Music

June 01, 2009

Some lyrics I really like

Steal a little they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.
-Bob Dylan, "Sweetheart Like You"

Don't give me money, honey, I don't want it back
you and your pony face and your union jack
well take your local joker and teach him how to act
I swear I was never that way even when I really cracked...
-Bruce Springsteen, "For You"

Well I wouldn't buy no merchandise
And I wouldn't go to war
And I mixed with other colours
But the nurse doesn't care
-David Bowie, "Scream Like a Baby"

How could this so great turn so shitty
Ended up in army crates
and photographs in files, his tiny boat
sparked as he grazed it
-Frank Black, "Motorway to Roswell"

She sends me blue valentines
all the way from philadelphia
to mark the anniversary
of someone that I used to be
and it feels just like there's
a warrant out for my arrest
got me checkin' in my rearview mirrror
Tom Waits, "Blue Valentine"

You know, some people got no choice
And they cant never find a voice
To talk with that they can even call their own
So the first thing that they see
That allows them the right to be
Why they follow it, you know, its called bad luck
Lou Reed, "Street Hassle"

May 19, 2009

Music in Film

Cameron Crowe's never made a movie I liked, but this list of his Top 10 (Or So) Music Moments in Film is interesting.

April 25, 2009

Flaming stupidity

April 01, 2009

Ridiculous state of concert-ticket industry

Online Sales Make Hot Tickets Harder to Get (NY Times)

Want to see U2 play at your local stadium this fall? How much are you willing to pay? The concert business is booming, with top tours grossing more each year. But as the economy constricts, consumer frustration is beginning to reverberate throughout the industry. Fans complain that the once simple process of getting tickets has been transformed into a complex and expensive digital chore. full article

March 31, 2009

Green Day/Berkeley Rep collaboration

I like Green Day's "American Idiot" and I love Berkeley Rep. So I will definitely want to see the upcoming collaboration between them of a theatrical production.

March 12, 2009

Virginity lost

Like a Virgin Megastore, shut for the very last time (Salon)

The ground floor of the Times Square Virgin Megastore has an air of chaotic neglect. Generic "Everything Must Go!" and "Nothing Held Back!" signs hang over shelves crammed with recent DVDs, "Guitar Hero" dolls and PS2 games. Downstairs in the deserted music section, one person distractedly stops at the table piled with box sets of Springsteen and Björk. Almost everything is 40 percent off, but that's not convincing enough. I walk over the image of Nirvana's "Nevermind" cover projected onto the floor -- a reminder of a time when people actually got excited about buying records -- and try not to step on the floating baby. full article

March 05, 2009

La Musique II

More albums that drove me to distraction at various times in my life:

  • The Clash - London Calling
  • Jimmy Smith - Walk On The Wild Side
  • Sandra Bernhard - Without You I'm Nothing
  • Prince Paul - A Prince Among Thieves
  • Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground
  • Ella Fitzgerald - Cole Porter Songbook
  • Frank Sinatra - Sinatra's Sinatra
  • Replacements - Tim
  • Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey
  • Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
  • Iggy Pop - Lust for Life
  • Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
  • Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park
  • Patti Smith - Easter
  • Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
  • Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks
  • Kinks - Kink Kronikles
  • Lou Reed - New York
  • Joe Jackson - Look Sharp
  • Mott the Hoople - Greatest Hits
  • John Coltrane - Giant Steps

March 02, 2009

Tom Waits on Fernwood 2 Night

Used to love this fake talk show with Martin Mull and Fred Willard when I was a kid. I can almost remember this Tom Waits segment. It's funny how the audience laughs through Tom doing "The Piano Has Been Drinking." They think the raspy warbling and strange lyrics are a joke. Thanks to Mary H., who loves Tom Waits like I do, for finding this.

Linkateria:

February 28, 2009

La Musique

Got tagged with a new Facebook post making the rounds:

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill.

1. Frank Black: Teenager of the Year
2. Pixies: Doolittle
3. Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
4. Charles Mingus: Let My Children Hear Music
5. Muddy Waters: Hard Again
6. Robert Klein: Child of the 50s
7. Lou Reed: Berlin
8. David Bowie: Scary Monsters
9. T. Rex: Electric Warrior
10. Tom Waits: Blue Valentine
11. Neil Young: After the Goldrush
12. Bob Dylan: Desire
13.The Beatles: Abbey Road
14. Prince: Sign O' The Times
15. Bruce Springsteen: The Rising
16. B-52s: Cosmic Thing
17. Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
18. De La Soul: De La Soul is Dead

February 11, 2009

Malkmus interview

Stephen Malkmus, formerly of legendary band Pavement, sits down with Pitchfork.