Music for Moderns: Tonight we're gonna party like it's the 1940's

Music for Moderns: Tonight we're gonna party like it's the 1940's

Music for Moderns: Tonight we're gonna party like it's the 1940's

In its second year, Music for Moderns takes the idea of a conceptual event to dizzying heights by harkening back to a time before most of our parents were born. Centered around the theme of a 1940′s USO party the night before the troops are sent off to war, there will be food, music, and dancing an event for the ages.

Primarily organized by Marie Biondolillo, Kat Bula, Amy Gibson, Tracy Reilly and Katie Rickard, Music for Moderns is based on a simple idea. “We wanted to throw a really awesome party that was also a fundraiser that young people could afford to go to, and that had bands that people really wanted to see,” Tracy said.

The group also wanted to bring more attention to the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, located on Bay Street, and help raise much needed funds. “I always really liked the Radio Museum and I wanted to be a part of it somehow. I really like the radio station, KMRE, and I like the music of that time,” stated Katie.

Last year, Music for Moderns used the theme of a Speakeasy during prohibition, while this year, they’ve moved onto the next generation. “Last year we tried to have a speakeasy feel. The emphasis was on Prohibition, so we were going for an illicit feeling–secret drinking and sexy things. This year is more straightforwardly fun more balloons and streamers,” Tracy said. “Less debauchery, more flirting,” Amy added.

Each organizer had a different reason for being drawn to the 40′s USO dance concept. “When you think about the ’40s, it was a time when people were going through something rough, but they were coming together and figuring out how to have fun, which is kind of like what we’re trying to do now,” Katie said. “We liked the musical feel of the ’40s. My grandpa was in a jazz quartet and used to play trumpet in dance halls. They would take requests, and it was a very social way of presenting it, and we were inspired by that.”

Added Tracy, ” In the ’40s, there was more of a focus on the working woman and on practical clothing and suits–it was a shift for women in showing them what they were capable of physically and economically in the labor market. That felt really relevant.”

The aesthetic of the time is partially why Amy is excited about the 40′s. “I just like glitter and glam.”

For Marie, it was the party itself. “The appeal of the USO dance is that people partied like it was their last night in town BECAUSE it was their last night in town. The only people wilder than a bunch of speakeasy patrons are sailors on leave.”

This year’s event also includes a silent action, fresh pizza made on site by Peace Love Pizza, with champagne and cider to go along with the beer and wine. “The biggest change is that we’ve gone 1940s instead of 1920s, and that most of the entertainment has been created specifically for this event,” Marie said.

All of this year’s entertainment has been geared specifically for the 40s. “Laine and Naked Hearts are doing ’40s sets, and Ursula VanderRodd (Krissa Woiwoid) is putting together a song and dance number just for the event. We’ve got Rumba Northwest doing a ’40s dance number and quick lesson, and Kat Bula put together people from pretty much every band in Bellingham Ross Robinette (Lumpkins), Sarah Jerns and Coltan Foster (Pan Pan), Jessica Sele, Anna Arvan (Go Slowpoke), Chris Stainback (Thimble Vs. Needle), Mark Detrick (Rooftops), Karen Kunkel (Four Players), Robert Lashley (Scumeating), Wes Davis (Pirates R Us), Mars Lindgren (Yogoman Burning Band), Kit Nelson (Timmy Sunshine and the Conductors), Poops (Hawaiian Ghost Punch), and Tina North (Memes)–into a giant supergroup swing band. It’s a massive undertaking, and I’m really interested to see what it looks like,” Marie stated.

While Marie, Kat, Amy, Tracy and Katie are the primary organizers, the event is put together by a large contingent of people. Tana Granack, AMRE’s Operations Director, is very much logistically involved, along with volunteers Troy Greig, Ross Brackett, David Ney, Nora Hughes, Sheana Sisselman and Eric Holl.

As a big production, they’re all working for one common cause. “Our ultimate goal is to throw the best party ever–awesome music, beautiful clothes, and having it benefit people so that you can feel good about having fun. All the stuff that we love in one space,” exclaimed Marie.

Music for Moderns II: Last Night in Town A One-Night-Only Costume Party/Silent Auction/Dance will be held Saturday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the American Museum of Radio & Electricity, 1312 Bay St., Bellingham. Tickets are $5 advance and $7 at the door. 21+. For more information, contact musicformoderns@gmail.com.

Sarah Jerns of Pan Pan. Photo by Matthew Curtis

Sarah Jerns of Pan Pan. Photo by Matthew Curtis

Sarah Jerns of Pan Pan. Photo by Matthew Curtis

At Cafe Avellino, above the din of the Dixie Chicks on the radio and the clanking silverware of the latte-sipping patrons, Sarah Jerns, aka Pan Pan, tells it like it is.

“My audience has to understand instrumental music,” she said, explaining how her shows tend to go over. “It normally does well.”

Does well, indeed.

Since getting together last January, Jerns and her band–which also includes two other trumpet players, an upright bass player and a drummer–have garnered an overwhelmingly positive response.

And that’s not to imply that it’s surprising they’ve been successful. But when considering the nature of their music–jazz and classical with no vocals–along with the fact that they play a lot of the same venues as their rock ‘n’ roll peers, it makes their ascent all the more intriguing, in some ways.

Then again, her vast pre-Pan Pan resume, which includes stints in the Love Lights, the Yogoman Burning band and performing with Presidents of the United States of America, speaks for itself.

“Everyone’s been really supportive,” she said. Most of the artists mentioned also used her in the studio, as well as the stage. So, in a sense, the groundwork was laid; connections were made.

Jerns, a longtime trumpet, flugelhorn and piano player, found her talents to be in high demand over this particular time period. However, after years of side work, there always seemed to be a yearning to branch out and do her own project. While it was a fun experience–she’s been at it since she was 17–she felt the time was ripe last winter to begin her own endeavors.

She and her band mates–Andrew Bybee, Austin Richey, Coltan Foster and Natalia Oncina–are all music majors at Western Washington University, which has proved to be invaluable in the songwriting process.

“It makes it easier, when we’re trying to write, because we’re all music students,” she said, explaining the convenience of everyone having the same music theory acumen. Suffice it to say that everyone speaking the same musical language–not to mention sharing a lot of the same influences–greases the wheels a bit for songwriting.

Pan Pan recently released her record New Arms, (available on ITunes or her MySpace page), which gives one a taste of what her live shows offer. “Eventually, we want to redo all of the tracks, with more people and more instruments,” she said, explaining the band’s future debut for Clickpop Records, her label.

In the meantime, her Myspace tracks get the job done. Deep and brooding, light and airy; the songs lend an endless vibe and mood in some ways saying more than any lyrics could ever say.

“It’s worked up emotion,” she said. “Most of the songs were written during a breakup, and geared towards a specific emotion.”

It does, however, beg the question: how does she come up with the song titles?

“Some do mean specific things,” she said. “Other times, it’s just what fits.”

Regardless, the air of ambiguity is fitting, given that one can interpret the songs to mean whatever they’d like.

Over the course of the past year, Pan Pan has played the likes of the Wild Buffalo, the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern and Boundary Bay. As mentioned, most audiences adapt to the style and the shows go over without a hitch. There was one, however, at the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, that proved to be a bit more of a challenge. “It was loud and packed…harder to control,” she said. But, as it turned out, the virtues were wrapped in the vices, as the band’s jazz background allowed them to improvise with ease and win over the crowd.

The next few months are shaping up to be busy ones for Pan Pan. On Jan. 30, she plays the What’s Up! Awards Show at the Wild Buffalo. A little under a month later, she will follow that with an appearance at the EMP Soundoff in Seattle.

“There are three Bellingham bands on that bill, so it should be fun,” she said.

Her bigger ambitions, however, are reserved for after she graduates.

“We want to go on tour, hit the scene hard,” she said, adding that gigs at the Showbox, the Crocodile Cafe and Bumbershoot are in her sights as well.

“I’d also like to play Sasquatch one day,” she said, alluding to her main goal. All things considered, it’s a justifiably realistic one, given that she’s played there before, albeit not necessarily on her own terms (back then, she was on stage with PUSA).

One other notable aspect of her live show worth mentioning is the refreshingly unorthodox intros. From time to time, she’ll line up some of her musician friends outside of the venue, almost marching band style. The music starts, and they make their way inside. Her own band, upon hearing the spirited cacophony, will then begin playing as well, creating a musical merger with the outside players.

To say that the bar has been raised a bit when it comes to creative show openers would be a slight understatement.

Which just goes to show that sometimes, no words are needed to tell it like it is.

For more information, visit http://myspace.com/thepanpan. Pan Pan will perform at the 9th annual What’s Up! Awards Show on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Wild Buffalo.