Four Strings or Fight!-The Ukulele Cabaret

Last night I joined my friend Scott at Jimmy's 43 in the East Village to see a friend of his play in the Ukelele Cabaret. The show started at 7, but I arrived late, at 10:30, just in time for the Extreme Uke segment of the show, which turned out to be one of the most entertaining 3 hours in recent memory. The rules are-you gotta play the uke, you can play up to three songs, and there is a theme to each evening, this one was "back to School"
There were uke versions of Britney Spears, New Order (complete with beats from a boombox) The Kinks, Beach Boys, Queen. . A woman in her seventies sang one about how she loves boys AND girls, and a young band of hipsters sang one called Vagina ala mode.

My favorite, though, was Jamie Scandal (pictured), who performed a song about her enfatuation with Dirty Jobs (reality TV) Host Mike Rowe. She brought pink vinyl curtains to hang behind her, and buckets filled with tomatoes, green slime, and plastic containers filled with dirt, which she handed out to the audeince. She carefully instructed us to wait until the end of the song when she sings "I want to get dirty", and then pelt her first with tomatoes, then with slime, then dirt. The song was actually brilliant, and she had the nights coolest uke, made out of a cigar box. We did as instructed, Scott with Tomatoes and me with dirt, both on target.


The show ended with a 15 uke jam on their theme song "4 Strings or Fight", and I left inspired to buy a box of cigars and smoke them quickly.

I've attached one of my favorites from the night, a duo who performs 1920's French songs. This one translates "He Saw me Nude", about a woman bathing by moonlight who discovers a figure on the banks admiring her. I love most that the original French text includes the phrase "Super Nude".

Il Ma Vu Nue (He Saw Me Nude)

Jon Brion Busts out the Uke on this "Old Irish Song" that you'll be sure to recognize
Jon Brion (live) - "TBABIT"

Guilty Pleasures 101

Visitng my mom in NYC, the options here are astounding. Do I go with Kenny Rogers? Babs? Neil Diamond? Perhaps something from the Flashdance Soundtrack, or Billy Joel?

Wait...here... the choice is clear-Barry Manilow. I'm certain its a TRUE guilty pleasure, not like Journey, for instance, or Rush, where really, guilt doesn't enter into it, more like pride. But earlier this summer I was at a yard sale while visiting my friend Tim in Philly, and they had every single Manilow vinyl LP pre-1985, each of which we had on 8-track growing up, and which I still konw all the words to...that includes the double live album with all those commercial jingles.

"You deserve a break today" and the like

Anyway, I had them all in my hands and actually put them back...I'm embarassed to say, because I was embarassed to buy them from the hipster (who obviously herself had bought them somewhere). Its the only time that ever happened and I regret it.
Terribly. It almost happened with Air Supply's Greatest Hits, but I was able to pull the trigger on that one.



VIDEO BONUS!!SCTV Krishna Sings Manilow

Under The Influence: The Boss

Indie Rock goes down to the river again as Kevin Drew and Broken Social Scene join The Stills, The Hold Steady, and Arcade Fire in celebrating the influence of Bruce Sprinsteen on their most recent release. It doesn't really come until the chorus at 2:45 in this one, but its loud and clear.

Its from the new album Spirit If, from Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew. The album is terrific all the way through.

The Lucky Ones

To Know Him is to Love Him!?

The five-month murder trial of legendary "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector ended in a mistrial today after the jury announced for the second time that it couldn't reach a verdict, split 10-2. He may be retried for second degree murder, but he may also walk. Any of you lawyer types following this case, feel free to help me understand how in tarnation there was a shred of reasonable doubt in anybody's mind that he did it. This guy's been famously waving his gun in peoples faces (Leonard Cohen, Ronnie Spector, etc) and threatening to shoot them for decades. Circumstantial, not even, I know. He also stumbled out of the house the morning Lana Clarkson was found shot in the face in his vestibule and told his bodyguard
" I think I just Shot Someone". Doesn't prove a thing, does it? Splendid!

We must remember to separate the artist from the psychopath though, right? This is, after all, the guy who shaped the sound of Be My Baby from the Ronettes, River Deep, Mountain High from Ike & Tina, Let it Be from the Beatles, Plastic Ono Band from John Lennon, All things Must Pass from George Harrison, Death of a Ladies Man from Leonard Cohen, End of the Century from The Ramones, and the most played radio single of all time, You've Lost That Loving Feeling from the Righteous Brothers.

Wall of Sound Classic by The Ronnettes
Be My Baby


Bonus Track-Blog Entry Soundtrack
Pistol Packin' Papa-Jimmie Rogers

I just finished reading "Tearing Down The Wall of Sound-The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector" and highly recommend it for any music fan

Private Practice

In honor of tonight's season premiere of Private Practice at 8 PM on ABC, I present this absolute jam from the Scissor Sisters, which, I'm told, features prominently in this episode. Throw Fleetwood Mac, The Bee Gees, and ABBA in a blender and you get this concoction. Inside word on the show is to give it a couple episodes to find its stride.

I Don't Feel Like Dancing

Doctor Monroe

David Singer first sent me this track from 21 year old singer-songwriter and pianist Casey Dienel, whose debut album, Wind-up Canary, came out last year. It was recorded at an abandoned caretaker's house in rural Mass, with fellow students from The New England Conservatory where she was a composition major.

"On a train to Berlin, this man came up to me and I literally could smell him the moment he entered the car. It was like watching a train wreck. I felt like he was hallucinating in front of me, and so this song’s a near word-for-word portrait of the man my father and I later nicknamed ‘Doctor Monroe.”

Doctor Monroe

Afro Filipino Average Sort of Guy*

Thanks to Tony B. for this one from 1970s Spanish Harlem Afro-Filipino Joe Bataan, who pioneered a sound mixing Latin soul, salsa, and hip hop with English lyrics.


Ordinary Guy

*With Degrees in Streetology

Happy Birthday Leonard!

73 years old today. A cosmic coincidence that today also begins the Jewish Day of Atonement. Somehow so perfect...most of his music provides the perfect soundtrack





Tower of Song Video

Sisters of Mercy

Lets Stay Friends

Brand new music from Les Savy Fav! The long awaited new record, Lets Stay Friends, is terrific. Start your weekend with this incendiary cut...


The Equestrian

Let My Shoes Lead me Forward

Heres's a pop confection from Swedish Songstress Jenny Wilson. Warning-more than three listens may lead to obsession and then insanity.

Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward

Take Pride in your Shame!

There is not, to my knowledge, any better song to blast into your headphones while walking the streets of a foreign capital than this one.

Artist-LCD Soundsystem
Song-North American Scum
Album-TheSound of Silver

North American Scum

A Starfish in my Hand

So much about this song sums up the "end of season" melancholy I get at the end of the Summer. Its one of my favorites, ever.

Song-Gulf Shores
Artist-Bonnie "Prince" Billy



GulfShores

When I Say Go

Here's one from Chicago's own 1900s, who've been enjoying a lot of attention in recent days. They've got a modern day Fleetwood Mac thing going on. Their debut album will be out on October 2, just before they play Rock/Art at MCA on October 7.



When I Say Go

Tomorrow's Track Today

I'm off to the Indiana Dunes for the night, so here's a nice Sunday morning song for you to enjoy in the AM. Its from Blonde Redhead's latest LP 23, which has really grown on me in recent days.



Artist=Blonde Redhead
Song-Silently
Album-23
Year-2007



Click here for Silently

Saturday Morning Cartoon Music

The Apples in Stereo

Ahh Saturday Mornings back in the day...shows like Hong Kong Fuey, Far Out Space Nuts, siegfreid the sea monster, and the rest. Apples in Stereo, progenitors of the late 90's Elephant Six Psychedelic pop sound, always struck me as a band that should have one of those shows all their own, one with the animated musical segments. I first thought of this several years back when I found myself alone in the car with my 2 year old niece Katie strapped in the back seat for the 45 minute drive from my brothers house to my parents house for Thanksgiving. I had a mix tape on, and when Apples in Stereo came on, I looked in the rearview to see Katie's head and feet bobbing back and forth, her hands clapping in time. When the song ended and the next began she began screaming "THATS NOT IT!" until I rewound the tape and played it again, at which point the bobbing and clapping started up again. It went the full 45 minutes this way.

So those of you with Kids, lets test the theory... play this one for your toddlers and see if we should campaign for a children's album.

Artist-Apples in Stereo
Track-Go

Click here to Download Go

It was a Blockbuster Summer

Artist-The Hold Steady
Song-The Swish





You've gotta love a song that rhymes Beverly Hills with Beverly Sills in the very first verse.

Click Here to Download The Swish