Weekend in Raleigh

Pat’s summer tour for 2013 started in Raleigh this weekend. We had a wonderful visit with friends whom we’ve known for 25 or more years. Sam prepared an excellent 8-person dinner. We learned a bit about Dan’s latest film products including one on Spanish in the Carolina’s). We also had a fine meal at Gonza Tacos y Tequila in Raleigh.

Saturday night we visited NC Museum for one of the summer concerts. It was our first visit to the venue since seeing Delbert there in 2006. Doug Paisley opened with a nice acoustic set. Clean, left-handed guitar, good lyrics, and a good voice.

After Mr. Paisley’s opening set, Glen Hansard came on with a ten-piece band (Leon filling in on keyboards; strings & horns; I missed the horns in my photo). On a beautiful evening, Mr Hansard and his band played a great, extended show to an appreciative, sometimes-singing-slong audience.

Great weekend!

Yay, grads!

Randall Munroe’s take on
post-secondary majors.

Over on XKCD (one of my all-time-fave cartoons), Randall Munroe has done it again. He’s produced another marvelous interpretation of the state of the world. Just while I’m finishing up the review of my students’ final exam work and am looking forward to commencement exercises, he’s rendered a cool commentary about higher education that comes flitting through my experience like a butterfly…or is it shooting through like a meteor…or cannonball?

Guide To This Post: (1) Read the XKCD cartoon. (2) Return here and then

La-la-la Labor Day. Let’s sing along

It’s just a marvelous day to remember that most of us, even we professors, are working stiffs. So, I was listening to some music that made me wiggle, shuffle, clench my teeth, stamp, say “arrgh,” and smile. Here are a few of those tunes with links to performances by certain artists (but there’ve been many others’ covers of these, too):

• Union Made by the New Harmony Sisterhood Band
• Joe Hill by (good golly!) Paul Robeson!

Singing justice words

In “Judges hand down the law with help from Bob Dylan,” Carol J. Williams explained that Bob Dylan is the most-often quoted lyracist in legal publications. Ms. Williams, who reports for the Los Angeles Times, focuses on the legal writings of Judge Robert S. Lasnik, but she also covers other jurists’ holdings and opinions and digs into the work of other legal scholars, too.

For example, Ms. Williams refers to the work of Professors Michael Perlin, “who has used Dylan lyrics as titles for at least 50 published law journal articles,” and Alex Long, “who has researched the penetration of political songwriting into the legal system.”

HB, Mr. Lennon

Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout… John Lennon’s birthday. So, this year he’d have turned 70 years old. I wonder what his voice would sound like at this age. I wonder what his lyrics would be. Anybody wonder if he might have paraded about naked with saggy skin while weary his OBE medal?

HB again, Sam Cooke

On this day in Clarksdale, MI (US), Sam Cooke made his debut. I suspect that his first solo wasn’t quite as pleasant as his many later vocals, but it was probably a sweet sound for his mother. Fine songsmith, wonderful voice, and a lot more.

If he’d lived ’till now, he would have seen the changes that came. It’s been a long time coming, and more needs to come.

I remembered to post notes about his birthday in 2007 and 2008, but I missed 2009.

Lucinda Williams was here

Lucinda Williams

Lucinda Williams played the C’ville Pavillion 26 September, rocking the appreciative crowd and the rain. It was the third in Pat’s summer concert series, though summer’s officially ended now, and definitely worth the price of admission.

Ms. Williams ordered the set of songs chronologically by album, starting with Rambling and progressing to Little Honey, announcing each before performing it. It included “I Lost It,” “Something About What Happens When we Talk,” “Drunken Angel,” “Tears of Joy,” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top” as well as many more songs than I can remember.

She wore a multi-fabric ballcap with a bill that hid her eyes. She announced her marriage one week earlier, and she brought a couple onto the stage, where the man asked the woman to marry him.

Ms. Williams’ band, Buick 6, performed a brief set of its own before backing her. Initially I thought we were going to get an arty, indulgent rock sound, but after a couple of songs I began to enjoy their work. They were very tight and strong.

Rain fell throughout the performance. It ran off the Pavillion’s fabric roof on both sides and soaked the seating in the grassy area at the back. Probably the weather reduced the size of the crowd. Fortunately, Pat had secured row-2 seats for us.

Talent at the beginning

Emily Elbert’s talent is very impressive. I just stumbled on her because of a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me,” and I bought her debut album within minutes. Great guitar. Good lyrics. Fine singing. Sheesh! Here’s a link to her Web site, and here’s a video of her cover of Ms. Mitchell’s song, but also see her covers of others’ songs (e.g., the late M. Jackson’s “Thriller,” John Lennon’s “Oh Darling”) and then listen to her originals.

George Martin on recording the Beatles

Thanks to Christopher Ave over at Music for Media, I learned of an interview with George Martin, the person who recorded the Beatles songs.

Here’s a wonderful BBC radio piece that includes interviews with Beatles producer George Martin and an Abbey Road engineer who worked on the remastering project. It really highlights Martin’s considerable influence on the band and his contributions to the recording.

Sadly, the full interview is no longer published, but there are snippets of it available. One can hear those snippets at this BBC Radio 2 link. Link to Mr. Ave’s post; explore around there, as there’re plenty of good posts.

My Fool Heart’s breaking out

Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees

When Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees played Fridays after Five on (surprise!) Friday, Mr. Waive announced that he and the band are featured in a soon-to-be-completed movie called, “My Fool Heart.” It’s billed as a comedy, though the story has a dark-sounding basis at (ahem) it’s heart.

MY FOOL HEART is the story of a down-on-his-luck musician whose estranged wife hires two men from London to kill him. Jim Waive, the star of the film, is in real life also the leader of a four-piece country band, Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees.

The movies is full of music and includes acting turns by a host of music legends including Dr. Ralph Stanley and Wayne Henderson.

The film is set in Charlottesville, Southwest Virginia, and Nashville.

Looks like this could be fun to see, and to hear.

The photo here shows the band playing playing at the Bel Rio. It’s available as a free download from the Web site for the movie. And, yes, there’re Web sites for “My Fool Heart” and for Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees.