Lightnin' Wells - 12th Street Rag
Beirut - In the Mausoleum
Caetano Veloso - Irene
Two Loons for Tea - Monkey
Georgie James - Henry and Hanzy
A Girl Called Eddie - The Soundtrack of Your Life
The Drifters - Save The Last Dance For Me
Unrest - Make Out Club
Imperial Teen - Do It Better
Euros Child - Horse Riding
Helen Forrest - Bewitched
Jose Gonzalez - Time To Send Someone Away
It had been three weeks since I had been on the air. I felt a little rusty. I had no idea what to play and just wandered aimlessly through the stacks before my show trying to find things to play. Some Fridays I feel inspired and others I do not. This past Friday, I was not. All I could think about was how much I didn't want to go into work after my radio show was over.
Although I didn't have a very good idea of what I was going to play, it didn't really matter since there was so much good NEW stuff in the goodie bin: Manu Chao, Beirut, Two Loons for Tea, Georgie James, Imperial Teen, Euros Child, Jose Gonzalez... It was great.
I don't really know anything about Manu Chao. When I told Craven this a couple months ago, he said, "REALLY!?!? Gosh. Where have you been?" Maybe I'll go out and get his new record, La Radiolina, and try to figure out what I'm apparently missing.
On Friday, I played a track off Beirut's new one, The Flying Club Cup, that featured a ukulele. So, of course, I ran out yesterday to buy it. It is going to require some serious listening (i.e. not in the car) as it sounds dense and complex. It's a big oompa-oompa orchestral sound. I really like Zach Condon's voice, too.
Friday night, I went out to the General Store Cafe in Pittsboro with Mark to check out their food and to see Lightnin' Wells play. Good golly. What he can do with the guitar and the ukulele is mind-blowing. We were both impressed. The General Store Cafe is a weird place. There are chatckies on every surface, which is kinda distracting. Unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with my Mayan burrito. But the music was wonderful. Lightnin' even played the "12th Street Rag" which is one of my favorites. It's a fast-paced poppy song that seems impossible (to me) to master. But Lightnin' rocks it. Not too long ago, I put that song on for an evening of wig-wearing, rollerskating and cake-baking. That was a great night.I gotta get back to practicing my uke. It's been weeks. The past week, I've been still trying to get over this Maltese cold which has made me feel like doing absolutely nothing. I am better today and I know I should get some practicing in before I attempt to play with the Durham group on Wednesday. They're good enough that they can just choose a new song, print out the music and just start playing it. Heck, one guy can just play any song without any sheet music at all. It's intimidating.
My entire playlist can be found here.
11 comments:
The first Manu Chao album is great. It is called "Clandestino." The second album, "Esperanza," was pretty disappointing, actually. I saw Manu Chao play in Catania in 2001 in support of this album. It was kind of like a latin Mighty Mighty Bosstones. I haven't heard the new one, "La Radiolina," yet. One can only hope it is a return to form.
Manu Chao was famous for his band Manu Negra way, way back in the day. Mostly in Europe.
12th Street Rag is a workout for sure but it's not impossible to master.
Check out my version at my ezFolk page.
I based my version on the bare bones tab for it that Woodshed posted on his blog, Uke Hunt. Check it out, you might surprise yourself.
Drat! Screwed up the link above for my ezFolk page. This one should be right.
Sorry for the double-tap.
Hey Howlin'!
Thanks for the link. Your version of 12th Street Rag is swell!!!! Woot!
I'll have to wait until I can master rhythm and strumming on some easier songs before I tackle this one.
You make it sound so easy! ;)
Thanks for the Manu Chao info, Chris. Once you get back, maybe you'll play me something off his first record.
That's cool that you got to see him play in Catania.
I like the pic of the group of musicians busking.
The guy in the white shirt is playing a **really** small horn. Wonder what it is.
The guy on the left is playing a keyboard instrument. Because of the pixelation, it LOOKS like an analog synthesizer. But I'm sure it's just an accordian. (Bummer.)
--GG
That's Beirut!!!
Sorry -- the band name it Beruit? Or the locale?
--GG
Charlotte -- It may look easy now, but you didn't see the two months of relentlessly annoying my sweetie, my housemate, and the cats that went into it. :-/ Nonetheless, it's doable.
Gye -- Beirut is the band name, their locale is... hmmm... I think they just relocated to NY and the tiny horn is (I believe) a pocket trumpet.
HH
Zach Condon, the man behind the band, Beirut, lives in Brooklyn. You can listen to them here:
http://www.beirutband.com/
i've got tons of manu chao (and even a manu negra album), if you want some of it...
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