Just out., April 05, 2002, Page 43, Image 43

i.
lumi o u t 4 3
PEOPLE
W
m wmm**
.............W .............
A soulful
concern
Continued, from Page 1
entrepreneur has “always had a thing for spo­
ken word,” she says, “everything from the
Dtxtrs to Ani DiFranco to Sekou Sundiata.”
In the end, Huffman admits she had to “just
let go of all my ideas of exactly what I was
going out to do.” And, she muses, “it’s actually
been more interesting.”
She has definitely come to know her sub­
ject, which has strengthened her desire to pro­
duce the work. “1 never realized how strongly it
affected me until I started going to poetry
events with Aisha. Suddenly it didn’t really
m atter whether there was music behind it or
not; it was all just intensity and intention and
the message behind it.”
Huffman ties this experience into other
musical art forms. “It goes hack to my love for
hip-hop, which to me is just a ’90s version of
folk music—o f the people, by the people, for
the people.... Spoken word is no different than
that, just without the music.”
say, specifically women MCs because there are
The women jumped into the project admit­
so few. Most of them are not women you’ll ever
tedly not really knowing what they were doing,
hear on the radio.... I want to see the women
hut resources quickly came their way. “Every­
thing was very grassroots,” smiles Huffman,
supported out there in every aspect."
Huffman emphasizes the need for opportu­
who set up a “makeshift studio” in her house.
nities for all up-and-coming performers because
She borrowed a four-track from a friend,
of rampant discrimination in
and “it just happens that
A ¡SHA A YFRS
the recording industry—
my downstairs neighbor is
based on race and gender
a sound engineer. I have
and, also, sexual identity.
another friend who has
his own record label in
She says it’s “a bonus for me
to represent other queer folk
town, sti he helped out a
in an industry where that
lot. It was just amazing.”
might otherwise he a point
She is learning the
of contention.”
ropes of promotion and
fxxiking in support of
lthough she’s not a
Ayers’ CD. T he two hope
musician, Huffman has
to take the show on the
had a long and varied
road, as well.
I I T I t H S Í O M X SOl l
love affair with music. “I
Huffman has found
the male-dominated
Venus Flytrack Records’ first release have this weird collection of
women folk singers and old
music and recording
soul, R & B and hip-hop.”
industry to he somewhat challenging. “I am
She’s also into jazz hut admits “for the longest
slightly intimidated by it, hut it just makes me
time 1 was really scared of jazz music because it’s
want to work harder.. .when you read through
so huge.. .1 didn’t know where to start." Typically,
a list of record prexJucers you never even see a
she just jumped in. “I’ve really started getting
woman’s name, ever.”
into a lot of abstract jazz, mixlem fusion. But my
She knows the same gender harriers exist
first love is definitely hip-hop, soul, R & B and,”
for the artists, too. “T h a t’s one thing I really
she grins, “it’s always the ladies that I seek out.”
want to push is women who have something to
DISCOVER
The Possibility o f O w n in g Your Hom e
those were can­
celed, though, “it
was hellacious,”
Huffman
exclaims. “They
let everybody
off...it was 400
artists out of work
in this town.”
She found it
difficult to get
into film or televi­
sion work again,
noting “there’s
definitely a level
of hierarchy here
in terms of getting
work.” Because
most of her expe­
rience was in
coordination and
management and
not in sound,
which is done in
Li» Angeles for
Will Vinton, she
lacked the skills
she needed to
compete with all
that available
labor.
To get more experience, Huffman plans to
Huffman comes to P ortland’s spoken
spend at least a year studying at the C enter for
word and music scene by way of N o rth C ar­
Digital Imaging and Sound in Vancouver,
olina, where she was horn hut, she says,
British Columbia, beginning this fall.
where she never quite fit in. “Everybody
From there, who knows.7
w hen I was growing up always asked if I was
Venus Flytrack, she thinks, is “going to
from New York, so I thought, ‘Hey, maybe I
grow into a bigger concept of a production
should go there.’ ”
company and not specifically a
O ff to Syracuse U niversi­
record label.... I would love to
ty, then, where she received
be a producer. 1 just need
a television and film degree
enough skills to be able to go
and, in th e process, learned
out on my o w n .. .and use a
just enough about sound
professional studio.” The long­
and engineering to pique
term goal is to have her own
her interest. She decided
recording space, “to have
against the obvious choices
access and resources to open
of Los Angeles or New York
—Emily
Huffman
up to other people.” J H
and moved to Portland,
where many of her friends
Write to V e n u s F lytrack R ec o r d s at
had already relocated.
3719 S.E. Hawthome Blvd. #227, Portland, OR
She says the music scene was difficult to
97214. The e-mail address is
break into. A lthough, she notes, th ere’s a lot
funkycat247@yahoo. com.
of music, “I realized really quickly th a t it was
See AlSHA A yers perform cuts from Letters to
all mom-and-pop-sized businesses and
My Soul 7 p m. April 9 at In Other Words,
nobody really needed any help o th er than
3734 S.E. Hawthome Blvd.
everybody th a t was volunteering. So I paid
my dues working in coffee shops...still am,
KRONDA A dair is a Portland writer who loves
as a m atter of fact.”
words with or without music and grooves equally
But she eventually found a place at Will
well to Aisha, Ani and Aretha. Write her at
Vinton Studios working on the Eddie Murphy
ephany@myexcel. com.
series The PJs and U PN ’s Gary & Mike. W hen
“When you read
through a list of
record producers
you never even
see a woman's
name, ever”
anorpho-
phallus
Auto, Home, Life & Business
"Your Independent Insurance Agency”
p □ & □
Elliott, Powell, Baden & Baker, Inc.
la aad O ut at tba Garden
UNUSUAL GARDEN ART
M ike Fahey
Senior Loan Officer
Urns • Pots • Arbors
Trellises • Bird Baths & Lots More
Hom e Financing
Contact us for a P re -a p p ro va l
503 289-5626
-
fa x 5 0 3 -2 8 9 -2 7 6 6
m t fa h e y @ s p lr lt o n e .c o m
Marc Baker
Downtown Portland
(503) 227-1771
w w w .epbh.com
(503) 603-0411
11935 SW Greenburg Rd
T ig a rd (1 Blk O ff 99W on G r w n h u r g ) • O p e n 7 Day*
ve .iust like to say
that nana.
HOGAN & SAN DFRSON
CISTUS
DESIGN NURSERY
• I ] \ \ \ i i ¡ i ¡ ! I ! \ \
I ; i ’ \ I ' ' >1 \ i
i K i l n s i h m \ n \ ) io '
m ' '
'
\ V. '.
i ' 1 1 1 ' '