Monday MUSIC Musings - Buddy Guy

So last week I saw Buddy Guy in concert. And let me tell you, this 70-plus year old musician TORE. IT. UP. Seriously, this was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The audience was a little, uhm, odd (a mix of unresponsive and inappropriately responsive), but the performance was fantastic. He even played riffs "in the style of" some of the blues greats, and his imitations were spot on. I loved it.

At one point, he walked out into the auditorium and played up and down the aisles, even stopping right next to our row and jamming. It was so fun.

In fact, here's a video! Enjoy. And check out Buddy Guy's music, you'll love it!

The DH's Thursday Thirteen - Thirteen Great Beatles Songs (That Don't Normally Get Airtime)

As requested by notoriouslyunique, here's a list of some of the DH's favorite Beatles tunes.


These aren't the usual suspects - he focused on songs that aren't played as often, the ones you don't hear every day, but are great nevertheless. It's a completely subjective list, and would most likely change next month. Hope you enjoy!


1. Cry Baby Cry (White Album) Might be one of my top five Beatles songs. Love it, especially the outro.


2. Anna (Please Please Me) Pure sweetness.


3. Bad Boy (Past Masters Volume 1) Kicks. This song really rocks. John's vocals are wonderfully raw.


4. Tomorrow Never Knows (Revolver) Last song on the album - Beatles enter the world of psychedelia.


5. It Won't Be Long (Meet The Beatles) Early Beatles rock and roll.


6. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite! (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) John wrote this song after buying a Victorian-era poster. The lyrics come directly from the poster.


7. I've Got A Feeling (Let It Be) GPS's favorite late-Beatles tune. Might be mine as well.


8. It's Only Love (Help) John's vocals near the end are beautiful.


9. This Boy (Past Masters Volume I) Sounds like it's right out of the fifties.


10. Flying (Magical Mystery Tour) The only Beatles instrumental (with some background la-la-las).


11. You Know My Name Look Up The Number (Past Masters Volume II) Paul liked this song. It's unusual - keep an open mind! But I loved it.


12. Things We Said Today (Hard Day's Night) Great early Beatles song.


13. Long, Long, Long (White Album) George at his best. Haunting.



So there you have it! Did any of your favorites make the list? What would you include?

The DH's Thursday Thirteen - Thirteen Fave Albums of the Sixties

Note from the DH - this list does not include any albums by the Beatles because, come on. They'd take the list over completely.

1. Doors 1967 First album
2. Love 1967 Forever Changes
3. Rolling Stones 1969 Let it Bleed
4. Led Zeppelin 1969 Led Zeppelin
5. The Band 1968 Music From Big Pink
6. Jefferson Airplane 1967 Surrealistic Pillow
7. Jimi Hendrix 1967 Are You Experienced
8. Beach Boys 1966 Pet Sounds
9. Neil Young & Crazy Horse 1969 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
10. Jimi Hendrix 1968 Electric Ladyland
11. Cream 1967 Disraeli Gears
12 Bob Dylan 1965 Highway 61 Revisited
13. The Monks 1966 Black Monk Time

Anyone Recognize This Song?

I've been all over the intarwebs looking for the song used in this commercial. No one seems to know the title or the artist. If anyone out there has a clue, I'd be forever grateful!

And even if you're pretty sure you don't know it, you should go ahead and check out the commercial anyway. It's pretty cool. :)

Don't Fence Me In

Or, Why Geographical Restrictions Make No Sense.

Yesterday, I tried to buy and download some songs from the German version of Amazon. These particular songs aren't available on Amazon US or iTunes US, so I hunted around and found them. (Makes sense that they're available in Germany, because they're German pop songs, right?)

So I clicked on "buy", and got an error message. "Sorry, but you can't buy these songs. The files are limited by geographical restrictions." (Or the German equivalent - I don't really trust Google Translator to give a fully accurate English version.)

But the main point was, I was out of luck. My money wasn't good there, because my computer isn't registered in Germany. Too bad, so sad, only certain people can buy those songs.

To that I say, WTF?

Geographical restrictions on digital content MAKE NO SENSE. We live in a global society, with interests and connections that go well beyond arbitrary borders. It's crazy that people who want to buy an e-book can't because sales are limited to certain countries. It's stupid to tell people "your money doesn't work here, because these pixels can only go home with a person living over here."

Those songs I wanted to buy? They were featured on a German soap opera that I watch on YouTube after English subtitles have been added by a team of three fans who live in three different countries. The commenters are from all over the world. There's really no such thing as a geographical restriction when it comes to people's interests. So why should there be one when it comes to supporting the artists who stoke those interests?

What's worse is, preventing people from buying content legally makes illegal filesharing more prevalent. Now, as someone who makes a living off copyright, I refuse break it just to get those songs I wanted. But that doesn't mean I wasn't tempted. As it stands, I don't have the song, the artist doesn't have the royalties, and everybody loses.

So please, Powers That Be, get rid of those geographical restrictions on digital content. Let the fans support the artists, and the artists get their due. It's time for the rules to catch up to the new, interconnected world. And I really want those songs!

Kate's Current TV Crush

If you're following me on Twitter you already know about my newest TV crush. If not, let me introduce you to:


Captain Jack Harkness





Excuse me for a moment while I swoon...

;)

Okay. Better now.

I first discovered Captain Jack via Twitter, a month or so ago. Someone had posted that the scene between John Barrowman's Captain Jack and James Marsters' Captain John was fabulous. Curious, I searched for it on YouTube and thought, I have to see this show.

Now, confession time. I've never seen Doctor Who (sorry, Angie! It's in my Netflix queue, I promise!). My last experience with British sci-fi was Red Dwarf, back in college. (Which I also loved, but that's a story for another day.) So when I got a copy of season one of Torchwood and sat down to watch it, I had no background on the character, the setting, or the history of the show. (Captain Jack was originally a character on Doctor Who, and is now the lead character in the spinoff Torchwood.) Some of the in-jokes and reference fly right over my head.

I don't care. I love it anyway.

I love the stories, I love the characters, I love the fact that sexual orientation is a non-issue (characters fall for who they fall for, without lots of commentary and freaking out), I love the cheesy special effects (and, let's face it, BBC sci fi does have its share of cheesy special effects), and most of all, I love Captain Jack.

Know who else I adore? John Barrowman, the actor who portrays Captain Jack. He's amazingly talented, having gotten his start in musical theater before moving to television. He can sing, dance, act, and is a hilarious interviewee. Sadly, I can't embed this video, but here's the link to his newest single, What About Us. He's also openly gay, and in a long-term committed relationship with his partner, an architect.

So there you have it. My new TV crush, Captain Jack Harkness (and, by extension, John Barrowman). If you like sci fi, British TV, and cute guys kissing, you might want to check out Torchwood. Enjoy!

My New Fave YouTube Vid...

I'm sure you've probably seen this clip from Britain's Got Talent, since over 5 mil views were on the various videos by the time I was pointed in this direction, but just in case, you really should head on over to You Tube and check out Susan Boyle....

Love the song. Love the version. Love the reminder that you really can't judge a book by its cover.

Enjoy!

Reception Retread

Every once in a while, a song will come on the radio and my husband or I will look at each other and say, "that should have been our dance."

You know, the dance. The wedding reception dance.

There's a lot of pressure related to picking the right song, the right tempo. What if you pick a flash-in-the-pan song that you'll be sick of in a year? What if you pick something everyone else is dancing to that year? Thank God there wasn't YouTube back when we were planning our wedding -- those videos of people performing fabulous dance routines probably would have totally freaked me out.

But I digress.

Our first dance was to Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, which was nice, but there are still times a song will hit me and I'll think, "that would have been a perfect first dance song!" Songs like At Last. When You Say Nothing At All. The Way You Look Tonight.

How about you? If you've had a first dance, what was the song? Would you change it if you could? If you haven't gone through that particular ritual yet, what song would you pick?

A Little Holiday Cheer

One Day More

As a political junkie, and musical theater devotee, I *loved* this. Hope you enjoy.

Sob!

Sorry, no Book BIN Tuesday today. I'm too depressed.

See, we had tickets to Van Halen tonight. With David Lee Roth. The DH and I saw Van Halen a few years ago, with Sammy Hagar singing lead, and we were both looking forward to being able to compare the two shows. Plus, it's David Lee Roth! Singing Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love! (Which is my favorite Van Halen song. Even when it's a bluegrass version. Couldn't find it on YouTube, but if you scroll down on the previous link, you can listen to a clip.)

So why am I not at the concert? Oh, record floods, hurricane force winds, school closures, the main highway through the state shut down for probably the next 36 hours...

Can't really say "the usual", can I? :)

Well, it's for the best. I would *not* have liked getting to the concert venue an hour and a half away from home and discovering I couldn't get back before tomorrow night. But boy, I hated eating those tickets. Sigh.

So how's your week starting out?

My Newest Musical Crush....

Damn you, Lynne Connolly, for mentioning Seth Lakeman on the Samhain Cafe the other night. She said, and I quote: "Now go watch Seth Lakeman before I take him away from you. And don't watch him doing Kitty Jay. That way lies obsession."

Never one to back down from a challenge like that, I looked him up on YouTube.

She's right, dammit. He's amazing.

See for yourself:


Enjoy!

Unofficial Thursday Thirteen -- Hannah Montana Edition

So I'm starting NaNoWriMo today, plus it's end-of-the-month reports for the day job, so I just can't find the time to work up an official TT this week, with a header and links to the main blog and all. But I do have 13 things to share about the Hannah Montana concert anyway, so here they are...

1. 10,000-plus elementary age girls shrieking in unison is enough to make your ears bleed.

2. 10,000-plus elementary age girls shriek at *anything*.

• The curtain moved! AAAAAAAH!


• Look! It's a roadie! EEEEEEEEK!


• Wow! There's an HP commercial on the big screen! WOOOOOOO!

3. Fire prevention week works. My middle child was terrified that the pyrotechnic show was going to burn the arena down.

4. The Jonas Brothers are cute, in a jail-bait, way too young for me sort of way.

5. I actually know more Jonas Brothers songs than I thought I did.

6. Those same shrieking elementary age girls actually sound pretty good singing along with Hannah Montana.

7. Glowsticks have replaced lighters, though lit-up cell phone screens are a close second.

8. I read a review that said the equal time given Miley Cyrus's songs was like going to a concert given by a classic rock band that refuses to play any of their old hits. I'd agree--though the songs were all fun and well-done, the audience was far less familiar with them and there wasn't as much enthusiasm for them. Plus, so many Hannah hits were left off the playlist, I'm sure some fans were disappointed.

9. Okay, yes, I admit it. I wanted to hear If We Were A Movie. Sue me.

10. In case anyone is wondering, I bought the tickets for face value. I love my kids, but not enough to pay a scalper the exorbitant rates asked for this show.

11. The girl can sing. And dance. And change clothes. (A costume change every two songs! I'm a little jealous.)

12. I would never have gone to see the show if I hadn't had children to take. But I'm really glad I went -- it was lots of fun, and a real joy to see my kids having such a good time.

13. I'm especially glad I got to be part of my kids' first concert experience. And this was a perfect first show.

So that's it for concerts for me until December. And how opposite end of the spectrum can you get in six days -- Neil Young to Hannah Montana? :)

My first concert was fifteen minutes of a Belinda Carlisle show at Bumbershoot during a lunch break (I sold ice cream at Bumbershoot and FolkLife for years). How about you? What was your first show?

Thursday Thirteen #32 -- Neil Young Edition

(header graphic courtesy Write From Karen)

So I went to the Neil Young concert this week. Here are thirteen random thoughts about the event:

1. The venue seated at most 7000 people. I liked it better than being in a huge arena in the nosebleeds.
2. It was definitely the anti-arena show. Odd, industrial-looking set that seemed cobbled together of random pieces of machinery and letter shapes, no fireworks or special effects, just Neil and his music.
3. Of the entire opening set, performed by Pegi Young, my favorite song was the second performed.
4. At the end of the song, she announced that it was the one that WASN'T on her album.
5. I really like Like A Hurricane.
6. The concert was performed in two sets -- acoustic and electric. Nice way to highlight both sides of Neil.
7. It may seem counterintuitive, but I actually felt more sleepy during the rock-out electric set.
8. Am I getting old? I can stay up til all hours on the computer, but put me in a dark concert hall with music being played, and I'm ready for a nap.
9. Loved Cinnamon Girl.
10. Wished he'd played my all time favorite, The Needle and The Damage Done.
11. Absent that, my favorite of the night was probably From Hank to Hendrix.
12. At the end of the second set, random letters of the backdrop lit up. Spelled out? Neil. :)
13. My next concert experience will be VERY different. Tune in next week for details.

Oh, and if you TT'ed at my blog last week, be sure to scroll down to the previous post. You may already be a winner! :)

Thursday Thirteen #18 -- Summer Songs

It's getting hot out here!

In honor of today's 90-plus-degree weather, I've come up with a list of 13 of my fave summertime songs. Some have the word summer in them, some are just quintessential summer-sounding tunes. Break out the sunscreen and flip-flops, baby. Here comes summer!

1. In the Summertime, Mungo Jerry
2. Hot Fun in the Summer Time, Sly and the Family Stone
3. Summer, War
4. Boys of Summer, Don Henley
5. Warm California Sun, The Rivieras
6. Vacation, Go-Gos
7. California Girls, the Beach Boys
8. Under the Boardwalk, The Drifters
9. Soak up the Sun, Cheryl Crow
10. Summer Song, Chad and Jeremy
11. School's Out, Alice Cooper
12. Miserlou, Dick Dale and His Del-Tones
13. Summer Lovin', Grease

What did I miss? What's your favorite tune for the lazy days of summer?