[url=http://www.tblog.com/template...]Paul Hester's suicide[/url] yesterday got me to thinking about other musicians who died at their own hand.
Michael Hutchence ~ INXS Richard Manuel ~ The Band Elliott Smith Ian Curtis ~ Joy Division Chris Aceland ~ Lush Nick Drake Kurt Cobain ~ Nirvana Kevin Wilkinson ~ The Waterboys/Proclaimers John Bonhom ~ Led Zeppelin Tim Buckley Pete Farndone ~ The Pretenders Jonathan Melvoin ~ Smashing Pumpkins Del Shannon Wendy O Williams ~ The Plasmatics
The list, I am quite sure, goes on and on; these are simply ones that I could name off the top of my head.
I've read statistics that put the suicide rate among musicians to be anywhere between 20 - 40% higher than those of us who are mere mortals. I'm sure exposure to rampant drugs and alcohol play a part of that... but somehow, I don't think that's the whole picture.
It makes you (or at least me) wonder what it is about that life or about being that extremely creative that makes life just too difficult to face.
I was going to write a little bit about Paul Hester tonight: the drummer for Split Enz and Crowded House, (both of whom I adore), and who was found hanged from a tree in Elsternwick Park, Melbourne-Australia. Presumedly, he took his own life.
But...
[url=http://www.tblog.com/template...]BerlinBear[/url] beat me to the punch, and he did such a good job at it, I decided to just show you the way to his blog. (He's really got a great picture of Hester and is linked to several fine articles). [url=http://www.tblog.com/template...]Check it out.[/url]
I can remember the first time I heard Crowded House like it happened yesterday... but I will reserve that story for another time. In the meantime, it's no exaggeration to say that I'm a bit sad.
Driving down Market St. in a neighboring city this afternoon, I came to the realization that a local music club where I had seen a couple of really great bands play, had closed its doors. The windows were boarded up and the sign that used to bear the names of various underground acts that would soon be taking the stage now read only "FOR LEASE." A quick interent search this evening revealed that it had not moved but was gone for good.
In mourning my local underground music venue, I remembered that the mother of all homes for underground music, [url=http://www.cbgb.com/]CBGB's,[/url] is in danger of closing its doors for good too. Over the course of my relatively tame life, I've only ever had the opportunity to see one show at CBGB's. I was 18 and had traveled to NYC from the pacific northwest with my mother and brother. My much older, wiser and far more wordly cousin took me down to CB's for a show that opened my eyes to far more than music. In fact, I don't even remember the name of the band. At the time, I didn't realize what CBGB's really was or what it has meant to the world of independent music.
But I do now.
Tonight, I read [url=http://mrfwood.com/news/0503-...]this article[/url] which clearly outlines the real peril that CBGB's is facing from an unlikely foe. I won't post the entire thing here, but the opening paragraph certainly illustrates the paradox:
[i]For more than 30 years, CBGB, the eternally crumbling downtown nightclub, has with ragged pride withstood every hand the neighborhood and the music scene have dealt it: punk-rock, death metal, crack addicts, city inspectors and bad plumbing. But it may have met its match in one of the city's most respected charity group.
In a scrappy Bowery real-estate battle, CBGB has been in and out of court for much of the last four years with its landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless. The dispute concerns enough unpaid rent to finance dozens of punk bands as well as numerous building violations that leave a paper trail as thick as the layers of fliers stapled to the club's walls.[/i]
Ok. That's two paragraphs. Sorry.
Reading [url=http://mrfwood.com/news/0503-...]the article[/url], (which I really think is worth reading and strongly encourage you to do), left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. The truth is, I don't hold out much hope for the lower eastside/Bowery St. institution to pull through this one. I'd like to be wrong, but... like Joey Ramone himself, I think CBGB's will be taking its final bow very, very soon.
Because this article was featured on the [url=www.yahoo.com]Yahoo homepage [/url] the other day, it is quite possible that a number of you saw it. Quite frankly, I was a little surpised when I read it, because prior to seeing this, I had not heard a thing about the lawsuit that is at the center of the controversy outlined in the article. In fact, a friend and I were just discussing the other day how *little* we had heard lately about the RIAA's mad rampage to destroy teenagers with computers. Apparently, however, those maniacal mainstream music execs are just as busy as ever; and as the title of this post indicates, I have to admit that I find the entire thing to be just a bit more than a little disgusting. Anyway, because I know many of you refuse, out of sheer principle I suppose, to click and read the entire thing, let me give you the highlights:
[i][b]File-Sharing Case Worries Indie Artists [/b][/i] [i]By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer [/i]
[i]LOS ANGELES - Recording industry executive Andy Gershon sees opportunity in the online file-sharing networks that most of his rivals decry as havens for music pirates. As president of V2 Records, home to such established acts as The White Stripes and Moby, Gershon mines such Internet distribution channels for new fans and revenues. "The cat is so far out of the bag and so far gone that it's pointless to keep fighting it," Gershon said. "I might as well make as many people fans of our music, whether they illegally download it or not." [/i]
Bravo! I simply do not know when the music industry is going to pull their collective head out of their collective *cough* arse (note the British accent there ~ *ahem NOT Liverpool*) and figure out that file sharing is not going to go away and fighting it only seeks to further alienate just about every music fan over the age of 14. The article goes on...
[i]A number of mostly independent recording artists and labels have experimented with and embraced the freewheeling digital distribution that the Internet affords. And many worry that a victory by major recording companies in a landmark file-sharing case now before the U.S. Supreme Court could short-circuit the very technologies that they believe are making a more level playing field of the music business.
Several artist rights associations, music publishers and well-known musicians, including Don Henley, Sheryl Crow and the Dixie Chicks are backing the major recording labels, which accuse Grokster and StreamCast [which distributes Morpheus] of profiting from a business model that depends on piracy. [/i]
Yay! Another reason to hate Sheryl Crow and The Dixie Chicks!
[i]But some artists, including Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, see an upside to file-sharing. "I look at it as a library. I look at it as our version of the radio," Tweedy said.
"It's a place where basically we can encourage fans to be fans and not feel like they're being exploited, which is basically what the whole industry is geared to do."
About 20 independent recording artists, including musician and producer Brian Eno, rockers Heart and rapper-activist Chuck D, filed a legal brief with the high court in support of Grokster and StreamCast. They insist file-sharing and related technologies help expose new audiences to their music — outside established channels of the recording labels. [/i]
Yay! Another reason to love Wilco and Brian Eno!
The artists argue that file-sharing "has the immediate potential to develop into a significantly more prevalent alternative distribution and promotion system." But a ruling that outlaws or limits it "will block that potential from ever being fully realized," the brief contends.
It goes on... and if you're interested in the rest, you can always click here.
But all of this makes me wonder.
I know that I personally do not download nearly the amount of music that I used to. When Napster first hit the ground running, I was like a kid in a candy store, and I later turned to Kazaa (Lite of course) to get my file sharing fix. But in the end, I just find downloading to be far less satisfying than purchasing the real thing. For me, there is nothing like ripping the plastic off a new CD and perusing the pages of the liner notes for the first time as the disc takes its first spin in the player. It's simply the best kind of magic.
But then again... I know that I am often in the minority when it comes to my views on music and its place in my life.
So... here's my question? Do you still download? Are you a P2P freak who cannot get enough of all that digital goodness or are you keeping a low profile in constant fear that the RIAA is going to come knocking at the door armed with a search warrant with your hard drive's name on it?
Does anyone else remember [url=http://www.curtalliaume.com/n...]Name That Tune? [/url] I remember being completely fascinated by that show as a kid ~ and especially by that rare breed of musical nerd who could [i]name that tune[/i] in an absurdly small amount of notes. (I remember it always seemed as though my mom knew the correct answer long before the contestants did. She was my [url=]name that tune[/url] hero).
Anyway, I have to admit that I was a bit surprised by how few people knew the three clips from my recent foray into the wild and wacky world musical identification quiz shows. But my hat goes off to both [url=http://shadowmusic.tblog.com]Shadowmusic[/url] and Aqualung for hitting all three nails squarely on the head. Sometimes, I forget that *my* taste in music leans a bit more towards the obscure, and I think I may have lost sight of that fact when I claimed those three 80's clips were easy. Of course, the correct answers were:
a. "If You Leave" by OMD b. "I Want You Now" by Depeche Mode c. "Woman's Work" by Kate Bush
That said, I thought we might try playing again. But this time, I've changed things up a bit. I've divided the clips up by difficulty and I've even provided one clue. Eventually, of course, the newness of all of this will likely wear thin, but until then, I'm having a giggle putting all this together. I hope you'll play along.
We had a tornado in our quiet little town tonight. We all stood outside and watched it roil and slither, rather quickly I thought, past us at a distance of some 5 miles. We should have been inside with our heads between our knees, but like an adolescent girl who’s been told too often that she’s pretty; things like this simply will not be ignored. When it was all over, we were left with a blanket made up of hundreds, perhaps thousands of individual pieces of hail, many of which looked to me like small turtles or the oddly shaped stones you find on rocky beaches. In the distance, the black outline of trees, still vacant of spring leaves, reached up into a blood red sky.
I think at this point I’m supposed to say that the entire event made me feel small or fragile or grateful or some other adjective indigenous to the confines of a fortune cookie. But the truth is, the entire thing left me feeling restless and apparently [url=http://www.audioblogger.com/m...]a little sarcastic.[/url]
It was a strange episode, to say the least, and it made me wonder how people who live in the so-called "tornado alley" do it. It would be lovely, albeit highly implausible, to think that perhaps, even under the relentless shadow of a natural disaster, they continue to react appropriately when the warning bells are sounded ~ no matter how often they are rung. However, the reality is that there are probably many people who fail to respond at all; those who instead shrug and sigh in the face of the anchorman whose job it is to interrupt your regularly scheduled program, as if to say “Jesus. Not again.” While others probably, in the name of “erring on the side of caution,” feel a tornado on every breeze and whose personal anecdotes of alarm never cease to reverberate in solemn warning.
Neither option seems all that good.
Personally, I think I’d become a storm chaser: the kind of person that rides into the fray. Not because I crave danger or because I mistake the power of such things or because I live under the delusion that I am immortal or, heaven forbid, more clever than Mother Nature. It’s just… when the clouds churn and the sky splits, I think I’d rather take my chances being there ~ a tiny, restless part of it all ~ rather than inside, hiding in the bathtub or closet with my head tucked between my knees, replaying the internal home movies that make up my life, all the while, quietly lamenting the many, many moments I’ve spent running away.
As someone who admittedly knows fairly little about technology and gadgetry, I was thrilled the other day when I stumbled upon [url=http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad...]a way [/url] to make my own little music clips and then [url=http://easy.savefile.com]store them [/url] online for the world to see.
But what to do with all this new found power?
The posibilities are clearly limitless, but in the meantime I decided that perhaps we'd play a little game of name that tune! Basically, this is how it works:
I've provided three snippets of three different songs.
You click on a snippet and see if you can identify it!
Leave your guesses in the comments.
What could be easier?
For our first go 'round at this, I've made it VERY easy. All three songs should be very familiar to all you 80's fans out there. So.. try your hand at these!
NOTE: No one likes a cheater. Cheating is just plain wrong... so, don't go sneaking a peek at the comments before submitting your own random guesses, silly.
*rubs hands together*
I'm looking forward to seeing if this works and to seeing how many of you know your music. Remember, include title and artist in your guesses. The winner will receive...
WARNING: This post is going to [i][b]really[/b][/i] date me.
Last night, a girlfriend and I had a conversation about [u]firsts[/u]. We giggle and blushed as we swapped stories about important firsts in our lives and it got me thinking about how important those "first times," for all sorts of things, really are. Although often clumsy, awkward and even a little bit embarrassing, we treasure the memories that are associated with our first times at bat. And, to that end, we fill the scrapbook of our lives with, by and large, a collection of firsts: The [b]first[/b] step, [b]first[/b] words, [b]first[/b] day at school, [b]first [/b]date, [b]first[/b] kiss, [b]first[/b] love, [b]first[/b] car and so on, and so on.
One of the many firsts that managed to make its way into our conversation last night was the first record [i](yes, record)[/i] we each had ever purchased. (Both of us had been surrounded by records all of our lives, but we qualified the *first* as being the first one WE had ever purchased ~ using our own money, and without mom or dad leaning over our shoulders). For me, that record was a 45 - the single "[url=http://www.guntheranderson.co...]Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"[/url] by The Police. I can remember buying it like it was yesterday. My best friend Joey and I took the bus to the mall where we raided the record section of the local Woolworth's. She bought something by Hall and Oates and I purchased The Police. (To this day, I think my selection was better). It was a wintery afternoon in the pacific northwest and we played those records over and over and over until I'm sure my mother wanted to leave home ~ but she indulged us. (Later that same month, I bought my first album, [u]Ghost In The Machine[/u]).
These days, of course, when I am feeling a bit nostalgic for the early 80's (and who doesn't?) I can just pull up the MP3 and listen to Sting and the boys in crystal clear, digital quality. But I still have my treasured first single. It occupies a coveted spot, complete with dust jacket, in my (relatively small) collection of 45s.
So there you have it. I've shown you mine. Now it's your turn to bare all. No matter how embarrasing, I want to hear them: Your first record, or for you young ones out there, your first cassette or CD. Come on, give it up.
In a recent conversation, (that turned out to be the perfect mixture of equal parts intellect and sheer silliness), a friend and I discussed, albeit briefly, the nature of passion and the ways in which people approach and display their passion for something or someone. It was amazing, at least to me, to consider the variety of ways in which, what is essentially, the same concept, passion, can reveal itself.
When you look up passion in the thesaurus, there are quite literally hundreds of synonyms ranging from those associated with love (such as ardor, attachment, care, desire, devotion, tenderness, weakness, and zealousness) to those associated more with obsession or mania, (such as craving, craze, drive, enthusiasm, fascination, idolatry, infatuation, longing, worship and yearning). When you consider just how many ways there are to spell out passion it's really no wonder that different people wear their passions in entirely distinct ways.
For example, [url=http://shadowmusic.tblog.com]one dear friend of mine[/url], who shares my passion for music, shows his zeal by making spreadsheets and web pages and finds himself in a constant game of compare & contrast when it comes to songs he loves. While another person, close to my heart, who's passion for music surpasses even my own, shows his ardor for the music that moves him by immersing himself completely in it: making CDs that consist entirely of one song and lying alone in the dark with the music playing, and the repeat button pressed, until it is just him and the music in whatever place it takes him. And while I have certainly found myself consumed by both examples (especially the latter), I suppose the product of my passion lies in the words on this screen and within the pages of certain glossy magazines whose articles bear my name. In the end though, what I have learned is simply this: although the products are very different, the passion is the same, and I think that is why I can appreciate them all equally.
In thinking about this topic, I also came to realize that one of the things I fear most is a life void of passion. How desperately sad and empty life must be without something that garners your complete devotion. No matter what that *something* is, I’m convinced it’s absolutely vital.
That said, I think it’s pretty clear at this point, what at least one of my passions is. What’s yours?
I'm a list maker. I keep grocery lists, wishlists and even the dreaded [i]things to do [/i]lists. I'd like to say that my various lists help keep me better organized, but deep down, I know that's not really true. The truth is, I'm very forgetful. I forget my keys or my cell-phone or whatever very necessary thing I need at any given moment. (More than once, I have left my purse in the shopping cart at the grocery store, or worse yet, driven to the grocery store and realized I've left my purse at home; I've been wearing glasses for about a month now. I've lost them twice. Need I say more?) So, the lists help me remember things that would otherwise certainly weave their way out of my short-term memory ~ At least, that's the story I'm sticking with ~ One such list is a CD wishlist. This list is always changing and I keep the handwritten version on the message board just above my desk (where I am typing this post at this very moment ~ sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy).
But now I have yet another way to keep track of my evergrowing CD wishlist.
Not that long ago, my good pal [url=http://shadowmusic.tblog.com]shadowmusic[/url] pointed me in the direction of [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/]RateYourMusic.Com[/url] ~ a site that specializes in letting its users rate and review the albums in their own music collections. To be honest, this didn't interest me all that much at first, until I discovered the [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/user...]wishlist[/url] feature that this site offers. Using RateYourMusic.Com you can create an online wishlist, [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/user...]like I have done here[/url]. One of the really snazzy things about keeping your music wishlist here is that the site's databases have collected all sorts of information about the album you want, including the track listing and date of issue, as well as various user reviews (that you can take with the proverbial grain of salt if you so choose).
But what I really like about the [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/user...]wishlists [/url] at [url=http://rateyourmusic.com]RateYourMusic.Com [/url] is the recommendations feature that they offer. Once I started adding albums to [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/user...]my wishlist [/url] other users were able to send me recommendations based on what they saw on my list. For example, just yesterday I received a recommendation for an album by [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/view...]The Poastal Service[/url] based on another CD that was on my wishlist.
How cool is that??
I have to admit that I don't think I'll stop keeping my handwritten wishlists. (You know what they say about old habits being hard to break and all). Besides, I love being able to take my homemade wishlist down from the message board to cross an item off once I've finally purchased it. There's something infinitely satisfying about little things like that. However, I'm definitely going to continue adding titles to my [url=http://rateyourmusic.com/user...]online wishlist [/url] as well. Not only do I love the idea of receiving recommendations for new music based on my already established tastes, (which was one of the original purposes for starting this blog, by the way), but this is a wishlist that I can access from anywhere and, (probably more importantly), that I can't lose. :)
A note before we begin. I had planned for this post to include some audio links, but after several failed attempts to make the "audio-blog-thingie" work correctly, I gave up. I may add them later should the opportunity present itself. But in the meantime, please add [i][b]technology that doesn't work properly[/b][/i] to my list below. Thanks.
Ok. Carry on.
When I was in high school one of my teachers made the grave mistake of confessing to the yearbook staff that her greatest pet peeve consisted of students constantly sniffling during her class, (as though they had colds but were simply too lazy to get up, locate a box of tissues and blow their noses). Well, as you can imagine, we all took great delight from that moment on in having a cold every blessed day of the year and sniffling until we simply could sniffle no more. It was wrong, I know, and we'll probably all burn in hell for the rest of eternity, but at this point I'm willing to say it was worth it.
I bring this up because recently I realized that a great many of my own pet peeves have to do with people who mispronounce words, even when repeatedly told the correct pronunciation. You'd think that as an English teacher, incorrect spelling would get under my skin, but the truth is, I seem to be able to handle letters jumbled up in all sorts of ridiculous ways far better than auditory faux pas. For example, I grew up in Washington State and it seems as though many people who live there actually pronounce the name of the state incorrectly. Unfortunately, one such person also happens to be a member of my family who, to this day, says Wa[u][b]R[/b][/u]shington rather than Washington. I'm sorry, but there is NO 'R' in that word and it simply drives me crazy. In contrast, and perhaps in some unconscious karma-balancing act, this same person would then drop the 'R' from other words. For example, while I say frustrated, he says [u][b]fus[/b][/u]trated. *sigh* In a similarly demonic series of events, some of my [i]friends[/i] growing up would often go to great lengths to try to get this person to say both words in the same sentence, thereby resulting in zillions of suppressed giggles followed by my head exploding.
Then again, I pronounce orangutan as though it has a [u][b]G[/b][/u] on the end. Like Tang...the breakfast drink of astronauts.
Ok. I feel better. Now it’s your turn. Pet Peeves. I know you have some. Share.
For true music lovers, (those individuals who see music as being every bit as essential as food, water, warmth or touch), finding new music can be very much like catching a glimpse of a new lover across a room. There are those first few moments, filled with the most delicious tension, when something inside you begins to pull, twist and contract, and you silently send out a prayer, hoping that this [i]really[/i] is as lovely as your sudden expectations imply that it is. Then, once you realize that you have in fact stumbled upon something extraordinary, the full headlong emersion comes. The period when you simply cannot get enough of your new love. Those moments when you hold your head underwater for as long as you possibly can, because drowning in something this amazing would be nothing less than a delight.
For me... saturation never comes.
Recently, I discovered [url=http://www.hungrylucy.com]Hungry Lucy[/url], a band that bills itself as "darkwave trip hop with enchanting female vocals." While their cover of the Depeche Mode song "Blue Dress" hints at something a little edgier, I'd have to concur with this description. For now, I'm in love with "Her Song" a sorrow filled little track that's wrapped up in a bright blanket of synthpop joy. It's a lovely mix, in which I'd be happy to drown.
-----
I suppose, the end, I probably could have captured this post in one or two lines: [b]I love finding new music; What's your latest obsession?[/b]
For years I've felt abandoned by mainstream radio. Even the so called "alternative stations" are by and large [url=http://www.stateofthenewsmedi...]owned [/url] by one of the big four conglomerate stations whose pockets are lined by the major labels, and therefore limit their playlists to singles by artists in which the labels are heavily invested. (I think you'd be shocked to learn how many of your local stations are actually owned by the same company). The result is simple and sad; like processed cheese, no matter where you turn the dial, all the slices look and taste precisely the same.
In recent years, there have been a few different attempts to change the landscape of radio via the creation of some alternatives to the bland/beige slop being offered up by [url=http://www.stateofthenewsmedi...]Clear Channel [/url] and their minions. This includes the various satellite radio offerings such as Sirius and XM but also includes some fledgling web-radio programs. My personal favorite of this latter group is by far [url=http://www.auralgasms.com/Rad...]Auralgasms Radio.[/url] Since being turned onto it by my good friend [url=http://shadowmusic.tblog.com]shadowmusic,[/url] I find myself listening to very little else ~ especially at home.
In the last year, Auralgasms has gone from offering regular radio streams, like the Aural Cafe on Sunday's at 10:00am EST to the launch of their 24/7 station in May 2004. According their own description, [url=http://www.auralgasms.com/Rad...]Auralgasms Radio[/url] is a recipe made up of equal parts [i]"Dreampop, Brit pop, Trip Hop, Alternative Flashbacks, Singer-Songwriters, Alternative Legends and of course....the latest up and coming artists."[/i] I'm not certain if I would have described it exactly that way, but I do know that in the 30-40 minutes it's taken me to put together this post I've heard: Aqualung, Johnny Cash, Highspire, Matthew Sweet and Chandeen. Amazing. Additionally, Auralgasms also offers a pretty slick request system and I have to say they are very good about getting your song on-air within about 30 minutes of being requested (I just requested Beatiful Change by The Innocence Mission).
Of course, I would encourage you to [url=http://www.auralgasms.com/Rad...]click and listen[/url] , but I'm also interested in what you're listening to. How do you avoid the grabage that mainstream radio hurls at you? Are there any online stations that you enjoy? We all rely heavily on our own collections for much of our listening pleasure, sure, but how do you find out about new music without becoming a Clear-Channel zombie?
I recently came across[url=http://www.nme.com/news/11166...] this story[/url] in which Morrissey announced that he is going to release a cover of Patti Smith's "Relondo Beach" as his next single. In addition to reminding me of [url=http://www.bourbonbird.com/bl...]Rinna[/url] , this also got me to thinking about cover albums and singles that received a new life and interpretation thanks to being re-done, re-mixed and in some cases, re-vived by another artist/band. While some bands choose to remake songs that they personally loved or have had success with during live performances, I think the most interesting covers are those in which the [i]new [/i]band puts their own special spin on the original, rather than simply tipping their hats to one of their heroes in some tribute that, while touching, turns out to be little more than a rerecording of the original song. In fact, some of my favorite cover songs are those that have been re-thought by bands that couldn't possibly be more different from the originals:
Examples:
David Bowie's cover "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" [i](originally by Bruce Springsteen)[/i]
The Clash's cover of "I Fought The Law" [i](originally by The Crickets)[/i]
Siouxsie & the Banshees' cover of "Dear Prudence" [i](originally by The Beatles)[/i]
St Etienne's cover of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"[i] (originally by Neil Young)[/i]
The Sundays' cover of "Wild Horses" [i](originally by The Rolling Stones)[/i]
Kate Bush's cover of "Rocket Man" [i](originally by Elton John)[/i]
Johnny Cash's version of "One" [i](originally by U2) [/i]and his version of "Hurt" [i](originally by NIN)[/i]
The Pet Shop Boys' cover of "You Were Always On My Mind" [i](originally by Elvis)[/i] ~ some people love Willie Nelson's version of this song too, but I'm a huge fan of old Willie.
Soft Cell's cover of "Tainted Love" [i](originally by Gloria Jones)[/i]
The Innocence Mission's cover of "Follow Me" [i](originally by John Denver)[/i]
I'm sure there are more, but those are just what come to mind at the moment. As usual, however, I am always interested in what you think. So...
Let's make a list:
Just close your eyes and pretend your in the lounge of some greasy hotel where the drinks are strong and the band has yet to "write their own songs."
Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, rainy days mean something entirely different to me than many of the people around me. While my friends and co-workers often lament days defined by chalk-gray skies reflected in puddles and leaves heavy with the tears they've collected, I find such afternoons to be comforting, in the same way that most people would view a cherished childhood doll or the sound of your mother's voice.
For me, rainy days, are the best days for taking long walks, driving until the road, quite literally ends or for spending lazy afternoons on the porch swing while the rain pours all around you. On those kinds of afternoons, I find myself gravitating towards a certain kind of music. The kind that reminds me of home, the image of bleak, rocky beaches or the outline of the cascade mountains through the fog.
Today... it rained and I found myself listening to The Innocence Mission, a band that I know I have mentioned here more than once. I won't go on and on about them except to say that there is no other voice in music that can be compared to that of Karen Peris. Her vocals are quietly puissant. Like all the best things in life, the juxtaposition of her voice both challenges and comforts me.
Aaaaah. So it's Wednesday ~ the day I give myself permission to talk about things other than music. It seems more than a little ironic to me that I have created these little rules for myself, but at this point in my life, I need and crave structure. For me, life is about balance, but at the moment the scales are tipping towards the structured and orderly. And so I create rules. Eventually, the tide will go out and the scale will tip in the other direction, leaving me with the happy realization that just when I feel it most necessary to break the rules, there are in fact new and shiny rules in place for that very purpose. Karma is indeed lovely.
That said, the truth is that while it is Wednesday, I am feeling a bit void of inspiration. I've tipped the cup of my creativity and the bottom is bone dry. I have faith, however, that the waitress will come around soon and offer me a refill. In the meantime, though, let me point you in the direction of someone whose cup, thankfully, runs over.
Unlike [url=http://brogonzo.tblog.com]some people[/url], I didn't study to become a journalist. I didn't pursue journalism as my career and then devote a portion of my life to perfecting that craft ~ and it shows! Rather, I stumbled upon the opportunity to write about the thing I love most in the world, and have spent the last few years learning and getting better, (I hope!), as I go along. One of the most challenging aspects of this for me has been the fact that I *don't* love all the music that is sent to me to review. In fact, I don't love A LOT of it, and at first, this was a real struggle. I found it very challenging to write about music I didn't enjoy and would probably never play again after having put in my 400+ words worth of two cents. Overtime, however, I have tried to develop a way of looking at what the artist was *trying* to accomplish and then evaluate the album based on whether or not that attempt seems to have been successful. Sometimes, I think I hit the nail on the head. Other times, I feel WAY off base.
To that end... I really do *love* this CD. It might, in fact, be one of the best albums I've received during my time at LT. Granted, this music is not for everyone, but for those of you who have a penchant for the sad and the patience for slowcore, there's hardly a better example of the combination of these two elements than this CD. And in some ways, that made reviewing it even harder as I tried to balance my own admiration for this band and their music with the desire to genuinely evaluate how successful they were at achieving what they set out to do. All in all, I believe the album is much better than my review.
One of the most exciting things about [u]Halfway To You[/u], the new album from Utah’s Coastal (Words on Music 2004), is the giant step it represents in this band’s evolution. Although lovely in their own right, the 9 tracks on Coastal’s self-titled debut (Words on Music 2001) sparkled primarily with potential, and the kind of yearning that is often associated with a band’s debut, as they give birth to the music that’s been bubbling inside for so long, while also searching for the sound that will ultimately define their lives as musicians. [u]Halfway To You[/u] represents a giant leap towards the realization of that potential and the development of a sound that is uniquely Coastal.
[u]Halfway to You[/u] opens with “Until You Sleep,” a luxurious and melodic lullaby that gently rocks the listener back and forth in a gauzy blanket of sound ~ made up primarily of delicate guitar work, repetitively brushed/muted percussion and the fragile dual vocals of Luisa and Jason Gough. Like another of slowcore’s husband and wife teams, Low, Coastal’s combined male and female vocals are so beautifully wedded that they quickly become the centerpiece on many of [u]Halfway To You’s [/u]9 tracks. The album’s second offering, “Eternal” is a perfectly lovely example of the power of their combined vocals: beginning with a brief and understated spoken introduction in which Jason nearly whispers “… things were different then, always imagining what it would be like, to live just one more day, and until that time came, we just kept walking, along the beach, holding hands, until the sun dipped into the ocean.” Remarkably, in what could easily be described as the sound of the sun dipping into the sea, Luisa and Jason Gough’s later united vocals on "Eternal" completely redefine this already beautifully stripped down track by managing to be at once lush and minimalist.
This pattern is repeated on the album’s third and title track, which begins with Jason’s soft, cooing vocals, which are blended flawlessly with the song’s unassuming yet moving instrumentation. However, it’s when they are combined with Luisa’s fragile soprano, that they not only truly shimmer, but that they also personify one of Coastal’s greatest strengths: the ability to illuminate the exquisite brilliance inherent in the pure and frail human voice, without sacrificing fully developed, albeit often intentionally minimal, instrumentation. Such is the achievement of [u]Halfway To You[/u], an album that maintains the delicate frailty of the slowcore genre while also bathing in the ethereal beauty of lush, liquid arrangements that never overpower the vocals, but are also never sparse.
The gifts of Coastal’s lovely and purposeful arrangements and exquisite vocal harmonies are made all the more noteworthy by the thoughtfulness of their lyrics, which are often melancholy without being overtly sappy. On the album’s final track “So Close” the gentle rise of the music helps to echo the sorrow that is portrayed in the song’s brief by potent lyrics: “I can’t sleep without you and lately I can’t see. It’s not the same without you, it’s not the same to me. You are so close… so close to me.” This coupled with Helen Maltby’s aching viola accompaniment serves to create an atmosphere that wraps the listener so completely that one hardly notices the length of the track, which clocks in at a staggering 8 minutes.
Due in large part to the beauty of their arrangements and the fact that the Gough’s are a married couple making decidedly slowcore music, it’s difficult not to draw the comparison between Coastal and Low. However, as [u]Halfway To You [/u]clearly proves, Coastal is forging their own road. Of all music’s many incarnations, the slowcore genre, with its focus on the subtle and loyalty to the minimal, may in fact be the most difficult in which to be a true innovator. That said, with [u]Halfway to You[/u], Coastal has managed to remain true to the genre while also creating an inspired collection of tracks that forges new ground by blending, as the band’s website indicates “restraint and tonal splendor.” All in all, [u]Halfway To You [/u]is a highly recommended release that marks an important step for this talented band.
When I was a young girl, my family moved around a lot. My father was a bit of a nomad who changed jobs frequently. Much to the dismay of my mother, he would often come home in the evening after work and simply announce: "We're moving." We galavanted up and down the west coast from one tiny no name town to the next searching for the spot he *might* want to call home. To this day, I don't think he's found it. Anyway, as a resut of this penchant for constant fluidity, I changed schools all of the time; going to over 20 different elementary schools before I was in the 5th grade, some for as little as only a few days.
I mention this only because for the last several days I've been struggling to remember the name of one of my 2nd grade teachers. She was tall and had coal black hair that clung to her face and neck in long loopy curls. She was the first person I had ever met who wore glasses, although I don't recall them ever on her face. Rather they hung around her neck on a cord she had strung with multi-colored beads. For the life of me, I cannot remember her name, but I do remember this:
Sometimes, when we drew, she played music. Often it was marching band music that made our crayons dance across the page with the [i]pa-rump-a-pum-pum [/i]of the horns and drums. But one day, she put a record on the turntable that exuded a much more serene and mystical sound. She told us to close our eyes and listen for a few moments... (now as a teacher myself, I can imagine all those obedient little eyes closing at her request). Then she told us to draw what we heard.
I don't pretend to remember what went through my mind that day, but I know I drew a giant green cactus with precisely placed spikes amidst a see of desert, under a boiling red and orange sun. (Off in the distance, I drew a gray angular thing that could easily pass for a rock, but that I'm convinced must have been my attempt at some animal skull... the kind you see in old western movies just after the hero has been bathed in a pool of pure clean water by several lovely, and scantily clad ladies, only to realize that it was all just a cruel, cruel, mirage).
The music played... and we drew.
And it turned out that the piece was [url=http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/...]Ferde Grofé's [u]Grand Canyon Suite.[/u][/url] My teacher was so amazed that I had made the connection between the sounds coming from the speakers and my own vision of the desert that she hung my paper on the wall, along with several others, but mine had the coveted gold star on it. Later, when our principal came in, she showed him. For a second grader, this was like winning a gold medal.
Naturally, we moved a few weeks later, but my teacher sent the drawing home with me. I showed it to my mother who said "music is your gift" and I believed her.
Much to the relief of many of you, I'm sure... Wednesday has come and gone and I'm back to all things music.
Today I have a long day of paperwork ahead of me. (In fact, I really *should* be working right now). But before I can put my pen in motion, I have to pick out the perfect work music. This isn't always as easy it as it sounds. When it comes to paperwork days, I have to find music that will keep me going without distracting me. (This last part is the most challenging). Today, I'm bringing along several CDs *just in case.*
This is just an experiment. I recently thought about starting *another* blog because, frankly, there are times when I find myself wanting to write about and talk about subjects other than music (I know, I know... it almost seems sacreligious). And since this tiny corner of the web has, since its inception, been dedicated solely to all things musical, I've hesitated turning on my blinker and veering off the established path. On the other hand, I have a hard enough time keeping this up to date without adding yet another item to my already full plate. So, in the end, I decided on a compromise; without pulling a "clearchannel" and changing the established format entirely and without notice, I've decided to create "Open Mic Wednesdays" as a forum for me to talk about whatever I damn well please. That's right, I've got a keyboard and I'm not afraid to use it. :)
And so, without further ado...
(drum roll, please)
I was [url=http://www.sntp.net/education...]reading this article[/url] this afternoon about the Charles Sykes book [u]Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why America's Children Feel Good About Themselves but Can't Read, Write, or Add.[/u] It's rather long, and I know most of you won't read it, but there are a couple of points that I found interesting, both as an educator and as an American. It's no news flash that America spends more of its GNP on education each year than just about all other nations and that the return on that investment is often disappointing with the gap in performance between American students and those of other industrialized nations growing at an alarming pace. However, one thing that I found interesting about Sykes' article is that some studies indicate a relationship between this trend and the amount of [b]time [/b]American kids actually spend studying academic subjects:
[i]"Their schedules jammed with course work in self-esteem, personal safety, AIDS education, family life, consumer training, driver's ed, holistic health, and gym, the typical American high school student spends only 1,460 hours on subjects like math, science, and history during their four years in high schools. Meanwhile, their counterparts in Japan will spend 3,170 hours on basic subjects, students in France will spend 3,280 on academics, while students in Germany will spend 3,528 hours studying such subjects - nearly three times the hours devoted in American schools."[/i]
Sykes goes on....
[i] "One factor in this international learning gap seems to be that we simply ask less of our students than other countries. While one fourth to one third of the high school students in other industrialized countries pass high-level achievement tests in biology that require in-depth knowledge and reasoning skills, only one in twenty-five Americans students (4 percent) passes such tests... between 30 percent and 50 percent of students in other countries take advanced, subject-specific exams and that 62 percent to 96 percent passed those tests. In contrast, only 7 percent of American students take Advanced Placement Exams and less than two-thirds pass."[/i]
Hmmmmm. I have to admit that all of this makes my skin crawl, especially when I consider the barage of complaints I endure from students and, more noteably, parents each year about the amount of homework assigned.
"School demands too much of our kids"
"When are kids supposed to be kids??"
"We're tired of unrealistic expectations!"
And yet...
[i]"In late 1992, executives at Pacific Telesis found that 60 percent of the high school graduates applying for jobs at the firm failed a company exam set at the seventh-grade level."[/i]
Clearly, there's a problem here. And if you've managed to read through all of this, I'd really be interested in hearing what you have to say. If you are a student, a parent, a teacher or just someone with an opinion, please share it.
And take heart... I'll return to music stuffs tomorrow.
Because 
We had a tornado in our quiet little town tonight. We all stood outside and watched it roil and slither, rather quickly I thought, past us at a distance of some 5 miles. We should have been inside with our heads between our knees, but like an adolescent girl who’s been told too often that she’s pretty; things like this simply will not be ignored. When it was all over, we were left with a blanket made up of hundreds, perhaps thousands of individual pieces of hail, many of which looked to me like small turtles or the oddly shaped stones you find on rocky beaches. In the distance, the black outline of trees, still vacant of spring leaves, reached up into a blood red sky.
WARNING: This post is going to [i][b]really[/b][/i] date me.
I'm a list maker. I keep grocery lists, wishlists and even the dreaded [i]things to do [/i]lists. I'd like to say that my various lists help keep me better organized, but deep down, I know that's not really true. The truth is, I'm very forgetful. I forget my keys or my cell-phone or whatever very necessary thing I need at any given moment. (More than once, I have left my purse in the shopping cart at the grocery store, or worse yet, driven to the grocery store and realized I've left my purse at home; I've been wearing glasses for about a month now. I've lost them twice. Need I say more?) So, the lists help me remember things that would otherwise certainly weave their way out of my short-term memory ~ At least, that's the story I'm sticking with ~ One such list is a CD wishlist. This list is always changing and I keep the handwritten version on the message board just above my desk (where I am typing this post at this very moment ~ sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy). 
And so are these guys! :)
I recently came across[url
When I was a young girl, my family moved around a lot. My father was a bit of a nomad who changed jobs frequently. Much to the dismay of my mother, he would often come home in the evening after work and simply announce: "We're moving." We galavanted up and down the west coast from one tiny no name town to the next searching for the spot he *might* want to call home. To this day, I don't think he's found it. Anyway, as a resut of this penchant for constant fluidity, I changed schools all of the time; going to over 20 different elementary schools before I was in the 5th grade, some for as little as only a few days. 
Much to the relief of many of you, I'm sure... Wednesday has come and gone and I'm back to all things music.