"Boogie Stop Shuffle", Charles Mingus

Nothing I have to say about this; the music speaks for itself.

And, like Bobby Winant before me in these pages, I want to send a shout out to George Angel for the jazz enlightenment.

Boogie Stop Shuffle...

IBL:mm

"East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam", Tom Russell

So my evolving (har redux) musical tastes have lead me to Sirius Satellite Radio and, in particular, a station owned by Miami Steve Van Zandt called Outlaw Country. The thing about this station that makes me pretty much ecstatic every time I turn it on is that, first of all, they paint with the Outlaw Brush (IBL tm) very broadly (especially depending on the DJ), so I hear everything from Social Distortion to Lynyrd Skynyrd to polka music; Jimmie Rodgers to Loretta Lynn to the Bobby Fuller Four. Plus, of course, there's plenty of Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Merle, Kris, Shaver, Coe and all three Hanks; PLUS there's plenty of twang ta boot. And the DJs are often musicians (Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings, Elizabeth Cook) or producers (Don Was, Cowboy Jack Clement), so there is also insight as to the making of the music (both in and out of the studio), who was influencing whom, and just general Outlaw Country history.

Then, this - often I have heard country music dismissed as "hillbilly" or "hick", and likely there is a fair amount of music out there that fits this label. But very little of it is played on Outlaw Country (and, again, they are not playing strictly country music; I believe they think of it as a kind of "Americana"). But, nonetheless, there are endless intelligent, thoughtful songs by a variety of songwriters in a variety of genres, plus just some real fucking good country music, rock and roll, rock (yes, I think these are two different genres), folk, blue grass, Tejano, etc.

So, though I certainly wouldn't call him country from what I've heard so far, here's something from Tom Russell, one of the many songwriters, new to me, of whom I've become fond. This song in particular caught my attention because of the literary references - two Salingers, a Hemingway, a Conrad and Graham Green (at least those are the ones I GOT). And he's not just name dropping: they actually pertain to the story.

East of Woodstock, West of Viet Nam...

IBL:mm

Upcoming @ IBL - More Music Discussions a la 30 in 30

So I enjoyed doing my 30 songs in 30 days, and heard from at least one person who indicated he would be pleased to see it continue in some fashion. And so it shall.

Going forward, though, I'm going to break up the music into two basic categories -

• First, as with 30 in 30, songs from my "youth" (loosely defined as 10 to 25, let's say) that had some effect on me at the time, whether or not I like them today (though for the most part along the 30 in 30 path I DID choose songs that I still like today).
• Second, songs that I have come to find in my "adult years" (har) that I think are fantastic for any number of reasons, some by well-known artists, others by artists of whom you may be unaware.

On both fronts I encourage people (as George Angel did) to share music that had or has an effect on them. I am always looking for new songs and artists to enjoy, either in or out of my wheelhouse.

IBL:mm

(In Which I Recommend "Stax/Volt Revue: Live in Norway 1967" (on DVD))

If I have seen a better live concert film in my life I sure don't know what it is. First of all, this Revue is in glorious black and white; second, the camera work is, in general, spectacular; third, it features some of the finest music, musicians and singers we have to offer - Booker T and the MGs, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Sam and Dave (whose "Hold On I'm Coming" is particularly brilliant), the Mar-Keys and, finally, Otis. I don't know how much footage of Otis is available, but this stuff is beyond priceless ("Satisfaction" and "Try A Little Tenderness" are just really something else) - I think he is on an extremely short list of the greatest American singers. Which undoubtedly will lead to a follow-up topic here at infection by light, and perhaps HEATED debate (or not)...

In short, I cannot recommend this highly enough; available through NetFlix.


IBL:mm

(In Which I Choose a Few, Select Major League Baseball Post-Season Awards as Though I Were a Voting-Eligible Sportswriter)

Yes, sports fans, my picks are in for MVP, Cy Young and Manager of the Year in both the National and American Leagues!

In the American -

• Manager: John Maddon, Tampa Bay. He loses his ace closer, his ace set-up guy and Carl Crawford's 29 homers and 100 RBI and STILL has his team back in the post-season? That's good enough for me.
• Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit. Not much to add there.
• MVP: Justin Verlander, Detroit. Probably lots to add there, but I'll keep it brief. In general, my pool of MVP candidates is drawn from the teams that qualify for the post-season, or teams that were in it up to the end, even if they did not qualify. (Certainly there could be an exception to this, though I didn't find one this year.) Then I look at the candidates' numbers and imagine their teams without them. Verlander clearly had great numbers, no issue there, and without him there were no Tigers this year. That's the 1-2 punch to me. This may not be how you're supposed to do it, but that's why God created the blog, to discuss these kinds of things.
  

In the National -

• Manager: Kirk Gibson, Arizona. Worst to first in the Western Division, with a team that, at least as I was reviewing their stats yesterday, did not look like a likely post-season candidate. Honorable mention to Ron Roenicke in Milwaukee.
• Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles by a whisper over Roy Halladay and/or Cliff Lee of Philadelphia. As Robert Winant said to me, any one of these three could win and there wouldn't be much of an argument.
• MVP: Whether a real sportswriter could do it this way or not I have no idea, but I'm taking Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder of Milwaukee as co-MVPs.

IBL:mm

Everybody in, nobody out.

T.S. Eliot and George Jones - Together Again for the First Time

I recently learned that T.S. Eliot was given a nickname by Ezra Pound - Possum; and, country singer George Jones, who just turned 80, is also nicknamed the Possum; and, if you'd told me this morning I would be talking about T.S. Eliot and George Jones in the same breath, well, I'm just saying I might not have deeply believed in that statement of yours.