American Music Awards
The American Music Awards were on tonight. I watched a little bit. Quick observations:
- I still don’t get Mary J. Blige or Jay Z. Jay Z played his Budweiser song. It made me think of a Budweiser commercial.
- I respect the Dixie Chicks for standing up to the right wingers and all, but the song they performed tonight? Zzzzz…
- I really like Jimmy Kimmel’s sense of humor. And his show.
- I felt very sorry for Barry Manilow during his performance of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “What the World Needs Now”. Out of place (and out of face, for that matter – plastic surgery gone a wee bit too far).
- The show was so tame and safe that I actually enjoyed Fall Out Boy’s performance. Finally, a little rock & roll.
- Nelly Furtado is hot.
- I’m writing like Larry King in his USA Today column.
- I realized that I’ve grown a little too old for the AMA’s. My heyday for the AMA’s was the 80’s, and I still remember this 1985 performance; to this day, my favorite live performance of “Purple Rain”…
The Missing Years
Whether you’re familiar with John Prine or not, you should at least make yourself familiar with The Missing Years. Produced by the late Howie Epstein of the Heartbreakers, and including such special guests as Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, and the Boss himself, the album is full of warm melodies, and funny & insightful lyrics. You can end the weekend just right by listening to this tune…
John Prine:
The Sins of Memphisto(mp3)Buy The Missing Years on eMusic or Amazon.
Bonus: Todd Snider:
That’s the Way That the World Goes ‘Round(mp3)Ed Bradley
You don’t know what ya got til’ it’s gone… Why does it take the death of someone to make you truly appreciate the things they stood for, and the many amazing things they accomplished? It’s human nature I guess. But the world lost another one last week with the passing of Ed Bradley.
I’m not sure how 60 Minutes stands with the younger generation today. I believe it’s still one of the highest rated programs around. But reliance on quality TV news programs, network news, not to mention newspapers (which I still read every day), seems to be waning considerably with the onslaught of information available over the internet, and other pastimes that serve to siphon interest away from current events and the world at large (video games, horrid television programs, MySpace). Sure, Iraq is of great concern to Americans, but could 7 out of 10 people show it to you on a world map in less than 5 seconds? I guess I have a pessimistic view of the how Americans see the world. Ignorance is not bliss, it’s downright depressing.
I watch 60 Minutes from time to time. The highlight for me was watching Ed Bradley’s pieces. he came across not only as intelligent, engaging, and tough, but warm and disarming.
Ed Bradley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June of 1941. After graduating from Cheyney State College in 1964, he was a school teacher for a while, and worked part time at a Philly radio station WDAS. He was always a big jazz fan, and his experience at WDAS strengthened and expanded his love of jazz.
”My tastes at that time, I guess this would be 1964-65, reflected where I was. I was 24, 25 years old. I was into Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Yusef Lateef, Horace Silver, Mal Waldron, younger, hipper guys. When I became a disc jockey, I would get phone calls. Listeners would call up and say, ‘Hey. How come you don’t play Count Basie?’ Well, Count Basie wasn’t happening for me, but because I would get people who would ask for it, Count Basie or Duke Ellington, I would say, ‘Let me see what we have here on Count Basie. Wow, he has a lot of albums.’ And then Duke Ellington. ‘Whoa, man. Does he have a lot of albums! Let me play some of these and see what I hear in them.’”
The album that originally turned Bradley on to jazz was Erroll Garner’s 1955 landmark live album, Concert by the Sea. The song in particular was “Teach Me Tonight”.
“For me, it was my Rosetta stone. Because I never got jazz. It was something the generation ahead of me listened to. It wasn’t my music. I didn’t understand it. Then all of a sudden I heard Concert by the Sea. Particularly “Teach Me Tonight.” All of sudden it made sense to me.” He was 15 at the time and remained a fan.
Bradley’s reporting career came to be during the Philadelphia riots of the 60’s. Before he knew it, he was covering the conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 70’s as a reporter for CBS News (he was also injured by mortar fire in Cambodia). In 1981, he joined 60 Minutes, where he went on to win 19 Emmy Awards for his reporting.
In his time away from work, Bradley spent time at his home in Woody Creek, just outside of Aspen, Colorado. He was a friend of Hunter S. Thompson, and apparently was the only person that Hunter allowed to speak during Sunday’s televised football games at Owl Farm (Thompson’s home).
The photo above was taken during Bradley’s 60 Minutes piece on Bruce Springsteen in January of 1996. I thought I’d tie everything together this Veteran’s Day weekend with a Bruce song about the brotherhood (and struggles) of our veterans.
Bruce Springsteen: Brothers Under the Bridge (mp3) – live from Brixton Academy, UK, April 24th, 1996
Note: 60 Minutes is dedicating the entire program tonight (Sunday, Nov, 12) to the life and career of Ed Bradley.
It’s Election Day…
Tuesday, November 7th is Election Day in this U.S. of A. I will be hitting the polls first thing Tuesday morning, and for what it’s worth, I encourage all of you American readers to do the same. Get out and vote, people!
Warning: Political Opinion Section following…
I try to keep to music 99% of the time, but given the times we live in, it’s impossible for me to not say anything.
I keep hearing that tomorrow is a referendum on George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. Well no kidding. I thought the 2004 election was the same, but the very slight majority of my countrymen and women
were scared intodecided to re-elect GW, and to keep the Republicans in control of Congress. I still marvel at how people can listen to and watch our president and be swayed or impressed by him. It’s really beyond me. Many feel different, and that’s fine. I just don’t get it, that’s all.What’s even more stupefying to me is how people allow Bush and his puppeteers to manipulate them with fear. To listen to them tell us how they are the party that keeps us safe, while at the same time they strip us of our civil liberties (habeus corpus, bah, who needs it?), and foment the situation in Iraq by “staying the course”. God bless the brave troops who have been killed, maimed, and who put themselves in harm’s way every day, all for the tragically misguided policies of this current administration.
I encourage you to read Thomas Friedman’s recent New York Times op-ed. In part, it says:
What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to the U.S. military than to send it into combat in Iraq without enough men — to launch an invasion of a foreign country not by the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force, but by the Rumsfeld Doctrine of just enough troops to lose? What could be a bigger insult than that?
What could possibly be more injurious and insulting to our men and women in uniform than sending them off to war without the proper equipment, so that some soldiers in the field were left to buy their own body armor and to retrofit their own jeeps with scrap metal so that roadside bombs in Iraq would only maim them for life and not kill them? And what could be more injurious and insulting than Don Rumsfeld’s response to criticism that he sent our troops off in haste and unprepared: Hey, you go to war with the army you’ve got — get over it.
The pollsters say the Democrats are in pretty good shape going into tomorrow. There may be a Democrat majority in Congress for the first time since the GOP took control in 1994. There could be hearings on Iraq. Imagine, this administration could actually be held accountable. They’re certainly not going to own up to any failures themselves. Bush, Rummy, or Cheney admitting mistakes? Please.
So make your voice heard, America, whatever your beliefs and political leanings. Yes, I am hoping more Americans feel the way I do (for the first time in 10 years). I am hoping we all collectively wake up, and get on the road to taking our country back. Bush and company think we’re stupid, folks. Let’s show them finally that we’re not.
That concludes my Political Opinion Section.
Here’s an election day song from the late Texas troubadour, Blaze Foley.
Blaze Foley: Election Day (mp3) – from Live at the Austin Outhouse, available on Amazon and iTunes.
Mojo
It’s Saturday, and the question you have to ask yourself is “do I have my mojo working?”
Webster’s Dictionary defines mojo as “a magic spell, hex, or charm; broadly : magical power ; works his mojo on the tennis court“. Webster’s had to throw in the thoroughly white-bread sentence example, didn’t they?
The Wikipedia definition is a little more detailed: “a term commonly encountered in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo. A mojo is a small bag, a type of magic charm, often of red flannel cloth and tied with a drawstring, containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, petition papers, and the like. It is typically worn under clothing.”
Other names for a mojo?
gree-gree (a Bantu word typically spelled gris-gris by people in Louisiana because of the state’s francophone origins), mojo hand, conjure bag, conjure hand, toby, jomo, and nation sack. In Haiti, the usual name for this sort of charm bag among those of African descent is a wanga, oanga, or wanger.
As for the song “Got My Mojo Working”, it was written in the 50’s by Preston Foster. Many people think he wrote it for Muddy Waters, who popularized the tune, but it was actually Ann Cole who released it first. Cole was an R&B / gospel singer from the 50’s and 60’s. Since then it’s been recorded by a ton of musicians, blues and otherwise… Jimmy Smith, Conway Twitty, Pinetop Perkins, Manfred Mann, Chuck Berry, Canned Heat, and a host of others.
Here’s a few that I like….
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown:
Got My Mojo Working(mp3) – from Standing My GroundElvis Presley:
Got My Mojo Working(mp3) – live, unkown location, date. Listen for Elvis’ F-Bomb (the MF-Bomb to be precise).Professor Longhair:
Got My Mojo Working(mp3) – from Go to the Mardi Gras- Here’s a cool resource for all things mojo: http://www.luckymojo.com/mojo.html
- Mojo Trivia of the Day: “Mr. Mojo Risin” is an anagram of Jim Morrison. Never knew ‘dat.
Mixed Nuts
Because I’m too tired to come up with a quality post (I couldn’t even come up with a good title – “Mixed Nuts”? Sheesh), I thought I’d hand you off to a few fine folks…
THE WHO at A Cultured Left Foot: Howzabout hearing a complete show by the Who? It took place October 3rd, 1975 in Stafford, UK. I’m sending you over to Stuart’s site, A Cultured Left Foot, where he has the full show for download. As you’ll also see, the man loves his football (yes, soccer to us Yanks), and he knows how to write about it too.
The Who: Live, Oct. 3, 1975 – Part One | Part TwoTALKING HEADS at Jefitoblog: Who wants a Talking Heads show? Jefito has a full 1978 show available in his latest Bootleg City post.
Talking Heads: Live, Sept. 16, 1978
THE RAMONES / CBGB’s: John at Crooks and Liars has a video of the Ramones at CBGB’s.
RIP Freddy Fender
I won’t pretend that I know much about Freddy Fender’s music, but I do have a few songs by his supergroup of the later years, the Texas Tornados, and have heard a few by Los Super Seven.
But it’s always sad to lose a music legend, regardless of our familiarity with them, because their work touches countless others’ lives. The song below has touched my life. My 2 year old is a music lover as it is, but it takes something special to really get her going. “Guacamole” does the job.
So in memory of Freddy Fender, take a listen to a great one by the Tornados.
The Texas Tornados (Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez, Augie Myers and Doug Sahm):
Guacamole(mp3)- Buy the Best of the Texas Tornados.
- Freddy Fender’s All Music profile.
Whole Lotta Love in Copenhagen
Today, we have rockin’ Prince, and we have blues Prince. Coming from a 2002 aftershow in Copenhagen, Denmark, the man is all over his guitar here. May I recommend that you turn this m$%#@er up loud, and enjoy?
Prince:
Whole Lotta Love(mp3) (Led Zep cover)
The Question of U(mp3)Live from a Copenhagen aftershow, October 26, 2002 (Hit n’ Run Tour).
Buy the newly released Ultimate Prince.
The Prince Forum: Ickmusic’s new Prince forum is up & running. For you Prince freaks, get on over and register. It’s worth your while, trust me.
Ickmusic Maintenance tonight (Sept. 3)
Ickmusic will be down temporarily tonight at
9:00pm8:00pm PST (AZ and CA time). I’ll be upgrading my WordPress version. Hopefully I’ll be right back up and running. If not, it’s been great! See ya!Update: It went off without a hitch. Back in bid-ness.
Grab Bag of New Stuff
Here’s a little cleaning out the ol’ closet project I’ve been meaning to get around to. We music / mp3 bloggers receive a lot of correspondence from bands, labels, promoters, etc. I try to
give everything a fair listen, but honestly, there aren’t enough hours in the day. That damn day job gets in the way, my friends.So here’s a few that have caught my attention over the last few months… take some time and give them a listen.
Hard Fi Remixes
I’m really glad I was turned on to Hard-Fi. They have that Brit-punk sensibility that I enjoy so much. Definitely check out their CD Stars of the CCTV. One thing the Brits love is their house music remixes. You know, bump bump bump bump… I flip on Radio One on Sirius every once in a while and the odds are good I’ll hear me some house beats. Is it still called house? Well, listen to these remixes of “Hard to Beat”, and correct me if there’s a better term.
Hard Fi “Hard to Beat” Remixes: Ashley Beadle (Real | WMP) ; Axwell Mix (Real | WMP) ; Minotaur Shock (Real | WMP); Hard to Beat Mix (Real | WMP)
Tobias Fröberg
How’s this for an intro. Tobias is “the sweetest carameliest 1974 summerlovin spoonful of Scandi candy that’ll sticky your lips all year.” Worth a listen for sure!
When the Night Turns Cold (mp3)
Love and Misery (mp3)For Those Who Know
FTWK is a psychedelic band from Austin, Texas, who released a self-titled EP that came out last year, and caught a lot of attention in Texas. Comparisons have been made to the Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine. You can download the entire album for free at http://www.for-those-who-know.com and at http://www.myspace.com/forthosewhoknow.
The Majestic Twelve
From Wilmington, North Carolina, the Majestic Twelve are giving away their CD, ‘Schizophrenology’, on their web site. You can also hear them on http://www.myspace.com/themajestictwelve. Worth checking out, if only for “Condoleezza, Check My Posse.”
The Primms
Andy of the Primms sent a nice email recently. They’re a UK band recently transplanted to NYC (that’s them pictured above). They have a residency at Pianos coming up in September, “deafening the good people of the Lower East Side every Thursday at 10pm.” I really like what I’m hearing from these guys.
Official Site: http://www.sonicbids.com/theprimms
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/primmsHem
Ready for some laid back folksy sounds with real nice vocals courtesy of Sally Ellyson? Check out Brooklyn’s Hem.
He Came to Meet Me (Real | WMP)
Not California (Real | WMP)Official Site: http://www.hemmusic.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hemPinto
My man Andreas from Sweden wants you to hear his band, Pinto. The man likes Tom Petty, and you’ll hear it in Pinto’s music.
Never Leave (mp3)
MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/pintopintopinto
Offical Site: http://www.pinto.se/ (more free mp3 downloads)Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to put more of these together more often, just to support the musicians out there. They’re doing their best to live that dream, so check them out….