Come On, Get Higher

I haven't been able to get this tune outta my pointy head. I've been singing it as I drove all over Oahu, hummed it as I snorkled, whistled it in the parking garage.

It's taken me over. He's playing in Atlanta this month. May have to check that out.

Matt Nathanson, Come On, Get Higher

Don't Stop Now

Kimplicated and I were spoda head to Athens this eve to catch The Old Ceremony, but fate found otherwise. Instead I'll look forward to our next concert consort experience: Crowded House.

In a Box

My peeps are letting me down.

I gave up on SNL a few years back. Too much dreck. But at least one jewel came out of last season, and I only discovered it yesterday:

Justin Timberlake on SNL: My D*ck In a Box

Add this into a new blag category: Videos You Should Know About (V.Y.S.K.A.) I've not found anything at'all interesting about Justin Timberlake. But this is effing hysterical, and I've a newfound respect for him. Well, for his sense of humor.

But wait. It gets better.

Those in the know on this video were tickled, make-me-pee-my-pants pink when two college girls made their video response to the SNL piece, dubbed My Box In a Box:

The sight gags might be better in the SNL vid, but the lyrics in the chick vid are a skosh funnier. To me. And these girls aren't paid comedy writers.

But wait! It gets even better!

The SNL piece has been nominated for an Emmy. I sh*t you not!

Saturday Night Live • Host: Justin Timberlake - Song title: Dick In A Box • NBC • SNL Studios in association with NBC Studios and Broadway Video
Katreese Barnes, Music By
Andy Samberg, Lyrics By
Akiva Schaffer, Lyrics By
Jorma Taccone, Music & Lyrics By
Asa Taccone, Music By
Justin Timberlake, Music & Lyrics By

Timberlake may be older, and even funny, but he'll never excape his boyband past. Y'all might recall my previous post wherein I introduced you to DaVinci's Notebook and their Grammy-deserving song, My Enormous Penis.

The also crafted Title of the Song, deconstructing the boyband song structure at its finest. You, too, can be a young Justin Timberlake. Too bad the vid below is only scored by DaVinci's Notebook - guess these are some college blokes who were inspired to make their own vid. But worthy of a listen, nonetheless.

M.Y.S.K.A.: When Serendipity Strikes. Again.

Chihuly Glassworks @ the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Caught the Indigo Girls last night at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. My second repeat concert offense there - saw Rufus Wainwright with Kimplicated, Boone, and Marin's Mom a couple years back.

Fantabulous venue. Didn't mind getting moist in the light pre-show showers with Pjayamamama, the evening's concert consort. Opening act performance serendipity struck again, as is its wont to do, in the form of Brandi Carlile. Backed by a cellist and identical twins on guitar & acoustic bass, she was effing amazing.

Her tune The Story is garnering vid and airplay from its use in the season closer of Grey's Anatomy. My vid capture in the gardens has decent sound, but zilch stabilizing assistance. Time for a new camera?


The Indigo Girls came out during Brandi's set to harmonize on Cannonball. 3 part chick harmony: shiverlicious.



I'd seen the Indigo Girls last summer with Kimplicated at Chastain. A good show, but not nearly as intimate as the Garden, venue-wise. Don't know their whole catalog, but several lines struck me:

"You should listen to your mama if you have a lick of sense left", Pendulum Swinger
Amen!

"Put your head on my heart and lay down in the crook of my arm", Three County Highway.
Where do I sign up? I'd like to get me somma dat.

"I'm gonna love you good and strong while our love is good and young", Get Out the Map.
Indeed.

They invited Brandi back out on a few tunes. Chick three part harmony shivered again with Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice. Warning: listen only - the vid focus sucks. Big time.


Pjayamamama's sensitive to audaciously loud tunage, but she allowed as how she'd repeat offend at the Garden. Methinks Chastain might be her cup o' tea as well. Her finely bald-headed husband is slated to be my consort for the Dave Matthews Band at Piedmont Park in September, and two of her urchins were my consorts for The Fray, Gomez, and Eisley two weeks back.

Ah. Summer. Music. Peeps. Good times. Good times.

"The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time." - James Taylor

Hello, love.

From Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void

For you, sistah.

Mike Doughty's "Your Misfortune", from Haughty Melodic.

When your faith in life is gone
Come and speak to me
When you’re down and all messed up
Seek my sympathy

When everybody says no, no, no
Well it’s
Your misfortune and none of my own
Wrong, wrong, wrong
Well it’s your misfortune that sweetens my song

I can be the friend you want
I can be your confidante
I can be the right reminder at the right time
Throwing out the lifeline

Stand in the light. Stand in the light. Stand in the light.

When everybody says no, no, no
Well it’s
Your misfortune and none of my own
Wrong, wrong, wrong
Well it’s your misfortune that sweetens my song

When your face is caked with mud
Come and speak to me
When the chill creeps in your blood
Seek my sympathy

When everybody says no, no, no
Well it’s
Your misfortune and none of my own
Wrong, wrong, wrong
Well it’s your misfortune that sweetens my song

I can be the air you drink
Every single thought you think
I can be the right notion in the meantime
Warm you like the sunshine

Stand in the light. Stand in the light. Stand in the light.

Today's What Is Sexy bits (W.I.S.B.s):
Strong women who can be vulnerable. Who also happen to have great t*ts.

Ska it up, babee!

So last night at band practice, we went over tunes with our new bass player to get stuff set before we play on Thursday. A recent addition to the set list is "Two of Us" by The Beatles. Callified and I both very much groove on the I Am Sam soundtrack and particularly dig Aimee Mann and Michael Penn's version (did ya know they were married?). Caught Michael Penn at The Five Spot last year with Kimplicated - great show.

As we started on the song, I heard something in my head and said, "Callified, you should ska-up the rhythm bit." She did. And l'il drummer boy morphed the beat to match. And day-um! It was cool.

The Police. Mighty Mighty Bosstones. No Doubt. Sublime. Just a few of the bands whose incorporation of ska doesn't suck. This Save Ferris cover below of "Come On Eileen" puts an awesome ska spin on the classic Dexys Midnight Runners' tune. Spanks for that CD years back, Pid. Definitely an unsuck listen!



Today's What Is Sexy bits (W.I.S.B.s):
- Girls singing about girls is sexy. I wonder if Jill Sobule knew her song would be so popular?
- Surprise is sexy.

Good At That

From Stephan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine

whitenoise wrote: ". . . although I'm good at what I do, and the imposed discipline has probably been good for me, it wasn't a good career choice.

I have a random, creative, anti-authoritative streak and I've always felt like a square peg jammed into a round hole. I should have been an architect, cardiologist or even a dentist.

Oh well, should count my blessings, I suppose - coulda been a lot worse."

In response I offer this song by Eddie From Ohio from their album Looking Out The Fishbowl. Run, don't walk, and buy the song from iTunes. It's an unsuck listen.

Good At That

Could have been a writer, should have been a novelist
Could have been something, anything other than this
Turn light on now, turn the light on
Room so dark without, room so dark without love

Should have been a healer and gone to Africa
Magic medicine that’ll clear it all up
Put away the hunger now, put away the hunger
World so dark without, world so dark without love

But night comes quiet as a cat
I lay awake considering, I consider ‘til my mind grows fat
Don’t know much about the weight of the world
But the weight on my brain’s sure intact
And maybe I’m good at that

Could have been a pundit, could have been an Uncle Sam
Shoulda been holy, a political holy man
Shift the gears now, turn the wheels of change
Land so dark without, land so dark without love
But that’s another kind of healer

Night comes quiet as a cat
I lay awake considering, I consider ‘til my mind grows fat
Don’t know much about the weight of the world
But the weight on my brain’s sure intact
And maybe I’m good at that

Now I’ll never be an Olympic star
I’m not that strong, I can’t run that far
And I’ll never die on the silver screen
I’m not that brave
Not much hero in me

Could have been a thinker, could have been a philosopher
More like a tinkerer, philosophical amateur
Turn the light on now, turn the light on
World so dark without, world so dark
World so dark without, world so dark
World so dark without, world so dark.

More Boxes and Nets

James, by Mark Tonra.

No Net Below lyrics, by Jonatha Brooke

It's that I leap and then I look
At all the chances that I took
Feel the air, miss the catch
Then I have to swing back
My timing's all wrong
And the ladder is gone
And all I can do, is
Swing 'til it's all net below
All I can do, is
Swing 'til it's all net below

And I can let go
I am not faint of heart
But I get weak in the knees
I am tired for the world
For the wind in the trees
But we'll still find the song
Though the ladder is gone
It's all we can do, is
Swing 'til it's all net below
Swing 'til it's all net below

And we can let go
And I'll still look you in the eye
It's the longest goodbye
I'll feel the air, make the catch
But I won't swing back
My timing is clear
And I'll never fear
I'll swing 'til there's no net below
Yeah, I'll swing 'til there's no net below

My Enormous Penis

Mr. Pid referenced it (the song) the other day in a phone chat. Erin shouts out about Steve's. And other general silliness compels me to share this gem from a few years back.

A Northern Virginia a capella group that opened for Eddie From Ohio, DaVinci's Notebook is sadly now defunct. But they so did not suck.

500 Songs for Kids

Caught the last night a couple of weeks back of an industrious inaugural benefit concert series known as 500 Songs for Kids. Over 10 nights, 500 different acts played Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 greatest songs of all time (a 2004 issue).

The down side of listening to songs 46 (by the time I made it inside - long ass-line!) all the way to #1: too much smoke, standing for over 6 hours, and the long wait times for some acts to set up or clear out.

But many, many upsides. Dionne Farris (of former Arrested Development fame) sang the #6 song, Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T". Pete Yorn delivered #2, John Lennon's "Imagine".

My 3 favorite performances were 2 without lyrics, and one all about them. A string group (I failed to write down their name) rendered Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" in fine fashion. You'll have to crank the volume to do the strings justice, as they weren't plugged in and only picked up by the mikes on stage.


My second favorite performance was by a local jazz group known as Jazzspects. Fantastic delivery of The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows." Play this - it is an unsuck listen!


Best performance was Sanjay Kothari's "One" by U2. Wow. His voice, phrasing, and guitar chops were superlative. He was also one of the organizers of the benefit, working his keester off the entire night. When his hibernation is over and sleep restores his sanity, I'm looking forward to catching him around Atlanta. (I have a vid of his performance, but this broad who claims to have recently joined a band of her own can be overheard singing harmony along with Sanjay. If you want to hear it anyway, say so in comments and I can post the vid there).

More M.Y.S.K.A.: Corinne Bailey Rae

More Music You Should Know About (M.Y.S.K.A.): What Norah Jones did for the piano, Corinne Bailey Rae does for the acoustic guitar.

Singing softly, quietly; a song as a conversation. Corinne Bailey Rae does this effortlessly, and with perfection. If you haven't heard of her yet, avail yerself here.



And her groove doesn't suck either:

M.Y.S.K.A.: Lonely? Bat It Down!

There are songs, and then there are tunes. You know the ones. That you hear for the first time, and then have to listen to them again. And again. The lyrics are poetically compelling. The music grabs you, knocks you down, makes you happy, makes you sad, makes you THINK.

And then you can't get it out of your pointy head.

This is one of those: Mike Doughty's Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well. It's been in my pointy head since last summer from his Haughty Melodic release of unsuck listen list fame. The song's message is powerfully poignant but not realizable when first heard - maybe that's why it stuck. Work still to be done.

Here's to fewer "uncool ways of decathecting".



Lonely
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down
And the only way to beat it is to bat it down, down

Upon further thought ... perhaps it's because it takes me back to The Police and So Lonely. You?

When Serendipity Strikes

No cajoling required for Kimplicated to be my +1 for Squirrel Nut Zippers at Smith’s last weekend. Snagged a crammed table stage left and struck up conversation with recent relocated Floridians at the intimately adjacent table. Sloshing on Strongbow, finished the pub grub as the opening act began.

Oh. My. Gawd. We were mistaken. We were not there to see SNZ. We were there to see Chapel Hill’s own The Old Ceremony.



Bowled over, struck happy, f*cking YEAH! And that’s by the end of the second song, when Cheek dashed to secure discs from the merch corner before they sold out. Have never been so impressed by an opening act. Lead guitarist as lead singer, keys, bass, drummer, fiddle, second keys/vibes/percussion, and cellist. Yes, cellist. Goose-pimply punch drunk, Kimplicated pegged their sound between Cake and Camper Von Beethoven. Compelling lyrics, riveting showMENship, catchy tunes.

Papers In Order is a new Cheek theme song:

Cried all I could afford
But now my crying time's ending
That's the message I'm sending out
I got my papers in order
Gonna find me a new love
Gonna find me a new love now.

No question that English literature Yale grad Django Haskins commanded the room on guitar and vocals, but Gabe Pelli on fiddle had the girls all a’flutter. Their discs don’t do their live energy justice – the slower tunes that drag a bit in the studio were smokily, lyrically, orchestrally riveting in person.

Chatted with Jimbo Mathus, leadman for SNZ, during the break and gave props for the pairing. Cigarette dangling, hat tipped, his Mississippi drawling self allowed as how Gabe and Mark (vibes) had been working with SNZ’s Katharine Whalen, and the roadtrip was a natural match. Sho’nuff, Gabe and Mark joined SNZ on stage for most of their set. Yes, Cheek sucks for not snapping an entire song’s performance, but it’s her virgin capture for YouTube. Post-cherry movie popping will suck less, promise.

As Django scrawled his inits on the CD, he described the band’s last performance in Atlanta at the Red Light Café to an ignoring crowd of 20. That sh*t is over. These boys are ready for prime time and have their papers in order.

Everybody’s got their own excuses
I know I’ve had mine too.
But I’m not gonna let a few bumps and bruises
Keep me from breakin’ thru.

Cheek’s found a new love, now, and they join the Listen!Roll. Run, don’t walk, and check out their MySpace page.

Great Day

Previous posts a’plenty shout out to the best d*mn folk band ever, Eddie From Ohio. The end of January found those Northern Virginia birds flying south to Atlanta’s Rialto Center for the ACM “One City, Many Voices” benefit. Highfalutin gig digs at the Rialto compared to their previous haunts at the Variety Playhouse and Eddie’s Attic. Assigned seats, great acoustics. Cheek’s EFO posse was 13 strong, including virgin attendees from Florida and Carmelita Diva’s brood (urchins hooked on EFO since gestation).

Pre-show band chat found them impressed with the opening act’s vocal chops, Atlanta’s own Morehouse College Glee Club. Cheek’s interest was piqued, as high school choir had her gospel geek on, led by the superlative Milton H. Borens. Posse elves helped with merch setup and swag selling, and we scurried in as the show started.


50+ strong, the Morehouse Men didn’t disappoint. A capella good time memories unearthed. Tickled pink when the men’s quartet pulled out Plenty Good Room. And the wow arrived as promised with "Betelehemu”, a drum-led folk song they usually reserve for holiday performances. Stunning.

EFO opened with Number Six Driver, thrilling us lapsed Virginians in the house. Julie blew us away with her heart-rocking “Great Day”, backed in gospel glory by Mike, Eddie and Robbie. The first two measures found the Morehouse Men with hands raised; by song's end they led the night’s first standing ovation. Julie’s palpable joy infected the rest of the night’s performance, later ‘fessing that it was one of her personal faves of all time. Standing O #2 after “Old Dominion” and Robbie’s basso close. Post-show, the Morehouse bass section gave Robbie additional props.

Only odd moment of the night was Michael’s peculiarly damning admonition on buying swag. He doesn’t sit to pee, I tell you whot. The quiet, unplugged closer of Mike’s “Walk Humbly Son” was a great cap on the evening, but he’s still a Hail Mary shy of redemption. The night harkened this listener back to “De Camptown Races” sung on a 1983 district chorus album, roll call listing Robbie, Julie, Knightly Jest alum Chad Bittick, the impeccable Vern Yip, and Cheek. Good times. Great Day.

King Size Me, Baby

When Kimplified and the DogSchool 101 Diva divulged their Elvis addictions a few years back, I scoffed with eyebrow raised. Hell no was my initial reaction when invited to a tribute concert. But Kimlified's musical taste palette is superlative, and she lauded the night as an ultimato experience.

Well, color me Elvis sequins and stuff. Born as a small thang in 1996 at the Star Bar, the Kingsized spectaculah sells out the Variety Playhouse bi-annually on the anniversaries of the King’s birth and death.

Red’s tale of a Vegas-style act seemed promising as the scantily clad burlesque Dames A’flame strolled the crowd before the show’s start, including Li’l E (a height-challenged bloke dressed in older Elvis garb, plunging neck line and furry chest hair included).



Curtain opened to an Elvis in utero back drop behind a platform with go go dancers getting’ their King on. The smokin’ 8-piece band, 3 backup singers with great pipes, and the bald, smooth crooning Big Mike grabbed the audience from the start and never let go. Their encore had you wishing Elvis had lived to actually cover Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road and Born to Run.

Now proudly on Cheek’s list of how to do Atlanta right, you may find yourself drug to Dames A’flame performances at the Midtown Vortex or Tongo Hiti at Trader Vic’s Lounge. But you won’t be sorry.