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Archive for December, 2005
Open topic
Thursday, December 29th, 2005I’m an Earworm!
Thursday, December 29th, 2005Matthew Price in Albuquerque linked to my “Earworms of the Year” post, and then posted his own list of earworms – which included my song “Who Will Save Us from the Saved?“!
You can hear the song in its entirety on the tunes page.
Dead to the World 12/28/05
Wednesday, December 28th, 2005Dead to the World – December 28, 2005
Playing in the Band
He’s Gone
Truckin’->
Drums and bass->
The Other One->
Sing Me Back Home – Grateful Dead 12/12/72 Winterland, San Francisco
This is a show I’m pretty sure I attended. I know I went to two of the three shows in this run – I think the 10th and the 12th. I was still a baby Deadhead! The end of a great year for the GD. Bob Weir really came into his own as a songwriter – Ace came out, and
Angry Eyes – Loggins and Messina, Sittin’ In Again at the Santa Barbara Bowl
Shape Shifter – ALO, Fly Beteween Falls
Have You Seen the Stars Tonight? - Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship, Blows Against the Empire
Running Wild and Looking Pretty (Theme Song for DJ Kitty) – Mushroom, Glazed Popems
Willie Taylor - Uncle Earl, She Waits for Night. A different twist on the “Jackaroe” story.
Three Legged Man – Chad Mitchell Trio, That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be. I heard the late great Steve Goodman do this song a number of times in the ’70s and ’80s, and never knew where it came from til I got these Mitchell trio reissues from Collector’s Choice. I was not even slightly surprised to learn that “Three Legged Man” was written by Shel Silverstein.
Third Rate Romance - Russell Smith, The End Is Not in Sight
Night Life – George Jones w/ Waylon Jennings, My Very Special Guests
DG & Friends @ MagFest ‘05
Monday, December 26th, 2005Jim Roe recorded my set w/ four members of Railroad Earth, Joe Craven, and three other friends at MagnoliaFest. Details and download link on playback.
Gans, Craven, RRE, et al. at MagFest ‘05
Monday, December 26th, 2005This just in from Jim Roe:
Hi All,
I have finally had some time to get the audio of the show finished and uploaded to the Archive. The recording came out pretty good. This is a great set with tons of talent- just look at the friends! Enjoy and Have a great New Year!
DVD to be done soon if all goes as planned!
www.archive.org/audio/etree-details-db.php?id=32089
Band/Artist: David Gans and Friends
Date: October 21st, 2005
Venue: Magfest, Music Hall
Location: Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, Live Oak FL
Source: Audience Recording
Lineage: AT822>Sony DCR-HC85>Premiere Pro 1.5>SoundForge 8.0>dBPowerAMP
1. Going Down the Road Feeling Bad
2. Wild Horses
3. Sound Check Groove
4. Bubbles in My Beer
5. Catfish John
6. Midnight Moonlight
7. Mr Tambourine Man
8. Sultans of Swing
Featuring:
David Gans – Guitar Lead Vocals
Tim Carbone- Violin (Railroad Earth)
Joe Craven- Fiddle (DGQ, Joe Craven Trio)
Alan Dalton- Banjo
Andy Goessling- Soprano Sax (Railroad Earth)
Johnny Grubb- Stand-up Bass (Railroad Earth)
Josh Skehan- Mandolin (Railroad Earth)
Arvid Smith- Dobro, guitar (Tammerlin)
Annie Wenz- Percussion
Not for Sale
Dems wise up for 2006
Monday, December 26th, 2005SusanG on dailykos cites this Boston Globe piece:
Democrats to woo voters on wage issue
Frozen minimum pay seen as spur
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | December 25, 2005
WASHINGTON — New Year’s Day will bring the ninth straight year in which the federal minimum wage has remained frozen at $5.15 an hour, marking the second-longest period that the nation has had a stagnant minimum wage since the standard was established in 1938.
Against that backdrop, Democrats are preparing ballot initiatives in states across the country to boost turnout of Democratic-leaning voters in 2006. Labor, religious, and community groups have launched efforts to place minimum-wage initiatives on ballots in Ohio, Michigan, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Arkansas, and Montana next fall.
Democrats say the minimum wage could be for them what the gay-marriage referendums were in key states for Republicans last year — an easily understood issue that galvanizes their supporters to show up on Election Day.
SusanG adds:
This seems to me to be a winner on all fronts. Besides being the right thing to do, it’s an opportunity to tie in bloated CEO salaries, benefit cuts, corporate tax breaks and other oligarchical schemes so dear to the (barely beating) GOP heart.
Additionally, it will have the backing of John Edwards – who, with his theme of the two Americas – is the perfect (and popular) spokesperson for the issue.
And, later:
My only concern stems from the fact that although the minimum wage initiatives won “overwhelmingly,” they didn’t seem to have the intensity of the coattail effect the GOP claimed for the gay marriage initiatives last year, sweeping candidates in with them. Of course, this could be from conservatives over-attributing turnout to the “values” crowd; it’s hard to see how citizens could really care more about what’s going on in their neighbor’s bedroom than how much cash is in their wallets each pay period.
The Democrats are starting to wise up. The right has gotten very good at putting their “values” items, aka wedge issues, on the ballot to motivate their base. About fucking time our side got on that ball.
A new front in the war on Christmas
Sunday, December 25th, 2005I love this story by Joe Garofali in the Christmas Eve edition of the SF Chronicle:
Gift rift: Evangelicals split over plan to ban presents
Conservative religious leaders are so pleased with their campaign against the “war on Christmas” that they’re going to rev it up next year.
Look for more lawyers ready to pounce on Christmas disses, they say, more teachers ready to tattle on silencings of “Silent Night” and more boycotts of stores for yanking the “Christmas” out of the season.
The whole thing is nothing but a Weapon of Mass Distraction hatched by the paid liars at Fox News to keep the mindless base enraged while the kleptocrats continue their mission of stealing America from its citizens.
Now the dreaded American Family Association wants to get a good deal more literal about this religious holiday:
The American Family Association is suggesting that adults buy nothing from stores for each other next year. Sliding an Xbox 360 to a child would be OK, said association president Tim Wildmon, but adults should funnel their consumer cash to a charity that helps the poor — preferably one friendly to “Christian values” such as the Salvation Army.
Good luck with that, Tim. You are going to run smack into the true religion of mainstream America: materialism.
I’m really glad to see these guys put their money where their moralistic mouths are (although I’d be interested in seeing how much Tim Wildmon and dad Donald give to the poor from their own personal fortunes), but what I’m really glad to see is another rift in the unholy alliance of corporatists and religionists that has taken my beloved country do far down the ugly, toxic and inhuman path we’ve been on for most of my lifetime.
Update 12/26/05: “War on Christmas” quarterback (and, it must be noted, profiteering author) John Gibson engages in an epistolary debate on beliefnet with Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. An excerpt from one of Lynn’s letters:
America contains 2,000 different faiths and 20 million freethinkers, a rich biodiversity of theological and philosophical viewpoints. Unfortunately, a relatively small band of members of the Christian faith seem insistent on being officially, and always, on the top of the hill. We might call them “Christian Holiday Triumphalists.” They are not about to ever let another faith even come close to getting the acknowledgment their faith receives. If it is December, this is the time to celebrate “Christmas,” not anything else. They know that they are in the majority, and whoever dares to mess with them will feel their wrath.
GD Hour #901
Sunday, December 25th, 2005Grateful Dead Hour no. 901
Week of December 26, 2005 or later
Part 1 21:10
Interview: David Dodd
Grateful Dead, In the Dark
THROWING STONES
Interview: David Dodd
Grateful Dead, Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
Interview: David Dodd
Part 2 36:10
Grateful Dead 4/1/91 Coliseum, Greensboro NC
DARK STAR->
DRUMS
Donna the Buffalo, Life’s a Ride
THESE ARE BETTER DAYS
LIFE’S A RIDE
David Dodd is the editor of The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics, and editor/webmaster of the Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics web site.
Earworms of the Year
Sunday, December 25th, 2005I’m not big on Top Ten lists and all that rock-critic/DJ crap, but I did put together an earworms of the year list and posted it on my blog, Playback.
Earworms of the Year
Sunday, December 25th, 2005A random listing of some songs I couldn’t get out of my head this year:
Chinito Chinito from Ry Cooder’s amazing CD Chavez Ravine.
Deal – Buddy Miller live at MagnoliaFest Midwest in Bean Blossom, Indiana, July 2005. Not on any CD that I know of, but I’ve scored a fine live recording of the Hunter-Garcia classic for the January 28 KPFA marathon.
Willie Taylor from Uncle Earl’s CD She Waits for Night.
This Land Is Your Land – Jim Page’s updated version from the Spirit of Guthrie tour (w/ Vince Herman and Rob Wasserman), documented on the CD In the Trees. I don’t think the CD is available in stores (yet?), but you can get it by contacting Jim Page directly.
That’s Gonna Leave a Mark - Ralph Roddenbery Band, Let it In. I’ve shared a stage with Ralph a few times in recent years, and I like what he does more every time. We’re doing a few dates together in January, which I’m really looking forward to.
Waiting for Jaden – from ALO’s most recent CD, Fly Between Falls
Rocking Horse – Donna the Buffalo, Life’s a Ride. DTB is just about my favorite band these days: great groove, great vibe at the shows, a spiritually positive (and decidedly non-hippie-dippy) message, and – most important of all – two great songwriters, Tara Nevins and Jeb Puryear. Jeb has an utterly unique and (to me) irresistible style; he’s one of those songwriters who creates a universe of his own right next to ours and sends these messages back to Earth for the good of us all. What I want from a band – jamband or otherwise – is music that speaks to the head, the heart, the soul, the gonads, and the butt. DTB does that. When I’m in the audience at a Donna the Buffalo show, there is no place else I’d rather be.
Warhead Boogie by Railroad Earth. I heard ‘em do it live a couple of times and found out it was an old song of Todd Sheaffer’s (from the From Good Homes days?). I was pleased to learn that it will be on their new live double CD, Elko, that’s coming out in January.
The Road – Russell Smith, from The End Is Not in Sight. I was a big fan of The Amazing Rhythm Aces back in the day, and I was thrilled to be on a bill with them at the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, Kentucky last July. Russell Smith hasn’t lost anything off his wicked curveball over the years – he’s still one of the best songwriters out there.
Like a Rolling Stone – Bob Dylan, of course. I interviewed Greil Marcus about his book Like a Rolling stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads. Greil’s take on things is always interesting, and I think he’s absolutely right that this particular song kicked a door open for all of us and changed the world for the better.
Just about anything by George Harrison. I got the Concert for George DVD a while back and was in tears just reading the booklet; the concert itself was profound, not just for the beauty of the music but for the power of the love for George expressed by each individual and by the magic they made onstage. Then in the fall, The Concert for Bangla Desh came out on DVD, and it was all George All the Time for another couple of weeks. I saw the film in the theater when it came out, and owned a low-fi VHS of it for a many years, but seeing it restored and hearing it w/ good sound, and watching the bonus material on the DVD (most notably a rehearsal of “If Not for You” w/ Bob Dylan and George, and recollections by the participants that were recorded recently for the DVD) was an awesome experience.
Grateful Dead, Live at the Fillmore 1969. Ten-CD set of a four-night run from the GD era that gave us Live Dead. The groupmind at one of its early peaks. Lovingly and brilliantly remixed by Jeffrey Norman, the boxed set was offered as a limited edition and the fools at GD grossly underestimated demand. But there’s a three-disc compilation from Rhino that you can get, and it’s well worth it. Coupled with the remastered Live Dead, you can get a good taste of what the Grateful Dead were all about before they started back in the country-folk direction w/ Workingman’s Dead. (Jeffrey Norman posted on DeadNet Central that he prefers the original Bob matthews mix of the 2/27/69 Dark Star: “…for the best mix of DS 2-27, go listen to your Live/Dead. It sounds great… I’m not being modest here. It has a certain smoothness and flow that I couldn’t recreate.”)