compared to what

Is John Mayer really a celebrity?
Context is everything. Of course, Joshua Bell could have told him that. (Be sure and click both links and watch the videos.)
I started this post just because I think Mayer is usually pretty hilarious in his videos, and this one is no exception. But then I remembered the Bell article [...]

More from Buddy Guy on the occasion of his new release, Skin Deep (reviewed here):
on Muddy Waters:

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(or, who do you think you are?)
One of the more interesting music festival stories this summer, so far, was the story of Kanye West at Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo has made efforts over the past few years to bring in some artists, even mainstream artists, that you don’t typically think of in connection with these field-of-steam type [...]

“This is the first time I really had more control,” Guy says. “Everything in here is new. Most of the other albums have been a few new songs and then back to the older stuff or the covers-which is fine, but you gotta be creative. I would talk to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and [...]

A second instance of “I heard it on the radio”:
I had to break away from the God I was supposed to believe in to find the God I could believe in.
This time, a flip to NPR hit me with this. The lyric begins “I know a woman” but does not go at all where [...]

It’s hard to know just what to make of it when news leaks through such random places, but if the Mullet Wrapper has it right, this is very interesting news. In a long article, mostly about Taylor Hicks in Grease, the writer points to a collaboration with Delbert McClinton on Hicks’ next album:
Taylor’s second album, [...]

Looking for one band called Paper Bird, I came across another. But it wasn’t the music that struck me, it was the paper:

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ETA (7.20.08) - Karen sent along this audio response to the video. I’ll let her comment and tell about it. Thanks!
The Lonely [...]

Last week, several unrelated events occured that got me wondering: what makes a song, a song. That is, when is that song, this song.
Event 1:
First, a singer hired to sing the National Anthem at the Denver state of the city address, sang the tune, but substituted the words to the hymn “Lift Every Voice and [...]

It’s the year of the uke!
Last May, in the midst of yet another Saturday errand excursion, I happened to be driving by my favorite local music store and decided it was time to act on an urge that I’d been surpressing for a few months. It was time to buy a ukulele.

My music collection doesn’t have a lot of patriotic songs. At least, that hasn’t been a focus of my collecting habits. But everyone’s thoughts turn to gratitude and hope now again, so, instead of digging up something new, I thought I’d see what might be hidden in my iPod already and choose something from that.
So [...]