[ Friday, July 23, 2004 ]
I really hate the right wing
I know that's not a surprise to anybody who reads this, but yesterday and today I've felt an especially acute hatred for the bastards. Fuck Bush, fuck Cheney, fuck Ashcroft, fuck Wolfowitz, fuck Rumsfeld, fuck Jerry Falwell, fuck Trent Lott, fuck the ghost of Strom Thurmond, fuck all the sonsofbitches.
I literally dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, by the way...
On the box right now: Todd Snider, EAST NASHVILLE SKYLINE
Peace...
Dove With Claws [7:20 AM]
[ Thursday, July 22, 2004 ]
Some records I like right now
The Hives, TYRANNOSAURUS HIVES
-Why, you ask? Because it's a thirty-minute-and-five-second blast of pure garage-punk bombast, riff and rhythm. Besides which, the songs are way better than the ones on their previous records.
Bobby Rush, FOLKFUNK
-Why, you ask? Because not only is it one of those blues album that isn't boring, but it's actually really good.
Various Artists, PORKY'S REVENGE SOUNDTRACK
-Why, you ask? Because, despite its dubious sex-comedy origins, the Dave Edmunds-produced soundtrack features Carl Perkins, George Harrison, Jeff Beck, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Plant, Clarence Clemons and Edmunds himself partying like it's 1959.
Smokey Robinson, FOOD FOR THE SPIRIT
-Why, you ask? Because there's only one good track on the record, and it's a killer ("Jesus Told Me To Love You").
Steve Earle, "The Revolution Starts Now," "Rich Man's War" and "F the CC"
-Why, you ask? Because he's the king, and they're available streaming on
http://www.steveearle.com
On the box right now: Bobby Rush, FOLKFUNK
Peace...
Dove With Claws [3:32 PM]
[ Sunday, July 18, 2004 ]
"The Revolution Starts Now"
Listen to Steve Earle's new single, "The Revolution Starts Now," at the following address:
http://www.artemisrecords.com/steveearle_bio.aspx?abbr=steveearle
As you know, we at Shot of Rhythm are HUGE fans of Steve Earle, and, in that spirit, may I just say that this is another in a long line of Steve Earle tracks that are COMPLETELY FUCKING KICK-ASS. He can't lose, this guy...makes me wanna go practice songwriting. Thanks, Steve. Can't wait to hear the whole record...
On the box right now: Wyclef Jean, THE PREACHER'S SON, with the occasional internet spin of "The Revolution Starts Now."
Peace...
Dove With Claws [8:36 PM]
White people are weird
Why is Josh Groban popular? Because he's one of those big-throated singers whose style of Wonder-Bread operatic bellowing is "compelling" enough to make people forget that it's also bombastic and spleen-shatteringly
loud? I don't get it. Just like I haven't understood any number of white musical phenomena over the years, from Michael Bolton (who really looks and sounds like he's gonna rupture several vital organs every time he launches into a tune, particularly his versions of classic R&B songs, which are - for those who haven't heard them - the very definition of
wack) to Celine Dion (who simply needs to stop...STOP, GODDAMMIT! STOP!) to Journey and Kansas and all the other shitty rock bands who we critics and hipsters like to shit on at a regular basis...on and on and on.
Now, I'm aware that these artists (particularly the pop contingent) have non-white fans, and I'm also aware that there are plenty of non-white artists who traffic in steaming piles of shit that stink (pronounced "stank") just as bad as anything listed above, but the level of mind-numbing lame-ness (pronounced with extended vowels, i.e. "LAAAAME-ness") just seems rather depressing. Have y'all heard the great James Baldwin quote, from his classic THE FIRE NEXT TIME, about white music vs. black music? White vs. black music, Baldwin says, is not defined strictly by the race of the creator, but rather by the following: in "white" music, there are happy songs and sad songs, with very little emotional complexity. Emotions, like rhythms or arrangements, are sledgehammer simple, allowing for such phenomena (which even the greatest white artists, like Springsteen or the best country, fall prey to) like the mechanistic fist-pumping or dancing in formation (paging "Achy Breaky" or the "Macarena," god help me) that characterizes a white concert experience. "Black" music is more complicated, either in content or in presentation. This is a dichotomy which, although it's restricted by the same limitations of any such theory, is - as we say in academia - pretty fuckin' true. So expand your mind, goddammit. And stop dancing in formation.
On the box right now: Wyclef Jean, THE PREACHER'S SON. The preceding rant was inspired by two things: 1)Josh Groban on TV last night, and 2) Track 4 on this great, great record, "Celebrate," with Patti LaBelle, which is one of the best tracks I've heard - of any genre - in a long time.
Peace...
Dove With Claws [8:21 AM]
