Beck "New Pollution"

Here's another Weekend Post:

I was going to do some weekend posts about artists who'll be at Newport Folk, who were 90s faves . . .  but I realize that the intersection on that Venn diagram, is pretty small.   But Beck fills the bill . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are fun to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Black Prairie "Song Remains The Same"

So I've been writing lots of Newport Folk Festival preview blog posts for the mvyradio bloggers page, trying to learn a little about, and write a little about every single band.

Admittedly, there are tons of bands on the bill that I am simply unfamiliar with, so writing requires a little research and listening, before banging out a few sentences and posting a few videos.

When I don't really know the band, or if the band is new/unfamiliar to the general audience, it's tempting to want to post live videos of the bands doing cover tunes, because it does create a clean, clear shorthand for what the band sounds like.

But it's also pretty lazy.  So I studiously avoid it, when possible.

That being said, when I came across this video of Black Prairie doing "The Song Remains The Same," I had to check it out.

I can't tell you if it's truly good or not.  But here's what I can tell you . . .

That opening riff, even though it is done acoustically---featuring an accordion, no less---and would not be mistaken for Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones, gave me goosebumps.

I was a huge Zeppelin fan as a kid, and hearing that riff today instantly brought forth every youthful emotion that I attached to my "Song Remains The Same" listening.

It's not one emotion per se.  More of a mix of all the things that went along with the angst and exuberance of being a teenager.

That a song can unlock this within me, still kinda surprises me, even after 1300 F-N blog posts on the subject of how a song can make you remember and feel something.

Anyway, be on the look-out next week, for some stories/posts about Newport Folk artists on this blog, and more previews on the Bloggers page.


Hear 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.

Neil Young "Powderfinger"

I know you love those alternate history stories.  The ones where they go back in time and send Hitler to art school, or put a bullet-proof vest on Lincoln or convinced Buddy Holly to take the tour bus.

Here's an alternate music history story . . .

You may know Neil Young's "Powderfinger" from Side 2 of 1979's "Rust Never Sleeps."  But Young had been hanging onto that song for a while.

There are (unreleased) acoustic versions of the song that go back to 1975.  And reportedly, Young sent one of these versions to Ronnie Van Zandt, for Lynyrd Skynyrd to use on their next album.

Van Zandt died in a plane crash in 1977, and as far as anyone knows, his band had not recorded a version of Neil Young's song.

But imagine if they had, prior to the unfortunate plane crash?  Imagine if Van Zandt had sung Young's lines:

Just think of me as one you never figured

Would fade away so young

With so much left undone

Remember me to my love; I know I'll miss her

No doubt that right now in an alternate timeline, "Freebird" is a forgotten hit of the 70s, and when the bar band is between songs, the drunk idiots yell:

"POWWWWWDERRRRRFINGGGGGEERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!"


Hear the "Rust Never Sleeps" version on Youtube.


Hear the acoustic version on Youtube.


Hear a live version of "Freebird" on Youtube.

David Ford "Pour A Little Poison"

I held off adding this song to the rotation, because it falls into this very specific genre.  And I think the load bearing structure of MVY's playlist can only accommodate so many songs from this particular genre.

I don't know if it's really a genre, but it's one in my mind.  One I'm particularly fond of:  Sarcastic, drunk, comically self-pitying/self flagellating guys with punk rock sensibilities on acoustic guitars with a penchant for sing-along choruses.

Frank Turner and Jake Bugg sound great on the air.  But a whole station of that would be a little too same-y.

On the other hand, this song sticks right in my head.  And with all the tunes competing for space up there (despite the cavernous climes), for a song to hold its place for a couple months speaks well of it.

So you'll find it in the newly added section of MVY's playlist page . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.

James Taylor "Shower The People"

Here's the first entry in a mini-series of posts, called "They Don't Like The Song For A Random Reason."

We all have prejudices.  Sometimes they come from a place that you can logically understand/forgive.  Sometimes they are just bizarre.

I'll occasionally post simple stories that come to mind when I hear a song, because a certain friend once said the disliked a song for a random, picayune or bizarre reason. 

For instance, my friend Craig told me he didn't like James Taylor's "Shower The People" because Taylor sings:

"Things are gonna work out fine if you only will, do as i say, yeah"

Taylor hits the "do as I say" line hard.

Craig said he didn't like the song because, "I don't like James Taylor ordering me around."


Hear the song on Youtube.

Yo La Tengo "Tom Courtenay"

Here's another Weekend Post:

Yesterday was my sister's birthday, so I was searching for "Julie" songs, and I remembered how much I liked this tune, which starts off with the line "Julie Christie, the rumors are true . . ."

I don't think I've ever seen this video, but I got a few good laughs out of it, especially with the Beatles references.


See the video on Youtube. 

Weekend posts are a chance to revisit songs that have happy memories, not of anything in particular, other than just hearing the tunes.

Many of these songs were tracks that I played during my 90s stint as an Alternative/Modern Rock radio show.  They're tunes that I hardly hear these days, but are fun to revisit.

Click on the "Weekend Posts" label below, to see other posts like this.

Fountains Of Wayne "Hey Julie"

Hey, Julie!  Hope you are having a happy birthday, sister of mine.

Hear the song on Youtube.

(I went looking for a song where Julie is the singer's sister, instead of his girlfriend.  No luck.  This will have to do.)

Travis "Flowers In The Window"

There was an awkward pause.  No one knew what to say.  Someone had to break the ice.


You think that meeting a rock star is awkward for you.  But really, it's awkward for them too.

We were backstage at Fleet Boston Pavillion in 2007, about to meet the band Travis.

I had not been a fan of Travis initially, turned off by what I had perceived as yet another whiny Brit band.

But when I'd met my wife, she immediately set about turning me around on the subject.

She was a huge Travis fan, had seen them multiple times, and in the time we'd been together had played me plenty of fun, light songs that brightened my view of the band.

For instance, "Flowers In The Window" is a sweet song by singer Fran Healy, who writes about being surprised at how much he loved his sibling's new baby.

As soon as I heard that Travis had a new album, and was coming to Boston, I made sure to pull a few favors and get a chance to take my wife to the show, AND meet the band beforehand.

We spent the whole ride up to Boston listening to the new album "The Boy With No Name."  And we were especially focused on the song "My Eyes" which was about the birth of Healy's new baby boy.  Our own baby was due in just 3 months, so we were very wrapped up in the joy and wonder of it all.

At the gate to the backstage area, we loitered with some super-fans, some contest winners and some record store owners, until the local record label rep to arrived to take us backstage.

We were led into a small, unoccupied dressing room, where we milled about quietly waiting for the band, and wondering if we were allowed to eat anything off the vegetable tray.

After a wait that was probably shorter than it felt (due to the excitement and anticipation), the label rep ushered the band into the room.

"Please welcome Fran, Dougie, Neil and Andy.  Travis!"

There was an awkward pause.

The band didn't really seem to know what to say.  And the fans didn't really know what to say.  We just kind of stood there.

Someone had to break the ice.

Fran Healy decided to do it.

"What's going on here?!" he said to my wife, pointing at her round belly.

There was an awkward pause.

She was a little too nervous to immediately response.

And you could see a flash of fear in his eyes that said, "Oh my God, I hope this woman is pregnant, and not just fat."

"We're due in November," I said, and all three of us smiled broadly.

We congratulated him on his new baby, and he immediately whipped out his new iPhone (in 2007, he was the first person I'd ever met who had an iPhone), and showed us pictures of his boy.

And when I asked him to sign our CD, he just handed to the phone over to my wife so she could continue to look at baby pictures while he used two hands to sign.

With the ice broken, the full crowd had now engaged the band, and they were signing CDs and snapping photos all around.

"I have Fran Healy's iPhone!" my wife whispered to me.

We briefly considered adding our own phone number into his contact list, but, being new to iPhones, we weren't sure how to do it.

Instead, we settled for this photo of the band, me, my wife and yes, a little bun in her oven.

So, if it's not clear in relation to yesterday's post . . . I should have known that it had been 5 years since Travis' last album, as my daughter was born just a few months before the last record "Ode To J Smith" which had come out just one year after "The Boy With No Name."  And I remember that "The Boy With No Name" came out while my wife was pregnant.  So I know how long it has been, because I know how old my daughter is.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Travis "Moving"

I hadn't heard that Travis was putting out a new album this summer until about two weeks ago, when Sean Coakley, an independent promoter, mentioned that we'd be getting the new single "Moving," shortly.

"It's their first album in five years," he noted.

"Five years?  Really?  Yeah, I guess it has . . ."

But of course it's been 5 years.

Because their record "Ode To J Smith" came out in 2008, right on the heels of the album "The Boy With No Name," which had arrived only a year before.

And how do I know that album came out in 2008?  I'll tell you tomorrow.

For today, enjoy the new track . . .


Hear the song on Youtube.