casket, shroud and grave

Goodbye Yellow Brick blogspot

2010-03-15T02:01:00.002-04:00

Thanks for those who've followed the erratic posting here. Due to my displeasure with blogspot, I am moving my blog over to wordpress, like the rest of the internet world.

Please continue to hear me out here: http://casketshroudandgrave.wordpress.com/

Thomas

Ryan Adams is cooler than you.

2009-06-20T13:53:00.001-04:00

He's smoking a cigarette WHILE HE'S PLAYING! I've seen Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and many others stick lit cigarettes under the strings on the headstock of their guitars, but I've never seen someone smoke while playing.

Plus, he's wearing bell bottom jeans and a tie.

While playing an amazing song which starts slow, and ends up rocking, and he doesn't even pass the solo off to the "real" guitar player that so many singer-songwriter rockers do.

I know he's an asshole in real life, but who cares? I'm pretty sure James Brown was too.

further thoughts on the Rev. Peyton and His Big Damn Band

2009-05-31T23:28:00.003-04:00

If you look back, I've written about these guys before. But that was before I knew them, knew them as people. I wish I had a recording of the first serious conversation I had about them. It was about dress, imagine, and a "traditionalized" aesthetic. About how everything they do is meant to look old, in a way to make them appear "more" "authentic."

There are two sides to this.

1. Yes. That's true. They are highly aware of what they're doing and how they present themselves to the world. They are professionals and they know what it takes to make it in this cruel business where, as Gillian Welch says, "everything is free."

2. I don't think it, in any way, is inauthentic, dishonest, or fabricated.

I've been to their cabin. It really is a cabin. I've seen Rev. when he's not performing. He doesn't dress any differently. So the issue has to be taken to a larger level, to discuss the image of identify on a grand scale. And aren't well all trying to communicate something by our various self images? Is the Rev's straw hat, suspenders and plaid shirt any different than my 514 distressed Levi jeans? My J. Crew gingham shirt? My worn out Chuck Taylors?

The issue is, to me, who do you believe? John Sayles said, in the commentary of Barbara Koppel's brilliant film Harlan County USA, that he believed the movie, because it was obvious that Koppel had put in a good amount of "porch time."

Well I have put in a certain amount of porch time in with the Peytons (they make it easy) and I utterly believe them. I believe in them. I know Rev's first name. I've heard his mother call him buy it. But I've also heard his wife call him Rev. I know the story of where "Rev." comes from. I've been awake at 3am talking politics, music and food with him. I believe him. He has a good heart. They all do. They're not trying to dupe the world. This is how they see it.

I feel incredibly lucky to have made friends with them.

This is the first song I fell in love with, and it's still one of my favorites. I like songs about food. There are too few. And the connection for the desire for women - classic trope in blues songs- with the nostalgic desire for local foods ("persimmon pudding and Hoosier women") makes me very happy.

I can't wait to see my friends again.

God Bless Lily Allen

2009-04-14T01:20:00.001-04:00

I love this song, and I can't even handle how much I love this video.

A blog about a better blog

2009-04-07T10:38:00.006-04:00

There seems to be no better way to do this than this way.

A profile of

"THE OLD, WEIRD AMERICA:
My exploration of Harry Smith’s Anthology"
http://oldweirdamerica.wordpress.com/

The blog oldweirdamerica.wordpress.com is hosted by the free blogging platform wordpress.com, and represents an amateur, open access, and somewhat illegal enterprise towards a better understanding and dissemination of American vernacular music. The author is a 34 year-old Frenchman who goes by the name Gadaya . The blog oldweirdamerica (TOWA) is at the center of several online projects maintained by Gadaya, including his youtube channel which consists of (presumably) Gadaya playing American songs on various instruments including uke, banjo, and guitar, his blogspot blog which is also focused on American vernacular forms, but its main purpose is to offer downloads of out of print albums, and another wordpress blog which offers up world music appetizers as MP3 downloads.

TOWA uses the Anthology of American Folk Music as a road map through the vast expanse of American folk music (broadly defined). Each post revolves around a song on the 84 track box set. The blog was begun in November 2008, and to date has 19 posts.

The Anthology of American Folk Music, also known as the Harry Smith Anthology (after its creator) was released in 1952 and was hugely influential in the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, later reissued on CD by Smithsonian Folkways in 1997. The legacy of the Anthology continues to be relevant. As recently as 2006, Shout Factory released The Harry Smith Project, indicating that the Anthology continues to be a source of great inspiration. Gadaya, picking up on the tremendous influence the Harry Smith Anthology, takes the collection track by track, as sequenced on the box set, and explores and collects information on each artist and song.

Example: Track one, "Henry Lee" by Dick Justice.

What is happening here is a focus for three different types of information: audio, video, and text. Gadaya has assembled a collection of mp3s around the artist, Dick Justice, and makes them available through a third-party source for download via zip file. He gives a little background, often similar, though not verbatim to the liner notes, collects videos from YouTube that have direct or indirect linkage to the song, and links to websites with text about the song.

In collecting this information Gadaya becomes a curator of something larger. He is forging connections that aren't always apparent, while indicating that these connections need not always be serious, direct, or premeditated. Rather, he looks for any connection to the song in video, often coming up with hilarious and fascinating results. His same spirit embodies what must be the most difficult part for Gadaya to collect, but which is certainly the most excited to explore, which is the versions download.

The versions download is also a zip file downloaded using third party storage at MediaFire.com, which is a free service. The versions download brings together both versions of the song that retain the same name, but more impressively Gadaya has collected variants on these songs even when the names, tunes, arrangements have been changed. Sometimes this is easier than others. The leap from Chubby Parker's song " King King Kitchie Kitchie Ki Me O" to the numerous versions of "Froggy Went a-Courtin' " isn't a big one; it is basically the same song, called by different names.

Others can be easy to recognize as performances of the same song, but exist in different genres, as in the case of "John Henry." With the John Henry Variations, Gadaya collects 5 groupings of variations:Part 1: Field Recordings & 78rpm records, Part 2: The Blues, Part 3: Country, Bluegrass, Old-time, Part 4: Black banjo players and string bands/ Instrumentals, Part 5: The Folk Revival & Beyond. This massive amount of music is followed by three videos.

This is not one from TOWA, but expands on the point of genre and taxonomy:

This type of taxonomy is significant to understanding the "Old, Weird America" that Harry Smith was trying to bring together. Smith categories were something new in 1952, bringing together a huge amount of music under the banner of "American folk music" set a tone (sadly, one that was quickly altered by CBS, NBC, and Columbia Records by their cashing in on folk music stars like Peter Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, and the Hee Haw). Smith broke down American Folk Music into three types: Ballads, Social Music, and Songs. He saw the connections rather than the divisions, and made is seem obvious that Sacred Harp, Jug Band, and square dance music play along side each other.

Gadaya sees the connectivity and prioritizes nothing. He also follows Francis Child's method in this versions download. The Child Ballads, for those unfamiliar, also collected versions, such as with Barbara Allen, though much less attention was paid to subtle differences, which was not possible by aim or in scope.

What Gadaya is doing with TOWA blog is illegal. He is file sharing, plain and simple. I am not going to get into a discussion on why it is illegal, or how absurdly out of touch the RIAA is, but only to say that I see Gadaya as an internet Pretty Boy Floyd, and I think the world is a better place because of him.

Gadaya is creating an internet network around texts (songs, mp3s) and from those texts he is creating conversations about American music. TOWA links to MediaFire which houses private archives (his record collection) mace public. TOWA also links to YouTube which though intelligent filters lead a viewer to other videos (when not removed due to copyright issues) that might expand the realm of inquiry. TOWA, YouTube, as well as all the other blogs Gadaya hosts all have comment fields as well, a place where conversations can happen around a particular text.

He neither pretends to be the definitive scholar or the voice of authority on these topics, but puts in a tremendous amount of legwork in order to ensure others access and explore the worlds of music he finds so captivating. Is this not the very root of publicly minded ethnomusicology? To engender a passion, to feed inquisitiveness, to prompt exploration?

Return of the Jagermeisters

2009-03-30T12:04:00.004-04:00

Elsewhere I've written about my distaste for novelty bands and how they've misunderstood hokum and given the high level of energy, sophistication, and grit of jug bands a bad name.

But the thing is, I'm in a novelty band. Xiaoshi Wei and the Jagermesiters.

So am I a hypocrite?

No, and I'll tell you why later, but for now, I'll just post the clips of our latest gig.

All is Right with the World

2009-03-09T11:31:00.003-04:00

Every time I try to write a post here it starts sounding much too much like my thesis. So rather than boring you faithful reader(s) with my prosaic and half-formed ideas, I'm giving you the songs I'm listening to and the videos I'm watching that contribute to my thinking.

I saw the Drops do this live a month or so back and lost my breath. They continually amaze me. My favorite thing about this song, is that it doesn't strike me as a novelty song. It's not like the Gourds doing "Gin n Juice." This song is just another in the trajectory of "my man done me wrong" songs. It's the twenty first century answer to Ma Rainey's "Black Eyed Blues."

Shame on Rolling Stone. Goodbye Odetta.

2008-12-05T01:09:00.003-05:00

Yesterday my Rolling Stone magazine came in the mail.

For shame!

How dare they use that tagline?! How dare they make such a unwarranted and ridiculous comparison as that of Obama's historic campaign and the return of Britney?! "Yes we can" encapsulated a nation struggling with the yoke of slavery, oppression and racism that has plagued it since its inception, over 200 years ago. And now, finally, we've made a statement that that is no longer who we are. We as a nation, while not completely changed from our racist past, are changing. How dare they insult the magnitude of what is happening in the country right now?!

How dare they?!

A few days ago Odetta died (after the RS went to print, no doubt). That is significant. Her career was historic and it's a significant loss that she won't be singing at Obama's inauguration.

I'd like to take this moment to tell the world that we can't be fooled that easily. We understand the difference between fabricated success and actual success.

It sounds funny to say, given that I am not a religious person in the least, but the way I'm feeling towards Odetta's life's work right now is best described by what I imagine religious people are feeling when they say "God Bless You."

God Bless You, Odetta. You stood above the crowd, even in a wheelchair.

I don't hate Norah Jones.... there! I said it!

2008-11-26T11:59:00.004-05:00

I don't own any Norah Jones CDs because I don't like her music. It's like listening to beige. But I do like her taste in covers, influences, and touring partners. Plus, she's hot. So I guess I kind of like Norah Jones.

A sampling.

We're All In This Thing Together:

Cold, Cold Heart:

Love Hurts:

I Guess Things Happen That Way:

Wurlitzer Prize:

Creepin' In: (I fucking LOVE Dolly Parton!)

My First Lover:

That's the Way the World Goes 'Round:

More Live Music...

2008-11-23T15:17:00.002-05:00

Friday I went to the Bluebird to see The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band and the Avett Brothers.

I've been a fan of The Rev. since I saw him at Lotus. I'm a new convert to the Avett Brothers, whom someone acuratley described as "emo-grass." In particular I'm feasting on the songs, "Murder in the City," and "Shame."

Avett's doing "Murder in the City" --

Here is the low quality video I shot of the Rev doing "Your Cousin's on COPS," at the Bluebird last Friday.

I was really exhausted after a long, busy day, but also happy that my days are busy with so much live music. Even listening to my sister's radio show felt a part of it. Radio is, after all, a live connection.

Earlier in the day I had booked a Hoagy Carmichael birthday concert at the Archives of Traditional Music where my boys Mike and Timon played (in their matching outfits... down to the shoes)

... as well as Kid Kazooey. I'm an instant fan of Kid Kazooey. I booked him based on recommendations but had never met or seem him play. He's like the Dan Zanes of Bloomington, often performing hip kids music, but he also has serious musical chops...

sneering in the shadow of Hoagy...

Today I'm staying at home, listening and playing music by myself. Feeling an insatiable appetite for more music, and trying to be satisfied with the connections I've made.

Country Guitar Pickers

2008-11-12T23:38:00.001-05:00

I used Mike's list to fall asleep to. So here's a list of REAL guitar players.
They aren't ranked, but limited to country genres.

Albert Lee:
Lee's one of those guys that only pickers and country music devotees know about. He's my favorite of the chicken pickers. Check out this clip with Ricky Skaggs switching from guitar to mandolin mid song.

Norman Blake:
There are a lot of great flatpickers to choose from (Doc Watson, Tony Rice, Dan Crary, Bryon Sutton) but Norman Blake is my favorite. He's subtle, relaxed, and warm.

David Rawlings:
The most modest guitar genius ever! The Django of country music.

Willie Watson:
Modest in the best way. He knows what the guitar is for in his music and he does it very well.

Jerry Douglas:
Douglas has been the world's best dobro player for decades, but it wasn't until he found a home with Alison Krauss's Union Station that many people noticed. Also, once he joined Krauss's band, he got a stylist, so he no longer dresses himself or does his own hair, so we can all thank god for that.

Oh, and Bela Fleck ain't no slouch either, but OH GOD... THOSE SWEATERS, THOSE GLASSES, THAT HAIR!!! MY EYES!!!

And just for fun, here's Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin, Albert Lee, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, and Jerry Douglas. I don't know the acoustic, fiddle, or harmonica players.

The Soul Of Black Country

2008-11-07T15:51:00.002-05:00

More Dirty Laundry

Title: More Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country
Artists: Various
Label: Trikont (Germany)
Catalog No.: US-0333
Release date: 2008

More Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country is the second in a pair of discs dedicated to an expansive and inclusive look at black contributions to country music, and the breadth of music that falls into the realm of County Soul is enough, I hope, to fill more compilations in the future.

The artists included on the disc are not exactly names one might consider when thinking of black country musicians. Of course, if it were limited to the standard black country artists, there would hardly be enough material for two compilations. Charlie Pride, DeFord Bailey (the Grand Old Opry’s first black star), and Ray Charles, with his genre shattering Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, are nowhere to be found on either disc. This is by design, since those artists are well documented elsewhere. Dirty Laundry (released in 2004) and its sequel, More Dirty Laundry (2008), provide “a collection of black approaches to country music” which is both a more inclusive and a more accurate representation of African American contributions. Because the institutionalization of country music essentially cut black musicians out of the picture, black artists have had to find different ways to approach the genre.

Listening to these compilations becomes a game of rethinking what country music is. Can you hear the country in Ruth Brown’s rhythm and blues version of the country standard “Tennessee Waltz”? Can you hear a Merle Haggard type twang in the voice of Stoney Edwards on “Honky Tonk Heaven”? Or conversely, can you hear the “soul,” (which is to say “blackness”) in the honky-tonk piano and pedal steel of Vicki Vann’s “You Must Think My Heart Has Swinging Doors”?

More Dirty Laundry gets to the heart of what one associates with country music. And who’s doing the associating. If country is limited to pedal steels, honky-tonk piano, and southern twang, Country Soul keeps all those elements, but also adds horns, gospel stylings, back-up singers, and soulful singing by artists like Solomon Burke and Bobby Womack that would make Hank Williams blush.

But country music isn’t just limited to the instrumentation and sonic textures, but is as much wrapped up in the history, the heartbreaks, and stories of the songs. Arthur Alexander’s “Everyday I Have To Cry,” and O.B. McClinton’s “If Loving You Is Wrong” ring the same sad tones often associated with the lily white country music from George Jones to Garth Brooks. O.C. Smith’s “The Son of Hickory Holler Tramp” is as compelling a story of country roots as Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” again, with a different approach. Take a story of pride in humble Southern beginnings and a deep devotion to family, swap the twangy telecaster and banjo of Loretta Lynn’s version for Smith’s driving bass guitar and blaring horn section, and you have two musical approaches to the same material.

Both Dirty Laundry and More Dirty Laundry make fantastic listening experiences. They cull from a wide and deep tradition that has been hidden in the cracks of other genres. Many of the artists represented here are famous in their own right (Ike and Tina Turner, Solomon Burke, James Brown), just not as country music stars. Fantastic liner notes by Jonathan Fischer provide an outline of the history of black participation and influence on the trajectory of country music as well as detailing each performer’s individual connection to country music, often through writing and producing credits for white stars.

These records may not be what you expect, and because of that, they make us realize how narrow our expectations have become.

This review originally posted on blackgrooves.org

My Favorite Movies About Music

2008-10-20T11:46:00.002-04:00

Mike posted about movies about music, but for the most part, they're all boring and not worth watching (actually I've only seen three of them, and he's right, that Sweet and Lowdown was pretty damn good).

But here are ten more movies way better than Mike's five movies about music.* (*if you're a jazz fan you better go with Mike. That's right, I said GO!)

I've also left out documentaries and concert films, because like Mike, I think that's a separate post. Also, these aren't ranked, even though they are numbered.

1. The Commitments

They played the music themselves!

2. High Fidelity
I mean, of course. Come on.

3. Nashville
I'm not even sure if Nashville is about music at all. But damn it's a good movie.

4. Coal Miner's Daughter
Sissy Spacek sang and she sounds goooood!

5. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
This movie was next level kind of shit.

6. Hustle and Flow
It might be a ghetto fantasy, but I still loved this movie.

7. The Blues Brothers

Can anyone remember what this movie is even about? Oh wait, it's about Dan Aykroyd (you've fallen so far!) and John Belushi figuring out a way to get the MGs, John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and others in a movie.

8. Amadeus
Historically inaccurate, but the writing is so good.

9. Leningrad Cowboys Go America
You just have to see it.

10. True Stories
So so so weird.

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band

2008-10-12T13:15:00.007-04:00

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band is so much about what I love about Americana music. The band is fundamentally a plugged in acoustic band - acoustic and resophonic guitars are plugged in and LOUD - a washboard and a BAD ASS chick playing the hell out of it (the Rev.'s wife Breezy), the songs are blues and folk based, and best of all... they have serious attitude.

Check 'em out here.

They walk the line between "authentic folksy," (they are from rural Indiana - Brown Co in fact where The Center for Folk Traditions is located) and a hip, raucous, barn burning touring band. Yet their hipness is cultivated from a specific style of "down homeness." Some might call this indexing the signs of authenticity: their instruments, their look, even down to the typeface and images on records and promotional material. I call it walking the line between aligning themselves with traditions, but being completely aware that "authenticity" in the 21st century is almost* a moot point.

And even though they're billed as a "blues" band, they prove just how irrelevant genre labels can be. Many impressive writers have talked about genre as something that happens in process, not in product: what genre you align yourself with, how that influences your sound and such. Which is why many "Americana" bands are called that because they draw from a wide range of musical forms: country, folk, blues, jazz, Cajun and zydeco, corrido, Irish, and increasingly these influential forms include pop and rock. Much of the Americana artists I love (Rev. Peyton, Old Crow Medicine Show, Whiskeytown, etc) have deep ties to punk.

This isn't a great clip, but it's the only way I could find to post this song, which is without a doubt my favorite right now.

I've owned their records for a few months, and liked them, but live they are another story. I can't recommend their shows highly enough.

Should anyone want to find me on November 20th or 21st, I'll be at the Bluebird, hearing Rev. Peyton rock out with The Avett Brothers.

* "Authenticity" isn't a moot point, but what it means to be authentic in a globalized world, with major cultural and artistic endeavours increasingly caught up in market economics, is rapidly changing and needs to be understood as such. This also applies retroactively, and is obscured by romantic visions of "pure" cultural expressions in the past. The Carter Family did all kinds of things to align themselves with this new economically viable "hillbilly" music. Does that make them inauthentic? Or is it okay because they were from rural Virginia and played country before country was cool? One must always remember that these "authentic" purveyors of music still wants to get paid!

Lotus and Rev Peyton

2008-10-07T23:43:00.001-04:00

An articulate post on the Lotus fest to come. In the meantime, my loyal reader(s), check out this, and watch this shit!

Image is everything

2008-09-29T19:44:00.002-04:00

I wrote a bit about why I don't understand jazz and I'm going to post that later. But what came out of it was a tangent about romanticizing the image of musicians.

I like musicians who "look the part." This has a lot of implications in country/Americana music but for right now I'm going to limit it to areas outside those realms.

The bands I love seeing are those that epitomize some kind of romantic ideal of the music. Here are some cases in point:

Distraught tortured singer-songwriters who look to the bottle for comfort:

Ryan Adams

Conor Oberst

Ridiculous bands who let their sense of fun SHINE:

Flaming Lips

Sufjan Stevens

Of Montreal

(maybe there needs to be a subsection dedicated to guys who wear wings on stage)

Hipsters: Dean and Britta

And then there's Jack White, the king of image:

Jug Band Jubilee: the good and the bad

2008-08-30T22:32:00.000-04:00

Recently I went to Louisville to the Jug Band Jubilee. It was my second time there, and almost everything was different this year. It was earlier (last year it was in Oct.) which meant it was much, much hotter. It was also all outside. The Carolina Chocolate Drops were not there. It was one day rather than a weekend, but the upside of that was this year it was FREE. I like free.

The common thread was the majestically cool Sule Greg Wilson. No one I've ever met makes being so smart look like so much fun.

This is Sule last year:

The thing that struck me, was the vast difference in the bands that I saw. Admittedly, this type of music (string band, jug band, and the like) isn't the most diverse sounding stuff to the general public. The difference between the bands I liked and didn't like was like the choice between Obama and McCain. The difference can be boiled down to one of aesthetics. The bands I didn't like (to be polite about it - really they turn my stomach and give jug bands a bad name) were the aged hippy, self-congratulatory, unfunny bands of dudes like The Juggernaut Jug Band and the Cincinnati Dancing Pigs.

And I think most of what I hate about this band can be wrapped up by this guy:

I mean, that's a gallon jug of weaksauce.

Their humor is tired. Their playing lackluster, their attitude cutesy and, like I said, self-congratulatory, like they actually thought their well-worn jokes were still funny. "We're the dancing Pigs and that's not just our name but also our faces." ha... ha... ha... shoot myself!
They're not so much revivalists of the jug band music I love (Cannon's Jug Stompers, Memphis Jug Band) but of Jim Kweskin's Jug Band and other 1960s revivalists.

Then there were these guys, Escape the Floodwater.

I was really excited because at first I thought they were a Mennonite Jug Band, until my sister-in-law Kate pointed out that she didn't think Mennonites have tattoos.

Not only are they adorable (I've pretty much fallen in love with the banjo player), but they're everything the aforementioned geezers aren't: fun, high energy, funny, cool, hip, and they show a great respect for the originators of the music, infusing the songs of Earl McDonald, Gus Cannon and Will Shade with a dose of the energy and attitude of Ramones, Sex Pistols, and Nirvana.

They got people dancing, they challenged every jug player at the place to compete in a "jug-off" which is just funny in and of itself. Plus they have a up-tempo songs about how hard it is being in a jug band: you know, the fame, the money, the women.... oh it's all so hard!

Is it age? Not entirely, though I think that has something to do with it. It's attitude, and how you let that attitude come through in the music, how it influence what songs you play, and how you play them, which creates aesthetic.

The Jake Leg Stompers are not kids. They've got their fair share of grey and missing hairs. But they commit to their brand of roarin' twenties aesthetic, visually and musically, and get a general thumbs up in my book. But they didn't seem to be as big a hit as the Dancing Pigs or inevitably, the Juggernaut Jug Band (I'm not even touching those guys because the vitriol runs deep.) That's what I don't get. Why do people like boring music? Which isn't limited to this small jug band festival, but can be seen on MTV, American Idol, your local bar, your "local" Clear Channel radio station.

And when I say boring, while sounding like a matter of taste, isn't meant to be. I don't like Radiohead, Arvo Part, Tricky, M'shell Ndegeocello, but none of them are boring. That's a matter of taste.

These are the things I'm thinking about.

Should anyone care...

2008-08-26T13:28:00.000-04:00

I'm bifurcating my blog. "casket, shroud and grave" will continue as a music centered blog, and other thoughts and activities: friends, family, crafting, etc. will (or might be) found at per diem, for those who might care to read about such things.

thank you, that is all.

One Year In Bloomington

2008-08-21T02:17:00.001-04:00

I'm not really the sentimental type, but… wait, I'm sorry, what I meant to say was… Since I'm the most sentimental fucker EVER I've been thinking lately about my one year anniversary in Bloomington, Indiana.

August 20th marks one year that I've been here, and I have a few reflections.

Here are some good things:

My life has direction. Each year builds upon the last and I've moving towards something. This was not the case in LA. And I like where I'm headed. I've met some amazing people and I've shared some amazing times with them.

Christie took me to the pumpkin launch. Which was amazing. I can't wait to go back this year.

FARM opened with a great bar in the basement called The Root Cellar, and sometimes my favorite local band, The Fatted Calf String Band play there.

Michael Grove, Gabi, Jen Boles and I started the Mandolin and Banjo society of Bloomington, which implies a little more music making that what really goes on there.

I've started to get CD reviews published: http://blackgrooves.org/

I found a great job which not only gives me a huge amount of responsibility but also provides a platform to meet really fun people. Like this dude, Bill Bailey:

I was at a party in April, at Banjo player Ken Perlman's house with Alan Jabour, Henry Glassie, and Brad Leftwich. This won't mean much to most people, but it was fucking amazing to me! Sadly, I have no pictures.

I got to go to Chicago with Molly, a definite highlight of the year:

The Bad Things:

The bad things I'm not going to dwell on too much. I will say this year has brought a lot of rough times, including points of feeling lost, isolated, dumb, incompetent, heartbroken, broke, and foolish. The fall was stressful, the winter was dreary (goddamned wintry mix) the spring was good, no complaints, (except a $1000 repair on my car!) and the summer was tumultuous and long.

I am glad I made the move. Bloomington is obviously quite different than L.A. but in some ways, it's similar. I think I made a wise move regarding school, as each month I get more comfortable doing what I'm doing. Small town life can be rough, but it can also force you to adapt, and deal with things one might otherwise just avoid living in a big city.

Mostly I miss people. Dustin Hoffman in particular.

The Ebony Hillbillies

2008-08-14T02:15:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I went to New York to visit and old friend and revisit an old city. While I was there I had a chance to see one of the few black string bands playing in America today, The Ebony Hillbillies.

Here are the guys, sans banjo/dulcimer/guitar player Norris Bennet, playing "Fisher's Hornpipe":

This is a short clip of them playing Jay Unger's waltz, Ashokan Farewell, which is perhaps the saddest waltz on the planet. The video doesn't do justice to Rique's fantastic phrasing. I'm going to try to get back there this fall to record just this song if nothing else!

These guys blow my mind for several reasons. Obviously one of the biggest is that these guys are carrying on rural traditions from the Appalachian region, well known for its string band music, but not so well know for the role African Americans played in it, and bringing it to the tunnels of New York City, a area with a complex and interesting racial makeup. These guys have been playing in far too great of obscurity for years. Another amazing thing about the Ebony Hillbillies is that the tunes they play are anything but museum pieces of the old-time repertoire. Their take on Ashokan Farewell was unlike any I had heard before, and I greatly look forward to talking to Rique about his personal embellishments and phrases.

The use of the eleborate percussion kit was fascinating too, and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk in-depth with A.R. (the washboard player) about the role of percussion/washboards/etc in old-time music, which in most (white) old-time groups is absent.

Getting back to music.

2008-07-23T02:04:00.000-04:00

I've been away from blogging recently as someone pointed out (I didn't know people ever checked!) and will try to get back to it. This past month has been one of great upheaval for me, and out of respect for my reading audience (as I now know I have) I'll get back on track to the terribly interesting world of my life.

Over the 4th of July weekend I drove down to Memphis, TN, which, while surreal and sad (recent breakup) I was able to focus on things music related, and Memphis has more than its share. I met a friend of mine there, a fellow ethnomusicologist, and we spent some good days visiting the local sights and talking about the importance of Memphis both to music (Sun Records, Stax Records, and uggg... Graceland) and also for the larger picture of American history since Dr. King was shot there. Something I was not aware of was how significant that event was to Memphis specifically, and how it basically closed the book on Stax Records, who's policy of a color-free studio came under great pressure in the wake of Dr. King's death.

For those who don't know much about Stax, it was the soul music label that gave rise to Otis Redding, the Staples Singers, and perhaps most famously its house band, Booker T. & The MGs (which served basically as the backing back for the film The Blues Brothers) with the Memphis horns, an integrated band if there every was one.

Oh, and as you may have noticed, I bought a hat in Memphis.

Before that I went to two music festivals in Indiana. The slightly famous and slightly odd Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival, which showcased some moderate to weak bluegrass acts, but the highlight was the MC, who kept announcing things to be the best in a very limited way.
"Isn't that the best bluegrass you ever heard tonight at the Bean Blossom Festival."
or,
"Go get some kettle corn, it's the best kettle corn to be had at the top of the hill at the Bean Blossom fest here in Indiana." Really dude, sounds more like a dig!Also? I'm pretty sure Aaron didn't know who Lester Flatt was.

I also went to the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering, which was worth the trip simply for the short time I got to talk to two of the Flat Mountain Girls.

Now I'm waiting for the Jug Band Jubilee in Louisville at the end of August, and of course to head back down to Nashville to see my favorite band in the world, The Old Crow Medicine Show play at the Ryman Auditorium in October.

Summer

2008-05-10T17:34:00.000-04:00

I am out of school and so summer is upon me.

Last summer was one of great upheaval. I left by beloved bookstore, my best friends, and Los Angeles. I moved across the country to a small Midwestern town.

Now it's summer again, and while there is much to be done, I also feel at a loss. A loss for what to do, how to do it, and where to go from here.

My neighbors have a pontoon party boat that sits unused on their lawn, and each sunny day it taunts me. If I had a truck I'd high jack that thing, call all my friends, and take it to the lake.

But instead I'll try to content myself with learning the banjo in the sun.

My goals this summer and to move from, "I'm learning to play the banjo" and start saying, "I play the banjo." To begin a get a handle on Spanish. To read at least four of the ten books I've got stacked up. To see every film Les Blank has made on American vernacular music.

Maybe trick out my washboard from this

to something a little more like this...

And of course, spend some time at the lake, preferably on a large pontoon party boat.

Psycho Killer

2008-04-26T22:50:00.000-04:00

One of the terribly frustrating things about being an ethnomusicology student is my department's desire for me to focus, even at the Master's level. Weekly it is put to me how each project is going to fit into my thesis, my reading list, my larger portfolio.

As I've mentioned, my friend Chris runs a "listening project" where we gather to listen to music other people have brought. I look forward to those evenings to hear what other people are listening to. Although far too often I'm disappointed to learn it's more of the same. Others, however, constantly surprise me.

My friend Mike surprises me. He's studies music in religious experience, but you'd never know that from hearing the insane litany of Billboard Top 200 that rotate on his iPod at his house.

Christie's like that too. I think I know her taste (loud boys with electric guitars) but then she'll surprise my by becoming obsessed with an act like Drakkar Sauna or her devotion to lo-fi DIY phenom The Mountain Goats.

I'm not one of those people who claims (usually inaccurately) that they like all kinds of music. When most people say that what they really mean is they listen to both rock AND hip-hop. Give me a break. I don't claim to like all music and I have no problem with that. But I like to hear most kinds of music. Except for most Indian/Indian influences music (except for Bhangra and Cornershop - both highly British influenced, which is what I might be responding to).

I wish I were able to more fully explore interests that are increasingly feeling tangential. Alt-Country, hip-hop, Irish balladry, and this week, The Talking Heads.

Why is it that no one talks about The Talking Heads anymore? I've been listening to Stop Making Sense, True Stories, and Remain In Light. It could have been brought on by my participation in a muxtape competition, which future themes included the ideas: songs about food. and songs about buildings. (The year I was born The Talking Heads released an album called More Songs About Buildings and Food.)

Maybe I'll do some reading on The Talking Heads this summer, if I haven't gone completely couch-potato, which is also a possibility.

But more importantly,
I'll do some more listening.

Anyone want to send me a mix CD (not of The Talking Heads - I got most that stuff) be my guest.

Summer Evening

2008-04-17T23:39:00.001-04:00

Tonight at the Runcible Spoon in downtown Bloomington, the Fatted Calf String Band played outside on the porch while I sat outside listening to the music, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes. It's basically all I want to do in life.

There was something that was missing though, and it means something to me as to why music is important. I was missing someone to share it with. I was sitting at a table with absolutely lovely people, but people I don't know well.

Mostly I missed my sisters because they share the same love for old-time music. But there are a host of folks who don't love old-time music, but whom I would have loved to have there.

I spend so much time listening to music through headphones, on my computer, in my car... I long for the communal musical experience. I love listening to things with people.

Why a Duck?

2008-04-08T21:51:00.000-04:00

Why do we blog?

I do it to try to formulate thoughts that don't seem to be satisfied in my cluttered and feckless mind. I do it so those interested can have a glimpse at my more serious side, choosing how long they might want to listen, and not having to seem rude when I start to bore them.

My friend's blog about different things.

As mentioned Chris blogs about music, listening, and communication.

Christie blogs about the things she knits.

Gabi blogs about leftover food and homelessness.

Maria blogs about intertexuality.

Eric blogs about music fandom.

Langston blogs about hip-hop.

I never thought I'd care about blogs. They always seemed a vain and pointless act. But as I find myself being constantly updated to my friend's status via facebook, when I "interact" with them more online of a day than in person, blogs are starting to look a little better. Maybe I'm starting to like the idea of expanding on the status, so rather than a quip about "Thomas is at the coffee shop and had too much coffee," my friend's might read a small bit about how my mind is working that day. It doesn't seem like too much to hope for.

What we talk about when we talk about music

2008-03-24T19:51:00.000-04:00

A friend and fellow ethnomusicology student runs an ongoing listening party. Some call if "music club," other call it the "Community Listening Project." This speaks volumes about how people approach it.

His big fear is that music students (himself included) take all the fun out of music by hyper-analysis, which actually intrudes upon real, individual-to-individual communication. He fears the over-usage of terms like intertextual, meta-discursive, and problematic. He worries that no one wants to hear about music in these terms and thus when speaking about music he becomes a "terrorist of fun." A valid point and a fantastic phrase for sure.

But I argue the other side. While referring to certain music as "intertextual" may not be communicating much, I ague that saying "I love this" communicates just as little.

I think that as far as communicating something real about why we listen, listen to, and labor over music is usually starts with something akin to "I love this," but we obviously can't stop there. Nor do I think a large number of dedicated music fans, students, writers, want to stop there. But there is an emotional balance to be struck, because music if often an emotional aspect of people's lives. But do the hyper-critical and the emotional have to be different?

Personally, I follow physicist Richard Feynman's approach, which is the more you know about something, the more you can love it. Either its complexity or its simplicity, but more honestly.
He explained that knowing the cellular structure of a flower didn't make it less beautiful. Quite the contrary! He saw beauty that was hidden from those who don't know the amazing inner workings of a flower.

I think my friend's fears have a lot to do with class issues, that those in the academy speak only to those who've had the training (which entails money, time, and privilege) to occupy their world with terminology that isn't always helpful: i.e. "intertexual music." And I think there is a delicate balance between dumbing down the thinking, and dumbing down the talking about the thinking.

2007-11-26T10:55:00.000-05:00

I've been reading about the last songs played aboard the Titanic as it sank. As has been well documented in archives as in folklore, the band continued to play until they were literally underwater. Gavin Bryars has even taken a step at thinking what those last few bars would sound like underwater, for Bryars do not bound their commitment.

There is much speculation as to whether an Episcopalian hymn "Autumn" or "Nearer My God to Thee" was the last song played. It seems irrelevant, except for those fascinated with documenting the precision of the events of that night, to concern oneself too much with what song was played. What fascinates me is that it was a hymn, either way, and played slowly.

As often comes to my mind when I'm confronted with moments of unimaginable courage, I think of the scene in Lion in Winter, where the two men are facing execution, and one says to be brave, the other asks (and I'm paraphrasing from memory):

"How does it matter how a man falls?"
and the reply is: "When the fall is all that's left, it matters a great deal."

People often suggest they'd like to be at their own funeral. Me? I'd like to be able to play my own burial dirge.

about me

2007-11-14T01:44:00.001-05:00

this is me. i'm trying to learn to blog. i don't get it. not yet.

i'm a graduate student at indiana university in ethnomusicology. i grew up in utah, lived in western mass., ny, ny, los angeles, and briefly in baltimore and san fransisco.

i like old-time music. most anything here should be pertaining to it. or to music in general. or to folk traditions and such.

i'm 29. i keep my office messy. i drive a volvo.

on air

2007-11-14T01:30:00.000-05:00

In India in the 1930's the state controlled broadcasting network changed their name from Indian Broadcasting Service to All India Radio. Like the acronym?

The transmission of sound waves in India has simply been referred to as AIR since 1936.

Currently I'm listening to Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight." It's the album I've always wanted Neko Case to record. Actually, the New Pornographer's "Electric Version" was the Neko Case album I've always wanted, so nevermind.

I'm not sure where the idea came from that Neko Case was a country, or even alt. country artist? Can someone tell me? I don't get it. I like her well enough (except her album art always has her fallen and splayed, WTF?) but as a country artist she's weak. Loretta Lynn could kick her ass any day of the week. As an indie-rock darling she's better than most. So call a indie-rock darling an indie-rock darling. What gives?

I'm also listening to Beethoven's 8th symphony as cond. by Guilini with the London Phil. I bought this for the 9th (best ever!) and have just now (three years later) started listening to the 8th.

debut

2007-11-14T01:17:00.000-05:00

i don't know what i'm doing. there will be real content soon. i'm learning how to do this.