Even for a truly old-school musician, the art of setting down a needle in the outer groove of a wavy gramophone record takes lots of patience.
Singer-actor Marcel Petunia, decked out in a dark, shiny suit that would have fit right into the gramophone era, tried it many times in a downtown Vancouver studio one morning in April. Over and over the camera rolled, the vintage clapperboard clapped, and Petunia’s character — a Jimmie Rodgers analog named Yodellin’ Vern Lockhart — turned the crank and then dropped the needle on a rather bumpy disc. Over and over, it bounced back off again.
Director Beth Harrington laughingly commended Petunia on what he was doing right — his superb cranking skills. Her crew adjusted lights. Harrington and Petunia discussed the details of his eventual retreat from the camera, should the needle ever cooperate. Petunia waited patiently for another take to commence.
In all, filming five or so seconds of a “teaser” for Harrington’s upcoming web series, “The Musicianer,” took about one hour, the labor of a half-dozen patient professionals, and a sound studio that’s no longer one of the best-kept secrets in downtown Vancouver.
So many microphones
Patrick Tetreault, guitarist and singer for the celebrated Vancouver country-rock band The Pearls, is also a co-owner and engineer at Feng Sway Studio, a brick-walled network of rooms behind an anonymous door on West Ninth Street.
Musicians and singers are drawn to Feng Sway for Tetreault’s expert ear as well as his big in-house collection of instruments and equipment. While waiting for shooting to commence that morning, Petunia tested different guitars for a certain old-timey sound, and he and Tetreault reviewed their many microphone options.
To record Petunia crooning a Jimmie Rodgers-style opening ballad for “The Musicianer,” Tetreault planned to use “a 1950s microphone that sounds like a 1920s microphone,” he said. “It’s really low-fi and a little gritty and it sounds totally awesome,” he said.
Tetreault said he’s always combing antique stores and junk shops for vintage recording technology that he hands over to his full-time tech assistant for upkeep. “I love capturing a certain vibe,” he said.
For seven years, before he set up shop downtown, Tetreault was the owner of Ripcord Studios, a historic facility in an unlikely spot — East 18th Street, not far from Grand — which was a favorite stopover during the 1960s and 1970s for important country artists like Buck Owens and Willie Nelson.
Then Tetreault decided to get closer to downtown’s growing artistic scene, he said. “There is a rebirth of arts, music, food” that both he and the artists who visit here can enjoy in their down time, he said. “Downtown Vancouver is a great place to be.”
(Later that week, a corporate partner of Feng Sway called Rogue Music Alliance, also based in Vancouver, made headlines as a federal lawsuit blocked its release of previously unheard music by the late funk-pop superstar Prince.)
Magic
Harrington, who lives in east Vancouver, has been working as a documentary filmmaker for years, but she gained a new measure of fame with “The Winding Stream,” a study of the trailblazing women of country music who set the stage for Johnny Cash’s superstardom. “The Winding Stream” was released in 2014 to great reviews.
That’s how she crossed paths with Petunia and the Vipers, a Vancouver, B.C., band that’s equally at home with vintage country sounds and jazz ballads. A mutual friend introduced them, and Harrington was seduced by their sound as well as Petunia’s uncanny Jimmie Rodgers-esque charisma, and before long the band was appearing at screenings of “The Winding Stream” to warm up audiences.
“There is something really powerful and mysterious about Petunia,” Harrington said. “He really could be from another planet or another time.”
And Petunia, who really does yodel like he was born doing it, told Harrington: “If you ever need somebody to be Jimmie Rodgers in a film, I’m your guy.”
Harrington was sold on Petunia — who long ago jettisoned his given name, Ron Fortugno — and on the idea of a musical collaboration that would score with the fan base that “The Winding Stream” had already built. The patchwork of genres collectively called Americana is endlessly hot, she said, and Petunia seemed like the perfect protagonist to explore it.
Eventually she dreamed up a TV/internet series that employs mysterious magic to make Yodellin’ Vern Lockhart literally immortal, so he can journey through the whole history of American music — singing his enigmatic heart out along the way.
“It’s got some detective story to it and some supernatural to it,” said Petunia. “Lots of supernatural.”
Money
Filming will continue this summer on a Portland soundstage. Harrington’s plan is to finish the pilot and six to eight episodes. But if she can earn the backing of a powerful producer like Netflix, she said, the sky’s the limit.
Meanwhile, there’s a Kickstarter campaign to help “The Musicianer” drop the needle, and a live introduction to the project set for 7:30 p.m. May 11 at the Brickstone Ballroom, 105 Evergreen Blvd. Tickets are $20.
Harrington’s team and cast members will introduce the project; Petunia and the Vipers will play a set; and beer, wine and snacks will be served.
“The Musicianer” is Harrington’s first non-documentary, fictional film project. “It’s scary crazy,” she laughed. “I’ve thrown caution to the winds. It keeps me up nights.”
