SOUNDTRACK: K.T. TUNSTALL-NonComm (May 16, 2019).
Most artists at NonCOMM get about 20 minutes. The headliners get about 40 minutes.
When I saw K.T. Tunstall was playing, I assumed she would get 20 minutes–how could she be a headliner? Didn’t she have one hit like a decade ago with “Suddenly I See.”
But there she was with a 45 minute set. I wondered why. Possibly because she was playing World Cafe Live again the next night for a full show. Or possibly because she had a huge hit that I didn’t realize was hers.
Tunstall was by herself on stage. She had a guitar, a drum machine of some sort, a looping pedal and a kazoo. Having a lengthy set also allowed for a looser, more talkative set. She is very funny, bold, foul-mouthed (in the best Scottish way) and smart.
As the last night at NON-COMM was winding down, K.T. Tunstall was able to give the crowd one last hoorah. Tunstall’s set mixed the old and the new nicely, playing anything from covers and mashups to her most recognizable hits.
Tunstall started the set with “Little Red Thread,” the opener to her most recent release Wax. The tune was carried by Tunstall’s percussive guitar tapping and tambourine playing, and it sure got the crowd going.
It had a four note heavy riff with some echoey chords that propel the song. After two verses she messes something up and says, “that’s a really shitty way to start,” but jumps right back in.
She liked playing the new song but then says, “Let’s trustfall into something familiar.” She asked if anyone had a long-distance relationship. “It’s a really fucking bad idea. It’s good sex; it’s just not regular.” This was an introduction to the quieter “Other Side of the World” off of her 2004 debut Eye to the Telescope. The song opens with looping quiet percussion and her raspy voice singing over a gentle acoustic guitar.
“Backlash & Vinegar” is about someone trying to keep you down. It stays quiet with just her guitar and voice.
She recalled going to a karaoke bar drunk with friends and looking for “Faith” by George Michael which they didn’t have. WTF?! The friend she was with said there was a song there that she knew all the words to. It was her song! What song was it? There’s a bit more story.
When she first came to the States she performed her first shows inside Barnes & Noble stores. They close at 8 so you have to play at 7. There were multiple hot women dressed like Jane Fonda. Finally she asked a woman why she looked like Lydia from Fame. She replied (in Tunstall’s great “American” accent: “Honey. You don’t know? You’re huge in Jazzercise.”
So she plays her jazzercise hit “Black Horse And A Cherry Tree.” This was the massive hit (and it was a massive hit because I’d heard it everywhere) that I had no idea was by her. It starts immediately recognizably with the looped “who-hoo / whoo-hoo” and if that doesn’t remind you of the song, the chorus is “No no / no no no no / no no / you’re not the one for me.” It sounded sport on.
She ends the song with a kazoo (!) rendition of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which she looped in the backgroud of the end of her song.
Up next is “The River” which is about taking a spiritual shower and washing the world from our brains. It’s a catchy folk song that could easily have been a Starbucks hit (and maybe it was).
She then teaches everyone a Scottish word: “jobby” it means “shit.” It’s like the name of the poo emoji. She wrote this song as an antidote to when you have a nice pair of white high tops and just out of nowhere you step in a really big jobby. It’s the kind you cant get off with a stick and you have to go into a meeting with the jobby–it’s a metaphor for life. You can smell it, other people can smell it. And what you need is a song to get you through.
This is the intro to “Feel It All,” a catchy simple guitar riff and a quiet vocal line. I don’t know what these songs sound like on records but they translate into pretty folks songs here.
She felt like with everything going on (a lot of abortion bans being proposed), she needed a cover by a master.
Tunstall banged away as she sang a fantastic cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” mixing in percussive elements with her thrilling vocals once again.
a rocking raw version
She said she likes to be a purveyor of joy but she needs to speak up. She dedicates this song to all the women who have achieved incredible things in their lives. And one of the reasons they’ve been able to achieve it is because they and their partners have had reproductive rights . This song is meant to give strength to any woman who might have it taken away.
And there was the song I knew from her: “Suddenly I See.” She started the song, a shuffling rocker, and said, “Every songwriter is like a juicer. You put a few things in and you hope it doesn’t come out brown and weird. This is what happened when I listened to Patti Smith and Bo Diddley on the same day.”
I never would have thought that on my own, but I sure hear it this time. The song sounds just like I remember it. Her shockingly un-Scottish-sounding vocals and a super catchy chorus.
I’m glad she got a 45 minute set, it was a great re-introduction to someone I liked a while ago.
[READ: June 1, 2019] “The Smoker”
I don’t understand the title of this story, but I really enjoyed it’s odd revelations.
Douglas Kerchek is a teacher of 12th grade A.P. English at a prestigious all-girls Catholic school in New York City.
Nicole Bonner was a standout student. He had already written her a recommendation for Princeton.
She read an entire novel every night and retained what she read. When he proposed a pop quiz, instead of answering the questions, she wrote the entire first page of Moby Dick verbatim.
Although at the end of a recent essay, she had attached a note saying she had noticed the bruise on his ankle and wondered what he had banged it on.
Obviously Douglas was concerned about this. It was far too familiar.
But she was always doing slightly odd things like this. In a class discussion (there were six girls in the class, all of them very smart) of Othello. While the other girls had on topic comments, Nicole said, “You know what’s an excellent word to say out loud repeatedly? Rinse. Think about that Mr. Kercheck. Rinse. Rinse.”
Douglas was thirty-one. He lived alone.
While he was grading essays that night, the phone rang. It was Nicole. When he asked how she got the number, she said it was on the rolodex on the principal’s desk.
Clearly this is red flag territory (even in 2000).
She tells him that John Stapleton is currently nibbling her toes. He did n’t know what to say. She explained that John Stapleton is a cat. John Stapleton is also toilet trained. Her father worked with him for long time and now he sits on the seat and flushes when he is done.
Three weeks later, she had gotten accepted to Princeton. She invited him over to dinner to celebrate. he was uncomfortable about this, but Nicole insisted. Her father was making his famous gnocchi.
When he arrived, Nicole looked stunning in a black dress, Her parents, Samson and Paulette were very friendly, offering sidecars.
But soon Samson seemed to get serious. He asked Douglas questions about himself. But they were a little more than casual chit chat: “teach us something…or no gnocchi for you.” Nicole said her father was serious. So he told them that he believed that the name Lear in King Lear came from the German leer for empty.
Samson approved of this lesson but Nicole was angry: “you never told us that in class!” She said she was disappointed and would not speak again until after the salad course.
Douglas was at a loss, so he asked Samson if he had read most of the beautiful books in the room.
Samson stared hard at Douglas: “I have read each and every one of them cover to cover.” Douglas was impressed and said that was unbelievable. Samson replied, “Oh is that what it is, Mr. Harvard? Unbelievable? You’re a contentious bastard.”
Douglas sputtered and then Samson said, “Ha! Got you!”
After the main course, Nicole’s parents got to the real reason that they had invited Douglas over.
It was unexpected, bizarre and hard to fathom. Was Samson joking again? It made for an excellent story.
It’s hard to believe that one could read this and agree with what’s going on, but they make a convincing case.
There’s also wonderful payoff with John Stapleton. I enjoyed this story a lot even if it made me uncomfortable.
I Just Read About That... 
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