At what time is it acceptable to play holiday music? I don't mean in stores and such because that battle has been lost. I just mean of your own volition.
And drop your lists of course.
Category Archives: Friday Music Day
FMD 11/8/2019: Musical Wishes
Let's try something a little different today... I'm curious about people's musical wishes. That could be anything from "I'd love to see [deceased performer] in concert" to "I wish someone would make a Mama Mia-style musical featuring the songs of Limp Bizkit" to "I'd love to be able to play Classical Gas on the guitar."
I think we've all got these types of musical desires, right? And most of us are not musicians in our own right, such that we could make these things come true. But let's indulge those wishes for a day. What are your musical wishes?
FMD — Karaoke
DK posted a video of Glen Campbell singing Rhinestone Cowboy over at the video section. As I commented, that song is one of my go to karaoke songs. The other one is Love Hurts. I in fact one "sang" Love Hurts at a lesbian bar in Nashville and the the cross-dressing host said afterward, thanks for bringing the mood down, now someone give this guy a blow job! (no one did).
So do you have a go to karaoke song? What works, what doesn't? I found that Born in the USA is just a bunch of shouting and really hard to maintain through the whole song. Gave me even a greater appreciation for the fact that Bruce does that for 3 freaking hours. I have a friend who's kind of nerdy and loves to do country party songs for karaoke. The "problem" is that's kind of awkward and his fist pumps and hip shaking are somewhat half-assed. It's very endearing and fun to watch.
Anyway favorite karaoke? Do you like it when someone just nails the song or when they are really bad but their heart is really into it?
Also drop 'em if you got 'em.
FMD: AMR’s Week “Whither Live Music?”
I struggled to find clips for this week because I don't really know which artists I would want to see in concert right now.
Other than Julien Baker, who has probably been over-played here (8 times in 3.5 years). But what size venues does she play?
Florist's new album doesn't seem like it would translate to a live setting; it's so close and intimate.
Lana Del Rey went on a stadium tour and all I could find were audience clips. I watched a good number of her live clips early in her career and never found her performances compelling.
(As for finding cool performances in atypical settings...
Have we passed peak "Take Away Show"-like programming? Or are they just hidden under fan clips?
And how many times can I go to the BPB and HHT wells?)
I hope you like what I've offered (and will offer for a few more days), regardless.
Go ahead and drop your lists, and tell me why I'm wrong. Which touring musicians should I be excited about when they come through?
Friday Music Day – Country Music
Anyone watch or watching the Ken Burns gig on Country Music? I just have the last episode to left. Very good. I like the focus on different artists and would love to have off-shoot mini Burns documentaries on some of the characters we were introduced to, some we know very well (Johnny Cash) some we don't (Jimmy Rodgers). One thing I learned is that the George Jones song He Stopped Loving Her Today was released in 1980! I would've bet $100 that it was from the early 60s.
And completely unrelated, Gord Downie died two years ago yesterday. Here he is singing one of my favorite Guided By Voices songs.
Drop your lists if you got 'em.
FMD: Protest Songs
Because there was that rally and protest thing that just happened. Also, post lists.
FMD: October
A lot of new albums coming out this month that I'm interested in:
Danny Brown
Nick Cave
Angel Olsen
Wilco
Big Thief
Blood Orange
Battles
Vagabon
FKA Twigs
Guided By Voices (okay, not really this, but I'll mention it for free's sake)
Anything you're looking forward to?
Oh yeah, and drop your lists.
FMD – Ric Ocasek’s “Other Career”
Lots of love and sadness for Ric Ocasek, especially for his work with The Cars. I was lucky enough to be in high school when those first two albums came out and they are still active on my playlist. In fact two good high school friends had a “Best Friends Girl” issue way back when and we still joke about it using that song.
Besides fronting The Cars, Ocasek produced 38 albums, some of which were The Cars of course, but a wide variety of others. Researching this post, I discovered he produced two Bad Brains albums, which I find amazing. Those are classic punk albums.
In the GBV world, Ocasek is known for producing Do The Collapse, which was Guided By Voices first foray into a highly produced rock album for a “big” label (Matador). Generally the album was well received and GBV fans have come around to the fact that it’s an album that wasn’t produced on a 4-track in the garage. The only issue that remains today is that Teenage FBI is probably over produced with a weird synthesizer effect that really isn’t needed oh and Hold on Hope was too much of a syrupy ballad. See video below.
Any way, Ric, you were your one weird looking dude who got to marry a super model and made or had a hand in a shit-ton of cool music. Plus you made me post about you instead of the the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road, which is my favorite album of all time. So good for you.
Friday Music Day: Song/Book Pairings
Happy Friday Book Music Day! I had no plan for this week of guest DJ-ing until I was on my way to a gathering of book people a week ago, and suddenly it became obvious what I needed to do. So I'm curious, do the rest of y'all have song/book pairings you'd suggest? Also, please drop your lists.
FMD: 2019-09-13
I wasn't looking for it, but Florist's album Emily Alone is right now my lead candidate for AMR's 2019 album of the year.
Recommended if you like: Julien Baker, the pastoral side of of Animal Collective circa Sung Tongs and Campfire Songs.
Go ahead and listen here.