Chieftains, south of the border

It's been a long time indeed since The Chieftains, the Beatles of Irish music, have released anything new.  Well, the wait is over this week.  They are back with a new album entitled San Patricio.  If those two words look familiar, yet not familiar, they should.  San Patricio is the story of a group of Irish immigrants who deserted the US Army during the Mexican-American war to fight for the Mexican cause.

Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains take this little-known chapter in history and make what sounds to me like great music from it.  They have many special guests on the album, including Ry Cooder, and the music has a decidedly Mexican flavor.  They've explored the sounds of the Latin world before with Santiago, and this album takes a different approach to that sound.  Listening to the previews, I hear a great deal of beauty.  I can tell this is an album I'll be wanting to buy sometime this year, perhaps very soon.

If you'd like to listen to the album in full, go to this NPR website.  Also, here is a Youtube video about the project:

Just say no to a Jeff Buckley musical

According to this article, there are plans for a Romeo and Juliet-style musical featuring the songs of Jeff Buckley. 

I have just one word for that: No!

Not quite a miracle, but still great

Tonight the US Mens' Olympic hockey team beat Team Canada on their own turf by a score of 5-3.  I'm very excited about that!  In international hockey competition, Canada is nearly always the main rival of the US.  Getting a win over the likes of Scott Niedermeyer and Jarome Iginla is just superb.  If this US team keeps playing well, a medal could be in store.  Perhaps even a gold medal.

The game itself was quite exciting to watch.  It was very physical, and both goalies had a lot of work to do with all the shots being taken.  It was as good as any Stanley Cup final game I've ever seen.  It really should have been on NBC, but as we've seen this year, NBC can't seem to make any good decisions about anything. 

The 1980 game against the Soviets was the Miracle On Ice, but I hesitate to call this one a miracle.  Both teams are full of great NHL players, the very best in the game.  Canada may have more superstars with brand-name quality, but the US team is younger and has just as much talent.  Not only that, but the expectations for the US team aren't as great as those of the Canadian team.  If the US team plays their game and doesn't mess up too much, they have just as much a chance at the gold as anyone.  Was this a miracle?  No, but it was a really great hockey game that Americans can be proud of.

How bizarre? Really bizarre!

Just yesterday, I mentioned the song "How Bizarre" by 90s group OMC.  Well, it has come to my attention that OMC's founder and lead singer Pauly Fuemana has died.  If you're reading this recently after I post, you should really go read that article because the group's history is really fascinating.  If you're reading after Yahoo pulls the story, go do some research online.

Here's the video for OMC's biggest hit:

Won't Get Fooled Again (at the Super Bowl)

I'm very excited about the announcement that The Who might be performing in this season's Super Bowl halftime.  The Who always put on a great show, even with only two original members.  I might have to actually watch the game this year if they do get to play it.  I'm betting they'll play "Baba O'Riley" or "Pinball Wizard."

Two important birthdays

First and foremost, today is the birthday of my very good friend Jessica.  It's not polite to tell a lady's age, but she'll always be three years younger than me.  I don't think she reads my blog, but if she does - happy birthday, Jess!

Second, according to This Day In Music, the Jimi Hendrix Experience's classic album Electric Ladyland was released today in 1968.  It's such a great album!  What does it mean to me?  Well, I think it's Hendrix's finest.  The double-album length gave Jimi the space he needed to really expand his ideas and lay down the music in his head.  The creative spirit of such songs as "Rainy Day Dream Away" and its sister track "Still Raining, Still Dreaming", "1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)" and "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" and "House Burning Down" make Electric Ladyland a delight to experience.

If you want to read the live blog of my first time listening to Electric Ladyland, click here.

Briefs thoughts on Google Wave

People are getting excited about Wave, Google's new all-in-one communication tool.  I'm not going for an invite, because I really have little use for it right now.  I do think it's an interesting product, though.

I'm not sure if Google Wave itself will be as widely used as Google wants it to be.  Not everyone has a Google account, and people won't use it if people they know don't use it too.  I do, however, think that Google Wave will succeed as a model for communication software.  It's open-source, so I can see the Wave format replacing the typical email inbox.  Of course, Waves will have to work between different systems (web, desktop, etc.) but I'm sure that can be accomplished.  In any case, I would expect Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail to become more like Google Wave sometime in the next few years. 

Ashamed

I never thought I'd say this, but today I am ashamed to be a Duck.

After last night's University of Oregon-Boise State football game, a loss for the UO Ducks, UO running back LeGarrette Blount punched a Boise State player after the player touched him and made a comment. Blount then tried to go after some fans who were taunting him and had to be led out by coaches and security. The shameful video can be found here, if you can't already find it on Youtube by search for LeGarrette Blount.

Today is has been announced that Blount will be suspended for the rest of the season. As of right now, he will still be allowed to practice and travel with the team, remain on scholarship, and access services. I, for one, don't think that goes far enough. I think he should be completely kicked off the team. I don't think it sends a good message to keep him around the team. He should be shunned for his outrageous behavior.

Yes, Blount should be punished, but he also needs to be helped. Simply keeping him from playing football is not going to help him become a better person. I think he should be given some sort of counseling and anger management at the very least. This is clearly a young man - still a kid, really - who needs some help growing up. He lost it last night, and he's going to lose it again someday if someone doesn't help him learn to control himself and think before he acts.

Read More . . .

Fjalar

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I'm a fan of the Scandinavian folk group Groupa. About a year or so ago, I wondered about what they were up to lately, and found out they had a relatively new album out called Fjalar that I had not heard of. It is available on Amazon from one seller for almost $30, not including shipping. The other option is to purchase the MP3 version of the album, but I'm not that brave yet. I like to have a physical copy of my music without the need to burn it on a disc or worry about it getting accidentally deleted. I've been secretly hoping to see Fjalar for a cheaper price, but never did. This week, I did find it cheaper at CD Roots. I saved a bundle of money buying it from that guy!

Amazingly, the CD arrived this afternoon. I've listened to it exactly once, and here are my first impressions:

First, this album sounds very different from the Groupa I used to know from the 15 years collection. The horns are gone, and the emphasis on dance tunes is gone too. This is an album with a lot of space in between the fiddle playing, flutes and percussion. There is also a lot of piano used. A couple tracks feature only piano. That was unexpected! Groupa's sound is now much quieter, a little more intense and is almost avant-garde rather than based on the usual folk music.

This album works well as a whole. The pieces all fit together. There may not be any completely outstanding tracks, but each one adds to the overall sound of the album. I see this as an album that should be listened to from beginning to end. An album, ya know? There are fewer melodies here than what I'm used to from Groupa, but I still really like it! It's been too long, far too long, since I've bought a Scandinavian album, and this was a good one to buy. I'm now inspired to pick up some of their other work before it's gone for good.

If I have any other thoughts once I listen to the album more, I will write them here for you!

It's over

Never pass up an opportunity to turn a Roy Orbison song into a blog post title.

After a few good years, I've decided to stop updating the meme blog I've been running, Blogdrive Insanity. You may have seen those memes played here - the Monday Music Mambo and the Wednesday Mind Hump. I inherited the site from it's wonderful founder, Friday, in 2005. She is a resident of New Orleans and had to evacuate her home after Hurricane Katrina. Life left her no time to update a meme blog, so she decided to close it. I offered to take it over for her, and thus found myself writing questions for two memes a week.

It was hard to come up with good questions sometimes, and I even tried to change the Mind Hump to a writing-themed meme. We had a good group of regular players for a while. Sometimes I would forget to update, or I'd simply take a break. Over time, fewer and fewer people played. In the past few months, only a few folks have participated (or at least left a comment saying they did). I've thought about closing the site for a while now, and I've finally decided to do so. I'm tired of talking to myself. I wonder if my too-frequent breaks and lame questions had anything to do with it. Whatever the case, I'm leaving it behind, at least for now.

Oh, and a message to the webmistress of the Music Memoirs: Don't get any ideas about following in my footsteps. If it wasn't for the Music Memoirs, my blog would probably die off from too little use!

Back!

My computer has returned, all fresh and new (the OS and software, at least). Posting shall now continue on the usual schedule.

Technical difficulties

Hi everyone.

My computer is AWOL for now, so I'll be updating on my mom's computer. Posting frequency/meme participation subject to change until I get my machine working again.

Dig Me Out

I just love it when I find CDs at a discount. I had marked Sleater-Kinney's Dig Me Out on my 'to-buy' list for a while, and I found it yesterday for only $2.50. It wasn't scratched up - it looked like it had barely been played. At that price, of course I bought it!

It definitely has some great stuff on it. It's not the best album I've ever heard, but it will be good for those moments when I just want to rock. It has "Little Babies," which is the first S-K song I ever heard.

Big drum, big sound

My latest CD purchase arrived yesterday, and I've been listening to it today. What did I buy? Big Drum, Small World, the debut from Dhol Foundation. The dhol is a very large, powerful drum from the Punjab region of India. The Dhol Foundation began as a school in the U.K. where students learn to play the drum. Now, in addition to the school, there is a Dhol Foundation band led by Dhol Foundation headmaster and founder Johnny Kalsi, who is the dhol drummer for the Afro Celt Sound System.

You might think that an album of songs with a large group of people playing loud drums would be overwhelming, but you'd be wrong. That's because this isn't that kind of album. There are a few tracks where the dhol is featured prominently, but most of the tracks use it with restraint. Big Drum, Small World is more of a Johnny Kalsi solo album. Johnny plays dhol on every track and contributes to songwriting, programming and keyboard playing.

The sound is much like Afro Celt Sound System - rooted in electronic sounds and beats, sprinkled with live instruments and drumming. Fans of the ACSS will enjoy this album very much. Of course, a big difference is that the flavors here are mostly Indian and Middle-Eastern. Whistle makes an appearance on a few tracks, but this isn't really very Celtic.

My only complaint is that the tracks aren't as focused as the latter-day Afro Celt Sound System songs. ACSS started with tracks that meandered and grooved, much like the songs here, but today their work has shape and design. ACSS songs can be enjoyed as songs, but most of the songs on Big Drum, Small World are made for the club.

I wanted something fun and upbeat for summer, and this album is certainly fun and upbeat. I know I'll enjoy it for years to come.

Making the veiller

Tonight I received the latest update for BeauSoleil in my email inbox. It brought the news of a new BeauSoleil release:

Make The Veiller (Amazon link)

This is another BeauSoleil live album, but it's much more - it includes a DVD too! The track listings overlap a bit, but there are many songs on the DVD that you won't find on the CD. Quite a few of these songs have never been released in live versions, so that excites me. There are also some fan favorites such as "Zydeco Gris-Gris."

After reading about the album/DVD online, it seems to me that it's a recording of a small, intimate show BeauSoleil performed a few years back. I had no idea they were going to have another album out this year! Alligator Purse was released back in January.

I'll probably pick this up sometime this year. It's on Amazon, of course, but I may be able to find it in town. I still don't have their Live at the New Orleans Jazz Fest album that won a Grammy. That is not available on Amazon. Live is what BeauSoleil does best, so I'm happy that they continue to release live albums.

R.I.P. King of Pop

In music, there are a few, very few personalities who become bigger than the music. They become so popular that they are recognized all over the world and worshiped decades after their death. They become icons.

Elvis. The Beatles. Frank Sinatra.

Michael Jackson.

Michael died today at 50 years of age. Time will judge his entire career, such as it was, but he was insanely successful as the lead singer of the Jackson Five and even more insanely successful as the face and voice of MTV in the 1980s. Michael Jackson was 80s music. He was the first to discover the true potential of music videos and creating an image. It's that image that most will remember him by - the glove, the moonwalk, the dancing. He will also be remembered for the incredible music he made, at least through his first three solo albums. He stumbled a bit after that, and although he continued to release music, none of it became as popular as the music on Thriller.

Unfortunately, he will also be remembered for being truly one of the strangest, most bizarre, most controversial figures in music history. In the 1980s, he was a musician. In the following decades, he became a celebrity. In the last twenty years, he was known more for his trials, accusations, publicity stunts and just plain weird behavior than for his music. He tried and tried again to stage a 'comeback,' but it never really happened. It probably never would. Michael simply became too famous to be taken seriously as a musician no matter what quality his output.

I was never really a fan. I like some of his music as a kid, but mostly he intrigued me and disgusted me. Eventually, I got tired of him. I was tired of hearing about the latest lawsuit or the latest promise for a benefit single that never got released. I suppose it's part of my disdain for the whole celebrity culture in general. There are few celebrities more notorious than Michael Jackson. Even the name seems less a name than a brand.

I was completely surprised to hear about his death. I think that's because no one knew what would happen to him. Would he stage another comeback? Fade away? Live thirty more years? Or would he die at 50? Well, he died at 50. Now we know. No matter what he did, made, sang, he will always be a legend. People will always tell stories about him and read about his life and career.

I feel sorry for him. The poor guy did not have a normal life, not one bit. I hope he at least enjoyed his successes, and I hope he finds peace now that he's gone from the world of the living.

I'm A Reader

Every time Bloglines or Bloglines Beta would have problems, I promised myself I'd stick with it. I simply liked their features more than what Google Reader had to offer.

Well, now that I can't even access Bloglines Beta, I think I'm switching to Google Reader as my main RSS feed reading service. It may not have some of the bells and whistles of Bloglines Beta, but it simply works (with the exception of the inability to mark things as unread after you've marked all as read).

Who's to say that Google Reader won't eventually add features similar to Bloglines Beta? One thing I like is the simpler method of saving things. In BB, you can 'pin' or you can 'save.' There's not much difference between the two, except that saved items are hidden out of sight. GR has a 'star' system, which is easier and has its own shortcut. You can see all your starred items in one place, too. The other method of saving things is adding tags. The tags appear underneath your subscriptions, not hidden out of sight.

Also, Google Reader actually reads my feeds! Some feeds stopped working in BB, even if I re-subscribed.

Now I just need to wait for Bloglines Beta to come back online so I can grab all of my pinned and saved items. I want my data, man!

A Second Shot at Stanley

Congratulations are in order to my Detroit Redwings for making it into the Stanley Cup finals a second year in a row! Once again, we're playing the Penguins. The NHL should be happy about that!

Don't tell anyone, butI would actually be fairly happy if the Penguins won this year. They deserve it, for getting this far again and having to put up with the Redwings once again. On the other hand, Marian Hossa deserves a cup too, so - Go Wings!

More Costello

I decided it was time to buy another Elvis Costello CD, so I ordered Trust last week. It arrived today!

I was planning to get the Rhino version, but I just can't afford it right now. $20 is a bit more than I want to spend, and I'm looking to buy the new Jeff Buckley package, which will also be very expensive. Instead of the Rhino edition, I bought the Rykodisc version. That has some of the bonus disc songs and decent liner notes. I found it cheap - it only cost me $5 with shipping included.

I may write a short review at some point, but right now I'll just say that I really like it. It's a fun album, with a sophistication that doesn't sacrifice the energy. Elvis was in fine voice here, and Bruce Thomas has some awesome bass playing on most of the songs. It's a classic!

What'd he say

And now, my final birthday CD revealed . . .

The Very Best of Ray Charles by Ray Charles!

I've been trying to find the 'perfect' Ray Charles compilation, but the most perfect costs a ton of money. So I bought this instead, to give me a good start with Brother Ray. It's packed with hit after hit, 16 in all, with a good selection of Ray's more popular tracks. There will be significant overlap when or if I buy another collection, but that's OK.

Once again, I've selected some amazing albums for my birthday. I know I'll enjoy them for years to come.