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Tag: music

Noted with Appreciation: William Eggleston’s (album cover) Guide

Published March 29, 2010

I stumbled over this over the weekend and with all the Alex Chilton memories and learning that entertainment weekly did an article on Alex (has to be the first one) it was really nice seeing such a well done post on one of my favorite photographers connected with the whole Big Star/LX thing.

One thing that always interests me is how these get cropped for use. I realize that it’s not an art piece, but I wonder if some of the edits don’t seem a bit clumsy. The one for Primal Scream’s Give Out But Don’t Give Up is perfect however – especially for that album.

The link is Here, so thanks to Blake Andrews for the interesting post.

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Alex Chilton Died Last Night

Published March 18, 2010

Rothko is dead, we get to see Jeff Koons.
Kerouac is dead, now we read books by JK Rowling.
Alex Chilton is dead, now we listen to Lady Gaga.

We have lost.

I wouldn’t consider myself a friend of Alex’s – I‘ve met him about a dozen times – a drink, a smile, a “Hey, y’all ah right?” that was about it. It was more than I ever wanted and far more than I had a right to. Because while meeting him was great – it was always about the music for me. I still have that, and that’s fine. But like anyone, I would have liked to have heard one more song.

One more sloppy, barely held together, heartbreaking, amazing song. Warts and all. He did that better than anyone.

Rock on, Butch.

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Must I paint you a picture

Published January 29, 2010

I’ve been a huge fan of Billy Bragg since I first saw him open for Echo and the Bunnymen at the Ontario Theater (now a CVS in Adams Morgan – Wash DC). More to the point his ability to blend the personal with the political is inspiring and at the same time heartbreaking. Billy has written amazing throw away lines like “Revolution is just a t-shirt away” but usually more interestingly it is the quiet social commentary and pathos of our lives which strike me as most extraordinary. The Song “The Home Front” is a perfect example of this:

Mother shakes her head and reads aloud from the newspaper
As Father puts another lock on the door
And reflects upon the violent times that we are living in
While chatting with the wife beater next door

The bottom line is that I’m always interested in how Billy Bragg puts his ideas into action. In a rather new example is Jail Guitar Doors an initiative which aims to provide instruments to those who are using music as a means of achieving the rehabilitation of prison inmates.

I think the idea is valid and impressive. I think you might find it to be the same.

http://www.jailguitardoors.org.uk/

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Late to the party on this one…

Published January 17, 2010

Late (from me) news from Saint Etienne. Richard X has remixed/remade the entire “Foxbase Alpha” album (from the masters as I understand it) which will be released in a highly limited edition. And here’s the best part. It’s called “Foxbase Beta”

Yes it’s all very meta and no doubt pretty interesting. Sold out in the US (no surprise). You can probably find it in all the usual spots.

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Patti Smith in Wynwood (Miami Art fairs day one – evening edition)

Published December 4, 2009

I had the amazing privilege of being invited to an event I’ll remember for the rest of my life tonight.

That’s a pretty powerful sentence, and I mean every word of it. Earlier today I was at the Robert Miller Gallery looking at the artworks on display at ABMB and was lucky enough to be invited to a performance by Patti Smith to an audience of less than one hundred.

If you’ve read my blog for awhile you might remember that about a year ago I was fortunate enough to have lunch with Ms. Smith when she was in Washington DC promoting the movie “Dream of Life”. In that post I pretty much gushed about my fanboy attitude when it comes to both her music and poetry. So I’ll skip that part – but I think you can follow along with that quick description.

I was thrilled to hear her read one of my favorite poems Dylans Dog which was performed in a dylanesque twang as well as a great reading of babeloge (in my mind one of the highlights from her album “Easter”. She finished the evening with an acapela version of Because the Night that ended in the crowd singing the chorus.

I think these audio files might be of interest to a few people – they are excerpts (almost complete, but excerpts), but very listenable.

Patti Smith – Babelogue (excerpt)
http://flash-mp3-player.net/medias/player_mp3_mini.swf

Patti Smith – Because the Night (excerpt)
http://flash-mp3-player.net/medias/player_mp3_mini.swf

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