Since I'll be busy with the Merseyside Derby in the morning. Shopping in the afternoon, and the Doctor Who finale at night - here is what I've been listening to over the past few weeks.
He's coming to Columbus on Wednesday. Just him, and a guitar. We're going.
I know very little about the Eurovision Song Contest. I've been finding some very interesting songs on youtube from it and am thinking of doing a weekly feature here. Again, I know nothing about this, but digging around one can find the scary, the plain weird, and the amazing. I really like finding international music through youtube, you learn a lot.
Case in point.
Stevie Jackson, the guitarist of Belle & Sebastian has just released his debut solo album, and it's pretty darn good.
Been listening to 12 Songs, always loved his original version that Three Dog Night turned into the hit.
I was going to post something off his wonderful new record, The Old Magic, but stumbled across this video, which I had never seen before. Listened to a set of his from Maryland last Sunday. He opened for Wilco and sounded sweet. This man has a deep catalog of great songs that have been long ignored and overlooked. He's one of the best.
That's what's been on in the car, and in my headphones.
Showing posts with label french women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label french women. Show all posts
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
It Started with Jacques Dutronc
While listening to Radio 10, with a song by Dutronc
I'd never heard of the guy before, quick wikipedia shows he's married to Francois Hardy, which gives him instant cred. The man's a legend in France, and that's about it. He's still performing strong at age sixty eight.
While looking through his videos on youtube, I came across this chanson in the sidebar.
This gal was bad! I know nothing about her other than she's French Canadian. She does have a oddly translated website which shows she's still kicking some butt.
I absolutely love discovering new old music from around the world.
I'd never heard of the guy before, quick wikipedia shows he's married to Francois Hardy, which gives him instant cred. The man's a legend in France, and that's about it. He's still performing strong at age sixty eight.
While looking through his videos on youtube, I came across this chanson in the sidebar.
This gal was bad! I know nothing about her other than she's French Canadian. She does have a oddly translated website which shows she's still kicking some butt.
I absolutely love discovering new old music from around the world.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
If the world shifted on its axis a few months ago, it might be due to Woody Allen releasing an anti-nostalgia film.
Midnight in Paris asks the question, "Is it better to live in your own time, than one you fantasize about?"
Owen Wilson is an admitted hack of a screenwriter who travels to Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams) and her wealthy parents. Wilson is trying to break with his image by writing a novel and is obsessed with 1920's Paris - the city of American ex-pats and foreign artists.
After an evening out with friends of McAdams, Wilson gets lost in the streets and is invited into a 1920 Peugeot Landaulet
Where he arrives is where the fun starts, and it reminded me of some of Allen's fiction, mainly The Kugelmass Episode.
Wilson runs into some well known characters, and offers up some wonderful throwaway lines regarding the value of Matisse paintings. He also falls in love with a muse, beautifully played by Marion Cotillard.
It's revealed that Cotillard's character wishes to live in another time as well, and people in other eras have similar wishes. In the end, some dreams are realized, others are not but there's a bit of hope for all of us.
It's the most enjoyable Allen film I've seen in years but it's not without its flaws. While lovely to look at, McAdams is way out of her comedic depth and her parents are extremely superficial. I can't see the two main characters as a couple. Wilson is perfect in the role Allen would have done himself thirty years ago.
Midnight in Paris asks the question, "Is it better to live in your own time, than one you fantasize about?"
Owen Wilson is an admitted hack of a screenwriter who travels to Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams) and her wealthy parents. Wilson is trying to break with his image by writing a novel and is obsessed with 1920's Paris - the city of American ex-pats and foreign artists.
After an evening out with friends of McAdams, Wilson gets lost in the streets and is invited into a 1920 Peugeot Landaulet
Where he arrives is where the fun starts, and it reminded me of some of Allen's fiction, mainly The Kugelmass Episode.
Wilson runs into some well known characters, and offers up some wonderful throwaway lines regarding the value of Matisse paintings. He also falls in love with a muse, beautifully played by Marion Cotillard.
It's revealed that Cotillard's character wishes to live in another time as well, and people in other eras have similar wishes. In the end, some dreams are realized, others are not but there's a bit of hope for all of us.
It's the most enjoyable Allen film I've seen in years but it's not without its flaws. While lovely to look at, McAdams is way out of her comedic depth and her parents are extremely superficial. I can't see the two main characters as a couple. Wilson is perfect in the role Allen would have done himself thirty years ago.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Turn the place to dust
A short rant to start. The Polaris Fashion Place, shopping mall or whatever it calls itself is the most car-centric area in the state of Ohio, perhaps the country. It is also the most convoluted in its design and traffic flow. The roads in and out are inadequate, the parking is not friendly to cars or pedestrians. I wish no harm to the businesses or employees (who must go through Dante's nine circles to commute to work) who work in this location. However, I would like to see them relocated to calmer and more reasonable shopping areas. Then, I would like to see the developers of this monstrosity forced to live in the buildings they created and have a sudden bomb fall on them, turning the place into what City Center is now.
Ok after soup and whisky at Claddagh, also writing here - I feel better.
I've been on a thrift store kick recently. Revamping my trousers due to wear and, full disclosure, a weight gain. I've found an Adidas Columbus Crew sweatshirt for fifty cents and am still searching for the right ironic t-shirt. Today we went to the Goodwill store in Powell, in search of designer cast offs at the right price. I did find a cool shirt, but was so put off by an idiot bluetoother talking to someone like he was on the surface on the moon. After he left there was a father talking to his baby in a carriage as if he was Curly from the Three Stooges. Which would have been fine and cute, if daddy was capable of using an indoor voice. The store is quite small, and everyone in the place was blasted by the baby daddy talk.
The good thing is that I was looking through my Scottish Wife's cds before the mini road trip and found this one.
I had not listened to it yet and a very amused and impressed by what I heard. Melvin by The Belles is worth the price of admission. It's a knockoff of Gloria, and yes, they spell it out!
My Scottish Wife is a music geek who has many, many girl group compilations in her collection. Including this one, which is a sound I've been hearing in my head for years.
In other good news, it was great to get up early today and watch Everton beat up on Manchester United. I went a bit crazy when Rodwell scored the third goal.
Kid's only eighteen and scored his first Premiership goal against Man. U., how awesome is that? Now Sir Gasbag is going to be sniffing at him all summer and offer Moyes all kinds of money for him. Everton creates stars while other teams can only purchase them.
Ok after soup and whisky at Claddagh, also writing here - I feel better.
I've been on a thrift store kick recently. Revamping my trousers due to wear and, full disclosure, a weight gain. I've found an Adidas Columbus Crew sweatshirt for fifty cents and am still searching for the right ironic t-shirt. Today we went to the Goodwill store in Powell, in search of designer cast offs at the right price. I did find a cool shirt, but was so put off by an idiot bluetoother talking to someone like he was on the surface on the moon. After he left there was a father talking to his baby in a carriage as if he was Curly from the Three Stooges. Which would have been fine and cute, if daddy was capable of using an indoor voice. The store is quite small, and everyone in the place was blasted by the baby daddy talk.
The good thing is that I was looking through my Scottish Wife's cds before the mini road trip and found this one.
I had not listened to it yet and a very amused and impressed by what I heard. Melvin by The Belles is worth the price of admission. It's a knockoff of Gloria, and yes, they spell it out!
My Scottish Wife is a music geek who has many, many girl group compilations in her collection. Including this one, which is a sound I've been hearing in my head for years.
In other good news, it was great to get up early today and watch Everton beat up on Manchester United. I went a bit crazy when Rodwell scored the third goal.
Kid's only eighteen and scored his first Premiership goal against Man. U., how awesome is that? Now Sir Gasbag is going to be sniffing at him all summer and offer Moyes all kinds of money for him. Everton creates stars while other teams can only purchase them.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A Trilogy of a Post
Still trying to figure out what I'm doing in this part of the blogosphere, and readership seems to be nil so I have a sand box to play in. Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago for the now defunct site complusivetruth.
When it comes to the now obsolete genre of alt-country one of the seminal bands of the movement was the 80's group Lone Justice. They were ahead of the curve in the movement along with the bands Rank and File, Jason and the Scorchers and many others. Naturally, these bands all sat at their speakers when they were growing up, soaking in the music of Gram Parsons, the Carter Family, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, with a healthy amount of gospel thrown in to keep it holy.
The force behind the band was the voice and stage presence of its lead singer. Maria McKee had a very powerful voice and an image of a punk rocker who wore vintage dresses. At seventeen, she wrote a song, A Good Heart, that Feargal Sharkey had a massive hit with in the U.K. in the 1983. McKee's half-brother is the late Bryan MacLean, who was guitarist in the band Love.
Lone Justice was signed by Geffen Records in 1985.
They had a promotional slush fund that could budget a small country. Still, all that cash could not get them arrested. McKee was at one point in her career managed by Jimmy Iovine, the svengali of Stevie Nicks, who had no clue what do do with her abilities, so he threw top name talent such as Steven Van Zandt to work with her. Nothing happened. The records did not sell.
Their first video, Ways to Be Wicked, was written by Tom Petty. The video's quality was of a silent film from the 20's in dire need of a restoration. You could not see the band, or McKee's looks because the video had a a scratchy, over antiquated look. Not a good beginning. The record, while receiving good praise, never sold well.
After the first record, bassist Marvin Etzoni, guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and drummer Don Heffington left the group. After that, the lineup was a revolving cast of session players from other bands including Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
McKee also had a style that was noticed by director Martin Scorcese as he cast her to appear with Robbie Robertson in his video Somewhere Down the Crazy River. A video in which McKee and Robertson were in a coital embrace for virtually the whole song.
There rarely seemed to be any consistency or patience with the sound of the group or image of the band. As frontswoman, the pressure was on McKee to deliver. It seemed as if she never had control over her product, but a posse of handlers and producers all willing to spend David Geffen's money seemed to control her releases.
She broke away from Lone Justice and a self titled solo record was released in 1990. Few noticed.
In the 1993 she released a fine record called You Gotta Sin To Get Saved. Once again, it featured top talent from The Jayhawks, The Heartbreakers and other prominent session musicians from the west coast. It is a very soulful record with a solid R&B and country vibe. It contains a great cover of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do." Once again, it failed to get noticed.
She then took over her career completely with her final release on Geffen in 1996. She wrote all the songs by herself and played all of the guitars, to mixed results. Life is Sweet is a record of passion and autobiography. The first song, Scarlover, tells of an affair with a prominent musician. The rest of the songs were unlike any of the Cosmic American Music she had previously release. Distorted guitars and howling vocals were up front as McKee bared her soul. Again, sales were dismal. It was to be her last major label release.
The late nineties and new millenium found McKee in Dublin, recording and releasing material every couple of years. Her cult following noticed, but the masses yawned and ignored her.
With her new record, Late December, McKee shows she still has it. Her voice soars, contains drama and borders close enough to the histrionic to keep the sound spicy. It reminds me of her work on Life Is Sweet. She also officially released her version of "A Good Heart", a song she wrote at seventeen.
I wonder if writing a musical for the London stage is in her future. Perhaps a story of a hyped up musician who should have been a major star, but, inexplicably, was not. Or, just as a personal pipe dream, working with producer Jim Steinman (Meatloaf) for at least one song, just so I can hear what that collaboration would bring.
McKee is also one of my favorite musicians that I have not seen play live. She tours infrequently in the states. When she does play here, she sticks to the coasts. The closest I've been was seeing Marvin Etzoni open for Sam Phillips. Marvin was doing his mandolin act and played for 45 minutes straight, and I mean that. he didn't break stride. He did play a cover of "You Are the Light."
I also happened to catch Lone Justice's original drummer, Don Heffington, when he was in Lucinda Williams' band.
Maria McKee has always been one of rock music's unrecognized talents. In this day of corporate control of the mainstream it's unlikely she ever get noticed, unless one of her songs shows up on Greys Anatomy or another television show. Heck, not even satellite radio is playing her new record, and that's a shame. She keeps plugging away, and offers us hope in her song "Starving Pretty" in which she tells us, "And stay with me/Starving pretty and high/Back and forth/Celebrate at such refine/Lean on me, baby/We're going to make it/We're paper thin/We’re gonna win."
She has always had the voice, the presence and the ability to write songs of relevance and passion, and has been doing so, virtually unnoticed, for almost a quarter of a century.
Today the blogger known as Last Year's Girl asked this question, and I'm replying.
“The idea, is to jot down ten most bestest songs ever and find out what other people like so you can see if you like it yourself. Apparently this exercise builds understanding of other people."
It's hard to pick a top ten of anything. Let alone music. Moods shift. What is chosen today will not necessarily be the same an hour from now. But, here they are, in no particular order.
The Beatles - I'm Looking Through You
The Who - I'm One
The Kinks - Shangrila
The Ronettes - Be My Baby
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue
Wilco - At My Window Sad and Lonely
Emmy Lou Harris - Wrecking Ball
Liz Phair - Shitloads of Money
George Harrison - Run of the Mill
So many are missing from that list. I can pick eight more tomorrow, and the day after.
Not going to talk about work here much but this book came across my desk today. Have not paid that much attention to a book at work since the Pink Box.
Here's a picture of Emmanuelle Beart that is work safe.
Forgive me, my girlfriend is 3,600 miles away
When it comes to the now obsolete genre of alt-country one of the seminal bands of the movement was the 80's group Lone Justice. They were ahead of the curve in the movement along with the bands Rank and File, Jason and the Scorchers and many others. Naturally, these bands all sat at their speakers when they were growing up, soaking in the music of Gram Parsons, the Carter Family, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, with a healthy amount of gospel thrown in to keep it holy.
The force behind the band was the voice and stage presence of its lead singer. Maria McKee had a very powerful voice and an image of a punk rocker who wore vintage dresses. At seventeen, she wrote a song, A Good Heart, that Feargal Sharkey had a massive hit with in the U.K. in the 1983. McKee's half-brother is the late Bryan MacLean, who was guitarist in the band Love.
Lone Justice was signed by Geffen Records in 1985.
They had a promotional slush fund that could budget a small country. Still, all that cash could not get them arrested. McKee was at one point in her career managed by Jimmy Iovine, the svengali of Stevie Nicks, who had no clue what do do with her abilities, so he threw top name talent such as Steven Van Zandt to work with her. Nothing happened. The records did not sell.
Their first video, Ways to Be Wicked, was written by Tom Petty. The video's quality was of a silent film from the 20's in dire need of a restoration. You could not see the band, or McKee's looks because the video had a a scratchy, over antiquated look. Not a good beginning. The record, while receiving good praise, never sold well.
After the first record, bassist Marvin Etzoni, guitarist Ryan Hedgecock and drummer Don Heffington left the group. After that, the lineup was a revolving cast of session players from other bands including Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
McKee also had a style that was noticed by director Martin Scorcese as he cast her to appear with Robbie Robertson in his video Somewhere Down the Crazy River. A video in which McKee and Robertson were in a coital embrace for virtually the whole song.
There rarely seemed to be any consistency or patience with the sound of the group or image of the band. As frontswoman, the pressure was on McKee to deliver. It seemed as if she never had control over her product, but a posse of handlers and producers all willing to spend David Geffen's money seemed to control her releases.
She broke away from Lone Justice and a self titled solo record was released in 1990. Few noticed.
In the 1993 she released a fine record called You Gotta Sin To Get Saved. Once again, it featured top talent from The Jayhawks, The Heartbreakers and other prominent session musicians from the west coast. It is a very soulful record with a solid R&B and country vibe. It contains a great cover of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do." Once again, it failed to get noticed.
She then took over her career completely with her final release on Geffen in 1996. She wrote all the songs by herself and played all of the guitars, to mixed results. Life is Sweet is a record of passion and autobiography. The first song, Scarlover, tells of an affair with a prominent musician. The rest of the songs were unlike any of the Cosmic American Music she had previously release. Distorted guitars and howling vocals were up front as McKee bared her soul. Again, sales were dismal. It was to be her last major label release.
The late nineties and new millenium found McKee in Dublin, recording and releasing material every couple of years. Her cult following noticed, but the masses yawned and ignored her.
With her new record, Late December, McKee shows she still has it. Her voice soars, contains drama and borders close enough to the histrionic to keep the sound spicy. It reminds me of her work on Life Is Sweet. She also officially released her version of "A Good Heart", a song she wrote at seventeen.
I wonder if writing a musical for the London stage is in her future. Perhaps a story of a hyped up musician who should have been a major star, but, inexplicably, was not. Or, just as a personal pipe dream, working with producer Jim Steinman (Meatloaf) for at least one song, just so I can hear what that collaboration would bring.
McKee is also one of my favorite musicians that I have not seen play live. She tours infrequently in the states. When she does play here, she sticks to the coasts. The closest I've been was seeing Marvin Etzoni open for Sam Phillips. Marvin was doing his mandolin act and played for 45 minutes straight, and I mean that. he didn't break stride. He did play a cover of "You Are the Light."
I also happened to catch Lone Justice's original drummer, Don Heffington, when he was in Lucinda Williams' band.
Maria McKee has always been one of rock music's unrecognized talents. In this day of corporate control of the mainstream it's unlikely she ever get noticed, unless one of her songs shows up on Greys Anatomy or another television show. Heck, not even satellite radio is playing her new record, and that's a shame. She keeps plugging away, and offers us hope in her song "Starving Pretty" in which she tells us, "And stay with me/Starving pretty and high/Back and forth/Celebrate at such refine/Lean on me, baby/We're going to make it/We're paper thin/We’re gonna win."
She has always had the voice, the presence and the ability to write songs of relevance and passion, and has been doing so, virtually unnoticed, for almost a quarter of a century.
Today the blogger known as Last Year's Girl asked this question, and I'm replying.
“The idea, is to jot down ten most bestest songs ever and find out what other people like so you can see if you like it yourself. Apparently this exercise builds understanding of other people."
It's hard to pick a top ten of anything. Let alone music. Moods shift. What is chosen today will not necessarily be the same an hour from now. But, here they are, in no particular order.
The Beatles - I'm Looking Through You
The Who - I'm One
The Kinks - Shangrila
The Ronettes - Be My Baby
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue
Wilco - At My Window Sad and Lonely
Emmy Lou Harris - Wrecking Ball
Liz Phair - Shitloads of Money
George Harrison - Run of the Mill
So many are missing from that list. I can pick eight more tomorrow, and the day after.
Not going to talk about work here much but this book came across my desk today. Have not paid that much attention to a book at work since the Pink Box.
Here's a picture of Emmanuelle Beart that is work safe.
Forgive me, my girlfriend is 3,600 miles away
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