"I'M A SEAGULL"

Bloggy lameness tonight, I'm afraid. I'm neck deep in character analysis work for my next Chekhov scene, which is from The Seagull; I'm playing Konstantin, the tortured young artist, alienated from both his famous actress mother and not so famous actress girlfriend, who kills himself at the end of the play. I'm doing the scene where he decides to commit suicide. It's pretty heavy stuff. So, I'm pretty busy, but, for content's sake, my breaktime has been spent posting on a fun comment thread over at Eschaton. The theme is "Best Songs That No One Ever Heard." Here are some highlights:

I'm particularly fond of classic rock album cuts. That is, albums that have songs that everybody knows well, even though people rarely listen to the entire album. So, lots of people know "Band on the Run" or "Jet" but don't know "Let Me Roll It." Or, say, virtually all of the Rolling Stones Black and Blue album which has been seemingly drowned out by radio cuts from Some Girls. My favorite "unknown" classic rock album cut is currently the Eagles' "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" from their Long Run album.

Ron

Here's a great one: "Dry Cleaner from des Moines" from the fairly unknown Joni Mitchell album Mingus. It's a Charles Mingus composition, with a Jaco Pastorius arrangement--a cool shuffling bass line (played by Jaco, himself), with agit-funk horns. The lyrics are quite cool too, about a schlep who keeps winning at the slots in Vegas while Joni, broke, looks on in disbelief.

Ron

Here's another: the song "Solfeggio," a Dick Hyman composition, as played by the Nairobi Trio on the old, old Ernie Kovacs show back in the 50s. The band playing it was, in fact, a small jazz combo dressed in Gorilla suits. Gorilla suits make everything better. Listen to it here.

Ron

Also, anything at all by Austin's own Daniel Johnston. Especially his very crudely recorded Songs of Pain series, available only on cassette, I think.

Ron

Cool that you mentioned Bongwater, Eli, I'm particularly fond of "Talent Is a Vampire."

Ron

God, the Judy's were a great band. Why didn't they ever become really well known? Seeing them play at Numbers in Houston during the mid 80s is one of the better concert experiences of my life. I prefer, "Guyana Punch," myself, however.

Ron

Speaking of Austin bands and obscurity, how about "New York Bitch" by the Real Heroes? This band plays great smart pop, and they tend to get around the country from time to time. Go see them if you get the chance.

Ron

"Supper's Ready by Genesis (sorry, remnants of 70s prog-rockism - it's as good an album side as side two of Abbey Road)"

From Foxtrot which is an excellent album overall. And I agree, "Supper's Ready" is absolutely great, with all that cool Peter Gabriel weirdness coupled with top notch playing (Phil Collins really is at his best behind a drum kit); it really does give side two of Abbey Road a run for its money.

Ron

I'm going to go out on a limb and bet that absolutely no one commenting on this thread has ever heard this great song BUT I'm also going to bet that absolutely everyone commenting on this thread has heard of the artist who performed it.

Ready? Here goes.

"Autumn Leaves" as performed by Duke Ellington on the Indigos album before it was released on CD. When digitally remastering the album for CD release, Columbia decided to use another version of the song with the first verse sung in French and the second in English. The vinyl version of the song, however, replaces the French verse with a long, ethereal violin solo, which makes the vocals coming in on the second verse something of a weird surprise. In other words, the L.P. version takes the listener to surreal places that the CD version, which is far more conventional in comparison, is incapable of going.

Okay, do I win my bet?

Ron

Oh, wait! Those are all my comments! Ha, ha! Aren't I clever? Well, for those comments in their original context, and many, many more, click here. It's a fun thread.

Also, here's something from a recent Paul Krugman essay blasting the fallen god of economics, Alan Greenspan. From the New York Times:

Deficits and Deceit

Four years ago, Alan Greenspan urged Congress to cut taxes, asserting that the federal government was in imminent danger of paying off too much debt.

On Wednesday the Fed chairman warned Congress of the opposite fiscal danger: he asserted that there would be large budget deficits for the foreseeable future, leading to an unsustainable rise in federal debt. But he counseled against reversing the tax cuts, calling instead for cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Does anyone still take Mr. Greenspan's pose as a nonpartisan font of wisdom seriously?

Click here for the rest.

Okay, time for some fast food.

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