Category: music

The Rules: Part 3 (of 37): Playing Music

As you may know if you know me, or if you’re a regular reader of this blog, I am a compulsive about some things such as filing my recorded music. I’ve likely mentioned that I’m also obsessive about playing music I own. I figure that if I own it, I should play it. If I don’t play it, I should probably get rid of it.

To that end, I play music on a musician’s or classical composer’s birthday week. This week, in honor of their birthdays today, it’s Frank Sinatra and Dionne Warwick. This birthday thing also applies to compilers of compilations, so the guy with the Omnibus coming out is heard in January, while the Eddie-torial pledge dude gets played in November.

There used to be a time when I’d play a given artist two or three times during the course of a year, but with an increasing number of recordings, I’ve had to figure out how to parse some groups.

Simon & Garfunkel I play in November, Art’s birthday; I also play my one Garfunkel album. Simon solo I play in October.
I have so many Rolling Stones albums that I play the store-bought ones in July, Mick Jagger’s birthday, and the ones I’ve burned in December, Keith Richards’ birthday.
Led Zeppelin gets played in January, Jimmy Page’s birthday; solo Robert Plant in August.
I play Crosby and CPR in August, Stills in January and Young in November. CSN(&Y) I play in February, Nash’s birthday, since I have no Nash on CD.
The Police get played in July, Stuart Copeland’s birthday, while Sting gets played in October. (Why not Andy Sumner as the Police trigger? Because his birthday came later in the year, in December.)
Don Henley in July; the Eagles in November, Glenn Frey’s birthday.
With so many Beach Boys albums, most of them I play in June, Brian Wilson’s birthday, along with solo Brian Douglas Wilson. However, the box set and the greatest hits I play in December, the birthdays of Dennis Carl Wilson and Carl Dean Wilson. (I didn’t know until yesterday that Dennis’ middle name was Carl; how odd.)
The Beatles are the most convoluted. Solo artists in their respective months, of course. In October, for John, I play the canon, the British albums as they were originally produced, since he was the leader of the group; also the Past Masters, which represent, mostly, the singles. February I play the American albums, since George was the first Beatle to come to the U.S., visiting his sister Louise. June, Paul’s month, gets the other items: the Anthologies, the BBC, the remixes of Yellow Sub and Let It Be, and LOVE. As for July, Ringo gets all the many Beatle cover albums.

Speaking of which, I’m in the midst of moving my tribute albums from their own section to the end of the run of the given artist; there are now so many that I forget.

As for the rest of my music: February gets compilation love albums, compilation soul albums (except Motown, played in November for Berry Gordy’s birthday) and, if the Oscars are in February, soundtracks, which usually takes a couple months in any case. As for the rest of the albums, other compilations, artists with birthdays I don’t know, I play whenever I want. Well, except the Chieftains and Clannad, which I listen to in March, and Christmas albums, which I play between December 1 and Epiphany. Oh, and Halloween albums for guess when?

The requirement to play, say John Lennon in October, doesn’t preclude me from playing it again in March just because I feel like it.
ROG

ROG

If I Had A Heart

Tosy posted this musical meme.

1. Put your music player on Shuffle

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT (this is in capital letters, so it is very serious).

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
“Tell Mama” – Etta James. Interesting and appropriate.

2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
“It Might As Well Be Spring” – Sarah Vaughn. Well, my birthday DOES foretell the vernal equinox.

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
“Wake Up, Little Susie” – Elton John. Oh, oh, we’re in trouble deep. All our friends are saying, “ooo, la la.”

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
“1990”-Temptations. Lessee, in 1990, I was 37, quite possibly my favorite age to be.

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
“Independence Day” – Ani DeFranco. I would like to think that’s true.

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
“It’s Summer” – Temptations. Not a sun worshipper, but I do prefer it to the winter.

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
“Smile” – Lily Allen. Aw, shucks.

8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
“My Favorite Things” – Andre 3000. well, not THINGS, but a nice sentiment, nonetheless.

9 WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
“Me and Mr. Jones – Amy Winehouse. I wonder if it’s Dylan’s Mr. Jones.

10. WHAT IS 2+2?
“The Finale” from Next Stop Wonderland soundtrack. A fancy word for the Sum, I suppose.

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
“I Love You for Sentimental Reasons”- Sam Cooke. Another lovely sentiment.

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
“Supersonic” – J.J. Fad. Sure, why not?

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
“Til the Cops Come Knockin'” Maxwell. Well, the way things are going…

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
“20 Dollars” – Angie Stone. I think I’m worth more than that!

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
“My Dearest Darling” – Etta James. Some of these are so right on.

16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
“God Bless Texas” – Brooks and Dunn. Then there are the occasional say what? responses.

17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
“Number One Crush” – Garbage. Another appropriate notion.

18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
“Night Ride Home” Joni Mitchell. Spookily dead on.

19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
“Who Dares Wins” – the Streets. Well, not ENTIRELY clear, but appeals to my competitive streak.

20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
“Littlest Birds” Jolie Holland. I won’t think too much on that.

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
“This Love of Mine” – Dinah Washington. I must be really fond of my buds.

22. WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
“If I Had a Heart” – Joni Mitchell. Not to be confused with the Tin Man.
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Fred Hembeck is plugging his upcoming book again. Some of the readers don’t seem to understand that no Marvel and DC product means no Marvel Age or Daily Planet strips, e.g. It DOESN’T mean no Marvel and DC characters; it’ll have LOTS of Marvel and DC characters, complete with squiggles. In fact, if the book does well, it wouldn’t shock me if Marvel tried to put together the Hembeck Marvel stuff (Fantastic Four Roast, Hembeck Destroys the Universe), though those involve several other artists, and it might not be practical.
ROG

ROG

November Miscellany

Politics, Race, Comics, Music, Sports, Weather – we do it all

U.S. Thanksgiving Day, we drove from Albany to Oneonta, and saw the temperature rise from 44 and fog to 52 to 68F in a little more than an hour. Then that afternoon, the temperature plummeted, where it’s been ever since.
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I received this question, as did a number of other bloggers: “I’d be interested in your reaction to this: An effort underway to remove Pelosi as Speaker, and make way for impeachment. Details. What flaws do you see with this plan; and is there a way to block this?”

As I’ve made abundantly clear, I favor the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. But the idea of impeaching Pelosi for her “high crimes and misdemeanors” of NOT impeaching them in order to impeaching them seems a bit surreal. Actually, it reminds me of a maneuver of my former church whereby the associate pastor was removed in order to make way for removing the senior pastor, except that it took 10 years to actually remove the senior pastor.

Regardless, the impeachment of Nancy Pelosi is highly unlikely to happen. And even if it did, impeachment of Bush/Cheney won’t happen. The Democrats are too risk averse. And oddly, from everything I’ve read, impeachment might very well STRENGTHEN the Democrats as it did in 1974, and as it did for the Republicans in 1868.
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The current TV Guide lists the current Presidential candidates’ favorite television programs. Will Fred Hembeck support Barack Obama, now that Obama’s come out in favor of SponngeBob Squarepants? And speaking of Fred, read Hembeck: Court Jester of Comics, an interview by Peter Sanderson in Publishers’ Weekly.
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A couple things I learned from ADD, one directly, one indirectly:
Tom Spurgeon’s Holiday Shopping Guide and
an interview with David Michaelis, biographer of Charles Schulz. Oh, and Gordon says nice things about the book about the creator of the Peanuts comic strip.
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I don’t really follow college football, and don’t like how the polls determine rankings; I’m more of an NFL fan. Still, I prefer the way cthe college game settles ties, with each team getting a chance or two (or three, in the case of Arkansas’ upset of LSU last week) to the randomness of the coin toss to determine who’ll get the ball first, and quite possibly, score and win.
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Cracked.com shows video clips of 8 of The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters:
#9. The Merchant from Aladdin
#8. Sebastian from The Little Mermaid
#7. The Crows from Dumbo
#6. King Louie from The Jungle Book
#5. The Siamese Twin Gang from Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers
#4. Sunflower the Centaur from Fantasia
#3. The Indians from Peter Pan
#2. Uncle Remus from Song of the South
#1. Thursday from Mickey Mouse and the Boy Thursday (Book)
The Little Mermaid clip surprised me, but I see its validity on the list.
Even though I feel uncomfortable with Song of the South – I do remember it in re-release c. 1960, I think, the movement to get Song of the South released on video doesn’t bother me. Not to say that I’ll buy it.
***
Also from Cracked.com: Ridiculous Overseas Rip-Offs of American Films, including a hysterical “Thriller” from India, a cheesy “Star Wars” from Turkey, and this Beatles Indian riff featuring, of all people, Mark Cuban:

ROG

ROG

Lyle turns 50


I have a very specific recollection of the first time I became aware of Lyle Lovett. I was watching the Today Show one morning in 1989, and Lyle and His Large Band performed “The Blues Walk” and “Here I Am”, the first two songs from Lyle’s third album. Afterwards, Bryant said something like, “That’s country music?” Soon, I got Large Band, which I loved, the swing-infused side one, contrasted with the more countrified Side 2. I especially enjoyed his cover of “Stand By Your Man”, which would be used to great effect in the movie The Crying Game.

From then on, I was Lyle-obsessed. I got the first two albums. The first album features God Will, which was later covered by country artist Patty Loveless – the albums are adjoining in my collection. Pontiac is a good album, but a bit melancholy. Joshua Judges Ruth supplanted Large Band as my favorite, with the great song Church. I Love Everybody was a slightly lesser effort which came out during his Julia Roberts period, but features Record Lady. The Road to Ensenada, which is still my favorite Lyle album, features That’s Right(You’re Not from Texas).

It was a long time from Ensenada (1998) to what I felt was the next “real” Lyle album, My Baby Don’t Tolerate (2003). In between, there was a double album of covers, a live disc, a greatest hits album, and a collection of songs for which he contributed to soundtracks. Tolerate had some good tunes, especially the title track.

I’m very fond of the new album, It’s Not Big, It’s Large. I can”t say where it’ll end up fitting in my Lyle pantheon, but it’s already top 4. I think it’s enhanced by the DVD that came with the album which gave me a greater understanding of the songs.

I’ve also seen him as the closing act at the Newport Folk Festival in Saratoga Springs at some point in the last decade with Nanci Griffith, Joan Baez, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Alison Krauss, Bruce Cockburn, Marc Cohn, and Lucinda Williams. Great show! And I’ve seen him as a non-singing performer in movies such as The Player and TV shows such as Dharma and Greg.

He’s even name-checked in a couple songs, such as Mary Chapin Carpenter’s I’m Lucky.

Happy birthday, Lyle. You’ve brought me much enjoyment.

Main Releases


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Robert Goulet died recently. I actually have two Goulet songs in my collection: Sunrise, Sunset from some Columbia compilation LP and You’ve Got a Friend in Me from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack. Actually, I like them both, FWIW.

ROG

Uncool QUESTION


I was reading Steve Gerber’s blog when he noted that singer Robert Goulet has the same disease that he does, only more severe. A couple letter-writers debated Bob’s coolness; Steve stayed out of the fray. For the record, I’ve long stopped worrying about what’s cool.

A couple bloggers I know faced ridicule by admitting publicly that they liked the movie Jersey Girl; I’ll withhold their names to protect the guilty. I never saw it, so I really can’t say if it’s as awful as some people think.

I am aware, however, of what others think are uncool. So, my question: what songs, movies, TV shows, books, whatever, do you think others think are uncool, but you like them anyway? No movie or book come to mind, but I do have a vague recollection of actually liking My Mother, The Car. (I was young.)

Music, on the other hand, I have some strong candidates. And they’re not songs; they’re bits of songs:
The piano intro of Could It Be Magic by Barry Manilow. Hey, he copped it from Chopin.
The strings at the end of I Haven’t Got Time For The Pain by Carly Simon.
The tight vocal segment “not quite a year since you went away” from Rosanna by Toto.
The “I’ve been looking for an answer” part of I’ve Been Waiting So Long by Chicago.
Almost any pop song with backed by a black church choir -I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner; Lay Down (Candles In the Rain) by Melanie; actually the latter IS virtually the whole song.

How uncool are you?

(Image copped from here.)
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Based on a conversation I had on a bus yesterday, there are a lot of people who think that Daylight Saving Time ends tomorrow. Their calendars even say so. That would be incorrect. It has been moved to NEXT weekend. So don’t be an hour late tomorrow; it’d be uncool.

ROG

ROG
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