Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’,” featuring Zac Galifianakis gyrating on and around various farm equipment while Will Oldham lurks in the background.

PS: Also, clogging.

Sharon Jones (the undisputed current queen of soul, at least around here) and the Dap-Kings are going out on tour, but are coming nowhere near our fair city.. TEARDROPS. I missed her last time she was here, too. Anyway, BrooklynVegan has a bit of info on Daptone records, as well as a download from SJ’s new album. Highly recommended, obviously.

Some YouTube:

SJ singing Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In):

SJ sings “Things Got To Get Better”:

And a few mp3s:

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: How Do I Let a Good Man Down?, from Naturally
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: The Dap Dip, from Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: Pick It Up, Lay It in the Cut, from Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

love, celine

If you’re hanging around this evening, looking for a great band to see, head on over to Grimey’s and catch the everybodyfields, doing an in-store performance at 6 PM. Their new album, Nothing is Okay, is in stores today, and from what I can tell of the tracks I’ve heard so far, sounds pretty great. You can sample some of the new stuff on myspace, or through their virtual jukebox on the official website. The show is free! The CD will be worth every penny.

Nothing much to report over here. We went down to BarCamp this weekend, and out to the movies to see Superbad. Matt works for Emma, so it was kind of a given that he would be attending BarCamp. I had hoped for something a little different, maybe more conversation on music-related topics. I mean, seriously! There was a guitar in the logo. It’s my own fault for not really paying attention to the schedule of speakers beforehand. There were some interesting topics, and Alison (and Dean and Kelly) were kind enough to let me hang on the bus when the heat was too much to handle. Overall, it was an interesting experience, and I did get to meet a few new people and say hello to a couple of blogo-friends that I don’t get to see very often.

Superbad was, of course, excellent.

This week is kind of quiet for Matt and me. Dave, over at the NashvilleFeed, mentioned to us at BarCamp that he was happy to see our blog getting a little use. I do want to continue to blog around here, at least for the forseeable future. I had a lot on my plate, especially at the beginning of the year, that prevented me from really devoting a lot of time to anything outside of my job and my family. Some of that has subsided, at least for now, and I’ll have a little more time to write. Matt (heyyyy, did you know that there are two of us? ‘cuz most people don’t!), I think, is fresh out of blogjuice, so I think I’ll probably be flying solo around here for a while.

I start teaching full-time next week, so this week is devoted to doing all the things that I’ve avoided all summer. One of these completely unexciting tasks is scrubbing the kitchen floor. Here’s my OH BOY, IT’S TIME TO SCRUB THE FLOOR! mini-mix. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it, just stuff that I’ve been listening to lately.

Soundtrack to a Scrubbing:

1. Son Volt: Catching On, from Trace
2. Golden Smog: Corvette, from Another Fine Day
3. Rosco Gordon: No More Doggin’, from Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - A Musical Journey
4. Elvis Presley: Mystery Train, from Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - A Musical Journey
5. The Frames: God Bless Mom, from The Roads Outgrown

happy wednesday,

celine

I didn’t get up this morning with a plan to post about the big white leisure suit in the sky, and, to be honest, I enjoy his music but am no Elvis expert. The more I’ve poked around, though, reading blogs this morning, the more I realized that I wanted to say just a little bit of something about Elvis. It’s not much, but maybe the youtube clips and the mp3s will make up for that!

I was born and raised in Mississippi, and when I was making the transition into junior high, my family moved up to a suburb of Memphis. We were so close to Graceland that I almost could have walked there. Growing up around Memphis, pretty much everyone has some sort of connection to Elvis. My best friend in high school was his cousin, and I knew a woman who worked at the airport who dated him, briefly (but seriously, growing up in Memphis, who didn’t know a woman who dated Elvis?). He would come and pick her up in his convertible and would buy her clothes for each date, and he was always such a gentleman, she said. I made her tell me every little detail she remembered, and she would be embarrassed to talk about it, but I think she was completely gaga over him.

I was actually fairly ambivalent about Elvis throughout all of my growing up years in Memphis (never even went to Graceland! not once!), and it’s only been in the last few years that I’ve really listened a little more deeply to his music, going beyond just the regular old stuff that you might hear on the radio every now and then. One of the ways that I make money around here is through teaching classes in music history, and as a component of the class we study the evolution of rock and roll. We always talk about the appearance of Elvis on the scene, his role in early rock, and how people like Elvis led us down the road of “whitewashing” the history of rock and roll. Rock and roll, a genre that evolved directly from R&B, blues and gospel (and, to be fair, some country, but the R&B influence is predominant), from the “race records” of the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s, built from the songs and culture of the black community. But this is a rant for another day. I should say, though, that I am consistently surprised by the number of students who come through my doors believing that rock and roll is a white man’s game, and always has been.

I really think, though, that Elvis just sang his heart out. I think he was a pawn in Sam Phillips’ game to sell black music to white audiences, but Elvis.. I think he was just there to rock.

A couple of interesting links:

Fuelfriends has a great remembrance, and a zip of the King’s final show in 1977.

WMFU never fails to entertain, with the mishmash of Elvis (and Elvis-related) oddities they have to share.

My Old Kentucky Home offers up some great Elvis covers.

Also, today is Elvis Presley day on Turner Classic Movies. If you are enjoying your day from the comforts of your own home, like me (I call it “summer vacation”), you can see sunup to sundown movies featuring the King. I am especially looking forward to Viva Las Vegas, showing tonight at 9 PM.

Johnny Cash does Elvis:

Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog”:

And a few MP3s from the Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, recorded in 1956 at Sun Studios):

Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis: I Shall Not Be Moved (the tracklisting doesn’t mention it, but I swear that I hear some Carl Perkins in there.)
Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis: Just a Little Talk With Jesus
Elvis Presley: Paralyzed
Elvis Presley: That’s When Your Heartaches Begin

These are a little.. “noodly” at points, but still great to hear.

love, celine

Is definitely Locust Street. See aforementioned blog for great mp3s, a few musical history lessons, and a compendium of pretty much every interesting Serge Gainsbourg clip ever posted on youtube, including this one, where he says on screen that he’d like to screw Whitney Houston. To Whitney Houston. Using more colorful language. He touches her on the neck and her eyeballs look like they’re going to explode:

I especially appreciate the attempts of the host to translate “I would like to fuck her!” into “No no! Oh, he says you are great! Tres jolie! You are pretty.”

I can’t say anything that would do justice to the event last night that was Rufus Wainwright, Live at the Ryman, but it was probably one of the more incredibly entertaining things I’ve seen in my whole entire life. Oh, Rufus! I guess I went into it expecting a fairly straightforward show; I’d never seen him live before last night and didn’t really have much of a clue as to his on-stage persona.. I did not expect costume changes. Rufus in a sparkling patchwork suit, Rufus in lederhosen, wearing a tennis bracelet and a diamond necklace. And the best part of the night? Rufus in full-on Judy Garland a la Summer Stock drag, lipstick and hat and hotpants and high heels and all, lip synching to his version of the Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler/JG classic, “Get Happy.” Rufus did a few Judy covers in his show - these were definitely high points of the evening for me. I know that he did the entire shebang Judy @ Carnegie, 1961 concerts last year, and I found out today that he’s actually set to do Judy at the Hollywood Bowl later this year, and I think it’s a perfect marriage. He sings the JG material so beautifully. Anyway, so he did Judy Garland, which was perfection. The other beautiful moment was the duet with his sister Lucy, where they sang the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah.” He has this perfect mix of innocence and anguish and hope and such a beautiful soft quality to everything that he does. It’s perfect. I’ve actually not even heard any of the most recent album, but judging from what I heard last night, I think I’ll really love it.

I missed A Fine Frenzy, but caught most of Neko’s set, which was enjoyable. Even though I think her voice is pretty much perfect, I haven’t ever really been able to get into her music.. Which makes me an indie rock sinner, I guess. I do like her stuff with the New Pornographers, though.

I had an excellent time.. Thank you again, Alison, for the ticket!! I owe you bigtime.

And, from youtube - Rufus as Judy:

Aaaand.. Judy as Judy!

The Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall recording has been a favorite of mine this summer. Hopefully later in the week I can do a post on that.

love, celine

1. Most importantly:

eeeeeeee! Huge buttsmacks (I’d like to institute the use of the word “buttsmacks” instead of “thanks”) to Alison for the ticket.


2. I have been battling the wilds of Craigslist for three weeks in search of a bread maker. This has almost become an obsession. I thought I found one last week, but I think that the person flaked. This has been the third or fourth flake-out via Craigslist, and I am slowly being driven into madness. First of all, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF HOLY JESUS, if you have something to sell on Craigslist, don’t be a flake. If ninjas come to your house in the middle of the night and steal your breadmaker, the one you’d promised to me, have the decency to shoot me an email and say, “hey, SORRY, BUT NINJAS STOLE MY BREADMAKER.” If your grandmother decides to buy it from you and you can’t say no, just say that! If you realize that you do actually want to make bread with it, that’s cool! Just say so! Seriously! I hate Craigslist sometimes.


Anyway, all of this to say: Please, if you have a breadmaker that you would like to get rid of, I have money pretty much burning a hole in my pocket. I will come to your house and buy it today. I will even bake you a loaf. And then I will eat it, and tell you how wonderful it was. Please, we are dying over here. This obsession is about to ruin me.. I seriously check Craigslist for new breadmaker listings multiple times everyday.


3. And finally: If you are on facebook and into FACEBOOK SCRABBLE, I would like to challenge you to a scrabble-off. My friends are tired of me pestering them for games.


Ah. Rufus Wainwright, facebook scrabble, and obsessive checking of the Craigslist classified ads. This is obviously the best Tuesday ever.


love, celine


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