Rhett Miller "Here It Is Christmastime"

Ahh, the delightful Rhett Miller (and The Old 97s too).

He seems to have become a part of Christmas in my family.

Last year, I gave my sister the new Rhett Miller live album.

And the year before, a bunch of us within the family bought tickets to see The Old 97s, for each other, so we could all go together.

Will there be gifts along these same lines this year?  You bet, but I don't want to say who's getting what, what with Christmas still 2 weeks away.

But Rhett himself seems to enjoy the holiday.

Below is a Christmas video he posted last year.

And this week, I downloaded a new, free Christmas song called "Christmas Is Coming" from this site, which you can get too.

Oh, and if you want to give anyone the Gift Of Rhett . . . he's on the solo tour, hitting Johnny D's in Somerville at the end of February.


Here the song on Youtube.

Jon Brion & Sarah Jaffe "Blue Umbrella Suite"

After taking the kids to see "Despicable Me 2" last week, we sought the refuge of an air conditioned movie theater yet again this week, this time catching "Monsters University" (that is, "Monsters, Inc 2").

The music in the animated Pixar feature is outstanding as always, and I was a bit surprised to see in the end credits that it was Randy Newman who scored the movie.  Newman has always done great work for Pixar, but this score had a really different feel from his previous work.  Good stuff.

But the bigger musical surprise came before the movie.

Pixar always includes an animated short, before the feature (old school!).  And it is generally unrelated to the feature.  Often it is stylistically different than the feature.  But this clip had some serious wow to it.

Check out a scene below, and note that this is animation.  But it's done in this photo-realistic style, where umbrellas and buildings come to life in a way that more recalls Jim Henson than "Toy Story."


See the clip on Youtube.

The short clip doesn't give to much away, which is good, but it also doesn't quite reveal how stunning the piece looked.

But the thing that really sold it, was the music behind it.

While seeing it in the theatre, I couldn't quite place the tuneful, hummable touch of the composer, or place the familiar sounding vocalization, that was wordless yet expressive.

At home, my wife did the Googling.

The music was composed by Jon Brion, who has done some excellent scores for PT Anderson films like "Magnolia" and "Boogie Nights" as well as scores for "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" and "I Heart Huckabees."

He's also produced some excellent records for the likes of Aimee Mann, Rhett Miller, Fiona Apple and Evan Dando.

He's even been part of some good bands, like Jellyfish and The Grays.

Meanwhile, the vocals were provided by Sarah Jaffe.  Apparently the animator who envisioned the story is a Jaffe fan, and listened to her music while initially creating the short.

Great stuff.


Hear the full song on Youtube.

The Old 97s "White Port"

You may or may not know that I met my wife because she won an mvyradio T-shirt Design Contest.

How excited was she to find out that one of her new favorite bands, The Old 97s, were having a t-shirt design contest?

The design had to be based on any one of the tunes from the band's most recent album, "The Grand Theatre, Volume 2."

And now she is a finalist.

If she wins, she gets backstage passes to meet the band at an upcoming show.

So may I invited you to go to The Old 97s' Facebook page, make sure you "Like" the band, and the "Like" her drawing, shown on the right.

It's for the song "White Port," which is written from the perspective of a rail-riding hobo, who loves his freedom and his beverage of choice.

Now, to be honest with you, I have mixed feelings about her

winning this one, as she is quite smitten with the handsome and charming lead singer, Rhett Miller.

I mean, she already has a track record of falling for guys who judge t-shirt artwork!

I suppose that my saving grace could be that she chose "White Port," one of the few songs on the record written by bass player Murray Hammond.

Anyway, wish us luck! And if you "Like" The Old 97s, be sure to check out their hilarious photo gallery.


Hear a live version of the song on Youtube.

Hear the album version on Spotify (but you have to be signed up to Spotify).

The Old 97s "I'm A Train Wreck"

There are many great songs written about the Cape and the Islands, evoking the Spirit of this place. Great tunes like “Never Been Gone” or “Vineyard” or “Cape Cod Girls.”

But for every song that was inspired by a location and is written about that place, there are 100 songs that were inspired by a location that, well, really don’t exact evoke the location whatsoever.

A year ago, my wife was dragged, practically kicking and screaming, to The Wellfleet Beachcomber by her sister-in-law to see an artist she’d never heard of.

“If you don’t want to go with her, I will,” I told my wife. “I love Rhett Miller.”

By the time the show was over, so did my wife.

Something about the songs, and the setting really won her over.

Something about the setting must’ve won Rhett Miller over, too. Because on that night a year ago, he vowed to return with his band, The Old 97s. And the day after that show, a year ago, he wrote a song.

True to Rhett’s word, The Old 97s played the Beachcomber this past weekend. And my wife, and her brother and my wife’s sister-in-law and my sister and I all made the trek to see them.

Miller introduced new song by the band, saying that he’d written this particular tune one year before, on the sands of Wellfleet Beach.

I’m guessing the local Chamber Of Commerce will not be using this song to promote tourism on Cape Cod. Especially not with Miller’s introduction that says his day on the beach inspired him to write a song about being a “total fucking disaster.”


Hear the song on Youtube.

Old 97s "Champaign Illinois"

When Bruce Springsteen’s song “The Rising” came out, someone at the station (I can’t remember who, otherwise I’d give proper credit), suggested that this would be a perfect song for Verizon to license and appropriate for a commercial.

Sing it with me, “Come on up for Verizon! Come on up for Verizon tonight!”

(Of course, Springsteen would never agree to such a thing)

There is some small level of talent required to take an existing song, and make a sturdy parody or sideways version.

It’s a fun game to play, to try to change the lyrics of an existing song, to something fun and funny.

But you’d have to have real talent to take it a step further, and actually make it a good song.

And that’s the difference between us, and Rhett Miller.

The story goes that Miller, lead singer of the Old 97s, was the one driving the tour van for hours at a time. And to keep himself occupied, he’d take an actual song, try to retain the melody and the cadence, but write completely new original lyrics.

When we got the album “Grand Theatre Volume One” I instantly gravitated toward the song “Champaign Illinois.” But it was only after months of playing it, that I learned of the song’s origins.

In putting together the station’s Bob Dylan Covers Channel, this song appeared on a list as a song written by Bob Dylan.

Huh?

After some research, I learned that Miller had been driving, fooling around with Dylan’s “Desolation Row.” He kept the melody and the cadence, and the spirit of the song, but wrote completely new lyrics and a completely new story.

Thinking that there was no way he could release the song without getting the pants sued off him, he had shelved it for several years. But he was finally convinced to ask Dylan’s people for permission, and to Miller’s surprise and delight, Dylan’s folks said Yes.

So the songwriting credit is to “Dylan/Miller.”

Check out both songs, and be struck by the similarity that you may not have ever noticed.


See the video on Youtube.


See the video on Youtube.