Terrible Love Songs

Clarksdale, Mississippi - 'Home I'll Never Be'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:10:00 +0000

If you follow my twitter account, you might have seen that Mrchalky and I recently took a road trip from Baltimore to New Orleans. It was quite a long way (the equivalent to 1/10th of the circumference of the world) and we did it in just over 2 weeks. We drove through tornado ravaged towns, defunct coal communities, past cotton fields, old plantations, national parks, race courses, bourbon distilleries, swamps and even a baby bear and a squashed baby alligator.

As we passed from state to state, the music on the radio went something like this: Rap/R'n'B -> Bluegrass -> Bluegrass Gospel -> Country -> Rock'n'Roll ->Blues -> Jazz.

I got introduced to hot tamales and juke joints in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and the best margarita I've ever tasted in Kentucky. Indiana gave us a home for the night, as did our lovely friends in Blacksburg, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland. We stopped our car for a moment to figure out which part of West Virginia we were in, only for a woman to approach our window to ask us for our order for drinks and something for lunch. America! We saw Low play in the amazing Louiseville palace. We got inadvertintly sucked into Elvis's childhood home in Tupelo, Tennessee, and saw a lot of drunk people dancing in Nashville. We stopped off the Natchez trace in Alabama for a picnic and saw swimming snakes and 'disappearing' turtles. The trip ended up in Lousiana with more Jazz than you could shake a stick at, oysters at $3 a dozen, racer snakes and plenty of sneaky gators. I loved it all apart from the snakes.

Clarksdale, Mississippi was the music highlight of the trip, although a night in an uptown bar in New Orleans and of course, the Low concert ran close seconds. Clarksdale is a crazy place. By day, the town looks like nothing more than a fading homage to times past. Many of the shops and homes are boarded up with paint peeling everywhere, collapsed roofs, plants growing through the floor, that kind of thing. It has the feel of a place that everyone has just upped and left, and that is in part exactly what has happened. Many left in what is known as the The Great Migration to the north in search of greater economic opportunity during the 40's/50's. Mechanical cotton equipment replaced jobs and many other social problems made people want to leave in search of a better life. You can't fail to visit the Mississippi delta without getting one hell of a history lesson.

As far as musical history goes, Clarksdale is basically the home of the delta blues. Names such as Sam Cooke, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Johnny B. Moore, Ike Turner and Muddy Waters to name but a few, have all lived in Clarksdale. Ike Turner wrote 'Rocket 88' while staying at the Riverside Hotel (see photo below). This is considered by many to be the first rock'n'roll song. He also used to work at The New Roxy theatre back in the 40's (see photo below). There is really too much musical history to do it justice in this blog post.

By night, Clarksdale still has the delta blues pulsating through it's ramshackle looking juke joints. We ventured out to Red's juke joint for some Monday night blues having just missed a big weekend festival hosted all over the town. We were quite lucky because Monday night is usually a pretty quiet night, but Red's was putting on an evening in memory of their old friend, legend and regular performer, 'Big Jack Johnson'. Red's was about as laid back as you could get. You could help yourself to some bbq out the front, there was a guy dunking some kind of fish in a batter and then frying them in a tin of hot oil. The bar had a few bottles of beer you could buy, if you wanted hard liquor you had to bring your own. We sat near the back taking it all in. A guy sitting near our table was invited to pay his respects and join the band on stage. It just so happened he was another local bluesman. You just never knew who you were sitting next to. I caught the owner, Red, laying back on a couch right next to the stage while the band was playing, possibly the most chilled out person I've ever met. What a hero to be running a place like that. He's the kind of person you want to keep going for ever.

I could go on, but I'll save it for another time. I wanted to get something up on the blog to share with you the awesome experience that was Clarksdale, Mississippi. The town does have it's problems for sure, but getting a glimpse of it's history coupled with it's fantastic juke joints is something I would recommend any music fan to visit at some point in their life.

Smokin.

Riverside Hotel, Clarksdale in operation since 1944. Blues legend Bessie Smith died here in 1937. Ike Turner wrote Rocket '88 here. John F Kennedy Jr stayed here in 1991.(Read more)

Riverside Hotel - You can stay here.

Riverside Hotel

Me playing my gee-tar in our shack in Clarksdale

Keen Clarksdale kitty visiting our shack

Flat Mississippi

Clarksdale

New Roxy, Clarksdale

W.C. Handy Marker, Clarksdale

Wade Walton's Barber Shop - " Wade Walton was a unique individual having spent his entire life in Clarksdale, cutting hair and slapping out blues rhythms on his razor strap. A barber for 55 years Wade has probably known more blues performers and has performed for and with more blues performers than anybody else around the Clarksdale area." - Delta Musicians

Gritty Clarksdale

Former location of Sarah's Kitchen, Clarksdale

Nature taking back this empty shop building

Former Stackhouse Records, Clarksdale's most famous blues record shop, now defunct. Cat Head record shop took it over but also didn't make it. It looks like a boat and apparently it was one?

Typical collapsed roof in a shop in Clarksdale

Ground Zero Juke Joint - Morgan Freeman's club, Clarksdale.

Ground Zero, Clarksdale

Delta style Hot Tamales - So tasty.

Red's

TCB at Red's

TCB's bodyguard at Red's

Sunset at Clarksdale

M Ward @ The Leicester Square Theatre & 'A Wasteland Companion' Stream

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:03:00 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of seeing M Ward play at the Leicester Square theatre in London. Anyone who has ever been there will know it's a pretty intimate venue so I always knew this was going to be a bit of an extra special opportunity to see the maestro at work.

Over the course of the show we were treated to a mixture of his classics mixed with a sprinkle of songs from his soon to be released album, A Wasteland Companion. No backing band meant fairly stripped down renditions of songs; 'Me and My Shadow' sounded almost like a different song compared to the album version. 'Poor Boy, Minor Key' sounded divine as did 'Helicopter' and the awesome looking 'Duet for Guitars #3' where he gets his fingers into the kind of shapes that would make many a guitarist weep.

As with all good shows, it was over too fast. I've seen M Ward play 3 times now and each time has been an absolute pleasure. I highly recommend you listen to his new album which is streaming for a limited time over on NPR. I'll write more on that soon.

Bill Withers - 'Grandma's Hands'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:58:00 +0000

If there's one thing I'm certain of in this world it's this, Bill Withers sure can sing. Flicking through the TV channels on Saturday night, I stumbled across a BBC4 program called 'Bill Withers - In Concert', filmed for the BBC in 1974. I was just in time to hear him singing 'Grandma's hands' and to put it simply, his performance is nothing short of perfect. His voice is soothing and his talent effortless. What I would have given to have been in that audience.

You can see the full 'In Concert' on the BBC iplayer here. For those of you who are not in the UK, here's a clip of that performance of 'Grandma's Hands'. He starts singing at about 1 min 20 but his intro explaining the song is well worth a listen.

You can also watch the really lovely documentary about Bill Withers' life called 'Still Bill' here (that's another iplayer link, sorry non UK people).

'John Maus' Days

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:31:00 +0000

Watching John Maus perform a free show at Rough Trade East a few months back left me needing a lie down. Pacing around the stage like a crazed animal while repeatedly banging himself on the head, John's live show is pretty out there. A girl who I volunteer with has also seen him perform and this has led to us sometimes refering to crazy days in the office as 'John Maus' days.

Since that show, I have found myself going back to his 2011 album 'We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves' time and time again. His cover of Molly Nilsson's 'Hey Moon' really is quite something. Take a listen.

Song: Hey Moon
Album: We Must Become The Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Date: 2011

Bonnie Tyler - 'Holding Out For A Hero'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:41:00 +0000

I love how videos from the 80's knew no boundaries, especially Bonnie Tyler ones. If ever there was an appropriate time to use the word epic, this is it.

Artist: Bonnie Tyler
Title: Holding Out For A Hero
Year: 1984

The Alabama Shakes @ The Boston Arms (London) 24/02/12

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Here are a few of my photos from The Alabama Shakes concert at the Boston Arms last Friday. I don't think I've stood in a crowd with that many smiley faces in forever, maybe I should make a point of listening to cheerier music more often.

My friend and I agreed that singer Brittany Howard sounded like she had swallowed Janis Joplin, she has an incredible voice, so very very talented.

So happy I went and excited to see what new songs they'll have to offer next time they're in town. What a great way to end my fairly long gig drought.

Mean Mondays - Tennessee Ernie Ford : 'Sixteen Tons'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:35:00 +0000

[http://youtu.be/zUpTJg2EBpw]

Artist: Tennessee Ernie Ford
Song: Sixteen Tons (1955)

A much covered song, Tennessee Ernie Ford's version is my favourite.

R.I.P. Chris Reimer

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:44:00 +0000

Just heard the sad news that Chris Reimer, the guitarist in Calgary based indie rock band Women, passed away in his sleep yesterday. He was 26.

Here's a photo I took of Chris performing with Women at Pure Groove Records back in 2008. Women formed back in 2007 and released 2 albums before going on permanent hiatus in 2010.

The Pure Groove Record Store is no longer open and Chris Reimer is now sadly gone. How things change.

Morgantown & Why I Might Never Visit

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:10:00 +0000

Until a few moments ago, Morgantown was a fictitious place that existed solely in Joni Mitchell’s Morning Morgantown song, or at least that’s what I thought. It turns out over 70,000 people call it home with 29,000 of those being students at the University of West Virginia (US). Apparently it was a short time spent studying at this university that provided Joni Mitchell with her inspiration for the song. Puh! Shows what I know!

I have always been particularly fond of Morning Morgantown. Joni’s lyrics paint vivid images of a 1960's American town at the beginning of its day. Sleepy people ride around on buses, there are little cafes where you can pass time sipping "tea and lemonade", you might "wink at total strangers passing", and buy "a wooden bird with painted wings" (?!). Although Joni confesses she could be describing any town, "Morning any town you name, Morning's just the same", Morgantown is the one she chose to sing about and having not been alive to experience 1960's America, it's sounds like the kind of town that I think I would have liked to have woken up in back then. It's for this reason I’m not sure I'd ever be able to bring myself to visiting present day Morgantown. It’s not that I think there would be anything wrong with the town, I just wouldn't want to shatter the image of the place my mind wonders to whenever I listen to the song. Until today, Joni's Morgantown only had a population of about 500 people. Oh boy, I already know too much. See what I mean?

Morning Morgantown is the opening track on Joni Mitchell's third album Ladies of the Canyon (1970).

[http://youtu.be/ZjgdzDi-pC4]

Django Django - 'Hail Bop'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:21:00 +0000

I keep spelling the name of my favourite new Django Django song incorrectly. It's spelt 'Hail Bop' not 'Hale-Bopp' as in the great comet of 1997 discovered by Mr Hale and Mr Bopp. It is still a tribute to that dirty great crusty gaseous snowball in the sky, but with a clever little play on words to catch people like me out when we're searching for it on the internet. I'm picking up little hints of Weezer meets Man or Astro-Man and I unapologetically love it. The song is taken from their recently released self titled album and is in the running as one of favourites of 2012 so far.

http://youtu.be/jVdvdxKeeiw

"Hail to the bop believe me,

Took your time and come back and see me,

I've been waiting here so long,

and now you've taken off again."

If Hale-Bopp survives it's trip around the sun without melting it won't be back until around the year 4588, by that time I'm fairly certain you, me and Django Django will all be kicking up daisies (or whatever flowers are around then). Maybe we'll have colonised the moon? The last time comet Hale-Bopp visited we hadn't even built Stonehenge. Amazing.

[Photo: Comet Hale-Bopp E. Kolmhofer, H. Raab; Johannes-Kepler-Observatory, Linz, Austria (http://www.sternwarte.at)]

M Ward - New Song - 'The First Time I Ran Away'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:45:00 +0000

You know it's a good year when M Ward releases a new album. Here's a song called 'The First Time I Ran Away' from his forthcoming album, A Wasteland Companion out on April 10th. I can't wait to hear the whole album and to see him at the Leicester Square Theatre in March. His EOTR performance was up there in my top 5 shows of last year. This guy can play.

[www.mwardmusic.com]

Simon & Garfunkel

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:23:00 +0000

I've recently slipped into a Simon & Garfunkel phase. I think I was rearranging my wardrobe and I had a sudden urge to put on Bookends, I blame my wooly cardigans. Any way it got me thinking about which of their songs I like the most and so I put together this list.

In no particular order:

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Flowers Never Bend in the Rainfall
Homeward Bound
Sound of Silence
I am a Rock
El Condor Pasa
A Hazy Shade of Winter
Bridge Over Troubled Water

I always feel that Elmo or Big Bird should have joined them in this video for Feelin' Groovy.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band - 'The Right One'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:32:00 +0000

I like this! The Right One is the latest disco-tastic offering taken from The Phenomenal Handclap Band's new album, Form and Control, due out on February 13th.

NPR explains the background of the song here. Think Logan's Run.

[February and March tour dates]

Peter Broderick - http://itstartshear.com (spoiler alert! video feat. cute cats & ten pin bowling)

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:41:00 +0000

*UPDATE* -Hear the new album streaming over on the The Line of Best Fit website

The soothing tones of Peter Broderick will be caressing our ears once again with the release of his second album on February 20th. He's called it http://www.itstartshear.com and it will have a physical release even though the name of the album might suggest otherwise. Peter explains why on http://www.peterbroderick.net/:

"How do you feel about music downloading?

It is a common question addressed to musicians and one that I have been asked several times in interviews. My response has always been that it doesn’t bother me. It is unavoidable. And in the best case someone who downloads an album and likes it might consider buying it at some point, or they might come to a concert and buy it directly from me at the merchandise table.

What does bother me about downloading is how most of the time the listener doesn’t have access to the artwork and/or text that comes along with a physical copy. Perhaps for many people this doesn’t even matter, but personally I have always felt a great satisfaction from having an image and some words by the artist to accompany and enhance the sounds. To take in the full picture as the artist intended, which in my mind includes all the liner notes and artwork as well as the music .

So, http://www.itstartshear.com was designed simply to be a place where all listeners, no matter what format they obtain the music in, can easily access all the lyrics and notes and visuals which are meant go along with the songs. And as a title, http://www.itstartshear.com serves the music well by automatically becoming a link any time the album is written about. A link to the place where people can learn all about the album, directly from the source. A link that is the album."

What a good idea. Peter talks a lot of sense.

It Starts Here (the song) I find very relaxing, that is when I can manage to zone out of thinking about work every time I hear h-t-t-p colon slash slash... Peter might be the only musician who I can forgive for including such a lyric in a song. It helps that the video features cats, throwing stones in rivers and ten pin bowling which pretty much describes my perfect kind of day. Very much looking forward to hearing the whole album.

[http://www.peterbroderick.net/]

Nick Mulvey - 'The Trellis'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:44:00 +0000

If you ever want to hear beautiful guitar music, I can't recommend Nick Mulvey highly enough, the guy is so talented. Check out this interview I did with him a few years back.

Nick has been playing with the London based modern jazz group, Portico Quartet, and is now focusing on his solo career. Thanks to the thelittlestmojo.com for pointing out this lovely song of his called The Trellis.

Everyone should see this guy play at least once, amazing.

[The Trellis]

'Copper Blue' 20 years on

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:05:00 +0000

On hearing the news that Sugar will be performing Copper Blue in it's entirety at the San Francisco's noise pop festival next month, I just had to find my copy and give it a whirl. It's been 20 years since the album was released hence the special show and hopefully an International tour of the special show (please??). I still have my brother's CD copy but I think it's high time I committed this album to my vinyl collection.

Copper Blue is an excellent example of an album in the original definition. It flows. It works. There's a special driving timeless energy that I find so refreshing every time I listen. I used to find a similar quality in some of the early REM albums such as Automatic for the People and Out of Time. If I had to take one or two songs off the album and put them in a play list they would still sound good, but if you listen to them as an album they somehow hold more power. It's almost as if you have to go to planet 'Copper Blue' to get the full experience. Instead of just having one or two great tracks as a lot of albums only seem to have these days, there's an overall standard carefully crafted into every track on this album. From the spine tingling chord changes of Hoover Dam (my favourite), to the feel good groove (and tribute to the Pixies) of A Good Idea, Copper Blue is crammed full of so many little intricacies, subtleties and layers and yet it can still sound so simple.

I really hope to be able to see this show.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBqZHPTCV58]

'In this World'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:27:00 +0000

[Listen here]

London Short Film Festival - 'Severed Dreams' & 'I Don't Have A Lot To Say'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:22:00 +0000

Here is a lovely little short film about a imaginary robot friend. Directed by Ian Bucknole, it's the official video for Severed Dreams taken from the album Shoulder to the Wheel by Ruarri Joseph.

I saw this short yesterday evening at the Roxy Bar and Screen as part of the London Short Film Festival. Among a good three hours of high quality shorts they also showed the new Esben and the Witch video for Marching Song. The video features all the band members staring intently into the camera while become gradually more bruised and dishevelled looking. It's pretty gruesome stuff and fits the intensity of the music to a tee (T?). Other favourites included the incredibly complex Szofita Land by Szofita and the cute (and somewhat vicious) animated forest creatures of I Don't Have A Lot To Say directed by my friend Tony Johnson.

The London Short Film Festival comes to a close on January 15th.

Ruarri Joseph - 'Severed Dreams'

Benbo - I don't have a lot to say from Tony Johnson on Vimeo.

Dear Royal Festival Hall...

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:32:00 +0000

...I think you're awesome.

I like to use this place to write. I love the sense of space and they also do a mean hot chocolate and amazing concerts (sometimes free), what more could you want? I think I might have accidentally moved in.

'Wuthering Heights' - Why does Kate Bush sing "Heathcliff" in that way?

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:32:00 +0000

A had an interesting conversation about music with a lady in my office the other day and I've been thinking about it ever since. It all started with her asking me whether I'd read Wuthering Heights. I replied "Yes, which is more than can be said for Kate Bush when she wrote her hit song." This led to the inevitable comical renditions of the song and then onto a conversation about Kate Bush's pronunciation of "Heathcliff" or as she sings it, "Heath-Cleef".

The lady said that when she used to take classical singing lessons her teacher would encourage her to sing her i's so they sounded more like ee's. She said the i in Heathcliff is sung as more of an ee because it sounds better, i's are better avoided if possible because they don't sound as good when sung. This does sort of make sense and is the only plausable explanation I've heard so far for Kate's pronunciation but I can't find anything about it anywhere on the internet. Can anyone verify this?

In the meantime, here's Kate in that red dress singing her 1978 classic.

Baby Huey - 'Hard Times'

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Baby Huey, your song Hard Times breaks my heart. You sound so worldly and yet you were dead by 26.

Hard Times is from his only album, The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend. It was released in 1971, a year after he suffered a fatal heart attack.

This song still sounds so fresh, sometimes it's hard to believe it's 41 years old.

Colin Stetson

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:55:00 +0000

Colin Stetson is a genius and I love this Take Away show he did at the beginning of last year. If you're looking for a cheerful little jazzy number then you've come to wrong place. This is hardcore extreme bass saxophone that is especially amazing just after about 3 mins in and builds and builds all the way to the end by which point he looks as wrecked from playing it as I felt from watching it. I actually forgot to breathe. Eat his shorts Lisa Simpson.

Colin Stetson is also responsible for this biting cover of gospel blues guitar legend Blind Willie Johnson's Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes which features on his 2011 album New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges. Shara Worden from My Brightest Diamond is on vocals. It's serious stuff and a lot smoother in comparison to Blind Willie's much grittier original version. I like them both although after just hearing Colin Stetson's version, Blind Willie's makes me feel somewhat less like crying but just as moved. Make sense?

[http://colinstetson.com/]

Coachella 2012: Are you going?

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:31:00 +0000

Coachella, a festival I dutifully mention on here every year but have never actually attended. I guess there are two main reasons for this, I'm not good with intense heat (it's located in the Californian desert), and at $285 for a weekend ticket (plus flights from London and food etc), I'd struggle to justify the cost.

There's also the added quandary of buying tickets for a festival before any of the acts are announced, it's just not something I like doing and especially at that price. It feels a bit like an expensive lucky dip but if you don't do it you run the risk of not being able to get a ticket in the mad rush once the acts have finally been announced, as is happening this week.

Having said all that, the Coachella line up is usually pretty good with this year being no exception. M83, Jeff Mangum, St. Vincent, tUnE-yArDs, Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg, Beirut, Metronomy, M Ward & Pulp are just some of the many acts playing I'd love to see. Also, At The Drive-In and Refused have just announced they have reformed and will be playing.

Maybe if I can have my own personal climate bubble to move around in I could go one year, until then I'll just stick to the temperature I function at best, well below 100F.

The last batch of tickets go on sale for the two Coachella weekends this Friday. For more details read here and check out the Coachella Website if you can get on it, it's been down every time I've tried today.

Abbey Road Live Webcam

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:37:00 +0000

[Thanks to LargeHeartedBoy for bringing this to my attention.]

This is quite entertaining.

If you're a hardcore fan of The Beatles and have ever visited/lived in London, there's a good chance you'll have convinced a friend to take your photo walking over the pedestrian crossing outside Abbey Road Studios.

Fans re-enacting the front cover of The Beatles' 11th album, Abbey Road, (and risking their lives) happens without fail on a very regular basis. To see what I mean take a look at this live webcam on the Abbey Road studios website. I've spotted loads of people doing 'the walk' in the space of just 5 mins. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to live and drive around there!

Music fans eh?

[Abbey Road Live Webcam]

The Musicians Guide to Google +

noreply@blogger.com (chalky) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:59:00 +0000

I've been reading a few 'Guides To...' over the past couple of days including one calledThe Musicians Guide to Google + on musicthinktank.com.

I signed up to Google + a while ago and in all honesty hadn't really found much of a use for it until a few days ago when I googled my own name. Now usually I'm googling myself to make sure no-one is doing anything untoward with my identity and I also like to check up on what my namesakes are doing in the world (any one else do this?). On this occasion my Google + profile popped up as the #1 result ahead of the Brighton based dog photographer, the nurse, the doctor, the ceramist, my Linkedin profile and a photo I took of some heather in North Wales that made it to the BBC News website 5 years ago. Google +, for the moment, seems to push you to the top of the results list which is great if that is where you want to be. The Musicians Guide to Google + highlights this point along with a few other useful ideas such as the 'Band Pages' functionality and suggestions on how to use 'Circles'.

The long and short of it is, if you're a musician/band you will always need publicity. I recommend you read this article, get yourself an account and set up a band page even if that's all you do with it.

[Read the article here]

[Source: Largeheartedboy ]