It Was A Wonderful Night
Thursday night I finally got to see a singer whose work I have long been enamored of and even posted about just below: Basia Trzetrzelewska (link goes to WikiPedia for a detailed look at her). I can't recall how many years ago by brother Michael gave me her "Basia On Broadway" double live CD but I was about three songs into it when I was gobsmacked by her talent. Obviously, I'm a slow learner. Compounded by the fact that I'd never even heard of her before. But I assiduously set about to collect her entire self-titled oeuvre.Which I have done. I would also like to take this moment to point out that she has done a lot of work with the superb guitarist Peter White. It really doesn't hurt to have just some of the best musicians in the genre to provide the sound behind the singer.
Which also leads to a couple of notes about the show on Thursday. The stage was pretty full: drummer, guitarist (Peter White had an obligation elsewhere so a very talented fill in was there), Danny White (Peter's brother) on keyboards, a flautist/saxophonist/percussion player, the chick singers and Basia herself. And what a polyglot crowd it was on stage. Danny White and the drummer (who really did a fabulous job - great rhythms and never overwhelmed the music) are Brits. Basia is, of course, Polish. The guitarist was Corsican and the twins who sang backup (and some lead) were Mauritian! From the town of Quatre Bornes in fact, not too terribly far from the town of Vacoas in which the residence of the US ambassador is located. Very lovely ladies who were rather surprised when I asked where in Mauritius they were from. It is a wonderful world wherein a group of people from those scattered corners of the world can come together on a stage and make beautiful music. I won't say "it doesn't get any better than this" because what if I won the lottery and hired these folks to play a concert for me and my friends. That would be better. But it was awfully damned good.
I can't reproduce the set list although she opened with her wonderful ballad "Yearning." And she sang every song I really wanted to hear. Her take on Tom Jobim's classic "Waters of March," "Miles Away" and "A Gift" from her latest release. Bottom line is that it was a great, great show. To my untrained ear, she has not lost a note in a voice with exceptional range, power and control. This was really driven home to me as I watched some of the "Electric Proms" from the BBC on TV the other day. It was one show of The Who and another of Sir Paul Mac. Roger Daltrey's voice, God bless him for what he sang for so long, is just devastated, as has been noted on PoW in the past. As much as I'd like to see and hear the Remains of The Who, he should retire his pies. And McCartney's voice, while not as ravaged as Roger's is no longer the sweet sound it was in the past. He really should retire from the stage as well. Sorry guys. Don't lead us into regret.
I apologize for the digression but it is by way of illustration that Basia's voice is everything it ever was. Maybe it's a function of her singing smooth jazz but she sings it with such power that I venture to say that it's more a measure of her using her voice well. And her hiatus from performing. OK. That does make a difference. But still, she must be given credit for getting on stage and delivering everything she gave her songs since first she sang them.
She is also so absolutely gorgeous that I told her I thought there might be some album art in her attic that's aging because she surely wasn't. "Ah Dorian Gray" she said and hugged me! It was not gratuitous. I fully meant it. If you look at the cover art for "It's That Girl Again," you'll see what I mean. And what a magic cataract of beautiful brunette tresses! As sweeping and glossy as a raven's wing. Yeah, getting a hug from her was an unexpected blessing. I also mentioned how much I enjoyed hearing "Miles Away" which seemed to make her happy as well. Not an often requested song perhaps.
How did I manage meeting her? Well, at The Birchmere, artists often will meet and greet after the show but it's never to be expected and Basia didn't do so. However I was lucky enough to have parked by the stage door (by the chance of it being as close as I could get for arriving late) and thus was able to hang around despite the cold and spitting rain to get my CD jewel box inserts signed. (extended happy dance) I really dig having autographed media. And thus, my friends, I was able this wonderful lady to my "seen live" list.

Shake Out The Cobwebs
I have tried to maintain a commitment to live music but I've not been very diligent about it. But every now and then, a necessity arises and this week, it was buying a ticket to see the wonderful jazz singer Basia who's coming to The Birchmere in early November. Inasmuch as I have all of her recorded music, absent her collaboration in Matt Bianco, I felt I had to see her live at long last.

I have to tip the lid to my old college buddy Michael for connecting me to her music. Very samba, bossa nova influenced jazz. I believe I have gone on about this lovely lady at length in the past. So I'll just embed a viddy to close this post out.

I Appear To Be Leaking Ocular Fluid



I bought the song from Amazon. Hat tip on this to Don Surber.

The Continuing Distraction
Another blast from the neo past with the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones bringing their talent to a revival, of sorts, of ska back in the late 90's. I only have one of their discs but it's almost perfect which makes acquiring another risky (see Fratellis, second album). That being as it may, I hereby post "The Impression That I Get" for your listening and dancing pleasure. Yeah - I'd bop to this 'un in a stone second, infectious and driving with immaculate horn charts, what's not to like?

A Brief Distraction
Just because. Ladies and gentlemen, The Brian Setzer Orchestra!

A Song For The Holiday
Ladies and gentlemen, the Pat Metheny Group with "(Cross the) Heartland" from the great "American Garage" album. This is one of the top 10 instrumentals of all time in my estimation. And check out that big honkin' Gibson jazz box he's playing (a Gibby ES-175 if Wikipedia is to be believed). I'm no fan of the trapeze tailpiece but he makes that thing sing. Plus the opening piano riff is a classic. Enough blather - American electric jazz for the Fourth of July!

Anzen Chitai - Deai
A very beautiful song by the Japanese group "Safety Zone."
One of my favorite songs. I meant to post this some time ago but it wasn't posted until late last year. This version is shorter than the one I have on CD but the CD has the "arubamu baashiyon" (album version). In any event, even half a minute shorter, it's a lovely song.

Good News Everybody!
Emm Gryner has a new disc coming out. "Stray Bullets" by name. And if you pre-order (that's about $15 US), you're entered in a contest to win a home show from the talented lass. I don't like my odds but it would pretty damn cool.
Also, read this post by the vivacious and perspicacious Kathy Shaidle. There is much truth therein young padawan. Then again, why are you not reading her every post every day? You got some splainin' to do!
UPDATE: In my continuing efforts to find strange and wonderful things that I can order from Amazon, I stumbled upon Madagascar pink rice. It's not cheap, I can get a really nice Basmati from Costco or my local Korean supermarket at about a buck a pound. But ... it's pink rice. I have to try it. The description includes this: "tropial spice taste with hints of cinnamon and clove" (which I assume should be tropical). To have that 'built in' to the rice is really intriguing.

In Honor Of The Weather
Ladies and gentlemen, the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn!



Boy could make a Strat sing. Wish he were still around and caught the PRS fever. That'd be cool.

In Honor Of The Latest Islamic Splodey Dope
Ladies and gentlemen, Blue Öyster Cult!



Hmm, needs more cowbell.

One Of Few
There are not too terribly many "modern" songs that I find to be real Christmas classics (this dates back to 1975) but Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas" is one. The original video for this is marred by an unthinking reflexive anti-war imagery that I'm sure seemed right at the time but now looks both dated and silly. So I post a mid-2000s version which hews closely to the original song. It has always seemed a pessimistic song to me but on reconsideration, and watching some YouTube video interviews, I see that the song was intended as a real Christmas song with a heart. And the music is brilliant. I hope you like.

Things To Keep In Mind
1. Jake Armerding with Eddie From Ohio at the Birchmere in mid January.
2. Al Petteway and Amy White at Jammin Java in March.

Must see both shows. This after totally forgetting the Al Stewart show I made such a big deal about. Sheesh.

If You Love Mark Steyn
And really, who doesn't? If you visit Blazing Cat Fur, you can hear him sing "Sweet Gingerbread Man" with Jessica Martin. It's a little bit of wonderful. I wish I could imbed it but it's a non-clickable player so I have no idea where to go. But you can buy a copy of "Gingerbread and Eggnog" from the Steyn Store. Link to buy is at the link above.
In other holiday-related news, the iTunes Christmas playlist has been officially re-authorized and playing begins immediately. Have a holly jolly!

Serendipity Woot!
My nice mail carrier brought me an unexpected envelope from Amazon today which contained some too, too cool items that Lycurgus culled from the vasty warehouses of the 'Zon. Having replaced my little cheapie LED light with a whiter, brighter name-branded Photon light, I ripped into the Mark Knopfler CD "Get Lucky." Hyeah. That's the stuff.
It's lyrical, elegiac in many ways and though his voice won't ever win awards for range, he knows precisely how to use it. Warm, intimate and as comfortable as the smoky peat taste of a neat Scotch. Though it's not really featured on the disc, his guitar wok is never short of superb. Which is not news to anyone who cares about music of course. Those who only know his work in Dire Straits probably won't thrill to this effort but trust me - buy this, wait for a cold winter evening where you curl up with a good novel and either a glass of the aforementioned Scotch (give me two fingers of The Glenlivet, please) or a pot of good black tea (milk tea for a winter's eve), put this on repeat and spend a couple of hours letting it pour all over you.
Knopfler is an international treasure.

Anodyne
Despite my uplifting, or attempts at uplifting, words below, my heart has been heavy since hearing the news. All this morning I've been listening to John "Five for Fighting" Ondrasik's new disc, "Slice" and it's remarkably good to ease the heaviness. I hope you buy it. You'll understand what I mean.

And Since I'm All Soppy With Nostalgia
I really, really miss Karen Carpenter. I'm not sure that she would have made music for the ages had she not died but I'm willing to bet good money on the idea that her amazing voice would have found material that would be popular and beautiful. I resent being denied the opportunity to know what she would have added to our musical world.

New Favorite Thing in iTunes
The "Genius" playlist. If you click on a particular song, which I'll do as the entirety of my music is on "shuffle," the "genius" will select songs that go along with it for a 25 song playlist. Of course you can modify the song count and you have to let Apple access your iTunes info so it can apply whatever algorithm those clever dicks have cobbled up to your music library. I was reluctant at first to do so as I do like my privacy but I ended up accepting Apple's protestation of respect for the individual's personal info.
In comments, give me a song and if I have it, I'll generate a playlist and list the songs in a later post if you'd like a sample. I'm grooving to Donal Fagen's "Snowbound" right now after listening to Paul Simon, The Pretenders, Joni Mitchell, Joe Jackson. All generated off Fagen's "It's What I Do" from "Morph the Cat."

Grace And Gratitude
I turn out to have the shank of the afternoon to sit at the desk and ponder a bit on life and the infinitude we face in every day, the universe in a grain of sand as it has been put. My post below about Dave Shifflett's Karma Farmers' CD would strikes me as a jumping off point.
I have never met Dave but we've carried on a sporadic e-mail acquaintanceship since I called his attention to Glenn Reynolds' mention of the "Floor Creak" (see link in sidebar) CD on InstaPundit. Dave was nice enough to send me a copy of the disc and I have spent many entirely pleasurable hours listening to it since. Some time later I sent him a copy of Jake Armerding's self-titled CD as I am an evangelist for Jake's music and will be always unless he does something like publicly insult me (which he's too good a person to ever do, of course). I afterward touched base with Dave to see if he liked Jake's work (he did) whereupon he offered to send me, gratis, a copy of "Songs for Aging Cynics." I demurred saying I'd buy one from him (at a good price - I'm reasonably frugal). Which is how I came into the possession of the disc.

But what sticks in my mind is something I wrote to Dave in my note with the money for the music. I consider myself the recipient of undeserving grace for what happened to resolve, not for ever but certainly in a big way, many of the problems that were so deeply troubling to me in the last year. I blogged then about the depth of my depression and won't dive back into the deep end again. Part of what I feel about such a gift of grace is the obligation to do right by way of support music and musicians. It may not make entire sense but music matters to me. I can't (yet) make it but I feel the strong compulsion to not pirate it and to not take advantage of it when it comes my way. Not taking advantage includes putting at least a few bucks into the pot when I could take the music at no cost to me.
This, to me, is a kind of down payment on the grace I received. It is something I can do that is like unto what I got. I can tangibly express gratitude for the music that feeds my soul as I try to hold the gratitude to God in my soul. It is not a rational thing, I fully understand. But as much as the compulsion to maintain my gratefulness for the grace, I am compelled to maintain my gratefulness to those who make the music I love. I'd like to be the source of some unbidden grace as much as I'm the recipient of it.

New Stuff
The latest trip to the mailbox was Woot! time indeed. I got the new CD from Dave Shifflett's Karma Farmers (gotta love that name) "Songs For Aging Cynics" and it's good. His previous project was "Floor Creak" to which I maintain a CDBaby link so that should someone stumble upon it, he or she could buy it. I still regularly listen to "Floor Creak" and I've been remiss in not getting "Songs For Aging Cynics" sooner.
The songs are melodic, have intelligent lyrics and Mr. Shifflet has this incredible ability to find female vocalists who will knock your socks off, launder them, fold them neatly and put them in your sock drawer. The link above goes to a page that has a couple of videos. Listen to "My Beautiful Friend" and tell me you couldn't swim in the cool stream of Jeanine Guidry's voice. Gorgeous. And the mandolin playing is a wonderful silver thread that winds through the songs, some times just playing along and then rising to a sparkling shimmer over the song. If you listen to "The Old Sailor," you'll get all that from the violin and the guitar as well.
Moreover, at Dave's site there are several songs available for streaming and downloading. I encourage downloading as long as it leads to actual support of the artist. I came to my love of Carbon Leaf by downloading a CD's worth of songs (honestly - from Amazon) and listening sufficiently that I knew I had to have the physical media. The Karma Farmers are somewhat country, somewhat bluegrass I guess. It's the kind of music that the neighbors who should have been recording stars gather on the front porch to play and sing. I love this CD. I'd hope you would too. At the very least, give it a try. If you're disappointed, I say the problem is yours. 'Cause the music is that good.

Absolutely Can Not Stop Listening
Ben Lierhouse has produced five CDs of Wagner-inspired "world music" called, not surprisingly, the Lierhouse Project. I have "Parsifal's Trip to Brazil" which, despite my utter lack of understanding Brazilian Portuguese, I have had looping all night tonight and now, as I plan my trip to Nod, I figure I'd better channel my enthusiasm into a least a taste for you who stop by. Thus, a viddy of "the making of." Specifically, "Wagner's Mas Que Nada."
UPDATE: Yes, the song is a variation on the Jorge Ben song "Mas Que Nada" which became the signature song of Sergio Mendes back when his group was "Brazil 66." And which, sadly, he covered with the marginally talented pop group The Black Eyd peas.