KCRW Engineers’ Neighborhood

I guess? If I read correctly...Marvin was the first to actual release the track? If'n I'm wrong....I'm sure one of you smarty pants will fix it/make it all better...

This is one of those albums I've had forever and this popped during a Party....shuffle session...

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Kaiser Chiefs

Let's see if this works:

Once you click the image...you should be takne to a page where you can click a link to view the original.
All this just to show/say that I like the new home page. It shows new stuff added to your library which is cool...but what I really dig is that I can see what my friends are listening to real time and in the recent past.  It did this in the old version but I like this set up and it keeps friend tracks listed longer...giving me a better chance of snagging the good stuff. Ha!
Even if you aren't a subscriber, I think you can join the beta group at last.fm and eventually get access. I think that's how it worked for me (but honestly...no clue)

 07/04/2008 15:14:50  ♥ written by vu ()

Today is July 4^th, America's Independence Day. I have put together a collection of Americana/Roots music as theme. Some artists are not strictly in this genre, and to group them together might be unfair, so I suggest if you like what you read and hear, find out more about them on their respective websites.

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In The Dark

Bruce Springsteen

3 comments

Of course, when you think of "America", the one name that really comes to mind is Bruce Springsteen. Since 1973, "The Boss" have been representing the everyman with his American heartland rock music. He's probably best known for his album (and song), "Born in the U.S.A." at the height of his popularity in 1984.

The album tied for "Most Top 10 Songs from One Album" award, alongside Michael Jackson's Thriller and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, with - count 'em - seven songs: "Dancing in the Dark" , "Cover Me" , "Born in the U.S.A." , "I'm on Fire" , "Glory Days", "I'm Goin' Down" and "My Hometown".

With an amazing string of hit songs, it's actually not surprising that find out that Springsteen's albums consistantly hit #1 on the Billboard charts, with eight #1 albums: The River (1980), Born in the U.S.A. (1984), Live/1975-85 (1986), Tunnel of Love (1987), Greatest Hits (1995), The Rising (2002), Devils & Dust (2005), and Magic (2007). With the exception of Jay-Z, all of the chart-toppers are no longer around (The Beatles, Elvis, and The Rolling Stones), so this is a pretty amazing feat for an all-American New Jersey boy.

By the way, I have never seen Springsteen live, but from watching SNL and reading about it, I get the impression that The Boss and the E Street Band plays an amazing, live show, full of blood, sweat, and tear.

CORY CHISEL thewanderingsons.com ♥ myspace.com Cory Chisel - Home In The Woods 1 comment The EP I have here is called Cabin Ghosts, and it's listed simply as "Cory Chisel", but I believe the full, and correct, name should be listed as "Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons". There is also no cover art with the EP, so please note that the art that I used to represent them here is not the final CD cover. I tried looking up when the CD will be release, but I couldn't find any details of the details. I am assuming it will be release sometime in 2008 and/or only sold on tour. Listening to the EP, it sounds to me to be very Springsteenesque, especially when Chisel sings out, "The thunder roll, its angry heart, across my shoulders in the dark, maybe I'm losing ground" on "See It My Way". I am also guessing that the EP was recorded live as there's clapping from the audience inbetween the songs, but on some songs, the audio sounds too perfect (you can clearly hear everything, from backup singers to the quiet acoustic guitar). The song I was asked to use is "Home In The Woods", which I can understand as its lyrics and theme is about wanting to escape from the city and live in an isolated cabin in the woods - perfect for an EP called Cabin Ghosts. They are currently on tour with Joshua James. See tour information below. Jul 16 - The Intersection - Grand Rapids, Michigan July 17 - Club Cafe - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania July 18 - Radio Radio - Indianapolis, Indiana July 19 - Beat Kitchen - Chicago, Illinois July 20 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, Michigan July 22 - Shank Hal - Milwaukee, Wisconsin July 23 - Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, Minnesota July 24 - Waiting Room - Omaha, Nebraska July 25 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, Missouri July 30 - Toad Tavern - Denver, Colorado July 31 - Belly Up - Aspen, Colorado Aug 1 - Club Sound - Salt Lake City, Utah Aug 3 - The Triple Door - Seattle, Washington Aug 4 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, Oregon Aug 5 - Boardwalk - Orangevale, California Aug 6 - Hotel Utah Saloon - San Francisco, California Aug 8 - Casbah - San Diego, California Aug 9 - Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles, California Aug 10 - Rhythm Room - Phoenix, Arizona Aug 15 - Lawrence Memorial Chape - Appleton, Wisconsin Sep 13 - Red Rocks Amphitheater - Morrison, Colorado Nov 26 - New American Theater - Rockford, Illinois

SAMMY WALKER ramseurrecords.net ♥ myspace.com Sammy Walker - Another Sad Song About You 1 comment Sammy Walker is a folk/country singer/songwriter from Georgia (but I think currently in North Carolina?), was briefly popular from 1975 to 1977, with two of the albums on major label, Warner Brothers. It would seem he went into early retirement until 1994 with Old Time Southern Dream. Now, after 14 years since that release, he is back now with Misfit Scarecrow to be released on July 22nd on Ramseur Records. Walker has a very distinctive, southern, and clear, but aging, voice. Some of the melodies and lyrics really made me think of Bob Dylan. Since I don't have Walker's earlier works, I can only imagine what his earlier works might sound just like early Dylan. Walker's songs all tells little timeless stories, all told through the eyes of the protagonist. Sometime that person might be a corpse ("Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone") or a scarecrow ("Misfit Scarecrow") or a farmer ("Proud and Poor"), but they all tell epic tales. I really enjoyed "Another Sad Song About You", a song about running into someone from the past. It goes into great detail describing someone leaning on a lamp post: "a blue scarf around your neck, and a silver charm across your heart". Despite a timeless feel to the song, I did enjoy the modern references, in such lines like: "I heard about your brother, when the Twin Towers came crashing down." The country/blues song, "Someday I'm Gonna Rock and Roll", ends the album with a humourous tone. I get the impression that the song is really about Walker, himself. He must get a lot of people telling him he should do rock and roll, but he scoffs at it. If you want to make it today, You're gonna have to rock and roll If you want the big money You're gonna have to rock and roll I guess even old Jimmie Rodgers Would've even had to sell a piece of his soul Had to sell a piece of his soul. In case you were wondering why that line is so funny, it's because Rodgers is often considered as the father of country music.

FISKUM fiskum.com ♥ myspace.com Fiskum - Tom Wait's Bar and Grill Fiskum is actually from Minneapolis, and his album, Darkness/Fire/Dancing was released late last year. The first time I heard "Tom Waits' Bar And Grill", I thought of Harry Chapin's "Taxi", especially when he sings "and she says 'hi, how'd you been? I saw your call, I stopped on in'". With the title, you can tell that he is giving a little nod to Tom Waits, and, like Waits, paints a story about a chance encounter with an old close friend at a bar & grill. I later read Fiskum got the idea for the song from a short conversation with someone trying to "explain to his new girlfriend why he was seen hanging with his old flame." He wrote notes for each of his song on his music page, and this is for "Tom Waits' Bar & Grill": Northeast Minneapolis has dozens of neighborhood taverns where locals gather after work for a beer, for burgers, and maybe a game of billiards or darts. Places where softball teams hang out after the game. I used to frequent these bars often, and I visualize one of them – Tommy’s Bar–as the setting for this song. Its about a man who is torn between his old flame and his new girlfriend. There is a surprise at the end of the album, it's another version of "Winter Moon". The song looks like a live recording, and it's sung entirely in Welsh by an uncredited woman. You can find Darkness/Fire/Dancing at your usual location on Amazon and iTunes.

JOSEPH ARTHUR josepharthur.com ♥ myspace.com Joseph Arthur - Slow Me Down 1 comment Peter Gabriel saw something in Joseph Arthur, because he signed Arthur on his record label, Real World. Although he's no longer on Real World, he's releasing a ton of material on his own record label, Lonely Astronaught. Already this year alone these are the EPs that's already released: Could We Survive (Mar 2008), Crazy Rain (Apr 2008), Vagabond Skies (Jun 2008), and Foreign Girls (July 2008). At the rate he's going, he'll probably have three or four EPs released before his album, Temporary People comes out September 16th, 2008. I actually have only two of the EPs, Could We Survive, which seems to have a (anti?) war theme, and his latest, Vagabond Skies. There's something perfectly folk and pop on the lead song, "Slow Me Down", that you should check out. As you can hear on that song, it's not completely traditional folk. Such beat/loop machine can be found in the background of "Pretty Good Company" and "Second Sight". It's also nice to hear Joan Wasser (violins) doing some backup vocals on some songs, I hope she participate more in the upcoming album. I like what he's doing, bundling his limited art prints if you buy two EPs ($20). This is good for hardcore fans to collect his art, while at the same time give the second EP as a gift of music to their friends and family.

PS, this article took very long to write. There may be a part two later tonight.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com

and only bought one book!
I even impressed myself by borrowing a pen/scrap of paper and writing down the ones I want now...but will request through the library...

Bought:

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel

David Wroblewski

and requested from the library:

and looking forward to these releases:

Happy Independence Day to all the groovy US-ians!  Here's hoping by next year we'll have a country on the road to recovery....but even with all our problems...I'm still glad I'm an Uhmerican. (although being a true Englishman would be cool, too)

(No comment on the passing of Jesse Helms)

Already got the grocery shopping out of the way...wooot!

Trying to convince myself to NOT buy a book...but I think I'm fighting a losing battle.

Gonna whip up a BLT for lunch and then head to Starbucks (and probably Borders...heh)

Kids in America

Kim Wilde

Fuchsia Dunlop

I've been making delicious Hunanese chopped salted chiles for the last few months.  I've apparently been lacto-fermenting and didn't realize!  The recipe is in Fuchsia Dunlop's book "Revolutionary Chinese Cooking" if you're interested, although it's not the most complicated recipe--just chiles and salt.  As condiments go, salty, spicy, sour can't be beat.

Ok, so here's the recipe: 
 
1 lb very fresh red chiles
1/4 cup salt
 
1)  Wash the chiles and dry thoroughly.  Cut off their stems and bottoms and chop coarsely with the seeds.  (Wear rubber gloves if you're sensitive.)  Place the chopped chiles in a bowl.
 
2)  Add 3 and 1/2 tablespoons of the salt to the chiles and mix thoroughly.  Place in a glass jar and cover with the remaining salt.  Seal with a tight-fitting lid.  Leave in a cool pace for a couple of weeks before using, then store in the refrigerator once opened.  The chiles will keep for months.
 
Ms. Dunlop says this as well:  "(The chiles) are used in stir-fries and steamed dishes (steamed fish heads with chopped salted chiles is currently one of the best-known and most popular Hunanese dishes), and also is offered as a relish with noodles and other snacks."
 
I used short red jalapeno chiles because that's all I can find around San Diego.  I very rarely see long chiles ( I guess they're Korean or Thai) but never red ones--only green.  The red jalapenos have a pointy end and are pretty hot, but I can't say what the authentic Hunanese chile would be like, heat-wise. 
 
I basically throw a spoonful in with stir-fried tofu or veggies or whatever.  But the thing I like the most is to eat it with steamed, short-grained Japanese Haiga brown rice that I've mixed with a pickled mustard-green Japanese condiment called pickled takana (or karashi mentai takana).  You can find it in the pickle section of Japanese markets like Mitsuwa and it comes in a flat plastic puch.  It looks like a chopped up mixture of greens with a little red from red pepper (but it's not hot) and has sesame seeds, cod roe (although it doesn't taste fishy), and spices.  I don't know if it's supposed to get mixed with just-steamed rice, although I think I've seen bowls of something that looked like it at the ramen places, but I think it's a good way to get more veggies (pickled or not) into me and it's super tasty.  I just mix a spoonful of pickled chiles into my bowl of rice and cry my way through dinner.  I don't know what it is about the chiles I like so much:  you're chewing on some rice and get a little nugget of salty/sour/hot that is such a kick in the butt. 
 
So, I hope you try the chiles and let me know what you think and if you come up with another way to eat them.  Maybe I'll add them to my sauerkraut and make the world's tastiest Hunanese German weenie...
 
Jennifer

to config Adblock Plus so that I can still reply without disabling it totally? I've used just the regular Adblock but switched when I went to FF3 b/c it wasn't supported (I think it is now)...and its a pain to disable it every time.
I guess I can switch back to regular Adblock...if need be.
Thanks to any/all the smarter than me peeps!

20 Pearls (10) by Richard Tuttle

Notes from Richard Tuttle Lecture/ Naropa/ July 3, 2008, 1:30-3pm

[Richard wears bright hibiscus-pink button-down over sea-blue t-shirt--he's been reading poets in Latin--Ovid, Catullus, Virgil--Mei Mei wears interesting yellow-green snake-skin slippers with drab jeans silver watch cuddles toy poodle holds head in her hands]

*

The 3 Types of Writing Are:

1.  To dig something out.
2.
3.  To point toward what cannot be said.

*

from Richard Tuttle's reading (read in a very halting, cadenced voice):

"the flowering evil...  why should people be annoying to each other?...  there was never a romantic solution...  I can please myself then I can please you...  the rigorous green that makes the world round...  I do not do this to make sense...  sacrifice to the hidden gods...  I don't feel ok...  yes we can take it back...  colossal...  even the forest empty in what you say...  take care of something small...  we see with our own eyes...  my pleasure is there what would you do?...  a novel progressive enough...  I would do anything to know an angel like that...  even if no one watching...  they don't care because they're not artists"

Tally Hall at KCRW

On Wednesday, July 9 we are putting on a KCRW.com Presents Showcase at the Knitting Factory Main Stage with Tally Hall, Little Jackie and Salt & Samovar, hosted by KCRW Music Director and MBE host Nic Harcourt. You heard them first on KCRW and now we are bringing them to you live! This is going to be an incredible evening of music – don’t miss it.

Tickets to the showcase are $12 in advance and available at the Knitting Factory website. We want nothing more than to fill this room with KCRW fans. We also have some ticket giveaways so check the box on the bottom right at KCRW.com.

You can find more details at www.kcrw.com/lamc and below.

If you can’t make it out, don’t forget to tune in to Morning Becomes Eclectic on July 10 and 11 as we broadcast live from New York, with performances by Alla and Ximena Sarinana.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

WHAT:        KCRW Showcase - hosted by Nic Harcourt

WHO:          Tally Hall, Little Jackie and Salt and Samovar

WHERE:      Knitting Factory – Main Room (SoHo)

                    74 Leonard St
                   New York, NY 10013-3437

TIME:          Doors open at 8pm

TICKETS:    Tickets on sale now, $12 in advance

This is an all ages show!

More about the artists:

Nic Harcourt played Ann Arbor quintet Tally Hall years before they signed to Atlantic, who released their CD “Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum” in April. The band has been compared to everyone from the Beatles to the Beastie Boys, with charming pop, upbeat melodies and whimsical lyrics.  Little Jackie received their first-ever radio airplay on KCRW and will be celebrating the release of their new album “The Stoop,” which blends old-school R&B sound with a quirky hybrid of hip-hop and pop. Salt & Samovar recently made their second Morning Becomes Eclectic appearance, debuting brand new bluesy, foot-stomping songs. The band’s revival-like performances are striking and they sound just as good on record -- their 2007 release was among Nic’s favorite CDs of the year.