'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
The Folk Process 2007 I
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
"Americana" or "Folk" or "Other"
The range of music between "Easy Listening" and "Dementia" is wide. I have many CDs that don't necessarily fall into clusters. I like to review related CDs in any one column, but sometimes worthy music isn't related to much other worthy music. At least, given my collection. Much of the music I've acquired recently has been from disparate sources. Many artists have been around for a few years and are feeling their oats with self-published CDs, giving concerts and/or trying to get radio airplay.
The ability of the masses to hear recorded music is less than a century old. The Edison Phonograph dates back to 1878, but it was developed to transcribe telegraph signals. Decades passed before the sound quality reached any sort of decent fidelity, and as long for the price to drop to where recordings were affordable for the masses. The first commercial radio stations were in the early 1920s, and they were live. Post-WWII brought tape to record for the radio, and the LP for home listening.
In the same time period between the Edison Phonograph and the LP -- roughly 60 years -- is roughly the same time between the LP and the iTunes store. Listening to digital music on an iPod is easy, cheap, and personal, with a selection that would have been unimaginable in Edison's time. I daresay that most iPods have more different pieces of music on them than someone in the 1920s heard in their entire lifetime.
What we gain in flexibility and variety, we've lost in sound quality. Too many get the majority of their music via a medium-quality mp3 using a poor quality audio bud. Better than a transistor radio in the 50s, not nearly as good as a high quality stereo system of the 80s. This is terrific for walking down the street and not bothering anyone, but not so good for the audiophile who likes to use their ears to the fullest. Maybe all those loud concerts and stereos, maybe it's trying to listen to the radio in a very loud car, but somehow convenience has replaced audio quality. Maybe this is the Revenge of MTV, where "seeing" a rock song while hearing the music over cheap tv speakers was as good or better than a true audiophile experience.
Forgive another discourse on technological change. I'm working to justify CD-quality sound (which isn't all that high a spec) over downloading a file, and help sell some CDs. I have a good computer sound system and a mid-range stereo, and my stereo is much better sound. Much music is iPw: iPod worthy. And much is also worth a true listen, as close to a live performance as you'll get without being there.
Still, I expect the fallout from the rise of digital distribution will be a concomitant emphasis on live music. You hear the shadow of sound through ear buds, then want to hear The Real Thing. Here are three CDs that both deserve listening in good stereos and who tour enough that you might have the chance to see them.
Isabelle Delage
The Inundation by Isabelle Delage is one of the reasons I became a music reviewer. The Inundation is such a wonderful album that we should be shouting about it from the rooftops. We'll have to make due with spreading the word on the internet.
Isabelle writes songs of suchpersonal intensity that I have no problem using her first name even though we've never met. The opening cut, "Mary's Rainbow", is beautiful and sad and hard to write about because I keep tearing up, so I'll use her words from the lyric booklet: "This is a fantasy song which came to me when I was reading about autism, deafness and a condition called synethsesia, a crossing of two or more senses in which a person 'sees' as bursts and twirls of color." A simple song, with guitar and backing vocals guiding you through Mary's senses as she waits for her father to return from war.
She put off writing songs for twenty years to raise a family. They are lucky to have her, and now so are we. Isabelle is all grown up now, and writes songs for grownups. In "I Never Knew", she tells of her discoveries, over time, about death, heartache and having children.
And nobody told me that a newborn babyThe journey from life to death runs through the death of her younger sister as a young woman, to the breast cancer death of an old friend. She has one song in French, her native language, which is conveniently translated in the booklet.
Would smell as sweet as hay
And melt my heart clear away
A tiny fist wrapped around my finder
Trusting me to know
The things it needs to live and grow
She also does something neat that I haven't seen in a long time. "Small Things" is the song she has on a radio sampler, and her CD version is longer... and better, with an ending coda in Swahili. A three language album! A simple arrangement, beautifully sung and played.
It's your turn now to take a bowThe Inundation is a remarkable first album, thirty years in the making. I'm tempted to say that you need a few miles under your belt before you can appreciate the journey, but joy and pain are universal for any age. Highly recommended. More than iPw (iPod worthy), these songs deserve a good listen to.
You have done all humanity proud
And though you think you work in the shadows
You are one of the world's greatest heroes
Don McLean
For most of us, the last time we thought about Don McLean was when Madonna covered "American Pie". Fortunately for us (and him), he's been touring and writing... and being written about. I hadn't realized he was the subject of "Killing Me Softly With His Song": Why wasn't I informed? In 2004 after 40 years in the business he was inaugurated into the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters' Hall of Fame. And sometimes he just likes to sing.
The Western Album, from 2003, is sandwiched in between 2002's You've Got to Share: Songs for Children and 2005's Christmastime. He's been stretching his musical chops. While he won't make you forget about Ledbelly or Garth Brooks, he does a very nice job covering old Western favorites ranging from Gene Autry to Tom Lehrer
He does a nice swing version of "I've Got Spurs (That Jingle)", though I still have never encountered the song that says "oh ain't you glad you're single". Trouble with women is further explored in Woody Guthrie's "Philadelphea Lawyer" (spelled that way, for some reason). The loneliness of the "Blue Prairie" is heard as he and his saddle pals sing along the trail. His chorus nearly yodels in "Song of the Bandit" and kids have fun singing along with "I'm An Old Cowhand".
"Lyndon Has A Bear Hug On Dallas" is about loving Texas and a road named after LBJ that goes around the city. More overtly political is Tom Lehrer's "The Wild West Is Where I Wanna Be" about atomic testing in the western desert. Still fun.
I bet Don McLean concerts are great. He has a wealth of material to choose from, his own and a wide repertoire. The Western Album probably isn't on his A List anymore, but it's recommended for fans of the genre and for those who want to keep up with a favorite artist with some iPw tunes.
The Old Ceremony
Our ONe Mistake by The Old Ceremony is the most recent release by a band recommended by a friend in the Carolinas. Django Haskins, lead singer and songwriter, says the group "draws their water from a deep well of music". The songs are good, but don't expect worldbeat; mostly straightforward American folk, with some interesting arrangements and the occasional song in Chinese. The Old Ceremony has a lush, folk, jazzy sound, like a big band backing up a Bob Dylan who can sing.
"Believer" is insistent jazzy funk with rap rhythmic lyrics, urging a woman to "make me a believer". Micky Dolenz, eat your heart out. "Poison Pen" urges us to take responsibility for our actions, citing The Declaration of Independence and such, admonishing our collective failure to live up to those ideals.
And the laws of this world
Were not handed down to men
They were written by our own hands
They were written by our own hands
They were written by our own hands with a poison pen.
"Radio Religion" is sort of the opposite of "American Pie", as the singer discovers the wide world opening up on the radio. The day the music music lived! "A love has turned to anger, all the gentleness has gone, baby, What Is Going On?" A mournful breakup, such plaintively.
They do a lot of live concerts, and their lush sound must be hard to reproduce. The eight people listed in the credits fill up a stage. But when it works, it's a full sound, and the lyrics are good enough to justify the effort. Recommended, and I hope to hear them in concert someday.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAUL KRUGMAN: Health Care Hopes (The New York Times)
All the evidence suggests that it has finally become politically possible to give Americans what citizens of every other advanced nation already have: guaranteed health insurance. The economics of universal health care are sound, and polls show strong public support for guaranteed care. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Froma Harrop: The High Price of Low Prices (creators.com)
China's factories are pretty soulless affairs. Into one end are fed sweatshop workers and the world's raw materials. Through their stacks pour smog and greenhouse gases. The local environment is hideous, and the industrial pollution is so thick that plumes of dust and aerosol particles are making their way to California. The products of this manufacture get stamped with familiar American brand names.
Quentin Tarantino: No U-turns (telegraph.co.uk)
Undeterred by his first film flop, Quentin Tarantino has reworked it into a chick-flick with car chases. He talks to Sheryl Garratt about his new girl gang, growing up, and his love of European soft-core sex movies.
Bill Clark: Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Grade: B+ (Fresh). Simultaneously a spoof, throwback, and tribute to the ballets of violence that precede it, Shoot 'Em Up is the guilty pleasure of the year.
John Bridcut: The KGB's long war against Rudolf Nureyev (telegraph.co.uk)
In 1961, Russia's finest dancer slipped through his keepers' fingers to defect to the West. But, years later, the Soviet secret police had their revenge.
Mick Farren: What, 'MAD' Worry? (lacitybeat.com)
Examining culture for over 50 years, the humor magazine still has no shortage of good material.
Nathan Lee: Videocam of the Dead (villagevoice.com)
George Romero's latest takes on the YouTubers; zombies preparing vlog response.
ZACK SMITH: John Waters on the mainstreaming of gay culture (indyweek.com)
After decades of notoriety, can anyone be shocked by John Waters anymore? Probably not: This year has been very good to the one-time underground filmmaker who has seen his 1988 movie Hairspray turned into a Broadway smash, and in turn, a hit mainstream Hollywood film.
Commentoon: Dissent (womensenews.org)
Nicole Hollander: Sylvia (womensenews.org)
Bush's Greatest Hits (youtube.com)
Reader Comment
IOKIYAR
HMMM. Wonder where the Republican Rage (i.e.- Norman Hsu) is over THIS???
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Senator Larry Craig and his Restroom Surprise
Such a cut up?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cool but sunny.
Assails Bunnypants' Big Lies
Richard Gere
Actor Richard Gere launched a broadside at the Bush administration when he picked up a lifetime achievement award during the San Sebastian International Film Festival on Sunday.
Discussing his recently released film "The Hoax," about a fabricated autobiography of Howard Hughes, Gere linked the small lies "that people don't take responsibility for" to the "big lies" that lead to history-altering moments, like the decision to invade Iraq.
Holding forth at a news conference, he also appealed to Chinese authorities to rise to the occasion of next year's Olympics by becoming an open society.
Richard Gere
20,000 March Against Junta
Burma
About 20,000 protesters led by Buddhist monks and nuns on Sunday mounted the largest anti-government protest in Myanmar since a failed 1988 democratic uprising, shouting support for detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
At one point a small crowd of about 400 - about half of them monks - split off from the main demonstration and tried unsuccessfully to approach the home where Suu Kyi is under house arrest. The monks carried a large yellow banner that read: "Love and kindness must win over everything."
The march raised both expectations of possible political change and fear that the military might try to crush the demonstrations with violence, as it did in 1988 when thousands were killed nationwide.
On Saturday, more than 500 monks and sympathizers were allowed past barricades to walk to the house, where Suu Kyi greeted them from her gate in her first public appearance in more than four years. The meeting symbolically linked the current protests to the Nobel laureate's struggle for democracy, which has seen her detained for about 12 of the last 18 years.
Burma
Uncertainty For Canadian Film & TV Production
Soaring Loonie
A steadily soaring dollar coupled with increased tax incentives in the United States has people in the film industry asking if the race to attract film production will intensify as Canadian producers struggle to keep business.
In a bid to attract film production, Nova Scotia recently did what many Canadian provinces are doing to help the industry as it enhanced its tax-credit system.
Premier Rodney MacDonald used the opening night gala of the just-concluded Atlantic Film Festival to announce the province was boosting its labour-based film tax credit to 50 per cent from 35 per cent. An additional 10 per cent will be tacked on for films shot in rural areas of the province.
The province already had an additional five per cent credit in place for companies that shoot three or more films over a two-year period.
Soaring Loonie
Willie's Sister Makes Debut
Bobbie Nelson
For the decades she has played in his band, Bobbie Nelson has been more than content to stay out of the spotlight that engulfs her younger brother Willie.
Now - at age 76 - the talented pianist is finally releasing her first solo album. The better known of the two Texas music makers jokes that his sister will never be the same.
"We're going to get her own bus and everything, fix it up with her own hairdresser, makeup and everything - just like Jessica Simpson," Willie Nelson said.
It seems unlikely that fame could change friendly, plainspoken Bobbie Nelson, who has honed her craft with brother Willie for about 70 years. It all started with gospel songs performed around the piano with the grandparents who raised them in tiny Abbott.
Bobbie Nelson
Founder of Planters Peanuts
Amedeo Obici
An Italian immigrant who grew his fresh-roasted peanut business from a small pushcart into a worldwide corporate behemoth has been recognized with a state historical marker.
Amedeo Obici moved to the United States at age 12, speaking no English. The peanut business he started in 1906 became Planters Peanuts, now owned by Kraft Foods.
About 100 people gathered Saturday outside an office building that served as the peanut giant's world headquarters from 1925 to 1961 for the unveiling.
"I don't believe many people know Planters began in Wilkes-Barre. This marker gives you a little peek at the story," said Andrea MacDonald, of the state Bureau of Historic Preservation.
Amedeo Obici
Political Persecution
All Saints Episcopal Church
The leader of a Pasadena church that had its tax-exempt status examined by federal officials because of alleged political activity has demanded an apology and clarification from the Internal Revenue Service.
Reverend J. Edwin Bacon told worshippers at All Saints Episcopal Church that IRS officials have dropped their probe into supposed political activity by the church. According to federal tax codes, churches and other tax-exempt institutions cannot endorse or oppose political candidates.
However Bacon said the IRS statement leaves the situation muddled, as the IRS reportedly told the church that its leaders had in fact violated tax laws when one criticized Bush Administration war policies from the pulpit two days before the 2004 presidential election.
Many Democratic Party members were livid because of the tax probe as numerous conservative churches that overtly endorse Republican candidates have faced no IRS review.
The All Saints Episcopal Church has formally asked for a Justice Department investigation into why political appointees within Justice to approach IRS officials, who work for the Treasury Department, to talk about alleged political violations by the Pasadena church during the 2004 election.
All Saints Episcopal Church
Wants More War
Darth Cheney
Vice President Dick Cheney had at one point considered asking Israel to launch limited missile strikes at an Iranian nuclear site to provoke a retaliation, Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday.
Citing two unidentified sources, Newsweek said former Cheney Middle East adviser David Wurmser told a small group several months ago that Cheney was considering asking Israel to strike the Iranian nuclear site at Natanz.
A military response by Iran could give Washington an excuse to then launch airstrikes of its own, Newsweek said.
Wurmser's wife, Meyrav Wurmser of the neoconservative Hudson Institute think tank, told Newsweek the claims were untrue.
Darth Cheney
Yet Another Bush Gaffe
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. resident George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader's death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.
"It's out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive," Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush's comments received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his administration's Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.
"I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
Nelson Mandela
Researchers Say Many Are Dying
Languages
When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets together, there's still no one to talk to. Native Australian Charlie Mangulda is the only person alive known to speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of extinction. From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said Tuesday.
While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them.
Five hotspots where languages are most endangered were listed Tuesday in a briefing by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and the National Geographic Society.
In addition to northern Australia, eastern Siberia and Oklahoma and the U.S. Southwest, many native languages are endangered in South America - Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia - as well as the area including British Columbia, and the states of Washington and Oregon.
Languages
Weekend Box Office
'Resident Evil'
"Resident Evil: Extinction," with Milla Jovovich again fighting flesh-hungry zombies in the third installment based on the video game, opened as the No. 1 weekend flick with $24 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Resident Evil: Extinction," $24 million.
2. "Good Luck Chuck," $14 million.
3. "The Brave One," $7.4 million.
4. "3:10 to Yuma," $6.35 million.
5. "Eastern Promises," $5.7 million.
6. "Sydney White," $5.3 million.
7. "Mr. Woodcock," $5 million.
8. "Superbad," $3.1 million.
9. "The Bourne Ultimatum," $2.8 million.
10. "Dragon Wars," $2.5 million.
'Resident Evil'
In Memory
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau, the master of mime who transformed silence into poetry with lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions that spoke to generations of young and old, has died. He was 84.
Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau breathed new life into an art that dates to ancient Greece. He played out the human comedy through his alter-ego Bip without ever uttering a word.
Offstage, he was famously chatty. "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop," he once said.
A French Jew, Marceau escaped deportation to a Nazi death camp during World War II, unlike his father who died in Auschwitz. Marceau worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children, and later used the memories of his own life to feed his art.
The son of a butcher, the mime was born Marcel Mangel on March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, France. His father Charles, a baritone with a love of song, introduced his son to the world of music and theater at an early age. The boy was captivated by the silent film stars of the era: Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Marx brothers.
When the Nazis marched into eastern France, he fled with family members to the southwest and changed his last name to Marceau to hide his Jewish origins.
With his brother Alain, Marceau became active in the French Resistance, altering children's identity cards by changing birth dates to trick the Nazis into thinking they were too young to be deported. Because he spoke English, he was recruited to be a liaison officer with Gen. George S. Patton's army.
Marcel's life as a performer began with the liberation of Paris from the Nazis. He enrolled in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art, studying with the renowned mime Etienne Decroux.
In 1949, Marceau's newly formed mime troupe was the only one of its kind in Europe. But it was only after a hugely successful tour across the United States in the mid-1950s that Marceau received the acclaim that would make him an international star.
Marceau also made film appearances. The most famous was Mel Brooks' 1976 film "Silent Movie" - he had the only speaking line, "Non!"
Marceau was married three times and had four children. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
Marcel Marceau
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