很奇怪的相冊
最大氣球-最高氣球
當電視和電台的吉他手戴夫西泰克生產者非凡決定釋放的專輯,在他的話'得到一堆流行音樂的我的系統',他決定自己唱歌不太到的任務,因此給予他令人印象深刻的聯繫,他只是輕彈,通過他的天賦,讓聲音充滿關係網,他的最大熱氣球項目。
西泰克自己的音樂產生了相當一致的支持,整個記錄,實際工作在一個相對有限的範圍,條件儀器:吉他,貝司,合成器,鼓機與喇叭非常奇怪專輯拋出部分基本相同,只有聲音調色板自己作為 TVOTR ,但texturally免費更磨料方面的聲音,同時也迴避的重大題材的批評是認為對待每TVOTR專輯就像一個國家的,該國的地址。 吉他經典時尚從頭開始了恐懼的聲音和合成器反光或嗡嗡聲在你希望的風格是現代流行音樂,整個聲音佈滿了其誘人的節奏相匹配性。
該專輯首場看到西奧菲勒斯倫敦申辯:“我要你溝我寶寶超過 1昏昏欲睡低音的推力故意毆打,而trebly喜帽幾乎透不過氣來的響亮本身之間的靜音鍵盤即興演奏吉他和活潑。 鉛單'老虎'工程,以類似的效果。 在不訴諸意象衝骨盆為每首歌曲的節奏和骯髒的合成器嗝確實產生一個(噸)駝峰議案,龍的Zynth歌手阿庫 prowls他倒過來(字面meowing在1點),在歌曲中達到高潮一光滑迪斯科面對過的吉他和parping角。 模型戴洛韋肯定看到了潛在的使用要求時,她的歌曲為目的在她的左右扭動內衣時尚先生(啊哈, 先生們這樣 )。
該記錄並不過分性慾不過,由於不斷變化的性別各地的歌手。 '如果你回'跳動意圖同時又能提供良好的軟床湯汲長野,瑞典電樽小龍,以感官首席運營官。 它的足跡,例如這說明如何解放西泰克是由概念的記錄是一個點。 Untrammelled任何關心重現跟踪現場舞台上,他可以自由發揮層不同的聲音,主要是合成器的聲音,因為錯綜複雜和/或人口稠密,因為他喜歡。 部分的快感軌道,如閃閃發光的迪斯科脈衝青年愛'是多少,他可以打包到歌曲,但西泰克知道什麼時候該地帶的歌曲回來,讓德爾去年秋季迪斯科基礎伸出的狂喜中,福特的聲音莊嚴的outro騰飛。
當更多的磨料質地為更好地了解這西泰克是做似乎是很適當的,他們這樣做,該公司的Tunde Adebimpe。 一個有節奏的跳動是由亂打亂鈸飛濺,角吉他掛鉤格納爾德和討厭的,而合成器尋呼和巴茲不祥的旋律。 Adebimpe堅持以肉慾的主題,然而,“我將是你的使者,你的部長,你的病態的好奇心,在手中的夜晚你是一個玩物 ”。 雖然 Adebimpe的貢獻被貶低的聲音,各位團員 KYP的馬龍的外表上'沙克'僅僅是放蕩,雖然不可抗拒的話,回顧王子與他的氣息假聲 funk和悶燒超過煩躁休息室都在糊里糊塗的影響節奏。
如果這一切聽起來相當專注的快樂,身體在犧牲的靈魂,然後是因為它是真的。 該點的記錄是不相同份量的鏟球政治/社會 /個人的事,他的全職帶做,但所有相同的記錄可以做一個劑量的淒美。 '教訓'的企圖更加暗淡色調,但旋律的利益,而缺乏對加工擊敗不能彌補,而故障頻發空靈株接近'粉紅磚'患有同樣的問題,儘管舒緩的歌聲名為豚草香菜的荊棘。 不知怎的,一個美麗安靜的聲音從卡倫Ø管理灌輸'共融'的一大感覺比真的有可能因為她花大部分的歌曲懇求“給我說拍”。
名聲樂的大貢獻只有大衛伯恩失望。 不是說有什麼可怕的錯誤與'摔跤公寓'本身,而是它是音樂讓負債後的殘留在光談首腦,它只是感覺像伯恩是陶醉在他自己的影響力,儘管它的那種樂趣都是一樣的。 歸根結底這是一個聲明,可以適用於該記錄作為一個整體,儘管它從來沒有突破性的,這是一個好得驚人流行的記錄,而捐款TVOTR成員為他們的下一個好兆頭專輯, 最大熱氣球真的一個偉大的製作人/作曲家展現其聰明才智擺脫壓力和期待他的日常工作。
U2樂隊:樂隊誰墜落到地球上
U2樂隊演唱會演出的360度在都靈,意大利在8月。 圖片:馬西莫平卡
資料來源:美聯社
這是U2樂隊的時刻意識到他們是凡人。
波諾,同時準備為恢復該樂隊的龐大的360之旅早在5月,“遭受嚴重壓迫坐骨神經的”,因為德國醫生誰最終重建了50歲的解釋。
這位歌手將需要手術,和廣泛的康復。 該樂隊將不得不擱置了美國站的巡迴賽,並期待重新開始在歐洲八月。
快進到8月16日。 U2樂隊今晚將只執行了第五次展示返回 - 第二次在連續兩個晚上在一個短小的(“這不是甚至360,”小鼓手拉里馬倫感嘆)足球體育場在霍森斯,丹麥。
弗雷德里克王子是在昨天的房子。 今晚是超級名模海倫娜克里斯滕森合格丹麥皇室。
雙標頭顯然是一個測試波諾的健身 - 他在舞台上的每一個觀眾的牛奶最後一滴能量,使其通過這個節目。
展前,馬倫表示,他感到驚訝的樂隊主唱沒有做自己的嚴重傷害了許多先前在該樂隊的職業生涯。
“他掉下來的階段。 他考察了定期和直接獲取備份,從來就不是問題。 所以我很驚訝 ...他通常反彈!“
邊緣是不太可能使俏皮話對博諾的塞回來。 對於吉他手,這更是一個現實存在的危機。
“我們是一個樂隊,發揮冰雹,風雨無阻,不管發生了什麼身體上,如果有人病了,人得流感,我們只發揮。 所以這是一個震驚,我在我們終於不得不承認,其實我們無法執行,“他說。 “波諾著名的約書亞樹旅遊下降和分離他的肩膀,這是嚴重受傷,而使大多數,也就是說,職業足球運動員進行 6個月的行動,但他綁了起來,繼續走,我們做每單上顯示該旅遊。
“因此,這是我們第一次去,'哇,我們實際上不是超人'。 其實是有一人參與了脆弱帶。 我們不得不考慮到這一點。
“偉大的消息是他的,我會說,百分之九十五回全面身體健康,每場演出,他似乎越來越接近最佳狀態,而聲音一如以往一樣好。”
那麼邊緣的重要位 - 任何RSI的設置?
“不,不,我沒有漂亮的多張專輯酸痛或疼痛,但沒有就是這樣令人擔憂。 這只是一種怪胎的事情發生。“
“我不知道,”馬倫說,回歸波諾的下降的傾向了。 “我是說他完全被濫用自己多年來。 當我想過這個問題,金額跳階段,對身心的傷害 ...“
“十分早年也”邊緣同意。 “早期,我們把它理所當然地認為,波諾將在年底的可縮放顯示棚架,並在許多場合,他害怕不出來的生命這麼多我們 - 因為我們有這樣奇怪的,毫無根據的信心,他將細 - 但我們的巡迴演出人員將在他們的鞋子只是震動。
“他有一次跳從二樓的陽台下到人群誰抓住了他,我再次想,'這是一個有點多',但我們只是去旅遊的人絕對瘋了。
“我認為部分原因博諾的過程中從來沒有傷害自己的表演是腎上腺素量將通過該系統,他失去了音樂,以至於他有這個韌性,沒有正常的人都會有。”
對於所有宏偉的跑道,蜘蛛般的腿和眼睛融化,四十三米深圓柱電視屏幕,樂隊,360草皮實際上是如此之小,如果波諾是摔倒,他就最有可能的行程他的一個搖滾樂手。 (也許他會暫時蒙蔽的貝斯手亞當克萊頓反射小康的銀色褲子。)
小舞台區,使裸露的邊緣感覺 - “我們真的有在某種程度上,我們以前從來沒有去過。”
馬倫介紹了舞台為:“其實很親密。 它只是與它周圍其他的東西,它看起來更嚇人了很多比它實際上是。
“這是一個了不起的地方玩。 有一個真正的聯繫與您的受眾,它很難找到一個體育場。 這無疑是最好的階段,我打過的。 而且我不是一個三維無論哪種方式,你知道,像我得到,我會盡我的工作,我會做我必須做的。 但高興能在一個階段,你的感覺,'噢,這是很不簡單的事情'。“
或許最令人驚訝的是該節目通常不願意看到馬倫從幕後走出套件,神氣活現的跑道與邦戈鼓。 這很難說,如果他真的喜歡它,但。
“有時打了30年時間的東西的代價,所以各種鬼臉臉上未必是與我不喜歡我在做什麼,這也許是因為我基本上只是拉著另一腿了,” 48歲的老人說了苦笑。
“不,我喜歡它,這是一個奇怪的感覺。 我從來沒有這麼做過,不是這樣的。 我做了它是在中間,然後只需運行備份,但實際上不必走動和執行的人是不同的。
“你開始意識到你是在玩擲骰子的鼓當你站在前面,很多人 - 的-,我真的很不錯,我好回家和實踐! “
在這個歐洲的腿,一套精選 4首歌曲由U2樂隊的專輯,去年,沒有線在地平線上 - 獲取你的鞋,華麗的,我會發瘋,如果我不要發瘋今晚和彎矩投降。
雖然沒有新的歌曲已被點擊媲美那些他們擦肩,在既定的名單(覺得不可思議的,高程,元旦,有或沒有你),他們真的著火的現場表演。
沒有線在地平線上已經銷售了500多萬份,1年半 - 這是一個令人失望的結果在U2的土地。 當提出這個命中缺乏商業上的成功,馬倫,誰進入房間進行他的晚餐(雞肉和蔬菜,如果你想知道)滴在他的餐具,使他的盤子,讓他們衝進了。
“我不會有它!”
一個小樂隊大概不會講笑話。 U2樂隊,然而,良好,與現實脫節的音樂業務,並在它自己的位置。 在接待的專輯並沒有擊倒他們的信心。
“沒有線在地平線上,我還是感到非常自豪,而且我認為它會站起來對我們最好的專輯,”邊緣說。 “但是我們可能低估了環境中,我們發布了它的重要性有可能是一首歌,起火。
“這一點,強化了公眾意識穿刺現在任何音樂釋放是困難的。 所以,你要么必須擁有某種平台,一些大型的東西綁在你的歌聲,或者它只是愛是這樣一個絕對不折不扣紅極一時,它做所有的工作,你...,我不認為我們已任的人。“
U2樂隊將在未來釋放是一個傳統的相冊?
“我們是開放的,”邊緣說。
“我們歡迎任何音樂指導我們做的。 我們覺得有點沮喪,我們正在受制於此CD格式時,所有這些有強大的機會,讓工作應該走出去,在互聯網上,我們沒有充分利用的決策。 但它歸結為一些非常基本問題是什麼最好的音樂,和我們有記錄的交易,我們出版交易,我們必須考慮這些協定,以及如何支付的,我們會後悔的,“他笑道。
“沒事的提出本身沒有說'這是它',但我只能認為很快會出現一些非常令人興奮的新事物方面做音樂的方式,可以分散使用互聯網,我們馬上就當他們上展示自己。“
馬倫認為,業界需要一個“銀彈”,將改變一切,尤其是新興的藝術家。
“這不會影響我們,這對我們來說太晚了,但它影響了很多其他人,”他說。
“難道音樂業務需要踢了1 -? 是啊,當然有這樣做。 價格是否需要改變? 當然了。 是人商量呢? 當然是。 但人們不應得到的音樂是免費的。 在模糊的鼓手是這個組織的一部分,使大家基本上應該能夠免費下載音樂。
“這是為他好,他作出了足夠的錢,他實際上得到了職業生涯中,他實際上做了很好非常感謝你。 還有很多的藝術家沒有這樣的奢侈。 因此,這有點不公平,缺乏誠意。
“這是一個問題的準備來一個頭在未來數年,希望有人會發現的事情,我們會跳上後面它...或者也許是在前面的是,我更願意將“。
如果一些十幾歲的崇拜者接近馬倫在街上,他將老警告過了職業生涯中的音樂嗎?
“我不會告訴他們了,但我認為他們會想進入它的兩隻眼睛打開。”
談起馬倫和邊緣,你會覺得無論 U2樂隊將進行。 永遠的愛爾蘭人是由意識驅動著發現。
“我們仍然感到興奮能夠進入一個房間,實際上使一塊的音樂,聽起來並不真正廢話,”馬倫說。
“最後,這就是推動我們的想法,我們仍然可以得到相當高興,並享受樂趣,覺得我們實際上實現 - 讓我們的努力會更好,儘管我們自己。
“因為我們都不是...我的意思是邊緣可能是不錯,但其餘的我們 ...我的意思是,我們都很好,我們感到非常善於被U2的。”
“和偉大的事情是,就是我們要善於”邊緣笑著。
“值得慶幸的,因為這可能是所有我們能夠善於”。
看到U2樂隊與Jay - Z,澳新銀行體育場,12月13日,賣完了; 12月14日發售明天下午一時,$ 39.90至349.50美元,達票。
音樂:那麼好,它的Badwi
佐伊Badwi走進面試室,華納音樂,而且我立刻感到震驚,她是多麼的美麗。 有運動修長,與爭鬥的黑暗的金發,她的岩石佈滿別緻的皮夾克和皮靴稱讚對方完美。
“你好,我是佐伊,”她說。 我一定迷住了。 而且我不會以任何方式感到驚訝,這個舞蹈音樂明星與中東愛爾蘭血統還擔任過一個女演員和模型前,她的輝煌的音樂生涯。
“我曾在幾個不同的領域,但目前我涉足音樂,我知道這是在我想要的。 它只是聚集了所有因素,我喜歡做的事,它是自然給我。 這真的讓我微笑...和很多其他人也似乎“,她告訴我。
我們開始談論她驚人的新單曲Freefallin'的首映同最近關於同。 上週末,它已成為排名第一的俱樂部紀錄在澳大利亞。 在#4最增值軌道電台在其第一個星期,振奮地板填料生產的澳大利亞 Denzal公園還發現巨大支持全國各地的廣播電台。 她在愛的軌道,徹底享受表演,並明確 chuffed它做得很好。
從警報器要單獨
Badwi她開始涉足音樂行業的流行行為警報器,得分前10名澳大利亞人命中2之前成為主唱的黑犬,誰與她仍然執行。
她還寫道和記錄廣告歌曲。 “我喜歡做這些事的,漂亮多張專輯,因為它的聲音,”她說。 “事實上,沒有多少人知道這一點,但我記錄的歌曲製作和廣告為 AUStereo。 他們是那麼開心 ...這是我最喜歡的工作要做。 聽吧! 下一次你聽到'混合101.1' - 這就是我!“
但是,這已經是她的工作作為一個單獨的藝術家,真正猛增到她的舞蹈流行音樂領域。 這是一個單獨的職業生涯的出現,因此一個偶然相遇。 Badwi在玩一個演出的黑狗,其中電視岩石的格蘭特史密利看到。 他被感動,展後的寫作和他們談合作。 Badwi寫我和電視發布岩石產生的軌道。 其餘的就是歷史。
Badwi突發到現場在2008年底。 發布我連續拍攝到#1在那裡統治了一個龐大的連續7個星期前往拿起同時在ARIA的提名和APRA的獎項。 這條賽道的呼籲很快又把它超越澳大利亞海岸 - 它後來被釋放在全世界26個國家的地方仍然充滿舞蹈地板超過 18個月後。 阿名單生產者的共濟會說那是他們最喜歡的賽道 2009年,他說,他們仍然發揮它在每個星期音樂會。
所有的行動,這是一些非常令人難以置信的成功,特別是考慮到這只是初期,這個相對較新的流行音樂藝術家。
“這是不真實的,我知道! 我要捏自己有時。 因此,發生了許多事情這麼快,我幾乎沒有時間真正得到的角度上。 我所知道的是,我在這裡和大家,我很熱愛它的每一秒鐘。 我要把我所有的音樂是在澳大利亞和世界各地。 我正要頭部到洛杉磯,紐約,英國 ...你能相信它!“
國際成功和驚人的音樂會
Badwi的足跡已經做得很好,它已經造成了一些驚人的本地及國際音樂會在過去 12個月。 當我們談論她的職業生涯到目前為止,她開始告訴我有關執行在臭名昭著的感覺白黨在墨爾本除夕一起Erick Morillo的2008和40000投注者。 然後是時間的演出,她扮演一個在希臘米科諾斯島上的,有權在海灘上前線。
就在一個月前,歌手演出,在巴西發布我一直是5號最播放的樂曲的一年。 她很驚訝多少人 - 尤其是那些在海外以英語為主要語言不是 - 已連接與她的音樂。
“我在做一個了不起的演出在巴西剛剛超過 1個月前...我被風吹走了所有的人唱我的歌在人群中。 不只是唱衰的話,但在首歌唱他們的肺! 這是一個驚人的感覺,知道人們可以與我的音樂是這樣的。“
彩虹連接
佐伊Badwi當然並不陌生到同志社區,有一個數字在發揮我們最大的舞會,社區活動在全國各地。 最近,她完成的獨家生日流氓/ Daywash黨的組織者院長墨菲。 和她的歌曲充滿了每一個同志酒吧的舞池,我們公平大陸。 因此,她到底是如何連接到同性戀社區開始?
他說:“當我真正開始穆雷胡德會見悉尼的DJ,”她說。 “他聽到了我的曲目,並邀請我去唱,在演出現場,他正在組織。 我的愛,為同性戀群體發生的一刻,我走進了演出,我覺得所有的驚人的能量。
“這聽起來俗氣,我敢肯定每個人都這麼說,但我真心的...我喜歡同性戀社區。 他們真的獲得音樂 ...他們感覺到。 這就像整個世界停止當一個很棒的賽道上。 表達自己的需要和舞蹈慶祝就是這麼存在。 而作為一個演員,我給它,我才能真正感受到愛和讚賞回來。“
Badwi已完成的庸俗,而是說,她很願意在狂歡節演出,並給予第二次機會在港履行黨。 她應邀於港內最後一年,但不得不在最後一刻取消。 這是一個非常令人失望的情況的歌手。
“我應該發揮黨在港去年一年,我非常非常噁心。 這是我一生中唯一一次不得不取消演出,我完全被毀壞了! 我是如此期待著它...狂歡節的人群,美麗的港灣和歌劇院 ...我真希望我還有一次機會來執行。 這仍然是一個演出我真正想做的事情。 我從沒做過馬迪格拉要么...我喜歡做的!“
她的願望清單和首張專輯
據澳大利亞生產商去,Badwi已經同一些非常令人印象深刻的名字,無論在生產和混音。 她目前正在對她的首張專輯,並與一疊曲目仍寫來生產,我不知道她是否有任何一特別是對她的願望清單一起工作。
“我相信這樣做有一個願望清單! 馬丁 Sloveig和大衛圭塔是它。 這感覺就像是一個遙遠的夢想在這個階段,但是是誰我真的很喜歡一起工作。 言歸正傳,我也很喜歡合作與內爾沃女孩一些寫作和跟踪。 我喜歡他們的東西。 太好了,我想我們會做偉大的事情了一起。“
華納公關告訴我,我們可以預期 Badwi的熱切期待的專輯明年2月左右,但歌手秘密耳語,我們可能要等待一會兒比。
“我認為唱片公司的官員希望專輯明年年初,但我不一樣的著急 ...也許明年中期。 我想利用我的時間和做是正確的。
“沒有什麼比專輯更糟糕的填料曲目。 作為一名聽眾,你可以告訴 ...強迫和空洞的感覺,我絕對不會有一間酒吧的,與我的第一張專輯。 我真的想這張專輯是盡我所能付出的。 所有的殺手,沒有填充物。“
她有一個特定的音樂方向,她覺得自己是真的?
“我親自提請靈魂,搖滾,流行,但我喜歡它時,這一切都只是感到有點蹩腳。 舞蹈是我目前創作,但我將永遠擁有這些元素在我的音樂製作 ...這只是我是誰。
“每個人都有不同的意見是什麼你應該和不應該做作為一個藝術家,而且很容易動搖遠離'你是誰'的東西的熱點和時尚。 我認為這是真正重要的是忠於我是誰和我嘗試創建。 我知道,如果我感覺,如果我相信它,那麼我這樣做是正確的,我可以提供它與我的一切。 我想是我,把最好的我,這樣做是成功的。“
Freefallin'是現在通過了華納音樂。
兩個高清晰度相片在IPAD選項
我有我的ipad公司約 1個月我現在和探索提供更多的應用程序越多,我知道ipad公司優化,高分辨率的應用程序是必須的。 一些應用程序,仍然只適用於 iPhone的格式,只是土崩瓦解ipad公司在大屏幕上。 我有幾個,我可以承受的,因為我很少使用它們,但Facebook是一個我每天使用。 你能相信嗎? 張還沒有發表正式ipad公司應用程序。 當您使用iPhone版本在IPAD它看起來可怕。
所以我開始看是否有任何更好的應用程序上訪問 Facebook的在IPAD。 我發現了兩個, 友情和社會 。 雙方都優於官方Facebook的應用程序,但兩者都不是完美的解決方案。
這兩個應用程序是一個重大升級,從商標使用的iPhone應用程序,只因為他們是專為高清晰度屏幕ipad公司他們都有清晰的界面,方便導航,友情使用導航標籤在頂部和社會使用導航工具欄的底部。
友好缺少了很多功能。 您不能上傳照片或創建相冊,您不能創建活動或票據。 你也不能創建一個頁面或一個組。
隨著社會你不能使用新的地方的地點,在Facebook的功能和聊天功能已裸骨功能,並標有“實驗性的。”儘管存在這些缺陷,幾乎所有其他商標功能可用。 清涼,下拉菜單讓你的快捷方式發布新的信息,編寫一個私人信息,上傳照片,創建一個相冊,創建一個組,創建一個事件並創建一個網頁。
有一個很讓人頭疼的事,讓我對社會的停頓。 當你登錄必須輸入你的Facebook資料,兩個單獨的屏幕。 開發人員解釋說,社會相結合的應用程序使用一個正常的網頁訪問 Facebook和Facebook的官方空氣污染指數。 這將不被視為刺激,如果應用程序將保留您的登錄信息,但它始終沒有做到這一點。
雙方友好和社會很好地顯示照片畫廊。 友好使用界面,一個漂亮的幻燈片,似乎種相當多張專輯,現在還沒有考慮的方法來創建或導入照片畫廊雖然應用程序。
As I said earlier, both apps are a major upgrade from using the low-res iPhone Facebook app on the iPad. Friendly ($.99) is more of a Facebook browser with limited functionality and a very clean interface. Social ($1.99) has a clean interface too with almost all the functionality you have in the normal web version of Facebook. If they fix the irritating double login issue, Social will be the clear winner.
The Walkmen: A Pre-Show Conversation with Hamilton Leithauser
by admin on Sep.09, 2010, under pretty odd album
You don't go about making records the way that most people do. it doesn't seem to be the reason you do this. Do you feel like there's another drive other than money though.
We've made music we like. If i was just trying to make money I'd be doing something else. It's hard, it's really hard work. We spend more hours than a 9-5 job. We probably make less than minimum wage.
You put Me & You up on Amy Street and gave the proceeds to Komen Cancer Center. Was there anything behind that, do you have a connection to that particular charity?
The record was out on the internet. We just figured it would be nice to give the proceeds to charity. The band hadn't done anything nice like that in a long time.
There are a lot of bands that don't ever do that sort of thing.
真。 We were happy to do it.
The new record, Lisbon, was recorded really quickly. Were you guys just on a roll or did you just push through it?
The actual recording is usually pretty quick. You tend to know if something is going to die in a couple hours. You're like 'i hate this'. but it's the writing that takes months and months.
I read that you laid down 28 tracks during recording but only putting 11 on the album. Are there any plans for the rest of the songs?
We are planning a 7-inch and we have some sort of song on the internet. We also have some respectable B-sides and stuff like that.
If you were going to write the soundtrack to any movie. which would it be and why?
Maybe like meatballs?
why would you choose that?
I don't know why, it just sounds funny.
You came to Seattle in early 2009 to numbs and right before that you came to 2008 Bumbershoot. Are you happy to come back to the Northwest?
Yeah it's been a while. I do like [Seattle] and I like being there.
What do you like about the Seattle fans?
Seattle is a place where people really started liking us early on in our band like 8 years ago. But then everyone sort of turned on us after our second record. But then they came back around when we released You & Me. Where was it we played last time we were here?
At Neumos back in January of '09 I think.
Neumos is a great place, and I like that area too.
One last question for you. Do you think you'll stick it out for another 10 years?
I think we have a lot more stuff to do. I think, i mean we already have some stuff for our next record. So i think we'll be together for a while.
我們的朋友在Gothamist帶來的隨身聽音樂超過了一系列所謂Gothamist樓 。 這一次他們外出,在紐約公共圖書館 Shwarzman建設。 以一鵝在美妙的現場設置他們抓獲。
官方內幕指南諾克斯維爾,卷。 2
諾克斯維爾:這是一個艱難的小鎮。 如果你不學會快速的繩索,你可獲取撞傷。 不過不要擔心,排外將讓生活更容易給你的。 所有您需要做的就是我們的第二卷的閱讀技巧,三分球,聰明的話就在這伯格獲得,你會在街上很容易。 (結果可能會有所不同。)
不交叉:交叉口避免
由於其地理,有時偶然的發展模式,諾克斯維爾有很多設計不良街道路口。 這裡有一些,它的價值走出自己的方式懷念:
•蓋伊街和聯盟大街:有一個命題 8笑話在這裡的某個地方同志關於工會的困難,但是這很奇怪albumball市中心的狗腿洞有可能是最混亂的信號對車輛和行人在十字路口的任何城市。 有些時候,在各類紅燈似乎表明,沒有人是應該去任何地方的。 在任何情況下,最好謹慎行事,是否開車或步行。
•北彼得斯路/錫達布拉夫:這可怕的糾紛的轉線和40號州際公路出入口寬,怪異,並遠遠顯著。 保持眼睛突發線開關擔任司機遲意識到他們不是在那裡他們需要得到他們想要去的地方。
•第17街和克林奇大街:4路路口只有三個停止的跡象。 由於陡峭的斜坡爬上從第17街的地帶,北行的車輛直接通過去,這意味著汽車在其他三面的交接點,不僅要玩弄正常是誰去一次禮節,但也警惕任何往上山。 如果這聽起來有點危險的,那是因為它是。 (The bifurcated intersection of 17th and Highland just up the street isn't much better. The real lesson here may be, stay off 17th.)
• Henley Street/Broadway/Summit Hill/Western Avenue: Two streets with four names bring something like 20 lanes of traffic together at a wide crossing that includes a north-south hill, a no-stop merge turning east onto Summit Hill from Henley, and a semi-blind curve heading west from Summit Hill toward Western. The left-turn arrows help, but there are so many variables that it's easy to miss an oncoming vehicle until it's almost on top of you. (The intersections at both ends of the Henley Street Bridge are also pretty terrible. Of course, TDOT is about to make it not just easy but mandatory to do without those, when it closes the bridge in January.)
• Lindy Drive/Linford Road/Chapman Highway: Really, you're taking your life in your hands at any non-traffic-lighted intersection on Chapman Highway. But this one, next to Kay's Ice Cream, is particularly tricky because Lindy comes in at an angle and doesn't quite line up straight with Linford across the way (if you're foolish enough to be trying to actually cross Chapman and not just turn onto it). (JFM)
Eat With Your Dog On Restaurant Patios Without Getting Kicked Out
You can be with your pup at every meal if you want. Knoxville's nearly new “dogs on restaurant patio” laws mean that many restaurants—martini bar and fancy French bistro to coffee bar and Chick-fil-A—will let you bring your dog when you dine. Here are a few important rules to remember: The dog can't get on the chairs, tables, or other furnishing; can't go inside; and must be on a non-retractable leash no longer than 6 feet. And if the pup's out of control, out you go! It's always a good idea to call ahead for the availability of patio seating. (RK)
Downtown
Coolato Gelato
524 S. Gay St, 971-5449
Downtown Grill & Brewery
424 S. Gay St., 633-8111
Downtown Grind
418 S. Gay St., 524-4747
The French Market
526 S. Gay St., 540-4372
La Costa
31 Market Square, 566-0275
Oodles Uncorked
20 Market Square, 521-0600
Preservation Pub
28 Market Square, 524-2224
Rita's Water Ice
26 Market Square, 673-4888
S&W Grand
516 S. Gay St., 566-9800
Sapphire
428 S. Gay St., 637-8181
Shonos in the City
5 Market Square, 544-5800
Soccer Taco
9 Market Square, 544-4471
Bearden/West Knoxville
Agave Azul Mexican Grill and Tequila Bar
4405 Kingston Pike, 212-9966
Chez Liberty
5200 Kingston Pike, 330-9862
Chick-fil-A
7063 Kingston Pike, 690-5447
Gourmet's Market
5107 Kingston Pike, 584-8739
Pelancho's Mexican Grill
1516 Downtown West Blvd., 694-9060
Rick's Place Neighborhood Sports Bar
1537 Downtown West Blvd., 693-4028
Soccer Taco
6701 Kingston Pike, 588-2020
Downtown North/Old City
Barley's Taproom & Pizzeria
200 E. Jackson Ave., 521-0092
Urban Bar & Corner Cafe
109 N. Central St., 546-2800
Veg-O-Rama
1204 N. Central Ave., 540-8346
UT Campus Area
Cool Beans
1817 Lake Ave., 522-6417
Mellow Mushroom
2109 Cumberland Ave., 524-7979
Eleven Things You Can Do or See Only in Knoxville
識別的獨特性,是種挑戰,因為多年來許多 Knoxvillians評為成功的精度與類似機構的諾克斯維爾那些在其他城市。 多年來,這個城市似乎努力做什麼,但唯一的。 所有通過幾十年的被稱為最骯髒的城市在世界上最醜陋的城市在美國,最罪惡的城市,邋遢,什麼,什麼,只是想諾克斯維爾是正常的。 要發揮與其他城市,而不是被人嘲笑,或盯著。 但不知何故,一路上,我們發現自己與幾個景點,不完全像在世界其他任何東西。
拉赫曼尼諾夫雕像 :也許還有其他的大雕像俄羅斯最有名的20世紀鋼琴家/作曲家在世界某個地方,但互聯網暗示可能不會。 (他的關係與雕像瘋狂蘇聯人感到不安。)俄羅斯雕刻家尤博卡列夫希望這一個站的城市,他的偶像給了他最後的表現在1943年。
經茶室的時間 :第一部分塔馬利關節,部分咖啡店,部分英國摩托車博物館,部分年份彈球商場,但真正的轎車時代的酒吧有,我們有信心,沒有哪裡像它在世界上。
WDVX的藍板特別 :每天中午,這是一個現場電台節目的權利每日美洲同性戀街。 獎勵:在諾克斯維爾,你其實可以看到兩個直播節目中一個很好的午休。 諾克斯的IVI的現場視頻脫口秀 11時岩是在市場廣場每個工作日在標題的時間。 是否有其他城市提供免費的現場音樂,廣播電台,每天? 我們會規定的可能性。 但是,我們將保證不存在任何城市,兩個無關的工作室提供直播節目在每天步行4分鐘對方。
該Sunsphere:公佈1982年作為唯一的球形建築在世界上,也許它仍然是。 它的部分黃金製成粉末! 我們把我們的Sunsphere是理所當然的,和一些我們討厭它,但你可曾見過這樣的地方?
羅西尼節 :好了,有時我們忘記包括實際羅西尼的一部分,但每年春天葡萄酒和歌唱中,街頭公平是唯一在西半球節紀念意大利早期歌劇天才。
亞歷阿萊雕像 :當它建於1999年,雕塑家蒂娜艾倫(1949年至2008年)奪去了她的工作是最大的雕像一個非洲裔的世界。 這仍然是我們最大的一所見過的,它的提出是爬得上去。
該卷海軍 :有極少數足球場那樣大內蘭,但沒有一個是可通航的河流旁表明什麼,奇怪的現象,流動明亮的橙色政黨。
Farragut Museum : We have looked for other collections of 1930s Hollywood star Wallace Beery's scrimshaw depictions of Civil War naval battles, and found none. The museum, in Farragut Town Hall, is further enhanced by a new bronze statue of the intrepid Union commander outside.
Biscuit Festival : Believe it or not, the first one ever, in June, was somehow the only one in the history of the world. And hence, extremely popular.
Airplane Filling Station : Built on Clinton Highway in 1930, it's said to be the only one of its kind, a filling station where you could gas up under the port wing. It hasn't pumped gas since the 1960s, but an earnest preservation effort has stabilized it, and is raising money for a full restoration.
Ijams Nature Center : Swamp, forest, river, field, caves, lake, canyon, and now even a tiny desert, Ijams is a serendipitous kaleidoscope of ecosystems within walking distance. If there's another place like it, you'll have to show us.
And still to come, though parts of it are already open to the public: Legacy Parks Foundation's Urban Wilderness and Historic Corridor, a long term project expected to be the only park linking multiple ruins of Civil War forts within view of a central business district. (JN)
Neighborhood Joints That You May Not Know About if You Don't Live in the Neighborhood
Sure, we all know the places everyone likes to eat in Knoxville. Litton's, Calhoun's, Tomato Head, Regas, Chesapeake's, and so on. But there's another whole category of out-of-the-way places frequented only by people who actually live near them. They might not have the best food in town, but they're reliable and friendly and once you get to know them, they feel like your own little place. A few local favorites:
Three Brothers Pizza
200 W. Woodland Ave.
It's easy to miss this pizza-pasta-sub shop on West Woodland Avenue between North Central and the Interstate 275 overpass. It's set back from the road, next to the Woodland Mart & Deli. But for residents of the area rapidly becoming known as Downtown North, it's a go-to for takeout or pizza delivery. (It was known as Woodland Pizza until sometime last year.) If you want to eat in, you can expect a no-fuss/no-frills set up.
La Esperanza
2412 Washington Pike
A Mexican restaurant that doubles as a grocery store, this unassuming place gets raves from North Hills and Fairmont/Emoriland diners. Not as well known as the nearby Senor Taco on North Broadway, but more auténtico—or so its advocates claim—and not so likely to be crowded.
Firedog Pizza/Deli Market
310 13th St.
A real student-ghetto sort of place, with your basic convenience-store supplies and a full deli menu including well-made pizza, all-day breakfast, and subs. But the things to look for are: the Middle Eastern features, including falafels, hummus, and Mediterranean salads; and the “Wedge” selections, which like the menu says are “baked like a pizza and served like a sandwich.” And Juggalos take note: The store is the only one in town we know of to offer several flavors of Faygo.
The Round Up
3643 Sevierville Pike
This South Knox standby is a classic meat-and-three place, with the daily menu handwritten on a wipe board and cozy booths and café tables filling the modest room. There are a few coin-op games for kids to play around with, and if that doesn't keep them happy, the banana pudding probably will.
Blackbird Coffeehouse
1210 Kenesaw Ave.
Located in Sequoyah Hills' small and often overlooked commercial district, this friendly, spacious place offers breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday, and brunch until 1 pm on Saturdays. Then there's the coffee: fair trade, organic, and aromatic. (Also an assortment of teas for those so inclined.) If you live anywhere near here, there's no reason to ever darken the door of a corporate coffee chain. (JFM)
Find Your Place in Society
Can't quite connect to traditional social scenes in town? Don't worry—there are all sorts of pretty odd album clubs in town tailored to very, very specific interests. Here are just a few examples:
New Comic Book Day Discussion Group
Organized Play, 221 Cumberland Ave., 865-521-0690
organizedplay.org
Hardcore comics nerds know that new comics are released every Wednesday. So what better day to hold a discussion group about comics—the characters and storylines, as well as the big business behind them—than the day when readers come in to pick up their new stacks? Since January, downtown's Organized Play has been doing just that with a weekly roundtable discussion group on Wednesdays at 6 pm
Tennessee Valley Exotic Bird Club
tennesseevalleyexoticbirdclub.com
The fact that there's a local club for owners of exotic birds—parrots, cockatoos, cockatiels, macaws—might not be a big surprise, but the fact that it's been around since 1968 is.
Rationalists of East Tennessee
rationalists.org
Pay attention to local politics and you'll notice that reason and logic aren't necessarily at the top of the list of East Tennessee's cultural attributes, which makes this long-running club extra-noteworthy. The Rationalists meet several times a month for roundtable discussions, lectures, and reading groups. Some recent topics: “The Decline, Fall, and Potential Resurrection of American Education,” the state of journalism, and “Reflections on Privacy.”
The Society for Creative Anachronism
thorsmountain.org
The local chapter of the international organization is the Barony of Thor's Mountain, a sub-group of the regional Kingdom of Meridies. Participation is immersive—it's pretty much a finely detailed recreation of life in the middle ages—and the monthly calendar is full of everything from classes on how to swordfight and metallurgy to business meetings, with three epic tournaments every year. (ME)
How to Busk and Panhandle Without Getting Busted and Manhandled
Busking, or street performing, has gotten some attention this year thanks to Bill “The Busker” Page (or rather, thanks to some overzealous city police and the Regal employees who called them). Back in May, Page—often seen downtown with his guitar and dog—was issued a citation for obstructing the sidewalk in front of a vacant storefront next to the Regal Riviera theater. Page fought the charge and won. His ordeal reminded people that busking is perfectly legal, but some things you might do while engaged in busking are not. So if you're going to share your talent with the world, here's what you need to know: The city code says you can't “willfully loaf, loiter, idle, lounge, swing or promenade” in, near, or in front of “any public place of business, worship or other public place,” or any “public street, highway, bridge, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare or public place” in a way that would obstruct or impede its use by others. And that's pretty much it—don't block anyone. And that applies to everyone, not just the swingers and promenaders out there.
If you're going to pass the hat, however, things get a bit more complicated. The aggressive solicitation ordinance—known to most as the “panhandling ordinance”—says you can't solicit in an aggressive manner. The rub, of course, is how “aggressive” gets defined. The city code spells out in legalese all the things that qualify as aggressive, but here's a Cliff's Notes version of what you can't engage in while trying to earn a buck:
1。 No touching! You can't intentionally or recklessly make physical contact with another person without his or her consent.
2。 No following! You can't follow someone if you're trying to:
a. cause a person to fear imminent bodily harm or a criminal act upon the person's property; or
灣 intimidate the person into giving you money. As you might have learned from living in the world, there's not really any good reason to follow anyone, ever.
3。 No means no! You can't continue to solicit within 20 feet of a person after he or she has said no, if continuing is:
a. See No. 2.
4。 No obstructing! You can't block someone's way, or require someone on foot or in a vehicle to take evasive action to avoid contact with you.
5。 Keep the hustle clean, folks! You can't intentionally or recklessly use obscene or abusive language or gestures, if it results in:
a. See No. 2.
6。 And finally, you can't approach anyone in a way that involves any of the reasons from No. 2. (In case you haven't noticed, subsections A and B of No. 2 are the gods of the panhandling universe.)
別急! 還有更多。 There are also restrictions on when, where, and how panhandling can take place, so beggars, bring your tape measures and international clocks because you can't solicit:
1。 After sunset and before sunrise (defined by the US Naval Observatory, something most panhandlers should be checking daily if they're not).
2。 In any public transportation vehicle—so no buses, or buses cross-dressing as trolleys—or within 20 feet of any bus station, bus stop, or taxi stand.
3。 From someone in a vehicle, or entering or exiting one.
4。 Within 20 feet of: a crosswalk, bank, check-cashing business (c'mon people, these are reputable establishments), or ATM; an entrance to or exit from any public toilets (good thing we got rid of these!), which includes any temporary-use site or portable toilet (never mind); a parking-lot pay box, pay telephone, sidewalk cafe, or outdoor dining area.
8。 In any parking lot or garage owned or operated by the city, including entryways or exits and paystations.
10。 From a person waiting to enter a business.
12。 On private property if the owner or tenant has asked you not to panhandle there, or has posted a sign that solicitations aren't welcome.
13。 From drivers, in exchange for cleaning a vehicle's windows, blocking, occupying or reserving a public parking space, directing the occupant to a public parking space, etc. You can, however, ask for money if you help someone out with car trouble, but only if the person asked you for help. And if you're going to rely on this happening enough to make a living, you might as well become a mechanic.
The takeaway? Panhandlers, save up and invest in a harmonica. (FC)
Local Bands You Should Know About
(Thus Demonstrating Your Inside Knowledge of “The Scene”)
There are plenty of good bands you already know about. Here are a few that will earn you a few points among insiders if you drop their names in casual conversation.
2nd String
The four-piece crew has been around since 2006, and, despite their name, their bouncy, inventive production (think the Neptunes and NERD) and smooth raps put them on the varsity team for Knoxville hip-hop.
Double Muslims
You never know exactly what format you'll get at a Double Muslims show—the lineup revolves around iconoclastic guitarist Eric Lee and drummer Jason Boardman, but a performance could include cello, electronics, or former Tenderhooks guitarist Ben Oyler—but you can expect mostly improvisational playing that rubs up against the boundaries of post-rock and experimental jazz.
Shortwave Society
This five-piece ensemble makes quirky, sophisticated, and elaborate pop incorporating strings, keyboards, found sound, and intricate programmed percussion. There's nothing else like it in Knoxville, and the group's first album, Voyeur, released earlier this year, reveals new details on every listen.
Three Man Band
Will Fist used to be a promiscuous musician and promoter. It seemed like he recorded and released, through his DIY label Whisk-Hutzel, every musical idea that passed through his head, and most of the ones that his friends came up with, too. He's settled down in the last couple of years with what might be his most reliable project, the Three Man Band, and it's paid off. The power trio (Fist on guitar and vocals, Abby Wintker on bass, Carey Balch on drums) matches shout-out-loud choruses with the speed of classic punk and the debilitating thud of Blue Cheer. (ME)
Restaurant Tidbits for the Fancy Free
It can't all be caviar and heirloom tomatoes at posh restaurants. Here are a few things you might want to know about ordinary Knoxville dining establishments.
• The clock in the Bearden Lenny's (near Long's Drug Store) is stuck, possibly part of a Twilight Zone episode, perhaps meant only for slick, techno-looking decor and not timekeeping, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it says 6:40. The takeaway advice here: Do not rely on this timepiece to indicate when you've been at the Lenny's long enough.
• Even if it says “Drive-Thru Now Open,” every once in a great while, the campus Taco Bell is not operational at, say 7 am Just in case you like soft tacos with pico and a Diet Mountain Dew for breakfast on occasion. News that counterbalances this other: The 99-cent crispy potato taco actually resembles breakfast food and is, well, 99 cents. It does involve 3 grams of saturated fat, 13 grams of fat, and 260 calories, but it also has 6 grams of protein, and some of that fat goes away if you get pico in place of baja sauce. And it's 99 cents. And people don't look at you quite so strangely when you bring it to the office once you've mentioned “crispy potatoes” as a prime ingredient.
• You must pay for a refill on iced tea at the Earth Fare deli-greenie eats spot. It's very reasonable since the stuff tends to be fair trade, organic, and such, and you get to use stevia and souped-up honey sweeteners on it. But be prepared to have a couple extra coins on you (47 cents) if your thirst is likely to catch a second wind.
• The best value in pickled okra is at Sam's Club, and it really tastes great. I realize I am trying to overcome the okra stigma, the pickle stigma, and the giant warehouse stigma in one fell swoop, but wow. It's 64 ounces for $3.36. And it's crispy and velvety at the same time. Plus, it's gluten-free, kosher, and involves just six ingredients, none of them high-fructose corn syrup or MSG: fresh okra, water, vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, polysorbate 80, yellow #5. Oh, never mind, you're still not going to like pickled okra. But how about that glass jar, perfect for pennies? (RK)
How to Curry Favor With Metro Pulse's Editor
Being editor of Metro Pulse is a shadowy position vested with fearsome powers over all facets of Knoxville life, from the halls of government to the dank corners of local nightclubs. Naturally, many supplicants try to lure the editor's patronage, hoping to gain admittance to the king-making pages of Knoxville's only alternative newsweekly. But it isn't easy. Many—probably most—fail. You can learn from their mistakes, however, and follow these simple tips for currying the editor's favor. (Note: Results not guaranteed.)
1。 Do Not Call on Tuesdays, aka “Press Day.”
By tradition, the editor is very irritable and impatient on the day the paper goes to press. This is every Tuesday. Quite often, this is also the day he must tell tardy reporters to rewrite their stories at the last possible minute while the art director gives him the silent treatment for not having all the copy ready on time. So he's usually in a very bad mood. This can be compounded by a factor of 10 every time the sales manager storms into his office to demand, “Why are we writing X about Y? They're an advertiser! Do you want to go out of business?!”
2。 Do Write an Amusing Cover Letter
Quite often, the editor receives e-mails that simply state, “I AM A WRITER. CAN YOU HIRE ME?” However, he needs more information than that to render such a decision. In fact, he may jump to the conclusion that if you cannot muster the energy to write an engaging letter, then you may not be able to write an interesting story. So, if you are a writer and you want to get the editor's attention, use your skills.
3。 Do Not Tell the Editor He's an Idiot Before You Demand a Story
The editor realizes he will have his intelligence questioned nearly every day; this is part of his job description. Every single item in every issue is going to upset someone, somehow, guaranteed. However, when it comes to stories not yet covered, he hopes that you can quell your rage long enough to consider: A.) He is not omniscient, and may not know about whatever it is that ought to be covered unless he was actually told about it; B.) He has an editorial staff of five, which makes blanket coverage of the city quite challenging; C.) Maybe he really does know what will make for an interesting story in his publication, or whether he has the resources to cover the story. And then there's the editor's favorite, D.) Maybe the story was already covered, but you're not aware of this since you didn't actually read the paper.
4。 Do Know the Editor's Name Before Demanding to Speak to the Editor
It's a little thing, really, but if you're going to yell at someone over the phone, can't you at least look up their name first? It's just common courtesy. Also: Do read the story before actually complaining about the story. This helps! (Also: It's pronounced KOR-ee TUR-zin.)
5。 Do Not Be Offended if the Editor Declines to Attend Your Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony
The editor is very happy about your new initiative, and wishes you the best of luck. He appreciates that you think highly enough of him to send an invitation. However, he barely has enough time to actually do his job, let alone do it well. He is with you in spirit, however, and yearns for the day he can leave the office and meet people. (CT)
A Knox Glossary for Newcomers
Our guide to troublesome pronunciations and spellings
Agee , as in James Agee Street. The new Route 11 KAT bus has an automated announcer, a very pleasant-sounding lady who pronounces it James a-Ghee Street, with a hard G, and accent on the second syllable. Over the years, some bus drivers, perhaps not big fans of the journalist/screenwriter/novelist who was born near there, have offered other variant guesses. The correct pronunciation is the simplest: AGE-ee.
Bijou. It's a French word for gemstone, which means the j is pronounced as a zh sound. People seem to catch on to that much, and nobody ever says By Jow, unless they're making fun of how they assume fictional hillbillies might pronounce it. At issue is the first vowel. Some old-school Knoxvillians (including our current mayor) tend to pronounce the i short, while educated newcomers try to pronounce it in a more carefully French way, bee-zhoo. Because the word had already been around as a name for American theaters by the late 19th century, it may not seem necessary to revert to the original French. And if you do want to get all French about it, you need to accent the second syllable: be-ZHOO. Gesundheit. So we think either the short i or long e sound will work.
Concord, the old but unincorporated community in West Knox County, was named for a church, which was in turn named for the agreeable concept in human relations. It is not named for any town in New England, or grape, and is therefore not pronounced like “conquered.” Some newcomers pronounce our Con-cord with a droll smirk, as if it's a redneck mispronunciation. But it's pronounced the same as, say, the Damascus Concord.
Ijams Nature Center. The j is not pronounced at all, most people eventually do seem to figure that much out. Some longtime visitors and supporters say “eye-ums,” but the correct pronunciation, according to family members, is I'ms. As if it's one syllable, that rhymes with rhymes.
Kingston Pike. Longtime Knoxvillians aren't likely to say, “Go straight to Kingston,” if they're talking about Kingston Pike. Kingston, as it turns out, is an actual town, the venerable county seat of Roane County. Kingston Pike is often abbreviated as the Pike, especially if you're already in West Knoxville, but not just as Kingston.
Knoxville. It's a widely believed truism that the secret to Southern speech is adding extra syllables, especially vowels, to each word. That's not true always, if at all, and it's certainly not true in the case of the not-particularly euphonious name of our city. Though it's hard to subtract a syllable, the trick is to try to say it in a syllable and a half. And certainly not to pronounce the i as an i. As Garrison Keillor remarked during his show here in 1999, Knoxville rhymes with “boxfull.”
Krutch Park. It's pronounced with a long u, like Krootch. It's German, and originally came with a helpful umlaut.
LaFollette. Campbell County's metropolis is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, not the third. Everyone agrees on that much. There's less accord about the spelling, and whether to include a space. We know a lot of folks who live there, and spell it La Follette, as if it were a French concept that must be spelled in two words. In Wikipedia, it's La Follette, two words. But that same Wikipedia entry affirms that it's named for Victorian-era industrialist Harvey LaFollette, one word. LaFollette's city website, and its utility board's website, spell it as one word. We prefer the one-word spelling, but respect personal preferences. Postmen, we've found, will deliver the mail with either spelling.
Lenoir City. Pronounced like Lenore. It's named for Revolutionary War officer William Lenoir, a North Carolinian of French Huguenot extraction whose son settled here. We're not sure whether he pronounced his name Lenwah, but by the 20th century, it was decidedly pronounced Lenore, like Poe's tragic heroine.
Loudon, Loudoun. Though the British earl for whom the city and county is named pronounced his name “Looden,” here it's pronounced as if it were a homonym for “loud'n.” Which is a word we use when specifying the kind of fireworks we like to buy there, just across the western county line where they're legal. If it's a city or a county, it's spelled with only one U. If a dam, a lake, or a fort are involved, use two. Reason: The town and county are both more than two centuries old, and date from an era when people weren't quite as fussy about spelling the names of people, especially British people they'd never met. Back then, Americans were dropping extraneous British vowels, especially U's, in many contexts, like favour and colour. The rediscovery of the fort in the middle 20th century by historians with reference books prompted a corrected spelling, as they were building the dam and lake, and rebuilding the fort for the tourist trade.
Louisville , the small town just across the river from Keller Bend, is pronounced with an S, unlike the one in Kentucky, which was named for the French king. For whom Louisville, Tenn., was named, no one seems to know for sure. But it could have been for a Mr. Louis who wasn't necessarily French.
Maryville has about eight pronunciations, all correct, mainly based on the sliding scale of how precisely the vowels are enunciated, but some more correct than others. It's named for Mary Grainger Blount, the first lady of the pre-statehood Southwestern Territory from 1791-1796. She might have approved the pronunciation “Mary-Ville,” but today it's the equivalent of saying “I'ma newcomer from Des Moines.” Some locals slur it to Murvl. In 100 years, it will be pronounced Merle. But now, the safest pronunciation is a compromise between the spelling and the slurring, with the “merri” in “merrily” and a “vul” at the end. How you might pronounce a word spelled “Merrivle.”
Neyland Stadium and Drive is complicated. The correct pronunciation, we're told, is Nee-land. However, don't be surprised if many longtime Knoxvillians pronounce it Nay-land. It's understandable, and there's a town in Wales that's pronounced that way, with a long A sound. That's the way it was pronounced almost universally for years. To some Vol fans, it seems the old-fashioned pronunciation, Nay-land Stay-dium—and people from Neyland, Wales, would agree. However, after the warrior-coach's 1962 death, his widow began insisting that the family always pronounced it with a long E; she sometimes slapped her knee as a visual aid. Announcers eventually fell in line.
Roan, Roane. Roan is a mountain to the east, believed to be named for the color often applied to horses. Roane is a county to the west, named for Archibald Roane, Tennessee's second governor (who's buried in Farragut).
Sequoyah Hills. Not Sequoia Hills. Sequoyah Hills and the Sequoia redwood of California are both named for the same guy, the Cherokee leader (1760-1843) who was born about 40 miles from here. But because he didn't care for the Roman alphabet—in fact, he's famous for inventing a whole new one he liked better—he never standardized the spelling of his name for the convenience of Anglos. In the neighborhood and in other contexts in East Tennessee, we generally use the H spelling.
Sevier County, Sevierville. It's a French name. Yes, John Sevier was part French Huguenot; the name was originally Xavier. We're not sure how he pronounced it. But we pronounce it as if it's a homonym for severe.
Sterchi Lofts, etc. Named mainly for furniture tycoon James Sterchi (1867-1932), who was son of German-speaking Swiss immigrants from a canton near Italy, it's pronounced with a hard C sound. The second syllable is just like the “chi” in “chianti.” The Sterchi family, still very much present in the Knoxville area, all pronounce it as if it rhymes with turkey. Note: Literary types may have an unfair advantage—James Agee's autobiographical novel A Death in the Family includes a pronunciation guide in Chapter One.
Tennessee. Accent the last syllable, please. There's been a surprising trend to insist to outsiders that real, old-school Tennesseans always pronounce it with an accent on the first syllable. Certainly some do, but we think it's mainly pockets of rural East Tennesseans, and moreover, pockets of rural East Tennesseans who are trying to sound tough, minimizing that soft pantywaist stuff that comes after Tenn. However, many multi-generational Tennessee old-timers do pronounce it with the accent on the last syllable. If it doesn't sound as tough, it sounds prettier. If you doubt it, watch Lester Flatt, born in Duncan's Chapel, Tenn., in 1914, talking about home on The Beverly Hillbillies, nearly 50 years ago. He liked that last syllable. Further confusing matters is that there's evidence that Tennessee's founders, John Sevier and them, accented the second syllable. Based on the Cherokee word Tanasi, that maybe makes sense.
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Jason Aldean brings his own rockin' style to 2010 WGAR Country Jam
by admin on Sep.09, 2010, under pretty odd album
Published: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 7:11 AM Updated: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 7:32 AM
Associated Press Jason Aldean headlines the Saturday lineup at the 2010 WGAR Country Jam. CONCERT PREVIEW
WGAR Country Jam
What: WGAR Jam at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea.
When: Gates open at 4 pm Friday and 10 am Saturday.
Friday's performers: Tony Rio & Relentless, Sarah Darling, Tyler Dickerson and headliner David Nail.
Saturday's performers: Lawless, James Wesley, Love & Theft, The Band Perry, Danny Gokey, Gloriana, James Otto, Sara Evans and headliner Jason Aldean.
Tickets: Tickets good for BOTH days of the Country Jam are available online at wgar.com for $35 each, plus applicable fees. Single-day tickets for Friday will be available at the gate on Friday for $30. Single-day tickets for Saturday will be available at the gate on Saturday for $45.00 each.
Country music is that pretty odd album mix of veteran and new. Sometimes, the “new” guys are ones like Alan Jackson, whose version of the genre was pretty much a throwback to “the good ol' days” of George Hamilton IV, Marty Robbins and the like. Eventually, the new guys become the foundation of country, like Jackson, George Strait and Randy Travis.
Sometimes, they're something totally different, to the point where they almost redefine country music. Think Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt or even John Rich and Big Kenny Alphin, aka Big & Rich. Each incarnation adds new blood and new life to the genre, growing its fan base and expanding its relevance. Yeah, those are big corporate-type words when talking about a style of music that really does have songs about lovesick hound dogs (“Big Red”) and farm implements (“She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy”). That doesn't make them any less true.
Jason Aldean, who headlines the Saturday night lineup at this year's two-day WGAR Country Music Jam, is one of the artists infusing new life to the genre. His songs, such as “Hicktown,” “Johnny Cash,” “Crazy Town” and “She's Country,” are a little bit of what you might get if you crossed Kris Kristofferson with the Allman Brothers. But even then, those songs have something in common with the music of Jackson and Brooks.
“They all tell a story,” Aldean said in a call from his Nashville, Tenn., home. “It's real stuff people go through in their everyday lives.”
Oh sure, he said, there will be the detractors who feign drinking from a corn whiskey jug and say country is about nothing more than “wives who leave and dogs,” and their minds are made up. But those who listen learn that it's so much more than that.
And fortunately, Aldean said, other artists like Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum are crossing over into the pop world and “helping to bring listeners to our format.” These new listeners find out the old stereotypes aren't true, that there's a depth and meaning to the genre that goes far beyond mama and trucks and prison and getting drunk, to paraphrase the Steve Goodman-penned tune made famous by Akron's David Allan Coe.
Aldean is doing his part, too. His fourth album is due out this fall, but the first single off it, “My Kind of Party,” already has hit the radio. It debuted at No. 41 and should keep rising.
Asked who decided that song should be the first single, Aldean said: “That would be me. The last few years, I've established a good relationship with the head of my record label. You do that by suggesting what you think are going to be the hits on your projects . 。 。 and being right. 迄今為止,這種情況的發生。“
The song, written by Brantley Gilbert, almost made it onto Aldean's third album, “Relentless.” But it just didn't fit there, he said. This time, though, it drives this new CD, to the point where the album probably will be titled after it.
And while “Party,” does have that typical Jason Aldean rocker tone, there are a few surprises on the CD, he said. One song, called “See You When I See You,” fills that bill. It's not a ballad per se, like “Amarillo Sky,” but more of a midtempo rocker. Uptempo songs — “Johnny Cash,” “Hicktown,” etc. — are perfect for live shows. But you need something a little different so that fans realize you're not a one-trick pony, he acknowledged.
Pretty veteran move for a new guy, don't you think?
Lady Gaga, Eminem, Justin Bieber: VMA Predictions
by admin on Sep.08, 2010, under pretty odd album
The 2010 MTV Video Music Awards are right around the corner — and by “corner,” I mean Sunday at 9 pm ET/PT. This is great news for pretty much everyone, particularly Lady Gaga fans and those with an unquenchable thirst for the art of wagering (or, as some people call it, “a dangerous and destructive gambling addiction”).
See, the VMAs are arguably the greatest gambling event of the year, although winners are voted on by fans, which makes predicting the show's outcome nearly impossible. Still, none of that has stopped me from making my VMA predictions for two straight years now, with varying degrees of success. 我能說什麼? I like to live dangerously. So I've decided to throw on the old prognostication cap and do it again this year. Here are my ironclad picks for the 2010 Video Music Awards. Satisfaction (and accuracy) guaranteed. Only not really.
Best Male Video
» BoB (featuring Hayley Williams), “Airplanes”
» Drake, “Find Your Love”
» Eminem, “Not Afraid”
» Jason Derülo, “In My Head”
» Usher (featuring Will.I.Am), “OMG”
My Take : Drake's “Find Your Love” is ambitious, but some subtitles would definitely have been appreciated. Jason Derülo and Usher both packed a whole lot of smoove moves into their clips, but there's only one logical choice …
我的選擇 :阿姆。 The fans determine the winners at the VMAs, and there's a reason Recovery keeps selling 100,000 copies a week.
Best Female Video
» Beyoncé (featuring Lady Gaga), “Video Phone”
» Katy Perry (featuring Snoop Dogg), “California Gurls”
» Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
» Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
» Taylor Swift, “Fifteen”
My Take : Taylor Swift is sort of the wild card here, but I think Best Female boils down to a race between Katy Perry, Beyoncé (with Gaga) and, uh, Gaga again.
My Pick : Lady Gaga. Her fans are insane and will put her over the top in a tight race. Don't feel too bad for Perry, though. I have a feeling she'll be getting her award a bit later in the night.
Best Rock Video
» 30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”
» Florence and the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”
» MGMT, “Flash Delirium”
» Muse, “Uprising”
» Paramore, “Ignorance”
My Take : Not to nitpick, because I'm glad Florence and the Machine are getting some shine, but it's pretty odd album to me that Vampire Weekend, an equally indie act that had a #1 album this year (and a pair of well-received videos) weren't nominated in this category. On a more positive note, I'm glad MGMT's delightfully weird “Flash Delirium” did get a nod … I honestly thought I was the only person who actually dug it.
My Pick : 30 Seconds to Mars. Never underestimate the voting power of the Echelon (that's the codename for their super intense fanbase, btw). Also, never harmlessly refer to said fanbase as “the so-called Echelon” in a story, either, lest you want your inbox to be flooded with angry e-mails from kids in Germany. Trust me on this one.
Best Hip-Hop Video
» BoB (featuring Hayley Williams), “Airplanes”
» Drake (featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem), “Forever”
» Eminem, “Not Afraid”
» Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz, “On to the Next One”
» Kid Cudi (featuring MGMT and Ratatat), “Pursuit of Happiness”
My Take : A category loaded with heavy-hitters, Best Hip-Hop Video is basically the Group of Death at the 2010 VMAs. When in doubt, you gotta go with the one video that has the most big names attached to it. Which means …
My Pick : Drake, Kanye, Weezy, Em, celebrity chef Mario Batali and 23rd president of the United States Benjamin Harrison for the win! The engravers will be working overtime trying to fit all their names on one Moonman. Related: Who actually gets to keep this award?
Best Pop Video
» BoB (featuring Bruno Mars), “Nothin' on You”
» Beyoncé (featuring Lady Gaga), “Video Phone”
» Katy Perry (featuring Snoop Dogg), “California Gurls”
» Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
» Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
My Take : Another hotly contested category, and Lady Gaga is once again nominated twice. So I'm going upset special on this one …
My Pick : Katy Perry. She's the undisputed Queen of Summer 2010, and she shocks the world here. Hopefully she'll also be wearing some sort of chest-mounted frosting cannons to celebrate.
Best New Artist
» Broken Bells, “The Ghost Inside”
» Jason Derülo, “In My Head”
» Justin Bieber (featuring Ludacris), “Baby”
» Ke$ha, “Tik Tok”
» Nicki Minaj (featuring Sean Garrett), “Massive Attack”
My Take : On the surface, this is Justin Bieber and four acts who aren't Justin Bieber. In any other year, I'd say Ke$ha or Nicki Minaj could win, but this is 2010, and the World Health Organization is just about to start inoculating people for Bieber Fever. Unrelated: For a second, I thought the group Massive Attack were nominated here, which wouldn't have made any sense, but would've been pretty awesome nonetheless.
My Pick : Broken Bells. Just kidding! It'll be Bieber in a landslide. The much-coveted Ludacris endorsement is the difference-maker.
Video of the Year
» 30 Seconds to Mars, “Kings and Queens”
» BoB (featuring Hayley Williams), “Airplanes”
» Eminem, “Not Afraid”
» Florence and the Machine, “Dog Days Are Over”
» Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
» Lady Gaga (featuring Beyoncé), “Telephone”
My Take : There was, without a doubt, one clip that dominated popular culture in 2010, and it will be rewarded on VMA night.
My Pick : Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. “Telephone” is the biggest video in recent memory, and Gaga is the biggest artist. A win here is the much-deserved coronation for both. And, when coupled with B's Video of the Year win for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” last year, this could make two consecutive VMAs where the most deserving actually won the night's biggest honor. A watershed moment, indeed.
The Other Video of the Year
» Hanson, “Thinking 'Bout Something”
» Insane Clown Posse, “Miracles”
» Mayday Parade, “Kids in Love”
» MIA, “Born Free”
» OK Go, “This Too Shall Pass”
» Vampire Weekend, “Cousins”
My Take : A completely fictional category made up by me as a way of honoring the videos that didn't get nominated, these six clips represent the best of the rest. Inventive (“Thinking 'Bout Something,” “This Too Shall Pass,” “Cousins”), incendiary (“Born Free,” “Kids in Love”) and instructive (“Miracles”), they're all proof that there's still merit in music videos.
My Pick : MIA With its graphic violence and rather blunt message (basically that the guys wearing the US flags can be the brutes too), “Born Free” stirred up more than its fair share of controversy. But that's what great art is supposed to do. And make no mistake about it, this is definitely great art. Not to mention astute, fearless political commentary too. Sadly, as the year pressed on, its message only proved to be eerily prescient.
What are your VMA predictions? Share them in the comments!
INTERVIEW/PROFILE: Latin Jazz Conversations: Hilario Duran (Part 4)
by admin on Sep.08, 2010, under pretty odd album
Pianist Hilario Durán spent his early musical life filling his time with rich artistic experiences, readying himself for the time when he would step into his role as a bandleader. Inspired by his father's deep connection with music, Durán found himself irresistibly drawn to the piano, eventually landing at the Amadeo Roldan National Conservatory. He dived deeply into classical studies at the school, building his prodigious technique while spending his free time focused on jazz and improvisation. After graduation, Durán did his mandatory three years in the Cuban military, playing both piano and clarinet in the army band, and upon release, he quickly found work on Havana's lively music scene. Recognizing Durán's immense talent, Chucho Valdés recommended him for the role of pianist in the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. This high profile gig led to steady work as a pianist, producer, and arranger in EGREM studios, and eventually, a job with the virtuosic trumpet player Arturo Sandoval. Durán toured the world with Sandoval's band, and once the trumpet player defected to the United States, Durán continued to perform with the musicians as Perspectiva. Several years later, drummer Guillermo Barretto introduced Durán to saxophonist Jane Bunnett, who employed the pianist for her album Spirits of Havana . As Durán became an essential piece of Bunnett's band, she encouraged him to record as a solo artist. Bunnett and her husband Larry Cramer helped Durán record three very different albums— Francisco's Song , an album without percussion, the Havana based Killer Tumbao , and Habana Nocturna , a fully orchestrated Latin Jazz album. As Durán reputation grew, he moved his family to Toronto, where he became an essential part of the music scene. His collaboration with local bassist Roberto Occhipinti led to the trio album with drummer Horacio Hernandez, New Danzon . Durán returned to his love of big band Latin Jazz on From the Heart , a rousing collection of pieces from a full big band captured on CD and DVD. Durán's 2010 album Motion focuses upon his trio with Occhipinti and drummer Mark Kelso, delivering a strong representation of original compositions and arrangements that confirms the pianist's role as an important role model in modern Latin Jazz.
Durán spent many years applying his vast musical talents to the support of other artists, a fact that prepared him thoroughly for his current role. As a bandleader, Durán has asserted his voice as a composer and soloist, as well as shined the spotlight on the skills of his able sidemen. In Part One of our interview with Durán , we looked at the influence of his father, his studies at the Amadeo Roldan National Conservatory, and his time in the military band. In Part Two of our interview , we discussed the impact of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, his connection to Chucho Valdés, and work in EGREM studios. Part Three of our interview focused upon Durán's job as a pianist in Sandoval's band, the group's continuation as Perspectiva, and his association with Bunnett. The final piece of our interview digs into Durán's career as a bandleader, looking at all his released, including the 2010 album Motion .
LATIN JAZZ CORNER: Your first three albums are so very different. Francisco's Song didn't really have percussion on it and then you went back to Havana on Killer Tumbao with all those great musicians from Cuba and then you had the strings on Habana Nocturna —why were you changing things so much?
HILARIO DURAN: What I hear just depends on the vision that I wanted. I tried different formats to make me work in different ways and to represent the music in different ways. Larry Cramer and Jane (Bunnett) helped me put together all those albums. It was just like that.
Francisco's Song had no percussion, which was a great idea. We tried to find a drummer for this album, but we couldn't find one. We couldn't make a deal with any of the drummers, so we finally decided to do it without drums. It was a great idea . 。 。 I consider it a great idea. I worked with Alain Caron on bass, Jane Bunnett on flute, and Sonny Greenwich on guitar. It was great to work with Alain Caron. We did a version of Giant Steps and he really caught me on that. He plays so good on that, it's incredible; it's like drinking water. Sonny Greenwich is a great guitarist—he's very original and he's got a unique sound.
LJC: When you go onto Killer Tumbao , you've got some incredible Cuban musicians—Dafnis Prieto, Jorge Reyes, and more. At that point, how would you say that jazz in Havana had changed?
HD: It's always changing; it's developing every day. I don't know . 。 。 there's so much good music there. The people keep immigrating all the time, but there are still so many great musicians. When one immigrates, then there's still another one working on the scene there. It's like a music store, there's so much development of music. I don't know why, but it's great.
LJC: Your album in 2004, New Danzon , was a trio album. When I first heard that album, it was the first time Roberto Occhipinti caught my ear, who seems like an amazing player. How did you meet him and start working?
HD: I met him right after I moved here. When I started working in Toronto for the first time, I was introduced to him by Jane. Then we started working together. We started working in a small place here in downtown Toronto every Thursday; it's called College Street Bar. We started jamming every Thursday. After that I started working with Jane and I recommended him. I didn't know that he played Cuban music so well at first, but then I recommended him to play with Jane's band. So we started working together for a few years with Jane in her band. We did Ritmo and Soul and then a couple of more albums.
LJC: You also had Horacio Hernandez on New Danzon . Was he someone that you had known from Cuba or did you meet him after you moved?
高清:我知道他來自古巴,從很久以前。 The first time I met him was in the EGREM studios. This is quite a funny story. After a few years working in EGREM, I was more experienced as a producer. I started producing an album with a singer Donato Proveda—he lives in Miami now, he has a great career as a singer and composer. I started producing this record with Donato Proveda and I started hiring the band. I asked who he had for a drummer; Donato showed me Horacio and told me, “This is the drummer.” I didn't know Horacio at this time. I called Donato in private and I said, “Listen, this is the work of very experienced musicians. You can not call an amateur here to record an album.” I didn't want to work with him. I said, “You can not call people that don't have experience, don't read music, and such. So, please, we have to hire another guy.” But Donato said, “No, no, I want this guy.” After I complained and we had a discussion, I said, “OK, I will agree to playing with this guy.” He recorded and he did so well—he was amazing!
After that, we started working together. A while later, he started working with Gonzalo (Rubalcaba); he did all these records with Gonzalo. He had a great career with him until he moved to Italy. It was a year later that I encountered him again, because Jane Bunnett hired him to do some gigs in the States. We started working together again, and then he recorded on my album Habana Nocturna . We also couple of small albums that were not jazz albums; we did a mambo record also. It wasn't until Roberto gave me the idea to do a trio record that we called Horacio and did New Danzon .
LJC: The next year, you worked with Perspectiva again on Encuentro En La Habana .
HD: Yes, I went down to Havana to reunite with my former colleagues, my friends from Perspectiva—Jorge Reyes on bass, Jorge Luis Chicoy on guitar, and Reynaldo Valera on congas. We did some tracks in Havana; there were some beautiful tracks on this album. Then we brought the recording here to Toronto and we called Ernesto Simpson, another member of Perspectiva here. We overdubbed Ernesto Simpson here on two tracks. Then we added percussionists Pedro Martinez and Emilio del Monto and the saxophonist Roman Feliu.
LJC: Just having watched videos of Perespectiva in the nineties and then listening to this album, it sounds pretty different—what for you had changed?
HD: I changed it a lot. I told you that during the time of Perspectiva, I was obsessed with keyboards. I had this guitar-keyboard thing; I just wanted to play that, I didn't want to play piano. I wanted to play this and program synthesizers—I spent three years with that! So it's quite different. Some of the tracks from the original Perspectiva days sound awful to me, but some of them sound great. There's one track on YouTube that's really something amazing that I did at that time.
LJC: Do you think that you'll ever go back to Perspectiva again? Is that a project that you'll do in the future?
HD: I don't know . 。 。 we could probably do another record. If I could find someone to sponsor us with some money to record with these guys again, I would do it. I would be very happy to do it. I love those guys. We were working for so many years. Jorge Reyes worked with me in the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna for a number of years. After that, we played with Arturo for ten years. After that, we played together with Perspectiva for four years. I've known Jorge Reyes since high school in Havana, since the national school of music. So with those guys, I've spent almost half of my life playing, sharing awful rooms in Europe, and touring all over the world. So we've shared a lot; we love each other a lot.
LJC: In 2006, you released From the Heart , which is an amazing album and DVD. You mentioned before how you were really influenced by the big sound of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna; what were you trying to do with your own big band project?
HD: I've had other influences because I've lived out of Cuba for a number of years. It's quite different how much influence you get here out of Cuba. You get so many things when you change your way of life. That changes the way your music sounds. But still I have that sound in my head—the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. That's the sound I want to represent in this album. It's my tribute to that time and my tribute to those Cuban conductors. They were the greatest that I've played with ever. It's my tribute to them and a tribute to that sound that I left there in Havana. But it also includes a lot of musical influences that I have here in Toronto and North America. I combined both things.
LJC: The band seems really tight and together—is that a band that works there in Toronto?
HD: Mostly the band works here. We did a gig last month at the Toronto Jazz Festival. But we haven't been playing much lately.
LJC: Is that a group that you might record with again or tour with?
HD: Not for a while. I'm working now with a 13-piece band. It's a smaller version of that band. I got hired to play at the Cultural Olympic Games in Vancouver this year. So I reunited a 13-piece orchestra. That's the orchestra that I have been working with lately also.
LJC: The new album, Motion , is a trio album, but this time, you have Mark Kelso playing drums. How did he get involved?
HD: We started working with this trio about five years ago. This is basically the result of all these years of working together. We did a tour across Canada in 2008. After that, we decided to put together our repertoire and go into the studio. That's what we did.
LJC: There's some tracks on there that really stand out. One of them is the opening track, “It's Only Seven.” It takes that very Cuban groove and puts it in 7/4. How do you approach writing a turn like that and keeping a traditional sound?
HD: I love 7/4. It's a very comfortable time signature for me; it's really, really comfortable. It's so comfortable that I'm trying to avoid writing music in this time signature. I think that my life is in 7/4. It's just like that—on this track, I tried to represent all the styles of music from Cuban to straight-ahead jazz to straight cha cha cha. That's what I tried to represent in this tune. It's very much an experiment.
LJC: Another piece that stands out is “Havana City.” You've got the strings and the bata in addition to your trio. What's different for you in there—how do the strings bring out another side to your playing?
HD: I recorded this tune for the first time when I went to Havana to record with Perspectiva, about three years before Motion. I decided to record this tune again. I tried to do this with the strings and the voice of Joaquin; he did a great job. I tried to represent the feeling in Havana City right now. All the things that people living there experience—all the struggles, all the happiness, all the suffering. I put this together in this overture. I also mixed it together with all the things of the past life that I had in Havana—all the friends that I left behind and my family, all the places where I used to hang in Havana. I was thinking about all of this, and I tried to put it in this tune.
LJC: “For Emiliano” is another tune that stands out on Motion . I assume that's for Emiliano Salvador—you really capture a lot of his spirit on that tune . 。 。
HD: Yea, this is another important guy. Emiliano was one of the craziest guys I ever met, and he was also one of the greatest creators. The same way that Chucho Valdes influenced me a lot, Emiliano also influenced me very much. Chucho Valdes was the Cuban version of Oscar Peterson in Havana; Emiliano Salvador is the Cuban version of Bud Powell. He was a guy that was really into the hardcore jazz scene. He really knew how to swing on the piano. He was also one of the first guys that started experimenting with pretty odd album time signatures. That's why this tune is also in 7/4.
LJC: The other tune on the tune on the album that really pops out at me in “Danza Negra,” the Ernesto Lecuona tune. It's such a traditional tune, but you do it so differently. How do you find that line between balancing traditional ideas with trying to look ahead?
HD: Since my time with Arturo Sandoval, I've always tried to do an arrangement of this tune. Every time I've tried to write an arrangement, it's been difficult. The second part is upbeat, so I don't know how to represent this so fast. I tried to do it during that time, and then after I left, I didn't do it anymore. Roberto Occhipinti, he gave me the idea to work this tune with a New Orleans groove. We put the New Orleans groove behind the song and combined it with a version of the danzon.
These two grooves, they have a common point in history of Cuban music. The danzon came from the contradanza, which was brought by the French immigrants after the revolution in Haiti. They moved to the east of Cuba and they brought the contradanza from Europe. Some of those immigrants also came through Louisiana and New Orleans to the north of Cuba. This contradanza became the contradanza criolla because it became blended with the African drums and the Spanish flamenco thing. This all became contradanza criolla. The Louisiana groove also has a connection with contradanza at some point in history. That's why this groove gets so well blended.
Ernesto Lecuona is one of my idols. I am so glad that I could really play this tune. It's like a small tribute to him.
LJC: You've done a lot—you've had a full career and broken so much new ground. What would you still like to do musically?
HD: I want to keep working on different projects. Right now, I'm trying to play the music from my new album; I'm trying to play this all over the world. That's my main goal. I'm planning to stay here in this beautiful city—I'm not planning to move anywhere in the next eighty years! I want to really keep working hard and doing new projects—working with my orchestra, working with my trio, composing . 。 。 keep doing my thing and making a living!
Continue…
Music Review: Various Artists – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
by admin on Sep.08, 2010, under pretty odd album
I've read the Scott Pilgrim comics. I've seen the movie. I've played the video game. What is particularly unusual about this franchise is that every aspect of it seems to have been made with a real love and attention to detail. That the movie loses almost none of the source material's energy and enthusiasm despite condensing 1200-some pages into less than two hours is remarkable enough and, while the comics and the movie both are rife with video game references and iconography, for the game itself to be a genuinely inventive and enjoyable experience on its own: That's almost unheard of. It's clear that everyone involved was genuinely passionate about this world and its characters, a refreshing change of pace for most of the comic book properties we've had to deal with in recent years.
That passion extends to the film's soundtrack, out now on ABKCO Records. Music plays an important part in Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novels. Scott plays bass in a self-proclaimed “terrible” band, Sex Bob-Omb, and the first volume memorably provides a chord chart so the reader can play along with them (“It's easy, because they're kind of crappy!”). Director Edgar Wright, who also whipped up impressive soundtracks for his previous films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz , understands how integral music is to the story. In the liner notes, he talks about how he and O'Malley bonded over shared songs and bands, describing the process as “an endless transatlantic mixtape.” To put it simply, Wright, along with co-executive producer Marc Platt and music supervisor Kathy Nelson, nail it. These songs not only work seamlessly within the context of the film, they more than stand on their own as an album.
To represent the fictional bands in the movie, the filmmakers assembled three beloved indie artists: Beck for Sex Bob-Omb; Broken Social Scene for rival band Crash and the Boys; and Metric for The Clash at Demonhead, the band fronted by Scott's ex-girlfriend Envy Adams. For being such a terrible band, the four Sex Bob-Omb songs are the stand-outs, fuzzy blasts of raw punk energy. On the boisterous opener “We Are Sex Bob-Omb,” it sounds like the guitars and drums are being bashed to within an inch of their lives. “Garbage Truck” is a catchy, poppy love song told from a unique point of view: “I'll be your garbage man/I'll take out your junk/And I'll crush it down.” In the film, the driving “Threshold” is used during Sex Bob-Omb's amplifier battle with the Katayanagi Twins, and as such, there's plenty of whining, stuttering feedback. As for “Summertime,” it's as sunny and hummable a summer tune as I've heard in a while. In addition to Beck and regular collaborator Brian LeBarton, actors Michael Cera, Mark Webber, and Alison Pill are all credited on the songs, and all acquit themselves admirably. Webber's vocals, in particular, are well-suited to the underground indie feel.
The two Crash and the Boys songs are, by design, toss-offs; the first, “I'm So Sad, So Very, Very Sad,” is 13 seconds long, only about five of which could be called music. It's a joke that works better in the movie, but it's still funny here. The other song, “We Hate You Please Die,” clocking in at just under a minute, is chockful of squalling guitar, frenetic drums, and a pretty terrific bassline. Metric's “Black Sheep” is the most polished and fully-formed of the new songs, which befits The Clash at Demonhead, as they're the only band in the movie to escape the independent scene and win a major label contract. Built around actress Brie Larson's seductive vocal, the song is part come-on, part kiss-off, which basically exemplifies the push-and-pull nature of the Scott/Envy relationship.
The pre-existing material on the soundtrack is culled from a variety of different bands, from Black Lips to The Rolling Stones, but they're all of a piece with the movie's energetic spirit. Plumtree's 1997 single “Scott Pilgrim” inspired the series, so it's a given that it's here; it also doesn't hurt that it's an infectiously earnest song about a crush, with the sing-along refrain, “I've liked you for a thousand years.” Likewise, Frank Black's “I Heard Ramona Sing,” from which O'Malley took the name of the girl whose seven evil ex-boyfriends Scott must defeat, is a natural fit.
The rest of the selections, all of which are strong, range from the beautiful–Beachwood Sparks' cover of Sade's “By Your Side,” which may have made me cry a little bit; T. Rex's “Teenage Dream,” which adds just the right touch of melodrama with its intense strings and inscrutable lyrics; and “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl,” wherein Broken Social Scene pop up as themselves, giving a prime example of why they're a great band–to the ominous: Black Lips' garage punk raver “O Katrina!” ; The Bluetones' “Sleazy Bed Track,” which transforms a lover's pretty odd album behavior into mesmerizing low-key drama; Blood Red Shoes' furious “It's Getting Boring by the Sea”; and The Rolling Stones' 1966 classic “Under My Thumb,” an inclusion which initially surprised me but which made sense almost immediately, what with its themes of obsession and control.
Near the end of the album, we've got two versions of a new Beck song, “Ramona.” The acoustic version is a reprise of the one-note composition Scott plays for Ramona in the movie. Consisting of simple guitar strumming and the words, “Ramona, oh my my,” it prompts her to say, “I can't wait to hear it when it's finished.” “Finished?” is Scott's baffled reply. The second, full-band version is the one it sounds like Scott could have written after the emotional revelations of the film. It puts flesh on the bare bones of the first version, adding the maturity Scott was lacking previously. It's a plea to Ramona to take him as he is, and for them to give it a shot despite it all: “And if it's all a lie/The truth's not far behind/We could try to live right for the moment.” By the time you reach the song at the very end of the movie, it's earned the sentiment, and the right to such a lovely ballad. Capping things off is Brian LeBarton's 8-bit cover of “Threshold,” perfect video game music which sums up the film's playful style.
What unifies all of the varying styles and recordings is the filmmakers' innate understanding of music and how much importance it carries in a film, especially a film as entrenched in the indie scene as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World . As a general rule, non-score soundtracks of comic book movies aren't very good. I love the first couple Spider-Man movies as much as the next comics geek, but their Nickelback/Dashboard Confessional-riddled soundtracks weren't what I'd call inspiring. With Scott Pilgrim , we might have the first authentically great comic book soundtrack on our hands.




























