...Vintage Coverage...

I haven't had much time to be on here lately, so I thought that I would throw this up....a few more cover songs- vintage style.

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"The Flying Burrito Brothers: Wild Horses (The Rolling Stones)"
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"Wendell Stuart & The Downbeaters: Jude (The Beatles)"
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Hopefully, this next one wasn't ruined for you by the Rod Stewart version. It's a good song. Try to give it a second chance.

"Marianne Faithfull: Reason To Believe (Tim Hardin)"
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If the Rod "aftertaste" was a little too much for ya, I totally understand. So, to make sure this post ends with your ears happy, I'll leave you with a song that's likely to please. It's another cover by Marianne Faithfull (lately, I've been listening to her a ton). This song is by John D. Loudermilk, who was cousin to Ira and Charlie Loudermilk AKA The Louvin Brothers. Hope you like it.

"Marianne Faithfull: Little Bird (John D. Loudermilk)"
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To Japan.

(not my image above, found it after writing this and it gave me a similar visual to the poem itself)

Fukushima Daiichi

red tears weave their way to the center

of white cloth; attracted by seismic pull.

a circle is born: round rouge, emboldened

with thought of water, of torrent,

of rubble rinsed in layers of salt, of

an island of silenced hands stretched out

across dark ocean overflow.

"tributary"

tributary

a pair of feet linger

under inches of

cold river water.

they frame a face:

a pair of eyes.

and in them light

lingers from below,

and projects whispers of

a broken bottleneck:

sunken deposition.

a pair of hands extend

and so palms are doused

for the sake of glass,

transparent inquisition.

later on, a mouth tells her:

“it really was beautiful!

can you imagine how old

the pair of lips were

that drank from it?”

...Photo Dump...

Here are 50 photos that I have taken within the past few months. They are unedited. I hope it's not too much of an overload. Enjoy.
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
"Nico: Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams"
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...David A. Smith...

Check out this guys incredible work....this is truly a craft. All the ornateness is pretty inspiring to me.

David A Smith - Sign Artist from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

Fleet Foxes - Grown Oceans

New album entitled Helplessness Blues comes out May, 3rd - can't wait! Dig this new video.

IF YOU WALK IN ON THE SUN

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This isn't a Good Night for Walking - Arches

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IF YOU WALK IN ON THE SUN

as it fertility-grasps the buried hand of earth
awakening the unbarren memory of her seeping bosom
her perpetuating loins
with the hazy shake of muffled promise –
be sure to give thanks.

and if your taut, startled flesh
comes swimming crude stroked
to the dank surface of night
and your story goes stuttering
like wounded wings
your visions all sullied dim
with slag and soot
if mourning comes as bone spurs
frosting up from earth’s dizzy body
her fractured lungs wheezing
gasping for the damp, recurring meal –
then go on
set your body faltering down
cover the beached fish muscles over
writhe the sleepless static
mumble wet the dark smoke dirge
wail the body unbroken
and once you’ve stared down
that cold horizon
viridian emerald pear tangerine
limp hands cradling at unseen waters
eyes unscaled
voice unfurled
be sure to give thanks.

...Artshow...

Here are some photos from the art show that I recently participated in at Heroes Comic Shop. It was a really fun time!!! There were lots of great people putting their stuff up.

...The Bony King Of Nowhere...

When I first came across this guy, I thought, "What's up with the name?". "Bony" seemed a little close to "Bonnie", especially when it's combined with a royal title. Have no fear, though, I'm pretty sure that this Belgian singer has no intention of ripping off Prince Willy. Then, I found out (thanks Doug) that on Radiohead's Hail To The Thief album, the song There, There is subtitled Boney King Of Nowhere. So, I'm scratching my head again, wondering what's going on here, especially with the high probability of Radiohead comparisons. Regardless, here ya go......

So, I remember the first time that I heard Coldplay's Parachutes album. It had just come out and I had no idea what they would sound like. Actually, I wasn't super fond of their name either. My friend, Matt, introduced them to me as, "sounding a little bit like Radiohead". At first, this comparison didn't seem too far fetched, but after multiple listens, the similarities faded and the sound defined itself into something completely separate. In turn, since that album, Coldplay has continued to morph into something extremely different from either point of reference.
I bring up Coldplay for two reasons.....First of all, this album by The Bony King Of Nowhere has a "Coldplay/Thom Yorke through a Fleet Foxes lens" sort of feel. Secondly, like Chris Martin and the gang, I didn't know what to expect when I first heard them, but their sound has steadily grown on me with each listen, and yet, I can imagine that given time, they may transform into something completely different than what they are right now- something that I'm not sure I'm going to like.

But, no matter what they become tomorrow, here we are today, and I'm a sucker for a good melody (and this album is saturated with them), so I thought that I would send it along your way. You are welcome to let me know what you think.

"The Bony King Of Nowhere: Sleeping Miners"

"The Bony King Of Nowhere: Some Are Fearful"

...Vintage Coverage...

Doug gave the call, so here's the response....

...more old school covers!!!

"The Isley Brothers: Ohio Machine Gun (CSN&Y)"

"Cher: Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay (Otis Redding)"

"Them: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan)"

...Alexander & Covay...

Here's a double dose. For years there has been the debate...Beatles vs. Stones. Well, this post does not involve the Beatles or the Stones, but, rather, artists that influenced them. Two artists, in fact, that you may not be familiar with.

First of all, there is Arthur Alexander. Alexander was a singer whose country-twinged R&B tunes sometimes get mistaken as other musicians' compositions. His slightly dusty songs were inspirational to many more familiar artists including the Beatles. In fact the Fab Four covered his song Anna (Go To Him), as well as doing live recordings of Soldier Of Love. This latter song was even performed by Pearl Jam. Mr. Alexander is the only artist to be covered by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan (Dylan did a version of his song, Sally Sue Brown). In spite of all his influence, it was just recently that I became aware of his great music. Check it out. "Arthur Alexander: Love's Where Life Begins" "Arthur Alexander: I Need You, Baby"

Next, is Don Covay. In the battle of Beatles vs. Stones, Jagger and crew win it- hands down (in my opinion)....especially their early stuff. It's the pursuit of finding artists with an early Stone's sound that caused me to come across Don Covay. I had searched through Yardbird recordings, listened to Muddy Waters, come across a Thane Russall and the Three single (that was pretty close). I absorbed a lot of Bo Diddley (who I love- but other than his guitar playing, is not too similar). I even fell in love with current bands like The Dutchess & The Duke who have strains of that early snarly R&B sound woven into their tunes. Well, I'm not sure why it took me so long to find him, but enter Mr. Don Covay. I actually heard his House of Blue Lights album, first (more on that in a later post). That album has a good, but different sound. As I dug back through his earlier recordings, I was surprised to find how Stones-y he sounded. The truth is, he doesn't sound like the Rolling Stones, they sound like him. In fact, they covered his song Have Mercy. Other bands, including Steppenwolf, Wilson Pickett, and Small Faces covered his compositions. Covay's and the Rolling Stones' sound is most synonymous on his album Mercy!. You can hear how Mick even styled his vocals after Don. Why hadn't he come up as a result for my searches for artists that sound like the Rolling Stones before this? Hmmmm...good question. Anyway, another little tidbit is, that rumor has it that Jimi Hendrix played as part of his backing band, The Goodtimers, on this album. I still can't believe that I'm just hearing about this guy. What's some other stuff like this that I've been missing out on? Let me know. Enjoy these....some of the originals. "Don Covay: Take This Hurt Off Me" "Don Covay: Daddy Loves Baby"

...The Politicians: Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic...

While searching around for psychedelic soul albums, I came across this. It's a little more funky than what I was looking for, but great nonetheless. You might recognize the title track, because the Go Team used a cut from it on the track "Grip Like A Vice" from their Proof Of Youth album. I hope these instrumental jams will put a dip in your hip and help get you through the day.

"The Politicians: Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic"

"The Politicians: Politicians Theme"

...Dorothy Ashby: Afro-Harping...

Here's an album that I've had for a couple of years, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why I haven't put something up about it sooner. I mean, it's not the most elusive album since it was re-issued back in 2003. In fact, some of the songs may sound vaguely familiar to you, because many hip hop artists and DJs have sampled tracks from it. Maybe it popped into my head to post something on this because I've been on a jazz kick lately...I don't know.
Whatever the reason is, check this out. If you know anything about me and my taste in jazz, then you know that I really enjoy the stylings of Alice Coltrane. It was through searching for artists like Ms. Coltrane that I came across this album, originally released back in 1968. While there aren't a ton of similarities between Dorothy and Alice (other than that they both play jazz on the harp), one likeness that they share is that they both use the instrument in progressive ways. Whereas Alice works the instrument into spiritually rich, odes to the eastern hemisphere, Dorothy infuses funk and soul into her playing and uses the harp as a lead and solo instrument. Pretty unique stuff. There are some really good grooves here. I prefer this album over her later recordings, where Ms. Ashby ventures into areas of spoken word and vocal jazz. Press play and get mellow.

"Dorothy Ashby: Soul Vibrations"

"Dorothy Ashby: Afro-Harping"

{mal waldron} & {cold horizons}-{ten}

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japanese island - mal waldron
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atomic energy - mal waldron
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it would seem that mal is on the move here at !!crescere!! i hope you'll agree that this is a very good thing. he is fast becoming a new favorite of mine. many thanks to bacoso over at o.i.r. for this session as well as "reminicent suite" which reaped the beast that is "black forest." i posted that one back in february. on both of these recordings, mal is supported by a full on japanese backing band with no repeats of personnel from one session to the other. this one finds mal working in a trio, and like josh, i do love me a smokin' piano,drum & bass trio. these two tracks will tell you why.
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also included in this post is my last {cold horizon} poem for this season. i have thoroughly enjoyed this experiment and intend to pick it back up sometime early next winter. i hope you've enjoyed it also. this one was written days after the earthquake/tsunami struck japan's coast, and was definitely provoked by it. i had hoped to get it up sooner then this. all the same, enjoy:
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...Mal Waldron: The Quest...

Ever since Doug posted a track from Mal Waldron in an earlier post, I've been checking more of his stuff out. You can imagine how pleased I was to find this 1961 album, featuring Eric Dolphy (one of my favorite jazz musicians) on alto sax and bass clarinet, as well as my favorite bass/cello player, Ron Carter, adding some unique sounds on his cello. Although this album is not as "free" as I normally like, there are definitely some unique ideas within the more straight-ahead, melodic, song structure making it enjoyable. The tracks below exemplify two of the more moody ballads on the record. They're pretty catchy and dripping with sentiment. This album was later re-issued under Dolphy's name. The original artwork is shown below, and the cover above is from the re-issue.

"Mal Waldron: Warm Canto"

"Mal Waldron: Duquility"

...Art Show...

So I'm going to be in my first art show later this month. It's going to be held at my friend Jared's comic book shop (Heroes Your Mom Threw Out). Anyway, the theme of the show is going to be- good art for cheap/inexpensive limited run prints. It should be a fun time. I'm really looking forward to it. Here's a flyer that I made for the show. Feel free to give me your opinion of what my best stuff is, as well as, what pieces should definitely make the cut for the show. Wish me luck!!!! (you can check out some of the other showcased artists at Heroes)

...F.J. McMahon...

Here are a couple of tracks from an album that I've been enjoying lately. They're from F.J. McMahon's 1969 release- Spirit Of The Golden Juice. It's too bad that this is the only album that McMahon put out. There's some really nice stuff on here. As a whole, it's in the same vein as a Fred Neil, or maybe even, a Bill Fay record. Check out the first two tracks of the album below.

"F.J. McMahon: Sister Brother"

"F.J. McMahon: The Road Back Home"