Bonnie Raitt "Too Long At The Fair"

I'm on vacation this week.  So is the President.  So are about 70-thousand other folks who are on the Vineyard right now.  Which is part of the reason I'm vacationing elsewhere.

Though I do hate to be away during the Ag Fair, which is as sweet and wholesome and as far away from the perceived glitz and glamor and "tony"ness that the media likes to claim MV is about.

For the next couple of days . . . fair songs.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Beyonce "The Star Spangled Banner"

First, let me say that I don't really care if Beyonce was lip-syncing.

I understand why, in a situation like a live Inauguration, outdoors, with many, many variables, you might pre-record your vocals, to make sure the performance is not torpedoed by something.

Now I DO find it bothersome if an artist has pre-recorded their vocals, and the vocals have been altered/improved/sweetened.  But if the track was recorded earlier, then, in this kind of performance, who cares?

It kinda bugs me that people would make a big deal of this.  Like it or not, when the visual performance matters, there is usually lip-syncing.  Artists in TV appearances like The Superbowl, major concerts where the star is expected to dance complex routines, mediocre-but-attractive teen heartthrobs---they all lip-sync.  You might as well be surprised that the McRib does not come from some kind of magical boneless pig.

People who don't like President Obama get fired up that he uses a teleprompter.  Really?  The guy gives hundreds, if not thousands of speeches a year, and you think he's carrying that around in his head?  You don't even go to the grocery store without a list.

What's most annoying about this Beyonce "scandal" is that it is being reported mostly by people who don't know shit about what they are talking about.  Which, sadly, is how much of the day's news---even the important stuff---gets reported.

Why not listen to an expert?  My friend Jesse Barnett posted this link to Slate, where singer Mike Doughty (former of Soul Coughing) explains why its clear to him that Beyonce was definitely NOT lip-syncing.

Finally, a talking head who knows what he's talking about.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Tristan Israel "Martha's Vineyard Roundabout Nightmare"

With the Local Music Cafe airing tonight, I thought it would be fun to post this ditty from Tristan Israel.

Go to Washington DC, and you'll find that most politicians come from professions like Law and Consulting.

But on the local level, you're politicians are more likely people you run into in your day to day life.

If you listen our our FM station, then you might hear commercials featuring Linda Sibley.  She's the West Tisbury representative on the Martha's Vineyard Commission.  But she also runs the local Radio Shack, Vineyard Electronics.

Dave, from Tony's Market, has been doing spots on mvyradio for years.  And while he runs a great little more-than-a-convenience store (with awesome french fries that come in a paper bag), Dave has also served as the Oak Bluffs Town Moderator.

And then there's Tristan Israel.  He's long been involved with Island government, as a Tisbury Selectman.  But how awesome is it that a real politician can sing, entertainingly, about quirky local issues like the loooooooonng coming Roundabout (Rotary) that is replacing the blinker?

Barack Obama may have a nice voice, but until he writes original material, I vote Tristan!


For more great local artists, listen to The Local Music Cafe tonight at 9pm, listen to past shows in the Archives, and download free tracks in The Local Music Cafe online.



Hear the song on Youtube.

Soul Coughing “Unmarked Helicopters”

I had two little moments converge last Thursday, and a song popped into my head.

Funny how that happens. If just one, or the other, thing had happened, the jukebox in my mind might not have kicked out the song.

I was in the studio, and I had a long set of music on. Usually, at about 2:30 or so (I’ve been in since 9am), I get a little hungry. Pull out a snack and put on a longer set of music. And I turn my mind off for a few seconds, by reading something non-music/radio related.

I check out the site The AV Club pretty much every day. And I enjoy its TV Club page, which feature many, many blogs by the AVC staffers, devoted to TV shows. I kept up with Treme and Lost, by reading along. And they have TV Club Classic, where a reviewer goes back and watches an entire series on DVD.

So I was checking in with the X-Files blog, because they were writing about one of my favorite episodes, "Jose Chung’s From Outer Space." Just reading quietly.

Around the time I had decided I was hungry, unbeknownst to me, President Obama was boarding Marine One, the Presidential Helicopter, just across Vineyard Sound, in Falmouth at Otis Air National Guard Base.

As I was reading about Men In Black and government conspiracies and shadowy figures, above my head I heard Thwump Thwump Thwump Thwump of helicopters above the mvyradio studios.

We’re in the flight path of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport, just a mile or so from the runway. It’s not unusual to hear planes overhead.

But these were helicopters with sidewinders. They were flying in formation. The President was on one. The others were diversions, decoys and/or protection.

I was thinking about the weird world of Presidential security, and all the logistics of keeping our leader safe, while reading about The X-Files.

And I remembered this track from the X-Files soundtrack.

It’s hard to imagine that there is a perfect song to go along with reading an X-files blog while the President of the United States flies over your office in a heavily armed helicopter. And yet, there is.