It Was Still There

I know a lot of people cried on Wednesday. I was teary-eyed pretty much from the time the band tuned up until the ceremony wound down on Inauguration Day, but when Lady Gaga sang the national anthem and hit "our flag was still there," a great torrent of tears spilled down my face. 

It was, honestly, the best rendition of the hard-to-perform song I've ever heard, delivered with just the right nuances. 

I noted the moment on Facebook because I guess I felt the unexpected relief so many have spoken of. It was a rush, a knee-weakening feeling, an exhale. Everyone's called it an exhale too, so nothing profound there, but it fits.

Sometimes I fail to note to myself how stress is affecting me, a remnant of "be a man" admonitions from my old man, I guess. He was stoic in the face of pain and adversity. I inherited some of that, though it's tempered by my mother's emotional traits. 

But those words and the way Lady Gaga delivered them and really the whole song began to unwind the coil of tension that had wound tighter and tighter as the events of Jan. 6 unfolded.

We've never seen the flag or the capitol threatened in that way, and though they're symbols, they're powerful symbols and they matter. The flag's been co-opted in many cases, but it is our flag, not just the flag of those shrillest "patriots" who cloak themselves in it. 

It is our flag, and it was threatened. They tried to replace it with Trump flags. 

They tried to replace it with Trump flags.

They tried to replace it with Trump flags.

Trump flags.

But they failed, and the assault on democracy abetted by the worst of our leaders, the most cynical, leading blind followers, failed. 

They failed, and amid all the tumult and the horror and the death, we got an inauguration and a reminder of who we are. When Vice President Dan Quayle walked in I cried too. First of the high office holders, a member of the opposing party, representative of an administration with a leader who's passed on. President and Mrs. George W. Bush followed then the other ex-presidents. It was an important show of who we are, a democracy with procedures and symbolic gestures, the true patriot's dream.

And she nailed it all in that lyric. All had been threatened, all that we took for granted for so long, all that had been routine, pedestrian, everything was revealed to be so fragile. 

But it was still there, still in place, ragged around the edges, perhaps, strained, still imperiled, but still there. 

And maybe for a little longer. 

A few of my favorite movie songs

A lot of great songs come out of movies, and a lot of others get used in movies. Johnny Cash's fab "The Man Comes Around" has been in more movies than some movie stars.

You Tube's made reliving the musical moments from old films possible since soundtracks are sometimes hard to come by. Below are a few of my melodic favorites.

Tomorrow, tomorrow
"Tomorrow is the Song I Sing" from Richard Gillis is one of several tunes that punctuate the offbeat Sam Peckinpa Western The Ballad of Cable Hogue. It's catchy an infinitely hummable. It, happily, is available from iTunes as part of the Gillis album Blow the Gates of Heaven.



Reachin' to the sky
Folk genius Leonard Cohen's melancholy "The Stranger Song" opens another offbeat Western, Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller. It really is a perfect tone-setter for the Warren Beatty outing. It's also found on The Essential Leonard Cohen.



I can almost see that old Bandera Highway...
Barry De Vorzon's "San Antone" is actually on a couple of movie soundtracks that I know of, both of which he served on as musical director.  He's best known for Nadia's Theme.

The tune is the homecoming song that opens the revenge flick Rolling Thunder. It's more wonderfully moody and nostalgic in contrast to the opening scenes of William Peter Blatty's The Ninth Configuration, aka Twinkle, Twinkle Killer Kane. Sadly it doesn't seem to be available for purchase in a pristine MP3.



Over the hills and far away
The television adaptations of Bernard Cromwell's swashbuckling Sharpe novels adopted a John Tams rendition of the 17th century British song "Over the Hills and Far Away."

 It's catchy and a wonderful mesh for the excellent films with Sean Bean. I don't think it's on iTunes, but The Music of Sharpe CD is available in the U.S. on Amazon.




I could go on, but that's a pretty good playlist for a blog post. I'll forego the theme from Kelly's Heros and The Osmonds?! performing "Chilly Winds" on the risque Rock Hudson/Angie Dickinson thriller Pretty Mains All in a Row from Gene, but I kind of like both of those too.

Gordon Lightfoot Gold

A few weeks ago Christine thumbed  the newspaper and noticed Gordon Lightfoot's tour was swinging into our region. We've checked his schedule occasionally since we're both fans, but there'd never been a convenient date and location.  

Until now. He was making a stop in Hot Springs, AR. 

My parents honeymooned in Hot Springs, back in the first great age of car trip vacations, and it was an occasional stop years later when I came along, and we hit tourist venues across the Southeast. (In Biloxi, MS,  you used to be able to buy a conch shell with a Last Supper miniature inside.) 

Christine and I took a long weekend in Hot Springs 15 years ago,  but we actually live a little closer now, with access to a route that doesn't zig-zag quite as much like the trip from Central Louisiana up through Central Arkansas.

So, we juggled work schedules and bought tickets and were in the audience Monday night when Gordon walked on stage in a red velvet jacket.

It brought a flood of memories. Gord's gold was on the radio the first summer I really began to listen to music and could recite the Top 40 from memory as played on K Dixie radio.

"Sundown" and "Carefree Highway" were the soundtrack for that summer punctuated by mowing lawns and installing black light in my bedroom.  

The troubadour's voice isn't quite as strong as it was in the seventies, but it was still a thrill to see him live, and to travel through his repertoire from "Don Quixote" to the more recent "A Painter Passing Through." 

Tunes from "East of Midnight" took me back to a late night eighties drive, heading home from a visit to my cousin in Monroe, LA.

Mid-set, when he did a "Sundown" rendition that had Bic lighters ignited, I was back under the AC in my parent's house, watching my black light gleam off the abstract poster I'd crafted on aluminum foil with fluorescent crayons I'd scored at a five and dime called Wacker's.

The baritone was as it used to be for "Sundown" and "Carefree Highway." " They sounded like they did on the album," and "Edmund Fitzgerald" brought a tear like it always does. 

Then there was a moment, as he strummed his 12-string, completely immersed in his music, delivering magic, that made now and then one.

It was 1974, and 1985 and 1998, and  "the thing that I call livin' is just bein' satisfied."

It was quite a night.

What's on the iPod? - Montego Bay

As I drove through another rainy morning cloaked with a grey, wet blanket, Bobby Bloom's Montego Bay popped up as my iPod shuffled songs. I've never been there, and I'm not sure exactly what a BOAC is, but the tune transported me to other places and made me remember people I've passed on the journey.

I've found, sometimes you encounter people randomly but more than once. It may not be anything but serendipity if you're a reporter in a small city, or maybe there's a little more magic to it.

3x
I ran into a man named Glen about three times. He was a small business owner out to live life to the fullest from what I could tell. He spent his vacations travelling, seeing sites, SCUBA diving and more.

The first time I met him, he was just back from Jamaica. It had started as a vacation trip and turned into an adventure.

A hurricane hit the island shortly after he arrived, and he and other vacationers spent about a week trying to survive and get back out of paradise. It was a time with little water and much uncertainty.

When civilization gradually took hold again, he was able to get a flight out. He recalled looking around at fellow travellers, recognizing people from the flight in and wondering what became of those who were missing.

That experience didn't seem to slow him down or dissuade him. I heard tale of other trips he took afterward, hopping here and there.

I encountered him next at the opening of a chest pain center at a local hospital. I don't know how old he was. I was young and everyone looked old, but he was probably around the age I am now. He was there as a spokesman, representing the need for a chest pain center.

He explained how he'd felt a tingling in his left arm as he took a shower one morning. Initially he denied it could be anything serious, but eventually he sought help.

It was a heart attack and they caught it in time to avert major damage. He felt he'd been given a second chance and wanted to encourage others to act quickly and hang onto life.

The last time I ran into him, I was afraid I had a flat tire. I pulled off the freeway and into his auto service center. One of his employees came out to help me check my tire. Glen popped over for a second and, seeing the employee was handling things, went on to wait on other customers. I didn't have a flat, just a low tire. With it re-inflated, I pulled back into traffic and never looked back.

Appointments
A couple of years later, I heard he had died while diving somewhere out West. I was a little sad, though I didn't know him well, not friend, just acquaintance.

The second chance had played out, I guess, or maybe the Reaper had him on a list and didn't give up on that appointment in Samarra.

I guess the important message is that he milked the days, fought for the second chance and tried to make the most of time, had some fun.

When "Montego Bay" came through the speakers this morning, I recalled Glen sitting on his sofa, posing in a straw fedora for photographs, and it was a good thought for a new year. Carpe diem and all that.

Who knows what a year will bring? Maybe the good news is that it's made up of a lot of nows that can be squeezed.

I confess two things. I'm Sid and I'm a cynic.

I confess also, I've been a little down the last few days. I will endeavor to do better, to snatch the joy of each moment, even if it's as simple as humming along with an old song with a catchy beat. I'll cope with the travails as they come, and I'll look ever forward.

I will also seek to heed my own advice.

Them's my new year's resolutions.

And to G., maybe we'll cross paths again somewhere down the line. I'll look for you in the crowd in that distant port when the BOAC lands.

Come sing me La
Come sing me Montego Bay
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

What's on the Ipod? - Footprints in the Snow

I crossed paths on MySpace with Black Pharaoh of the metal/Gothic band,  The Old Ones, appropriately of Providence, R.I. 

On their profile page, the really eerie "Footprints in the Snow" was playing.

BP was kind enough to share an MP3 with me, which I promptly added to a playlist.

It's a Lovecraftian tune that speaks of an eerie, unsolved mystery, coiling forward from one generation to the next. The haunted persona proclaims:

"Sooner or later the moment will come

When together with my reason, I'll lose my life,

Fighting against that merciless ghost

Ominous whispers in the darkness"

It has the unsettling quality of "The Shadow Over Innesmouth." It's a concise and open ended short story set to music, and it pounds with some of the same menace of a favorite of mine, The Gothic Archies.

Drop by the profile and  check out the playlist which also includes: "Funeral Song," "Spirits" and "Hall of the Astral King."

They're great tunes to get you in the mood for writing scary stories. 

  

What's On The iPod? - Runrig

Wow, how did I not know of Runrig? They are not well known in the U.S. I suppose, but I am a bit of a follower of the British Isles. Somehow I've just never encountered them, but I happily discovered them recently.

Christine had the British/PBS series Cranford on the DVR, and we started watching it this weekend. It's a great, funny and poignant adaptation of the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell. I didn't think I'd like it, but it's engaging in a quiet sort-of-sneaks-up-on-you way.

In the course of the story a couple of characters sing Loch Lomand, a tune of which I'm a fan on a historical level since I like folk songs of all stripes.

The different renditions always intrigue me. A number of years ago they had a choir boy singing it in Cracker in an entirely different way.

So anyway, they sang it in Cranford prompting me to check You Tube for renditions, and behold I found Runrig performing their rendition for the Scotland Children in Need telethon last November.

It features the band's fairly new lead singer Bruce Guthro, and I was ready to plop down my 99 cents for the pod when it was finished.

Del Toro will direct "The Hobbit"

The word up at the Wired blog is that Guillermo del Toro who directed Hellboy, The Orphanage and Pan's Labyrinth and other cool flicks is going to be a the helm of The Hobbit, produced by Peter Jackson's production company.

That sounds like a good combination to me, and it's nice to hear the film is back on track after legal wrangling between New Line Cinema and Jackson.

In celebration Wired posts an old Leonard Nimoy performance of the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. Though I know many J.R.R. Tolkien fans disavow it, I've always been fond of the Rankin and Bass animated version of The Hobbit and in particular the main title theme sung by folk great Glen Yarbrough.

I Went to the Renaissance Fair and What's on the iPod Because of It

It's been ages since I've been to a Renaissance festival. I was overdue. Huzzah!

We went for the jousting Sunday at The Four Wind Faire and stayed for The Brobingnagian Bards, an Austin-based duo performing Scottish and Irish drinking songs with the period instruments and the upbeat humor you hope for in such venues.



I was happy to discover they had a website, one member has a podcast and they're well represented on iTunes. They're veterans of science fiction conventions as well as festivals so there are Jedi tunes in their repertoire as well as many an Irish tune.

My favorite song, being a cat owner, is Marc Gunn's solo effort Danny Boy, to the tune of Londonderry Air, sung by a cat owner roused in the wee hours by his feline friend.

Lisa Kalvelage, "Murder One" and Situation Ethics

I can't help getting a little choked up every time I hear Pete Seeger's "My Name is Lisa Kalvelage." It's a musical transcription of 1966 remarks by the real Lisa Kalvelage, who had been a child in Hitler's Germany. She explained at a rally against the use of napalm that she had come to understand responsibility and "mass guilt."

When asked about Hitler's actions in Germany and where she was and where her parents were when various events occurred, she had no good answer and was initially denied an exit permit from Germany.

She stood at the protest May 25, 1966 that delayed the delivery of napalm and stated she was there because she didn't want to be asked by her children and children's children where she was when key events occurred and what she did about them.

These are certainly points that resonate with me in this, our present. I think about that especially as torture is discussed in so many corners.

I'm no fan of coddling terrorists, but reportedly, and I've only read this in a blog, not the Congressional record, my Congressman said he was OK with torture if it saved lives.

That's situation ethics of course, a classic case of the end justifies the means.

It's a path I don't think we need to go down as a people.

In the old and brilliant legal mystery series Murder One, Stephen Bochco had his lead character Ted Hoffman tell his younger associates: "We don't treat murderers well and give them fair trials for the murderers. We do it because it makes us better people."

As I sit and contemplate it all, I'm compelled to ask, is torture what it takes to feel safe?

Sadly, it's not always only terrorists who get tortured. Sometimes it's just cab drivers like Dilawar, focal figure of Taxi to the Dark Side.

Like Lisa Kalvelage, I've felt "forced to start thinking on this theme."

Dilawar was 22 years old when he died in 2002 in U.S. custody, guilty apparently of picking up a fare, of working at the best job he could find.

When I was 22 I worked as a reporter because it was a job that let me write.

Where was I, and what was I doing December 10, 2002?

I don't remember. But I was safe.

Is my life worth more than Dilawar's?

What's on the iPod - If I had a Boat by Lyle Lovett

I first took note of Lyle Lovett's music when "If I Had a Boat" was offered as a free download in the early days of free downloads. I think it was in a proprietary Liquid Library format or something.

Until then he was the guy who quoted from "Freaks" in "The Player" and married Julia Roberts for 15 minutes.

I was fortunate enough a while latter to attend a concert when he toured to promote his compilation "Cowboy Man." He did a stunning show and of course performed "If I Had a Boat," that's at once sweet, upbeat and rebellious.

I'll admit I've been in a bit of a first of the year funk the last few days. They really shouldn't schedule the first of the year right after Christmas. It means letdown is inevitable.

But I was driving along this morning and "If I Had a Boat" kicked up on the shuffle with it's suggestion of the fulfillment of childhood dreams and present day bliss. "If I had a boat," the lyrics note, "I'd go out on the ocean, and if I had a pony I'd ride it on my boat."

Ah, the sweet spirit of that thought. It's really, deep down an F you to every care and woe, it's Buffet to a slightly different tune, and it builds up to my favorite verse:

The Mystery Masked Man was smart
He got himself a Tonto
Someone who would do his dirty work for free.

But Tonto he was smarter.
He said "Kiss my ass, Kemo Sabe,
I've bought a boat and I'm headed out to sea."

How fabulous is that? I think I'll be humming it all day.

A Fine, Fine Day on the iPod

I've waited for a while for the fine, fine day that Tony Carey's "A Fine, Fine Day" would turn up on iTunes.

Recently I discovered at least a version, though it's a live recording that sounds a little different and more gravelly than the '80s original.

That's a little disappointing, because it's not just the song but also the rendition from its time that makes me like and recall it fondly.

Orwell That Ends Well - I made it through 1984
When it was on the charts or at least on Top 40 radio, I was a young reporter, periodically running the police beat at night. That involved riding a creaking elevator up to the top floor of the parish court house to read the jail log, a public record and sometimes a news source. It was once the way we, and I'm really using the editorial we, learned a first degree murder suspect had been booked.

More often than not it was less interesting, a chronicle of cable TV theft, shoplifting and unauthorized use of movables. I never knew what the hell that last one meant.

When I made those trips, wondering if it would ever end, I'd ride with trustees on cleanup detail. They always wanted to borrow pens and note books and have you make phone calls for them.

I don't know all of the things you can make from a Bic ballpoint but Dirty Harry got out of Alcatraz with a spoon and some dimes, so I always declined.

All of the exposure to the world of crime got me interested in Elmore Leonard novels, though, starting with a paperback reprint of Unknown Man 89, followed quickly by Split Image, Swag, Stick and others.

Fine, Fine Day was the background music, frequently on the radio and a spiritual cousin of Leonard's work, to me at least, with its account of a con returning from a long prison stint.

Stick 'Em Up
I pictured the song's Uncle Sonny--veteran of apparently numerous scams and shady deals--more like a Leonard character than a gangster in a business suit as the song's video did.

He was like numerous Leonard hard-timers including Ernest Stickley from Stick and his buddy Frank Ryan from Swag aka Ryan's Rules, who died in prison between the two novels.

The song celebrates Sonny's release and his celebration by taking a cab ride to Central Park, and that hopeful note kept me going as I adjusted to the routine of reporting and the harshness of the world.

The police beat was part of my assignment for five years. I don't remember the last time I rode that elevator, but it was a fine, fine day.

What Was Is On the iPod?

I was on the road and listening to the radio yesterday when David Was came on to discuss the re-release of an album, Famous Blue Raincoat, in which Jennifer Warnes covers Leonard Cohen songs.

Objects may be closer than they appear
I was headed toward a local body shop to turn my car in for repair at the time. I was in an auto accident the other morning.

I caught a flutter of movement in my side mirror which directed my attention to my rearview.

A car was changing lanes behind me. I had the thought that perhaps I ought to put my foot to the floor because it was coming at a high rate of speed.

"She's going to cut it pretty close," I thought, right before she slammed into me.

The (Pick your own word from the Urban Dictionary) had to chase me down to hit me, but she got me. Tore up the back bumper because they make those out of cotton candy.

So Now I'm In a Rental
I haven't configured my iPod connector for the Chevy Malibu the rental agency gave me. Man I hate when they walk you around it and check for dings. "Better not be any more when you bring it back or there will be Hertz to pay.")

So this morning I was stuck with the radio presets. Oh, my God the humanity.

I'm risking dings trying to get it off the crap the previous renter had it on.

Would that I'd had my iPod rigged up. I discovered a little gem while Was discussed Leonard, you see.

Was, of Was (Not Was)--remember Walk the Dinosaur?--recorded a tune with Cohen on vocals once upon a time. Was mentioned it in his review, cleverly planting the seed in my ear.

And I now have a $1.29 DMR free version of "Elvis's Rolls Royce."

It's a great low-voiced tune about a trip at the wheel of Elvis's classic ride, with the voice of the King coming from the back seat.

Sounds like it would make a better ride than the Chevy, but I'll get by.

(No rights to image implied.)

What's on the iPod - The Tennessee Stud and Memories

Sometimes on shuffle my iPod dredges up songs and memories I'd forgotten.

This morning, "The Tennessee Stud" from one of Johnny Cash's American albums clicked into play.

It reminded me of my old man, as many things do these days.

He'd hum the "Tennessee Stud" when he bounced me on his knee, and he had a dozen variations of the bounce.

He'd identify the types of horses, and raise and lower his knee differently for each.

I don't remember all, though I remember the Tennesse Walker was a vibrant variety and I think I'd almost tumble off the bronc.

And yeah, I found a lyric that applied to old man - He had the nerve and he had the blood.

Never was a horse like the Tennessee Stud and no one had an old man like my old man.

What's Not on the iPod

Christine has been humming "Comfortably Numb" since "Kennedy and Heidi" ran Tony and Cris-tuh-fur off the road Sunday night on "The Sopranos." Yep, along with "Lost" and "24" we're watching the final season of "The Sopranos" live rather than delayed by DVR.

That means we've had to keep quiet for friends who are viewing The S's on further delay such as DVD. Perhaps knowing a secret has contributed to my, my, my brown-eyed girl's obsession with the CN version from "The Departed" soundtrack--of which Christopher had a bootleg copy of course--rendered by Roger Waters with Van Morrison/The Band rather than Pink Floyd.

Its a soothing tune, a bit like church as Brian Williams notes, but humming has had to suffice so far because like the title song from "Veronica Mars" and a few other annoying examples, the Morrison and The Band rendition at least the 7 plus minute version on "The Departed" is not a 99 cent download.

You can only get it if you pop for the whole album, "The Departed: Music From the Motion Picture" not to be confused with "The Departed Original Score."

While it's savvy marketing, that's a bit annoying, especially since it's a rare case of a large, shared social soundtrack produced by a pop cultural event. Most of the time we as a people are more fragmented these days.

We'll spring for the album by the end of the week, I predict, but that's the kind of thing Christine has to cogitate on a while first, tightwad that she. I just would have liked to have had it sooner.

Sorry this post has more cross references than an annotated Joyce novel, but that's what's on my mind.

What's on the iPod? The Rupert Holmes Edition

Sadly the only Rupert Holmes songs I could find on iTunes were "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)"; "The People That You Never Get to Love" (recorded not by Holmes but by Susannah McCorkle); and "Timothy," the Holmes-penned tale of cannibalism in verse originally recorded by The Buoys.

I was looking for selections from perhaps his most famous solo-artist albums "Partners in Crime" from which "Escape" and "Him" became hits--and the later "Adventure." I had others, but those I owned in their 8-track versions and listened to repeatedly in my car in the early '80s.

The tracks on those are almost all story songs and they were a significant piece of the soundtrack of my life and probably a subconscious creative stimulant.

I was reminded of that because I was watching "Where the Truth Lies" on cable, the MPAA-challenged film based on Holmes novel of Martin and Lewis-like performers with an unsolved murder in their past.

It's not a surprise Holmes went on to write for the Broadway stage, television and finally novels given the narrative nature of his tunes.

"Escape" is basically flash fiction and "Him" has something of a narrative arc as well. Ditto the lesser known "The O'Brien Girl." It's the tale of a mysterious transfer student, her presence at her new school never quite explained.

"The People That You Never Get to Love" is slice-of-life, and it played well in the background of my early single life with its lament of missed opportunities. Your perfect love is in a "passing Buick" when you've "been pulled over by a traffic cop," the song observs.

It would have been nostalgic to get some of those onto my pod for replay.

I guess I'll need to buy one of Holmes greatest hits albums on CD, or at the very least get the audiobooks version of his newer mystery "Swing" to have Holmes stories in my car again.

What's On the iPod?

My iPod's shuffle feature has served up 'Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk even though it's not quite 8 a.m.

I'm not sure if that's a dark omen or simply a mellow one.

Another tune on my Christmas playlist

Yesterday, Christine and I were in our grocer's dairy section when Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" came on the in-store radio.

That took me back. The tune was already firmly a part of pop culture when I was kid, and the LP was one my dad always put on the stack. We had a Packard Bell stereo--the kind where the speakers were built into the cabinet that housed the turntable.

Shuffle play was achieved by placing a stack of vinyl albums on the turntable. When one finished another dropped down.

I snagged the cover art from the web, but the pic is of the album we had. It wore out long ago, probably from being stacked under other albums as they spun.

I don't know how old it was when I came along but I was dazzled by the pic of Rudolph when I was very small, and the images the song evoked were always a part of early sixties Christmases.

I always sat in our den in Louisiana and imagined a foggy North Pole Christmas Eve and the days leading up to Christmas were always the best days.

Burning Bridges

There's always a joke that kids will celebrate when school burns. That's not the reality. The school where my mother taught most of her career has been destroyed by arson. Age has wiped away most of her memory, but I can't help feeling a little sad that hallways where her footsteps echoed for many years are gone.

I never attended there, but we lived within walking distance when I was a kid. We used to stroll there in the late afternoons. I once found a discarded Hardy Boys novel on the campus and I think I still have it.

I went to a lot of functions with her also. She took me to a play called The Guy From Venus that was put on by the drama department in the '60s. Later I would see the guy who played the alien drive past our house on his way to classes every morning, and it was like seeing a celebrity.

Most of her time was spent in a free-standing home economics building, but faculty meetings and other matters took her to the main building frequently.

One more marker that time marches on.

What's on the iPod? - A Real Mix

iSkin gave me free downloads on emusic as a thank you for buying skins for the SidPod from them a while back, so I've been perusing the MP3 offerings and trying to put together a quality playlist or, failing that, a pile of guilty pleasures.

The selection doesn't rival iTunes, but I've found a reasonable mixture of indie and classic, kind of across the board.

Favorite Discoveries via emusic
Alexi Murdoch is my favorite "new to me" indie artist from emusic. Apparently "Orange Sky" caused a bit of a stir that I missed out on when his EP was released, but now I'm board. Cool song.

Mediaeval Baebes - OK, I'm a little naive about the Classical charts but I've been to a Renaissance Festival or two. I love tunes in the middle ages tradition, and I found several tunes from their Mirabilis album including their take on "Scarborough Fayre. "

Favorite filling in the gaps in my collection
I love the music of the late Warren Zevon, and I found several tunes I didn't have including ironically his recording of "My Ride's Here," one of my favorites.

It's sad and cynical and I really like Bruce Springsteen's version on the Warren Zevon tribute album, "Enjoy Every Sandwich," but it's nice to have the original to carry with me. (Usually--aforementioned excepted--I hate tribute albums , and that's one thing you have to watch out for on emusic. They have lots o' songs recorded by someone other than the original artist.)

Another great Zevon tune I found was "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down," also featuring his dark, cynical humor.

Guilty pleasure of the lot
The Archices - "Sugar, Sugar" that's really all I have to say about that isn't it?

Favorite PBS star recordings
Picked up a couple of Roger McGuinn tunes from "Roger McGuinn Live at the XM Studios" album including "Mr. Tambourine Man."

Rounding things out
I've never owned enough Jazz or been Jazz literate enough so I also grabbed several classics from John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

Songs I'm pissed off I downloaded
"Rocket Man" and "A Word in Spanish" speaking of tunes not recorded by the original artist. I'm sure there were ASCAP payments involved but I really thought I was getting the Elton John versions. You start listening to a cover, and you just get that feeling something ain't right.

All in all though, I've a good emusic experience, and you've probably read the benefits - you buy you own, you're not just renting tunes until the next device sync.

Tags: music, iPod, music downloads, emusic.com

What's on the iPod? - They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore

Because it's important to know the truth and not the smear tactics being spread by those running against Kinky Friedman, the next Texas Governor.

I'm offended most of all as a fiction writer, because if you read the lyrics to "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore" it's clear the negative remarks come not from the Kinkster's first person persona in the song but from a:

"...redneck nerd in a bowling shirt..."

Trying to brand Kinky as a racist with those remarks is like attributing Darth Vader's remarks to George Lucas and saying he favored the Empire over Luke Skywalker's forces.

If traditional politicians misrepresent the truth in their ads, can we trust them on anything?

Wow, is that the queen mother of dumb questions?