Fulcrum Conversation: Secret Twins, September 2010

The singer of Secret Twins, Dina Bankole, who has been playing music off the grid for years, made her debut to the listening public in a way befitting her remarkable talents: in Scotland, laying down vocal tracks for Stuart Murdoch’s (singer/songwriter of Belle & Sebastian) musical-film project God Help the Girl. She returned to Michigan and purchased a used 8-track, which was essentially the impetus for writing, recording, and playing her own songs live. However, for Secret Twins, the big bang did not happen until Bankole met the belligerent whirlwind of chaos and merriment that is Tim Thomas. It was 2009, and the snow was finally beginning to melt.
Thomas had made a name for himself as a bat-out-of-hell rock bulldozer, opening unforgettable cans of whup-ass on drums in the latter half of the 00’s, most notably with Ypsilanti-based bands Boywife and Invader. He connected with Bankole after sounds of her singing reached him on the street while she was practicing for a show happening later that night, her first under the name Secret Twins. Thomas happened to be outside chatting with friends when Bankole’s voice penetrated his muffed ears and triggered a veritable musical coup-de-foudre. He knew he would be asking her that night after the gig if she needed a drummer: unsolved mystery solved, twin discovers twin.
After nearly one year and dozens of remorseless and spellbinding shows from Ypsilanti to Louisville, Secret Twins signed with Ann Arbor label Quack Media in February of 2010. The label support has helped them branch out to Chicago, New York, Boston, and places in between. A glimpse of life on the road with Secret Twins: the exiting and seductive celebration that is an ST live show, logging miles to the gritty comfort of Leonard Cohen, and certainly at some point, you may find Bankole, Thomas, and friends in a diner, dead tired from the road, laughing until they cry, spurred on by the spectacle of Thomas’ mouth chocked full of mashed taters and gravy (Was it the disgusted looks on their vegetarian/vegan faces that got him going?).
In late June/early July of this year, Secret Twins recorded their anticipated debut album entitled Ill Fit. The release show is slated to take place on September 11th at the Blind Pig; the hometown crowd is all atwitter. Bankole invited longtime friend and Hospital Garden front man Lucas Hollow as well as the talented Fred Thomas to join her and Tim Thomas in Benton Harbor, Michigan to record the album. Jessica Ruffins and Bill “Willy” Skibbe controlled the boards during the production of Ill Fit, which was recorded at the Keystone Recording Co. Bankole describes the weeks of recording as a pleasant mélange of “vegan food, tales of old, dogs, bike rides, freak outs, and risky experiments.” Secret Twins emerged from the studio in Benton Harbor triumphant, satisfied, and proud with what they had made; fireworks were exploding in the sky.

Tim Thomas and Dina Bankole, Secret Twins, join us for a Fulcrum Conversation.

D = Dina
T = Tim

Who are two artists, musicians or non-musicians, you respect?

D - Leonard Cohen, JD Salinger, & Georgia O'Keefe

T - The Baha Men, John Kricfalusi

What makes you feel nostalgic?

D - There's no such thing as the “good ol’ days.”

T - skateboarding in muskegon, dogs, rap

Of all your traveling, what is a place/time that stands out in your mind?

D - how every beach in every country calms. ocean, sea, or lake.

T - While bored waiting for a bus in Ecuador with my sister, I defaced a KFC place mat and made it look like- instead of eating chicken, the colonel had just given a super messy blow job.

What’s your favorite thing about Ypsilanti?

D - Beezy's vegan split pea soup. Jerusalem Garden's vegetarian grape leaves.

T - I just love walking in Ypsilanti. It has some of my favorite outdoor boozing spots in the world.

What’s the last thing that made you laugh really hard?

D - Finding a baby picture of myself looking rather cross eyed and confused and realizing that nothing much has changed. That and a well timed poop joke.

T - It was absolutely nothing...just dead tired exhausted on tour with Dina and T-Bone in a diner. I just started laughing out of nowhere with a mouth full of mashed potatoes and gravy till we were all crying. It may have been the tired, disgusted looks on their vegan/ vegetarian faces that got me going, then us going. It wore me out.

Is there anything that you would call ‘an inspirer of songs?’

D - morning sunlight & the air all around. the suffocating dark. messy houses. anchor weights and a means of escape.

T - butts, rap, the floor tom, driving, dancing, tapping

Anyway you’d part with the flying V?

D - Sweet Louise & I are bound and bonded by blood. We both go down together.

T - As soon as she turns her back that thing is pawned...sike!

What is the ultimate stage?

D - MONSTER JAM

T- Yep

Will Secret Twins tour in 2010?

We're planning a two week east coast/southern tour for late OCT / early NOV!

Fulcrum Conversation: David Berman, January 2008 Revisit

David Berman is the author of Actual Air (1998) and The Portable February (2009). He has also contributed to The Baffler and The Minus Times. His band, Silver Jews, released six albums on Drag City Records from 1994 to 2008 and is the subject of a 2006 documentary film entitled Silver Jew, also released by Drag City. New York based writer Jeremy Schmall reported this summer that Berman is currently working on his own documentary film.

Thank you DCB for your writing and Silver Jews music.



The following is an interview with David Berman that I conducted in January of 2008. It first appeared in Issue #19 of Ghettoblaster Magazine. I recently looked into my archives and decided that I am just too proud of this interview not to have it featured here on the Fulcrum.

Berman = Bold

The Tennessee Titans make an appearance in the liner notes of Tanglewood Numbers and the place kicker for the Falcons is referenced in the song Dallas. On what level are you interested in the world of pro (or college) sports?

When I was younger, 77-82, those were my most passionate NFL years. I was the type who cried at the glory of a slow motion Earl Campbell clip anchored by some building gooey soft rock.
I stepped away from fantasy football this year, in order to concentrate on the album. Every once in a while, during the season I'd look up and be like, wait, San Diego is good again?

What would you like people to know about the documentary Silver Jew?

The last day we were there, the war with Hezbollah in the north started. We left that night, thinking all the people we'd met were likely to be dead by the time we got home.

What advice would you give to someone traveling to Israel for the first time?

Study about it before you get there.

How many letters do you receive in a given month, and how many are you able to respond to?

Maybe 100 per year. I respond to all of them.

Did you do anything special for Hanukkah?

I lit the candles every night, and placed them in a window so it
could be seen in the street.

Marrano's were Spanish Jews who pretended to convert
to Christianity to survive the inquisition.
They had tiny secret synagogues in their houses.
People still discover them today behind walls.
It means something when you say “I am a Jew,” in a conspicuous way. History says it's a risk. I love it.

What's the best and worst thing about living in Nashville?

The best thing: proximity to music history
The worst thing: cruel and selfish anti-tax movements

Where did you and Cassie meet?

At a party, the night after thanksgiving 1998 in Louisville.
Someone told me her name and I had one of those “what the hell”
impulses and introduced myself.

I heard you on NPR a few months ago, which forced me to wonder,
where do you generally get your news?

The New York Times, Haaretz

What's the surliest thing you have ever done?

That's impossible to answer on at least three counts!

With regards to Silver Jews, what is the biggest risk you have ever taken?

I'll say the band name was not one predicted to go the distance.

This May, Silver Jews are scheduled to play the All Tomorrow's Parties Festivals in England and Spain, and over the past two years you have logged many miles with the band in Europe. Is there a city in Europe that stands out to you?

I liked Toulouse and Paris the best I think.
This year we are going to play Germany, Austria and Poland
with a great Israeli band, Monotonix.

You were recently quoted on Billboard.com saying in regards to the new album, “It's really different in that the songs have more epic settings.” What has you thinking so prodigiously?

World turmoil? Reading Torah. Beloved Isolation.

Any disasters during Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, or did the process go smoothly for you? (I heard the studio burned down last time during the recording of Tanglewood Numbers.)

It's happening again, the process. As we speak, it's back on the table with its chest split open.

What is the most memorable dream you've had? (Or any memorable dream.)

When I was very young I was haunted by a dream that I had when I was even younger. It had to do with everybody going out to dinner, leaving the house, all dressed up nice. I am trapped underneath the coffee table in this bed of flames that holds me there, in the embrace of an old man made of flames that crackles
and they can't hear me or see me and I can't get their attention...
I just see their ankles as they go out.

Fulcrum Conversation: Todd Rohal, September 2009

The Movable Fulcrum is honored to feature an interview with filmmaker Todd Rohal as our inaugural Fulcrum Conversation. Todd's 2006 debut feature film, The Guatemalan Handshake, starred Will Oldham and played at over 30 film festivals in the USA and Europe. His answers are in bold.



Did you do anything interesting this summer?

I don't know if it's interesting, but I moved to Texas. Having only been in the state previously for a total of 6 days, I decided it was time to change the channel and get to a place where I could eat a hamburger while watching 976-EVIL. It's been a very good decision so far. No regrets.

Who are two directors you really respect?

David Byrne made one terrific narrative film, True Stories, and left it at that. I respect that a lot. I like that very much.

David Gordon Green also has all my respect and admiration. David Byrne shot True Stories in David Green's hometown shopping mall. They are connected.

Do you have any strong views about television?

I now have an HD tuner for my TV, so the news is in HD, for free. The CBS Sunday Morning show is also in HD, for free. Otherwise, I don't know what's on like I used to. I had Saturday morning's schedule memorized as a kid as well as the weekday prime time lineups. I have doubts that kids do that anymore. Does anyone under 16 anxiously await getting home at night to see NCIS?

In your life, have you had any that dreams that stand out?

I've woke up laughing 3 or 4 times in my life, but I can not remember what I was dreaming about.

As someone from central Ohio, what is one thing about the Midwest that makes you proud?

No one scoffs at you for eating a fajita in Ohio....that, and no one gives a shit about what's going on in France.

Handshake Related

Was the photo in the film of Ken Byrnes, Willie Mays, and the world’s largest piece of bubblegum real?

You bet. Ken Byrnes was a VP at Topps, who made Bazooka and baseball cards. Our production designers Jim McNamee and Sage Rockermann found that photo hanging on Ken's wall at home.

The Guatemalan Handshake was selected to appear at over 30 film festivals in the US and Europe. Did you get to attend many of them? Where there any surprises there?

I tried to attend as many as possible. I spent a year and a half without an address, just going from place to place, to festivals and screenings navigating the world of self-distribution, which is finally being embraced as a legitimate form of releasing a film. At the time i was doing it...only a few years ago...people at the screenings we booked would still ask who my distributor was -- as I stood in the theater showing it to them.

I understand the desire to have a distributor for your film...it's the same as the desire to have someone write you a check to pay for your film's production up front.

I have always been fascinated by film music theory. What can you tell us about the music in the Guatemalan Handshake?

There's a lot of music in the film -- foreground, background and buried in the cracks of scenes.

For the score, my friend W. Clay composed some music after seeing a rough cut and I worked it into the film. David Wingo composed music for scenes once the film's cut was locked. Gretta Cohn created some tracks on cello this way as well. Everyone lived in different cites and we didn't meet until after the film was complete.

For the other tracks in the film, they came from a lot of different sources. Kongar-ol Ondar is a Tuvan throat singer who's music was documented in a wonderful film called Genghis Blues. I found his music and a track by Huun-Huur Tu by downloading tracks through LimeWire.....doing searches for god knows what at 2am. It was even tougher to track down the rights owners after finding the tracks I liked.

Vollmer is a band out fo Virigina who I had met while working on the DVD for Heavy Metal Parking Lot. You'll see them in one of the bonus features. They're the real deal -- playing metal for years in Virginia. Their guitarists wife is one of the lucky folks captured by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn in that Maryland parking lot.

The Moldy Peaches song was re-written by the actors (Will Oldham and Sheila Scullin) with Kimya Dawson and Adam Green's permission.

What was it like to work with Will Oldham?

He was a lot of fun. I wrote the script while listening to each of his albums, in order. He was cast as a bit of a fluke...asking him to come out for a one-day role, but it turned into a bigger role. Although it's not shown in Guatemalan Handshake as much as it could have been, he'd be able take on a comedy role just as easy as the dramatic roles he's done and in a way very few actors would be able to pull off successfully.

What can you tell us about the process of writing a feature film?

I take a lot of time. I rewrite a lot. I make a big distinction between rewriting and revising. Rewriting means writing the entire script over again, with new ideas, different characters and new scenes -- usually from page one. I don't plan on doing this, no one in their right mind would do this purposefully...but I continue to do it and it's awful while it's happening...but each new draft is always better than the last. New ideas emerge constantly. I've been working on a script for 2 years now and have rewritten it 8 times with multiple revisions between those drafts. Each rewrite barely resembles the last. I like draft 2 as much as I like draft 6, but for whatever reasons, the new drafts keep coming.

Other and New Work

Do you see yourself doing any more acting in the future?

I don't think anyone is calling for that anytime soon.

In approximately ten years since making short films such as Knuckleface Jones and Hillbilly Robot, how have you changed as a director?

I'm asking for more permission and giving more information now.

Can you tell us anything about the film you are currently working on? Does it have a title? I understand it is somewhat autobiographical.

I have two scripts ready to go and currently working on making each happen. One is slightly based on my time in the Boy Scouts, but extremely exaggerated and told from an entirely different POV. The other is a comedy I co-wrote with a friend that resembles nothing referenceable.