In the last year I discovered The Avett Brothers and consider them one of the best bands I have heard in quite sometime. Tuning into the Grammy Awards a few weeks ago we were looking forward to the set with Bob Dylan and The Avetts and were just as interested in our first exposure to Mumford and Sons.
When Amazon cooperated and had this album as a feature bargain album this past weekend and have listened to it several times.
It is wonderful. A sure similarity to The Avett Brothers in style is apparent but the voice of the lead singer actually reminds me on some notes of the lead singer of Blue October. It is clearly very interesting.
Songs such as Little Lion Man, The Cave, and Awake my Soul are clear and accessible. Most of the songs on the album use melodies and lyrics that are strong to make the point.
It is hard to describe. If you are looking for Top 40 music, rap music, or something to dance to you are in the wrong place.
If you want something special and that will never become stale this is it.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Jessica Lea Mayfield, Blue Skies Again
This single was free on Itunes this past week. I will be the first admit that I do not know if this is a relatively new singer of just one I have not been familiar with. I can say this.
This is a very nice single. I watched her on David Letterman last week and now in listening to this song a few times it is clear that she can sing.
Her voice is delicate and can sound fragile but at times belts. Off the top of my head I would think of a cross between Maria McKee, Lucinda Williams and Joni Mitchell. I am sure that being considered in that group would make Jessica Mayfield very happy.
Check her out.
This is a very nice single. I watched her on David Letterman last week and now in listening to this song a few times it is clear that she can sing.
Her voice is delicate and can sound fragile but at times belts. Off the top of my head I would think of a cross between Maria McKee, Lucinda Williams and Joni Mitchell. I am sure that being considered in that group would make Jessica Mayfield very happy.
Check her out.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Florence and The Machine, Lungs
Driving back home on the highway last night my wife and I were listening to one of my favorite playlists and having listened to Bruce, Skynyrd, The Stones, and such I realized my heart is in the seventies. That is true and remains so - no apologies will be forthcoming.
I do appreciate new music however. On Pandora the other day Slaid Cleaves came up on my playlist and I was very happy as I do enjoy his music, I hope to see both James McMurtry and Ray Lamontagne as they both come to Maine in the coming months.
After having listened to Bruno Mars recently today I listened to the new Florence and the Machine. My son had been listening to and singing Dog Days Are Over around the house so this is one of the first bands that my son has exposed me to.
When first listening this girl Florence's voice is immediately attention getting. Simply put she can belt it out.
Dog Days Are Over, Cosmic Love, My Boy Builds Coffins, and You've Got the Love are standouts. Of a different nature but standing out in a different way is Kiss With A Fist, a song whose title tells what the question might be.
Her music is hard to describe. It is not hit music but it had gained an audience. It is hard to know where she will end up as an artist, niche seems more likely, it is hard to picture her becoming a pop star. Stranger things have happened however.
Wherever Florence ends up however you would be wise to look for her and listen. This girl can wail.
I do appreciate new music however. On Pandora the other day Slaid Cleaves came up on my playlist and I was very happy as I do enjoy his music, I hope to see both James McMurtry and Ray Lamontagne as they both come to Maine in the coming months.
After having listened to Bruno Mars recently today I listened to the new Florence and the Machine. My son had been listening to and singing Dog Days Are Over around the house so this is one of the first bands that my son has exposed me to.
When first listening this girl Florence's voice is immediately attention getting. Simply put she can belt it out.
Dog Days Are Over, Cosmic Love, My Boy Builds Coffins, and You've Got the Love are standouts. Of a different nature but standing out in a different way is Kiss With A Fist, a song whose title tells what the question might be.
Her music is hard to describe. It is not hit music but it had gained an audience. It is hard to know where she will end up as an artist, niche seems more likely, it is hard to picture her becoming a pop star. Stranger things have happened however.
Wherever Florence ends up however you would be wise to look for her and listen. This girl can wail.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans
I have little exposure these days to top 40 music. My middle son is big into the rap music that permeates everywhere these days and my daughter has already gone through her Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus stage and now considers Taylor Swift as good as it gets.
I, as we listen to the 20 songs the hit radio station they listen to in the car, have heard some of the Bruno Mars songs. He seemed to me to be able to carry a tune. I saw him on Saturday Night Live this past fall and while not paying much attention he seemed like he could have some talent. Recently I read an article in Rolling Stone about him and it tells that he has been involved in show business for his whole life, even being a childhood Elvis impersonator.
So a friend of mine let me borrow this album and having listened to it today a couple times through I have to say that Bruno makes me feel like there may be hope for current music. This kid can really sing.
The single " Grenade " is so catchy that I have been annoying the kids singing the chorus all day. " Just the Way You Are" is nearly as infectious. Marry You and Talking to the Moon could soon be finding their way to a radio near you as well. Interestingly and of note to me are a couple of tracks, Runaway Baby and The Lazy Song which in addition to be as catchy are backed with a reggae beat. In most of the songs, certainly on Talking to the Moon one can hear a similarity to Micheal Jackson. His voice is strong and sweet. I do not know if he writes his own music, I do not know if he will progress or fade away but for right now Bruno Mars is at the top of his game.
I, as we listen to the 20 songs the hit radio station they listen to in the car, have heard some of the Bruno Mars songs. He seemed to me to be able to carry a tune. I saw him on Saturday Night Live this past fall and while not paying much attention he seemed like he could have some talent. Recently I read an article in Rolling Stone about him and it tells that he has been involved in show business for his whole life, even being a childhood Elvis impersonator.
So a friend of mine let me borrow this album and having listened to it today a couple times through I have to say that Bruno makes me feel like there may be hope for current music. This kid can really sing.
The single " Grenade " is so catchy that I have been annoying the kids singing the chorus all day. " Just the Way You Are" is nearly as infectious. Marry You and Talking to the Moon could soon be finding their way to a radio near you as well. Interestingly and of note to me are a couple of tracks, Runaway Baby and The Lazy Song which in addition to be as catchy are backed with a reggae beat. In most of the songs, certainly on Talking to the Moon one can hear a similarity to Micheal Jackson. His voice is strong and sweet. I do not know if he writes his own music, I do not know if he will progress or fade away but for right now Bruno Mars is at the top of his game.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Kings Speech
So one of our rare visits to the movies tonight my wife and I, childless except for our oldest, went to the movies to see The Kings Speech. The reviews have certainly been good and I have wanted to see the movie since it's release.
The movie tells us the story of Prince Albert who became King George VI after his brother abdicated. The story of that abdication could certainly be a movie of it's own. Prince Albert, The Duke of York, has a stammer. He has had it for his whole life that he can remember and had impeded him that length of time as well.
As his father, George the V, passes and his brother is forced to give up the throne he is forced into a role he did not desire or expect. Earlier having gone through countless methodologies to try to improve his speech his wife consults Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush, a very unconventional therapist who began to make progress with him. As the impending crisis with his brother King Edward worsens Logue pushing him offends his sense of dignity and the lessons end.
In the end when he becomes the King the lessons return, the relationship solidifies and " Bertie" becomes a strong King in a challenging time.
This is an excellent movie and should win the Oscar. I loved True Grit, perhaps even more than this and comparing them is not comparing apples and apples. However I think The Kings Speech will win.
The movie tells us the story of Prince Albert who became King George VI after his brother abdicated. The story of that abdication could certainly be a movie of it's own. Prince Albert, The Duke of York, has a stammer. He has had it for his whole life that he can remember and had impeded him that length of time as well.
As his father, George the V, passes and his brother is forced to give up the throne he is forced into a role he did not desire or expect. Earlier having gone through countless methodologies to try to improve his speech his wife consults Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush, a very unconventional therapist who began to make progress with him. As the impending crisis with his brother King Edward worsens Logue pushing him offends his sense of dignity and the lessons end.
In the end when he becomes the King the lessons return, the relationship solidifies and " Bertie" becomes a strong King in a challenging time.
This is an excellent movie and should win the Oscar. I loved True Grit, perhaps even more than this and comparing them is not comparing apples and apples. However I think The Kings Speech will win.
RED
A friend of my wife that this was a " great " movie so she got it from Netflix and we watched it last night. The movie was not a keeper. It was very close to being a movie that I stopped about 20 minutes in. As we had my wife's sister here and she and her son were watching the movie as well we did not.
The premise is that Bruce Willis a retired CIA agent who has been labeled RED or Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Assassins in great number come after Willis who of course escapes. Earlier in the movie we see that Willis has gained an attraction to a Customer Service Rep at his pension office, we see him ripping the checks up as he states his has not arrived.
Eventually his CSR friend, played by Mary Louise Parker becomes his unwilling accomplice, and later love interest. Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich play parts in Willis'a adventure. Freeman played his universal character these days it seems, patriarchal, aging, dying friend to all.
Malkovich however is in his element here. Playing a crazy conspiracy theorist he explodes in his role and if there were an award for over the top but right on performances in bad movies he would win.
He alone is worth sitting through much of the silliness of this movie.
The premise is that Bruce Willis a retired CIA agent who has been labeled RED or Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Assassins in great number come after Willis who of course escapes. Earlier in the movie we see that Willis has gained an attraction to a Customer Service Rep at his pension office, we see him ripping the checks up as he states his has not arrived.
Eventually his CSR friend, played by Mary Louise Parker becomes his unwilling accomplice, and later love interest. Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich play parts in Willis'a adventure. Freeman played his universal character these days it seems, patriarchal, aging, dying friend to all.
Malkovich however is in his element here. Playing a crazy conspiracy theorist he explodes in his role and if there were an award for over the top but right on performances in bad movies he would win.
He alone is worth sitting through much of the silliness of this movie.
The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
William Faulkner is not one of our easiest writers to appreciate. I was given a Faulkner book, Light in August I believe it was, to read in college as an assignment. I am sure I did not read it. I think Cliff helped me on that one. I think today kids use some free resource called perhaps " Sparknotes" to help them in similar situations.
However, my reading list shows I am going back and reading them all. I hope that Ms. Bruer appreciates it.
Faulkner is dense. Whereas Hemingway declares and makes clear Faulkner is shady and ambiguous. Many times in these collections of stories of Faulkner's you will read well into a story assuming an assumed fact from the narrator and then find your assumption was wrong and you will have to reinterpret the whole story based off this new information.
I will confess that some of these stories found me going back and rereading after this new information came to light. Faulkner is not easy.
Faulkner is however worthwhile. Some of the stories are so dense in dialect and fuzziness and first person versus second and third that they do not stand out for me. Perhaps the fact that much of my reading is done last at night is not the best time for them. Some of the stories however are to be treasured.
For me the stories The Tall Men, Two Soldiers and it's conclusion Shall Not Perish are three standouts which measure against anything I have read. Hair, Uncle Willy, The Brooch, Beyond, and There Was a Queen stand out.
I must confess the section of the stories called The Wilderness was told in such a dialect and improbable way that I still struggle to gain any pleasure from it.
Faulkner was not easy. He was however masterful in what he did. His work I assume because of it's depiction of the South in the times he wrote is not in anyway shape or from politically correct today. It does not have merit because of some of the implied racism of the speech and culture presented but it also does not not have merit because of these issues either. If that makes sense.
The recent censoring of Twain made sense in that some said that without he would not be taught at all. If that is the case so be it. Are we really so sensitive however that we cannot read history and fiction from a historical time period and appreciate it's merits without endorsing all of its views.
It is a subject that rankles. If you find Faulkner dense, written in a way you do not like and do not wish to wade in that is a legitimate thought and decision. Some of the easy criticism that is lodged his way due to how and what he wrote would make almost any authentic writing of a time period unable to be appreciated a century later were it to be the rule.
These stories are classics.
However, my reading list shows I am going back and reading them all. I hope that Ms. Bruer appreciates it.
Faulkner is dense. Whereas Hemingway declares and makes clear Faulkner is shady and ambiguous. Many times in these collections of stories of Faulkner's you will read well into a story assuming an assumed fact from the narrator and then find your assumption was wrong and you will have to reinterpret the whole story based off this new information.
I will confess that some of these stories found me going back and rereading after this new information came to light. Faulkner is not easy.
Faulkner is however worthwhile. Some of the stories are so dense in dialect and fuzziness and first person versus second and third that they do not stand out for me. Perhaps the fact that much of my reading is done last at night is not the best time for them. Some of the stories however are to be treasured.
For me the stories The Tall Men, Two Soldiers and it's conclusion Shall Not Perish are three standouts which measure against anything I have read. Hair, Uncle Willy, The Brooch, Beyond, and There Was a Queen stand out.
I must confess the section of the stories called The Wilderness was told in such a dialect and improbable way that I still struggle to gain any pleasure from it.
Faulkner was not easy. He was however masterful in what he did. His work I assume because of it's depiction of the South in the times he wrote is not in anyway shape or from politically correct today. It does not have merit because of some of the implied racism of the speech and culture presented but it also does not not have merit because of these issues either. If that makes sense.
The recent censoring of Twain made sense in that some said that without he would not be taught at all. If that is the case so be it. Are we really so sensitive however that we cannot read history and fiction from a historical time period and appreciate it's merits without endorsing all of its views.
It is a subject that rankles. If you find Faulkner dense, written in a way you do not like and do not wish to wade in that is a legitimate thought and decision. Some of the easy criticism that is lodged his way due to how and what he wrote would make almost any authentic writing of a time period unable to be appreciated a century later were it to be the rule.
These stories are classics.
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