Shot Of Rhythm

[ Wednesday, February 22, 2006 ]

 

Hip-hop follow-up, Part 3

Picked up the new Scarface today, so I guess they weren't lying...

On the box right now: Richard Thompson, RT: LIFE AND MUSIC, Disc 1. More on this later...

Dove With Claws [2:39 PM]

[ Tuesday, February 21, 2006 ]

 

Hip-hop follow-up, part 2

So, today I read a news release that said that Pharrell's album is supposed to come out in April (though no date is specified). I also found out, in USA TODAY of all places, that Scarface's album came out today...

On the box right now: Ray Davies, OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES.

Peace...

Dove With Claws [8:41 PM]

[ Monday, February 20, 2006 ]

 

Lookin' at country

Last Saturday night, it was about 300 degrees below zero outside, so my Saturday plans fell through, and I was left covered up on the couch flipping through channels. (Why I didn't spend this time working on any number of writing projects escapes me.) Luckily for me, the satellite dish has RFD-TV ("Rural America's Favorite Network"), a station of mainly farm-related programming that - thanks to the benefaction of family-farm booster Willie Nelson - also runs old country-music TV shows. Nelson owns a huge library of these programs, and he allows RFD-TV free access to them to help boost their ratings. For the past few years, I've caught bits and pieces of shows from Porter Waggoner, The Wilburn Brothers, Jim Ed Brown, Don Reno, and Ralph Emery's Pop! Goes The Country. It's been nice.

They've recently started running a block of these shows on Saturday nights, and so two decades of televised honky-tonk came to my rescue. First we had Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley trading off on the Emery show (Jerry Lee Lewis seemed surprisingly restrained, until a wonderful moment during "Lewis Boogie" when I could almost see the fire return to The Killer's eyes). Then, The Wilburn Brothers (and their regularly featured performer Loretta Lynn) welcomed Crystal Gayle. Then Porter Waggoner (with Dolly Parton) said howdy to a very young Hank Williams, Jr., who was still in the "I'm gonna sing one of Daddy's songs" mode he started his career with. Finally, Don Reno's Bluegrass Festival (a more modern addition to the group) welcomed the wonderfully-named Cluster Pluckers.

It wasn't as fun as what I was supposed to be doing, but - on a face-freezingly cold night in southern Wisconsin - it was hard to be disappointed.

On the box right now: Charlie Louvin, GREATEST HITS. Found this disc for 3 dollars in a clearance bin. Surprisingly good stuff, reminiscent of George Jones. If and when I figure out how to turn this into an audioblog, I'd post Louvin's "See The Big Man Cry."

Peace...

Dove With Claws [8:43 AM]