Category: Music

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When good songs become bad

Hearing a song over and over can ruin a perfectly good song.

As I visited Kinko’s today, I heard a song that I’d be happy to never hear again for the rest of my life.

sir-paul-mccartneyPaul McCartney is definitely one of the most talented musicians of the last 50 years. But every song he has written and sung has not been a masterpiece. (Very few musicians have that capability!)

Band on the Run is not my favorite song by Sir McCartney. Even when it became a world-wide hit on the radio, I didn’t enjoy it very much.

So when the Kinko’s playlist featured that song, I nearly ran out of the store screaming. (Well, not really.)

Can we have a world-wide moratorium on certain songs? Please?

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Dreams

I love dreams. I rarely remember them, but when I do, and when they’re interesting, I enjoy telling Heather about them. If I have time, I like to write them down.

Saturday morning very early, I had this dream…

the band Quasi

I was supposed to play drums for my favorite band, Quasi. We were to perform at a small outdoor festival, kind of like on a gazebo in front of a medium-sized picnic. I was panicking, since I don’t play the drums. But in my dream, I could play them at least a little.

I asked Sam Coomes if my son could play instead of me. (And Jay can play the drums.) We were in the middle of negotiations when the dream faded. So I’ll never find out if Jay played drums for Quasi.

The irony of the dream is that Quasi has an amazing drummer. (Janet Weiss is my favorite drummer.) So why would Sam be asking me – or Jay – to play the drums?

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On musical creativity

james-and-carlyJames Taylor has produced more than 16 albums that sound relatively the same. He gets bored too,* but he doesn’t need to break out of that mold to stay alive. I truly like his sound, but it has not changed much over the many years he has been a musician.

Some artists are limited by their creativity and others seem to have a bottomless fount.

Thom Yorke is the leader of the English group, “Radiohead,” that produced some very popular music during the 1990’s and 2000’s. Thom’s solo albums are weird. He went from almost mainstream pop in Radiohead’s early years to excursions down various trails of weirdness. My theory is that he was bored delivering what the masses wanted. (I like that weirdness, at least part of the time. And he stretched music in new ways that it needed to be stretched.)

There are countless musicians who have not created even one good song. A few of those have become rich making their sound available to the masses. There is no accounting for taste. And I’m glad everyone’s taste is not like mine.

* The James Taylor song, “That’s Why I’m Here” is referred to part of the way into Sylviebead’s blog post.

Photo is Creative Commons licensed, via Peter Trudelle on Flickr.

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Local Food and Local Music

The Bell JarI know some people that are really into local food. And the reasons to eat food grown locally are good:

– You’re saving a ton of fossil fuels, since the food has not been flown from South America or Africa.

– It’s probably fresher.

– You’re supporting local farmers.

Why not apply the same principles to local music? By asking the bands you see to drive all over the country, they are using a lot more fuel than local musicians do in bringing their art to you.

Obviously, this analogy breaks down.If you restrict your diet to only local food, in many parts of the world, you’ll never taste a mango or a papaya. And with music, if you’re an American, you’ll never hear the rich sounds of many British bands.

I do want you to come out to support your local musicians. (The band is The Bell Jar. Local to my town. And good.)

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Words to describe music

Mercuria and the GemstarsI am challenged when coming up with terms to describe music by the bands I like. The best way I know how to do this is, “They sound like ___ .” (Insert similar band’s name there.) And what if they don’t sound like any other band? I don’t have a good way to describe their music.

Along the same lines, wine terminology leaves me cold. “Oak-ey. With a hint of banana.” Etc. When was the last time you drank or ate some oak? And would you like a wine that tastes like banana? Wine terminology also adds in a snobbery factor… people who don’t spend a lot of time and money pondering the nuances of fine wine can’t really understand it.

The relatively poor photo is captured from a video I took of the band Mercuria and the Gemstars, a Denver band that I do like.

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Unclaimed $100

(Yes, I know you’re wondering, has Paul gotten into spam? No, I haven’t.)

During my last year of college, I made a bet with my roommate. It was a significant bet. It was perhaps the only real financial bet I’ve ever made (in the strict definition of betting). I bet him $100 that ten years after we graduated from college, I would be more into classical music than I was into rock.

It was based on my love affair with the Andante movement of Mozart’s 40th Symphony. To this day, in my opinion, it’s one of the finest musical creations ever. Even though I’ve heard it tons of times, it still evokes deep emotion within me.

But alas, I lost the bet. Rock is still my first love. If you like, compare rock to cotton candy (UK: candy floss), but it keeps me consistently coming back for more.

So Brian Wells, if you are reading this, shoot me an email and I’ll send you $100. (Sadly, I lost track of him several years ago.)

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Wall of strings

Last weekend, Heather and I went to see the Colorado Symphony perform Mahler’s 9th Symphony. It was excellent.

Normally I see wild loud indie rock music, but it’s nice to experience something different on occasion.

Sitting in the third row, we didn’t have the best seats for hearing or seeing the full orchestra. But it was loud. And it was powerful. The fourth movement was truly a wall of strings.

So if you’ve never been to a major symphony performance, I’d urge you to branch out and give it a try.

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