nubi_fae

Get on your bikes and ride! This should be easier...

[Poll #823089]

[Poll #820943]

Added Jolie Rickman to the wall of dead guitarists.

It doesn't help my mood either that she died almost 13 months ago, and I didn't know about it until today. I'm quite sad, actually.

I met her at a birthday party for my-then manager at the Medicine Hat on Alberta. She was performing that night. Of course none of us party-goers knew that. As the night wore on, I was more into the music than I was into the party, despite people shoving beers and mixed drinks in my hand.

What impressed me was that just by herself, she played like a one-woman Violent Femmes. her warm-up was the intro to her song "Mockingbird" From there she kept up the energy for the next two hours (with a short break).

After the show, I went up and had a conversation with her about our musical backgrounds: we were both from Chicago, doing the DIY thing. She moved out east to New York, working with Ani D and working on social causes. We talked about perceptions in music, especially her song "Chicago" and the implications of prejudice, fear and racism.

Jolie told me that she was touring across the US on her dime and the shows were basically paying her way to promote her music. I gave her a $20 and asked her to give me two of her favorite albums. After some hesitation, she presented me with Suffer to be Beautiful and Sublime Detonation

An in memorial video is posted at http://www.snowshoefilms.com/music.html Seventh down.

So why am I talking about this? Guilt. I promised her a copy of Pearls when I was done with it. Today, I just remembered of my obligation and looked her up, searching for an address.

Bitchcakes.

I redesigned my blog. I know kando hates the colour scheme, but at least these screen-worn eyes can see eveything. Of course, I'll change it.

On to the list. Note that links to these song files will take you directly to iTunes. Even if you don't have one of those dang iPods, it's a killer freeware app.

Track 1: "We R in need of a Musical ReVoLuTIon" by Esthero
Holy shit. The first line is the cincher. "I'm so sick and tired of the shit on the radio / and MTV. They only play the same thing / no matter where I go. I see Ashanti in the video. / I want something more!"

... and the song kicks into a slammin' live drum groove reminiscent of an 80's break dance beat, as does the ambient Prophet synth humming in the back. I, for some reason, love it. Maybe it's the video, [mostly work safe, arty semi nudity, QuickTime] which cites some of the women in pop whom've made their own revolution, while her friends are inspired to kill their televisions. Maybe it's her tight double -tracked vocals. And I find out that she's been at it for years. Dammit! You know, I live in Portland to keep up with the best in music, but all I lately get are skinny white boys with nautical star tattoos on their wrists.

P.S. Yes, that is Esthero singing "White Rabbit" for the Blue Man Group.

Track 2: "The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell"
The last time I even thought about listening to the song was sometime in September 2001. I wanted to play it again last September. I just played it again to keep my sanity going, wilst giving love to both tidesong and kando. Life is but a game, or so Joni says. And we go round and round.

Track 3: "Go Talk to Mary" by Donna DeLory
Another sleeping giant in my collection. This is the same Donna of "Nikki and Donna" who have sung back up for Madonna on nearly every damn album and tour. It seems that the Spiritual Path seemed to influence Donna too. Except where as Madonna went to the Kaballah Centre and changed her name to Esther, Donna just travelled the world and took up yoga instead. The results are on her album Bliss. Worth a listen.

Track 4: "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" by the Monkees"
Yes. My favortie Monkee is Michael Nesmith. My favortie song by him is not this, but actually the Elephant Parts-era "Drive the El Dorado to the Moon". "You Just May be the One" is my thrid favorite. "Somewhere" is a close second, especially his original version.

Track 5: "Mr Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra"
Now known as the theme to the now-cancelled "LAX" TV show and a principal song in in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (Oh the parallels in my life with that movie, let me not tell you!), this classic ELO track is full of everything that made Jeff Lynne's attempt to out-gun the Beatles a pretty decent outfit.

Track 6: "Djobi Djoba" by the Gipsy Kings"
They do not suck. I repeat, they do not suck! I will always associate the Gipsy Kings with this song. I remember watching MTV International on Channel 44 (WSNS, Chicago) one Saturday afternoon in summer and Daisy Fuentes introducing this band's video. Hey... it was either this, or their flemenco rave-up of "Hotel California"

I love doing these lists.

This week's list is courtesy of me saying happy birthday to melintur

Track 1: "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette Brooding, dark, and with that piano ostinato plinking away as the driver of that song, you can tell that was written during the time she and Tori Amos went on tour together. Tori's influence (perhaps, suggestions) are manifest in this track, from the dynamic rise and fall in this arrangement. It starts with the plinking piano ( ||: D, A, A#, A :|| ) and builds and builds, until hauntingly, the song ends with "I need a moment to deliberate," without resolution, save for the band playing a fade out. Her MTV Unplugged performance of this is superb. Alanis' best song, period, with "Still" from the movie Dogma a dangerously close second.

Track 2: "Vrbana Bridge" by Jill Sobule A brilliant, moving, romantic and sad story/song. Any further description does me no good. Read and listen for yourselves: Here is the song on Jill's site. This is the news story the song is based on.

Track 3: "Take Five" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet Written by their sax player, Paul Desmond, mixed meter is now cool, and semi-mainstream. The five-count is nearly hypnotic.

Track 4: "Desperado" by the Langley Schools Music Project

A bit of back story: Somewhere in British Columbia, Hans Fenger, a school teacher, determined to get his students interested in music, took his school's Orff-Schulwerk-sanctioned instruments, puts them in the hands of his students, and instead of teaching them "Hot Cross Buns" or the typical boring pedagogic tripe, teaches them the three B's... Bowie, Brian Wilson and the Beatles. The result was two (!) albums released by the school to students and faculty in 1976 and 1977 called Innocence and Despair respectively.

The Orff-Schulwerk organization listens to the result and refuses to have anything to do with it.

Years later, the albums are unearthed via airplay on WFMU, creating a buzz. The albums are now re-mastered on a commercially available CD.

The performance of the Eagles classic, stripped down to its bare essence by Fenger on piano and a 10-year-old Sheila Behman singing is considerably more moving, more emotional and simply better than Don Henley's original -- and I'm not just saying that because it's en vogue to diss Henley. I just simply have this feeling that when the song came to Henley late at night many years ago, that song may have whispered in his ear sounding much like Behman's.

Despite the surprise success of the re-release, and praise from David Bowie and John Zorn, Orff-Schulwerk still refuses to have anything to do with this. They need to get some soul.

Track 5: "Jesus of Suburbia" by Green Day I like this ballet. It's brilliant, loud, forceful and poignant. The story of a young man's disillusionment with the world around him and the thoughts which race through his head impressed me more so than than the music itself, which says a lot. Reality check: Billie Joe Armstrong and I are the same age.

Track 6: "So What the Fuss" by Stevie Wonder ...with Prince on guitar and En Vogue on backing vocals. This new track is blowin' up everywhere and is confirming that Stevie has not lost a step (and that really cheesy, overplayed song of his from the movie The Woman in Red is officially behind him). This is from his first album in nine years called A Time 2 Love. The reviews so far say it's worth the wait.