Sep 5, 2008

Former punk sings new tune

Local legend rallies support for school music programs

By Paul Freeman / Entertainment Writer

Oakland resident Penelope Houston is one of the most influential and inspirational artists to ever emerge from the Bay Area rock scene. Whether she's singing punk, folk or something in between, Houston projects intensity, imagination and integrity.

Renowned for her lead vocals with the Avengers, as well as her brilliant solo albums, Houston knows the importance of music. So her next performance, on Sept. 8 at San Francisco's Cafe Du Nord, will benefit school music programs. A portion of the proceeds will go to the San Francisco-based Music In Schools Today, as well as to Oakland's Claremont Middle School Band and Orchestra.

In addition, Houston is donating sales from three CDs to these worthy projects at www.penelope.net/Schools_benefit.html.

"I couldn't believe it when they started dropping music and art programs from schools," Houston said. "Playing music when you're young helps you develop. It improves a child's math skills. There's a lot of math involved in music - intervals, chords and patterns.

"Playing an instrument improves eye-to-hand coordination. Playing in an orchestra or band develops a team feeling, the ability to work with other people."

There's also the self-discipline involved. "That's something I still need more of," Houston said, laughing.

For the Cafe Du Nord show, audience members are encouraged to bring old (but usable) musical instruments for MuST's Adopt an Instrument Program.

Houston is donating her childhood violin. "It has anti-sentimental value," she laughed. "I was pretty dreadful on it. Listening to me rehearse was torture ... even for myself."

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Seattle, Houston came from a musical family. "My brother also played violin. My sister played cello. My mom got her master's in conducting at Stanford. We had a piano, a harpsichord, a lot of instruments around the house. I ended up singing."

She sang in choruses and choirs, and eventually took up the autoharp for writing songs. She'll play that instrument at Cafe Du Nord. On some tunes, she'll have the instrument going through distortion.

A musical career wasn't her focus until college. She planned to become a visual artist and came to San Francisco to study at the Art Institute. "I really thought that was going to be my life. And then I ran into punk rock and the Avengers in '77 and kind of took a right turn ... or a left turn, maybe."

Houston was 19 and found the new punk genre to be exhilarating. "It was all open. It was like knocking down all the doors and rules of art and music and culture and just making it up as we went along. That was incredibly exciting and freeing. No one was judging you. You just went and did what you did and then you would see if you enjoyed it ... or if anyone else did."

The original Avengers were only around for two years. But they had a lasting impact, headlining dates with the Go-Go's, X and Dead Kennedys. They shared the bill with the Sex Pistols at Winterland, that group's last performance.

"When punk developed into hardcore in about '80, '81, I was turned off by it. Hardcore made punk shrink into this hard, defined, testosterone-driven, ugly little space and I didn't want to live in that space anymore.

"The big downturn happened then. It seemed like drugs took over the scene and blotted things out for a while. But the band had already broken up in '79. I was living in L.A. and getting interested in other things. So I dodged the bullet, as far as that happening in my life."

She worked in film and video and moved to London. She returned to the Bay Area in '84 and began making music with more of a folk feel.

"I started listening to Tom Waits and the Violent Femmes, who were an indicator of people with punk sensibilities turning towards different kinds of instruments, acoustic instruments, erasing all the boundaries.

"Things were starting to open up again and I was attracted to that. I was also attracted to the voice being the focus. I had felt like sometimes my lyrics were wiped out by the sheer volume (of the music). It's a lot scarier singing in front of a quiet band. So for me, it was a big challenge."

Houston's music now melds rock and folk. "There are songs that are loud, but then I can also do songs that are really quiet, whereas, with the Avengers, it's all like one giant sonic blast. That's great. But I do like to have the variation."

She appreciates the Bay Area's creative atmosphere. "In places like L.A., New York and London, bands starting out feel that they need to be commercial right away. In San Francisco, there aren't many record labels. People are working at their own speed more and in their own genres. There's a lot more room for experimentation and expression here than in a city where you feel the record industry breathing down the back of your neck."

Houston earned rave reviews for such albums as 2004's "The Pale Green Girl." She'll introduce six new songs at the Cafe Du Nord show, and a new CD is on the horizon.

Over the years, the Avengers have achieved mythic stature. "I've been doing a bunch of Avengers shows in the last four years and I've realized that those songs stand the test of time. There's a lot of people who write good songs, but they never see any kind of light. So I'm happy and grateful that the Avengers material is being listened to by people all over the world now.

"We were in a really special place at a special time. There weren't that many bands with female lead singers. So I guess I'm not totally surprised that the band has gotten a little bit of a legend attached to it."