“Ai Du” – Ry Cooder + Ali Farka Toure. Strange, sultry blues/ afro-pop hybrid, + shivery haunting vocals. Like nothing else. – Alicia Dara – @thevolcanodiary – #100songs100days Ali Farka Toure-Ai Du – Funny videos are here
“Dead Run” first aired on 2/21/86. When I went down to San Francisco to do the session, it was during the “flood of the decade.” I left my house in Sonoma in a torrential downpour. I drove out to Hwy 37 and soon realized there were no other cars on the road. I got onto …
“Traveling Woman”- Bat For Lashes. Voice-stretcher, spirit-soother, breakup-helper. Gentle yet unbelievably powerful. – Alicia Dara – @thevolcanodiary – #100songs100days
Social Distortion to Rock Yo Punk Asses in Portland & Seattle in Less Than Two Weeks, By Holly Homan
Social Distortion, part Sex Pistols, Part Ramones and a heavy slathering of Johnny Cash are coming to Portland (4/10 & 4/12 at Roseland Theater) and Seattle (4/13 at the Paramount) to whip yo punk asses! Social D (as they are commonly called) hit the alt scene back in 1983 with Mommy’s Little Monster, then disappeared …
I really like these Hollis Brown kids. Hollis Brown is a band, not an individual. Their take on Americana is enervating, boisterous and often merry.
Legendary bluegrass banjo player, Earl Scruggs, died Wednesday at age 88 in a Nashville hospital. According to his sons, Scruggs died of natural causes. He was the last of the bluegrass pioneers. Scruggs’ influence on not only bluegrass and country but all of modern music is extraordinary. He pioneered three-finger, “Scruggs style” picking, an innovation …
“Kitchenette” – Grinderman. Sexy. Saw them last year. Nick Cave was a revelation. How come more people don’t know about him? – Alicia Dara – @thevolcanodiary – #100songs100days Here’s a live vid:
http://youtu.be/NSEd6O0bBFs
“Bleeding Muddy Water” – Mark Lanegan. His voice is the sound of the center of the earth; molten, heaving, and 1000 degrees. – Alicia Dara – @thevolcanodiary – #100songs100days
For you casual Beatles fans, there is a great treat to be found. I guess many of you have never listened to “Love”, a soundtrack remix album of music recorded by The Beatles and released in 2006, I hadn’t until just a few days ago. It features compiled and remixed Beatles music and was produced …
On Saturday March 24, I had the opportunity to attend a sneak preview of the new Julia Roberts movie, Mirror Mirror. My recommendation is don’t pay full price or wait until it comes out on DVD. Although the scenery and costumes were outstanding, it suffered from a weak plot. The characters were reedy thin and …
Let’s review. Before health care reform you could go broke, lose your house and die because you got sick and couldn’t afford coverage. If you had a pre-existing condition, you were screwed, even though you’d paid for insurance all your life. The health care plan that passed was a Republican plan (it’s true). If you …
One of the most popular vids in India at the moment:
When my baby sister was a baby, my mom had this giant cat that we called “The Lion.” Biggest cat I’ve ever seen that wasn’t just fat. Huge cat. And my sister could pull its fur, pull its tail, lay on him, the cat wouldn’t do a damn thing but take it. Now, if you …
“I revere Duke Ellington, but I didn’t want this to be a reverent album,” Joe Jackson says of The Duke, his new tribute to American jazz giant Ellington. True to Jackson’s word, The Duke is a decidedly unconventional salute to Ellington, demonstrating the timeless brilliance of his classic compositions while showcasing Jackson’s sublime skills as …
“Reckoner”- Radiohead. Made me want to sing again after a long dark period of ambivalence in 2009. Heaven on earth. Sublime. – Alicia Dara – @thevolcanodiary – #100songs100days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmNG2D81x3Y
Wherever nerds are given a group rate, East Portland Blog will be there: The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes baseball team, a Class A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, will be offering a Nerd Night promotion sponsored by Eye Care Physicians & Surgeons on July 12, 2012. The Volcanoes’ promotions department may be willing to team up …
This is apparently Hate Smile, being performed on college radio recently. I say apparently because it is quite different in pace, and even in overall sound, to the single version. It can’t all be down to having a new tub thumper. Whatever, it’s a fine song and it’ll tide me over while the girls (new …
She’s probably been one of the most adventurous artists of the past 25 years, dipping her toe in more genre-stretching experimentation than almost anyone I can think of and still maintaining a solid melodic & harmonic core. Usually, her experiments have succeeded, but even her “failures” have been noble. The pity is that most folks …
This year I have mainly eschewed all this ‘lists’ business. However, there have been moments that have been truly extraordinary. One of those was hearing this track. It’s a great album – I reviewed it HERE. However, Santa Fe is simply one of the best songs I have heard all year. Samantha has a great …
I saw Wild Flag cold a few Thursdays ago. By which I mean I hadn’t heard a word of them before the gig. At least I thought that was the case, but Romance sounded way familiar. You can read the review (and see my Wild Flag photos) HERE and it’s fair to say I was …
Recently a request crossed my desk to cover an old band with a new album. I’ve been busy with work on the Ghostwood Estates project, so when I received this request to cover Van Halen’s new album, A Different Kind of Truth, and I thought, “really?” I initially demurred but then acquiesced due to previous …
“Miss You Much” Janet Jackson. Guilty pleasure? How come I dont feel guilty? Puts a smile on + rocks you hard. Invigorates. – Alicia Dara – @thevolcanodiary – #100songs100days
Mike Hughes, friend of East Portland Blog and proprietor of Catshoe.org, had an excellent week at South By Southwest (SXSW), the Austin, Texas music festival which takes place annually in March and has become a celebration of the globe’s newest, strongest, wildest, hottest, firmest, most interesting and best music. A world class photographer, young Mike …