105: Blunderbuss
Podlandia: A-O Rewatch with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein
Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein rewatch Season 1, Episode 5 of 'Portlandia' titled 'Blunderbuss,' exploring the episode's origins inspire
Key takeaways
- The name 'Blunderbuss' emerged from playful word association and alliteration rather than a direct reference to any real event or concept.
Main topics
- Origins of the 'Blunderbuss' music festival concept
- Cultural significance of concert flyers and posters in indie music history
Notable quotes
'It was a real, it was like a focal point of the week. We've got to put up these flyers. How are we going to do it?'
Conclusion
The episode reflects on how personal memories of music culture—like pastin
Transcript preview
Speaker 6 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Speaker 3 (0:04) What up? This is Jay Valentine, co-host of the R &B Money Podcast alongside my brother, R &B legend, Tank. Together, we've built a space for artists, executives, and fans of R &B music to reminisce and tell the real stories behind the music. I Speaker 7 (0:17) have no money. I was hood famous. Speaker 3 (0:18) They think you're going to get everybody out. Speaker 7 (0:19) We lived in a project. Real Love came out. They're hearing the music and we had nothing. From Speaker 3 (0:24) Smokey Robinson to Mary J. Blige, B2K to Jill Scott, if you're a super dedicated R &B fan, This is where you belong. Listen to R &B Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (0:38) Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I talk to actor Stephen Root. I'm a people watcher. You see that guy going down the street and go... Yeah, I can use that. And Open Igloo co-founder Alia Mohamed. Speaker 7 (0:51) I love staying on top of what is going on in our city, what is on renters' minds, and taking all of that knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to make New York City better in the long run. Speaker 1 (1:03) Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 8 (1:12) Hey, it's Bobby Bones. Join me and former NFL quarterback Matt Castle every Wednesday on our podcast, Lots to Say, with me, Bobby Bones, and Matt Castle. You're in training camp, and the rookie quarterback has one good throwing session in front of the media. Suddenly, everybody online says he should start over you week one. How do you handle this? You just go back out to practice the next day and wait for him to mess up. Listen to Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 30 Speaker 5 (1:42) years ago, an island off Manhattan almost brought down New York City. Who will you trust? Your friends and neighbors? Or will you trust the people five miles overseas? This is a story about neighbors turning on each other and what happens when a forgotten place decides it's had enough. Speaker 1 (1:59) But we're not stopping, are we? Speaker 5 (2:03) Listen to Revisionist History, The Staten Island Problem on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 1 (2:11) Hey, what's up? I'm Tony Gonzalez. And I'm October Gonzalez. But you can call me Toby. We want you to join us on our new podcast, No Safe Words with October and Tony Gonzalez. We get real about marriage, parenthood, sex, divorce, and all the nitty gritty stuff we all think about, but just don't say out loud. You're probably just going to meet some rich guy and he's going to whisk you away. This is awkward. Listen to No Safe Words with October and Tony Gonzalez on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaker 4 (3:13) You're watching Hotlandia. Hi, I'm Fred Armisen. And Speaker 6 (3:18) I am Carrie Brownstein. Speaker 4 (3:19) And this is AO Rewatch. So, today, we're going to talk about, from season one, episode five, Blunderbuss. Speaker 6 (3:31) Blunderbuss, which is the made-up music festival. Speaker 4 (3:34) Kind of like many music festivals that you know already. I don't know how the name came to us. Speaker 6 (3:41) I Speaker 2 (3:41) know. I'm trying to think, like, doing word association, like, what we would have been thinking, Blunderbuss. Like, it's not... Lollapalooza. It's not like, Speaker 6 (3:52) and there's ones that came after it that sound like it, but I'm trying to think of something that came before. Anyway. I Speaker 4 (3:57) wonder if it's more like that. It was the syllables, the amount of syllables. Yeah. The alliteration. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 (4:03) The kind of nonsensical, but almost makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4 (4:08) I think that that first season, we just set aside this, we just wanted to talk about music festivals and. It was almost like an excuse to do something more about the music scene. Speaker 6 (4:20) In my mind, this is another John Kreisel, who's one of our Speaker 2 (4:24) co Speaker 4 (4:25) -creators. Speaker 6 (4:26) Like Speaker 2 (4:26) this got in his head. Like he was like... do a music festival. Yes. Am I right? That Speaker 4 (4:32) sounds right. Speaker 2 (4:33) Yeah. And this is one of the many episodes, but certainly features probably more than most where we have real life musicians. That's right. This has two members of the Decembrists, Colin Malloy and Jenny Conley, Corin Tucker, who is my longtime friend and bandmate in Slater Kinney, and James Mercer from The Shins. Am I missing anyone else? Speaker 4 (5:00) No, that's it for this one. For music. Speaker 6 (5:02) For Speaker 4 (5:02) music. And they play a band. They Speaker 6 (5:06) play a band. Echo, Echo. Speaker 4 (5:08) Echo, Echo. And so we start the, well, the whole episode starts with the cold open of flyers being pasted on top of each other. One Speaker 6 (5:17) of the only cold opens I can think of, although I have not yet rewatched all eight Speaker 2 (5:22) seasons, but we are not in it. And that's pretty rare. Speaker 4 (5:26) Yeah. Speaker 2 (5:26) It is Doug Lusenhop. You don't see his face really, but Doug Lusenhop was our editor at the time, editor for many seasons. It's him. Yeah. And he is putting up flyers. And he's kind of aggressively, hurriedly putting up flyers. It's a very like percussive, it's actually a very musical cold open. Speaker 4 (5:48) Yes. Speaker 2 (5:48) Which is, I think, also a real like common feature of the show is to edit in a kind of musical way. It vacillates between this very like percussive music and then this kind of these dulcet tones as the flyers change to this woman. Putting up a missing cat flyer. Speaker 4 (6:08) Yeah. And it's kind of frenetic too. Yes. It just jumps around a lot. But I like it because the message is, it's just something that must happen all the time. Speaker 2 (6:20) Yeah. It tells a story visually. Speaker 4 (6:22) Yeah. This missing cat. Speaker 2 (6:23) Yeah. It reminds me of the bike rights guy. Speaker 4 (6:30) Yeah. Speaker 2 (6:31) Another very music-based, percussive kind of editing. where there's like a lot of drums and stuff yeah Speaker 4 (6:38) i also it reminded me also of um uh back in the day or in the 90s where when i was in a band and how much I did go through or many musicians went through putting up flyers. Oh Speaker 6 (6:53) boy. Yes. It Speaker 4 (6:54) was a real, it was like a focal point of the week. We've got to put up these flyers. How are we going to do it? We'd use sometimes, you know, wallpaper paste or something. Speaker 6 (7:05) Or stapler. Speaker 4 (7:06) Stapler. Speaker 6 (7:07) And it was a little bit Speaker 4 (7:08) like that where you would notice like, wait, so I think someone put a flyer over our flyer. Oh Speaker 6 (7:14) yes, flyer wars. Yes. I also, in high school, Speaker 2 (7:17) before I was in a band, but was starting to get very obsessed with music, I would drive around after shows that happened and take flyers for my archive. And I still have a lot of flyers. Speaker 6 (7:29) Oh, you mean take them to keep? Yeah. Speaker 4 (7:31) Oh, yeah. Speaker 6 (7:32) Yeah. I wanted to keep them for... Speaker 4 (7:35) Do you still have them? Yeah. Oh, I want to see that. Speaker 6 (7:37) Yeah. I have... When I was in high school, there was this band called Seven Year Bitch. They were on CZ Records, Speaker 2 (7:45) same time as Nirvana and Mad Honey. And their guitarist, Stephanie Sargent, she sadly passed away. And there was these flyers with her name on it. And I went and got that. And then I collected flyers, as many as I could. I mean, I just wanted. Oh, Speaker 3 (8:07) that's so cool that you did that. Speaker 2 (8:09) And I keep Speaker 6 (8:10) all the early Slater-Kinney flyers in my archive. But I mean, it was such a great art form. And there were people who, that is what they did. I mean, at a time, talk about a time when the Speaker 2 (8:19) music industry was like a legitimate industry, like with a huge infrastructure that supported many people, including artists that made flyers. Oh, yeah. And posters. Speaker 4 (8:29) And kinkos to an extent, too. Yeah. I don't know what Portland had at the time, but in Chicago, it was kinkos. And it was a real, it was a huge part of your day figuring out, you know, how you're going to get this many flyers and also doing this sort of literal cut and paste. Yeah. Speaker 6 (8:48) And fanzines Speaker 4 (8:49) too. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 6 (8:50) All of it. Speaker 4 (8:51) I wonder now though. Speaker 4 (8:54) now that I am this age and the way that I think of bands and the way I think of making things, what was this obsession? Like, why was it so important for me at the time to be like, you got to come to our show. Now I'd be like, I don't care. Why don't you just put an ad out? And if people come great. And if not, that's fine. This like campaign, like it's gotta be full. I'd have been fine if it wasn't, I mean, it wasn't ever full anyway, but. What's the difference that it so it was freezing in Chicago to put that much work into it now Anyway, that must have been yeah Speaker 6 (9:28) well I mean I think we didn't have the means like there were there was there was no Speaker 2 (9:32) one that was supporting us like we weren't we couldn't afford an ad and I'm just talking about an ad and like the local weekly yeah, if you were lucky the the club or venue would have a you know their listing and your name would be on there, but you know, there wasn't the internet. So how else would people know unless there was a flyer? Like there was no like website with like EverOut or like a calendar or something. You know, you really, it was all tactile and visual. So whether Speaker 6 (9:57) you cared or not, like it was literally the only way that you could get people to your Speaker 4 (10:01) show. But what's the idea? Like I'm walking down the street and then I say, oh yeah, there's an... But Speaker 6 (10:06) that's, I mean, that's how I found out about shows. That's Speaker 4 (10:10) how I would have found out about Slater-Kinney. Yeah. I would have been walking down some street and. Speaker 6 (10:13) Or in a record store, you know, often behind the counter, there would be like a section for flyers. But yeah, I mean, it was that whole thing. I remember labels had street teams and they would like Speaker 2 (10:22) go like pound the pavement, you know, putting up flyers. What I like about it though, is it becomes this like visual extension. Like it, to me, it's like these. these tentacles that start from like you know to me it's like it's this dissemination of creativity that it's like starts with this band but then you have all these different iterations of like you know it's just I don't know it feels like it's this weird connection this connectivity that seems really organic to me that's Speaker 4 (10:51) also like a good early lesson on showbiz yeah okay you want to be in a band this is part of it Speaker 6 (10:58) It was definitely part of it. Most people didn't have managers or labels early on. And even when you had a label, I remember someone at the label was doing it. If you weren't doing it yourself, someone at the label was literally putting it up. I also loved, it was like tree rings or something. The flyers, there was like five years. The flyers. Speaker 4 (11:23) Of old staples. Yeah, Speaker 6 (11:25) old staples. And like you would peel back and Speaker 2 (11:27) you're like, oh my God, this show is from two years ago. Speaker 4 (11:30) Yeah. And Speaker 2 (11:30) it all faded from the rain. And I don't know. Tape Speaker 4 (11:33) and Speaker 2 (11:33) glue. Yeah. It's just this weird ephemera that. I think it's, I don't know. I see it as like a way of, I don't know, it feels very anthropological to me to just think of like all the things that have been advertised on just like a telephone pole. So yes, this was, I guess, this was probably the waning days. Although I still, I don't know so much in LA, but in Portland, there are still a ton of flyers. Speaker 4 (11:59) Oh, I know. I do see them. Speaker 2 (12:01) Yeah. I mean, now a lot of them are like more like, you know. moving companies or dog walking, you know, services or something. But I don't know. To me, I still. I Speaker 4 (12:10) love it. I wish that I did. I had saved some. Yeah. Speaker 6 (12:15) And Speaker 4 (12:15) one worked on me recently. What? Speaker 6 (12:18) A couple years Speaker 4 (12:18) ago. This was in London. It's like such a brag whenever you say they've been traveling. I was in London. But I was walking down the street and I saw a flyer Speaker 6 (12:28) up Speaker 4 (12:28) for a Kim Gordon show. And I didn't know before that. I was like, oh, she's playing in town. Right. Yeah, Speaker 6 (12:34) it's also, I think, a way of, like, there's something so Speaker 2 (12:37) site-specific about it. Like, it just so marries you to place, right? You know, it's not just, like, reading something, like, in a magazine or seeing something online. You're just, like, here I am on this corner, and there's this thing. Yeah, someone just Speaker 4 (12:53) put this up, probably. Speaker 2 (12:54) Yeah, Speaker 4 (12:54) yeah. Speaker 2 (12:55) Yeah, I really love that. So, yes, this is how Blunderbuss starts with… with flyers coming up for this festival. And then we go to the, to part one of the, the rap, the wraparound, which is about this, this band. Speaker 4 (13:10) It's about this band and also about the festival. And Speaker 2 (13:14) Sparkle Pony. And Speaker 4 (13:15) Sparkle Pony. Speaker 2 (13:16) And Sparkle Pony is the one played by Jenny Conley. Speaker 4 (13:19) Yeah. Speaker 2 (13:20) The keyboardist and piano player singer from the Decembrists. Speaker 4 (13:24) And it's her trying to do a sound check. At a festival, there's all these different stages. And so she's trying to get in to do a sound check. And it's always difficult. Or it's often difficult when there's someone at the door. Speaker 6 (13:42) Yes. Speaker 4 (13:43) To this day, there's always some, they're not letting some people in. This badge works. This, you know, sticker works. Speaker 6 (13:51) Yeah, the bureaucracy of it. And it's so like hierarchical and feels arbitrary sometimes. Speaker 4 (13:57) Yeah. God, Speaker 6 (13:58) I remember when Slater-Kinney played. Speaker 2 (14:01) Coachella. It actually might have been Wild Flag, which was like a side project that I was in. And we played Coachella. And we were literally, we had a show to get to. And you go backstage and there's all these golf carts. And we were kind of in a hurry because we had to be on stage. And they just kept letting all these. like actors get Speaker 6 (14:25) to Speaker 2 (14:25) wherever Speaker 6 (14:26) they needed to go first and we were just waiting. And it often feels like that. Like that somebody Speaker 2 (14:30) is prioritizing something besides the actual artists at these shows, whether it's like, let's get the corporate sponsors, the people who work for the corporate sponsor to their box seats first or, you know, festivals are a racket. There's good and bad things about them, but sometimes the behind the scenes is not as glamorous as one might think. Speaker 4 (14:50) There are many points of entry. That's the part that's hard where this person didn't get the instructions that this sticker works. And that is really challenging. Speaker 6 (15:01) Yes. Speaker 4 (15:02) And there have been times in my life where I've been told like you have to go around. Yeah. And I feel like I'm not trying to rip anybody off. I'm just a person. Speaker 4 (15:13) You know, like what? You know what I mean? I'm like, what do you think? I'm trying to get backstage to hang out. Yeah. Speaker 6 (15:20) It always seems like a higher security there than at places that should have good security. Speaker 4 (15:23) Yes. Yeah. Speaker 6 (15:24) You're like, wow, this was literally, yes. Speaker 4 (15:26) Really important for you to tell me I've got to go all the way around. Yeah. Speaker 6 (15:30) It's a lot of people not communicating with each other. That's what it feels like, you know. Speaker 4 (15:35) So that comes up a lot in this. Yes. Where Sparkle Pony's trying to get in. I Speaker 6 (15:40) was trying to think, who do you think Sparkle Pony? Because she's, you know, she's very, like, Speaker 2 (15:45) sensitive. There's, like, this Speaker 6 (15:47) real Speaker 2 (15:47) yearning, melancholy. Jenny Conley, by the way, is really good at this. Like, she's, it's a very sweet performance. But I was trying to think if we were basing her on someone, you know. But I couldn't think of somebody in particular. The Speaker 4 (16:06) only person I can think of, and I don't think Sparkle Pony is like Cat Power, but Cat Power, I remember, would come up in the writer's room a lot as a sort of a version of what... a musician is. Yeah. There's that version of a musician. Right. Speaker 2 (16:20) And also because we're huge fans of Cat Power. Speaker 4 (16:23) Absolutely. And Speaker 2 (16:24) I will say, I do remember playing shows with Sean, that's Cat Power's real name, Sean Marshall, early on. It's like Slater Kinney, John Spencer, Blues Explosion, Cat Power. And Sean has this incredible voice, but she was so much quieter than, you know, big rock bands. And you're always, you know, you're always. they're trying to like fight against like all of this volume, you know, like that kind of soft power is really tricky in a festival environment. Cause you're just like, oh, well these people, they have all this bombast. There's eight of them. You Speaker 4 (16:59) know, Speaker 2 (16:59) they've got their whole like crew and all the amps and all the gear. And it just feels like they're just these like giant transformers like coming through. And then you're sort of like the lone person, even though