Paul Simon is offering a free download of “Getting Ready For Christmas Day.” It’s off his upcoming album So Beautiful Or So What (Spring 2011; Hear Music/Concord Music Group) and samples a 1941 speech by American Christian preacher and gospel singer, Reverend J.M. Gates:
The original JM Gates sermon “Gettin’ Ready for Christmas Day” is online at Dust-to-Digital, and on their 2004 5-CD set Goodbye, Babylon.
Via Mike Ragogna’s HuffPo column.
HV brings you a belated helping of Hanukkah cheer in this new
Maccabeats single, “Candlelight”:
Hearing Voices from NPR®
106 Courage to Create II: Interviews with Artists
Host: Russ Germain of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Airs week of: 2010-12-15
“Courage to Create II” (52:00 mp3):
The conclusion of this 1978 NPR/CBC radio classic, featuring interviews with artists on the origins of the creative impulse (part one). Interviewees include:
Psychologist Rollo May (author of The Courage to Create
Produced by Carolyn Jensen Chadwick and Tom Steward; narrator: Russ Germain; technicians: Jim Anderson, Jan Stewart; executive producer: Digby Piers.
In HV’s not-so-humble opinion, Carolyn Jensen Chadwick was NPR’s best producer. She died August 2010; a few remembrances: All Things Considered | The Atlantic | Hearing Voices | LA Observed | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Morning Edition.
Hearing Voices from NPR®
105 Courage to Create I: Interviews with Artists
Host: Russ Germain of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Airs week of: 2010-12-08
“Courage to Create I” (52:00 mp3):
Interviews with artists on the origins of the creative impulse (part one of two):
A 1978 NPR/CBC radio classic, featuring interviews with artists on the origins of the creative impulse. This first of two hours includes:
Psychologist Rollo May (author of The Courage to Create
Produced by Carolyn Jensen Chadwick and Tom Steward; narrator: Russ Germain; technicians: Jim Anderson, Jan Stewart; executive producer: Digby Piers.
In HV’s not-so-humble opinion, Carolyn Jensen Chadwick was NPR’s best producer. She died August 2010; a few remembrances: All Things Considered | The Atlantic | Hearing Voices | LA Observed | Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Morning Edition.
We are know the feeling, what music’ll do to ya…
“Uomo d’acqua dolce:”
My Italian friend, DJ Lara Vaienti, sent me the vid, and this story summary:
So he [comedian Antonio Albanese] goes in (awesome way to enter) and he says “Excuse meeee” Hey DISC JOKEY!!, MR DISC JOKEY–excusee meee!!–”
Then he starts uttering those sounds… finally he gets the attention and speaks in… English: “I’m a countryman.”
He says he’s looking for something very underground, he wants something very, very underground. Then he gets suggestions, and he’s like “no, no — NO. I mean, I mean, very very underground.”
And then he makes up some American, something like “watcha get down, hey get down,” etc..
So again suggestions — “Ben Harper!”
“CHIIIIIIIII????” [means “who???”]
“Lou Reed!”
“NO–”
“James BROWN!”
“no, NO –NO!”
“Fine Young Cannibals!”
So then the owner is sweating over thism, and the “countryman” is trying to comfort him. He calls him “MASSIMINO” [“little Max”], it’s ok, it’s ok, you did your best…” etc.
[Lara: The part where he is dancing makes me cry. Italians—]
A cat named Cadamole raps up pubradio — stick w/ it, it digs in and gets good as it goes along (fea. Jenna Sullivan):
“Good Radiation (public radio rap)”
This be one haunting song, “Dead Hearts” by Stars from Five Ghosts
“Dead Hearts” (3:31 mp3):
Have no idea wtf them Stars are taking about (NPR’s guess | Song Meanings- comments), but love the lyrics anyway:
Dead Hearts
Tell me everything that happened
Tell me everything you sawThey had lights, inside their eyes
They had lights, inside their eyesDid you see the closing window
Did you hear the slamming door?They moved forward and my heart died
They moved forward and my heart diedPlease please tell me what they looked like
Did they seem afraid of you?They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knewI can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still careI can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhereDid you touch them
Did you hold them
Did they follow you to town?They make me feel I’m falling down
They make me feel I’m falling downWas there one you saw too clearly
Did they seem too real to you?They were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knewI can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still careI can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhereI can say it but you won’t believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still careI can say it but you won’t you believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
Dead hearts are everywhere
Dead hearts are everywhereThey were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
Now they’re all dead hearts to youThey were kids that I once knew
They were kids that I once knew
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
Now they’re all dead hearts to you
Been hearing a lotta great music lately (mainly on KGLT, and especially on Ben’s show), including Best Coast, Bon Iver, Panda Bear, Pogo.
For your aural ecstasy, we put them and more in a (Grooveshark) player stuffed full of hand-selected HearVox Beats.
Play from this page→
Or launch
the player
in a new
window:
HearVox Beats
Marketplace Money talks to musicians of moderate fame who “
Work a Day Job Like a Rock Star:”
The singer for the heavy-metal band, Iron Maiden, is a commercial airline pilot. The frontman for Bad Religion also teaches paleontology at UCLA.
Features interviews with members of Pavement, The Vandals, and The Circle Jerks:
Expialidocious is up again. “Guess Who’s Back In Wonderland,” sez cut-up Aussie artist, Pogo:
After a year producing professionally for Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios, my contract has finally come to an end. The gag order is released, and my classic Disney mixes are allowed back online.
(Old Expialidocious post w/ autre Dizknee audities.)
Musician Jess Atkins — whose music HV uses lots — demonstrates his newly acquired Bose L1 portable sound speaker system (vid made for Music Villa):
Full disclosure: He’s my kid — insert proud parent’s smile here. Check Jess playing Marcel Dadi’s “Blue Angel.”
Some mining melodies to watch the Chilean miner’s rescue by (PBS NewsHour coverage; ABC News live feed; and if your eyes ain’t wet yet, try this NYTimes.com slideshow)…
Hearing Voices from NPR®
101 John Ono Lennon: A Memorial and Celebration
Host: Lynn Neary of NPR
Airs week of: 2010-10-06
“John Ono Lennon” (52:00 mp3):
Born: John Winston Lennon, October 9 1940
Died: John Ono Lennon, December 8 1980
On Saturday, October 9 2010, John Lennon would have turned 70 years old. This is our public-radio party, memorial and celebration:
Our host recalls how the Beatles changed everything, and John lead the charge; an audio essay, sprinked with live performances and 1963-64 Fan-Flub flexi-disk Christmas messages.
Lennon’s life, in own words, from his hundreds of interviews. Accompanied by music, outtakes, antics and poetics — singing, talking, and testifying about peace, family, and art.
Produced at KGLT-Bozeman with mix help from Colter Langan. Archive recordings are courtesy of Yoko Ono, the BBC, the CBC, Chicago’s Museum Of Broadcast Communications, Group W Productions, Rolling Stone Magazine, Apple, Capital, EMI, and Polydor Records.
WONSAPONATIME there was two Ballons called Jock and Yono. They were strictly in love-bound to happen in a million years. They were together man. Unfortunatimetable they both seemed to have previous experience — which kept calling them one way oranother (you know howitis). But they battled on against overwhelming oddites, includo some of there beast friends. Being in love they cloong even more together man — but some of the poisonessmonster of outrated buslodedshithrowers did stick slightly and tey occaasionaly had to resort to the drycleaners. Luckily this did not kill them and they werent banned from the olympic games. They lived hopefully every after, and who could blame them… —Lennon, Skywriting By Word of Mouth
Scanning the radio dial the night Lennon died. The Prof presents more audio of and info on this found-sound recording at WFMU.
Members of the generation jolted by Lennon’s death recall how they heard the news and how deeply this ex-Beatle’s life affected theirs (where were you when you heard?)
Voices: Scott MacNichol, Daniel Callis, Martin Goldsmith, Jane Blume, Mark Weber, Jim Palmer, John Scariano, Bonnie Renfro, Mary Oishi, Rob Raucci, and Emily Zambello. Produced at Cedar Creek Studios and KUNM-Albuquerque. PRX has a half-hour version of “The Day John Lennon Died.”
Leave me a voicemail and I’ll write music behind your narrative. Call it a soundtrack to your thoughts.
—One Hello World
The idea is simple: call him up, pour out your heart; then OHW scores your soul. The execution is exquisite…
“To Go To College” (1:57 mp3):
This limey really likes OHW. A series of OHW pieces is radio ready at PRX.
One Hello World: face | space | site.
via Zak of SOTRU.
A fren clued me to this Seattle band, Head Like a Kite. Nice pop tune, inventive vid, “We’re Always on the Wrong Side of Sunrise” from their 2010
Dreams Suspend Night:
Another HLAK.
A Ken Nordine litany of links:
Word Jazz Discography and Podcast.
YouTube Channel.
Wikipedia Ken Nordine
WFMU’s Beware of the Blog “Ken Nordine Helps Open a Chicago Hi-Fi Store, April, 1957 (Exploring My Reel-to-Reel Catacombs, Volume Six) – WFMU’s Beware of the Blog”
WBEZ Eight Forty-Eight Radio’s Smoothest Voice: Ken Nordine Turns 90
Vocalo Video: Ken Nordine turns 90, gives us a trippy tour of his house/studiog More…
Some of the best live music happens in an office, namely NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. Their videos are now on NPR Music’s YouTube Channel.
So many good ones up: Bill Callahan, Farfarlo, Avett Bros, Tallest Man on Earth, Raphael Saadiq, Ralph Stanley, Sam Phillips.
The following exercise in simplicity is just Sir Tom Jones, accompanied by Brian Monroney, his musical director since 1996 and a masterful guitarist — with a few fans among the nipper folk, all clustered around a diminutive desk:
“I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street.” —Langston Hughes:
“Same in Blues / Comment on Curb” 1:46 Langston Hughes with Charles Mingus and the Horace Parlan Quintet mp3):
Lucky Psychic Hut has posted the entire Weary Blues
via WFMU.
BeatlesTube.net lists Beatles songs and videos, w/ lotsa info on each. For example, here’s a “Lucy…Diamonds” animation (from Yellow Sub movie), then some of the John/Paul quotes about “Day…Life.”
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
About A Day in the Life video – BeatlesTube.net:
JOHN 1968: “‘A Day in the Life’ –that was something. I dug it. It was a good piece of work between Paul and me. I had the ‘I read the news today’ bit, and it turned Paul on. Now and then we really turn each other on with a bit of song, and he just said ‘yeah’ –bang bang, like that. It just sort of happened beautifully, and we arranged it and rehearsed it, which we don’t often do, the afternoon before. So we all knew what we were playing, we all got into it. It was a real groove, the whole scene on that one. Paul sang half of it and I sang half. I needed a middle-eight for it, but Paul already had one there.”
that was co-written. The orchestra crescendo and that was based on some of the ideas I’d been getting from Stockhausen and people like that, which is more abstract. So we told the orchestra members to just start on their lowest note and end on their highest note and go in their own time… which orchestras are frightened to do. That’s not the tradition. But we got ’em to do it.”
PAUL 1988: “Then I went around to all the trumpet players and said, ‘Look all you’ve got to do is start at the beginning of the 24 bars and go through all the notes on your instrument from the lowest to the highest– and the highest has to happen on that 24th bar, that’s all. So you can blow ’em all in that first thing and then rest, then play the top one there if you want, or you can steady them out.’ And it was interesting because I saw the orchestra’s characters. The strings were like sheep– they all looked at each other: ‘Are you going up? I am!’ and they’d all go up together, the leader would take them all up. The trumpeters were much wilder.”
This tune is transfixing: “War & Peace” Music and Words concept by Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本龍), Words by Arto Lindsay
Performed live @ ZEPP, Tokyo 24 July 2005, by: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Steve Jansen, Christian Fennesz, Skuli Sverrisson, Keigo Oyamada. “War & Peace” studio vers is on the 2004 CD Chasm
War & Peace
Is war as old as gravity?
If I love peace do I have to love trees?
Are there animals that like peace and animals that like war?
Is peace quiet?
Is making war an instinct we inherited from our hunting or farming
ancestors?Were farmers the first warriors?
Do we love without thinking?
Do we do the right thing without thinking?
When children fight with their brothers and sisters are they learning
how to make war?How do we test the limit of our bodies without war?
Why do they compare war to a man and peace to a woman?
Peace is unpredictable.
Why is war so exciting?
War is the best game and the worst life.
Is peace the hardest work?
Is peace a time of tension?
What are the different kinds of victory, in a war, in a race?
Is despair a solution?
Why is it dangerous to say “never forget”?
Same song performed by RS’s old bandmates: Yellow Magic Orchestra.
