INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Web exclusive: “Tendrils” DVD screening and Grampall Jookabox

 

“Tendrils” DVD screening, Grampall Jookabox
Big Car, 1043 Virginia Ave., Ste. 215
Saturday, May 17, 8 p.m., $5 suggested donation, all ages

"The recorded version of the song is not necessarily the definitive version of the song,” Castanets frontman Ray Raposa existentially reflects in Asthmatic Kitty press materials. And to underscore the point, Raposa and Asthmatic Kitty present “Tendrils,” a DVD collection of Castanets covers and interview segments from Raposa’s friends. Included among them are Marla Hansen — no stranger to Indianapolis as a member of Standard Recording Company’s lineup of artists — and the Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth.

When it came to creating “Tendrils,” Raposa and Asthmatic Kitty project manager Michael Kaufman decided that, instead of creating a music video, they would instead explore alternative versions of his music. Raposa enlisted the help of his friends who recorded live Castanets covers throughout Brooklyn.

“It seemed a very organic and natural thing to do,” Raposa says. The assembled musicians also include friends who had opened for the Castanets such as John Chavez, G. Lucas Crane and Golden Ghost and Silver Spokes, and Jesse Ainslie, a frequent Castanets member. “The way that their presence and their mode of contouring the thing to better suit their wants reminds me that these songs and all songs should and can exist independent of their creator to better flourish and reflect.”

Raposa also gets in on the covers act with an excerpt from a performance of “I’m Gonna Run to the City of Refuge” — a song originally written by Blind Willie Johnson in 1928 and later reworked by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for their 1988 album “Tender Prey.” Cave’s version has been covered by Grant Lee Phillips and the Bad Seeds have also performed a stripped down acoustic version of the song. The song — which Raposa plans to include on the next Castanets album — and its long history is the perfect illustration of Raposa’s ideas.

“Tendrils” can be viewed this Friday, May 16 at Big Car Gallery followed by a live performance by Grampall Jookabox.