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The mini-profile of Northern State that appears in the November 1 issue of Westword springs from the following maxi-Q&A with Julie Potash, one of three MCs in the sprightly hip-hop act. It’s her second interview with the paper, but the first one to actually appear in print; a previous article intended to advance a 2003 gig was pulled at the last minute. (Read the previously unpublished offering here.) As a result, the chat builds on an earlier conversation even as it unveils details about several tumultuous years in the band’s career.

The dialogue begins with a discussion of Northern State four years ago, when the performers were assembling All City, their first album for massive Columbia Records, following the release of an indie favorite, Dying in Stereo. Along the way, Potash talks about the reasons the relationship with Columbia went south; describes a period of limbo that ended with help from producer Chuck Brody, who she and her fellow rhymers met during the All City sessions; and details contributions by the Beastie Boys’ Adrock and a subsequent deal involving Mike Patton’s Ipecac imprint. But she also weighs in on female performers who sell themselves sexually (Nelly Furtado comes in for some especially acute criticism); discusses the pressure she felt from certain friends and relatives to leave music for a more standard-issue occupation; reveals how Oprah Winfrey and Vera Wang helped determine the direction of the latest Northern State recording, Can I Keep This Pen?; and gets political when the topic turns to Hillary Clinton, on whose 2000 senatorial campaign Potash worked.

To learn more, elect to read on:

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The conversation with Northern State’s Julie Potash found in this blog isn’t her first chat with Westword. She spoke with the paper in the fall of 2003 in advance of a planned performance in the Denver area, and the interview formed the basis of a full-length profile – but when the tour was canceled at the 11th hour, the article was shelved. Now, however, it’s back in stock – just in time for the sold-out November 3 show at the Boulder Theater Northern State will open for Tegan and Sarah.

The piece catches Potash at a transitional career moment: Her band was making an album for Columbia Records, which signed the group following the rapturous critical reception that greeted Northern State’s indie debut, Dying in Stereo. In the end, the Columbia relationship fizzled, lending a certain poignancy to her optimistic observations about the recording process. Yet her comments about loving hip-hop despite its many flaws and foibles remain as timely as ever.

Read on for more vintage insights into the Northern State of mind:

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Nick Hutchinson recently had the chance to chat with legendary bluegrass purveyor Pete Wernick about his influences, how he got his nickname and the difference between playing with Hot Rize and with Flexigrass. We ran a few highlights from their conversation in the November 1 issue, and here, in the words of Paul Harvey, is the rest of the story.

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“Back to My Old Ways”
Dr. Dog
We All Belong

Every time I hear the tinkly piano into to this song – the only one I like by this band – I think of Bobby Bare Jr. Bare is my favorite live performer touring these days, and I caught up with this hero of mine when he opened up for Dr. Dog last March. I walked up to him at the merch table during Dr. Dog's set and told him that he and his band have that certain something very few live acts can achieve, an emotional energy that turns his recorded songs into a series of single events that combine for an amazing overall live experience. I paraphrased. He thanked me and asked me what I thought of Dr. Dog. I said not much. He said I needed to hear the album. I told him I had the album and didn't love it, but didn't hate it, and that the only thing I could say about the live show was that the band reminded me of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Then Bare, one of my heroes, told me he was going to walk to the other side of the venue. In hindsight, next time I meet one of my heroes, I will offer him or her a beer on my tab instead of insulting his or her friends.

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Minus the Bear, the Helio Sequence and Grand Archives
October 29, 2007
Gothic Theatre

Better than: Flying to the Northwest to see each of these bands.

When it comes to concerts, sometimes it’s better to go in blind but with open ears, where you hardly have any expectations and just embrace the scenario. Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the two opening bands, and I’d given Minus the Bear’s latest disc a spin a few months ago, but never really had a chance to fully explore it. But I didn’t want to listen to it again to prep myself for the show, so it was almost like I’d never heard them before. As I said before, no expectations, man.

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Blackalicious took much of their set from Blazing Arrow.

Crown City Rockers, Mighty Underdogs and Blackalicious
October 27, 2007, Fox Theatre
Better than: Dropping a grand on tickets to the Museum of Contemporary Art opening.

There were only a handful of people in the building for the all-ages show when the Crown City Rockers hit the stage, but the five-person group still managed to rock the house. An interesting amalgamation of rock band and hip-hop crew, Crown City (headed by MC Raashan Ahmad) did an admirable job prepping the crowd for Blackalicious; highlights included a battle between Ahmad and Crown City's drummer, Max MacVeety. "This guy is a Red Sox fan," Ahmad told the audience, and waited for the chorus of "boos" before matching his words against MacVeety's drumsticks; toward the end of the battle, the two switched position, with MacVeety rhyming and Ahmad keeping the beat -- and each of them doing the name of the band justice.

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Nathan and Stephen, Panther, and Architecture in Helsinki
Ogden Theatre
October 26, 2007
Better than: The effect three serious, sad-bastard groups would have had on my mood.

Check our this slide show from the concert.

Less than half an hour after the doors opened, and no more than ten minutes after I arrived, Nathan and Stephen, all nine of them, took the stage. At first things seemed a little off – in particular, the drums seemed slightly out of sync. Everything got smoothed out a few songs into it, or the mood took over and a few mistimed notes didn’t matter. Nathan and Stephen have a real talent for tapping into that primal joy audiences crave and once the mood catches, it’s hard to be resist or remain critical. Everything is simply subsumed into a raucous tide of joyous song, and that’s what happened here. They played a nice mix of material from their EP and newer, unreleased songs. I’ve heard them play some of this material before and each time they play it I like it more and more, whether from increasing familiarity or from the fact that they are continuing to fine tune it. It’s shaping up nicely.

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Busdriver, Daedelus and Antimc
October 27, 2007, hi-dive
Better than: Watching the Rockies lose game 3.

There was a ton of Halloween stuff (and the Series as well) going on around town, so these guys picked a less than ideal night to hit town. But Antimc got the sparse crowd warmed up, traversing between his two Korg keyboards, sampler, turntables, laptop, and then strapping on his Stratocaster for a few cuts, while his partner switched between bass and keys. His electronic set was mostly instrumental, save for the third cut where Busdriver hopped on stage and grabbed this mike.

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Here’s a sample of the best of last week’s music blogging from around the Village Voice Media empire:

If the words “Sex Pistols reunion show” fill you with disgust and hatred read this. Hell, read it even if they don’t, it’s good.

The world’s greatest living music writer ruminates (brilliantly, of course) on aging hipsters and a film about Silver Jews main man David Berman.

Some insight into Coheed and Cambria’s multi-album, sci-fi, bugfuck concept, which wrapped up with the recent release of No World for Tomorrow. I don’t know if this makes the band more or less interesting, but I do know they should stop drinking so goddamn much cough syrup.

Gregg Allman explains in this piece why iPods are better than CDs, bribing redneck cops and the connection between a parrot and the Confederate flag.

Sometimes good writing can actually outshine the music it’s about. This review actually makes me want to listen to Evanescence. Almost.

If you ever find yourself in Iceland at the right time, you won’t want to miss this sweet festival. Seems Iceland has a scene. If any of it’s half as cool/weird as Bjork, we need more exports.

Who knew Robert Goulet could arouse such passion in the hearts of men?

Incisive, fucking spot-on commentary about Kid Rock’s recent dust-up at the ol’ Waffle House.

To see the Next Big Thing or to eat a sandwich? That is the question in this CMJ blog.

LOLCats meet Elvis Costello for the most brilliant, stupid thing I’ve seen all week. -- Cory Casciato

Birdy, Tiny Television, Hello Kavita, Three Cheers Faraday
October 25, 2007
Larimer Lounge
Better than: Watching the Rockies lose Game 2.

An all-local bill of relatively mellow bands on a weeknight during the second game of the World Series shouldn’t have had a chance in hell to draw a decent crowd, but last night’s show at the Larimer beat the odds. Granted, much of the crowd was made up of friends and girlfriends of band members, but it was still encouraging to see folks tear themselves away from the TV to see and hear real life.

Riffy rock sextet Birdy got the evening off to an early start with an intriguing approach to heavy, atmospheric rock. Unfortunately, Dav Hoof’s distractingly off-key vocals and Colin Bricker’s incessant gum-chewing revealed the group’s relative inexperience. The three-song EP the band gave away last night, however, is professional sounding, exciting, and promising, so it will be interesting to see and hear the live performance mature.

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On her current single, "So Small," from her latest effort, Carnival Ride -- out this week on the Arista imprint -- Carrie Underwood sings the lines: "Go ahead and let the light shine through/I know it's hard on a rainy day/You wanna shut the world out and just be left alone/But don't run out on your faith."

Given the Rockies gut-wrenching loss to the Sox last night in the first game of the World Series, it sounds like girlfriend -- slated to sing the national anthem at Coors Field this Saturday (watch the end of YouTube clip below) -- has been reading our mail. With that in mind, you can forgive us for being a little freaked out by the beginning of next verse: "Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbing/Is just a grain of sand."

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As promised in this week's Beatdown, the following is a breakdown of entrance music for many of your favorite Rockies players. The songs are reportedly chosen by the players themselves, and while some of the selections make total sense (Todd Helton and Josh Fogg's picks are no-brainers), others are a little more inexplicable (Kazuo Matsui and Ryan Spilborghs's choices, for instance). Also below, you'll find links to a few fan-penned Rockies' songs, including two from Matt Fecher, the man behind South Park Music Fest and Monolith. If there's any others you know about, feel free to send 'em our way.

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The Born Ruffians and Caribou
Larimer Lounge
October 23, 2007
Better than: An acid flashback

The cold, fall air wafting in through the open doors on either end of the Larimer Lounge had just about numbed my feet and I was beginning to consider either starting a fire in the corner or insulating myself with booze when the Born Ruffians finally started. Luckily their groovy set of hyper, nearly spastic indie rock got my feet tapping enough to warm them up in no time. Their sound – especially the guitars and vocals -- was heavily influenced by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but simpler, happier, more streamlined and open. Imagine the same Talking Heads meets Modest Mouse blend that Clap Your Hands is built around, but replace the New York City elitism and intellectual edginess with earnest teenaged enthusiasm. The strong drumming – intense, driving patterns on the floor tom and snare, occasionally mixing in some more intricate machine gun rolls – also helped differentiate them from the obvious influences. The whole band has a likable goofball quality, the songs were catchy, the energy was good, and they were fun.

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Public Enemy's Chuck D is among the greatest innovators in hip-hop, and unlike so many of his peers, who’ve either disappeared from the scene or have transitioned into other sectors of the entertainment universe, such as acting or reality TV, he’s still spitting rhymes with something approximating his original fury. How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who’ve Sold Their Soul???, the latest CD by his band, is an up-and-down affair, but its best moments serve as reminders of PE’s power and influence.

The following Q&A, inspired by a Public Enemy appearance previewed in the October 25 edition of Westword, covers plenty of ground, beginning with Chuck D’s comments about the twenty years that have passed since PE’s groundbreaking debut album, 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show. He shares his thoughts about the meaning of this anniversary to him; the importance of live performances, which are frequently given short shrift in hip-hop; the way symbols and visuals can enhance a listener’s musical experience; the long-ago departure from the group of the since-returned Professor Griff (the subject of a 1993 Westword article resurrected here); the slow destruction of the major-label system; a defense of file sharing; some of his guerilla marketing efforts, including his decision to personally hand out vouchers for the new album in Manhattan earlier this year; ringtone rap, which he sees is nothing new; specifics about several Soulless People tracks, including an “Eve of Destruction” cover, “The Long and Whining Road,” which is built upon Bob Dylan quotes, and “Sex, Drugs and Violence,” an attack on hip-hop-lifestyle excesses; Flavor Flav, whose ridiculous VH1 show, Flavor of Love, has drawn criticism from many longtime PE fans; and Air America, the left-tilting radio network with which he’s been associated for several years.

Clearly, Chuck D is still tuned in.

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The accompanying Q&A with Chuck D of Public Enemy, keyed to an appearance by the venerable group that's previewed in the October 25 Westword, provides a perfect excuse to unearth a profile of PE's Professor Griff. The piece, complete with the very same image seen here, was published in March 1993, before Westword was archived on the Internet. Hence, this represents its online debut.

The article caught Griff at an interesting moment. Several years earlier, he'd been expelled from Public Enemy following furor over published comments he made that disparaged Jews -- statements he apologized for in his conversation with Westword. He subsequently tried to get a solo career off the ground, but the combination of bad press and bad luck related to labels and distribution left him in limbo. So he was traveling the country on a speaking tour of colleges such as Denver's Metro State, delivering lectures on "the history of civilization" as seen from his notably opinionated perspective.

It was a very different time in hip-hop. Flash back to it below:

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