by David Burn | May 14, 2006 | Music
Yonder is coming to the table with a new record label and a well known rock producer for their latest release, available as of last Tuesday.
Here’s the label’s take on the effort:
If Yonder Mountain String Band’s fourth studio album and self-titled debut for Vanguard Records sounds a little different, well, it should. It marks the first time the burgeoning progressive string band has worked with a stellar rock producer–Tom Rothrock (Foo Fighters, Elliott Smith, Beck and James Blunt–it’s the first time they’ve added a little drums care of Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas to their mix and it’s the first time they’ve written almost an entire album spontaneously.
Previously, guitarist Adam Aijala, mandolinist Jeff Austin, banjo player Dave Johnston and bassist Ben Kaufmann would each show up to the studio with their own songs, or songs that had already been worked up on the road. But with Rothrock behind the boards, they sat around and came up with songs that stirred the band’s creative juices in a new way.
“For me, it was a very necessary step that the band had to take, just because we’ve always been about letting ourselves experiment to the full width of the spectrum” says Austin.
“[This album] probably represents us more than any other record we’ve done,” states Aijala, “because it incorporates more of our musical influences than ever before. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of and I’ll never take for granted just how lucky we are to do what we do. It makes me more excited for the future.”
The disc’s first track “Sidewalk Stars,” is pleasantly, if not obviously, an homage to The Beatles, a band Yonder loves to cover in concert. The disc’s third track, “How Bout You,” a number with drums and electric guitar reminds me of certain Leftover Salmon jams, a band Yonder clearly has close ties with. The fourth track, “Angel,” sounds like it’s coming from some dark holler–a great place for a song to come from. Their Todd Snider cover, “East Nashville Easter” ends with feedback, in a bow to the rock gods.
by David Burn | May 13, 2006 | Lowcountry
Lowcountry Blogs, a nicely rendered Typepad blog published by the Post & Courier in Charleston, questions the Lowcountry’s physical and cultural boundaries.
I’m wondering if there aren’t actually TWO “lowcountries” within the larger set “Lowcountry.”
The idea goes like this: That if you look at the area between Winyah Bay and the Savannah River and define it by the cultural centers to which the residents orient their identities, then there’s a Charleston-centric lowcountry that picks up Berkeley and Dorchester while extending south into parts of Colleton County.
But by this definition there’s also a smaller, distinctly Beaufort-centric lowcountry, where residents might even be more oriented to Savannah than they are to Charleston.
In other words, we share a Lowcounty with Beaufort, but do we share a community?
Beaufort-centric lowcountry? Charleston-centric lowcountry? I don’t know. I think it’s more local and more complex than that. The center of the Lowcountry is where you find it. If you live in Bluffton, like I do, it’s right here between the May and Colleton Rivers. For my friends on Hilton Head, it means something else.
As for Savannah, I find it hard to think of the city as somehow apart from the Lowcountry. Savannah is 25 miles away and clearly a different place in another state. Yet, are we to let rivers and state lines be such serious dividers? Perhaps we are, but I’ve taken to saying “I’m from the Savannah area” when people ask where I live, because it registers with them, allowing us to move the conversation forward.
by David Burn | May 10, 2006 | Politics
According to the BBC, German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, asked President Bush what his best moment in office has been.
“I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5lb perch in my lake,” President Bush said.
Was he joking? I’m inclined to think so, yet fisherman are a breed apart. It’s entirely possible this was W’s biggest thrill of the past five years. 7.5 pounds is a big perch.
by David Burn | May 4, 2006 | Music
While seeing Shannon McNally for the first time last Friday night in New Orleans, I kept thinking I know this artist from somewhere. With the help of Google, I now know where. She went to Franklin & Marshall College, as did I (although not at the same time), and our alumni magazine profiled her a few years back. While F&M is famous for producing actors, playwrights and directors–Roy Scheider, Treat Williams, James Lapine and Franklin Schaffner–I’m not aware of any other popular musicians having spent four years there.
In the alumni magazine piece, McNally describes her experience in Los Angeles, where she first went to pursue her music career. She now lives in New Orleans.
“I didn’t know anything about the record industry,” she said. “It didn’t mean anything to me. I was still kicking myself for not going to grad school. I gave myself three years, and I said that if this doesn’t work, I’m going back to school.”
Capitol’s interest in her was “really great,” but McNally wanted to do things her own way. She was more interested in music than Hollywood glamour.
“I’m not Jennifer Lopez. I can understand her appeal, but I can’t do that. It’s just not me,” she said. “A lot of that whole lifestyle just wasn’t an option for me.”
It’s easy to see how a suit might look at this woman’s beauty and think GOLDMINE. But did the dollar signs blind his ears too? She’s a folk artist!
Shannon is now on EMI’s Back Porch Records label. I purchased her 2005 relase “Geronimo” yesterday on iTunes.
by David Burn | May 4, 2006 | Architecture
Cusato Cottages, LLC wants to house victims of Katrina in cute but functional little cottages. And the idea has traction on Capitol Hill.
According to the Jackson Clarion Ledger:
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., won approval of an amendment doubling to $1.2 billion the $600 million Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran set aside for a pilot program to build Katrina Cottages, tiny homes resistant to flooding and strong winds.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco have asked Congress to approve money for the cottages, which would replace thousands of Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers now housing hurricane victims.
The smallest cottage, a 308-square-foot unit, is estimated to cost about $35,000 to build, compared to roughly $75,000 FEMA spends to buy and deliver a trailer.
The cottages, built in the traditional Gulf Coast vernacular, can be placed on a lot while rebuilding of the main home is underway. When all is said and done, the family has gained a valuable guest house.
by David Burn | May 1, 2006 | Music
We opted for first weekend of Jazz Fest this year (after a multi-year hiatus), wanting to see the Crescent City for ourselves and to put some cash into the hands of local musicians, cab drivers, bartenders, club owners, restauranteurs, street artists, gallery owners, etc.
On Friday night, we opened the festivities by taking the Canal Street Ferry across the river to Algiers. Old Point Bar is to the left about five blocks down. Singer-songwriters Marc Stone, Shannon McNally and Anders Osborne sang a few, then cranked it up a notch with the likes of Terrance Simien, Arlee Leonard and The Campbell Brothers sitting in, all in the first set. After some barbequed ribs and chicken outside, we caught a hard-to-come-by cab into downtown and then another one uptown to Les Bon Temps Roule, where Henry Butler was jamming with George Porter and Johnny Vidacovich. One of the things I love best about Fest are the gigs that only happen at Fest. They’re exquisite gumbos with all the top New Orleans players as ingredients.
On Saturday, we made it a point to dine at a great New Orleans restaurant. We found one–The Pelican Club–on Exchange Place in the Quarter. I enjoyed my pesto encrusted Atlantic salmon immensely. After dinner we stepped next door to the Michalopoulos Gallery and marveled at the man’s brushstrokes (and the prices he was selling for) before catching a cab to Frenchman Street. Our first show of the evening was Bill Summers and Friends at The Blue Nile, followed by Anders Osborne one block down at d.b.a.. It rained hard and the power went out three times. We dropped by House of Blues for N. Mississippi Allstars and then walked back to our hotel on Gravier.
Sunday night, we kept to the special Fest gumbo diet, venturing out to the new Howlin’ Wolf, a nice open room for music. Original Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli was sitting in with the bass player, keyboardist and drummer from Galactic. “Sissy Stut” and “Jesus Children” by Stevie Wonder were particularly outstanding. The Wolf’s second show of the night featured Ivan Neville, his cousin Ian Neville, George Porter and crew. At one point they tweaked Neville Brothers song, “Africa” by substituting “New Orleans” as the central chant, making the post-Katrina point that New Orleans is Third World. An overstatement perhaps, but in song it’s poignant expression nonetheless.
by David Burn | Apr 28, 2006 | Architecture, The Environment
Abercorn Commons is the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified shopping mall to open in the U.S., and it’s located nearby in Savannah.
According to Savannah Morning News, Melaver Inc.–the site’s developer–is incorporating water, energy and materials conservation techniques to meet these standards. The elements include a cistern that harvests rainwater for irrigation; waterless urinals; energy efficient heating and air-conditioning systems; and a white roof coating to reflect heat.
The commercial real estate project is also home to the first ever LEED certified McDonald’s. The McDonald’s features large windows that allow daylight to reach 75 percent of the interior of the restaurant, reducing lighting costs. The restaurant also boasts bike racks, preferred parking for hybrid vehicles, porous pavement and a white roof.
by David Burn | Apr 27, 2006 | Music
I don’t believe I’ve ever purchased a Bruce Springsteen album before, but I did today. And I could not be happier with the product–13 folk tunes made popular decades ago by Pete Seeger.
Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times hears “We Shall Overcome–The Seeger Sessions” this way:
It’s joyful and moving because they’re unassailable cornerstones of American music, songs that sprouted from the soil of the nation’s experience and tell us how people worked, danced, loved, dealt with disaster, found a voice, inspired themselves and ultimately survived.
Guitars, banjo, fiddles, horns, organ, accordion, piano, drums, washboard and more pack these arrangements, but the music always breathes easily, with wood, wind and skin gathering into rich, organic shapes.
A Southern feel asserts itself in the Dixieland brass, and intentional or not, a subliminal New Orleans presence pervades the album in the textures and syncopations.
Springsteen will give the music its live debut at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on Sunday.
by David Burn | Apr 25, 2006 | Literature
Caterina is pointing to Smoking Dope With Thomas Pynchon by Andrew Gordon. It’s a critical take on Vineland, the Pynchon novel set in northern California. Humbolt County by my reading.
Part I: Entropy
I consider Pynchon a quintessential American novelist of the nineteen sixties because he came of age as an artist during that entropic decade and shows its stamp in all his work: V. (1963) covers the century from 1898 to 1956, but most of it was composed during the Kennedy years, and its zany mood reflects the liberatory burst of energy of the Thousand Days, that peculiar mix of Camelot idealism and Cold War paranoia also found in Heller’s Catch-22 (1961) and Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962). The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) is set in the relatively innocent sixties of the early Beatles (when they were still the Adorable Moptops and the Fab Four) and of legal LSD. Nevertheless, all the attraction, danger, and destructive tendencies of the New Left and the counterculture are prophesied in the insidious underground web of the Trystero. Gravity’s Rainbow (1973), ostensibly about World War II, was written during the Vietnam War and indirectly reflects that topsy turvy time; Pynchon also sneaks in references to Malcolm X, Kennedy, and Nixon. Slothrop in Gravity’s Rainbow discovers what many young Americans found out in the late sixties: that our Magical Mystery Tour in the Zone of Vietnam was a love affair with death, that the war never ends, and that your own country is your enemy. We weren’t in Kansas anymore, the Wicked Witch of the West was after us, but there was no Yellow Brick Road and no kindly Wizard to come to the rescue. Finally, Vineland (1990) is the sixties revisited from the perspective of the eighties, about all the unresolved issues, about our sympathy for the Devil and our betrayal of the revolution, and about the long arm of the Nixonian counterrevolution continuing under Reagan. And whether or not his four novels are set in the sixties, they are ultimately all of the sixties, and always conjure up the contradictory moods of that decade and evoke the peculiarly mixed response.
Pynchon is a recluse on the order of Salinger. Not much is known about him, nor his habits. Maybe for this reason, I found this bit on Wikipedia intriguing.
His earliest American ancestor, William Pynchon, emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, and thereafter a long line of Pynchon descendants found wealth and repute on American soil. Pynchon’s family background and aspects of his ancestry have provided source material for his fictions, particularly in the Slothrop family histories related in “The Secret Integration” (1964) and Gravity’s Rainbow.
It makes sense, his keeping a low pro. Rich people are often brought up to do so. Whatever Pynchon’s motivations, I appreciate that there are writers in our world Oprah can’t interest, nor touch.
by David Burn | Apr 24, 2006 | Literature
New York Times looks at non-fiction master, Gay Talese, in this morning’s edition.
Mr. Talese, the son of a tailor, carries himself like a papal guard and, now that his nudist phase is over, is the best-dressed writer in New York. He makes Tom Wolfe look like someone who collects Mark Twain outfits from a thrift shop.
