the beatles- here, there, and everywhere

i know i have made some unpopular things about the fab 4 in the past, but i absolutely love everything about this song.

album review: bonnie 'prince' billy- beware

is human contact necessary to make great art? i mean, can you stay alone in a room for years and still create something that will touch others? or would it be so abstract, so inside, that it would just sail over their heads?
and why is that important?
why should an artist care if others 'get it'? isn't the burden on the audience? is the intent what makes art great, or is it the interpreting of it?
does great art make a great person?
does creating art bring the artist closer to god? does it MAKE them god?
is the world as simple as a snow globe? can you shake and bring down the sky upon it? can you turn it upside down?
does love produce better art than hate? both are powerful, both are real. some may argue that hate lasts forever while love is a fleeting thing. i'm not one of those people. but i have been.
why does love always enter the equation? why is it so important? can't we just be fine without it? peaceful and content? and why is it always romantic love that is so difficult? so much more important?
why is walking into the light from the darkness so hard? why can't our eyes adjust more rapidly? are things better in shadow? is the unknown so much easier to love? and is that love? do we love the ghosts around us more than the people? do we treasure the pictures of them more? do we need to make art of them and frame them and place them on the wall?
do we need to sing of them? record them? play them for others?

i'm tired of that. i'm tired of art.
i'm not tired of love. not yet.

i hope i never am.

bruce springsteen- tougher than the rest

a beautiful version of one of my favorite springsteen songs.
this song has been on my mind alot lately. a simple lyric that really speaks to me right now.

serge gainsbourg- ballade de melody nelson

my hero.

the felice brothers- frankie's gun

i have become completely obsessed with this song. this guy is my favorite new singer. i love the tossed off 'buddy' and 'thank you'. there's an almost rap-like delivery. the line about jersey is fucking genius.
i love how every line becomes it's own story. you could write another song from where every line leaves off.
also, this is one of the best live clips i've seen. this and the hold steady on letterman makes me feel hopeful about new music.

bang, bang, bang!

the fall- i can hear the grass grow

one of the many reasons that i'm so fond of morty is that he is a HUGE fall fan. and i'm gonna change your mind about pere ubu one of these days buddy.
your mother, i'm afraid, has already made up her mind about them.

chuck berry- mean old world

this is fucking brilliant. chuck berry is god. fucking a-right he is.

karen dalton- it hurts me too

my latest obsession. i can't take my eyes off her when she's singing. a stunning performance.

thanks to mosh for getting me to listen.

in my room, etc.

'i am a lost soul/ i shoot myself with rock and roll'-robert pollard

what am i doing?
what i am doing.
i'm lying in bed. listening to records. i've been here the better part of the day. depressed? not really, no. more like waiting. like somethings gonna happen. like the sun is gonna peek out and light a path that leads to some door i'm supposed to open. a door that holds back everything good. everything that's missing. or what i think is missing.
right now bruce is singing 'c'mon we gotta keep a light burning'. it's his version of suicide's 'dream baby dream'. it's true gospel. it's like the sun lighting a path.

what am i doing?
i'm collecting myself. i'm thinking, without thinking. i'm letting this music dictate my thoughts. i will process it all and regurgitate it later. probably to you. i will pass all of this music off as my own poetry.
the best music is like an aural carousel. it spins you around and it spins around you. it makes you dizzy and takes you far away and drops you off where you were. but different. a little wobbly but euphoric.

what am i doing?
i'm closing my eyes. i'm in my room. my room has never changed. it's the only home i have. i have spent the last few years homeless. drifting from room to room, couch to couch, me and my jukebox. every room is the same, every couch is the same. i can adapt to it all. i am resilient. walls change colors and carpets fade and picture on the wall shift.
i miss home. not a particular home, but that feeling. of laying my head down and knowing what will happen tomorrow. and being happy with what will happen tomorrow.
i'm making that up, by the way.
i'm a liar. a known liar. and a bore.
and the only thing interesting about me is what i'm listening to now.
and i'm gonna keep that secret for now.

what am i doing?

chet baker

i've tried to get into jazz. i like it, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't always move me. and i need to be moved by music. if i don't have an emotional attachment to an artist they'll never be on my regular play list.
chet baker moves me. it hits me in all the right spots. so melancholy and longing. it sounds like what love feels like when it slips through your fingers. or like the afternoon after a heavy night of drinking when the headache is fading and the depression is creeping up.
it's real. some of it may sound corny to our oh so cool and jaded ears, but it speaks a timeless truth. the sadness of life. the longing and the ache of love.
and that face. it's like a three dimensional road map. like time has cut it to pieces with it's relentless attack.
and the voice, somehow, makes it all feel like a hug.

van morrison-sweet thing

the next time you hear 'brown eyed girl' on he radio ask yourself why this man's fantastic body of work is so criminally ignored.
there are moments when i listen to music and just wonder....where did this come from? how can someone create it? it's so stunningly beautiful it seems impossible. i can't help but get choked up when i hear the line: 'and i will never get so old again'. i want to feel like this song. confident, alive, wise, and filled with peace and love.
yeah, i said it.