dietsch ::

7

All seven and we'll watch them fall
They stand in the way of love
And we will smoke them all
With an intellect
And a savoir-faire
No one in the whole universe
Will ever compare
I am yours now and you are mine
And together we'll love through all space and time
So don't cry
Today all seven will die.

Random iPod second-line poetry

I think it was December She couldn't ever sing any better And lies in the meadow with her hands tied behind her back Don't you feel like breaking out If you want to fly, push your doubts aside I will follow you into the sun That is all that I can do Like I'm talking through the wires of a telephone But I've known many who would gladly swim to get to where you are To the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank, searching for you I am sorry to tell you it never gets better or worse* It'll come clear But his brain was in his ass In the drunk tank And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes *the second line of, yes, This Is Hell by Elvis Costello. This song is stalking me.

Dylan/Cash

I'm not a big fan of unreleased music--bootlegged concerts, demos, etc. Most of it has, at best, more historical/novelty value than musical value. Production values are often spotty, and songs are sometimes incompletely arranged or even unfinished. Even with Rhino's great reissues of Elvis Costello's records, all of which contain copious bonus materials, the results are uneven. Some tracks show Costello's brilliant songs bubbling up from his imagination, and some are otherwise enjoyable tracks that simply didn't fit the original record thematically. But many are scratchy demos or live cuts that sound really bad. I usually listen only once and then delete them from my iPod. But I just found the unreleased Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash sessions, recorded in 1969 for a Columbia studio album that was never finished. Only one track, "Girl from the North Country," saw the light of day, on Dylan's excellent Nashville Skyline album. These tracks, largely, aren't great. The mp3.com page I've linked to is accurate in saying that Cash does better work here than Dylan, who is off-key and out of time. (Although as I type this, "Ring of Fire" is playing, with John and Bob alternating vocals, and Dylan's voice is in good form, so it's not all bad.) But, man, with guitar work by Carl Perkins, it's fun to think about what this record could have been.

Blessed with a profound imagination, he used the gift to express all the various lost causes of the human soul. This is a miraculous and humbling thing. Listen to him, and he always brings you to your senses. He rises high above all, and he'll never die or be forgotten, even by persons not born yet -- especially those persons -- and that is forever.

--Bob Dylan, on Johnny Cash

Random iPod 12

15 shuffled songs from my iPod: Cold, Cold Heart, Hank Williams Hang Wire, Pixies Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand, The Who Turkish Song of the Damned, The Pogues Metropolis, The Pogues Arizona, The Constantines Ride Me Down Easy, Waylon Jennings I Remember Nothing, Joy Division Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Jennings Coming In From the Cold, The Delgados Half As Much, Hank Williams This Is Hell, Elvis Costello It's A Beautiful Day, Pizzicato Five Martha, Tom Waits A Singer of Songs, Johnny Cash Couple thoughts: Who the hell are the Constantines? So that's what the Delgados sound like. I think I'm one of the last people in New York to hear them. And, oh great, it's the return of the "This Is Hell" mind virus. Sigh.

Random iPod 11

In honor of the ShufflePlay Game, the next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Lalaland, Sea Ray Twist the Knife, Neko Case & Her Boyfriends El Camino, Goh Nakamura Let Me Get up on It, Tom Waits Glow Girl, The Who Teenage, Tribeca Names, Cat Power Like a Prayer, Junkie Brewster Just So (Pepito Remix), Dealership Havalina, Pixies Dream, Douglas Heart Allison, Pixies Slow Rollin' Low, Waylon Jennings Interzone, Joy Division Whip the Blankets, Neko Case & Her Boyfriends Barry Ritholtz, at the IPac blog, makes the case that shuffle is the new radio. From my own experiences, I can see what he's saying. I love loading up new music (from band sites, music blogs, or iTunes) onto my iPod and just playing them at random.

Hell mind virus

Lyrics courtesy the (unofficial) Elvis Costello Home Page. CHORUS: This is hell, this is hell I am sorry to tell you It never gets better or worse But you get used to it after a spell For heaven is hell in reverse The bruiser spun a hula hoop As all the barmen preen and pout The neon "i" of nightclub flickers on and off And finally blew out The irritating jingle Of the belly-dancing phoney Turkish girls The eerie glare of ultra violet Perfect dental work CHORUS Continue reading "Hell mind virus"

Random iPod first-line poetry

You are light-tasting Open up your ribcage I was born in Dixie in a boomer shack Her head is in a bitter way Past three o'clock Standing on the corner with the low-down blues Oceans lay between us and the things we think we need The ragman draws circles up and down the block The worms crawl in Well my time went so quickly The island it is silent now His heart organ was where it should be Waiting for the big fall Don't you worry about me There's a man going 'round taking names

your heart is ripshit

Jen and I saw the Pixies last night, at Hammerstein Ballroom, and I don't know what to say that won't sound like a cliché, but I will say this: There's still no band like the Pixies. The Datsuns opened for them, and despite how much the hipster kids love that band, they sounded anemic and dead in comparison. I also thought the Pixies just looked funny when they came out. Kim Deal in her blue sweater, looking just like the cutest mom in the neighborhood. David Lovering and Charles Thompson like your weird uncles. Most surprising, though, was Joey Santiago--slim, handsome, and rocking that shaved head. He was hotter than all the string-haired Datsuns combined. I don't go to many shows, and I've only been to shows in small clubs lately, so I'd forgotten the power of a huge sound system blasting your body so hard you can feel the sonic. The Pixies were in my body as much as they were my head. If you want a more coherent review, you might try this morning's New York Times.

Random iPod 9

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Such Great Heights, Iron & Wine Shake Your Rump, Beastie Boys Queensboro Bridge, David Mead Monkey Gone to Heaven, Pixies Reasons to Quit, Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson Vice from the Inner Soul, The Confusions Rock a My Soul, Pixies The Card Cheat, The Clash Eugene's Lament, Beastie Boys Under the Bridge, Sandy Silver I Don't Get It, Cowboy Junkies Disorder, Joy Division New Dawn Fades, Joy Division A Well Respected Man, The Kinks Police & Thieves, The Clash

Madeleine Peyroux and the Cowboy Junkies, live, tonight

Alas, it's in pukey old Boston. Which sucks, because if it were in NYC, I'd move hell and earth to be there. I mean, to me, that's like Sting appearing with U2 or something. But anyway, the show will apparently be archived on the etown site, soonish, and I will get a copy, oh yes, and it will be mine.

Wired remix

Here's coolness: The Creative Commons--in cooperation with Negativland, Wired magazine, and a group of 16 bands (including My Morning Jacket, Beastie Boys, and Chuck D)--has put together a remixable CD. You read that right. This CD comes with sampling and remix rights. Strip off beats, vocals, instrumentals, whatever, and use them in your own projects. Now, I ain't a sampler or musician, so the rights issues don't really affect me, but I think it's damn cool.

Charles Thompson, on Pixies

"So we were in contrast to the mainstream, and now people are saying, "Frank, you spawned a whole new generation of alternative rock music." And I'm thinking, what alternative rock music?"

Clash in my home

Thanks to the world's best girlfriend, the 25th-anniversary edition of London Calling has arrived, as an early birthday present. I'm listening to the Vanilla Tapes now, and if I have time between boxes later, I'll pop in the DVD. Yes, Nagl, the U.S. release has the video stuff. Yay!

Leonard's birthday

Tuesday is Leonard Cohen's seventieth birthday, and in his honor: Seventy things you probably don't know about him

London Calling, legacy edition

Via TMFTML, a review of the special edition of London Calling. I hope the U.S. release contains the DVD.

Oh my god!

We're going to see the Pixies! I'm seriously so excited I could piss myself.

Random iPod 8

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Tighten Up, Lee "Scratch" Perry Don't Love You, TV on the Radio Namaste, Beastie Boys I Concentrate on You, Ella Fitzgerald Look for Me (I'll Be Around), Neko Case Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Jennings Moral Kiosk, R.E.M. Adore, Prince A Kissed Out Red Floatboat, Cocteau Twins Six-Sixty-Six, Frank Black & The Catholics Cream, Prince Runnin' Out of Fools, Neko Case To Love Is to Bury, Cowboy Junkies The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, R.E.M. Lonesome Town, Rick Nelson

Headvirus purge

Wolves, Lower

Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, don't get caught.
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, let us out.
Wilder lower wolves. Here's a house to put wolves out the door.
In a corner garden, wilder lower wolves.
House in order. House in order. House in order. House in order.
Down there they're rounding a posse to ride.

(repeat verse)

Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, don't get caught.
Suspicion yourself, suspicion yourself, suspicion us all.
Wilder lower wolves. Here's a house to put wolves out the door.
In a corner garden, wilder lower wolves.
House in order. House in order. House in order. House in order.
Down there they're rounding a posse to ride.

Music on the East River

Saturday was a great day for an outdoor show; the rains stayed away and the day wasn't too hot. The bands, though, were like a house afire. Tigers and Monkeys started the set, with songs inspired by blues and Southern rock. T&M, a project of singer Shonali Bhowmik, is currently touring with Ted Leo, Saturday's headliner. Next up, Brooklyn-based Sea Ray, a sort of wispy-rock combo with shades of The Polyphonic Spree, Belle and Sebastian, and Brit-pop bands like Travis. Sea Ray, however, blows the Coldplay types away by not being whiny navel-gazers. Jen loves 'em for their prog-rock tinkering with chord progressions. After Sea Ray came The Natural History, a pop-punk trio out of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Ordinarily, I'd suspect Upper East Side "punks" as poseurs, but Natural History has chops. Finishing the afternoon: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (or Ted Leo/Rx or Ted Leo and the Pillbox Hats or whatever he's calling his band these days). Leo and his band played a tight set, of Clash- and Jam-influenced punk-pop. Leo is a rock hero in New York, playing a legendary South Street Seaport show during the blackout last August. When the power failed, Leo convinced the barrista inside a nearby Starbucks truck to loan Leo his generators. Leo and band plugged in and treated the crowd to a latte-powered jam. All four bands have MP3s officially available, as all good bands should, so dig 'em out and have a listen. Jen has pictures from the day, here.

Track-splat three

From cheesedip.com, via Jen, three songs that make me want to jump in front of a moving train. Santeria, Sublime "If I could find that heina and that sancho that she'd found Well I'd pop a cap in sancho and I'd slap her down" The fuck? Shine, Collective Soul This song, along with that stupid Joan Osborne thing, once prompted a newspaper (I've forgotten which one) to ask, "Has Gen X discovered God?" (Also.) And lest you think I only hate songs recorded in the last ten years... Age of Aquarius, 5th Dimension I've hated this ever since a hippy music teacher made us sing it in grade school. In earlier centuries, the hippy would have been burned as a witch for this New Age drivel, and burning's too good for her.

Clash outtakes on new CD

As TMFTML says, fuck, I'll have to buy it again. (This'll make the third time.)

Watch it!

Here's 50,000 watts of goodwill! (I love the new Pixies song. Just thought I'd share.)

Random iPod 7

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: As Time Goes By, Jimmy Durante Tightly, Neko Case Stupid Girl, Rolling Stones Flower's Grave, Tom Waits Where You Lead, Carole King Starving in the Belly of a Whale, Tom Waits It's Bad Grammar, Baby, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Testament to Youth in Verse, New Pornographers Desafinado, Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli Bummed Out City, Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros Winter Lady, Leonard Cohen Ball and Biscuit, White Stripes GhettoMusick, OutKast Centre for Holy Wars, New Pornographers Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse, What More Can I Say I think it's time to rebuild my iPod's library. I see the same artists and often the same songs from one Random iPod entry to the next.

Random iPod 6

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Brazil (Reprise), Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli disko, Martin Bonnier Descarga, Tito Puente It's a Beautiful Day, Pizzicato Five Set You Free, Ted Leo Possession (Live), Elvis Costello & the Attractions One Note Samba, Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli The Euphonious Whatever, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Public Image, Public Image Ltd. One Tin Soldier, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes The World and His Wife, Elvis Costello & the Attractions Moment of Clarity, Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse I Missed the Point, Neko Case This Is Not a Love Song, Public Image Ltd. Lullaby of London, The Pogues

Random iPod 5

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: King of the Road, Roger Miller Burnin' Streets (London Is Burning), Joe Strummer Tiny Barnes, Bearsuit The Hole In My Heart, Dawn Parade Perfect Day, Lou Reed Possession (Live), Elvis Costello & the Attractions Moonlight Zombie Dance, Bruce Lenkei The Laughing Song, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks The Wind, Cat Stevens Shiloh Town, Mark Lanegan Rumba De Barcelona, Manu Chao Sweet Happy Life, Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli Supermodel, Juliana Hatfield I'm Gonna Make Him Mine, The Donnas Spread, OutKast

Random iPod 4

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Sea of Love, Cat Power Relax, The Who The World And His Wife, Elvis Costello & the Attractions By Hook or By Crook, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Black Math, The White Stripes Roses, OutKast Tattoo, The Who Once I Loved, Rosemary Clooney & John Pizzarelli Execution Day, New Pornographers We Float, P. J. Harvey Baby Love Child, Pizzicato Five Get Rid of That Girl, The Donnas Rollercoaster by the Sea, Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers Breaking Us in Two, Joe Jackson Everything Goes to Hell, Tom Waits

Random iPod 3

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Things That Scare Me, Neko Case Don't Forget to Dance, The Kinks Flight to Jordan, Tito Puente Fumblin' With the Blues, Tom Waits No One Knows When I'm Gone, Tom Waits Sea Song, Robert Wyatt Sure Beats Me, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks Putty (In Your Hands), Detroit Cobras* Lonesome Blues, The Be Good Tanyas Heart of Gold, The Kinks Jimmy Jimmy, The Undertones Gentle on My Mind (Live), Glen Campbell Sci-Fi Wasabe, Cibo Matto Testament to Youth in Verse, New Pornographers J'ai Deux Amours, Josephine Baker *No, this isn't the only Detroit Cobras song on my iPod. I don't know why it keeps coming up.

Random iPod 2

The next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Midnight Blues, Detroit Cobras Harlem Love Theme, J. J. Johnson and His Orchestra Midnight Jam, Joe Strummer Depot Depot, Tom Waits 99 Problems, Jay-Z + DJ Danger Mouse Bunch of Lonesome Heroes, Leonard Cohen The Caretaker, Johnny Cash The Northeast Corridor, Ted Leo Mondo Bongo, Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Till the End of the Day, The Kinks Readymade FM, Pizzicato Five Little Sunflower, Tito Puente Putty (In Your Hands), Detroit Cobras Unhappy, OutKast Evolution, Cat Power

Random iPod

Cribbed from blueplaidshirt and Robot Johnny, here are the first 15 songs, at random, from my iPod: Big Exit, P. J. Harvey Beetlebum [Live], Blur Lonely, Tom Waits Streets of Sorrow / Birmingham Six, The Pogues Huff All Night, The Donnas Lullaby of London, The Pogues Sulk, Billy Bragg Television, The Playwrights Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones Killer Joe, Tito Puente [None], Ted Leo Venom, Hybe I Saw Your Shoes, Cowboy Junkies Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Carole King Redemption Song, Joe Strummer I'm probably going to figure out a way to list 15 random songs in the sidebar to the right, rather than list two CDs I've just bought. I buy music so infrequently that new discs just sit in that sidebar and crust over.

Pete Townshend, pedophile?

I'm no paedophile, says Who star. Pete Townshend admits downloading child porn but says it was for research, amid reports a rock star's details were passed to police. [BBC News | Front Page | UK Edition]

Crazy thing is, I really want to believe him.

A moment of silence on Radio Clash

Leader of 'The Clash' Is Dead at 50. Punk legend Joe Strummer of "The Clash'' has died, his record company said Monday. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Patti Smith

Patti Smith performed Friday night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which might be a strange venue for a rock show, but it wasn't really a rock show, so I suppose it doesn't matter. The performance was billed as a night of remembrance in honor of All Saints Day. She brought a ragoût of spoken word, poetry performance, and music, assisted by Phillip Glass (on a Burroughs tribute), among others. Patti's mother, Beverly, died just over a month ago, and her memory permeated the performance. I almost wrote that it hung heavily, but that's not the case at all. Her mother seems to have had a very irreverent and light-hearted personality and that was the spirit that Patti herself had when talking about her. Much of the show was Patti Smith, onstage alone, at a microphone, reading poetry, telling stories about her friends and family, and joking with the audience. She seemed both at-ease and nervous, at the same time. Her hair, once black, is now silver-gray, and she wears it long and straight. Her love of androgyny remains: she wore a black suit, a loosened thin black tie, and a white shirt, open at the collar. Although she's certainly not conventionally pretty, I believe that Patti Smith remains, at 56, one of the sexiest women I've seen. I can never quite describe what Smith's music means to me and even when I play it for people, they often don't get it. When I do try to explain it, I sound like I'm speaking cliches: she "understands" me, her music "resonates," whatever. All I know is that I feel a deep, intimate interlocking with her music. Something about her music and my spirit just snap together. To hear her voice in person was profoundly moving for me. Smith spoke about her friends, her mentors, her heroes: William Burroughs, Jean Genet, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ezra Pound, Alan Ginsberg, Georgia O'Keefe. She read poems by or about those people. She spoke of her family--her parents' separation during WWII, her mother's work to provide joy to her children when no one knew how they'd afford another day's meals. She sang Sonny Boy in honor of her brother, and When My Ship Comes In to memorialize her parents. She spoke with disarming candor about her feelings and inspirations. She spoke to us as if we were each her friends. A woman of modesty and wisdom, she was surprisingly sentimental and even goofy at times. That appeals to me, for anyone who knows me well understands that I too can be sentimental and goofy. For an evening, I was in the largest living room in Manhattan, listening to one of my heroes discussing her heroes as if we were talking over coffee. She performed only one song, to my knowledge, that she's recorded before--Dancing Barefoot--during a two-song encore that began with a charming performance of the Beatles song Blackbird, during which she flubbed the lyrics and then giggled.

The Blind Boys of Alabama

The Blind Boys of Alabama have a new disc out, Higher Ground. The Blind Boys are a gospel/blues band that's been around since 1939, and amazingly, three original members still record with them. The new record covers Prince, Funkadelic, Jimmy Cliff, Stevie Wonder ("Higher Ground," duh), and Curtis Mayfield. Clarence Fountain, one of the three remaining founders, is on NPR's Weekend Edition right now discussing the record, and the song snippets are beautiful, especially their cover of Mayfield's "People Get Ready." (Click out to the CD Now page, and you can hear song snippets of every track.)

This is beautiful music. I might have to pop out later today and pick up a copy.

VU Perdition

Speaking of the Velvets, I bought tonight the just-released deluxe reissue of their first album, The Velvet Underground and Nico. The new disc contains both mono and stereo mixes of the first disc, along with tracks from Nico's CD Chelsea Girl. Although billed as a solo album, Cale, Reed, and Morrison do backing vocals. Extensive liner notes and a reproduction of Andy Warhol's peelable banana cover make this a nice fetish item for the Dietsch to own. Also on tonight's shopping list, a copy of the graphic novel Road to Perdition. You might have noticed, if you pay attention to television and movies, that Road to Perdition has been adapted into a film, directed by Sam "American Beauty" Mendes and starring Tom Hanks. Now, I'm looking forward to the movie, but not for Messrs. Mendes and Hanks. (As an aside, however, I've bitched for years that it's time for Hanks to jettison his nice guy role and play someone who's actually kind of a bastard. Perhaps he's now done that.) No, what really has me going is the cinematography by Conrad L. Hall and, especially, the production design of Dennis Gassner. You might think, oh, who sees movies for the production design? Road to Perdition, my friend, is a period piece, set in 1920's Chicago. Check Gassner's credits: The Man Who Wasn't There; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; The Hudsucker Proxy; Barton Fink; Bugsy; Miller's Crossing; The Grifters. Gassner knows period pieces. I've seen the trailer, and this film is just beautiful.

Patti Smith

I picked up the new Patti Smith release last week. Patti Smith Land (1975 - 2002) is a two-disc set--the first disc compiles her "greatest hits," while the second presents a collection of live recordings, demos, and spoken word pieces. I was with Kelly when I bought it, and his comment on looking at the spine was "Patti Smith Land? Is that a new theme park?" I commented that I'd rather go there than to Dollywood. I mentioned her spoken-word pieces. One such piece, Notes to the Future, is a long poem, recorded in New York City earlier this year. Smith is at her best on here. The poem is a call to compassionate revolution in the wake of the WTC disaster. Her rhythm and cadence are driving and powerful. In a week in which I personally have needed to draw inspiration and encouragement from those I love, from those I admire, Smith's words have moved me deeply. I've listened to this track over and again. I hope that in presenting a transcription of the lyrics (done personally, by the way--I couldn't find them yet elsewhere on the Web), I've communicated in some small way the power of this poem. But, really, you should hear it. Ask me nicely, and I'll play it for you sometime.

Rock posters

Warren Ellis posted a link to this place on his forum today: www.gigposters.com. Very cool.

No-one nowhere washed up baby

My song of the day: Stone Roses, "I Am the Resurrection"

Cheap

It's not the smell in here that gets to me it's the lights I hate the shadows that they cast, and the sound of clinking bottles is the one sure thing I'll always drag with me from my past I think I'll find a pair of eyes tonight, to fall into and maybe strike a deal Your body for my soul, fair swap ’cause cheap is how I feel. --’Cause Cheap Is How I Feel, Cowboy Junkies

Waits

Oh, the new title of my Web log is courtesy Mr. Tom Waits, who apparently has two new albums due, simultaneously, in early April.

David Byrne at the Murat

I should have posted this before. Sunday evening, I saw David Byrne in Indianapolis with friends Anne, Emily, and Dawn. Before the show, we dined at a cool place on Pennsylvania called Ruthellen's and then walked over to the Murat Center to see Byrne. As much of a Talking Heads fan as I am, I'd never seen Byrne perform live. Dinner was fabulous--the food was wonderful, conversation was great, and the service was very good. I appreciated very much that the staff allowed enough time to pass between appetizer and salad and dinner that we felt as if we were lingering leisurely over our meals. Byrne was amazing; he was full of energy and humor and just as limber as he was 20 years ago. His band that was tight, focused, and also energetic. We were in the Egyptian Room at the Murat, which is SRO and general admission. We were close to the stage, and so we could see Byrne and the band very well. But there was enough room for us to dance and really rock out, too. He performed about five old Talking Heads tunes, a nice selection off his new album, and several other songs--including Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody." Sunday evening was the happiest thing I've done in a very long time. And what makes it all the more remarkable is that I've known Emily and Dawn for less than a month and yet you never would have guessed that. There are far worse things for a young man than to spend a nice evening in the company of three lovely and witty women, watching one of the finest songwriters and performers of the last 30 years. I've long thought that if I could choose any place and era in which to live, I'd choose to hang with the CBGB crowd circa 1977. Imagine watching the Talking Heads, the Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie, and the Pretenders, all early in their careers.

Lionel

More fun with music: On the way home from the library tonight, I passed a house blasting Lionel Ritchie's "All Night Long." I looked over at the place, and saw a banner that said "Cool people live here." I'll leave it to you to decide whether these facts are contradictory.

To live is to fly.

To live is to fly. --Townes Van Zandt

Harrison redux

Then again.... Ex-Beatle strongly denies near-death report Weird.

Harrison

From Yahoo! News: George Harrison 'Knows He Will Die Soon' From Cancer Shit. Another icon, so close to passing. This news is very sad.

Richard Thompson

I just got back from seeing Richard Thompson. Amazing performance, just as I'd hoped. He played, solo, just him and his acoustic guitar, for nearly two hours, including three encores. Song selections spanned most of his career, which I guess isn't surprising, since he's touring to support a best-of collection. He performed, among others, For Shame of Doing Wrong, Shoot Out the Lights, Did She Jump or Was She Pushed, Dimming of the Day, Wall of Death, Beeswing, Dry My Tears and Move On, King of Bohemia, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, Bathsheba Smiles, Persuasion (which he co-wrote with Tim Finn), and Valerie. He kept up a great patter with the crowd between songs and even, after mentioning Bloomington-son Hoagy Carmichael, sang a few bars of Stardust. After explaining a controversy in which Kenny G digitally inserted his own solos into an old Louis Armstrong recording, he performed a brutally hilarious tirade against ol' Kenny. During one encore, as he was performing Wall of Death, he exclaimed "Bob Dylan is 60!" and launched into an interesting tour of Dylan's career, singing snippets and lines from a variety of Dylan's songs. Thompson was witty and even charming and he kept the crowd engaged throughout the show. Many of his songs were note-perfect, which has to be hard to do, even when they're performed so often. He's either an excellent showman or very much in love with what he does, because his enthusiasm and joy were evident throughout the show. I continue to be amazed by people who've never even heard of him, let alone listened to his music. You'd think in a college town, people would know his music better. Now, granted, in looking at his U.S. tour schedule for this year, it truly is amazing that he'd play a small market like Bloomington, even with its college population. Most of his shows are in much larger cities. But still, I ask my friends if they know of him and over and again, I hear "no." I'm about to ready to smack the next person who says so. But in the end, it really is their loss. They're missing out on one of the finest performers and songwriters alive today.