Work today was a trip to the LAIKA animation house for an animation camp. LAIKA used to be will vinton's studio. Will was responsible for the california raisin's, M&M's candy characters and my favorite, the domino's noid. Phil Knight bought Will Vinton studios and will left and sued and lost and he is no longer involved. anyway, that was our day. i need to be more consistent with this thing.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
making too much of music
I’m going to be a bit self-indulgent and write about music I make too much of, here’s my first post about a song. You can listen to the song HERE, it's the third song on the page.
'Cactus Wren’ by Mark Olson and the Creekdippers off the album December’s Child
Mark Olson was in The Jayhawks. They were early pioneers of alt-country and had a similar career arc to Wilco. The Jayhawks had their moments and mainstreamed it with a successful single in the early nineties entitled ‘Blue’. Then Mark left and I’m not sure why. The other principle singer/songwriter for The Jayhawks, Gary Louris, kept the band going but the engine sputtered without Mark.
Mark married folk singer/songwriter Victoria Williams who’s biggest hit was getting MS. That sounds terrible but the point is a bunch of celebrities got together to pay her medical bills with an album of covers of her songs that got her some press and a spot on Lilith fair. I don’t know the details but I’m pretty sure she and Mark met at about the same time and the two moved to an old farmhouse in Joshua Tree, California. This is when he wrote Cactus Wren. It’s hard to say, but it may be that; like Wyclef Jean, Sonny Bono and Ike Turner, Mark leaned pretty heavy on the talent of his lady.
The song opens with violins and a hollow dusty piano playing an apologetic and uncertain melody. Later, horns are introduced with a minor key drone as well as a drummer that doesn’t keep rhythm so much as he punctuates the melody. The beauty of the song is the way the piano follows the strings and all of the subtleties of their interaction. The heart of the melody is triumphant but it never gets there. Right when I think it might, some anthemic horns are squashed with a restless tremolo from the strings while the piano heads off on it’s own tangent. It’s a mood piece and what works for me is that every moment each instrument is expressing itself independently within the strictures of an evolving melody. I have a notion that all the bizarre flourishes, prolonged notes and rhythmic anomalies are the result of recording on a dusty porch with some buddies and equipment pieced together with Chevy bumpers, egg cartons and cheesecloth. The lyrics enter late and play like an instrument. If there is meaning, it’s personal. They evoke youth, and the desert and longing. Fitting themes. The rest of the December's Child album is more poppy and nothing sounds like Cactus Wren. Which is fine, because the rest of the album is remarkable. I came to know the song off the soundtrack to David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls- a movie with a very unique voice. Check it out.
Lyrics
Cactus Wren is whistling in a mulberry tree, I think she found the one that she needs. Their must be a story that burns inside a soul I believe, that we could show all of our doubts, life just goes on, making our way back to the shore.
X3 And if you see my Aunt their, tell her I’ll be home, tell her I’ll be home I love her so.
Mark married folk singer/songwriter Victoria Williams who’s biggest hit was getting MS. That sounds terrible but the point is a bunch of celebrities got together to pay her medical bills with an album of covers of her songs that got her some press and a spot on Lilith fair. I don’t know the details but I’m pretty sure she and Mark met at about the same time and the two moved to an old farmhouse in Joshua Tree, California. This is when he wrote Cactus Wren. It’s hard to say, but it may be that; like Wyclef Jean, Sonny Bono and Ike Turner, Mark leaned pretty heavy on the talent of his lady.
The song opens with violins and a hollow dusty piano playing an apologetic and uncertain melody. Later, horns are introduced with a minor key drone as well as a drummer that doesn’t keep rhythm so much as he punctuates the melody. The beauty of the song is the way the piano follows the strings and all of the subtleties of their interaction. The heart of the melody is triumphant but it never gets there. Right when I think it might, some anthemic horns are squashed with a restless tremolo from the strings while the piano heads off on it’s own tangent. It’s a mood piece and what works for me is that every moment each instrument is expressing itself independently within the strictures of an evolving melody. I have a notion that all the bizarre flourishes, prolonged notes and rhythmic anomalies are the result of recording on a dusty porch with some buddies and equipment pieced together with Chevy bumpers, egg cartons and cheesecloth. The lyrics enter late and play like an instrument. If there is meaning, it’s personal. They evoke youth, and the desert and longing. Fitting themes. The rest of the December's Child album is more poppy and nothing sounds like Cactus Wren. Which is fine, because the rest of the album is remarkable. I came to know the song off the soundtrack to David Gordon Green’s All the Real Girls- a movie with a very unique voice. Check it out.
Lyrics
Cactus Wren is whistling in a mulberry tree, I think she found the one that she needs. Their must be a story that burns inside a soul I believe, that we could show all of our doubts, life just goes on, making our way back to the shore.
X3 And if you see my Aunt their, tell her I’ll be home, tell her I’ll be home I love her so.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Frightened Rabbit
I went to the Casbah and saw Frightened Rabbit last night. Their record is good, but they feel a bit coffee shop. Last night they were deafening and energetic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1w8HobnLFE&feature=related
Friday, June 20, 2008
first in a series of few
I'm in SD finishing up Navy paperwork before I'm out for good. I'm blogging to figure out how best to express my 'Creator' archetype and to leverage my ego into free t-shirts like Rob.
Last year I sailed up from San Diego on her for the Rose Festival. This year I walked in the Rose Parade with a fake pass behind a space capsule.
Mike did too.
These guys set up shop on a hill a couple blocks from my old trap house and charged me 75 cents for Lemonade! That's a margin. I'm applying for an internship.
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