The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players were an American indie-rock/art pop family band. It consisted of main vocalist Jason Trachtenburg, his wife Tina, and their only child, Rachel.
Overview
The band's members consisted of father, Jason Trachtenburg, who played
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
and sang; mother, Tina Piña, who ran the
slide projector
A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device for showing photographic slides.
35 mm slide projectors, direct descendants of the larger-format magic lantern, first came into widespread use during the 1950s as a form of occasional home ...
and was a backup vocalist; and daughter,
Rachel
Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...
, who played the
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
and sang backup. Born on December 10, 1993, Rachel was only six years old when she began performing publicly.
Their trademark was the slideshow itself: slides collected from "
estate sale
An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale or auction to dispose of a substantial portion of the materials owned by a person who is recently deceased or who must dispose of their personal property to facilitate a move.
Reasons for an estate ...
s,
garage sale
A garage sale (also known as a yard sale, tag sale, moving sale and by many other namesSome rarely used names include "attic sale," "basement sale," "rummage sale," "thrift sale," "patio sale," "lawn sale," and "jumble sale".) is an informal ...
s,
thrift stores, etc." were constantly shown in order to "turn the lives of annonymous strangers into pop-rock musical expos
© based on the contents of these slide collections". The band sings about things that occurred in the places shown in the slides, such as public execution (''Mountain Trip to Japan, 1959'') and
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
' competitors (Wendy's, Sambo's and Long John Silver's) "using network television to take advantage of efficiency".
History
Jason first met Tina at a
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
open-mic
An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...
in New York City around 1989. They soon moved to
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...
, where their daughter, Rachel, was born in 1993. The family ran a
dog-walking
Dog walking is the act of a person walking with a dog, typically from the dog's residence and then returning. Leashes are commonly used for this. Both owners and pets receive many benefits, including exercise and companionship.
Description
...
business called
The Dog Squad
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
by day while Jason was an open-mic performer by night. However, his music act, The Terriers, failed to find audiences.
While dog-walking with Rachel, Tina found an old slide projector and a box of slides at an
estate sale
An estate sale or estate liquidation is a sale or auction to dispose of a substantial portion of the materials owned by a person who is recently deceased or who must dispose of their personal property to facilitate a move.
Reasons for an estate ...
from a 1959 family trip to Japan. When Tina suggested that Jason use the slides in his music, he wrote a song to accompany the slides, "Mountain Trip To Japan, 1959". The song was later released on the debut album ''Vintage Slide Collections From Seattle, Vol 1''. Eventually, the Trachtenburgs formed together, with Jason playing keyboards and guitar and providing vocals, Tina operating the slide projector and Rachel playing harmonica (later playing drums). The trio performed their act at a local talent show and won first place and a $500 prize. They continued their act and later moved to New York City. The Trachtenburgs disbanded in 2008 after Rachel formed her own girl band,
Supercute! in 2009, and Jason formed his band,
The Pendulum Swings
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
, also in 2009. Tina continues her artistic endeavors in the parks of Manhattan, where she is known as the performance artist
Mother Pigeon
Tina Trachtenburg ( née Piña ), known by her stage name Mother Pigeon is a street performance artist in New York City. In a typical show, she arranges an art installation of hand made soft sculptures representing pigeons and other urban wildl ...
.
[New York Post video "A New York gem: this woman is "mother" to hundreds of pigeons" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPhHU863P14]
Discography
;Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players
*''Vintage Slide Collections from Seattle, Vol I'' (2001)
*''Adventures in Middle America, Vol. 2'' (2004)
*''Lost and Found'' (2011)
;Kate Nash – "Kiss That Grrrl" CD single (UK) (2741841)
*1. "Kiss That Grrrl" – Kate Nash, 3:44
*2. "Kiss That Grrrl" – performed by The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, 4:42
DVD releases
;Self-released untitled 4-track DVD
* "Middle America" live music video
* "Mountain Trip to Japan, 1959" music video
* "Look at Me" – live on the Conan O'Brien show, 3 January 2003
* Sundance Channel documentary
;''The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway'' (2006)
Unreleased songs
*"World's Best Friend" – performed at
Lamb's Theatre
Lamb's Theatre was an Off-Broadway theater located at 130 West 44th Street, Manhattan, New York City inside the Manhattan Church of the Nazarene, near Times Square in New York City. It seated approximately 350 and specialized in musical productio ...
in 2006 on ''The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway'' with
The WoWz
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
*"Charcoal Gray" – a song commissioned for a private party
*"Let's Go On Tour With Kate" – released on the band's website; music video featuring Kate Nash
References
{{Authority control
Anti-folk groups
American art rock groups
Family musical groups
Indie rock musical groups from New York (state)
Indie rock musical groups from Washington (state)
Musical groups established in 2000
Musical groups disestablished in 2011
Musical groups from New York City
American musical trios
Outsider musicians
Performance art in New York City