Saw a Jerk/Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid double feature the other day, and it reminded me that Steve Martin's schmaltzy stuff tends to be hit-or-miss. For example, here's a miss, from LA Story, a movie I completely love otherwise. Here's a hit:
I've heard other versions of this song, and it works so much better as a duet.
If you've heard this one, then you're probably watching Futurama. If not, it featured in a perfect little scene at the end of last week's episode that was heartbreaking and beautiful. It's a kids' song so if you're reading this and you have little ones, go buy this album.
This one goes out to the Ladies, at least those not already claimed by the hyper-sexual Papa McKeel, and those castoffs papa saves for his misbegotten son, Tyles.
So this came out (read, leaked) the other day. I am going to assume we all know how to find linkage if needed. It's a pretty fun album. It helps that I sort of gave up hope on them ever surpassing Funeral, which was probably an unfair thing for me to even consider hoping for.
So, first of all, I'm not talking about that other thing at all, because whatever.
I mentioned the AV Undercover series in this post. Someone finally got around to doing "A Rush and a Push..." and it was a complete abortion. Like I said, the series has mostly been a disappointment but there are a few gems, and I am as shocked as you are that I'm putting this song into that category. It turns out that the song has a pretty solid skeleton and, with the awful 80's production stripped away, it's actually kind of nice.
My primary motivation for posting this -- though Eric's love for me is no doubt eternal -- is to champion a fantastic cover to one of Chalkdust's other albums:
It's calypso Harder They Come, guys!
Garish red vest, shades, no shirt, mini-fro, big-ass revolver: This one has it all. And look at that belt buckle. I found it at Easy Street a month or so back, and I was probably a fool not to buy it. But the title track skipped something awful, and $15 seemed like a premium for wall art. I don't know, maybe I'll go back and see if it's still there.
Plus it's a nice little motif for the other thing. Rally the legion!
When I went on my trip a few months ago, I brought this book with me to read. Well I mean, I didn't "bring it with me", it was just the book I was reading at the time and hadn't finished. Anyway, I had my iPod on shuffle and this song came up. It's based on a couple of Psalms - 137 in particular, and also 19. That passage from 19 comes up at...some point during the year, so that even a completely unobservant Jew like me knows it:
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
So anyway, the point of this long and rambling story is that, as that song was playing, I happened to be reading the exact part of the book where he mentions one of the Psalms listed, and I can't remember which because the important part is that he mentions the song too, that the words of the Psalm features prominently in a song from the The Harder They Come soundtrack. Get the book (it's a fun read, at least I think so), you'll see. I laughed, the people on the plane probably thought I was a crazy person. I couldn't figure out if it was a good or a bad omen, but it was a weird coincidence.
First, some music from Seattle-area roots-rock heroes The Moondoggies, which you might remember from their best of 2008 effort "Don't Be A Stranger." I picked up this tour/Seattle-only EP for a few bucks at an independent record store here in town. It's comprised of five tracks that didn't make the cut for their forthcoming album, "Tidelands." They are an awesome band and you should listen to them.
And now a little something for the being banned excellent fun times.
I actually had plans to post something from Big Boi's new album, because it is lots of fun and I love it, but I got beaten to the punch. So we will go with this.
How long must we, as Americans, wait for an album to come out by a successful musician? I highly recommend you read this article about the windy exodus from studio to iTunes of Sir Lucious Leftfoot, and why this track wasn't included on the release (you guys it is with Andre 3000. How fucking stupid do you have to be to fight an Andre 3000 collaboration on Big Boi's first ever solo album. That is insane.). And, of course, it's great.
Lol Cleveland. The only thing the Cuyahoga is on fire with tonight is #23 jerseys and also maybe tears because if you lived in Cleveland you'd probably drink and then your tears would be made of alcohol and they would burn and you would have a lot of tears because again, you live in Cleveland.
Before I begin, let me say I do have a few quibbles about Red Dead Redemption, which I won't get into here. For the most part, it's hard to imagine a game being more deserving of its acclaim. The music is no exception, and this song in particular is integrated into one of the game's best moments.
This song reminds me that I never did get around to returning that Startropics game I borrowed from John back in 1990. What the hell, what happened to that NES? I bet I got that thing in a box somewhere gathering dust, but I'll never really know for sure. *shrug*
This is pretty adorable. The Beatles asked Frank Sinatra to record a version of "Lady is a Tramp" about Ringo's wife Maureen, for her birthday. Hence, Maureen is a Champ. As far as I know, there's only one record in existence of it, but here's a bootleg. Enjoy!
The original is amazing (and a Suicide pastiche, specifically "Frankie Teardrop", as my brother pointed out to me) but I did a Highwaymen cover of a Steve Earle song, so here's Earle covering the Boss (and I'll have to find Springsteen covering someone else eventually so I can keep going.)
This one came up for me because the original closes out "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano", the last episode of the first season of "The Sopranos". I decided to do a full series rewatch this summer and, while there are still things about the show I don't love, it generally holds up awfully well, and it's interesting to see the show as a whole piece, already knowing where everyone's arc is headed. It's a show that I have some qualms about (unlike other shows we've discussed, like "Breaking Bad" or "The Wire", that I love wholeheartedly) but you know, it really is damn good, and it laid the groundwork for those shows in a pretty straight line from A to B.
(And not to go off on another tangent but this is obviously from "Austin City Limits", another great repository of televised live music.)
