WFMU makes life better.
Zoe: Don't think it's a good spot, sir. She still has the advantage over us. Mal: Everyone always does. That's what makes us special.
'Serenity'
Buffista Music III: The Search for Bach
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
Hayden - Jun 08, 2006 8:31:52 am PDT #3452 of 10003
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
DavidS - Jun 08, 2006 8:36:13 am PDT #3453 of 10003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
YouTube goodness for the day in the form of Bollywood Beatles: [link].
International mod grooviness at its best!
Tom Scola - Jun 08, 2006 10:03:41 am PDT #3454 of 10003
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Hayden - Jun 08, 2006 10:14:13 am PDT #3455 of 10003
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
Lionel Ritchie? Holy shit!
No, I kid. There's some great stuff on there.
Tom Scola - Jun 08, 2006 10:16:08 am PDT #3456 of 10003
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Lionel Ritchie? Holy shit!
I know! and Neil Diamond!
bon bon - Jun 08, 2006 10:29:19 am PDT #3457 of 10003
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
I am not yet convinced that NYC will have a summer this year.
DavidS - Jun 08, 2006 12:55:41 pm PDT #3458 of 10003
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
As threatened, I am now going to start posting Tom Waits covers up at the usual repository. This is a thinking-out-loud process for me. Listening to the covers has been a useful process for me. Once they're pulled away from Tom's distinctive voice and unique production the craft and art of his songwriting becomes more evident. I also know that Tom's voice and production (aka, beating on bedframes with tire irons) has been a barrier to entry for some music fans so I want to give a backdoor into these songs for the unconvinced.
For these postings, I won't be doing a traditional CD burn limited set that's sequenced, but rather will be posting songs paired by genre/approach.
Tom's wife and collaborator, Kathleen Brenann, once characterized his songwriting as "Grim Reapers and Grand Weepers." Fair enough. We'll start with two of his greatest Grand Weepers.
Tom Waits Covers
Grand Weepers
"Rainbow Sleeves" - Ricki Lee Jones. Ricki was (famously) Tom's girlfriend for several years in the late seventies (where she's featured on the album covers for Foreign Affairs, and the back of Blue Valentine where she's the slender blonde he's leaning up against a car). Her breakthrough hit, "Chuck E.'s In Love" is about Chuck Weiss - one of Tom's best friends. They all lived at the Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles for several wild and wooly years of drunken antics. Tom broke things off with Ricki and she did this EP not long after. The EP's title Girl at Her Volcano is a nod to Malcolm Lowry's epic novel of drunken dissipation. Tom's never released a version of this song (the lyrics are a little soft by his standards), but the melody and this performance are riveting. Gorgeous. Also available on the King of Comedy soundtrack.
"On the Nickel" - Carla Bozulich. Tom wrote this song at the request of Ralph Waite (Pa Walton) who did a movie about LA's skidrow drunks. Carla - who knows a thing or two about being downlow in Los Angeles - was in the bands Ethyl Meatplow and the alt-country band Geraldine Fibbers (featuring Nels Cline, who'll show up later in these proceedings). The title of the song refers to a particular flophouse hotel on 5th Street (I think). When you were down and out, just inches from being on the street you were "on the nickel." Note particularly how he plays with and turns the coin imagery over.
IAmNotReallyASpring - Jun 08, 2006 2:29:59 pm PDT #3459 of 10003
I think Freddy Quimby should walk out of here a free hotel
South Street Seaport, Pier 17 seems the place to be. Amy Rigby, Ted Leo + The Pharmacists and Alex Chilton.
Also, Puffy Amiyumi. I'm excited like I'm getting to go.
Sean K - Jun 08, 2006 5:44:34 pm PDT #3460 of 10003
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
I know! and Neil Diamond!
I like Neil Diamond
Hayden - Jun 08, 2006 7:42:19 pm PDT #3461 of 10003
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
(I kinda do, too, but he's a fun one to pick on, anyway.)