listen.

Wed 7:03 pm December 31, 1969

that would be the date my ibook claims it is. 
a minute after i turned her on a sign popped up telling me my date and time MIGHT not be correct
a new window then popped up asking me if i would like to restore to my previous "firefox session"

which i guess was way back in 1969, the glory days of fire fox as it were.

also, doesn't "firefox session" sounds dirty?

regardless:
RHAPSODY IN BLUE!
and new york city...

now - it took my love for the song to investigate what, in musical terms, is a rhapsody.

and folks: a rhapsody is:
A one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations.
(thanks wikipedia!)

now -- gershwin wrote rhapsody in blue in the hopes of capturing all the different sounds one encountered as they moved about the neighborhoods of this city.  he was this guy from tin pan alley living uptown composing scores and songs rapidly.  and they were about this city.  it's amazing.  have you seen the fanatasia 2000 that uses this piece and partner it with animation inspired by al hershfield?  it's worth a viewing.


so here is rhapsody in blue....
george gershwin -- rhapsody in blue
(leonard bernstein and the the LA philharmonic)

and (further down) a little walt whitman - who also captures the voice of this city.

and a few more songs that also contains moments of life here (for me).
some specifically reference the city and others fit (in my mind).

So, listen to these songs, read the poems. do both, or: one or the other OR niether (the less good option)

life is on the sidewalk.

ani difranco - both hands (with a symphony orchestra)

now, some of you may have rolled your eyes when you read "ani difranco."

but, listen: it's epic, and i know we have all painted the walls of an apt white, especially an apt where we shed some blood, sweat and tears.

magnetic fields - i'm the luckiest guy on the lower east side.

can't you just picture the movie musical scene this song would inspire?

(i would post chelsea morning -- but i've posted two versions already ((better slow my role)))

Nick Drake - Poor Boy

i love this song!  i like how the voice and the piano react to one another. then the saxophone? you gotta love lisa simpson. and those back up singers...

jethro tull - skating away on the thin ice of a new day.
listen to the man who stands on one leg to play the flute with his rock band:
So as you push off from the shore,
Wont you turn your head once more --- and make your peace with everyone?
For those who choose to stay,
Will live just one more day ---
To do the things they should have done.

that almost sounds like a quote on a lame journal in barnes and noble.

but jethro tull makes it work

the clientele - here comes the phantom
ben introduced me to the clientele. so we're coming full circle on this one!
but...sigh. this song?

this is such a good song to listen to as you ride around on your bicycle.... on some saturday when you don't have to be anywhere.

my heart is playing like a violin...

panda bear - take pills
it's like the beach boys smashed into a thick glass wall of animal collective. but it's just panda bear.

and make sure you wait for the shift  that happens around 2:28 -- STELLAR!

also: CYCLISTS!

they are going to build a copenhagen-style bike lane on ninth ave!

also -- on friday sept 21 - there was ticketing blitz to riders getting on and off the williamsburg bridge on the manhattan side. so watch out. the cops big thing was "obstructing traffic"  - personally i think at that specific HORRIBLE patch of nyc street most cyclists are just trying to stay alive and cross the street in the :7 second walk light they get -- not sure if they obstruct traffic.  it's just so dangerous and poorly designed and there is no choice but to brave it -- so to get ticketed is maddening.

in terms of bridges...

simon & garfunkel - the 59th st. bridge song.

our music teacher in preschool, music mary, would make us sing this song. i always think of that.

(poems 19 and (part of) 20 of song of myself)

     19

  This is the meal equally set, this the meat for natural hunger,
  It is for the wicked just same as the righteous, I make appointments
     with all,
  I will not have a single person slighted or left away,
  The kept-woman, sponger, thief, are hereby invited,
  The heavy-lipp'd slave is invited, the venerealee is invited;
  There shall be no difference between them and the rest.

  This is the press of a bashful hand, this the float and odor of
     hair,
  This the touch of my lips to yours, this the murmur of yearning,
  This the far-off depth and height reflecting my own face,
  This the thoughtful merge of myself, and the outlet again.

  Do you guess I have some intricate purpose?
  Well I have, for the Fourth-month showers have, and the mica on the
     side of a rock has.

  Do you take it I would astonish?
  Does the daylight astonish? does the early redstart twittering
     through the woods?
  Do I astonish more than they?

  This hour I tell things in confidence,
  I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you.

     20
  Who goes there? hankering, gross, mystical, nude;

-----

  I know I am solid and sound,
  To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
  All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.

  I know I am deathless,
  I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
  I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt
     stick at night.

  I know I am august,
  I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,
  I see that the elementary laws never apologize,
  (I reckon I behave no prouder than the level I plant my house by,
     after all.)

  I exist as I am, that is enough,
  If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
  And if each and all be aware I sit content.

  One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is myself,
  And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand or ten
     million years,
  I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.

  My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite,
  I laugh at what you call dissolution,
  And I know the amplitude of time.

 

love is (not so) simple

somehow i missed the precise moment that this album came out, so i'm a little over a week behind here, but the new Akron/Family outing, Love is Simple, has spent the last few days blowing me away.  It also has one of the more beautiful album covers I've seen in a while:

it kind of sums up the whole album, that delicate, vulnerable, complex beating heart, just floating there in a void of white.

anyway. it's all about love. love. love. and it's wonderful and heartbreaking and optimistic and full of surprises and deceptively complex.

the album is bookended by two versions of its anthem, "Love Love Love (everyone)", entreating its listener to go out and do just that. please do. listen, and then do.  Love everyone!  Here's the opener:

Akron/Family - Love, Love, Love (everyone)

my other favorite track features the album title in singalong:
...
don't be afraid, it's only love
love is simple
don't be afraid, you're already dead
love is simple
...

Akron/Family - Don't Be Afraid, You're Already Dead

i first listened to this song on the subway on my ipod and had the inspiration that if i were ever to make a music video of this song, it would start on the subway, morning commute, people annoyed and tired and crowded, during the don't be afraid part. and then when "love is simple" comes in, people would slowly start singing, until the whole subway car was repeating "love is simple" with smiling joyful faces. and then during "don't be afraid, you're already dead", the train would pull into union square, everyone would get off the train and run up the stairs, and for the final "love is simple" repetition, everyone would emerge into union square, the sun would be shining, and EVERYONE would be smiling, and singing "love is simple" and holding each other, and loving each other. the entire video would all be one shot, and at the end the camera would rise above them all high into the sky, and look down on a union square full of singing, smiling, loving people.

can someone please give me $3 million to make that?  please?

here's my favorite song from their 2005 debut.
Akron/Family - I'll Be On The Water

They're playing this Sunday at Bowery Ballroom (click if you want to see them all in their swim trunks).

Buy the new album here please.

love, love, love everyone,

xoben

rock the vote: BLACKBIRD!

all righty folks.

are you ready for decision '07?!

there's been so much talk, so much debating and oh-so-much mudslinging all of which, personally, i hope continues because when all is said is done: we can rest - knowing that we have done our job as citizens.

i am, of course, talking about our challenge to you, our readers to vote for the best cover of BYE BYE BLACKBIRD.

i know what you're thinking: "WHAT?!? there are so many version of blackbird out there -- each one with sung by talented performers in their own unique way - HOW ON EARTH CAN I PICK ONE?!?!"

well, to that i say: too bad. we have to chose. and believe me -- that isn't easy for me. (i am a pisces with gemini rising.)

some background on this song:
Blackbird was published in 1926. it was written by Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon. It was first recorded by Gene Austin in the '20's.  it became quite a popular standard and was recorded by many many performers (versions that are sadly missing from this challenge include Judy Garland and Nina Simone (if you have those -- drop me a line!)

personally i love this song because i find a deep melancholia hidden beneath the jazz and syncopation.  those times when you've gone off in the world to do something and you realize in the process that you've lost yourself -- so you pack your bags and head home in the hopes that you can find yourself again.

LIFE! JAZZ! SOUL!

VOTING!

so we have TEN versions competing for the coveted title of BEST VERSION OF BYE BYE BLACKBIRD.
you have until friday to listen and vote. so...... listen and vote!

(i am also including 3 versions that aren't competing and that is NOT because the online poll widget we(ben) found only has ten slots....so GET OFF OUR BACKS!)

Dame Shirley Bassey - Bye Bye Blackbird

i was going to embed this AMAZING you tube clip of dame shirley singing it on her variety show....
but you can't embed that clip....which is annoying...so CLICK HERE!!!!

Rickie Lee Jones - Bye Bye Blackbird

Joe Cocker - Bye Bye Blackbird

Rosemary Clooney - Bye Bye Blackbird

The McGuire Sisters - Bye Bye Blackbird

Sarah Vaughn - Bye Bye Blackbird

Carmen McRae - Bye Bye Blackbird

Julie London - Bye Bye Blackbird

Mel Tormé - Bye Bye Blackbird

Liza Minnelli - Bye Bye Blackbird (from Liza with a "Z")

BONUS!

here are some bonus tracks and a REALLY funny/intense video from Brenda Lee
(i like the LONG monologue and THEN the brief scene where she walks by the tables with all the actors...why did they do that?? funny. it also has SUCH a dramatic end!)

Josephine Baker - Bye Bye Blackbird

Tallulah Bankhead - Bye Bye Blackbird

Miles Davis - Bye Bye Blackbird

OKAY!!!

so:
1. listen.
2. vote.
3. let your voice be heard!  Does Julie London understand the song better than Sarah vaughn?
4. Missing your favorite version? SEND IT MY WAY!

what does the winner get? the knowledge that this small circle of people voted them the best. and that means A LOT.

 

i can't wait to tally!
enjoy
geo

The Battle of Bettye LaVette! A Bettrospective.

So last night Amanda and I went and saw (for the second time in two years) Ms. Bettye Lavette at the Highline Ballroom (the first time was at Knitting Factory).

Overpriced drinks ($7 for a Bud, $20 minimum on credit cards), an entirely seated audience area with compulsory purchases (and an old and unattractive audience), and even shoddy soundmixing couldn't -- and didn't -- stand between us and Bettye's so-intense-it-hurts-so-good soulful wail. Not to mention her skintight black outfit or her nail-thin stiletto heels, on which she strutted around the stage with the impressive self-assurance of a 61-year old diva who has been around the block at least a few times over the course of her 45-year career. Which is exactly what she is.

now, i can't really go into all the details of bettye's career here, but she basically got screwed over by her record label a long long time ago, and was sort of off in the sidelines because of it for the next few decades while ladies like Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner (bless their hearts) got lots of attention.  Then a couple of years ago she came out with a brilliant album, "i've got my own hell to raise," with genius covers of female songwriters, and people started paying attention to her again. then this year she just came out with another new album, "the scene of the crime".

anyway, she's a really amazing performer. a commanding presence, a voice that rattles your bones, and she's really a f***ing hot 61-year old. amanda leaned to me at one point and said "they just don't make performers like this anymore." so true, so sad.

in any case, i thought today we could have a little bettrospective, if you will. and i hope you will.

first some tracks from the new album:

Bettye LaVette - Before the Money Came (The Battle of Bettye Lavette)
this was probably the highlight of last night's performance. as far as i know, it's the only song she's ever written, and it basically sums up everything she's been through. amazing. my favorite part is when she says "i was singin' R&B back in '62, before you were born, and your mama too."  and then she references sleepovers with (awesome soul singer) david ruffin. bettye!

Bettye LaVette - Talking Old Soldiers
this one is an Elton John cover. heartbreaking and tragic. i don't think i've ever heard the original but something tells me bettye might teach elton a thing or two with this interpretation.

now, this next one is from the Janet Reno-curated (you heard me) 3-disc "Song of America" set that just came out, featuring Devendra Banhart, Andrew Bird,  Martha Wainwright, and lots of others. I can't even really conjure a comment about that right now, so I'll just share this Bettye cover of the Boss.

Bettye LaVette - Streets of Philadelphia

and a couple faves from I've Got My Own Hell To Raise:

Bettye LaVette - Down To Zero
compare to Joan Armatrading's original, which we posted last week!

Bettye LaVette - Sleep to Dream
her cover of one of my favorite Fiona Apple songs. she really makes it her own, right from the "take your ass over there."

and now some of her brilliant early stuff from the 60s and 70s!
Bettye LaVette - It Ain't Easy
a David Bowie cover.

Bettye LaVette - Heart of Gold
in my opinion, the definitive version of this Neil Young song.

Bettye LaVette - Games People Play
it is my life's mission to find every version ever recorded of this song, but Bettye's take on it is right up there with Petula's if you ask me.

and just for a treat, a super-early clip of Bettye performing sometime before '65, meaning she was younger than 20 (and sounded 61 even then!).  adorable. and i really like the song.

>>bennye

[ADDENDUM: I forgot to give credit where credit is due: "Bettrospective" © 2007, Amanda Duarte, LPW]

folk rock!

hey hey boys and girls!
yay for one month!
i got really excited because I THOUGHT the new iron and wine album was coming out today - and i was super jazzed to have the one-month-post be about new iron and wine music (something i have been waiting a very VERY long time for.)

alas, it doesn't come out until TOMORROW.

so -- after a thorough search of my music library  i decided to share songs from this random compilation i got a few years ago.
The Vanguard Folk Rock Album

Vaguard Records was a label started in 1950s that at first did a lot of jazz and blues but then made a shift towards Folk / Rock. 

anwyay - this compilation features a lot of the lesser known artists they represented (as opposed to Joan Baez or Country Joe and the Fish ((both of whom i like, a lot))

i like the feel of these songs -- they are all from around 1965 -- and really seem it (and i should know, i was -15 then).  some of the ones i am sharing i think you either love or hate - others you can take or leave....
but a few always make it onto mixes.

some interesting info: mimi fariña is sisters with joan baez - she was married to richard fariña and the two recorded some very influential albums -- richard died in a motorcycle accident and the song morgan the pirate is from mimi's first solo endeavor after richard's death.

it's a really bizarre song, i like it, mostly because it reminds me of something from an obscure brecht and weill show.  but it is SUPER trippy and....discordant?

enjoy!

oh! and here, also, is some walt whitman (from CALAMUS poems)

Circus Maximus -- Lost Sea Shanty

To a Stranger

Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking,
(it comes to me as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,
   chaste, matured,
You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,
I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours
   only nor left my body mine only,
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you
    take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or
    wake at night alone,
I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

Jonathan and Leigh -- Changes

Mimi and Richard Fariña - Reno, Nevada

We Two Boys Together Clinging             

We two boys together clinging,
One the other never leaving,
Up and down the roads going, North and South excursions making,
Power enjoying, elbows stretching, fingers clutching,
Arm'd and fearless, eating, drinking, sleeping, loving.
No law less than ourselves owning, sailing, soldiering, thieving,
    threatening,
Misers, menials, priests alarming, air breathing, water drinking, on
    the turf or the sea-beach dancing,
Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statutes mocking, feebleness chasing,
     Fulfilling our foray.

Mimi Fariña - Morgan The Pirate

The Serpent Power - Up & Down

 

A Glimpse

 

A glimpse through an interstice caught,
Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove
     late of a winter night, and I unremark'd seated in a corner,
Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently approaching and
     seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand,
A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking and
      oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little,
      perhaps not a word.

Steve Gillette - Back on the Street Again

it's so beautiful out today!
            

 

WE LASTED A MONTH! and: sleeping states won't stop breaking my heart.

some of them didn't believe. some of them scoffed. some of them said "we'll see how long this lasts." well, thirty-one days later, we're still here, and you're still listening! we hope. so thanks for sticking around.

some quick interesting stats, for you statisticians out there:
we've gotten just over 1000 non-unique visits (non-unique meaning a good third of that is probably due to me hitting refresh to make sure the formatting is right).
we've posted 21 times, which averages to exactly one post per business day.
we've shared 69 songs (many but not all of which were indeed love songs).
and we've even been the brunt of ONE strange, unprovoked insult before our friends rushed to our defense and the detractor retracted.

we also just tweaked some of the listening options, so please see the "so many ways to listen." instructions to your right.

hooray!!

now.  some of you know i'm sort of obsessed with Markland Starkie aka "sleeping states", and not just because he's adorable, gay and british. though that may or may not count for something. i mean, look at him with those balloons and that cable-knit cardigan sweater vest and that bowtie and tell me you don't want him to kiss you on the cheek.

but really, something about his quiet, vulnerable music just kind of destroys me. he sounds like what i imagine london to be, having never been there: gray, sort of rainy, strangely muted, and eternally inescapably melancholy. his croon is so honest and immediate, his lyrics always sad and lovely, all against a backdrop of these shimmery, rainy, subtly dissonant atmospheric guitars. it's a little too much for me to handle sometimes. and knowing he's singing these beautiful sad love songs about another *dude* really drives them home for me.

ANYWAY. he just came out with a new album, which i've basically been waiting on for months. and it's a totally heartbreaking album all the way through, right from track 1, "Rain Check", which just repeats the refrain:

.....

when i'm getting ready, in spite of the rain

you sometimes ring me up (/let me down) and say, another time.

.....

but it's a capella, and each time it repeats he layers another harmony on top, until he's singing with himself in 5-part harmony. it's gorgeous.

Sleeping States - Rain Check

and then there's this quiet one, which starts with: "watching your mouth in the evening, as the sun's going down." if i had a nickel for everytime someone told *me* that!  <sigh>  <sob>

Sleeping States - The Sleeping States, or Who Has Been Rocking My Dreamboat?

and just for fun, here's the lovely video for the album's single (i guess), "Rivers", which might be my favorite track from the album.

NOW. he's coming to NYC and playing at Mercury Lounge on Oct. 8.  geoffrey and i are going.  who's coming with?

one more older track of his just for good measure, since he's soon making a trip to NYC...

Sleeping States - A Trip to NYC

keep an eye out for another post soon all about multi-tracked vocals (the other mtv), which will feature yet another new sleeping states song.

xo >ben

song of myself

hey y'all

here is poem 3 and part of 5 from whitman's SONG OF MYSELF.

they're grand.  i'm sharing some music with.  some old stuff and some recent stuff -- some songs the poems brought to mind -- others i just wanted to hear today. 

ENJOY!

Andrew Bird - Scythian Empires

     3
  I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the
     beginning and the end,
  But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

  There was never any more inception than there is now,
  Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
  And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
  Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

  Urge and urge and urge,
  Always the procreant urge of the world.

  Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always substance and
     increase, always sex,
  Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of
     life.
  To elaborate is no avail, learn'd and unlearn'd feel that it is so.

  Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well
     entretied, braced in the beams,
  Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
  I and this mystery here we stand.

Belle and Sebastian - Women's Realm

  Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not
     my soul.

  Lack one lacks both, and the unseen is proved by the seen,
  Till that becomes unseen and receives proof in its turn.

  Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age,
  Knowing the perfect fitness and equanimity of things, while they
      discuss I am silent, and go bathe and admire myself.

  Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty
     and clean,
  Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be
     less familiar than the rest.

Joni Mitchell - Chelsea Morning

  I am satisfied - I see, dance, laugh, sing;
  As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the
     night, and withdraws at the peep of the day with stealthy
     tread,
  Leaving me baskets cover'd with white towels swelling the house with
     their plenty,
  Shall I postpone my acceptation and realization and scream at my
     eyes,
  That they turn from gazing after and down the road,
  And forthwith cipher and show me to a cent,
  Exactly the value of one and exactly the value of two, and which is
     ahead?

AND ASLO:

PP Arnold - The First Cut is the Deepest

     5
  I believe in you my soul, the other I am must not abase itself to
     you,
  And you must not be abased to the other.

  Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat,
  Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not
     even the best,
  Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.

  I mind how once we lay such a transparent summer morning,
  How you settled your head athwart my hips and gently turn'd over
     upon me,
  And parted the shirt from my bosom-bone, and plunged your tongue
     to my bare-stript heart,
  And reach'd till you felt my beard, and reach'd till you held my
     feet.

Ain't No Sunshine When He's Gone

enjoy your friday
geo

oh, joan!

i'm not sure how Joan Armatrading stayed off my radar for so long, because she's totally effing awesome.  I think you'll agree.

She's totally soulful, but kinda folky, and every now and then she rocks out. but i like her sultry ballads best.

Here are a few.

I love this one.  The first version I ever heard actually was Bettye Lavette's cover of it, which is also pretty great.

Joan Armatrading - Down to Zero

this one's all about some dude who keeps messing with her because he knows he's got her wrapped around his finger, even though she's seeing someone else now and doing her best to be with the new guy, but old dude keeps showing up and she can't help but still be into him. why does he keep showing up? she needs to just get some distance so she can move on, alright?  it makes me think of that candi staton song "how can i put out the flame (when you keep the fire burning)".  i'd post that song here now too except i don't have it on my work computer.

Joan Armatrading - The Weakness in Me

and finally. Joan, I'll let you be my shelter in a storm. My willow, when the sun is out. please?

Joan Armatrading - Willow

this got me thinking about other Joans from the female singer/songwriter tradition:

Ms. Baez, with her classic.

Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust

and Ms. As Police Woman, with this gorgeous nouveau torch song I still can't stop listening to.  I love that line about assessing "how a man desired feels the weight of a letter."  too bad people don't actually send letters anymore. but i do often wonder how a man desired feels the weight of an emotionally vulnerable epistle sent by gmail.

Joan As Police Woman - Real Life

xoxo
>ben

Brooklyn of ample hills was mine

hey you kings of maine and princes of new england!

sometimes the universe will clearly set your post up for you.
(you thought the universe had bigger things to work towards aligning than a post on a small music blog? you thought wrong...)

so i saw one million forgotten moments this past weekend, and it was truly wonderful.

in my opinion, an amazing and exciting celebration of this city full of millions of different ideas and voices all running into and around each other on the blocks and parks of this city while we try to not get hit by a bus or a taxi.  stopping only to sing or dance or for a little slight of hand.  or, as only could happen here, to pull a chicken wing out of your bra, rub it on your butt, then eat it, with eyeballs painted over your eyelids as a record plays and bubbles blow and your friend wiggles his penis whilst another pours salt on her breast. for real. it was kind of hilariously amazing.

anyway! on my seat as i entered the beautiful little theatre, was a walt whitman quote.  from time to time i get quite obsessed with reading walt whitman.  in many ways i find his poetry unparalleled (in terms of american poets, but how much american poetry have i read? i plead the fifth)
regardless here is the quote:

Flow on, river! flow with the flood-tide, and ebb with the ebb-tide!
Frolic on, crested and scallop-edged waves!
Gorgeous clouds of the sunset! drench with your splendor me, or the men and women generations after me!
Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers!
Stand up, tall masts of Mannahatta! stand up, beautiful hills of Brooklyn!

(it is from CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY. i suggest reading the whole thing.)

anyway - as i rode home along the east river - i kept thinking about that quote and this river and this city. and then i saw a man fishing and i thought, dear god, please tell me you don't eat something that lived in this river.  then i almost hit a chinese lady jogging backwards.

i digress.
so this fall at listen. we shall spend a lot of time sharing music and the poetry of WALT WHITMAN!

so get ready for it.
here's a video to prepare for it.

(it's kinda not safe for work. well, there are a few naked people shown briefly)
but it's funny - it makes me laugh, at any rate. and i like the walt whitman chorus.

it's by MY ROBOT FRIEND (5 points to anyone who can figure out who they are.)

SO what music to begin it with?!?!?!

well. i asked my friend mateo to send me some john denver tunes to post and talk about them and this is what he wrote:

Rocky Mountain High is a beautiful description of an epiphany that the narrator experiences in his 27th year.  Similar to the type of spiritual insights Walt Whitman described in "Leaves of Grass" (oh yes!), John Denver sings beautifully and simply about being born again, seeking grace in every step, and getting high with his friends around a campfire.

Here's a picture (of Denver).

Love,
Mateo

SEE! the universe! whitman! rocky mountain high! it's all so clear!

ENJOY!!!
as whitman wrote:
  I am satisfied - I see, dance, laugh, sing;

Leaving On A Jet Plane.mp3

Rocky Mountain High.mp3

Take Me Home Country Roads.mp3

g

those heady days of youth

remember when you hadn't yet given up on the power of a really good song to bring people together for massive social change?  when you felt the untapped potential of the younger generation just about to erupt into a revolution of love and equality?

yeah, i don't really either.

i think it's because OUR younger generation was too busy playing nintendo and going to the mall.

but in 1970, when both of these songs came out, the kids knew what was up:

I love this Jackson 5 song.  we're marching with signs! we're standing in line!

The Jackson Five - The Young Folks

and this one is from the voices of east harlem. its basically the most passionate, soulful recording i've ever heard.  i mean, listen to them! and get this -- all members of the group were between 12 and 21. I just found out that they've remastered this album ("Right On Be Free", most 70s album title ever), and are re-releasing it next month.  Who else is excited?? Expect an extensive listen. post dedicated to TVOEH on or around October 15.

The Voices of East Harlem - New York Lightning

ps. sorry i was MIA much of last week. but i'm back in the game!

>ben