Biggie's Beats

2009-02-18T06:17:00.000-08:00

U2 'Get On Your Boots' live at Grammy 2009
Uploaded by miracledrugdealer

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

2009-02-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, I offered this New Orleans playlist. Now, as I prepare to rekindle my love affair with the City That Bush Forgot during the PDENOLA X trip, I offer part deux.

You can stream some of these on the imeem playlist at the bottom of this page.

Anders Osborne - Back on Dumaine
The Band - Down South in New Orleans
Better Than Ezra - WWOZ
Big Sam's Funky Nation - Bah-Duey-Duey
Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias - Tipitina
Bonerama - Whipping Post
Buckwheat Zydeco - Soul Serenade
Buckwheat Zydeco - What You Gonna Do?
Buckwheat Zydeco - Cryin' in the Streets
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Dirty Dozen Brass Band - My Feet Can't Fail Me Now
Dr. John - Iko Iko
Eddie Bo - Hook and Sling
Galactic & DJ Z-Trip - Bounce Baby
Grateful Dead - Iko Iko
Hot 8 Brass Band - Let Me Do My Thing
Jelly Roll Morton - I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say
The Knux - Cappuccino
Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra & Randy Newman - Louisiana 1927
The Meters - Hey Pocky A-way
The Meters - Funky Miracle
The Meters - Fire On The Bayou
Papa Grows Funk - Pass It!
Paul Simon - That Was Your Mother
Professor Longhair - Big Chief
Professor Longhair - Go to the Mardi Gras
Rebirth Brass Band - (I Feel Like) Bustin' Loose
Robert Parker - Barefootin'
Tab Benoit - Fever for the Bayou
Tab Benoit - Jambalaya
Tab Benoit - Crawfishin'

Devil horns or shoulder roll?

2008-10-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

I had two experiences last week that have me thinking a lot about music, race and our American culture.

Last week, I went to the Obama campaign office in downtown Cleveland to pick up two free tickets to a Jay-Z concert to be held this week at Quicken Loans Arena. The show is sponsored by the Obama campaign and hosted by LeBron James.

Out of about 150 people standing in line, there were maybe 10 white people. As I have at various points in my life since high school, I found myself suddenly conscious of my skin color. Not in response to any odd looks from other people in line, but probably just because being white in a place like Ohio generally allows you to feel comfortable. You look around and see lots of other people who look like you. When you suddenly feel like a minority, it gets your attention and makes you more self-aware.

I understand that this experience is not unique. Entire books and films have been made on the topic. While I'm not often forced to consider these issues, each time I do, I am reminded that black people in many parts of America feel this way all of the time.

A few days later, I was at an Ohio State University tail gate party in Columbus. Not your typical college tailgate, though. Sponsored by a few businesses - so some college students but also the thirtysomething crowd and quite a few older businesspeople in their 40s and 50s. This particular crowd was predominantly white, with only a handful of black people in attendance.

As the party was getting going, the music was what somewhat you'd expect from this sort of crowd at a college tailgate party - AC/DC, Danzig, Motley Crue, etc.

An hour passed. The next CD in the changer was a DJ mix of more hard rock/heavy metal mixed over techno/dance beats. Kinda cheesy, but you see where I'm going?

Yep - the next CD in the changer was was a mix of popular hip-hop.

While all of this is going on in the background, the crowd keeps growing in size and blood alcohol content. Early on, the vibe was more devil horns than shoulder roll. But gradually, the overwhelmingly white, oldish crowd started paying attention to the music -- bobbing their heads and dancing.

I was reminded of this classic Chappelle's Show skit.

So, why does this inevitably happen at so many parties I go to? Why don't so many white people appreciate hip-hop when they're sober? Why would they rather listen to country or metal until they're good and juiced up?

I know this line of questions isn't new or groundbreaking. You might say, "It's simple. Hip-hop is danceable. Metal is not. Danceable music feels pretty good to you when you've been drinking for several hours and your inhibitions are starting to melt away."

Sure, but I guess my larger questions are:

Why does it take hip-hop and alcohol to get whites and blacks together? Is this the only thing we have in common that we're willing to recognize publicly?
Is the growing predominance of hip-hop in popular culture a precursor to improved relations between blacks and whites in Generation Y?
What is the hip-hop community's response to the idea that younger whites are consumers of hip-hop culture?
Should Obama have Snoop Dogg play his inauguration, drawing young whites and blacks together as Dave Chappelle shouts, "It's a celebration, bitches?"

I'm just playin with that last question, but I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts here.

Editor's note: Thanks to Ryan, who patiently talked through some of this with me over a beer at the tailgate.

Hooray Beer!

2008-05-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this commercial tonight. I've always found it funny.

Long distance information / give me Memphis, Tennessee

2008-02-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

Over President's Day weekend, I made my first pilgrimage to Memphis, home of the blues and birthplace of rock 'n' roll. In addition to consuming copious amounts of BBQ (try the BBQ nachos at the Rendezvous), two of my best friends and I visited the Rock 'n' Soul Museum, Stax Records, Sun Studio, Beale Street, and the National Civil Rights Museum. It was an amazing trip and one that any music-loving American should put on their list of things to do before they die.

Mix I made for the trip:
Let's Stay Together - Al Green
Love and Happiness - Al Green
Born Under A Bad Sign (Live w. John Lee Hooker) - Albert King
California - Albert King
Crosscut Saw - Albert King
Tennessee - Arrested Development
Sweet Soul Music - Arthur Conley
Paying the Cost to Be the Boss - B.B. King
Every Day I Have the Blues - B.B. King
You Don't Know - B.B. King
Let the Good Times Roll - B.B. King
How Blue Can You Get? - B.B. King
Sweet Sixteen - B.B. King
The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
Soul Finger - The Bar-Kays
Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton
Have Mercy on Me - The Black Keys
Farther up the Road - Bobby "Blue" Bland
Turn On Your Love Light - Bobby "Blue" Bland
Green Onions - Booker T. & the MGs
Hip Hug-Her - Booker T. & the MGs
The Letter - The BoxTops
Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
Memphis - Chuck Berry
St. Louis Blues - Chuck Berry
Back to Memphis - Chuck Berry
I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled and Crazy - The Derek Trucks Band
Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd
Raise Your Hand - Eddie Floyd
I've Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do) - Eddie Floyd
Dust My Broom - Elmore James
Monkey to Man - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Needle Time - Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
Return to Sender - Elvis Presley
In the Ghetto - Elvis Presley
Mystery Train --> Tiger Man - Elvis Presley
Outro - Elvis Presley
Tennessee Jed - Grateful Dead
New Crawlin' King Snake (Single) - Howlin' Wolf
Built For Comfort - Howlin' Wolf
Killing Floor - Howlin' Wolf
I Walked from Dallas - Howlin' Wolf
Proud Mary - Ike & Tina Turner
Theme from "Shaft" - Isaac Hayes
Rocket 88 - Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats
Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On - Jerry Lee Lewis
Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - John Lee Hooker
Who's Making Love - Johnnie Taylor
Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash
Big River - Johnny Cash
I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash
Highway 61 Revisited - Johnny Winter
Memphis Soul Stew - King Curtis
Dixie Chicken - Little Feat
Last Night - The Mar-Keys
Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn
Backfield in Motion - Mel & Tim
Chicken Fat - Mel Brown
Elvis is Everywhere - Mojo Nixon
Tiger in Your Tank - Muddy Waters
I Want to Be Loved - Muddy Waters
Walking Through the Park - Muddy Waters
Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
I'm a King Bee - Muddy Waters
When The Eagle Flies - Muddy Waters
Baby Please Don't Go - Muddy Waters
Everything's Gonna Be Alright - Muddy Waters
Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters
Kansas City - Muddy Waters
Caldonia - Muddy Waters
Long Distance Call - Muddy Waters
Got My Mojo Working (Encore) - Muddy Waters
I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled and Crazy - O.V. Wright
Amen - Otis Redding
Hard to Handle - Otis Redding
Respect - Otis Redding
I Can't Turn You Loose - Otis Redding
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) - Otis Redding
Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding
Shake - Otis Redding
The Happy Song (Dum-Dum) - Otis Redding
Tramp - Otis Redding
(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
The Boy In the Bubble (Remastered Version) - Paul Simon
Graceland (Remastered Version) - Paul Simon
Under African Skies (Remastered Version) - Paul Simon
That Was Your Mother (Remastered Version) - Paul Simon
All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints (Remastered Version) - Paul Simon
Goin' Down South - R.L. Burnside
Memphis Tennessee - Rosco Gordon
Walking the Dog - Rufus Thomas
I Thank You - Sam & Dave
Soothe Me - Sam & Dave
You Don't Know Like I Know - Sam & Dave
Wrap It Up (Single Version) - Sam & Dave
Hold On, I'm Coming - Sam & Dave
Soul Man - Sam & Dave
Chain Gang - Sam Cooke
A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
Death Letter - Son House
Let's Do It Again - The Staple Singers
Walking Blues - Susan Tedeschi & The Derek Trucks Band
Chevrolet - Taj Mahal
Leaving Trunk - Taj Mahal
Stagger Lee - Taj Mahal
Pride (In the Name of Love) - U2
When Love Comes to Town - U2
Soul Serenade - Willie Mitchell
Mustang Sally - Wilson Pickett
Land of 1000 Dances - Wilson Pickett
In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett

Chris Rock - No Apologies

2008-02-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

I think Chris Rock is one of the great philosophers of our time. His comedy is well constructed, clever and true.

This weekend I got to see him perform at the Playhouse Theater in Cleveland on his No Apologies tour. He covered the presidential campaigns, race, relationships, celebrities, and just about everything in between. He was brilliant.

Songs heard or referenced during the Chris Rock show:
Duffel Bag Boy - Playaz Circle
Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Champion - Kanye West
Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat - Dr. Dre

Golden Delish...

2008-01-28T07:11:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of Mike Doughty. Former Soul Coughing frontman turned poet, photographer, DJ, blogger and solo singer-songwriter. 2005's Haughty Melodic is one of my "lost on a deserted island" albums. His new album, Golden Delicious, comes out on February 19.

Incidentally, he re-made "27 Jennifers" -- a song on Skittish/Rockity Roll -- on the new album. Cleverly, he's asked 27 girls named Jennifer to be his top friends on MySpace. But the video's a little creepy.

Mike's website
Mike's MySpace
Album on Amazon.com
Review by Herohill

Graduation vs. Curtis

2007-09-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

If you follow hip-hop, this was a big week for you. Kanye West and 50 Cent were both releasing new albums this week -- on 9/11, of course. Even if you're a casual fan, you can't help but to have heard.

There they are -- on the front cover of Rolling Stone, going toe to toe like prize fighters (they struck the same pose, incidentally, on the MTV VMAs). But when you watch video of the photo shoot, you get the sense that this is all a coordinated effort between friendly rivals to boost sales.

As I write this, Kanye's third album, Graduation, is the top selling album in iTunes. In second place is Curtis, 50's new album. Even in a Long Tail world, the hype machine must still work.

Check out these links:
Associated Content's take
Yahoo! Buzz analysis
Early returns are in -- Reuters report

If I had a hammer (... and a $50 iTunes gift card)

2007-08-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

I received a bunch of iTunes gift cards for my birthday a couple weeks ago. My friends know me pretty well :)

I didn't really have my eye on any albums in particular, so I started browsing around and saved a few items to my shopping cart.

Here's your chance to make your voice heard. I've listed 5 albums I'm considering. Which would you buy? Post a comment w/ your vote. Feel free to write in another vote if you'd like.

1) Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up
2) The Derek Trucks Band - Live at Georgia Theater
3) Grateful Dead - Dick's Picks Vol. 4, Fillmore East, NYC, 2/13-2/14/70
4) Paul Pena - New Train
5) James Brown - Love Power Peace (Live at the Olympia)

Top Live Albums of All Time

2007-07-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to come up with the top live albums of all time. So far, I have:

Frampton Comes Alive - Peter Frampton
Live at the Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers Band
Live at Leeds - The Who
The Last Waltz - The Band

Hit me with some more ideas, people.

Last.fm

2007-03-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

I've been scrobbling my iTunes music with Last.fm. If you've not heard of it, it's a tool that tracks what you listen to and then connects you with other users on the Web who share your musical tastes. To learn more about it, click here.

I took one of those fun quizzes and posted my answers here.

R.I.P. Godfather of Soul

2007-01-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

On the death of one of my idols and arguably the most important force in modern American music, I'd like to share some thoughts on James Brown written by Cliff White, who wrote the liner notes to the the 50th Anniversary Collection put out by Universal in 2003. James Brown is the reason we have funk music today, in 2006.

PLEASE FILL YOUR GLASSES AND LET'S HEAR IT ONE MORE TIME FOR MR. JAMES BROWN. ALL THE WAY FROM GEORGIA, BOY, THE BOY WITH THE BUCKET (YOU KNOW HE DID, BUT HE SHOULDN'T OUGHTA TOOK IT) TO THE WORLD RENOWNED GODFATHER OF SOUL. MR. DYNAMITE, MISTER PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HIMSELF, AS OF THIS WRITING 70 YEARS YOUNG, 5O YEARS ON FROM HIS SHOW BUSINESS DEBUT, STILL OUT THERE LIKE A TORNADO IN YOUR GARDEN PARTY.
James Brown is not the only African-American entertainer of estimable vintage still able to wreck the house. There's B.B. King, Ray Charles, Little Richard; and groups of amazing longevity like The Dells, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & The Pips. But none has such a profound and prolonged influence as James Brown. Nor, at their peak, such persistent firepower: he was on the U.S. Billboard R&B charts for 20 years running. None exploded from the stage into national focus the way he did. And lest we forget, there have been countless examples to remind us that the self-proclaimed Hardest Working Man In Show Business became the Hardest Worked Sample.
James Brown didn't set out to be a maverick. All he ever wanted was to be accepted on equal terms in the land of milk and honey. Truth be known, he'd have probably liked to be Frank Sinatra in an alternate universe (and maybe he is). In the real world he worked himself and everyone around him to unprecedented cathartic intensity in his quest to be Somebody. What repercussions that had. Music the likes of which had never been heard before and reverberates to the present day. A career that took him from a whorehouse to The White House and put him on the frontline of U.S. social upheaval. A career that later went awry for awhile but is now recognized worldwide for what it is truly worth: A formidable body of work from a formidable man.

Cool Yule

2006-12-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

Jazz has always loved the standards -- songs that are familiar to many -- because they're perfect fodder for improvisation and because even jazz novices can appreciate them. From Johnny Green's "Body and Soul," which is considered by some to be the ultimate jazz standard, to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which was covered by rule-breaking jazz trio The Bad Plus, jazz has always loved to re-invent the classics.

This love affair is especially apparent this time of year -- Christmas. So many great jazz musicians have taken traditional Christmas songs with which every Christian in the Western world is probably familiar, and colored their familiar melodies in new and interesting ways.

If you're not a big jazz fan, this is the best way, I've found, to understand and appreciate American jazz. Check out these great jazz compilations this season -- you might just find yourself buying Miles Davis' Kind of Blue not soon after.

Jingle Bell Jam: Jazz Christmas Classics - Various Artists
Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters - Louis Armstrong & Friends
Yule B Swingin'- Various Artists
Yule B Swingin' Too - Various Artists
Verve Presents: Very Best of Christmas Jazz - Various Artists
When My Heart Finds Christmas - Harry Connick, Jr.

Hello, hello / It's a NOLA Vertigo

2006-10-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'd seen this video right after the New Orleans Jazz Fest, but came across it again recently. It's U2's The Edge doing a jazz rendition of the hit, "Vertigo," with local NOLA musicians. No doubt that jazz, and New Orleans jazz in particular, has influence rock & roll and continues to do so today.

Hurt, Hope and Rock, part II

2006-10-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I told a quick story about a friend who was feeling a little down on herself and needed a musical "pick me up."

Since then, I've come to realize that my friend is carrying around a lot of pain inside because of a very traumatic experience she had about five years ago. The coping mechanisms she uses to deal with the pain aren't the healthiest ones -- alcohol and drugs. She's become a little self-destructive and some of her friends and family are really starting to worry about her.

Today, I'm just asking anyone who reads my blog to think for a couple seconds about all of the people in the world who are hurting inside right now. On the outside, they might appear to have it all together, but on the inside, they're rotting away from a traumatic event in the past, verbal or physical abuse, or emotional instability. If you're a religious person, say a prayer for my friend and for all those people today.

Promowest Pavilion

2006-08-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

If you have never had occasion to visit Columbus, you're missing out on one of the best live concert experiences around...

The Promowest Pavilion (now called the LC Pavilion -- photo)

Intelligently designed by 360 Architecture (formerly Heinlein Schrock Stearns), Promowest, as I still call it, sits right smack in the Arena District of Columbus, just blocks from the city center.

In the winter, the facility hosts up to 2,500 for indoor shows. But the real twist is that it has a large hangar door behind the indoor stage -- enabling it to be converted from an indoor facility to an amphitheater-style outdoor venue. Open the hangar, flip the stage design, and voila! The outdoor venue is a miniature version of most outdoor amphitheaters in America, except this one has a more intimate vibe (seats 4,500 between general admission pit and a nice lawn) and offers a great view of the skyline of the city just behind the stage.

I saw the Black Crowes play there a couple of weeks ago. They put on a fabulous show. Last week, I also carried on my annual tradition of attending the 311 show there. I've seen 311 almost a dozen times, mostly at Promowest.

Quck aside -- the Crowest played a full acoustic set before their standard electric set. A real treat. I was so impressed, I purchased a recording of the show from Instant Live. It would have been Jerry Garcia's 64th birthday and they closed the show with "Sugaree" just as the half moon was getting really bright. Amazing. (setlist, reviews)

Anyway, the sound outside is amazing. The giant walls around the back of the lawn help the acoustics tremendously. Plus, the exclusive food vendor at Promowest? White Castle. That's right. You can have a slider with your cold Budweiser.

Ahh ... those tender little White Castle burgers with those little, itty-bitty grilled onions that just explode in your mouth like flavor crystals every time you bite into one!

Anyway, if one of your favorite bands is playing at Promowest and you live within reasonable driving distance from Columbus, it would be worth your trip -- trust me.

Music and the aligning of the planets

2006-05-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those post-modern, contextual moments when you feel like the entire past history of the universe is converging upon you in the present? My best friend did a few months ago. He called me the night after it happened and excitedly recounted his experience.

He is a high school history teacher and, like me, he's a music addict. An art gallery in St. Louis was showing the artwork of one of his students and he thought he'd stop by the opening. Duing the showing, he wandered away from the other patrons to the second floor of the gallery, where he quickly surmised that someone was living in the loft above the studio. Sitting on a coffee table, he saw a book called "Stagolee Shot Billy" by Cecil Brown.

As a Deadhead and son of a Mississippi John Hurt fan, my friend knew the legend of Stagger Lee. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, I'll paraphrase the tale as it appeared in the now-defunct St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper in 1895.

William Lyons, 25, a black levee hand was shot in the stomach one evening outside the crowded saloon of Bill Curtis, at Eleventh and Morgan Streets in St. Louis. He was shot by carriage driver Lee Sheldon, also black. Both had been drinking and were feeling in exuberant spirits. Lyons and Sheldon were friends and were talking together. The discussion drifted to politics and an argument was started, the conclusion of which was that Lyons snatched Sheldon's hat from his head. The latter indignantly demanded its return. Lyons refused, and Sheldon drew his revolver and shot Lyons in the stomach. When his victim fell to the floor, Sheldon took his hat from the hand of the wounded man and coolly walked away. Lyons was taken to the hospital, where his wounds were pronounced serious. He later died. Sheldon was subsequently arrested. Sheldon is also known as "Stag" Lee.

This real-life incident soon became legendary in the South, and moved into song -- and down the river to New Orleans, where the killer's name became, variously, Stagolee, Stag-O-Lee, Stackolee or Stack-A-Lee. Most variations of the tale have Billy pleading for his life with Stagger Lee, saying he has a wife and two kids to support. Stagger Lee is portrayed as a cold-blooded killer.

When Mississippi John Hurt wrote "Stack O'Lee Blues," he added two important wrinkles to the tale -- first that the hat Stagger Lee had was a Stetson. James Hauser hypothesizes here that for blacks, especially blacks who were former slaves or sons of former slaves, the Stetson hat was symbol of manhood and freedom. Second, Hurt's version of story paints Stagger Lee as such a bad man that even the police and judge were afriad to arrest him and try him, for fear that he'd escape and kill them. Stagger Lee was a badass. The real O.G.

In 1959, New Orleans native Lloyd Price recorded "Stagger Lee," which became a #1 pop hit. Since then, more than two hundred artists have recorded a variation of the legend in song, including the Grateful Dead, James Brown, RL Burnside, Huey Lewis, Nick Cave, and the Clash. I can't think of another urban legend that's been so popular or so enduring in American folk and blues music.

So, as my friend is perusing this coffee table book and remembering all of this, he realizes that the art gallery he's standing in is on Morgan Street, just feet from where the "real" Stagger Lee shot the "real" Billy Lyon.

Eerie. Here are some links of interest.

Stagolee Shot Billy - Cecil Brown's web site
Stagger Lee songs - A list of artists who've recorded a version of the tale
Behind the Hits: Stagger Lee - A discussion of the legend, Lloyd Price's single, and Dick Clark's refusal to allow Price on American Bandstand

Hurt, Hope and Rock

2006-04-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

Herb Bowie has an online book that I've been reading a bit lately. It's called Reason to Rock and it attempts to evaluate rock music as art. One of the more interesting observations he makes deals with the basic themes of blues, jazz and rock. Basically, he states that the theme of blues music is oppression. In contrast, the theme of jazz music is freedom. Rock, of course, is all about liberation -- the release from constraints. It's an interesting discussion.

As I've read bits and pieces of Bowie's site over the last few weeks, a friend of mine has been going through a string of bad luck. She's living far from the support of her family and her home and ever farther from some things in her past that still cause her pain and fear. And lately, she's made some poor decisions that have put her in some difficult, painful and abusive situations - the kind that make you question your own judgment and maybe make you feel ashamed and unlucky.

If there was a time for music, this was it.

I began to think about all of the great songs about hurt, fear and self-loathing. As I started to piece together a few tracks, I realized that this mix had already been done. Scores of emo kids had made this mix -- my girlfriend broke up with me, I'm a nerd, my friends stabbed me in the back.

Kurt Cobain chimed in, "I hate myself and I want to die."

So I then began to explore some positive songs to counterbalance all of this negativity and pessimism. After all, there are so many powerfully uplifting songs in this world. Aha! Liberation!

What I arrived at was my first attempt at the mix tape equivalent of the human story --redemption. The story has been told a million times by almost every culture in the history of time. Pain, fear and self-doubt turn to hope, optimism and resolve.

My friend needed this mix. A week after I gave it to her, she is still playing it.

Music is art. Music is communication. Music is healing. Music is hope.

Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Beck - Lost Cause
Jack Johnson - Losing Hope
Third Eye Blind - Narcolepsy
Building 429 - No One Else
Yellowcard - Back Home
Social Distortion - Bad Luck
Less Than Jake - She's Gonna Break Soon
U2 - Stuck in a Moment
Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up
The Five Stairsteps - Ooh Child
Bill Withers - Lean on Me
Ben E. King - Stand by Me
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Over the Rainbow
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Three Little Birds
Aretha Franklin - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Phil Collins - True Colors
Bishop Allen - Things Are What You Make of Them

Do you know what it means ...

2006-03-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

... to miss New Orleans?

With apologies to Nashville, The Big Easy is the most important city in America when it comes to music. So many great artists hail from the Crescent City and so many others cite them as important influences in their careers.

So when my wife and I threw a Mardi Gras party the other weekend, it was imperative that I create a nice 3-hour mix of New Orleans/Cajun music. Something to capture the essence and Creole mustard flavor of this very important musical mecca. The mix ended up drawing mostly on jazz, zydeco, blues and funk, with a few curveball tracks that seemed appropriate considering the circumstances in the city since Katrina. So if you've been to New Orleans and miss it dearly like I do, this mix will take you back.

While making this mix, I discovered some artists I hadn't really been exposed to before. Highlights include Preservation Hall Jazz Band (who are touring while the Hall is being rebuilt) and The Wild Tchoupitoulas. No particular order here -- I shuffled it during the party.

Fats Domino - Walking to New Orleans
Rockin' Dopsie Jr. - Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
Buckwheat Zydeco - Hard to Stop
Louis Armstrong - Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans (Live)
Clifton Chenier - Mardi Gras Boogie
Harry Connick, Jr. - Don't Fence Me In
Fats Domino - Blueberry Hill
Louis Prima - Basin Street Blues/When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Youngblood Brass Band - Crescent City
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Mardi Gras In New Orleans
Louis Armstrong - When The Saints Go Marching In
The Wild Tchoupitoulas - Meet the Boys on the Battlefront
G. Love & Special Sauce - Kiss and Tell
The Meters - Cissy Strut
Harry Connick, Jr. - Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
The Doors - Riders On The Storm
Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain
B.B. King - Let the Good Times Roll
Better Than Ezra - King of New Orleans
Youngblood Brass Band - Jumpin' the Buck
Sting - Moon Over Bourbon Street
Kermit Ruffins - Drop Me Off In New Orleans
Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time
Clifton Chenier - Bon Ton Roulet
Peter Cincotti - Bring Back New Orleans
Curtis Mayfield - People Get Ready
James Taylor - Fire and Rain
CCR - Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
Buckwheat Zydeco - Make a Change
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Bill Baily (Won't You Please Come Home)
Counting Crows - Rain King
Buckwheat Zydeco - Beast Of Burden
Buckwheat Zydeco - Hey, Good Lookin'
Fats Domino - I'm Walkin'
Fats Domino - Ain't That A Shame
Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
The Meters - Sing A Simple Song
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell
Wynton Marsalis - Bourbon Street Parade
Harry Connick, Jr. - Sweet Georgia Brown
Cowboy Mouth - Hurricane Party
Cowboy Mouth - Take Me Back To New Orleans
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - When the Saints Go Marchin' In
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band - Jesus On the Mainline

Before there was "Live at Red Rocks" ...

2006-01-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

... people listened to music in the Grand Canyon.

Over New Year's Eve, my wife and I visited the Grand Canyon with my dad and his wife. Unlike 90 percent of the people who "do" the Canyon, we were fortunate to be able to hike to the bottom and stay there for two nights.

Along the 7-8 mile hike on the way down, the views were awe-inspiring. The weather was perfect for late December, with clear skies and warm temperatures. I was compelled to stop several times along the way and spin around 360 degrees and soak in the red, green and white rocks of each layer of the Canyon all around me.

And, of course, I had made a mix on my iPod to complement the experience. iTunes had a few good suggestions, but not much specific to hiking. So here's my list. You can dig on these while you have a look-see at some of my pictures.

Aaron Copland & London Symphony Orchestra - Fanfare for the Common Man
Ladysmith Black Mambazo f/ Paul Simon - Amazing Grace
Arthur Fiedler & Boston Pops Orchestra (composed by Copland) - Rodeo: Hoedown
Fannigan's Isle - The Rocky Road to Dublin
Steve Haun - Gateway to Grandeur
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Into the Great Wide Open
John Barry (Dances With Wolves Soundtrack) - The Buffalo Hunt
Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (bad ass 11 minute version from Secret World Live)
Jerry Goldsmith (Rudy Soundtrack) - The Final Game
U2 - Beautiful Day
James Horner (Legends of the Fall Soundtrack) - The Ludlows
Counting Crows - Long December
John Barry (Dances With Wolves Soundtrack) - Ride to Fort Hays
311 - Beyond the Gray Sky
Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song

Black Like "Brooks"

2005-12-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

While I usually cover issues related to music on this space, I came across an interesting news item that got me thinking.

Even in the 21st century, the issue of race in America is still one of the most important and least discussed in our society. I'm not going to explore the issue explicitly here, but I will say that much has changed and much still must change about how Americans define themselves and attribute meaning and assert ownership of their cultures (or in America, sub-cultures).

Rapper Ice Cube is helping to create a documentary airing on FX in March 2006 called "Black.White." The idea behind the show is to use make-up to turn a white family into a black family and vice versa. Then, PRESTO!, see what happens.

Love the idea. I remember reading John Howard Griffin's "Black Like Me" in high school and being floored at the whole experiment, even though I could only relate in a limited way to the Deep South of the 1960s as a white kid in a prep school in the 1990s. I can also remember vividly the movie adaptation of the book featuring James Whitmore. You might know him as "Brooks" from Shawshank Redemption. Great actor. He also played in the film adaptation of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons." But I digress.

Anyway, another angle on this is the comedic aspect. Dave Chappelle did a skit a few years back called "Trading Spouses," where a black husband went to live with a white family and vice versa. Then, the people at Fox actually used as a premise for a reality TV show. Guess they didn't get Chappelle's joke. Or maybe they really did. Hmm.

No. TV execs aren't that keen.

Either way, this just proves two things. First, the most important part of our American cultural fabric -- that is, its cultural melting-pot created as a result of immigration -- is also the thing that will destroy it. Unless, of course, we continue to have these sorts of discussions. And second, Dave Chappelle is a genius who should come back from Africa and do some more shows.

The Night They Drove The Band Down

2005-12-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

Aside from covering their song "The Weight" in my college band, I've never listened to much by The Band. I'd heard "Up on Cripple Creek" and knew that they were considered legends, having served as Bob Dylan's backing band for a while.

Then my best friend played "The Last Waltz" DVD for me on a huge TV and surround sound home theater system and things have changed. If you're not familiar with it, it might be the most star-studded, legendary one-night only concert ever performed. On Thanksgiving Day in 1976, The Band played what was to be their last show, inviting legends like Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, and others to join them onstage. The show took place at Winterland in San Francisco, complete with turkey dinner courtesy of the great concert promoter Bill Graham. And the whole messy beautiful affair was filmed by Martin Scorsese.

What's interesting to me is the amount of controversy and varied accounts of how the night actually went off (it barely did, apparently). I've ordered The Band's greatest hits album and begun reading a bit more and I'm intrigued.

If you are a rock and roll fan who enjoys live music like I do, you're doing yourself a disservice if you haven't seen this spectacle of a concert film.

Some interesting reads:
San Francisco Chronicle, 2002
"Last Thoughts on Rick Danko" - Renaissance Magazine, 2000
A pissed-off Levon Helm - Dallas Observer, 1999

Christmas and the Like

2005-12-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time in the city and I'm putting together a Christmas mix. I'm trying to stick to one genre -- jazz -- since there is such a wealth of performers from which to choose. Post a comment and let me know your favorite Christmas song and your favorite rendition.

What I've been listening to lately:

Various Artists - Jingle Bell Jam (Jazz Christmas)
The Rolling Stone podcast of Jann Wenner's recent interview with Bono
Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Journey of Dreams

Scarlet and Grey Robert Goulet

2005-11-30T16:02:00.000-08:00

The OSU-Michigan game made for an interesting weekend.

Look at you. Your'e hungry.

Some things you shouldn’t get too good at ...

2005-11-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

... like smiling, crying and celebrity

Have I mentioned how much I like U2? They're the biggest band on the planet and, with all respects to the Stones, maybe the greatest. I just finished reading Jann S. Wenner's interview with Bono in Rolling Stone (excerpt here) and it confirmed what I'd always suspected about why I like their music.

Unabashed spirit.

The subject matter in their songs speaks to our struggle with morality, our potential and desire to do good, our temptations, weaknesses -- in short, our humanity. They're never preachy and rarely nostalgic. Just honest and unapologetic about their spiritualtiy. Not religion, mind you, but spirituality.

Plus they write great music. The Edge is probably the most important guitar player of my generation, and Bono is a true frontman, not just for his band but in his role as champion for the elimination of extreme poverty and disease in developing countries.

They are one of the reasons I love music so much.

Biggie's Halloween Mix 2005

2005-10-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's my official Halloween 2005 mix. My iPod's been pumping it for about a week now. I spun some of this at a Halloween party this past weekend.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett - Monster Mash
Classics IV - Spooky
The Un-Xplained - X-Files Theme
The Searchers - Love Potion No. 9
Johnny Socko - The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Various Artists - Theme from The Addams Family
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put a Spell on You
Santana - Black Magic Woman
Joel McNeely & the Royal Scottish National Orchestra - Prelude from Psycho
J.S. Bach - Toccata & Fugue in D Minor
Frank Sinatra - Witchcraft
Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London
Various Artists - Theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince - A Nightmare on My Street
Edgar Winter - Frankenstein
Various Artists - Theme from The Twilight Zone
Louis Armstrong - The Skeleton in the Closet
Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs - Lil' Red Riding Hood
The Specials - Ghost Town
Joel McNeely & the Royal Scottish National Orchestra - The Murder from Psycho
The Police - Spirits in the Material World
Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
Various Artists - Theme from The Munsters
Eagles - Witchy Woman
John Carpenter - Theme from Halloween
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist)
Sugar Ray - Abracadabra
Ray Parker, Jr. - Ghostbusters
KC & the Sunshine Band - I'm Your Boogie Man
Stevie Wonder - Superstition
Michael Jackson - Thriller

Hitch, Price & Wacko Jacko

2005-09-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

Well, Labor Day is over and with its passing comes the end of another summer. I love fall. Growing up and living in the Midwest, every year I am amazed at the beauty of our planet and the sense of renewal that's built in to our environment.

So what's my favorite part about the fall? Besides all of the great sports (NFL in full swing, the Cardinals playing in October, hockey back on the ice), it's Halloween time.

Halloween is probably my second favorite holiday behind Christmas. And that's probably because both have inspired such a large amount of good music. I can remember going to a friend's house for a Halloween party as a pre-schooler and I couldn't get enough of Bobby "Boris" Pickett's Monster Mash. I just stared at the album cover and played it over and over again. I also have great memories of watching the making of "Thriller" every Halloween. Vincent Price's one-of-a-kind voice over the scary-ass breakdown in that song still gets me every time.

I'm also really excited for this time of year because Turner Classic Movies starts playing all the great classic horror films. For my money, I could watch Vincent Price, Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi all year long. I've also decided that my next CD purchase is going to be the soundtrack from Hitch's "Psycho." Great scary music.

As we get closer to the "witching hour," I'll be posting my Halloween mix for this year. Aside from my St. Patrick's Day mixes, I probably have the most fun making this mix each year. If you're going to request a mix CD from me this year, this should probably be the one.

There ain't no cure for the summertime blues

2005-08-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

So my friend Roomie asked me to deejay a party this past weekend. The Cleveland area alumni chapter from my college threw a picnic, complete with all of the traditions that we hold dear to our heart. bw-3 wings. Flip cup. Corn hole. Good times. Here were the highlights of my playlist for a Saturday afternoon in the summer under an outdoor pavilion with good people and cold beer.

Blues Traveler - But Anyways
311 - Speak Easy
Violent Femmes - American Music
Weezer - Beverly Hills
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
Grateful Dead - Franklin's Tower
Ben Harper - Steal My Kisses
Robert Randolph & the Family Band - The March
Buckwheat Zydeco f/ Dwight Yoakam - Hey, Good Lookin'
Bob Marley - Cornerstone
Black Eyed Peas - Don't Lie
Low Rawls - You Will Never Find Another Love Like Mine
Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime
O.A.R. - That Was a Crazy Game of Poker

A Letter to the Editor:

2005-08-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

Rome writes-

Dear Biggie,

Recently, I purchased Huey Lewis and the News' (HL&TN) Greatest Hits. For $4 dollars in the used bin, my 80s nostalgia gene kicked into overdrive and it was too good to leave on the rack. I just couldn't bear the thought that someone else might make this tremendous score the second I walked away.

Anyway, when I got to the car, I furiously tore the thing open and within a few opening bars of music, my Nissan pickup became a Delorian fleeing Libyan terrorists at the Twin Pines Mall.

It was only later that I realized a serious disservice had been done, which brings me to the point of this letter. Alongside the usual cavalcade of HL&TN hits, two obvious choices were missing from the roster: "Couple Days Off" and "Hip to Be Square." I checked the release dates of these songs and the release of the Greatest Hits package. The songs came out before the greatest hits. Those songs were, by most standards, hits.

So, I'm intrigued to know if anyone else has experienced this sort of thing? Does "Greatest Hits" really mean Greatest Hits?

Rome

Editor's Note: See my response under the "Comments" section below. If you've had a similar experience, by all means, speak up! Justice must be served!

"I have not yet begun to be arrogant!"

2005-08-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I noted how many rappers seem to be abbreviating their names, groups, etc. Pretty self important.

Well, Sean Combs takes the cake. In an interview with Access Hollywood, he's announced that he's changed his name to "Diddy." So first it was Sean Combs, then Sean "Puffy" Combs, then "Puffy," then "Puff Daddy," then "P. Diddy," and now just "Diddy." That's a lot of trips to the BMV for a new license.

"We had to move the P. We had to simplify it. Diddy is more personal. We are entering into the age of Diddy. It's a new era," he said.

I mean come on. First of all, Old Dirty Bastard did that already. After ODB changed his name to "Big Baby Jesus" live on MTV, this is small potatoes. Second, how arrogant can you be? Your name is Sean Combs. You don't do anything anymore except throw parties and host reality TV shows. Finally, your parents gave you that name, Sean. If you feel constrained by it, go see a therapist.

At least he's got a sense of humor about it. He says "I'm going to start talking in the third person and everything."

Another authentic movement co-opted by the man...

2005-08-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

... or the woman. Sylvia Robinson, in this case.

I just finished reading "Yes Yes Y'All: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade." It's written by Jim Fricke, a curator at the Experience Music Project museum, and Charlie Ahearn, director of the hip-hop film Wild Style. It features oral accounts of hip-hop's beginnings in the Bronx, NY in the 70s and ends right as Russell Simmons puts together Def Jam w/ RUN-DMC and L.L. Cool J.

I was not surprised to read that Sylvia Robinson's Sugar Hill Records, which created and released "Rapper's Delight," basically took some people on the periphery of the hip-hop scene at the time and cut a record that went mainstream. That's the story of every musical genre that's ever been popular in America.

I did start to understand why today's hip-hop artists talk so much about "getting theirs" and understanding the factors at work in the rap game. The real pioneers like DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and others had their breakbeats and rhymes borrowed by some other DJs and MCs who made money and received publishing rights and royalties later. So many of the pioneers in this book recounted how they were so young at the time when record labels began to approach them about putting tracks on wax. Their parents urged them to get lawyers to review the record deals, but they were just kids who wanted the "short" money to buy motorcycles.

For any aspiring artist, I'd also recommend "All You Need to Know About the Music Business" by Donald Passman. When my band in college made our first record, I read this book cover to cover. I even passed it along to some of the students I taught in grad school who were interested in music marketing. A real eye opener.

Daughter of Frankenstein

2005-08-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

I recently posted my contribution to the "Daughter of Frankenstein" exhibit over at The Art of the Mix. A bunch of discussion group members decided a while back to do a "theme" mix where they'd decide on some song criteria and challenge each other to make a mix using them. For instance, "choose a cover song that's better than the original" or "choose a song with 'blues' in the title." This is part 2 of that endeavor ("Frankenstein" was the original exhibit). As always, if you're interested in a copy, e-mail me.

Wedding-Reception DJ's Choice Of 'Strokin'' Proves Controversial

2005-08-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

If you don't read The Onion, you should. It's some of the funniest shit out there on the Web.

The August 30, 2000 issue ran a funny piece on a wedding DJ whose choice of music caused a bit of an uproar at a wedding. I thought of this over the weekend when I went to see Wedding Crashers. As Eddie Murphy would say in an Italian voice, "Great frickin' movie."

So I got to thinking about the top 10 cheesy wedding songs of all time. I've been to upwards of 40 weddings with my wife over the last 7 years or so, and these are the ultimate cliches. Here's my list in no particular order.

Lloyd Williams - Shout
Sister Sledge - We Are Family
Marcia Griffiths - Electric Slide
The Chicken Dance*
DJ Casper - Cha Cha Slide
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
Kool & the Gang - Celebration
Pink - Get This Party Started
B52s - Love Shack
Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight

* I grew up in St. Louis, and in every wedding I went to as a kid, this was called the Duck Dance. No one else I've ever talked to outside of St. Louis has ever called it that. What's it called where you grew up? Post a comment.

Jump on the bandwagon ...

2005-06-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

just make sure you know who's driving and what the rules of conduct are.

I finally bucked up and bought an iPod (see my previous post). I'm officially a trendy audiophile. I'm also officially pissed off.

Over the last year or so, I've downloaded 100+ songs in DRM-protected WMA format from Musicmatch and have come to realize that they won't play on my iPod thanks to Microsoft.

AND, if I choose to switch over to Apple's iTunes store, their downloads are in AAC format, a proprietary format that only plays on iPods. Problem there is I have an iRiver iFP-790 flash player that I use at the gym and for short use, so Apple's AAC files are useless on that.

How stupid was I to think that what's best for consumers would ever enter the minds of the fat cats in suits at Apple, Microsoft and the 5 major labels? It's all about protecting their shareholders, retaining market share and screwing the music consumer in the process. And they wonder why sales are down. And don't even get me started on the concert business.

So if you're looking to purchase, download, burn, rip and otherwise actually use the music you purchase legally -- i.e., "consumer use" -- here's some advice: wait. I thought I waited long enough to buy an iPod, but I guess I was wrong. Guess I'll be burning all my WMAs to CD. Or using something like Tunebite as a workaround. If you've got any other ideas, I'd be glad to hear them.

On a side note, about the only really good option you have in terms of non-DRM-protected music downloads is to use emusic.com. They have a lot of music, but it's mostly indie bands.

More great driving songs ...

2005-06-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I threw together a "driving mix" for my dad. In response to some of the comments I received, and because I was embarking on a 20-hour round-trip voyage from Ohio to Iowa, I gathered some more cool driving music and loaded it on my iRiver iFP-790 and put it on cruise control. Some highlights:

Johnny Cash - I've Been Everywhere
Jackson Browne - The Road and the Sky
Cake - Stickshifts and Safetybelts
Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are
Gary Numan - Cars
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Against the Wind
Less Than Jake - How's My Driving, Doug Hastings?
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Road Trippin'
Cream - Crossroads
Weezer - Holiday
Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

Best driving songs mix

2005-05-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

My dad just bought a convertible and he needed some tunes to listen to while cruisin' around town. He's not a big music buff, so I went with mostly pop songs. He also listens to bad techno while he works out, so I threw him a bone with the Apollo 440. This mix was a no-brainer, but effective, I think. He loved it.

The Beach Boys - Little Deuce Coupe
Led Zeppelin - Rock and Roll
Apollo 440 - Stop the Rock
Roger Miller - King of the Road
Steppenwolf - Born to Be Wild
Buckwheat Zydeco - Route 66
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Hollywood Nights
Smokey Robinson - Cruisin'
Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson - On the Road Again
Chuck Berry - No Particular Place to Go
CCR - Up Around the Bend
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Dion & the Belmonts - Wanderer
Wilson Pickett - Mustang Sally
Tom Petty - Runnin' Down a Dream

10 jazz-funk jams

2005-05-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

For the last month or so, I've been on a jazz-funk-jam kick. I've discovered some interesting bands by surfing the Web and taking recommendations from Musicmatch Jukebox, which is my music service of choice. Some of my latest infatuations are listed here, along with a few longtime repeat offenders in my MP3 and CD player.

Topaz - Minha Mente
John Scofield - Hottentot
The Scabs - Staysha Brown
Lettuce - Reunion
Parliament - P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)
Medeski Martin & Wood - Night Marchers
Soulive - Aladdin
The J.B.'s - If You Don't Get It the First Time, Back Up and Try It Again, Party
Garage A Trois - A-Frame
James Brown - It's a New Day, Pts. 1 & 2
The Meters - Cissy Strut

Incidentally, the instrumental songs here are great for driving.

Most of these songs are available through Musicmatch Jukebox or the band's web sites, but I encourage you to buy an album from these artists. It's a great way to discover new music and support the artists. Funk out!

Hey, I know that guy!

2005-05-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had one of those funny high school moments this morning.

I was doing some bathroom reading and opened the latest issue of Rolling Stone, which arrived yesterday. Darth Vader on the cover -- pretty sweet.

Anyway, I'm flipping through and I stop at their "New Faces" feature and start reading about this indie band The Ponys from Chicago. I get about half way through the article and jump up to the photo accompanying the story and realize that I used to know their guitarist Brian Case. We went to high school together and shared an interest in music. He was in bands throughout most of high school, but we didn't really run in the same crowd. In fact, I saw him more at his own house than in school -- I dated his twin sister for about 3 years. I saw his parents at a wedding last summer, but I haven't seen him in years.

It's crazy how life has a way of reminding you not to forget your past too much. I don't know if I'm like most people, but I have a short memory and having not lived back in my home town for 10 years, I'm struck by how much I left behind -- literally, figuratively, emotionally...

Incidentally, Rolling Stone is streaming their entire album, Celebration Castle, on its web site. You can check it out here. Who'd have believed a picture of Brian Case would be in Roling Stone next to a picture of the Beatles? I guess the obvious answer is -- he did.

RSS/Atom XML feed

2005-05-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Want to be notified the next time my blog is updated?

On the right side of this page is a link to my Site Feed. This file contains the latest posts to this blog and is compatible with RSS ("Really Simple Syndication"), Atom and a host of other XML technologies. It allows you to sync your newsreader, personal web site, iPod or handheld device with content from my blog, so you don't have to visit periodically to see what's new -- you simply receive new headlines or brief article summaries automaically and click to read the full text.

Just point your newsreader, personal page or syncing application to:

http://biggiesbeats.blogspot.com/atom.xml

I use RSS on my "My Yahoo!" page and it rules. The latest information from all of my favorite news, sports and musics sites all on one page.

There's a stranger in the house, nobody's seen his face ...

2005-05-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

Ta-dow sent me a link recently to a story about a bizzare love triangle in Tennessee where a man was living in the home of his lover -- in the closet, no less -- for an entire month before the husband found him. Check out the story here.

A few songs come to mind ("One Way Out" by Sonny Boy Williamson, for sure), but I was struck this morning by how much life can imitate art when I popped in Elvis Costello's "My Aim is True" as I got ready for work this morning. The lyrics to "Stranger in the House" are terribly appropriate here.

If you suck at singing ...

2005-05-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite sites on the Web is Let Them Sing It For You. Erik Bunger is a Swedish musician who created the site by taking one-word clips of songs and loading them into a database.

You type in a sentence and the database plays your sentence back to you using the audio clips they've compiled. It's not a complete dictionary of the English language, but it's still a lot of fun. One night, my wife & I spent a good half hour playing around with different phrases.

Music fans will be pleased to hear that they've compiled the clips with a careful editorial approach. Each word only gets one treatment and when you enter "I love you," you get Chris Issak's "I" from "Wicked Game," Robert Plant's "love" from Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and Brian Johnson's "you" from AC/DC's anthem "You Shook Me All Night Long." Very post-modern, as my boy Crackhead would say.

6 great covers involving a reggae song...

2005-05-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for a good cover song. The good ones are intriguing. The great ones bring out an element of the song that wasn't there in the original recording. Bad ones are just bad.

The Covers Project is a searchable online database that lists cover songs. I wish I'd have thought of it first.

Anyway, here's a list of 6 great cover songs involving a reggae song. Original artist is listed in parentheses and these are in no particular order. Just 6 random good covers.

Incidentally, it's easier to name songs that were later covered by a reggae artist than songs originally recorded by reggae artists and covered by an artist in another genre. Clapton's is the first that comes to mind there.

By the way, I hope this will be the first of many lists that this blog can generate. If you have a favorite, please post a comment below. Happy Monday.

Scarlet Begonias - Sublime (Grateful Dead)
Dreams to Remember - Toots & the Maytals (Otis Redding)
Talkin' Bout a Revolution - Reel Big Fish (Tracy Chapman)
I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton (Bob Marley)
Love Song - 311 (The Cure)
Same Old Song - The Pietasters (The Four Tops)

how can you be a music snob without an iPod?

2005-05-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

Yes. I hang my head in shame. I claim to be a music snob but do not own an iPod. Yes, the iPod, that red badge of courage for music snobs worldwide.

I've been waiting for years for the prices to drop, and now they have. I've read and re-read some reviews on CNET.com and in various magazines that always give it great reviews, but I'd like your input.

I'm not sure how much space I'm going to need, but I'm thinking of going with the 40GB version, since I have around 250 CDs, each with an average of 15 tracks. So that's 3,750 songs. And if you're going to drop some coin on something like this, you want room to grow your collection for the next 10 years. I'm also interested in developing a podcast for this blog so I can share some of my songlists and mixes with the world.

If you own an iPod, post a comment and let me know how you like it.

Music the great communicator ...

2005-05-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

...use two sticks to make it in the nature.

There are a lot of reasons to love music. Pop fans will tell you that it music is "fun!" and "cool!" because it's not really about the music for them (with some exceptions). Fans of punk, metal and hardcore will cite music's cathartic benefits while they stop some skinny kid in the pit with their steel-toe Doc Martens. Barry White gained a generation of fans for his music's ability to stimulate blood flow to the right regions of the body. All of these are valid reasons to enjoy music.

But one of the things that excites me about music is that it is a language. I'm not referring to lyrics, but simply to instrumental music. Anyone with classical training, jazz experience, or even a few piano lessons will tell you that music has a language all its own -- notes, time signatures, dynamics, tempos, etc. But aside from that, music has a history, a context, and an ability to convey emotions and thoughts without nouns and verbs.

When I was in college, I was a huge fan of Johnny Socko, an Indianapolis-based band who, at the time, was playing a lot of ska, funk and rap. They were one of the first third-wave ska bands I had seen live and started the domino effect that would lead me back to the Specials and Toots & the Maytals.

They had posted a list of their band members' favorite songs on their web site and I took the liberty of making a mix CD of the songs they listed and bringing it with me to one of their shows to give to them. One of the songs in the mix was "On Broadway," made famous by the great guitarist George Benson. The lead singer, Chris Smail, and I spoke briefly about some of the songs, agreed that "On Broadway" is a great song, and that was about it. He thanked me for the CD and for coming to the show.

So there I am in the audience during the show, and their trumpet player, Demian Hostetter, takes a solo. The first few bars of his solo are "They say the neon lights are bright / on Broadway." Immediately, I looked at Chris and he looked right at me. We both smiled.

THAT''S music. No words exchanged. No lyrics. Just a snippet of a melody that we both instantly recognized. If you speak the language, you understand what I mean.

Got a similar story to share? Post a comment below.

music as gumbo

2005-04-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I've been listening to a lot of jazzy funk or funky jazz or whatever hybrid you want to call it. Red Hot Chili Peppers sort of rekindled hybrid rock on the radio for my generation, but on the jazz scene, that's generally frowned upon. Most jazz purists have no use for anything that doesn't use Miles Davis' Kind of Blue as a reference point, and most of them considered him the jazz anti-Christ when he released his later electric stuff. So, I just bought Live in Tokyo by Lettuce and I'm enjoying the sound of hard funk with just enough jazz improv to keep it engaging without losing the groove.

Anyway ... what I'm getting at is that while hybrid music is probably a product of the Information Age, media proliferation, the Internet, etc., it shouldn't be looked at as less "pure" or less artistic. In fact, I think it's pretty difficult to mix punk with reggae, techno with country, or gospel with noise and make it greater than the sum of its somewhat polar parts. It's even more difficult to make it resonate with people, which is one way to define its artistic merit. Aside from Limp Bizkit, I think that most of the time, the criticisms that are leveled against hybrid music are a little unwarranted. They're really just the side effects of the music being digested in our collective stomaches and later on, we'll burp and say, "Hey. That tasted pretty good."

I'm walkin ... yes indeed.

2005-04-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

A park in downtown San Diego. I walked all around the city and enjoyed all of the patches of grass in this city. They even have a wiffle ball field right behind Petco Park.

Robyn

2005-04-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here's Robyn.

Sunny San Diego

2005-04-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

I just got back from San Diego. Business trip, but I managed to get in some sightseeing on the company's coin. I'm a baseball fan. I know, I know. Steroids have ruined the integrity of the game, but it will always be the only sport in this country that's bigger than a sport. But I digress. Anyway, I spent two 70-degree afternoons walking around downtown San Diego admiring Petco Park, where the Padres play, along with architecture, Navy vessels, and museums. Here's a hip-hop playlist from my walk through the city:

T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You) - Pete Rock & CL Smooth
I Gotta Get Mine - MC Breed f/ 2Pac
Triple Trouble - Beastie Boys
Vibes & Stuff - A Tribe Called Quest
H.O.V.A. - Jay-Z
Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Jay-Z
What's Golden - Jurassic 5
P.I.M.P. - 50 Cent
C.R.E.A.M. - Wu-Tang Clan
Tricky - RUN DMC
The Seed 2.0 - Roots f/ Cody Chesnutt
Thin Line - Jurassic 5
Friday Night - G. Love & Special Sauce (Slick Rick)
What's Your Number - Cypress Hill f/ Tim Armstrong
Gone 'Til November - Wyclef

Ever notice that those crazy hip-hop cats love acronyms? You can even name yourself an acronym. N.E.R.D.? Junior M.A.F.I.A.? Pretty self-important if you ask me.

One night I took an Amtrak from SD to LAX. My wife's friend Robyn (see above) picked me up at the train station and we took in a Dodgers game complete with Dodger Dogs, nachos and beer. It was Jackie Robinson day in the majors and his widow spoke before the game. I felt fortunate to have chosen that game to make the trip. Anyway, I took the "last train to Clarksville" back to SD and it was delayed for an hour. So I listened to an entire set by Topaz, available here. If you like your jazz with some funk in it, they're your boys. As you read this blog, you'll discover that, as a trumpet player myself, I do loves me some horns. And they gots 'em.

Welcome!

2005-04-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Biggie's Beats Blog. I'll try to post my thoughts as often as I'm hit with them. Feel free to comment on my choices. I'm a music snob, but I'll pretend that your opinion matters to me :)