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Friday Influences Thread 07.31.09


Stackabones

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What has influenced you in the past ... or since the last FIT?

 

*

 

Today is the feast day of St Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the Jesuits. There is a Jesuit retreat house not too far from me and I've been to a couple of silent retreats. In the past, I've done other silent retreats (or had periods of intense silence) but usually they were in a zendo.

 

One thing you can do on these Jesuit-led silent retreats is pose a question and then ponder, ruminate, pray, or meditate on it (this is often optional -- in a zendo, the question is given to you in the form of koan). On my second retreat, I asked the question, "What is this thing called love?" As many of you know, this is the title of Cole Porter's standard. I didn't get my answer by the end of that particular three-day silent retreat; the answer came one year later.

 

Afterwards I added the song to my live sets, and I play it about three times a week in those sets.

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Nice post, Stack.

 

I write in spurts. All through my life, since I was 15 to today at almost 50, I've written on again, off again. Pop, punk, ensemble jazz... whatever. When I'm not writing, it is because I am immersed in some other musical endeavor. Currently, album production. But that phase is fading. And I'm always feeding my writer's mind. Always.

 

So, what's the quote about the sculptor getting rid of all the bits of marble that aren't his sculpture. Something to that effect? That's music to me. Pardon the ex-drug-user-from-the-80's visualization.

 

Picture a solid cube. All possibilities. All pitch. All rhythm is constant. All words and letters present. And I set about chipping out the stuff I don't want. Pitch is reduced to 12 notes. Then further reduced to a chosen palette. Harmonic palette is selected. What pulse or groove? The cube is further chipped away

 

And so on.

 

But that cube is always there in its whittled state. No longer solid, but threaded. It represents all the work of understanding rhythms and grooves and harmony. And so this groove and harmonic palette is really a relaxed refection of what notes and when I want them to occur based on the stuff I've decided to let remain in from this cube of granite. Focused. Relaxed. Not lazy. A palette to pull from for... this piece. Today. Right now. Different tomorrow maybe.

 

Like I said, pardon the crazy visual aid.

 

Now watch how Thad Jones and Mel Lewis's band use just the right bits of that solid cube. Oh yeah... and how the bassist even fades out to translucent. Volume is just saturation. Turn it back but the cube's chosen groove is still there. The Always. The Forever. Even in silence the pulse remains. You don't play but the chosen threads remain in your mind. The performer or writer choses when and how to pull and represent from that labyrinth of remaining thread in this cube.

 

[YOUTUBE]4ZLvqXFddu0[/YOUTUBE]

 

And here. Bill Evans and bassist Chuck Isaraels. We all know Summertime. Look how much they chose to get rid of from their cube. Only little threads left. And those threads don't take the typical paths either. Not arbitrary in the least. Unexpected but not haphazard.

 

[YOUTUBE]7p_dHE5hQIA[/YOUTUBE]

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So, what's the quote about the sculptor getting rid of all the bits of marble that
aren't
his sculpture.

 

 

Michelangelo.

 

Couple of cool quotes ...

 

 

Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.

 

 

 

Carving is easy, you just go down to the skin and stop.

 

 

*

 

Great vids, btw. Summertime is just wonderful. I do that one often, so it's great to hear as many versions as possible and beg, borrow, and steal from them. The reeds in the other vid were crazy!

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Yeah, that quote there especially. "just go down to the skin and stop" It sounds like jive to make a point but it's not. You stop at the skin. But how do you know where the skin is? Well... you pictured it didn't you? Stop there.

 

Using that analogy in an additive artform. Sculpture is subtractive. But music, you're adding notes, you're choosing a groove when once there was silence. You're writing words on a blank page. I like looking at it from the chipping away perspective. It was already there. It may (will) take work to hone my skills enough to ride those threads of the whittled cube, but that's OK. That's the fun.

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Lee, cool analaogy. I always think it is a great idea to look at the bigger picture with music, specifically to see it as a form of expression, because then it makes it easier to learn from other forms of expression. Sometimes you can make the biggest impact by what you dont play.

 

Stack, I picked up the Lenord Cohen disc you recommended. I like it but I think he is going to have to grow on me or as you put it last week it may take me a while to "get it." I'm completely ok with that. Thanks again for that suggestion. My wife told me to tell you thankyou as well she likes it more than I do! And that could of course be my contribution for this week, but for the sake of adding something new I will go with this

 

 

 

 

at about 4:15 he starts yelling at a fox that stole his hat and there is some mild profanitiy

 

Embedding was disabled... appolgies, but its the best example I could find quickly on the youtube.

 

It is an excerpt from The Grizzly Man. If you are not familiar with the movie it is a documentary about Timothy Tredwell, a guy who lives with Grizzly Bears in Alaska. Werner Herzog complied a bunch of this guys footage to tell his story. The movie itself is worth watching once but the best part for me is the bit on the special features called inside the Grizzly Maze. It is the making of the sound track which is led by Richard Thompson. The little bit playing on the video clip while they are running is some fantastic guitar work. Another stand out sceen includes one where two bears are fighting and two upright basses go at it in very chaotic fashion.

 

I watch this once every few months and am always inspired after I do

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Stack, I picked up the Lenord Cohen disc you recommended. I like it but I think he is going to have to grow on me or as you put it last week it may take me a while to "get it." I'm completely ok with that. Thanks again for that suggestion. My wife told me to tell you thankyou as well she likes it more than I do!

 

 

You're welcome. I'm glad your wife digs him!

 

Take your time with it. It took me over a decade -- or, wait, two decades -- for it to click with me. Incredible lyricist and his melodies are quite subtle and subversively viral.

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The United States of America

 

This one will give you the best idea about why the United States of America didn't sell many records in 1967, but nonetheless became a cult favorite. Looks like an aftermarket vid but it'll give you the idea:

lnWY3cP8Hr0

 

These tracks are a little more conventional. The vids are light show/slide show type fan things:

C0cuX0WSdhg

 

_Jwi78dYK2o

 

Cmuxqeb6AKM

 

________________________

 

Neil Young... "Danger Bird" off the great, quirky Zuma album... only Neil could get away with a character name like Danger Bird in a song and have it seem dead serious emotionally. (No video, unfortunately. I thought I had one but it was some goofball who put Neil Young tour photos over his own acoustic cover of the song. People are so stinking weird.)

 

But the song that slays me (pun intended) is "Cortez the Killer." It's one of the most powerful songs about soul-deep yearning and nostalgia I've ever come across. (Brace yourself for Neil's apparently tongue-in-cheek reggae verse... it's a little jarring. But, hey, Neil. Funny guy.)

4gfjoAyqfLs

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I'm winding up the "Month of Songs", so I have something completely different to chew on every night. Here's what I've been thinking about this week:

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan:

NU0MF8pwktg

Mine:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7899760

 

Talking Heads:

N-MekqMi9tk

Mine:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7895957

 

Dr. John:

_rtzHrcCUWw

Mine:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7890341

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I gotta say, Blue2Blue turned me onto Judee Sill from the last week's FIT. I've been meaning to thank him, so here goes: Thanks!

I ordered Abracadabra (her only 2 studio albums, along with bonus tracks) and the live album, and paid 15 bucks for the overnight shipping. I haven't been this excited about discovering a musician in a very long time. The Kiss is absolutely stunning.

 

I've got her playing right now.

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Dr. John's vid was great. Unlike Lee, I was more impressed with the left hand.

Anyone who thinks Fats Domino ain't a great piano player is nuts. Dr. John's

version doesn't add a lot to the original.

 

I agree with Stack about Jack Conte. WOW!

What a sense of timing. What a talent!

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Dr. John's vid was great. Unlike Lee, I was more impressed with the left hand.

 

Oh... I dug the left! It was the first thing I noticed. But then I looked closer at his right hand and realized that he was gently tickling those chords while still knocking out that massive bass line. Let me re-phrase...

 

The guy knows how to play.

 

P.S. He didn't add much to Fat's version because he said upfront he doing Fat's version. I love them both. Both hands too! ;)

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I gotta say,
Blue2Blue
turned me onto Judee Sill from the last week's FIT. I've been meaning to thank him, so here goes: Thanks!

I ordered Abracadabra (her only 2 studio albums, along with bonus tracks) and the live album, and paid 15 bucks for the overnight shipping. I haven't been this excited about discovering a musician in a very long time.
The Kiss
is absolutely stunning.


I've got her playing right now.

Hey, thanks, man!

 

I'd heard about her a little because she was kind of a protoge of Graham Nash (of CSN&Y) and I found her first record in a cut-out bin. At the time I considered myself an atheist (I figure anyone who hasn't spent some time under an empty sky can't really appreciate the spiritual side of life :D ) and her lyrics were kinda outside my comfort zone... but I could see she was in no way doctrinaire about her beliefs -- and she was amazingly open and sincere about the complexity of her yearning -- I thought it was an amazing record and my appreciation of it and her themes helped pave the way for a long time love affair between me and the religious music of others whose precise beliefs I don't necessarily share -- people sometimes pour a lot more than june/moon into their songs of spiritual longing and trial. (Sure, there's plenty of pro forma stuff, too. It's a big world... that's why God invented the skip button... indirectly, of course. :D )

 

Anyhow, glad you like it. She was a complex, beautiful artist... if her life was, at times, crushingly sad, her music soars above us all.

 

:)

 

 

_______________

 

 

 

Looks like I've got some serious catching up to do here, this weeks influences look pretty cool... looking forward to some flying fingers!

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I'm a couple days late, but I have to say, though I've been listening to a lot of Joe Jackson this week. I'm obsessed with his first two albums and he's my Friday influence for sure, but two things on this thread really caught my ear (and eye) more than most things do:

1. The United States Of America - they somehow manage to sound incredibly current and dated at the same time - like they were the original indie-rockers or something, sonically, but obviously sound like their time. I really liked that stuff.

2. Jack Conte. Holy crap is his stuff impressive - not just that weird song - the other stuff on his YouTube page is great, too.

 

So big thanks to blue2blue and Nirvana728. I really enjoyed that stuff!

 

Brian V.

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I'm a couple days late, but I have to say, though I've been listening to a lot of Joe Jackson this week. I'm obsessed with his first two albums and he's my Friday influence for sure, but two things on this thread really caught my ear (and eye) more than most things do:

1. The United States Of America - they somehow manage to sound incredibly current and dated at the same time - like they were the original indie-rockers or something, sonically, but obviously sound like their time. I really liked that stuff.

2. Jack Conte. Holy crap is his stuff impressive - not just that weird song - the other stuff on his YouTube page is great, too.


So big thanks to blue2blue and Nirvana728. I really enjoyed that stuff!


Brian V.

 

 

Glad you liked it. :thu:

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Man, this guy's music has got me wondering why nobody has discovered him yet. I found him just by looking for cover versions of a song on myspace (re:Stacks by Bon Iver) and I found that the rest of his songs are just as beautiful.

 

http://www.myspace.com/markdoubledaymusic

 

My favorite song of his is "Counting Curbs." Who knew that such beautiful music could come out of Idaho?

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