What a fun weekend! For those of you not following along on the intertubals of love (i.e. me twitters & me facebooks, ARR!), this weekend, I played jet-setter, hopping on a plane down to Arizon-I-A to see my baby cranes, swooping them up and driving up to Sedona & then to the Grand Canyon! Our first times! Wow, what can I say, Sedona is absolutely beautiful…
Our approach..
Wandering around..
View from our hotel’s property..
Sunset…
It was stunning. We went hiking around and exploring before hopping in the car for 2 hours to get to the Grand mother fucking Canyon!
Oh god.
Okay… I need to be honest with you. I have a thing about heights. It’s not that I’m afraid of heights, per se, I can ride on planes and shit all day, though put me on top of the Empire State building and I get a bit jacked-up. But, the bigger fear is the “hey, look at how high we ar-” *poof, dead* that things like the Grand Canyon shoved into my brain, down my spinal cords, and made me shudder with fear.
Yeah. I was terrified. For myself, for my girls. It was intense. I mean, for fuck’s sake, they don’t have barriers on some parts! One little trip up and POOF, gone! Then I read about how once or twice a year, sure enough, someone falls. Last year it was some 4 year old, just there one second, gone the next. There’s no ifs about it, it’s a straight drop to nothing. It should be renamed The Ridiculously More Massive Than You Could Imagine Canyon. It’s that big.
Woo.
You may note that all the photos are from my phone. I had my camera and shot photos & film, but what I didn’t have, a first for me, was a computer. Yep. Computer-free on a trip for the first time ever. Smartphones (I have an Evo) are great, but they are really just crippled substitutes for a computer. I had a hard time staying in touch with some projects, and writing a real email was a challenge, but for the most part, not too shabby! Getting there technology… getting there.
Conversely, oh man, on the plane back last night… A woman in a seat near me had, are you ready for this, an iPod, iPhone, iPad, AND a Mac! 3 of which she was actually using at once at one point on the flight. Quite possibly the most idiotic thing I saw all trip. Didn’t help she was a loud bitchy person.
Anywhosals.
The trip required a quite a bit of driving, 2 hours to Sedona, 2 to Grand Canyon, 2 back, and 2 back to the airport. So, as you can imagine, music was key. Sountracking our trip was new Cake, new Decemberists, new Iron & Wine (more on that in a sec), some mixtapes (of course), and eventually my first official introduction to Lady Gaga.
I’m sorry, but I don’t get it. Woefully generic music. Oh well. Oddly, when it was just her & a piano playing live or some raw version of one of her songs, it was 10x better, but man, the official released songs? I don’t know. Just don’t get it. Oh wells.
But, one thing that got stuck on repeat, not only on the long plane ride down, but during a couple hours of the drivin’ was Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine!
I’ve always liked Iron & Wine, not loved, just a song here and there, though I really did like his last album. Beyond that, his whispery folk was really not my cup o’ tea. But then I heard “Biting My Tail” and my mild enjoyment went to a weird mix of wtf, worry, and enjoyment. Like fellow acoustic aficionado, Sufjan, Sam gone ee-lectronical! After the initial shock, I liked the song, but I had no idea how far he’d take it on the album proper. Was it going to be filled with silly autotuned vocals & blips & bleeps & lasers like the aforementioned sensitive bear?
The answer was, thankfully, no.
I read somewhere he as going for this AM radio thing, and I certainly hear that (see: “Walking Far From Home” & “Tree By The River”) in some of the tracks. At other times, he drops into tribal “Rabbits Will Run” or funk (see: “Big Burned Hand” or just something otherwordly beautiful (see: “Godless Brother In Love”). It’s an amazing progression of sound, bold, and sure to piss off old time fans. But, all I can say is wow. Amazing. My only complaint? ”Biting My Tail” (so much fun) & “Summer In Savannah” (a jazzy awesome tune) should’ve both been included. Fortuntely, due to the iPod world we live in, mine “copy” does now.
Now this is full-on Major Label now (still can’t believe the dude signed with Warner Bros, dropping, I think, Subpop… oh well, no accounting for taste). Because of that, we are not sharing shit, but we do have the promo viddy:
And… the full album stream via a live performance on NPR that we previously shared and are more than happy to link again here!
I like Cake. Who doesn’t like Cake? There are an infinite number of flavours of Cake, but in the end, Cake is Cake.
Side Note: That cake they shape with fondant on TV is not cake. That edible playdoh. Sorry, but it is.
This. This is Cake.
You got vanilla, chocolate, lemon, devil’s & angel’s food, poundcake, white, sheet, coconut, and then you got today’s…. red velvet. The luscious & rich deep moist blood red cake bread, topped & layered with that cream chesse icing or butter cream, whichever and either. It’s a subtle twist on the most simplest and classic of desserts. That’s what Cake is. It’s always the same, but it’s the slight changes in flavours and icings that make each offering unique & delicious in their own way.
We may have to wait until noon for Ari’s epically awesome massive post, but until then, how about some songs from impending leaks, eh??? Mmmm……. Yes, please, and thank you!
I’m pretty achy today, but it’s great to get that first century done, get over the hump — mental mostly, but physical too, though I must say, physically, the easiest 100 miles I’ve ridden yet, very strong like polar bear!!!
Anywhosaldoosal….. It’s Sunday, a beautiful Sunday, and we plan on taking advantage of it, so let’s get going with the good stuff, the tunes that will be soundtracking this gorgeous day ahead of us, our mixtape for gahrace, I Want To Be Your American Idol!!!
I really had fun with this one. First I, literally, threw in a random hour of music, almost with my eyes closed, then pushed play to see what we had, to see if there was a commonality in the cards that the “hands of fate” had dealt. And there was! FUN! Between Old 97s, REM, The Format, I found myself singing along, at the top of my lungs, just having a good old time, imagining myself in front of millions of people singing some of my favourite songs.
From there, we started to fill in the gaps, put it in the right order and before I knew it, I found myself with over 2 hours of music, flowing up and up, and then down and up, new songs making their way in, a few more, then some more older ones, and then something would pop in my head and I’d just HAVE to hear it, then it HAD to go on the mixtape (see: Len & Michael Jackson), and *POOF* out went one song and *BLOOP* in went a different. After about a week & a half, this is what remained.
Call me proudish or egotastic, but I love it. Burned it, made a cover, shipped it with some other local hand-made goodies & some candy to gahrace for Crane’s Day, and now, after her receipt and listening, it’s time to get up here for you. So, let’s shut the fuck up and get on with it, eh? I hope you enjoy as…
TSURURADIO Presents… MIXTAPES WEEK!
I Want To Be Your… American Idol!!!
(Full Zip) – removed until I find a replacement for Darwin Deez
Before we begin (well, actually, we have begun, but you know what I mean)… Holy crap! You ever have a little piece of skin on your lip, annoyingly sitting there, you feel it on your tongue, on your upper lip, you try Carmax & Chap-Stik & whatnot but it’s still there buggin’ you, so you reach up, thumb & index finger, try to grab it, miss or slip, try again and maybe even again and then suddenly you got a good hold, give it a nice tug, and instead of that lovely “peenk” feeling as a little bit of annoying dry skin pops off, you get a face squirming “peeeeeeeeeeeeenk” as half your goddamn lip skin pulls off, or worse, is hanging there now waiting for the final “peenk” from you to “finish the job”?????? Yeah, happened last night while mindlessly farting around online. Damn it. A glass of fruit juice did not help the situation, or the mouth wash this morning. I guess I should consider myself lucky, it happend more on the inside of my bottom lip, not the outside, so it’s not visible to my coworkers, so I don’t have to worry about having Paris Hilton Disease (aka face herpes). So, silver linings and all, right?
Anywhosaldoosalwoosalshoosals…… Today’s topic. Right. See, one of my bloggy blog friends had an issue about their music photography (the stuff they actually take, not the promo photos they use) getting swiped off their website and showing up on other bloggy blogs in their post about the band frozen in the frame and well, as things like this tend to do, it gots me ta thinkin’. Thinkin’ tends to result in long diatribe/rants/nonsense and what follows is what vomited out of my brain. I just happen to have notepad open to capture it. It may be a tired old conversation, but until we figure this whole copyrights in the digital age thingy, it will still be relevant. So here goes…….
In an ego-free universe, we would create art (music, photography, etc) for ourselves and wouldn’t feel the need to make sure other people see/hear/etc them. But we don’t, we feed our ego. We feed it cake. We create art, then put it out there. Then we push it on friends & family via emails/twitpics/facebooks/etc/etc/etc. Some then go further and push it onto strangers at galleries and bar gigs or on the street. Some then try to get someone else to push our art onto the world via emails and blog posts and big website write ups. Some then hope that the “right person” sees that art and then takes it globally, bring fame and/or fortune & J.Lo wanting you to take her picture for that Blender magazine cover (yes, I know they are defunct, as is J.Lo).
But… unfortunately, art is a commodity now. Use it as you like, then dispose of it when you are done. Doesn’t matter who made it, doesn’t matter what it took to create it, doesn’t matter if the part you are taking is only a small nugget of something bigger & special, like a series or album or whatever. Grab the hot song, put it on your iPod, listen to it, love it then get bored with it & delete it. Remember that song you loved back in 1982? Don’t worry that you sold off your record collection in 91, Google, click, hello!, “save as”, all yours!
It’s the digital age, it’s all just bits & bytes, which aren’t even “things”. I can put the entire world of art history on a flash drive. I can then throw that flash drive in the trash, go back to my computer and do it again. I can have every song I ever heard on my computer. I can then “select all”, delete, POOF! I’ve lost nothing. Why? I can just go out and get it again, never lifting my ass off the chair cushion. It’s a kleenex, grab it, blow your nose, throw it away, repeat.
But… at the same time, because of the bits & bytes situation we find ourselves in, the playing field has been equalized. For instance, you can find my work, just as easily as you can find my hero Helmut Newton’s. Bill’s Basement Banjo Band can reach just as many people as The Black-Eyed Peas. Same number of clicks on the mouse and I’ve got a song playing in my ears or a jpg set as my wallpaper. That’s pretty amazing & awesome & wonderful & w00t! Right?
But (3rd ‘buts’ a charm) you can’t have your cake & eat it too, you’ll get a cottage cheese thighs! As easy as it is to share your art with the world, it’s just as easy for the world to not “play share” right. Google, click, hello!, “save as”, all yours!
I’ll admit it, I do it. I try to give credit where the credit is due, but I still do it. I know that people do it to me (NSFW, pretty proud of that). Is it right? I don’t know. In the old world, it was wrong. Dead wrong. I did it anyway. I’ll even admit to even removing a few pages from the local public library of images of my favourite photographers. But in the new world? I don’t know. But I do know the old way doesn’t work. We all do, but no one really knows what to do about it.
The new world & the old world don’t mix. You can’t make that cake, delicious lemon cake with a butter creme icing, put it near me, then tell me to look at it, want it, smell it, crave it, but then not eat it. It’s cake! You made it for me, for all of us, and you even put a slice of it on a plate in front of me — I can feel the warmth on my chin! — with a fork, napkin, a glass of milk/Silk, and a nudge! I’m going to eat the fucking cake!
What’s my solution? Fuck if I know. If I did, I’d be one rich mammer-jammer. Right now, I think we are still in that lovely transitional phase where the old world is kicking and screaming and clawing and hoping to force itself to live on by deleting blogs, DMCA notices, copyright/patent lawsuits and the new world is looking at all the cake and wondering how the hell can it eat all of that and not throw up over the entire kitchen & shit over the person who made it. I don’t know. The cake’s been made, it’s there, and it’s being eaten — what’s with all the cake talk, right?
This much I do know. Yes, I’m going to continue to post other people’s art (audio, visual, & otherwise) but I’m going to give credit when I can as I want to celebrate & promote those things that I love. I’m going to fuck up/get lazy from time to time, I’m sure, but I’m certainly not going to take someone else’s work, cut it up, put my own name on it & pretend like the artist never existed like this person did (that is not their photo that they cropped and re-watermarked with their name) instant kharma, website went on the fritz! ha!
So let’s start the love & celebrations!!! First with something old. Well, “oldish”, 2001 — might as well be 1901 in this day & age, eh? — with one of my very favourite Crash Test Dummies / Brad Roberts albums, I Don’t Care That You Don’t Mind!
This actually ties in quite well with yesterday’s conversation about break-ups as inspiration, but instead of losing some hottie, Brad almost lost his life in a car wreck out in Boston. Laid up in a hospital is one helluva great time to gain a bit of introspection and with this album, it shows.
Previously, in the states, Crash Test Dummies was basically that “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” song. The end. In their native Canada, their first album actually had some success of it’s own, including this little hit called “Superman’s Song”.
Amazing quirk-folk-pop album, but with God Shuffled His Feet and their massive “one-hit-wonder” status cemented below the border, that was it. Odds are, unless you were a fan-fan, that’s all you knew. Funny, “Mmm…” wasn’t really a great representation of the album as much as say, “Afternoons & Coffeespoons” was with it’s acoustic based fun…
But oh well, c’est la vie, tis life and what not. Anyways, years later, Brad’s driving around Boston or something, crashes, gets saved, and meets some lobster men who are musicians and records, what I believe to be, his masterpiece to date (word is another album is coming and it’s stuck in limbo). It’s a bit alt-country, a bit slow bar blues, a bit jazz lounge, a bit hillbilly porch jam, but it’s all Brad’s voice, love it or hate it, that ties it all together and makes it work. It’s clever & dripping with a combination of atmosphere and humour all at the same time, rich & light, a pretty impressive feat if you ask me.
I picked a couple of my favourite tracks that kinda represent the gamut maybe. Just enjoy and pick this bad boy up on your own for a juxtaposition of a good time!
But we ain’t done, with the “old” it’s also good to look at some new! And it’s The Tallest Man On Earth that’s got his new around my balls with The Wild Hunt!
Yes, he still sounds like Bob Dylan, one quick google search will call up the literally 159,000,000 search results for “the tallest man on earth bob dylan”, but that’s just the nature of his voice and that he goes mostly acoustic guitarish and whatnot. Okay fine, yes, he’s Bob Dylan reincarnate, good for him! A blessing & a curse I imagine. This time around TTMOE (sorry, can’t write all that out again) takes a slight evolution forward, but just slightly. He’s still doing what he does best, stark & sparse songs with a loud whiny voice. But it feels a little more forward… OR I’m just hearing what I want hear?
Meh, whatever. It’s a stunning & simple album and that’s really all that matters. Perfect for a quiet anytime. Now, this one is on Dead Oceans which appears to be part of Jagjaguwar, so let’s stick to the official “single”, eh?
01 The Wild Hunt
02 Burden of Tomorrow
03 Troubles Will be Gone
04 You’re Going Back
05 The Drying of the Lawns 06 King of Spain
07 Love Is All
08 Thousand Ways
09 A Lion’s Heart
10 Kids on the Run
tsururadio. The musical obsessions, meanderings, and field observations of Aaron (aka Tsuru) most often presented in mixtape format, the way the good lard intended!
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