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[jefflewis]

Hey all,
here's a conversation from the Olive Juice Message Board that I figured ought to be here as well. How awful to flatter myself by reprinting it...

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 8:33pm

Herb
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The Times has a nice, long article on Jeffrey Lewis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/arts/music/jeffrey-lewis-singer-and-illustrator.html?_r=1&ref=arts


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Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:39am #1

beau
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good article
nice to see an intelligent, well-written, fluff-free article

~ beau

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Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:52am #2

Barry Bliss
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Reply
I know so little about Jeff (who helped me move once for free).
When I read some article like this I learn something I never knew.

The writing (NY Times) was a bit mundane to me, but I have seen worse.

PS Jeff, in my experience, is sort of like diane cluck, Adam Green, Kimya Dawson, Lippe, and a few others I have met at Sidewalk.
They tend to give unconditionally and then if something comes to them in return it does.

http://barrybliss.info/

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Wed, 11/23/2011 - 10:11am #3

MMM
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Olive Juice Music is the
Olive Juice Music is the exclusive online distributor for Jeff's comics and his last collaboration album with Peter Stampfel. That's saying something about his dedication to this community. He understands the importance in maintaining that connection. It's a real thing with him. Not just a press quote. The guy's got buckets of talent and I'm happy to have called him a friend for many years. But don't fool yourself. He's also a very smart business person and very, very, very dedicated when it comes to working on his craft and getting it "out there." He deserves every bit of credit he gets and more. It ain't just karma.

"Here to do great things."

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Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:33am #4

Barry Bliss
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Man
I wish I was never inspired to say or type anything.

http://barrybliss.info/

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Wed, 11/23/2011 - 12:24pm #5

MMM
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Woman.
Luckily, that feeling will pass. (I'm glad you do.) I'm sorry if what I wrote hurt your feelings Barry. The word "unconditional" always triggers something in me for some reason.

"Here to do great things."

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Sat, 11/26/2011 - 5:38pm #6

Steve E.
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The Mercury Lounge show last
The Mercury Lounge show last night featuring Toby Goodshank, Diane Cluck with Anders Griffen, and Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard (Jack, Dave and Nan), was stunning.

Everyone was great, and I think that's the best I have EVER heard Jeff with band. Jack's bass playing was a mindblower, and everyone was so tuned in. There was such a positive vibe, and the many new songs were fantastic.

Diane also played a lot of new stuff, including series of short songs strung together, very exciting. There was a nice blended vocal duet with Abbey Todras--impossible to tell who was singing what. Toby is operating at an additional depth of feeling and melodic invention.

Perhaps this should be its own separate thread, and I feel a little silly stringing together so many superlatives, but WOW, what a show.

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Sun, 11/27/2011 - 6:44am #7

MMM
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Totally.
Nan Turner upped everyone's game. (IMHO)

"Here to do great things."

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Sun, 11/27/2011 - 11:08pm #8

Steve E.
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Super nice article. For some
Super nice article. For some reason I wasn't clicking links for a few days. Just read it.

I even learned things I didn't know!

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Mon, 11/28/2011 - 12:34am #9

Jeff Lewis
Online
Hey all, thanks for the kind
Hey all, thanks for the kind words!

(Steve, I wonder what you could have learned from that article that you didn't know already!)

My own impression of the NY Times article:

I'm certainly glad to have had that article appear in print. I wonder how many people at the Mercury Lounge show might have only been there because they read that article, having never heard of me before?

As usual with any press on me that I've seen, big or small, I disagree with the impression that the article gives of me and my work. But if that's the impression that the journalist had, then I guess that's the impression that I give, so I suppose that's who I am (as opposed to who I may think I am).
I really don't think of myself as a Woody Allen character, I'm not even much of a Woody Allen fan (at least just thru lack of exposure to most of his stuff, I'm sure I'd like more of his movies if I saw them). I don't think that anxiety about my personal failings at love and fame is the primary focus of my songs. Yes, maybe it IS the primary focus of a whole bunch of my songs, but there's a whole bunch of other ones that have nothing to do with that at all. At least in my own mind.

And I really don't like the photo they chose - that guy took about 100 pix of me, and they seem to have purposefully picked a photo that was NOT meant to be a decent photo of me but rather a photo that saves them from having to say in the article "isn't it interesting that an ugly guy is surviving in the music biz?" I know the photo basically IS what I look like, but it seems to have been chosen specifically to be unflattering. I feel like if I was looking at their batch of 100 pix of me, and I was trying to choose just a nice normal photo of me, the one they picked would not have made it into my top 70 choices. All I'm saying is that I don't think they WANTED to present a decent photo of me, I think they sort of cunningly wanted to pick a photo that said "awkward-looking" in order to save them the trouble of saying it in print.

Basically I thought the article didn't focus on the music and art in and of itself, which I suppose was not the point, but which I THOUGHT was going to be more of the point.

If I was a random person reading that article I might think "hmm, it's interesting that this fellow exists," but I probably wouldn't read it and think "wow, sounds great, I'd like to go to a store and buy his record right now!" My webpage experienced a total of 65 hits from the NY Times article. So there you go.

But it was certainly complimentary enough, waaay better than a bad review, and hopefully darn good exposure, possibly the best I've ever gotten in America.
And I had a great time at the Mercury Lounge show!!!!! Absolutely awesome to have such a great crowd, great openers, great sound quality (at least from where I stood on stage), a great set and great feeling all around. A much-needed rescue for my band from the US tour doldrums.
Thanks again to everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cambridgemathlesson]

Well... The article is certainly very informative. The journalist probably had his angle and knew how to present Mr Lewis before they even met. The presentation seems to have been written for those who want to know who Jeff Lewis is, rather than those who would like to listen to his music/read his comics.

And the photo - it reminded me of those pictures with cherub angels on a cloud...