This morning is musical

This morning, while cooking up some swiss chard to go with my eggs and pear I listened to The Kinks' Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround. I enjoyed the style variations and liked the little old-timey piano ditty.
I also listened to a recording I am working on, very tentatively titled Sheep With Cameras. A few lyrics... "I wish that you could be my next thought. More likely, I will be." This is one of Nicolas' best organ parts, it has such a good beat. And soon I will sing the lovely harmonies he laid out for me.

Nicolas told me, he was right

Panda Bear's album Person Pitch

Boston: "You seem like a good little boy to me."

Check out our new song "Boston".

And I found a good band residing in Tacoma - Kusikia.

I am going to Vancouver, Canada. This is the flag of that SUNNY city (God help us).

Kimya Dawson and Olympia, WA

I saw Kimya Dawson from the Moldy Peaches and of fame from the hit movie Juno at the Grand Cinema in Tacoma yesterday. Her music is up for a soundtrack award. I added her blog to the links list on the right. Maybe it will be interesting sometimes. Her songs have a lot of honesty in them, and a lot of the Olympia vibe I enjoy so much when I go there. On that note, I attended my first Olympia house show (apparently they have amazing shows in houses there all the time) a few weeks back. A band from Arizona came through on tour - French Quarter. They were tight and fun. And there was an amazing SHADOW PUPPET SHOW! It was really remarkable. Then, Polka Dot Dot (that's only two members of Polka Dot Dot Dot) played. They were quite excellent too. And the crowd was quirky and comfortable.

I am not in love with these bands, but they have something going and it was actually nice to see them all. Check them out.

Kimya Dawson looked kinda like this at the show I saw.

Blues Time Machine: Discovering the Mississippi Sheiks

- R. Crumb's rendering of the Mississippi Sheiks

Six months ago, or so, I was listening to KPLU (88.5 FM)on their weekend show All Blues with John Kessler and I was introduced to the Mississippi Sheiks. I'm pretty sure it was during an excellent segment that John Kessler does called Blues Time Machine. In the Time Machine he plays different versions of the same song over time. Last weekend he featured a song about Mardi Gras that was rooted in an American Indian song. It was phenomenal. And it reminded me of how I was introduced to the Mississippi Sheiks.

"All Things Considered, December 29, 2006 - As part of our series about students and teachers, musicologist Bruce Nemerov describes the way that one song is recorded by several different musicians in different decades of the 20th century. The older musicians are teaching the younger musicians through the song "Sitting on Top of the World." We hear the song as recorded by Al Jolson, The Mississippi Sheiks, Howlin' Wolf, Eric Clapton, Bill Monroe and The Grateful Dead." - NPR

To me, that isn't the finest description, possibly because I'm not a real fan of a lot of those artists. It was, however, the variety of styles and the raw strength of the song to be viable in so many different styles and eras, that made me like this portion.

Follow this link to hear the journey of this song, it is worth way more than 8 minutes.

- This is the album I purchased after listening to this segment on KPLU's All Blues.

I linked this earlier, but now it's here. Thank you, my tech saavy friend!

This is Dr. John. The piano, his voice, and the fact that these songs are ridiculous, on top of the funny artwork make these ads amazing. I first heard about Dr. John on KPLU 88.5 FM, our amazing jazz station. More to come on KPLU.

Van Dyke Parks

I lifted this from Mr. Parks myspace page.

About Van Dyke Parks:
Van Dyke Parks (1943-) established a recording career as artist, arranger, producer, and songwriter in 1963. In that year, he had his first professional job in movie music as arranger for "The Bear Necessities". In 1964, he signed his first contract with MGM Records as singer/songwriter, continuing through the sixties and into the nineties with eight of his own albums, and countless others, as arranger, studio musician, and producer. In 1969, Parks joined Warner Brothers Records as Vice President of Audio/Visual Services and in A&R. Parks recently has taken a hiatus from the Industry, objecting to its contract practices (with the observation "...it's fundamentally wrong to build wealth and comfort which is based on the deprivation of others"). With the re-emergence of his work for a new generation of music-lovers, Parks has resurfaced, and like Frank Sinatra and Brian Wilson (who preceded him in retirement), Van Dyke Parks is back. Van Dyke lives in Los Angeles with his Delta Queen.

See previous posts on Van Dyke Parks and check out the song The Attic on his debut album Song Cycle. Amazing!

David Bazan is a pro and here is his video

I like this song because it is good. And the video is fun. Thanks Christian for showing me how to paste the doodad on here.