Father John and Jenny O mean muggin at Ace New York after their surprise show Friday evening with Bowery Presents and Martin Guitar — the first in our 5@5 series.

INTERVIEW : LACRYMOSA x NORTH HIGHLANDS

…wherein we resurrect a tag game of bright minds performing in the lobby at Ace Hotel New York during May at our live music residency on Sunday nights, curated by Chris Tucci, who spins B-sides and rarities before and after sets. Lacrymosa is Caitlin Pasko. A native of Virginia who was trained in classical piano from a young age, she’ll use her virtuosic talents this Sunday evening to craft a nimble tempo and mood in earthily poetic songs. Last weekend, North Highlands brought their bright guitars, jangly rhythms and steely and inscrutable dissonance to the mic. Herein, they ask each other a handful of intriguing questions.

Lacrymosa:

Okay first question - I think I remember Mike telling me that Wild One was recorded in a sort of “cabin in the woods.” Where was it, how long were you there, and had you finished writing the songs prior to recording?

North Highlands:

Wild One was recorded in a studio called Carriage House in Stamford, Connecticut. It was sort of a little retreat—it was nestled away in this fancy suburb with a ton of huge homes, and it was literally the Carriage house to another larger house. It was fun though because there are rooms upstairs that the bands can stay in, so we hit Trader Joe’s before coming up and never had to leave the studio. We were there for only 3 or 4 days, and then did a bunch of overdubs and vocals at our producer’s studio in Philadelphia.

Most of the songs were finished, but a few got worked out in the studio (specifically Best Part)…Brenda also did a lot of writing, re-writing, etc. on the way to and from Philadelphia.

Question for you: If you could enlist one musician to play a song with you, one director to score the song for and one actor or actress to be in the film you were scoring, who would they be?

Lacrymosa:

Whoa.

One musician - Ed Droste! I wish I wrote “Foreground.” Also Sean Davenport from Hills Like Elephants because I can’t stop listening to ”Invisible Ink.”

One director - Lars von Trier. Dark, twisted, visually and mentally stunning… Yes please.

One actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman. Because he’s a badass genius.

Okay. 1 - Tell me a good story from the road?  2 - Who would you tour with right now if you could tour with anyone?

North Highlands:

1) Aside from walking through Wendy’s drive-thrus at 4 am, eating at six different Waffle Houses, and one of us getting badly constipated, our tour was your pretty typical beer-crazed, let’s-share-a-bed-at-Days-Inn-and-hopefully-not-get-scabies, fried food extravaganza.

2) If I could tour with anyone it would probably be At The Drive In because I want to see their reunion shows. But that wouldn’t make all that much sense….so I’d probably say Liars or Beach House because I’m psyched for both of their new records.

Wendy MacNaughton setting up her post 99% Conference / Behance show (now up in the gallery space) at Ace Hotel New York.

All photos by Wendy except for the portrait of Paula Scher by Maria Popova of Brain Pickings

INTERVIEW : WENDY MACNAUGHTON BY JOCELYN K. GLEI

San Francisco-based illustrator and artist Wendy MacNaughton’s illustrations have the improvisational quality of an observer, a lone wolf. She uses illustration to weave a facetious and compassionate homage to the mundanities and Seinfeldesque neuroses that tie us all together. As a sort of visual afterparty to Behance’s 99% Conference, Wendy’s collection Guts, Grit and Getting *%!# Done will be up in the gallery space at Ace Hotel New York May 9 - June 8. It’s an illustrated inventory of making ideas happen based on Wendy’s observations, insights and takeaways from the conference.

Jocelyn K. Glei, Director of the 99% Think Tank and Conference, interviewed Wendy about how to change your life by not doing yoga.

How would you describe your work to, say, my grandmother?

First I’d apologize. Then I’d tell her I draw from observation — of people, circumstances, places, life — and tell stories through pictures and words. And no, sorry Nana, not like Norman Rockwell.

You seem to have a particular fascination with pointing out the details — half-empty whiskey glasses, lonely sandwiches, etc. Why?

The little things tell the story — we get swept up by the big picture but I think the little unnoticed details tell us more about what’s really going on.

There are also quite a few pieces related to thinking too much and procrastinating… What’s your preferred mode of procrastination? 

Let me think on that and get back to you. But really, folks. I know if I overthink an idea, it ends up spoiling it. Knowing that, the risk is over thinking not thinking about it. I guess I catch myself coming and going. It’s a challenge to put things aside and just have fun with an idea. That’s what drawing does for me. It clears my head out and I get to play — ideas come on their own.  

You have a lot of sketches from attending book readings… what was the last great book you read?

I beg everyone to read Miranda July’s It Chooses You. Not only is she a great writer, but this true story is super relevant to people working in, on and around technology and who are interested in human connection and storytelling.  

A lot of your illustrations seem to happen in transit (airports, events, street corners) — is there something in particular that’s appealing about transitional spaces and moments?

When in transit, people reflect, mull, worry, remember, sleep… These are all very intimate acts to be doing in a public space. And I love to eavesdrop. So I guess drawing in public is like visual eavesdropping on someone’s private time. It’s also very mediative for me. Drawing allows my brain to stop moving (see question above). Kind of like putting a baby to sleep in a moving car. 

Who or what recently inspired you to do something differently?

At a conference recently a friend asked me what I was going to do the next morning. I said, yoga. He said, do you always go to yoga at home? I said, yes. He said, well since you’re not at home, why not do something you can’t do at home? And i did. And it ended up being a profound, life-altering experience.

(And sorry, I am not telling you what it was.)

From the 99% Conference 2012.

INTERVIEW: SHE KEEPS BEES X SHENANDOAH…

…wherein we resurrect a tag game of bright minds performing in the lobby at Ace Hotel New York during May at our live music residency on Sunday nights, curated by Chris Tucci, who spins B-sides and rarities before and after sets. She Keeps Bees unleashes their smoky, pure power tonight at 10pm, and Shenandoah plays a set of melodic pop noir on May 27. Coming up — a round robin with North Highlands (May 13 — Mother’s Day!) and Lacrymosa (May 20).

Shenandoah:

Hello She Keeps Bees, glad to make your acquaintance. First question that comes to mind is what do you do to boost the spirits when you encounter many red lights? (AKA difficult times).

She Keeps Bees:

Hi Shenandoah! Wonderful to meet you! Andy and I like to dance. Dance it out and drink coffee — surrender to the change, honor it and be pleasantly surprised by the natural solution. Or I’d like to think we don’t do what we normally do, which is complain and sulk and have a beer in bed at 3:30 in the afternoon.

What’s your favorite tree? Favorite Ray? Ray Ramono, Ray Charles, Link Wray, Ray Davies, Amy Ray, Ray Stevens, Ray’s Pizza, Ray Ban, Ray LaMontagne, Rachel Ray, Blu Ray!

Shenandoah:

My favorite tree is ceder for smell, oak for shade, and aspen for glittering on hill tops. The redwoods are where I come from, they make places pretty dark and musty.

So many good Ray’s. I’m really into Le Carrè, John Le Carrè.

If money wasn’t a concern, what would your house look like? Where would it be?

She Keeps Bees:

We’re not very extravagant, so we’d probably still choose something pretty humble even if money weren’t a concern. Free Cabin Porn is always making us drool over secluded cabins in far away places.

Last Question: What place in the world would you most like to visit/play a show

Shenandoah:

Ooh, Greece, definitely Greece!