Who knew Ethan Hawke…

Could write so well???
In the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Ethan Hawke wrote a pretty damned long article about Kris Kristofferson – the songwriter-singer-actor who spent his life jumping from career to career without much (apparent) fear or self-loathing.

Kristofferson is now a role model of mine – a man who was a rugby player, Rhodes scholar, Army captain who taught literature and then flew helicopters and demanded to be sent to Vietnam before leaving all of that behind to work as a janitor in Nashville with the hopes of becoming a songwriter of country music.

He is old school. Photos in the article of Kristofferson dripping with so much male swagger and testosterone that you couldn’t doubt any of the authenticity of the lyrics he ‘d penned. A scholar-soldier. Poetic officer. A man who understood the bullshit and told the truth both in terms of his life as well as his art.

So, now he’s someone that is a role-model of sorts – he fought for his art – he lost two wives (I don’t plan on emulating that part) and a significant part of his liver for it all. His parents disowned him for his choices – but he stood tall and kept on working at his craft.

But, what I left impressed with – wasn’t all due to Kristofferson. It was due to the writing that Hawke, an actor-director, concocted to cover this apparent mountain of a man. Flattering to say the least – Hawke made it perfectly clear that he looked up to Kristofferson – it just kept on bouncing on through the life story it was trying to tell. Hawke originally wanted to produce a film on the subject – a “Walk the Line”-esque biopic in the similar vein as was done with Johnny Cash (incidentally, one of Kristofferson’s close friends) and Kristofferson refused, making Hawke settle for one hell of an interview.

He did a good job. I’m now a fan of the music and the man behind the music. I walked away from reading Rolling Stone – of all things…inspired.

Kris Kristofferson – he’s what’s RIGHT with country music.

Jimi Hendrix + Grateful Dead + Louisiana Red =

You guess…

Since I hooked up my blues and rock station on Pandora by inputting a few Delta Blues purveyors and the slicksters from The Grateful Dead and the acid guitar himself – Jimi Hendrix, I’ve consistently heard ONE musician more than any other…

I’m not that musically educated, but I’m still really surprised…

And I must admit I like it

Neil Young…

I opened a mighty big box

So far I’ve found a ton of music on my own, with the input of a friend or two telling me to listen to something. I’ve explored a great deal on my own.

But now I have something a little more concrete to use.

Pandora is an internet radio “station” but it’s actually much more than that. It showcases a ton of songs, that have been arranged into different genres by musicians who analyze songs rating them on anywhere from 100-400 “genes”. The recommendations are amazing. So far I’ve discovered some new music. So far I’ve heard a lot of the music that I already have that I enjoy a great deal as well.

Check it out…

In case you need to study

Open the door

Put your cellphone on silent

Listen to Zero 7 …

Trust me – you won’t be disappointed…and if you are you just have no clue about calm music. It’s driving yet unobtrusive.

I’d better get back to studying. I sorta need to know how the immune system works in order to actually help people.

By the way, I’m sorta noticing that I a) have allergies and b) I’m compulsively re-writing sentences to see if they “look right”.

cheers

Consolers of The Lonely – The Raconteurs

The opening song starts to swing nicely – it seems a tad bit more rockish, with more charged guitar chords than the soulful Broken Boy Soldiers – much less emphasis on rhythm (which I personally liked) and much more emphasis on slashing the guitars. Salute Your Solution – the title a seemingly obvious shout back to the old TV show Salute Your Shorts seems disjointed and infatuated with rocking out, occasionally throwing in a little bit of funk, only to drop back in to a frenetic jam, with Jack White’s vocals almost approaching screamo – thank God almighty it didn’t go there. In reading about the record on Wikipedia, it appears that the record was released approximately 1 week after having been announced, giving critics little chance to review it before fans were able to purchase it – something that I can agree with in some principles, but I also wonder why they did that in terms of marketing…The album definitely feels different, and I wonder if this was a move to change artistic directions without critics lashing out at them. Anyways, the third song You Don’t Understand Me seems to hail back to the old CD, a little more soul, a lot of rocking out, and a little more southern than the first two. I personally like it. Old Enough, the next track definitely starts to throw in a little bit more funk and rhythm, with more advanced drums and a line of fiddles laced in throughout the entire song. They seem to be channeling Lynrd Skynrd with this song – which, I like. Track 5, The Switch and the Spur opens up and almost sounds like ska, reminding me of Sublime while slowed down on syrup or something. It’s an interesting song. The song is about drugs, or power, or God…or all three. It is kinda funky and because of that entertaining…Hold Up is probably a great song in a nightclub after a few drinks – but right now it just isn’t doing it. Top Yourself opens up nicely, it stays relatively mellow, with some interesting lyrics…Many Shades of Black opens up and sounds like ska again. Or some strange ska-country mix. The Raconteurs defy description in terms of musical genres. The only thing they aren’t is R&B or Hip-Hop. During the chorus of Many Shades of Black they almost seem like an 80s ballad – I can’t place which song it would be – it’s still enjoyable, yet I can’t give it a fair rating – I’m not sure how I will feel about it in the long run. Five On The Five is a raucous swinging rock affair with an exciting riff, and an Irish pub worthy scream-along section. It also has an air guitar instrumental section. It is definitely a GREAT song and deserves a couple of listens. Attention seems like a reach by the Raconteurs to please everyone. They’ve delved into a bit of ska, country rock, 80s love ballads, and now they are rocking with extremely plain, unimaginative chords…I’m honestly a touch disappointed by this song, it’s technically good, there just isn’t much to it creatively. Unfortunately they have hit a little bit of a slow spot in the album as Pull This Blanket Off is unremarkable. Rich Kid Blues – two words – 80’ rock. Two more words – Profoundly disliked…This song so far leaves me with a sour – actually, no a bland – taste in my mouth. It ends and I’m a slight bit relieved. These Stones Will Shout seems a little better – a little folksy, which is bounds better than the heartless 80s rock that they peddled for the last two songs. The lyrics still aren’t resonating with me – they don’t necessarily have to – leaving me feeling underwhelmed. Thankfully, the last song Carolina Drama – which although it doesn’t resonate with me – shows they still have their “chops” so to speak. It actually tells a story, the music is soulful and the riffs electric. The lyrics and delivery are awesome. My favorite: “Billy woke up in the back of his truck…” It makes me happy that Billy eventually grabbed a bottle of milk. Just listen. In all my take of Consolers of The Lonely, is that the Raconteurs are trying to move past their first album – unfortunately I’m not sure where they went with this album, and where they are going to go next. Maybe I will have a different sense in a month or two after listening a little bit more.

Sometimes

Sometimes isn’t fair

And I just want to be free

Of these sometime devils running inside of my head

holding me down so that I cannot breathe

oh no

Sometimes isn’t fair

I just need some equity

a stake in my future that I can control

please behold I’m just trying to be me

good lord

cause I said sometimes isn’t free

we just started on this road

discovering myself and leasing the past to my soul

sometimes just aint nice

we all have to pay a price

for the sins of our fathers and omission of brothers

so please watch how you steer your life

god  said

you’ll never deal with more than you can

but sometime it feels like I can’t stand

on a single foot let alone two

and i’m left wishing that I was here with you.

god help me on this path

I’m singing in the dark hurting bad

and this sadness is raining inside of my head

so that all I can feel is cold blackness

…

a work in progress…