Your Arms Around Me

Love is the answer.

Inviting “Throw Your Arms Around Me”, Allison Crowe’s 16 Songs wraps around this tune from songwriter Mark Seymour and mates in Hunters and Collectors (1981–1998, 2013–2014) an Australian band noted for its “blend of pub rock and art-funk”.

Throw Your Arms Around Me from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

Pairing is with visuals from “L’Atalante”, the poetic, beautiful, loving and loveable 1934 film from French director Jean Vigo (1905 – 1934).

Musical hugs are supplied here by Canada's Allison Crowe (voice, piano, engineer), Billie Woods (acoustic guitar, bgs), Dave Baird (bass, bgs), Laurent Boucher (percussion), Larry Anschell (engineer), & Kayla Schmah (producer).

#16 of 16 Songs

Double-Edged Swords

All aboard for another journey in the luminous company of Louise Brooks (1906 – 1985). The iconic American actress and dancer stars here in a scene from "Prix de beauté” (“Beauty Prize” aka “Miss Europe”), a 1930 feature film directed by Augusto Genina and written by René Clair & Georg W. Pabst.

Double-Edged Swords from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

On track with Allison Crowe (vocals, piano, engineer) for this recording of “Double-Edged Swords” is: Billie Woods (guitar); Dave Baird (bass); Laurent Boucher (percussion); Larry Anschell (engineer); and Kayla Schmah (producer).

#13 of 16 Songs

Effortless

“Day Dreams”, a film short from the 1920s, the most prolific and transcendent decade in the creative output of actor-director+ Buster Keaton, is here revisited for the eleventh music video in Allison Crowe's "16 Songs".

Effortless from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

Unafraid in ideas and body, Keaton’s genius flowered in the freedom of his own film unit working outside the studio system. A century on, musician Crowe engages a parallel track in her own art, rewarding audiences with a peerless body of recordings and live performances produced free of industry forces.

“Effortless” is first released on “This Little Bird” album (Allison Crowe – vocals, piano, engineer, producer; Dave Baird – bass; Laurent Boucher – percussion).

#11 of 16 Songs

Sweet Dreams

During creative discussions for the 2011 Hollywood movie “Sucker Punch”, Zack Snyder, the stylized-action-fantasy film’s director, asked Allison Crowe for her take on “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” - the ‘new wave’ smash hit written, and originally performed, by Eurythmics (Annie Lennox & David A. Stewart).

In premiering Allison’s version, “Cover Me” blog’s Eric Garneau says “this ‘Sweet Dreams’ demands to be heard. She delivers a reading on this ’80s mainstay at once beautifully melodious and ferociously in-your-face. The simple recording – guitar and vocals only – bestows on the tune an intimacy that makes it sound like she’s perched square in front of you, serenading you and running through a whole spectrum of emotions.”

Sweet Dreams from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

The film excerpt in this song video, (#10 in Allison’s “16 Songs” album), is from “L’Etoile de Mer”, the avant garde 1928 collaboration of American modernist artist Man Ray (1890 – 1976), French photographer Jacques-André Boiffard (1902-1961) and surrealist poet Robert Desnos (1900- 1945). The film’s characters are portrayed by Desnos and actors André de la Rivière and Kiki de Montparnasse – legendary Parisian artist’s model, music, singer, painter+ born Alice Prin (1901 – 1953).

Giving “The Sea Star” or “The Starfish”, as it’s known in the English language, its liquid, dream-state, appearance, the film-makers shot images via mirrors and through rough + textured glass.

#10 of 16 Songs

             

Spiral

“Discs and Nudes Descending a Staircase” represents a cinematic vision of Marcel Duchamp. The French painter, Cubist, Dadaist, artist and anti-artist collaborated on the fourth dream sequence in Hans Richter’s 1947 surrealistic film “Dreams That Money Can Buy”.

Spiral from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

This excerpt joins “Spiral” from Allison Crowe (voice, piano, composer, engineer), Dave Baird (bass), Laurent Boucher (percussion), Larry Anschell (guitar, engineer), and Kayla Schmah (producer).

“To all appearances”, said Duchamp (1887 – 1968), “the artist acts like a mediumistic being who, from the labyrinth beyond time and space, seeks (their) way out to a clearing.”

#9 of 16 Songs

Running

Joseph Frank Keaton, Kansas-born into a family of vaudevillians, “Buster”, as he’d tell it, was given his nickname by legendary illusionist Harry Houdini (partner to Joe Sr. in a traveling show).

Over the course of his life Buster Keaton (1895 – 1966) created a world of cinematic magic from his own genius. Of the actor, comedian, stunt-artist, writer, film-maker and more – film critic Roger Ebert succinctly notes "in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies.”

Running from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

After immersion in Buster Keaton’s silent features and shorts, Ebert observed “his movies, seen as a group, are like a sustained act of optimism in the face of adversity”.

Here’s an excerpt from a 1922 short, “Day Dreams”, (directed by Keaton and regular collaborator Eddie Cline, produced by Joseph Schenck), on track with Allison Crowe’s song “Running” - like so many of her recordings, performed live (captured by engineer/producer Larry Anschell).

#7 of 16 Songs

         

Doughnut Song

Item 6 on the menu of Allison Crowe’s uniquely delicious “16 Songs” Video Album offers more delicate a balance than, say, Dadaist imagery stirred with Crowe’s social commentary, or, any cultural seasonings of Welsh Rarebit and Radiohead.

American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898- 1976) is the originator of the ‘mobile’ – the name coined for his kinetic sculptures by the famed French-American chess-player and conceptual artist+ Marcel Duchamp.

“Ballet” – featuring Calder’s mobiles - is the fifth of seven dream sequences contained in Hans Richter’s 1947 surrealist movie “Dreams That Money Can Buy” – given the Award for the Best Original Contribution to the Progress of Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival.

Doughnut Song from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.
             

Here, Calder/Richter’s creation dances with Allison Crowe’s interpretation of “Doughnut Song” – composed by one of the Canadian musician’s greatest inspirations, American singer-songwriter, pianist+ Tori Amos.

A classical piano prodigy, born Myra Ellen Amos, enormously influential and loved in popular music, Tori reveals some of her own key ingredients: "I've always been inspired by visual artists of all mediums because, as with Music, Art is not a job you can go to and leave from; but it is something that defines who and what you are."

#6 of 16 Songs

There Is

Superman - Clark Kent, a joint creation of great friends, Toronto, Canada-born illustrator Joe Shuster and American writer Jerry Siegel (born in Cleveland, Ohio), entered our public universe in 1938 - via Action Comics #1

The mythic character, able to leap a tall building in a single bound, first took flight in fabulous,1940s cartoons made by brothers Max Fleischer, animator and director, and Dave Fleischer, producer.

The brothers' Fleischer Studios produced nine Superman classics - animated shorts - in 1941- 42. (Over the following couple of years, also for Paramount Pictures, another eight episodes were made for - these by Famous Studios. All 17 Superman cartoons are now in the public domain.)

For this, the first episode of a two-parter in "16 Songs", Allison Crowe's "There Is" provides the soundtrack to an excerpt from "The Mechanical Monsters" (one of the earliest of Superman's animated adventures - released November 28, 1941).

There Is from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

The Man of Steel mythos brightens our world still today.

Brought to life on the big screen as a science fiction spectacular in Summer 2013, Krypton and the Earth of Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Perry White and all denizens includes musician Allison Crowe - as the "Singer in Cassidy's", a road-house in the great North woods where Clark is employed before taking on the mantle of Superman.

The Cassidy Inn is an actual, historic, bar/hotel on a stretch of highway on Vancouver Island, Canada about 10 minutes drive south of where Allison was born. Originally, and for decades, it was home to miners in this coal-rich area. More recently it became a rough-and-ready “biker bar”. The Cassidy fell into disrepair and closed before Hollywood set the scene with its epic, modern, production involving DC Entertainment, Syncopy Films, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros.

The opportunity to work with Director Zack Snyder, Producer Deborah Snyder and the entire, truly stellar, production+ team, cast and crew of "Man of Steel" proved more amazing and fun than imaginable, and will forever rock Allison Crowe's daily planet.

"There Is": Allison Crowe - vocals, piano, engineer, producer; Del Crowe - guitar; Dave Baird - bass; & Laurent Boucher - percussion.

#5 of 16 Songs

        

Circular Reasoning

"Circular Reasoning" was our "sneak peek" fun 'Song of the Summer' - at the start of August, when we're all invited to dive in!

 

In this part of the world we've enjoyed our season for celebrating bathing suits, ice-cream, fresh berries, bicycle bells… any and all other of life’s simple joys and pleasures.

It's Autumn's turn, and this song video is now third up in Allison Crowe's "16 Songs" Video Album.

Allison is joined musically by the simpatico rhythm section of Dave Baird (bass) and Laurent Boucher (percussion). Visuals are from a 1930s French silent film that also became a talkie.

 

"Prix de beauté” (“Beauty Prize” aka “Miss Europe”) is directed by Augusto Genina, written by René Clair & Georg W. Pabst and stars the endlessly radiant Louise Brooks.

 

Sláinte!

 

#3 of 16 Songs

 

        

Why

Famous in its original, glorious, pop incarnation by singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, "Why" is a song recast here by Allison Crowe's elemental voice and guitar.


Why from Allison Crowe on Vimeo.

"Art is emotion" observed Alfred Hitchcock, and the Canadian musician's singular way of communicating emotion makes her one of the great interpreters in popular music today as well as one of our finest modern songwriters and concert performers.

Strings on this version are gorgeously arranged and orchestrated by Hollywood film-scorer Kayla Schmah - herself an artist inspired by the themes and ideas of Hitch's frequent collaborator, the brilliant, pioneering, composer Bernard Herrmann.

“This song is stunning. I can't stop listening to it,” says Dartmouth-based dancer, Julie Dumont, “it makes me want to cry and dance all at the same time”.

The music's visually paired with an excerpt from Jean Vigo's marvellous cinema masterpiece - "L'Atalante" (1934) – one of the most beautiful, poetically real, films ever made. Lovers of movies – of life itself - seek it out, and enjoy the full experience.

#2 of 16 Songs

        

Disease

An all-time great rock song and performance kicks off “16 Songs”. Here’s Allison Crowe live-in-concert – captured by Turtle Recording’s Larry Anschell (Engineer and Producer) and Brad Graham (Co-Engineer). 

Lyrical and social themes “as we replace marble with plastic” mesh visually with “Dreams That Money Can Buy” – the avant garde cinematic creation of German surrealist, Dadaist+ Hans Richter and collaborators. "The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart", the second of DTMCB’s seven dream sequences, is shaped by the rich vision of French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker, Fernand Léger. This experimental feature film received the Award for the Best Original Contribution to the Progress of Cinematography at the 1947 Venice Film Festival.

"Power-house intense" says an European reviewer, “"the energy of ‘Disease' can easily provide electricity to a small country for a decade."

Writing in Süddeutsche Zeitung, a major German daily newspaper, journalist Peter Baier sets the stage (in this translation): “From the outset the Canadian songwriter wins the favor of the audience and increases the expectations with her coloratural laugh. Allison Crowe plays the piano with a strong grip. Its sound fits perfectly to her slightly-smoky, expressive, in short: Great voice. Sometimes her playing recalls the keyboard-capers of Konstantin Wecker and then there are moments to bring to mind Modest Mussorgsky’s „Pictures at an Exhibition“.

(And in the original text: Bereits mit ihren ersten Ansagen gewinnt die kanadische Songwriterin mit eigenem Label die Gunst des Publikums, lässt mit ihrem Koloratur-Lachen die Erwartung auf Weiteres ansteigen. Mit kräftigem Zugriff spielt Allison Crowe das Klavier, zu dessen Klang ihre leicht rauchige, ausducksstarke, kurz: große Stimme hervorragend passt. Manchmal erinnert ihr Spiel an die Tasten-Eskapaden eines Konstantin Wecker, dann wieder gibt es Momente, die an den Stil von Modest Mussorgsky's „Bilder einer Ausstellung“ denken lassen.)

“Amazing composition,” says another in the musician’s broadly international audience, “there is so much intellect in the music writing of Allison Crowe, which you don’t see anywhere these days, not from the new artists nor the established ones.”

It’s an intellect revealed in part via inspired musical choices and its energetic expression is visceral in nature. Energy flows from the performer on-stage to engulf concert-goers as well. Spontaneous eruptions - stomping feet, clapping hands, rhythmically pulsing bodies – accompany this song (a recent bootleg video from Jazzhaus Freiburg further testifies to this rocking reality).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6t4Gk15IB4

#1 of 16 Songs