July 3rd, 2009

i remember when i lost my mind


This woman drives me nuts. So, Sarah Palin resigns, but she does it her way, without two consecutive coherent sentences:


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Does that make her crazy? Possibly.

Some people think it may be because of a yet to be disclosed scandal. That would be a relief.

I’m more afraid it’s in advance of a senate bid: scrape together a veneer of national and international experience, and then go for the presidency.

Please let me be wrong.


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categories: thought

July 1st, 2009

stand by me



categories: music, thought

June 25th, 2009

the man in the mirror


Reports are spreading quickly this afternoon that Michael Jackson died today of a heart attack.

A deeply troubled and deeply talented soul has passed through. Whatever else may or may not be true of this enigma, there’s no doubt about the creativity he left this world. Both in his words and in his life, he forced us to rethink how we drew our boundaries.

Can’t embed this, but it’s the song on my mind, so I’ll leave it as a link, a video that’s got the pop, the thought, the song, the dance, the humor, the innocense and the otherwise: Black or White

He was a unique talent and I hope his soul finds peace.

categories: Uncategorized, music

June 19th, 2009

our hands can rip these curtains



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categories: thought

June 13th, 2009

blues with a backbone


Michaela - Backbone

For the past couple of years, I’ve been going to a small blues festival near me in Greeley, CO. Most years, there’s someone in particular I’m wanting to catch. This year, that wasn’t the case, but I went anyway because it seemed like a good way to spend a beautiful day. The festival takes place in a rodeo stadium. After catching some OK acts while I caught up on some magazine reading, I wandered down to the under-bleacher area to grab a bite to eat and look in on the Blues School that takes place there. In years past, I’d scored a couple of free harmonicas and, best of all, played some blues kazoo. Who knows, maybe this year I’d get a drum kit or something?

Schedule said it would be kids’ performance coming up. That sounded like it could be pretty dodgy, but I’d heard some pretty good kids on youtube, and even heard a good girl guitar player at this place last year, so it seemed as good a place as any to finish my spumoni. Sure enough, the kids were good, and that girl was back. This time, I caught her name - Michaela Rae. She shared lead guitar duties with another kid whose name I didn’t catch. Too bad, because he was really good, too. It was interesting to watch the contrast in demeanor. He wasn’t flashy, but like most musicians, he really showed in his face and body what his mind was thinking and his guitar was doing. Michaela was more of the stoic sort - body totally still, face totally passive, only her hands and her sound were going crazy. Think Derek Trucks, if Derek Trucks was a skinny little 14 year old girl (and not near his present powers yet).
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categories: Uncategorized, music

June 3rd, 2009

nothin’ take the place of you


The essential Koko Taylor died today in Chicago at age 80. Here’s one of thousands of great performances:

Come to Mama

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…and with Umphreys McGee, New Year’s Eve, 2008. She was swinging to the end:

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(and this makes me think I need to check out more Umphreys McGee

categories: music

May 24th, 2009

coming up for air


album artI have been and still am swamped at work, but I did download the new Backdoor Slam album, titled appropriately for me right now, “Coming Up for Air”. No time for much commentary, but y’all’ve got ears as good as mine.

It’s more rock and less blues than his first album. Davy Knowles‘ voice is stronger (in every sense) than before. On first listen, I felt I was missing Knowles’ guitar. On second listen, it’s there, of course, but not as prominent as I would like. Whereas live and on “Roll Away”, we often rode into a song on a wave of great guitar work, on this album, it’s used more as an instrumental response to the lyric. Some very fine work, but missing some flavor that made the BDS sound. Probably premature to complain, though - surely no one’s sound should be cast in stone based on their debut album. I’m still not convinced that having separate bands for touring and recording is a good idea, though. But again, I’ve not heard the new touring band. At the Oakland Beck gig, he was very psyched about the new bassist and drummer - a duo from Seattle whose names I don’t yet know.
(samples after the jump)
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categories: music

May 10th, 2009

salvation is free


Paul Thorn
Last summer, I ran across a terrific artist, Paul Thorn. I bought several albums, posted about him here and have been generally keeping track of what he’s up to. As I said at the time, his swampy mix of the sensual and spiritual really rocks.

In early September, I got a chance to hear him open for The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Gothic Theater in Denver. He’s a great live performer and the show was fantastic. It was one of my most highly anticipated shows for the year, and it did not disappoint, at least not the show itself. The Gothic is another funky old converted theater, ideally set up for listening, wandering, dancing: everything you’d want to do at a show. Thorn came out rocking and had the crowd on their feet the whole time.

I didn’t post about it at the time, though, because I was majorlly bummed to find that I had screwed up my recording. While the good tracks are pretty good, there was this God-awful screech of a sound in a few places. Consulting with more experienced tapers, we came to the conclusion that it was cell phone interference. Attempts to adequately remove or mitigate it weren’t successful, so I just turned my back on the recording in order to retain my memories of an otherwise great evening.
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categories: downloads, live, music

April 29th, 2009

all the music i love comes from you



I just got back from a visit to friends and family in the Bay Area. One of the highlights was going, with a good friend, to hear Davy Knowles (of Back Door Slam) open for Jeff Beck at the newly restored Fox Theater in Oakland.
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categories: downloads, live, music

April 15th, 2009

entering and breaking



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categories: live, music

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