by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
Who: The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Ching Chong Song, and Rickolus
When: December 13
Where: Jack Rabbits
Jason Trachtenburg talks very fast, because he truly has a lot to say. Not that the fantastic and fun live show of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players doesn’t say enough. Jason says the show can easily fit into many categories, from performance art to rock show to multi-media presentation. Jason travels with his family and plays songs inspired by slideshows they purchase at garage sales, estate sales, and various thrift stores from around the country.
“We find people take the most pictures of Christmas, birthdays, and family vacations.”
He plays guitar and sings while his wife, Tina, who operates the projector, and his now-thirteen year-old daughter, Rachel, plays drums. He isn’t worried about her rebelling and leaving the Slideshow players as long as she pursues something she loves, and he sincerely hopes it isn’t emo or alt-country.
“Some musicians just take themselves too seriously. That whole emo thing, and the alt-country too, everything is just so serious. The phrase ‘serious entertainment’ is such an oxymoron. I prefer music that can satire itself. Like metal, metal is great at making fun of itself. And it doesn’t mean it’s bad just because it’s fun. Kyle Gass is a great example of that. Tenacious D is funny, and that guy really has some serious chops. He can play.”
The Slideshow players don’t take themselves too seriously, but under the sense of humor, there is certainly a current of suggestion. Many of the things that are so funny in their show are simply everyday absurdities that we overlook until it is displayed as someone else’s reality on the screen. Their usual performance involves slideshows such as “Mountain Trip to Japan, 1959” which has pictures of an American family on vacation in Japan. Jason makes up delightful songs embellishing on what these characters might be like if we knew them.
The Trachtenburgs also often come across internal corporate slides that were never meant to be viewed by the public. From marketing presentations to pictures introducing the executives of McDonald’s from sometime mid-to-late twentieth century, which Jason sings only the exact word written on the slide. The weight that Jason applies to these slides by transforming them from a seemingly banal slideshow that the family would dread watching or the trainee might sleep through, becomes a hilarious portrait of who we are.
Jason’s background in songwriting spans the country and shows an impressive talent that transcends the simple pop indie songs of the Slideshow Players. As a part of the Anti-Folk movement, Jason is a part of a politically charged music scene in New York that is intent on creating a known genre of music that represents political honesty and morbid realities in a pop, folk song context. It too is satire, in the sense of the paradox the music creates. Jason also collaborated for some time with the legendary Daniel Johnston.
Upset by the idea that Daniel Johnston’s legacy might come down to lithium, mental disorder, and Mountain Dew, Trachtenburg has often railed against the pharmaceutical industry because they tend to cultivate illness for the sake of business, rather than educate people about the healing benefits of better nutrition. He even tried to sneak a nutrient-rich smoothie into a mental hospital in Texas for Johnston, but he isn’t sure that he ever actually ingested it.
The Slideshow Players were formed in Seattle when Tina brought home a slide projector with “Mountain Trip to Japan, 1958” already in the player. He was so mystified by the images and he watched it until he felt he was somehow acquainted with the characters. He wrote songs to accompany the slides and took it on the road to share the magic of this show. After having some success he took the Slideshow Players to New York and there they took off, eventually playing national tours and appearing on Late Night with Conan Obrien.
I asked him if he was more inspired by Joe Jackson or Shirley Partridge.
“Although I really admire the music of Joe Jackson, we recently purchased the Partridge Family DVD, and I have to say they really inspire me. Good work. You hit the nail on the head with that one.”
Jason is also something of a smart ass.
For the performance coming to Jack Rabbits this week, the Trachtenburgs will not be doing their usual set. This performance is titled “Holiday on Ice” and will feature an array of winter and Christmas themed slideshows.
I caught up with Jason at his home in New York before going on tour. He talked too fast for me to type along with, so I held a digital recorder to the earpiece while I talked to him on my cell phone.
JT: I think overuse of cell phones is going to prove to be one of the most damaging things that our generation suffers from. You aren’t on a cell phone right now are you?
EU: Actually, yes. I am.
JT: Well then I’ll keep this short, because cell phones should only be used in case of an emergency. That’s what they are really made for. When someone is dying or in eminent danger. We won’t even know for another ten years the sort of damage cell phones are causing us.
EU: I remember hearing about some study from ten or fifteen years ago that reported cell phones causing brain tumors. What happened to that study?
JT: Someone is making too much money to let studies like that get out.
EU: I bet its another Bin Laden plot.
JT: And here I thought we could get through an entire interview without mentioning Bin Laden.
Ironically, the entire interview was erased from my recorder, so these quotes are as close as I can remember to what he said. When I called the company to ask about the malfunction, they said the transmitter on the cell phone erased the conversation. So the conspiracy has gone into the technology. And don’t be surprised if Jason looks a little peeved when you take a cell phone call in the middle of their set.
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