Author Archives: Duff

Paste Culture Club Overload.

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Don’t know why I feel the need to catch up on old podcasts, but that is only one of the many unexplainable quirks, is it not.

4/14 edition: Josh Rouse.
Just saw him perform a few months ago (maybe even in April?). I like the Subtitulo, although not quite as much as Nashville or 1972, and I like it a lot more live. He’s a good interview, makes jokes, etc. – he is also one of not-all-that-many songwriters with good stage banter. I really like the Peter Case spoken word stuff they played during this show as well. Never heard of him before, but may need to check it out.

3/2 edition: Paste Recommends.
I had saved this one up because I knew they played some Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson on it. Kinda silly to bother listening at this point four months later, of course, as I already own most of the stuff I like from this show (the new Shawn Mullins and Rhett Miller albums). They also play a new one by a Chicago-band the M’s, that I just barely know, and a Sufjan Stevens song that samples the Copeland/Shaker tune ” ‘Tis a gift to be simple…”

4/28 edition: Erin McKeown.
Great interview with McKeown. She’s a real spitfire live and at the end of this interview she plays my favorite song off her new album. They also featured the Weepies (I LOVE that album) and Sonya Kitchell (who I’ve been wondering about — they refer to her as “halfway between Norah Jones and Joss Stone”). Also an interesting interview with Wim Wenders and Sam Shepherd about their new movie Don’t Come Knockin’ (their first collaboration since their great flick Paris, Texas 20 years ago…

5/11 edition: They Might Be Giants.
I can’t think about my senior year of college without having “Istanbul was Constantinople / Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople…” leap into my head. But I never followed the band after that, although I have a friend who goes to see them all the time and probably has all their albums (hey KP!). But this interview is really interesting, these guys have so much going on. Children’s albums (I bought these for my nephew a few months ago but have yet to hear if they’re enjoyable to listen to), doing jingle awards for people’s answering machines for a radio station, their website has lots of stuff (downloads, etc., doing their own podcast)… Really fun interview to listen to.

In general…
If you want to check out the lineup before deciding to listen to the PCC podcasts, you can go to the website. The first few I listened to I thought the emcee (Josh Jackson) was a little awkward. He’s getting more comfortable and some of them (particularly the Paste Recommends ones which I believe come out monthly) have a few people chatting and sound much more “radio-like”.

The musical answer I am seeking is lost somewhere in a crevice of my senile mind.

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At what age does it become possible to have early-onset Alzheimer’s?

I am listening to Band of Horses, which came recommended by one of my trustworthy recommenders (as opposed to the non trustworthy ones, where afterward I think “Why did I waste my money? I KNEW I wouldn’t like something they suggested…”). And I like it, but it …SOUNDS LIKE… someone I can’t think of. And it is driving me crazy. It’s all I can think about it, and I can feel the answer swimming around the black outer depths of my mind, poking forward, retreating back, never quite coming into consciousness… Argh.

I am also listening to Alexi Murdoch, who fits quite nicely into my Melancholy Boys for Mondays playlist. You will recognize one of his songs as it was on both The O.C. and the soundtrack to Ladder 49.

Silvia sent me Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s. “Skeleton Key” is a lovely, lovely song. They are a bit confusing to my mind though as the presumably female “Margot” does not appear to be the lead singer. Thus I can never remember the name of the band (there’s that Alzheimer’s again).

I forgot (and again) all about John Vanderslice until my iPod’s shuffle seemed to get stuck in his section driving back from Minnesota. Everytime one of his songs came on, I thought ” Huh. I like this. BUT WHO IS IT?” That’s one of the hazards of buying too much music; if you don’t listen to it right away, and decide whether you like it, there’s a chance you may forget to ever listen to it… and you won’t know it when you do.

Donavon Frankenreiter is friends with Jack Johnson and is being promoted as that type of singer. Actually I find Jack Johnson super boring and way too mellow, and Frankenreiter actually adds just a li’l’ bit o’ soul to the mix. A little bit of funk hidden in the mellow surfer boy, just enough to make it listenable as opposed to sleep-inducing. Still pretty calm…not for everyday, but for sometimes.

Have you heard Boy Least Likely To‘s cover of George Michael’s Faith? I heard them do it live the other day and finding an MP3 of it online was sooooo pleasing to me. Great song to cover. Also great cover. They’re a great band to see live, full of pep and constantly teasing each other.

Speaking of covers, the Magic Numbers, who I recommended to you at the end of last year, have covers out there of the Smiths, of Franz Ferdinand (love when people cover their peers), AND of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”. It’s worth looking for, as it’s one of those songs like the Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone” number; i.e., it’s actually a good song when sung by someone who isn’t just shouting it out for all they’ve got (you don’t have the Ted Leo cover of “Since U Been Gone”? Where ya been?).

Speaking of ‘in concert’, Corrine Bailey Rae is also good to see live; she funks things up and really throws it all out there…Much livelier and fuller than on the album, which I personally get very bored by. She’s also a teeny tiny skinny girl and you find yourself wondering the whole night WHERE that deep rich Aretha Franklin voice is coming from. Loved her in concert; but can’t listen to her album that often. Maybe she’ll put out a live album!!

And in terms of singles, I’ve been playing Dave Matthews’ “Steady as We Go” a lot these days. I’m not really a DMB fan, he happened a little too late for me — I find my friends who love him were in college when he was really warming up (while I was OUT of college by then), while people who were in college when I was are instead fans of the Indigo Girls and bands who were making the college rounds during that slightly earlier time period — but occasionally I find a random one-off of his that I like and SAWG was recently on an episode of the much-loved late-Everwood.

That’s it for now; back to the pod…

Cable: Ladyhawke.

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CanNOT believe how long it’s been since I’ve watched this (Kysa, didn’t we used to watch it all the time “back in the day”? When was that? 1995?). Also canNOT believe I do not own this on DVD. Will have to fix that. Still love it just as much as I used to, although admittedly the background music is very dated and somewhat humorous. Matthew Broderick is so fun in this, and I don’t know that I can think of very many other movies where him being in it is one of the reasons I like it. Rutger Hauer is YUM, yum, yummy. The love story is so desperately poignant. Oh the heartbreak. Oh the torture. Yes I’m being facetious; but I love it nonetheless.

Cable: First Daughter

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This movie was so bad (and I couldn’t even honestly say “unbelievably” so), I really can’t believe I watched the whole thing. But I was tired and needed to sit still for a while, so it served its purpose. Really bad dialogue, bad acting, disjointed scenes, leaps in both logic & time. Michael Keaton just looks pained here. Bad.

KCRW’s Bookworm: Leonard Cohen (6/22).

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The beginning of this interview was a little annoying. Too much of Michael Silverblatt’s (usual) long meandering statement/questions with Cohen just saying “yeah, that’s a good way to describe it.” “Sure, that sounds good.” But eventually Silverblatt had him read one of the poems in the new book, and Cohen started to loosen up and participate a bit more. Cohen’s mournful songs are (yes I’m saying it again for about the 8th time in two weeks) “such a huge part of my childhood.” Always playing in the background, things like Suzanne takes you down…to her place by the river… Love reminding people that Cohen wrote Hallelujah, not Jeff Buckley (Buckley just did a cover of it). One of those artists with such a huge oeuvre, it feels like he’s been around FOREVER, but of course he’s 72 or something now…

Quirky Nomads: Wet Food (6/15)

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Texan woman recounts her 14th year when she wasn’t allowed to listen to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” at her relatives’ house where even the radio stations wouldn’t play it due to the cursing…the baddest man in the whole damn town… 🙂 Too funny.

Bonus: the little girl who won’t wear the sweater…because it’s not PINK!

Quirky Nomads: New Orleans (6/14)

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Jennifer’s story about driving to New Orleans, and not just the devastation from the storm but the continuing complete destroyal of normal life, and the fact that most of us are just not really comprehending what it is like there now… Powerful stuff.