10 posts tagged “music”
Fred Wesley, that's all I'm sayin':
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
Joy In Repetition - Prince
She LIves In My Lap - Outkast
Interview: Superfly - Curtis Mayfield
Lights Behind Windows - Llorca
One In A Million You - Larry Graham (I didn't even know I had this turkey. Must have come with the "Larry Graham Collection" CD... It's so bad, it's almost good)
My Ex-Girlfriend - Tony Toni Tone (I lurrrve this song... must under appreciated album EVAR)
Mission a Bombay - Eddy and Dugs
Heart Attacks - Richard Pryor
Pump It Up - Jack McDuff
Busted - Ray Charles
I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was. Kerrytown House is a very intimate setting with a seating capacity of perhaps 50. And we had front row seats... for $20/ticket.
Yeah you heard me
I wasn't sure how well The Artist would do. She's usually pretty good "out amongst the English" and very patient. But she got a little fidgety at the Ramsey Lewis concert a few weeks ago. She did her best to be polite and all but it's tough when you're 8 and your parents are all into something that might be a wee bit over your head.
Watching Robert Hurst on bass was like watching someone caught up in Rapture. I felt like he would burst. Or I would.
When I saw Donald Walden walk in before the show, I had no inkling that he might be a musician, let alone the leader. Very unassuming guy. In truth they all were, but Walden gave the impression that he was just there to catch the show. He peeked around the corner at the stage at first. Didn't even ascend it until a couple other musicians had. I heard him joking with pianist, Barry Harris, that he "liked to play fast." Fortunately nothing was lost in translation. His phrasing was precise and clear.
I love this music. Though I didn't always appreciate it. In my younger days, it was just "that old time-y dance music" my dad and uncle used to listen to, especially Uncle Bo. Let Basie get to swinging and he'd grab the closest female in range for a trip around his basement floor. God that man could dance. It hit me Saturday night that this music is dance music. Hell my feet couldn't keep still. Room full of obviously (I'm assuming) left-leaning college intellectual types and I could barely keep still. Chair danced my natural behind off. I had to. Randy Gelispie's enthusiasm was infectious.
I couldn't stop thanking him.
Now it's happened before. The most egregious example being the music of "he that is most holy" used in a mini-van commercial. Ironic that it was he that coined the phrase that shaped my view of commerce, made me truly skeptical of the commercial in general:
"Mind your wants, because someone wants your mind."
Man's gotta pay bills like everybody else I guess.
Anyway, it's nothing new, but it struck me today as I was shopping at the local grocery store that as Kool and The Gang's Hollywood Swinging cued up as I was selecting bananas that I initially paid it no mind. It's become old hat. No. Big. Deal.
That hurts.
Because it means that along with worrying about my 401k and if I can pay my daughters education and whether I need a new water softener, I have become old. I haven't been relevant for quite some time. Hell I abdicated any claim to "the target demographic" long before I was actually old enough. I broke with the popular culture along about the time Freddie Jackson got his first recording contract. I relished my role as a misanthrope.
Now? It's all lost in the noise. I went to a Prince concert a while back, just for old times sake. The Purple One broke into a medley of hits finishing with a full rendition of "When You Were Mine." A teary, near hysterical 14 (where was her mother?) year old turns to her girlfriend and screams "This must be off his new album!"
God I'm old.
The things you run into on Public Radio. Ran into this one last weekend, running errands. My Father listened to Jimmy Smith all the time. I spent plenty of Saturday afternoons running in and out of Uncle Bo's basement, begging for ice and Coca-colas, while Uncle Bo and my dad debated the relative merits of Smith and Ellington, Coltrane and Montgomery. Being the older of the two, Uncle Bo leaned more toward the big bands and swing. Daddy was heavy into West Coast Jazz, Cool Jazz. My daddy was the coolest mother-you-know-what on the planet. At least he was to me.
I'm sure I heard this cut once or twelve on those hot summer afternoons:
My buddy Alden gifted me with $30 worth of iTunes for my birthday and I've been rationing the purchases like it's
Loving "My Man Is A Mean Man", can't stop listening to "What If We Stopped Paying Taxes." It's like "Soul Brother #1" never left.
George is the man.
Thanks Alden. Thanks George.
I associate with the coolest people.
"If you're feelin' like sometimes you want to let yourself go
Don't fight the feelin', might not come no more
Something is stopping you from gettin' on down
Stop and take a look at who you're hangin' round"
".....just might be your last chance, might be your first.
To try and hold it in might make things worse."
Where Is The Love? by Flack and Holloway. Really, it's the perfect song. I'm listening to it right now. I'd share it with you but I'm not smart enough to get around iTunes' copy protection.
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your music player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.) Inspired by Stephanie.
1. Never Make Your Move Too Soon - B. B. King
2. Jigsaw Puzzle - The Rolling Stones
3. Jind Mahi - Malkit Singh
4. Love Me 'Till Sunday - Nicole Conte
5. All of Me - Duke Ellington
6. I'll Come Running Back To You - Sam Cooke
7. Trust - Prince
8. Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner
9. Sky Painted On Car - Venetian Snares
10. You Send Me - Sam Cooke
Update: The funny thing is I'm not a big fan of love songs (especially of the "down on my knees begging you please" variety). So I was surprised to see just how many love themed tunes that spun up. I wouldn't have guessed that I had that many. BTW - My favorite "love song" is "Love Rears It's Ugly Head" by Living Color.
Listening to them now Earth Wind & Fire don't provide the same thrill. The arrangements are a little light and Phillip Bailey's falsetto is annoying. But that's just one man's opinion. Another reason I like MP3's. I can have my milk without buying the whole cow. "Yearnin' Learnin'" without "Reasons." "Mighty Mighty" without "I'll Write a Song."
Unfortunately (because iTunes didn't carry it) I paid $13 today for a CD for one song. Kept running into Pleasure's "Glide" driving around on Saturday afternoons. Brought back fond memories of days without responsibilities. I was broke in those days too, but these are the tradeoffs we make. Plus it's a good song. Pop confection, funk light. And these days the lyrics resonate... "Don't let life keep you behind, Glide, Glide on by..."
The other cuts are a little cringe inducing though. I left most of them on the CD with a few exceptions. "Joyous" has a nice horn arrangement. "Yearnin' Burnin'" ain't bad. And I remember liking "Take A Chance" when it first came out. I copied "Sasafras Girl" just for the kitchy title.
Give "Glide" a listen. It's great for a Saturday afternoon.
