On one Thursday, we decided to try to link each song with the previous one, either through artists, producers, sound engineers, etc. Today I re-discovered the set list from that morning. It doesn’t have the songs listed unfortunately, but I wanted to commit this to the collective memory of the interwebs for posterity. What follows is the actual artist set list I typed up about five years ago for that radio program.

The Greatest Thing That Ever Happened to Radio

February 24, 2005

1. Whiskeytown (Steven Rhodes asst. on STD, mixed Pneumonia and asst. eng.)
2. S.T.D. (Producer Rob Schnapf also mixed Static Prevails by Jimmy Eat World)
3. Jimmy Eat World (Futures eng/mix Rich Costey also mixed Audioslave)
4. Audioslave (Rick Rubin)
5. Mars Volta (Rick Rubin)
6. RHCP (Flea & Frusciante)
7. John Frusciante
8. Johnny Cash (Frusciante plays on American IV: The Man Comes Around)
9. Elliott Smith (Drummer Joey Waronker also played with Johnny Cash)
10. The Decembrists (Decembrists Engineer Larry Crane also Prod/Eng/Mix for Elliott Smith)
11. Death Cab (Benjamin Gibbard)
12. Postal Service (Jimmy Tamborello)
13. Bright Eyes (J.T. did programming on Digital Ash in a Digital Urn)
14. Little Brazil (Deparacidos bass player Landon Hedges plays guitar for LB)
15. Cursive (Hedges played guitar for Tim Kasher’s project The Good Life)
16. Rilo Kiley (JL sings for Postal Service)
17. Iron and Wine (Sam Beam was producer/engineer for Such Great Heights)
18. The Shins (James Mercer was producer/engineer for Such Great Heights)
19. Treasure State (Singer Joel Mercer bro of James Mercer)

 

According to the stat tracker on WordPress, the RoH blog has gotten 18 views since I posted my last entry! Woohoo! That pales in comparison to the entry I wrote pairing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” with the Declaration of Independence (354 page views in 1 day!). It has been a trying year for this space intellectually, but whatever. I’m trying to rectify that.

If you’re reading this, go ahead a post a comment and share with us what your FAVORITE time period/event/person in history was when you were in school. I’m interested in seeing if there is a diversity in topics. I myself am in a Civil War rut right now, thanks in large part to PBS re-airing Ken Burns’ The Civil War as well as regularly hiking at a Civil War battlefield right around the corner from my new home in Kennesaw, GA. It’s hard to escape the Civil War when you keep seeing the memories. I’m not complaining, but I’d like to do something new.

So, if you have the guts to participate, please do. I’d like to see if I can do something fun here and start fresh. If you haven’t read any of the old entries, start from the beginning and check them out. I think they are a fun little diversion from the normal routine. Thanks!

A few months ago I heard a remarkable performance on A Prairie Home Companion of a singer-songwriter named Caroline Herring. I found her newest album, downloaded it, and have been playing it for most of the summer. She’s very good. One of the songs she performed on the radio and which I like  a whole lot is “See See Rider.” What I didn’t know when I first heard the song was that it is a traditional blues song that has been performed by a myriad of artists, from Elvis Presley to Janis Joplin to Ray Charles. I’ve wandered around iTunes listening to a lot of versions, including some of the first early blues recordings and some more modern rock interpretations. It probably has a lot to do with it being my first exposure to the song, but I still like the Caroline Herring version the best.

Now the concept of covering a song or putting your own twist on it is not new [I'm now hearing Shaun Bockert in my memory one morning drive during my sophomore year of high school: "Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower is the greatest cover song OF ALL TIME"]. But I really love the concept of a traditional song whose origin is not definitive. Traditional music usually is that which has been passed down orally rather than being produced by a known author who has retained the ownership of that work. There aren’t many songs that are organic in that sense; there is no composer or lyricist or author anymore. The song is so old that we don’t know the exact origin. It just exists and continues to exist. Each artist takes their own stab at it but it isn’t really a cover song. Every version of a traditional song can still be original. Another song I’ve heard that is like this is “Dink’s Song,” which I originally heard via Jeff Buckley‘s amazing [and posthumous] “Live at Sin-é” album, but also was recorded by Bob Dylan three decades earlier. [Sidenote: Dylan's 1961 recording wasn't released until twelve years after Buckley's recording. And yet it sounds like Buckley is covering Dylan. In this case I think the traditional song hasn't been tried out by as many artists as "See See Rider" and therefore there isn't as much variation. End of sidenote].

I think I’d like to hear more traditional music with new twists or takes. Ray Charles, Elvis, Mississippi John Hurt and Caroline Herring each took the same thread of a song and made their own mark. [In my opinion, the Elvis version is the worst - I can appreciate a lot of music, but Vegas Headliner Elvis I just don't get].

Continuing to perform traditional music reflects a respect for the oral traditions of history and the desire to continue to tell a story that is older than ourselves. At the same time, the respect for the tradition is fused with a focus on the new perspective of the current storyteller. You get to rewrite history without throwing out the old stuff to make room for the ne-w. I find this inspiring.

Plus there isn’t any copyright, so you don’t have to pay royalties. We are in a recession after all.

Also I am about to be unemployed again (hopefully only briefly during the summer between school years), so this will allow more time to put towards educatin’ y’all’s lives.

Take this opportunity to peruse the archives of this blog and get an idea of what sorts of things we’ve done here in the past.

I am open to suggestions, comments, and insulting notions.

well, i am, but for a different purpose, and that is to extend an inviation to anyone reading this for the opportunity to get down with a mix swap. you get a mix from me before i leave for zambia & i get the opportunity to get a mix from you to take with me! as inspired by my own past music swap history via lifejournal; a giant mix swap which included riebs, the d, misty, dre, elk epicness on tape, many more.

even if i don’t know you, i’ll put something out, just respond with a mailing address and i’ll get it to you as soon as i can. some may make more sense to be hand delivered, if, for instance, i know i will see you before leaving, so consider that before mailing anything to:

me
1654 Jefferson Dr.
Florence, SC 29501

sorry for using this blog for personal gains with no historic value in advance, elk, and therefore ruining any street cred accrued. though, i would say a mix is an entire snapshot of an emotion, feeling, moment, a sort of reflection of a relationship’s history between those swapping. talk about a personal record of history i mentioned in other entries- what better than the mix, especially if you’re not someone who makes music yourself? i could go on about the greatness of mixes, but i think they are obvious and we all know them. am i right? see, all isn’t ruined.

don’t think twice. swap. just do it, yos!

 But, it’s not very often that I think back about some of those lost records and albums that have, more or less, dropped by the wayside. And as I find myself scanning through my music library, I see some albums I’ve never listened to and, maybe worse, some that I’ve abandoned.

One thing that’s actually not even present in my library, though, and this is a shock, even to myself: no Sublime. Not a single track. Ok, for anyone who didn’t know me then, throughout middle school I was obsessed with Sublime and other eclectic mixes of ska, punk, reggae, dub, and hip-hop that was a direct result of the southern California culture clash. And the weird thing is, the reason Sublime isn’t in my library isn’t because I’m embarrassed to have it there (c’mon, I’ve got two Ashley Simpson albums in there; really, you think Sublime makes me blush?), or even that I find myself cringing at the thought of listening to it (I actually remember most of their non-self-titled album stuff rather fondly), but it’s just that, as I got older, my tastes moved away from Sublime (a relatively easy, simple, straightforward sound to get into) and further back into the complexity of music history (blues/folk/rock via Hendrix/Dylan/Beatles/Zep, etc) and then back forward through the re-writing of those histories via indie culture (from Pavement and into modern day hipsters and hip-hop and pop), I found myself not pining to hear those tracks again, the very music that made every other taste possible, with such a wide reach of styles.

And the item that made it all possible? The iPod, of course. Right as I was shifting away from the bands I began creating my first musical ideas around, and towards newer and older tunes alike, I was immersed in the digital music craze and, well, frankly, was so swamped in new things that I’ve to this day skipped adding them to the collection.

Still, Sublime made my appreciation for a variety of music possible. Their obvious and very easily approachable mix of nearly everything, in turn, made me open up to nearly everything, instilled in me the idea that anything can be good in its own respect and I credit their albums with setting up a foundation for a larger, multi-layered taste that I’m glad I have today–be it hip-hop or jazz or no-wave or alt-country or whatever the hell else is peeking around there.

And so, I sit here at a weird point, asking myself, what else have I abandoned?

From freshmen year at JMU, I know Iron & Wine and Mars Volta are getting nothing for spins. My Decemberists plays have leveled out significantly since the semesters of DJing at WZMB. And the question is, ultimately, what makes music worth keeping forever, what makes it timeless, or what binds it to a specific time in our lives? That whole idea of “I wonder what will be on the oldies station when I’m a parent with my kids in the car” comes to mind when thinking this over, and I don’t have any answers. I can just say when I like something and that only time tells, right?

And an interesting thing about all this, though, ultimately, is that, I don’t really hate any of the stuff that I’ve reduced the spins on. I don’t feel relieved that I don’t like a certain thing any more; in the case of the Mars Volta, for instance, it’s a direct result of being pushed away from their later records, their style stopped doing it for me (and less MV plays means less At the Drive-In, too). The same goes for Coheed & Cambria–their first album in particular was beautiful and I stuck it out for their second and third, but eventually I just kept getting hit over the head with them. And the Decemberists are in that boat, too–recent efforts (a rock opera, seriously? they get mad nasty credits for their set @ the Hollywood bowl, though) have pushed me away and it’s true that if an act I follow releases something new that I dig, I’m more likely to revisit older stuff. Or if they release anything at all, I might; The Medications disbanded, Thunderbirdsarenow! went through forty lineup changes, and as a result my plays dwindled.

But those early albums that I loved, I still love. I just listen to them less.

So the long-winded point of this whole thing: what’s your own lost record of musical history?

April 30:
1789: George Washington is sworn in as the first President of the United States in New York City.
1803: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.
1945: Adolf Hitler and his new bride Eva commit suicide in their bunker in Berlin.
1975: North Vietnamese capture the South Vietnam capital of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War.

Now, this morning’s confluence of events in my mind may not be all that poignant or mean anything at all. I guess you could make some argument for connection between the country’s first President and the Louisiana Purchase, which was viewed by many as a gross abuse of Presidential power; also a connection between the fall of the Third Reich and start of the Cold War, of which the Vietnam War was a “hot spot.”

I’m intrigued by the idea that somehow I can establish a connection to events that are not at all related in the firs place. In a way, it’s like a historical version of John’s “six random” posts on this blog — choose random events that share the same anniversary and somehow establish a connection. Maybe this is just an intellectual exercise or maybe this is minesweeper for history majors.

All of my middle schoolers (or most of them) seem to know the condensed soup version of the Santayana maxim that “history repeats itself” and use it as a reason for why studying history is important. If it helps them pay attention while we’re discussing something in class, then that’s perfect. However, I think this idea is too simplistic and somewhat unreliable – because history doesn’t repeat itself, history remains in the past and it is up to the individual to draw a connection between lessons learned and challenges faced. The idea that “history repeats itself” doesnt give enough credit to the subjectivity of historical interpretation. If we can say for the arts – in music, poetry, literature, film – that Person A is impacted this way and Person B is impacted this way and accept that, then shouldn’t history be the same way? In this way, the use of past events to inform present and future decisions is entirely relative and changes between individuals. Therefore, history is viewed through a million jaded monocles, as we strive to figure out what happened and will happen.

Now, the situation I’ve just described is in fact the way that history is viewed in academic circles. We will never know exactly what happened and therefore we rely on qualified historians to contend among themselves as to whose interpretation may be more valid than the rest. But the classrooms of schools across the world teach “the Louisiana Purchase was made on this day in 1803.” Some may say that students must learn ‘facts’ before they can understand interpretation; just like riding a bike, you have to be able to ride on two wheels before you can go fast or jump dirt piles or ride with no hands. Well, it’s impossible to teach all facts. It just is. But if we could focus more on teaching the process of historical interpretation, then you don’t need to teach all the facts. But I digress…

This started with the idea that somehow I can interpret random and unrelated events into somehow correlated happenings in history. Does everyone have a mind that looks for conspiracy theories? From my very very basic understanding of cognition, we all have files of knowledge in our brains connected and not connected. Does creating the conspiracy theory or random connection help speed up the connections between these files? Am I trying to create a false shortcut from Hitler to Vietnam and so on?

No. I don’t think I am. I think I just love history too much to avoid the question, “What about this?”

Before I even got to school this morning, I had already heard twice (once on the Today Show and then on NPR) that April 23 is William Shakespeare’s birthday. When I sat down in the computer lab during an off period thinking of something to do, I realized I could get back into the swing of things right here on RofH. Pondering what song to pick in honor of Bill’s b-day, I wondered what artist could be so blandly ubiquitous yet sharply poignant and relevant all at once.

And of course, there is only one answer: The Beatles. (This is also convenient as a crutch for me to get back into things on the blog to use the most well-known poet/playwright/frilly-clothe-wearer ever and the most famous band of all time. Believe that).

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Shakespeare was the author of almost 40 plays, most of which were either comedies or histories. However, I’d wager a guess that most people know him for tragedies, especially Romeo & Juliet, which has set the archetype for romance for the better part of 400 years. The Beatles, arguably the most famous band ever, are known for hundreds of songs. However, “Yesterday” – despite being a song written only by Paul McCartney and performed as a solo without any other members – remains the most covered song of all time according to Guinness and was voted the best song of the 20th century by various polls. This popularity mirrors the popularity (I’m afraid that ‘popularity’ isn’t even a big enough word to describe) of Shakespeare throughout the past 400 years of writing, speaking and entertainment.

Some contributions of Shakespeare to our everyday language:

1. “in my heart of hearts”
2. “my mind’s eye”
3. “a sorry sight”
4. “all’s well that ends well”
5. “at one fell swoop”
6. “star crossed lovers”

Of course The Beatles remain similarly influential in musical ways.

Another interesting link between the song and Shakespeare revolves around authorship. Over the course of centuries, some have speculated that perhaps Shakespeare was not the author of all the plays attributed to him. Perhaps some were written by others, including his contemporary Christopher Marlowe. Ironically, McCartney claims to have gone through a phase of doubt over whether he had come up with the melody to “Yesterday” or if he had subliminally absorbed it without realizing it. After humming the melody around for weeks to other people in the music business, Sir Paul eventually convinced himself that the melody that came to him in a dream was in fact his own and not that of someone else.

I would write more, but the amount of effort I want to put into Shakespeare and the Beatles is very very little. Being my first entry back in 5 months, cut me some slack. Hopefully more to come.

I think a lot of the comparisons are obvious, but that could just be the convenient device I’ll use to stop writing. 

Suggestions? Connections?

1. “Small Horror” – Atlas Sound
2. “Duffle Bag Boy” – Lil Wayne ft. Playaz Circle
3. “Bees” – Animal Collective
4. “Let us down easy” – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
5. “XVII As-Dur” – Keith Jarrett (playing J.S. Bach)

Don’t thank me, thank iTunes DJ. I’m burning this one for: David Lynch

“Small Horror” is a noise concoction that kicks off this basically surreal, experimental mix that is fairly well-tailored to David Lynch. Atlas Sound starts us off as they create oscillating waveforms and organ chimes that develop a deep atmosphere with reverbed, echoing vocals (mostly moaning, chanting, inaudible/indistinguishable) adding layers, molding a stacked painting, an abstract picture not unlike something Lynch might create, be it through is film (especially his early experimental shorts), or through painting. Something about it also brings me back to Twin Peaks, something about the score (maybe the female chanting?) that seems like it connects.

The Lil’ Wayne on this mix hits directly with the idea of living an unapologetic life, not turning away from a challenge or a threat, and that he’s always constantly in this state of mind, that this is nothing new or that will be changing, like, ever: 

“Damn sure ain’t ‘bout to pick today to start runnin’.”

So there is the immediate connection of Lynch’s time at film school, taking seven (or however many more it actually wound up taking) years to create Eraserhead from beginning to end from his own wallet, the idea of perseverance and doing your own thing in the face of people not getting it or hating on you. But more than that, I think Wayne in general here represents another facet of Lynch’s surrealism, and I don’t mean just the tattoos and out-of-this-world style; the thing I admire about his vocal delivery and style is in its laziness, the fact that 9 times out of 10, Wayne is earning that nickname Wheezy, that he’s sounding on the edge of reality and some other (who knows where) place. His lyrics come off so effortlessly that it’s a shock he decided to even deliver them they are so good. I think Lynch might admire that, too. Even if he didn’t, his films come off in a similar way, so immersed in their own world and imagination.

In “Bees”, Animal Collective continue the portrait that Atlas Sound began at the start of the mix; now we’re at this sort of near-apocalyptic arrival of these bees, coming quickly and violently, actually speaking. Uh, if that’s not David Lynch, I don’t know what is.

Then, in the midst of what I’m considering for the sake of my entire argument ‘more surreal tunes’, we’ve got this really repentant, straightforward Ryan Adams track. A very soulful, almost apologetic one; very different from the idea behind Lil Wayne’s track. But, what I think would connect with Lynch would be the idea behind the words, the obvious strength of the faith of the characters asking for mercy:

 “Let me down, if you must,
but lest us down easy, Lord.”

The very idea of people having mistakes and things in their lives they can’t negotiate and searching for some form of an answer, finding it or not, this is not lost on Lynch in his own films–from his Disney epic “The Strait Story”, of an aging midwest man reflecting on life as he treks across the country on a lawnmower to see his dying brother, or in “Mulholland Dr.”, where a young actress’ life blurs in a search for self-worth, meaning, and stardom in, of all places, L.A.

There’s also no doubt in my mind that Lynch enjoys Bach, and for that matter, I’d probably extend that lack of doubt to Jazz’s (in my opinion) best pianist: Jarrett plays Bach here and it’s straightforward, no frills, and I think Lynch would like this. The story behind Bach’s “Well Tempered Clavier”, the collection of pieces from which this is from, is pretty epic, too, being one of the first collections of keyboard pieces in all 24 keys and arguably one of the most important collections of Bach’s career. The tone of the keys here, the speed, the beautiful melody, it’s one of those so-beautiful-it’s-painful things. Too, the time behind it, the idea that this piece has survived this long and the idea of the gap between Bach’s conception and Jarrett’s re-creation on this recording, it’s an amazing thing to think about that I think David Lynch would certainly respect and be fascinated by.

Or maybe it’s just me.

So I’m opening it up to the modest trickle of 1 to 2 views this blog gets each week. Ideas? Help me out. What song encapsulates the composition/ratification of the US Constitution?