Last month the GF and I took a trip to New York. She had never been before, and I hadn't been in a while, so we figured it was a good excuse for our first real vacation of the summer. The big news to report would be that the first sentence of this paragraph will be the last time I ever refer to her as "the GF," but Carl at The Opening Acts already broke that news. So instead, I'll talk about the second coolest thing I experienced on the trip... street performers.
I really like the idea of buskers, but honestly I usually don't get all that excited when I see one. We have plenty of them in Nashville, but they are invariably some dude who looks like he's about a week away from being homeless sing Hank Williams Sr. covers, or a really bad version of "I Walk The Line."
New York is different beast. It helps that they have one of the largest subway systems in the world, and you'll see just about every time of busker known to man there, from the the man-and-his-guitar types that we're overrun with here in Music City, to the Bleeding Gums Murphy style jazz man, blowing lonely blue notes from a beat up saxophone. In fact, you see so many of them that you get kind of discriminating about who you will and won't tip. Dude singing R&B to a karaoke tape? No. Mariachi band moving from car to car in the Subway? Close but no cigar. In our week there, we only threw greenbacks into two peoples hats.
The first was a street drummer. Now in NYC, these guys are a dime a dozen. Anyone with a industrial sized plastic bucket and a pair of Vic Firth's can set up shop on the sidewalk and make a racket, but this guy was impressive. Sure he had the standard issue bucket, but it also looked like he'd raided the kitchen of an abandoned flat. He had a cookie sheet, several pots and pans, and an oven rack, and out of these discarded culinary tools he was playing the kind of drum solo that would make even the most Neil Peart obsessed fanboy drool.
By far though the coolest street musician we saw was on our last day in the city. As we were hurriedly marching through the sweltering labyrinth that is the 53rd St/Lexington Ave Station in the summer, we heard a sound that stopped us dead in our tracks. There against the wall was a guy playing a singing saw. Hell to the yeah. I'd heard the sound that a bowed wood saw can make, but I'd never seen anyone play one before. We stood there absolutely transfixed for about five minutes before the heat and the fact that we had a plane to catch sent us on our way, but it took me the rest of the day to get over my giddiness at seeing someone create such a beautiful sound out of something that was never designed to be a musical instrument.
When I first read about Noel Gallagher quitting Oasis this weekend, my first thought was "Again?" After reading more about it, and seeing that this time it's all official like and apparently permanent, my thought changed to "What took him so long?"
The battles between the Gallagher brothers are familiar to even the most casual of fans. Both Liam and Noel have taken leave from the band at various points. Liam famously sat out the taping of the band's MTV Unplugged episode, something that arguably made the show more memorable. Hearing the band's hits straight from the mouth of the guy who wrote them made for a much more unique experience. And during the band's 2000 European tour, it was Noel's turn to split. In fact, at the time he announced his intention to make like Brian Wilson and no longer tour overseas. It was a threat he ended up not following through on, but given the tumultuous nature of the brother's relationship, the current split is hardly a surprise. Of course, it remains to be seen whether it is permanent or not. It could be he's taking a page from the Paul McCartney playbook and announcing his departure in order to promote his upcoming solo album. Of course, the Beatles never reunited after that.
If he does mean it and is done with Oasis forever, I can't imagine the band going on without him. Despite the fact that Liam, guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell have all been contributing songs over the past couple of albums, Noel is definitely the creative heart of the band. The friction between the brothers has always been a big part of the band's appeal, and without it Liam would probably become an insufferable twit. Of course, some might say that's the problem that led to this situation in the first place. This monday b-side is a rerun, but it seemed appropriate under the circumstances.Oasis - "One Way Road" (mp3) from the Who Feels Love single
or, How an Unplanned Trip to Dollar General Made My Night
On the way home from work tonite, the fiance announced that we needed to stop by Dollar General to pick up a couple of things. A couple of things turned into several things, and we ended up being there much longer than planned (in fairness, we had planned to be there for two minutes, so fifteen minutes wasn't that long). It wasn't the way I envisioned kicking off my Monday evening, but in wandering the aisles, I found a copy of Cheap Trick's second album, In Color, for a mere five bucks. And not the old busted original pressing. No, this was the remastered version with bonus tracks. Score!
Cheap Trick is one of those bands I've loved forever, but for whatever reason never became a completist about them. My collection of their stuff started when I was ten and I bought the single of "Stop This Game" at the University Mall in Spokane (I've still got it in a box somewhere around this place). My first album of theirs was One On One, the purchase of which was surely inspired by countless viewings of the "She's Tight" video on MTV. It won't go down as one of the greatest videos in rock history, but God, that riff!!! In the years since then, the collection has grown to half a dozen or so CDs, so obviously there are still some holes to fill.Anyway, if you find yourself at a Dollar General with Lincoln burning a hole in your pocket in the next few weeks (or online with a couple bucks more in your wallet), I strongly suggest you pick up In Color. "Hello There" is one of the greatest rockers to ever open an album, "Downed" is pure pop perfection, and it also has the surprisingly wussy studio version of "I Want You To Want Me." And among the bonus tracks, you'll find this...Cheap Trick - "Southern Girls (Demo)" (mp3) from In ColorNow if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to what I was doing before I started this post... plotting my trip to Las Vegas next month to see Cheap Trick do Sgt. Pepper live.
It's funny how sometimes when you live somewhere, you can ignore the little treasures that are right under your nose. For example, I've lived in Nashville for over 20 years, and until last month, I had never experienced the wonderfulness that is the Pancake Pantry. How I managed to go two decades without tasting their delicious cinnamon pancakes and creamy syrup is beyond me.
Another local treasure that I'd somehow missed out on is The Long Players. Founded by pop wunderkind Bill Lloyd and E Street Band bassist Gary Tallent, the group of all star local sidemen have been getting together several times a year since 2004 and performing note perfect, front-to-back renditions of classic albums with a rotating cast of singers and musicians. Their guests over the past five years have included stars from the worlds of country (Suzy Bogguss, Allison Moorer, and members of New Grass Revival) and rock (members of Cheap Trick, Fleetwood Mac, Badfinger, and the Georgia Satellites), along with various members from the local rock scene.Last month I finally found out what I had been missing. Their featured album was Prince's Purple Rain, and it was pretty amazing. A lineup of locals did a stellar job of fronting the band (Aaron Winters of Space Capone, A.J. Croce, Chris Mitchell, and Shelly Fairchild among them). But the real highlight of the show was when they brought out former Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson. He performed "Purple Rain" during the main set, and for the encore played his iconic solo from "Little Red Corvette" while Lari White sang, and then brought the house down when the band finished with "1999." It was the most fun I've had at a show this year.Tonite at the Cannery Ballroom, The Long Players will be taking on The Beatle's White Album as part of the annual Fab Four Festival. Tickets are $20 at the door. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
