hrrundivbakshi

No Irony, No Snark, Just an Appeal to Donate to the Haiti Disaster

Feb 012010

Fellow Townspeople:

I won’t take up valuable RTH time to tell you how much Haiti needs your help. What I will tell you is that I and my recording studio have been working with some amazing, talented, generous musicians and other folks to put on a benefit show in Washington, DC on Feb. 2. If you’re in town, please join us — 100% of your $15 admission will go to Voice Of Haiti, a charity founded by a couple of DC-area film-makers who run an incredibly tight non-profit ship.

If you can’t make the show — there are still ways you can help. One: head out to Voice Of Haiti right now to make an online donation. Two: wait until after the show, then donate at Indie Music for Haiti, a site we’re building to host high-quality video files from the event for folks who couldn’t make it. Beyond that, here are some details:

The basics:
Feb. 2, DC9, 1940 9th St. NW, Washington DC
Doors open at 8:30
Show starts at 9:00
$15

Lineup:

Tommy T (of Gogol Bordello) and the Abyssinia Roots Collective, in their debut public performance, delivering the Ethiopian jazz/dub goods
Sitali — one of DC’s best-kept musical secrets, featuring Sitali Khumalo, a featured performer with the Thievery Corporation
DC’s premier old-school ska orchestra, Eastern Standard Time
DC’s fave retro-mod, garage-soul groovers, The Ambitions, featuring Caz Gardiner
Spoonboy, the lead singer for the amazing Max Levine Ensemble, doing his agit-prop, solo Billy Bragg thing

…and here are a few details about Voice Of Haiti, for those of you who are healthily skeptical about charities with which you are unfamiliar: according to the IRS, Voice Of Haiti can honestly claim that 90% of all money raised actually goes to work “in country” — and they’ve been working through local volunteers there for many years. God bless the charities that are rushing to the scene to help in the country’s hour of need, but VOH has been there for years, focused on projects related to long-term agricultural/economic sustainability, trying to give Haitians a good reason *not* to live in the squalor of Port-au-prince.

Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top Call Bullshit On Mr. Moderator!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jan 272010

In a press release issued today, Billy “Reverend Willy G” Gibbons, Dusty “the Pleaser” Hill, and Frank Beard countered assertions published on popular rock and roll blog “Rock Town Hall” that the band had never actually toured with live animals during their celebrated “World Wide Texas Tour” in 1976.

“As far as I’m concerned, this ‘Moderator’ character needs to step out from behind his momma’s skirt and present himself for a good old-fashioned truth-whuppin’,” said ZZ Top’s long-time lead guitarist Billy Gibbons. “Not only did we tour with bison, buzzards, rattlesnakes, and long-horned cattle way back in ’76, we recently secured a full menagerie of African wildlife for our upcoming ‘BBQ Safari’ World Tour — and we’ve got the pictures to prove it. Until and unless Mr. Moderator delivers photographic proof that he in fact exists, we’re issuing a cease-and-desist notice on all this tomfoolery. In conclusion, let me just say to Mr. Moderator and those who care about his half-baked conspiracy theories: do yourself a favor, son: bear down on the meat, and ease up on the potato salad.”

Congratulations, Townsman Rick Massimo! Here’s Some Non-Sucky Wedding Music for You!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jan 052010

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Fellow Townspeople, please join me in congratulating Townsman Rick Massimo on his marriage, two days ago, to a perfectly wonderful, kind, sweet, intelligent woman. He’s lounging in the sun on the West coast of Australia right now (that’s where his wife is from), so I have my doubts he’ll be checking in on goings-on in the Hall, but…

Well, here’s the deal: like children’s music, most contemporary music selected to be played as part of a wedding service really, really sucks. I mean, really — how many times can you hear “Love” by John Lennon without realizing it’s a teeth-shatteringly saccharine greeting card of a song? I say: once! So, fellow lovers of love, I challenge you: here’s your chance to insert a song of your choice into the wedding ceremony for Townsman Rick, right after the preacher’s cautionary, hopeful message and before the vows are taken. Make sure it doesn’t suck!

HVB

What Makes for a “Cool” Bass Player?

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Dec 172009

It’s rare that so recent a post makes it back to soon for a Friday Flashback, but I just discovered some pot-stirring by Townsman mowgli321, a welcome newcomer to the Halls of Rock who’s showing his dedication to pushing forward intelligent rock dialog by dipping back into our rich archives. If you check out the recent comments, you’ll see some thoughtful dialog that is worth continuing. Please don’t be shy; we may be getting somewhere on this whole issue of bass players and failed guitarists!

This post initially appeared 7/10/09.

I recently ran across a period video for the Spiral Starecase‘s one Great hit, “More Today Than Yesterday,” and was immediately bowled over by the incredible coolness of the bass player in the band. Check out this clip, people, he’s got it all: great Look, great instrument, great poise/neck angle, great plucking and fretting hand action, and — most important — perhaps the greatest in-place stage sashay I’ve ever seen.

This got me thinking about what makes bass players “cool.” Can we please, for once, avoid nerdy nerdlinger terms like “in the pocket,” or “laying down the groove,” or “locking in with the drummer” to talk about what actually makes bass players “cool.” For once, can we apply the same fashion/attitude logic we reserve for guitar players to determine what makes impressionable 14-year-olds want to pick up the instrument?

I suspect this Spiral Starecase guy may have many of the answers.

HVB

p.s.: Chickenfrank, I’m especially looking at you for some thoughtful reflections on this video, and cool bass players in general.

Mach Schau, Lee Dorsey!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Dec 162009

While conducting research for my next round of Thrifty Music offerings, I came across this number, enthusiastically performed by Allen Toussaint‘s favorite New Orleans soul shouter, Lee Dorsey — and backed up by Stax Records’ 1967 touring band!

As we always do in the Mach Schau series, let’s turn our attentions to what exactly it is that makes this performance so exceptional. I have a number of observations, but I’ll start the ball rolling with just one: the trumpet player rides his horn with gusto. Excellent! What do you see?

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

What I Gotta Do to Get Wyclef Jean’s Job?

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Dec 102009

I read this in today’s Washington Post account of Obama’s Nobel peace prize speech and just about did a spit-take:

… Speaking before an audience of 1,000 that included Norway’s royal family and top government officials, as well as entertainment icons Will Smith and Wyclef Jean…

Will somebody please explain how and why washed-up rapper Wyclef Jean manages to show up at gigs like this? I have been flummoxed by his red carpet magnetism for years now. I just don’t get it. I mean, I understand how he could hoodwink today’s aging rock star set into thinking he’s got hip-hop street cred or something, that he’s the 21st-century version of KRS-One. So I understand why he shows up at things like U2 concerts, or benefits hosted by Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt. But what the fuck is he doing at the Nobel peace prize awards? Or at the UN? Or at — hell, I don’t know, the Hague or the International Space Station, or wherever they’ll invite him next? And why does he get invited to these things in the first place?

I want answers!

Thrifty Music, Vol. 18: The Cream of the Crop

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Nov 232009

Greetings, fellow seekers of the weird, the wonderful, and the incredibly cheap! I’ve returned to you after an autumn filled with notable thrifty musical finds, scoured from the junk store bins, the yard sales, and the flea markets of our nation’s capitol. And I’m here to share!

Truth be told, this autumn was an embarrassment of riches — I’ve got about a dozen thrifty music finds I really want to play for you — and I’ve still got about 70-80 singles I’ve yet to go through. In fact, I’ve got so many choice tunes worth posting that I struggled to find a unifying theme among them — i.e., some silly Thrifty Music concept that would amuse, delight, and give me an excuse to pad my post out with mind-numbing prose.

So, instead, I decided to just go for the jugular with the three tunes that (so far) have jumped out as the strongest of the bunch. These tunes require no explanation, no contextual analysis, and certainly no excuses. They all completely kick mo-fo ASS, as far as I’m concerned. I trust you’ll agree.

First up: “Leave Me Alone” by Detroit’s own Nathaniel Mayer. The InterWeb tells me that Nathaniel Mayer was a peculiar soul artist whose voice and choice of backing instrumentation was so raw as to presage the whole garage/punk ethos of the mid-to-late-’60s. And, for once, I agree with the InterWeb! From the moment I threw this disc down on the turntable, I was hooked. It’s a winner.

Next, a song that has joined a select few at the top of my list of flawlessly sweet, tender, uncompromising love songs: Lee Williams and the Cymbals‘ “I Love You More”. Good God, but — what could possibly be added to this tune to make it any better? The arrangement and instrumentation is sweet, in every sense of the word, the melody is total brain glue, and that chorus! “I love you more than anybody’s ever loved anyone…” Man, to be able to a) write that lyric; and b) sing it successfully, without the faintest whiff of cheese — well, it’s just brilliant.

Last up, The Vacels — an early ’60s white doo-wop group that somehow made the transition into the mop-toppin’ mid-’60s with toe-tappin’ aplomb. Their most famous (and that’s a very relative thing with these guys) track was a cover of a Dylan number (see illustration), but for my money, this B-side, entitled “You’re My Baby,” is the band’s big winner. I am extremely curious to hear Townsman Mockcarr‘s take on this song. He’s always sported a boner for riff-y ’60s rock that wasn’t afraid to make liberal, front-and-center use of the Rickenbacker 12-string, as this one does. So howzabout it, Mockcarr and all you other slavishly devoted mop-top wannabes? What’s your verdict on The Vacels?

So there you go — three songs that I didn’t look for, that just showed up in my musical life because I was patient and willing to spend 50 cents on musical commodities I knew nothing about. It’s true, I had to sniff a lot of dogshit to find these sweet-smelling gems, but I think it was worth the effort. I hope you agree.

There’s a lot more thrifty music to come, by the way. I just wanted to get these winners into your ear-bones as soon as possible. Let me know what you think!

Your humble, frugal musical servant,

HVB

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