February 26, 2009: Leonard Cohen - "If It Be Your Will"

Leonard Cohen is coming to town. If I ever compiled a list of favorite living artists who I would probably never get a chance to see live, he would be right near the top.

I've been a fan of Cohen since before I was thirteen years old. For my friend Chris' 13th birthday (which was about six weeks before mine), after a day of intense comic book shopping, his parents allowed the two of us to see the R-rated Pump Up the Volume in the theater. It was pretty badass... an angst-ridden, music-driven teen drama with boobs, and we got to see it! Cohen's music was a focal point of the film. His original version of "Everybody Knows" served as the opening song to Christian Slater's pirate radio show. "If It Be Your Will" made a lone appearance during a key scene late in the movie.

Pump Up the Volume introduced me to a lot of great music at a pretty young age. I was initially crushed when Leonard Cohen failed to appear on the soundtrack CD (the version of "Everybody Knows" on there was Concrete Blonde's cover), but that disc was my first exposure to the Pixies, Sonic Youth, Bad Brains and Henry Rollins. And though they didn't appear on the soundtrack either, the movie also introduced me to the Descendents. My musical tastes were progressing rapidly. In the span of about a year, I had moved from pop hair-metal to Metallica and Anthrax. I had just started listening to KJ104 and getting into the Red Hot Chili Peppers. All those punk and college-rock bands from Pump Up the Volume easily appealed to me. I can't quite figure out why Cohen had such an impact. Whatever the reason, I am grateful.

Now he's coming to the Orpheum Theater and I'm going to skip it. Tickets are $80-$250. That's not in the budget.



http://www.leonardcohen.com/

February 11, 2009: Alejandro Escovedo - "Swallows of San Juan"

It happens every year. There's always one album that I hear and think, "Hey, that's pretty good," but for whatever reason it doesn't hit heavy rotation status on my stereo. Then, shortly after the new year, I'm prompted to dig the album out again and it hits me in a whole new way. I'll declare it a masterpiece and it will be my most listened to album of the year, the year after it came out. Last year, as I've mentioned before on this blog, that album was Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade.

Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal is well on its way to being that album for 2009. It has it all. At 58 years old, Alejandro still rocks twice as hard as kids a third of his age, and the ballads (such as "Swallows of San Juan") are as gorgeous as ever. Real Animal is quite possibly the pinnacle of Alejandro's storied career.



http://www.alejandroescovedo.com/

February 9, 2009: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Please Read the Letter"

I don't usually pay much attention to the Grammys, and this year was no exception. My wife and I spent Sunday night giving the dog a bath and watching The Wire on DVD. I was completely oblivious to the fact that the Grammys were taking place that night.

Well after midnight, while checking Twins updates on the Star Tribune's website, I noticed a link in the "Most Read Stories" sidebar that read "Plant, Krauss dominate Grammys." I smiled. I don't give much credibility to those awards, but it's still nice on those rare occasions when they get it right.

January 2, 2009: Bonnie "Prince" Billy - "You Want That Picture"

Ask anybody who knows me well and they'll admit that I can be one stubborn bastard when I wanna be.

For years -- YEARS, I tell you! -- I was a Will Oldham hater. With absolutely no basis, I had made up my mind that he was pretentious and insincere. I never bothered to listen to his records closely because I could somehow tell that it wasn't the genuine article.

Over the last couple years, though, I have finally discovered the error of my ways. Sometimes people can make up their mind about something... anything... and it's much more work to change their mind than it ever was to make up that mind in the first place. For me, I can't even remember when or where the Oldham hate started. I probably heard somebody playing some Palace record and thought to myself, "This guy thinks he's the next Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan, but he's not, so I think he's full of shit." And that flippant, instantaneous reaction blocked me from several years of great music from Palace/Will Oldham/Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

Now that I've come around, I can quite comfortably recommend his newest album, Lie Down In the Light. "You Want That Picture" is the standout cut on the album, a gorgeous duet with Ashley Webber (formerly of Canadian indie band The Organ).



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Oldham

December 5, 2008: The Ghost of Sean Arthur Peterson - "True Love"

Coming off a spell of far more stress and negativity than I am accustomed to, not to mention more than the people around me are used to witnessing from me, Wednesday afternoon's call, out of the blue, from Sean Peterson was just what I needed.

Sean is just about the most positive person on this planet. He exudes goodness. I am fortunate to know many amazing musicians, but Sean was the first person I thought of to ask to sing at my wedding. He amazed Maria and I by not only singing at our wedding, but by writing a song specifically for us for the wedding. (Not this song, though it very well could have been.)

I had lunch with him yesterday. He gave me a proof of his childrens book Len, which is coming out within the month (it's amazing), gushed about his new job as a "scientist," and talked about music.

The Ghost of Sean Arthur Peterson (essentially Sean and Chad Giblin) is about to head in to the studio to record a proper album. This has been years in the making. It should be out on Heart of a Champion sometime in 2009. I am assuming that a more fleshed out version of "True Love" will appear on that album. For now, though, enjoy this exclusive demo version... today's Greatest Song of the Day.















www.myspace.com/ghostsap

December 2, 2008: Mike Gunther & His Restless Souls - "Walk All Over It"

This one really should have been yesterday's song of the day, for yesterday was the 10 year anniversary of my moving into my first apartment. It was a two-bedroom double-bungalow on 22nd and Grand in south Minneapolis and my roommate was one of my oldest and best friends, Mr. Mike Gunther.

Although I had spent a couple of years in a band with Mike and was well aware of his skills as a guitar player and singer, I was not overly familiar with his genius as a songwriter. It was in that apartment, starting 10 years ago, where I was able to hear him playing guitar and piano from the next room over. I was ecstatic when he began performing live, and jumped at the chance to release his albums on my label.

I am so proud of the two albums that Mike and his Restless Souls have produced. I still view Burn It Down For the Nails, in particular, as the crown jewel of the Heart of a Champion catalog.

In the wonderful video (directed by Restless Souls member Suzanne Vallie Scholten), you'll see cameos from many readers of this blog. It is with tremendous pride that I give you "Walk All Over It" by Mike Gunther and His Restless Souls... the greatest song of the day!



www.mikegunther.com
www.heartchamp.com

November 30, 2008: Bobby Bare - "Talk Me Some Sense"

My wife and I spent last Thanksgiving in Dixon, Illinois visiting her parents. Our "Black Friday" last year was spent walking through the town. One of the places we checked out was a large antique/junk store. Anytime I find myself in a place like that, my first instinct is to keep my eyes open for stacks of records. Most records found in antique stores are beat up, overpriced, and very common... antique stores are where trashed Andy Williams, Guy Lombardo, and Johnny Mathis records go when they die. Every once in a while, though, you'll find something cool.

The payoff in Dixon last year was a copy of Bobby Bare's 1966 album Talk Me Some Sense for $1. On first glance, it wasn't in the greatest shape (though it did clean up and play quite nicely), but I figured it was worth the small gamble. Bare was a guy who had been on my list of guys to check out for a long time, but I had never gotten around to it. From all I had heard, I figured I would probably like him, but I really wasn't prepared for what I was about to hear when I got the record home. It has since become one of my most played records from the country portion of my collection.

The title track is particularly great. It's the best protest song against protest songs that I've heard, at any rate. Given that it's immediately followed on the album by a Dylan cover ("It Ain't Me, Babe") and a fantastic pro-civil rights anthem ("What Color (Is a Man)") - the latter being pretty ballsy for a country singer of the time - leads me to believe that there has to be at least a little bit of a tongue-in-cheek aspect to "Talk Me Some Sense." Even if not, though, I love the song.

Sadly for you, I could not find any youtube videos or other internet streams of the song. Last year, Omni Records reissued Talk Me Some Sense on CD, packaged with Bare's urban sprawl concept album A Bird Named Yesterday. Both albums are great, so it's well worth picking up.



















http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Bare