Moments before the candidates took the stage Wednesday night, Bob Schieffer placed an upskirt photo of Cynthia McCain on the table at the old war hero's place.
SO.... it's been a while since I posted last. And amazingly, I'm still listening to the last few things I wrote about. Okkervil River, Delta Spirit-- still rocking them both. But there are new things to talk about.
Next week Mr Kyle I'm Just Sayin is All Pfister is spoiling us with Mt Eerie and Julie Doiron. Florida's Mt Eerie, who most college kiddies probably know as Microphones, usually bore me. That's not to say they're not good or that I'm not excited to see them, because..
Perhaps surprisingly, Julie Doiron does not bore me. Julie is a paradox, a young woman built up of conflicting ideas: she's Canadian but doesn't wear snowshoes everywhere; she has a voice that is like both a thirteen year old girl and an old soul; she speaks French but seems modest; she is quiet but strangely strong. I was lucky enough to see her open up for Sufjan Stevens back when he played at the Pres House four or more years ago [the gig was so long ago and so small I can't even find any online mention of it].
Maybe it's the anticipation of seeing both these artists together at the little synagogue in the park across the street which doubles as a little place I like to call Where I Elect Barack Obama as The Next President of The United States America, aka my polling place.
Or maybe it'll be fun hearing them fill up the little room with the line "who are you, who are you, who has come to fill my room?". And then, I imagine, we'll all clap or something, which would totally overpower the sparing softbutloudness of the band.
In any event, I'm stoked. And you should be, too.
Give a listen to Mt Eerie and Julie Doiron:
Mt Eerie with Julie Doiron - "Lost Wisdom", from Lost Wisdom
Julie Doiron - "Dance Me", from 1997's Loneliest in the Morning
*for reasons I won't get into, all of the songs of this entire post are also available in a zip file, linked at the bottom.
And howabout some other goodies for you good kiddies?
Lucinda Williams, who apparently is bad ass like skulls on a cross but sweet like flowers, comes to the Orpheum here in Madison on October 25. I'm going. Her latest album, Little Honey, was released Tuesday. Check it out, it's on par with the rest of her vast catalog.
"Jackson", from 2006's Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Ingrid Michaelson follows Lucinda a few weeks later, to the Barrymore. Her latest album, BE OK, was also released Tuesday. It's a bit of a mix, with a cover, some live performances, and stuff she's been playing on tour for quite some time. But that doesn't mean it's not worth picking up. And she's so rad that she's giving some proceeds to Stand Up To Cancer. What a gal.
Here're my favorites from when she played here this past spring, which both appear on BE OK:
ALSO.... man I'm spoiling y'all with this megapost.... I saw Broken Social Scene last weekend here and, wow, was it quite the show. After seeing them live, these are my new fave BSS songs:
"Ibi Dreams of Pavement", from 2005's Broken Social Scene [ok, to be fair, this was already one of my favorites. Seeing it live just catapulted it to the status of absolute favorite]
Ok, two more. Random tunes. I was recently looking through a bunch of old DJ mixtapes I made as RTDJ, the most recent being at least a good five years old. Anyway, one chill mix I ended with Mazzy Star's perfect "Fade Into You". And so I've been listening to this song nonstop ever since.
Mazzy Star - "Fade Into You", from 1993's So Tonight That I May See
And on Monday I invited an old DJ buddy to come play some records with me at Natt Spil. He played the house remix of this awesome classic Smoke City tune. You may know it as the "ay ay ay ay ya-ya-ya" song. Here's the original, just listen:
Enjoy your weekend, dammit. I'll be working at 630am Saturday and then going straight to watch a third place soccer game that [a] should be for first place and [b] I should be playing in if it wasn't for me getting my first ever red card for tripping a guy when I really really didn't mean to although I was not able to convince the referees that was the case.
In a completely unforeseen but totally rad event, Ingrid Michaelson's label Original Signal Recordings stumbled upon my Ratatat post last week and decided OHWNT was a good place for some promo for their girl Ingrid. AND, they're giving me tickets to Ingrid's show on her first headlining tour as she stops at the Barrymore this Saturday for me to give away to you +1!
You probably know Ingrid whether you've realized it or not. If you heard "The Way I Am" right now, you'd be like "oh, the Old Navy song". While it's wonderful the things that a little Grey's Anatomy or GAP, Inc or iPod facial will do for someone's career, these featured artists rarely live up to the hype built upon the thirty seconds of fame they get-- which in reality is often six seconds of their songs looped five times.
To jog your memory, "The Way I Am" [aka "that Old Navy song"] and the official video for it:
Like Feist before her who gained a lot of attention after being the singing star of some big box commercial, Ingrid is definitely an exception to the trend of unwarranted hype. This girl's got it. About a brasilian comparisons could be made [and probably are, on as many blogs] to nearly any of the most blogged about songwriting chanteuses, but I refuse to do that here. I'll admit I was very skeptical of the album due to all the hype, but was very impressed by the versatility and just how refreshing it is.
And now for the giveaway, thanks to Amy and Original Signal. Tell me in the comments section how far, in feet, you can spit a watermelon seed. Or tell me how many times you think Ingrid's been told she looks like Lisa Loeb. The correct answer wins a pair of tickets to Ingrid Michaelson at the Barrymore this coming Saturday night, 7 June. Be sure to leave your e-mail address so I can find ya.
Opening for Miss Michaelson is Greg Laswell. I only know Greg because I stumbled across his cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" a few years back. Right-click download that here.
