Archives for: March 2009
03/22/09
A little much, no? It's not called "graciousness" when you're begging somebody for peace. If it were Bush, who had a Norwuz message last year (calling the government a "regime"), I'd say he was "brown-nosing" Iran.
We have Iran's response:
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday he sees no change in U.S. policy toward Iran despite the U.S. promise of a "new beginning."
Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran would change its policy when the U.S. did so as well.Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran would change its policy when the U.S. did so as well.
Khamenei said a change in rhetoric is not enough, and Washington must practice what it preaches, according to the English-language Press TV channel in Iran.
He also promised that Iran will change its policy if the United States does so as well, Press TV reported.
To be fair, what Obama says is not nearly as important as what he does. God help us if terrorist-supporting Iran gets a nuclear bomb.
On the other hand, Turkey will let us go through their territory out of Iraq. Good for them.
I'm not a big fan of Richard Strauss. I find his compositions bloated and pretentious, boring. Thus Spake Zarathustra is a good example. A few moments of distinction followed by some very unmemorable music, kind of like Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.
Zarathustra or Zoroaster was the founder of the Iranian religion Zoroastrianism. Nowruz is their New Years. Whereas most Islamic countries adopted Hijra, or the migration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad to the city now known as Medina as the beginning of their calendar, Persians kept Nowruz.
2001 Space Odyssey
03/20/09
Like many in my generation, Mr. T had a profound impact on my personal development. His pithy wisdom, encapsulated in the phrase "I pity the fool," both cautioned me against foolish excess and inspired me (to ride around the country as outlaws saving beautiful women from small-town thugs).**
The A-Team Complete Series (Seasons 1-5)
Anyways, in college (thanks B.A.), I became immersed in Blues and Soul music, and it wasn't long before I discovered Bobby Bland, probably the best pure Blues singer and one of the best Soul (and thus, from any genre) singers in history. An amazing fact about Bobby "Blues" Bland was that he lost the upper register of his voice, a powerful falsetto, early in his career, but his voice was so good that he still became the most popular Blues performer of his generation.
"I Pity the Fool," is the podcast. If modern R&B were half as good as this song, I'd still listen.
Oh, I forgot why I mentioned Mr. T in the first place. Hugh Hewitt talked about a new iPhone app on his show called "iPity" that mimics Mr. T. It's a legacy we should all promote.
**In fact, Brian Rivas, Javier Calderon, Tom Patel and I each adopted characters from the show (I was "Face," for no particular reason) and would play "A Team." Ahhh, good times.
03/16/09
These albums are a hat trick of goodness for me. The best Catholic music in English. The best Irish music I've heard. And, just great music, period.
The performances are stunning. Frank Patterson is a formidable tenor. Regina Nathanson's a thrilling soprano. The monks are fine if you like that. There's even some affecting boy singers. Choirs, too.
I've never heard the songs on this collection, which makes them especially valuable to me. They're soaringly melodic and exceptionally well-constructed. They have religious lyrics, but you can still enjoy them if you lack faith the same way you might still appreciate Handel's Messiah despite the event that inspired it.
Future saints, on the other hand, are in for an amazing experience. The songs range in theme from soft devotions to the Trinity, Mary, and the Church to full-throated hymns of religious defiance to the English (originally; however, they're equally applicable to other challenges).
The second album adds Latin and Gaelic lyrics.
I consider both albums a must-own. There's a concert DVD I haven't seen and a Christmas CD I haven't heard. I plan on purchasing both.
Faith of Our Fathers: Classic Religious Anthems of Ireland
03/13/09
Music lovers will understand when I say that there are few feelings as delightful as discovering great music.
Whenever that happens, I immediately want to share my good fortune. Sharing has always been problematic for me, however, as nobody within a 15-mile radius from my home shares my taste in Cuban, Classical, Soul, Blues, and now, pre-Rock popular music.
Or, it was difficult. I can now bypass my neighbors and find community with you, the dwellers of cyberspace.
My latest find is Evelyn Knight. I found her on the forties channel (4 on both XM and Sirius). Evelyn Knight has a wonderful mezzo-soprano and sings in a style between Country and Jazz. Her songs are varied and interesting. She has fun nonsense songs like "Chickery Chick" and joyous songs that celebrate life and love like "A Little Birdy Told Me."
Evelyn Knight's music supports my thesis that our fathers and grandfathers were, on average, better people. Their music is positive during much more difficult circumstances- WWII and the Depression- and full of good values while modern music is depressing, cynical, nihilist, and destructive of good.
It's very much worth your time to listen. Amazon has two Evelyn Knight cds, but one is out-of-print and expensive. The best option is to get the album, Beautiful Brown Eyes from iTunes.
03/11/09
I'll walk a few steps from the Blues, brushing up against the Rolling Stones on my way, to reach Led Zeppelin. Expand the radius a little further to say, Black Sabbath, and I begin to feel a little trepidation. I won't venture farther than that.
In other words, Led Zeppelin is as far as you can take basic Blues/Rock and Roll and still have it be listenable. Led Zeppelin has melodies, rhythm, singing- you know, it's musical.
Many of you are aware that Blues artists like Willie Dixon influenced Led Zeppelin, who remade blues songs like "when the Levee Breaks" done by artists like Magic Slim. Well, I've got a couple more for you. Nobody, to my knowledge, has made the following connections.
And no, I'm not one of those, "He ripped off..." guys either. It's ridiculous to be so (see this squid, "Oh my God! Led Zeppelin did remakes!), as very few musicians create in a vacuum.
"I Wish You Would" by Billy Boy Arnold is in the podcast (to which you should subscribe) above. I think the resemblance of Arnold's harmonica part at the end of the bridge to Led Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song" is pretty obvious.
Led Zeppelin, "Immigrant Song"
This next one is a bit of a stretch. If you go to the middle of the Cuban song "El Palo de Anon," you'll notice the same whistle that you hear in "Fool in the Rain" from In Through the Out Door. This Led Zeppelin song is kind of Latin-sounding, anyways. Heck, Robert Plant's voice almost son montuno-s halfway through.
If you like this kind of stuff, these albums may interest you:
Tags: led zeppelin covers blues songs, led zeppelin steals, who influenced led zeppelin?03/02/09
The Dow's performace today brought back memories of 1997. Let me think. I had been married two years, living in a small apartment. I worked at Gomper's Middle School in Los Angeles, one of the two worst schools in California. My first son was born.
The music? I stopped listening to contemporary music in the early nineties so I really couldn't say. This dude made a list. I'll use it and add some video. The good part is that most of the acts are old enough to have greatest hits.
1. Smash Mouth, Walking on the Sun.
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