Carole Kaye, the rhythm
of a nation
Bum. Bum bum bum. Bum. Bum
bum bum. Bum. Bum bum bum.
Bum.
What do you think of when
you read this line? The State Farm
jingle? Red Robin? It’s really just
gibberish, but to me, this series of
“bums” is the thumping beginning
of The Beach Boys’ innovative
classic “Good Vibrations.” The
electric bass carries that song
through all of its crazy twists and
turns right from the beginning.
This is true to much of American
pop music, and although the bass
may be hidden under other rhythm
parts, it is instrumental to the
groove of a genuine hit. Imagine
“Good Vibrations” without bass,
or the “M.A.S.H.” theme, or Ike
and Tina Turner’s “River Deep,
Mountain High” or Nancy Sinatra’s
“These Boots Are Made for
Walkin’”— it’s nearly impossible.
The women behind all of these
songs fell into bass as an accident,
but made a permanent mark on
American
pop
music
forever.
Without Carol Kaye, those iconic
lines and many, many more simply
wouldn’t exist.
Though
she
is
relatively
unknown to people outside of
music, Kaye is arguably one of,
if not the most prolific studio
musician in pop history. She boasts
an estimated 10,000 studio credits
on both guitar and bass, and her
professional career lasted almost
half a century. Now a grandmother
settled in Antelope Valley, Calif.,
Kaye is not who you expect to be
nearly the most recorded bassist
of the last five decades. A petite
blonde without frills, the musician
is frank and straightforward in
interviews. She wears sunglasses
inside,
and
always
has.
She
doesn’t use a decked-out, custom
instrument, and instead plays a
Fender Precision Bass, with a pick.
In fact, Kaye didn’t even start out as
a bassist, but rather a jazz guitarist,
giving lessons and playing in clubs
to make cash for her mother at 14
years old.
I was almost embarrassed to
find out about Carol Kaye for the
first time a few months ago. I mean,
how can someone so incredibly
prolific
and
instrumental
to
popular music fly so under the
radar? But that’s the beauty of her
talent — she was never in the studio
for the fame, sex, rock ‘n’ roll and
least of all, drugs. Instead, it was for
a steady paycheck to feed her three
children and mother at home. Her
genius did not lie in charisma, but
pure inventiveness. At 13, Kaye’s
mother bought her a steel-string
guitar and she began taking lessons
on her own dime, taking odd jobs to
gain extra income and support her
single parent. Her teacher saw a
special talent in the young girl, and
soon, Kaye was playing jazz gigs in
Los Angeles nightclubs.
But she had a baby at 16, and
had to keep up several day jobs to
support her family. In 1957, Kaye
was playing guitar at the Beverly
Cavern in Hollywood when a
producer asked for someone to
play on Sam Cooke’s arrangement
of “Summertime.” Going from live
work to studio session playing,
called “record dates” at the time,
was a big decision — often, jazz
musicians never returned from
the studio in those days. Kaye had
mouths to feed, though, so she
took the job, and soon she was in
demand. By then, she had married
and had another child, so the
meager sums of club life would not
cut it. In the studio, she found a crew
of similar musicians that had made
the transition from jazz to the pop
and rock hits of the time. Though it
may have seemed like the Monkees
and groups like them were playing
their own instruments on each hit
record, it was likely Kaye and her
contemporaries, skillfully boiling
down years of jazz performance
into the catchy notes of a pop hook.
In an interview with For Bass
Players Only, she claims she never
felt alienated as the only woman
in the studio during most of her
career, but Kaye was trailblazing
a path for other female musicians
with every move she made.
One fateful day in 1963, the
electric
bassist
on
a
Capitol
Records studio date didn’t show up,
and Kaye was called in to replace
him. She had done some bass guitar
work on hits like “The In Crowd”
by Dobie Gray, but was by and far a
guitarist first before that moment.
The second she laid her hands on
a Fender P-Bass for the first time,
music history changed. It may
sound like hyperbole, but it’s the
truth — Kaye soon rose to “first
call” status as a session bassist and
worked for days on end, sometimes
sleeping on her instrument case
in between takes. She was the
rhythm behind much of The Beach
Boys’ legendary 1966 album Pet
Sounds, and both Brian Wilson
and Quincy Jones have called her
the greatest electric bassist of all
time. Paul McCartney has even
said that Kaye’s work influenced
his contributions to The Beatles’
classic record Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club. Her talent was pure,
unabashed and obvious to anyone
who heard it. Her lines weren’t
too complicated or basic or poppy
or rock ‘n’ roll, but rather perfect
elaborations on the simple rhythms
put in front of her. She created
a smooth and precise sound so
famous that producers would ask
other bassists to replicate on the
rare occasion she couldn’t make
it to a date. Most of all, Kaye was
a master of the groove, following
whatever her training and hands
told her to do.
In addition to her musical
talent, Kaye was always a staunch
advocate for herself and her ideas.
Without this, she would have never
left two unhappy marriages, hired
a live-in nanny and provided for
her entire family on her own for
years. Her genius both allowed
her to pave her own path in music
history
and
be
self-sufficient
enough to prove any critic wrong
about a woman’s place in the studio.
Even beyond her years as a session
musician, the bassist published
instructional books to teach the
next generation of players. She still
gives lessons via Skype at the age of
83. Kaye would not deem herself a
feminist hero, and neither would I
— that’s never what she wanted to
represent, and never set out to be
anything other than a guitar player.
But she certainly is a hero of some
sort, especially to women in music.
Such a prolific career on such iconic
albums and with such legendary
bands is an accomplishment that
can’t even be fully understood
by anyone but her. That number,
10,000 songs, is almost impossible
to truly fathom, but for Kaye, it’s the
reality of her life’s purpose. Anyone
who has listened to the radio since
1958 has heard her play at one time
or another, and I hope that one day
they know her name.
CLARA SCOTT
Daily Gender & Media Columnist
SINGLE REVIEW: “SUSPIRIUM”
Yesterday,
Thom
Yorke
released a solo track entitled
“Suspirium.” The song is a
creepy pastoral waltz off of
the score Thom Yorke has
composed for the upcoming
horror film “Suspiria.” The
instrumentation is minimal,
limited to just piano and
flute (what sounds like a
harpsichord
mirrors
the
piano). The work straddles
the
line
between
angelic
and
vaguely
unsettling;
the
bittersweet
quality
is
attributable
to
Yorke’s
eldritch
voice
and
what
sounds like the heavy use
of
major/minor
modality
(a
compositional
gambit
Radiohead
is
particularly
fond
of),
which
has
the
rhetorical effect of imparting
a sense of instability. The
cryptic lyrics contribute to
this feeling of uncertainty as
well, with lines such as “All
is well, as long as we keep
spinning / Here and now,
dancing behind a wall / When
the old songs and laughter we
do / Are forgiven always and
never been true” sounding
like some Delphic prophecy.
While most of Yorke’s solo
work is distinguishable from
the
music
of
Radiohead,
“Suspirium”
could
easily
be mistaken for a outtake
from A Moon Shaped Pool,
or a companion piece to
“Like
Spinning
Plates.”
Yorke’s
ability
to
create
such a beautiful effect while
retaining simplicity of both
orchestration and harmony
is a testament to his prescient
songwriting
abilities.
The
piece is gorgeous, a simple
composition
tinged
with
complex
implications
of
sadness and confusion. While
I haven’t seen the movie this
song was made for, “Suspiria”
is already fighting an uphill
battle if they want to live up
to the score.
“Suspirium”
Thom Yorke
XL Recordings
GENDER & MEDIA COLUMN
‘The Innocents’ clumsily
executes a clever premise
Confused,
angry
and
lovestruck
teenagers
running
away from the oppressed tyranny
of their homes is a tried and
tested formula that even Netflix
has jumped upon recently. The
streaming service’s newest show,
“The Innocents,” however, is one
of their less impressive efforts.
Just as Netflix’s “The End of
the Fu***ng World” channeled
the whimsy and irreverence of
“Pierrot Le Fou,” “The Innocents”
evokes the more cliché aspects of
young adult dramas.
“The Innocents” deals with
the bizarre and the supernatural
by chronicling the love story
of
teenagers
June
(Sorcha
Groundsell, “Clique”) and Harry
(Percelle
Ascott,
“Doctors”).
Both are rather well-adjusted
compared to most stereotypical
TV teenagers. While they do
explore their own fears and
anxieties, the show portrays them
as doing so with a more realistic
sense of tact and maturity than
expected of teenagers. June, who
lives with a strict and controlling
single father, decides to escape her
home after her 16th birthday and
on the eve of a move to Scotland.
She is endowed with the ability
to shape-shift, and discovers that
she is being followed by Steinar
(Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson,
“Game of Thrones”). Steinar turns
out to be a fellow shape-shifter
sent by her mother, who is under
the care of a mysterious caretaker
Ben Halvorson (Guy Pearce, “Jack
Irish”).
“The Innocents” feels like a
show comprised of two separate
shows, each of which is strong
overall but together, entirely
dissonant.
June
and
Harry’s
romance is sweet and realistic,
and the way they react to troubling
situations is in tune to their own
personalities. In the other “world”
of the story, which is set in a
stunning Norwegian landscape,
Pearce plays a cleverly written,
ambiguous caretaker of shape-
shifters, with sharp dialogue and
engaging sub stories amongst the
various residents of the sanctuary
known as “The Sanctum.”
However, the show never quite
successfully merges these two
overarching storylines together.
Steinar provides the early links,
but they are never fleshed out in
the early episodes. The scenes that
are meant to be disturbing and/or
enlightening are rarely so, with
the exception of the actual shape-
shifting scenes. In such scenes, the
show rarely subverts but drowns
in well-established tropes, also
hurt by an unmemorable score.
Throughout the early episodes,
the show bounces around several
tones, but never seems to decide
on one.
Nonetheless, one of the things
the show does have going for
it is its sheer aesthetic beauty.
The
aforementioned
Nordic
landscapes are brilliantly shot,
reminiscent of the lair of CEO
Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac,
“Annihilation”) in “Ex Machina.”
They contrast well with the harsh,
brooding skies and landscapes
of the UK, where the bulk of the
action takes place.
Another positive aspect of the
show is the secondary characters.
June’s brother Ryan is a recluse
suffering from agoraphobia, and
who seems to deeply care for
his sister. Harry’s scenes with
his mentally disabled father are
tender and some of the most
emotionally charged in the show.
These characters are fleshed out
and engaging in their own right,
and they suggest more sources of
intrigue in later episodes.
While not as engaging as
its premise suggests, the early
episodes of “The Innocents” pose
a series of intriguing questions,
especially about what in the world
connects all of its seemingly
disparate storylines. Fans of other
Netflix series such as “Stranger
Things” will appreciate the sci-fi
angle the story takes, while others
may appreciate the romance and
simultaneous growth of the teen
leads. Unfortunately, both of these
aspects do not form a seamless
combination.
SAYAN GHOSH
Daily Arts Writer
NETFLIX
“The
Innocents”
Netflix
Season 1
Episodes 1-3
TV REVIEW
I would never move to a city
without
ensuring
that
there
was an independent bookstore
within walking distance first. A
community without a bookstore
is akin to a chest without a beating
heart. Unable to function, unable
to exist, without life. A bookstore
is the type of place that makes a
community feel like a home. It is
impossible to imagine a perfectly
functioning city without at least
the option to walk a bit and find
perfect solace between the lines
of a good book. It comes down to
storytelling — the sweetness of it,
the grittiness of it, the heartbreak
of it and the necessity of it. We
would not be much without
stories. Our homes would not
be much without stories. Our
cities, our highrises, our public
parks, our 9-to-5 jobs and our
family rooms would not be much
without stories. Our lives need
independent
bookstores.
Our
lives need books.
In order for bookstores to
function, people must read. Our
communities need readers to
buy and share books. In a world
where Amazon is a click away and
our eyes are glued to our phone
screens, this proves no small feat.
Enter:
Thomson-Shore,
a
Dexter,
Michigan
book
manufacturer, printer, publisher
and distribution company with
one goal: to celebrate books. In
Oct. of 2017 the company held
its first annual “Booktoberfest,”
which Lori Minnick, an employee
at Thompson-Shore, described
as an “opportunity to celebrate
all things books with the entire
family” in a recent interview
with the Daily. The event is a
celebration of authors, books
and reading put on by Thomson-
Shore annually and aided by Ann
Arbor’s own Literati Bookstore.
Minnick went on to explain
the event a bit more, which is
scheduled for this Saturday, Sept.
8.
“We have some great authors
who will be sharing their stories
and signing books, experts in the
industry sharing insight, tours
of our plant showing first-hand
how books are made, a pitch
your book contest for authors
looking for a publishing deal
and an opportunity for children
to become published authors,”
Minnick said.
When asked to describe the
event in more detail, Minnick
continued with the idea that
events like Booktoberfest are
necessary to get the community
excited and passionate about
reading, especially in a time of
such technological advancement,
in a world where we are all prone
to be “too distracted” or “too
busy” to take the time to read.
“We celebrate our authors
accomplishments,” she said. “We
celebrate that the industry is still
going strong and we celebrate the
fact that people still want to hold
and read real books.”
It comes as a bit of a heartbreak
that we must be reduced to such
a phrase — “people still want to
hold and read real books” — as
though the practice is falling away
from us in this 21st century. A
bookstore is idiosyncratic in this
way because it holds something
for everyone. It is a romantic
practice — book browsing and
book purchasing and the idea of
authors putting pen to paper. As
consumers we are given the gift
of bookstores — an opportunity
to walk into a blind date empty
and walk out in love at first sight
with words we didn’t even know
we needed.
There’s
something
special
about the ability of literature to
transcend time and space, and
there’s
something
incredibly
important about ensuring that
children are a part of the push
to get people reading again.
Booktoberfest
seeks
out
a
variety of activities and authors
for children in order to ensure
families will come with their
young kids, get them excited to
read new books and ravenous
ELI RALLO
Daily Arts Writer
Booktoberfest will give
AA a literary awakening
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
about literature.
The event is not only important
for families and book consumers,
but also writers, as it provides
a variety of opportunities for
authors to have their work
showcased
and
new
writers
to bring their work to the
community.
“Writers
generally
are
so
involved in writing that they do
not spend time thinking about the
tough stuff: publishing,” Minnick
said. “Once the manuscript is
complete or close to complete
there is still a ton to accomplish
before your book gets to readers.
This event will offer a treasure
trove of information for authors
to consider as they wind down
their writing process and ramp
up their publishing activities.
There is a lot to consider in order
to publish a book you can be
proud of.”
When
all
three
exciting
elements come together — text,
author and reader — real magic
can happen. The community
sees the need for independent
bookstores, for new authors and
for precious stories. The authors
are inspired to write and the
books tell the tale on their own.
“Books are and will remain
the most affordable vacation
ever offered,” Minnick said. “In
a world where people can’t get
off screens, a paper book offers
an escape and opportunity to
focus on just one thing: a story, a
narration, a biography, an interest.
People forge relationships with
physical books and this is across
generations.”
Between
bringing
the
community together, celebrating
books and lifting up new and
previously
published
authors,
Booktoberfest seems to do it
all. Most importantly, though,
Booktoberfest
restarts
the
conversation about storytelling. It
ignites a fire under a community’s
belly, mingling the writers with
the readers and mixing the words
with moments to make literary
magic.
“Books are people,” Minnick
said. “We celebrate books because
of what’s in them. Our history,
our poetry, our stories.”
Books are indeed people, and
people are stories. Now, more
than ever, we need so many of
these things — stories, human
interaction and words. But most
importantly, all of us, whoever we
are, need books.
Booktoberfest
Sept. 8, 2018
10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Literati Bookstore
Free
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, September 7, 2018 — 5A