• Chavez Ravine
    Folk

    Beneath Dodger Stadium

    There are two albums I’ve been immersing myself in lately: Los Lobos’ ‘The Town and the City‘ and Ry Cooder’s ‘Chávez Ravine‘. The Los Lobos album hasn’t left my truck’s CD player in weeks. It’s great to have one of those albums that you can keep repeating over and over, and find something new and fresh with every listen.

    But ‘Chávez Ravine‘ has been muscling its way into my listening time lately. It’s been out for a few years now (it was released all the way back in June 2005). It’s a concept album, I guess you’d call it, based on the story behind Chávez Ravine – the current site of Dodger Stadium a few miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Before Dodger Stadium was built, Chávez Ravine was home to a poor but tightly knit Latino community. You can find out more about the details behind it here, but suffice it to say that in the end, the city of Los Angeles forced the community out, either in the name of eminent domain or condemnation. The sheriff’s department physically moved the last holdouts of Chávez Ravine – in a standoff that would come to be known as “The Battle of Chávez Ravine”. Once the community was razed, the city filled in the ravine with dirt from the top of a nearby hill, and Dodger Stadium was born.

    The second to last song on the album is “3rd Base, Dodger Stadium”. Sung from the perspective of a man who grew up in the neighborhood that is now the interior of Dodger Stadium, the song will rip your heart out. Just a taste of the lyrics

    Back around the 76 ball, Johnny Greeneyes had his shoeshine stall.
    In the middle of the 1st base line, got my first kiss, Florencia was kind.
    Now, if the dozer hadn’t taken my yard, you’d see the tree with our initials carved.
    So many moments in my memory. Sure was fun, ‘cause the game was free.
    It was free.

    The wonderful, unique voice you’ll hear is Bla Pahinui, a Hawaiian singer that Cooder brought in for this song. Call me impressionable or sensitive or whatever, but this song really affects me. I’m one of those history buffs who has a keen interest in the people and places that came before. It’s hard to gauge how many others feel the same way. As the thousands of fans watch the baseball games from the stands of Dodger Stadium, how many of them are even aware of the people of Chávez Ravine – the lives, the childhoods, the first kisses that took place beneath the grass and parking lots?

    Ry Cooder (w/ Bla Pahinui) – 3rd Base, Dodger Stadium

    Buy Chavez Ravine

  • Cover of Ry Cooder's My Name is Buddy
    Miscellaneous

    A Monday Mixed Bag

    Happy Monday. Joy joy! A few odds and end here:

    WILCO streamed their new album, Sky Blue Sky, on their web site over the weekend. Pretty cool idea to hold a special listening party for their fans. I’m sure people have grabbed, ripped and torn the show into mp3’s, but I’m not pursuing. I’m exercising patience. But they do have an mp3 from the album available on their site. It’s called “What Light”. If you want to download it, go to their web site. If you want to hear it right here, right now…..

    Wilco – “What Light”

    A READER threw a request my way for a Clash show I posted way back when. You can download the individual mp3’s here if you want. It’s May 9, 1981 in Lille, France. Highly recommended for all Clash City Rockers. RIP Joe Strummer. Here’s a taste of the show….

    The Clash – “Bank Robber

    TOMORROW IS A GREAT DAY here in the U.S. for new releases in DVD and CD land.

    1. Borat! I’m a big fan of Da Ali G Show, but I still haven’t seen this movie. That will change now. Borat – Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is released to the masses on DVD.

    2. Arcade Fire‘s new CD, Neon Bible, is released. I love the energy this band exudes, and you can’t beat Win Butler’s voice, IMO.

    Buy: Neon Bible

    3. Ry Cooder is an American musical treasure. Tuesday sees the release of My Name is Buddy, a collection of depression-era / dust bowl ballads from the vantage point of Buddy the Cat, Lefty Mouse, and Reverend Tom Toad. I’m not kidding.

  • World

    Coast of Malabar

    chieftains

    I had this one on an old mix CD I recently pulled out. It’s nice to unearth a gem like this once in a while. You don’t get better than a Ry Cooder traditional ballad with the Chieftains backing him up. Beeyoootiful….

    From The Long Black Veil (1995)

  • Blues

    How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?

    This song was written in 1929 by one Blind Alfred Reed. I became familiar with the song through Bruce’s Seeger Sessions tour. I happened across this video tonight (thru a post on Crooks and Liars). It’s Ry Cooder performing the song in a 1987 concert in Santa Cruz, CA. It’s a completely different arrangement from Bruce’s, slowed down considerably, with excellent slide guitar courtesy of Ry. Like I say to myself every darn time I hear something by Ry Cooder, I really need to do myself a favor and buy every last thing the man has done.

    On the anniversary of Katrina, I think this fits right in with the theme… Oh, and that’s Flaco Jimenez there on accordion.

  • Ibrahim Ferrer
    Latin

    Those Green Eyes – Ibrahim Ferrer

    A perfect song for a late Saturday night… the lights are low, there’s a few drops of wine left in the bottle, your eyes meet. You slowly walk closer to her. You sense excitement in the air as you approach her. Then…the unbearable wait is over as you say… “Wanna go for a walk?!… Outside??! WOOF WOOF!! Her tails wags uncontrollably as you step out into the moonlight.

    Now that’s a Saturday night…

    Ibrahim Ferrer: Aquellos Ojos Verdes [Buy on Amazon]

    In all semi-seriousness, this song can help in your amorous pursuits…. Ibrahim is a golden-throated Cuban singer, now in his late seventies. He was one of the popular Cuban musicians of the 1950’s. By the 80’s he was back to shining shoes and living on a monthly pension. That was until the late 90’s, when Ry Cooder went to Cuba and located all of the great Cuban musicians of the day and assembled the Buena Vista Social Club. You can see it all in the 1999 documentary of the same name. The movie is powerful and moving beyond words, featuring such greats as Ruben Gonzales, Compay Segundo, and Eliades Ochoa. The shame is that these greats lay dormant for so long in Castro’s Cuba.

    I’ll go out on a limb and assume that if you’re reading this, you love music. If so, get a hold of this movie and watch it. Go to the video store, hit up Netflix, buy it on Amazon, whatever… just see it.