Wednesday, July 28, 2004

Just the other day - I was thinking about TOM GREEN. (I used to go to college with him in Ottawa in the 90's) and what he is up to next. And then I came across this:

"Just when it seemed that the nation's political and cultural discourse couldn't get much more absurd, here comes the Tom and Jerry show. Lions Gate Television has pacted with Tom Green and Jerry Springer to develop a "week in review"-style program tentatively dubbed "Fairly Unbalanced," which would feature comedian-actor Green and talk show host Springer discussing headlines and newsmakers and generally offering their observations on political and pop culture-oriented topics."

Monday, July 26, 2004

YAY for Mike Skinner of the Streets...
The Streets have the U.K.'s No. 1 single and album, just days after being nominated for the country's prestigious Mercury Music Prize. The Locked On/679 act -- a.k.a. innovative English rapper Mike Skinner -- saw its album, "A Grand Don't Come For Free," move 2-1 in its 11th week on the British survey, while its second single "Dry Your Eyes" entered that chart at No. 1.

You can hear music and get more info here.

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Britney Spears will no longer be my neighbor! She's selling her Manhattan apartment because her finance doesn't like the Big Apple. Screw him - he doesn't know what he's missing!

You can see a listing for the apartment here.

The apartment is located above Tower Records on East 4th Street between Broadway and Lafayette. It has some serious history:

"Britney Spears bought the condominium apartment in 2002 for a little less than its $3.5 million asking price. She then completed its renovation. The apartment has a lot of music history. It used to belong to Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who sold it in the mid-1990s to rap impresario Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam records, for $1.8 million. Mr. Simmons sold it to a Hong Kong investor, who renovated it almost entirely and listed it in January 2001 at $4.85 million and ultimately sold it to Ms. Spears for more than $1 million less than that."


Thursday, July 15, 2004

DULLI SPEAKS!!!

she loves you is the new album by the twilight singers. it will be released by one little indian u.s. august 24. she loves you was recorded by greg dulli and company following extensive tours of the u.s. and europe whereby their mutual musical empathy, familiarity and passion for this repertoire were kindled to extraordinary heights. most of the interpretations showcased here were an essential part of the live shows and the group’s lusty intimacy with them is evident. these recordings were done very quickly, virtually live in the studio yet are as nuanced and deliberative as a piece of symphonic composition; but played with the intuitiveness and fire of classic bebop.

* for reference - here's the track listing:
Feeling Of Gaze (Hope Sandoval)
Too Tough To Die (Martina Topley-Bird)
Hyperballad (Bjork)
Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday)
What Makes You Think You're The One (Fleetwood Mac)
Real Love (Mary J. Blige)
Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues (Skip James)
A Love Supreme (John Coltrane)
Please Don't Stay (Once You Go Away) (Marvin Gaye)
Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair (Nina Simone)
Summertime (George Gershwin)
Or as mr. dulli would put it:
thirteen years ago i deconstructed six soul songs to emphasize the rather somber lyrics being sung. the songs were all originally pretty jaunty musically and i had a go at matching the music to the lyric. before and since i have had a strong infatuation with interpretation. what a song can reveal in another's hands is sometimes better than the original. two in particular are jimi hendrix's "all along the watchtower" and stevie wonder's "we can work work it out". these are both landmark songs originally done by legends, yet, i feel a little more from the covers. i could go on and on about great cover songs, but instead i shall tell you the story of "she loves you".....

she loves you means she doesn't love me. this is a tale of longing and of love unrequited. of lost love. wasted love. "there's been an accident" love....i wanted the songs to flicker with hope and to shine a light on and comfort a lonely heart.

i first heard "feeling of gaze" on christmas day 2001. three weeks later i listened to it again on my way to my best friend's funeral. the lyrics are sublime..." i feel alone for you, i feel alive with you, i feel a sin fading...celebrate". she says more in that couplet than most writers do in a career. it was the clear choice to lead off the record for it's direct statement of intent.

my friend, dragan gave me a copy of "quixotic" and told me if i could find a bad song he'd buy me dinner. i couldn't and he didn't. "too tough to die" sounded like sex musically and again the words were incredible and belied martina's age. she's an old, old soul and this song was custom built for me. i never try to match someone's phrasing and in this case would have been impossible. one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums ever.

in the summer of 1996, i stood on the side of the stage at a belgian festival and watched bjork sing to 50,000 enraptured people and an oncoming storm. as the storm got closer, the wind started blowing so hard, i thought they'd have to shut down. as they began to play "hyperballad", she leaned into the wind with gleeful abandon and let loose one of the
most powerfully transcendent vocals that i have ever heard to this day. the song's lyrics were beautifully ambiguous and i have always wanted to take a spin in this car.

i had been listening to "abbey road" when my friend, dave called me and told me that he'd heard we were doing a covers record. he then challenged me to cover "strange fruit". after i hung up the phone, "i want you (she's so heavy)" came over the speakers. problem solved.

while we touring the twilight's first US leg, i began obsessing on the greatness of fleetwood mac's "california cocaine trilogy". on stage i did a stevie nicks weave of "sara", "rhiannon" and "gypsy". when it came time to cut, i got a hard on for hotwiring the end of "second hand news" from "rumours" to the end of "what makes you think you're the one" from "tusk"...so, i did.

i went back and forth on "real love", but again, the seduction of marrying john lennon's posthumous refrain to mary j's plaintive and funky longing proved too much for me to resist.

"hard time killing floor" by skip james one of mark lanegan and i's favorite blues songs. it's just me, him and the truth. plain and simple.

on the 2000 tour for the first twilight record, we introduced "a love supreme" and "please stay" to each other. it was love at first sight and has been a staple of my post whigs show ever since. skibic and macintyre are in rare form here.

i have wanted to sing "black is the color" since i first heard it and even tried it verbatim back in the 80's. it didn't work. then i heard jeff buckley sing "lilac wine" and i told myself i'd best forget about tackling nina simone...but all it took was a cool summer morning, no sleep and a 1964 Martin acoustic guitar and i could smell the napalm...

last february, i was hanging out in sicily after the European tour and my friends and i were listening to a sam cooke compilation. his version of "summertime" is my all time favorite, as it recalls elvis presley's rendition of "blue moon", which is my favorite elvis ballad, hands down. after the italians dropped me off at the hotel, i flipped on the tv and "twin peaks" was inexplicably on the air. as i lay in bed, i became very conscious of badalamenti's score. i hadn't heard it in years. the next day, i called manuel and said, "let's cut summertime, i know exactly what to do".

and so goes the story of "she loves you".

treat her nice.
gx
SHOWS, SHOWS and more SHOWS!

This past week, I've had the pleasure of seeing some of my favorite bands - THE STILLS, THE FAME, SLOAN and JET! I dug them so much. Love them! But the highlight for me this week had to be seeing the legendary PRINCE at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. (He's doing SIX SOLD OUT shows there!!) Yes, I was in the nose-bleed seats but it didn't matter. He had the whole place rocking and it was an amazing show! The set list went a little something like this:

Set One: Full Band
Musicology
Let's Go Crazy
I Would Die 4 U
When Doves Cry
1999 Intro/Baby I'm A Star
Shhhh
Crazy In Love (Beyonce cover)
I Feel For You
Controversy/Housequake
Set Two: Acoustic Set
Little Red Corvette
Cream
Raspberry Beret
Prince And The Band
Black Sweat (?)
Funky Breath/Potato Chip Blues (??)
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Adore
Alphabet Street
7
Set Three: Full band
Sign 'O' The Times
The Question Of U/The One/Fallin'
Let's Work
U Got The Look
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zep cover)
Soul Man
Kiss
Take Me With U
Encore
Purple Rain

I've never seen him before and I am now so glad I did. "Purple Rain" has to be one of my fave records of all time! And he did most of the tracks on that record given it was the 20th anniversary of it's release.