For many years Captain Beefheart aka, Don Van Vilet, had suffered from the debilitating disease of multiple sclerosis and Friday he succumbed to the disease at the age of 69. There is not a lot more you can comment about the legacy of Vilet than what has already been said through out the internet in the past 24 hours. Such an outpour of remembrance for Vilet throughout the world gives light onto what an influence Vilet was in the 60s, 70s, and the early part of the 80s.
Throughout the 60s and 70s, there was never a lack of abundance of blues/R&B-insipried rock. You had the popular groups such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, etc. You also had bands not thrusted in the limelight who ascribed to the same influences, such as, Ten Years After, Moby Grape, and many others. Point is, the 60s and 70s had an explosion of white folk putting out their interpretations of the music their black contemporaries created.
However, Captain Beefheart and his contemporary, Frank Zappa did things differently. They took all those influences that groups all around the world were becoming famous for, and made it weird, made it crazy. They took the doo-wop sound, took the blues/jazz/R&B sound and took it in directions never heard before. In the broad scope of avant-garde and experimental rock, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa were the pioneers in bringing such music to a much larger audience. And for that Captain Beefheart, along with Frank Zappa should never be forgotten. Here is a performance from 1975 with Zappa and Vilet doing the Zappa composition, "The Torture Never Stops".
Pt. 1
Pt. 2
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Richie Havens - Woodstock '69
Richie Havens is one of the long lost folk heroes of the 60s and 70s. After performing a 3 hour set at the Woodstock Music Festival when most of the performers were delayed in getting to the festival, Haven's popularity boomed and Havens had a moderately successful career going into the 70s. Reason for the large delay was that New York Highway 17 was completely closed down during the festival due to the large volume of people and cars coming to Yasgur's Farm in Bethel, New York. Here is the first song performed at the Woodstock Music Festival, "Handsome Johnny".
Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
Marching to the fields of Concord?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a musket in his hand,
Marching to the Concord war, hey marching to the Concord war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Gettysburg?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a flintlock in his hand,
Marching to the Gettysburg war, hey marching to the Gettysburg war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
Marching to the fields of Dunkirk?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a carbine in his hand,
Marching to the Dunkirk war, hey marching to the Dunkirk war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Korea?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M1 in his hand,
Marching to the Korean war, hey marching to the Korean war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Vietnam?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M15,
Marching to the Vietnam war, hey marching to the Vietnam war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Birmingham?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with his hand rolled in a fist,
Marching to the Birmingham war, hey marching to the Birmingham war.
Hey, it's a long hard road, it's a long hard road,
It's a long hard road, before we'll be free.
Hey, what's the use of singing this song, some of you are not even listening.
Tell me what it is we've got to do: wait for our fields to start glistening,
Wait for the bullets to start whistling.
Here comes a hydrogen bomb, here comes a guided missile,
Here comes a hydrogen bomb: I can almost hear its whistle.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
Marching to the fields of Concord?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a musket in his hand,
Marching to the Concord war, hey marching to the Concord war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Gettysburg?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a flintlock in his hand,
Marching to the Gettysburg war, hey marching to the Gettysburg war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what's that you see
Marching to the fields of Dunkirk?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with a carbine in his hand,
Marching to the Dunkirk war, hey marching to the Dunkirk war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Korea?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M1 in his hand,
Marching to the Korean war, hey marching to the Korean war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Vietnam?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M15,
Marching to the Vietnam war, hey marching to the Vietnam war.
Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Birmingham?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with his hand rolled in a fist,
Marching to the Birmingham war, hey marching to the Birmingham war.
Hey, it's a long hard road, it's a long hard road,
It's a long hard road, before we'll be free.
Hey, what's the use of singing this song, some of you are not even listening.
Tell me what it is we've got to do: wait for our fields to start glistening,
Wait for the bullets to start whistling.
Here comes a hydrogen bomb, here comes a guided missile,
Here comes a hydrogen bomb: I can almost hear its whistle.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Top LPs and EPs of 2010
Arcade Fire |
Its that time of year again, where folks all around the blogosphere flex their music listening prowess by throwing together a top ten/twenty/ninety-two list of albums of the respective year. And for me, I am no different. In 2010 we have seen an amazing amount of quality albums thrown at us with Outkast rapper Big Boi throwing out his debut solo effort, Arcade Fire taking Billboard by storm by rising to Number #1 in the album charts, and Damon Albarn throwing us a curveball with the new look and sound of the Gorillaz. Now here is my list of the top LPs and EPs of 2010.
TOP LPs
1. Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Cosmogramma |
2. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach |
3. Native - Wrestling Moves
Wrestling Moves |
4. The National - High Violet
High Violet |
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The Suburbs |
6. Teebs - Ardour
Ardour |
7. Curren$y - Pilot Talk I/II
Pilot Talk I/II |
8. Jaga Jazzist - One-Armed Bandit
One-Armed Bandit |
9. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid (Suites II + III)
The ArchAndroid (Suite II & III) |
10. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt |
Honorable Mention:
11. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
12. Delta Spirit - History From Below
13. Joanna Newsom - Have One One Me
14. Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
15. Blacastan - Blac Sabbath
16. Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
17. The Black Keys - Brothers
18. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
19. Yellow Swans - Going Places
20. 22 - Flux
21. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy
22. Gil-Scott Heron - I'm New Here
23. Brian Eno - Small Craft on Milk Sea
24. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - Ali & Toumani
25. John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up!
26. Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
27. Menomena - Mines
28. Gayngs - Relayted
29. Aloe Blacc - Good Things
30. The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
TOP EPs
1. The Tallest Man on Earth - Sometimes the Blues Is Just A Passing Bird
Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird |
2. Nails - Unsilent Death
Unsilent Death |
3. Freddie Gibbs - Str8 Killa
Str8 Killa |
4. Teebs & Jackhigh - Tropics
Tropics |
5. Nadja - Sky Burial
Sky Burial |
Honorable mention:
6. Castevet - The Echo and The Light
7. Flying Lotus - Pattern + Grid World
8. Dirty Projectors & Bjork - Mount Wittenberg Orca
9. Delta Spirit - The Waits Room
10. The War on Drugs - Future Weather
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Bobby Markos of Native Interview
Bobby Markos |
Q. So tell us, how does one become a connoisseur of soda?
Essentially anyone can be a "connoisseur", it is just a matter of knowing your flavors, your preference and knowing why you like things. It's good to know your area's specialties. It's also good to know some about ingredients and what makes each soda special. A lot of memorization but after while it just gets to be a habit.
Q. Do you make your own soda or plan on making your own?
I'm starting the process of learning brewing technique. I'd really like to get into the game in some point of my life, really push the limits as far as root beers and ginger ales go. I feel like there's a lot of ground to be reached still with microbrewing and fire brewing techniques. Hopefully I'll be able to settle down as a full time brewer at some point in my life.
Q. Now, these sodas that you showcase on your site, are they what you would call micro-brewed sodas?
Some are micro-brewed, some are fire-brewed, each brand differs. I think that's what sets brands apart and really opens the game up to anyone who can be innovative.
Q. Down here in the south the only soda that I have seen on your site has been Jones Soda. Is there more of a variety of different sodas in the mid-west?
The midwest is really rich as far as variety of specialty sodas go. We're lucky to have big cities like Louisville, Chicago and Milwaukee that have big breweries and put out some fine brands like Ale 8, Goose Island and Sprecher (just to name a few, there's scores more).
Q. Now with Jones Soda, they have been known to make some odd flavors like, 'Mashed Potatoes" and "Gravy". Do you know of any other crazy soda flavors out there?
With artificial flavoring the skies the limit with soda flavors. For example, i've seen chocolate sodas, chai cola, and other novelty flavors like bacon and such.
Q. Now, there are beer and wine snobs but, are there soda snobs?
I believe that a soda snob is someone who refuses to drink most mainstream brands and drinks exclusively bottled or speciality, gourmet sodas. Admittedly I'm a bit of a snob, but I still really enjoy Coke and Dr. Pepper.
Q. What are some of your favorite sodas that some of us novices should know about?
Ale 8 from Kentucky definitely knocked me on my ass, still one of my favorite ginger ales. Anything from Sprecher is near gold, they have a fantastic company and are really setting the pace for fire-brewed soda (try their cherry cola or their ginger ale). I'm also a huge fan of Dublin Dr. Pepper, which is Dr. Pepper still made at the original plant in Texas. It's hard to come by anywhere but there, but you can order cases off their website.
Q. With your website, budsnsuds.org, have you been contacted by any of the soda manufacturers about the good work you've done? Gotten any free soda?
I haven't yet but we're still in the beginning stages. Once we reach a certain level of followers and traffic I'd like to start reaching out to companies to see if they'd like to have regular reviews of their products. If music magazines can do it, so can I.
Q. Now according to you, what makes a good soda?
That all depends on what we're going for. If we're talking about dark colas, it's important to have a variety of "hints" of flavoring, meaning mixes of citrus, cherry and anything else you can think of. This way, the flavors will rise at different levels in the bottle depending on their weight and density, giving drinkers a well rounded drinking experience. For ginger ale and ginger brew, it's important to lay on the spice. I've found that the truest and best ginger ales are those that almost hurt to drink, leave the throat burning. They're good to sip, and are surprisingly delicious and enjoyable.
Q. As a Atlanta area native, I must ask. Have you been to the World of Coke? If you haven't and you do end up going, do NOT drink Beverly.
Unfortunately I haven't been yet, but I'd really like to. I think Coke is the greatest soda ever created just because of how versatile it is, it can go with anything and has stood the test of time.
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Be sure to check out Bobby's blog budsnsuds.org, and check out the newest in sodas around the country!
Be sure to check out Bobby's blog budsnsuds.org, and check out the newest in sodas around the country!
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