Michael Britten: Music

Sun, 20 Jul 2003 21:03:16 GMT

sunday

Sun, 02 Mar 2003 21:04:42 GMT

A Country Fiddler Who Swings. It wasn't a stretch for Mark O'Connor to move beyond his bluegrass roots into jazz. He's been in that groove for years. By Terry Teachout. [New York Times: Arts]

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 05:15:46 GMT

Just Like Old Times, a Jug Band in a Stompdown. Jim Kweskin is in the construction business, but to a lot of people of his age, which is 62, Mr. Kweskin qualifies as a household name. By Alex Ward. [New York Times: Arts]

Bettye Lavette - "The greatest unrecognized soul singer of the past forty years"

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 03:38:11 GMT

Fans of Ann Peebles and Etta James will love Bettye Lavette. After reading about her through the above link, listen to samples from her new CD, "A Woman Like Me."

Go Johnny Go Go Go!

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 22:12:57 GMT

Sweet Tunes, Fast Beats and a Hard Edge. Chuck Berry, musician, composer and singer, is one of rock 'n' roll's most influential and enigmatic figures. By Bernard Weinraub. [New York Times: Arts]

Music essays you can dance to

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 22:10:21 GMT

Songbook by Nick Hornby

Like Hornby's essays, the best writing about music shouldn't just make a reader want to play a song immediately, which can be tricky with "Songbook" as the CD's only track list appears on the surface of the disc itself. The best music writing should linger like an unshakable tune, haunting readers even years later, after too many hours between headphones have long since deafened us to the actual notes. (SFGate)

Soul survivor

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 21:57:45 GMT

Howard Tate is a man on a mission. Actually, two missions. The first is to bring back the glories of American soul music — the kind that flowered in the ’60s and early ’70s, when African-American singers lit dynamite with their falsetto cries, heart-pounding shouts, and up-from-the-gut testifying. (Boston Phoenix)

Mongo Santamaria, 85, Influential Jazz Percussionist, Dies

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 07:37:58 GMT

Most know Mr. Santamaria for two things: his version of Herbie Hancock's song "Watermelon Man," which became a top-10 hit in 1963, and his authorship of "Afro Blue," a song John Coltrane made famous. But those more familiar with Afro-Cuban music know that Mr. Santamaria was at the middle of the shift from the Afro-Cuban jazz of the 1950's to the salsa sound of the 1970's.

New Ry Cooder album

Sun, 02 Feb 2003 20:00:05 GMT

As the article I posted last week said, Ry Cooder's Mambo Sinuendo is "an album of seductively menacing Cuban guitar music." Now that I've listened to it about a dozen times, what I would say is that this is the first totally cool music of 2003.

Imagine - June, 1958 -- back alley underground Havana bar. Beneath the intertwining shadows of a ceiling fan and cigar smoke, a young, fiery Fidel Castro is doing bong hits with Duane Eddy and Link Wray. On stage, Rubén González sits in with the The Ventures...

This album lacks the majesty of the Buena Vista Social Club, but I really dig it and recommended it highly.

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 18:24:56 GMT

Country Joe's Rag. Fixin'to Die after all these years Woodstock-era protest singer Country Joe McDonald still keeps an active pulse on today's events on his website. One of what eventually came to be perhaps his most famous song, the "I-Feel-Like-Fixin'-to-Die rag" has taken new life in light of current events, which is quite simple to deduct: just substitute all the Vietnam references with "Iraq" and there you have it - as many people have been happy to do by submitting their own lyrics versions to the site, somehow confirming that the world actually hasn't changed much in that respect 30 years after Vietnam... [MetaFilter] [Steve's No Direction Home Page]

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 18:23:24 GMT

50 Greatest Covers of All Time.

From Craig's Booknotes.

A great list! But read it fast, apparently the link will rot in a week. [Steve's No Direction Home Page]

Sat, 25 Jan 2003 01:20:10 GMT

Ry Cooder and mambo politics

Next week, Cooder will release Mambo Sinuendo, an album of seductively menacing Cuban guitar music he recorded with Manuel Galban. (Globe and Mail)

heads up!!!

Thu, 23 Jan 2003 06:58:27 GMT

A Wounded Man, Still Singing That Sad Old Song at 72. Bobby Blue Bland is a connoisseur of quiet heartache and smoldering fury, and his set at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday was like one long sad song. By Jon Pareles. [New York Times: Arts]

Song du Jour

Wed, 22 Jan 2003 03:07:31 GMT

Cornbread Moon by Joe Ely. Appears on Honky Tonk Masquerade

Tue, 21 Jan 2003 00:30:59 GMT

Keeping the Blues Alive. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese and some of his associates are raising the curtain on a dandy project about the blues. By Bob Herbert. [New York Times: Opinion]

Now this is something to look forward to.

The United States Senate has declared (with unintended irony) that 2003 is the "Year of the Blues." It has urged the president to issue a proclamation to that effect.

That's a fucking joke. The "president" wouldn't know the blues if it crawled up his ass and bit him on the heart.

In his book "Deep Blues," Robert Palmer described a visit he made in 1979 to the Mississippi Delta home of Joe Rice Dockery

"Deep Blues" is, by a long shot, the best book on the subject ever written. Warning: if you're short on walking-around money, hide your piggybank, because the discography in the back of this book is to die for.

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 19:21:38 GMT

the man in black. Johnny Cash looks back on his life in his latest video. Chilling [via markromanek]
[Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

Phenomenal, real, moving. A great video. Watch it now. (And note to self: listen to the new Cash album again.) [Steve's No Direction Home Page]

After I recovered from my stunned, tear-stained silence, I immediately ordered a copy of "American IV: The Man Comes Around." I already know that it's a tremendous record because I've been listening to it in MP3 format, but I want the artwork and liner notes to complement the previous three albums in the entire masterful series.

Sun, 19 Jan 2003 00:40:38 GMT

Keith Richards Keeps the Stones Rolling. The lasting image of the Stones' show at Madison Square Garden on Thursday Keith Richards sweetly smiling for the audience and embracing his guitar. By Ben Ratliff. [New York Times: Arts]

The best part, for me, about watching the HBO Stones concert last night, was the guitar interplay between Keith Richards and Ron Woods. Absolutely amazing! Charlie Watts, of course, holds it all together and keeps it moving forward.

Thu, 16 Jan 2003 18:06:46 GMT

Masked and Anonymous.

Well, here's a website on Dylan's movie, due for showing week after next at Sundance, complete with some clips. After watching a chunk of Renaldo & Clara yesterday, it's hard to be very optimistic about this thing. Dylan's history in movies, with a couple exceptions (Pat Garret & Billy the Kid, the small appearance in Backtrack with Jodie Foster), Bob hasn't acquitted himself very well onscreen. It's hard to imagine him really playing a "character" in this, and the story looks really obvious to me. Hope I'm wrong. [Expecting Rain]

Jack Fate: a cult musician--once a presence on the radar of popular culture--someone who had it all but didn't care. Twenty years ago, he refused to cooperate with the powers that were and parlay his early success into a career. Instead, he has lived the past few decades in relative obscurity, playing honky tonks and bars, in and out of the county lock-up, content to be a wandering minstrel.

This almost sounds like the career Dylan wishes he would have had. I guess, looking back at some of those albums and some of those careers, and lots of missed chances, this alternate reality might be a tempting role to play. Did Bob refuse to cooperate with the powers that be? Or were some of his talents squandered in other ways for which he might be more responsible?[Steve's No Direction Home Page]

thanks steve. i'm sill hangin' onto a slim bit of hope...

Sun, 12 Jan 2003 08:38:32 GMT

Tucked Away in a Corner of Country. Greg Brown, an itinerant Iowa Zen beatnik folkie, with a voice that's deep, rutted and dark, is an authentic creature and interpreter of the Midwest. By Peter Applebome. [New York Times: Arts]

Some time last year my friend Sima visited me in the rehab ward and brought me a copy of Brown's "Dream Cafe." Since then, with the addition of three or more of his albums to my collection, life out here on the ravaged, bleak, windswept terrain has been enriched.

Mon, 30 Dec 2002 23:59:41 GMT

Lovin' Spoonful Guitarist Dies. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

sheesh. not exactly a noteworthy player, but a delightfully goofy personality for about 15 minutes. too bad.

Singer Gordon Lightfoot released from hospital three months after surgery

Sat, 14 Dec 2002 21:13:41 GMT

Singer Gordon Lightfoot is resting comfortably after being released from hospital this week, more than three months after developing a serious abdominal illness. (Canada.com)

Good news for a change.

Mon, 09 Dec 2002 17:15:26 GMT

Best of the Year.

Mike's best album of the year list; I've been meaning to link to it for a while. A good list!

Several I haven't heard, but need to listen to. Ralph Stanely's T-Bone Burnett-produced album isn't there, and the most recent Buddy and June Miller work isn't either. This is some pretty amazing music, when you stop and look at the list, a really incredible variety of music. [Steve's No Direction Home Page]

Thanks to Steve for linking to my list. In retrospect, I can think of several records that I should have included. First of all, Ralph Stanley's new record is pretty good. But I have been especially impressed with Buddy Miller's Midnight and Lonesome. As long as we're having fun, I'd also like to include the following:

* Blue Country Heart - Jorma Kaukonen
* Rise - Kim Richey
* Brainwashed - George Harrison
* The Ragpicker's Dream - Mark Knopfler

Mon, 09 Dec 2002 06:48:21 GMT

From Steve Martin's tribute to Paul Simon at last night's Kennedy Center Honors:

"It would be easy to stand here and talk about Paul Simon's intelligence and skill," Martin said, "but this is neither the time nor the place." He noted that Simon had had a long relationship with Art Garfunkel, "which unfortunately ended in an acrimonious split. We know about his relationship with Sony Records, which also ended in an acrimonious split." And then he began shuffling through his cue cards and tossing them aside, muttering, "Acrimonious split, acrimonious split, acrimonious split."

"I, however, have had a long relationship with Paul, but that's ending tonight."

He claimed that Simon had once called him to claim he had written a song called "47 Ways to Leave Your Lover," "and I said, 'Why not 50?'?"

"I can only think of 47," Simon allegedly replied.

Simon once apologized for interrupting Martin at home, the comedian claimed, one evening while he was cooking a chicken.

How are you preparing it, Simon allegedly asked.

"With parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." Bada-bing.

"I don't use the word 'genius' very often," Martin said, and stopped. "I just thought I'd mention that."

But seriously. He said Simon had given a great gift to America and all future generations, "but not my future generations because I've had a vasectomy." (Washington Post)

Sat, 07 Dec 2002 00:30:22 GMT

Show and Tell Music - Thrift Store Vinyl.. Show and Tell Music - Thrift Store Vinyl. There are lots of vinyl sites out there, but some of the items in this collection had me floored. And the quantity is just as impressive as the quality -- several pages of unintentionally funny Christian vinyl you have to see to believe. MP3 samples too! Via BoingBoing, but got lost under a lengthy EFF post (which was also good). [MetaFilter]
A must-see! [Steve's No Direction Home Page]

Thu, 05 Dec 2002 01:21:36 GMT

Mal Waldron Dies

He never achieved the same notoriety as Thelonius Monk, though the more introverted Mal Waldron shared that iconic pianist's combination of skill and daring. Waldron dedicated more than half a century of his life to jazz. (Rolling Stone)