Leica M8, 35mm Summilux, if memory serves.
Calexico’s Playing On The Stage Just Behind The Canyon Wall
Posted in Uncategorized on September 15, 2008 by johnbuckley100Calexico Find The Treasure In “Carried To Dust”
Posted in Music with tags Calexico, Edward Abbey, JohnBuckley100, Pieta Brown, The Jayhawks on September 15, 2008 by johnbuckley100It’s a warm September evening and you’re driving straight thru from Canyonlands to Tucson. Over there in the eastern part of the sky, the moon’s beginning to rise above one of Monument Valley’s spires, maybe the East Mitten. And of course, the only band you possibly could be playing on the 8 Track in your ’73 Camaro is Calexico.
If, last time around, you wondered what happened to the Mariachi brass, the Keenan-Wynn-in-a-Mexican-bar guitar, that’s because “Garden Ruin” was aimed smack dab in the wrong direction, towards Kansas. In other words, Jayhawks country. But this time, Joey Burns doesn’t stray far from the saguaro, which by the way, recently got Federal protection, as should Calexico, just for being a national damn treasure.
“”Carried To Dust” is the best thing they’ve ever done, either for themselves, or the many friends they’ve backed up — Neko Case, Iron und Wine, just to name a few. It’s a real contender for Tulip Frenzy’s album of the year. Either 2008, the year in which it was released, or 1974, the year it feels like. Here’s why it qualifies: It’s perfect. That’s a technical rock reviewer blogger term. Perfect.
Makes you think of the kid in Blood Meridian — the book, not the band — with his boots covered in blood, underneath the evening redness in the West. Makes you think of Blood Meridian — the band, not the book — with their boots covered in blood, playing on the stage in front of you.
Alternately gorgeous melodies, that spooky Tex-Mex guitar line underneath the brass, and John Convertino’s drumming holding everything together so delicately in this region where one wrong move means death from dehydration, rattlesnakes, bad hombres, you name it. And then there’s the stuff that stuns, the way the sunshine does when you’ve wandered off the trail and the Green River’s still way over there. Plus, they’ve got Pieta Brown singing on “Slowness.” Maybe enough said. After all, in the desert West, there’s not a lot of talking.
If Ed Abbey were still with us — and the world would be a better place for it: can you imagine how he would have howled at the Sarah Palin pick? But we digress. If Ed Abbey were still alive, these guys would be the house band at his Tucson beer bashes. Yeah, they’re that good.
Elvis Costello’s Late Inning Rally, And I Don’t Mean “Night Rally”
Posted in Music with tags Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Rolling Stones on September 9, 2008 by johnbuckley100Bob Dylan is the exception that so proves the rule that pop artists have golden ages, and once past them, the best you can hope for is a remembrance of things past. I once was offended when Ira Kaplan told me the Rolling Stones hadn’t put out a really good album since “Exile on Main Street” — this was in 1980, mind you — and notwithstanding the back-to-back delights of “Some Girls” and “Emotional Rescue,” time has proved him right. So even though I hung in there with Elvis for years, through the fat Elvis, and the bearded Elvis, the Kojak-loving Elvis, even the classical Elvis, the truth is that after “Blood and Chocolate,” it was pretty much a curved road downhill. Until the surprising “Momofuku” came out earlier this year.
Naturally, this would be the album I’d take a pass on. Literally, this was the first of his albums I didn’t buy, even the one with the duet with Hall, or maybe it was Oates. And naturally — I discovered to my delight — it’s the best thing he’s done since… well, since “Imperial Bedroom.” Look, it sounds like it could have been recorded in the Dutch studio where he and the Attractions knocked out “Get Happy.” It could be a collection of out-takes from “Armed Forces.” Have a friend who knows Elvis but hasn’t hung in there all these years listen to “Go Away, and ask her when it was recorded, and five will get you ten she says “1978,” not “2008.” It’s really that good.
Live, I enjoyed the transition to Elvis Costello and the Imposters a few years ago, but had not realized on this one Steve Nieve was back on the keyboards. “Momofuku” was recorded in a few weeks, with the story going that Mr. McManus went into the studio without a big plan and… Elvis broke out. Thank God it did. Now Elvis gets to move into the same pantheon as Bob Dylan, he being the master of the late career rally. The Rolling Stones, approximately thirty years without a great album and counting, aren’t even in this league (though their bankers don’t know it.)
Dhani Harrison’s Band TheNewNo2 Is Like A Rocket From The Crypt
Posted in Music with tags dhani harrison, george harrison, thenewno2 on September 6, 2008 by johnbuckley100Dhani Harrison plays — surprise — guitar and sings. Oh, does he ever play guitar and sing. You know where this story is going.
Thenewno2 — the band name is recognizable to all you Patrick McGoohan fans out there — is a trippy, bluesy LA band with superb studio technique. As the world will soon know better, Dhani Harrison looks so much like George it’s scary, and his guitar technique is taken right off “Abbey Road.” His vocal print would fool an FBI-administered spectrogram. George must have believed in reincarnation, right?
“You Are Here” is a surprisingly fascinating album, with the tone of Howard Devoto’s lamented Luxuria, but without the edge. Rainy day music in a house of ghosts.
Lamar Valley, Yellowstone, Sunset August Night
Posted in Uncategorized on August 27, 2008 by johnbuckley100Yes, there were wolves. Leica M8, 28mm Elmarit
Is Lake of The Crags The Ultimate Mountain Lake?
Posted in Uncategorized on August 27, 2008 by johnbuckley100So obviously, Tulip Frenzy has been spending more time in the mountains than listening to bands like the Morning After Girls and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Lake of The Crags is about 10,000 feet up in Hanging Canyon, a relatively untraveled part of the Tetons. Is this the coolest alpine lake of them all? Leica M8, 50mm Sumilux.
Morning Moon Over Teewinot, With The Grand Peaking Out
Posted in Uncategorized on August 21, 2008 by johnbuckley100Morning in the Tetons, start of a long hike. Leica M8, 28mm Elmarit.
Dandy Warhols Return to Earth, Sort Of
Posted in Music with tags Dandy Warhols on August 21, 2008 by johnbuckley100It’s nice to have the Dandy Warhols put out an album you can listen to the whole way through, and “Earth To The Dandy Warhols” is something of a return to form, but what form would that be? What was always so charming about the early albums was Courtney Taylor-Taylor-Taylor’s arch voice, the unique guitar sound, the hip, well, earthiness of their melodic songs of urban bohemia. The new album, amusing again, in some cases pretty, still seems like a band caught in an orbit it can’t return from for fear of burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. I will listen to this album, I’ll even enjoy it, but when I think of the Dandy Warhols — that band who brightened the ’90s and seemed so fresh upon arrival — I’ll push the button on “Dandys Rule, Ok?” File under disappointment.
Black Crows Play Jackson Hole, But The Moon Was Calling
Posted in Uncategorized on August 18, 2008 by johnbuckley100Didn’t Whiskeytown sing, “It calls out my name?”
Moon over The Sleeping Indian, which would have aligned perfectly behind the stage of the Jackson Hole Music Festival.
Jackson Hole Music Festival’s Official Whoopee Cushion
Posted in Uncategorized on August 17, 2008 by johnbuckley100Leica M8, 35mm Summilux.
Tulip Frenzy 