Grisman does Puccini
Another selection from David Johansen’s Mansion of Fun (his weekly show on Sirius)… I’ve been familiar with mandolist David Grisman through his close relationship with Jerry Garcia. But this one was a surprise (and a welcome one at that) when I heard it last week.
On 2001’s Traversata, Grisman is joined by guitarist Beppe Gambetta and fellow mandolin player Carlo Aonzo. They run through 15 different Italian-American tunes from the early 20th century. Now, I just downloaded the whole thing off of eMusic, and I haven’t heard the whole thing yet, but what I did hear was their take on Puccini’s “Oh, Mio Babbino Caro” (it translates to “Oh, My Dear Papa”). Puccini wrote it for an opera entitled Gianni Schicchi, which debuted at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1918 (see more about the opera in this Wikipedia entry). Really a beautiful piece of music.
David Grisman, Carlo Aonzo, Beppe Gambetta:
Oh, Mio Babbino Caro(mp3)Buy Traversata straight from Grisman’s own independent label, Acoustic Disc, or on eMusic.
iConcertCal and a Concert Dilemma
Peter at Bars & Guitars recommended a cool (and free) iTunes plug-in called iConcertCal. After you install it, you click View > Show Visualizer on your iTunes menu bar, and it shows you a calendar of concerts in your area by the artists in your iTunes library. Very cool. The calendar interface could be a little bigger and the layout a little more pleasing to the eye, but the concept itself is brilliant. One quick look, and you’re plugged into the latest concert info for the artists you like.
At first glance for me, I found out that the weekend of February 17th will be a great one for New Orleans music in the Phoenix area. Saturday the 17th, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will be at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix. The following night, it’s the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Decisions decisions. Realistically, I’ll only be able to hit one of these. Which one should I choose?
Dirty Dozen Brass Band:
Jesus on the Mainline(mp3) – from Funeral for a Friend
Here’s what my iConcertCal looks like:
Dead at the Cow Palace Contest
If you didn’t win this in Hidden Track’s recent contest (they took the best post title, “A Dead Giveaway”), here’s a chance to pick up Rhino’s recent release of the Grateful Dead’s New Year’s Eve 1976 show at the Cow Palace. It’s a triple CD set, it’s 180 minutes of Dead in their prime goodness, and I think you should have it. There’s a listening party right here, and you can also check out and buy the CD here.
Leaving a comment below enters you in the contest, and I’ll pick a winner early in the coming week. Because it’s late Saturday morning, and I’m high on 2 cups of coffee and cold medicine, let’s get creative. Whoever comes up with the best Grateful Dead / Jerry Garcia related haiku wins the set.
About Haiku: “Haiku is an unrhymed, syllabic form adapted from the Japanese: three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. Because it is so brief, a haiku is necessarily imagistic, concrete & pithy, capturing a single moment in a very few words.”
so good luck people
this is a lot of music
eat asparagusFebruary 2nd Update: We gotta winner: Boyhowdy! See here for details.
Flip, Pinto, and the Dead
Time to promote!
Here are a few goodies sent my way, completely and utterly unrelated to eachother.
Lil Flip’s New Video: Yes, this man looks like he would very much like to eat your children. But that’s just Lil’ Flip. I won’t pretend to know a thing about Lil Flip. I only know him as one the many “Lil”s in the hip-hop world. And after reading about him on Wikipedia, I now know that he’s had running feuds with Paul Wall, Hump, T.I., and Slim Thug. He’s Houston bred and he was discovered by DJ Screw. You got that? ‘Cause there’s gonna be a quiz.
Lyf Jennings joins Lil’ Flip here for this new video from Flip’s forthcoming album. Oh cool, I can say this now… it drops in March. See? I still got it. Anyway, I still like to catch up with what’s going on in hip-hop these days. Of course I’m one of those mid to late thirty somethings that spent their formative years listening to the pioneers: Run DMC, Eric B. & Rakim, Whodini, Public Enemy, etc. etc., and no hip-hop will ever top that stuff for me. But yeah, it’s good to check in every now and then. And this isn’t bad. I like the message and the flow.
But I do like Paul Wall better. Sorry Flip (I’ll check more of your stuff out, I can’t judge you on one song).
Lil Flip Feat. Lyf Jennings: Ghetto Mindstate (YouTube)
PINTO! Andreas is the man. He’s in a Swedish band called Pinto, and he emails me from time to time with his latest stuff. In fact, I’m motivated to post their latest tune simply based on the subject line of his latest email: “Oh Lord Jesus Christ it is that guy from Pinto again!” And to describe Pinto’s latest, he puts it this way….
Let me put this simple. We has either made an awesome hit song or a really annoying two minute track that reminds you of Hooters (and sadly I’m talking about the band). Hopefully it is the first. I really hate Hooters (the band that is).
Awesome.
Pinto: Talk to Me Now (mp3)
Listen:
[audio:talk_to_me_now.mp3]You can download a thousand Swedish meatballs worth of tunes over at their web site. Go Pinto go!
Grateful Dead’s Live at The Cow Palace, New Year’s Eve, 1976 On January 23rd, Rhino will be releasing a classic Dead show from New Year’s Eve 1976. I’ve got a copy on the way for a sweet upcoming giveaway, so stay tuned.
While we’re waiting for the 23rd, check out this cool e-Card to listen to some tunes. You can follow links there to order the CD.
Clickit.
A Temptations Christmas
I watched my 3 year old watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer tonight for the very first time. I was thrown into a time machine and got a bit nostalgic along the way. So suffice it to say that the Christmas spirit grabbed a hold of me tonight.
I played this for my daughters before they went off to bed…
The Temptations:
Silent Night(mp3) – from The Best of the Temptations ChristmasFor some additional Christmas music post action…
- Aikin over at Licorice Pizza has some live Tom Waits Christmas/hooker tuneage (Silent Night / Postcard from a Hooker in Minneapolis), as well as a Boss Christmas classic.
- (Sm)All Ages posts a plethora of “Silent Night”s.
Update: Wanna hear the Boss sing “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” from an ALS benefit show last Saturday night?
SNL: D— in a Box
Saturday Night Live had a good night last night. Justin Timberlake was a great host and musical guest. The highlight was this Digital Short with Andy Samberg (by far my favorite on the show). Another instant classic….
Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake: D–k in a Box (it’s worth enduring the 30 second commercial)Two Years of Ickmusic
This is a picture of the Millau Viaduct in France, the tallest vehicular bridge in the world. Pretty amazing if you ask me. It opened on December 14th, 2004. Guess what else opened on Dec. 14th, 2004? Why, this web site of course… Yep, today marks the 2nd birthday of Ickmusic. 429 different posts, 715 comments, and still plugging along.
Sing it with me: R-I-A-A Stay Awayyy, let me blog another dayyy
Looking back, here are a few milestones:
First Post & Song: Dec. 14th, 2004 – It’s Worth a Try | Song :
Quattro(Calexico)First Prince Mention: Jan. 5th, 2005 – Baby What’s Your Phone Number | Song:
777-9311(The Time)First Bruce Mention: Feb 1st, 2005 – Let There Be Chicks | Song:
Stolen Car(Patty Griffin)Long-Winded First Birthday Post: Dec. 14, 2005 – One Year of Ickmusic | Song:
Show Me Your Heart(Need New Body)First Christmas Post: Dec. 23, 2004 – Happy Merry Christmas Funtime | Song:
Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland(Grandaddy)So hey, thanks to all of you who stop by from time to time. I reiterate, leave a comment or shoot me an email from time to time. Let’s commune. Peace and Love. Adios…
I leave you with one request, and that is for you to watch, in its entirety, Tex Haper’s “Country New Wave.” You will not be sorry.
So Long Greg Wiggle
Those of you who aren’t mothers and fathers of young children may not feel the impact of this development, but it’s genuinely sad news to hear that Greg Page, aka Greg the Yellow Wiggle, has left the Wiggles due to a chronic condition known as orthostatic intolerance…
Put simply, it means that when Greg stands up, his heart does not compensate for the change in posture by pumping more blood around his body for it to function properly. A similar problem occurs when there is a change in the environment such as a warm room or hot weather.
This condition is causing problems with his walking, balance, speech and coordination. It relates to the proper functioning of the autonomic nervous system, which is the way the human body regulates things we don’t consciously have to think about such as heart beat and temperature regulation. [from this press release on the Wiggles web site]
It bums me out. There are a multitude of children’s television programs, and most of them can be quite grating on an adult’s nerves, but the Wiggles is something different. That’s one I’ve enjoyed over the last few years as a new father. Good music and very likable guys. I took my daughter to a Wiggles concert this past spring, and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it almost as much as her.
Greg will be replaced by Sam Moran, who has been an understudy for the Wiggles for nine years. We’ll still watch, but there will always be a void.
Wiggles Trivia: Former Split Enz and Crowded House drummer Paul Hester played a recurring Wiggles role as “Paul the Cook”. He’s the guy you saw singing “Fruit Salad”. He sadly committed suicide in 2005. Bummer post, I know! Sheesh…
Christmas Idol
Who is this good looking fellow singing in the snow? Why it’s Mr. Billy Idol singing “Jingle Bell Rock” of course. I know it’s November, but my freak neighbors have had their Christmas lights up for a week now, so it’s open season here on Ickmusic. And I just couldn’t keep these videos to myself. I’ve been watching in amazement as Billy Idol, former member of Generation X, belts out the Christmas hits in these priceless videos.
I can’t help but think that someone put him up to this, that this is some extravagant bet that Billy plans on winning. But joke or not, Billy has released a whole album of Christmas classics, and as you’ll see, he’s as giddy as a schoolboy on Christmas morning to sing them for you…
Billy Idol: Jingle Bell Rock |White Christmas | Happy Holiday (MySpace videos)
What’s next, a Johnny Rotten – Clay Aiken Holiday Duets album?
The New Banner: some of you may notice a new banner up top. It’s nothing spectacular (I’m still working on that), but it’s a picture I took over Thanksgiving weekend in Tucson. We were walking back from a park at dusk, and saw many many birds on the wires above. So I felt compelled to snap a photo.
The picture above is only a small part of it. The full photo is here. I don’t know why, but I like it. There’s a whole lot of stuff going on in that photo. Lots of individual birds coming together to commune on the local wires at the end of a beautiful day. And of course, it can be interpreted as the five lines in a written music staff. Huh? You feeling me now? Okay, I have just spent entirely too much time writing about my bird picture. Go watch Billy again.
Check these Blogs out
A couple of cool music blogs to take note of…
- I’ve been enjoying Hidden Track, since soon after it kicked off in October. The blog is a spinoff of Glide Magazine, a great music site. Ace Cowboy and Scotty B. have the controls. I like their writing, their content, and their senses of humor. And I think they’re even getting paid for it! Give me some tips, boys. Must – – find – – a way.. Go give ’em a visit. One of their recent posts has a download of Dylan’s “Masters of War”, as performed by the Roots.
- Breath of Life has been on my Sage and Bloglines subscriptions since I found some great Prince posts a couple months back. One of their latest posts takes a look at The Wailers tune “Dreamland”.