Halloween is a very important holiday, for some folks. Leica M, 35mm Summilux Asph FLE.
A Different Kind of American Gothic
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Halloween, Leica 35mm Summilux FLE, Leica M (typ.240) on October 24, 2013 by johnbuckley100Great Interview With Dean Wareham By Rick Moody
Posted in Music with tags " Galaxie 500, "Emancipated Hearts", Dean Wareham, Luna, Rick Moody, The Rumpus on October 24, 2013 by johnbuckley100We are never surprised to read an intelligent essay on music by the novelist Rick Moody, whose thoughts on Brian Eno last year were, to our ears, note perfect. Now, over at Rumpus.net, Moody has turned his gimlet eye to Dean Wareham, on the occasion of excellent new mini-album, Emancipated Hearts, which we wrote about last week.
First, have we mentioned what a joy it is to have Wareham reengaged at this level — not just putting out a solo album with songs that rank with the best of his work with Luna or Galaxie 500, but also sitting for an interview with so intelligent an interlocutor? Wareham’s sensibility has been missed. It’s not just the melodies he writes, the tasteful lines woven by his guitar, his quirky, limited, but reassuring singing. His is a speaking voice that needs to be heard, or at least read on the page.
Read the piece, and the interview. It’s a calm conversation between two masters of their form. We greatly enjoyed Wareham’s definition of what he seeks when writing a song.
Rumpus: Is a “state of bliss” the more ordinary goal of the popular song?
Wareham: Well there are different kinds of blissful states. I can get there with Brahms’ “German Requiem” or Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” but also with “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk. But if I look at my own recordings, I think generally there is a focal point within the song and often it’s the instrumental bridge or a guitar solo where we try to do something unexpected, something beautiful or weird, or beautiful because it is weird. And of course I fail half the time, but yes that is the goal, to create even a few seconds of bliss, or sadness. The electric guitar is a great instrument for doing this because it is capable of surprising you. There are so many different sounds available.
There’s more like that there. And if you haven’t downloaded Emancipated Hearts yet, get cracking.
If Only Eve Had Been A Juggler
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 35mm Summilux FLE, Leica M on October 23, 2013 by johnbuckley100Maybe a better use for the apple? Leica M, 35mm Summilux ASPH FLE.
Psst, Eve, This One
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Leica Monochrom and Noctilux on October 22, 2013 by johnbuckley100Leica Monochrom, 50mm Noctilux, ND Filter.
Just Go Ahead, Looks Delicious
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 50mm Noctilux 0.95, B+W Neutral Density Filter, Leica M on October 20, 2013 by johnbuckley100You don’t need our permission. Leica M, 50mm Noctilux, ND filter.
Wilco’s Roadcase 23 — Their Set From Austin Last Weekend — May Be Their Best Live Album Ever
Posted in Music with tags 2013, Austin, October 11, Roadcase 23, Stubbs, Wilco on October 20, 2013 by johnbuckley100There was a time in rock’n’roll when the Stones would put out Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, The Who would put out Live At Leeds, or even getting The Clash’s Shea Stadium set released posthumously, was a very big deal. Live albums often were punctuation marks in an artist’s career, a way of buying time while they recorded that next studio album, or a way of extending the profits from non-stop touring.
But with a nod to the Dead, some years ago, Pearl Jam pioneered the art of releasing virtually every live concert, and in recent years, we’ve had the magnificent collection of Fugazi sets released. Wilco is now up to 23 Roadcase releases, and their set from Stubbs last weekend in Austin is possibly their best collection yet. Here’s the set — a long, comprehensive concert with nods to playing in Texas (Doug Sahm cover, more country than usual), while still coming through with a career-spanning and literally awesome recording.
Here’s the playlist.
01 – Someone Else’s Song
02 – Blood of the Lamb
03 – Hesitating Beauty
04 – Give Back The Key To My Heart [Doug Sahm cover]
05 – Misunderstood
06 – Forget the Flowers
07 – Dead Flowers [The Rolling Stones cover]
08 – Passenger Side
09 – It’s Just That Simple
10 – Handshake Drugs
11 – Hummingbird
12 – Open Mind
13 – Poor Places
14 – Art of Almost
15 – I Might
16 – Impossible Germany
17 – Born Alone
18 – Laminated Cat (aka Not For The Season)
19 – Radio Cure
20 – Via Chicago
21 – Whole Love
22 – I’m Always In Love
23 – Heavy Metal Drummer
24 – Dawned On Me
25 – Happy Birthday [Mildred J. Hill cover]
26 – Shot in the Arm
27 – Jesus, Etc.
28 – California Stars
29 – Walken
30 – I’m the Man Who Loves You
31 – I Got You (At the End of the Century)
32 – Casino Queen
33 – Hoodoo Voodoo
34 – The Lonely 1
Getting Ready For Halloween
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 50mm Noctilux 0.95, B+W Neutral Density Filter, Leica M (typ.240), National Zoo on October 19, 2013 by johnbuckley100Yesterday, as the National Zoo came back to life, there were signs everywhere of workers — the “non-essential” kind who hadn’t been on skeleton duty, taking care of animals — scrambling to get ready for the zoo’s big Halloween activities.
There were men hanging dragons in trees.
Too bad it wasn’t the Tea Party Congresscreatures who’d kept them from work. And prevented little girls from visiting the zoo.
The Panda Man Is Happy To See Us Back
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 50mm Noctilux 0.95, B+W Neutral Density Filter, End of the Government Shutdown, Leica M, National Zoo on October 18, 2013 by johnbuckley100When those Tea Party morons closed the U.S. Government and nearly provoked a global economic calamity, they also shut down the National Zoo. Which meant the Panda Man couldn’t greet the visitors. He sure was happy to see us again, and the feeling definitely was mutual. Leica M, Noctilux, ND filter.
Physical Graffiti
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 28mm Summicron, Leica M on October 18, 2013 by johnbuckley100Speaking of Jimmy Page… Leica M, 28mm Summicron.
Dean Wareham Steers Us To One Of The Great Lost Albums Of The ’70s
Posted in Music with tags "Emancipated Hearts", "Smiling Men With Bad Reputations", Dean Wareham, Elton John, Fairport Convention, Great Lost Albums of the '70s, Incredible String Band, Jimmy Page, Joe Boyd, John Cale, Keith Moon, Led Zeppelin, Mike Heron, Pete Townshend, The Faces, The Who, Traffic, White Bicycles on October 18, 2013 by johnbuckley100On his masterful new mini-LP, Emancipated Hearts, Dean Wareham plays a cover of the Incredible String Band’s “Air.” We hadn’t thought about the ISB for some years, with the exception of reading producer Joe Boyd’s terrific memoir, White Bicycles, which came out in 2006. We didn’t love the Incredible String Band, but we really loved the solo album, released in 1971, by Mike Heron, Smiling Men With Bad Reputations. Let me tell you just a few things about it, which should send you directly to Amazon, which miraculously dropped a copy of the CD off at our front door after we found our old LP was a mite too scratchy for aural bliss.
ISB was a British folk trio in a Golden Age that produced bands like Fairport Convention. But Mike Heron, like Dylan before him, was at heart a rocker, and when it came time to step out from the Incredible String Band and produce a solo album, he did so with such friends as Steve Winwood, Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks and Dave Pegg, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Elton John, Ronnie Lane, and John Cale. Some lineup, huh? Members of Traffic, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Fairport Convention, the Velvet Underground, and the Faces. The only bands missing were the Beatles and the Stones. The album is amazing.
There are a number of highlights, but for us the big one always was the song “Warm Heart Pastry,” which in the original album cover credited “Tommy and the Bijous” as the backup band. It was, of course, Townshend and Moon, with Ronnie Lane on bass and John Cale on viola, and it is one of the great lost rockers of the era. The whole thing is a long-lost delight — “Beautiful Stranger” sounds like it was left on the cutting room floor when Dear Mr. Fantasy was produced. And on the CD, two bonus tracks are included, which brings “Lady Wonder,” with a raucous Jimmy Page playing slashing slide guitar, to light for the first time.
We love the new Dean Wareham album. We’re especially indebted to him for having given us the added bonus of reminding us about this great lost masterpiece. Go find Mike Heron’s Smiling Men With Bad Reputations.
Tulip Frenzy 