Members Stackabones Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 What has influenced you in the past ... or in the past week since the last FIT? * I love mento. Not mentos. Mento is Jamaican Calypso and often just referred to as Calypso. Almost every track on Harry Belafonte's Calypso was a mento (Day-O, Man Smart Women Smarter, Jamaican Farewell, Brown Skin Girl and a few more), so you are familiar with the music though you many not be familiar with the name. This music goes back into Jamaica's past before the advent of reggae, rocksteady and ska. The beat in mento is bouyant and meant for dancing and partying. Melodies are catchy and the chords are often quite simple. The lyrics are playful and often have double entrendre, though sometimes not so double and very entendre. I read somewhere that Bob Marley's mother mentioned that "Don't Touch Me Tomato" was a big hit for Marley (and everyone really) and he would sing it around the house all the time as a boy. George Symonette, Don't Touch Me Tomato[YOUTUBE]5zbkkVVSh3U[/YOUTUBE] fyi ... http://www.mentomusic.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 John Cale, former member of the Velvet Underground. He's had a very uneven career marked by moments of greatness. He's classically trained and has done all sorts of styles of music within VU and after. I like his rich voice and overall I think he's a more interesting artist than his old sparring partner Lou Reed. He's nowhere near a household name and yet a great number of people have heard him without knowing it. He sings a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Halleluyah" in the movie "Shrek" (which, inexplicably, is replaced on the actual cd soundtrack in favor of the same song covered by Rufus Wainwright). I'll never forget seeing that movie for the first time and before I could consciously register it, my mind was telling me that the voice singing did not belong in this mainstream context. (Cohen faxed his lyrics to Cale and apparently Cohen's full version had 15 verses.) Cale has also been a producer to a number of notable artists like The Stooges, Nico, Patti Smith, Squeeze, the Modern Lovers and a bunch of others. [YOUTUBE]Td5ggufGakU[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 From a violist to a violinist... I've been getting into this guy, who strikes me as one of the more interesting young artists out there: 5iImZNKy1SA PS... Belafonte's Calypso album was one of my very favorites when I was a little kid. I put it on all the time. It's still a fave. PPS... I saw Cale a few times in the 80s and he was great. I love his intelligence, his edge, his humor, and his fearlessness. (Despite the fact that one of my faves from his album collection was called Fear Is a Man's Best Friend.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stopthebus Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 I've been in love with Andrew Bird for years, he's definitely one of the main influences on my songwriting. No one else is doing what he's doing out there today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted February 27, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 Wow! That Andrew Bird clip was excellent. Tight, musical use of loops and the guy seems to know a thing or two about songwriting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fenderbender66 Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 The Feelies. Crazy Rhythms. nuff said! These are the guys that most of my music ends up sounding like, so I'd have to say they are a bigger influence on my music than my favorite band, The Replacements. by the way, how do you embed the youtube videos right into your post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny_1Nut Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 Would I be a huge smart ass if I said, life? I get inspired by a lot of music,...sometimes. Mostly, I find other things in life inspiring me. A random news story, a sunset, a dramatic event in life, etc. I guess my 'influence' hasn't changed much since last Friday, let alone the last year. Let me see...wait. I've got one...let me see if this works w/the firewalls here. [YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE] I can't tell on my end since work blocks youtube, but you should see a video of Cary Brothers' Blue Eyes from the Garden State soundtrack. It could be anything though, lol...but that's what I TRIED posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted February 27, 2009 Moderators Share Posted February 27, 2009 Neil Finn. He has always managed to bring this "gods of nature and earth" thing to his writing. His expanded universe is in the clump of dirt and the dirty glass on the counter. I have no idea if that makes sense. Even to him. The rasp and the clear as a bell sound of his voice, his harmonic sense (post Beatle but let's tap into some Maori feel as well), his joy and sadness... Four seasons in one dayLying in the depths of your imaginationWorlds above and worlds belowThe sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the domain Even when you're feeling warmThe temperature could drop awayLike four seasons in one day Smiling as the {censored} comes downYou can tell a man from what he has to sayEverything gets turned aroundAnd I will risk my neck again, again You can take me where you willUp the creek and through the millAll the things you cant explainFour seasons in one day Blood dries upLike rain, like rainFills my cupLike four seasons in one day It doesn't pay to make predictionsSleeping on an unmade bedFinding out wherever there is comfort there is painOnly one step awayLike four seasons in one day Blood dries upLike rain, like rainFills my cupLike four seasons in one day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 ^^^^^^^^ Always liked these guys. [YOUTUBE]W9sem05RHnM[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 From a violist to a violinist...I've been getting into this guy, who strikes me as one of the more interesting young artists out there http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04bird-t.html He is interesting. Not sure I am totally sold on him, but I'll give him a wider look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rsadasiv Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 The Feelies. Crazy Rhythms. nuff said! These are the guys that most of my music ends up sounding like, so I'd have to say they are a bigger influence on my music than my favorite band, The Replacements. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSo3wgmbFQc by the way, how do you embed the youtube videos right into your post? Used to really enjoy these guys back in the day - haven't listened to them in years though. To embed youtube, put the id string after v= in between opening and closing youtube tags. [YOUTUBE]oSo3wgmbFQc[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tspit74 Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 John Cale is great. Just keep him away from your chicken coup. Actually, the first time I watched Shrek, I fell asleep and woke up during the scene where Cale is singing the Cohen song. I woke up groggy and wondering (1) Who turned off the movie? And (2) Who's listening to my Frangments for a Rainy Season cd? I don't think I've been influenced by anything this week. But, I listened to the latest Kevin Ayers cd yesterday called The Unfairground. So I guess I'll say Kevin Ayers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members popthree Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 i went to see The Pretenders on Sunday night. they kicked butt so hard that I haven't been able to pickup my guitar since... really put things into perspective for me. Thanks Chrissy Hynde :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted February 27, 2009 Moderators Share Posted February 27, 2009 i went to see The Pretenders on Sunday night. they kicked butt so hard that I haven't been able to pickup my guitar since... really put things into perspective for me. Thanks Chrissy Hynde :-) Great! I saw them back before everybody died twice and they were a great band. And then recently there's a billboard advertising their gig on a local reservation casino. And there, looking over the freeway, is a giant picture of both Crissie and Martin Chambers looking very "no BS rock and roll" and still looking their age, my age, in a very good way and I think everyday... ROCK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fenderbender66 Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 i went to see The Pretenders on Sunday night. they kicked butt so hard that I haven't been able to pickup my guitar since... really put things into perspective for me. Thanks Chrissy Hynde :-) I love it/hate it when artists that do that to me happens a lot, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 Wow! That Andrew Bird clip was excellent. Tight, musical use of loops and the guy seems to know a thing or two about songwriting. Yeah... I almost didn't use that clip because of the live loop angle. Since I used to do an all-improv, live-loop act, and did it quite a lot for a while, I now have a very low tolerance for certain repetition. That said, I thought he dealt with the loop aspects pretty nicely and was actually kind of charmed when the echo loop dropped out but the drummer/keyboardist picked it up on keys... But I've been listening to a fair bit of his studio work in the last week or two and I have to say it's really rich, warmly varied, very musical work... I just hope he doesn't start a whistling fad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 I can't tell on my end since work blocks youtube, but you should see a video of Cary Brothers' Blue Eyes from the Garden State soundtrack. It could be anything though, lol...but that's what I TRIED posting. To use the YouTube tags here, you need to use just the ID number. So if the URL of the vid is You want just the part following the ?v= divOq4EmLAI in between the YouTube tags. Now, YT sometimes uses some extra URL tagging to send messages to their servers, so if you see an ampersand [ & ], that and anything following it is superfluous to the video ID and will either be ignored by the BB here or possibly choke it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 27, 2009 Members Share Posted February 27, 2009 Hey everybody. What's up? Been on the road working. Sorry, no videos, but a big influence on me right now is Sir Arthur Conan Dole. Yes, you heard correctly. Sherlock Holmes' creator. Let me explain. I was at a show this summer and heard a familiar tune with the line "I wish I had a pencil thin mustache." Anyway, I am a huge Sherlock Holmes junkie. I couln't even guess how many times I've read the shorts and the novels.The cogs started turning. I've been working very hard on my tune I'm calling "Wish I Could Be Sherlock Holmes." It's got a long way to go yet. It's been extremely challenging trying to balance the obvious cheese factor without going over the top into stupidity. How ya doing Stack? Dig the mento. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eeglug Posted February 28, 2009 Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 I liked that Andrew Bird. I'll check out some of his studio work. I thought that performance was a nice balance of edge-of-seat improv and polish. I like that moment where he's unsure about doing the violin solo. The chord progression wears a little thin but he works hard (and mostly succeeds) to distract our attention away from that. (One of the most impressive looping performances I've seen is although I have no idea if the rest of her work is worth checking out.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted February 28, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 Hey everybody. What's up? Been on the road working. Sorry, no videos, but a big influence on me right now is Sir Arthur Conan Dole. Yes, you heard correctly. Sherlock Holmes' creator. Let me explain. I was at a show this summer and heard a familiar tune with the line "I wish I had a pencil thin mustache." Anyway, I am a huge Sherlock Holmes junkie. I couln't even guess how many times I've read the shorts and the novels. The cogs started turning. I've been working very hard on my tune I'm calling "Wish I Could Be Sherlock Holmes." It's got a long way to go yet. It's been extremely challenging trying to balance the obvious cheese factor without going over the top into stupidity. How ya doing Stack? Dig the mento. EG All is well. I was hoping that someone would eventually claim a literary influence. I think you've finally broken the ice. Good to see you back around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 28, 2009 Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 All is well. I was hoping that someone would eventually claim a literary influence. I think you've finally broken the ice. Good to see you back around. Been working on the road. Just got back from Arizona. Nice weather in Tuscon. Literary might be a bit of a stretch for Doyle, but, oh well. Nice to be back. I've been frantically working to try to get "Long Tall Oklahoma Paul" ready for the challenge, but I don't think it's going to be there in time. Close. My guitar progress has been notable the last month and I've written some nice melodic parts that I'm quite proud of. I'm still practicing them to get them up to snuff for recording. I'll just have to post it on it's own, I guess. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted February 28, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 Literary might be a bit of a stretch for Doyle, but, oh well. Doyle created a timeless, fascinating and complex character, and many of those Sherlock stories are a solid read. What more could you ask of literary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 28, 2009 Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 Doyle created a timeless, fascinating and complex character, and many of those Sherlock stories are a solid read. What more could you ask of literary? I know. Holmes has just become so, dare I say it, cliche, in many circles that the character and the stories are sort of in a category like Stairway To Heaven. One would be hard pressed to find a character and series that so effectively defined a genre and whose influence has reached so deeply into culture for such an extended period. You just can't find a detective/cop show or movie that doesn't follow the formula. Even new shows like Psych and House follow it. I love them, though. I hope I can do it justice with my song. I'm taking a bit of a tongue in cheek approach, but trying to impart some respect at the same time. It's a tight rope to walk. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted February 28, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 Even Chesterton was influenced by him when he created the Father Brown stories. Those Doyle and Chesterton detective stories are wellsprings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted February 28, 2009 Members Share Posted February 28, 2009 Even Chesterton was influenced by him when he created the Father Brown stories. Those Doyle and Chesterton detective stories are wellsprings. I gave up long ago trying to count the times the formula is used in modern culture. I always thought it humorous in the stories where Watson brought up Dupin and Poe's detective (sorry, I'm having a mental lapse on his name and can't look it up right now) and Holmes' dispariging reaction to them both. His self assuredness was astounding. Perhaps that is the appeal for me. Among other things. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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