Root Down in the Shadow

Way back in the day, I was pretty savvy with the computer and accompanying music software.  I had my stereo system complete with turntable hooked into my computer.  I could take vinyl and cassette and turn into a digital form.  Before I left college, I was lucky enough to help digitize some live music for my favorite band from college Disco Bitch and the Funk Machine .  But it was annoyance of not having a VCR after college that turned out my biggest "recording" success. I sat down with a borrowed VCR and my friend Greg's VHS copy of VH1 storytellers, Dave Matthews episode.  I laid it down into larger than necessary .wav files, and soon started the editing process.  I laid the 44 minute episode down into tracks.  Now there were only five full songs plus parts of two others mixed with stories about the songs and other various stories, but I ended up splitting it up into 16 complete tracks.  Doing it this way, I split out each song from story, eve...

In 1992, Pearl Jam took their grunge sound to television.  They had two very successful appearances with SNL & MTV Unplugged .  The sixth song from the TV appearance, and 7th for the DVD release (with the Ten re-issue ) was 'Porch'.  Besides the obvious difference of the acoustic guitar, the song is extended with a long Mike McCready guitar solo & Eddie Vedder improv.  Also without the electric, the guitar seems more rhythmic.  The song is self edited by Eddie, but the political statement is not muted at all.  Outside of some incredibly young looking and long haired members of the band, the highlights of the video are as follows: 0:49 Eddie Vedder's growl (I'm not sure why this seems so much different than the album) 1:32 Mike McCready guitar solo (including Eddie Vedder falling off of his stool) 2:07 Jeff Ament's drum acrobatics 2:18 the guitar portion speeding up 2:25 Eddie Vedder starts his self tattoo "PRO-CHOICE" on his arm 3:12 Edd...

Back in 2007, I came across the the KEXP Song of the Day featuring Ted Leo & the Pharmacists .  The song, 'Unwanted Things' went into my heavy rotation right away, and I began looking for other Ted Leo to get my hands on. This upcoming Sunday, inside the FEATURED ARTIST post, I'll delve deeper into this search for more Ted and more about his recent albums. I did get my hands on a most excellent KEXP live concert and an additional super sweet cover song.  I can't recall where I purchased/downloaded/stole the audio version, I think I snagged it from my brother-in-law. It has been a favorite of mine since.  Truthfully, I didn't realize it was a cover at first.  I eventually caught on after noticing later on the song morphed into a cover of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'Maps'.  I also willingly admit that I had never heard Kelly Clarkson's version before hand, and not for a few years after hearing Ted Leo's version.    Ted weaves both songs together b...

Before the concept of "Molly Songs" fully formed, just after Molly was born, I began searching for some songs to commemorate the birth of my wee one. As any nerd would do, I went searching for MOLLY through my music collection.  I came up empty pretty quick. Top 'Molly" songs inappropriate for an infant Incubus - 'Anna Molly' Vaselines or Nirvana - 'Molly's Lips' Sponge - 'Molly ' God Street Wine or Disco Bitch & The Funk Machine - 'Molly' Creedence Clearwater Revival / Little Richard / Jerry Lee Lewis - 'Good Golly Miss Molly' Once I expanded to iTunes, I did find gold with a very unlikely source.  I found a Willie Nelson album, You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker , complete of songs from a mid 20th century writer. Amongst the fifty and sixty year old songs was the most beautiful song for a most beautiful little girl. 'Miss Molly' arranged by Willie Nelson, written by Cindy Walker...

' Crazy ' is one of those songs, that you love from the moment you hear it.  The smash hit from 2006 brought Mr. Cee-Lo Green to the forefront of music that summer; including a set I caught during Virgin Fest in Baltimore, MD.   The song instantly made it to all the weddings and formals.  Looking back, it was loud and clear at my wedding in NJ, in the midst of one hell of a party! A live take of 'Crazy' by Gnarls Barkley The problem with the song is that it when you're dancing you barely pay attention to the words.  I really had no idea about the personal strength Cee-Lo was writing about, until I had heard this awesome cover version.  Ray LaMontange.  The song slowed down, shows off the beauty of the lyrics much more.  From the second half of the song: Come on now, who do you Who do you, who do you, who do you think you are? Ha ha ha, bless your soul You really think you're in control? Well, I think you're crazy I think you're cr...

I had something else picked out for this week's Song of the Week, but after viewing K'Naan on the Austin City Limits and hearing the version of 'Wavin' Flag', I was moved.  I had to share this song.  I might be a sappy little b sometimes with movies.  Especially the scene in Good Will Hunting where the Ben Affleck character goes to pick up Will and he's not there.  It gets me every time.  However, I'm rarely moved by hearing a song, especially on the very first listen.  As the moment brewed in front of me watching K'Naan, it was definitely a great musical moment that I knew I needed to share. I downloaded the original 'Wavin' Flag' from iTunes, back in 2009.  If I remember it correctly, it was a free song of the week via iTunes.  I liked it right away, and it started getting some heavy play in one of my best of play lists.  The lyrics for the original version are somewhat uplifting, but I didn't really get the reference of how he would ...

A few years ago, I stumbled across the Austin City Limits television show website. I was searching for some live music, and found the mother load. The site can be a bit cumbersome at times, but it exists as a tremendous treasure chest of some of the best music our country has to offer. The concerts were all supported by PBS, free music, paid for by our taxes potentially soon to go away. I have featured my three favorite episodes. There are so many excellent artists, I have barely made a dent. But I will do my best to go through and chronicle them for you to make it easier. PEARL JAM First is, an excellent intimate hour long Pearl Jam concert. The set list includes an excellent version of 'Porch', some awesome treatments of 'Just Breathe' with a strings section, and a fantastic version of 'Red Mosquito' with Ben Harper on steel guitar Chapter 3:Just Breathe Chapter 4:The End Chapter 5:The Fixer Chapter 6:Johnny Guitar Chapter 7:Amongst T...

As I do these Pearl Jam & Beastie Boys Songs of the Week , I try to stay away from the obvious hits and point out some equally awesome selections.  For this bi-weekly Beastie Boys selection, I flipped the tape over on Check Your Head going opposite of ' So What'cha Want '.  After ' The Blue Nun ' which is essentially the album interlude, the songs pick back up for a second half party including favorites ' The Maestro ' and ' Professor Booty '.  Stuck in the middle is quasi-live track ' Live at P.J. 's 'Live at PJ's' just rocks! The bass line is fantastic; the cow bell goes great with the keyboards. And, Adrock's raps are just fun overtop of this upbeat track: excerpt from Beastie Boys - 'Live At PJ's' "I'm gonna bust my shoes I'm gonna bust my socks I'm gonna spread my word From standing on this box This drive through world it just ain't right Gonna run to Joe and Tony's ...

What a trip down memory lane!  Through the years, I've been writing down all the concerts I've attended with openers, venue, friends etc.  I'm only half way through this trip of digitizing the list, but so enjoyable to go through this list.  So many firsts... arena show, club show, jazz, Buffett, Electronica, all kinds of stuff.  I've seen quite a few bands, and quite a few of them have been repeats.  This makes it very hard to pinpoint a favorite.  Instead of detailing one awesome concert that I went to of the too many to count shows, In this case, I want to weave a quick story for you.  Sit back & enjoy! I've seen Moby four times now, and it has been an adventure each time.  The very first time, was during just my second festival.  The first time, I went to a festival was Lollapalooza '94.  It was with a group of friends and we pretty much stayed on the lawn the entire time sitting back and enjoying some awesome bands ( Geo...

In a continuing series, I have been exploring music that I love, that is also fitting for my young daughter.  I have looked at adult songs that she also loves , kids songs that I don't want to slit my wrist listening to , and as was the case with 'Boy with a Coin' , a track that can calm the child down. Today's selection is an adult track that can calm a child down, and is an excellent lullaby.  However, it has a short shelf life.  I wouldn't recommend playing this beyond three years of age, as it has some dark and possibly nightmare inducing lyrics.   If you ever tried to locate some lullabies in your music collection, good luck!  Try searching the word lullaby in your collection.  Counting Crow's 'Mrs. Potter's Lullaby' is much too loud, as is the jazz ' Lullaby of Birdland' .  Coltrane 's ' Russian Lullaby ' will do one better than caffeine.  ' Disenchanted Lullaby ' from the Foo Fighters might work for Dave Groh...

The 1963 Johnny Cash song 'Ring of Fire' has been my long time favorite song from the country legend.  When I first purposely started playing ol' Johnny Cash, it was my song of choice in the Jukebox at Denny's bar in South Oakland(Pittsburgh).  My high school buddy Fat Tom, loved Johnny Cash, and I quickly grew to love 'Ring of Fire'.  I still have great memories of darts and pitchers at the bar playing this song over and over. I eventually picked up Johnny Cash - Legend of Johnny Cash as my primer to his collection, of which I have about 20 albums now.  Ring of Fire has always held strong as my fav.  Johnny Cash - 'Ring of Fire' Through the years, there have been many cover versions of Ring of Fire. The one that sticks out the most was the Social Distortion attempt from 1990. That was at least until in a deep music exploration session, I came across The Best Of The Johnny Cash TV Show: 1969-1971, including a live version by Ray Charles. ...

Attention Please: With a late 2010 release and a spot on the VW Super Bowl commercial, Pigeon John has a lyrical announcement to the world.  Jump on board now, 'cause "I'm 'bout to blow up"                          Excerpt from Pigeon John - 'The Bomb' "Ok, come on everybody won’t you clap your hands White folks do it on time if they can Sounds good, now here’s the plan Let’s all sing together like we’re in the same band I’m the bomb and I’m ’bout to blow up I’m the bomb and I’m ’bout to blow up" The commercial was a mash up of a classic Gene Kelly & Donald O'Connor clip, and the hot new single from Dragon Slayer the 2010 release from Pigeon John . WHO IS THIS GUY? For those of you who have never heard of the one and only Pigeon John , he has been a putting out solo rap albums for quite some time now, and has been featured or has been ...