4 october/november 2006 roundabout

This is the year

You will go!

by nanci tangeman

Crossing Border Festival - No Regrets

Its another article about another festival coming to another venue in

the Netherlands. You think you know what youre going to do: read

the article, maybe skim it for famous names, bands you recognise,

authors youve read. Then youre going to move on to the next

feature in the magazine, completely forgetting to mark your agenda,

or book tickets, or entice your friends out for a cultural adventure.

Then, in December, youre going to kick yourself when someone

says: Did you see Wesley Stace/Cassandra Wilson/Jhelisa Anderson/

Will Self/John Langford/Stuart A. Staples/The Holmes Brothers at

Crossing Border last month? He/she/they were fantastic!

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Jhelisa

roundabout october/november 2006 5

Performing this year at Crossing Border

Admiral FreebeeAmerican Music Club &the film Street AngelAndrew OHaganAnnelies VerbekeArjen DuinkerArjen LubachAukelien WeverlingBart ChabotBas BellemanBenjamin KunkelBernard WesselingBettye LavetteCassandra WilsonCatherine FeenyChad Harbach (n+1)David DanishDBC PierreDe KiftDie SurfpoetenDJ Mike ConaghanGautam MalkaniGjundler AbdullahHassan BaharaHlne GelnsIn the CountryJeffrey LewisJhelisaJohan HarstadJohn Power & his bandJon LangfordJoshua FerrisJulia FranckKarine MartelKeith Gessen (n+1)Laura HirdM.J. HylandMarc Roth (n+1)Marcel MringMark Greif (n+1)Midlake

Mohammed JimmyMohNiccolo AmmanitiNiels t HooftNosfellPanjabi Hit SquadParne Gadje Pim te BokkelPrima DonkeyRichmond FontaineRick Moody & theWingdale CommunitySingersRobert McLiam WilsonRoosbeefSaid El HajiSamira AtariSarah HallStace EnglandStuart A. StaplesSupersilentSusanna & The MagicalOrchestraThe Brian JonestownMassacreThe DramsThe Holmes BrothersThe McCarricksThomas van AaltenTod WodickaTom NaegelsTony ONeillTrachtenburg FamilySlideshow PlayersVikram ChandraWesley StaceWill SelfWilliam BoydXavier RoelenszZz

6 october/november 2006 roundabout

Dont do it. Dont make the same mistakeyouve made before, when you missedDavid Byrne jamming on stage with amentally handicapped actor; or a nervousLou Reed reading his version of TheRaven and discussing its influence withhis wife, Laurie Anderson; or a barefootedMichael Franti collaborating with MarieDaulne (Zap Mama) and Luka Bloom. Orhow about the year you missed DBCPierre, two weeks after hed won theBooker Prize, even before he had a Dutchpublisher?

Read this article. Then book your tickets.Today.

Crossing Border, a festival that these dayscompletely takes over The Hagues cultur-al centre for almost a week in November,started out with a squat and a typo 13years ago.

Back then, the usual venues for literaryperformances were always about thesame: small and quiet, with peoplelistening and nodding approval. Festivaldirector Louis Behre, a big fan of the BeatGeneration, wanted to do some-thing unique. Hedseen poets

perform in a differentway. So he gathered artists such as

painter/poet/author/musician BillyChildish with folk duo The Singing Loinsand poet/photographer/filmmaker GerardMalanga and musician/writer/visual artistLee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth in a squat inThe Hague for the first Crossing theBorder festival.

But it never became the Crossing theBorder festival. Thats where the typocomes in. When Behre had the firstposters printed, somehow the word the

was dropped. Since there was no moneyto reprint, the festival became CrossingBorder. Today, to those people payingattention, the name signals thatsomethings going to be just a little bit different about this festival.

That first festival played to a sold-outsquat. So the next year it moved ontostages. Today there are nine stages, 120 performers and four nights of eventswhere literature, music, film and thevisual arts mix in unique combinations.It is the largest spoken word event inEurope.

Cees Debets, managing director of thefestival, remembers some of the previousperformances. When Henry Rollins washere in 1996, we had 700 people listeningto him. Monica Ali introduced her book,Brick Lane, at Crossing Border. And withDBC Pierre, wed heard rumours abouthis book and invited him herebefore he won the Booker Prizein 2003.

Two weeks before [his appearance atCrossing Border] he won the award and aBBC crew followed him to the festival.

DBC Pierre will return this year topresent the literary magazine To Hell.From 7.30 to midnight well have abunch of musicians and writers workingtogether. They inspire each other: Andrew OHagan, DBC Pierre, Sarah Hall,Richmond Fontaine, Brian JonestownMassacre, says Debets. We did the samething with the n+1 literary magazinewith Benjamin Kunkel who talked aboutwriting and the world with his friends.Its a bit like The Kitchen literary salon inNew York.

In 2001, Crossing Border presented asimilar platform with McSweeneys literarymagazine with author Dave Eggers, alongwith a film by author Arthur Bradford.The film had musical performances withmentally-handicapped people. Several ofthem were in the audience. David Byrne(Talking Heads) was also here and endedup performing with one of them.

You WILL see/hear these peopleSo who are you going to see at CrossingBorder this year since you are goingstraight to the computer or phone toorder your tickets, as soon as you finishreading this?

Crossing Border always features excellentmusic. Sinead OConner, Coldplayand 16 Horsepower have allheadlined at thefestival.

This years programme willopen with Grammy Award-winner

Cassandra Wilson, who released herThunderbird CD in April, a collaborationwith T Bone Burnett.

On Saturday night there will be concertsby Jhelisa Anderson, who got her start asa youngster singing gospel on the road inAmericas South, and soul singer BettyeLavette, whos finishing up her firstpromo tour in 40 years. (The openingconcert and Saturdays concerts usuallysell out another reason to book now!)

Stuart A. Staples, former front man fromthe Tindersticks performed solo at theRoots of Heaven Festival in Haarlem last May. Hell return to Holland atCrossing Border, as will Mark Eitzeland The American Music Club, the indieband out of San Francisco, who reunitedafter a decades break in 2004.

DBC Pierre

roundabout october/november 2006 7

But, as mentioned before, its what themusicians do when theyre not makingmusic that tends to steal the show. JonLangford will not only perform at thefestival in November, but he created the2006 festival poster. Langford is a realCrossing Border artist: a musician, writer,poet and painter, says Debets. The Welshartist, who currently lives in Chicago,will present The Executioners Last Songs, ajourney through time in music, startingwith the punk scene (Langford foundedthe first-wave punk band, The Mekons, in the late70s)

through the death of country music,to societys loss of ideals. The show fea-tures songs from Langfords albums bythe same name, which helped raisemoney and consciousness against thedeath penalty in the US, as well as from his own decades-spanning songbook.

In a timely collaboration, Financial Timesjournalist and author of Londonstani,Gautam Malkani, delves into the subcul-ture of desi beat with Panjabi Hit Squad,the group credited with creating theurban Asian fusion musical genre.Elsewhere at the festival, Stace Englandwill take the audience on a multimediajourney to exotic Cairo a town in theAmerican state of Illinois based onmusic from his Greetings from Cairo, Illinoisalbum (noted as one of the top tenalbums of 2005 by a Village Voice criticspoll). Englands show will feature filmsand photos collected during his five yearsof research, hundreds of hours of conver-sations and countless hours of generalhanging around in the most fascinatingtown in America, bar none, according tothe artist.

Crossing Border is different, not justfor the audience, but for the per-formers. They sense that remarkablethings go on at the festival and theywant to help make them happen.

Once people have performed here,they ask to come back, says Debets.Andy Cairns of rock band Therapy?played acoustic guitar with the

bands cello player,Martin McCarrick,here in 1999. So, afew months ago, wegot an email fromMcCarrick. Hesaid, I was thatcello player andmy wife is aviolin player.We do a livesoundtrackwith oldfilms. Ithink itwould fit

in. Weve invitedthem and well

see how it all works out.

After the musical kick-off onWednesday evening, each night ofthe festival will feature several stageswith 45-minute interviews, perform-ances and readings by the differentartists. We are a festival aboutliterature and music and thats whatwe try to show, says Debets. He tellsabout art rocker Lou Reeds visit in2004.

He came to read The Raven. He was nervous because this is not hiscore business. But hed been inspiredby the story. Indeed, in 2003 Reedhad released a two-CD set called TheRaven. Then his partner, [experimen-tal and performance artist] LaurieAnderson, came up on stage and hada dialogue with him.

These are the moments that make up Crossing Border. We try to make amix. If it works, its magic, saysDebets.

And these are the moments you justdont want to miss. So you knowwhat you have to do. Mark your agenda. Ring your friends. And bookyour tickets now for Crossing Border2006.