Category: Music

Two Music Immortals

… were born on September 8th.

Jimmie Rodgers, considered the “Father of Country Music,” was born in Meridian, Mississippi, on September 8, 1897. He died from TB in 1933. Jimmie Rodgers was the first person inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and among the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

James Charles Rodgers, known professionally as the Singing Brakeman and America’s Blue Yodeler, was the first performer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was honored as the Father of Country Music, “the man who started it all.” From many diverse elements—the traditional melodies and folk music of his southern upbringing, early jazz, stage show yodeling, the work chants of railroad section crews and, most importantly, African-American blues—Rodgers evolved a lasting musical style which made him immensely popular in his own time and a major influence on generations of country artists.

Blue Yodel No. 9

Patsy Cline, the most popular female country singer in recording history, was born in Winchester, Virginia, on September 8, 1932. She died in a plane crash in 1963. Patsy Cline is an inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Cline is invariably invoked as a standard for female vocalists, and she has inspired scores of singers including k. d. lang, Loretta Lynn, Linda Ronstadt, Trisha Yearwood, and Wynonna Judd. Her brief career produced the #1 jukebox hit of all time, “Crazy” (written by Willie Nelson) and her unique, crying style and vocal impeccability have established her reputation as the quintessential torch singer.

Crazy

Apple’s Beat Goes On

Things gleaned from Steve Jobs’s presentation for Apple today. I thought live blogging this would be dreamy for me, and there must be at least a few iPod/iTunes users who read NewMexiKen.

iTunes has sold over 3 billion songs and over 95 million videos.

32% of all music released in the U.S. is only released digitally (no CDs, etc.). Nearly a third!

Tonight there’ll be another new version of iTunes for you to download.

500,000 iTunes songs will be available as iPhone ringtones for just an additional 99¢ each.

They’ve sold 110 million iPods and every item in the line is being refreshed or replaced (in time for the holidays).

A new iPod nano. With video. Metal, not plastic. More storage. With Cover Flow (to scroll through album covers). 2-inch screen (same as iPod). Great resolution, 204 ppi. Still uses wheel for scrolling (no touch screen, like the iPhone). Even smaller than existing nano. Games. 24-hour battery life for audio (5 for video).

Jobs endorses The Daily Show.

4GB Nano $149. 8GB Nano $199. In stores this weekend.

The iPod is now to be called the iPod classic. A new 160GB version. 40,000 songs in your pocket. (Does anyone have 40,000 songs?) 40-hour battery life for audio. Smaller than original iPod with 8X the capacity. $349. 80GB model now $249. Shipping today. In stores this weekend.

And introducing the iPod touch. 3.5-inch widescreen. It’s the iPhone without the phone! It’s a third of an inch thinner than the iPhone. With WiFi and Safari. YouTube. 22-hour battery life for audio, 5 for video. 8GB ($299) and 16GB ($399). Shipping in September!

And there’s a wireless iTunes Store on the iPod touch (and iPhone). Search, preview, buy and download from anywhere (anywhere there’s WiFi).

I want one!

Jobs says the customer satisfaction numbers on the iPhone are the highest for any Apple product ever. So they’re dropping the price from $599 to $399! 33%!

And then Jobs introduced KT Tunstall to perform live.

Best opening lines to songs

Jesus’ General suggests some best opening lines to songs and asks you to name more.

Here’s a few from NMK:

Baby take off your coat, real slow
— Joe Cocker, “You Can Leave Your Hat On”

Some folks are born, made to wave the flag,
Ooh they’re red, white and blue
— Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son”

Life, it’s ever so strange, it’s so full of change
You think that you’ve worked it out then,
Bang, right out of the blue, somethin’ happens to you,
To throw you off course
— Jem, “Just a Ride”

All the Gold in California
Is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills
In somebody else’s name
— The Gatlin Brothers, “All the Gold in California”

My my, hey hey,
Rock and roll is here to stay
— Neil Young, “My My, Hey Hey”

When this war is over, it will be a better day
— Eric Clapton & J.J. Cale, “When This War is Over”

Stuff about Stuff

Speculation is that new iPods will be introduced next Wednesday so don’t go out and buy one this weekend. People are guessing they’ll have full-size screens like the iPhone.

Though we are less certain of the specifications for the new sixth generation iPod, it may closely resemble the iPhone (without calling features). Specifically, we expect the sixth gen iPod to be a widescreen device with multitouch technology. It may also have Wi-Fi capability and the capacity could be as high as 160GB.

AllThingsD

Test Your Internet Speed. The test said my download speed was 6.03 Mbps and my upload speed 2.08 Mbps.

Four Hands Guitar.

All-Time Great College Football Quotes. Example: “Football is not a contact sport-it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.” — Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State.

The HubbleSite has a nice feature about Tonight’s sky. It’s a short film each month on what to look for among the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and events. And I learned about the Teapot.

City Music

Just foolin’ around with iTunes, I came up with a list of “city” songs.

Here’s a dozen:

Chicago — Frank Sinatra
Detroit City — Bobby Bare
(I Left My Heart In) San Francisco — Tony Bennett
Jackson — Johnny Cash & June Carter
The Lights of Albuquerque — Jim Glaser
Lodi — Creedence Clearwater Revival
Memphis Underground — Herbie Mann
Oh, Atlanta — Alison Krauss & Union Station
Philadelphia Freedom — Elton John
Portland Oregon — Loretta Lynn
Take Me Back to Tulsa — Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Theme from New York, New York — Frank Sinatra

More anyone? (The name of a U.S. city in the title.)

Of course, the best city song ever is Freddy Cannon’s Tallahassee Lassie.

Did you know?

“Happy Birthday to You” is copyright protected through 2030. The rights are owned by Time Warner and it brings in around $2 million a year.

If you sing it in public without permission (which means paying Time Warner for the privilege), it’s a copyright violation.

I wonder if I could get a job as a copyright bounty hunter. You know, hang out at Chucky Cheese and similar places, and when the kids all sing “Happy Birthday” demand payment for Time Warner and then get a percentage.

Oldies, but goodies

According to Fred Bronson:

“Sean Kingston continues his domination of The Billboard Hot 100, as ‘Beautiful Girls’ tops the list for the second week. That chart-topper has put songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in first place for the first time in 48 years.”

Leiber and Stoller wrote such songs as “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Stand By Me,” “Spanish Harlem,” “On Broadway,” “Love Potion #9,” “Kansas City,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Fools Fall In Love,” and “Ruby Baby.” And just about everything by The Coasters.

Meanwhile a song written by Lennon and McCartney is in the Country Top 100, “Revolution,” by Rascal Flatts.

And Ella Fitzgerald has an album in the Top 200, “Love Letters from Ella,” a Starbucks album. Bronson notes that Ella’s career began in 1934, her first “chart” appearance was 51 years ago.

Not an oldie, Carrie Underwood has “the highest new entry ever for a solo female artist” — “So Small.”

Voices we know

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Bobbie Hatfield was born on this date in 1940. When Hatfield died in November 2003 NewMexiKen posted this:

The Righteous Brothers — blue-eyed soul. No one believed they were white. The name had something to do with that, but it was the sound that fooled everyone.

Bobby Hatfield had the higher voice; Bill Medley the lower. In the book accompanying the Phil Spector compilation, Back to Mono, songwriter Cynthia Weil recalls that:

After Phil, Barry [co-writer Barry Mann] and I finished the song, we took it over to The Righteous Brothers. Bill Medley, who has the low voice, seemed to like the song. I remember Bobby Hatfield saying, “But what do I do while he’s singing the whole first verse?” and Phil said, “You can go directly to the bank!”

On AM radio in those days deejays didn’t like songs that lasted more than three minutes. Lovin’ Feelin’ is 3:46. On the label Spector printed 3:05. It was number one for two weeks in February 1965.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Veronica Bennett was born on this date in 1943. That’s Ronnie Spector, one-time Mrs. Phil Spector (married 1968-1974), and lead singer of The Ronettes (with her sister and cousin). Hits included Be My Baby and Walkin’ in the Rain.

“I like to look the way Ronnie Spector sounds: sexy, hungry, totally trashy. I admire her tonal quality.” — Madonna, quoted at RonnieSpector.com.

The Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

Blogging to a beat

I could blog without a lot of things but I doubt I could blog without iTunes.

Now playing 11110 random tracks. The last dozen:

  1. The One I Love Is Gone / Linda Ronstadt-Ann Savoy
  2. Dimming of the Day / Bonnie Raitt
  3. It’s So Easy / Guns N’ Roses
  4. Strange Meadow Lark / Dave Brubeck
  5. Bye Bye Bird / Sonny Boy Williamson
  6. Mother and Child Reunion / Paul Simon
  7. I Cried for You / Billie Holiday
  8. Moments to Remember / The Four Lads
  9. Drop That Sack [Rare Take] / Louis Armstrong
  10. Come On Come On / Mary Chapin Carpenter
  11. Rock Me Baby / Jimi Hendrix
  12. My Baby Thinks He’s A Train / Rosanne Cash

Did you notice?

iTunes 7.3, which was released yesterday to incorporate the iPhone, alphabetizes the library differently than its predecessors.

Punctuation marks are somehow incorporated into the order — for example, Miles Davis’s ‘Round Midnight or Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay. These used to be listed before “A” because of the apostrophe and the parenthesis. Now they show up under R and S.

And numbers now come after the letters rather than before — for example, Prince’s 1999.

I don’t care — I think I prefer this — but I thought it odd that the change was made.

——–

Some other stuff:

If you’re a shut-in you can check out the Moon Phase. (Today’s was a blue moon for most of the world. The U.S. had a blue moon last month.)

Here’s a bunch of photos of celebrities when they were kids. They’re captioned, but how many would you recognize?

For whatever reason, a video of Mika Brzezinski trying to do the right thing — and two knuckleheads.

How fast can you handle simple mathematical calculations?

Here in ‘Burque, using a pseudonym, a member of Mayor Marty’s cabinet called his radio show to flatter Marty and rail against the city council. Linda has ‘always been my alter-ego name’ CFO Gail Reese later said. Tbe Albuquerque Tribune has the story.

And Scott Adams has a take on lottery winners, prompted by the couple that won $105 million Wednesday night.

But I notice that the people who win are coincidentally the people who would be best for marketing future Powerball lotteries. You know what story you will never hear about a lottery winner? It’s this one:

“Wealthy bachelor neurosurgeon, age 30, wins $300 million in the lottery. The lucky winner, Winston Arbuckle III, says he plans to “Buy another yacht, smoke more weed, and float around the Mediterranean until I die from the clap.” Asked about his neurosurgery practice, Arbuckle quipped, “I never liked sick people.”

No, you will only hear stories about the modest couple with the hard-working husband, usually in his late fifties or early sixties. They will be “thinking about” getting a nicer house. In this latest lottery story, the husband is a long-haul trucker whose truck has recently crapped out. He plans to buy a new (used) truck and keep working.

Friday

NewMexiKen returned to Albuquerque Friday. Instead of taking the quickest route, I-25, I took the shortest, pretty much U.S. 285 from Denver to Santa Fe, then I-25 on into the Duke City. It’s a beautiful almost exhilarating tour across South Park, past the Collegiate Range, and down the San Luis Valley.

I kept to the speed limits, which at various times thanks to the wisdom of Colorado and New Mexico were 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75. It took just a little bit more than an hour longer than the interstate (it’s 30 miles shorter).

But I got 25½ miles to the gallon, about 20% better than the trip up at freeway speeds. Not bad for a SUV, eh?

Last evening it was Jake Shimabukuro and The Greencards at the Rio Grande Zoo, part of the summer Zoo Music series. (Saw the baby giraffes, which were just as cute as you might imagine. The youngest one is just a few weeks old.)

We’d seen Jake in Honolulu. He is fun and can play any kind of music on a ukulele — Led Zeppelin’s “Gone to California,” Franz Shubert’s “Ave Maria,” George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” I even have an autographed CD of his. Terrific to see him again.

Except, that while Jake was playing, the folks near us discussed the South Beach diet, whom one of them might room with next, their day at work, bears attacking kids — well you get the idea. It is an outdoor concert, and one expects a certain amount of commotion, BUT IT IS A CONCERT. When the music picks up that is not a cue to talk even louder!

The Greencards, a bluegrass quartet, two of whom are from Australia and one from England — green cards, get it? — were quite good. Blue Grass is almost always infectious (though not to the yakkers around us). The group seemed genuinely fascinated with the venue (the zoo, the ancient cottonwoods I suppose) and put on a good show, with a rousing encore (“Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover” bluegrass style). See them if you get the chance.

Most people in the general audience are such simpletons that if I managed a relatively unknown band I would encourage them to open with covers of songs everybody knows. Get the audience engaged up front, clapping, singing, whatever, then do your thing. Good as they were, The Greencards opened with a lot of their own music, excellent but not familiar. And, when the band said that they were pleased that people were dancing, it seemed strange to me that they then played three consecutive slower songs that no one danced to. But what do I know?

June 6th

Levi Stubbs is 71. Stubbs was and is the lead vocalist of The Four Tops.

“The Four Tops deserve to be recognized both for their achievements and their longevity. On the latter count, the group performed for over four decades together without a single change in personnel – a record of constancy that is mind-boggling in the notoriously changeable world of popular music. As for their accomplishments, the Four Tops cut some of Motown’s most memorable singles during the label’s creative zenith, including “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “I Can’t Help Myself,” “It’s the Same Old Song,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love” and “Bernadette.” The Four Tops’ greatest records were recorded at Motown with the in-house songwriting and production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland between 1964 and 1967.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

It’s Stubbs who sings:

Now if you feel that you can’t go on
Because all of your hope is gone
And your life is filled with much confusion
Until happiness is just an illusion
And your world around is tumbling down
Darling reach out
C’mon girl
Reach on out for me
Reach out for me
Bill Dickey Hall of Fame plaque
Tennis Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg is 51.

Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti is 40. He was nominated for his supporting role in Cinderella Man.

Hall of Fame Yankee catcher Bill Dickey was born on June 6th, 100 years ago today. Not as well known as some other Yankees perhaps, Dickey nevertheless is one of the team whose number has been retired (with Yogi Berra’s — they both wore 8). FYI Martin 1, Ruth 3, Gehrig 4, DiMaggio 5, Mantle 7 and Maris 9 are among other numbers retired. Jeter wears 2.

Nathan Hale was born on June 6th in 1755. “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” he said when hanged by the British in 1776 as an American spy. Hale had volunteered to report on British positions in New York. He was caught when Scooter Libby’s ancestor revealed Hale’s covert identity to Robert Novak.

Paul

The June 4th issue of The New Yorker has a remarkable profile of Paul McCartney by John Colapinto, “When I’m Sixty-Four.”

The article is not online, but you could spend $4.50 in worse ways than to pick up a copy of the magazine.

“That’s exactly it, and I am amazed,” he said. “How could I not be? Unless I just totally blocked it off. There were four people in the Beatles, and I was one of them. There were two people in the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team, and I was one of them. I mean, right there, that’s enough for anyone’s life. And there was one guy who wrote ‘Yesterday,’ and I was him. One guy who wrote ‘Let It Be,’ ‘Fool on the Hill,’ ‘Lady Madonna’—and I was him, too. All of these things would be enough for anyone’s life. So to be involved in all of them is pretty surprising. And you have to pinch yourself. That’s what that song [“That Was Me”] is about.”

What’s Going On?

The great Marvin Gaye album, What’s Going On, was released on this date 36 years ago. The title song is so sadly pertinent still.

This 1971 song begins with the friendly, bustling sounds of a Vietnam veteran’s homecoming party, but, all the while, an uneasy vibe lurks beneath the good times. The veteran was Marvin Gaye’s much-changed brother Frank and “What’s Going On” reflected a similar change in the singer’s career. His personal life and the nation’s struggle to come to grips with divisive social issues made Gaye realize that singing simplistic love songs for Motown Records was something he could no longer do. Music reviewer Tom Moon reveals how the song marked a resurrection of sorts for Gaye and influenced Motown to allow other artists in their stable to take creative liberties in their work.

Listen to the song and its story from the NPR 100. (You’ll need RealAudio.)

Old Dominion

You think you’ll find some mountains
in western colorado
fifty weeks of snowy peaks
is where you’re gonna be
but babe the rocky mountains are gradually eroding
the hills of coors are nothing more
than blue ridge wannabes

you think that autumns in new england
are the greatest of them all
but give me sweet virginia for the fireworks of fall
the prettiest october in all the fifty states
just drive up to the skyline
park the car and wait

when you’re talking home
you mean the old dominion
just southeast of heaven to the surf and the hills
she’s the best of thirteen sisters
and thirty seven more
sweet sweet virginia always keeps an open door

Eddie from Ohio
Old Dominion

Willie

It’s the birthday of singer and songwriter Willie Nelson, born in the small farming community of Abbott, Texas (1933). As a young man, he wrote songs and performed at honky-tonks with names like the County Dump and the Bloody Bucket. Then, in 1959, he wrote “Night Life,” a song that was eventually recorded by more than 70 artists and sold over 30 million copies. He only made $150 from the song, because he sold the copyright. But he used that money to buy a second-hand Buick, and he drove in that Buick to Nashville, hoping to become a country music star.

He spent the next decade writing songs for other country singers, but after getting frustrated by Nashville, he went back to Texas and started recording his own albums. In 1975, he recorded Red Headed Stranger, a concept album about a preacher on the run after murdering his wife and her new lover. At the time, many country singers were backed by orchestras and backup singers, but Nelson recorded the album with just his acoustic guitar and a few other instruments. No one thought it would be a hit, but it sold millions of copies, and inspired a traditional country music revival.

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media

Casey Jones, he died at the throttle, Casey Jones, with the whistle in his hand

Ah, the importance of worshipful friends or family in building a legend.

John Luther Jones from Cayce (pronounced Cay-see), Kentucky, famous to us through song as a brave engineer who romantically died trying to make up time. In truth, he crashed his locomotive at high speed into a freight train that was attempting to get out of the way on a siding. According to reports he failed to heed warning signals that were out. The accident took place early in the morning of April 30, 1900. Jones was the only fatality.

Jones was known for his affability and his skill in blowing a train whistle. His engine wiper, Wallace Saunders, reportedly idolized the engineer. Saunders wrote the original song.

All you might want to know can be found in this 1928 article.