Del Brummet's latest songs: Planet of Ice and Golden Nights

del brummet four years ago

Del Brummet under his nom de plume Isla Nubars, has posted his latest songs, The Planet of Ice and Golden Nights. Click here to here to listen. Planet of Ice is my favorite Brummet song since Evolution (which you can find in the same place). Del took music lessons from Milo Petersen for a long time but never made much progress. Milo--a longtime Seattle jazz stalwart, and my friend since I was two years old--was an amazingly inspirational and patient teacher. But it just never clicked. . .until a couple years later. All of a sudden it all clicked and Del began seriously woodshedding. He taught himself chords, and song structure, and started writing songs. It is always stunning what youth can do and learn with music and languages. Do I sound like a proud poppa? Well, I am.

I feel a little guilty for having been an influence in Del's upbringing. . .and the fact a few of his songs focus on aliens, religion, and other twisted obsessions of mine. But he has clearly taken what he needed from the father, and left the rest (callback from The Band: "you take what you need and leave the rest").

Guitars, percussion, vocals, and vocal overdubs by Delaney Curran Brummet.

Lyrics (and chords) to Planet of Ice:

C-Em-F-G

D
A 0 2 3
E 3
Crash-landed on a planet of ice.
We made a mistake, so we’ll pay the price.
Odds are that we are here to stay.
So we might as well make the best of each day.
[Chorus]
Am-G-E-D (AM)
WE ARE STRANDED AND WE KNOW IT!
BUT WE WILL NEVER SHOW IT!
THOUGH OUR TEMPERATURES ARE LOW, OUR MORALE IS HIGH!
WHY NOT BE REALLY HAPPY AS WE DIE?
Today we discovered a cave nearby.
We danced around and then stepped inside.
A monster lived there, his fur so long.
That he let us curl up with him while he sang a song.
[Song]
Am-G-E-D
LA LA LA LA LA LA L LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
With our homes far away and our space ship dead.
We sang and lived on this planet instead.
The monster taught us how to sing his song.
We taught the monster how to belong.
[Chorus]

[Here lead guitar comes in]
[Repeat chords for verse]
[song]

Lyrics to Golden Nights:

THE ISLA NUBLARS
ABDUCTED!
GOLDEN NIGHTS
Capo down 6
AM-C-(G-D-C-G)2
IiIIiIIIiIii Want to sail away in the sky, want to live in golden nights.

[Awesome]
Bb C D
Nooo frights no wooories
Bb C D
Noo plights no hurries
F Em
On a planet where light
Em A
is always shining

G-D-C-G)2
[Pre-Chorus] I want to sail away in to the sky, [Chorus] I want to live in golden nights.

Hills of old filled with memories untold, would green upon my coming there.
Apple trees would daily provide, all the while it warm out side. BECAUSE [Chorus]

AM-C-(G-D-C-G)
And iiii Would live a lie, if the price was forever golden skies. Id blast away to a place that never dies.
[Awesome] [Chorus]

I could live without the religions of the world; they shouldn't be the reason for your good
And to all the people who live life through their windshield, drop your keys, and pick up a guitar. BECAUSE I WANT TO LIVE WITH ALL OF YOU IN THE STARS!

[Awesome] [Chorus]
---o0o---

Back in Austin, Texas

It is crisp and rainy in Austin tonight. I've probably been here ten times and this is the first time it hasn't been balmy. The tapwater is actually cooler than lukewarm. And the town is quiet. Usually, all the outdoor bars are filled and at The Austin Motel, I can hear music booming from The Continental Club, and Guero's.

We went to Ruby's BBQ for dinner and then walked a few blocks to the Hole In The Wall (another favorite...one of the oldest bars in Austin, who have had many legendary performances on their modest stage. It is a hole, and it is great! Clyde & Clem's Whiskey Business a sort of alt-country jugband affair played.

Now, at 12:30 AM, I am watching a replay of the Democratic debate. It's kind of nice to see the three real contenders go head to head... Tomorrow it is a day of business, then fly back to Seattle where I will arrive before midnight.
---o0o---

Video: The Beatles perform She Loves You In Manchester in 1963

I will never forget the night when I was ten years old and The Beatles played this song on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was one of those extremely rare times when you think "nothing will be quite the same after this." And, for me at least, things never were. It led to a lifetime addiction, and their music and the people they inspired and competed with, and the next generation (now two generations!) took what they did, honored what they did, rebelled against what they did, and formed a soundtrack for a lifetime. I mean, yeah, I often cut away to other musical pleasures in the jazz, country, blues, bluegrass, classical modes. . . but The Beatles are the absolute Gold Standard. From them I learned about melody, sitars, flutes, strings, harmony, rhythm, ballads, suites, bridges, Aeolian cadences. . .you name it. For me, the music all springs from John Paul George and Ringo; even Beethoven!


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Wow! The Beatnix video: Stairway To Heaven

This is one reason YouTube is great, despite all the not so great stuff. Here is a video from the early 90's Australian TV show, The Money Or The Gun, by The Beatnix, a Beatles Tribute Band.

A list: favorite Bob Dylan tunes

It's not easy to pick 20 tunes from the hundreds Bob Dylan has written and sung, but you can't go wrong with any of these songs.

Maggie's Farm
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
I Want You
I Don't Believe You (She acts like we never have met)
My Back Pages
Like A Rolling Stone
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
All Along The Watchtower
If Not For You
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Gates Of Eden
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Love Minus Zero/No Limits
Hurricane
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Highway 61 Revisited
John Wesley Harding
Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest
Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts
Idiot Wind
Tangled Up In Blue
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Not Dark Yet
George Jackson
Only A Hobo
Sign On The Window
New Morning
Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
Temporary Like Achilles
You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Shelter From The Storm
Positively 4th Street
---o0o---

Jeremy Piven plays the drums with Metal Skool

In this YouTube clip, Entourage's Jereny Piven sits in with Metal Skool in a show at the Key Club. The band are hopelessly foul-mouthed knuckledraggers, but they grant Piven his "make a wish" moment. In this clip, Piven never actually gets through an entire song, but does seem to enjoy the band's references to his pride and joy ("bigger than Tommy Lee's"). This is on the order of some of Paul Allen's sit-ins, or that flute player who used to run Borland. His work on Entourage is great, but his drumming is pathetic. Hey, Metal Skool...next time bring in Tony Ravo!

The Beatles: Please Mr. Postman video and lyrics

This is a very early Beatles tune...a cover of Please Mr. Postman, written by W. Garrett, B. Holland, F. Gorman, G. Dobbins & R. Bateman. The video is, naturally, an old American Bandstand style lip sync rendition, but still fun to watch nonetheless.





(Stop)
Oh yes, wait a minute Mister Postman
(Wait)
Wait Mister Postman

Please Mister Postman, look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time
(Oh yeah)
For me to hear from that boy of mine

There must be some word today
From my boyfriend so far away
Pleas Mister Postman, look and see
If there's a letter, a letter for me

I've been standin' here waitin' Mister Postman
So patiently
For just a card, or just a letter
Sayin' he's returnin' home to me

(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time
(Oh yeah)
For me to hear from that boy of mine

So many days you passed me by
See the tears standin' in my eyes
You didn't stop to make me feel better
By leavin' me a card or a letter

(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see
(Oh yeah)
If there's a letter in your bag for me
(Please, Please Mister Postman)
Why's it takin' such a long time

(Why don't you check it and see one more time for me, you gotta)
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
Wait a minute
(Mister Postman)
Mister Postman, look and see

(C'mon deliver the letter, the sooner the better)
Mister Postman
---o0o---

Del Brummet's Evolution

Del Brummet and The Isla Nublars have released a new song, Evolution, a funny (and maybe just a little sad) song about a bird wistfully thinking back on his dinosaur ancestors and how they ruled the earth and did just what they wanted. Click here to hear the song.

A history of Dino rock icons The Isla Nublars (from their MySpace site):

"After starting out in their parent's basement in Seattle, The Isla Nublars found themselves at the top of the the Dino rock scene in 2007 with their debut album, Abducted!. The band's latest album, Delicious, fuses Del Brummet's introspective lyrics with jangling guitars to somehow pump out a bevy of chart-topping gems. With standout tracks like "Space The Infinite Frontier," already certified platinum in Europe, The Isla Nublars can count on loads of future success. "

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Video and lyrics: Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way

I have always had a soft spot for Lindsay Buckingham's music. Here is my favorite Fleetwood Mac song (a YouTube fan video, of course...but you do get to hear the song). The video beneath this is him performing the same song 20 years later on 1997's FM reunion tour. He was having a far, far better hair day!








Go Your Own Way
by Lindsey Buckingham

Loving you
Isnt the right thing to do
How can I ever change things
That I feel

If I could
Maybe Id give you my world
How can i
When you wont take it from me

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You an call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way

Tell me why
Everything turned around
Packing up
Shacking up is all you wanna do

If I could
Baby Id give you my world
Open up
Everythings waiting for you

You can go your own way
Go your own way
You an call it
Another lonely day
You can go your own way
Go your own way
---o0o---

I haven't heard it yet, but I am happy to know that Joni Mitchell released a new album yesterday called Shine. I won't get to hear it for a couple of days, unless there is a CD store in Whistler, British Columbia.

Today, also, I believe Herbie Hancock released a tribute album to Joni. I'm looking forward to that one too.

As it turns out, the day of this record's release I am in her home state, about fifty miles from her house on Vancouver Island (where my daughter also lives). Like I said, I won't hear the record until I get back to stateside. I am not much of a digital music buyer. I have to hit the brick and mortar shop and have a CD to hold in my hands. Then, I just play a CD once...when I digitize it. Anyhow, here's to Joni. The advance on this album i that it's very good.


The tracks of Shine:

"One Week Last Summer"
"This Place"
"If I Had a Heart" "If I Had a Heart, I'd Cry" is a reaction to the state of the environment and what Mitchell called the current "holy war." In February 2007, The New York Times described the song as "one of the most haunting melodies she has ever written." Of the impetus that inspired her to write the song, Mitchell explained, "My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species. I can't cry about it. In a way I'm inoculated. I've suffered this pain for so long. …The West has packed the whole world on a runaway train. We are on the road to extincting ourselves as a species."
"Hana"
"Bad Dreams are Good" "Bad Dreams Are Good" was inspired by a comment Mitchell's grandson made at the age of three: "Bad dreams are good, in the great plan." In a March 2007 BBC2 radio interview with Amanda Ghost, the singer jokingly said she'd promised to "cut him in" on the song's profits.
"Big Yellow Taxi" In March 2007, The Guardian reported that Shine will feature a "new version" of Joni's 1970 environmentally-themed hit single.
"Night of the Iguana"
"Strong and Wrong"
"Shine" Toronto Globe and Mail described this song as "a lush lullaby for the soul."[
"If" This song, which will be the last on the album,[8] is based on the poem of the same name by Rudyard Kipling. The jazz-inflected piece features Herbie Hancock playing piano.
---o0o---

Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow a/k/a The Posies perform "I Guess You're Right" live

This tune is from their most recent album, "Every Kind of Light." There arent't a lot of high quality videos of these guys out there...especially of their recent work. . .

The Making of The Old 97's Satellite Rides (By Rhett Miller)

click to blow up...

If you have stop here often, you probably know that I have become a huge Old 97's fan over the last year. Some of you are saying "what took you so long?" and the rest are saying, huh? All I can say is go out tomorrow and buy Satellite Rides and Too Far To Care for starters.

When the Old 97's created their fifth album, it was their third after signing with Elektra (most famous, probably, as The Doors label). Elektra commissioned a making of piece from the band. Rhett Miller, singer, songwriter, front-man, and heart-throb wrote the following for Elektra:



Hi.

I’m tempted to tell you how good our new record is, but that sort of thing is hard to communicate – like describing a card trick. I will instead tell you WHY it is so good.

In early 2000 it came time to get to work on what would become Satellite Rides. I thought about it and realized that the Old 97’s function best in close proximity. Four interdependent pieces of a larger whole. For example, when we first formed the band three members lived in the same apartment building. When we made our second album (1995’s Wreck Your Life), we slept on the floor of an attic recording studio in Chicago’s Wicker Park.. Our best music is bred by living like a litter of puppies, all over each other.

On the other hand, Fight Songs (our 1999 record, and second Elektra release) was a geographical nightmare. By then, we lived apart – the band in one city and me in another. During the pre-production for that album, I flew to Texas one week a month for two months in order to rehearse with the guys. That’s a sum total of a mere two weeks preparation. And, we’re slow-learners! I’m proud of Fight Songs, but it was a hard record to make.

So for Satellite Rides I came home to Texas. Abandoning LA for the spring. The idea was to be intimate enough with these songs to cut them live if we so fancied. To achieve that level of comfort we spent three months working. Working! Everyday. Like regular working stooges. Granted we took long lunches and left early sometimes, but come on… We started in Ken’s guest bedroom with acoustic guitars and Philip playing drums on a cardboard box.. We wound up at Universal Rehearsal, punching the clock like we had years before in my mom’s garage. I’d already lived most of these songs while writing them, and I needed the guys to love them and believe in them also. It was easy to get excited about the great tunes Murry brought to the table. “Can’t Get A Line” was the highlight of every rehearsal for me – there is no song that is more fun to play (it’s in C if you want to try it at home). Our spring was spent in a fugue-state. Mantra-like repetition of these songs (“Rollerskate Skinny”, “King Of All The World”, “Designs On You”, “Up The Devil’s Pay”, “Nervous Guy”, etc. ad infinitum) until we lived inside of them – we are after all very much a live band.

In August we disappeared into the Texas hill country. Willie Nelson’s studio outside Austin. Unfortunately Willie (whom we all count among our heroes) was out of town for the duration of our stay – probably not a bad thing since the “Oh-my-god-Willie-is-in-the-next-room” factor could have wrecked the whole session. His recording studio suited our needs perfectly, set as it is atop a hill overlooking the studio’s two swimming pools and below, Lake Travis. I was born in Austin, and we’ve all lived there at various times in our lives, so we truly felt at home.

We invited Wally Gagel who’d produced our Elektra debut Too Far To Care and is, like me, a transplanted Angeleno (though he is native to Boston). Also from the LA area we recruited the freakishly-nimble-fingered engineer Robert Carranza. And we started laying tape. Even though I caught myself knocking wood 50 times a day, I had no doubt these sessions would yield the best Old 97’s album yet.

The daily regimen consisted of some music, a lot of swimming, an hour or so of sloppily but heartily played tennis, shooting a BB gun at some cans we hung in a copse of trees, and at least a quarter hour counting falling stars at the end of the night just to wind down. At the risk of mixing metaphors, I must tell you that this litter of puppies was in hog heaven.

When the grueling experience of recording was over, we took the tapes to the Sunset Sound Factory in Los Angeles where Tchad Blake performs his particular brand of magic. He panned left. He tweaked right. He did a little dance in his chair. He mixed the album. Mixed it up good. Somehow made it squishy and warm and at the same time architecturally precise. This man’s genius is his intuition and it was a joy to listen to him assemble our Satellite Rides.

Hooray for the Old 97’s! I’m proud of us. Why is Satellite Rides so good? It’s simple. We took a batch of killer songs and played the hell out of them. What more can you ask of a rock band?
---o0o---

John Sebastian Plays Younger Generation At Woodstock

John Sebastian was wandering around the Woodstock festival digging the scene and completelty blitzed on LSD when he was recruited to play for half a million people or so. Due to the traffic jams, etc., the headliners weren't able to get there in time, so they recruited John and Richie Havens to play. John was just about to release his post Loving Spoonful albun "John Sebastian" and had some great new tunes to roll out. His addled patter became one of the highlights of the Woodstock documentary. Younger Generation appears on his first solo album.



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Question by The Old 97's lip synced by a Half Life 2 character and performed by the Old 97's as an encore

I mainly pasted this video here because I wanted to share the song Question from The Old 97's Satellite Rides album. A fan made this lip sync video using the Half Life 2 Face Poser, and the character model of the G-man. For the mostly non-gamer types who visit here, Half Life 2 is a PC and XBox video game made by a Seattle area company, Valve. Some games also distribute "mod" kits with their games where players can create their own versions of the game, from which this video is most likely derived. Beneath the lyrics below, I also put another video-- a rocky one, in fact--from the encore of an Old 97's show.






Question
by The Old 97's

She woke from a dream
Her head was on fire
Why was he so nervous?

He took her to the park
She crossed her arms
And lowered her eyelids

Some day somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Maybe tonight I've got a question for you

She'd had no idea
Started to cry
She said in a good way

He took her by the hand
Walked her back home
They took the long way

Some day somebody's gonna ask you
A question that you should say yes to
Once in your life
Maybe tonight I've got a question for you
I've got a question for you
_____________________________

Another video of the Old 97's playing an encore from a show at the Southgate House:



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Bob Dylan's Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts: Song and Lyrcs

Click on the YouTube player to hear Bob Dylan's Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts. I've always liked this shambling, long winded fable of Bob's from his great Blood On The Tracks album.




Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts
by Bob Dylan

The festival was over, the boys were all plannin' for a fall,
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin' in the wall.
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin' wheel shut down,
Anyone with any sense had already left town.
He was standin' in the doorway lookin' like the Jack of Hearts.

He moved across the mirrored room, "Set it up for everyone," he said,
Then everyone commenced to do what they were doin' before he turned their heads.
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin,
"Could you kindly tell me, friend, what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner, face down like the Jack of Hearts.

Backstage the girls were playin' five-card stud by the stairs,
Lily had two queens, she was hopin' for a third to match her pair.
Outside the streets were fillin' up, the window was open wide,
A gentle breeze was blowin', you could feel it from inside.
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts.

Big Jim was no one's fool, he owned the town's only diamond mine,
He made his usual entrance lookin' so dandy and so fine.
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place,
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste.
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts.

Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town,
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown.
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear,
"Sorry, darlin', that I'm late," but he didn't seem to hear.
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts.

"I know I've seen that face before," Big Jim was thinkin' to himself,
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf."
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet and the house lights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him,
Starin' at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts.

Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child,
She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled.
She'd come away from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere.
But she'd never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts.

The hangin' judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined,
The drillin' in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind.
It was known all around that Lily had Jim's ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king.
No, nothin' ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts.

Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein' her reflection in the knife,
She was tired of the attention, tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife.
She had done a lot of bad things, even once tried suicide,
Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died.
She was gazin' to the future, riding on the Jack of Hearts.

Lily washed her face, took her dress off and buried it away.
"Has your luck run out?" she laughed at him, "Well, I guess you must
have known it would someday.
Be careful not to touch the wall, there's a brand-new coat of paint,
I'm glad to see you're still alive, you're lookin' like a saint."
Down the hallway footsteps were comin' for the Jack of Hearts.

The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair.
"There's something funny going on," he said, "I can just feel it in the air."
He went to get the hangin' judge, but the hangin' judge was drunk,
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk.
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts.

Lily's arms were locked around the man that she dearly loved to touch,
She forgot all about the man she couldn't stand who hounded her so much.
"I've missed you so," she said to him, and he felt she was sincere,
But just beyond the door he felt jealousy and fear.
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts.

No one knew the circumstance but they say that it happened pretty quick,
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked.
And Big Jim was standin' there, ya couldn't say surprised,
Rosemary right beside him, steady in her eyes.
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts.

Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe, it's said that they got off with quite a haul.
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town.
But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts.

The next day was hangin' day, the sky was overcast and black,
Big Jim lay covered up, killed by a penknife in the back.
And Rosemary on the gallows, she didn't even blink,
The hangin' judge was sober, he hadn't had a drink.
The only person on the scene missin' was the Jack of Hearts.

The cabaret was empty now, a sign said, "Closed for repair,"
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair.
She was thinkin' 'bout her father, who she very rarely saw,
Thinkin' 'bout Rosemary and thinkin' about the law.
But, most of all she was thinkin' 'bout the Jack of Hearts.
---o0o---

Video and lyrics: The Kinks' Celluloid Heroes

This is a concert video of one of The Kinks great tunes. I always liked the early Kinks songs, but it was this song and this album that turned me into a late and rabid fan. In my first year in college--1973--this album, along with The Grateful Dead's Europe '72, Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken, a Deep Purple album I can't remember, Humble Pie's Rockin' the fillmore, Yes's Close To The Edge, and the MC5 were in constant rotation.

I was lucky enough to see The Kinks when I lived In New York City--we rented a car and drove out to see them play in Asbury Park, New Jersey (a town with a serious rock patina, thanks to The Boss, Little Steven, and The Asbury Jukes) in 1977...



Celluloid Heroes

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star,
And everybody’s in movies, it doesn’t matter who you are.
There are stars in every city,
In every house and on every street,
And if you walk down hollywood boulevard
Their names are written in concrete!

Don’t step on greta garbo as you walk down the boulevard,
She looks so weak and fragile that’s why she tried to be so hard
But they turned her into a princess
And they sat her on a throne,
But she turned her back on stardom,
Because she wanted to be alone.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.
Rudolph valentino, looks very much alive,
And he looks up ladies’ dresses as they sadly pass him by.
Avoid stepping on bela lugosi
’cos he’s liable to turn and bite,
But stand close by bette davis
Because hers was such a lonely life.
If you covered him with garbage,
George sanders would still have style,
And if you stamped on mickey rooney
He would still turn round and smile,
But please don’t tread on dearest marilyn
’cos she’s not very tough,
She should have been made of iron or steel,
But she was only made of flesh and blood.

You can see all the stars as you walk down hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of.
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Everybody’s a dreamer and everybody’s a star
And everybody’s in show biz, it doesn’t matter who you are.

And those who are successful,
Be always on your guard,
Success walks hand in hand with failure
Along hollywood boulevard.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.

You can see all the stars as you walk along hollywood boulevard,
Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of,
People who worked and suffered and struggled for fame,
Some who succeeded and some who suffered in vain.

Oh celluloid heroes never feel any pain
Oh celluloid heroes never really die.

I wish my life was a non-stop hollywood movie show,
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes,
Because celluloid heroes never feel any pain
And celluloid heroes never really die.
---o0o---

Video and lyrics: Bob Dylan's It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

I recently bought a new copy of Bob Dylan's remastered Bringing It All Back Home. This replaced a cassette copy that had long ago had enough oxide scrubbed off to alllow you to just barely identify the song.

I forgot what a stone masterpiece this album was. And it wasn't the first Dylan masterpiece that year. My favorite song on the record is It's All Right Ma (I'm only bleeding). Here is a video of Dylan performing the tune the year the record came out. If you get the chance, you need to hear the pristine re-mastered version. Dylan nailed it on the record, and I've never heard him do a better version than what he originally recorded. I was brought back to this song because David Chase used it in the last episode of The Sopranos. . .as A.J.'s $30,000 erupted in flames and exploded. . . The kids said something like "Can you believe this was recorded 40 years ago?!"

The lyrics are magnificent. This must be one of his ten best songs (but the competition is formidable). Dylan was at the height of his powers with the long form song and dense, imagistic--not yet surrealistic--lyrics. His guitar, on the record at least, is fluid and tasty. Maybe the only flaw in the song is, as my friend Kyle Lingol, pointed out, "He never writes bridges!"





Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
---o0o---

The Willie Nelson Picnic; July 4, 2007

At the last minute (noon), Keelin and I decided to spend the 4th of July with Willie Nelson and one of my new favorites, the Old 97's. It was 100 degrees in George that afternoon. . .not all that different than the weather would be in Austin. We drive the 2 1/2 hours over the pass into the central Washington desert, headed for the Gorge Amphitheatre, sitting on a hill above the mighty Columbia.

Alas, there was no barbecue from Stubb's or The Salt Lick, but everyone made up for it by drinking lots of beer (no Shiner Bock!). Of course, at the prices they charge, it would cost you about $60 or so to get a buzz going.

It was a happy crowd--a stew of people of my ilk (aka silverbacks) and the tatooed, babies, lots of 20 and 30 somethings, pierced folks, 50 and 60 year old cowfolk, and a sprinking of hippies. Although we mainly went to see the Old 97's and Drive By Truckers, the other bands performed respectably. Including, of course, Willie. I am not a huge Willie Nelson fan--I've been more a fan of his songs than his performances. However, most of the people I talked to were bored with the lineup, and were mainly waiting for Willie to appear. One guy was counting the minutes until the Old 97's finished. Heresy!




We arrived about ten minutes before the show started at 4:00. It was 100 degrees and broiling. There is virtually no shade at the Gorge. The place looked half-filled at first, mainly because people were in the misting tents, and drinking beer on the plaza. The theatre began to fill slowly. Unfortunately most people missed Amos Lee, who played a warm and loose folk/blues to just a few us. He was the only act on the bill I didn't know, and he was a great surprise. I'll be buying some of his music this week!


The Drive By Truckers

I liked the Drive-By Truckers early work, but I wasn less impressed with their performance. They did play some great guitar. They were fine; I was just eager to see the Old 97's.

In Seattle, Old 97's and Son Volt are very popular, but the Gorge audience didn't seem to know them, and the respose was fairly muted. The Willie audience didn't know their work. The Old 97's played a lot of their earlier country stuff (from the Too Far To Care era), but also several of the great tunes from Fight Songs and Satelite Ride. Rhett Miller sounded great (and even danced), the guitarist was, as always, awesome, and the drums were way up front in the mix (something Old 97's have in common with The Posies). It felt like both Son Volt and the Old 97's, as talented as they are, probably come across better in a smaller venue (and without most of the audience being there to see the headliner).


Amos Lee - a charming, moving performer

The Nelson Family event kicked off with a subset of the band--40 Points--featuring Nelson's sons Micah and Lukas on drums and guitar. These Nelson kids are good! Lukas smoked on guitar. However, the six or seven songs they played (sans Willie) were perhaps a bit much.

When Nelson finally took the stage wearing his black vest, jeans, and cowboy hat, the audience absolutely erupted with the yells and applause they had been so stingy about giving the other acts. Willie played down home country, as he always does. He played many of his great tunes: like "Whiskey River," and "Whiskey for My Men, Beer for My Horses," and "Still Is Still Moving to Me" before slowing down for "Funny How Time Slips Away," and maybe his greatest tune (that Patsy Cline made famous) "Crazy." Willie is a consummate performer and knows how to work a crowd of 30,000. The band, and Willie himself, sounded great.


The Old 97's, my current favorite alt-country band (mainly
because they jumped the fence into power-pop land)


Willie's sister Bobbie plays excellent honky-tonk piano, and they even gave her a one song solot slot. stepping into the limelight for one perfect solo song. Let me also mention that she has hair that must be four feet long. The harp player, Mickey Raphael (with Nelson for 30 years now) sounded great, and it's always nice to hear harmonica in country music; for some reason, CW has always seemed to eschew harp playing.



Son Volt

Willie performed a honky-tonk version of Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee," a Stevie Ray Vaughn cover, and his classic "On the Road Again." They also played a Hank Williams medley, and of course, Willie crooned "Georgia on My Mind." Danny Goodfellow, a longtime Willie pal, came on stage to fiddle on the bluegrass song"Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms."

Previous links to Old 97's posts and videos on All This Is That:

The Old 97s in Austin
The Old 97's show at Stubb's BBQ was a rainout . . .but the Small Stars were great!
Designs On You
Video and Lyrics to Old 97's "Lonely Holiday"
Video and lyrics: Old 97's Designs On You
---o0o---

Down With People Rock Again!

My friend Scott Boggan singing with Down With People.
Click to enlarge.

We went to the Sunset Tavern in Ballard once again last week to see Down With People--one of my favorite local bands these days. They played last on a triple bill with The Republic of Chuck (one of the most bizarre musical acts I have ever seen in my life. He made Wesley Willis seem pretty normal). The other act (whose name I am blanking on and cannot find) included Ballard resident Dan Peters, who was/is the drummer for Mudhoney and who was also the drummer for Nirvana in its early years. They played a good set. Their singer was fun to watch, and they cranked out a yeomen's set. Down With People played an rousing set of their mind-expanding psychedelic pop rock (with theremin!).

Down With People are Ron Nine, the former member of the highly-regarded Love Battery, (guitar, theremin, vox), my old workmate and pal, Scott Boggan (bass, vox), and Scott Vanderpool (drums, vox). And. . .Michael Laton who projects an amazing and wonderful light show over and behind the band (and who also happens to be the father of my neighbor Cassady, who is in the band Dear John Letters). Alas, no go go dancers this time! If you ever get the chance, go out to see these guys play. In my booklet, they are one of the most interesting bands in Seattle.
---o0o---

A pre-Doors Jim Morrison acting in a public service announcement

This is a fascinating clip of Jim Morrison well before The Doors, in 1963, acting in a PSA video. Not what you might have expected from the singer who exposed himself in Miami, because he "wanted to see what it looked like in the spotlight."



---o0o---