Volunteer Profile Kristie Billings

Kristie Billings could be the girl the Heads were singing about in "Punk Lolita."  She is free spirited, unedited and unapologetically herself.  Not to mention her distinctly punk aesthetic.  As Kristie tells it, she marched to a different beat early on.  On Saturdays at 6PM, you can hear her on WERU as one of the hosts of Daydream Nation.  Kristie plays an eclectic mix of everything:  punk, blues, rock 'n' roll, reggae, Motown, 1980's.  "Whatever," she says, "I feel like busting out that night!"
You might not guess it when meeting her, but Kristie grew up in a fishing family in the small coastal village of Deer Isle.  She describes a time when there weren't many kids who had dyed hair or shaved heads or rocked the goth look.  She says people could be judgemental about the way she looked.  "Why?  Who knows?  I didn't look like anyone else.  That scared some people."  Kristie says that her early love for music, especially punk rock, gave her an important outlet to express herself and shaped her into the person she is today.
Kristie asserts that she is a Mainer through and through.  Her childhood in coastal Maine gave her a deep love for the ocean.  She affectionately describes lobstering with her dad, who sadly passed away last year, and her frequent swims in the crisp coastal waters of the Atlantic.  "I like to make things interesting," says Kristie. "Still do."

1. Favorite genre of music?  I would have to say punk/rock/post punk.  The first LP I ever purchased was a Beach Boys' record.  They were my first favorite band.
2. First music memory?  I was a little girl.  Maybe 3?  For some reason, I believe that Donnie Osmond was coming to Stonington to play at the Legion Hall.  Who knows how I came up with this?  I went and got myself all dressed up and waited and waited for one of my parents to take me to see "Donnie Marie."  My mother did not know what to make of it.  She told me to wait until my father came home from lobstering.  Typically, when my father returned home from after a long day of fishing, the last thing he wanted to do was go see a concert.  But he was a good sport.  He played along with his youngest daughter's funny ideas.  He told me to go ahead and get in the truck, and we'd find Donnie Marie.  We drove to the Legion Hall, and he proceeded to drive me all over Deer Isle looking for the elusive Donnie Osmond.  I was a bit disappointed to have missed him, but I was happy to have had a reason to get dressed up and cruise around the island, listening to the radio, with my dad.
3. If I could hang out with anyone who would it be?  Oh boy.  Jeez.  This is a tough question.  I am such a geek.  I would have to say Henry Rollins.  I have been a huge fan of his and his music since high school.  I would love to spend a day with him; record shopping, book shopping, drinking coffee, anything.  I have great respect for him.
4. What animal would you be?  If I could be any animal I would be a seal.  I used to think I would want to be a cat.  I am a crazy cat lady.  However, I love to swim.  I think seals are gorgeous, graceful, and playful.  Just amazing.  I would like to spend my days sunning myself on the rocks, slipping gracefully into the ocean and being a seal.  Sounds perfect!
5. What would people be surprised to know about you?  I think people would be surprised to learn that I am shy.  
6. What three words best describe you?  Goofy, loving and funny.
7. Who has inspired you?  My family, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, Nick Cave, Sylvia Plath, Michael Gira, Boy George and many others!
8. What is your favorite color?  It's a tie:  black and purple.
9. What makes you laugh?  Nearly everything!  I laugh every day.  I laugh all the time.  I can't pinpoint what I find funny.  Silly, nonsensical, the everyday blah...all of it!
10. What did you want to be when you grew up?  Here's a list of things I have wanted to be since I was a child:  A nun, a race car driver, a fashion designer, a fashion merchandiser, a writer.  Now I believe I would be a great cat sitter.  Or a vinyl sitter.  Let me come and sit with your vinyl records!

WERU Fall Pledge Drive 2013

This past week the staff and many, many volunteers were busy with WERU's November Pledge Drive, aka Funathon!  Which it was.  Fun, that is!  WERU has four pledge drives a year that are fundamental to keeping WERU strong and growing.  This is WERU's 25th year (and counting!) of serving listeners in the local community and now worldwide via our online streaming capabilities.  Can you believe that WERU started in what was once a chicken barn in Blue Hill, which was affectionately called "The Henhouse?"  Many people who were there when WERU went on the air in 1988 are still actively involved with the station.  It's pretty amazing when you think about how many are volunteering their valuable time to support WERU. "Listener supporter, volunteer powered" isn't just a slogan!
This was only my third pledge drive and the second at the helm of my own show.  I had the opportunity to co host with the wonderful Magdalen on Women's Windows last Sunday.  Women's Window's own Linda Washburn was busy behind the scenes with our phone volunteers, Farmer Matt and Ted.  I hadn't had a chance to meet Magdalen prior, but we had a great time bonding on air.  I may have used the word "cool" once too often during our first on air pitch, but we made a good team once we warmed up!  We exceeded our personal goal of 6 pledges by almost double.  Linda said I was a good luck charm and was invited back anytime!
On my show, The Knix Mix, it was quiet, which is not unusual for a 10PM to midnight show.  Hopefully, as my audience grows, that will change.  One of the great things about WERU is that there is such a wide variety of shows, and listeners value the fact that they hear music and programming that they won't hear anywhere else.  And no two music shows are exactly alike either.  Even if the genre of music is the same. There's room for everybody!  I'm all about electronic and alternative dance, which is unique to my show. Really, I just wanted an excuse to play the music that reminds me of dancing at Zootz in Portland back in the day!
Saturday was the final push of the week long pledge drive, so Matt Murphy, WERU's illustrious General Manager, called in Holly McMartin (mom to Pip of The Junk Drawer and one of the hosts of the Sunday Morning Coffee House) and myself to pitch alongside Robin Mendehall, who was taking her turn hosting the Saturday Morning Coffee House that day.  Willie Marquart, WERU's Finance Manager, was there to lend his support, and Ellen and Mike were our volunteers answering the phones.  We joked that our collective energy went from herbal tea mode when we went on air at 7AM to full blown coffee mode by noon.  Matt has now earned the moniker Peanut Butter Boy from wearing a peanut butter smile to make us laugh. It seems what we were doing worked because we reached our goal of 20 pledges and had a great time besides!  Poor Robin usually has solitude and quiet when she comes in early on a Saturday morning to host her show, but she took our antics in stride.  
All told, we welcomed 113 new members and raised $56,241, which I call a success!  We are happy to accept pledges any time of the year, so if you missed the November Pledge Drive, you can call the station at (207) 469-6600 or pledge online at https://weru.org/donate.  There you will also find information about how to become a Sustaining Member or a Business Member, and the benefits of doing so.  And don't forget to tune in to The Knix Mix, so I can be around for WERU's 50th anniversary!

Robin

Me

Matt

Holly

Matt aka Peanut Butter Boy

Goals!

Willie, Holly, Robin, Matt

Ellen and Mike

 

Music Library

Chris Stark

Infamous Watering Can

Contrapposto on The Wicked Good Music Hour

Saturday, October 5^th will go down in the annals of The Wicked Good Music Hour history as the first time an electronic act appeared on the show.  I’d heard a bit of buzz about a Portland duo who called themselves Contrapposto, and my curiosity was piqued when I saw the video for their song “Cousinfriend,” which featured people (agreeable friends) in indigenous face paint on an alpaca farm (The Roaring Lion Farm in Rumford).  Part music, part performance art, I knew immediately I had to book them for my first hosting gig on The Wicked Good Music Hour.  Happily, they agreed!  Their live appearance was only mildly hampered by an equipment compatibility issue, but with the engineering of Wicked Good’s host, Matt Murphy, Jake and a quick call to WERU’s Joel Mann, we had a successful show.  It seems listeners liked what they were hearing because WERU received a few calls about Contrapposto.

It is not a surprise that two very creative people, Mirabai Iwanko, a graduate of Maine College of Art and a printmaker, and Jacob (Jake) Pitcher, a photographer, would name their collaborative efforts after a term used in visual art.  “Contrapposto” means “counterpose” in Italian and is used to describe the way in which a person shifts their weight to one leg when standing.  For instance, imagine a mother with a child on her hip.  Mirabai describes how human forms in sculpture became dynamic and expressed emotion and psychological disposition where historically, prior to the ancient Greeks, sculpture appeared unnatural and stiff.  “It’s such a simple thing to notice the way someone is standing, but it means so much,” said Mirabai.  Mirabai and Jake have themselves tossed out the conventional to create something decidedly their own.  Describing their style as "zoomorphic-electro," Mirabai said that they came to that description because “for me, in songwriting, a lot of the time I’m comparing animal attributes to humans, and that’s kind of how I describe life and behavior.”

Speaking of the Greeks, the mythological Fates may have been at work in bringing Mirabai and Jake together.  They were both working at Bayside Bowl as cooks and as they cooked, they would listen to music to pass the time, which got them talking about music.  Mirabai told Jake that she sang and wrote lyrics.  Jake was already writing music and working with synthesizers, so they started collaborating.  Mirabai said, “From the moment we got together, we knew we wanted to keep playing together.”  In person, their chemistry is apparent.  In another twist of fate, Mirabai’s parents and Jake’s father all happen to practice Siddha yoga, a spiritual path guided by meditation, which was a surprise because neither had ever met anyone else their own age with that kind of background and upbringing.

Mirabia is a sprite of a girl with a unique voice and an artist’s way of looking at the world.  Her vocal style is reminiscent of Bjork, not so much in the tonal qualities of her voice but the quirky, avant garde fashion in which she delivers the lyrics.  Mirabia has never had vocal lessons.  She does, however, have a serious music pedigree being that her uncles were members of the late 80’s-early 90’s Boston based post-punk band, Human Sexual Response.   Mirabai said her uncles have been beyond supportive of Contrapposto.  In an odd “six degrees of separation” coincidence, some of my besties (“Hi,” Wentworth sisters!) were babysat by her uncles many years ago, and they remain friends.

Mirabia draws inspiration from every day things, turning musings about ordinary experiences into metaphors for life.  Themes about animals and nature play a big role in her lyrics.  For instance, the duo’s newest song “Quills” is about a camping trip Mirabia and Jake took, where there were an abundance of porcupines, doing what porcupines do, and a quill that lodged in Jake’s foot when he was trying to get close enough to take a picture.  Mirabai describes the song as a metaphor for trying to get close to someone you love.  Another song, “Ostrich Eyes,” was inspired by the death of Mirabai’s goldfish.  It’s a made up story about an ostrich that pokes fun at the way, when you’re a kid, you lose a pet and get a new one, and problem solved!  You’re not sad anymore.  Jake proclaims this to be his favorite song.  “It’s amazing!  It sounds like an Arthurian legend.”  “Rope Grown” is about Mirabia working at a fish market for three summers and picking lobster meat.  She became so fast at it that the repetition of it developed into a mantra in her head, “knuckle, claw, tail,” which is what she’s singing on the track.  The Siddha Yoga that Mirabai and Jake learned growing up, which involves the use of music and mantras in meditation, is another stylistic influence.

Jake has an ironic sense of humor and is masterful at creating complex sounds with electronic instrumentation.  (He was amused when I inarticulately described them as “electronic people,” which I think would be a great song title, no?)  Jake said that the music he produces sounds complex, but it’s really not.  “It’s simple.  It’s repetition.  It’s multiple layers, and I think you hear or can experience the same profound repetitive effect from music like the mantras we listened to growing up.  Consciously or unconsciously, a lot of the songs are based upon these really sort of ancient root structures for music and religious hymns.  “Cousinfriends” exemplifies that because it’s two chords and a sampled guitar riff.  It’s very, very simple.  She’s singing about her cousins.  There’s no great mystery.  You write about what you know.”  Their creative process is improvisational.  “We throw stuff at the wall and whatever sticks, sticks,” he said.  Or Mirabai will come to him with a funny sound she has in mind, then she’ll write the lyrics, and Jake will write the music or tie a piece of music he already has created to her efforts.

One of the experiential components of Contrapposto is that they employ costumes and artful stage make up in their performances.  Their intent is to create a theatrical production that is different each time.  They describe being given giant rams’ heads by their friend who owns the African Museum of Tribal Art in Portland and employing them in their costuming.  Jake said that they had fun reinventing their (the rams’ heads’) purpose in the world, joking that he used one to create a Contrapposto shrine and gave it food, incense and orange soda, but it was rained on.  I half believed him!

Judging from their performance on the Wicked Good Music Hour, it’s hard to believe that Jake and Mirabai have only been working together as Contrapposto for about a year.  Mirabai said that they have been lucky to have played quite a few venues in Portland, but they’re ready to branch out.  Contrapposto opened for Human Sexual Response’s reunion show in Boston last November, which they agree was “amazing and terrifying.”  Over 2000 people attended, and it was only Contrapposto’s 4^th show.  Mirabia created elaborate costumes for the show, and they had a lot of fun with the experience.  It was also the first time Mirabai had a chance to see her uncles perform live.   A performance at the Planetarium is planned for mid-January.  They’re both excited about that show because they will be able to project imagery onto the ceiling, though they haven’t decided yet what the imagery will be.  The curious should plan to check out the show and see for themselves!  Contrapposto has a 3 song EP out, and they’re in the process of finishing enough songs to put together an album.  They have 8 songs in their line up now.  Mirabai said that since the EP came out, their style has changed, and they want to keep their music “fresh.”  Their goal is to finish the album and go on tour.  I, for one, will be rooting for their success!

To learn more about Contrapposto, visit their website and Facebook pages.

https://www.facebook.com/contrappostomusic

http://contrapposto.org/

https://soundcloud.com/contrapposto-2