Get thee to the Cracker/CVB Campout this Sept 10 in Pioneertown CA.
Especially get thee to the filming of Johnny Hickman’s solo set at 11:15 followed by Johnny and Chris teaming for Dangers hits and introducing THE MIGHTY GRASSHOPPERS!!!!
The Jewish High Holy Days are right around the corner.* Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts at sundown on September 8th. Here are three great children’s books about the holiday:
Author Eric Kimmel uses an old Ukranian drinking song to help retell a famous Yiddish short story about a rabbi who skips town every year right before the holidays.
This wonderful picture book about celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Los Angeles won the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award. I had the pleasure of sitting next to the author at an ALA function a couple of years ago. She was very bubbly.
*Literally–we live about 3 blocks away from a major Chabad center.
Reading Red Hook Road is like watching a train wreck (or in this case, a car wreck). You know something really bad is going to happen, but it’s hard to look away. The novel begins with a horrible tragedy, and the remaining 333 pages describe in detail how the victims’ families deal (and don’t deal) with the acute pain of losing a loved one. Unless you are desperate for something to keep you occupied during an airplane trip or a long wait at the doctor’s office, it’s not worth buying. Red Hook Road is depressing, but it probably won’t make you cry like a good tearjerker should. What it offers is more like a dull, long-lasting headache.
In all my picks, I’ve never gone ahead, and selected one of Cracker’s most iconic songs. Teen Angst is what I always call it, the official title is Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now).
First song off the first album, and it manages to find its way into ALMOST every cracker set. So I figured I didn’t need to pick it. Well. Fine. OK. No. It’s time to select a version which was just pure bonus. The band played a festival on the 4th of July in Crystal Lake Il, northwest of Chicago. At the festival it was announced that the guys in the first band, and members of Cracker would be playing at a restaurant in town after the fest closed down. Having been alerted to this a few days in advance by a keen-eyed newshound Crumb (Thanks Erin!!) I was prepared, and able to document the late set by the Cracker Duo.
Three songs. Starting with Teen Angst. A funny, hot crowded room. Frank and Sal hanging out enjoying the show, David & Johnny up on stage for a few minutes. Americal’s birthday. Fuck Yeah.
I’m going on holiday tomorrow (yippee!!) and as I’ve no idea if I’ll get a chance to listen to any online music next week I thought I’d set this one and see what happens.
I simply want some suggestions for songs with ‘Summer’ or ‘Summertime’ in the title. There are some obvious ones but I particularly want some more obscure suggestions that I may not have heard before. So let’s have
some ideas and I’ll listen to what I can next week (and continue to get through the list when I get back).
So let’s have some ideas. Of course, tomorrow I’m going to have to start with Cliff’s “Summer Holiday”.
Tyler, Anne. Noah’s Compass: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
BORING
Shreve, Anita. A Change in Altitude: A Novel. New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2009. Print.
Last week I read Anita Shreve’s latest novel, A Change in Altitude. It’s a story about a woman who marries a man she barely knows and agrees to move to Kenya with him right after the wedding. Even though the book is filled with tragedy, political unrest, and betrayal, it bored me to tears. The characters are so one-dimensional, that I didn’t really care what happened to them. I kept thinking, “You dumb ass, what did you expect?” For the same reasons, I didn’t care for Shreve’s bestseller, The Pilot’s Wife, either.
Pulitzer Prize winner, Anne Tyler
(Photograph by Diana Walker)
This week I read Anne Tyler’s latest novel, Noah’s Compass. It’s a story about a 60 year old curmudgeon who loses his job and moves to a smaller apartment to save money.I found it to be absolutely riveting.
Since the book is rather short, I don’t want to give away much of the story. If you liked Accidental Tourist, you will love Noah’s Compass. If your library’s copy is checked out, it’s worth a trip to the bookstore. Just be aware that the list price is ($25.95–yikes!) and not all of the reviews were favorable. If you treat the book carefully while you read it, you can wrap it up and give it away as a Christmas gift.
Acffh Morst
Twenty years ago this week, the Grateful Dead were on FIRE. Unfortunately, we came to find out that part of the fuel was ol’Brentski burning and not fading away. But the music! AHH!
This was the show when I spoke to Brent briefly during Drumz. What a second set. Short on song numbers, but IN-TENSE.
(RAY DAVIES IS) THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY
Early 1969. I’d read in Rolling Stone and Circus Magazine that a great album was soon going to be released. A yet untitled album by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Anxious to buy it, I headed to my local record shop at the mall to find it, to experience the new future of Rock. Unfortunately, the album was not yet released. Bummed out to the max, I strolled through the bins to find something else to buy with my few bucks. My eyes fell upon The Kinks, one of my fave bands during the British Invasion period. Very hip in those days. “You Really Got Me”. “All Day and All of the Night”. “A Well Respected Man”. My last record memory of them was an offbeat little single, “Sunny Afternoon”, a bawdy tune happening somewhere in an England that seemed like it was out of a Tennessee Williams’ play. “I got a big, fat mama trying to break me”. Ray Davies crooned as only he could. The bin held a Kinks Greatest Hits Album and one other. It wasn’t all hip looking like their Camaby Street days. But the title was interesting. “The Village Green Preservation Society”. Alright. I plunked down my cash, took it home and opened it up. In the middle of the album was a picture of The Kinks strolling through a lush English field of high grass. They were wearing casual clothes, not the styling duds they used to wear. But the words to the title song were printed on the back and they were brilliant poetry. I slapped it on my cruddy stereo and I’ve been playing it on vinyl or CD ever since.
What is its allure? Why does it call me back again and again? Quite simply because it’s a compelling album self-consciously desiring to Return to the Past. At that time, The Kinks were rejecting the Age of Aquarius and the “highly tuned vibes” that were supposed to set us free in the New Millennium about to dawn in the late Sixties. Now it speaks to the child in me that wants to get back to when I had no adult problems. It whispers to the adult in me who has been disappointed by the fortunes of life. It is so personal, a work with great powers of observation aimed at the changing world surrounding Ray Davies, a great songsmith too often overlooked, one of the Immortals who deserves to be mentioned with Dylan and Lennon/McCartney and Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell and ^____(please fill in the blank with a great one).
The title track really says it all. “We are the Village Green Preservation Society/ God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and Variety”. The village green, the heart of every traditional rural town, is the symbol of what is good and normal and human, not the sly, wicked, dehumanizing ways of the Big City. “We are the Skyscraper Condemnation Affiliate/ God save Tudor houses, antique tables and billiards”. But even Ray does not want a reactionary return to all aspects of the Good Old Days. “Preserving the old ways from being abused/ Protecting the new ways for me and for you/ What more can we do?” Ray enjoys aspects of the new freedoms creeping into English society, but at the same time he is damn scared that What is Good will be lost in the rush to a Brave New World.
Then there is “Walter”. The childhood friend who now lives a complacent, boring adult life. “Walter, remember when the world was young and all the girls knew Walter’s name? Walter, isn’t it a shame the way our little world has changed… I bet you’re fat and married and you’re always home in bed by half past ten.” This is Davies’ longing not for the societal past but for his personal past. the world of teen crushes and sneaking cigarettes and trying to stay out late for youthful adventure. The excitement of that phase has not been translated into an adult form in Walter’s life, but Ray observes with some consolation, “People often change/ But memories of people can remain”. A wonderful, spritely piano effortlessly carries the tune along.
The polar opposite of Walter is “Johnny Thunder”, a working class stiff who’s not lost his gift for living with some swagger, some “joie de vivre”. He’s the type to tell tall tales in the pub, holding a pint in one hand and a good cigar in the other. Johnny “feeds on lightning”, having no fear as to what adulthood means because he will, in some way, remain an eternal child, not a man to be dragged down by the conformist moralists in town. The broad strumming of the guitars is bold and exclamatory, nothing timid for good old Johnny. I always smile when 1 hear the song. I’ve known a few Johnny Thunders in my day.
But title album is not all about nostalgia. “Big Sky finds Ray examining religious issues. In a grand tune featuring tasty harpsichord licks, he lets himself wax philosophical about God and we puny humans down below. Davies’ deity is distant, not needing to get involved in the affairs of mortals. “Big Sky feels sad when he sees the children scream and cry/ But Big Sky’s too big to let it get him down… Big Sky’s too big to cry/ Big Sky’s too high to see/ People like you and me”. However, Ray has somewhat mixed feelings about Big Sky. “When I feel that the world’s too much for me/1 think of the Big Sky and nothing matters much to me”. Does the sense of grandeur and immensity of even an uninvolved deity give Ray some sense of peace? As with most great writers, he doesn’t really spell it out. He just rolls with his emotions and we roll along with him. He even speaks of a future where everyone will be happy, but is it a socialist Utopia or a spiritual community or just a shared state of mind (perhaps not needing Big Sky)? Again, we are left to figure it out for ourselves.
In “Starstruck” Davies is trying to wise up a girl \\ he’s “taken in by the lights” of fame and the social whirl and the evils of the Big City. He warns her that she’s even “Starstruck on me”. Don’t look too closely at me, he seems to say, or else I’ll just let you down like everybody else you’ve ever known. I read an article featuring Davies in the 1990’s where he stated that he disliked meeting diehard fans who were musicians because he had always been let down when he had met his own heroes. Did Chrissie Hynde really listen to “Starstruck” back in Ohio, years before she became a devotee of Ray’s and then his onetime lover? Probably not.
Davies also delves into the world of fantasy, much like the fantasia of children’s books. The “Phenomenal Cat” is practically out of Alice in Wonderland, a wise, fat feline who has traveled the world, “to Katmandu, the city in the Sahara too”. Once he had found the Secret of Life, he renounced his quest and vowed to peaceably eat fine foods into Eternity. The innocent mood of the tune comes across as a precursor to the playful music of Cat Stevens. The other fantasy is “Wicked Annabella”, the only song where the Kinks use “heavy” guitars and Mick Avory puts in a tasteful 1969ish drum solo. Remember those childhood fears about the ugly old lady who lived at the edge of town in a ramshackle house? The one who you and your friends thought might be a witch? That is Wicked Annabella, scary and humorous all at the same time. She haunts the sky and controls little demons in the forest who will drag naughty children away. Don’t disobey your parents or Annabella will get you, child.
“People Take Pictures of Each Other”, the fifteenth and final song, is to me the second most important song after the title track. Human memory can fail, it can fade, but photos trap that moment in reality forever. “People take pictures of each other/ Just to prove that they really existed”. In an unrelentingly catchy sing-along, Davies gives us a litany of pictures and people and events from the past, but then he sings a painful phrase, “Don’t show me no more, please”. To see the past can bring up many unpleasant feelings. Regret. Loss of loved ones. Loss of innocence. How the present is not all that happy. But also the slight twinge that maybe things in that Golden Past were not all that great either.
Wonderfully produced and played, one instrument stands out as the string that holds every track together – the voice of Ray Davies. In his idiosyncratic, iconic voice. Ray’s phrasing and emotions run the gamut. Wistful. Tongue-in-cheek humorous. Sad. Raucous. Rocking. Folkie. Optimistic. A bit bewildered. At times, he seems the epitome of the British music hall performer with his put-on delivery. But all of his moods reel me in to the song and its emotions. What more can a singer do?
Great album. Great band. But Ray Davies really is The Village Green Preservation Society all by his lonesome self.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MY PICTURE BOOK
Gary K Nomeland, you sentimental old frog… you are absolutely right! Village Green Preservation Society is Ray Davies and the other way around. I keep coming back to why this album meant so much to me in 1968 and means more to me today. I think it comes down to the essence of all music; audience and authors need escape. Ray Davies wanted to escape from writing hits, and accomplished this quite well with this collection. Wonderboy was the failed single. I wonder is Animal Farm was not a better choice. But no matter. Davies was looking to write small and create a much more personal album. Bands hate that! But it was such an escape to all these little worlds: china shops, a backyard booze fest, churches, oak trees, and a bed and breakfast in sunny southend…
As a kid in our faceless Colton, California, I loved the English bands because they hailed from this exotic rock land that was England. When I first heard the album at Bob Kjorvestad’s house, I escaped to that countryside where “the sky was wide.” Davies was better than Lennon and McCartney at painting the small details for this world, and calling me in. Escape! The whole album called the listener to leave the humdrum modern life for the vibrant natural world:
It’s a quiet, quiet life
By a dirty old shack
That we called our home
I want to be back there
Among the cats and dogs
And the pigs and the goats
I am not sure why this was so appealing. I think it has to do with the transformation of the listener in song. If the song connects, the listener goes somewhere else. This is not elevator music that only distracts. It is meant to move you all round, like an elevator that left the building. As Bob and I listened to the album in numerous spins we dreamed about the England of the Beatles and Stones and soon to be the England of Cream, the England of Traffic. We dreamed of that colors we didn’t have back home.
Yes people often change, but memories of people can remain.
This line from Do You Remember Walter? popped out to me at the time. I remember wondering about Bob and me in the future. Here we were as best buddies listening to the best music in the world, but what would keep this moment alive? I thought we would both grow up to be musicians. We did. But our pathways lead us separate ways and the music that was supposed to glue us together stopped for Bob five years ago. A train crossing through town killed him. Such are things that color our dreams. So I am here with those memories and the first chords Bob Kjorvestad left me, and the melodies, words and chords and images Ray Davies gave me so many years back. For me, Village Green Preservation Society is not about harkening back to early years and nostalgia, it was my chance to see past my gray hometown to the world of song. I could escape to Davies’ scenes and songs with the hope that I would learn one day to write a song of my own and
Since I am on a top secret ALA/ALSC book award committee, I haven’t been able to tell you about many of the books I’ve read over the past 12 months. (I also can’t say much about the books I review for School Library Journal.) After the winners are announced on January 18th, I will give you the full scoop.
In the meanwhile, here is an old post:
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince is one of those children’s books that’s really a grown-up book in disguise. I try to reread it every year or so just to make sure my life is on the right track.The Little Prince is the tale of a pilot who finds himself lost in the Sahara Desert. The pilot befriends a little prince who teaches him some important life lessons. The book is based on Saint-Exupéry’s real life experiences as an aviator, and as a fellow human being.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s masterpiece sounds prettier in French, but I have to admit that I understand it better in English.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
“One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed.”
“And
when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be
content that you have known me. You will always be my friend.”
“Grown-ups
never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for
children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
To learn more about author/pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his most famous book, visit the following websites:
Today you’ll find new content from MORST, REBECCA (40 FOREVER), and bigDAVE, and lots of songs from our music family… really! Also check out the essays at DRIVE BYES (Kinks and Stones) and get in on Paul Adams next Listening Theme….
Well, Elvis has left the building (sorry, had to be said) and after a couple of weeks of The King it’s the time of Chris LeRoy! (a tough act to
follow Chris). Chris has been a champion of my Listening Themes from very early on and has accepted the job of being my second guest theme-setter and this one is a bit different. Let Chris explain
…
Listening Theme: THE WHITE ALBUM CHALLENGE
I love the Beatles White Album. I know Revolver and Rubber Soul garner more critical praise. I know Sgt. Pepper shook the world. But for me the disjointed double album has been the road most traveled. 30 songs, an hour and a half of brilliance and blind alleys, it is the most Beatle
music on any Beatle album. And it still thrills.
A very individualized set of songs, John Lennon once said there was no Beatles music on the White Album at all. It’s Paul and the band or John and the band or George and the band. But that is not true. There are moments here where the fractured unities come together.Throughout the album there are threads that hold on and make it a Beatles album. I suspect that those song moments are different for each of us. Some folks have room for Savoy Truffle, some do not.
So….your job for this Listening Theme is to create a single disc White Album. Choose 12 songs that have to stay on the record to define it essence. Please submit your version of the White Album and impassioned commentary if you feel the need.
Thanks, Paul Adams, for asking me to guest this Listening Theme, and for creating the Listening Theme.
—Chris LeRoy
MY WHITE ALBUM:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
There you go, simple – or is it? Looking forward to getting different versions of YOUR single-disc White Album.
Skinny Morst says….
Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker made their way east this year, in an unprecedented continuation of their annual holiday run. What normally is three or four shows on the west coast at the end of December, has extended into a two week long SNOW TOUR. The first night of the tour was a particularly cold one in St Louis Missouri, at the excellent Pageant Theatre. Constructed especially for rock music, the club is set up with great sight lines and a very nice built in sound system. The show on January 8th kicked off with CVB and then after a setbreak, Cracker. CVB started off the year as I will here, with one of their instrumentals, entitled Waka. During the two nights I saw, (which may possibly be featured here) Camper played a lot of instrumentals, and Cracker played a lot of songs where Johnny Hickman sang lead. My theory is that this is to let David Lowery rest his voice a little, so he can rock with both his bands, night after night. Works for me!!! http://www.archive.org/details/CVB2010-01-08.matrix
This week the songbook™ brings to you the Cracker duo! …As we get ready to kick off the spring duo tour with David and Johnny, Here is a little warmer upper for you, “I want everything” duo style!… Enjoy!! …… I have also included a little gem by “The Twisted Riddlers”
here is a cover of Cracker “Sweet Thistle Pie” ……….. have a safe and happy week and we’ll see you next time …… peace bigDAVE™
“I want everything”
“sweet thistle pie” a cracker cover by The Twisted Riddlers
Thanks for hanging out at the songbook! and have a great weekend, bigDAVE™
I’ve spent a fair bit of time listening to the Beatles lately so I thought it was about time I covered The Rolling Stones.
This will include Stones studio albums (I’ve always been more of a Beatles fan and have to admit that I’ll be listening to most of these albums for the first time!), live albums, solo or collaboration albums. When you come to think of it, there’s plenty to listen to here. I will also be including covers of Rolling Stones tracks by other artists.
So let’s have your recommendations as to what you think I should listen to over the next couple of weeks.
Today you’ll find new content from MORST, REBECCA (40 FOREVER), and bigDAVE, and lots of songs from our music family… really! Also check out the essays at DRIVE BYES (Kinks and Stones) and get in THE LAST WORD on Paul Adams Listening Theme: THE ROLLING STONES REVIEW
In the past, I didn’t like it when my mother-in-law would try to clean or redecorate our home. (During one of her visits, I came home from work to find the living room furniture all rearranged!) However, I have recently decided to change my ways and give her carte blanche to clean to her heart’s content. If she’s not too proud to let me empty her bedpan (after her hip replacement), or to bathe and dress her son after his recent triple bypass surgery), then I’m not going to be embarrassed by a little dust. I majored in Spanish not Home Economics, and it’s my theory that life’s too short to fold your underwear. So there.
This week we’re going to stick with a clear winner, the Belly Up recordings by James Bartoli down there in southern Cal. Last week was a Camper track, and this week, we’ll go with a Cracker tune, which would that be??
I’ve had Gimme One More Chance on my “prospective picks” list for a while now. Don’t even know how long. Shall we see how this one stacks up?
Tremendous, jamming. Molto maestoso there with Johnny’s guitar. This particular track has a long runout at the end, as it was the final song of Cracker’s set. When David says goodnight afterwards, I noticed that his voice seems hoarse. The fact that the final two songs of the night featured Johnny Hickman on the lead vocals surprises me not at all. Which brings us right back to the good ‘ol songbook. http://www.archive.org/details/cracker2009-12-29.matrix.flac16
SATISFACTION SATURDAY is a place to post lyrics from your favorite songs each week. Post, read, comment, and match rival words form the greatest songs in the world!!!
Here is a starter, GAROD and PAUL (ADAMS) have been thinking about the Rolling Stones quite a bit over the last couple months. So what is your favorite Stones lyric. It can just be a line but because The Stones are overlooked in the lyric wars, and because of that Susan Boyle phenomenon, let’s start with the full lyric for WILD HORSES.
(Mick Jagger/Keith Richards)
WILD HORSES
Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can’t let you slide through my hands
Wild horses, couldn’t drag me away
Wild wild horses couldn’t drag me away
I watched you suffer a dull aching pain
Now you decided to show me the same
No sweeping exits or off stage lines
Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind
Wild horses, couldn’t drag me away
Wild wild horses couldn’t drag me away
I know I’ve dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom but I don’t have much time
Faith has been broken tears must be cried
Let’s do some living after we die
Wild horses, couldn’t drag me away
Wild wild horses we’ll ride them someday
Wild horses, couldn’t drag me away
Wild wild horses we’ll ride them someday
This week the songbook brings to you our friend’s “gigglejuice” …. With the release of their new record “Driving around in circles” (available at www.gigglejuice.com) We have “you draw me in” from Erinstock, where they opened for Cracker and Then “There’s a new light to the day” from LoFistock, where they were one of five bands including such great names as, The Dangers, the Hoppers, Bucksworth, and the Bellrays …. so check out the juice, buy their record, and check out the handsome dude on the cover!! (me) He rocks too!! Thanks for stoppin by the songbook, and we’ll see you next week, bigDAVE™
After a most enjoyable couple of weeks listening to The Rolling Stones, I wanted a bit of a change for my next theme – 70’s Disco.
Instead of just listening to a compilation of disco hits, I’m particularly interested in albums (not just ‘Best Ofs) by artists that had those big disco hits (for instance, what else has Heatwave done apart from Boogie Nights?) I’m also on the look out for artists who jumped on the bandwagon and ‘turned disco’. One of my favourite bands ELO did with their Discovery album (Disco Very). Some of these artists pulled it off (The BeeGees for instance) and some didn’t.
So, let’s have your recommendations (don’t be embarrassed, you’re among friends here) and I’ll do my best to track them down.
This week in the brain of the Archive King, there is an artist who springs to the top as the one to feature. Miles Nielsen is a guitarist, bassist, vocalist, songwriter, and bandleader. In whatever order you want there. Also, he and his drummer brother Daxx have a famous guitar-player dad – Rick from Cheap Trick. Miles and Daxx have a band called Harmony Riley which has been around since approximately 1999. Harmony Riley doesn’t play regularly anymore, but they did perform a reunion show at the end of 2009, and Miles gave permission to archive.org to host shows from Harmony Riley and Miles’ solo work.
But the pick this week comes from a night that’s been the subject of a pick already, but that was Backyard Tire Fire with Tommy O’Donnell
sitting in. The pick iteself is Miles Nielsen with his band, and Ed Anderson of BTF sitting in. The song is called Lucy, and it features a really nice clarinet solo, which I dig.
SATISFACTION SATURDAY is a place to post lyrics from your favorite songs each week. Post, read, comment, and match rival words form the greatest songs in the world!!!
QUESTION?:
What fellow musician did Bob Dylan call “America’s greatest living poet”?
ANSWER? SMOKY ROBINSON
Fave Line: Outside I’m masquerading/Inside my hope is fading
Tracks Of My Tears- Smoky Robinson
People say I’m the life of the party
’cause I tell a joke or two
Although I might be laughing loud and hearty
Deep inside I’m blue
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears..
I need you, need you
Since you left me if you see me with another girl
Seeming like I’m having fun
Although she may be cute
She’s just a substitute
Because you’re the permanent one..
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears..
I need you, need you
Outside I’m masquerading
Inside my hope is fading
Just a clown oh yeah
Since you put me down
My smile is my make up
I wear since my break up with you..
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears
This week the songbook™ brings to you another rare triple treat for you. First we have for you the Backyard tire fire and their new song “Good to be” from their forthcoming record titled “Good to Be” out feb. 16th … Here is what the Tire Fire have to say about their new video —> “We’re excited to unveil our new video for “Good to Be”. It was created by our unofficial 4th member Scott Tipping and it features our unofficial 6th member, Charlie the Dummy. It also chronicles the simple pleasures of life on the road” the tire fire are long time friends of the crumb nation, and I hope you will like it…….
“Good to Be” by
Backyard tire fire
Next up, We have the sultry sexy cowgirl Lucinda Williams doing her new song (a tribute to Janis Joplin) “Difficult child” Lucinda Williams was invited to perform at the Janis Joplin Tribute show as part of the American Music Masters series presented by the Rock and Roll HOF. The show was held at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, OH. Lucinda wrote this song in memory of Janis Joplin, only finishing it up 10 minutes before she walked on stage, hence the initial pondering of the title of the song. I really dig Lucinda, I hope you do too!!….
“Difficult child”
(A tribute to Janis Joplin) by Lucinda Williams
Last but not least, In honor of St Valentines Day this Sunday, We have our good friend Ike Reilly and “Devils Valentine” check them all out and have a safe and happy weekend and we’ll see you next time ……
peace bigDAVE™
“Devils Valentine” by Ike Reilly
Thanks for hanging out at the songbook! and have a great
weekend, bigDAVE™
The Cracker Duo of David and Johnny is out touring the US, and they’ve brought out a couple of new (to them) cover songs. David has occasionally been singing “A Very Good Year” ala Frank Sinatra. In response, Johnny brought out a nice slow cover of a little tune made popular by a group of brothers who were well-known for their
high-pitched vocals. Barry, Maurice & Robin Gibb were best known as The Bee Gees, and they weren’t always cheesy. But Johnny does a nice job of de-cheesing their big disco hit – Stayin’ Alive!
Chris LeRoy and Johnny Hickman were The Dangers way back before Johnny went on to play guitar in The Unforgiven and then co-form Cracker, with whom he still performs today. The Dangers didn’t release albums back then, but Dedication saw some of those old (and some new) recordings finally released a couple of years ago. This new album, without Johnny except for one guest role, is more rocking and coherent than Dedication, and is
really more of a follow up to 2007’s ‘Life’s So Hard Make It Softer’ by Chris LeRoy’s other band Death Of Me. Both albums rock with a youthful rawness that belies the 30-year history of this band, sounding at times like the Stones – a band that seems to run through LeRoy’s veins.
To me Exile start rights here when it goes “over the wall”— Chris
RIP THIS JOINT (M. Jagger/K. Richards)
Mama says yes, Papa says no, Make up you mind ’cause I gotta go. I’m gonna raise hell at the Union Hall, Drive myself right over the wall.
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, Round and round and round we go. Roll this joint, gonna get down low, Start my starter, gonna stop the show. Oh, yeah!
Mister President, Mister Immigration Man, Let me in, sweetie, to your fair land. I’m Tampa bound and Memphis too, Short Fat Fanny is on the loose. Dig that sound on the radio, Then slip it right across into Buffalo. Dick and Pat in ole D.C., Well they’re gonna hold some shit for me.
Ying yang, you’re my thing, Oh, now, baby, won’t you hear me sing. Flip Flop, fit to drop, Come on baby, won’t you let it rock?
Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! From San Jose down to Santa Fe, Kiss me quick, baby, won’tcha make my day. Down to New Orleans with the Dixie Dean, ‘Cross to Dallas, Texas with the Butter Queen.
Rip this joint, gonna rip yours too, Some brand new steps and some weight to lose. Gonna roll this joint, gonna get down low, Round and round and round we’ll go.
Wham, Bham, Birmingham, Alabam’ don’t give a damn. Little Rock and I’m fit to top. Ah, let it rock.
Dahl, Roald, and Quentin Blake. The Vicar of
Nibbleswicke. London: Century, 1991.
The new vicar in town has a rare case of verbal dyslexia that makes him say words backwards without realizing it. Congregants don’t know what to think when he announces that they are not to “krap in front of the church.” He talks about “DOG” a lot, too. Dahl wrote this book to benefit the Dyslexia Institute in London (now Dyslexia Action).
Thomas, Rob.Rats
Saw God. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young
Readers, 1996.
It’s been about 14 years since I read this very original coming of age story, so it’s probably a bit dated by now. What I remember most is that the main character smokes a lot of pot and he is part of his high school’s Dadaist
group, GOD . If you read the title of the book backwards, it spells “dog was star” which is a reference to the dog star constellation, Sirius. This is especially clever because the protagonist is the son of a famous astronaut.
Tolle, Eckhart, and Patrick McDonnell. Guardians
of Being. Novato, Calif: New World Library, 2009.
According to spiritual writer Eckhart Tolle, dogs are “Guardians of Being” because they remind us to live in the moment. What is special about this self-help picture book is that it actually makes you feel calmer as you are reading it. The ecru pages, sparse text, and even the type design have a very relaxing effect on the eyes. The illustrations by Patrick McDonnell (the creator of the comic strip MUTTS) are a mixture of comic strip art and Japanese woodblock printing. One of my favorite illustrations is of a man looking up at the evening sky and noting that the brightest star, Sirius the Dog Star, is always there to show us the way home.
The cover. Jesus lies dead in Mother Mary’s arms just hours after the Crucifixion. It is one of Western Civilization’s greatest and most enduring symbols of suffering in a just cause, in this case human salvation. Alright, so it’s not going to be a feel-good party album. The band name. No, it’s not from anything Goth or grisly. One night the band was sitting at Denny’s and writing down band names on a classy paper napkin. During the brainstorming, these great minds finally headed in the direction of song titles from “Exile on Main Street”, and then onto lyric lines. The last song of “Exile”, “Soul Survivor” has Jagger spouting angrily at his wife, “You’re gonna be the death of me”. Unanimous agreement. The title. “Life’s So Hard Make It Softer” is a line from the first song. It is a feeling that anyone who’s ever lived can relate to. It’s a prayer. It’s a mantra. It’s a plea up to the Big Blue Sky.
Now some track talk. “Please, Please, Please”, the first song was actually the first song the band put together. Mike had a one part song cobbled together from some of my lyrics and a refrain I’d sung for him one afternoon. He added some of his own words but couldn’t come up with anything else. Ready to scrap the whole damn song, he was. then he played it for Chris who dashed out the wonderful musical section that brings everything to life. It’s a song in the great folk tradition of asking for shelter from the storms of life, whether internal or external.
“Trees” is a big, fat rocker with a Dylanesque style, and I favor it over the other rocker on the album, “Saint and Sinner”. Though I love the drive and seemingly twenty guitars layered in by Chris, “Trees” has a bluesy looseness about it, some bitchen guitar sounds by Bob Vennum (BellRays man) and an intriguing story to go along with it. A latter-day Noah sits atop the mountains and watches as a Great Flood destroys the lower lands. He watches as various things float by (a smart dressed man with a silver cane, a beggar man with a cup of rain, an old pack mule) and he comes upon a crying angel. But this flood song has hope. The narrator and the angel shake off their grief and begin planting seeds after the flood has subsided.
“Let It Drown” (in both versions) has no such hope. It is an angry, sad song wishing God would put humanity down for the final count. There is no chance for a second chance. As the chorus goes “If the rain comes down/But the world just won’t cool down/Let the rain come down/Let it drown.” The quiet Randy Newman-like track is more wistful about the judgment and stresses the moroseness of the human race gone wrong.
“Heroes” has Mike’s best pop hook, not only the novel idea that “even the Devil has his own heroes”, but the melodic nature of it. Mike shied away from writing “pretty” music (those indie roots), but on “Heroes” he just sang it and it works. I asked Mike if he meant the Devil admired Hitler and Stalin and the rest, but he replied that he meant that hatred, cruelty and other evil traits are idols to the dark angel.
“Following a River”, for me, is the magnum opus of the album, the best song and the best track. It has a grandeur about it. It is one of the five songs about death on the album. It draws us into the story of a man who is planning to jump into those dark waters to be carried out to the sea as a lifeless corpse, and as he plans his actions he contemplates a photo of his “dear one”. Who is the dear one? A daughter is my idea but it could be a wife or a lover. I here is a lovely, silvery lead Chris plays in the musical break that reinforces the aching heart inside of this broken man.
“Last Train” is a song very close to me because it is about my brother as a child and Chris’ best friend and also the manner in which he died, being struck by a train as he walked along the tracks at night. He was an angel of a child who was turned into a demon by drugs and alcohol, a victim of the inner wasteland of addiction. “Life is a good kid trying to be bad/Laughing out loud cause his heart is so sad/He could be the best friend you ever had”. How true. How devastatingly true. The song has a country feel with a lively acoustic riff and a movement about it that belies the final moments. Bobby indeed “cashed his ticket to the other side”.
Humor rears its wacky head with “Sue The Bible Study Girl”, a song done in an authentic country style a la Buck Owens I would say. It tells the story we’ve all seen – the good, churchgoing girl who has a crush on the bad boy at school, and vice versa. She wants to save his soul (and more) and he just wants to get close to her body, real close. In this version, all ends well. The boy gets saved and also gets Sue, while Sue gets the sexual passion she’s really wanted from him all along. Mike plays a crazy, funny slide guitar on it and sings it perfectly. Country music at its finest (tongue in cheek).
Mike wrote two songs about mortality also, “Resurrection Train” and “Demon Shoes”. “Resurrection Train” chugs along, building speed as it tells of a ghostly train on silver tracks that transports souls into the after-life. It doesn’t have the joy of Gospel music but the message is hopeful for a tired soul. A pair of shiny pumps becomes a metaphor for drug addiction in “Demon Shoes”, done in a “Lou Reed sings Sister Morphine” sort of style. The shoes won’t let the wearer ever rest from dancing until weariness takes hold, eventually leading to the ultimate weariness. Mike knew the never-ending dance personally.
Just a brief shout-out to the three more songs: “Don’t Whisper”, This Life” and “1 Don’t Even Know Myself. All three are interesting tracks ranging from a lover in a frozen relationship wishing his lover would scream “until the windows crack”, to a humorous early rock’n'roll tune about the dangers of a ne’er-do’ well returning home and no one wants him back, to the problem of figuring out life when we can’t even explain our inner lives to one another.
“Close Call,” about Mike’s death, is a great song, the next to the last tune. Here Chris puts himself in Mike’s head as he drifts off into the Big Sleep, not even realizing that he’s fading away. He thinks he just had a “close call” with the powder but he’s wrong. The song is beautiful and wistful and sad and sleepy, the way one imagines such a death would be like. *’A star doesn’t know when its dropped from the sky”. But Mike also had another close call. He almost, but not quite, made a long-lasting connection with friends who wished him well and lived sober lives, people who were grounded in the great reality of everyday life. ‘I kinda hung around/almost touched ground/I guess you could say I had a close call”.
Some final notes for those of you still awake. Mike’s wonderful contribution, all of it, was made m only five sessions. That’s right. Five. Most of the sounds you hear were patiently dubbed in by Chris in his garage on Pro tools. Guitars, vocals, keyboards, effects. Three tracks were written and four recorded after Mike’s death. A blended work but it came out so smooth. A band with a unique sound, many sounds. A work bounded by tragedy on one side and a great sense of humor about life on the other. Life is so hard. Somebody please make it softer.
This week the songbook™ brings to you another rare treat. That’s right, we have Johnny Hickman and David Lowery aka The Cracker “acoustic” duo doing a cover of the bee gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” at JamminJava in Vienna VA 2-11-2010. This video is from the “The Sudospy” collection over @ youtube.com. this was a dare from David to do this song, and Johnny took him up on it!! …. I have also included “Been around the world” from the same show……… check it out …….. Thanks for stopping by the songbook, and we’ll see ya next week …. peace, bigDAVE™
“Stayin’ Alive”
After a bit of fun last week with 70’s Disco here’s a more serious theme …
Listening Theme – The Piano Men (and Women!)
This is one of those themes that gets bigger the more you think about it – singer/songwiters that are primarily pianists. Elton John, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tori Amos, Alicia Keys – the list could be endless, covering many styles of music.
So let’s have some recommendations (not just names, I’d like specific albums to look out for).
RIVER
(Joni Mitchell)
It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don’t snow here
It stays pretty green
I’m going to make a lot of money
Then I’m going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry
He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I’m so hard to handle
I’m selfish and I’m sad
Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye
It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
The archive nut/king has been busy. With Cracker Duo on tour, we have more choices than usual for fresh picks. Personally, I attended and recorded the two Wisconsin shows (with a lot of assistance in Milwaukee from my friend Jason of Team Pickle. Which is to say that he actually did most of the
work.)
The Milwaukee show at Shank Hall had cocktail tables covering the floor area of the club, so it was a sit-down affair. During the encore break, I mentioned to Clint, Cracker’s tour manager and merch guy for the run, that I figured Madison would be a “more raging” crowd. Well I didn’t realize how right I was. The Madison show at the High Noon Saloon had only a few tables on the main floor, and all in the back half of the room.
The standing crowd up front was in a very wild mood, and so the sound of the recordings those two nights could hardly be more different. The Milwaukee crowd listened quietly and respectfully, and held their applause for between songs. The Madison crowd was drunk and obnoxious! How could this happen???
So for the pick. I like rowdy shows, but the fun atmosphere doesn’t always translate on the recordings. This time around, Milwaukee definitely beat Madison for good tapes. Just on the basis of intrusive crowd hollering! Madison is fine, but Milwaukee is kickass. The other nice thing about this week’s pick is that after playing the tune, Johnny asked David to clarify the story behind the song’s origin. David confirmed that Johnny’s version of the events was on-the-mark, and added a nice little tip to add a little mystery to some strangers’ day. Check it out – “Dr. Bernice, that’s no lady doctor!”
One day last week I saw an amazing video of John Hickman singing Another Song About the Rain, accompanied by David Lowery from their Cracker Duo tour last fall. Then I see a notice that Cracker is playing here in Dayton on May 15th. Next thing I know I’m on the line with Cracker’s PR folks and setting up an interview with John. World’s funny like that, and you have to pay close attention and go where it takes you.
John Hickman has beeen the lead guitarist and occasional singer for Cracker for about twenty years now, and his partnership with David Lowery has been amazingly fruitful. In a time of cancelled tours and disappointing records sales, Cracker is doing big business, selling out shows and moving units in an impressive fashion. Their latest long player, Sunrise In The Land of Milk and Honey is yet another fine record and it sounds as fresh as their debut Cracker Brand back in 1992. Lowery’s songwriting is always as fine as you’ll find, and Hickman is as fine a right hand man as there is in the business. His tasteful playing is as big a part of Cracker as Lowery’s distictive twang, and places him in the same league as Richards and Ronson as brilliant sidemen. In addition Hickman released his solo album Palmhenge a few years back with excellent results and reviews.
Normally, I like to write a feature around an interview, but John Hickman’s words are such that I though a verbatim transcript would best serve. A little less of me, a little more Cracker Soul.
John, my Facebook page lit up like crazy when news of a local Cracker show came across. With a tanked economy and in the throes of record store deaths, how’s the road treating you?
JH: Surprisingly well I’m happy to say. The new Cracker CD “Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey” is still doing well after nearly a year and the shows have been selling out consistently both with the full band and with the David and Johnny duo shows. Cracker just competed a sold out tour of Spain which is like a second home to us now. It’s sad to see the record stores going under one by one. We sell most of our CDs online or at shows now.
I saw David Lowery and yourself on youtube in Sebastopol, CA – “Another Song About the Rain” – one of the best “rain” songs ever written, right alongside Fogerty and Lennon’s.
JH: You’re putting me in some heavy company. Thank you very much.
How much fun is it to sing and solo in a live setting over a really solid acoustic guitar underpinning? Lowery is really a solid rhythm player, no?
JH: It’s a sheer pleasure. Yes, in addition to being a great songwriter David is a highly underrated guitarist. He spent four years in Spain as a kid and I think it got into his blood. He can finger pick very well and the next moment be beating hell out his guitar like some Flamenco demon. For the duo shows we run his classical guitar through sub woofers and it sounds like a kick drum. We mesh very well together as a live duo. We know intuitively how to follow one another and so it frees us both to take chances and be adventurous on stage. We never use a set list so it’s always fresh and unpredictable. It’s a little different every night. We love that and so do the fans.
“Another Song About the Rain” How did you come to write this song? Song-craft, autobiography, or perhaps a bit of Both?
JH: I wrote the core of it alone in a cabin where I lived in the San Bernardino Mountains of California where I lived. I also wrote “Father Winter” up there which came out on my solo album “Palmhenge” years later. The original version of “Another Song About The Rain” was very long. I was listening to a lot of “Blood On The Tracks” era Bob Dylan when I wrote it and later my other co-writer and longtime friend Chris LeRoy edited the verses down, simplified it and shaped it into what you hear. Obviously it was a bad time in my life but that’s where some of the best music comes from. It’s the classic double edged sword. There is the cathartic purging of pain but yet you sort of give it eternal life if you write a song about it.
What was David Lowery’s reaction when he first heard it? Had you done a lot of writing prior to this?
JH: We were nearly finished with the first album when I brought it in. We had already written some pretty great songs together at this point so I think David was pretty open. If he didn’t like it I would have tossed it aside immediately. I mean, we’re talking about David Lowery, one of the best songwriters out there in my opinion. He and our producer Don Smith heard my demo and said “Let’s record it”. It was the last song to go on the record. Listening to the album version now I wished I had had time to do it better but that’s often the case. It is what it is. I think David and I play it much better now.
How was the Cracker/Camper tour? Any competition issues between the bands?
JH: Sure, I’d be full of shit if I said there wasn’t a little healthy competition between the two bands but we have also been brothers and friends, all of us for a very long time. Over the years we have had a lot of support for each other and share two band members. The tour was very successful. Most shows sold out pretty quickly.
Your tour blog shows you to be a pretty good and serious writer. Do you journal a lot, and what do you derive from it?
JH: Thanks. I’m pretty outgoing as a person and it’s just an extension of that I guess. It just comes naturally for me to comment on whatever riles me up, humors me or outrages me somehow. Also I was tired of reading other writers get things so wrong so often. It’s very satisfying when people tell me they were effected by one of my articles or blogs which happens all over the world now with the internet. Another reason I do it is because you have to be a hustler in the music business these days. It’s another way to stay connected with our fans. I wish I had more time to devote to it.
I know you’re big fans of analog tape, so how do you approach recording your guitar digitally?
JH: We record everything to tape, move to the digital realm for editing and then bounce it back to analog to warm it back up as they say. When I record guitars I sometimes try people’s patience because I set up a huge wall of very different sounding amps, going from one to another and combining them often. It gets loud as hell sometimes but that records well with certain amps. If I’m playing the same thing through two amps simultaneously I try to persuade the engineer or producer to give each amp it’s own mic and track even if it bleeds a little. You can be a lot more creative in mixing that way. I learned that trick from the brilliant producer Don Smith who sadly, just passed on while we were in Spain. He used that technique with the Stones, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers and others before us. I’ve read that Jimmy Page did this a lot too.
What do you listen to for enjoyment?
JH: Everything from outlaw country to Middle Eastern music to electronica. I put my ipod on shuffle on the long drives on tour and it runs the gamut from classical to punk rock to Irish ballads. As a musician and songwriter I think it’s good to listen to current and ancient music and everything in between. It gets into your blood and challenges your sensibilities. It’s good medicine.
What is your favorite band, and your favorite album?
JH: I’d have to narrow it down from 20 or 30 bands and to about 100 albums. Off the top of my head I’d put The Rolling Stones “Beggars Banquet”, Bob Dylan’s “Blood On The Tracks” The Kinks “Muswell Hillbillies” and “The Harder They Fall” Soundtrack album right up there but I could never pick just one favorite. It changes daily. I’m anxiously awaiting the next Fleet Foxes album. I love Graham Coxon too.
With the demise of traditional record companies and record sales, is there any less recognition of newer material by fans on the road, or are they boned up on new stuff? Any noticeable differences?
JH: It’s an every changing playing field with regards to the business side of things but you just have to roll with it. Cracker fans are very devoted to say the least. They have pretty much embraced every album and know that every album is going to shift gears a little. They don’t really care whether it’s on the radio or not. This new album HAS gotten on the radio and garnered us many more fans I’m happy to report. There are lot of free thinkers in the Cracker fan base. I’ve met many thousands of them and they all came to the party from different albums over the years, the latest one or the first one. We never have a set list but we try to play something from every album live. Every night is a little different.
Are there any bands or musicians you’d like to play with?
JH: Hell yes. Bob Dylan or The Replacements would be at the top of that list but I love to collaborate, jam, record, play live. It’s all I do or ever want to do.
Your Les Paul….How long have you been playing it, how much work did you do or have done to it?
JH: It’s a 1977 Standard and I bought it new. I was living on my own at a young age and actually gave blood to make the payments several times in those lean days. I’ve turned it into a bit of a Frankenstein monster over many years. I use Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck pick ups in it and it has a Khaler locking tremolo system. They don’t even make those anymore. It’s an odd set up but it works very well for me. It’s ain’t broke so I ain’t fixing it as they say. I’ve also carved all over it, tattooed it, gouged it out and put a little piece of Muddy Water’s birthplace wood in it. I’ve also attached some polished stones to it.
Your tone is often nearly as pure as a Tele’s. Any pickup height, or pole piece adjustments worth noting?
JH: I played up around Bakersfield for a while just before I got together with David and all the old cowboy players would say “You can’t play country on no Gepson…get a FENDA boy!”. I just worked at it until I could get those sounds with my hands and picking style on the Paul. I have my bridge pick up raised up pretty high and use fairly heavy strings. I like a lot of deep twang as well as psychedelic noise and overtones and that set up does it for me.
What is the difference in your rigs for the acoustic shows vs. Cracker full band shows?
JH: Actually I play with the same set up for both. David plays an Ibanez nylon string acoustic for the Cracker duo shows and I play with my usual electric set up which is: My Les Paul through a Boss tuner into an MXR Carbon Copy delay pedal into a Boss Blues Driver and then into a Fender Supersonic. I run the Supersonic through a 4×12 Marshall cabinet on bigger stages. I also have a clamp on holder on my mic stand with anywhere from 2 to 5 Lee Oskar harps in it for both duo and full band gigs.
What’s your favorite guitar or road story. The must tell story?
My favorite guitar story is that I was once lucky enough to open a few weeks of shows for ZZ Top when they were at the top of their game in the 80s. I’m a big Billy G fan and would sound check with his licks before I had actually met him. One day I saw that beard poke around the corner and was afraid I’d pissed him off. I was wrong. He came to the dressing room and introduced himself with a grin. “heard ya playin my chops boy” Then he asked in that great Texas accent “Why’d you put a wiggle stick on a Les Paul?” I loved it. He was very cool to me on that tour which amazed the crew because he’s kind of mysterious. He let me sit behind the P.A. speakers on stage every night and watched him up close. I’ll never forget it.
David Lowery and John are currently on tour as Cracker Duo, and will commence full band touring in May co-headlining shows with The Reverand Horton Heat. This will be a tour to see, maybe the hottest I’ve come across this year.
Thanks to John Hickman and the gracious folks at Pavement PR.
Been Around The World is a jammer from any era Cracker. This pick form the BigDave FredRocksWilma’s YouTube Channel exemplifies how loose this band can be and still rock steady! Dig Johnny’s free range solo and miss the keyboards days…CL
Believe it or not, puppetry can be serious business. (The University of Connecticut’s School of Fine Arts even offers a BFA degree in
puppetry!) Here are some academic books about puppetry:
*Bryant, Jill, Catherine Heard, and Laura Watson. Making
Shadow Puppets.
Kids
can do it. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2002.
Puppetry and children’s librarianship go hand in hand. Puppets are a great way to bring children’s literature to life, and they also help develop narrative skills in early learners. Here are some incredible puppeteers who have performed at our library:
And, of course, the award-winning Shermanettes!
Thanks to a generous grant from the Charles P. Ferro Foundation, tomorrow we are offering an amazing program for teenagers and adults:
“The images in DOG range from playful to emotionally powerful. This deceptively simple shadow puppet play leads us through reinterpretations of 10 great works of art, in a surreal, non-linear world.”
I can’t wait!
*The instructions in the book Making Shadow Puppets are excellent, but mine are even easier.
You
will need these supplies: *pencil *thin
cardboard *scissors *tape *desk
lamp or flashlight *cereal box *sheet of thin white paper *drinking straws
How to make puppets: * Draw or trace a puppet shape directly onto
the cardboard. * Cut the puppet
shape out of the cardboard. *
Tape a straw to the back of each puppet piece.
How to make a stage: *Cut a large rectangle out of the front and
back of a cereal box. (Don’t
throw out the rectangles. You can use them to make more puppets!) *Turn the box onto its side. *Tape the paper over the front side of the box. (This side will face your audience.) *Shine a light out from behind the stage.
Back in November, I posted a song from a Mother Hips show when they opened for Backyard Tire Fire at Schuba’s in Chicago. But there were two nights. That’s two shows. That’s two picks. Here comes another. What will it be? In the months between then and now, Mother Hips’ new album Pacific Dust has grown on me and is tied for my current favorite album with Ike Reilly’s Hard Luck Stories.
But this week’s pick is not from the most recent album, but the one before that. Kiss the Crystal Flake came out in 2007, and has some good ol’ California Soul all over it.
Time-Sick Son Of A Grizzly Bear is just the right amount of catchy. Even though it’s the state mascot, are there any Grizzlies left outside of zoos?
Another dark man Out in the jet stream Another great plan Another dark dream Just ask his cell phone Ask his advisers When it’s all over Who was the wiser? Another dark man
They’re coming over They have the car keys They have agendas They are the enemy Just ask his hangers on Ask his baptizers When its all over Who was the wiser? Another dark man
I barely knew him It didn’t take long He was a mystery Wrapped in a sad song Just ask the howlin’ wind The dust that rises When it’s all over baby No one’s the wiser Another dark man
There goes the dark man Out in the jet stream One soul is touching down Another leaving There goes a dark man There goes a dark man There goes a dark man Another dark man
Zoe dreams of being the next Vladimir Horowitz and playing Carnegie Hall. She has one major setback, though–she doesn’t own a piano.
López, Diana. Confetti
Girl. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Co, 2009.
Apolonia Flores is obsessed with socks; her father is obsessed with British literature; her best friend is obsessed with boys, and her best friend’smother is obsessed with making cascarones.
About this time last year (the exact date lost in the mists of time) I had my very first Listening Theme – 70’s Glam Rock. It lasted a few days and only resulted in a couple of recommendations. I thought I’d mark this 1st anniversary by revisiting the theme.
With more of you taking part now and with the themes also appearing on songbookhighway.com plus the fact that I’ve discovered more sites to listen to music online I thought I can delve a bit deeper and hear some albums that I might not have known about a year ago.
Third grade is an exciting time for readers. It’s the stage in which many children begin their foray into chapter books, or junior novels. Here are three great ones:
White, E. B., Garth Williams, and Edith GoodkindRosenwald. Charlotte’s
Web. New York: Harper, 1952.
Even arachnophobes can’t help but to fall in love with Charlotte the Spider.
Atwater, Richard, Atwater,
Florence, and Lawson, Robert. Mr.
Popper’s Penguins. Little, Brown, 1938.
Mr. Popper the House Painter dreams of visiting the polar regions. His life changeswhen he writes a fan letter to Admiral Drake the Explorer and receives a live penguin in return.
Dahl, Roald, and Quentin Blake. The
Twits. New York: Scholastic, 1980.
The twits are a miserable old married couple who play hilarious tricks on each other. They’re kind of like the Lockhorns, only funnier. Much of the humor is geared for adults, but kids love it, too.
Chris LeRoy and Johnny Hickman were The Dangers way back before Johnny went on to play guitar in The Unforgiven and then co-form Cracker, with whom he still performs today. The Dangers didn’t release albums back then, but Dedication saw some of those old (and some new) recordings finally released a couple of years ago. This new album, without Johnny except for one guest role, is more rocking and coherent than Dedication, and is really more of a follow up to 2007’s ‘Life’s So Hard Make It Softer’ by Chris LeRoy’s other band Death Of Me. Both albums rock with a youthful rawness that belies the 30-year history of this band, sounding at times like the Stones – a band that seems to run through LeRoy’s veins.
For the next week or so I’m going to concentrate on the Southern soul released on a record label that was the main rival to Motown (LT7) during the 60’s – Stax. Stax (with it’s partnership with Atlantic Records) released albums by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Picket, Eddie Floyd, Rufus and Carla Thomas… the list goes on (http://en.wikipedia.org/wi..ki/Stax_Records) backed by the house band Booker T. & the M.G’s. I love the music but not that familiar with some of the lesser known acts.
I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I had
To find you I’d suffer anything and be glad
I’d pay any price just to get you
I’d work all my life and I will
To win you I’d stand naked, stoned and stabbed
I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had
I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I got
To catch you I’m gonna run and never stop
I’d pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I’m gonna drown an unsung man
I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had
I sit looking ’round
I look at my face in the the mirror
I know I’m worth nothing without you
In life one and one don’t make two
One and one make one
And I’m looking for that free ride to me
I’m looking for you
I’d gladly lose me to find you
I’d gladly give up all I got
To catch you I’m gonna run and never stop
I’d pay any price just to win you
Surrender my good life for bad
To find you I’m gonna drown an unsung man
I’d call that a bargain
The best I ever had
The best I ever had
Alborough, Jez. Duck
in the Truck. [New York]: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.
Even though there aren’t any actual human beings in this story, one reviewer criticized it for having a “white, Eurocentric world view.” I say it’s just a wonderful cumulative tale with lots of great rhymes and funny illustrations.
Shaw, Nancy, and Margot
Apple. Sheep in a Jeep. Middletown, CT: Weekly Reader Books, 1986.
These ovine sure know how to rhyme and have a good time. If you like Sheep in a Jeep, you will also enjoy Sheep on a Ship, Sheep Take a Hike, and my personal favorite, Sheep in a Shop.
Burningham, John. Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car. Harmondsworth, Middlesex:
Penguin, 1973.
When Mr. Gumpy’s car gets stuck in the mud, none of his passengers want to get out to help push. Pig has the best excuse: “I’ve got a bone in my trotter.”
And speaking of car trips .
Check out the latest Gigglejuice CD, Driving Around in Circles. You will like it!
Cracker Live as part of the Kessler House series put on By Janie & Steve Ruemmele. David Lowery and Johnny Hickman getting down in true style! Captured on FLIP by Duncan Alney, firebelly marketing
Something a bit different this week. Instead of the run of the mill ‘you give me your recommendations’ type of Listening Theme, I’m going to give YOU a recommendation for a change.
For several years I’ve been listening to (and loving) the mash-up albums of The Kleptones.
For those of you who are not familiar with mash-ups (including me until recently) it’s where DJs mix different parts of different tracks to create something new – vocals from one song, a bassline from another, guitar solo from another and so on. (I’m no expert and I’m sure DJ Eric Kleptone will put me right).
The latest Kleptones double album ‘Uptime/Downtime’ was released as a FREE download at Midnight (GMT) on 1st January 2010 making it the first album released in this NEW decade (in the UK at least). Uptime is a rocking party mix (featuring the Prodigy, Guns n Roses, Metallica, Nirvana among others) whereas Downtime is the relaxing chill-out part
(Scott Walker, Nick Drake, Neil Young) – great stuff.
Anyway, back to this theme – as I’ve been listening to this album since downloading it I thought I’d take time out to listen to some of the original tracks that Eric Kleptone has ‘borrowed’. There’s a Wikipedia page for the album, listing the samples that fans have spotted. Eric tells me there’s still plenty that hasn’t been spotted yet.
So why not download ‘Uptime/Downtime’ (it’s FREE) and give it a listen and maybe try to spot a sample that hasn’t been noted yet. Whilst you’re at it try some of the other Kleptones releases. I heartily recommend 24 Hrs and A Night at the Hip-Hopera (yep, Hip-Hop and Queen!)
By the way, Eric has been tagged in this note and I’m sure would welcome any comments. He has also accepted the challenge of being my third guest Listening Theme setter, his theme (wait for it!) will be announced in a week’s time.
Cheers,
On April 9th and 10th 2010, Matt and Kelly Lube opened their house up tothe crumb nation, and Lubestock was born!! Here some Video of the best damn family on the planet! The crumb nation lives!!
Anna Quindlen’s latest novel left me sobbing to the point of gasping for air. For an excellent summary without any spoilers, click here to read Maggie Scarf’s review in the New York Times.
Here’s what the other critics had to say:
“Anna Quindlen’s writing is like knitting; prose that wraps the reader in the warmth and familiarity of domestic life . . . Quindlen starts to pull at the world she has knitted, and lets it unravel across the pages.” –Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times. “It’s a testament to Quindlen’s character development and plotting that by the time disaster hits . . . the catastrophic consequences of everyday actions are truly shocking.” –Nancy Robertson, Washington Post.
“Quindlen orchestrates her chorus of voices . . . with exquisite balance. She places the shocking event that changes everything — a moment that echoes the book’s title and is so stunning it made me gasp.” Jane Ciabattari, NPR.
After an enjoyable week of listening to tracks used by The Kleptones for their double mash-up album Uptime/Downtime it’s over to Eric Kleptone to become my next guest theme-setter (Thanks Eric). His theme, German music: “from Schlager to Krautrock to Techno – oh and The Scorpions “…
” Well the german stuff that really interests me is the Krautrock obv. Can, Neu!, Amon Duul II, Faust, La Dusseldorf, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, the ubiquitous Kraftwerk etc… it’s quite a narrow range, but there’s some absolutely awesome music in there (alongside some real insanity). It’s also worth digging into german funk and disco (there’s a few great compilations of that stuff), soundtrack music (like Peter Thomas Orchestra), Punk, Metal, and of course the fine seam of quality German Techno (recommend the Tresor compilations as a good inroad of how things were back in 1992/3 – The second one completely changed the way I listened to electronic music when I first heard it!).”
This’ll be interesting. I couldn’t name many German bands I have to admit, so I’m looking forward (as always) to hearing new stuff.
As usual, any suggestions as to what I should listen to would be greatly received.
Morst is resting right now so I pick a track from new gigglejuice album Driving Around In Circles. Kevin Day and Co. are a fun band with good vibe and better tunes. Here is a link to hear I Can See The Future on the SongBook Highway player…..
This week I’m going to listen to albums by the Rat Pack – Frank, Dean and Sammy. On top of that I’m in the mood for another music marathon…
In the way that I listened to 100 different recordings of White Christmas in December I’m going to attempt to listen to as many versions of My Way that I can. Not
sure I’ll make 100, but maybe 50? – what do you reckon? So what albums or tracks by these three (solo or collaborations) do you recommend? and can you think of any recordings of My Way that I might be interested in? (as with my White Christmas marathon I’m trying to stick with well known artists).
Also, how about joining me in this theme – for a day, half day or at the very least, one album. Who’s up for it? Just let us know what you’ve listened to.
New York Times reporter Jon Schwartz pokes holes through studies that claim that short people are disadvantaged, and in doing so, he teaches young readers how to
judge the validity of scientific studies.
Smith, Sherri L. Lucy
the Giant. New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, 2002.
Lucy the Giant is a teen novel about a big girl from a small Alaskan town who runs away to work as an adult on a crabbing boat. Even though I hate cold weather, I really like
to read about Alaska.
This novel for upper elementary school audiences is about the friendship between a really, really tall girl and a boy with dwarfism. The story gets interesting when the boy meets an Amish girl who also has dwarfism.
From Cracker Live at Bowery Ballroom on
2005-03-22, recorded by a stranger and documents Johnny’s intro about two thefts of Cracker equipment… Johnny puts out this LeRoy/Hickman tune as evidence that all is right with the world if you are lucky enough to play and love music…an honorable thought.
Genealogia de una bruja/ Genealogy of a witch Tomo I:
La Pequena Bruja & Tomo Ii: Libro De Brujas Y Hechizos/ Vol:i the
Little Witch & Vol:ii Book of Witch and Spells. Luis Vives
Editorial, 2009.
Although I don’t usually like tales of the supernatural, this book is too gorgeous to resist. Here’s a link to my review in this month’s issue of School Library Journal.
In 3 weeks time Nikki and I are going to see Bon Jovi at the O2 in London and I was going to have a hair metal listening theme around that time, but seeing as UK digital radio station Planet Rock are holding a ‘Greatest Hair Metal Band’ poll at the moment (with ‘The Final Countdown’ of the results this Saturday) I thought I’d bring it forward.
So let’s have your Hair Metal recommendations (album titles preferably).
To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the latest Cracker Cd. A new video for “Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey”. More info www.crackersoul.com. Directed and Edited by Carlos Grasso.
Yesterday a woman came up to the reference desk with her 10 year old daughter, slammed down a copy of this book, and demanded, “Tell me who recommended this book to my daughter.” I shakily admitted that I was the culprit. She let out a deep breath and said,
“She LOVED it. Please pick us out some more.”
Rebecca Hickman submits this week’s video. Sez Rebecca…” More from the best backyard concert of the century. This song is from Cracker’s AWESOME album, Greenland.”
big DAVE elaborates…
FredRocksWilma — April 18, 2010 — On April 9th and 10th 2010, Matt and Kelly Lube opened their house up to the crumb nation, and Lubestock was born!! Here some Video of the best damn family on the planet! The crumb nation lives!!
MORST SHARES A PICK: Camper Van Beethoven Live at Northern Lights Theater on 2006-01-20
One of These Days had a timeless quality even in its original form. It remind me of the kind of phrasing and poetry David Lowery brought to songs from the very first cassettes he would pass around to music friends in Redlands back in the day. These were simple observations that meant more as the song grew on you… This 2006-01-20 a live version continues to grow on me… Chris
I am fading away
Last night as big as life
Growing faint in the day
Growing faint in the day
I left the window open
Is there a songbird near?
Pretty bird won’t you sing for me
Before we disappear? Before we disappear?
And you can be a stranger in your own land
You can be a stranger on your own
When television is hazy
They turn the rabbit ears
They throw the courthouse open wide
They take the souvenirs. They take the souvenirs
And you can be a stranger in your own land
You can be a stranger on your own
I went out to the city square
Amid the boos and cheers
Something wrong about what I said
You know it didn’t ring clear
Didn’t ring clear
And you can be a stranger in your own land
You can be a stranger on your own
It’s when the lights are shining
Cross the night of tears
The wind on the silent streets
Is music to my ears
It’s music to my ears
I leave the window open
Is there a songbird near?
Pretty bird won’t you sing for me
Before we disappear? Before we disappear?
And you can be a stranger in your own land
Someone told me long ago There’s a calm before the storm,
I know; It’s been comin’ for some time.
When it’s over, so they say, It’ll rain a sunny day,
I know; Shinin’ down like water.
CHORUS:
I want to know, Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?
Yesterday, and days before, Sun is cold and rain is hard,
I know; Been that way for all my time.
‘Til forever, on it goes Through the circle, fast and slow,
I know; It can’t stop, I wonder.
CHORUS:
I want to know, Have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, Have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?
This show, and the acoustic set from the previous day were performed at a private party dubbed Lubestock. If it sounds like a small gig, recorded from up close to the band, then that would be accurate. The sound of the crowd is very present, hooting and hollering and at times, singing along in complete unison with every word! Yes, you would be hard-pressed to find a tent with a higher yield of hard-core Cracker fans than this.The song selection is really cool here. I suspect that the host of the event got to suggest some rarities, because we get some nice choices. Someday, Reasons To Quit, Hold Of Myself and Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself are pretty darned rare these days. And I would be glad to hear Sick Of Goodbyes, Sweet Magdalena Of My Misfortune or Shiner Song more often than I do!
Shiner Song, of course, depends on the presense of keyboardist Kenny Margolis and his stomach Steinway. Always great to hear Kenny on a recording – he adds a nice touch to everything, and there is some material that the band doesn’t play without him. Like this polka in the Czech language.
Here’s John Doe (singer-songwriter of X, Knitters, Pleasure Barons) performing another cool cover of a Replacements song “Here Comes A Regular.” The event was a Replacements tribute night at the 12 Galaxies nightclub in San Francisco on May 24, 2006.
Message to Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars: Could you guys hurry up and do that damned reunion tour? We miss ya…
I’ve been feeling a bit feisty lately. The other day on Facebook I posted the question “Do you have a library card?” and almost instantly received 34 comments. One well-meaning friend wrote that he doesn’t use the library because he likes to support starving authors by
paying for their books. I responded with the following rampage:
*Most libraries buy or lease multiple copies of popular titles.
*Public libraries are all about serving everyone–not just people who can afford to buy books.
*Even if you never use your card, it’s still a good idea to get one. We need the statistics. Also, think of all the money you can save by borrowing our videos, books, and music CD’s.
The poor guy. He apologized and wrote that he was going to get a card the next day. He also explained that his wife and kids already have their own cards.
ps. Do you have a library card?
pps. Check
out the Save Libraries website to learn how you can help your local library.
..
Back from the shop, morst has a pick of the week!
The Mother Hips have been a favorite of mine for a long time, and so it’s great to be able to hear them play live. And I didn’t even have to fly to California to do it! Once again, back at Schuba’s in Chicago, they played a fun Saturday Night gig. The first track, Red Tandy, just sounds so rockin’ good. And then they keep turning up the heat! I already picked a track from the new album, but don’t let that stop you from picking up Pacific Dust, which came out last fall (2009.)
This week we have a live performance by Johnny Hickman from the studios of KUAR Public Radio, Little Rock, Arkansas 5-11-2010 posted by rbreeding59 — May 11, 2010 and carried on by our friends below….
Monday lunchtime and I haven’t set a new Listening Theme yet – shame on me!.
Here’s something that should keep me occupied this week and should throw up plenty of different music genres. Bands or solo artists (surnames) beginning with the letters X, Y or Z! There’s some obvious ones but what are the stand-out albums?. If you know of anything worth listening to that I might not know about let me know.
If you like David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, you will really like this new book by filmmaker John Waters.You don’t have to be a fan of his movies to enjoy the book. Visit npr.com to learn more about it.
Waters, John. Role Models. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. Print.
I slept and I dreamed of a time long ago
I saw an army of rebels, dancing on air
I dreamed as I slept, I could see the campfires,
A song of the battle, that was born in the flames,
and the rebels were waltzing on air.
I danced with a girl to the tune of a waltz
that was written to be danced on the battlefield
I danced to the tune of a voice of a girl
A voice that called “Stand till we fall
we stand till all the boys fall.”
As we danced came the news that the war was not won
5 armies were coming, with carrige and gun
Through the heart of the camp
swept the news from the front
A cloud crossed the moon, a child cried for food
We knew the war could not be won.
So we danced with a rifle, to the rhythm of the gun
in a glade through the trees i saw my only one
Then the earth seemed to rise hell hot as the sun
The soldiers were dying, there was tune to the sighing.
The song was an old rebel one.
As the smoke of our hopes rose high from the field
My eyes played tricks through the moon and the trees
I slept as I dreamed I saw the army rise
A voice began to call, stand till you fall
The tune was an old rebel one.
Thanks to Moira (via Rob) for this suggestion which I will start on Monday morning. So lets have your suggestions of Cuban music/musicians please.
“The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the nineteenth century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world. It has been perhaps the most popular form of world music since the introduction of recording technology” from
Wikipedia.
Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society.
June 2010, Vol. 217, No. 6.
There is a really interesting article about Greenland in this month’s issue of National Geographic. I’m embarrassed to admit
that I really didn’t know much about Greenland until I read the article. Here’s what I learned:
*Greenland wasn’t as cold in the Middle Ages.
*Many Greenlanders are excited about global warming.
*Erik the Red landed upon Greenland while he was on the lam for killing a man in Iceland.
*The term lam comes from the Old Norse word lemja.
*In the 1950’s and 1960’s the Danish government built ugly apartment buildings in the capital of Greenland and tried to force people from faraway villages to live in them.
*In 2009 a new charter went into effect that gives Greenland more independence from Denmark.
ppps. Jane Smiley wrote an epic novel entitled Greenlanders. Although I really like Smiley’s writing (she won the Pulitzer prize for the best seller, A Thousand Acres), I probably won’t read Greenlanders because I don’t like historical fiction.
-Lucinda Gallagher via Jesse Malin: From “Love it to Life”- officially my favorite CD of 2010. If you get the chance to see him live… GO!! You just have to love a guy that lists Martin Scorsese and The Uncle Floyd Show among his influences (not to mention The Ramones, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, The Replacements and The Dead Kennedys)
“There was an old man with a nose,who said, ‘If you choose to suppose that my nose is too long, you are certainly wrong!’That remarkable man with a nose.”
-Edward Lear’s Nonsense Omnibus
This year’s annual American Library Association was absolutely wonderful. My committee’s programs went really well and I got to meet lots of great authors, illustrators, publishers, and librarians. Plus, I got to catch a free Natalie Merchant show!
Natalie Merchant’s latest album, Leave Your Sleep, is a collection of old children’s poems which she set to music. In between songs, Natalie showed slides of antique children’s book illustrations and discussed the history of each work. I was especially impressed when she thanked individual libraries for helping with her research.
Merchant, Natalie. Leave Your Sleep. New York:
Nonesuch, 2010. Sound recording.
To learn more, check out this link to the New York Times article, From Natalie Merchant, a Literary Tour: nytimes.com.
From Garod….This is kind of fun… one my favorite singers doing a Rolling Stones song… only it’s his lead guitarist singing… Simply astounding. Gruene Hall, July 2, 2010
Track 6 from Cracker’s 1993 album Keronsene Hat. Here is the story in the song. A cosmonaut Ivan Ivanovich is orbiting the earth in the Mir space station. While in orbit the USSR
breaks apart into all of it’s constituent nations. Ivanovich is stranded while the ground crew struggles to send a replacement ship and cosmonaut up to relieve him. Ivanovich is not in mortal danger. Mostly he is bored. He finds a book left behind by another cosmonaut. It is an history of the American Civil War. He reads it over and over again while waiting for his rescue ship. Hence his musings about General Stonewall Jackson’s amputated arm being “buried on some farm”
The first thing you should know about this song is that it is complete fiction. This may surprise some of you because there is a persistent urban myth that the Soviets stranded a cosmonaut in space when the USSR dissolved. In fact there are at least two* films with this exact plot. (This Cracker song predates both of these films, it
was written in october of 1992). I’m not sure what came first the films or the urban legend of the stranded cosmonaut. But one thing is well known there have long been myths of “lost” or “phantom cosmonauts” going back to the early 1960′s. It is these persistent rumors that inspired this song. here are two webpages detailing such myths:
Finally Ivan Ivanovich is like John Doe in English. Hence Ivan Ivanovich is the name given to a test flight dummy cosmonaut pictured
below.
PS. Stonewall Jackson’s arm was buried separately from his body. His arm was amputated due to his injuries. He died many days later in
Richmond VA. *There appears to be two movies. one called “kosmonaut” from norway. and one called “der letzte Kosmonaut” from germany. both have similar plot descriptions. perhaps they are the same source. or german release of the same film. One is from 1993 the other from 1994.
[C]-[Em]-[Am]-[F] [F]-[G]-[Am]-[G]-[F]-[Dm]-[G]
And here is Ivanovich
in his rocket ship
Spinning helplessly
up above the earth
While his heart is splintered
All the girls of winter
are buried in their coats anonymous
While winter girls are waiting
Ivanovich in high rotation
He is just another star
up in the sky
While the world was waiting
We’re overwhelmed by some sensation
of something long ago and far away
Like general Jackson’s arm
it’s buried on some farm
While the fever
pushes words from his lips
And by the drunken river
where the soldiers shiver
We rest beneath the shade of the trees.
While winter girls are saying
each of us a tiny nation
You’re just another star
but so am I.
While the world was waiting
We’re overwhelmed by some sensation
of something long ago and far away
To mark the 25th Anniversary of Live Aid (13th July 1985) I’m going to try to listen to an album by each performer at the London and Philadelphia
Live Aid concerts*
The only rule is the album must have been released BEFORE the bands Live Aid performance. For instance, U2 performed at Wembley but instead of listening to The Joshua Tree which wasn’t to be released for another couple of years after Live Aid, I could listen to The Unforgettable Fire (their current album at the time) or any album in their back catalogue
up to that date.
So what albums should I listen to by those artists? Was anyone there? What were your highlights?
* before Ben interjects by saying there was a concert in Sydney, Australia (and several others in Europe come to that) I’m going to stick to Wembley and JFK Stadiums only!
Also, before anyone suggests that I should start with the Band of the Coldstream Guards as they ‘officially’ were the first band to perform, I’ve looked on we7 and the only album there was released in 2009 (phew!). I’m starting with some Quo!
The Mennonite Church is kind of interesting. Here are some things I knew before reading Mennonite in a Little Black Dress:
*Mennonites and the Amish are not the same. The Amish broke with the Mennonite church because they thought it was too liberal.
*Mennonites oppose violence under any circumstance. During World War II, some were tarred and feathered for refusing to buy war bonds.
*They don’t watch television, listen to pop music, or dance.
*They don’t all live in Pennsylvania. In fact, there are Mennonite mission posts all over the world.
I picked up Rhoda Janzen’s memoir because I thought it might be fun to learn about what really goes on behind closed doors. Do Mennonite women wear sexy outfits and have lurid love affairs? Are the teens allowed to do drugs and have wild barn party raves like the Amish kids in the documentary, The Devil’s Playground? Do families shun those who dare to leave the religion?
Nope. (Or at least it’s highly unlikely.)
Although the author does leave home to pursue a career in mainstream academia, she never really goes off the deep end (or at least she doesn’t write about it). The book is mostly about her marriage, divorce, and remarriage to a non-Mennonite, mercurial egomaniac. She finally decides to leave him for good, so she moves back home with her family in order to sort things out and work on her dissertation. The only incident in the book that struck me as being slightly subversive is when her mother tries to set her up with a first cousin.
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Kimmel, Eric A, Isaac L. Peretz, and Jill Weber. Even Higher!: A Rosh Hashanah Story. New York: Holiday House, 2009.
Wayland, April H, and Stéphane Jorisch. New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2009.
SATISFACTION SATURDAY is a place to post lyrics from your favorite songs each week. Post, read, comment, and match rival words form the greatest songs in the world!!!
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