A minstrel's journey - Armenian Reporter

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Students from the Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School in Bayside, New York, who were assigned by their teacher to pick a cover story from the Armenian Reporter’s Arts & Culture section and report about the personality for their Armenian Hall of Fame project. prologue ....and Boghos Kupelian takes a swig of the Armenian brandy and congratulates the three dozen young Armenians gathered on the second-floor office of the former Atwater Village, California, warehouse that has served as the temporary office of the West Coast Bureau of the Armenian Reporter. The occasion is a visit from our editor Vincent Lima from Yerevan. I have invited the sixty-plus active contributors to the Reporter to come, meet up, chat, and enjoy lahmejune and boregs and tahn from Sassoun Bakery . . . and brandy. The latter was the idea of Boghos’s son Roger Kupelian. As I walk from one friendly face to another, it dawns on me that not only have we just finished producing the first year of an exceptionally interesting, avant-garde Armenian newspaper, but we have actually engaged young Armenians to participate in something uniquely Armenian. Thanks to the leadership of the newspaper’s owner and the support of our growing circle of subscribers and advertisers, we have Armenian Reporter Arts & Culture Copyright © 2008 by Armenian Reporter llc All Rights Reserved Contact arts@reporter.am with announcements To advertise, write business@reporter.am or call 1-201-226-1995 reached out to Armenians who may have never been part of the community and may have had no reason to get involved with the community. What we have done is perhaps engage more Armenians, giving a pivotal role to some of our most talented artists, writers, journalists, photographers, and supporters. They came one-by-one at the beginning, being drawn to a newspaper, and then they have come in twos then tens. These young Armenians have become an active part of this weekly dialogue about all things Armenian. We have made them our storytellers, the creators of culture, introducing them to other likeminded Armenians, and created a bridge to our new and collective Armenian identity – one we were suddenly even more proud of. The second realization at our party, in an unremarkable warehouse in an unremarkable part of Los Angeles, is that most of these young people are writers, communicators, some with double degrees from absurdly tough writing programs to get into. They are mainstream journalists, but none of them have ever had a chance to do what they are doing in this new Armenian media before. As we enter the second year of the new Armenian Reporter, it’s amazing to think that in addition to keeping our readers informed and up to date with news from Armenia and news relevant to Armenia, Armenians, and our diaspora communities, we have recreated old ties and forged new ties with the sons and daughters of the Armenian people – not only the contributors to these pages, but those talented souls we write about week in and week out. Their involvement has produced a virtual, living museum, a place to see the art and meet the artist. We look forward to a second year of successes and your involvement. f —Paul Chaderjian paul@reporter.am On page C1: Alidz Agbabian, pictured with her daughter Areni, breathed life back into timeless Armenian stories and shares them with children. Rooted in Armenian oral traditions, she also tells stories from the Middle East. See page C10. C2 Armenian Reporter Arts & Culture 3/15/2008
A minstrel’s journey Claire Manoogian. Gregory Page’s latest album offers a lush aural landscape by Claire Manoogian minstrel Gregory Page’s latest album, All Make Believe, is replete with melancholy meandering. It also exudes the San Diego–based minstrel’s signature dark humor and offbeat charm. Still, categorizing Page’s music is something of a challenge. An artist of great range, he can transport you to the Paris of the 1920s or a cathedral of seething rock and roll. At turns his 18 albums register pure American folk, show off his Celtic roots, dabble in classical music, and reach back over to country. Born in London, Page grew up in a musical family. As a teenager he attended Trinity College of Music, where he studied classical guitar and music composition. When he was 16, he moved with his mother to San Diego, where he began writing and recording his own brand of modern troubadour music. Page recalls his meeting with musician Steve Poltz, who would go on to encourage and mentor him. “We became fast friends and he gave me this great enthusiasm to write my own songs,” he says. “I had always thought that writing was this mysterious thing that famous people did.” But it wasn’t until Page’s breakup with his long-time girlfriend that his songwriting led to actual recording. The result was his debut album, The Romantic Adventures of Harry, a collection of heartbreaking love songs laced with sarcastic lyrics and lulling melodies. Some years ago, Page was informed by his mother that the man who he thought was his father was in fact his stepfather. Though his Gregory Page. mother knew nothing of Gregory’s real father’s whereabouts, she gave him his name: Krikor Hovelian. After an extensive search, Page discovered that his father was living in Paris, and a reunion was arranged. “All I had was this name,” Page recalls. “I would call these embassies and talk to these people who were complete strangers yet so incredibly helpful and caring.” Page wrote and recorded the album Love Made Me Drunk about that experience. He adds: “Once I saw how small Armenia was I felt like I belonged to this exclusive club.” Page’s influence extends beyond his music. Over the years he has collaborated as a bass player and producer with a wide range of musicians including Jason Mraz, John Doe, Jewel, and The Rugburns, of which he was a founding member. Page has also started his own label, Bed Pan Records, toured throughout the world, and opened shows for the likes of Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, and Chris Isaak, among others. All of Page’s albums, including the Parisian-inspired Love Made Me Drunk, were recorded in his tiny bedroom in San Diego. “The thing about Gregory’s shows is that they’re really intimate,” says Tracy White, a fan, about Page’s live performances. “The room can be packed full, but you always feel like you’re the only one there.” Page’s latest effort, All Make Believe, was released on Sounden Recordings, an independent label distributed by Warner Brothers. Page tells me he’s looking at about a year of promotional work and concerts, including an extensive Australian tour with Jason Mraz. Page’s fans, across Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and elsewhere, are known to feel a certain ownership of his work. “We want the world to have him, but we’ll always know we had him first,” says Thalia Thomas. After Page walks me to my car following our chat and I drive away, I put his new album in the CD player and think about the time we discovered we both had fathers who were Armenian. I also remember bringing him a copy of a William Saroyan book in which we read these words. “For whenever two of them meet anywhere in the world see if they will not create a new Armenia.” f connect: www.gregorypage.com Armenian Reporter Arts & Culture 3/15/2008 C3
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A minstrel's journey - Armenian Reporter

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