So. I learned today that Leonard Cohen had died earlier in the week. It was not entirely unexpected – in fact, it had sort of been announced a few weeks ago. Yet, I have so much emotional baggage riding on his songs; there’s a great sense of loss. Continue reading
(I’m trying to capture some of my Facebooks posts from the “fill FB with music” thing that’s popular in August 2014. I won’t promise to do all of them here, but some are worth keeping).
Wall of Voodoo is yet another somewhat obscure band from the “new wave” / post punk era. Their pop-tinted new wave often sounded like a blend of Devo and The Stranglers. Never had much of an audience in Europe, but in particular the early albums are are definitely worth a listen if you can find them.
This one of my all-time favourite songs. It’s a song about a guy we all know, and the lyrics are so perfectly evil. At the same time, it’s a wonderful meta-lyric; it’s a thematic song about an entire breed of hard-boiled rock’n’roll songs, and it strikes an entirely loveable, sarcastic tone in commenting on a type tone of songs and bands. Again, we all know those bands.
To me, Don Pardo was always that voice on Zappa in New York, blending perfectly into the weird mix of pop, genius, misogyny, and head-desk humour that make us this classic album. It was only after the internet and youtube that I learned who Don was, and discovered gems like the performance above, from Saturday Night Live.
It’s been a week, and I should have posted earlier, etc. etc. But…
Bob Casale, guitarist, keyboard player, and founding member of Devo, died last week. Bob2 (as he was known) was key to the unique sound of Devo, in his role as both musician and sound engineer on all the original Devo albums. Continue reading
On 11 September 1973, Salvador Allende was ousted in a military coup d’etat, ending 48 years of democratic rule in Chile. In his place, Chileans got 17 years of Augusto Pinochet and a nightmare persecution.
40 years. We have other enemies now, and smarter bombs. Continue reading
I first became aware of George Duke as a member of Zappa’s “Roxy & Elsewhere” band, and I quickly got to love his funky attack, his near-perfect licks, his humour, and his all-around exceptional musicianship. Continue reading
