Chengdu, the capital city of the province of Sichuan, is famous for spicy food but also for its distinctive style of opera and for the performing art of face-changing, which involves removing layers of masks faster than the eye can see how it's done. I have seen both opera and face-changing in Chinese movies, which I got into when Indie Mom started watching them in high school, then I married a man who also has an interest in Chinese language and culture. I am not going to post any Chinese opera mp3s here, but if you are [...]
I like animals in general, but I am a cat person first. My mother would never give in to my begging for a kitten each time my friend's cat had a litter, but I have made up for that in my adulthood. For the past 40 years, I have never been without a cat, and I have usually had more than one at at time. Above are the current three, the mellowest and most friendly cats I have ever had. They don't hide when strangers come to the house. I have known them to immediately jump [...]
North Elementary : Ones In Love from Not For Everyone, Just For You (2006) MySpace | Website | Buy South Ambulance : Davy Crockett from EP#4 (2009) MySpace | Website | Label: Rollerderby Records | Buy East Hundred : Slow Burning Crimes from Passenger (2009) MySpace | Website | Buy [...]
It's unfortunate that painful experiences often generate good music. Maybe because we can all identify with sorrow, it's comforting to know someone else shares what you're going throught, and because being able to sing about it helps somehow. On The Flying Change's album Pain Is a Reliable Signal , Sam Jacobs accompanies his wife on her continuing search to find relief from debilitating back pain. There is no happy ending on the horizon for the Jacobses, only love and a companion on the journey. Jacobs has translated their various experiences with the condition and [...]
Two weeks in China! Oh, the amazing things we have seen-and eaten! Mr. Folkie's daughter, the Professional Foreigner (see link to her blog under Favorites), has been our indispensible companion. We traveled hundreds of miles by train because Mr. Folkie wanted to see pandas (you can have your photo taken with one on your lap if you want) and eat Sichuan food in Sichuan. We bought tickets for sleeping compartments on our train trips. I can't tell you how exciting it is to wake up on a train and find views like people working the rice [...]
Last November I featured a couple of tracks from the debut album of Wisconsin indie-rock band The Chairs ( The Chairs-November EP ). Now the Chairs' lead singer, Alex Ostrich (AKA Alex Schaaf), has a solo project called Yellow Ostrich with an EP called Carousels . Alex clearly has a talent for beautiful melodies, as evidenced in the five songs on Carousels and those he has written for the Chairs. The Chairs also released a full-length album of all-new songs in March that I only just got hold of. Below is one [...]
Jim Fairchild of Grandaddy and Modest Mouse has released his second solo album, Oh For the Getting and Not Letting Go . After years of living in Modesto, Los Angeles, and Portland in between touring, Fairchild and his lady Natasha Wheat moved permanently to Chicago in 2007. This album grew from his reflections on this cold, gritty, and unfamiliar setting, but it is not a depressing album by any means. Instead, the gray city seems to have generated renewed feelings of hope and discovering opportunity. The promo text promises, "It's WAY more rock-style than his [...]
Poster in a shop window We have spent four days in Beijing, with some not insubstantial portion devoted to turning our internal clocks upside down. I am less uncomfortable than I thought I'd be in a country where I speak fewer than 10 words of the language. Our hotel is in a typical Chinese neighborhood, and while not luxurious, we are able to enjoy a lot of local atmosphere. Here are some photos I have taken from around the area. [...]
Continuing a serial on parts of the body, "Skin" is the theme of Contrast Podcast #164 . I picked this kind of gruesome old Blind Melon song from my favorite of their albums, but here are two other songs I strongly considered. Blind Melon : Skinned from Soup (1995) MySpace | Buy Bell X1 : Bad Skin Day from Flock (2008) MySpace | Buy Goldroom : [...]
The Dimes are from Portland, OR, but their new four-song EP, released today, is named New England and based on real stories and events born of and around Boston. The songs I have listened to so far are just gorgeous, and even better news, this EP comes in advance of a full-length that is scheduled for release in August. A description of the Dimes from their promo says: "...quirky, harmony-driven, indie-pop five-piece with influences and sounds-like comparisons ranging from The Decemberists to Iron and Wine, Spoon, Tom Petty, and even The Beatles." Can it get [...]
Wilco – Gentilly Stage [5:30 pm]: Wilco is: • Jeff Tweedy: Vocals, guitar • John Stirratt: bass • Nels Cline: lead guitar, lap steel • Pat Sansone: keyboards, guitar • Mikeal Jorgensen: piano, keyboards • Glenn Kotche:`drums Set review: Before the set began several Wilco fanatics debated whether or not they'd play any new songs off their soon-to-be-released CD. The main Wilco scholar standing to my left was expecting they would, while [...]
Joe Krown with Walter "Wolfman" Washington and Russell Batiste, Jr. – Gentilly Stage [11:20am]: Joe Krown Set review: I caught most of this wonderful set by this trio of New Orleans greats. Guitarist Walter "Wolfman" Washington did the lead vocals, while Joe Krown played some nice keyboards on the Hammond B-3 and drummer Russell Batiste Jr. kept the beat. They generally played New Orleans rhythm-and-blues music. Feel So Bad from [...]
Starting this Sunday, Mr. Folkie and I will be on a 15-day vacation in China! For me, this is the trip of a lifetime. China is a place I have wanted to go but never thought I'd be able to get either the money or the time. We are going there to visit Mr. Folkie's daughter, who has been living there since last August. She is a fantastic writer with a gift for funny anecdotes. She has her own blog, The Professional Foreigner , which we link under our Favorites. She is also [...]
Uncle T continues his reviews of New Orleans Jazz Fest 2009 Spoon – Gentilly Stage [5:30pm]: Spoon is: •Britt Daniel-vocals, guitar (photo below) •Jim Eno-drums •Eric Harvey-piano, keyboards, guitar •Rob Pope-bass, guitar, keyboards Set review: Stage headliner Spoon played a really nice set, augmented by horn playing members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on a few of their songs, such as "The Underdog". The band itself is a pretty tight [...]
Uncle T continues his reviews of New Orleans Jazz Fest 2009 Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue – Gentilly Stage [3:45pm]: Set review: I first saw this local musical prodigy at the 2004 Jazz Fest, and he was 18 years old then. Now at age 23, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews has one of the hottest bands in New Orleans. His band of all young players consists of guitar, bass, drums, saxophone, keyboards, and percussionist. Troy [...]
Uncle T, my brother and our down-south connection, attended part of this year's New Orleans Jazz Festival. We'll have a couple of posts covering the acts that he saw. Alt-gramma signing off and turning it over to Uncle T: 2009 New Orleans Jazz Festival – Friday April 24 I arrived just prior to the gates opening, and decided to situate myself in the Blues Tent to catch the Roy Rogers set before heading to the larger outdoor Gentilly Stage to catch Spoon's headlining set. [...]
Somewhere in the broad open spaces between folk and country, Jeff Zentner's self-released second solo album The Dying Days of Summer echoes the sound of a voice against the rain, observes the mystery in far lights on a hill, sees the threat of a river rising, and remembers the smell of jasmine at night. The minimalist production brings to mind empty fields, abandoned farmhouses, and dirt roads meandering away from southern towns. Zentner accompanies his poetic vocals with guitar, slide guitar, dobro, banjo, pedal steel, lap steel, mandolin, cello, piano, organ in outrageously beautiful compositions. [...]
We live at Lizard Central. Little reptiles are everywhere, rustling in the grass or leaves, scrambling up the trees, or scooting across bare areas. We have big, dark fence lizards; quick little side-blotch utas; long, slithery, beautifully-patterned whiptails, including one endangered kind that sports an orange throat; at least one huge alligator lizard; and, just underground, the strange legless lizards. And there are at least two horned lizards between the house and the two gardens. One of the little horny guys I started seeing last spring is large-ish and dark brown. I [...]
I had been listening to Winter Gloves' debut album About a Girl non-stop for about a week when I found out this Montreal outfit would be at Spaceland last Friday night. Since I like everything on the album, it seemed like a no-brainer to go down to L.A. and check them out live. The songs are driven (rapidly) by Charles F's (above photo) quirky organ riffs that stick tight to your brain punctuated by falsetto "ha-ha"s and "ah-oh"s. I wake up with them dancing through my head. It's no wonder that Winter Gloves [...]
I had a bad dream early last Friday morning, that I went to sleep at the show I was seeing that night and woke up after it was all over with no photos and no knowledge of what happened. I don't know why I let the idea bother me because there wasn't a chance of that happening, and the first band, Hello From Reno , who I had not known of before, was a really pleasant surprise. Forget the Reno reference; they are local Los Angelenos. ( Photo above, Jerry Streeter (lead vocals, guitar) and [...]
speed of dark
Mumford & Sons Announce U.S. Gentlemen of the Road Stopover Shows
Cheryl Performs “Call My Name” On The Voice UK and Comes For Every Swan’s Wig
