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music of the weeks

First, a playlist:

Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road by Elton John
It's Over by Roy Orbison
Sweet Dreams by Patsy Cline
This Year's Love by David Gray
Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash
Times They Are A'Changin by Bob Dylan
Creep by Radiohead
Hallelujah by Brandi Carlile; I've even been listening to the Leonard Cohen version
Burn by Ray LaMontagne; check out his live from KFOG version (available from iTunes)

okay, so this isn't a list I've put together, but rather snagged and slightly modified from Brandi Carlile's list on Rhapsody: click here.

I would also add:

60 Years On by Brandi Carlile
Just Like a Woman by Bob Dylan

I've also been listening to:
How We Operate by Gomez
Conventional Wisdom by Built to Spill
Uptight by Stevie Wonder
Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield
American Music by The Violent Femmes
Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan
Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
Sinner Man by Nina Simone

Music by album:
I'm stuck on Mogwai's album Mr. Beast, especially track #4, Travel is Dangerous.  Great Hebrew studying music.  Speaking of Hebrew...I've got to get back to class.

more later.

24 May 1941

Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan. 

more later...

music of the day

Brandi Carlile: My Song
Live From Neumo's

The National: Daughters of the Soho Riots
Alligator

Mason Jennings: Be Here Now
Boneclouds

Bob Dylan: Train of Love (cover)
Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Road Trippin'
Californication
these smiling eyes are just a mirror for the sun

musik ist für die Liebe

Hello friends, here is my jan-feb music playlist:

1. Marching Bands of New York  – Death Cab for Cutie
2. Leap Year – Maria Taylor
3. Sweet Adeline – Elliott Smith
4. Use It – The New Pornographers
5. Wake Up – Arcade Fire
6. Shake Shake Tambourine (Black Tambourine) [Ad Rock] – Beck
7. Maple Leaves (EP Version) – Jens Lekman
8. Talk On Indolence – The Avett Brothers
9. On Your Wings – Iron & Wine
10. Follow – Brandi Carlile
11. Lead Me On – Ray LaMontagne
12. Love Love Love – The Mountain Goats
13. Casimir Pulaski Day – Sufjan Stevens
14. In the Sun (Gulf Coast Relief) – Michael Stipe and Chris Martin
15. Song to Woody – Bob Dylan
16. Dance With Me, Now Darling – Hem
17. Do I Move You (Version II) – Nina Simone
18. Hard Hand to Hold – Willy Mason

best.weekend.ever!

I'm finding it difficult to find the zeal to match the title of this particular post; coming off of vacation, especially an awesome vacation, leaves one tired and longing for that most recent respite.  Alas, weekends and vacations do end, even if they are the best ever.

We left on Friday afternoon.  Catie and I in her car and Colin, Jesse and Gill in Jesse's Jeep.  I can't verify this for the guys and Gill, but we had awesome tunes all the way up.  See soundtrack below.

After our fast-paced and dance-induced northward-faring expedition, we arrived in Barnum, MN, population 482.  Our first night eased us into our vacation.  We listened to an extensive amount of Bob Dylan, drank a fair amount of wine, ate a fantastic dinner of homemade pizza and the best and only wild rice soup I've ever eaten.  Our post-dinner activities included a competitive game of Trivial Pursuit.  The team of Catie, Jesse and Gill proved ultimately victorious, but honestly, they got by with a little help from their friends, namely, me.  To the chagrin of my teammate Colin, I leaked a few key answers.  Honestly, they would have gotten them right anyway.  We were joined toward the end of the game by Laura, who had to work before heading north.  In all, the game lasted 6 hours.

One might think that after a long drive, a great dinner and a 6-hour game of trivial pursuit, that we would all be headed for bed.  One would be way wrong.  Time was lost track of and we stayed up way past our bedtimes into the wee hours of the morn--er--day.  I think I tucked in around 5:30 a.m., Laura and Catie clocked in at 6 or thereafter! 

Having had a fair bit of wine to drink and having the somewhat fortunate yet somewhat unfortunate habit of waking early after drinking a fair bit of wine, I awoke at precisely 9:28.  I waited until I heard the pitter-patter of little feet before treading upstairs.  So begins our second day.

We had an eggs benedict casserole for breakfast that was made by Catie's mom.  After this we packed up and headed to Spirit Mountain for some skiing and snowboarding.  I did not wipe out once!  I did, however, nearly wet myself a few times.   I was thankful that I had recently picked up a helmet; I wanted to preserve and protect my reason and mental faculties, or what's left of them anyway.  (an added bonus: I was finally able to find a locus for my nerdy Jos Fritz Bücher sticker that I got in Freiburg.  It now resides on my sporty helmut.)

We came home, had an awesome mom-made veggie lasagna and watched Napoleon Dynamite and the Best of Will Ferrell-Saturday Night Live.  We managed to go to bed earlier, but it was 3:30 before I was in bed. 

Sunday, our last day up north, brought a yummy blueberry french toast dish, made by Catie.  Oh, my gosh, it was so good.  Afterward we watched the Mike Myers best of SNL and then played some broom ball.  Colin, Laura and I proved victorious and I proved to be a magnet for bruises.  We headed for the hot tub and then onto our drive to the cities. 

We got back, everybody but me played soccer and then we went out to O' Garas for some beer and some pool.   It was an easy, laid back and fun weekend, but a great weekend.  It was great to just to be up north, away from the city, on a lake and with great people.

As promised, the aforementioned driving playlist.  This is a best of:
The New Pornographers:
Use It
The Bleeding Heart Show
Sing Me Spanish Techno

Modest Mouse: Float On (strut inducing music at its finest!)

Ryan Adams: Oh My Sweet Carolina

Ray LaMontagne:
Trouble
Burn
Forever My Friend
Hannah
Lead Me On

Indigo Girls: Closer to Fine

Iron & Wine: Jezebel

Brandi Carlile: Hallelujah

Jeff Buckley: Hallelujah
(same song, same version, just different singers, both heart-wrenchingly beautiful)

New music from the weekend: (thanks JChristo)
Hem

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.

Interesting op-ed piece from the NY Times (read here) on New Year's resolutions and the negative outcomes of self-assessment in our attempts for self-improvement:

IT'S navel gazing time again, that stretch of the year when many of us turn our attention inward and think about how we can improve the way we live our lives. But as we embark on this annual ritual of introspection, we would do well to ask ourselves a simple question: Does it really do any good?

The title of the piece is fantastic: Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.   The title is, of course, borrowed from a Bob Dylan song (lyrics here) found on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album. 

albums of the year

Some of these will not be from 2005, but, nonetheless, they are my albums of the year, in particular order:

1. Ray LaMontagne: Trouble
2. Iron & Wine: Woman King [ep]
3. Coldplay: X&Y
4. Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism, Plans
5. Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde
6. The Decemberists: Picaresque
7. The Shins: Oh, Inverted World
8. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
9. Wolf Parade: Apologies to the Queen Mary
10. Nina Simone: Sugar in my Bowl (The Very Best of Nina Simone)
11. Brandi Carlile: Brandi Carlile
12. Beck: Guero
13. Youth Group: Skeleton Jar
14. Nada Surf: The Weight is a Gift
15. Jack Johnson: In Between Dreams

Honorable Mentions:

1. Kanye West: Late Registration
2. Bloc Party: Silent Alarm
3. Holopaw: Quit +/or Fight
4. David Gray: Life in Slow Motion
5. Rachael Yamagata: Happenstance
6. Ben Folds: Songs for Silverman
7. The Kings of Convenience: Riot on an Empty Street
8. Joe Purdy: Julie Blue
9. Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
10. The White Stripes: Get Behind Me, Satan

There may be some 11th hour additions and I might regain my memory and add some more.

lyric

this comes from Times They Are A Changin'

Restless Farewell

Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract, and bother me.
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face,
And the dust of rumors covers me.
But if the arrow is straight
And the point is slick,
It can pierce through dust no matter how thick.
So I'll make my stand
And remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn.

see full lyric here

I feel too young to listen to this song.  I thought I'd leave it on the shelf and save it for another time, but I know myself well enough to know that I'd have lost and forgotten this incredible lyric.  It's the same way I feel about listening to Joni Mitchell; I just don't have the experience that comes with age.  I reckon that that is what wisdom is.  Wasn't it Joni who, after many years, rerecorded her songs from yesteryear but with the sage of a woman who did eventually feel what it was she could only previously muse?  I know this Dylan song and whatever Joni songs I may have in my repertoire will incur different meanings as time passes, but this does not inhibit me from ruminating in them in my naïvete.

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger, who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland,
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling,
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'.
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.

The Scorsese documentary, No Direction Home, aired this week on PBS.  Because of this, I have been listening to a lot of Dylan.  The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll is found on the album Times They Are a Changin'.  Though this album is known more for its famous title track, this song should not be ignored.  The melody struck me first; simple and slight, it invited me to listen in.  As I continued to listen, however, I was drawn to the words.  This is not unnormal for a Dylan song.  I say this with a smirk, for his words are his gift. The number one complaint I hear about Dylan, and I do sadly hear many complaints, is that he can't hold a melody or that he sounds not unlike an injured cat.  I happen to be comforted by his vocal strainings, finding them, like his words, honest.  He sings with the sound of my inner songs, and I like that. 

In the documentary, Dylan insists that he did not write mere topological songs (songs about topics).  Though this song seems to contradict his claim, I think I understand what he is saying.  He wrote things about certain events that were not limited to those events, but spoke to the larger event that is life in a way that was not vague, but specific, not superficial, but deep.  He went deep inside the stories, asking questions no one thought.  The stories became subjective to him, almost as if these things had happened to him, but he remained objective, never letting his empathy detract from the story.  At the same time, he was just telling stories.

but you who philosophize disgrace
and criticize all fears
take the rag away from your face
now ain't the time for your tears

shambolic?

Bob Dylan -- Why the Fuss? on the BBC