Cat Power on MySpace

[teresa]

It used to be that you could find alot of different profiles and songs for her on MySpace. Then, after The Greatest was released, only an official profile and no available songs. Is there a reason for this?

[Patrick]

It was her wish. She didn't want anyone to think that any of the other profiles were actually by her or that people might think they were communicating with her when, in fact, they might be talking to someone else entirely.

Patrick

[Cat Fan]

I understand fully why you would just have one profile. But that doesn't explain why you don't have four songs playing on the mp3 player, set to the "addable" setting, so that users can post a favorite tune on their own myspace pages to help spread the word to others. A lot of fans like to add a song to play on their profile and it helps introduce everybody in a person's friends list to her music and her official profile, which is linked to the mp3 if it's playing on a fan's site; they just click a button and find more info. Anyway it's a fun feature of myspace. But last I checked, the Cat Power myspace page had one song showing and listed as not addable, which is not taking full advantage of the mp3 player's uses to promote the album by letting fans spread the word on their pages.

If you're afraid people would think the official page is Cat Power's personal page and that she replies to herself to mail there, the official page can make it clear the record company maintains it but it probably already says that on the page anyway. Most people who contact a page know to expect that the person replying is the record company except for certain pages that are clearly run by an artist. And even in the case of a band page I help maintain (not my personal page) where an artist is involved in the blog, the people answering the mail for him identify themselves as being staff (since that's who usually answers), and not the artist, so it's really not an issue as long as the person replying identifies themselves as Matador staff. I guess a lot of these record companies don't have time to do any mail replying and Cat Power's Matador myspace page probably has tons of traffic, I guess.

[Gerard]

thanks for the suggestion. We'll certainly consider it.

[teresa]

thanks patrick... that clears it up.

as sort of a counter to what cat fan says... i really like having her music on my profile... but at the same time i don't know if i'd want all of myspace and it's ... sorry, but... caliber of average user being exposed to music that they otherwise wouldn't know existed. i love music enough to learn what's cool and what i like on my own... i don't need myspace or the WB, you know? i know what has integrity.

on their own, some people wouldn't have a clue... and now there's nothing really to discern a true music lover and someone who happened to hear them on myspace. it widens the filter too much.

how does matador feel about that? i know how it affects the $bottom line$, but do they have a position on how it affects the integrity of the music?

[Cat Fan]

The lowest common denominator fan is not what I was talking about. I was referring to making her myspace mp3s "addable" for people who are already aware of Chan's myspace site (not all her fans are aware of it) to occasionally play a tune of if they want to, sort of like a radio station, in their profile for those in their friends links who may like her work (or work of that caliber) but not necessarily know of her myspace page or album release. This is assuming that one's friends links people are not ding dongs and that we chose the ones we have in our links. Making a song "addable" in profiles of fans is a way to target the music to friends of what you have referred to as "true music lovers". Nobody is going to go to Chan's page unless they are interested, so I don't see this as a lowest common denominator moron music listener issue.

The people in my friends list are smart folks who mostly, though not all, share my musical tastes, or may be nightclubs, musician friends, college radio djs, or in some cases music business professionals. People have a lot to keep up with and don't always know everything that is going on even though they may already like Chan's work, so it doesn't hurt to have friends mention to their group of myspace link people something they like or playing a new MP3 to remind people an album is out or point out there's a particular song they like on it.

If somebody is too clueless to like the mp3 if I play it on my profile for a week, who cares. I don't see the point of making this a private little club. Why bother having a myspace presence, or a website, or promoting music at all, if secrecy was the goal? Why waste money touring or having a song played for a month in the AMC advertisement I heard if the goal is to have the music be a secret from those deemed to be somehow beneath the fans who already know she's on tour and has a record out?

I have already run into people who are fans of hers that didn't know her album was out or she was touring. One accidentally missed her recent show in his area. If I had said more to let him know, he'd have been there. All I'm saying is that word of mouth to the friends link folks of her fans doesn't hurt anything. And I was suggesting that making the mp3s addable by fans might be helpful, that is all. Some of my friends that visit my page don't even have a myspace page. When I mention something in my blog or play an mp3 of a new album, it may possibly remind one of her fans of something they weren't aware of since not all fans are rabid collectors of the latest news. The person listening to a Chan mp3 playing on a fan's page may be an intelligent person regardless of the fact they are looking at myspace, if someone was implying myspace is just a dumb place for dumb people or something.

Also, sometimes really nice and intelligent people who might like Chan's music if exposed to it may not have heard it before, although I wasn't thinking of that when I posted originally. In fact, I'd wager that at least some of the musicians on her new album might not have heard her music before working with her. That doesn't mean they're stupid. Those same musicians may be big fans now. Everyone is exposed to an artist's work a different way at a different time from each other. Not everyone learned of her at the same time 5 years ago. And the ones who did aren't any more valuable than a person learning of her tomorrow.

Making an mp3 "addable" to spread news of a song's existence has no bearing on the integrity of her music. The integrity of the music is mainly affected by choices the artist made in producing, writing and recording it. If someone wants to raise issues of integrity, they didn't have any complaint about her doing advertisements, so I don't see that making a song addable in myspace profiles is a big deal. And I'm not complaining about her work in doing ad songs occasionally, by the way.

Sorry that everything in the above long reply is pretty obvious stuff. At least it seems obvious to me, so I'm sorry to bore people with it if I have.

[Moon Pix]

All I will say is that
a) at one time the only person who knew about Chan's songs was Chan herself. It shouldnt really be about how long somebody has been a fan but how much of a fan they are. Ive only been into her for about the past year (thanks to Matador hosting the "Crossbones Style" video) but in that year Ive bought all her records and seen her live three times in London(each of which required a three hour coach journey). Id say thats pretty hardcore.

b) Commercials don't affect the integrity of an artist or their work. If anything it proves that theyre fearless, that they can do anything they want to do and leave accusations of selling out to those that care about such things and continue making music for both themselves (in this case Chan) and those that care about the music.

c) I think it goes without saying that if you know about Cat Power then you must be into music in a deeper way. You don't go from Jessica Simpson on Monday to Chan, Malkmus and Can on Tuesday.

It takes a long time. Years for some people.

[Gerard]

I don't mean to pick on Teresa (or anyone else), but your "average" myspace users include several people at matador along with many of the artists on the label. I don't see how using myspace as a vehicle to play Cat Power music to the uninitiated is any better or worse than utilizing MTV, satellite radio, the LA Times or whatever.

C.F., as I said earlier, we really do appreciate the suggestion. When the person who can flip the settings on the not-really-Chan-monitored Cat Power MySpace page is available, we'll consider just what you've recommended.

We really are trying pretty hard to get people interested in the new album. Given that this is far and away Chan's fastest selling album to date, I think we've made serious progress in doing so. That you know Cat Power fans who are unaware that there's a new album out is either a) very disturbing or b) makes perfect sense when you really think about it. Chan's albums sell over a long period of time....we're under no illusion that everyone who bought the older recordings was automatically going to buy this album the day it came out (though many of them did just that).

That said, the MySpace omission aside, I don't Matador has done a poor job at all in letting the outside world know about this album.

Not having the songs in question addable to your myspace profile is more of an oversight on the part of an overworked bunch of record company schmoes and has a lot less to do with a philosophical opposition to using MySpace. Fi we were really interested in just keeping this stuff limited to a special little club, there's a lot of stuff we wouldn't be doing.

thanks again

GC

[Cat Fan]

Gerard, I think you've done a great job of promoting the album, and I'm glad it is selling so fast as you mention. I was happy to hear a song of hers on AMC for a couple of weeks in March too.

RE: a comment someone else made about people being deeper into music than most people if they are already a Chan fan, there are people who I consider more sophisticated musically than I who may not have heard Chan's work before, including some serious jazz musicians. They may like it the instant they hear it and not require years to like it, just have been busy doing other things besides immersing themselves in pop culture. Their becoming a fan may simply be a matter of affording someone the opportunity to hear it, such as when an R&B guitarist or jazz horn player might hear her for the first time. The person might be quite sophisticated musically and have played with alternative rock artists. This doesn't mean they have necessarily heard chan marshall yet or are unsophisticated or lacking in depth. They may have heard some things you haven't heard that are excellent works and may even be able to play it.

And of course I did not mean anything negative about ads, just said that if someone thought allowing myspace members to add songs to profiles would cause a problem with the music's integrity that I don't see my playing a Chan song on a myspace page has any effect on her integrity. Her integrity depends on her decisions, not mine, and she's done fine with her decisions.

But anyway I'll leave it to matador to do what they want on this and I do understand it's just a matter of someone having time to think about it when they're online. Matador has always done a good job of promoting Chan and had good posters for her too in the past that I remember seeing. I didn't mean to sound like there was a lack in the promotion, just a little thing some of us in myspace might like to do playing the mp3s on occasion. :-)

Thanks for listening, Matador, and good luck with Chan's new album.

[Moon Pix]

My playing a Chan song on a myspace page has no effect on Chan's integrity in any way.

*nods*
As long as we (meaning me, you and everybody else) don't become to snobby about music I think we're ok. Let's be happy for her that more people know about and like her music than when What Would the Community Think? came out nearly a decade ago. I think she's always going to be thought of as a cult songwriter in the same way that the Fall or Sonic Youth are thought of as cult bands albeit relatively well known ones.

I doubt she will have to worrying about 'breaking through' into something she wouldnt want to be involved with. She's going to be on Later with Jools Holland later this year which is great for her because its watched by true music fans of all ages. Its not like she's going to be playing in front of ten year old boys more concerned with how big her booty is or wether her dance moves are rad than how great her songs are.:)

[TucsonGirl]

Can anyone tell me the members of The Memphis Rhythm Band that back up Cat?

[Cat Fan]

Can anyone tell me the members of The Memphis Rhythm Band that back up Cat?

Most are the same people on the record.

Among them on the tour, I believe, are:

Teenie Hodges -- guitar (songwriter and guitarist on many Al Green hits of the 1970s as well as on Ann Peebles albums and many others that the Hi Rhythm Section apeared on at that time - the Hi Rhythm section being the 1970s group of brothers Teenie, Charles and Leroy Hodges and a great drummer back then who worked as Willie Mitchell's Hi Records label house band)

Roy Brewer -- violin (played with indie Memphis bands and is a symphonic violinist and teacher, credits also include Southern Culture on the Skids)

Doug Easley -- pedal steel (Easley Recording owner, an alt rock engineer and producer who has recorded national acts but started his career recording local Memphis groups like Tav Falco's Panther Burns and The Grifters). (Doug also played pedal steel on Chan's What Would the Community Think, which was recorded at his studio.)

Jim Spake - sax (www.jimspake.com and allmusic.com show his credits; he worked with Alex Chilton, Big Star, Panther Burns, Ike Turner, and many jazz and R&B acts, including the most recent Hi Rhythm Section album. A few recordings I see listed on his site (http://www.jimspake.com/Pages/discography.html) include Corey Branan, James Luther Dickinson, Al Green, Big Star, North Mississippi All Stars, Rufus Thomas, Ben Vaughn, Earl Thomas, Tracy Nelson, Carla Thomas, James Carr, Dobey Gray, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Tony Joe White, Curlew, The Hellcats, The Radio Kings, Mudboy & the Neutrons, The Radiators, Flat Duo-Jets, Arthur Alexander, and more.

Steve Potts - drums -- a Stax drummer, see allmusic.com for credits (he's worked with booker t. & the mg's, al green, Pops Staples, Ruufus Thomas, Otis Clay, Irma Thomas, the Memphis Horns, neil young, Billy Always, J. Blackfoot and many more)

Scott Thompson - trumpet -- a fine memphis jazz and soul musician who I've seen play with Jim Spake before; he's also listed on recordings by Rufus Thomas, Ollie Nightingale, Tracy Nelson, Little Jimmy King, Al Green, Bar-Kays, Radio Kings, Earl Thomas, Johnny Adams and James Carr.

Rick Steff - keyboards (John Prine, Keith Sykes, Dobie Grey, Gin Blossoms, Don Nix, Billy Swan, and The Radio Kings others)

Dave Smith - bass (credits include albums by Carla Thomas, Steve Forbert, Luther Allison, Billy Lee Riley, Keith Sykes, Tinsley Ellis)

On the cd, Leroy Hodges (teenie's brother from the Hi Rhythm section) is also on some tracks on bass but wasn't available for the tour.

I don't think violaist Beth Luscombe (I think it was misspelled "Luscone" on album) or cellist Jonathan Kirkscey were on the tour but were on the album (they both have performed on records with Al Green and others and are listed in allmusic.com). I think that on the tour, the group used local cellists and violaists in each locale.

Susan Marshall Powell (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:6gj4eae14xk7~T4) -- Backing vocals on the tour (not on the album). She started out in a Memphis rock group called the Mother Station in the early 1990s, and has since sung backup with North Mississippi All Stars, Dobie Gray, Lennie Kravitz, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Primal Scream, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, Afghan Whigs, etc. She reportedly is not related to Chan. She is married to Ardent Studios producer Jeff Powell.

Ann Hines (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=ANN|HINES&sql=11:zu98b5t4tsqj~T4) -- Backing vocals on the tour, not the album. Memphis R&B backup singer who has backed up Lynn White, Three 6 Mafia, and J. Blackfoot, among others.

The musicians are mostly veterans of many Memphis live bands and albums. Many have played in both soul or jazz pro groups, and occasionally in raw, indie rock groups (for instance, on the indie rock side of what they've done, Teenie Hodges, Jim Spake, Roy Brewer, and Doug Easley have all worked with Tav Falco and Alex Chilton on Panther Burns albums & live shows) and are all soulful players with substance (as opposed to being the average slick studio player from LA who wouldn't usually have experience in indie bands).

If I have listed anyone incorrectly I hope Matador will correct me.

[teresa]

thanks gerard... i don't feel picked on. it's ok. that was all just resulting in a talk i had with a friend about the way the internet is changing music. he's doing his thesis on that very subject.

and, when i'm talking about the average myspace user... i think you know what i mean. i hope so anyways. i can't judge too much... i'm on myspace too. i know few people who aren't. it's a cross section of the general population, so it's bound to suck at times. i don't expect people to always agree with me on these things. i'm very sensitive about music i love and get a little irritated at things that others maybe wouldn't. i have strong opinions. and i'm also always looking for a cause and effect relationship to things. for instance... why there are so many more people liking her that i don't think would have before. a definite correlation i've noticed is that the greatest has alot more of an appeal to a wider audience. especially age wise. we saw people from teens to their sixties at the show in san fran. when i play the greatest at my desk at work, my 53 year old co-worker says..."oh, that's very nice music you're listening to."




update: went to the show wednesday night in san francisco. our girl was a little um... SMASHED. she was quite a comedian. doing improvised ballet, tripping over stuff, announcing her "engagement" to benicio del toro. definitely not the same shy little nervous chan from the bar. a guy yelled out "back of his head!!" and she said "no way man, those days are over!" so... it was a little sad that the old songs are probably done with as far as live shows go. but definitely worth the trip just to hear her say:

"hey san fran... y'all got flowers in your hair?"

something else notable about the show: she must have had a sort of reawakening or religious experience (or perhaps was manic / drunk) and changed the lyrics to "hate" to: "i do not hate myself and i do not want to die."

and she danced in the audience. :O crazy.

the opening of the show with "the greatest" was tear-inducingly beautiful. (and apparently merits the making up of new words). the only thing that could have made it better is if she was not as obviously drunkified. but she probably needed to be. it's understandable.

all in all a great show. does anyone know.... is susan marshall (back up singer) any relation?? you could hear inher voice that she had some similar traits to chan's voice, but i could be off. she was GOOD. i would love to hear her sing more. :D

[Moon Pix]

a guy yelled out "back of his head!!" and she said "no way man, those days are over!" so... it was a little sad that the old songs are probably done with as far as live shows go.

*feels confused*

What does this mean? Does The Greatest signify the end of an era for us fans and maybe the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another one in Chan's life? I saw her last year at the Queen Elizabeth Hall when she was playing the new, at the time unreleased songs and she played "Colors & the Kids." If this is the end of something and the beginning of something else I don't know how I feel yet.

As a true fan and admirer of her I would say that her happiness is above everything else, above the music even. It is strange though to think that maybe Chan, and we too if we follow her, are not in the same place that we once were and have been for some time ( about a year and a half for myself but Im sure for some of you folks much longer). I will follow and support her with whatever she wishes to do. I wonder what will happen.

[Cat Fan]

update: went to the show wednesday night in san francisco. our girl was a little um... SMASHED. she was quite a comedian. doing improvised ballet, tripping over stuff, announcing her "engagement" to benicio del toro. definitely not the same shy little nervous chan from the bar. a guy yelled out "back of his head!!" and she said "no way man, those days are over!" so... it was a little sad that the old songs are probably done with as far as live shows go. but definitely worth the trip just to hear her say:

"hey san fran... y'all got flowers in your hair?"

something else notable about the show: she must have had a sort of reawakening or religious experience (or perhaps was manic / drunk) and changed the lyrics to "hate" to: "i do not hate myself and i do not want to die."

and she danced in the audience. :O crazy.

the opening of the show with "the greatest" was tear-inducingly beautiful. (and apparently merits the making up of new words). the only thing that could have made it better is if she was not as obviously drunkified. but she probably needed to be. it's understandable.

all in all a great show. does anyone know.... is susan marshall (back up singer) any relation?? you could hear inher voice that she had some similar traits to chan's voice, but i could be off. she was GOOD. i would love to hear her sing more. :D

Teresa, that's a really helpful post about a show you witnessed. I envy your getting to see one! I hope other people write in about shows they see too.

Oops - I have a later edit to add to my first reply. I mentioned the above description of an SF show to a friend who was present for all the shows and he emailed me back to say she actually was not drinking despite what it looked like to Teresa. He said she was just in a good mood and being goofy (dancing around etc) at the show mentioned, not that it matters because I don't care what she does though I want her to take care of her health obviously. So I guess it just seemed goofy but that was just her being happy. When Chan is drunk, you know because she can't remember the lyrics and stuff, but the show you saw was her on top of things and not drinking. I have been told that the shows actually got progressively better as the tour went along, so I am happy for her. I hope she keeps feeling good and having a good time. Hm, if one can seem drunk and be sober, then maybe that's even better than actually having to be drunk and having a hangover. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fckxGKoA2g -- there are a number of videos to see at youtube, including a couple from coachella.

[teresa]

cat fan - there were two san fran shows. i went to the first one. and let me tell you... i don't care what anyone says. i know what drunk looks like. ;) i'm not saying what she was drinking on stage was or was not alcohol, but she seemed drunk right out of the gate. if i'm wrong, then i'm sorry. :) but she did seem like she was a little loopy.


as far as the end of an era... blah. i don't know. it happened with bjork too. she did a tour where she did all of her old songs and basically told everyone this would be the last time we heard them. i guess people have to move on. i tried relating to it by thinking about what i was like 10 years ago and how i don't really want anything to do with that anymore (kinda like what you were saying moon pix.) it makes me sad, but what can we do? who are her fans to try and keep her attached to something she doesn't relate to anymore?

[thomas]

Teresa, I was at Wednesday's show too and I also noticed that Chan was acting a bit strange. I don't know if that is how she normally is around her friends or whatever, maybe she just felt comfortable with the audience. This was my first time seeing her live and it was very cool. I don't know if she was drunk or not. She almost lost her balance a few times while dancing, but that doesn't necessarily mean she was drinking. I thought it was cute regardless, and I liked when she put on the New Era baseball cap and fumbled around with it. It was a good show, and I really enjoyed it.

EDIT: I also remember her insisting that she was sober that night, but as we all know, we are all "sober" after a few drinks. ;)

[Moon Pix]

I honestly don't think she still drinks very much, considering what she's been through with drink. If you can remember about 90 minutes worth of songs word and note perfect I really have a hard time believing that you are drunk. She's just happy. Accept it. Can't she be happy or something just because her name is Chan Marshall? If she's happier in her life it's nice to see her showing it. If she's overcome her stage shyness its nice to see it as well.:)

[Cat Fan]

all in all a great show. does anyone know.... is susan marshall (back up singer) any relation?? you could hear inher voice that she had some similar traits to chan's voice, but i could be off. she was GOOD. i would love to hear her sing more. :D


Ok, I checked on the tour backup singers with friends who know them and then got their credits from allmusic.com. The backup singers on the tour (evidently not on the album, since chan did her own backups on the album, i think) were:

Susan Marshall Powell (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:6gj4eae14xk7~T4) -- who started out in a Memphis rock group called the Mother Station in the early 1990s, and has since sung backup with North Mississippi All Stars, Dobie Gray, Lennie Kravitz, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Primal Scream, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, Afghan Whigs, etc. She reportedly is not related to Chan. She is married to Ardent Studios producer Jeff Powell.

Ann Hines (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=ANN|HINES&sql=11:zu98b5t4tsqj~T4) -- Memphis R&B backup singer who has backed up Lynn White, Three 6 Mafia, and J. Blackfoot, among others.

(I'm also going to update the info I have in the post I posted about the band earlier in this thread.)

I would have posted this sooner but I was in Memphis this past weekend on a quick trip, sorry. As for your comments about Chan's sobriety during the one show you saw, I can only say that two people I know who were present for each show (they are not audience members) felt that each and every show on this particular tour was increasingly improved (and the tour started out good to begin with!).

I would really like to witness one of the shows if I have time to get out of town to one of them. This is the time to see her. She sounds like she is really strong right now or certainly was on this tour. Good for her, I hope she keeps feeling strong and has a great year.

[Moon Pix]

http://www.susanmarshall.net/biography-1.cfm

One thing I remember reading was that Chan said her sister was a schoolteacher and that she would like to be more like her, working with little children rather than playing music. Since this Susan Marshall seems to have a long history of being a professional singer I strongly doubt they are sisters.

[Cat Fan]

http://www.susanmarshall.net/biography-1.cfm

One thing I remember reading was that Chan said her sister was a schoolteacher and that she would like to be more like her, working with little children rather than playing music. Since this Susan Marshall seems to have a long history of being a professional singer I strongly doubt they are sisters.


Yes, Susan Marshall Powell is a Memphis singer, based in memphis at least the last 16 years, if not her whole life. Growing up as a child, Chan only lived near Memphis for one year of her life, and presumably the same is true of her siblings. Chan's family seems to have a longer connection with Atlanta, (though she obviously is influenced by Memphis music and I think she may have mentioned in the interview link you sent me that her dad liked some Memphis soul music too as well as gospel). Well, you already explained Chan's sister is a teacher so this is sort of unnecessary extra info that I have added here, I guess.