Having awakened on this, my 45th wedding anniversary, still deleriously married to the most lovely Andrea, the true center of wisdom, joie de vivre, and forceful optimism, and, it being the first day of the month, I went to my email, found the new message from RabbitRabbitRadio, and downloaded the new, April, composition.
There is so much more to Rabbit Rabbit Radio than a new and original musical composition each month–and the music is wonderful–that I am going to make a pitch for it by copying the April Home Page and also offering this promo piece for April in hope that it will whet your appetite. I am, of course, encouraging you all to subscribe.
And, indeed, one must subscribe to Rabbit Rabbit Radio. The cost is merely $1, $2, $3, or $5 per month (a choice simply dependent upon you and how much you wish to help and support the creative efforts of two fabulous musicians).
So, here below is a transcription from the home page for April, and with that, I will sign off, take my lovely wife to Fiorello’s for brunch–actually, she’s taking me–and then we will treat ourselves to the matinee of Warhorse.
All About April…
In Latin aperire means “to open,” a reference to the month in which trees and flowers begin to bloom.
Includes such holidays as Sorry Charlie Day, Walk Around Things Day, Big Wind Day, Rubber Eraser Day, Richter Scale Day and of course, Hairstyle Appreciation Day.
RABBIT, RABBIT! Welcome to the third issue of Rabbit Rabbit Radio
Much more than Valentine’s Day, I have always associated April Fool’s day with romance. My parents, Andrea and Tyko Kihlstedt, got married on April 1st, 1967 before the justice of the Glen Cove, NY court, in a no-nonsense ceremony with only their parents attending. Of course, when they joined college friends in Philadelphia who were hosting an April Fool’s Day party that evening, no one believed that they actually had tied the knot. The real April Fool’s joke was that the new International Harvester Scout that my father had bought died in the middle of the George Washington Bridge on their way down to Philadelphia.
My sister and I always found ways of combining the well-wishings of an anniversary with the trickery of the fool’s day. One year we made an entire French breakfast for my parents, but hid cotton balls and twine inside the otherwise delicious croissants. They lived to tell the tale and, 45 years later, are still quite happily hitched. In honor of their partnership, we focus this issue on things made by pairs, duos, teams of two.
MUSIC
Most of our songs grow from a seed created by one or the other of us. This month, however, we bring you a rocking little ditty we wrote together from tail to tip as fast as we could in the spirit of I.C.S., and recorded even faster at Studio G Brooklyn with producer/engineer Joel Hamilton. (See the 10+ page for an explanation of both ICS and Studio G).
The song is called Newsreel and features words borrowed from Günter Grass’ novel, Dog Years and collaged together by us. It is about love. Not the primped and manicured love of roses, champagne and pajamagrams, but the love of survival, of desperation, static love, misguided love, the myopic and joyous love of children, the twisted love of assassins, the mundane love of salvage yards and empty streetcars.
FILMS
This month we bring you two films. First, NYC-based Norwegian photographer and film-maker Torkil Stavdal came by the recording studio at the end of the day and and filmed us as we squeezed out one last performance of Newsreel with our shredded voices. We also bring you the third in Matthias’ ongoing series, The Courage of Man.
10+
In addition to compiling separate lists of our own, as well as a couple’s list of our favorite musical duos, we’ve invited Meredith Yayanos to help us celebrate things made by teams of two with her own selection of eleven admirable creative pairs. Meredith — a living encyclopedia of popular culture and underground oddities — is a co-founder of Coilhouse, a wonderful website and print magazine that curates the juiciest gems from alternative culture.
PICS
On the PICS page, as per usual you’ll find photographic evidence of our month’s toil and play (by us and our friend Zara Katz), but instead of a slideshow of instagram favorites, this being the month that contains Easter, which is a Christian adaptation of a pagan holiday celebrating the fertility of Spring (hence the Easter Bunny), we bring you an exhibit of the rabbit etchings of Mariko Ando the wonderful artist who created the image that has quickly become our RRR totem.
The Rabbit Rabbit Radio team:
As you might surmise, it takes us hundreds of man/woman-hours to put RRR together each month. Matthias and I are joined by George Hurd, who is the RRR Production Manager, our graphic designer , Anna Singer, and Joseph Voves, who created the RRR ‘commercial’ on the front page of the site. Rabbit Rabbit Radio is built entirely on the strength of grass-roots word-of-mouth communication. Please help us to spread the word!
Stay tuned for our May issue featuring bass player/guitartist/engineer Jon Evans, accordionist extraordinaire, Marié Abe, and Cape Cod national treasure Chandler Travis!
Yours,
Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi.
A good brunch, and to be remembered by a child- that sums up some of my finest days. Congratulations, Tyko!