The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players - On and Off Broadway DVD Review
Posted by John Malady on 09.02.2006
Take some vintage slides, a projector, and a family of three (including an 8 year old girl on drums) and you have yourself The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players.
There are moments in life that hit you in so many places at once that there is nothing you can do to actually process the why, what, where, or how response your mind and body call for. Moments such as these are moments of purity to me. Something opens me up to a place that I feel comfortable, relaxed, alert, proud, whimsical, and open to infinite possibilities I did not know existed before that moment. The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players DVD”On and Off Broadway” did this for me on August 14th, 2006 at 2:00am when I put it on to review. Once I put this into my DVD player I never in my wildest imagination could have been prepared for what I was to experience. As I watched I gradually froze inside and out because as the moment hit me I realized I was actually listening, watching, and being emotionally moved by art that I almost believed could not exist anymore, art that is original in concept as well as pure in motive and execution.
The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players started playing shows as a band when Tina Trachtenburg, the mother of the clan, found an old fifty’s slide projector at a yard sale that came with a set of slides labeled, Mountain Trip to Japan 1959. Jason Trachtenburg, the father, who was already a performing songwriter that got his start on the New York anti-folk scene in the late eighty’s, found a story in the slides and wrote a song called Mountain Trip to Japan, 1959. He thought it would be a good idea to perform this song with their daughter, Rachel Trachtenburg, who played drums and who was then just eight years old. Tina mans the projector while Jason and Rachel play the songs which in turn create something I cannot put into words, but I do know it is special and unique. They primarily use slides from the fifties, sixties, and seventies (the golden age of slide shows) that they obtain at yard and estate sales. After establishing themselves with a following they started to receive slides from fans that want them to immortalize their slides with a song. Each song is crafted after the slides are placed in an order of their choosing to form a loose storyboard. Jason and Tina do the slide storyboarding primarily, but Rachel has recently become involved in the process as well. With The Trachtenburg's, not only do you get music to absorb, but you also get this amazing visual aspect of found objects being made into art, and don't forget that the drummer is only 8 years old which I feel strongly enforces many of the ideas and/or statements being made inside the songs that are not whimsical or humorous underneath. There is something special at work when the ideas being transmitted in a song, as well as visually, could be thought of at times as "adult" in nature or "heavy" in subject matter, and you are watching an eight year old female drummer helping to create the platform that is expressing those ideas. This is just one of the many aspects of The Trachtenburg's art that helps enforce the honesty that is felt taking in their work. They are not sugar coating their ideas or opinions for their daughter, they are presenting a platform that encourages her to be herself while searching to find her own opinions and come to her own conclusions. This was such a beautiful thing to witness in this film. As I continued to watch The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players I realized they are not just performing and creating art, but they are their art by simply being the family that they are. Tina sews and makes all their clothes from thrift findings, they travel to shows in a painted art van, and they are being true to who they are as people, nothing more and nothing less. What a concept huh? Too bad everyone didn't have the internal ability to live like that; the world might actually be made up of uplifting and courageous people then instead of the whining, scared little children most modern humans become.
The DVD”On and Off Broadway” is a very captivating watch. As the first song started I laughed and thought to myself, is this real or a joke because it just doesn't process right away and you think the singing is horrible, can that girl play drums, and what the hell is going on? By the second song I began to see that they were something special when the lyrics, "Look at me, look at me with a government disc, only music can set us free, or your president Kennedy" were sang while the slides showed a person with some kind of government disc then an old family picture of people gathered in a living room playing music together (this was back when family's actually talked and entertained each other without television) was shown immediately followed by a slide of JFK. When I heard those lines together with the specific slides being shown I smiled from ear to ear because I started to see the way The Trachtenburg's effortlessly slip one or two lines into a song that do not ruin the fun, but remind you that there is more going on in the world and more going on in their art than just making funny comments over found slides. It is hard to put into words but I think the ability to entertain people, which in essence is making them smile or have a good time and make them think simultaneously about more serious things inside and around themselves is not only difficult to achieve, but rather rarely ever achieved within modern music without the pendulum being completely off to one side or the other. Bands that tend to be whimsical rarely write serious songs, and serious bands rarely will let up long enough to write a whimsical song. The Trachtenburg's pull this off in every song, line to line, without ever letting you forget one or another, tragedy and comedy, but at the same time they make sure you are not wallowing in either as well. That is an extremely difficult thing to do in the 21rst century; in fact, stand up comedians are probably some of the only artists that can achieve that center of the pendulum without going to far too either side, as a true stand up can present tragic situations within a humorous context. The Trachtenburg’s tell their own story of how they got started throughout the DVD, and in between their interview footage you get to see live performances of their songs which are split screened so you get to see the slide show going on as well. Singer Regina Spector, Actor/Comedian David Cross, and former band leader of The Presidents of the United States of America, Chris Ballew, are just some of the people that are included in the film commenting on The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players and what they mean to them as artists. After the film there is also bonus material to view that contains some solo performances of Jason’s and two of their music videos. All in all this is a DVD I highly recommend because it will give you an experience unlike any other regardless if you become a fan or not. I have actually bought tickets to see them on Labor Day, September 4th, 2006 at The Cafe DuNord in San Francisco and I am extremely excited to experience this original piece of art live. Look for my review of that show shortly after and in the meantime go do yourself a favor and pick up The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players new DVD ”On and Off Broadway” I do not think you will regret it.
The 411: The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players DVD”On and Off Broadway” is truly something unique and original. Words cannot truly give justice to what you can experience by watching this movie. In an age of big record company's and musicians just wanting to be famous rather than create art The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are living proof that practicing what you preach is a concept that can be embraced by anyone willing to be truly who they are, and in their case who they are creates one of the most original and beautiful artistic endeavors I have heard or seen in years. The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are truly something special.
