On Friday night several members of this esteemed group met at the home of the most excellent Kathy and Phillip Seiler for comradery, convivial splendor and Nepalese food. In the midst of the chicanery there was talk about upcoming international trips and also the idea was floated about renting a house for a long weekend in New Orleans (you are all, of course, invited). It was just another reminder of how blessed we all are to have such amazing friends. The country may be run by a lying/delusional sexual predator (who will at least thankfully be replaced/impeached soon) and a junta of alt-right racist lunatics, but we can at least rely upon each other and find pleasure in our safe little cocoon (at least until Cyndi and I are not allowed back in the country).
Kathleen Edwards, Oil Man's War
There are a lot of reasons for promoting Oil Man's War this week, beyond the obvious one that I'm a huge fan. Truthfully, I don't know if Oil Man's War would make my top ten Edwards songs, but I suspect that's more a testament to the strength of her discography than a reflection on the song itself (which I think is fantastic). It's off the album Asking For Flowers, which I sometimes unfairly overlook (mainly because I love her first two albums so much). It seems like the perfect song for this particular moment in time, a week when Trump proposed adding another $54 billion to the bloated defense budget while cutting reduced price lunches for poor students. And the Trump administration is, as authoritarian governments always do, conflating questioning the government with insulting the memory of dead soldiers (who are seemingly always sent to die in an oil man's war). The song in and of itself is touching and thought-provoking as it chronicles a couple fleeing to Canada to avoid getting drawn into yet another oil man's war. Like many Edwards' songs she's able to walk the razor's edge of emotional and sexual and metaphorical worlds when she has the protagonist, while driving north, say "I won't change my mind/ so keep your hand on my thigh tonight." I remember telling someone a couple years ago that I thought the song sounded like one that Lucinda Williams and Bruce Springsteen would have written together, but that's really unfair. Kathleen Edwards has her own legacy; it sounds like a Kathleen Edwards song. It also got me thinking about the song's protagonists fleeing to Canada. One of the times I was considering moving overseas my wonderful friend Cinse said she would support whatever I did, but that I should ask myself whether I was running towards something or running away from something; and at the time I had to admit that I was running away from something, and so I decided to stay here and battle my own demons. This, in turn, made me think of the couple from Edwards' song. Years ago Rolling Stone, when it was a music magazine, published a great Cameron Crowe interview with Neil Young entitled "Neil Young: The Last American Hero." I remember thinking, at first blush, that it was odd that Crowe chose the descriptor American for a Canadian, but then realizing that 1) he was making a point about Young's place in what is often thought of as an "American" art form, 2) that Young, in his typically roguish and unpredictable fashion was often playing the quintessential "American hero" by doing what he thought was best, both for good and bad, 3) but it also made me think of why I too often only associate the term American with the US (as my Canadian friends do not tire of reminding me). Now, is Canada perfect? Of course not, as Edwards herself laments in her Oh Canada, but it seems to be trying to grow and improve, as compared to entrenching in anger, paranoia, racism and xenophobia. Essentially, I think Canada has become America (which I suspect many Canadians would consider either a step down if not an actual insult). What I mean by this is that I think Canada has become what America was, or at least what America was supposed to be, in the world's eyes. I remember talking to a guy in Jordan one time and he pointed out that when America was truly loved overseas it was because we were considered to be the one who played fair and stood up for the little guy, both internally and externally (again, maybe always more mythology than reality, but we don't even have the mythology anymore). We can all remember the threat that many people made to move to Canada during the election cycle in the unlikely (oh, those halcyon days) event of a Trump win. I do think more and more Americans are going to move to Canada, but less and less because they are fleeing an oil man's war or to get away from our lunatic president, but because they are moving towards something, a country which seems to still believe in the future.
Gary Beatrice
Isley
Brothers, Who’s That Lady?
Every once in a great while The Isley Brothers show up on the radio and when they do I stop what I am doing and tune in. They made several fantastic songs but to me Who's That Lady tops them all. Funky as hell but with a fantastic fuzzy lead guitar, the call and response vocals, catchy if meaningless lyrics. One of the great things about the sixties and seventies was that radio made no distinction between funk and rock. Sadly today radio is as segregated as we are and if there are bands like the Isley Brothers in 2017 I am very unlikely to know about them.
Every once in a great while The Isley Brothers show up on the radio and when they do I stop what I am doing and tune in. They made several fantastic songs but to me Who's That Lady tops them all. Funky as hell but with a fantastic fuzzy lead guitar, the call and response vocals, catchy if meaningless lyrics. One of the great things about the sixties and seventies was that radio made no distinction between funk and rock. Sadly today radio is as segregated as we are and if there are bands like the Isley Brothers in 2017 I am very unlikely to know about them.
Dave Wallace
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
- My Girl Is Gone
My favorite musical genre may be
soul music from the 60's and 70's. If I was presented with the
"desert island" choice of only being able to listen to one kind of
music, I may even pick soul music over rock, although I consider myself a "rock"
guy at heart. I've looked over my list of possible remaining songs to
write about for this blog and there are several soul songs begging for
inclusion, so I've decided that March is "soul" month for me. I
start with Smokey Robinson, whom I adore. When I was younger, I went
through a phase where I pretty much listened to Smokey non-stop for about a
year, and I think that he's one of the greatest songwriters in the history of
popular music. The number of classic songs that he wrote, for himself and for
others, is unbelievable. Of course, I previously blogged about a song (Cruisin')
from his solo career. This one is from his days leading the
Miracles. Other Miracles songs are better known (Tracks of My Tears, Shop
Around, Goin' to a Go Go, Tears of a Clown), but My
Girl Has Gone has always been a personal favorite.
Dave Kelley
"Every Picture Tells A Story" Rod Stewart
After appropriately dissing Rod
Stewart for his putrid cover of "Downtown Train", it is time to give
the man his props. Steve Van Zandt recently opined on Twitter that Rod
Stewart has the best voice of any rock singer in history. Other favorites
come to mind, but Stewart is certainly in that conversation.
The lyrics to this classic are
misogynistic in places, but the music is the key here along with the
vocals. I find the song to be propulsive and liberating which are keys to
much great rock music. The drumming is particularly amazing. The
Who were by far my favorite band for many years, and I am an absolute Keith
Moon fanatic. I think the drumming in this song is trhe best "Keith
Moon like" by any drummer not named Keith Moon. This is a song that
is perfect to enjoy at top volume while driving by yourself on a pretty day.
Kathy Seiler
Clipping, Story 2
Warning:
Experimental Rap
Phil introduced me to Clipping
months ago, after he had introduced me to the earworm that is the Hamilton
soundtrack. Daveed Diggs, lead rapper of Clipping, played both Lafayette and
Jefferson in the original Hamilton muscial on Broadway. Daveed
can rap faster than anyone I have ever heard - and both Eminem and Busta Rhymes
can rap pretty damn fast. I often listen to "gangsta rap" which
can be pretty nasty and misogynistic. I don't like the misogyny but I don't
take it personally either. It's art and art can be offensive, and I'm okay with
that.
Clipping music is not gangsta but
experimental and really interesting and weird sometimes. The song I've posted
this week is literally a tragic story. It's easy to listen to and understand
(not always the case with rap) and crushes your soul at the end. The video
echoes the differences in cadence in the music as the story progresses. The
incredibly smooth variation in rhythm that Daveed is able to accomplish is one
of the things I find so compelling about many of Clipping's songs.
Consider yourself eased into
experimental rap now if you haven't been exposed before. There will be more to
come.
Phillip Seiler
Neil
Finn “Silent House”
This song, co-written with the Dixie Chicks who also have recorded it, is just a simple, beautiful portrait of someone taking in the pieces of a life lost not to death but to Alzheimer's. You cannot help but think they see their own possible future fate as they observe and remark on all they see.
“I will try to connect
all the pieces you left
I will carry it on
and let you forget.”
That is a touching turn of phrase as our protagonist picks up the burden and releases the subject. Hopefully, one day, someone will do the same for them if it is required.
Neil Finn is one of those artists I usually buy everything from: sound unheard. I am rarely disappointed.
Must be a hell of a song to perform with your son, too.
This song, co-written with the Dixie Chicks who also have recorded it, is just a simple, beautiful portrait of someone taking in the pieces of a life lost not to death but to Alzheimer's. You cannot help but think they see their own possible future fate as they observe and remark on all they see.
“I will try to connect
all the pieces you left
I will carry it on
and let you forget.”
That is a touching turn of phrase as our protagonist picks up the burden and releases the subject. Hopefully, one day, someone will do the same for them if it is required.
Neil Finn is one of those artists I usually buy everything from: sound unheard. I am rarely disappointed.
Must be a hell of a song to perform with your son, too.
Gary Scudder
Kathleen Edwards, Oil Man's War
There are a lot of reasons for promoting Oil Man's War this week, beyond the obvious one that I'm a huge fan. Truthfully, I don't know if Oil Man's War would make my top ten Edwards songs, but I suspect that's more a testament to the strength of her discography than a reflection on the song itself (which I think is fantastic). It's off the album Asking For Flowers, which I sometimes unfairly overlook (mainly because I love her first two albums so much). It seems like the perfect song for this particular moment in time, a week when Trump proposed adding another $54 billion to the bloated defense budget while cutting reduced price lunches for poor students. And the Trump administration is, as authoritarian governments always do, conflating questioning the government with insulting the memory of dead soldiers (who are seemingly always sent to die in an oil man's war). The song in and of itself is touching and thought-provoking as it chronicles a couple fleeing to Canada to avoid getting drawn into yet another oil man's war. Like many Edwards' songs she's able to walk the razor's edge of emotional and sexual and metaphorical worlds when she has the protagonist, while driving north, say "I won't change my mind/ so keep your hand on my thigh tonight." I remember telling someone a couple years ago that I thought the song sounded like one that Lucinda Williams and Bruce Springsteen would have written together, but that's really unfair. Kathleen Edwards has her own legacy; it sounds like a Kathleen Edwards song. It also got me thinking about the song's protagonists fleeing to Canada. One of the times I was considering moving overseas my wonderful friend Cinse said she would support whatever I did, but that I should ask myself whether I was running towards something or running away from something; and at the time I had to admit that I was running away from something, and so I decided to stay here and battle my own demons. This, in turn, made me think of the couple from Edwards' song. Years ago Rolling Stone, when it was a music magazine, published a great Cameron Crowe interview with Neil Young entitled "Neil Young: The Last American Hero." I remember thinking, at first blush, that it was odd that Crowe chose the descriptor American for a Canadian, but then realizing that 1) he was making a point about Young's place in what is often thought of as an "American" art form, 2) that Young, in his typically roguish and unpredictable fashion was often playing the quintessential "American hero" by doing what he thought was best, both for good and bad, 3) but it also made me think of why I too often only associate the term American with the US (as my Canadian friends do not tire of reminding me). Now, is Canada perfect? Of course not, as Edwards herself laments in her Oh Canada, but it seems to be trying to grow and improve, as compared to entrenching in anger, paranoia, racism and xenophobia. Essentially, I think Canada has become America (which I suspect many Canadians would consider either a step down if not an actual insult). What I mean by this is that I think Canada has become what America was, or at least what America was supposed to be, in the world's eyes. I remember talking to a guy in Jordan one time and he pointed out that when America was truly loved overseas it was because we were considered to be the one who played fair and stood up for the little guy, both internally and externally (again, maybe always more mythology than reality, but we don't even have the mythology anymore). We can all remember the threat that many people made to move to Canada during the election cycle in the unlikely (oh, those halcyon days) event of a Trump win. I do think more and more Americans are going to move to Canada, but less and less because they are fleeing an oil man's war or to get away from our lunatic president, but because they are moving towards something, a country which seems to still believe in the future.
 |
| I can still remember passages from this Cameron Crowe interview almost forty years later, which is sort of amazing. When Young abandoned Stephen Stills in the midst of a Stills-Young tour because he thought it was bullshit he left this note: "Dear Stephen, funny how some things that start spontaneously, end that way. Eat a peach. Neil" When I almost left Champlain a couple years ago, this, with only mild modifications, was the resignation note I wrote. Somehow I don't think they would have got the reference. That said, I'm saving it. |
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