The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

In the 1980s, the mall was the place to be and there is a reason why modern society is nostalgic for that insulated wonderland of days gone by. Before the internet and our endless stream of information, there was less to process, and fewer things to worry about. Blissfully ignorant innocence was on full display amid indoor atriums, food courts, and all the shopping one could hope for. Most significantly, the mall gave American youth their first taste of adult-level freedom.

When the Muzak wasn’t playing, one might have heard a cavernous echo of sound floating down the corridors and followed the noise to discover its origin. If you were lucky enough, you’d find teen-icon, pop princess, Tiffany performing her inescapable hits in front of adolescent multitudes. These performances were innovative in that they were engineered to bring the music to where the fans already were, rather than the other way around.

A lot has happened since those days: America is different, the malls aren’t the same and neither is Tiffany. Like the rest of us, she has grown and matured and recently released a brand-new album titled, Shadows, which is a hard-hitting rock record looking toward the future with one or two winks at those past golden days. Sure, the mall still exists now, and as you’ll learn, Tiffany might even be found walking the halls, but - for those of us who remember the old days - it’s different, the world isn’t the same. But, Tiffany’s optimism and dedication to her craft invites us to inject a little of that much-needed 1980s buoyancy into our modern world.

The great alt-country band Whiskeytown had only two permanent members during its tenure: one of them was Ryan Adams and the other was Caitlin Cary. While Caitlin’s name will always be intertwined with that band’s history, she’s also got a history all her own. After the group disbanded, Caitlin decided it was time for her to share the songs that may not have gotten the attention they deserved in her previous group. So, after connecting with Chris Stamey and Yep Roc Records, in 2002 she released her first solo album titled, While You Weren’t Looking.

Well, while we weren’t looking, the album has now turned 20 years old and Yep Roc is giving the album a remaster, a reissue, and is finally putting Caitlin’s music on vinyl where her compositions seem yearning to belong.

Caitlin joins me to discuss her transition from those wild and wooly Whiskeytown days to her own solo career. We also explore how her songs may be ripe for a new audience in the 21st century. Nowadays, Caitlin enjoys her time as a noted visual artist creating needleprint designs and running her own art gallery - The Pocket - in Raleigh, North Carolina.

But, as she traverses through her latest life’s incarnation, every once in a while, she must get flashes of those heady Whiskeytown days and the creation of her own music. Even though she’s more or less left the music world behind, she’s still pleasantly amused that the music she released those two decades ago still reverberates today.

Nobody likes to be pigeonholed; we all have different aspects to us that we’d like to be appreciated for. Life is short, and even though it takes a long time to become a master at something, there’s still time to become recognized for something else.

Juna Molina comes from a family of artists and entertainers and was one of the most widely recognized comediennes in her home country of Argentina. Even with that success, she still yearned to explore her musical interests. As is often the case with entertainers who switch tracks during their careers, the public who adored her for her comedy skills was not so sure about following her on this musical journey. However, Juana persisted and soon enough - after discovering her excellent second album Segundo - David Byrne invited her to be the opening act on one of his North American tours and the rest was history. Juana is now an internationally respected musician specializing in experimental electronic indipop music.

While she and I talk about all of these things, we’re really here to discuss her label’s efforts in reissuing an album that was important to a young Juana. Originally released in 1971, Musicasión 4 1/2 is a rare LP which was released in Uruguay and it features recordings of a series of performances by a group of artists who mixed theatrics, poetry, and improvised stage effects with rock and Latin American rhythms. During the pandemic, Juana reconnected with an old friend who had recently been given access to unreleased and rare recordings of the same musicians on the original album. Juana knew that the time was right for her new record label Sonamos to reissue the album and give it the 50th anniversary it rightly deserved.

So, join me and Juana - who joins me from Argentina - to discuss her career, Musicasión 4 1/2 and how it’s never too late to change the trajectory of your life, as long as you allow yourself to follow your heart’s true passions.

Every so often, there is a member of a well-known band who truly blooms after stepping into the spotlight on their own terms. Such is the case for Eric Slick who is also the drummer from that fabulous band from Philadelphia, Dr. Dog.

In 2020, Eric released his second solo recording - <i>Wiseacre</i> - via Bandcamp which - given the current state of the the rabid vinyl buying community - sold out pretty quickly. In conjunction with ORG Music, Mr. Slick has reissued the album on red and yellow vinyl, of course.

It’s always a little interesting when a drummer takes the reigns. A world of critical eyes are upon them: will they be able to make the move from the drum throne to center stage, will they have the chops, the guts, and the vision? A cursory listen to Slick’s Wiseacre not only confirms his ability to make such a move, it leaves mouths agape at the quality and craft that he’s brought to both his writing and performance. He’s not just playing drums either, while Butch Walker produces, Eric plays almost all of the instruments you hear. If it ain’t him, he’s joined by his talented wife, Natalie Prass and Steven Drozd who was on loan from The Flaming Lips.

Eric joins me to talk about the new album, and we do it in a location familiar to many rockstars: the van. But, this time, perhaps teeming with apt symbolism, Eric holds our discussion from the driver’s seat.