Mother of All Funk Chords

Ok, I know this video from Kutiman is blowing up everywhere...but I feel obligated to post it here. I first saw this over at the listenerd (my favorite blog at the moment). This is probably the best YouTube video I've ever seen. It's easily the best video mashup I've seen. As one YouTube commenter put it: "Watching this makes me happy in about 5 different ways."

This is art. Arguably the finest masterpiece in a newly emerging art form.

More amazing examples of where the future of music and technology are heading can be found at ThruYou.

Songbird

I realize that this video has been available on youtube for over two years...but I just discovered it today.

It is one of the rare videos featuring a live performance by the incomparable Eva Cassidy.

Forgive me if you have seen this video a number of times already. If you have, it is worth watching again. If you haven’t, you really should take 5 minutes and 30 seconds to watch this sublime performance.

For those who don't know, Eva Cassidy died at the age of 33 of skin cancer. Eva and her music were not widely known during her lifetime but interest in both has increased dramatically since her death.

To this day, the Nightline story on her life and death remains the show's most popular episode ever. You can view that episode in three parts below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You can view more videos of Eva Cassidy's live performances here.

Nesterov

I recently stumbled across this beautiful clip featuring paintings of Mikhail Nesterov and the music of Henryk Gorecki. Nesterov has always been my favorite Russian painter and I've loved Gorecki's Symphony No. 3 since I first heard it on a radio broadcast a few years before it achieved mass popularity.

Election Day

I think Over The Rhine is on to something here...if only a song could be president...



So, in that spirit, I believe I will support the Pancho/Lefty ticket:



...although Wilco does offer a pretty convincing argument for the ultimate third-party candidate...

: )

The Old Quarter

The Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in Galveston, Texas sustained severe damage from Hurricane Ike.

Rex "Wrecks" Bell (Texas music legend and owner of the Old Quarter) has decided to rebuild.

He is going to need a lot of help to pull it off. Fortunately, efforts to help out Rex and the Old Quarter are already under way. Rex is accepting donations through the Old Quarter website.

Benefit concerts are already planned in Akron, Ohio, Dan Electro's Guitar Bar in Houston and Lukenbach, Texas.

Artists and bands who are involved include: The Band of Heathens, Hayes Carll, Adam Carroll, Jesse Dayton, Jason Eady, Ken Gaines, Susan Gibson, The Gougers, Quincy Harper, Opie Hendrix, Ray Wylie Hubbard, The McKay Brothers, Gary P. Nunn, Shake Russell, Sisters Morales, Owen Temple and J.T. Van Zandt.

"Tom Traubert's Blues" - Tom Waits

Here is a video of Tom Waits performing "Tom Traubert's Blues (aka Waltzing Matilda)" at Jones Hall in Houston, Texas on June 22nd, 2008. The song is preceded by a monologue featuring Tom's typically offbeat sense of humor.

(Update - This is a better quality video than the one originally posted and really highlights his facial expressions during the performance.)

Justin Townes Earle Plays Townes Van Zandt

Here is a video of Justin Townes Earle performing two Townes Van Zandt songs.

Adam Carroll - Rice Birds

Here's a video of Adam Carroll and Michael O'Connor performing Adam's song "Rice Birds".

Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues - 1977

"No one speaks English, and everything's broken"

Did I mention that Tom Waits is a freaking genius and quite possibly the coolest man alive?

Well he is...and here's a video of him performing "Tom Traubert's Blues" (aka Waltzing Matilda) on an episode of the Old Grey Whistle Test.

Loudon Wainwright - Cardboard Boxes

Here's another Loudon clip that showcases the lighter side of his songwriting skills. : )

Loudon Wainwright - Your Mother and I

Here is a video of Loudon Wainwright III performing his song "Your Mother and I" on an old episode of Austin City Limits (including a reference to the old Armadillo World Headquarters).

This song is a good example of Loudon's poignant and often very personal songwriting.

Bread & Roses

Here's a video of Audrey Auld Mezera performing her song "Bread & Roses" at FODfest '07 in Memphis.

This is a beautiful song she wrote for a performance for inmates at San Quentin Prison as part of her work with the Bread & Roses organization.

More Mahler

Here is a video of the final breathtaking minutes of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony.

This video is a from a 1998 performance conducted by Sir Simon Rattle with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus along with soloists Anne Sophie Von Otter and Hillevi Martinpelto.

Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony

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Last night I attended a performance by the Houston Symphony of Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony at Jones Hall. The Symphony is commonly known as the "Resurrection Symphony".

This Symphony, while popular, is seldom programmed due to the large number of performers required. The only other time I was able to hear this work performed was 19 years ago in 1989 when Christoph Eschenbach conducted a performance by the Houston Symphony. With this being Bright Week in the Orthodox Church I simply could not pass up a chance to witness this performance.

The Houston Symphony was joined in this performance by the Houston Symphony Chorus along with soprano Erin Wall and contralto Meredith Arwady. The conductor for this concert was Maestro Hans Graf, the Music Director of the Houston Symphony.

Mahler's Second Symphony was composed during the years 1888-1894. His sources of inspiration for the Symphony included: the collection of German folk poetry known as Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and Friedrich Klopstock's Resurrection Chorale.

The Symphony consists of five movements. The fourth movement is a setting of the poem Urlicht from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The fifth movement contains a setting of Klopstock's Resurrection chorale as rewritten by Mahler to which he added these additional lines (here in an English translation):

O believe,
You were not born for nothing!
Have not for nothing, lived, suffered!

What was created
Must perish,
What perished, rise again!

Cease from trembling!
Prepare yourself to live!

O Pain, You piercer of all things,
From you, I have been wrested!
O Death, You masterer of all things,
Now, are you conquered!

With wings which I have won me,
In love’s fierce striving,
I shall soar upwards
To the light which no eye has penetrated!
Its wing that I won is expanded,
and I fly up.

Die shall I in order to live.
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my heart, in an instant!
That for which you suffered,
To God will it lead you!

The performance by the Orchestra, Chorus and soloists was excellent. Graf's interpretation was very good though quite different from my recollection of Eschenbach's interpretation. He offered a leaner, more straightforward approach that was not overly dramatic. The tempos were also quicker than Eschenbach's.

Some of the highlights of the performance for me were the solos performed by the concertmaster and the principal trumpet, the offstage brass sections, the brass playing during the Chorale, 'Dies Irae' and finale sections and the singing of the Chorus during the final movement.

The last five minutes or so of the final movement (which simultaneously employs the Chorus, Orchestra, Organ and both soloists) is one of the most moving and spiritual passages in all of music. One has to hear a live performance to fully appreciate it. It is simply spell-binding. The performers did not disappoint here either. The finale was magnificent.

The only disappointment in the performance for me (a minor quibble) was that the electronic organ used in the finale was mostly lost in the acoustics of Jones Hall. One day I hope to hear this piece again but performed in a Cathedral or Hall with a proper pipe organ.

The performance of this piece by the Houston Symphony continues through this weekend. You can find out more details on the two remaining performances here.

Here is a review of the performance from the Houston Chronicle.

Cactus

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Over the weekend I had a chance to check out the return of Cactus Music to Houston.

I dropped by to check out the new location and to hear The Gougers play one of the first in-store appearances. The fact that Saint Arnold's was there providing free beer was an added bonus!

It was nice to see the old store back in business again. The new "Record Ranch" component of the store is pretty cool...lots of vinyl for sale.

My first ever purchase at the new Cactus consisted of:

The Gougers new cd - Long Day for the Weathervane

Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World

and Eric Taylor's - Scuffletown

(plus I had around 5-6 free promos handed to me on my way out - Thanks Guys!)