Long time, no post.  Still alive and thinking, just not writing.

I love this group, Lake Street Dive.  In this, and at least one other YouTube vid, they perform outside with no echo or other effects and sound fabulous.  Great musicians.  Keep on cookin'.

Corrine Baily Rae, My Current Obsession

For the last few weeks, I haven't been able to get the songs from Corinne Bailey Rae's latest album, "The Sea" out of my head.  It didn' t help that PBS recently played her performance of most of the album on their Live From the Artist's Den series.  (See photo at right)

Do yourself a favor and get hold of this album.  It will touch your heart and rock your socks off at the same time.

During the early stages of putting this album together, Corinne's husband, Jason Rae, died of a methadone overdose.  That tragic loss informs many of the tracks and their minor keys.  At the same time, the feel of the album is a bit harder and "rockier" than her debut album.  All together, one of the great albums of the year.  Although, beware.  I am so taken by her as a performer that I may have lost my objectivity.

Judge for yourself.  Here is her video for, "I'd Do It All Again", the song that most directly references her passage through her grief.  I get chills every time I hear the pain and triumph in her voice.

Tired Of The Same Old Crap On The Radio?

If you are of "a certain age" and hate most of the streaming music that is available via the internet, here is a wondrous new resource. The venerable KCRW Public Radio station in LA is now streaming its Morning Becomes Eclectic-style programing 24/7 on the net. It is called Eclectic24. (Thanks to Mickey Kaus for the tip)

I just finished listening for about 45 minutes and it was astounding. I am really well versed in contemporary pop music (excluding rap and tweener stars of the week). But in this short sample I heard nothing that I had ever heard before, yet every piece played was very musical and demanded and caught my attention. Finally at the end of this listening sample they did play a Jimi Hendrix cut, but a very obscure one. No "Classic Rock" canned programming here with its six plays per day of Stairway to Heaven. As great as those songs are, Classic Rock radio stations play a small list absolutely to death.

A nice feature of the site is the constantly updated listing of what is playing, along with a short bio of the singer/bands and links to their websites and iTunes/Amazon to purchase things you love.

A really impressive site. I won't abandon my beloved WFUV, but this will make a nice alternative and a great resource for new music on my iPod.

A Meditation On Democracy Now That The Shouting Is Over

In the first six months of 1992, after the first Gulf War and well before 9/11, the Canadian poet and songwriter, Leonard Cohen recorded an album that would be released that November. It was called, "The Future". Included in the album was a song called "Democracy". Somehow, I don't think that the election of Bill Clinton made the song irrelevant. Nor will next November's result.

It has a powerful beauty about it and (as Andrew Sullivan reminded us today), it should be remembered during all election cycles. Perhaps it should be the universal theme song for all the TV coverage.

Here are the full lyrics:

"Democracy"

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

American Idol - Cynicism Likely To Keep The Worst With Us For A While

Now that the final 10 males and females have performed it is clear that the worst perfomers continue to include the newly controversial Antonella Barba. Sundance Head finally found a piece of himself this week and gave a decent performance in the only style he appears capable of mastering. Tony Bennett week will be a hoot if he is still around. Excruciatingly bad this week was Sanjaya Malakar, he of the very weak voice and enormously cute smile.

But fear not, dear reader, the cynicism of Americans knows no bounds. According to the vote predicting DialIdol site, both are very safe. Likely to take the fall are: Haley Scarnato, Leslie Hunt, Stephanie Edwards or Gina Glocksen among the women; and A.J. Tabaldo, Chris Richardson, Nicholas Pedro or Brandon Rogers among the men.

None of these probable losers are undeserving of the appellation. There never was any possibility that any of these folks would prevail as the ultimate winner. It will take weeks for the field to be cut down to a size at which only the worst singer each week will be eliminated.

My admiration for Melinda Dillon continues. She is so mature and comfortable a singer that she seems to be in a different league than the others. Among the men, Blake Lewis was newly impressive singing a Jamiroquai song with, as Randy said, a high degree of difficulty. He was able to make the song his own with some scat singing, a quick touch of beat boxing, and an onstage comfort that bespeaks professionalism.

David Geffen, Free Man In Paris Again?

In 1974 Joni Mitchell released her great album, Court and Spark. Included on the record was a song that resonated with every person bearing up under the stress of managing people in any kind of organization. The song is "Free Man in Paris" and here are some of the lyrics:

The way I see it, he said
You just can't win it...
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please em all
There's always somebody calling you down
I do my best
And I do good business
There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine

I was a free man in paris
I felt unfettered and alive
There was nobody calling me up for favors
And no one's future to decide
You know I'd go back there tomorrow
But for the work I've taken on
Stoking the star maker machinery
Behind the popular song

As is well known, that song was written about Mitchell's former manager and then-current boss at Arista Records, one David Geffen.

Now that his low key conversation with Maureen Dowd, the doyenne of political name calling, has turned into the big story of the week, he may well be wishing for a quiet stroll on the Champs Elysees.

To be sure, the current dust up between Hillary and Obama and their camps is only the first of many in this long night of our presidential saga. Just wait until Rudi, with his wives and drag costumes fully engages in the race. You ain't seen nothin' until we get to a Hillary vs. Rudi election campaign. Those people take no prisoners and they've been developing their portfolios on one another since the almost-was Senate race in 2000.

American Idol - The First Dropouts

Three of the four contestants who left last night were in the bottom four as ranked by DialIdol. The slight surprise was Nicole Tranquillo, who was ranked sixth from the bottom. During the show it was announced that Sunjaya Malakar was in the top three vote getters for the men. DialIdol has him at number two. So the lesson is that the DialIdol predictions cannot be taken literally, which they themselves recognize. But in general terms, that site is able to distinguish among those at the higher or lower end of the contestant pile.

Those still at the bottom of the list can redeem themselves with great performances next week, and the reverse is also possible. So the rankings may change. The only two whose fates cannot change next week are Sundance and Antonella. They are demonstrably so bad that significant improvement is not possible. They will continue, for a few weeks, to be protected by the cynical voters following the Vote For The Worst ploy. However, as the field shrinks, more and more people will vote independently for their favorites and the proportion of cynical voters will be reduced to meaninglessness.

Announced last night were the celebrity guests for this season. These kids will have the honor of being coached by Tony Bennett and the laughable spectacle of receiving advice from Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits. How many versions of "Mrs. Brown", or "I'm Henry VIII" can we stand? Smiling and looking cute is Noone's only real claim to fame.