A letter from Banksy.
Most times, I find modern “rebelliousness” in all of its forms pretty tedious and shallow. This, however, is surprisingly poignant.
My Imagination is a Monastry and I am its Monk - you must explain my [metaphysics] to yourself.
John Keats, to Percy Bysshe Shelley in a letter dated 16 August 1820, commenting on the sudden, unusual, and miraculous orderly quality of his own thoughts, which had one been, in his words, “like a pack of scattered cards.”
I envy such focus.
Space Program- Dear Levar
There should be more songs written about Levar Burton, but this is a very good start.
Bruce Springsteen- The Promise (NYC 1978)
My dad he taught me how to walk quiet
And how to make my peace with the past
I learned real good to tighten up inside
And I don’t say nothing unless I’m asked
When the promise is broken, you go on living
But it steals something from down in your soul
When the truth is spoken, and it don’t make no difference
Something in your heart turns cold.
Some high quality professional footage of Tom Waits joining the Rolling Stones on stage in Oakland courtesy of the Stones. Includes some commentary from Tom about the experience.
This is pretty cool, even if Mick freaks me out a little bit.
Well, when you’re sittin’ back in your rose pink Cadillac, makin’ bets on Kentucky Derby day/ I’ll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon, and some other girl who’ll take my pain away.
Rolling Stones, Dead Flowers
Is there a better song for Kentucky Derby day?
Cody ChesnuTT- ‘Til Met Thee
If you have yet to blast this song with the windows down while rolling down a state road on a warm spring day with magnolias and cherries in bloom… do so, post haste.
The Three Amigos- Blue Shadows
Look at the little fella. He’s tuckered out already.
Iron & Wine- Innocent Bones
Every mouth sings of what it’s without, so we all sing of love…
I’ve spent a little time the last two weeks in the wayback machine to 2007— it was a simpler time, you know. Actually, I was on one of my typical long overnight drives covering a few states, and I found myself putting Iron & Wine’s The Shepherd’s Dog on repeat. It’s such a perfect album, which is odd to say now, as so many people at the time seemed to think it was Sam Beam’s “Judas” moment, where he abandoned his lo-fi acoustic roots.
After a few years’ separation, I’m sufficiently removed from the felt need to defend the record, and listening to it with fresh ears is really wonderful. It’s quite a breathtaking record, with such depth and layers of sound. The songwriting is beautiful too, and Beam’s trademark melodicism has never been stronger.
This song will be a favorite on quiet summer nights for many years to come.
Here are a few things I picked up on Record Store Day in DC:
- Nick Drake s/t: Honestly, I have all the tracks on this record already, but hey, it’s Nick Drake on vinyl. It’s never really a bad investment.
- Nick Drake Demo Collection v.1: This is a really good mix of tracks, some of which I haven’t heard on vinyl before. It has that really haunting version of Fly that can be found on the Time of No Reply collection.
- Iron & Wine Next to Paradise 7”: I’m pretty intrigued by the continued evolution of Sam Beam, and at this point I’m pretty much an Iron & Wine completist.
- Shearwater/Sharon Van Etten Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around 7”: I think the Onion AV Club needs to get their legal team together and release some compilation LPs from their Undercover series. This cover is the latest in a series of spectacular efforts in their little round room.
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Push the Sky Away LP: Ok, this wasn’t a special release or anything. Living off in the hinterlands, I hadn’t been able to pick up a copy yet. This is just a good LP that, like a lot of the recent Nick Cave stuff, is great for when you’ve got to cover three states’ worth of driving overnight.
Thanks to everyone at Crooked Beat in DC, all the labels, artists, and WEA for making this day better every year!
I love this new mat, courtesy of Merge Records and Crooked Beat. Record Store Day is a wonderful thing.
Dawes- Jealous Guy (John Lennon cover)
I think this works.
Iron & Wine- Winter Prayers
Here’s a beautiful new track from the new Iron & Wine LP, Ghost on Ghost.
We have been called to participate in the world’s creation from the very beginning. Making music. Baking cakes. Sewing curtains. These things mean something greater: that we have been known from the very start. Our eye color, our hairline, our jawline, the shape of our big toe, the tone of our voice. These things have been designed from the very beginning. What kind of music we listen to. The sort of skirt that looks good. The baseball cap, the tennis shoe, the orange bandana. We have been made to find these things for ourselves and take them in as ours, like adopted children: habits, hobbies, idiosyncrasies, gestures, moods, tastes, tendencies, worries. They have been put in us for good measure.
Perhaps we don’t like what we see: our hips, our loss of hair, our shoe size, our dimples, our knuckles too big, our eating habits, our disposition. We have disclosed these things in secret, likes and dislikes, behind doors with locks, our lonely rooms, our messy desks, our empty hearts, our sudden bursts of energy, our sudden bouts of depression. Don’t worry. Put away your mirrors and your beauty magazines and your books on tape. There is someone right here who knows you more than you do, who is making room on the couch, who is fixing a meal, who is putting on your favorite record, who is listening intently to what you have to say, who is standing there with you, face to face, hand to hand, eye to eye, mouth to mouth. There is no space left uncovered. This is where you belong.
New album “Ghost on Ghost” is streaming on NPR’s First Listen. It’s pretty… the drumming is actually pretty brilliant. Click here.
