3 Questions With White Widow (Carla Patullo), LA-based Composer/Songstress

White Widow is an LA-based songstress and up-and-coming composer for the screen who I met in 2012 when she did the soundtrack (and live performance) for A Psychological Thriller (Jamie Dwyer and Justin Ulloa’s first short film).Her roots began on the NYC punk rock scene, taking off from the legendary CBGBs. Sandra Bernhard described her as “so fucking raw and groovy that it scares the shit out of [her]”. Along with touring internationally, White Widow has opened for acts like The Semi Precious Weapons, in addition to performances with Sandra Bernhard, Liza Minnelli, and Rufus Wainwright.Read below the break for more on White Widow’s musical inspirations – great video of her music set to Lotte Reiniger’s silent movie. She’s also shared some of her favorite hangouts.

3 favorite sources of inspiration for your music/art

1.) Going for long walks….ha ha…in my neighborhood

It’s true! Walking around with my tunes. I’ve tried to make a point of doing here in LA, even though everyone drives everywhere. I love the experience of listening to albums through my phones. It also gets me out of the cave (my recording studio), and keeps me out of traffic!

Image Credit: https://reyniervillage.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/robertson-blvd/antiques2s/

2.) Movies

The visuals and stories of films often inspire me. Sometimes they inspire me to write songs or conceptual pieces. A woman I have recently been inspired by is Lotte Reiniger. She pioneered early animated film and invented the multi-plane camera. I fell in love with her 1922 film Aschenputtel (Cinderella). The film is beautiful, abstract and silent, which inspired me to compose a narrative score.

The interplay between visual media and sound is very inspiring to me, and I feel lucky to have great friends to collaborate with such as Jamie Dwyer and Justin Ulloa (we recently wrapped up their animated short, ‘Cheese Dog: The Movie’). It always leads to an unexpected growth in my musical outlook.

3.) Learning new instruments

I love learning new instruments. When I’m composing, I often swap out for a different instruments right in the middle of a thought. It gives me a fresh new perspective. It’s like being a kid again and feeling the joy of learning your first note or chord!

3 brands/stores/services you couldn’t live without

Peluso Mics – (warm vintage mics) – http://www.pelusomicrophonelab.com

Netflix – (movies/series/TV shows – like Roseanne which I am watching…again!)

Bandcamp – (Selling Music/Merchandise that’s very artist friendly) –https://bandcamp.com/

What’s new in your neighborhood that we should absolutely check out

Undergrind Cafe – http://www.undergrindcafe.com – They have an awesome breakfast quiche, and there’s always good music playing.

The Expo Line – LA’s finally getting public transit in order. I can already take the Expo Line east to downtown, which is great, but soon it’ll go all the way west to the beach in Santa Monica. The line runs above ground so it’s pretty easy to jump on and off with your bike—one nice stop on the way to downtown is the rose garden outside of the Natural History Museum.

The Ballona Creek Bikeway – It’s not exactly new, but there’s been a recent push to revitalize the path. The ride is cool because you get to slowly feel the transformation from urban grittiness to the calming wetlands, and then it opens up to the Pacific Ocean.