MOG - extraordinarypoems's Posts

Ethan and the Ewox, Broken Glass

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:23:48 GMT

Interview with Ewox guitarist Rob Bruce coming soon.

Ethan and the Ewox do Billy Jean

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:50:15 GMT

Well, damn it. YouTube has removed this video from its collection, apparently, but you can still get to it by going to my MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/curlygirltam

Look at the blog that says "Ethan and the Ewox, Billy Jean"

I love this fresh interpretation of the old Michael Jackson tune. My daughter and I bought the Jackson 25th anniversary CD the other day because she loves those tunes. We drove around Atlanta enjoying some music together, and it was magical. I hope you like my friends' version. I am about to do an interview with band member Rob Bruce, and I'll be posting it soon.

I saw Ethan and the Ewox play a few weekends ago at Tony's in Roswell, GA. If you're in that area, they play regularly. Check them out. The food there isn't half bad either.

More Ewox

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:49:06 GMT

I will be writing more in the way of bios, etc. as I go along. I have a lot to post. You can visit Ethan and the Ewox at MySpace also.

My Friends, Ethan and the Ewox

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:34:13 GMT

I am finally getting around to writing about a fabulous band that is homegrown and delicious. The central characters are Rob Bruce, Ethan Baker, and Gary Chumney --- and there are some new guys that I don't know well, but you absolutely have to give this band a listen. Gary Chumney on the drums is ... so incredibly sexy. But besides that, he'll drum you into a frenzy.

So I'm going to post a bunch of stuff that someone graciously filmed and posted to YouTube. I'm bringing it to you Moggers so you don't feel left out when these guys make it big. Superbig. All my love to Rob and Ethan and Gary.

Pearls in the Moon

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:44:23 GMT

I just love this song. Neil Young, Pearl Jam, Cassandra Wilson --- all of them do it beautifully.

Hugh Masekela and Paul Simon

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 02 May 2008 13:34:49 GMT

The following material is quoted from the Daily OM Music review. You can read the whole article at dailyom.com.

May 2, 2008 Hugh Masekela Presents the Chisa Years 1965-1975 Hugh Masekela 2005

"Having scored with his 1968 instrumental, "Grazing in the Grass," and his blazing number at the Monterey Pop festival, Hugh Masekela was an in-demand producer who too often found himself turning out watered-down versions of the steamy Afro-fusion he longed to create. Chisa Records was Masekela's own small label, his chance to break out on his own, to create and market the spirited African-pop sound that would one day fall into the catch-all category of World Beat music. Hugh Masekela Presents the Chisa Years, then, is a collection of unreleased tracks and B-sides from the label's heyday, and the stuff on display here ranges from rock-steady proto-acid jazz to buoyant African-pop, the wellspring from which would one day come Paul Simon's Graceland, and so many others."

First Clip from Our Dub Poetry Workshop

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:42:27 GMT

I am so pleased to be able to share this clip from our Dub Poetry/Music Event that took place at our college in January. Our special guest was Jamaican jazz guitarist Maurice Gordon, but this clip features a young man from Guyana (I think), now studying at Claflin University), who did a spontaneous song for us called "I Need Your Love Every Time, Jesus." He was one of the band members who just showed up from various local colleges and the community to form a last-minute band on the stage with Maurice. It was just too cool. The video is shaky because we did it ourselves, and we are just learning, but we are pleased to be able to reach students where they live --- on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and MOG! We will be posting students performing their dub poems over the coming weeks; this is our first effort.

More on the Dental Experience, for Steve Simon

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:38:31 GMT

I found this wonderful poem by Ogden Nash and just had to share it:

"This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit"

One thing I like less than most things is sitting in a dentist chair with my mouth wide open, And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against hope hopen. Because some tortures are physical and some are mental, But the one that is both is dental.

There is more to the poem if you want me to post it, Steve.

Where Was I

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:49:38 GMT

We are having a poetry workshop with students on Thursday, and our theme is "Where I Was When ..."

Students are supposed to write about where they were when some major national, world, regional, or personal event happened (one that affected them deeply in some way.)

Anyway, I found this song while looking for some material related to this idea. You might like it.

Van Gogh's Bed

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:47:20 GMT

I am teaching a poem by Jane Flanders called "Van Gogh's Bed," based on the painting "Vincent's Bed in Arles," and I couldn't resist looking up the wonderful song by Don McLean about Van Gogh and "Starry Night," which I have seen in person in New York City. It is amazing to see the famous painting in person; the colors are so incredibly bold, it is as if they are alive.

Oh, and here is the poem:

Van Gogh's Bed

is orange, like Cindarella's coach, like the sun when he looked at it straight in the eye.

is narrow, he slept alone, tossing between two pillows, while it carried him bumpily to the ball.

is clumsy, but friendly. A peasant built the frame; an old wife beat the mattress till it rose like meringue.

is empty, morning light pours in like wine, melody, fragrance, the memory of happiness.

Me Posing as Indiepixie

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:17:11 GMT

This is just to make Indie laugh because I adore her and think she is beautiful and has great taste in music!

And since I'm a poser, here is a quiz to determine whether you are a player or a poser:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/suncommentary/la-hiphopquiz-qz,1,3055533.triviaquiz

Well, it looks like the stinky linky isn't working, so you might have to copy the whole thingy in your browser or search for the damn thing. I will copy and paste the questions below, but you'll have to get to the website to submit your answers (if you really need to).

Are you a player or a poser? Test your hip-hop savvy.

1. Which of the following words is not in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary? A. bling-bling B. ghetto fabulous C. floss (to show off) D. phat

2. Which major city claims to have the first "hip-hop mayor"? A. St. Louis B. Detroit C. Atlanta D. Palm Springs

3. In 2001, Suge Knight renamed his record label, known as Death Row Records. What is the company's new name? A. Death Records B. Life in Prison Records C. Tha Row Records D. Really, I'm Innocent Records

4. Which of the following rappers have not publicly admitted to selling drugs? A. Snoop Dogg B. Jay-Z C. 50 Cent D. Kanye West

5. Which group sparked controversy with its song railing against the police, which featured the lyrics "Without a gun and a badge, what do you got? / A sucker in a uniform waiting to get shot." A. NWA B. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony C. Public Enemy D. The Partridge Family

6. When asked by Ebony magazine in its November issue whether she listened to hip-hop music, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice replied: A. "What's that?" B. "I ain't down wit' dat." C. "Only if it's Dirty South rap." D. "Well, I'm kind of old for hip-hop."

7. Which of the following artists has not released a posthumous album? A. The Notorious B.I.G. B. Aaliyah C. Tupac Shakur D. Big Punisher

8. Pick the answer that incorrectly matches the hip-hop artist to his fashion line. A. P. Diddy -- Sean John B. Jay-Z -- Roca Wear C. Andre 3000 -- Ice Cold D. Nelly -- Apple Bottoms

9. Which of the following songs does not concern the current conflict in Iraq? A. "Mosh" by Eminem B. "In a World Gone Mad" by The Beastie Boys C. "Bombs Over Baghdad" by OutKast D. "Live From Iraq" by 4th25

I Wanna Buy Five Copies for My Mother

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:11:14 GMT

Two Versions:

My New Favorite Valentine's Song!!!!

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:03:32 GMT

Oh, my gosh! I love this song! And I don't know how to get it to you other than send you the link to my blog, where you will also find my latest Extraordinary Poem. :>)

apocalipsnow.blogspot.com

Please go there and listen to the song --- please, really! I didn't even know about Matt Keating before today. Oh, wait --- MOG added the song automatically. Cool!

I'm sending the song out to all my Mogger friends and to all the current and future poets and musicians with their candy hearts on fire!

Love you all --- I'm so happy, and I wish happiness for every one of you.

The Celtic Lounge

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:28:33 GMT

Here is part of the Daily OM Music Review of "The Celtic Lounge: Various Artists"

You can read the whole review at dailyom.com

"In the tradition of the Buddha Bar and chill-out discs comes the moody northern flow of The Celtic Lounge II, a collection of lilting, heartrending ballads from the likes of Tina Malia, Gary Stadler, Stephanie Stadler, and Sharon Knight. These artists are frequent openers on chill-out discs, but it's quite a different experience to have them all assembled together, like a calling of the very mellowest of Celtic tribes for a postfeast dance and loll amidst the rolling moss and mist. If you are new to the world of Celtic chill-out, then this is a great place to start. It's the ideal disc for unwinding at home after an evening out, driving through the rolling hills in a warm spring wind, or having late night drinks in a misty garden under a full moon."

Catch Tina Malia on her own at MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/tinamalia

Whoa! Serious Needle Play

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:47:26 GMT

This video may be inappropriate for ... well, a wide variety of people. If you're a freak like me, go for it!

And yes, the music is by the same fellow I just posted about (the fairy music).

Musical Fairy in the Woods

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:44:24 GMT

If you're not into fairies and the like, don't go here:

Here is a passage from the Daily OM Music review of Gary Stadler's album "Fairy in the Woods" --- you can read the rest at dailom.com.

"As if conjured up from some dark but fragrant corner of the universal mind comes the music of Gary Stadler. An electronics engineer who started the album originally as a present for his girlfriend, Stadler was just playing around in his spare time. Friends with a small label heard it and urged him to keep going and make something for the label, which he did for three years. The result is Fairy in the Woods, an album with so much heart and simplicity that you will want to drop your worldly concerns and possessions and just dive into the beauty, perhaps never to return."

Musical Fairy in the Woods

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:44:19 GMT

If you're not into fairies and the like, don't go here:

Here is a passage from the Daily OM Music review of Gary Stadler's album "Fairy in the Woods" --- you can read the rest at dailom.com.

Mia Doi Todd

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:35:41 GMT

Check out more of this voice at

http://www.myspace.com/miadoitodd

Her is a part of the Daily OM Review of the album "The Golden State."

"Singer-songwriter Mia Doi Todd carved a name for herself as an indie recording artist specializing in minimal arrangements of her haunting, folksy original songs. The Golden State is her major label debut and finds the artist reworking some of the more popular songs from past albums with more instruments and more complex production. Mitch Froom, an oddball who's played with bands like the Latin Playboys and produced tracks for Sheryl Crow, the Ditty Bops, and Randy Newman, among others, acts as her right-hand man here."

If you want to read the whole review, go to dailyom.com.

Yes, It's a Man

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:26:58 GMT

I smile as I write that subject heading, remembering my friend who is a musician and a rather boyish-looking female. She will often say from stage, "Yeah --- it's a girl."

The New York Times has said of Jimmy Scott:

"The jazz singer with the high, ethereal voice has had a rough-hewed career. Now, with fans like Lou Reed and Madonna, he may finally have the kind of success that has eluded him for more than 50 years."

The following passage is from the Daily OM --- you can see all of the review of the album at www.dailyom.com.

"The voice that pours out of All the Way can turn a simple lyric into a profound emotional expression just by pressing a little harder on a note or offering a slight waver of pitch. It’s a dusky alto voice that shares its raw emotionalism with the great female jazz singers of our time. Yet that voice belongs to a man, jazz vocalist “Little” Jimmy Scott. Born with a rare genetic condition that kept him from going through puberty, Scott stopped growing before he was five feet tall and his voice never dropped beyond a boy soprano register. There is no mistaking the passion and depth of experience that flows from Scott on All the Way, an album of nocturnal jazz ballads recorded when Scott was in his mid-sixties. Accompanied by some of the finest musicians in straight-ahead jazz, the pint-size Scott shines in a big way. "

http://www.jimmyscottofficialwebsite.org/homepage.htm

You can also get a good look at Jimmy here: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/jimmyscott/#

and here (good interview):

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/jscott.htm

Doc Watson in Concert on NPR

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:25:34 GMT

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18353822 Great concert at the website, free.

Unrelated video, just for those who want a video to get your attention. :>)

Dave Stringer's Divas

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:32:36 GMT

Here's a sample from the Daily OM Music page. You can get the whole review of Divas & Devas at dailyom.com.

January 28, 2008 Divas & Devas Dave Stringer 2007

Eloquently mixing the spiritual mysteries of the East with the grooving rock of the West, Dave Stringer is more than just a devout seeker of musical wisdom and beauty—he's a unifier. For Divas & Devas, Stringer celebrates and explores the mysteries of the feminine—as incarnated in women and in the shadow psyche of the male—with a series of devotional bhajan duets sung in Hindi and Sanskrit. The "deva" vocalists he's gathered to help him run an astonishing gamut: Donna De Lory, Dasi Karnamrita, C.C. White, Kim Waters, Suzanne Sterling, and others.

http://www.davestringer.com/

Great video (mystical music for Monday morning) at:

http://www.yogamates.com/index.php?mode=tv&act=view&video_id=193

My Sweet Uncle Leeo

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:05:37 GMT

My mother, who passed away last year, would be so proud of her brother, who has the biggest heart in the world and who plays the piano and sings beautifully. He loves old-time gospel, which is a big tradition in our family, and he plays piano by ear --- no formal training. I just wanted to share this with my friends on MOG who can appreciate a little gospel --- or at least a little family tradition.

Dub Fest '08

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:13:16 GMT

This is the first chance I've had to tell you all about a great event we are having at our college on Thursday of this week! We received a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission to fund a year-long series of arts (music/poetry) related events, and our first big event is a dub poetry concert and workshop with jazz guitarist Maurice Gordon. Maurice was at one time the Dean of Latin, Jazz, and Caribbean Music and the Jamaica School of Music, and he has worked with a number of famous dub poets including Lillian Allen and Mutabaruka. You can check out his music at www.myspace.com/mauricegordon.

Grace to Grace (All My Habits are Bad)

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:50:47 GMT

I am posting this in honor of my rogue friend Pimp and all you hard-rockers. I got to Geddy in a strange way. I was looking for songs about grace, and I ran across the song "Grace to Grace." I wanted the song about Grace because I wanted to acknowledge the life and work of Grace Paley, a wonderful writer and social activist who died in November of breast cancer. She was 83.

Here's to living from grace to grace.

If you want to read more about her, go here:

http://www.salon.com/books/int/1998/10/26int.html

Pavilion of Dreams

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:19:53 GMT

You can get some samples of Harold Budd's music and learn more about him at MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/haroldbudd

and the following website:

http://www.samadhisound.com/haroldbudd/

The passage below is quoted from Daily OM Music --- you can check out the rest of the review at dailyom.com.

January 7, 2008 The Pavilion of Dreams Harold Budd 1978 "Ambient composer Harold Budd spent four years crafting the four works on his debut The Pavilion of Dreams, but there is not a hint of laboriousness on the entire album. Budd’s music opens a door into an eternal paradise, one where every sort of relaxed state, whether real or imagined, seems to exist simultaneously. Luminous electric-piano arpeggios hang in cloudlike languor on the opening track "Bismillahi 'Rrahman 'Rrahman," condensing around tiny droplets of the celestial, and we're floating in the sky without a care."

Something Fresh for the Holidays!

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 15:42:31 GMT

To me, this new collection has a holiday fervor without the traditional Christmas sound, if that makes any sense. Not that there is anything wrong with the traditional Christmas sound. Anyway, if you want something fun to listen to, check out the new Bela Fleck/Chick Corea collection. I am posting a bit of the review from Daily OM. You can read the rest at dailyom.com and listen to some samples here:

http://www.belafleck.com/

http://www.chickcorea.com/the_enchantment.php#TRACKS

December 17, 2007 The Enchantment Chick Corea and Bela Fleck 2007 "Pianist Chick Corea has exercised a restlessly creative spirit since the mid '60s, never afraid to fuse rock, classical, and world music elements into his jazz-based style. Matching Corea innovation for innovation is banjoist Bela Fleck. Originally a progressive bluegrass musician, Fleck invented an electric, twanging take on jazz-funk fusion with his outfit the Flecktones, and more recently has swung between banjo interpretations of classical pieces and acoustic Appalachia, hitting all points in between. The pair makes the most of their multidirectional creativity on The Enchantment, an uncategorizable collection of acoustic instrumental duets."

I just now read Crash's old post from March ...

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:36:52 GMT

Somebody may have already recalled this, so if that is the case, I apologize --- I can only scan most of my MOG posts. Anyway, I am going through my 3,0000 stored posts, trying to catch up, and I found this old one from Crash about the fragility of life. I was moved by it once again. Just wanted to share. And the song is dedicated to our Smashing Young Man.

Here's Crash's post:

"...I was driving down Sunset yesterday on my way back from Malibu, in bumper-to-bumper traffic along the Strip, heading East when just as the traffic on my side of the street started to surge forward this beater from the oncoming lane on the other side of the double line shot over onto my side, I slammed on the brakes just in time and only the bumper of my car got nicked…turns out, this truck behind that car had pushed that lady’s car from behind and the sheer force made her lose control of her vehicle and she careened wildly to the opposite side of the street, jumped the curb and crashed into a meter…

...if I were five feet further along, she would’ve plowed into the side of my car and I would not be here typing this post…I just heard this Violent Femmes cut on the radio and it reminded me of some of the little details of what happened yesterday…and while some of the lyrics don’t, the title speaks to what I was feeling as I saw that car flash across the road—“this could be it”...I said all of that to say: make sure you got your shite together because when it’s time to cash in your chips, there’s no time to “Add It Up."

Missing Student Found Safe

extraordinarypoems — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 01:48:06 GMT

If you happened to catch my post about Rachel Fogle, she has been found safe. Apparently, she just ran away after an argument with her parents. Lame, but at least she's okay.

Missing Student --- Serious Request!

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:52:04 GMT

As some of you know, I am a college teacher. One of our students has been missing since Sunday, and her family and friends and teachers are all concerned. I am going to try to attach a photo, but if it doesn't come through, please at least be on the lookout for her car, a blue 2001 Ford Escape, tag # 681SNS. She could be anywhere. She is nineteen, and her name is Rachel Anne Fogle. She weighs 100 pounds, she is 5'2", and she has a Clemson Tiger paw located on her lower right leg. Her upper right ear is pierced.

Thank you.

I am including a video because I hope to draw your attention. I hope that this does not seem flippant or disrespectful to anyone who is looking for Rachel.

More Tribute Songs to Our Ghosts

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:44:02 GMT

I am posting these songs in honor of CrashPryor and of all of our ghosts, as one MOGGER has so well put it.

The first speaks of the silence our loved ones give us and the comfort we find in even that silence. After they are gone, sometimes it is all we have.

The second features so many wonderful lines about how our loved one made us a better person and how we undervalued him or her --- but, as the songwriter puts it, "If my words don't come together, listen to the melody, cause my love's in there hiding." We can find our loved ones again in music sometimes.

A Late Public Thank You to MOG

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:26:50 GMT

In September, I won a MOG contest to go to San Francisco. Unfortunately, I had been so overwhelmed with work and endless e-mail, I had set aside incoming MOG mail for a month or so, and I missed the e-mail and thus forfeited the contest. I just want everybody to know that I appreciated the opportunity to go to California (I've never been), even though I blew it. MOG people, all of you, are wonderful to know. I hope to be more active again now, and I look forward to your posts.

Now, here's a random photo of my daughter with the Cat in the Hat, just cause I love it --- and a song for you.

Literacy Ad --- I love it.

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:15:33 GMT

glumbert - Literacy is cute

Sharing Music Cost Her Over $200,000

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:57:00 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/business/media/05music.html?th&emc=th

Check it out.

More Music for Those into Yoga

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:09:57 GMT

Here's a passage from the Daily OM Music Review of the album. (For the whole review, go to dailyom.com.) And you can check out Lauren at this website.

http://yogacompanion.com/index.html

September 5, 2007 The Yogi's Companion Lauren Petersen 2002

"Hi, I'm Lauren, and this is the Yogi's Companion." So begins this comforting CD from renowned Malibu yoga instructor Lauren Petersen. The Yogi’s Companion is, as its name indicates, the perfect disc to toss in your duffel bag for wherever personal adventure lies in store. Each track features centering spoken instruction for the B.K.S. Iyengar form of yoga, of which Petersen is a certified instructor.

The Silent Awakening

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:58:49 GMT

www.myspace.com/tinamalia

The following passage is from the Daily OM music review. You can read the whole review at dailyom.com.

August 29, 2007 The Silent Awakening Tina Malia 2006

"If you haven’t discovered Tina Malia yet, it may be because she's not that anxious to be found. Part of a countercultural collective of West Coast musicians, Malia is a sound engineer, producer, backup vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and producer on albums for an array of tribal-influenced and/or children’s recording artists. Listening to The Silent Awakening is to feel a part of this loving community."

Low on Iron & Wine?

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 16:43:20 GMT

http://www.ironandwine.com/

Website for the singer/songwriter, with music. More info below.

http://ogami.subpop.com/bands/ironandwine/

The following is a passage from the Daily OM Music Review of the Album. For the whole review, go to dailyom.com.

August 14, 2007 Our Endless Numbered Days Iron & Wine 2004

"Iron & Wine is the stage name adopted by Samuel Beam, a South Carolina-bred singer-songwriter who performs crisp tunes of simple beauty on his acoustic guitar. His 2002 debut album presented his songs in lo-fidelity home recordings, and while the approach had its charms, it also proved a limitation. His follow-up, Our Endless Numbered Days, is a great step forward for the singer, an album of great warmth and generosity. Recording for the first time in a professional studio, Beam allows his songs to breath and come alive like never before. They emerge fully realized and crystal clear, an easy, quiet blend of folk, blues, and alternative pop."

Love is ...

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:46:50 GMT

I'm into a lot of meditation music lately. Here's another one that might appeal to those of you who do are pursuing peacefulness.

I like this couple. Check out their website (with music samples) at:

http://www.devapremalmiten.com/

The partial review is from dailyom.com. You can read the whole review at the website.

August 13, 2007 Love Is Space Deva Premal 2000

"Putting the chant back in chanteuse is the German-born Deva Premal, a meditation student who met her life and music partner, the guitarist Miten, on a meditation retreat in 1991. They’ve been together ever since, wandering the world for decades on a mission to share their music and their love of meditation. Love Is Space is one of their lush musical offerings, a unique and vibrant mix of Enya-style grandeur with the transcendent love of Eastern spirituality (and the romantic love they feel for one another), all given impeccable production with a sense of aural space that envelops and encompasses the universe between the listener’s ears."

Music for Yoga and Meditation

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:00:16 GMT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinmaya_Dunster

The following is a brief passage from the Daily OM review of Yoga: On Sacred Ground. If you want to read the whole review, go to www.dailyom.com.

August 10, 2007 Yoga: On Sacred Ground Chinmaya Dunster 2001

"The British-born Chinmaya (formerly Stephen) Dunster is a master of the Indian lute known as the sarod and is renowned for mixing Indian classical raga with the Celtic styles of his native land. For his stunning Yoga: On Sacred Ground, Dunster keeps the Celtic flavor while going full force into the Indian mystic, creating seven tracks that are linked to one of the body’s seven charkas."

Lullabies for Grown-Ups

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:07:03 GMT

http://www.silverlakemusic.com/art/astadler.html

Some music samples at the website above.

Does anybody else have chronic insomnia? I've had serious problems sleeping for the past ten years. It's a drag. I've been trying the new Sleep MD med this week, but it really isn't working so well either. Anyway, one of the things that does seem to relax me is music. Here's an example of the kind of music I'm talking about.

This is a partial review from Daily OM Music. If you want to see the whole thing, go to www.dailyom.com.

August 6, 2007 Fairy Lullabies Gary Stadler 2006

"Contemporary New Age composer Gary Stadler makes music both electronic and organic, both spiritual and worldly. His unique sense of focus and direction puts him a notch above many of his New Age peers: His atmospheric compositions always course forward with intent and establish themselves as distinct, and affecting, works of art. Inspired by the mythical Celtic realm of faeries, Stadler uses music to evoke this timeless fantasy world."

Lullabies for Grown-Ups

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:06:55 GMT

http://www.silverlakemusic.com/art/astadler.html

Some music samples at the website above.

This is a partial review from Daily OM Music. If you want to see the whole thing, go to www.dailyom.com.

August 6, 2007 Fairy Lullabies Gary Stadler 2006

Ojos Negros

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:11:56 GMT

http://www.amazon.com/Ojos-Negros-Dino-Saluzzi/dp/B000N4RA4C

Video clip at Amazon

Here's a bit of the Daily OM music review. To see the rest, go to dailyom.com.

July 30, 2007 Ojos Negros Dino Saluzzi and Anja Lechner 2007

"Ojos Negros unites Argentinean bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi and Munich-based cellist Anja Lechner in a suite of swooning, mesmeric duets, perfect for late-night walks down the cobblestone streets of bohemian European cities. While Saluzzi’s choice of instrument is inextricably linked to the Argentine tango, and Lechner plays with the deeply sensual tone of a well-trained classical musician, Ojos Negros reaches far beyond genre boundaries."

Djin Djin --- Wow.

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:29:22 GMT

http://www.myspace.com/angeliquekidjo

http://bonton.sweetdarkness.net/?p=161

Here is a passage from the Daily OM Music review of the album. To see the rest, go to dailyom.com

July 27, 2007 Djin Djin Angelique Kidjo 2007

"Angelique Kidjo makes joyous, sexy, soulful Americanized Afro pop. Her 2007 album, Djin Djin, finds the Beninese-Parisian-New Yorker artist in buoyant spirits, strutting and shouting with thumb pianos and backing chorus merrily surging behind her. For fans of African music or African American soul, this album is a must have. Hugely beautiful and spirited, cosmopolitan and uniquely Angelique, Djin Djin—named for an African bell rung in the morning—finds the artist at the top of her game, flanked by friends and admirers like Carlos Santana, Amadou and Mariam, Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Ziggy Marley, and Branford Marsalis. It’s contemporary, it’s urban, it’s African, it’s incredibly fun to boot."

Living on Interior Time

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:45:32 GMT

http://www.healingsounds.com/catalog/prodView.asp?idproduct=1017

If you are interested in "sound healing" or in the effects of music on one's psychological well-being, you might want to take a look at a book I've been studying called Sound Psychology. There is a particularly interesting section on treating depression with music. The author recommends specific music, and I have found the songs easily by using Pandora.

www.pandora.com

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Music-Sound-Psychology/dp/1578630088

Here is a passage from the Daily OM review of this album. If you'd like to read the whole review, you can check it out at dailyom.com

July 26, 2007 Flutes of Interior Time Sarah Benson 2005

Sarah Benson uses her flute to compose and perform music that heals. Her supremely tranquil tones carve out peaceful, painterly patterns and captivating, free-form moods. Ever since flautist Paul Horn released his 1968 landmark album, Inside the Taj Mahal, the flute has remained a cornerstone of meditative New Age music.

Drum Solo

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 12:10:09 GMT

For music samples:

http://www.amazon.com/Kala-Rupa-Greg-Ellis/dp/B00005Q3CY

http://www.greengalactic.com/gregellis.html

for more info on the album, songlist, etc.

This is a bit of the daily OM music review. To see it all, go to dailyom.com.

July 13, 2007 Kala Rupa Greg Ellis 2001

"Fascinated with the therapeutic power of percussion, Greg Ellis has used his talents as a drummer in his own band, Vas, and in various projects for film and stage. On Kala Rupa, his debut solo album, Ellis wants the listener to abandon any preconceived notions of what drums can do within the context of music."

Jazz Nightmoves

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:27:54 GMT

http://www.kurtelling.com/music/nightmoves/

His website, with music samples, photos, lyrics, etc.

Here's a bit of the Daily OM music review. Check out the whole review at dailyom.com.

July 12, 2007 Nightmoves Kurt Elling 2007

Jazz singer Kurt Elling got his start on the beat poet-scat singer side of the art, represented on the legendary jazz label Blue Note where he was known as a bit of a wild cat, prone to falsetto howling when the heat of his backing band drove him far enough. For Night Moves we find Elling settling back into an easy, lounge singer style--somewhere between Lou Rawls singing “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” and the heartbroken 1960s period of Frank Sinatra.

Looking for a Little Romance?

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:24:00 GMT

a bit of the Daily OM Music Review:

July 3, 2007 The Romantic Harp Judy Loman 2005

"Though today it is most often heard in weddings, dream sequences and heavenly visitations, the harp is one of the oldest instruments known to mankind, and exists in some form or another in all corners of the world. The harp also has a small but robust repertoire in Western classical music, which is the focus of this marvelous collection of solo pieces drawn mostly from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, something of a renaissance for harp composition."

for more, go to dailyom.com

Three Favorites

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:11:25 GMT

July 2, 2007 Music, Food and Love Guo Yue 2006 "A famous musician and cook, Guo Yue serves his listeners Music, Food and Love and has infused it with the memories of his native China. Born in 1958, the year Maoâ€™s Great Leap Forward began, Yue was to the son of a violinist in Beijing."

You can read the whole album review at www.dailyom.com

And here's a book and a snippet from the book review:

http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/books/DisplayBookInfo.php?ISBN=0749950781

"Music, Food and Love tells the story of the Chinese Cultural Revolution through the eyes of a musical child. Guo Yue, the youngest son of a traditional violinist, grew up in the poor and overcrowded courtyards and alleys of north-east Beijing."

Guiding Star

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:44:57 GMT

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9794115

NPR story about Vusi Mahlasela.

I've provided a couple of sentences from the Daily OM review of the album. If you want to read the whole review, check it out at www.dailyom.com.

June 29, 2007 Guiding Star Vusi Mahlasela 2007

"South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlasela has earned the honorific nickname “the Voice” in his native land, and it’s not hard to understand why. A talented songwriter, a supple and affecting singer, Mahlasela’s work has also passionately engaged for years with the social and political struggles of South Africa."

City Morning Song

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:41:49 GMT

http://www.sarahshannon.com/

http://www.myspace.com/sarahshannonmusic

Websites about the artist with music samples. Such a happy, fresh sound, it makes me want to take a morning walk in the city.

I have posted part of the Daily OM Music review below. You can catch the rest of it at www.dailyom.com.

June 19, 2007 City Morning Song Sarah Shannon 2007

"In the mid '90s singer Sarah Shannon fronted Washington, D.C.-based cult favorites Velocity Girl, which performed melodic pop tunes over a guitar-heavy wash. The band's distorted aesthetic fit neatly among the era's alternative rockers, but their love for classic pop set them apart. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Shannon has made classic melodic songwriting the focus of her post-Velocity Girl career, eschewing buzzing guitars for clean piano-led arrangements. And with City Morning Song, her second solo release, she delivers her finest set of songs to date, a collection that effortlessly recalls great urban-American songwriters like Carole King, Laura Nyro, and Burt Bacharach."

Ashana

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:18:57 GMT

http://www.ashanamusic.com/

June 18, 2007 All Is Forgiven Ashana 2006

"The first thing you notice about the amazing voice of Ashana is her radiance. An entire children's chorale seems to dwell within this one female voice-timeless, ethereal, and-in its egoless way-powerful. Her voice stays so still and centered that one becomes cognizant of the world turning around it, the music playing, the time passing, but Ashana is outside it all. Her stunner of an album, All Is Forgiven, is just five tracks, all perfectly suited in length and tonality for a short meditation."

You can find the whole review of the album at www.dailyom.com.

A Feist(y) Woman

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:31:15 GMT

Feist in the New York Times (great article with audio and video, interview and music)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/arts/music/13feis.html?th&emc=th

Pocket Symphony

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:15:28 GMT

Video here:

http://www.culturebully.com/archives/2967

More info and music samples at these two websites:

http://www.pocket-symphony.com/

http://www.myspace.com/intairnet

Daily OM Review below:

June 7, 2007 Pocket Symphony Air 2007

"The French composer-production team known as Air-Nicolas Godin and J-B Dunckel-created a lounge-music sensation back in 1998 with their debut album Moon Safari, a collection of slow, outer-space-ready retro-electro lounge-make-out music, with its heart in the analog orchestral richness of the late 1960s and its head orbiting Saturn. Since then they've done everything from film scores to collaborative art installations, becoming our postmodern society's default aural wallpaper. Pocket Symphony finds these two Gallic gentlemen working slow, purposeful electronic grooves like master craftsmen at the wheels, confident in their less-is-more approach and branching out to the use of Asian string instruments like the Japanese koto.

One can hear traces of their vintage analog sound in "Once Upon a Time," which offsets a cycling piano arpeggio with distorted synth notes and a clanging orchestral triangle. But the vocal is pitch-shifted up enough octaves to the point of androgyny, again adding a weirdly disorienting effect. Luckily Jarvis Cocker (late of Pulp) shows up to sing (his vocals untampered with) "One Hell of a Party," a lilting exercise that pits a descending Chinese zither line with drums and synthesizers. Cocker urges in a weary, whispered voice, "Please do not follow where I am leadin' / Someone will clear these things away / Here in the burnt-out husk of the morning / Strung out on nothin' left to say. "

The spirit of Cocker's hungover lyrics continues through the album as it seems to be the soundtrack of early morning drinks in a penthouse loft-with a 360-degree view down on the cloud-covered city, a grand piano in the middle of the room, and percussion devices and Japanese string instruments scattered around the modernist couches. When things pick up, as on the astral plane bounce over one-two-chord piano punchiness of "Mer du Japon," it sounds as if this Gallic duo may still be ready for takeoff, but there's no doubt that Air have matured and the naive innocence of last night is forever shattered. Pocket Symphony prefers stately aural polish and altered state vocals to kitsch and cuddliness; it's so in it's out, so tomorrow it's already yesterday. There's nothin' left to say."

Siren Song

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:04:16 GMT

http://www.myspace.com/damonandnaomi

http://www.damonandnaomi.com/

June 6, 2007 Song to the Siren: Live in San Sebastian Damon and Naomi on tour with Kurihara 2002

The late '80s dream-pop group Galaxie 500 excelled at the kind of solemn introspection that can only be accompanied by softly acoustic guitars, keening vocals, and slow paces. Several years after the band dissolved, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang resurfaced as a duo, playing a similar brand of achingly pretty songs whose dirgelike speeds magnify raw emotions at their core. Song to the Siren: Live in San Sebastian captures Damon and Naomi on tour with guitarist Michio Kurihara from the Japanese psych-rock band Ghost, in support of the collaborative record the two groups released the previous year. The cloistered quietness of Damon and Naomi's music makes the jump from the bedroom to the concert hall perfectly, and Kurihara's evocative guitar work wraps it all up in reverb-soaked, crystalline grace.

When Krukowski sings, "I looked behind the hotel / And saw a world that had disappeared long before," the opening lines of "Judah and the Maccabees," he's lighting up a dark corner, discovering romance and wonder in a sad and humble place. It's exactly the approach that Damon and Naomi take with their music. There is space in these songs, space in between guitar strums and sighing vocal phrases, and a quiet energy that lights the music's apparent sadness with a soft campfire glow. "The New World" offsets a downcast lyric of longing ("Do I see you standing, watching the waves / Waiting, waiting for the ship to come?") with a glistening guitar line by Kurihara that is too beautiful to be merely sad. Damon and Naomi match it with wordless vocal harmonies that swoop in like two angels, giving our slumped shoulders an uplifting tug.

While Damon and Naomi's words are both literary and direct, the two could be singing nonsense syllables and Song to the Siren would sound just as emotionally intense, just as well crafted. A lot of that is the thoughtful balance of instruments; Damon's acoustic-guitar strums row the lonely seafarer of "The Navigator" toward shore, while Kurihara's liquid tone eddies around his tiny vessel, and Naomi's bass gently follows the contour of the waves. Elsewhere, a harmonium lays down a soft drone for the guitars to tumble over and plant their roots in. Song to the Siren is a spare album of texture and beauty, filled with the kind of music you have to close your eyes and get lost in.

Brazilian music

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 13:13:13 GMT

http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/feature/nascimento.html

http://www.last.fm/music/Milton+Nascimento

June 5, 2007 Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento/Lô Borges 1972

Clube Da Esquina is, at its most basic, an album created in the late '70s by a group of pioneering artists from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. In reality it's so much more: a style of music that fuses traditional folk styles, jazz, and '60s pop harmonies with the bossa nova more often identified internationally as "Brazilian music." It's also immediately evocative for any Brazilian-music fan of the wide breadth of talent contained within the album's 21 songs. Master instrumentalists Eumir Deodato and Wagner Tiso, classical arranger Paulo Moura, and brilliant songwriter Márcio Borges are just a few of the now legendary musicians who helped the two headlining singers create an entire musical world on the record.

The result is a stunning compilation of acoustic Latin-American pop, held together by Nascimento's brilliant voice. On "Dos Cruces" he soars and dives over gentle guitar-plucking and soft drones, before a flamencolike second half slides into fuzzy guitar and rollicking drums. Its haunting beauty would seem impossible to match if it wasn't done immediately in the next song by Lô Borges, whose " Um Girassol Da Cor De Seu Cabelo" is noir-drenched and existential in the way only off-kilter pop can be. Elsewhere the record drifts into surrealist backing on "Os Povos" and swirling cacophony on "Pelo Amor De Deus," firmly anchored around the two lead singers who lend melody to every song without seeming tethered to it.

Despite its wide-ranging interests, the record is remarkably unified and, most surprisingly and impressively, accessible on even a first listen. The melodies are so strong and delivered in such an emotional and ethereal manner that the language barrier is never a problem. Tracks like the impossibly catchy "O Trem Azul" seem ready for the most unadventurous radios possible, all the while subtly overthrowing everything that these musicians are "supposed" to do. Clube Da Esquina makes for an invigoratingly enjoyable listen and an essential addition to every music library.

String Quartet --- so nice

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:09:32 GMT

http://www.amazon.com/Borodin-String-Quartets-Nos-2/dp/B000002ROX

music samples

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borodin_String_Quartet

History of the Borodin String Quartet above.

Daily OM Music Review:

June 4, 2007 Borodin: String Quartets No. 1 in A Major and No. 2 in D Major Borodin String Quartet 1980

"You might suppose that a piece of music written by a noted scientist and nobleman in his free time would sound stuffy or unsophisticated, the work of a dilettante stretching beyond his expertise. Not so with late-19th-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin, whose fame as a chemist was matched by a brilliant, if unprolific, side career in classical music. Borodin's String Quartets No. 1 and No. 2 are wonderful examples of the Russian romantic tradition, full of lush harmonies, bulging dynamic swells, and memorable melodic lines perfect for wooing a paramour. While Borodin's day job found him studying atomic bonds, his music was written with different sorts of chemistry in mind: the musical chemistry between the quartet's complementary instruments and the romantic chemistry between lovers.

The first movement of the first quartet feels like a walk through a Russian noble's mansion-the slow, thick chords of the introduction billow like velvet drapes, providing a rich backdrop for the bright tapestry of themes and variations that hang in the banquet hall just beyond. The second, based on the mournful Russian folk song "Song of the Sparrow Hills," is far more mournful, but its sumptuous arrangement helps to pillow the apparent sadness. In dramatic contrast, the skittering scherzo of the third movement leaves all heaviness behind; violins chase each other through bright meadows in a galloping game of tag, and even the slower, less kinetic music-box middle section seems to point to something just around the corner, a brief respite to catch our breaths before the chase begins anew. Tying it all together is the muscular fourth movement, which counters the rest of the quartet's sentimentality with a driving, highly rhythmic first theme and some furious hummingbirdlike ! sawing in the breathtaking coda.

Borodin composed the second quartet in tribute to his 20-year romance with his wife, Ekaterina, and certainly every measure of the piece brims with a lover's passion. This passion might be sweet and tender, like the gentle courtship between the violin and cello (representing Ekaterina and Borodin, respectively) in the first movement, or more playfully flirtatious, as with the waltz-time second movement. By the sound of the ravishing cello melody that opens the famous "Nocturne" of the third movement, our composer has fallen madly in love with his mate. Her violin sings the melody right back before the pair spiral around each other in starry-eyed bliss. The second quartet ends with a joyous, quicksilver "Finale" movement, suggesting the eternally renewable energy at the heart of Borodin and Ekaterina's marriage. Like any sustainable relationship, Borodin's two string quartets are strong, balanced, and full of spontaneous, romantic outbursts."

Indian Music

extraordinarypoems — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:41:00 GMT

http://www.chebisabbah.com/

http://www.myspace.com/chebisabbahji

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2006/a4wm_sabbah.shtml

websites for info and music samples

Daily OM Review below:

June 1, 2007 Shri Durga DJ Cheb I Sabbah 1999

"A pioneer in fusing the mystical sounds of India to the beats of the postmodern dance floor, DJ Cheb I Sabbah is one of the old vanguards of what is known as "the Asian Underground." For the mesmerizing Shri Durga, Sabbah takes things way downriver, for some low-end hypnotic drifting in the miasma between austere prayer and whirling, sensual abandon. With its slow-cooking masala of enraptured male and female Indian vocal samples, instrumentation and violin-derived drones that tingle the spine like an electric shaver buzzing the hairs at the base of your neck, this is a work that stands relaxed and confident at the left-hand side of the parade of time, watching the flow of energy go by with calm love as it dances in place. Everything on this record uncoils and unravels slow as a haze of incense and as steady as the heartbeat of a relaxed lover.

Chants carry on the desert winds and babbling brooks all connect the tracks, which slowly assemble layers of chants and instrumentation, eventually offering beats that thud low and purposefully with a gut-grabbing sense of gravitas that anchors the body while the spirit floats above. "Radhe Krishna" has an infectious, forward momentum beat, slow hand-claps/foot stomps melded into drums, over which chants and hypnotic oud samples from forgotten Middle Eastern recording artists beckon. "Maheshvara Yogi" is a more chant- and less beat-oriented, as voices and droning strings work in tandem to create a sense of unreal possibility and vague danger, the untamed past reaching out through the haze to grab hold of the present.

The finale, "Durga Puja," begins with voices on the wind, a djiin pulling men down into a bottomless pit of sand, and then the droning of Indian strings, parting any ego resistance with the precision of a perfume-oiled scimitar. Sabbah's use of strings and voice samples is succinct and judicious, avoiding the sensory overload that sometimes accompanies Asian Underground sound remixes. Not necessarily music for the dinner table, this is perfect music for after dinner and dancing, but also for relaxing into silken pillows and lighting ancient incenses, letting the succinctly matched cuts of Sabbah weave for you an unseverable thread into the mysteries of time, space, and self."

Back to Eden?

extraordinarypoems — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:31:10 GMT

The earth is my altar, the sky is my dome, mind is my garden, the heart is my home and I'm always at home- yea, I'm always at Om. Eden Ahbez

http://www.shadowboxstudio.com/edenahbez.htm

http://www.spaceagepop.com/ahbez.htm

information on Eden Ahbez, rare images, etc. at the websites above --

Daily OM music review below:

May 30, 2007 Eden's Island Eden Ahbez 1960

"A warm tropical wind blows past you, carrying with it the aroma of fried fish and grilled papaya. The sound of bongos and marimbas float in from the village. Your hammock sways in the breeze, suspended between two coconut trees, and as you cast your eyes toward the glittering sea, you sigh in happiness. You're relaxing on Eden's Island, an idyllic paradise a million miles away from reality. Your travel agent is Eden Ahbez, writer of the evocative "Nature Boy" made famous by Nat King Cole and one of the truly idiosyncratic figures in prerock music history. Fifteen years before the first hippies, Ahbez was sleeping under the "L" of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, California, giving street corner lectures on Oriental mysticism and subsisting on fruit and nuts. On Eden's Island, he invites you to pack your bag, light a tiki torch, and take a relaxing vacation from all of your troubles.

Eden's Island is packed with the exotic sounds and rhythms that you might find in a remote Polynesian village. Bongos, shakers, and marimba set up the drunken rhythm of the title track, which sways back and forth like the boat that brought you to this tropic isle. A chorus of villagers sing "Blow wind blow / Eden's Island's way," and they're answered by the tooting of a wood flute. The blowing wind turns into birdsong on "Myna Bird," a mysterious instrumental that sounds like a tramp through an uncharted tropical jungle. Ahbez wants more than just our ears-he wants to transport us to his island, weaving in the sounds of frogs, seagulls, and the creaking of boats at the dock to give us the experience of really being there.

Ahbez himself plays the kindly village chieftain, overseeing all the peaceful activities on Eden's Island and conversing warmly with the guests. Ahbez's beatnik-style spoken word forms the spiritual core at the center of the album, providing doses of simple, wise philosophy that lend weight to the airy island exotica. We have come "to surf and comb the beach / Gather seashells, driftwood / And know the thrill of loneliness / And lose all sense of time / And be free," he suggests in "Full Moon." We're headed to a place "where all men are brothers / Where all things are bound by law / And crowned with love." It's a wonderful vision, set amongst the most relaxing music imaginable. Isn't it about time you booked your trip to Eden's Island?"

If Life Gives You Mr. Lemons

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:51:13 GMT

http://www.glenphillips.com/

Good website, with a link to the Myspace page.

May 29, 2007 Mr. Lemons Glen Phillips 2006

For more than a decade, Glen Phillips fronted Toad the Wet Sprocket, one of the friendliest faces of '90s alternative rock. Hailing from Santa Barbara, California, the band's winningly earnest brand of melodic pop-rock earned them several memorable radio hits and a devoted national following. Since their dissolution in 1998, Phillips has launched a solo career that has kept the group's spirit and voice in circulation. All the same, his solo work is a distinct endeavor, one more generously informed by his honesty, modesty, and spirituality. Mr. Lemons finds Phillips delivering one of the most stripped-down albums of his career, and the approach suits him like a pair of comfortable, well-worn jeans.

"Everything But You" starts the album off with a gentle instrumental cascade. The drums ride a medium clip, and spare acoustic guitar colors the corners. With his voice sitting comfortably in the middle of the mix, Phillips describes a world that just can't measure up to his beloved: "I've forgotten how to pray / Forgotten what was true / Everything seems bought / Everything but you." Here he turns a popular cliché on its head: Love doesn't make everything shine and come alive; it makes a crooked world seem even more crooked by comparison. "Waiting," meanwhile, boasts a subtle down-home flavor and another one of Phillips' effortlessly engaging melodies, the kind he seems to produce as casually as folding a paper airplane. The band picks up the pace, and Phillips picks up the passion, calling out in weathered tones: "Is it falling apart / Should I believe / You could be thinking that about me?" But, like a 21st-century James Taylor, he's an inherently nice guy, and even his a! nger comes framed in humane and forgiving terms.

The album's biggest surprise, and one of its greatest treasures, is a cool, slinky cover of Huey Lewis & the News' "I Want a New Drug." Where Lewis' original '80s hit soared with a slick sheen, Phillips' version stirs up a restrained downtown groove, aided by electric keys and soulful female harmonies. It's the kind of imaginative cover one hears far too few of, and it fits expertly as a keynote track on this album full of clear, catchy, and unpretentious musical treats.

"Everybody Has the Blues"

extraordinarypoems — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:45:14 GMT

I have in my hand right now a letter from my great-grandfather, Nathaniel Moon, to his son (my grandfather, Oscar), dated Sept 22, 1945. I thought it was interesting that he writes, "No news here to write --- everybody has the blues." It's a perpetual human condition, isn't it? And that's okay, as long as we get happy somewhere in between our blues. My great-grandfather went on to write about real estate --- how three different houses were for sale on Birch Street in Huntsville, Alabama, and how he was about to buy one, his brother was going to buy another, and he recommended my grandfather but the remaining one. Guess how much? $3600.00, $250.00 down, $25.50 per month. And that, he notes, "takes care of interest and insurance." I thought you all might find it interesting to take a look back to the mindset of 1945 --- and then reconsider our blues, and Joni's.

http://jonimitchell.com/

a place to see more about Joni the painter as well as the singer:

"I'm a painter first, and a musician second..." - September 8, 1998

"I'm really a painter at heart and I can say this now... Music was a hobby for me at art school, and art was serious. Art was always what I was going to do. I was going to be an artist." - August 1998

"I have always thought of myself as a painter derailed by circumstance." - June 2000

All I Want by Joni Mitchell

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling Traveling, traveling, traveling Looking for something, what can it be Oh I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some Oh I love you when I forget about me

I want to be strong I want to laugh along I want to belong to the living Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive I want to wreck my stockings in some juke box dive Do you want - do you want - do you want to dance with me baby Do you want to take a chance On maybe finding some sweet romance with me baby Well, come on

All I really really want our love to do Is to bring out the best in me and in you too All I really really want our love to do Is to bring out the best in me and in you I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you I want to renew you again and again Applause, applause - Life is our cause When I think of your kisses my mind see-saws Do you see - do you see - do you see how you hurt me baby So I hurt you too Then we both get so blue.

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling Looking for the key to set me free Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling It's the unraveling And it undoes all the joy that could be I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun I want to be the one that you want to see I want to knit you a sweater Want to write you a love letter I want to make you feel better I want to make you feel free I want to make you feel free

http://www.amazon.com/Hits-Joni-Mitchell/dp/B000002N9Z

Song samples at Amazon.

And here's the Daily OM review of the album, one of my favorites.

May 22, 2007 Blue Joni Mitchell 1971

"Joni Mitchell is one of the 20th-century's most accomplished solo musicians. But her iconic status belies the deeply personal, even idiosyncratic nature of her music. At her best, Mitchell plumbs the furthest reaches of her soul, emerging with pure art-as-feeling, the kind of confessional folk-song fare that many have tried but few have mastered. Blue, from 1971, is arguably the highlight of her long and prolific career. As the title suggests, it finds Mitchell at her most downcast and introspective but also at her most potent and revealing. With friends Stephen Stills and James Taylor helping in the studio, she conjures a spare, acoustic treasure, an album in which her most private emotions are laid bare and somehow made to stand for the troubles of an entire generation.

Blue opens with a terrific statement of intent, "All I Want." As acoustic guitar rattles out an opaque melody, Mitchell sings in a jazzy cadence that ebbs aggressively at times and settles at others[AS1]. The title suggests that Mitchell's needs may be rather simple but precisely the opposite is true. Hers is the burning, painful desire of youth to take life head on and never let go. "I want to be strong," she sings. "I want to laugh along / I want to belong to the living." Even the album's catchiest tunes waft with melancholy. "California" features jumping guitar as Joni sings in a fluttering, flying falsetto of travels in Europe and the ever-calling draw of home. But she sets the song in an understated sociopolitical context that seems as relevant today as it ever was: "Oh it gets so lonely / When you're walking / And the streets are full of strangers / All the news of home you read / More about the war / And the bloody changes."

Several tracks dispense with the Greenwich Village folk-guitar flavor in favor of warm, full-bodied piano. "River" is perhaps the standout of these, an evocation of pure yearning as beautiful as any in the singer-songwriter canon. She sings, "I wish I had a river / I could skate away on," and the song itself seems to skate and slide with a heavy momentum. Blue is the sound of heartbreak, of hope and perseverance, of resilient humor and deep-seated pain. In short, it's the sound of life."

Two Horizons

extraordinarypoems — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:18:14 GMT

http://www.myspace.com/moyabrennan for music samples.

http://www.moyabrennan.com/

Brennan website above. Daily OM Review of Album below.

May 21, 2007 Two Horizons Moya Brennan 2003

"Moya Brennan has a long career as one of the archetypal voices of modern Irish music, having started out with her brothers in the folk group Clannad, later releasing albums under her original name Maire, then going deeper into her craft and changing her name to the Celtic Moya. Even if you don't know her name you've probably heard her voice-hovering sweetly on extended notes over the pink-gray mist between mourning and spiritual transcendence-in movies and car commercials. Brennan's voice is mesmerizing throughout her stunning 2003 release, Two Horizons; she holds and bends notes as effortlessly as other people might breathe. Capturing the melancholic poetry at the heart of the Irish soul as well as a culture-transcending spiritual grace, Brennan's voice creates a full range of emotional experience, with highs and lows sometimes in a single extended vowel. But her mastery of her vocal gift never sounds like showing off; rather there is the same reverent sense of myst! ery that her sister, Enya, brings to her own albums, a sense of artist and listener dissolving as one into the mystic.

Nonvocal instrumental passages are few so when they appear it's startling, like the sun suddenly breaking through thick cloud cover over the rolling hills, as on the passage of Irish strings and bagpipes in "Bi Liom." There's also an all-instrumental track that's one of the many simple pleasures of the album-"Harpsong"-which features Brennan on the Irish harp. While wooden flute and violin circle in the sky like languid eagles in beds of stratus clouds, Brennan plays a firm yet fragile melody that burns through the ether like a lullaby for ghosts still half-dreamt.

The title track brings things down from the swiftly flowing currents of the earlier tracks toward the dawn's early, wistful melancholy of the traditional Irish ballad. "I hear the sound / Of two horizons" she sings, the words evaporating into enfolding cycles of synth washes and wooden flute calls. It's as if these two horizons are visible in the mind's eye, one of earth and sky, and one of the inner landscape, between the self and beyond. The song's time-stopping spell is suddenly lifted at the last minute with a merry Irish jig. That's the nature of Brennan's craft and the album as a whole-gently uplifting, quiet in its humble grace, and, at the end, suffused with a sense of celebration for the simple things of life that transcend all boundaries of spirit."

Chateau Benares

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:40:37 GMT

NPR Profile of Sanjay: (with music samples)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6502991

http://www.mishra.net/

Website for more info on Sanjay.

Daily OM Music Review below:

May 14, 2007 Chateau Benares Sanjay Mishra 2006 "The combination of Indian and Western music is a familiar one in the world-fusion genre, but rarely do the sounds of East and West meet so amicably as when guitarist-composer Sanjay Mishra is playing host. Best known for his recordings with the late Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia, Mishra finds fertile ground where traditions commingle and new roots are planted. And while the 12 instrumental tracks on Chateau Benares brim with a potpourri of tablas and turntables, Indian flutes and atmospheric hip-hop beats, the album is first and foremost a showcase for Mishra's sensitive acoustic guitar work, which transcends the division between hemispheres entirely.

Chateau Benares takes place in a warm sonic environment, saturated in ambience that cocoons our ears. Sundry magical things float slowly and peacefully by in "Loop4." A hansa veena (Indian slide guitar) improvises a sensual melodic line, an Indian flute flutters and plunges breathily, sitars shimmer invitingly, and a tabla combines with programmed beats to keep the whole thing from simply drifting away. A cloud of processed guitar sound hovers overhead in "Since Then," casting shade so that we can comfortably luxuriate in its lyrical guitar-and-flute duet.

The most intriguing works on Chateau Benares feature Mishra and his compatriots without the aid of electronics beats or heavily processed atmospherics. Mishra and guest guitarist Keller Williams trade leads in "Gateless Gate," which ends in a rhythmically dense tangle of rhythms and harmonies with Samir Chaterjee's tabla and a jazzy bass line playing catch up the whole time. Far starker but no less affecting is "Oriental," a solo guitar piece that finds Mishra sitting atop an ancient Moorish citadel, picking out a gorgeous classical melody to accompany the pining of Spanish maidens. To be sure, Chateau Benares is an album of private reflection, not musical fireworks. Within its cross-cultural sound world is a beautiful idea: Every musical tradition, no matter how seemingly exotic, can become as familiar and soothing as our own."

The photo is Sanjay with Garcia.

Here's to Life

extraordinarypoems — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:26:02 GMT

NPR Profile of Shirley:

http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/horn_s.html

And commentary upon her death:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4969054

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspx?aid=2806

Good source for info on Shirley at the website above, and here's the Daily OM Music Review.

May 17, 2007 Here's to Life Shirley Horn 1992 "Vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn, blessed with a terrific stage name, formed her first trio in 1954. She received encouragement from Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, but eventually decided to raise a family rather than aggressively pursue her career. It wasn't until the late '80s that she arrived as a major star. By then, Horn was older and wiser, and her music felt more substantial for it. Through the '90s she cut a remarkable series of albums for the Verve label, including the lush and sweeping Here's to Life, a tender collection of piano-led tunes complemented by strings. Veteran composer and arranger Johnny Mandel handles the string section and orchestra, and his arrangements cozy up to Horn's velvety vocals like a warm winter coat. The album combines the intimacy of a jazz trio with the expansiveness of a concert hall, and it offers Horn some of the most sympathetic accompaniment of her career.

The album begins with the title track, a wistful, elegiac look back at a life well lived and lessons duly learned. Over her own soft piano, Horn's voice cuts deep and confident, glowing with an aura of echo: "No complaints / And no regrets / I still believe in chasing dreams / And placing bets." When she reaches the chorus, she exhorts, with an impassioned gasp, "So here's to life!" and the orchestra twinkles in accordance, lifting and sparkling at her moment of epiphany.

"How Am I to Know?" begins with a clipped exclamation-"Oh!"-before Horn's piano lays down syncopated chords. "How am I to know," she sings in a cagey cadence, "if it's really love." Funky, low-lying bass and splashes of piano come together with rolling strings and whistling woodwinds, and the song builds to a full-bodied, loose-limbed brew. "Quietly There," meanwhile, features a guest solo spot by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. As the song shifts and slinks with a cool samba flavor, Horn's voice traces a subtle romantic melody. She blends in so smoothly with the instrumental tapestry that when Marsalis' introspective trumpet takes the spotlight, it's just one horn for another. With Here's to Life, Horn achieves an elegant fusion of jazz, vocal pop, and orchestral arrangements, yet her voice always remains the central attraction-strong, rich, and mature."