Discography Year Two - Week 41

As we enter into the last quarter of this year's Discography discussion I find myself in a reflective mood - or, as my friends would doubtless point out, I continue to find myself is a reflective mood or an especially reflective mood.  Part of it is purely personal in that I've passed through another Ramadan (which is an odd marker because, unlike New Year's or Graduation, Ramadan advances across the calendar; essentially, it's nine days earlier every year).  Some of it is more communal and happy, in that close friends of mine, in this case Bill Wixon and Mike Lange, have recently gotten married. Some of it is communal and not so happy, as in we began this year's Discography with GB and we're finishing it without GB.

Dave Wallace

Lou Reed - Satellite of Love

I recently realized that I've made it through nearly two years of this blog without a song from either Lou Reed or the Velvet Underground.  Somewhere, Gary Beatrice is shaking his head in disappointment.  Starting with Lou as a solo artist, Satellite of Love is an obvious choice, but it's still one of my favorites by him.  Part of a long list of classics by Reed.

Kevin Andrews

Blake Mills is a producer, songwriter, and deceptively talented guitar player. Eric Clapton revered to him as “the last guitarist I heard that I thought was phenomenal.” He’s produced Alabama Shakes, Conor Oberst, John Legend and worked with Lucinda, Don Was, Mr. Clapton, Fiona Apple. An impressive list for a 31 year-old. He seems to be a musician’s musician.

This is the opening song from Heigh Ho, If I'm Unworthy  This video has the lyrics which may be hard to understand. Like many of his songs they’re deeply personal, and beautiful. There are some live versions of this song if you poke around the YouTube. You can find the entire album too.

There are two good NYT write ups on him here and here if you’re interested.

Phillip Seiler

Nada Surf

Clear Eye Clouded Mind

 Nada Surf is best known for their mid-90s song "Popular". They've grown beyond that and have produced some good, mature music while not losing their rocking roots. Their 2012 album The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy is a gem from start to finish. I choose the lead track because it sets the tone for the album and is just a pure power rock jam.The bass in this track is relentless driving the piece forward even while front man Matthew Caws explores some interesting themes in the lyrics. It's hard to capture the depth of a person struggling with their place in a larger universe in a pop song but he succeeds here. 

The stars are indifferent to astronomy

and all that we think we know

Mars will salute your autonomy

But he doesn't need to know

The little layered harmony on top of this chorus is just gorgeous and the song's final notes hit with conviction and then just left to fade...as we all must.

Dave Kelley

"Sweet Old World"     Lucinda Williams

I admit that Anthony Bourdain's suicide hit me much harder than it should have considering that I never met him.  I was a huge fan of his shows.  Food was featured, but it was never a cooking show.  He traveled everywhere, but it was not a travel show.  To me, he was just a smart, opinionated, empathetic, curious  guy who traveled the world rubbing shoulders with every day men and women finding out what mattered to them.  He emphasized both the differences in different cultures and the similarities in all humans.

We can never know what is going on in someone else's mind.  That is why the credo of Patton Oswald's late wife, "it is all chaos, be kind" strikes me as one of the truest things I have ever heard.

This is a classic Lucinda song in which she lists some of the beautiful things this world has to offer that the person who killed himself left behind.  The only flaw is that she neglected to mention bacon.

Gary Scudder

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, In A Sentimental Mood

This is just about a perfect song, and one that is impossibly beautiful.  It's difficult to improve upon Ellington's original from 1935, but I think this re-imagining did.  It's drawn from a 1963 collaboration album which is just wonderful.  It's one of a series of collaboration albums that Ellington did late in life, and right before Coltrane went completely off the rails musically (his later music just takes a lot more work and patience and study from the listener).  I was thinking about why I liked this version better than the original, and I think it is because it is more stripped down, more simple.  This is something I've been thinking about a lot generally, and when I was putting together the different covers of NY's Only Love Can Break Your Heart inevitably the simpler versions were the ones I liked the best (even more than NY's original).

Ellington did not record this with his band, but instead with Coltrane's quartet. It reminds me, not surprisingly, of Young recording Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam and how it changed the vibe for the better.  The Ellington/Coltrane collaboration is required ownership.

Shots

As the great Canadian philosopher wrote, "I keep hearing shots."  Recently I went to a local high school for some kid event and came across this work of art in the lobby. I found it brilliant and humbling, and also worthy of celebrating, even if only to the few people who read my blog.  The students who created it are: Robert Kemkowski, Lena Ashooh, Nate Fillion, Audrey Olson and Suzy Zimmerman.  The students of today just get it in a way that older generations don't, especially those who sell their soul to the NRA. I recently discussed the Drive-By Truckers sobering Guns of Umpqua on one of our Discography discussions, and the song was playing through my mind as I looked at this work.

Too Much Jordanian Coffee

Nothing profound here, other than me getting caught up on some blogging.  When we were in Jordan we stopped for a break at a little coffee stand that overlooked a dam.  It was so green that it didn't even look like Jordan (to be fair, it was around a body of water and it was March so we hadn't hit the dry season yet).  I don't know what started the madness, but at a certain point Michael began training Isa on the fine art of boxing.  It was made all the more insane because we were on the edge of a pretty precipitous drop off.  Clearly, the coffee was pretty strong.

The tentative beginning . . .

. . . and then shit got real.

Discography Year Two - Week 40

After last week's inspired theme week we've returned to our normal anarchic style: each noted musicologist for her/himself.  It's hard be believe that we only three months left in this incarnation of the Discography. Quick, MK, what are the betting odds that Trump is removed from office through Second 4 of the 25th Amendment before we're done with this year's Discography?

I officially vouchsafe this as a Week of Excellence.

Dave Wallace

Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed

Bettye LaVette has been singing soul music since the 1960's, but she's only really broken through the last couple of decades.  She's a masterful interpreter of songs and has released several terrific albums.  She has a new album composed solely of Dylan covers, and it's excellent.  Things Have Changed is the title track.  DK and I are seeing her in concert later this month, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Kevin Andrews

As Gary mentioned, some of us partook in a lovely day in Burlington’s City Hall Park for part of the Discover Jazz Festival last Saturday. It was especially nice to see many children out in the park. As we know, Jazz is particularly healthful for young children as it encourages active listening, emotional intelligence, hand-eye coordination and spatial recognition. Yes, I made that up. The fine weather and spirited music made for a sublime day. The experience brought a song to mine that has nothing to do with Jazz and I present it here without comment. Mike Doughy’s I Just Want The Girl in The Blue Dress To Keep On Dancing.

Dave Kelley

"When did the land of the free

Become the home of the afraid

Afraid of the world

Afraid of the truth

Afraid of each other"

"The World is on Fire"  American Aquarium

American Aquarium is a fine band out of North Carolina fronted by BJ Barham.  I saw them play at a festival in Cincinnati and was very impressed.  Jason Isbell produced one of their old records.  Apparently Isbell and Barham were drinking buddies before they went dry.

Last year Barham came back after a solo tour only to discover that the rest of the band had quit.  They understandably had gotten tired of constantly touring in busses and vans and making very little money.  Instead of packing it in too, Barham put together another band.  Inspired by the Trump election and the implosion of his band, he wrote a set of his songs for their next album which was released last week.  The result is fantastic and easily the best thing he has done.  The release is titled "Things Change", and I would encourage you to give it a listen.  It is classic roots rock with pedal steel providing some nice flourishes.  Another song has a classic line "I traded in my youth, for three chords and the truth."  That should have been a Clash lyric!  

I think the lines quoted above constitute the essential question facing our society.  Anger is rooted in fear which stems from ignorance.  When did the nation become so ignorant?

Cindy Morgan

This article went around this week and generated a pretty interesting discussion on my FB page which focused in part on Lolita (it's a super interesting article and I encourage you to read it if you haven't). I have a powerful connection to the book--I read it in high school when I was involved in a Lolita-esque relationship with one of my English teachers (though he was no Humbert Humbert I assure you). I'm sure at this point you all are thinking--oh this is going to be a "Don't Stand So Close to Me" kind of post. And it might have been had Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain not chosen to end their lives this week. The man I had this relationship with died 6 years ago in what I can only assume was a suicide--he had profound neck problems that left him in a great deal of pain and limited his once very active lifestyle. 

We stayed in contact if not always close, all the years since our relationship ended, though saw each other only twice, once when I was 24 and the last time when I was 30. I was and still am profoundly effected by his absence. There are days when I want to call and ask him if a sentence I am working on is right; if he has read a book I love; if he saw a certain movie and what he thought of it. He was a beacon for me through some of the hardest times and I knew he would always be there. Until he wasn't. He helped make me the student I became, the reader that I am, the writer that I aspire to be. The song that I will always associate with him is "Verdi Cries" by the 10,000 Maniacs. He introduced me to opera, to Verdi, which is part of it. But the other part is the melancholy nature of the song--the solo piano with orchestra evoking and Natalie Merchant's voice, all soaring emotion, telling of a summer that has passed--the happy memories associated with it--all of it gone now. But still alive in memory. The last lines were my senior yearbook quote (a tribute that only had meaning to me and to him) and I leave them here in memory of Eric Muirhead.

All is memory

taken home with me

the opera, the stolen tea, the sand drawing, the verging sea

all years ago

Phillip Seiler

As I mentioned last week Kathy and I got to see the documentary movie Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes as a benefit for the Burlington Jazz Fest. It was good but a little frustrating because, frankly, it is impossible to capture all one wants to see and know about Blue Note in just 90 minutes. However, I really enjoyed the trip through time and to see how artists on the label today are building higher and higher on top of the label's legacy. One such artist is Robert Glasper. 

His straight jazz is pretty beautiful but I am absolutely enraptured by his collaborative work with rap, R&B, and pop artists. My track today is from his album Black Radio 2 under the name Robert Glasper Experiment. This track features Common and Patrick Stump of Fallout Boy.

I Stand Alone

I don't have much to say. It's just an excellent hook with a positive vibe and thoughtful lyrics. I can't ask for much more these days and I was glad to have found it.

Gary Scudder

John Coltrane, Alabama

Recently someone, could be anyone, although I guess it was me, tweeted the following:

Growing up as a white male in #Indiana, a terribly racist state, I never wanted to believe that everything in #America was about race, but, you know, in the #US everything is about #race and #racism.

You would think that someone whose favorite artist wrote both Southern Man and Alabama would have fully understood that earlier, although it is, as Al Gore would remind us in a different context, an inconvenient truth.  A couple of years ago when I was putting together the 110 NY songs better than Heart of Gold I commented that when Young wrote Southern Man it wasn't really that many years past the worst of the worst racially based southern violence, and in many ways was still in the midst of it - but also how depressing it was to consider that he could have written the song last week.

With that introduction out of the way, what I really want to talk about this week is the extraordinary John Coltrane song Alabama.  It's off his 1964 album Live at Birdland, which is a mixture of live tracks and studio material.  Coltrane wrote the song as a tribute to the four African American children killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham.  If you're familiar with A Love Supreme it has that feel (especially, and appropriately, Psalms), except that where A Love Supreme is immersively transcendent Alabama is heartbreaking and reflective and elegiac (without descending to being downright desultory). Last week I watched a documentary on Coltrane called Chasing Trane and it is highly recommended; it made me love him even more, which is really saying something.

Like KA, I will also, without further comment, celebrate the extraordinary cultural benefits of last Saturday's jazz fest.

Little Petra

I just wanted to post a quick picture (I'm absolutely buried at the moment with study and writing and home chores) from the recent trip to Jordan.  While I've been to Petra many times I think this last trip was only my second time in Little Petra, which is simply a different entrance to the ancient city.  It doesn't get nearly the visitors that the main area gets, which is alone a good reason to go.

This is a picture I snapped of the students from inside a cave as they looked out at the facing wall.  One of the things that makes Petra amazing is the advanced efforts they made to collect water (not surprising in a desert).  You can really see it more clearly in Little Petra.  Look at the wall, and you can see the little channels that were carved into the rock face to capture all the water and bring it together for collecting.

Belief and Righteous Deeds

Not too long ago I wrote a deeply personal post on what I thought Islam was about, which I entitled What It Means, appropriately enough, and with the requisite nod to the Drive-By Truckers album. I will not include another lengthy exegesis (I've included a link instead).  Essentially, my point was that as I work my way through the Quran, which I read throughout the year but obviously much more intensely and holistically during Ramadan, it seems to me that what really matters is faith (and not blind submission; but instead based on thoughtful reflection) and righteous deeds (which is mainly just giving back more, time after time, than you received).  So, I culled out all the times (or at least most - I'm sure that I missed some, in which case I'll go back and amend later) that the two concepts are paired in the Quran, which is, obviously, a lot. It's not as if everything else isn't important, but to me, in its most simple form, what we're talking about is what we can control and what we can't control.  Or, what we can know and what we can't know.

"And give glad tidings to those who believe and perform righteous deeds that theirs are Gardens with rivers running below." 2:24

"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve." 2:62

"And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden, therein to abide." 2:82

"Truly those who believe, perform righteous deeds, maintain the prayer, and give the alms shall have their reward with their Lord.  No fear shall come upon the, nor shall they grieve." 2:277

"'And as for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, He shall pay them their rewards in full. And God loves not the wrongdoers.'" 3:57

"They believe in God and the Last Day, enjoin right and forbid wrong, and hasten unto good deeds.  And they are among the righteous." 3:114

"But for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall cause them to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein forever.  They they shall have spouses made pure, and We shall cause them to enter plenteous shade." 4:57

"But for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, We shall cause them to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein forever. God's Promise is true, and who is truer in speech than God?" 4:122

"And whosoever performs righteous deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, such shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged so much as the speck on a date stone." 4:124

"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, He shall pay them their rewards in full, and will increase them from His Bounty." 4:173

"To those who believe and perform righteous deeds, God has promised forgiveness and a great reward." 5:9

"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabeans, and the Christians - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve." 5:69

"There is no blame upon those who believe and perform righteous deeds for that which they have eaten, so long they are reverent, and believe, and perform righteous deeds, then are reverent and believe, and then are reverent and virtuous.  And God loves the virtuous." 5:93

"Those who believe and who do not obscure their belief through wrongdoing, it is they who have security, and they are rightly guided." 6:82

"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds - We task no soul beyond its capacity - it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden; they shall abide therein." 7:42

"But the believing men and believing women are protectors of one another, enjoining right and forbidding wrong, performing the prayers, giving the alms, and obeying God and His messenger. They are those upon whom God will have Mercy. Truly God is Mighty. Wise." 9:71

"Unto Him is your return all together; God's Promise is true.  Verily He originates creation, then He brings it back, that He may recompense with justice those who believe and perform righteous deeds." 10:4

"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, their Lord guides them by their Faith. They shall have rivers running below them in Gardens of bliss." 10:9

"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds and are humble before their Lord, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Garden; they shall abide therein." 11:23

"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs in blessedness and a beautiful return." 13:29

"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be made to enter Gardens with rivers running below, abiding therein by the leave of their Lord.  Their greeting therein shall be, 'Peace!'" 14:23

"Whosoever works righteousness, whether male or female, and is a believer, We shall give them new life, a good life, and We shall surely render unto them their reward in accordance with the best of that which they used to do." 16:97

"Truly this Quran guides toward that which is most upright, and gives glad tidings to the believers who perform righteous deeds that theirs shall be a great reward." 17:9

"Praise be to God, Who sent down the Book unto His servant, and placed no crookedness therein, upright that He may warn of a great might coming from His Presence and give glad tidings unto the believers who perform righteous deeds that theirs shall be a beautiful reward . . ." 18:1-2

"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, surely We neglect not the reward of one who is virtuous in deed." 18:30

"But as for the one who believes and works righteousness, he shall have a reward, that which is most beautiful, and we shall speak unto him that which is easy from our command." 18:88

"Those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be the Gardens of Paradise as a welcome." 18:107

"Then they were succeeded by a generation who neglected prayer and followed their desires. So they shall meet [the reward of] error, save for those who repent and believe and work righteousness.  It is they who shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged in the least." 19:59-60

"Surely those who  believe and perform righteous deeds, for them shall the Compassionate ordain love." 19:96

"But whosoever comes unto Him as a believer, having performed righteous deeds, theirs shall be the highest ranks - Gardens of Eden with rivers running below, abiding therein.  That is the recompense of one who purifies himself." 20:75-76

"And surely I am most forgiving toward the one who repents and believes and works righteousness, and thereafter is rightly guided." 20:82

"But whosoever performs righteous deeds and it a believer, he shall fear neither wrong nor deprivation." 20:112

"And whosoever performs righteous deeds and is a believer, there shall be no ingratitude for his endeavor, and surely We shall write [it] down for him." 21:94

"Truly God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below." 22:14

"Truly God will cause those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below, adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearl, and therein their clothes will be of silk. And they shall be guided unto that which is good in speech, and be guided unto the path of the Praised." 22:23

"And as for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision." 22:50

"Sovereignty that Day shall be God's.  He will judge between them, and those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be in a Garden of bliss." 22:56

"God has promised those among you who believe and perform righteous deeds that He will surely make them viceregents upon the earth, as He caused those before them to be viceregents, and that He will establish for them their religion, which He has approved for them, and that He will surely change them from a state of fear to [one of] security." 24:55

"He shall abide therein, humiliated, save for those who repent and believe and perform righteous deeds. For them, God will replace their evil deeds with good deeds, and God is Forgiving, Merciful. And whosoever has repented and works righteousness does indeed repent to God with true repentance." 25:69-71

"And as for the poets, the errant follow them. Hast thou not considered that they wander in every valley, and that they say what they do not do? Not so those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and remember God much, and help one another after having been wronged." 26:224-227

"As for those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens of refuge, as a welcome for that which they used to do." 32:19

"Those who disbelieve say, 'The Hour will never come upon us.' Say, 'Nay! By my Lord, by the Knower of the Unseen, it will surely come unto you.' Not a mote's weight evades Him in the heavens or on the earth, nor smaller than that, nor larger, but that it is in a clear Book, that He may recompense those who believe and perform righteous deeds; theirs shall be forgiveness and a generous provision." 34:3-4

"He said, 'He has indeed wronged you in asking that your ewe be added to his ewes. Truly many associates transgress against one another, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds. Yet how few are they!' And David understood that We had tried him; so he sought forgiveness from his Lord, fell down kneeling, and repented." 38:24

"And We did not create Heaven and earth and whatsoever is between them in vain; that is the conjecture of those who disbelieve.  So woe before the Fire unto those who disbelieve! Or shall We make those who believe and perform righteous deeds like those who work corruption upon the earth? Or shall We make the reverent like the profligate?" 38:27-28

"And the blind and the seer are not equal; nor are those who believe and perform righteous deeds and the evildoer. Little do you reflect!" 40:58

"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be a reward unceasing." 41:8

"And who is more beautiful in speech than one who calls unto God, works righteousness, and says, 'Truly I am among those who submit'? The good deed and the evil deed are not equal.  Repel by that which is better; then behold the one between whom and thee there is enmity shall be as if he were a loyal, protecting friend." 41:33-34

"Thou seest the wrongdoers wary of that which they have earned; for it will fall upon them. And those who believe and perform righteous deeds shall be in flowering meadows of the Gardens.  With their Lord they shall have whatsoever they will. That is a great bounty." 42:22

"He responds to those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and will increase from His Bounty. Yet as for the disbelievers, theirs shall be a severe punishment." 42:26

"As for those who believed and performed righteous deeds, their Lord causes them to enter into His Mercy. That is the manifest triumph." 45: 30

"And those who believe and perform righteous deeds, and believe in what has been sent down unto Muhammad - and it is the truth from their Lord - He has absolved them of their evil deeds and set their state aright." 47:2

"Truly God causes those who believe and perform righteous deeds to enter Gardens with rivers running below, while those who disbelieve enjoy themselves and eat as cattle eat; and the Fire shall be an abode for them." 47:12

"Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Those who are with him are harsh against the disbelievers, merciful to one another. You see them bowing, prostrating, seeking bounty from God and contentment; their mark upon their faces is from the effect of prostration. That is their likeness in the Torah. And their likeness in the Gospel is a sapling that puts forth its shoot and strengthens it, such that it grows stout and rises firmly upon its stalk, impressing the sowers, that through them He may enrage the disbelievers. God has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those among them who believe and perform righteous deeds." 48:29

"The day that He gathers you for the Day of Gathering, that is the Day of Mutual Dispossession.  And whosoever believes in God and works righteousness, He will absolve him of his evil deeds and cause him to enter Gardens with rivers running below, to abide therein forever.  That is the great triumph." 64:9

"And whosoever believes in God and works righteousness, He causes him to enter Gardens with rivers running below, to abide therein forever.  God has indeed prepared for him a beautiful provision." 65:11

"But God knows best what they conceal. So give them glad tidings of a painful punishment, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; theirs shall be a reward unceasing." 84:23-25

"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, theirs shall be Gardens with rivers running below: that is the supreme triumph." 85:11

"By the dig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, and by this land made safe, truly We created man in the most beautiful stature, when We cast him to the lowest of the low, save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; for theirs shall be a reward unceasing. What then will make you deny religion? Is not God the most just of judges?" 95:1-8

"Truly those who believe and perform righteous deeds, it is they who are the best of creation." 98:7

"By the declining day, truly mankind is in loss, save those who believe, perform righteous deeds, exhort one another to truth, and exhort one another to patience." 103:1-3

Discography Year Two - Week 39

Yes, it is another theme week, and a Theme Week of Excellence.  It was also one that many of us founding challenging (which makes it a metaphor for all of our lives with Dave Kelley).  Here is the assignment as laid out by the esteemed DK:

"There are so many ways that we can experience music, but my favorite by far has always been a great live performance.  Not only can the band or artist flesh out and expand the music they have made in the studio, but the communal sense one gets from sharing the experience with others can often be wonderful.  The Frank Turner show some of us saw in January 2017 on the same day as all of the women's marches was absolutely cathartic and a candle in the darkness of the Trump Inauguration.  Seeing Bruce and the E Street Band for the first time on The River tour is a great memory I will always have.   We have all been lucky enough to see fantastic concerts by many amazing artists over the years.  I am assuming that, like myself, we have all missed out on other shows that would have been amazing.  I decided not to see Pearl Jam in a small club in Cincinnati before they blew up and became hugely popular.  I also passed up an opportunity to see The Talking Heads on their Stop Making Sense Tour.  What a fucking idiot.

Of course, we have not been able to see other wonderful shows because we were too young or not yet born.  I would kill to see a James Brown Show in the 50's or 60's.  The same would be true of Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis, etc.

So here is my idea for the next theme week.  You are presented with a time machine and the opportunity to see any live show at any point in history.  It could be Mozart giving a recital, The Beatles at a small club in Hamburg, Bruce on the Darkness Tour, Robert Johnson in a 1930's Mississippi juke joint, or Louis Armstrong in the Big Easy.  It could be Neil Young and Crazy Horse from earlier this week.

So, what band or artist would you choose to see and during what period of time.  Show your work."

And this seems like a perfectly apt question considering that today I spent a glorious Vermont afternoon in a downtown park with KA, KS and PS enjoying the Vermont Discover Jazz Festival.  As the esteemed DK opined the other night on Facebook, life is pretty sweet when we aren't actively trying to fuck it up.

Dave Wallace

A very interesting theme for this week's blog, and I've spent too much time considering it.  I've been lucky to see a number of artists at what is generally considered their live peak:  Springsteen on the Darkness tour, Talking Heads on the Stop Making Sense tour, R.E.M. following the release of Life's Rich Pageant, Prince touring behind Purple Rain, and Lucinda Williams on the Car Wheels tour.  All of these shows left me with the same feeling - when there, you knew that you were witnessing something unique and special.  When thinking of shows I wish I'd seen, here are some of the ones that come to mind:

James Brown - There Was a Time

James Brown - There was a time (1968) - YouTube

I saw James Brown in the '80s and really enjoyed the show.  Much of his act had devolved into shtick by this point, but he still was a dynamic live performer.  Yet, I know that it was nothing close to his heyday when he may have been the greatest live act in the history of popular music.  The video and audio here is pretty grainy and not great quality, but it definitely gives you a sense of how amazing he was.  Brown owns the stage, and his band is locked into a killer groove behind him.

Bob Dylan and the Band – Like a Rolling Stone 

Bob Dylan and The Band - Like A Rolling Stone (rare live footage) - YouTube

Dylan Goes Electric!  Dylan's tour with the Band after Highway 61 remains one of the most important in rock history.  A lot of the folk purists were upset with him for using electric instruments, and the tour was a raucous affair.  The exchange at the beginning of this video where an audience calls Dylan a "Judas" and he has a few choice words in response is one of his most famous moments.  I'd heard audio of this version of Like a Rolling Stone before, but I had no idea that there was video of the performance.  Dylan is focused and intense, and the Band sounds amazing behind him.  Interesting side note - Levon Helm elected to sit out the tour, so there's a different drummer with the Band (who weren't even called that then).

Sam & Dave - Hold On I'm Coming

Hold on I'm Coming - Sam & Dave LIVE!!! - YouTube

Sam & Dave were considered one of the great live acts in the history of soul music, and you can see why from this video.  Bonus greatness - their backing band here is Booker T & MGs, plus the Memphis Horns.  Soul music royalty all around!

Van Morrison and the Caledonia Soul Orchestra - Caravan

Van Morrison - Caravan (Live) - YouTube

Van Morrison's tour with the Caledonia Soul Orchestra generally is considered to be his live peak as a performer, and the live album, It's Too Late to Stop Now, from that tour is a great representation of its highlights.  This clip is their version of Caravan, one of my favorite Morrison songs.  I have never seen Morrison in concert, which is one of the biggest gaps in my concert-going experience.

The Replacements – Bastards of Young

The Replacements – Bastards of Young - Live at Maxwell’s 1986 (Official Video) - YouTube

I passed up a few chances to see the Replacements in concert over the years, scared off by their reputation as wildly erratic live performers, and I regret that now.  Apparently, they could be the best or the worst band in the world, depending on what night you saw them.  I wasn't interested in being subjected to a crappy show, but I wish that I'd taken that chance now.  It would have been worth the roll of the dice to see them at their best.  No video for this song, just audio of a live version of Bastards of Young.

Bob Craigmile

I will go out on a limb and guess that others have (or thought about) written about the original Woodstock concert as their show from the past.   In contrast to the rules (such as they are, limiting us to one artist) I think I would opt for the entire weekend.  The music! The Drugs! The Nudity!  Mudsliding!!!

I have watched the movie a few times over the years, at least once in a theater.  For me, the somewhat incongruous lineup (Sha Na Na and Carlos Santana?) just adds to the charm.  I keep thinking of The Who as being so alive and mesmerizing, with Daltrey swinging that big mic. over the edge of the stage 15 feet away.  Such energy and exultation.  

The performance of Alvin Lee and Ten Years After is just completely insane.  The amount of drugs he was on was just right imho.  

The group Mountain was on that bill;  I saw them 8 years later in Cincinnati with a high school buddy and they were great both times.  One hit wonders perhaps, but still the real deal.  Richie Havens also sticks in my mind as just killing it, and he kept playing as he walked off the stage.  

There is of course the ending set by Mr. Hendrix to consider;  there is a point in his playing where he looks at the camera directly and to me it's absolutely chilling.  He was dead by the time the movie was released I think.  His version of the Star Spangled Banner effectively marked the end of the 60's.

Would I go to such a thing now? No way;  the Bonnaroo festival is just up the road and I refuse to go.  It was hard enough to attend Farm Aid 30 a few years ago; I'm pushing 60 and one can only tolerate so much.  But if I could attend it in my 20 year old body it would be an easy choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur522xbwoFE  < outtakes, not the movie.

Kevin Andrews

Recently GS asked me how many concerts I had been to. I had no idea. He asked which was my favorite. He asks a lot of questions. I’ve saved the ticket stub from just about every concert I’ve been to. I I have a short list of the most memorable but I don’t think I have a favorite and certainly not room for it here. All the stubs go into a plastic ziplok bag. I don’t look at them much, I just mindlessly add to it.

For Christmas last year a friend gave me an photo album like book made to hold tickets. I really wasn’t motivated to deal with them until Dave’s theme made me dump out the bag last week. First, I separated them by decade, putting them in chronological order is not going to happen. Many stubs are small and don’t have the date, just some notes on the back. After counting I put them back in brand new plastic bags by decade. I counted 144 and I’ve since thought of a bunch that I don’t have or weren’t ticketed. I’m guessing there should be about 175. Most shows have two acts, some three or four. I went to the Philadelphia Folk Festival for a few years where over the course of the weekend you saw six or seven legit acts each day. It’s probably over 400 artists.

All that boring crap is just to say there are still shows I would have like to have seen. Lots of shows. So, what band or artist would you choose to see and during what period of time. I came up with nine shows, one of which is what every right thinking person should choose. There is only one answer. Here they are in order of preference.

1972 Todd R. at the Tower Theater, Upper Darby PA. Home town boy at my home town theater, I was 12. I remember the mayor gave him the key to the township. I also remember thinking, as he no doubt did, who the fuck would want that?

1970 Allman Brothers, Fillmore East NYC. Fortunately we have the album.

1974 Little Feat, Los Angeles. Big regret never seeing them with Lowell.

1973 Bruce, Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NY. After The Wild, The Innocent. Before things hit the fan.

1981 REM, Athens, GA. Changing the game.

1976 Elvis Costello CBGB, NYC. I’ve seen him four times since, I doubt with that much energy.

1934 Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, The Hot Club Paris. This is why they called it the Hot Club.

And the correct answer, 1967 Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pop Festival. Just add lighter fluid. In fairness to other guitar players he was playing two instruments, the guitar and the amplifier.

Phillip Seiler

This theme week was a struggle for me. I was fighting against two truths. One, there are almost an infinite number of good choices to this question. Two, when I was discovering my musical identity I didn't much care for live music. I preferred the clean, perfected sound of a studio recording. It didn't help that most of my early concerts were mid-stadium sized events of mainstream bands (Chicago & Moody Blues come to mind.) The first show I saw that broke me out of this thinking was Suzanne Vega. Ironically it was her opening act, Richard Thompson (!!!) that opened up my appreciation of what a live show could be. He basically came on stage and asked for requests and then played them. I would love to go back and experience that show again because I was unaware of Thompson's music up to that point. But that will not be my choice here. 

Instead, I will take my machine and go back to some random date in the mid 50s to catch whatever show is at Birdland. (I am sure that I am suffering from some recency effect here as Kathy and I just saw the Blue Note documentary film and Jazz Fest has just begun in Burlington.) I might stay a few days just to make sure I catch someone legendary. Or not. I mean it would be great to be at the show where Blakey recorded "A Night At Birdland" but we also have those records so it wouldn't be strictly necessary. I love randomness and often just trust to luck to dump me where I need to be, hear what I need to hear, see what I need to see. It is probably a terrible life strategy. But as near as I can tell all life strategies end in the same basic way. 

So maybe I would catch Clifford Brown or Horace Silver or Stan Getz or somebody time has forgotten. Maybe Frank Sinatra or Marilyn Monroe or Jack Kerouac would be in the audience. Or maybe it would just be a bunch of folks from Jersey for a night in the city. Since I have the luxury of knowing where I am and why it is so essential to our collective musical history, it would be enough. That these musicians were reinventing the most American of art forms as the world was on fire around them is unfathomable to me. You really can hear the world and all that is happening in this music and yet it is still so full of joy and hope. 

Admittedly, it would be amazing to have been there this night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii57FytBQ74

Kathy Seiler

Wade in the Water (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg_8L96E3eU)

 

I’m going a little rogue with this theme week while staying in the spirit of the theme. I’ve always been a fan of spirituals and know their origin as songs sung by slaves. If I had a time machine, I probably (honestly) wouldn’t WANT to go back in time to when slavery in the US existed, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it if I had the option. As a white person, the shame I feel for how my race has treated, and continues to treat, others is overwhelming at times. We say “white people suck” with some frequency in our house and I try not to be a sucky white person, although I’m sure I fail at times. I don’t even identify fully with my race although I admittedly enjoy its privilege.

 

My song this week is not by a band in a venue, but the spiritual Wade in the Water, used as a tool by the Underground Railroad to give slaves direction for escape. I not only love the music itself and can hear its influence on the blues (another genre I listen to with frequency), but I love that it outsmarted the slave owners and helped the oppressed to their freedom. How incredibly clever to encode instructions and directions in songs, and how ironic so many of the spirituals were about Moses and the slavery of his people. Music is both a communication tool and outlet for emotion, and the spirituals are the perfect marriage of those two things.

Dave Kelley

I considered a ridiculous number of options here.  Louis Armstrong playing in the Treme, Sinatra backed by a big band, late sixties James Brown, an early Elvis concert, Muddy Waters in a small Chicago juke joint, etc.

At the end of the day, the truest answer for me is The Who in 1970.  While I saw them multiple times, they were well past their prime.  And by past their prime, I mean after Keith Moon died.  When he was alive and healthy, they were for my money arguably the best live rock band ever.  What a fucking rhythm section.

I choose 1970 because they had extended their show to include non Tommy material.  While Who's Next is a great record, some or those songs work better on vinyl than live.  That record came out in 1971.

Sticking with my instrumental theme from last week, I chose "Sparks" which I think exemplifies the best of their playing.

Alice Neiley

I'm ashamed to say I haven't been to many live concerts (at least compared to most of you!), though the ones I've seen have been amazing...Martin Sexton, Aretha Franklin, Nickel Creek, Al Green, Bobby McFerrin, Earth Wind and Fire, Lake Street Dive, and I think that's about it, but the one person I would see if I could would, hands down, be Ella Fitzgerald in her prime. Specifically, her performance in Berlin, 1960, which thankfully was also recorded. 

I can't imagine anything more exciting, for example, than to hear her sing Mack the Knife that night, when she forgot the words and you could hear her smiling. I wrote about that version of that song for my first post on this blog, and I'd love to have seen/heard it unfold in person. 

Not only that, she also sang "Misty" that night, her voice sounding like ribbons, AND she sang "Summertime", a song that is most accurately performed by Sarah Vaughan, a bit deeper and grittier, but that Ella manages to slam dunk anyway, AND she sang "Lady is a Tramp", the irreverent lyrics for which I've always loved and related to, AND she sang "How High the Moon" and her scat solo was almost entirely based on Charlie Parker's "Ornithology", a tune which, incidentally, was based on chord changes in "How High the Moon"!  

I mean, can you REALLY get better than all that, live?!? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vXAtVbZbkI&list=RD6vXAtVbZbkI&start_radio=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpugis89JJs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFNLG2Xl2s0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Qg377uI7g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR1__k-BxhY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsAMAIaas94

Cindy Morgan

This is a tough assignment and I have been giving it the deep think for 2 weeks. My knee-jerk response was the Prince "Purple Rain" tour because it was probably the only concert at that time that I really wanted to see and didn't. And now that Prince had gone to the great purple beyond and I missed that chance way back I definitely regret it even more. I was pretty lucky growing up in Los Angeles with fairly permissive parents who let me see tons of shows. Permissive might be a euphemism for "naive," or perhaps "kept in the dark." Lots of memories of spending the night on the sidewalk outside Music Plus on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach waiting to buy tickets for shows then going to The Palladium, the Forum, Irvine Meadows, the Greek, the Colosseum (U2!!!) for shows. . . I digress.

!!!CLICHE WARNING!!!

If I could see any piece of music performed live at any time I would teleport back to 1824 Vienna for the premier of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Yeah. I know. Total cliche. But. . .what must it have been like with him there conducting next to the guy who could actually hear and was really conducting? Hearing what it was MEANT to sound like on the instruments of the day with the timing he intended? I think everyone there knew he was deaf and yet had written this soaring and joyful piece of music. The first symphony with a chorale--I mean what must people have been expecting? How did they process it once they had heard it? It's not like they could download it and listen to it again on their phones. Luckily he gave it that catchy melody. . .  To see a completely new and revolutionary addition to the genre--and a piece that always has the power to bring me to tears--well, cliche or not I'm sticking with it. Also: who wouldn't want to see Vienna in the 1820s?

Gary Scudder

Like most of you (one of the advantages/disadvantages of hosting this discussion is that I see all the posts before anyone else) I struggled with this week's question, which, in my mind, makes it a good question.  Of course, this is me speaking as a professor who believes that if my students don't leave the class every day questioning their grasp on reality then I've failed in my job.  In the end there were three obvious choices:

Drive-By Truckers with Jason Isbell.  What I'm about to say is heresy, I know, and I will be shouted down by many on this blog, but I'm actually generally OK with Jason Isbell not being part of Uncle Tupelo anymore. Mainly, I guess I’m happy for his sobriety and his happiness, but he’s also too talented of a magician to be limited to only two songs an album.   Truthfully, every album that he get further away from his DBT days I think his efforts get weaker, whereas the Truckers keep producing great music and putting on fantastic shows (I’ve seen him solo twice – and loved it both times – and have seen the Drive-By Truckers twice – and I thought they were simply better; although, to be fair, seeing them in an intimate venue like Higher Ground is always better than someplace like the Flynn). Having said all that, I can’t imagine what it would be like to have seen them together before he went his own way. Here’s a live performance from Richmond from a dozen years ago of Outfit. “Don’t ever say your car is broke.” 

Miles Davis (who ARTI know was the greatest genius of the 20^th century) was a part of many great groups, but it’s hard to imagine that he was ever part of a better group – or that any jazz musician was ever part of a better group – or maybe any musician period was ever part of a better group – than the one that is associated with Kind of Blue: Davis on trumpet, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on alto saxophone, John Coltrane on alto saxophone, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on double bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums (Wynton Kelly played piano on Freddie Freeloader on Kind of Blue, but that doesn’t relate to the theme question).  Jazz has become incredibly important to me and I listen to it well over half the time that I listen to music anymore.  The thought of seeing THAT group in its prime is more than a bit overwhelming.  I’m including a link to a really rare live recording featuring the Sextet, although Red Garland is listed as the pianist when actually it was Evans.  About half-way through My Funny Valentine kicks in and it’s pretty epic (although, truthfully, I don’t think it’s nearly his best recording of it).  I’d love to have seen them play most of the songs off of Kind of Blue mixed in with a few standards such as My Funny Valentine or Stella By Starlight.

OK, so how do I top those two choices?  Well, my first choice will hardly surprise anyone.  It’s hard for me to imagine that I’d want to see anyone more than Neil Young backed by Danny Whitten-era Crazy Horse.  I think that set this apart is that there’s an emotional attachment here that the first two choices simply can’t match.  While I love Miles Davis and the Drive-By Truckers I was introduced to rock by Young and the thought of being transferred to that time – and that age – is simply something that artists from a later period of my life couldn’t possibly match.  MK and I were talking about this question a couple weeks ago and he made the excellent point that your age will determine your choice, and he’s completely correct.  It’s not like later Crazy Horse couldn’t blow it out – this version of Like a Hurricane is just about the most incendiary song imaginable – but Crazy Horse was certainly much more of a band when Whitten was alive.  Here are a couple great examples: Down By The River and Cowgirl In The Sand.