tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70448262024-03-13T03:05:00.587-04:00Can't Get It Out of My HeadChronicles of musical obsession: Brazilian, German, psychedelic, country-western, Brian-Wilson-related, good old indie-rock, and more.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-35291099850595765302016-04-06T22:28:00.001-04:002016-04-06T22:32:01.842-04:00Singing Merle Back Home<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JGZQaYT3Ngc" width="459"></iframe><br />
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<b><i>(Having <a href="http://www.ronmusic.blogspot.com/2015/07/just-song-before-i-go.html" target="_blank">already declared that I long ago retired this blog</a>, it occurs to me that it has become so damn easy to [re]post things here since I wrote that—from YouTube at least—that I may as well do it every now and then. But you really will find much more of my music-related writing, among other things, by following me on Facebook, Tumblr, Google+, and sometimes Twitter. Anyway, here goes nothin'.)</i></b><br />
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<b>#AotN</b>/Sad to see Hag go, but sadder still at the prospect that so many obits will focus on "Okie From Muskogee," encouraging rock &amp; rolling classic-countryphobes to continue to assume that Merle was some kind of lifelong raving conservative, when the truth is much more nuanced and far more interesting.<br />
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Yoking Merle Haggard to "Okie" for eternity is like describing Bob Dylan as "that born-again Christian guy" or Neil Young as "the guy who recorded traditional country and rockabilly." Each statement IS true, but it's only a small part of a long, long story--and in all three cases, you are looking at men who spent a lot of their careers writing from the POV of fictional characters and sometimes real people, even versions of themselves, but always presented with the craft and artifice of fiction.<br />
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I thought about offering "If We Make It to December" or one of his Farm Aid-era songs or perhaps his late-career collaborations with Iris Dement as evidence of his lefty cred, but decided to go with this song, which has little if any political content, just because I love it so much. It first appeared on a concept album (almost ALL of Merle's recordings were concept albums, often paying tribute to his precursors) about what in its day was commonly called a midlife crisis. When I first heard it, after buying the album for a buck or two from a cutout bin, the part about being 41 seemed impossibly far off in the distance and so oddly specific a number as to be inadvertently funny. Now that I am a decade and a half past that age myself (and Merle a good 20 years more), it doesn't seem like a joke anymore.<br />
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This clip was too juicy to pass up, as a clearly inebriated George Jones asks his old friend to play one of his all-time favorites, and then totally screws up the name of the song. It's a wonderfully casual performance, and a reminder that the magic of their generation's era of country was that the biggest stars in the world could sit around on a couch just being themselves in all their drunken flawed humanness, and then play songs they'd written about the very same subject.<br />
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I'm gonna miss you, Mr. Haggard. The show you performed at Kleinhans in Buffalo in the late 80s or early 90s was one of the best concerts I've ever seen, and one of the most ... depressing, if you will forgive that term, which I mean as a twisted compliment. You sat through almost the entire thing, which was off-putting for a rock guy like me to witness. And an entire evening of songs about aging and mortality: No one else would attempt anything that brazen in my concertgoing experience again until Sufjan Stevens did his "Carrie and Lowell" show at UB's CFA last year. Thank you for an uncountable number of great albums and songs, including this one.<br />
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Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-29086521839555993782015-07-09T20:05:00.001-04:002015-07-09T21:40:03.780-04:00Just a Song Before I Go<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As you may have noticed, I don't really update this blog any more; when I discovered Facebook 5 or 6 years ago I realized it was a much better venue for my writing for a couple of reasons. First, it's a much faster and more efficient way to express ideas (and I am seeing that Twitter may be even faster and more efficient). Second--and more important to me--I have a <i>lot</i> of interests, including not just music but <a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">gardening</a> and <a href="http://ronroad.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">travel</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/ron-ehmke/america-is-a-work-in-progress/960379277346349?pnref=lhc" target="_blank">political rants</a>, and on and on, and I felt compelled to maintain a separate blog for each in order to do them justice, when in fact it is the <b>interconnections between them</b> that fascinate me the most. And third, I get a lot more feedback and a lot less spam there. (In writing this post I see that Blogger has gotten even easier to use in the many years since I last worked with it--no more tedious HTML for links!--so it's possible I will return here from time to time, but don't hold your breath. See Reason Two again.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I still write a lot about music--in fact, for many years now (off and on) I have posted on an almost daily basis about an "Album [or Artist, or Art] of the Night" (aka simply "AotN") on Facebook. Here's a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ron.ehmke.7/posts/10154070892208677?pnref=story" target="_blank">random sample</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ron.ehmke.7/posts/10153978098118677" target="_blank">two</a>. I also write on a regular basis about <a href="http://www.buffalospree.com/Buffalo-Spree/November-2012/Sounds-of-the-City/" target="_blank">shows coming up in Western New York</a> and review <a href="http://www.buffalospree.com/Blogs/Total-Exposure/Annual-2015/NXNE-2015-Taking-the-generic-out-of-genre-music/" target="_blank">concerts and other events</a> for <i>Buffalo Spree</i>, among other publications. If you like what I've written here, check me out there, too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In time my website, <a href="http://everythingrondoes.com/">everythingrondoes.com</a>, will be your one-stop shop for (as the name implies) everything I do: writing, performing, making <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJbSnTO4xPqZl7pcpsrMYQ" target="_blank">peculiar</a>, often <a href="https://youtu.be/EZhwPWg_zaQ" target="_blank">music-related, video pieces</a>, and so on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">You're also encouraged to befriend me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ron.ehmke.7" target="_blank">Facebook (as RonEhmke</a>; let me know you found me via this blog) or follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/RonEhmke" target="_blank">Twitter (@RonEhmke)</a>. I absolutely love hearing from fellow music fans from around the world, so don't hesitate to say hello.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;">PS. The "Heavy Rotation" links on the right side of the page refresh every day, so the blog does stay current in its way. Check back and see what I mean!</span>Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-42602053542634828532012-03-19T22:23:00.000-04:002012-03-19T22:23:25.259-04:00Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMx8ULRanZOnWMQGVm2yDMHUZyh392Aaex4dj42c9I74Xy83c0A8fMLGN5Nd3_cNxTGk8QFPhJzHfxBZmkhqELpNVKK_liX5_h_C5lhzOvEPBHkm2BGOhwz8C5iPXQlhp5SpMjAg/s1600/krautmask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="315" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMx8ULRanZOnWMQGVm2yDMHUZyh392Aaex4dj42c9I74Xy83c0A8fMLGN5Nd3_cNxTGk8QFPhJzHfxBZmkhqELpNVKK_liX5_h_C5lhzOvEPBHkm2BGOhwz8C5iPXQlhp5SpMjAg/s320/krautmask.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Three years since my last entry here? Impossible! Imagine how many births, deaths, marriages, and divorces (none of them mine, thankfully) have occurred in all that time. And how much music I have obsessed over without you. (Unless you are a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=742938676">Facebook friend</a>, which is where I've done most of my online music writing for the last few years, in the form of an ongoing "Album/Artist of the Night" project. If you want in on that, send me a friend request and let me know you found me through this blog. At which point you will also learn more about me than anyone really should.)<br />
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I still tend to explore stuff in waves or phases (if I had paid attention in Physics I would remember the difference between those two), punctuated by periods of burnout where I return to good old indie rock as a palate cleanser. Which is to say <a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2004/06/big-idea.html">the Brazilian music that first inspired me to start this blog almost eight (ulp) years ago</a> is still part of my listening life, but not nearly as big a part. I still get excited by new discoveries in that realm, but the Compulsive Acquisition Phase is long over. Went for a few years without technically obsessing about <i>any</i> thing music wise, with a lot of that energy directed toward <a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/">gardening, of all things,</a> instead. That too waxes and wanes (do I have enough metaphors going simultaneously here yet?) lately, which is fine by me when I remember to focus on perennials rather than annuals or veggies. <br />
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As a side note, my main <a href="http://www.allentowngardener.com/">gardening mentor</a> once drew a parallel between the Rolling Stones and black-eyed Susans in an attempt to encourage me to seek out and grow less obvious plants. Would I really want a yard--or an iTunes playlist--filled entirely with classic rock Top 40 hits? Wouldn't it be more interesting for all concerned if I threw in some Ethiopian jazz and some Judee Sill here and there?<br />
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Which brings me back to the subject at hand--I recall now that my love affair with the late Ms. Sill came and went in the time since my last entry, but she is <i>such</i> a lovable affair that I may have to reconstruct my original passion sometime in hopes of turning more folks on to her.<br />
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More recently there's been about a year of what is unfortunately referred to as Krautrock in heavy rotation, along with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/COLTRANE-The-Classic-Quartet-Recordings/dp/B00000DHZ9/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332209106&sr=8-1">a boxed set of John Coltrane's "classic quartet"</a> that actually propelled me into the long-dreaded waters of jazz, all the more so when I got a whiff of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alice-Coltrane/e/B000AQ4K9Q/works/ref=ntt_mus_teaser?">his widow Alice</a>, read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-House-That-Trane-Built/dp/B001PIHUAO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332209366&sr=1-1">a history of Impulse Records</a>, and decided to dive deeper still.<br />
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The Kraut stuff is back on the front burner again, along with old and new psychedelia (I can't bring myself to use the trendier term "psych" just yet), thanks to a few lost hours of idle but fun <a href="http://isle-of-noises.blogspot.com/">blog</a> <a href="http://phrockblog15.blogspot.com/">browsing</a> in search of <a href="http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2009/01/kraut-mask-replica-collection-of-rarely.html">various obscure German albums from the 60s and early 70s</a>.<br />
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The only downside of all this dipping and diving is that, based on my browsing and purchasing habits of late, Amazon's recommendation engine has decided I really need some Emerson Lake & Palmer in my life, and that just ain't gonna happen in this lifetime. If it didn't take in the 70s, it's not going to take now. Scout's honor.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-48832861422093051462012-03-19T17:50:00.001-04:002012-03-19T17:51:54.175-04:00What's that sound? (The Lost Post)<i>I wrote a draft of this post about 3 years ago (in 2009, from the looks of it) and just rediscovered it now (in 2012) while making some long-overdue tweaks to the blog. But hey, I'm all about rediscovering lost music, so why not lost posts, too?</i><br />
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It's tempting to resume posting here after a three-month absence without any explanation whatsoever. Okay, I guess I could toss out a <a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/2009/04/funeral-for-farmer.html">clue</a> <a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/2009/04/legacy-of-leaves.html">or</a> <a href="http://woyubu.blogspot.com/">two</a>, but otherwise, let's just move on as if it was only yesterday I was going on about <a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2009/03/last-of-famous-international-playboys.html">this guy</a>.<br />
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A few random items from here and there:<br />
*<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105762127">An interesting longish NPR interview with Greg Milner</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perfecting-Sound-Forever-History-Recorded/dp/0571211658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245822156&sr=1-1"><i>Perfecting Sound Forever</i></a>. I didn't hear the entire thing live, so this is as much a reminder for me as it is a heads-up to you. Not just to listen, but to read the book.<br />
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*Depending on when you see this and where you live, you might still be able to catch <i>The Music Instinct: Science and Song</i>, a PBS documentary (premiering tonight around these parts) about "how and why music penetrates the brain and the emotions," according to the capsule summary on our pseudoTiVo. Check out <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/">the show's site</a> for video clips on birdsong, various McFerrins, and the duo of Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley, among much other material. (As I suspected, the program appears to focus on the work of <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/musicinstinct/blog/interview-with-daniel-levitin/part-one/18/">Daniel Levitin</a>, who wrote <a href="http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0452288525/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245823995&sr=1-2">one of two kinda recent pop-scientific books on musical obsession</a>. (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Musicophilia-Tales-Music-Oliver-Sacks/dp/B0029LHWPE/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b">Oliver Sacks wrote the other</a>.) Full disclosure: I haven't read either one yet, despite the passage of a couple of years. But I've always planned to, and to write about them here.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-87878352974493143452009-08-27T02:29:00.010-04:002009-08-27T03:17:06.390-04:00Sing me back homeI have not forgotten about this blog, I assure you, or about <a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2009/01/breakdown-go-ahead-give-it-to-me.html">my New Year's-ish resolution</a> to post something on some blog of mine somewhere every single day. Got a bit distracted from that mission, though, several months ago when <a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/2009/04/funeral-for-farmer.html">my father died</a>, a simple fact of life that has haunted my summer. In fact, I just got back from a return trip to my hometown to clear out his house--which, in the process, meant clearing out the last traces of myself from it, too. And <i>that</i> meant one final glimpse at the slowly decaying 8 track tapes that accompanied me (and the rest of the St. Louis High debate team) on many a car trip in the mid70s:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8cZzFadX-XZnudTzLJDnIcuc4CepEsuc9D7L_-Bu3ZaVBvbM8qwPRS_Qk0jkuMr2b8WjubH4IQTKIr2MdHsOUpuSKF7OdbQTS-su2CEPLGPO1Xrbm8ZlGEpaGnHSbLz6QYTO0ug/s1600-h/IMG_0265.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8cZzFadX-XZnudTzLJDnIcuc4CepEsuc9D7L_-Bu3ZaVBvbM8qwPRS_Qk0jkuMr2b8WjubH4IQTKIr2MdHsOUpuSKF7OdbQTS-su2CEPLGPO1Xrbm8ZlGEpaGnHSbLz6QYTO0ug/s320/IMG_0265.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374528371924545490" /></a><br /><br />The last Ehmke family Oldsmobile with an 8-track deck died a decade and a half ago, but I can still tell you the contents of each and every one of these: America's <i>Holiday</i> album, Volume TWO of Gordon Lightfoot's pre-"Sundown" hits, Volume TWO of Walter/Wendy Carlos's pioneering <i>Switched-On Bach</i>, Don McLean's version of the obligatory contract-fulfilling covers album, the soundtrack album to the Robert Redford/Mia Farrow <i>Great Gatsby</i>, and so on. (All of these except <i>Holiday</i> and the Oldsmobile demonstration tape were purchased from the dollar bin at my local Musicland, which explains the high percentage of sequels and releases by artists rising up from or heading back to obscurity.) I don't see the live Jonathan Richman album here, which is a pity, for it is the one of which I have the fondest memories, since there was a problem with it and it kept playing the same "program" over and over again, making his epic eight-minute "Ice Cream Man" even longer than he intended. This is what the 1970s sounded like to me before Joe Strummer changed the game. I regret none of it.<br /><br /><object width="250" height="40"> <param name="movie" value="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf"></param> <param name="wmode" value="window"></param> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=14759949&style=metal&p=0"></param> <embed src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=14759949&style=metal&p=0" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="window"></embed></object><br /><br />More musical memories to come, plus several months' worth of postponed observations. I'm just trying to get back in the blogging groove again with an easy one.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-35004621476721886732009-03-19T23:37:00.010-04:002009-03-20T02:04:39.221-04:00Last of the famous international playboys<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm1baGTo5xazo_KNMpgZpWVUWhA_RylFOAPQDk9moJ-Y4m3aKBQDhTXSopcPT2p1A491lhB2xvwhrKp7RySPs8f1inDBLgZsOPDQTP5H3moWWw6YZcb1EYPrVNhQo4RgW_Ay5qA/s1600-h/IMG_0226.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm1baGTo5xazo_KNMpgZpWVUWhA_RylFOAPQDk9moJ-Y4m3aKBQDhTXSopcPT2p1A491lhB2xvwhrKp7RySPs8f1inDBLgZsOPDQTP5H3moWWw6YZcb1EYPrVNhQo4RgW_Ay5qA/s320/IMG_0226.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315129082143143890" /></a><br />Thoughts immediately after leaving tonight's <a href="http://www.itsmorrisseysworld.com/">Morrissey</a> concert at <a href="http://ubcfa.org/">UB's Center for the Arts</a>, which I've decided is one of my favorite places to see events in town:<br /><br />1. In keeping with its stated theme, I try to focus this blog on music/musicians I'm currently or formerly obsessed with, and I've actually managed to escape the siren song of Mr. Suedehead for the length of his career. Oh, sure, I loved the Smiths in their day, but you'd have to be an idiot not to appreciate that band, would you not? I'm just saying I always took the oh-lonesome-me lyrics with a major chunk of salt (easy, since many of the best are so salty to begin with) and never once contemplated hurling gladiolas at the Heir of Oscar Wilde's feet.<br /><br />2. That said, I realized the minute he walked out on stage that <b>the guy is a World Class Rock Star</b>, with a pretty brilliant sense of how to make a concert into a highly theatrical event. He is very big on whipping the mic cord around (this explains the immense space between his mic stand and the rest of the band) and pressing the flesh with fans (this does not explain the bizarre passive-aggressive vibe, in which he seems to encourage audience members to jump onstage and touch him, only to see them dragged away by very large security guards).<br /><br />3. As for the <b>solo songs</b>? All perfectly fine, mostly interchangeable. I'm one of those people who won't give up the feeling that he really needed Johnny Marr as a songwriting foil.<br /><br />4. <b>LIghting</b>: great. <b>Big cut-out backdrop of sailor</b>: loved it. <b>Backing band</b>: excellent. <b>Band outfitted in matching t-shirts of entire band naked</b>: genius. (Sadly, the adorable looking keyboard player does not seem to be on the shirt. It must feel odd for him to be obliged to wear a photo of his predecessor night after night, naked or not.)<br /><br />5. Speaking of <b>shirts</b>, I imagine they are a line item in the tour budget, as two of the Rock Star's were tossed out into the audience during the show, each soaked with sweat. I actually prayed they would not be thrown anywhere near me, for I am Just Not Into That.<br /><br />6. Speaking of <b>sweat</b>, I was quite impressed with the fact that it formed a heart shape on the back of shirt #2. This made me wonder if perhaps he has had his sweat glands sculpted to create this effect. <br /><br />7. Morrissey the man: Boy, does he look <b>old</b>! And yet, he is my age, I think. My neck looks better than his. And yet, he is in far better shape than me, and can pull off that shirt without embarrassment. Also, he always looked old. And I find old people very handsome. Well, <i>some</i> old people. He qualifies.<br /><br />8. A <b>gong</b>?! Awesome! Having messed the chance to see Led Zep or any number of 70s bands in their prime, I am happy to see them making a comeback.<br /><br />9. <b>Opening act = <a href="http://www.thecourteeners.com/">The Courteeners</a></b> = first I'd ever heard of them = their first-ever show in the States = most pleasant surprise in this thankless slot since <a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2005/12/year-in-song.html">the Magic Numbers opened for Bright Eyes at the same venue</a>. HIgh 80s revivalism; lotsa echoes of the Jam and, you guessed it, the Smiths. We even bought the CD; a cursory listen to the first four songs confirms that they are catchy, although I'm not sure the recorded versions capture what is so delightful about the band in performance. (Value added: Song 4, aka "What Took You So Long?," actually includes the lines "Sometimes I am bad and sometimes I am rotten / Sometimes I say things that probably should have been forgotten / about people and things, but do you know who I am? I'm like a Morrissey with some strings." Did not catch this during the show.)<br /><br />10. Between the Courteeners and Moz, <b>vintage music videos, dancehall novelty songs, nightclub routines, and snippets of British films</b> were projected on a large screen. These were clearly curated by the Rock Star himself, as every single one was a perfect gem. Biggest surprise: Who knew he was such a fan of <b>Shocking Blue</b>? Three songs--and who knew they did anything besides "Venus"? (The other two were "Inkpot," which sounds like some sort of raunchy Dutch double entendre, and "Mighty Joe.") Suddenly I find myself wanting to know <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocking_Blue">more about them</a>.<br /><br />In fact, what say we wrap this up with (a different but similar clip of) "Inkpot"? Note the band's groovy/shimmery black-metallic outfits, and how much the song resembles Abba doing glam:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vvvZUSUUA4I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vvvZUSUUA4I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-89329675971754622462009-03-18T01:19:00.006-04:002009-03-18T02:08:54.978-04:00We begin bombing in 10 minutesThat <a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2009/02/phases-and-stages.html">Steve Reich box I picked up a few weeks ago</a> has provided many hours of enjoyment; there's nothing like driving around at night with one of his marimba-driven compositions providing an ambiguous soundtrack of anticipation. Still, I'm a little sad the box houses only one of Reich's two landmark found-audio loops from the 1960s, namely this one:<br /><br /><object width="250" height="40"> <param name="movie" value="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf"></param> <param name="wmode" value="window"></param> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=7189314&style=metal&p=0"></param> <embed src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=7189314&style=metal&p=0" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="window"></embed></object><br /><br />Because, as trippy as that one is, I've always preferred the gospel-sermon energy of the other one (not on the box):<br /><br /><object width="250" height="40"> <param name="movie" value="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf"></param> <param name="wmode" value="window"></param> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=7189300&style=metal&p=0"></param> <embed src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=7189300&style=metal&p=0" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="window"></embed></object><br /><br />In both cases, it's interesting to listen to the pieces 40 years (holy crap!) down the line, after Byrne/Eno and Negativland, after a couple decades of hiphop and electronic dance music turning appropriation into a cliché. They feel slower, more sedate, and way too long, to be sure, but they also possess a depth and singularity of focus that later experiments/ripoffs/cash-ins don't. They also sound awesome when you crank them up.<br /><br />I bring up Reich mainly as an excuse to share two far more recent finds:<br /><br />1)<a href="http://www.freesound.org/index.php">The Freesound Project</a>, described as <br /><blockquote>a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, ... released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to ...<br />•browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a "sounds-like" type of browsing and more<br />•up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license<br />•interact with fellow sound-artists!</blockquote><br />A virtuous goal, to be sure, but to hell with virtue. Let's get to the juicy stuff:<br /><br />2)<a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/03/off_with_those.php">Handy audio clips of Bill O'Reilly reading the naughty bits of his 2001 audiobook version of <i>Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder</i></a>. (First came to my attention <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/17/audioclips-of-bill-o.html">here</a>.) Trust me, you'll have Bill's unforgettable voice ringing in your ears for weeks, ordering you to "Cup your hands under your breasts and hold them for ten seconds" in a tone that suggests a workout instructor.<br /><br />For added fun, play all of the above simultaneously. While cupping your hands under your breasts and holding them for ten seconds, of course.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-74682263386380702102009-03-17T20:05:00.006-04:002009-03-17T20:22:02.843-04:00Oh, Dannnny Boyyyyyyyy ...So there we are, the husband and I, enjoying a lovely walk alongside the mighty Niagara on a sunny St. Patrick's Day, preparing for our collective future as an elderly suburban couple, when suddenly both of us think the same thing:<br /><br /><i>Are those </i>bagpipes<i> I hear?</i><br /><br />And sure enough:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihT8R6rjU4TIQEBaiQPdfKqy4mgYN5oN-Q75sk41txu1szm0nqGwmmsZWshoEIDU4ZSW966jGmwYu0jyGmewWnjHaBj4Y59Vb_hrwED2fAKdnRlhOb1F1NqOvbb36oYKAB4oSCTA/s1600-h/IMG_0218.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihT8R6rjU4TIQEBaiQPdfKqy4mgYN5oN-Q75sk41txu1szm0nqGwmmsZWshoEIDU4ZSW966jGmwYu0jyGmewWnjHaBj4Y59Vb_hrwED2fAKdnRlhOb1F1NqOvbb36oYKAB4oSCTA/s400/IMG_0218.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314312887979595378" /></a><br /><br />Happy Paddy Day. <br /><br />PS. In the spirit of the holiday, allow me to recommend <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Long-Journey-Home-Television-Mini/dp/B000005TJR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1237335097&sr=1-1">this wonderful album</a>:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwALJIymyp312MR5upcQXbOVBlFEktqL59ehuNaj0y5hdT9K8zWc1BNLQkYvKXTzt7W_0z4e-oAzl21xlUOKQefRQCgKP_1NYdAeRI8IHY_PtlSCrTSlgNrKompXF1VacoW4n7A/s1600-h/LongJourney.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwALJIymyp312MR5upcQXbOVBlFEktqL59ehuNaj0y5hdT9K8zWc1BNLQkYvKXTzt7W_0z4e-oAzl21xlUOKQefRQCgKP_1NYdAeRI8IHY_PtlSCrTSlgNrKompXF1VacoW4n7A/s320/LongJourney.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314315879748650786" /></a><br />The bad news is, it's been discontinued by its manufacturer. The good news is, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000005TJR/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1237335097&sr=1-1&condition=used">you can pick up a copy via Amazon for as low as 80 cents</a> and enjoy some lovely and rare covers of traditional Irish tunes by the likes of Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor, and Vince Gill for under a buck. That beats a green beer any day in my book.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-85746867350021381042009-03-12T02:09:00.003-04:002009-03-17T21:59:41.101-04:00Sign o' the Times<div>Now, more than ever. Take it away, boys ...</div><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/48f3f305ad1283e4/49b8a713334fc92f/48f3f3053cbe0b4e/a5da974e/widget.js"></script><br /><br /><b>Update, 3/17/09</b><br />The Gang's refrain "Comrades, let us seize the time" finds a 21st-century echo in the closing lines of <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/03/16/let-it-die-rushkoff-on-the-economy/">this recent essay by Douglas Rushkoff about how the collapse of the stock market may not be such a bad thing, as found on <i>Arthur</i>'s ever-provocative blog</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>The current financial crisis is the best opportunity we have had in a very long time for a bloodless revolution against the faceless fascism under which we have been living, unaware, for much too long. Let us seize the day.</blockquote>Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-32007796374343650432009-03-01T02:52:00.006-05:002009-03-01T03:08:56.504-05:00I'm all lost in the supermarket; I can no longer shop happily<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUZ1IJ_6orZ4weJX260LoPqfg8WB5sFcH1w5sDYSihFkVJ1nKzFmpntDE2HdPOhQwd8Wxj-AqF_CgbdbZ5ko88wJNZf4n3FWWDUBQpTvoxktGXQYPljKVegJpD-nqxWoi7drNT0A/s1600-h/IkeaMusic.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUZ1IJ_6orZ4weJX260LoPqfg8WB5sFcH1w5sDYSihFkVJ1nKzFmpntDE2HdPOhQwd8Wxj-AqF_CgbdbZ5ko88wJNZf4n3FWWDUBQpTvoxktGXQYPljKVegJpD-nqxWoi7drNT0A/s320/IkeaMusic.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308126967703697490" /></a><br />I've got much more to say about <a href="http://www.platform21.nl/index.php">Dutch art/design collective Platform 21</a> and its <a href="http://www.platform21.nl/page/3293/en">"Hacking IKEA"</a> project on my <a href="http://www.platform21.nl/page/3293/en">gardening blog</a>, but here's one of the more conceptual pranks on view on the P21 site:<br /><br /><blockquote>MUSIC FOR IKEAS is an attempt to musically hack the entire emporium of IKEA through the release of a CD. Music is an effective invisible method to radically manipulate the atmosphere of a space. The CD is presented via an especially developed sound system, which can be integrated into every IKEA interior. <br />With thanks to Mia Adrésen and Hans Wessels. </blockquote><br /><br />Wish there was some way to hear the album itself, unlistenable though I suspect it probably is . Maybe I'll just have to wander into a store where some enterprising audio anarchist has installed one of those specially modified lamp/CD players. Rock on, hackers! Hack on, rockers!<br /><br />PS. Thanks to <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/2009/02/27/repairing-is-the-new-recycling/"><i>Arthur</i></a> for bringing P21 to my attention.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-4632103341923890532009-02-27T00:18:00.006-05:002009-02-27T01:25:48.293-05:00Long live Pere Ubu!<i>I dunno if it was a Freudian slip or simply because I'm tired, but the post below was originally intended for--and is now posted at--<a href="http://woyubu.blogspot.com/">the multi-author blog associated with</a> an incredibly elaborate, 2 1/2-years-in-the-making <a href="http://www.woyubu.org/">production I am involved with next month</a> in collaboration with my pals in the <a href="http://www.realdreamcabaret.com/">Real Dream Cabaret</a>, <a href="http://ips.buffalo.edu/">these hi-tech folks here</a>, other robot designers, and musician-about-town David Kane. For some reason, I almost posted it here instead. But what the hell--why not crosspost? The more people who hear about the project, the better! Plus, I'm really loving <a href="http://woyubu.blogspot.com/">the ongoing blog we're maintaining as we put the show together--a rare chance to watch a show take shape before your very eyes</a>--and this makes a convenient excuse to encourage you to check it out. I'm also a big Pere Ubu fan from way back, which makes the following all the more relevant in a different context ...</i><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsiKMbL9X3ENE54vaiHcC6pnA6ObHNjw6mzbijtao7DuDymf-1VRhcu_v04Wb4Rk3-SliZYFanGL0XJCHAKLyo_IzvTYuJkLVG1yFgrg2J3MMwSfudwQwnZCS0F-Xe-QoNsuKyg/s1600-h/roistage.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixsiKMbL9X3ENE54vaiHcC6pnA6ObHNjw6mzbijtao7DuDymf-1VRhcu_v04Wb4Rk3-SliZYFanGL0XJCHAKLyo_IzvTYuJkLVG1yFgrg2J3MMwSfudwQwnZCS0F-Xe-QoNsuKyg/s320/roistage.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307346420006576802" /></a><br /><br />Like a lot of people my age--easing from high school to college as Pistols-era punk rock evolved into post-punk--I first became aware of <i>Ubu Roi</i> through the legendary avant-noise rock of <a href="http://www.ubuprojex.net/pereubu.html">Pere Ubu</a>. The band is still around, more than 30 years later, albeit with an ever-changing lineup, and it's kinda surprising that it took them until 2008 to get around to actually staging Jarry's play.<br /><br />The production, <a href="http://www.ubuprojex.net/bringmethehead.html">described here</a>, sounds pretty interesting--and quite far from our own handling of the same material. Visual elements are by the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0703028/">Brothers</a><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0703029/"> Quay</a>, and lead singer/songwriter/play adapter <a href="http://www.ubuprojex.net/bio.html#dt">David Thomas</a> performs as Pa Ubu himself--the role he was obviously born to play. Here's a sample:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="392" data="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=1300542" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="revver1300542123571263018513126"><param name="Movie" value="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=1300542"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="allowFullScreen=true"></param><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=1300542" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />(You can <a href="http://www.hearpen.com/rtr.html">download a free MP3 of the same song here</a>, or buy the whole album shortly.)Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-86052436792121731612009-02-25T00:51:00.006-05:002009-02-25T01:32:29.182-05:00Phases and stagesYes, yes, we all know Best Buy and its ilk are evil, but now that they have driven most of my favorite indie record stores out of business, sometimes I am driven to visit a big box. Well, actually, it was the <a href="http://www.snaptell.com/">SnapTell</a> app on my iPhone that sent me to BB in search of a lower price on a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Bossa-Nova-Nara-Leao/dp/B0012CQTN2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1235541810&sr=1-2">Nara Leão album</a> I found at Borders recently. (Fun fact: "Nara Leão" sounds to me like someone trying to say "Laura Nyro" and getting tongue tied.) BB allegedly had the album for two bucks cheaper, but after searching every conceivable bin in the (surprisingly tiny) music section of a specific store in the hinterlands of suburbia--World Music, Latin, Jazz, Female Vocalists, Bargains, even Pop/Rock--I found no Leão whatsoever.<br /><br />What I <i>did</i> find instead was quite possibly the best deal I've ever stumbled upon in my many decades of bargain-hunting:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyY4ToatiMm6P5pFP1wJIctJBCnvLzLch6CYLTeLrd4I5dqeWOQG7JQ9nU7lpokFRJvRvXkGtmKg0uVsiHrWSSZhvK1RHbBLoT6zUFae3reYm_OdTFxECw130vbcF08r4pB6nIIw/s1600-h/ReichBox.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyY4ToatiMm6P5pFP1wJIctJBCnvLzLch6CYLTeLrd4I5dqeWOQG7JQ9nU7lpokFRJvRvXkGtmKg0uVsiHrWSSZhvK1RHbBLoT6zUFae3reYm_OdTFxECw130vbcF08r4pB6nIIw/s320/ReichBox.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306609403380987282" /></a><br /><br />this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Reich-Phases-Box-Set/dp/B000H3095G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1235452537&sr=1-1">five-CD box set of classic Steve Reich works on Nonesuch</a>. When I saw the $14.99 price tag, I thought at first it might be a typo for $149.99, but then vaguely remembered reading about this rock-bottom-priced set when it first came out in conjunction with Reich's 70th birthday. (There is, in fact, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Steve-Reich-1965-1995/dp/B000005J4P/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1235542297&sr=1-2">a $100 Reich box</a>, but even that one seems reasonably priced, given that it contains a whoppin' TEN discs.)<br /><br />The scanner at the cash register wanted to charge me $35, but I pointed to the sticker and sure enough, $15 is what I paid. Or would have been, had I not had 7 bucks remaining on a BB gift card a niece gave me for Christmas two years ago--meaning<b> I just paid 8 bucks and change for 5 albums' worth of minimalist masterworks</b>, including the pioneering early spoken-word tape loop piece "Come Out," the lovely song cycle <i>Tehillim</i>, all of <i>Drumming</i>, and the one and only <i>Music for 18 Musicians</i>, which I will forever associate with the foyer of a New Wave dance club back in the early 80s. I already have a lot of this stuff on vinyl, and my Reich/Glass "phase" ended a couple of decades ago, but something like this is too good to pass up. And for the record, "Come Out" sounds just as mind-blowing today as it did when I first heard it (let alone what it must have sounded like in 1966, long before <i>Bush of Ghosts</i> or before the sampled and looped human voice became ubiquitous on hordes of electronica and hiphop releases).Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-44726529010270922022009-02-23T02:05:00.005-05:002009-02-23T02:35:11.552-05:00Come up to the Lab and see what's on the slab<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhbzGlrPhrGFsHqRbN6ShnJqSrBkH53C_rDeM7lMUsiZ7IG3-WKAKYQxBXWRnwSVtMOG-2AB5mIRs6VWGLiKxNlYcnk11WZItpeEoOTE-ZyfBZeyxcq1o7nf5vnLdJo-JbfCStA/s1600-h/Blowyourmind.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKhbzGlrPhrGFsHqRbN6ShnJqSrBkH53C_rDeM7lMUsiZ7IG3-WKAKYQxBXWRnwSVtMOG-2AB5mIRs6VWGLiKxNlYcnk11WZItpeEoOTE-ZyfBZeyxcq1o7nf5vnLdJo-JbfCStA/s320/Blowyourmind.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305892021733681058" /></a><br /><br />There's something annoyingly cutesy about the science-themed public radio show <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/"><i>Radiolab</i></a>, but naturally I had to listen to <a href="http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2006/04/21">the episode on "Musical Language."</a> Missed a few sections on the air this afternoon, but I can catch up via the online version sometime. Here's the basic premise:<br /><br /><blockquote>What is music? How does it work? Why does it move us? Why are some people better at it than others? In this hour, we examine the line between language and music, how the brain processes sound, and we meet a composer who uses computers to capture the musical DNA of dead composers in order to create new work. We also re-imagine the disastrous 1913 debut of Stravinsky’s <i>Rite of Spring</i>…through the lens of modern neurology.</blockquote> <br /><br />Alas, this is yet another reminder that I haven't yet read either <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Musicophilia-Tales-Music-Revised-Expanded/dp/1400033535/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235373703&sr=8-1">Oliver Sacks's <i>Musicophilia</i></a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/0452288525/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235373760&sr=8-2">Daniel Levitin's <i>This is Your Brain on Music</i></a>, which (I assume) provide further explorations of the above.<br /><br />(Note: Groovy psychedelic album cover art above found at the always-enjoyable <a href="http://lpcoverlover.com/category/music-for/page/2/"><i>LP Cover Lover</i></a>.)Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-43121730826079675472009-02-21T00:31:00.005-05:002009-02-21T01:04:26.535-05:00That's the way (uh huh, uh huh) I like itAs my oft-documented affection for <a href="http://www.donlennon.com/">Don Lennon</a>,<a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2007/11/year-in-music-2007-edition.html"> Jens Lekman</a>, and Stephen Merritt (to say nothing of their precursors, Messers Morrissey and Richman) establishes, I am a sucker for this sort of thing:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iB36ETTlOSM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iB36ETTlOSM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />If you're digging Mr. Dent May (an Animal Collective protege, of all things!) as much as I seem to be liking him, you may also enjoy ...<br />*<a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/2009/02/under-oak-shes-having-smoke.html">another, even catchier, video clip on my other (gardening-related) blog</a> (WARNING! SELF-PROMOTION IN EFFECT!)<br />*<a href="http://blog.allmusic.com/2009/02/19/video-jam-of-the-day-dent-may-his-magnificent-ukulele-meet-me-in-the-garden/">the AllMusic Blog entry that first alerted me to Mr. May</a><br />•<a href="http://www.emusic.com/artist/Dent-May-His-Magnificent-Ukulele-MP3-Download/12132628.html">eMusic's handy page of audio and video clips and other DM goodies</a><br /><br />I consider it a good day when someone I've never heard of when I wake up is ringing in my ears by the time I head back to bed at night.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-16554818927854889052009-02-07T02:00:00.003-05:002009-02-07T08:07:48.884-05:00Eat to the beat<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6kuHrPlT2LK0HvC4Nb2QPY9mfcXBVWuafTySFWU_BNHojoGsHwWqMcepLHqvfvjHCvZs2aLvctmfkuyhNi6dSa_EFhmdOn4_kSt8lEfBKrfOVWLskeczhr7eJGbJ7n2pkNqCHQ/s1600-h/productImage.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp6kuHrPlT2LK0HvC4Nb2QPY9mfcXBVWuafTySFWU_BNHojoGsHwWqMcepLHqvfvjHCvZs2aLvctmfkuyhNi6dSa_EFhmdOn4_kSt8lEfBKrfOVWLskeczhr7eJGbJ7n2pkNqCHQ/s320/productImage.jpeg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299948283543799506" /></a><br />Courtesy of <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/28/picturebox-book-sale.html"> a heads-up on <i>Boing Boing</i></a>, news of a book sale from the folks at <a href="http://www.pictureboxinc.com/news#135">PictureBox Press</a> (which ends Feb 8, btw). I admit I've got my eye on <a href="http://www.pictureboxinc.com/product/id/294/">this volume saluting the work of the album design company Hipgnosis</a>, who were behind many an iconic LP sleeve from the 70s, from Pink Floyd to 10CC to Wings. I've leafed through this particular coffee-table book and it's a beaut, with visual and verbal accounts of the thought processes behind those witty, often surreal covers, including rejected concepts. I was a teenager during the heyday of Hipgnosis, and I remember finding their distinctive company name in the liner notes of album after album--the first designers I was ever aware of. Sometimes their aesthetic seemed great, other times really appalling (just like the music!), but it always set the tone of the contents. They were also masters of using every square inch of "real estate"--gatefold sleeves, sleeve jackets, the label on the disc itself--to extend the look and theme of the cover. (People often lamented the death of album design in the era of the CD, but I never bought it, because many a designer was smart enough to adjust to the smaller canvas. What <i>was</i> missing in CD packaging was all the ephemera--inner sleeves, poster inserts, etc.) (History in the making! The preceding parenthetical comment marks the first time I've referred to CDs in the past tense. And alas, there truly is NO packaging involved in the average MP3 download.)<br /><br />There's a lot more here, too, including beautifully packaged works by Gary Panter, Michel Gondry, and others. But act fast, because at full price, most of 'em will cost you major coin, and you'll be reduced to eating vinyl like the gentleman on the book cover.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-82777164613700192782009-01-28T00:39:00.006-05:002009-01-28T01:47:49.899-05:00Life is a carnivalJust caught another interesting episode of <i>Austin City Limits</i> (one of many lately, after a longish dry run) featuring <a href="http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=64">Gnarls Barkley</a> and <a href="http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=226&Itemid=51">Thievery Corporation</a>: a perfect double bill in many ways, not least of which was my suspicion that it would all be a lot more fun if I saw it in person. Not that the two sets weren't plenty of fun on the tube, mind you, but both of them were so clearly focused on the live experience: participatory, energetic, unexpected.<br /><br />Watching GB in action, it dawned on me that they are the Was (Not Was) of the Aughts--wacky lyrics, juxtapositions that shouldn't work but mostly do, surprise mainstream smash hit, general sense that they're smart folks who think about what they're up to. Maybe in 20 years DangerMouse will end up doing <a href="http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=%22David+Was%22&prgId=17">commentaries on NPR, like David Was does now</a>.<br /><br />I'd seen Gnarls on TV before and knew what to expect, but <a href="http://www.thieverycorporation.com/">TC</a> was a revelation as a live act. I've enjoyed their recordings, both the mix compilations they curate and their own album projects, but their concert incarnation is a circus, complete with seven vocalists, a sitar player, a horn section, a dancer, and miscellaneous other folks filling the stage at various points. I learned from the end credits that that was <a href="http://www.platetectonicmusic.com/">Frank Orrall from Poi Dog Pondering</a> on ukulele and percussion, and it was a treat to see and hear Seu Jorge join the ensemble for a cover of Jorge Ben (Jor)'s super-catchy "Umbabaraumba."<br /><br />The most striking aspect of the TC spectacle was the fact that its two ostensible frontmen, DJs Rob Garza and Eric Hilton (the latter can look kinda cute when they're wearing formal attire, which they weren't doing this time, alas), were way back in the mix, both sonically and visually, occupying center stage only when they took their final bows. Fleshing out what began as a two-man operation with 14--count 'em, FOURTEEN--guest performers is a gutsy and, to my way of thinking, very smart move. Shy guys in electronic music is all but a given; I watched the two men who make up Autechre hide behind laptops several years back, and DangerMouse spoke in his post-concert ACL interview about not particularly relishing the live aspect of his job (no problem in his case, since Cee-Lo is such a forceful figure onstage). The Thievery solution not only allows them to share the stage with folks who are much more at home on one, it also gives a human form to the political themes in their lyrics and the dazzling range of genres (bossa, lounge, dance, hiphop, Indian pop, and so much more). <br /><br />Here is but a tease. Judicious searching on YouTube will surely yield you longer examples of both acts in concert.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qQzui8xtF3Y&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qQzui8xtF3Y&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-393387474089380052009-01-23T01:26:00.005-05:002009-01-23T02:10:17.577-05:00It's a beautiful morningTwo more songs that ran through my head on Inauguration Day. You may think they couldn't be farther apart from each other, but America's first biracial prez (after the one foreseen <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118798/">here</a>, that is) is all about the union of opposites, is he not?<br /><br />1. Shortly after I evoked <a href="http://ronmusic.blogspot.com/2009/01/tear-roof-off-sucker.html">another George Clinton masterwork</a>, I came across <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=3737">an Inaug Day post on <i>Arthur</i>'s blog</a> that reminded me of an incredibly obvious praise song for the day:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/msNgZ2nexC0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/msNgZ2nexC0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />2. And, from the other side of the universe, this anthem from the-end-which-is-really-the-beginning of Stephen Sondheim's score for the beloved flop (which I've only heard recently and totally love) <i><a href="http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=4144">Merrily We Roll Along</a></i>. <br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/48f3f305ad1283e4/49796304628ee5d3/48f3f3053cbe0b4e/ecbc4334/widget.js"></script><br /><br />True, I'm taking it out of its original context, but I won't tell if you won't. And I truly couldn't get it out of my head when I thought about the colossal changes our culture is undergoing at the moment, and the way the Obama family has connected with a new generation. In the musical, whose plot unfolds backward from the early 1980s to the mid-50s, this hopeful song is undercut by the fact that we already know what will come of all this youthful optimism. In real life, we have no need yet to be so cynical, which is pretty damn exciting.)Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-90213936123556652562009-01-20T12:39:00.002-05:002009-01-20T12:43:18.916-05:00Tear the roof off the suckerCouldn't help but think of this classic as the First Lady of Soul took the dais today:<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/48f3f305ad1283e4/49760c636f6400be/48f3f3053cbe0b4e/e90c9e16/widget.js"></script><br /><br />Once a psychedelic dream, now a reality.<br /><br />Here's to a brighter future, CC.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-68769024586852500082009-01-19T22:08:00.003-05:002009-01-20T03:25:00.161-05:00Up, up, and awayIn the car on this MLK Day I caught fragments of <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=3&prgDate=1-19-2009">the morning news</a> and <a href="http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/01/looking-at-the-i-have-a-dream-speech/">the talk show that follows it</a>. Somewhere in there, snippets of two songs caught my ear.<br /><br />1. Bruce Springsteen, during <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99546324">Sunday's inauguration kickoff concert in DC</a>, doing a powerful acoustic version of "The Rising" supported by a full gospel choir. Here it is, at least until HBO inevitably yanks the clip:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7CODdP_gtGo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7CODdP_gtGo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />2. A studio recording of a song Mahalia Jackson performed during the 1963 March on Washington. (I can't remember which one, but it was gorgeous.) This was almost certainly <i>not</i> the song, but it works so beautifully with the title, theme, and tone of Bruce's--to say nothing of the zeitgeist at this particular moment--that I can't resist sharing it:<br /><br /><object width="250" height="40"> <param name="movie" value="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf"></param> <param name="wmode" value="window"></param> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=563961&style=metal&ap=0"></param> <embed src="http://listen.grooveshark.com/songWidget.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="250" height="40" flashvars="hostname=cowbell.grooveshark.com&widgetID=563961&style=metal&ap=0" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="window"></embed></object><br /><br />#2 inspired me to pull out my copy of ...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dCuoh8yHIsrzwKKvNT0mT36WmQbVZWQoYF2e98zieFbmZjqkgHv8QY0sL236rLudLOpG8wGPYWcyrl04FZiz8zNIfa8T87hIR-WS983MdWqXhyphenhyphenyVmo6gKSmIC4w0ro3waYLDfg/s1600-h/Mahalia.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dCuoh8yHIsrzwKKvNT0mT36WmQbVZWQoYF2e98zieFbmZjqkgHv8QY0sL236rLudLOpG8wGPYWcyrl04FZiz8zNIfa8T87hIR-WS983MdWqXhyphenhyphenyVmo6gKSmIC4w0ro3waYLDfg/s320/Mahalia.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293257866256941154" /></a><br /><br />... <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wjfyxq95ldde">this compilation of Jackson's recordings for Columbia</a> as a way of honoring the present confluence of anniversaries, inaugurations, and such. <br /><br />I'm actually not the biggest fan of either the Boss or the Queen of Gospel, but of course I recognize their places in popular culture and music history, and each has created many moments that speak directly to me. Today I heard two more, and the day--24 short hours before we officially welcome a president who can actually form complete, coherent, and even thought-provoking sentences!--was all the more inspiring as a result.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-78617501716514335922009-01-16T00:57:00.002-05:002009-01-16T01:01:43.811-05:00Song for the New DepressionThis song has been on my mind a lot lately:<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/48f3f305ad1283e4/497021c1847812ec/48f3f3053cbe0b4e/523dab4/widget.js"></script><br /><br />For the record, I have a huge backlog of subjects to write about here, but just moments ago I learned about <a href="http://listen.grooveshark.com/#">GrooveShark</a> and I'm learning how to use it. If it's as easy as it appears to be, I may at last be able to incorporate music on this blog. New depression? Not here!Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-23159644827321544372009-01-10T00:20:00.005-05:002009-01-10T01:19:39.347-05:00Two tickets to ParadiseI was sad to read <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=3517">here</a> that the delightful free music/culture tabloid <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/"><i>Arthur</i></a> is ceasing print publication unless and until a publishing partner materializes. (And just a few moments later, I learned about <a href="http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2009/01/growing-edge-ma.html">a gardening magazine also biting the dust</a>.)<br /><br />On the bright side, <i>Arthur</i> still has an online presence, including a fine blog, where at the moment you can <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=3502">pay tribute to the late Ron Asheton with some bootlegs</a> and hear/read <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=3509">Brian Eno's thoughts on Gaza</a>. And this might just be the time for me to shell out for <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/store/arthur_cds.php">this 2004 Devendra Banhart-curated compilation CD</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL7lzFRAUolTSylhOis3_QBlQTjzNHbSSR4BYqhQKlUcK2qfbdBwDWbJDJAbwu9XoFZTdBibOvCl_ysXaTVBoV269L4zcK_BLnoWUgNLpB4ricZeI9KkIYHOOmU2fWvqgAh14DXg/s1600-h/goldenreissue.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL7lzFRAUolTSylhOis3_QBlQTjzNHbSSR4BYqhQKlUcK2qfbdBwDWbJDJAbwu9XoFZTdBibOvCl_ysXaTVBoV269L4zcK_BLnoWUgNLpB4ricZeI9KkIYHOOmU2fWvqgAh14DXg/s320/goldenreissue.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289536882558453634" /></a><br /><br />featuring folks like Joanna Newsom, Vashti Bunyan, Six Organs of Admittance, Antony, and Iron and Wine. Even more enticing is the <a href="http://www.arthurmag.com/store/dvds.php">DVD of archival footage of the Living Theater's <i>Paradise Now</i> and other landmarks of experimental/political theater circa 1968-69</a>. I've read about these plays since I was a teenager, and it's wild to finally find out what they looked and sounded like. Judging from this promo trailer, they were very, very shrill:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jF7_BdHi_NA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jF7_BdHi_NA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Not the kind of thing I'm going to want to watch on a regular basis, but as an artifact of a crucial yet bygone era, there's no way I'm going to pass it up. Meanwhile, here's hoping <i>Arthur</i> returns to print ASAP.<br /><br />PS. In brighter news from the publishing world, <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/09/all-whole-earth-publ.html">according to <i>Boing Boing</i> you can now find every incarnation of the <i>Whole Earth Catalog/Review</i> online</a>. Like the Living Theater, this was a staple of my adolescence, even though I was about 10 years too late to the party. <a href="http://www.wholeearth.com/index.php">Check it out, right here!</a>Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-2171106956528781752009-01-02T03:58:00.011-05:002009-01-02T06:54:16.606-05:00Breakdown (go ahead, give it to me)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_n-2SamC9xZRls7hc9162K_PJzVb35vjt7SxWpCxUgrP82JxJvQhN0B_oVmDRfydLQ474eDz-_VuSVzzQ3enw6y1iJG38R7glt9QjqPvy-o6n_o1rst3XkOkDhbTOFfh8QW9UgA/s1600-h/EmptyHole.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_n-2SamC9xZRls7hc9162K_PJzVb35vjt7SxWpCxUgrP82JxJvQhN0B_oVmDRfydLQ474eDz-_VuSVzzQ3enw6y1iJG38R7glt9QjqPvy-o6n_o1rst3XkOkDhbTOFfh8QW9UgA/s320/EmptyHole.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286618296408184130" /></a><br /><br />OK, OK, so it's been a while since my last confession. Forgive me, Father. I never intended to abandon this blog, for I certainly haven't abandoned my obsession with music. Perish the thought! I"ve just been otherwise engaged--and I never move that fast even in the best of circumstances.<br /><br />Call it a New Year's resolution if you must, but I'm vowing to devote at least a few minutes every day (starting, uh, yesterday) to working on one of the many blogs I have a hand in. By my count, there are eight or nine that are going concerns, including this one. I'm way overdue on announcing this year's--oops, i mean last year's--Ehmke(e) Award winners, updating that new "Shuffle Off" feature I'd started a while back, and sharing lots of thoughts on lots of music. And it's all coming, folks. It's all coming. But not right now, for I've spent much of the evening prepping <a href="http://ronplants.blogspot.com/2008/01/seeds-and-roots.html">this entry on a sort-of-brand-new, sort-of-long-gestating blog</a> instead. All things in time.<br /><br />PS. Oh, yeah--about that photo up there. Little snafu involving some cleanser from DeltaSonic making its way into the radio/CD player and remaining there for weeks. (They were very good about paying for the repair, btw.) You'll be happy to learn that the situation has long since been rectified. My original plan was to use the image to re-introduce the "Shuffle Off" series, but then weeks/months went by, as they always do. Now it seems like an equally apt metaphor for the hole in all our lives left by my not posting anything here in nine long months.<br /><br />Stay tuned. While you wait for a new entry, enjoy that new playlist feature over on the right. I just set that up tonight, after reading about it <a href="http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/12/ilike-add-soundtrack-to-your-blog.html">here</a>. Nice addition, because I haven't yet figured out how to add audio clips to my posts like everybody else without getting hauled off to jail with that guy who leaked <i>Chinese Democracy</i>.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-68297750954996030502008-04-02T02:08:00.000-04:002008-11-13T16:14:24.613-05:00Shuffle Off #2: Mellow out, dudeA few weeks ago I was feeling a wee bit stressed out for various reasons, and thought it might be nice to fill the car CD player with relaxing music. It was also kinda cold, as I recall, so I went for sounds from warm climes. Here's the rundown:<br /><br /><b>1. Various artists, <i>Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters: Instrumental Collection.</i></b> Picked this up in a giveaway bin at a past job around the time it came out in 1995; I tend to pull it out every few years and give it a spin or two, think to myself how pleasant it is, then put it back. Certainly does the trick in terms of calming jangled nerves, although in larger doses it's a bit <i>too</i> slack for my taste, so I actually took this out of the rotation first. I attribute the slight Muzak-y tendency to the fact that the label, Dancing Cat, is a subsidiary of Windham Hill. The only names I recognize on the lineup are Keola Beamer and Sonny Chillingworth, although I admit that I know next to nothing about the genre. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuCtLCMGowSWq39_y86XYvQw_Ro1FaVuBntkB_aIV10JNt8ZWC8goLzv971cPAuQ9A84oSMVpxxb2aIywYyF72GnBUiPCaoZlU9wFtuTBuAzGWyPrrI4AOll-8Ih593Mn739l-Q/s1600-h/korarevolution.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuCtLCMGowSWq39_y86XYvQw_Ro1FaVuBntkB_aIV10JNt8ZWC8goLzv971cPAuQ9A84oSMVpxxb2aIywYyF72GnBUiPCaoZlU9wFtuTBuAzGWyPrrI4AOll-8Ih593Mn739l-Q/s320/korarevolution.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184920146836360610" /></a><br /><br /><b>2. Kaouding Cissoko, <i>Kora Revolution.</i></b> Another freebie, and another disc that I play once or twice every few years. (Confession time: what first caught my eye was the cover art, and, believe it or not, the typography. 'Cuz I'm weird like that.) Interestingly, I tend to think of this as an instrumental album, but it turns out there are vocals all over it (the lyrics of which are translated and contextualized in the detailed CD booklet). That's a testament to the power of the kora playing here, which is incredibly lovely even if I don't get the "revolution" part. Cissoko has appeared on albums by Baba Maal and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and if you like those guys, odds are good you'll enjoy this.<br /><br /><b>3. Various artists, <i>Putumayo presents Cape Verde.</i></b> I'm going to assume that if you know any musician from this <a href="http://www.slipcue.com/music/international/lusophone/luso_capeverde.html">series of islands off the coast of Senegal</a>, it's Cesaria Evora. (If you <i>don't</i> know her stuff, <a href="http://www.slipcue.com/music/international/lusophone/luso_cesariaevora.html">better get busy</a>.) Evora has one track here, but there are eleven other performers as well, and just about all of them sound fine in my book. Putumayo compilations can be hit-or-miss, but this seems pretty solid, steering clear of the label's Easy Listening for Sipping Espresso and/or Shopping tendency.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQ_Tdp7tKtAtwMfMK7LICK5w5w1rlEqhGq4eoLugEsL-JXfPeZ4iqJ03wzYA77Zlp_HubZzLxtoTi8CB-T8vDPoEjiwdwMNiRzeApfhRnjoNqUANtSe2QPfgSjKvzOAM3Nd1j0Q/s1600-h/Gilbertocover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkQ_Tdp7tKtAtwMfMK7LICK5w5w1rlEqhGq4eoLugEsL-JXfPeZ4iqJ03wzYA77Zlp_HubZzLxtoTi8CB-T8vDPoEjiwdwMNiRzeApfhRnjoNqUANtSe2QPfgSjKvzOAM3Nd1j0Q/s320/Gilbertocover.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184908357151133058" /></a><br /><br /><b>4. João Gilberto, <i> João voz e violão.</i></b> A really strong (if too-brief) collection of songs, most of which Gilberto has recorded elsewhere. The twist here, which I'll attribute to producer/protege Caetano Veloso, is that the sound is totally stripped down--nothing but JG's super-quiet voice and unaugmented guitar. Of the three or four Gilberto albums I've heard, this is an excellent starting point. Unlike discs 1-3 above and #5 below, I play this one fairly often; in fact, it took up residency near the bedroom CD player for about two or three years as a quiet-time staple.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3jM3AxGFzPXoNps130MyHbmbsZ9j9J84IIgtUDWObKngMWIYN-1UZ1l6dernZ-QGCiZ-UO99LKw2qoqyeY4MtzaZ1ZEIqnkVX9AJFqMLtdpDPPewoignPyAeM_ufvG8E4cm51bg/s1600-h/Orfeu.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3jM3AxGFzPXoNps130MyHbmbsZ9j9J84IIgtUDWObKngMWIYN-1UZ1l6dernZ-QGCiZ-UO99LKw2qoqyeY4MtzaZ1ZEIqnkVX9AJFqMLtdpDPPewoignPyAeM_ufvG8E4cm51bg/s320/Orfeu.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184912304226078098" /></a><br /><br /><b>5. Caetano Veloso, <i>Orfeu.</i></b> Speaking of Caetano, here he is in soundtrack-composer mode, creating new music for a remake of <i>Black Orpheus</i>, alongside covers of songs from the original. Some of this is orchestral instrumentals, some features vocals, and the range of tempos and textures is all over the map. I wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to Veloso, but it has many interesting moments. (Bonus: handsome booklet, with lyrics in both Portuguese and English plus stills from the movie that make me want to see it someday soon.)<br /><br /><b>6. Voodoo Child/Moby, <i>The End of Everything.</i></b> Sure, people give Moby a hard time for his ambient/instrumental projects (hell, some people give him a hard time just for being Moby), but I happen to like this a great deal: it's fairly low-key, with some majestic moments now and then, the whole of it bearing real emotional weight. I had this on as background as a party once and at least two people bought copies the next day. My only beef: what's the point of having a pseudonym if you're going to announce who you are on the album cover? So much for the anonymity of electronic music. (This being a Moby album, there is one of his characteristic mini-essay rants in the booklet, though it's mighty short and can be summed up in its final line: "Animals are not ours to eat, wear, or experiment on.")Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-44312371210297118202008-02-01T02:06:00.001-05:002008-11-13T16:14:25.198-05:00Shuffle Off #1: Synthetic sounds reduxI have no shortage of ideas for recurring features for this blog; my only problem is making the time to make them happen. So I'm gonna strike while the iron is hot and launch one mere hours after it occurred to me. Inspired very indirectly by <a href="http://maydreamsgardens.blogspot.com/2007/02/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-inaugural.html">this popular garden-blog ritual/meme</a> and by the way some people include what they're "Currently Listening To" in forums and blog posts, I thought it would be fun to share with you what's in heavy rotation on my car's 6-disc CD changer every now and then. <br /><br />Ever since we got this car with such a ludicrous amount of audio options (there is also a plug for an iPod), I've been having fun curating various combinations of albums: an all-Paul Simon set, all-Van-the-Man, all-Janis, all-Radiohead ... and then some looser ideas, like a mishmash of indie-rock and earlier Americana (Matt Pond, My Morning Jacket, <i>Music from Big Pink</i>, etc.) and later a tribute to psychedelia (Hendrix, Big Brother & the Holding Co., etc.). Then I hit "shuffle" and let the fun begin.<br /><br />At the moment, I'm on an electronic music kick (I hate the term "electronica"--much prefer "synthetic," since that's the general feel of the stuff) for the first time in years, prompted in part by listening to <a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46887-untrue">that Burial album all sorts of unlikely people seem to love</a> (me, I'm finding it kind of repetitive and annoying) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gantz-Graf-Autechre/dp/B000066BOZ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1201851136&sr=1-1">an Autechre EP</a> I'd been looking for for years and finally found used in a Toronto record store. So I decided to pull out a semi-random colleccion of stuff I acquired about 10 years ago (can it be? yikes!) when I discovered that instrumental electronic music was ideal accompaniment for writing, proofreading, driving to work, and all sorts of other mundane activities.<br /><br />So here's what's in the car as of the beginning of February 2008:<br /><br /><b>1. Autechre, <i>Gantz Graf</i></b>. This duo is still probably tied with Aphex Twin as my all-time favorite purveyors of unlistenable noise. And I mean that as a high compliment; they have a brilliant (and frequently quite witty) way of balancing rhythm and chaos, although this particular EP dates from the height of their mostly-chaos period. I find myself fast-forwarding through the 3 tracks when one of them pops up--only to discover that <i>it sounds almost exactly the same in fast-forward as it does at regular speed!</i> (Value added: the flip side of the disc contains a trio of nice videos. But I'm not really sure this was worth the $13 Canadian I shelled out, since it's basically a glorified single.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPXPY3P30-QNkI0VYF_44TURUxFwh-IXUAVQlaqVbMGYvgj4MTlyLfFRpyZa938yqeTeZbVxyHuzk29soOunMC-3hZaArLCQzrvCBlg0bI4w9J9THWiuZ-o9B3DvwqIZoU6JwhWg/s1600-h/Kosheen.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPXPY3P30-QNkI0VYF_44TURUxFwh-IXUAVQlaqVbMGYvgj4MTlyLfFRpyZa938yqeTeZbVxyHuzk29soOunMC-3hZaArLCQzrvCBlg0bI4w9J9THWiuZ-o9B3DvwqIZoU6JwhWg/s320/Kosheen.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161914520924529186" /></a><br /><br /><b>2. Kosheen, <i>Resist</i></b>. Bought this used shortly after it came out in 2001 on the strength of the single, "Hide U," and the freaky Natural History Museum cover art. I was fairly disappointed with most of the other 15 tracks and put it aside for years, but now it's turning out to be the standout of the current shuffle mix. I don't normally care for vocals in drum-and-bass-y stuff--to me the deathknell of the synthetic non-revolution of the late 90s was the widespread addition of singers and/or samples of singers--but I gotta say, Kosheen's Sian Evans has a fine voice, and the lyrics are a bit less silly/disposable than most in the genre.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPjqtvlN4snRYduGDJJbau7Fb33usiSO5CLD05w100VQxMPj116Rqrl5B8le3JryAAxeeplu2oCGAhVWHrqFYaEtGEFri6niGnF1eCcaOEZ1sFwqK-wYuMRBIZuUtZb8VY6a0bw/s1600-h/LandoLoops.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPjqtvlN4snRYduGDJJbau7Fb33usiSO5CLD05w100VQxMPj116Rqrl5B8le3JryAAxeeplu2oCGAhVWHrqFYaEtGEFri6niGnF1eCcaOEZ1sFwqK-wYuMRBIZuUtZb8VY6a0bw/s320/LandoLoops.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161924927630287410" /></a><br /><br /><b>3. Land of the Loops, <i>Bundle of Joy</i></b>. If you ask me, this is one of the great lost albums of the 1990s, ripe for rediscovery 20 years from now. One-man-band Alan Sutherland put together a wonderful collection of catchy melodies, weird sound bites, lovely ballads, and brief snippets that sound less like filler than like connective tissue. Secret weapons: guest vocalists Heather Lewis, Simone Ashby, and Meadie Ballenger. So, yeah, maybe I'm not as anti-singers-in-synthetic-music as I think I am. But only when they sound this good.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nPeSdu1syHCEBbgXS-27_XLCBbCca47-msSYKqlMmYabcUekGpKcxgtOaoORcyg5l3Z7vlQuUVeGcXiDtrmNUM5Heq9xkYrjXPmSjo0EIIuDBhSVtlVdlMTabwzCdq09NJQj7g/s1600-h/Howie+B.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nPeSdu1syHCEBbgXS-27_XLCBbCca47-msSYKqlMmYabcUekGpKcxgtOaoORcyg5l3Z7vlQuUVeGcXiDtrmNUM5Heq9xkYrjXPmSjo0EIIuDBhSVtlVdlMTabwzCdq09NJQj7g/s320/Howie+B.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161925258342769218" /></a><br /><br /><b>4. Howie B., <i>Turn the Dark Off</i></b>. Mr. B was the go-to guy for U2 and other rockers who wanted to dip their toes in synthetic music for a while there. Witness the spoken-word cameos by Robbie Robertson here, sounding nothing like his Band incarnation and a lot like a cross between Laurie Anderson and David Byrne. <br /><br /><b>5. <i>Freaky Chakra vs. Single Cell Orchestra</i></b>. I either paid a buck for this or got it for free, and I've always enjoyed it, although a friend of mine heard two minutes of it once and said it gave her a headache.<br /><br /><b>6. Aphrodite, <i>Aphrodite</i></b>. Another free or buck find, and a good illustration of what I was just saying about how annoying I find vocalists in this kind of music. Oh, no, wait: the only thing more annoying than singers in drum-and-bass? Rappers in drum-and-bass. <i>That</i> was the death knell.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7044826.post-84431996499294008812007-12-27T00:45:00.000-05:002008-11-13T16:14:25.404-05:00I just wasn't made for these timesMy, my, this is an eclectic group of party animals, is it not?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCXAApdn9UcYyDpaJw6cd9Ac9jauH9sLXVo74fBYsnOcNYFNMwPtjM3zZfhX09yeQStrc_HGAkdDEvxCCMhA7OVIyx2GfDXwBk1EoYymVg91Zh85my6nZZeoXBF0WL3cMlC_BuQ/s1600-h/Kennedy+Center.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyCXAApdn9UcYyDpaJw6cd9Ac9jauH9sLXVo74fBYsnOcNYFNMwPtjM3zZfhX09yeQStrc_HGAkdDEvxCCMhA7OVIyx2GfDXwBk1EoYymVg91Zh85my6nZZeoXBF0WL3cMlC_BuQ/s320/Kennedy+Center.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5148524912981916338" /></a><br /><br />When I first saw a (different, much more stiffly posed) photo on the cover of the TV supplement in this past Sunday's <i>Buffalo News</i>, I thought "who is that stone-faced man standing alongside <b>Francis Ford Coppola, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese, and Steve Martin</b>?" Then I realized the bearded, bespectacled man was not FFC (he is really pianist-conductor <b>Leon Fleisher</b>, duh) and the stone-faced guy was none other than <b>Brian Wilson</b>. This motley crew was to be honored during the <a href="http://alpha.cbs.com/specials/kennedy_2007/">30th annual "Kennedy Center Honors,"</a> so naturally I made a point of watching the broadcast tonight. <br /><br />For the record, I think Scorsese's brilliant in small-to-medium doses, never really found Martin all that funny, never heard of Fleisher until now, and am one of the few homosexual men of my generation who finds La Ross tremendously overrated. She has her moments, from "Someday We'll Be Together" to her recent career in crime, but she's never really done that much for me as a pop diva, a camp icon, or anything else. I mainly tuned in for Brian. <a href="http://www.brianwilson.com/brian/kennedy.html">(Here's his official site's page on the event, with plenty of links.)</a><br /><br />I'm really, really tempted to trot out that overused William Carlos Williams chestnut about the pure products of America going crazy, because this was one surreal assemblage of talent: the five honorees sitting next to each other and <b>Lord and Lady Bush</b>, Diana blowing kisses every few minutes, Scorsese looking slightly embarrassed, and Brian mostly off in that safe place he goes to when things get scary (which is to say 95% of every day since January 1, 1964). The announcer for the show was <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100708"><b>Carl Kasell</b></a>, direct from NPR and <a href="http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/index.html">my favorite game show</a>. Apparently public radio does not pay its most highly regarded voice that well, because here he was picking up a little extra cash shilling for CBS, reduced throughout the evening to saying things like "The Kennedy Center Honors ... sponsored by: the Bristol-Meyers-Squibb-Sanofi Pharmaceuticals partnership."<br /><br /><b>Art Garfunkel</b> did the intro to the Wilson segment, and people laughed when the first words out of his mouth were "I love rock and roll," thinking he was being sarcastic--when, as we know, Garfunkel does not do sarcasm. This was followed by a film bio which managed to compress most of the key plot points into 3-4 minutes, paying as little attention to the other Beach Boys as possible. I couldn't help wondering how Brian felt hearing this tidy, relatively perky trip through the most painful events of his life: abusive father, clueless record label, career-crushing depression, yadda yadda yadda. Hey, guys--you left out the brother who died of cancer, the one who drowned, the decades of lawsuits with the cousin, and the cult-leader psychiatrist. What gives?!<br /><br />But no matter, for it was on to the musical performances, each more surreal than the last:<br />1. <b>Lyle Lovett</b> performing a truly touching slowed-down version of "In My Room" (the surreal note here was that I had just seen him parody <i>exactly this sort of gala tribute</i> near the end of <i>Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story</i> to hilarious effect).<br />2. <b>Hootie and the Blowfish</b>, all dressed in matching blue Pendleton shirts, doing a cover-band medley of "I Get Around" and "California Girls" that inspired Brian to bounce around a bit in his seat, a move that Diana picked up on and began to exaggerate in her groove-y diva way, which in turn made Brian nervous again. Several elegantly dressed women in the audience leapt to their feet to dance, until, in that time-honored ritual repeated at every dive bar and suburban wedding across this great land since the early 1960s, their male companions grudgingly joined them. Soon the President and First Lady joined in, and for one brief and shining moment, a room full of wealthy, mostly white people was united in arhythmic hopping and bopping, clapping merrily against the beat. Even Leon Fleisher, whom we had just learned 20 minutes earlier has lost the use of his right hand--a tragedy that ended his career as a pianist and nearly destroyed him--was clapping away, visibly wishing he was somewhere else. A Christmas miracle!<br /><br />This would all have been quite enough, but no:<br />3. "Ladies and gentlemen, <b>Libera</b>," says Carl Kasell, and out walk 9 boys in white choir robes (very Polyphonic Spree--and boy, wouldn't <i>they</i> have been a cool choice?). The littlest, cutest boy says in his best Oliver Twist voice, "Mr. Wilson, we were born a long, long way from your 'California beaches,' but the sunlight of your music can be felt every day on our streets in South London." Brian looks taken aback by this news flash, then smiles, and the boys sing a churchy choral version of his late-period solo non-hit "Love and Mercy," a wonderful song whose anti-war message surely sails directly over the head of our Commander in Chief (whose fave BB hit is BOUND to be "Kokomo," you just know it). The 9 moppets are joined by approximately 75 more boys; this new batch has clearly hit puberty so they have to stand farther back. All these underage kids chanting somberly about "standing in a bar" is a jarring image, but also lovely in its way. Brian closes his eyes; he and his wife Melinda look like they're going to cry, Diana dabs her eye, and it <i>is</i> quite powerful--until the kids reach the climax of the song, and--can it be? no, it can't! yes, it can!--dozens and dozens of beach balls fall from the ceiling onto the heads of the audience, who begin batting them around as if they are on spring break. Yee-ha!<br /><br />Kasell takes us to another commercial break, then out comes host <b>Caroline Kennedy</b>, fresh from her recent notoriety as the inspiration of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," to wish us all a good night. (This is a total digression, but does it strike no one else as slightly creepy and restraining-order-y that she was 13 years old when he wrote that song?)<br /><br />Writers' strike or no writers' strike, TV does not get much better than this, folks.Ron E.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17162031118056199196noreply@blogger.com0