19 posts tagged “music”
Instead of listing off the soundtrack to my life, I'll just go ahead and posts all the mp3s shortly...
so nicole and i are talking about doing a Small Band reunion, and we got an offer to extend its members for the reunion. jen offered to play the Cow Bell during our songs...
Of course, that means she has to get one, and we don't exactly live in Iowa, so good luck to her.
Looks like we might be playing at my favorite bar, Rogue. I'm hoping to play my new songs as the opening act, but I don't know if it can really work like that.
I think as long as we have a cow bell player, we should add some other musicians and go ahead and make it a big band. Like I always wanted a keyboardist. Maybe drums. Maracas would be nice. Tamborine maybe? Three female backup singers? I think we should reunite in style.
i've been playing guitar like crazy lately. at first i was just picking songs that I wanted to learn and then googling the tabs for it. lately though i've been working on my own songs. I just finished two of them today. I'm thinking about recording them, but I'm not confident in
a. my ability to sing
b. my ability to play guitar
c. my ability to record it
so i'm not sure if i'll get around to it. as some of you know, these days haven't been the most chipper for me, so as a result these songs are pretty much elliot smith type depressing. if I do record them though, this'll be the first place they go :)
(warning, this is all based off memory and stories I've heard and read over the years, not actual current research. some details may be exaggerated or inaccurate)
For those of you unfamiliar...
Bran Van 3000 is one of my favorite bands, and definitely the best concert I've ever been to. The core group is made up of 3 people, but the main guy invites all his musician buddies to join in on the recordings. The result is a wide mix of different styles and sounds, all carefully constructed over the talented eyes of the main members.
Originating from Montreal, their first release "Glee" was almost all in French. When they released an English version for the U.S., it was accompanied with a small tour. I was lucky enough to catch them in a small club in Tucson. On what had to be one of the smallest stages I've ever seen, they rotated their 13 members plus 1 local musician into songs, each time filling it up with their personalities and spirit.
Shortly after Bran Van's more upbeat second release, "Discosis", thier label, Grand Royal, the indie label started by Beastie Boys members, went under and left Bran Van with no studio support. Unfortunately this led to no concert dates near me, leaving all who have heard
about their high energy, fun concerts still wondering how truely great it could really be.
Now the band is working on a third album, but still has no label. They claim this isn't as big of a problem as one might think, but saddens me nonetheless. I leave you with three songs. The first is a popular track (and the first) from Discosis called Astounded. The song features a mix from an unreleased Curtis Mayfield track. Curtis sent some of his final days with members from Bran Van, where they were able to get permission to use material from his archives.
The next song is my personal favorite from the album "Discosis". To me, it embodies what Bran Van 3000 is all about. Its fun, exciting, and makes me drive faster...
Finally, another favorite, and their breakout hit from the 90s that I'm sure spawned the US tour, everyone loves...
So on Aug 22nd, I will definitely be going to see these bands play...
AND
While going through the touring dates I noticed that the only one that has sold out so far is Georgia...hmmm...
If you count the CDs that I have for the kids, then without doubt the Elmopallooza CD is my most embarrassing. On it is a song by Kenny Loggins...I mean, really. Not the almost-so-bad-he's-cool Loggins from the 80s, or the actual cool Loggins from Loggins and Messina in the 70s either. I'm talking 2000 Loggins. Terrible, terrible. See for yourself..
If those don't count, then I don't think I have a single CD that I am embarrassed of. For the most part, I let the kids trash the ones I don't like, so they're all gone.
Actually, the most embarrassing CD I have would have to be Small Band. Mainly because of the band name and some terrible off tune guitar and lyrics. Except for a few songs like this...
singing would be vox user nicoleMarie at age 11 I think.
We also did this one...
I'm kidding about being embarrassed obviously, I just wanted an excuse to post these songs now that Nicole is a vox user.
Why do I have some tags, like "the" and "cardboard boat" that don't have any entries for them, but appear in my tags list?
And so that I can tag this post more...here's some music...
and here is a photo...
its me in a sombrero. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
This is Kai's favorite song and he's in Tucson and they don't have it there, so I'm posting it here for him to listen to.
