March 06, 2008
(Don't Taunt) the Reaper
The AV Club's list of 26 tempting but inappropriate funeral songs. Thankfully, "Atlantis" and "Mr. Roboto" didn't make the list.
What should be played at your funeral?
September 12, 2006
Soon, it will all be at our fingertips!
And you can see the beginnings of it here
The waybackmachine even had old Memphilter pages. I'm still checking this all out, but it seems like it will be an awsome resource. If I had only had the internet in college, all those damn trips to the library!
July 18, 2006
"Dem come fe kill Bob!"
From the Guardian, an excerpt from the upcoming book Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailer's Album of the Century: the day they shot Bob Marley. Two days later, Marley played in front of 80,000 people at theSmile Jamacia concert.
May 26, 2006
Bad news and good news
First, the bad news. Ska pioneer Desmond Dekker has passed away from a heart attack at age 64. Most famous for his song "Isrealites", the former welder was a living legend who was closely associated with Jimmy Cliff through their producer Leslie Kong. At 64, Dekker was still active, with shows booked through the end of the year.
The good news is that an exaustive, peer-reviewed study has concluded that smoking marijuana does not increase your risk of lung cancer. This welcome news is a potential boost to the theory that radioactive elements like the alpha-emitter polonuim 210, which is present in tobacco smoke, rather than tar, is the main cause of smoking-related lung cancer.
November 28, 2005
Hail Atlantis
In a month that already saw the long overdue rehabilitation of Neil Diamond's reputation, more good news: the autobiography of Donovan hits the shelves to a glowing review from the NY Times. [And for those of you who are feeling mobile this holiday season, note that Donovan is touring.]
November 10, 2005
Remember Me
G. G. is baby-talk for Jesus!?
Everything you never wanted to know about a Misogynist / Rock Star / Freak
September 18, 2005
NPR's Scott Simon interviews Neil Young
If you can spare 45 minutes, listen to the stream on the NPR site. In the unedited interview Neil discusses his favorite guitar, which was once owned by Hank Williams; Bob Dylan's telephone voice; Neil's ignorance of the music his children listen to; and his affinty for the Ryman Auditorium, which happens to be my favorite place to see a concert.
As you know, I am a big fan of Neil, but I am also a fan of a good interview. Although I am not generally a devotee of NPR's Scott Simon, this is a hell of an interview.
August 17, 2005
Return of the WEVL
Good news, everyone! WEVL is webcasting again!
August 09, 2005
It Didn't Happen in Memphis
Marc Cohn, the guy who shat out the song "Walking in Memphis", was shot in the head (CA reg req) last night during an attempted carjacking.
June 09, 2005
Busy Being Born
This past weekend I saw the Bob Dylan show which is part of a tour Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson are doing of minor league baseball stadiums across the country. Willie was, as always, Willie--happy, entertaining, and enthusiastic (although of the few times I have seen him over the last ten years I have to say he might have finally slowed down just a step). Dylan, of course, was the great unknown factor, and he turned in a hell of a performance: foreboding, enigmatic, and yet strangely giving for a man who has become so reclusive. He reinterpreted his early work to the point that on some songs people in the stands would openly debate what he was playing (see the Savannah setlist here). And he ended the show with the most blistering rendition of All Along the Watchtower I have ever heard live outside of a Neil Young show.
A baby boomer that I saw the show with made an interesting observation that Bob Dylan makes the same song twenty times until he finally gets it right. It's an interesting lens through which to look at his career. Like Neil Young, whose path he has often crossed, Dylan continually retools and reinvents himself, trying to find exactly the right song at exactly the right moment. And like Neil, he has had both extraordinary hits and misses. In two recent interviews, one on CBS and one on NPR, Dylan comes across as a man who is finally comprehending the immenseness of his legacy and who, in typical fashion, is still trying to reshape it decades after it began.
May 16, 2005
The hometown nobodies
Justin Fox Burks and Aaron Brame (who, as two thirds of the f-holes, supplied the soundtrack to Six Days in the Life of Mims) have started a new project. Calling themselves the Hometown Nobodies, they are writing and recording new music and, in lieu of playing the regular round of local dives, they will post a song each Monday to their myspace page.
May 12, 2005
Bumper stickers should be issued
After a long fargin' hiatus from posting (due to being a dad and a corporate stooge and a homeowner and working on other projects and the list goes on), I really crafted a diddy the other night. But right before I was gonna save the son of a bitch, I inadvertently closed the tab it was sittin' on, and it vanished into the ether. Dammit.
Here's the gist: Neil has been in the news lately, and that prompted me to spin my vinyl copy of one of my favorite Neil Albums, Hawks and Doves, which was finally released on CD in late 2003 along with On The Beach and Reactor, two other stellar albums, in my opinion. Hawks is odd because it came from that wierd right wing period in which Neil worked with Devo and played anonymously in a Santa Cruz bar as "The Ducks"; luckily, he talked to Cameron Crowe about all this in late '79.
So to bring you up to date, of the "missing six" all but Journey Through the Past and Time Fades Away have now been released. Tme Fades Away, along with Tonight's the Night and On the Beach, is part of the dark "ditch trilogy". What's the all-American way to beg for a CD of Time Fades Away? An online petition drive, of course.
Now that I think about it, it was probably a good thing I negligently homicided that earlier post, because all of this text is really just context for these poppy, hissy files I ripped from my old vinyl record of Hawks and Doves:
- Union Man: The song from which this post gets its title.
- Captain Kennedy: In addition to Powderfinger, this song was written for Lynyrd Skynyrd to record, as a truce, if you will.
Get 'em while you can, because they won't be up here for long.
September 28, 2004
Rumsfeld Songs
In case you missed the Studio 360 broadcast featuring Phil Kline this week, please check out and listen to the Rumsfeld Songs (scroll down, on your right) featured within this story. In addition to the Rumsfeld songs, Kline has also put to music lyrics etched by American GI's in Vietnam on Zippo lighters. For more info about Phil Kline check out his home page. And for info about why he made Zippo Songs, including the lyrics, go here.
July 28, 2004
The second semi-annual Memphilter music mix-up
Due to the astounding success of the first edition of the Memphilter music swap and the expressed interest about putting together another one, it only makes sense that we give it one more shot. Old timers Destructo, rneff, and blues are already in. Of course I am, too, and I just started to use Audioscrobbler, which hooks into one's music program of choice and makes recommendations based on one's listening history. It even creates a little makeshift internet radio station based on a user's favorites. Savvy swappers may see a hint of the upcoming mix on my user page as time goes by.
If you want to join the fun, leave a comment and await further instruction via email. Comments from previous participants will be much appreciated. Will we have any newcomers? Inquire within. [Slightly more inside]
July 21, 2004
Blogs and MP3s: Two great tastes that taste great together
If you like your MP3s with a little context, maybe a few MP3 blogs in your newsreader is the way to go. The venerable Monkeyfilter seems to have made the first shout out about the phenomenon. Rueters picked it up earlier this month, and then this MeFi post certified the meme. Others began aggregating various MP3 blog sites. Daily, it seems, a blog I admire is linking to a fine new MP3 blog or two. (There are enough sites in the above links to keep one busy for days, methinks.)
Usually, the files only hang out for a short while on each site. It is handy to have the MP3 linked tucked into the liner notes, filled with background about the artists or links to bios or other recordings from similar artists or eras. A perfectly great development in weblogs this is, and hopefully a trend that won't get squashed by copyright law or industry groups.
March 29, 2004
Worst Album Covers of All Time
Top ten worst album covers ever. Wait, here are ten more.
March 23, 2004
Oddmusic
This site is Oddmusic and odd it is. Its a site dedicated to making music with weird instruments and it includes a gallery of pictures of the instruments and audio bites (bytes). Some of this junk sounds pretty cool like the Stamenphone and the Beer Bottle Organ . Then there's the Lego Harpsichord and the Rocket Launcher, these two instruments should be banned by the EPA under noise pollution. Then there's this thing
February 04, 2004
Janet and Justin, meet Gorgoroth
C'mon, people, Janet's glorious mammary was positively pedestrian. For real shock value, nothing beats Norweigian black metal.
January 06, 2004
Want to mix it up?
As I was scanning the year's best music lists of The New Yorker and The Morning News, it occurred to me that somewhere between the birth of my child and my 900-mile move, I lost the time to check out new albums (among other things). To add to the frustration, MefiSwap is apparently (at least temporarily) defunct. Perhaps you, dear reader, can help. If anyone is interested in burning and swapping a mix CD or two, let me know. If there is an interest, we'll devise a plan.
October 23, 2003
Backward Masking your wav files
Remember backward masking? Remember spinning Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" backwards through the old Donny and Marie record player to hear a bunch of garble that someone told you had something to do with weed? Surely the prevalence of backward masking couldn't have anything to do with the anomalous arrangement of sound waves reproduced in reverse. Of course, as many have learned the hard way, backward masking is the deliberate, mind-altering work of lucifer or beelzebub or whoever infiltrated the field of rock-n-roll and led to songs like Meatloaf's "I Would Do Anything for Love". The point of this post is not to assail the clear-cut insanity that was (and still is, in some cases) the mainstream suggestion that backward masking was destroying the youth of the world; instead, it is to show you that, sans-turntable, you can still try to decipher that garbled message embedded in the music you listen to with this handy Backward Masking Utility at talkbackwards.com.
October 20, 2003
Attack of the Earworms
Science has finally addressed the question of why songs get stuck in your head. Among the most common "earworms" are the damned baby back ribs song and a certain mind virus from the Baja Men that raised questions from both the libertarian and Christian right as well as the pacifist and animal rights left. The international controversy was covered in papers as far afield as the Daily Namibian and Hindustan Times before thankfully petering out sometime last year--which goes to show that there is only one universally understood rap song.
September 28, 2003
When rock stars become samurai
David Lee Roth, samurai (warning: video). David Lee Roth, bad samurai (warning: photo of David Lee Roth).
September 15, 2003
Weapon of Choice, the stick figure version
If you like the Spike Jonze-directed version of Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice music video, try the Flash version that replaces Christopher Walken with a stick figure. Although this has made its way around the web a couple of times, it is certainly worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
July 28, 2003
Mick Jagger, older than my dad
Mick turns 60. I see a convalescent home I want to paint it black.
July 14, 2003
It's art... it's music... and now it's pop?
Although they debuted in the New York gallery scene with a retro electronic sound and a stage show that would make Bowie jealous, Fischerspooner has recently been popping up in such non-hepcat places as Britains music show Top of the Pops . Their debut label release, #1 promises to take them into even more living rooms. Can satire stand adulation? And can these guys keep delivering the goods? I, for one, hope so...
March 28, 2003
In a World Gone Mad
Beastie Boys new anti-war song.
January 20, 2003
Get Your Funk On
Get yourself a heapin' helpin' of soul-shakin' funk at Funk45.com, a site dedicted to preserving rare funk recordings and providing a resource for collectors and enthusiasts. User submitted tunes from DJs and collectors abound on the site, albeit excerpted and in the nasty RealAudio format. Galactic Fractures, a Medford, MA radio show, features many funk archives on its site, as well. Deepfunk.org provides useful funk news, articles, and interviews with a Scottish bent. Finally, if you are looking for that rare funky 45, try Funky Soul Records.
Posted by 