For a weeks & weeks now, I've been obsessed with a record(s), (go figure), and it took this actual day to deadline me & force action, and quite frankly, come to grips with this monster. I have been working my way through a magnificent mess of a box set entitled: 'Of Great & Mortal Men: 43 Songs About 43 Presidents'.
The brainchild of Christian Keefer, Matthew Gerkin, and Jefferson Pitcher, (featuring many special guests), it comes off like a hellish combination of Sufjan Stevens', (no relation to Eric), Indie Baroque tunesmithery and Sarah Vowell's offbeat historical eye, perhaps the record she always dreamed of making. What it reminded me of on first listen was an overlooked Neil Young song from the mid 70's, "Campaigner".
I was won over from the snarky sensibility of the first song, (Mr. Washington, of course), and the perspective of him looking back over his achievements and sighing ruefully the line "And those dumb.asses believed me". A more fitting comment on the haphazard founding of this nation I cannot conceive. As a taste, check out Erik Werner's incredible video for this track...
The tone varies throughout, and it's fascinating to match up the nuggets we've retained from school with more in.depth research. I came to grips with the more recent presidents first, then worked into the ones I knew tidbits about, and finally have just immersed myself in the whole bleeding thing.
Highlights so far: believe it or not, the Ronald Reagan & LBJ songs really humanize their subjects, the guitar solo at the end of Nixon shreds, James Madison is hilarious, Hoover & Andrew Jackson (w/an assist from Califone) are heartbreaking, Zachary Taylor could be a great lost Wilco song, and i keep going back to Eisenhower, my dark horse favorite so far. For those of us who can't travel to every Presidential library, and for those presidents who don't yet have libraries...let this be a beginning.
Burning question one: Does Grover Cleveland really merit two tunes? Too bad, deal with it.
Burning question two: What about the newest member of the club?
Bottom line time: any record that can get you to walk around singing about the Sherman Antitrust Act is indeed a record to be reckoned with...
Monday, February 16, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
moon over my grammys...
Having sworn off easy targets, I’ll just keep it to some drive.by observations…the relevance of the Grammies is currently under debate, as Neil Portnow has made some heroic efforts to broaden the nominated categories, but somehow, the house always wins…
There is perhaps, the makings of a seperate screed on Jay.Z & Lil' Wayne's moves towards rock stardom, now that they've 'conquered' their field, & not to get all Gallagher about it, but i'll stick w/Rakim, and I don't have the brain power to cope with it at this point. As for Coldplay...sigh. Should i trust any band that actively campaigns for the highest office in the land?
The beauty of the show is always the personal moments, (Paul Simon’s ’76 acceptance speech thanking Stevie Wonder for not making a record that year being the runaway classic), and the performances (Outkast joined by the USC marching band is something you just don’t anticipate seeing on live TV anymore, and copied by Radiohead this year…if it’s hip, I believe they call it an homage)
The Grammy police have kept a tight grip on this clip; it disappears every time I see it posted, but I did manage to catch it once before it got pulled, thanks to the good folks @ KEXP, and it really works…
My favorite quote was from Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson from the Roots, pulled from his Twitter adventures as a guest, and I quote ‘They won’t allow me to Twit from rehearsals, but let me say that Radiohead is about to murder…”. Indeed.
It seemed like the performances/set pieces weigh outweighed the awards, and ratings were way up…coincidence?
Blink-182…I love the audience non.reaction at the ‘big reunion announcement’. Ouch! But do you think that will stop them...
Best compilation soundtrack to Juno! No matter what you thought of the movie, That was a soundtrack...
And please note the triumph of They Might Be Giants in the Childrens category w/’Here Come the 1…2…3’s’. Yes, it’s the sequel to ‘Here Come the A…B…C’s’. Consider this a tip to all my peers who should be getting that hard earned sleep instead of reading this...
Props to Al Green for rolling in as a sub w/no notice, and, well, being Al Green.
Adele bested Duffy in the battle of the UK, (a.k.a. Best New Artist) Not bad…anyone who knocks down the Jonas Bros has something going on, although one of the best pure songs I heard all year was the title track of Duffy’s ‘Rockferry’, an amazing retro blast of Dusty Springfield love…
On to the important stuff: Over the years, for some reason, one of the first categories I dig after the majors is…(drumroll please) Best Polka! Yes, once again Jimmy Sturr, (the Eagles of polka music...) outlasted Walter Ostenak, (picking up the Susan Lucci role from Ed Blazonczyk. Which is to say aesthetically that it’s the pitched battle between the Pennsylvania ‘oompah’ sound, and the more hard driving ‘Chicago’ sound.
Jak Szie Masz to my old friend Gene Martin, Mr. Polka!
There is perhaps, the makings of a seperate screed on Jay.Z & Lil' Wayne's moves towards rock stardom, now that they've 'conquered' their field, & not to get all Gallagher about it, but i'll stick w/Rakim, and I don't have the brain power to cope with it at this point. As for Coldplay...sigh. Should i trust any band that actively campaigns for the highest office in the land?
The beauty of the show is always the personal moments, (Paul Simon’s ’76 acceptance speech thanking Stevie Wonder for not making a record that year being the runaway classic), and the performances (Outkast joined by the USC marching band is something you just don’t anticipate seeing on live TV anymore, and copied by Radiohead this year…if it’s hip, I believe they call it an homage)
The Grammy police have kept a tight grip on this clip; it disappears every time I see it posted, but I did manage to catch it once before it got pulled, thanks to the good folks @ KEXP, and it really works…
My favorite quote was from Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson from the Roots, pulled from his Twitter adventures as a guest, and I quote ‘They won’t allow me to Twit from rehearsals, but let me say that Radiohead is about to murder…”. Indeed.
It seemed like the performances/set pieces weigh outweighed the awards, and ratings were way up…coincidence?
Blink-182…I love the audience non.reaction at the ‘big reunion announcement’. Ouch! But do you think that will stop them...
Best compilation soundtrack to Juno! No matter what you thought of the movie, That was a soundtrack...
And please note the triumph of They Might Be Giants in the Childrens category w/’Here Come the 1…2…3’s’. Yes, it’s the sequel to ‘Here Come the A…B…C’s’. Consider this a tip to all my peers who should be getting that hard earned sleep instead of reading this...
Props to Al Green for rolling in as a sub w/no notice, and, well, being Al Green.
Adele bested Duffy in the battle of the UK, (a.k.a. Best New Artist) Not bad…anyone who knocks down the Jonas Bros has something going on, although one of the best pure songs I heard all year was the title track of Duffy’s ‘Rockferry’, an amazing retro blast of Dusty Springfield love…
On to the important stuff: Over the years, for some reason, one of the first categories I dig after the majors is…(drumroll please) Best Polka! Yes, once again Jimmy Sturr, (the Eagles of polka music...) outlasted Walter Ostenak, (picking up the Susan Lucci role from Ed Blazonczyk. Which is to say aesthetically that it’s the pitched battle between the Pennsylvania ‘oompah’ sound, and the more hard driving ‘Chicago’ sound.
Jak Szie Masz to my old friend Gene Martin, Mr. Polka!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)