The politics of that last few years have had their particular rancor and tone not because of Pres Obama or Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, but because of a political party gone off the rails, leaving the Democratic party to be its own loyal opposition since the Republicans have ceded the field. Leaving me with …
“Ground is too hard… if he wanted a proper burial, he should have gotten himself killed in the summer.” How many times in the past few years have I seen a film, and by the time I got home wanted to see it again? Not many… but I’m going to catch an encore of True …
I love the different interactions between animals and babies. Our cats run and hide when a visiting baby cries; I think they think it’s a wounded animal. When my sister was little she had a tomcat – the biggest damn cat I’d ever seen, looked like a lion. I wouldn’t want to have pissed the …
Neko Case has created a lot of compelling music in the last decade, both as an alt-country chanteuse and as a New Pornographer. However, my sentimental favorite is 2000’s Furnace Room Lullaby, the album that propelled her out of the Pacific Northwest and into international stardom. Furnace Room Lullaby firmly established a sort of trademarked …
[Ed. Note: Christmas time is here, as the Peanuts gang would sing, and Ron has his good-cheer spreading work cut out for him. So here it is. Update Late Wednesday Evening – Ron went 7-9 this week. It’s gonna take a miracle to break even.] Thursday: No – PITTSBURGH 14 Carolina The Steelers are beat …
So much gets presented as a challenge to President Obama, but his leadership style really asks more of his base and the American people: patience, a sense of history, an understanding of the modest limits of politics and our governing institutions. Obama seems to have these—do we? – Lawrence Spaulding Now, doesn’t that feel better? …
In the very best and driest sarcastic sendups, you don’t see the seam where acceptable everyday life ends and comic overstatement begins. This vid is exactly that sort of commentary– clever, profoundish and a wee-bit sadness inducing. (Thanks to Stephen Rabow for this.)
Meet SirAllAboutMusic. He works at Subway and lives with Mom. He’s been doing these vids for years. It’s not The Onion. It’s not SNL.
As with every album since Monster, it’s as bland as an accountant’s tie collection, but it still has Michael Stipe’s voice on it, and that’s a good thing. Isn’t it?
Kayne West’s sampling of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man on his most recent album not withstanding, it’s generally not too hip nowadays to pay homage to the icons of early 70’s progressive rock. This brief clip is of one of my adolescent musical heroes, Keith Emerson, working out some piano parts from Emerson Lake …
It’s the holidays, and that means it’s time for Pink Martini. Randy Rendfeld sent me several excellent links to Pink Martini material, past and present: The Pinksters performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Monday, 12/20/2010. Just two days earlier (12/18/2010), Thomas (Lauderdale), China (Forbes) and the gang brought their rollicking genre-bending orchestra to …
. Seattle’s classic, fantastic, “hard ass soul” band, Staxx Brothers and East Portland Blog are very pleased to announce the release of “Corn Rows for Christmas,” a powerful, fresh, new, original, soaring, heartfelt Christmas song which is presented here as a gift for Staxx Brothers fans, Christmas fans, music fans, everyone… View the very fun …
Some have somewhat correctly labeled the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” as a “starting point,” where my point is that it shouldn’t have been a point at all. Holy Moley, when you step back and look at it, it’s amazing to note how our country goes so far out of its way to prove …
Matthew 1:18-25 (New King James Version) Christ Born of Mary Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a …
Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins singing “This Train is Bound for Glory” at the Johnny Cash Christmas Show ’77: .
This is a delicious and evocative clip. Luar Na Lubre is a Celtic band from Galicia, a region of Northern Spain where the inhabitants are descended from “one of the first tribes of Celtic heritage in Europe,” says Wikipedia. Vocalist Sara Louraço Vidal (who should be atop Maxim’s list of hottest singing cellists every year) …
Underrated is a common enough term for artists we like that don’t end up selling millions of records and becoming household names. I think it is safe to call John Hiatt underrated, however. This is a guy who started out writing songs done by everyone from Three Dog Night (and Hard Labor was a big …
Haley Anderson produced this public service announcement for a class in Public Policy. It’s excellent and she is on to something. Domestic violence is by far the most common felony in every jurisdiction in the country (and probably the world) and yet whenever there’s talk of crime rates, crime crackdowns, or getting tough on crime, …
The Dream of the 90s is alive in Portland! This new cable TV series, called Portlandia, starts January 10 and promises either quirky greatness or an epic meta hipster fail. Starring, along with SNL’s Fred Armisen, one-time Portlander Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, author of “Call the Doctor,” one of the great tunes of the 90s, …
I’m a huge fan of Mark Eitzel and his band American Music Club, so to me this 1988 video interview of a beer swilling and hilariously self-deprecating Eitzel is manna from heaven. I’ve probably seen Mark Eitzel play solo about 40 times (seriously). I’ve also seen the twice reformed American Music club about 5 times. …
Prior to and contemporaneous with, Grunge, Seattle was a center for great melodic pop from such luminaries as the Posies, the Young Fresh Fellows, (whose leader Scott McCaughey went on to play in REM for years) Sister Psychic, Flake, Stumpy Joe, Model Rockets, Presidents of the United States of America and numerous others. Out of …
Visual artist and avant-garde musician, Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, has died in a Northern California hospital at the age of 69 from complications arising from multiple sclerosis. The Village Voice gives their brief take here. Entertainment Weekly describes Beefheart’s five best albums here. Rolling Stone’s 1970 cover story on Beefheart can be quite …
[Update 12/21/2010: Committed has won The Sing Off in the final episode aired last night. In the embedded video below, host Nick Lachey announces the winners. Beneath that is the original article.] . [Ed. Note – Manly, gruff, security expert and sports aficionado, Ron Swanson has come to enjoy an NBC show featuring a capella …
Be Counter-Cultural: Practice the Twelve Days of Christmas, by Chris Erdman, Celebrity Guest Blogger
. The Twelve Days of Christmas are largely forgotten today. If they are remembered, they’re remembered as a song about “Lord’s a leaping,” and “partridges in a pear tree.” The Twelve Days, December 25-January 5, are the true Christmas, the Christmas not of preparation for a single holiday, but of opening our hearts increasingly to …
[Ed. Note: The sun may be at its lowest point of the year on the Winter Solstice, but Ron hopes to be in the middle of a comeback by then. Updated Tuesday: Ron goes 10-6 this week.] Thursday Night: Yes – SAN DIEGO 9 San Francisco Which Chargers team shows up? I expect that San …
We didn’t go to church much when I was a kid. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in my hometown was the church we didn’t go to. Still, a few things stick out from the times we showed up. I remember being impressed that the priest was on a first name basis with the Pope—“pray …
. My 4 year-old daughter Alissa screams “I want to waatch teeeeveeee nowwwww!” and I say “You were mean yesterday when I turned the tv off, so no teeeveeee, todaaaayyyy!” and I insist she comes with me to the hardware store to find a 3/8″ compression to 1/2″ pipe adapter hose for the sink, the …
. . The words, Brill Building, are synonymous with songwriting in the way Hollywood is equated with movies or Detroit used to be associated with cars. I received a message yesterday from LA-DSH urging assistance for an upcoming documentary about Colony Records, a unique music store located in that iconic building which was the site …
. For whatever reason a few years ago, I wanted to hear the Edgar Winter Group’s “Free Ride.” Naturally, the first place I checked was YouTube. Yep, lots of videos for “Free Ride.” But wouldn’t you know it, on the first video I pick, there’s a link to Edgar’s brother, Johnny, performing “Mean Town Blues” …
. . It was February 12, 2009 when I started following the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. They are marching through nearly 200 dates this year, did the Obama inauguration back in ’09, been to St. Petersburg, Russia, quite the swoop of engagements and I think the trickle down effect is this: brass bands are now …