Wow. Two posts in two days. What is this world coming to? I guess it helps having Ken away. The time I spend with him after we both get home from work has been put to better use. I got all the playing online I wanted to do done, ate dinner, did the dishes and have a load of laundry in the dryer already. So I've got a little extra time to kill for a change.
I will probably come off sounding like a callous, unfeeling bastard, but it's been so nice having him gone. This week is going to fly by, so I better enjoy it while it lasts. I'm the type of person who needs a lot more solitude than others. I'm feeling supercharged by it already.
Anyway, I wanted to throw out this quick post about music. I know I'm falling behind on my year by year posts and I'll get back to that shortly. I just started my 1995 playlist today and what I heard today alone more than made up for 1994, which I found surprisingly dull. But anyway...
I'm in love with the whole crowd funding trend that's been happening in music lately. Jill Sobule really brought it to the forefront a few years back when she solicited fans to help her finance her new album at the time. It was looked at as revolutionary and now it's becoming more and more common place. In the mail today I got the new cd by Jon McLaughlin. He's a singer songwriter from Indiana who I discovered maybe ten years ago when he had a major label deal. I loved the stuff he was doing and have been following him ever since. Like many artist today, he's no longer on a major label and he's doing things his own way. Without a label looming over him, he can make the album he wants to make, but also, without a label looming over him, he doesn't have the funds to do it right. So I pitched in and helped out. And I'm thrilled it's here. I've backed a few albums lately. Brendan James' new album, Graham Colton's upcoming album, the last Matt The Electrician album. I would have done the same with the new Handsome & Gretyl album, but I think they did it themselves. Instead, if you purchase their album, they send you two so you can share one as a way to spread the word. After I did that, they put the album up for free on NoiseTrade.com. I highly recommend that website and that group. I've found so much good stuff there. And it's all totally free.
Old artists, new tricks. Sheryl Crow and Elvis Costello have new albums out. Both are trying some (slightly) new things with varying results. Elvis teamed up with the Roots on his new album. Just the thought of it scared me, but I have to tell you, it's probably his best album in years. Elvis is to the point in his career where he can do pretty much whatever the fuck he wants to. He's done everything from pure pop to classical. This new album is probably the most Elvis Costello sounding album he's done in decades. All the pretense has been stripped away and it's really back to classic Elvis basics. Sheryl Crow, on the other hand, has decided to try country. Not that her usual stuff is too far removed from country music. You take any Sheryl Crow album, change the arrangements around just a little, throw in a steel guitar and you've got a country album. But this time around she went for a full blown country album, or at least, what she thinks passes as a country album. Sister tried way too hard and the album shows it. She thinks throwing on a country accent makes a country album. She's got the arrangements, she's got some more country oriented instrumentation, but the fake accent and the terribly written songs are what ruins it. She tried writing what she thinks are country songs. She should just write Sheryl Crow songs instead. This thing has one or two passable songs, but over all, it's laughable.
This morning a woman sat down directly in front of me on the bus. She was wearing what had to be an entire bottle of perfume. It was so strong I started getting a headache from it. Seriously, why do people do that? Anyway, I posted a status update on Facebook about it. Later on during the day, I was looking at FB again and I saw this:
I will probably come off sounding like a callous, unfeeling bastard, but it's been so nice having him gone. This week is going to fly by, so I better enjoy it while it lasts. I'm the type of person who needs a lot more solitude than others. I'm feeling supercharged by it already.
Anyway, I wanted to throw out this quick post about music. I know I'm falling behind on my year by year posts and I'll get back to that shortly. I just started my 1995 playlist today and what I heard today alone more than made up for 1994, which I found surprisingly dull. But anyway...
I'm in love with the whole crowd funding trend that's been happening in music lately. Jill Sobule really brought it to the forefront a few years back when she solicited fans to help her finance her new album at the time. It was looked at as revolutionary and now it's becoming more and more common place. In the mail today I got the new cd by Jon McLaughlin. He's a singer songwriter from Indiana who I discovered maybe ten years ago when he had a major label deal. I loved the stuff he was doing and have been following him ever since. Like many artist today, he's no longer on a major label and he's doing things his own way. Without a label looming over him, he can make the album he wants to make, but also, without a label looming over him, he doesn't have the funds to do it right. So I pitched in and helped out. And I'm thrilled it's here. I've backed a few albums lately. Brendan James' new album, Graham Colton's upcoming album, the last Matt The Electrician album. I would have done the same with the new Handsome & Gretyl album, but I think they did it themselves. Instead, if you purchase their album, they send you two so you can share one as a way to spread the word. After I did that, they put the album up for free on NoiseTrade.com. I highly recommend that website and that group. I've found so much good stuff there. And it's all totally free.
Old artists, new tricks. Sheryl Crow and Elvis Costello have new albums out. Both are trying some (slightly) new things with varying results. Elvis teamed up with the Roots on his new album. Just the thought of it scared me, but I have to tell you, it's probably his best album in years. Elvis is to the point in his career where he can do pretty much whatever the fuck he wants to. He's done everything from pure pop to classical. This new album is probably the most Elvis Costello sounding album he's done in decades. All the pretense has been stripped away and it's really back to classic Elvis basics. Sheryl Crow, on the other hand, has decided to try country. Not that her usual stuff is too far removed from country music. You take any Sheryl Crow album, change the arrangements around just a little, throw in a steel guitar and you've got a country album. But this time around she went for a full blown country album, or at least, what she thinks passes as a country album. Sister tried way too hard and the album shows it. She thinks throwing on a country accent makes a country album. She's got the arrangements, she's got some more country oriented instrumentation, but the fake accent and the terribly written songs are what ruins it. She tried writing what she thinks are country songs. She should just write Sheryl Crow songs instead. This thing has one or two passable songs, but over all, it's laughable.
This morning a woman sat down directly in front of me on the bus. She was wearing what had to be an entire bottle of perfume. It was so strong I started getting a headache from it. Seriously, why do people do that? Anyway, I posted a status update on Facebook about it. Later on during the day, I was looking at FB again and I saw this:
What you're seeing is my update, a response and Syd Straw's name. Syd Straw saw my post and like it. Syd Motherfuckin' Straw. I was giddy, to say the least. I LOVE her so much. In fact, she's coming to town this weekend and I'm going to go see her. She never tours, at least not here. When I saw she liked my post, I commented that if this is her way to get people to buy concert tickets, it worked! And then I requested she play her song "Black Squirrel." Imagine my surprise when she followed up with this:
She's gonna sing motherfuckin' "Black Squirrel" for me!! It's Monday and I'm supposed to be crabby and unhappy because the weekend is over, but how can I be. Syd Straw posted on my FB page AND took a request for this weekend's show. I'm so far over the rainbow right now, I can't breathe. I had to email my friend Sharon immediately to share/rub it in.
I looked on YouTube to see if there's a video for "Black Squirrel" but it looks like there isn't. So here's her "hit single" "Future 40's (String Of Pearls)"
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Squeeeee
I made a Blog Post by Walt.
Squeeee
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