Nothing gonna stop me now
March 11, 2012 12:55 PM Subscribe
"The sorrow of loss, the pain of being unable to regain those lost cherished moments, but the wherewithal to keep on." Vermont musician Anais Mitchell asked director Jay Sansone to make a video for her song "Coming Down". Jay turned to neglected cans of film in his grandparents' abandoned house. The result is a beautifully emotional combination of sound and vision.
I first chance I got to hear Anaïs play was shortly after moving to Vermont in 2005 and turtlegirl and I were living in Montpelier. Anaïs was playing with a friend of Jessamyn's (Robert Blake) in a band called Tin Pan Caravan (video: Anaïs playing her song '1984' with the group), and the group was playing the Langdon Street Cafe (RIP). The group seemed to be having a lot of fun on that cramped stage, but at one point two guys at the bar started arguing and it looked like there would be a fight. Robert came flying off the stage with his guitar and stepped between the two would-be combatants and just started playing his guitar and singing to them. They quickly lost their fire, calm resumed, and the music went on.
Anaïs started working the cafe and playing on occasion — even having a fund-raiser for the little cooperative cafe. I would stop in to get a muffin and coffee sometimes just to listen to her distinctive voice, whether she was speaking or singing. She really is as down-to-Earth as she sounds in interviews.
Glad to hear she has found a wider audience. I like what I have heard from the new CD. Still miss The Langdon Street Cafe though.
posted by terrapin at 4:23 PM on March 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
Anaïs started working the cafe and playing on occasion — even having a fund-raiser for the little cooperative cafe. I would stop in to get a muffin and coffee sometimes just to listen to her distinctive voice, whether she was speaking or singing. She really is as down-to-Earth as she sounds in interviews.
Glad to hear she has found a wider audience. I like what I have heard from the new CD. Still miss The Langdon Street Cafe though.
posted by terrapin at 4:23 PM on March 11, 2012 [2 favorites]
Pretty. I'm a sucker for old footage set to sad songs. Just thinking about those handsome men now old and feeble, those dogs long buried in backyards, and those children now grandparents...it brings a tear and a bit of heartswell to watch them waving to camera with all their youthful joy.
posted by troublewithwolves at 8:05 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by troublewithwolves at 8:05 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
troublewithwolves: "Pretty. I'm a sucker for old footage set to sad songs. Just thinking about those handsome men now old and feeble, those dogs long buried in backyards, and those children now grandparents...it brings a tear and a bit of heartswell to watch them waving to camera with all their youthful joy"
Exactly so. I'm old enough now that all of my aunts and uncles are passed from the scene, and in old photos and films they are alive and vibrant and young and smiling at the camera, and for the camera. The scratches on the film and the old styles and old cars tell the tale, and any film made of me today would tell its tale also of course.
And the song behind it, just perfect. A moving video.
I went to her site, found she is going to be in town (Austin) for SXSW, playing Wednesday night, 40 minute show. No information that I can find anywhere as to whether I can purchase a ticket at the door or not, most of this thing is all sewed up anymore, if you haven't bought a wristband you pretty much are cut out of many of the better shows, if not most of the better shows. Hope I get to see her, wish me luck........
posted by dancestoblue at 12:57 AM on March 13, 2012
Exactly so. I'm old enough now that all of my aunts and uncles are passed from the scene, and in old photos and films they are alive and vibrant and young and smiling at the camera, and for the camera. The scratches on the film and the old styles and old cars tell the tale, and any film made of me today would tell its tale also of course.
And the song behind it, just perfect. A moving video.
I went to her site, found she is going to be in town (Austin) for SXSW, playing Wednesday night, 40 minute show. No information that I can find anywhere as to whether I can purchase a ticket at the door or not, most of this thing is all sewed up anymore, if you haven't bought a wristband you pretty much are cut out of many of the better shows, if not most of the better shows. Hope I get to see her, wish me luck........
posted by dancestoblue at 12:57 AM on March 13, 2012
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Now to buy tickets for one of her shows! (Although I still feel bad that I seem to have missed my chance to see Hadestown in Europe.)
Previously on Hadestown.
posted by smcg at 2:19 PM on March 11, 2012