Big Electric Kitty Music

I actually wanted to post Big Electric Cat (which I used as the soundtrack for my first student film way back when - seriously, listen to it...wicked), but embedding was disabled by request...so I'm Down, as also performed by Adrian Belew.

See belew.



Crazy busy week continues...but into home stretch.

The Wilhelm Scream....It's Everywhere!!!!

I like useless little bits of TV and movie trivia, like this list of top 10 sound effects we all recognize, compiled over at Listverse, including the Wilhelm Scream.

The Wilhelm scream is a frequently-used film and television stock sound effect first used in 1951 for the film "Distant Drums". The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after it was used in Star Wars and many other blockbuster films as well as television programs and video games. The scream is often used when someone is falling to his death from great height.

Watch, listen, and smile...



It's remarkable to me how I won't recognize recycled sounds in movies and TV shows, but will almost always notice a reused piece of music score in a trailer for a new movie or TV series and call *fail*.

Still don't know why its called the 'Wilhelm' scream though.

Hoodoo Man Still Gots That Voodoo Thang

Over the weekend I got the opportunity to see one of my guitar heroes, Colin James, perform here in Buttkick at the Regina Ex aka Buffalo Days.


Colin James (Munn) was born in and grew up in Regina. I remember catching him a few times when he was still in his teens playing house parties or with his first blues band The Hoodoo Men. He already had that something even way back then. And of course there was witnessing his big break of opening for Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1984 and then being asked to join SRV on stage. This clip is from '89 but the admiration James still had for his mentor and idol is pretty evident.



A star was born...soon afterwards Munn became James and he was off to conquer the rock/pop world, eventually settling in Vancouver. I actually tried to convince him, or his management at least, to play the Guitarman in my first TV movie...but he was riding a hot streak at the time and out of our price range, unfortunately. Feldman!!

James always circled around the potential of being a big break-out pop star in the vein of Bryan Adams, and though he hit big early on after he signed with Virgin, he never ever hit huge...and I, for one, was kinda grateful. It meant he's kept playing the blues all these years...which is where he seems right at home and certainly most comfortable. He performs his 'hits' perfunctorily, but burns up the blues like nobody else, certainly in Canada at least.

That said I hadn't seen James live in nearly two decades, so I was truly excited to watch the man play now as opposed to the boy of so long ago...though the boy still sure can play. His mastery of the guitar shone bright, but there was a quiet confidence and maturity evident in his vocals and working of the crowd...an artist and musician on top of his game. Supported by a wickedly tight backup band complete with horn section, the show was an energetic set of soul blues rock interspersed with a generous helping of some of his better known singles: Five Long Years, Just Came Back, Why Do You Lie, Voodoo Thing, and Van Morrison's Into The Mystic. It was a nice overview of his career as bluesman and pop/rock artist (including even some of his jump/swing big band tunes (I Will Be There) courtesy The Little Big Band sessions), but to be honest I wasn't there just to hear the 'hits', I was there to hear his guitar sing...

...fast...




...or slow.



Sweetness.


All and all a great show and a pleasure to watch the boy now turned man sing his soulful heart out whilst making his six string wail. He has a new CD out in the fall and I look forward to hearing it. But my fav memory of Munn/James is still from the Muddy Waters show I saw in 1982, which I wrote about back HERE while relating fav concert moments ever. When Waters left his his stool and made his way into the audience, Munn/James was the first out of his seat and dancing in the aisle...even though the signs at the door strictly prohibited standing, much less shaking ones tail feather. Munn/James got everyone on their feet (with a little help from the Mudman of course)...and witnessing that youthful unbridled enthusiasm for the blues that's still clearly evident in James' playing today...that was a moment I'll always treasure.


PS Also need to shoutout at local boy Jason Plumb (formerly of The Waltons) and his band The Willing who opened for James. Plumb showcased his still silky smooth voice and stellar songwriting with his customary modesty while ploughing through tunes from his new CD 'Wide Open Music' as well as sparkling renditions of Starlight Starbright, Protest Song, and of course, Satellite.



A real talent and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

Punch It Out, Punch It Up, Punch The Clock Even, Brothers

I can now die a slightly happier man having caught Elvis Costello and the Impostors give one of the best live shows I've ever seen (this review from the night before is more in line with what I witnessed). The evening consisted of the Lovell Sisters joining Costello onstage for a wickedly sublime alt folk/country mid-section which he brilliantly bookended with more than a dozen of his old classics:



Genius.

But the road trip also blessed me with the discovery of a new to me and now all-time fav band...The Punch Brothers featuring mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile (formerly of Nickel Creek):



Thile just sparkles fun and charisma, and doing some kind of pop/blues alt-country chamber new grass thingee, this boy...sorry, these boys, like, played their asses off. Took bluegrass to a whole new level...you should hear them do Radiohead. Seriously.

And I'm saying it...masterpiece.



Thank you Winnipeg Folk Festival...Costello smacked me around the ring but Chris Thile and the Punch Brothers knocked me out.

The Love's To Love To Love The Love The Love's To Love

"If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the viaducts of your dream
Where immobile steel rims crack
And the ditch in the back roads stop
Could you find me?
Would you kiss-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again"

And so it began.



Van Morrison's Astral Weeks album remains to this day one of my consistently played and enjoyed works of musical art (yeah, that's right..I'm calling it art). I wore out three vinyl copies, and am on my third copy of the CD. From the upbeat opening number 'Astral Weeks' to the epic 'Madame George' to the hypnotic closer 'Slim Slow Slider', the album is a R&B jazzy folk-rock head to tail bonafide classic.

“Astral Weeks” songs...were from another sort of place — not what is at all obvious. They are poetry and mythical musings channeled from my imagination...[They] are little poetic stories I made up and set to music. The album is about song craft for me—making things up and making them fit to a tune I have arranged. The songs were somewhat channeled works—that is why I called it “Astral Weeks.” Van Morrison 2008

There's an excellent recent interview HERE in the UK Telegraph where Morrison discusses at length the making of the album in 1968, and his decision to rerecord it live last November. The resulting effort (with the addition of songs 'Listen To The Lion' and 'Common One') was released on CD this week. And I can't stop playing it.



The same but different...faithful to the originals yet contemporary in its sound and vibrancy...Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl somehow manages to take you back and take you forward at the same time, while always triumphing in the here and now...being 'the moment'.

The tracks on the live CD are performed or presented at least in a different order than how they were listed on the original lp, but the end result is still magic.

Friday Fun is Astral Weeks revisited.

"Dry your eye for Madame George
Wonder why for Madame George
The love's to love, the love's to love, the loves to love
Say goodbye, goodbye
Get on the train, the train, the train
This is the train, this is the train
Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Get on the train."

The Sound Of Hysteria...

No, this isn't a post about the financial meltdown (great doc on Frontline the other night btw), or about Canadian broadcasters or our ISP's, it's just me and one of my occasional rock n' roll rambles.

There's a musical artist or band's 'sound', like the The Stones, U2, Radiohead, David Bowie, TV On The Radio...and then there's the 'sound' the record producer brings to the table, or in this case, the studio.

But what is a record producer exactly? Well, Wikipedia says:

A record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes.

The music producer could, in some cases, be compared to the film director in that the producer's job is to create, shape and mold a piece of music in accordance with their vision for the album. Unlike in film, the music producer is seldom responsible for raising the funds to create the record – more like the film director, the record producer is hired by those who have already obtained funding (typically record or publishing companies, though occasionally the artists themselves).

That's what the best record producers are known for...creating, shaping, and molding the music into a cohesive vision or concept album. There have been several notable record producers in the pop music industry over the past several decades: 'Wall of Sound' Phil Spector (The Righteous Brothers); George Martin (The Beatles); Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, Robert Fripp); Timbaland (Justin Timberlake); and my personal fav: Robert John "Mutt" Lange.

Lange's resume is pretty impressive...from Graham Parker's Heat Treatment to AcDc's Back In Black to Bryan Adam's Waking Up The Neighbours to Shania Twain's Come On Over and Up! (say what you want against Twain, but her songs and cd's were really well produced)...Lange has been the mastermind and guiding force behind many of the most popular and successful albums of the past three decades.

And in the mid 80's, he produced Def Leppard's Hysteria, which still to this day remains one of my fav 'sonic' experiences. I really love the way that album 'sounds'.


Lange began working towards a signature multi-tracking musical design during Lep's previous release Pyromania, and specifically "Photograph", but he aced the sound with flying colours on Hysteria. Yes it took more than three years to complete, but proof was in the pudding.

Also from Wikipedia:

While Pyromania contained traces of heavy metal, "Hysteria" removed them in favor of the latest sonic technology available at the time. As with Pyromania, every song was recorded by every member in the studio separately instead of the whole band. The multiple vocal harmonies were enhanced by Lange's techniques, even pitching background vocals on all tracks. Guitar parts were now focused more on emphasising melody than hard rock's more basic and cliched riffs.

I'm not surprised the band used the Rockman amplifier, developed by guitarist Tom Scholz, since Boston's Boston album feels like it could be Hysteria's predecessor.

Listen to "Animal" and you'll hear why:



Or "Love Bites":



Other masterful soundscapes from the album: Women, Rocket, Armageddon It, and of course Pour Some Sugar On Me. Actually, one of the episodes of VH1's Classic Albums profiled "Hysteria". Unfortunately, Mutt Lange doesn't make an appearance, but there's plenty of interesting insight into the songs and how they achieved the sound. Here is Part One. You can watch most of the rest of it HERE.

I don't really have a point, other than to say how much I still enjoy the experience of 'listening' to this album. And I'm not talking about lyrics or song meaning or any of that...just the way the sound...the 'production'... hits my ear and reverberates around in my head. It pleases me. Sort of like the CSI franchise...not a lot of substance, but it sure has a great appealing signature 'look'.

Robert John Mutt Lange made sound 'look' good with Hysteria.

I'm In Love With (The Music In) My Car

I was thinking about doing a 'year in my music' review last month, but as I started to put it together I was struck by how average and 'mainstream' so many of my choices were...and I ditched it. I mean, pretty much everything I was going to shout about was already on Q Magazine or Spin Magazine or Rolling Stone mags 'best of' lists (which got me wondering...have I become so uncool? Or have all the rags just gone more cool?). Anyhoo. Bo-ring.

But then I was reading an article recently that labelled some of the picks I was planning to highlight as 'recent discoveries', so I decided to do a quick revisit.

First the rules, pretty simple actually...cd's are ranked by the length of time a band or artists' disc spent in the cd player of my car (and who doesn't love their car + great tunes...I mean, really) --- most time in the deck wins.

Yeah, you heard me. This ain't about kudos for bragging about the obscure, hip, cool, rad music I came across... this is about what stayed in the player, playa.


So counting down, or up, the top five:

5) Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cardinology - 3 weeks 4 days

Alt-country meets stadium rock... great cruising music... wrote about it HERE.... check out "Magick"


4) Bob Mould - District Line - 3 weeks 6 days
Beck - Modern Guilt - 3 weeks 6 days

A tie between two alt pop punk mavericks...wrote about 'District Line' HERE...'Modern Guilt' a little bit HERE (it grew on me)... check out "Gamma Ray"


3) Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid - 4 weeks 2 days

Courtesy Callaghan giving a thumbs up...hard to put a finger on what exactly I liked so much about this UK bands' folksy yet richly textured release, but it got played over and over and over...check out "One Day Like This"


2) The Killers - Day & Age - 5 weeks 1 day
Bit of surprise with this one, which after being casually tossed in for a quick 'let's give it a listen', just came out of the car a few days ago. Perhaps it was because of the cold, but I think because there was a whole lots of 80's 'Tears For Fearsy' and 'Human Leaguee' dance fun....check out "Human"


1) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges - 7 weeks
TV on the Radio - Dear Science - 7 weeks

Yes, another tie. Kind of lame I know, but these were also the only two cd's I bought this year that spent considerable time in the deck, came out of the deck, and then went back in the deck again. So a bit of a cheat in that I combined their time spent in my vehicle's cd player, but whatever... they deserved it. Wrote about 'Evil Urges' HERE and 'Dear Science' HERE...both are brilliant...don't hesitate to purchase.


Other musical year end notes: didn't see a lot of live acts this year...Neil Young was special but the standout show would have to have been Kathleen Edwards and her band kicking out the jams for an hour at a folk festival. Her new cd Asking For Flowers with The Cheapest Key wasn't too shabby either.

And coolest 'very viral' music video of the year (I could take or leave the song)... Weezer's "Pork and Beans".




Just watch it and you'll understand what I mean.

Okay...we all good?

Dog

Sure The Stooges were about Iggy, all about the Iggy...but it was Ron Asheton's guitar work that made me listen to Funhouse and the band's self-titled debut over and over and over again.

Especially the song "No Fun".



That solo shredded my first set of speakers. Awesome.

R.I.P.

They Came To Dance

You ever hear a new cd and think: "I like this...I like it a lot, but boy does it ever sound like someone else that I used to listen to..."

I've always enjoyed the music of Ryan Adams...from his debut cd Heartbreaker, or his loving tribute to the Big Apple 'New York New York', but his new release Cardinology has really struck a chord. It hasn't left my CD player since last Tuesday. I'm really digging it.

Listen to him and his band The Cardinals perform new tunes Fix It and Cobwebs on Letterman last week. Sweet and yummy alt-country rock goodness.

But it reminds me, especially his delivery and inflection on certain songs, of some other musical artist buried deep in the recesses of my brain.

And then it suddenly hit me...! Yay!

Nils Lofgren.

Nils who?

Nils Lofgren is a rock singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (read: wicked pianist and guitarist). He is also a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

I first discovered Lofgren in the late 70's after learning he'd played on Neil Young's After The Goldrush lp at just seventeen years old. After that he'd had a stint with the band Grin and then a blossoming solo career, plus the fact he played all kinds of instruments really well, and I wanted to hear this guy play. I wore out his double live album Night After Night on my turntable...yes, those were the days of albums and turntables.


Across The Tracks, Goin Back, Delivery Night, Valentine, Moon Tears, Keith Don't Go, No Mercy, and his classic (with a crappy clip) I Came To Dance...these songs were burned into my brain. And though his guitar work was always stellar, it was his singing style that stuck with me....a soft haunting warble that still managed to pierce...that's the essence of Lofgren. And to circle back around to where this post began, that's what finally connected him to Adams for me.

The both sing in a very similar way.

Sure, Lofgren is more rock and Adams more alt-country, but vocally, cut from the same cloth for sure. Not to diminish Adam's accomplishment with Cardinology, it's one of the best CD's of the year...but Adams arrives to us today via the trail blazed by Lofgren. And though both were cult figures in search of a mass audience, they still made it...while still remaining artists through and true.

Someone else arrived last night, also via trails blazed by others before him...but he did it. Yes, he did.

And for anyone to get there, you must believe a little bit in yourself.


(that's Lofgren with Neil Young)


Obama. Adams. Lofgren. They came to dance.

Scaring Up A Good Score

Yesterday was a brief overview of scary movies....today, some soundtracks that helped make those movies even scarier. And not surprisingly, a lot of the most haunting or unforgettable scores are from a lot of the same films.


First rule seems to be LOTS of minor keys...major notes or chords, not so much.

Next, refrain from resonance...add plenty of dissonance.

Then bring on the cacophony...leave the harmony on the shelf.

And finally, a LOT of repetition...drilling it into your head over and over...this is scary...this is scary...this is scary...

As for classic horror movie soundtracks, there's the obvious ones..John William's Jaws... the theme from The Shining... Bernard Herrmann's score from Psycho...Mike Oldfield's theme from The Exorcist... Krzysztof Komeda's score from Rosemary's Baby ...Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen ...

But even though clearly influenced by Oldfield (in the case of Halloween) and Berrmann (in the case of Friday the 13th), for me the two most memorable have to be from the 'original' modern slasher films...

John Carpenter's theme for 'Halloween':



...and Harry Manfredini's theme for 'Friday the 13th':



Ki ki ki ki... ma ma ma ma

Ki ki ki ki... ma ma ma ma

Scary.

Writing...Gets Me Closer To God?

Far Away Scriptwriter thinks I have great musical taste (sometimes), and so tagged me with the following meme:

Find a song that sums up what you think it means to be a writer and post the lyrics on your blog and why you've chosen it. NB: It doesn't have to be your favourite song, it just has to express how you feel about writing and/or being a writer. It can be literal, metaphorical, about a particular form or aspect of writing - whatever you want. Then tag 5 others to do the same.



Well this will be NSFW, but I have to go there. NIN. Trent Reznor. The dark auteur of industrial excellence. A song not surprisingly from his The Downward Spiral release, 'Closer'.

Closer

you let me violate you
you let me desecrate you
you let me penetrate you
you let me complicate you

help me
i broke apart my insides
help me
i've got no soul to sell
help me
the only thing that works for me
help me get away from myself
i want to fuck you like an animal
i want to feel you from the inside
i want to fuck you like an animal
my whole existence is flawed
you get me closer to god

you can have my isolation
you can have the hate that it brings
you can have my absence of faith
you can have my everything

help me
you tear down my reason
help me
it's your sex i can smell
help me
you make me perfect
help me become somebody else
i want to fuck you like an animal
i want to feel you from the inside
i want to fuck you like an animal
my whole existence is flawed
you get me closer to god

all through every forest
above the trees
within my stomach
scraped off my knees
i drink the honey
inside your hive
you are the reason
i stay alive


Reznor’s 1994 album The Downward Spiral told the story of one man’s descent to near self-destruction. He describes this album as having “a brutality and an iciness that is a way to prevent you from getting inside. It’s an armor.” This reflection on the artist and the album from BlogCritics Jaime Nichols is well worth reading, and I liked this bit:

By the end of the last song, on The Downward Spiral, one had the unmistakable sense of teetering on the brink of the nihilist void with Reznor's narrative "i", now reduced to a stripped down, elemental consciousness that had eviscerated itself of moral and emotional certainty, but whose mind was still terrifyingly and unflinchingly engaged. It was a dreadful prospect, but one which felt like a kind of extreme, if uneasy, virtue.

'Closer', with all its ferocious intensity, was the highpoint of The Downward Spiral. And for me it's less a song about raw uninhibited sex, and more about achieving purity through sin, freedom through expression, unbridled passion through purging. Letting it all out and holding nothing back, as painful and soul-baring as it will be, can allow for 'pure' creativity. Giving yourself wholly and completely will make it an experience unlike any other...usually resulting in what we call 'writing in the zone'.

You are the reason I stay alive....that more or less says to me all there is to say about writing or being a writer.





Most people hate getting tagged, but I'll tap the shoulders of fellow Canucks Henshaw, McGrath, Epstein, Trevor, and Brandon and see if they respond.

Dear TV On The Radio...

Please consider this letter my small token of appreciation for your new cd Dear Science. Your original blend of funk, soul, jazz, and new wave/punk rock is a juxtaposition worth listening to, not to mention it makes me wanna dance.

I heard some of the new release HERE, and more of it OVER HERE...and then I purchased the cd when it hit the stores yesterday. Plus you put out trippy Webisodes like THIS, and a new video for 'Golden Age' on the Youtubes.

Mmmm. Cool musical goodness.

We have some history together. You got my attention with 'Wolf Like Me' from Return To Cookie Mountain. You sunk your hooks deeper into me with 'Staring At The Sun' off Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. And you hail from Brooklyn...my brother lives in Brooklyn.

Your bizarre sonic stylings inspired by diverse musical influences seems like it shouldn't work, but it does. I am, once again, impressed and entranced.

Some day I'm going to start to act my age...put away the music that my eldest daughter listens to and wants to tell me about but then is almost disappointed when she learns I'm already all over it --- and start being all about the classical and opera.

But until that day comes, I still want my TV on the Radio.


Sincerely,

wcdixon (a fan)

Young Guns, Old Men, and You(tube)

Continuing the musical theme of this week...a big concert was just announced (okay, big for Buttkick) - Neil Young... with opening act Death Cab For Cutie (which is okay, but eastern Canada gets Wilco as the warmup...grrr!)

I was never a hardcore Young fan, and suppose I was more about electric Neil than acoustic Neil...but I do like and admire him, and really enjoyed some phases of his long and varied career. Like his mid-70's album run of Tonights The Night, Zuma, and On The Beach, which introduced me to the dark side of folk rock music. And then his 1980-ish run of Rust Never Sleeps, Reactor, and Live Rust, which made me start to think about issues and stuff yet still wanna bang my head at the same time.

He's an interesting cat...a musical artist who's managed to not only be a folk/hippie icon, but the Godfather of Grunge as well. There's a fantastic Charlie Rose interview with Young from last month...very insightful and entertaining....watch it HERE.

Anyway, my point today is how the concert going experience has changed since the the internets became part of everyday life. Way back when, like when I saw Cheap Trick in '78, or The Stones in 81, or Bowie in '83, or Iggy Pop in '84, or Waits in '87, or Jackson Browne in '93...there was a giddy excitement that always accompanied the outing. No, it wasn't from inhaling something illegal (I know what you're thinking), but from... 1) actually 'seeing' the band perform, and... 2) having no idea what songs they were going to play. That was always an exciting and nerve wracking surprise.... either for better or for worse.


But now, with the internets and the YouTubes, surprise is pretty much taken out of the equation. When the Young concert was announced, I immediately checked online to see if he's presently on tour. He is, over in Europe. A search for current set lists revealed the lineup of songs he played two nights ago in Berlin, Germany. A good mix of tunes...mostly electric...very nice --- presumably that's what he'll play this fall. Then a quick peruse of Youtube revealed a video of nearly every song from said set list, professionally filmed at Rock in Rio in Madrid about a month ago.

I watched a few clips (I could've watched the whole concert if I wanted...which kinda diminishes the 'seeing' a band/artist thrill)...and concluded that even at the age of 62, Young still has a lot of the "Hey Hey My My" in him...so today tickets were ordered (online) for the show when they went on sale.



Now, don't get me wrong...I'm looking forward to the concert (hell, Young's on Q Magazine's list of 50 Bands You Need To See Before You Die for crying out loud!). But the 'surprise' element won't really be a factor. I suppose I could exercise some discipline and not look up all this information we have at our internet fingertips...but like knowing your Xmas presents are hidden in your parents bedroom closet when you're a kid, it's really hard not to take a little peek.

And we all know when you do that, you still receive something at the end of the day...but you also kinda lose out on getting the most out of 'the experience'.

Oh well...Walk On.

Goodbye Earle, Earle Goodbye

No, Steve Earle hasn't gone anywhere...but 'Goodbye' is one of the saddest yet most beautiful songs he's ever written. And most connoisseurs of Earle tend to hold up this duet with Emmylou Harris as the 'definitive' performance of the tune.



Sweet.

But I say that version has some competition now...a new performance of 'Goodbye' done in Montreal earlier this year, and captured on video in what has to go down as a classic concert moment. Apparently, there was a power outage during the show, but instead of just waiting it out or even leaving the stage, Earle grabbed a flashlight and moved up to the edge of the front row. There he performed several numbers, with no amplification and flashlight as spotlight, including 'Goodbye' which he concluded just as the lights came back on.

Witness it HERE.

Sweeter.

Why is it that sad songs like this can make me teary and bring me down yet lift me up and make me feel good all at the same time? Weird.

In other random music news, I'm loving the NPR (National Public Radio) website right now...there's audio concert after concert in their archives, including a solo acoustic Steve Earle performance recorded a couple of weeks ago at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island - find it HERE (3rd one down from the top).

And if you want some cool factor, listen to this My Morning Jacket show from a couple years ago, with my latest crush Kathleen Edwards in tow...HERE.

But if you want to be blown away, take a listen to this acoustic performance by Jim James from My Morning Jacket recorded back in June. The bands latest release continues to grow on me, and James' performance HERE is simply mesmerizing.


All courtesy NPR.

We Are Monkeys With Money And Guns

It's shaping up to be a music week here at Uninflected Images...today's treat is a recent print interview with Mr. Tom Waits courtesy Robin Wilson at NPR.

Some tasty tidbits:

Q: What's hard for you?
A: Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane. Math is hard. Reading a map. Following orders. Carpentry. Electronics. Plumbing. Remembering things correctly. Straight lines. Sheet rock. Finding a safety pin. Patience with others. Ordering in Chinese. Stereo instructions in German.

Q: What's wrong with the world?
A: We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. Leona Helmsley's dog made $12 million last year... and Dean McLaine, a farmer in Ohio, made $30,000. It's just a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.

Q: Your most thrilling musical experience?
A: My most thrilling musical experience was in Times Square, over thirty years ago. There was a rehearsal hall around the Brill Building where all the rooms were divided into tiny spaces with just enough room to open the door. Inside was a spinet piano -- cigarette burns, missing keys, old paint and no pedals. You go in and close the door and it's so loud from other rehearsals you can't really work, so you stop and listen. The goulash of music was thrilling. Scales on a clarinet, tango, light opera, sour string quartet, voice lessons, someone belting out "Everything's Coming Up Roses," garage bands, and piano lessons. The floor was pulsing, the walls were thin. As if ten radios were on at the same time, in the same room. It was a train station of music with all the sounds milling around... for me it was heavenly.


Read it all HERE...as well as hear an interview with Waits discussing his influences and songwriting style HERE...very entertaining stuff.


Then there's a 'press conference' Waits endured to launch his latest tour...stick around for the punchline at the end of the clip.




And to cap it off, also courtesy NPR, a two and half hour concert recorded last month at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

Listen to it HERE.

I saw Waits play at Massey Hall in 1987 on his Frank's Wild Years tour...it was definitely one of the highlights of my many concert-going experiences. And as much as his material with his band sparkled, it was the unplugged 'mini-set' in the middle of his show that absolutely slayed. Enjoy.

Weapons Of Choice (Music for the Road)

Took a daylong road trip over the weekend, and even though I'd purchased the new Beck and The Hold Steady cd's, it was the 'jingle jangle' songing that came a following me.

It's not like the new Beck and H Steady were embarrassing, but they fell victim to sounding too much like someone else or like from some other era...so instead, out came:


Bob Dylan's Modern Times, a disc that had remained unopened for like over a year beside my stereo...what a shame.





That was followed up by Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade... mmmm...I was in alt-country heaven.






The journey home began with Tom Waits Frank's Wild Years...a brilliant snapshot of Waits at the height of his powers.






And closing out the highway drive was Tom Petty's Greatest Hits 2008 (which was kind of a stupid buy since I already own his boxset Playback, but whateva...)...stop dragging my heart around!













This is what you call a post with no point...what was playing in your car this weekend?

I Have A Crush On Kathleen Edwards

It was ladies night at the Regina Folk Festival this evening...Kathleen Edwards followed by Susanne Vega, with Jully Black pulling up the rear (no Steve Earle this year but I Still Feel Alright).

The scorecard? Vega...sorry, but kinda meh.

Black...is a real talent and her 8 piece band packed serious R&B punch, but twas just a little too loud and hip-hoppy for my taste...(though her Seven Day Fool was sweeeeet)

Which left Canuck alt/country folk rocker Kathleen Edwards...mmmm.

Let's just say, her set ROCKED. Ms. Edwards was putting out and having fun and knocked the crowd on its ass. Song highlights included 'In State', 'The Cheapest Key', an impromptu segue into Heart's 'Barracuda' in the middle of one tune...and the showstopping 'Back To Me'.

After she finished, I did something I've never done before. I purchased her new cd Asking For Flowers and stood in line with the intention of her signing it. You see, I was smitten. Actually, I'd been smitten since hearing her first two cd's, 2003's Failer and 2005's Back To Me. I loved these cd's. Seriously. Plus chicks with guitars kinda slay me.

Anyway, when I got to the front of the line, I said this was my first time and asked where she usually 'did it'. And she laughed and said: "On the linear notes cover, though some like it on the plastic sleeve." I just nodded dumbly and said: "Wherever..." She pried the disc from my nervous fingers and signed: 'Kathleen Edwards Regina 2008', then handed it back to me and asked if I'd like a photograph with her. Alas, I had no camera. So she shrugged and pointed at the signed cd and said: 'There you are...now you can show all your friends and they can say 'Who the hell is Kathleen Edwards?' "

I only hope I didn't look too intense and scary when I shook my head and replied: "Oh no...they will know of you. Believe you me. They. Will. Know."




Listen to her songs.

Here's her website.

And here's her blog. Yes...she has a blog.


Smitten I say.

Damn Yankheads

Buffalo Days, Buttkick's weeklong version of the fair, concluded last night with a concert by Weird Al Yankovic himself. And the Yankheads (as his devoted fans like to call themselves) were out in droves.

I went more out of curiosity than anything...as in, curious to see what kind of show this long-time song and pop culture parodist would put on, since most of his 'work' has been making videos that poke fun at big-time artists songs/videos. And although I appreciated his efforts, I tended to classify Weird Al as more of a novelty act.

I was first struck by how crowded it was...the outdoor venue was packed with people of all ages, from tweens and teens to older gals and guys like me. But for all the differences in age, there did seem to be one common denominator...the 'geek' factor. I'm not sure why he appeals so much to that sector...perhaps its his persona of the gangly bespeckled smartass taking on stars and celebrity musicians to knock them off their pedestals...but nevertheless, the nerds were there, en masse.

I believe I've written here before that I shook Weird Al's hand once...it was in a Tower Records in Los Angeles, and as I was browsing I heard a small commotion over by the entrance. I noticed several people lining up at a table where Al was being seated for a scheduled cd signing. I thought....cool! It's Weird Al! And though I didn't have his cd or any interest in purchasing his cd, I didn't mind waiting the couple minutes in line just to shake his hand and say I liked his work. He smiled and said thanks. That was it...short and sweet. But as far as the fans went, it didn't matter that it was LA...lots of mousey bookwormy gals wearing horn-rimmed glasses...or pimply-faced guys wearing black socks in sandals --- the nerd factor was there too.

And not to be knocking the nerds...I would be lying if I didn't admit I have some of the geek in me. Pretty much anyone who immerses themselves in the creative side of the TV/movie business has that cross to bear to some degree. Still, Weird Al seems to be a real hero of theirs...and this was news to me.

Anyway, Weird Al and his band hit the stage hard and fast and they never slowed down. And it was, in fact, a musical comedy multimedia event more than a concert. His spoof videos played on the big screens as he performed them, and there were clips from his Al TV television program between each number (mostly to allow Al and his band to change costumes). The accordion only came out a couple of times, but when it did the crowd, as they say. went wild.

Besides performing several medley's of the numerous songs he's parodied over the years, highlights included Canadian Idiot (parody of Green Day's 'American Idiot'), The Saga Begins (parody of Star Wars Phantom Menace set to Don McLean's 'American Pie'), and Bob (parody of the Bob Dylan video for 'Subterranean Homesick Blues') which I didn't really 'get' until I found out it was all done in palindromes...which then made it very cool.

But I fell hard for 'Trapped In The Drive-Thru' (a parody of R. Kelly's truly cringe-worthy urban soap music video drama Trapped In The Closet)....watch Weird Al's animated masterpiece HERE.

He closed the night with 'the hits'... 'Living in Amish Paradise' and 'Fat', the latter replete with Michael Jackson leathers and fat suit. You knew that was the finale, there was no quick change out of that outfit. But he sent them away buzzing and laughing...no one seemed disappointed in what amounted to about an eighty minute show.

It was only today I realized how popular Weird Al still is...the fact that his parody for Trapped, for example, has been viewed on YouTube nearly 5 million times, well over a million more views than R. Kelly's original. Or the fact that his last cd release, 2006's Straight Outta Lynwood, went platinum...this after over 20 years of doing his parody thing.


Anyway, this 'novelty act' proved to me he's more than a novelty act...Weird Al put on a terrific show and the Yankheads ate it up...and I will cop to tapping my toes and smiling while watching and eating my mini-donuts.

Oh yes. You heard me. I got mini-donuts. With cinnamon sugar. Two bags in fact. I might even freeze one bag...you know, save some for later.

Save mini-donuts for later? Yikes!

Am I a Yankhead and don't even know it???

Musically Tagged...Or What's Making Me Sing These Days

I've sort of avoided playing the tag game for some time now, but UK's Blowing My Thought Wad hit me up with one that I'm happy to take a run at...


“List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now.”


In no particular order, here are my Magnificent Seven:

1) High & Dry' by Radiohead...



...from the new cd release Best of Radiohead...only purchased because I have always thought of Radiohead as an 'album band' as opposed to 'hit artists', and wanted to see if a compilation of their better known songs would be an enjoyable listen. It's okay, but still like their albums better.


2) 'War On War' by Wilco...



...after finally watching the marvelous music documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart about the making of the band's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album.


3) 'We Rock' by the Jonas Brothers et al...



...because 'Camp Rock' airs tonight, and my kids won't stop playing/singing it....and I find myself singing along. Shrug.


4) 'The Funeral' by Band Of Horses...



....because my eldest recently turned me onto them, which in turn made me want to pull out my old dusty copy of...


5) 'Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns' by Mother Love Bone...



...one of the pioneers of the Seattle grunge scene before singer Andrew Wood's untimely death, and first cassette tape of 'check this band out' music sent to me by Hart Hanson....


6) 'Stickboy' by The Hanson Brothers...



...because Henshaw thinks it should be the new HNIC theme.


7) And coming full circle sort of, Prince's live cover of Radiohead's 'Creep' at Coachella last month...

*WATCH CLIP HERE* - F'in Prince keeps taking down YouTube clips*



...because it's so smokin' hot cool (damn that boy can still sing AND play guitar)


The final instruction is to tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to. Well those seven that are magnificent are:

Um...McGrath, Weinman, Henshaw, Girotti, Rogers, Christina, and Jane... plus anyone else who wants to play (I'm looking at you Epstein and Diane)

.

Turn It Up

So The Daily Show and Colbert Report return to the airwaves tonight...without writers.

Hmmm...

Not sure what to make of that but will still tune in to see what my current late night comedy heroes have to say.

And in lieu of a real post, we've all seen memes and threads about your fave music to write to or work to...but what's the song when you hear in the car that you have to turn up LOUD, or if at home, dance madly around the office?

A song that lights you up.




Not that I love the cocaine...just the groove. (in case anyone was wondering)