New? Old? Good!
The amount of music and music-related stuff that crosses my path - whether landing in my mailbox or found via the net - gets overwhelming. My hope with Record Needles in the Camel’s iPod was to give space to this.
Have I been keeping up on that end? Not at all.
So, here’s my first blast at redemption.
A glance of the things that came into my orbit in the last couple days weren’t exactly “all new.” They all had a warm familiarity and that can be a wonderful thing.
In the last couple years, Ani DiFranco has made more local news as patron saint of the corner of West Tupper and Delaware. That’s hardly the whole story, however.
Beyond the rehabbing of the historic downtown church she now calls Babeville, Ani’s also been busy being a mother to daughter Petah (born in January 2007) and not so much slowing down her musical life as balancing it with her new role. 2007’s best of Canon marked a quick stop gap as DiFranco was readying to move ahead. Her new album finally comes out September 30 and some well-placed friends over at Righteous Babe made sure I got a copy of Red Letter Year a little early.
A couple listens in, it has to be her most daring and engaging work in years. In some ways, it feels like the “post-Ani” Ani record. While it doesn’t lack any of the immediacy of her earlier work, it does bear the marks of a record that was slowly and carefully put together over time. Her writing is a naked and honest as it’s ever been but there’s a tempered subtley and a very jazz imbued flair. Ani getting torchy? A little bit and it’s a terrific turn of events. You can see the goings on of all things Ani at her Righteous Babe site.
And on the other side of riot grrrl rock/feminism aisle, Rhino says “We do put out!” to one the greatest punk movies ever. Now, everyone can finally see Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains!
The 1981 cult classic chronicling the rise and fall of an all girl punk band in the seamy world of rock and roll - with a cast including real punks like Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, The Clash’s Paul Simonon and “white punk on dope” Fee Waybill - had about a thirty second theatrical release and would only occasionally pop up on late night cable television in the ’80s, filling hours on the old USA Network’s killer wee weekend hours program Night Flight. Otherwise, it was a coveted bootleg in the days of VHS.
Finally, a very spiffed up digital release is on the shelves as the first installment of Rhino’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Cinema series. The DVD has the usual upgraded sound and picture and includes breand new commentary track with stars Diane Lane and Laura Dern as well as one with director Lou Adler.
It’s a full-on girl punk revival almsot thirty years later. The Stains even have their own MySpace page.
And as I go back through my past, I can admit that I owned Tony! Toni! Toné!’s 1993 new jack swing opus Sons Of Soul highlighted by the irrepresible hit “If I Had No Loot,” complete with its Ice Cube sample. The band issued one more album before Raphael Saadiq went solo. Now, Saadiq on his own was always a bit of a headscratcher. I liked some of his production work but his Lucy Pearl project was lackluster and his solo records sounded - to me - like unremarkable standard fare r&b/soul,pop. What happened to that son of soul?
This time he got it so right it’s as if he stepped out of Hitsville USA studio circa ‘66 into a time machine.
An unabashed homage, with The Way I See It Saddiq has made a record of all new tunes but written and recorded with the stylistic earmarks, cool and sheer power of prime Motown, Stax, Huff/Gamble and the like. Saadiq has never been a straight revivalist. He was always the type to mix a bit of “old school” so as not to scare off modern audiences. This time around, he’s clearly not worrying about that.
One look at the Marvin Gaye-aping cover and you get an idea where he’s going.
The bio reads, “Listening to The Way I See It, it’s immediately obvious that it could have been recorded thirty years ago.”
Thirty years? Try forty!
The entire record is in the vein of ’60s to early ’70s-style soul. It’s a gem and I’m hooked. Listen to some songs here.
July 23, 2008
Bass in Yer Face, David Franczyk
Smilin’ Fascist Fraczyk Goes After
Buffalo’s Great Villain: Boomin’ Bass
Buffalo Common Council president David Franczyk introduced a plan at yesterday’s Council meeting to ban loud car stereos in the city of Buffalo.
Franczyk’s ridiculous and unconstitutional plan - which apes a new law in Sarasota, Florida - hopes to not only ticket and potentially give jail time to drivers playing music deemed too loud but actually aims to make owning sound systems capable of higher dBs illegal!
In an interview today with WBEN radio today Franczyk was heard spouting some lovely racial profile-speak when he cited that loud car stereos are part of “gangster” lifestyle and that most users of such are probably already involved in criminal activities.
It’s great that in a city with dramatic poverty, failing schools and certainly much bigger crime to chase that the Common Council is really hitting at the hard “quality of life” issues and with a barely-veiled racist tenor.
In Franczyk’s honor, I promise to blast Boogie Down Production’s 1989 classic “Who Protects Us From You?” when I am riding the streets of the Queen City later today… and I do have a subwoofer in my trunk.
June 13, 2008
RIP Tim Russert
Tim Russert wasn’t just one of television news’ most respected, no nonsense pundit/reporters. He wasn’t just a New York Times best-selling author two times over. He was a Buffalo boy through and through and he would tell everyone within listening distance, often during national broadcasts.
The Queen City-native died today of an apparent heart attack at the age of 58 while doing what he loved: working on the news at NBC, specifically Meet The Press - the mother of all political programs - where he served as host for the last 17 years.
In his announcement of the sad news this afternoon, NBC’s Tom Brokaw called Russert “a true child of Buffalo and always stayed in touch with his blue collar roots which he was raised and the ethos of that community.”
It was true. And Buffalo never let go of Russert.
Born and raised in South Buffalo and a Canisius High School graduate, he IS/WAS the pride of Buffalo, NY. Now we toss that around about people who have passed through this city but I can’t think any person who was more endeared here across the boards: no sports figure, no politician, no one.
He moved on in the world but never really moved away. He continued to return to the city he always felt was his home to visit and care for his father Tim Sr. - the center of his best selling books - and frequently mentioned Buffalo on the air.
I’ve spoken to local football fans who didn’t give a hooey about politics but would still tune in to hear Russert sign off with his weekly “Go Bills!” He was the subject of a Bison’s bobblehead that proved to be one of the team’s most successful and memorable promotions ever.
Russert leaves behind his wife Maureen Orth and a son, Luke. He will be sorely missed especially in this heated political season where his brand of tough but fair journalism set the standard. As recently as this past week’s Meet The Press, you could see the fire in his eyes and joy on his face tearing into the facts of the coming presidential race.
Back home, we’ll miss him even more so. Buffalo is probably never going to have another cheerleader like Tim Russert. We were lucky to have him.
