Crash Test Dummies

Last Christmas I discovered Crash Test Dummies Christmas Album 'Jingle All The Way.' If the Superman Song, Mmm Mmm Mmm or lead singer Brad Robert's grumble of a voice didn't tip you off, this album is bad. Really bad. His voice is not meant for yuletide or cheer, it's meant for scaring children, or stealing souls. Talk about superheros (they are safe from you) or freaks (they're used to fear) but please, Brad Roberts, don't ruin Christmas.



The First Noel is the only one on YouTube, but please please look up White Christmas (i-tunes preview) and understand what a Crash Test Dummies Christmas album really means.

All I want for Christmas..

How is it that this is still and will always be the best non-hymn Christmas song?


An added bonus to the video is a pre-skanky Mariah Carey and go-go dancers in lit Christmas tree frames.

Bring On The Christmas Cheer

The Christmas season this year has had the potential of being very bah humbug but I'm not going to let it. I get to prep for my trip, hibernate and watch old (and new) classic (and cheesy) movies, I may have a White Christmas (I saw that movie last week by the way, and it is not that good, nor is it really much about Christmas. Lame.)



Christmas music has been great respite from all the cold and school hating I've been doing, especially the Sufjan Stevens version of Holy, Holy, Holy (30+ plays this week alone). It talks (sings?) quite a bit about the Trinity, a belief which I don't ascribe to (I believe the Godhead are three separate personages), but I've taken the (non-copyright endorsed) liberty to change the lines about the Trinity to ones I actually believe in (I don't think the writer would be too happy about it because the song was actually written for Trinity Sunday, but this means a lot more to me). Actually, when I sing along (there's a really pretty, subtle harmony line), it's different every time. Adjusted lyrics go something like this:

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
There is a sign at the sight of thee, merciful and mighty
Blessed Redeemer (x3) love for eternity

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r (x3) in love, and purity

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty
Born Christmas morning (x3) in peace and humility
or Praising his mercy(x3) Faith, love and charity

Text: Reginald Heber (1783-1826)
Music: John Baccus Dykes

Merry Christmas Season!

Glee is Defying Gravity

Can't get enough of Glee, especially this song from Wicked. Lea Michele kicks butt as usual. Chris Colfer works an amazing solo, unreal power from a male. Empowering with every verse.

Flashback

Four years ago a girl I barely played me a song on her i-pod that she knew would be her wedding song with her long-distance love and I could understand why. The song talked about about living now and being open to love. There were several times that I tried to track down the song from snippets of verse and what tune I could remember (not enough for Midomi to help me) with no luck. I eventually forgot about the ballad until one day when I was looking up some other video on YouTube and that obnoxious Being Watched Now bar that usually just touts crap dorm-made videos and soft-porn had this video. The name of the band clicked in my 4-year-old memory and I was thrilled to find the Avett Brothers lovely song Swept Away.



Their voices aren't amazing, but there's something perfect about that. On their website bio, they explain, "There is no harmony like brotherly harmony. Something indelible in the weave of voices and play of sensibilities is stamped into the fraternal DNA and also stems from a lifetime of shared experiences." I believe it, especially hearing my brothers sing together. In this version the Avett sister's harmony is beautiful, if a little harsh for her brothers.

H - A - Double L - O - W - Double E - N

I usually have high expectations for Halloween and I'll be honest, they are rarely met. It's a holiday, like New Year's Eve, that I imagine is way more fun with just a little bit of alcohol. This year though, I figured out that my problem isn't a lack of liquor but a lack of proper holiday spirit. When you grab leftover clothes from the back of your closet you feel like you're dressed up as a Goodwill grab bag, regardless of how much that bathrobe looks like a ninja robe or how much puff paint you add to your eye mask. So, in the spirit of Halloween- and to keep me on the sobriety wagon- this year I decided to put some effort into my costume.

The inspiration for my 80's rocker outfit was the badass pouf ponytail I've been dreaming about for months (think Rihanna meets Beyonce big on a runway, but longer and 20 years ago). Throw in massive amounts of eyeliner, bright red lipstick that made it through two showers before it finally faded and some rockin wear (Thank you Forever 21 for still selling black and gold stretch pants in 2009) and voila! I'm a rockstar. Oddly enough, the music playing in my head while dressing up was was less Heart and Pat Benatar and more Scissor Sisters, Music is the Victim and a lot of rockin' Beck.

Happy Halloween.

50 Great Voices

NPR is doing a year-long search to narrow down 50 great voices. I look forward to the outcome. Email your suggestions (and links, if possible) to GreatVoices@npr.org

Chris Cornell, Fiona Apple, Freddie Mercury, Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor... I'm brainstorming.

Check out Rolling Stone's top 100 list for ideas.

Get Up Offa That Thang (Shake til you feel better)

I've been promising Joni that I'd go visit her all summer, and I finally made good on my promise. I texted far too liberally for how fast I was driving (and for the fact that it's against the law now [rightly so] to text and drive) but I'm just so good at texting without looking I couldn't help myself.I wasted and wore out the music that's been haunting my i-pod for the last year and half on the way down, loaded it up with new stuff and enjoyed George Winston and James Brown on my way up (hence the namesake of this post, my new favorite song).

How great is funk music.

I like the groovy like The Staple Singers I'll Take You There.
Anything that starts out with a little grunt/moan is good in my book. In fact, think I like any kind of music where you can can scream, shout, and mumble loud nonsense and it actually improves the song (this is where Lil' Jon falls short... most of the time)

Here's Wolfman Jack (a hero of mine for many other reasons) announcing the Love Roller Coaster


If you love funk, you have to take a ride on Seattle's Experience Music Project "Funk Blast." It may not be in rotation since 5+ years ago when I had the experience, but here's the review.

Actors who sing

Earlier this summer the often brilliant, sometimes a little to indie-weird, but always sexy in that brooding, long haired rocker, better in sunglasses kind of way Pete Yorn dreamed up an album of duets inspired by 1960s French rocker Serge Gainsbourg (less sexy, mostly because he's kind of a creep). Serge recorded an album with the much too beautiful for him Bridgette Bardot. It was loungy and a little too breathy for my taste. Pete's stab at the genre holds a nice throw-back to the 60's frenzy and I think I'd love it except for the fact that the super beauty Pete chose was Scarlett Johansson, who I hate (if you can name a movie where she's anything but obnoxious, please let me know).


Reminds me a lot of actress Zooey Deschanel's fresh sounding throwback collaboration with musician M. Ward She & Him (hers sounds more of a funky Doris Day to me). Both very retro. Both a little odd (in a good way). Both have lines that are suspiciously Beatles.

Got me thinking about other actresses who join up with singers. Off the top of my head I love Nicole Kidman with Robby Williams (Something Stupid) and Gwyneth Paltrow with Huey Lewis (Cruisin') and Babyface (Just My Imagination) from the movie Cruisin'. And I'm gonna have to think up some more. Any suggestions welcome!

Hiking Mt. Timpanogos

I took this picture!

Longest hike of my life. 6 hours up, 5 hours down (even sliding down a razor sharp glacier didn't save us time or energy). We left at midnight and summited just before sunrise and it was well worth the climb. It was the last week of the summer hiking season so the trails were crowded- groups of 4-10 going at any pace their lungs could handle. There's not much better than a straight glimpse at the Pleiedes Cluster with no smog or light pollution. Most of the hike up was in silence (except for huffing and puffing and an occasional "Are we there yet?!" from hikers) except there was one group of twenty-something guys with an i-pod on full blast, almost sprinting up the inclines.

Here's my question: What are trail rules on disturbing the peace? It is open space, and free for all; plus the music obviously kept them going. But what about the rest of us who like to hike in pure, natural silence? I love me my music, but outdoors is the one escape and I was seriously bugged at the noise intruders (and probably told them so, though I don't quite remember through the fog of fatigue). But now that I think about it, I don't know that I'm justified to be bugged!

Idyllic Country

Moving (got kicked out of my apartment for new renters) so I'm at my sister's for the the week. She lives in a turn of the century (that's old around these parts) farm house. One window looks straight up the canyon, another sees the lake in the background. My guest bedroom window faced a nice string of nameless to me mountains that stretched all the way south. Morning light along the ridge was great motivation to wake up early, if the nieces rumblings didn't do the job.

The land. Paul the Farmer came regularly to work with Alfalfa fields and orchards of the not-so-next-door neighbor Dorothy. We saw baby deer and peacock. My personal favorite is the pond on the property (you know how much I love floating). My niece and I took the old metal rowboat for a spin. I read as she played Cinderella and counted butterflies. Does it get much better than that?

The soundtrack for the week has been anything that might be played with a banjo or item found in an early century kitchen (you know, spoon, jug, washboard). Ricky Skaggs (and the Kentucky Thunder for some songs), an assortment from O Brother, Where Art Thou (aka Soggy Bottom Boys) and a guy named Chad Jensen who is all instrumental and all rockin' in a hick bluegrass kind of way. Makes me miss the Seattle Folklife Festival (link to an equally rockin' spoon musician).

Local stars Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, Dream Big

Gobbledigook

I'm packing- furiously, on a deadline and with a rage. Sigur Ros is usually too melancholy (read: depressing) to keep me motivated (I usually end up taking a nap somewhere I regret later for the kink in my neck or staring aimlessly out a window/at a wall enraptured by beauty or life or icelandic) but Gobbeldigook has been on repeat. I make up new words in English with each round.



The full music video is fascinating. It's got all sorts of nudity (that non-sexy European type that's almost uncomfortably unrestrained and awkward. Plus it's out in the woods. Ouch.) so be warned. Drumming on forest logs matches the pure chaos/euphoria (depending on your attitude) of the song. A friend who came to help me pack said the song gave her anxiety. It does just the opposit for me.

I read this quote in a bathroom book.

Friedrich Nietzsche's rejection of Christianity, truth, and the potential of equality makes me a bit wary of him, but any man with a consecutive 'tzsch' in their name that doesn't alert a red squiggly spell check line must hold some clout. I hold that beyond Neecha's (go ahead, you try to spell it without looking) world-renowned philosophy and philology (not to mention his sweet 'stache and 'thinking hard' pose) he deserves attention for this lovely quote:

"Without music, life would be an error."

Frer N., I couldn't agree more.

Great Songs About the South

My trip down south got me thinking about all the great music of all genres dedicated to the region. I stumbled upon this website and am exited to pursue the songs I've not yet heard. Some of the ones I've chosen for my Best Songs about the South:

• Mississippi Queen by Mountain and Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughn- Thank you Guitar Hero for opening my mind to both of these southern greats. The former is my favorite fake guitar riff to rock, the latter gives me carpal tunnel just thinking about it (not me playing).
  

• Black Velvet by Alanna Myles. I'm not actually sure what this song is all about, but it's slow and sweaty and all the sexier for it- Though the thought of velvet in a southern summer doesn't scream sensual.

• Walking in Memphis - this one hit wonder by Marc Cohn oozes the glory days of Elvis and the southern religious fervor. (Cher painfully tried to cover it, but failed. And doesn't look like Elvis.)
  

• Carolina On My Mind by James Taylor. Oh James, please be my friend.
  

• The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia is perhaps the most unusual video known to country music (check out the 3 minute 80's crime show with Reba hollering in the background here). Leave it to Reba McIntyre to take an otherwise rockin' song about corrupt law in the south and make a joke of it by bad costumes and way too many over-acted voice-overs.

• Tennessee by Arrested Development. This soul searching old school hip hop reminds me of the Perry's for some reason. ("A game of horseshoes!!")
  

• Calling Baton Rouge. Garth Brooks. The one from his Double Live album.

• The Blues is Here to Stay. Tab Benoit. Random, but good.

• Memphis, Tennnessee, Jackson Square, Rebecca DeVille, and more by Mason Jennings. The first is sweet, the second eerie, the third heartbreaking. Who'd have known Mason's a native midwesterner?

• Georgia on my Mind. The Ray Charles version, not the Willie Nelson one.
  

Somehow I want to put Ludacris' Southern Hospitality on the list, but can't make myself do it.

Am I missing any?

The hottest music on the radio

I've heard Rock Me Amadeus on the radio three times on three different stations in the last three days. Did Falco die and take Michael Jackson's place on the airwaves?

This video could have easily been filmed at Neverland Ranch.

Be okay

Post break-up. I know it's a good idea.
I just want to be okay...

Raisin Brahms!

Now this is good advertising by Americans for the Arts. Lindsay introduced me to this ridiculously silly commercial where Brahms "Oh Yeah's" it into a family breakfast to convince them of the power of the arts. "Guutentaaaag!!!"

Sidenote: I really do believe that arts enrich and empower individuals to have better futures. I'm not sold on increased test scores and genius but music, literature and visual and dramatic arts give children (well, everyone) something personal to be passionate about. Art brings beauty and hope to situations otherwise desperate. "As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life." ~John Lubbock