Transcript
Speaker: You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Zalante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
Speaker: This is Ken Vellante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and I'm very excited to welcome Black Bell Eagle Scout, Catherine Paul, known as KP. Catherine, KP, welcome on Something Rather Than Nothing. Thank you for having me.
Speaker: It's a great pleasure. And for this episode, we have Benita Rankleaf, who is a BBES enthusiast, music lover, and helped put this show together. Benita, welcome onto the show again and to the Something Rather Than Nothing audience. Yeah, it's a great pleasure.
Speaker: KP it's great. It's great to talk. It's great to talk to you and As some fans, you know may know of your music. There's a lot going on with the new album coming out and a tour that looks looks dazzling coming up in the near future and I
Speaker: Benita and I were talking about this, just really feeling excited at this moment at the beginning of 2023 and just seeing your great art stretch out. So Benita, we were talking about the touring album and yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so you have a new album coming out and entering into this year going out on tour. I am so super excited to meet you, even though it's kind of via online format in this instance. I just want to share kind of a big thank you to you. Obviously, we don't know each other really. But your art kind of played an instrumental
Speaker: position in an interaction that I had with my daughter. So I'm super excited to meet you. She is Yakima.
Speaker: her father's Yakima. And I can always kind of gauge her kind of emotional state by the music that she's listening to. She listens to a lot of hip hop, a lot of rap. And I was walking by her room one day, I was like, okay, is today a Tupac day or like a polo G day kind of.
Speaker: She's 14, right? And I heard your music in there. And I kind of stopped and I was like, hey, what's up? Like vibe change. And she's like, I want you to come and sit with me and listen to this artist. And so I kind of sat down with her and listened to the music. And she's like, I want you to know that this is how I see myself. And I was like, what do you mean this is how you see yourself?
Speaker: And it was, I think it was soft stud, that song, she was like watching the video and she's like, look at her shirt. Like, that's how I see myself. And I think it said something like, you know, indigenous, queer, feminist. And I was like, Oh, okay, this is how you see yourself. And so I just wanted to let you know, like, it was a huge catalyst in this very precious moment that I had with my daughter. And so
Speaker: you kind of being on the precipice of releasing this new album and going out on tour, I'm so super stoked. So thank you for releasing your music and your creativity out there to the world. Thank you. I'm going to cry. I can't believe you're saying this to me. I like sitting in this room. I'm like, wait, this is real conversation I'm having right now.
Speaker: That's really special. It's awesome that you were able to have that beautiful moment with your daughter. So thank you for sharing that with me.
Speaker: Yeah, one of the and that's that's that's part of the part of the excitement. But um, well, in one of the things I wanted to ask, KP is, I know you're connected, I'm originally from the east coast, but I've been in Pacific Northwest for 11 12 years. And I know you're
Speaker: connection to the region, but thinking about world tour, what's that mean to you when it comes to your music and what's in there for Paris and for the world and what's your expectations and what do you think might happen with what you sing and what you say?
Speaker: You know, I've traveled a lot in my life. I've been to Europe before. I've been all over. I've been to Africa. I've been to South America. But I've never toured and presented my art. I've never toured and presented my vulnerability other than like in North America. And so I don't know what it's going to be like.
Speaker: because most of the time when I travel, you know, there's a language barrier. I'm trying to, like, understand people. It's a little bit hard. So I'm curious, like, you know, how my music is going to translate into different countries with different languages. And I think that's the one cool thing, though, about sound, is that sound is something that I feel like is easier to understand rather than, like,
Speaker: you know, lyrics. So yeah, I don't know. I'm excited to travel. I love traveling and I'm excited to meet new people. And I'm a little bit nervous that no one's going to show up because I've never been over there to play ships. But we'll see. It's my first time. And
Speaker: Yeah, this is something that I've wanted to do for a while is to go on tour other than like in the US and in Canada.
Speaker: And I was supposed to go on tour, I was supposed to do this like multiple times, it just hasn't happened. And so I think that that is a little bit, there's a little bit of this like, oh, I was supposed to do this, that sort of feeling. And finally it's coming, you know? So there's some of those feelings as well. But yeah, we'll see what happens.
Speaker: Yeah, well, this sounds exciting. And people will show up. We don't know each other. And I don't have the diagnostics on the ground. But the people will show up there. Don't worry about that. I wanted to ask you, one of the questions asked in the show has to do with identity and how we see ourselves and who we are. So I've asked a question before. I've asked it different ways. I'd be like, when you were born, were you an artist? And I've asked a question about identity and seeing yourself different ways.
Speaker: My question is for now is when did you see yourself as an artist? When did you see yourself as as an artist? And sometimes people say I've always felt like I don't know how to breathe different here and other folks are like 15, you know, so when did you see yourself as an artist? I think I realized that I was an artist when I was in
Speaker: like the second grade. And I got really into drawing. I got really into just like kind of how lines form. And I was quite good at drawing. And back in back in like the second grade, I think people like the kids would always be like, you're good at drawing or like, you know, it was it was something that people would tell me to so
Speaker: I think that's the first time when I was actually like, you know what, I think I'm an artist because I can do this and people like it. And I think it looks nice. But I, you know, my dad is, he's a carver and he does Coast Salish carving and painting. And so I've always had that surrounding me and I've always like seen him.
Speaker: seen him carve these lines, seen him paint. And I guess it's just sort of growing up like in an artist's household, it just was normal. And so I think it was easy maybe for me to pick up a pen because I saw my dad doing it like everyday practice, like everyday drawing things out, carving things out. And so I had this like general idea of what that kind of art was.
Speaker: But yeah, I think that was, I remember drawing this picture of this blonde lady. It was like this princess or something. And I don't know why we were doing it. I just remember, I remember it. And it was, I think that was the second grade. No, maybe it was the fourth grade. I think it might've been the fourth grade. I think Mrs. Middleton was my teacher and I think that was the fourth grade. But it was grade school, grade school when I was realizing that
Speaker: I like art, I can do art. And I think that that sort of grew throughout high school. So my dad, he would teach this carving class at our high school, and I took his carving class. And then because it's like a family thing, I just sort of started doing it. Like my dad and I had an art show together when I was in high school, and then I just sort of
Speaker: continued these lines, but that sort of art never really stuck with me. I don't do really carving right now, but I think I got a taste of what art could be in your life. And I think that's what honestly made me latch onto music is because I saw this art in music and I saw something different and I wanted to
Speaker: go down that direction and that path for that passion. Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful and your contact with it. I find it fascinating just to...
Speaker: see the different experiences and how it can become encompassing with identity. I see myself in recent years being more engaged with art and creating art and seeing that as my identity, which has been such a significant change in my view of how I see things in color and things like that. So I'm always really interested in how that happens and how that feels.
Speaker: You're an artist. You spend a lot of time creating art. I want to mention your album at the party with my Brown friends. This is an album for me that when I first listened, there's certain albums because I'm a bit of an obsessive type, particularly with sounds and songs and playing albums.
Speaker: where like I get into this pattern where I play it every day for like a set amount of time. So yours was like in the four to five month range of playing it every day. I just really adore that album. And it's very it's very
Speaker: I found it tough to describe because it's inviting to be around the music. It's very inviting. And I think that like being around it was why I'd be like, today I want that again and I want that again. So you're an artist, you work very hard at creating art and thinking about art. But one of the conceptual questions asked on the show is, what is art? What is it that you're trying to
Speaker: do, what is art itself? Yeah, I had to think about this because you sent over the questions and I was like, hmm, these are big questions. But then I was like, maybe I'm psyching myself out. Maybe it's just easy. So then I just started thinking, well, I feel like for me, art is something that you care about.
Speaker: and it's something that's meaningful. And this is just for me, because maybe I see some artists that are just doing some sort of like smashing of objects and that's art and maybe they don't care about the objects. But for me, I think that art is putting meaning into something and having care for it and coming at it from a good place. I think
Speaker: Like when I was thinking about that question, I was like, go simple. That's what simply means to me is, and, but then I feel like care like has a lot of, of emphasis on it and it's, it's broad, it's expansive. Like care has to do with so many different types of feelings and ones being so. Yeah. Yeah. And that word being particularly important, um, that, that really stands out, uh, to me, um,
Speaker: Benita, you and I have some discussions about the role of, yeah, one of the things I want to say about Benita too is, I mean, with the music, like I know with a lot of art, we're friends and I know I really connect with her love of punk and the vibrancy around that. And I know it's like talking about, it has a particular role of what it intends to do, but I know Benita, you had a follow -up question instead of what is art.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. And Ken and I have talked about this before, like in creating for ourselves.
Speaker: you know, mind see, when I create, it's always very internal, right? It's like kind of for myself. And Ken has talked about like, he creates for other people. And so if you think about like, what is art? You said it was kind of like internal, like it's a form of care. What is the role of art then? Or how do you see the role of art in kind of our broader human consciousness?
Speaker: Oh, okay. So you said it's a form of care, but I said I care about it. Oh, I see. So it's interesting. I do see it as a form of care. Yeah, yeah. But I was saying it's something, if I do art, I'm putting care into it. But I guess it could be a care for myself as well. It could be reciprocal. Can you repeat your question though? Because I started thinking about that. And then you asked this really big question. I was like, wait.
Speaker: uh what you see is the role of art oh gosh yeah i mean
Speaker: I think art has a lot of roles. I think about it for my community where where I live is art brings people together. Like in the Swinomish Indian tribal community, like I see art bringing people together. And so for me in this little pocket of the world, that's I think that's what it means. But I feel like it has a lot of meanings to
Speaker: based on wherever you live, you know, like it can carry messages, it can be very, very broad to shift things in the world. But it can also be, I think, like, also very small and very much intimate moment between people as well. So I don't know if that answers your question. But yeah, so
Speaker: Maybe I'd tell you a little bit about where I'm from. The Swinomish Indian tribal community is this really small people. We're a sovereign nation in Northwest Washington state. And so I live in a really small community. This is where I grew up and I used to live in Portland, but then I moved back during the beginning of the pandemic to take care of my parents.
Speaker: And so I've been living here and been being a part of this community again. And one of the things I am thinking about is this last year in June, our community came together and we did a mural for Pride Day. So we have like a Sonamish Pride Day for our LGBTQ plus community members.
Speaker: And we came together and we like made this really beautiful salmon, these two salmons that are one of our tribal members Raven Edwards designed and they had so like really colorful. And when I think about art, I think about things like that, that bring people together and you know, you're coming together, you're trying to heal, you're trying to love one another. So I think that's what I think of first when I think of
Speaker: the world, because for me, the world is my community. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much, KP. What? What can you tell us about the land, the water, the sky? So with the title of that, that's the new album's title, my mind's big on all those type of things. What can you tell us about the land, the water, the sky, your new album coming out?
Speaker: It's incredible. It's the best album I've ever made. And I'm really, really excited to share it with people. Have you heard it? I can't I don't know who gets to hear it or not. I haven't heard it. No. Okay, okay. So yeah, so it'll be out soon, though. So you'll hear it soon. And some of the songs have
Speaker: have come out. There's another song that's going to come out this week. But The Land, the Water, the Sky, I wrote this over the last couple of years, and The Land, the Water, the Sky, the name of the album came from the song Don't Give Up at the very end of the song. I sing The Land, the Water, the Sky, and I wrote that song
Speaker: during a residency in Coast Salish territory at Hedgebrook. And I attended the residency right before the pandemic. And then I was able to attend again in November of, not this year, but the year before. And so I started that song in the first time I was at the residency, but I just couldn't finish it. And then for some reason, when I came back to that residency again,
Speaker: it was still lingering. And we had this moment together, me and the song. And I was realizing how important the land is to me and my mental health and my healing and my journey, how important the water is, how important the sky is, and how much it
Speaker: it, I guess, is interconnected to my relatives, you know, past, present, future in this specific area. And so that title came from, you know, those lyrics, but it really is just
Speaker: I think a theme for, you know, why I keep going on in this life and, and, and the importance of, of living and being kind to myself and, and really trying to support myself and, um, in, in like a self -care healing process of just of, I don't know, just of getting up every day and living your life, you know? Um, and so.
Speaker: Yeah, the land, the water, the sky, it's going to be out into the world. And I treated every song, I've never done this before, like it was going to be the single of the album. And so it took a really long time to do that. But every song I was like, this is going to be the single, this is going to be the single, this is going to be the single. And so I never really
Speaker: In terms of the process of craft of songwriting, I've never really done that before. I haven't written very many things, so I'm still in this process of art, of figuring out the art side of it. This is a new process that I tried with this new work of art.
Speaker: I'm going to put every single thing that I have into each song. Whereas I feel like the other albums, it was kind of like a diary entry of a certain time in my life. But this is too. It's still like it's very documentary style of the last couple of years or so. But I feel like the energy around this album is a lot more intentional.
Speaker: So, yes. Yeah, I noticed one thing I wanted to mention. I noticed that there's a show in Eugene after your Portland show that was very accessible, like the cost to go there is very accessible, part of a larger arts project down there too. So I know you'll be starting off your tour. Portland then, I believe, Eugene right after that, the show that I mentioned? Yes, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I haven't played Eugene very many times. And it just so happened to work out where they wanted me to play this festival. And then we were trying to set up some regional dates for the release, like a release show kind of regional thing. And so I think it happened pretty perfectly that it was around the release date.
Speaker: Yeah, thanks. Before we get into one of the bigger questions, I just actually want to mention, it mentioned about like, I was hearing you talk about like different types of art and different types of art pieces and however small. I was at a comic book store yesterday, a book with pictures in Portland, and they had an indigenous zine. It was about comics, representation within comics themselves.
Speaker: it was put out a couple years ago, but it was just before you even open it, it had just this power because there was a representation on the front, which was non -natives represented and native folk. And then it was native representations by the artists and written on one side was just kind of like this kind of like face of
Speaker: sorrow and horror at misinterpretation. All the ones was much more positive. So the experience of it as you flipped it was one of being like, oh, okay, that's horrible. And that's terrible. But then there was the more inspiring stories. And it was a quick history of like major comics, indigenous representation. And it was like eight pages. And I'm like, oh, art. That's how immediacy is accessible. And it's right there.
Speaker: I just saw that zine in my head when you were talking about just even the smaller pieces. Big question, KP, titular question of the show. Why is there something rather than nothing? To keep going, I think, you know.
Speaker: You said it. That's your answer. I was talking to my partner earlier. I was like, there's a question that's like, why is there something rather than nothing? And then he was like, you should just say like one word.
Speaker: Is that something rather than nothing? He's on to it. And the problem is talking to you now and him, you're both on to it, which will cut this out. I can edit it once you're on to it. I don't know what to do with that because what people really want to see when you ask that is, okay, they schmuck.
Speaker: I don't want to deal with it, but there's always this pause, and I always feel that somebody is gonna catch on like you do, so I might not let the secret out there. The other thing is, I'm a huge Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
Speaker: Uh fan and douglas adams and this book life the universe and everything and the answer To why is there something rather than why is the universe exists is the number 42? So you can also just say the other easy way out with the one and the answer is you can say 42 And I'd say you won That's the winning That's the winning answer if you're into um all that um
Speaker: KP, how do you want people to connect with you, your art, your music, tour, all the things people want to connect with you? Where should they go to find you and experience your art and that? I love connecting in person. So if people come to my shows, that's the best way. But if people want to connect in an online space, I am most active on my Instagram.
Speaker: And I have like a Twitter, I have a Facebook. I don't really go on there very much. It's the Instagram that I'm on. So yeah, I'd say if you want to connect online, find me on Instagram. It's just at Black Belt Eagle Scout or else I am going to be on tour a lot this year. So maybe I'll be coming to a city near you. Yeah. Yeah. I know Benita.
Speaker: Really excited to hear about these events and actually just like I told you from the beginning being able to chat with you about these topics and even though you got sneaky on something rather than nothing that's totally cool because Philosophers are just tricksters, right? Like if like there's an idea of like you can get away like asking annoying questions and you know Just keep going through life or do a podcast around it then
Speaker: and I will be be able to check out your show and see your shows and
Speaker: Just do it. There's some license to it. But I also want to mention, Benita, I didn't even know the story about the story you told and just the experience with your daughter. And I gotta tell you, KP, I heard a podcast recently, I think it was, I might have this wrong, Broken Boxes podcast. And yeah.
Speaker: Oh my gosh, I just lost my mind. I was listening to early. I woke up early this morning and I was playing it and I was listening to it. And you had played this song. She hadn't heard a song played more intimately online. And her reaction, I was like, that's why people make art. Because she's like, I don't know what to do.
Speaker: You know, like it was just so open and real. I'm like, that's that's why we do this. And I just want to really like, you know, I appreciated and appreciated the heck out of that show and that recording and Benita to sharing, you know, about the experience of where like.
Speaker: Don't be afraid to talk about how art is like, makes a shift in a day, like changes things in a different direction. And that's kind of why we get excited to talk to you and to bring you on to the show and just learn some more. So I just wanted to thank you, Black Bell Eagle Scout, Catherine Paul, so much for coming on to this show. Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Yeah. Thank you for letting me join in. I'm so appreciative. And Benita. 100%. Yeah. Thank you, guys. And I appreciate you, Benita, as a friend and art enthusiast. And hopefully, we'll be the excited ones and other friends that we'll be bringing. I'll be the excited ones. Jumping in the back of your show. And yelling in the crowd. So you know who?
Speaker: where the attention is coming from. Be safe in your travels. Best of luck with everything. Great pleasure meeting you and chatting with you. Truly honored. Awesome. Thank you. Take care.
Speaker: This is something rather than nothing.
