i have a nephew who hates tomatoes. i can't really say why, i just know that he absolutely hates them. however, if you took that same tomato and added a little vinegar, corn syrup, a dash of sugar, some herbs and few spices.... then he suddenly loves it. and i mean really really loves it. he puts ketchup on everything. last week i saw him put some of the red gold on his waffles. yes on waffles that already were topped off nicely with abundant helpings of butter and syrup. so what does this have to do with music? as i was driving today Chromeo's remix of The Kids Don't Stand a Chance came on. this got me thinking about The Police and subsequently Sting. I hereby declare that Sting is the musical equivalent of the tomato. just a few notes of "Fields of Gold" and i start to dry-heave. however, if you add a little Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland i could listen to it all day. it is a matter of time before my nephew will get over the tomato thing, but i'm pretty sure sting will pretty much always be a douche.
The Kids Don't Stand a Chance (Chromeo Remix) (mp3) - Vampire Weekend
sooo i have this pretty gnarly headache, and my eyes are bloodshot. the diagnosis is simple - not enough sleep. this is nothing compared to what the mother of our little howler is going through. don't get me wrong... the noise our diminutive neonate makes isn't so much a wail as a tiny inarticulate sound that, when left unaccompanied for a period longer than 4 minutes and 23 seconds, begins to crescendo into a clamor Photo by: flydime
that rivals The 1883 the Krakatoa eruption.
ahh the joys of parenting a 3 month old. there are a lot of little tricks to getting him to go back to sleep. or at least a state of non-noise making for (hopefully) up to 45 minutes. I have honed my sway (figure 8 style - all in the hips)/bounce (not too much, i personally try to mimic the gentle rising/falling that one would feel if they were adrift on a raft in a very calm ocean)/shhhh (maybe 40decibles with a little extra air right past his ear). However not even the swaybouceshhh seems to be working, so i have started singing softly to him. My partner in crime has all these cute little songs about chickens, rent and jello that she uses during play time, but i don't really have any that i sing (and each of my siblings could argue vehemently against me actually calling it singing - as i tend to fall into the orca whale mating call pitch more often than not) except two. In my rendition of these ditties the lyrics are changed, but the intent is still right on par.
Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby (mp3) by Allsion Krauss, Gillian Welch, and Emmylou Harris. This is the one i sing the most to the little man. The lyrics are derived from a traditional mountain lullaby, However T-Bone Burnett (producer and arranger) asked Gillian Welch to expand upon it. There is something remarkably beautiful, if not a little haunting about it. I can and have listened to this song on repeat for incredible stretches of time.
Beautiful Boy (mp3) by John Lennon This is the acoustic demo, because let's be honest the jamacian steel drum sound on the track from Double Fantasy was a little much. I know its a crappy recording and there is nothing but treble, but it's the best I had. I really wanted to post the Ben Harper version from the Instant Karma: Campaign to Save Darfur version, but I lost it when i transferred my library. Sorry.
so as a bonus, I'll give you another sweet ballad. Although I don't think I'll be singing this one to my son anytime soon. Sweet Child O' Mine (mp3) Taken By Trees
So those who are in the know, know how much I love the mighty Mos Def. As I was listening to Quiet Dog from his new album Ecsatic I realized how much I love the hand clap.
So here a few of my favorite hand clapping songs. as always these songs are just to whet your appetite, if you enjoy them, go and buy them.
Mos Def - Quiet Dog If this song doesn't instantly make you love Mos Def. Check out this
Beck Hansen - Clap hands This originally surfaced on the Japanese release of Guero. However this little gem is from his performance on SNL (10-28-06). The original performance included a puppet show, but this gives you a few for the percussion instruments used.
Now I need to go concern myself with other things. But I might just revisit this topic later....
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
ok, so if you don't know Vince (the shamwow guy) then you might as well leave right now. I think Seth Stevenson, from slate magazine has done a fantastic job of describing him. here is a brief outtake
There's something captivating about Vince, the Shamwow pitchman. I always perk up when I hear those initial, outer-borough syllables: "Hi, it's Vince wit Shamwow....
The first thing I notice is the physical grace. Vince puts the Shamwow through its paces with the fluid dexterity of a three-card monte dealer. Cleaning up spills appears not just effortless, but fun.
There's a genius, too, in his hectoring tone. He makes us feel like idiots for even entertaining the notion of not buying a Shamwow. "You're gonna spend $20 every month on paper towels, anyway," he says, palms up and head tilted back. He seems truly dumbfounded that anyone might fail to see the wisdom of dropping 28 bucks (including shipping) on a set of rags.
Vince also conveys a street-smart persona—with his headset microphone, rat-a-tat phrasing and fuhgeddaboutit confidence—that's intended to get the viewer thinking, "Hey, this guy's sharp. He knows a good deal." (It may also get us thinking, "Hey, this guy's a douche. He needs a better haircut." But that's a secondary issue.) Read the full article here
anyways Vince is now back selling the slapchop. (although i would really call it selling, as the thing practically sells itself) do yourself a favor and watch this:
well this video inspired me to put some music to vinces words. it's definitely not perfect, but here is my first pass at it. and don't worry if i find a good nuts song, i'll for sure add it.
0:02 “hi it's Vince” There's not to many songs entitled Vince, but Vincent Knows by Saul Kaye does a good job of conveying the swagger.
0:05 “Slapping your troubles away.” Two perfect songs for this. Troubles by The Beta Band and No More Trouble by Bob Marley
0:12 “Add a Mushroom” Nothing could even come close to adding a mushroom like The Dark Side of The Moon album. Here is my favorite track - Great Gig In the Sky.
0:18 “Salad!” Couldn't really come up with a good salad song... but i did find it interesting that a salad in this mans world consists of radish, a carrot, and stringy celery. (who in the hell calls it "stringy"??? I've never heard this is my life)
0:24 “Looks boring” Dry tuna in a can, yes. dry tuna on top of a slapchop salad, excitement city. but if you ask Sun Kil Moon, he will tell you that Space Travel is Boring. so i'm pretty sure he will continue to have a boring life, even if he does get the slapchop.
0:33 “Mix things together” you gotta be careful when you start to mix a bunch of random things together. You could get All Mixed Up like the Red House Painters.
0:35 “You’re going to have an exciting life now.” waitaminute!!! i'm going to have an exciting life now??? like johnny in Iggy Pop's Lust For Life
0:37 “You’re going to love my nuts.”
[rewind]
0:37 “You’re going to love my nuts.”
[rewind]
0:37 “You’re going to love my nuts.” I can honestly say that I have spent at least 3 hours searching the catacombs of music to find an appropriate song. nothing. I am soo sorry to let you down. but I will now make this one a life-long quest. to find the perfect song for this one statement.
0:40 “You can do everything in the cover.” I love covers. my personal favorite is Stereophonic's Nothing Compares To You.
0:50 “1.......2....” you knew this was coming. 1234 (Remix) by Feist
1:07 “Life’s hard enough as it is. You don’t want to cry anymore.” Vince telling me is one thing, but I'd much rather hear it from Axl. Don't Cry - Guns N' Roses
1:14 “The skin comes right off.” Wait, where? Oh, the arrow shows me. Blazing Arrow by Blackalicious
1:17 “We’re going to make America skinny again” I personally don't like it when people are too skinny. But Bon Iver does. Here's proof in his balad Skinny Love
1:27 “Fettuccini. Linguini. Martini. Bikini.” ummm. i'm just going to pass on this one.
1:34 “It comes with a cover.” Another one??? well okay. how about The Kooks covering Ace of Base. Here is All That She Wants
1:42: “You know we can’t do this all day.” Nope. because, as Jump, Little Children do so well in expressing. All Those Days are Gone.
1:46 “Call...” These ladies do a much better job of soliticiting. Blondie definitely makes me want to call in Call Me. And Leonna Ness tries without success in Calling.
so when my little brother was around 6 years old, he came home one day with this tiny little violin. i mean the thing was only 12 inches long. it had been decided that the best way to learn how to play a tiny stringed instrument was through a Japanese technique called the suzuki method. i can't really tell you how it works, all i remember was a bunch of small dots strategically placed up and down the neck on his diminutive fiddle. i also remember the horrendous sounds he was able to produce each and every night for the first year... even though the screeches sometimes resembled the agonizing death of a small creature more than actual music, he played on. he eventually got pretty good at the violin. and i'm pretty sure he played it long enough to warrant the purchase of a full size model.
I don't know how Emily Wells learned to play her violin. if it was through the suzuki method, than more power to her. all i do know is that she can play. and it's not just the violin. she can do it all. but you almost have to when you try to make it without the help of the record industry. you can read all about it here . however she learned, it payed off and it shows on her latest album entitled "The Symphonies: Dreams Memories & Parties. I highly recommend getting a copy of it. but here is a little something to get you started:
so even though this post is coming in on the 23rd, it has been floating in my brain since the 19th. I do have a valid excuse for not getting it in on time as I have been suffering from "walking pneumonia" for the past week. (As a side note, I am lobbying the American Medical Association to change the name of walking pneumonia to I can't get off the couch, let alone walk, cause it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest pneumonia.)
but on to the goods. There has been a lot, and I mean a lot of hullabaloo about President Obama. And and his main message to the people was one of change, i thought this little ditty would be a perfect kickoff for the new administration. In fact, since I am currently one of the masses who are facing unemployment, maybe I'll lobby that they change their current theme song to "we've got to do something". To help you fully highlight the great social and political message this song brings, check the lyrics here. So without further ado.
i have decided that i am a last minute guy. i am up at 11.44 writing a 10 page paper that is due tomorrow. and i am putting up a song at the last minute. I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet, but that is as much me being a guy as me being a last minute guy. In all honesty i am pretty worked over trying to wrap everything up. there is only one thing that might be able to settle me down. the sweet guitar and vocals of mason... i know you are probably thinking... but wait you should only be posting seasonal songs right now. never fear. i am ten steps ahead of you..
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