Monday Music Roundup

“Don’t Listen To The Radio“
The Vines
Here’s the new one from Australian rockers The Vines, which NME calls “garage rock’s equivalent of an acid bath.” Jumpin’ straight-driving rock with handclaps. I like it much better than the other new single, Gross Out, which I mentioned a few weeks ago. This one will only be up for 48 hours, so snag it fast. Their new album Vision Valley comes out April 4 (or April 3 for you Brits).

“Take A Message To Mary“
(Everly Brothers cover)
Teddy Thompson (with Linda Thompson)
Being the son of British troubador Richard Thompson (sometimes called “The Bob Dylan of Britain”) leaves some mighty large musical shoes to fill. But Teddy Thompson does a stand-up job in his own right, having released a great sophomore album called Separate Ways. Here is a hidden track from the end of the CD, a lovely old-fashioned sounding duet with his mum. Dad also plays guitar on five tracks, and fellow second-generations songsters Rufus and Martha Wainwright join Teddy for a song. Nice acoustic songwriter’s album – oh, and the album is not as twangy as this song. Don’t worry.

“Sewn“
(live on Radio One)
The Feeling
This one’s a very pleasant piano-based tune with great hooks from The Feeling, a London five-piece reminiscent of Coldplay, Supertramp, or even a little Chicago. I did think it was funny how one reviewer said it made him want to ‘gouge his eyes out with salad tongs,’ but he just must have been having a bad day ‘cos this is good stuff. Some of the best na-naaing I’ve heard in a while, this one sticks in your head (but in a good way). They just finished a small UK tour last night with more dates coming in June in anticipation of their debut album release later this year.

“Breakup Breakdown“
Rich Price
A beautiful, drowsy middle-America charmer from Rich Price, who was born in Nigeria (to British/American parents), and has lived in Africa, Asia, and England before settling in San Francisco. But this song evokes a far slower, less-globe-trotting pace of life. The swirling pace, gentle slide guitar in the background, husky vocals, pitch-perfect harmonies make me feel like I am wrapped up warm in a nice fuzzy blanket (like the lyrics suggest). Rich Price has been making great music for the past five years along with his band The Foundation. Like one of my other favorites Ryan Adams, Rich Price has recently shared the stage with Phil Lesh, this time at Slim’s in San Fran for a Katrina benefit show. Check out his album Miles From Anywhere on iTunes or CDBaby, or visit him on MySpace.

“Tidal Wave“
(live on KCRW)
David Gray
Oh. This song. Maybe I’ve been in an admittedly melodramatic mood lately, but this is such an achingly beautiful, elegant little song that it almost hurts to listen to it. Originally from the Lost Songs CD, I am posting this live version (from KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic) up today in honor of the fact that I am seeing David Gray tonight in Denver and greatly looking forward to it. Two of my good friends saw him in a tiny intimate private concert with KFOG several years ago when he was just breaking on this side of the pond, but I’ve never seen him so wish me luck, I’m goin’ in.

Bonus News: Did you hear Kevin Smith is making a Clerks 2? It’s scheduled for release this summer, the day before my birthday (August 18), and you can follow the progress on their blog. I wonder if the soundtrack will be as era-capturing as the 1994 original.

Brandi Carlile is friggin AMAZING

Brandi Carlile *absolutely* blew me away last night live. She is an unassuming 23-year old with a voice that rips you to shreds. She wails, she mourns, she pours out her soul, and she’s really really good.

All throughout her extremely well-received performance at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, her vulnerability and her wavering, rich, gorgeous voice completely reminded me of my beloved Jeff Buckley. So, I felt like I was punched in the gut when she began the intro to her closer. She was all alone on the stage; her band had left her alone for the final song. She started in with the gentle guitar chords and fingerpicking and it hit me that she was performing “Hallelujah.” And as she got into it, she was playing the Jeff Buckley version, not the original Leonard Cohen or Rufus Wainwright or any other number of artists who have sung it.

It was clear to me as I stood there and listened to her in that dark and transfixed room that she, like me, had listened to the recording of Jeff singing it a thousand times. She paused where he pauses, she breathed where he breathes, her voice cracked where his did. And it almost felt a bit transcendent, as if she was channeling Jeff through her song. It was a gift of love, belting out a song that she clearly felt deeply inside. And although it sounds silly to type it here the next morning, I couldn’t help but fight back some hot tears because it was just so damn beautiful and wrenching.

I talked to her after the show; we both expressed how never seeing Jeff Buckley live was one of our biggest regrets. I asked where I could find a recording of her performing Hallelujah, and she pointed me in the direction of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. I’ve got it for you here and you must hear it; although it can’t capture the same vibe as a live performance, it’s dang good:

Open the Real Player to hear her set:
What Can I Say (great song)
Fall Apart Again
Closer to You
Throw It All Away (another great song, posted on the Monday Music Roundup last week)
-Interview-
Happy
The Story (listen to her belt it out. Oh. My. Gosh.)
Hiding My Heart
Hallelujah

If the above link to the player won’t open, try here.

I bought her 2005 debut album, Brandi Carlile, at the show last night and I’ve already listened to it about 3 times through. Deeply impressive & authentic.

Upcoming tour dates: GO SEE HER!
She is playing with Jamie Cullum (who is also a fabulous dynamo on-stage), and Train (who I personally cannot condone in this forum, due to their use of lame lyrics about soy lattes and tae bo. Thank you.). But Train or no, she is worth paying to see.

3.12.06 – St. Paul, MN, Fitzgerald Theater w/ Jamie Cullum
3.13.06 – Chicago, IL, Park West w/ Jamie Cullum
3.14.06 – St. Louis, MO, The Pageant w/ Jamie Cullum
3.19.06 – Atlanta, GA, The Tabernacle w/ Jamie Cullum
3.21.06 – Toronto, CANADA, Harbourfront Centre w/ Jamie Cullum
3.22.06 – Royal Oak, MI, Royal Oak Music w/ Jamie Cullum
3.23.06 – Cleveland, OH, House of Blues w/ Jamie Cullum
3.25.06 – Washington, DC, 9:30 Club w/ Jamie Cullum
3.26.06 – Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballrom w/ Jamie Cullum
3.27.06 – Philadelphia, PA, Kimmel Center w/ Jamie Cullum
3.30.06 – Boston, MA, Opera House w/ Jamie Cullum
4.05.06 – Denver, CO, Paramount w/ Train
4.06.06 – Kansas City, MO, Uptown Theatre w/ Train
4.07.06 – St. Louis, MO, Pageant w/ Train
4.08.06 – Nashville, TN, Ryman w/ Train
4.10.06 – Madison, WI, Orpheum w/ Train
4.11.06 – Milwaukee, WI, Riverside Theatre w/ Train
4.12.06 – Minneapolis, MN, State Theatre w/ Train
4.13.06 – Cedar Rapids, IA, Paramount Theatre w/ Train
4.14.06 – Cincinnati, OH, Taft w/ Train
4.15.06 – Chicago, IL, Chicago Theatre w/ Train
4.17.06 – Cleveland, OH, House of Blues w/ Train
4.18.06 – Toronto, ON, The Phoenix w/ Train
4.19.06 – Detroit, MI, State Theare w/ Train
4.20.06 – Pittsburgh, PA, AJ Palumbo w/ Train
4.21.06 – Atlanta City, NJ, Borgata w/ Train
4.22.06 – Erie, PA, Civic Center w/ Train
4.26.06 – New York, NY, Beacon w/ Train
4.27.06 – Washington, DC, DAR Constitution Hall w/ Train
4.28.06 – Mashantucket, CT, Foxwoods w/ Train

Marathon Packs has Dylan circa 1962

Bob Dylan on Cynthia Gooding’s Radio Show 3/11/1962
(from the excellent Marathon Packs music blog: head on over!)

“Here we have a 20-year old Bob Dylan, who’d just made his way to Greenwich Village and had already created quite a name for himself, sitting for an extended interview with New York radio host Cynthia Gooding and playing several songs to boot.

Throughout the hour-long program, he’s affable if not a bit shy, denying the “folk” tag, which he obviously should have—part of Dylan’s genius was that he was able to transcend simple generic convention, even before they’d been carved in stone through popular discourse. It’s completely taken for granted these days that new artists don’t want to be pigeonholed into a specific category, but Dylan was the first to preface this sort of artistic independence as part of his public persona (of course, it was reactionary—goaded on by clueless media-types looking for a figurehead).

Gooding seems awestruck during most of the interview segments—early on, sounding amazed that “there was just one man doing all that” and referring to “The Death of Emmitt Till” as being “the greatest contemporary ballad I’ve ever heard”.

It’s an amazing document of pre-Columbia debut Dylan.”

Head on over to Marathon Packs to get the show:

Lonesome Whistle Blues
Conversation #1
Fixin’ To Die
Conversation #2
Tell Me Baby
Conversation #3
Conversation #4
The Death Of Emmett Till
Conversation #5
Standing on the Highway
Conversation #6
Long John
Conversation #7
Stealin’
Conversation #8
Conversation #9
Baby Please Don’t Go
Conversation #10

Roy Orbison? Yeah, he’s The Man.

Following the stellar enthusiasm that greeted my Zombies post a few weeks ago (over 1,000 hits that day, my most ever!), I feel more comfortable promenading out a few other of the oldie/goodie variety of folks currently in residence inside my iPod.

So you’ve heard Pretty Woman (like, a thousand times), and Only the Lonely is a bona fide crooner classic. But do you know the depth and quality of the musician that was Roy Orbison? Not as camera-friendly and rico suave as some of his other counterparts, Roy nonetheless made some absolutely superb music that still sounds good and fresh and eminently listenable 50 years later.

Born in Texas in 1936, Roy asked for a harmonica (but received a guitar) for his 6th birthday (I think my 6th birthday was more about the My Little Ponies and the Rainbow Brites. That’s awesome). His daddy taught him to play, and Roy used to love to stay up late with the grown-ups and play songs like “You Are My Sunshine.”

Roy worked his way up from winning a radio contest for jingles in 1946 to forming his own band that same year, called The Wink Westerners (right). Their band started playing on a weekly local radio show, as well as providing the tunes for dances at the local community center. As Roy entered college, he and his bandmates began playing less country and more rock’n'roll, covering greats such as Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry. They also had a weekly television show in Odessa, and in the fall of 1955, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley appeared on his show. Roy asked Johnny for advice on how he could get some of his music produced onto a record, and Johnny gave him Sam Phillips (owner of Sun Records) phone number in Memphis. He was promptly hung up on.

March of 1956 brought the opportunity at last for Roy to make his record with a local businessman by the name of Weldon Rogers. Under the name of Roy and the Teen Kings, the music was recorded and the single was released two weeks later. Roy took a copy to a well-known record dealer in West Texas, who liked it instantly and played it over the telephone to one of his connections in Memphis. His “connection” loved it as well and asked him to send a copy to the Sun Records offices. Indeed, it was none other than Sam Phillips, who had hung up on Orbison just a few months before.

After recording with Sun, Roy’s music grew in popularity in the ensuing years. He had a string of #1 hits of his own recordings, and his songs were recorded by many artists in the day such as Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rick Nelson. In May 1963 he was tapped to open for The Beatles in England, before they had hit big in the States. The tour was a runaway success and sold out in one afternoon. On the first night, Roy did fourteen encores before The Beatles could get on stage. He also toured with the Beach Boys in ’64 and the Stones in ’65. The man was versatile and unique in his sound, and the audiences loved him. Let’s listen why:

“Claudette“ – rollicking harmonica with tasty guitar licks floating over the top, this song was actually popularized by The Everly Brothers after they needed a song for their new single and Roy scribbled the lyrics for Claudette (which he had written) down on the back of a shoebox for them. As recorded by the Everly Brothers, it was the B-side to All I Have To Do Is Dream, and climbed the charts up to #30.

“California Blue“ – my favorite song by Roy. I listened to it over and over last month when I was in California, namely as I walked along the pier in Santa Cruz in the sunshine. Picture it. Uh huh. It’s that good.

“Heartbreak Radio“ – here we go all rock’n'roll, and this song makes me think of big, fast, old cars racing on a Saturday night, or sock hops and things like that.

“Pretty Paper” (live) – cover of a lovely Willie Nelson song, one that Chris Isaak also covered on his recent Christmas album. I know I am going about this backwards, but I have been more of a Chris Isaak fan in the past 10 years or so than a Roy Orbison fan, and I am amazed at just how much Isaak sounds like Orbison. Like, almost identical. Also extremely pronounced on this next track:

“Blue Bayou“ – I like the slight Latin backbeat, and, again, the nice harmonica. This song makes me happy. No, seriously, I have to keep checking to make sure that I really am NOT listening to Chris Isaak. Sorry if that’s heretical to some of you, but really.

“Crying” (live) – this performance is from his Black & White Night live album (1987), which I find interesting because it kind of shows the respect and admiration he has among today’s musicians. Appearing on the stage with him for this CD we have Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, etc. In fact, Bruce Springsteen once said he wished he could write like Bob Dylan and sing like Roy Orbison, and here he plays guitar.

eMusic has a solid selection of Roy Orbison stuff, if you are still looking for ways to spend those 50 free downloads you hopefully got from clicking that little banner on the right side of this very blog. Props also to the interesting and informative Orbison biography on his website, which also has some great audio interview clips with Orbison answering questions such as “Is it true that you have written entire songs in thirty minutes?” and “Sunglasses are your trademark, how did that happen?” Classic.

It’s all so, so good, isn’t it? You’d be hard-pressed to have a bad weekend with this on the stereo.

Amoeba vs. Jeff Tweedy: Smackdown!

I thought this was a hilarious story, and bitingly well-written, from the CrazyTalk blog by Howie from San Francisco. It is part of his review of the Jeff Tweedy show at the Fillmore in February. He writes:

“Tweedy told a hilarious story about his experience the day before at San Francisco’s famous Amoeba Records. Apparently he had bought a used cd there, only to discover when he got back to his hotel room that the cd wasn’t in the case. He called Amoeba about it, to see if someone could bring him the cd at his hotel, and the clerk basically said “sucks for you.”

When Tweedy suggested that maybe if someone from the store was coming to the show, he could put them on the guest list and they could bring it to him. The clerk replied, “There’s like 100 people who work here and I’d have to find like the 2 people who MIGHT be coming to your show, so no – I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

(For those of you uninitiated in Amoeba, it is ground zero for indie-hipper-than-thou-ennui. I think the criteria for employment there involves being in seven “in” bands concurrently, at least 3 of which are signed to nearly-defunct indie labels, 2 of which are scheduled to tour Japan with a band from Merge or Barsuk, and 1 of which got a positive review on Pitchfork; plus some combination of tattoos, mental ward hair cuts (shampoo is a definite no-no), and near-wikipedic knowledge of psych-prog rock. The application process culminates in a 100 yard dash where entrants must wear tight jeans with white belts. I got on the 5 year waiting list last week when I bought my first Members Only jacket). Anyway, determined to get his cd, he walked to the store from his hotel, but when they still couldn’t find the cd, he accepted a handy record tote bag in lieu.

I guess Tweedy had told this story at the first Fillmore show (the night before our show), and the clerk at Amoeba got such amazing shit from her co-workers that at the 2nd Fillmore show, Tweedy found an Amoeba hoody (signed by the offending clerk) in his dressing room. He came out for the second encore wearing said hoody.”

Now *that’s* a good story to tell. It’s classic, especially the response from the clerk on the phone. I wish I could be as cool as the Amoeba hipsters, although I did have quite a good time sifting through the vinyl section the last time I was there, coming home with some gems (Jimi Hendrix & Otis Redding at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967, REM Dead Letter Office, Jerry Lee Lewis “Breathless” double LP, Sly and the Family Stone, and The Cure . . . Happily Ever After). Aaahhhh.

Jackie Greene: Wunderkind with a harmonica

Hailing from the scenic California state capital of Sacramento (ok, not really scenic but passable), Jackie Greene has been steadily rolling out a hearty brand of folksy Americana music for the past few years. The 24-year-old songwriter is a multi-talented fellow, who in addition to singing also plays guitar, dobro, piano, harmonica, and percussion.

I was shocked to find out how young he was, for the impressive body of musical work he has already accomplished. He played at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival in October of 2004, when he was a mere 23. According to a news article, “Greene not only received standing ovations at two separate stages, but also sold more CDs and DVDs and signed more autographs at the Tower Records booth than any other participating artist. ” Not too shabby.

Jackie Greene fell onto my musical plate through the efforts of KFOG last year, with his excellent song (still my favorite by him), “Honey, I Been Thinking ‘Bout You.” This is a rolling ballad with rousing harmonica and cutting lyrics like:

“I don’t wanna be your two-weekend lover,
your boy in the back, your one or the other.
And I ain’t lookin’ for a wife or a mother,
but honey I been thinking about you.

And maybe you’re wrong, and maybe you’re right,
and maybe we can sit here and argue all night . . .
or maybe you just better turn out the lights,
cos honey I been thinking ’bout you.”

“I don’t really care ’bout your hot blooded sister
I’m sure there’s a man for to love her and miss her
I didn’t mean nothing I just happened to kiss her
But honey I was thinkin’ bout you…” (oooh!)

That song was definitely one of my favorites of last year. Get it here:

“Honey, I Been Thinking ‘Bout You” – Jackie Greene

Jackie Greene released an independent record in 2000 called Rusty Nails, and was “discovered” shortly thereafter at an open mic in 2001. His second album rolled out in 2002, called Gone Wanderin’. He also gained some notoriety for his album Positively 12th and K: A Tribute to Bob Dylan, with which came a torrent of comparisons to the young Dylan, which are a dime a dozen, but there is substance and talent in Mr. Greene. In May of 2005 he released his third (critically-acclaimed) album, Sweet Somewhere Bound, and he has a new album coming out on Verve Forecast next Tuesday (March 14) called American Myth.

STREAM AUDIO #1:
NPR’s World Cafe featured him last summer; Greene performed four songs from Sweet Somewhere Bound & American Myth, and ruminated a bit on guys his age liking artists like Dylan & Clapton, but still doing the things that 24-year-olds do (“…I still chase girls, do stupid things with my friends – I just happen to like that kind of music”):

• Featuring 4 songs: About Cell Block #9, Honey I Been Thinking About You, Love Song at 2:00am, Gone Wanderin’

STREAM AUDIO #2:
You can stream another fabulous set of songs off his new album from just last month on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic (if the above link doesn’t work, go to the main page to open the audio player). His new music combines with interesting interview commentary where Jackie discusses his love for the Stones, and how his new album is more of a rock album and less of the solo Americana-folk sound of Sweet Somewhere Bound. I like the sound of the new album very much.

• Featuring 7 songs: Farewell So Long Goodbye (lots of good harmonica!), I’m So Gone, When You’re Walking Away, Hollywood, -Interview-, Closer to You (okay, I’ll say it because it begs to be said: very Dylanesque. But also with find of a funky gospel tinge to it. I like this song), So Hard To Find My Way (another nice harmonica bridge), Marigold

Jackie Greene is a talented and thoughtful songwriter who practically oozes good music. He’s an artist whose hearty, rich sound I am looking forward to hearing more of (and of course, the harmonica helps win me over as well). Take a listen to him and consider picking up American Myth on Tuesday.

A few quickies

Just a few things that caught my attention this morning that you should check out:

**Download this mp3 of a podcast with Ryan Adams from the UK Times (thanks Aquarium Drunkard)

**You Ain’t No Picasso is putting up a ton of covers that Yo La Tengo did the other day for a WFMU Benefit show. Lennon, Violent Femmes, Dylan, Byrds up now, Beach Boys, Replacements, Clash, Zombies, and even a little Hall & Oates coming soon. If you like Yo La Tengo, make haste to check them out.

**The town of Bristol, from whence hails Aardman Animations and Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit fame, is thinking of putting up a statue of the finger-waggling cheese-loving gent and his canine pal. This would be quite fun. I’ve loved these two since their animation short days, and the best Halloween costume I’ve ever seen was my bookish friends Kevin & Sabrina dressing as Wallace and Wendy.

I also read in Rolling Stone that the Queen stopped by the animation studios recently to see the whole claymation process. Nick Park says, “It was very surreal because I am used to seeing her on postage stamps.”

Movie music madness

I am a definite s-u-c-k-e-r for a good soundtrack. Set me loose in the soundtrack section of any music store and I will find a few gems to be sure. I love the way that music makes a movie poignant or funny or heartbreaking or memorable. Plus, it’s the way I always think of songs in my head anyway when I listen to them – picturing a moment, a situation, a conversation to go along with them as they unfold.

It’s like the way you wish life could be sometimes – you know, the perfect song to accompany every moment.

My friend Vangelis the Greek (my nickname, I don’t think he actually goes by that in day to day life) sent me a really neat email the other day, filled with his reflections on various movies and drawing my attention to some good forgotten soundtrack songs. I thought I would share them with you. He says:

“First, a song from a movie I saw as a teenager accidentally on television late at night. I will never forget the way that movie made me feel and the discussions I had the following day at school with my friends that also watched it…Pump Up the Volume. The soundtrack (buy here) also contains Pixies, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth…”

Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen cover) – Concrete Blonde

MY NOTE: See, I had as big of a crush on Christian Slater as the next 11 year old girl back in 1990, but I was not yet, shall we say, “cool” in the musical arena when this soundtrack came out, as I was generally rockin’ out to oldies (cool in their own way), New Kids on the Block and gems like Michael W. Smith. Yeah, I’ll admit it. I was a late bloomer. Anyway, back to Vangelis:

“Another movie that I really like is Beautiful Girls. I will not send you the song they all sang at the bar (Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond) but the song with the same title as the movie. (Really cool soundtrack, buy it here):

Beautiful Girl – Pete Droge and The Sinners

Also, the Afghan Whigs appear in the movie and play live. You know Greg Dulli spent one summer here in Greece trying to find his Greek roots and where his relatives lived…

Anyway, another great movie and a fantastic soundtrack if you like swing music is Swing Kids. I think it comes from 1993 and in a parallel universe it would have won a thousand Oscars. Two songs from the soundtrack:

Bei Mir Bist Du Schon – Janis Siegel

Shout and Feel It – James Horner

Last, from the movie Pleasantville, a Beatles song from Fiona Apple – Across The Universe. Her voice is simply amazing, I have heard a lot of covers of this song but I think this is the best one ever. The soundtrack also includes Etta James, Buddy Holly and Elvis.”

Across The Universe – Fiona Apple

***************************************
Finally, one from Vangelis himself. It is not soundtrack-related, other than the fact that Vangelis compared him and his buddies to the guys in That Thing You Do when they first heard themselves on the radio in Greece (yelling, screaming, calling each other). It is in English (although I think I hear some traditional Greek instruments in the background?) and I think it is pretty good!

Wonderful World – Vangelis & His Band
(sorry, dude, you didn’t tell me the band name!)

I’m off to add some good stuff to my Netflix queue. I got Long, Hot Summer with Paul Newman in the mail yesterday so I get to do a little inappropriate salivating over the young & smoldering Paul Newman later today.

Please don’t hurt ‘em Hammer

MC Hammer has a new blog. In case you were wondering what he has been up to lately (oooh, I know you were!), here’s his latest entry (with the exceptional passages highlighted by yours truly):

“This week I’m going to hit the weights some more and perfect a few new moves I’ve been working on. This is a good time of year to workout. The weather is warming up and summer is ninety days away. I got ahead because I danced for the last six months and now I’m lean.

Still, I like my muscles hard because it helps me execute my moves with more power. I train specifically for dancing. I do full body days. Three days in a row. I work my chest and lower back and abs a lot. No heavy weight. I have to be able to explode and be quick and fast with my hands and feet.

My calves and thighs are most important for the hot moves out today. Squats with no weights will do the trick. I will also do some leg presses with about three hundred pounds just to keep the thighs and hamstrings firing.

I stay about ten days from show ready, so working out and staying fit is a must, plus I love it! I’ve already been performing and perfecting the live versions of at least ten of the new songs and I’m itchy!! They play great. My dancers and I love the freedom of the new music. We only lock up on the choruses, the rest of the song you have to freestyle with power. I’m off to the gym.“

He also has some kind of inexplicable pictures of the Santana Row outdoor mall (or “Tha Row” as he calls it) which is about a stone’s throw from my old house/work/school. Odd and a bit disturbing, even though I knew he was from the area. Also there is the loooong post about a dream he had, which contains this sentence:

“I walked into the sheriff’s office and immediately all eyes were on me. The room went silent and you could hear a rat pissin’ on cotton. My dark chocolate skin and my bold jaw line complimented my broad nose and my full lips.”

And they say the internet is a forum for all to be heard. Well, thank goodness.

[via IckMusic]

World Music Wednesday

“Mali Bluesman” Ali Farka Touré, one of West Africa’s best-known musicians, died yesterday following a long illness with bone cancer. I would be remiss not to feature him today on the World Music Wednesday feature.

I first heard this name of Farka Touré in around 1994/95 when he released a critically acclaimed and excellent album with Ry Cooder called Talking Timbuktu. Over the years his name and his work have popped up on various world music compilations and stations I have been exposed to and I have always been impressed, and with happy ears. This was one amazing musician.

Fascinating to explore the connections and commonalities between West African music and U.S. Southern Blues, which Farka Touré argued shared the same roots.

You can read the interesting obit from the BBC, and listen to a few of his songs here:

Gomni РAli Farka Tour̩ and Ry Cooder

Allah Uya РAli Farka Tour̩