Music: Response (1)
Pineapple (darling Pisces) (but not the sweet Pisces) had an interesting bit. Now, let’s get this straight, right away, I’m not actively participating.
Music: Response (2)
I had to think about this one. Long and hard. I clicked open the jukebox on the computer and took a look. Classic rock, hardcore country, lot of Texas artists, classic punk. Old punk country. New punk country. Folk. More Texas artists. One stuck in my mind, that recent release from Ray Wylie Hubbard, Growl. The final cut was getting some local airplay – destined to be hit, and certainly words I live by. Besides, for a Scorpio, the artist is a really nice guy. His songwriting always offers solace, humor, and slice of something not found elsewhere.
What I was looking for was “music that triggers some kind of response.” (1)
There will always be, in my mind, a place for Deep Purple’s “Machine Head.” It has nascent astrology allusions, real or imagined, and it’s got about two, maybe three driving songs that I figure belong on just about any road CD to keep me trucking down the road. It’s a strictly summertime album, though. Consider it a guilty pleasure. C’mon, we all have certain secret songs we listen to.
“Music that triggers some kind of response“? (2)
There’s one song I discovered from Faster Pussycat’s self titled album, late 80’s hair metal, I guess, and I can’t say I like the whole album, “This city has no heart” is a song that I keep coming back to. Works its way onto most of my road compilations. Lyrics alone. I mean, I understand they’re singing about LA, and I’m thinking about Dallas or Houston, but that’s a trigger.
“Music that triggers some kind of response.” (3)
The Gourds. Two songs from an earlier album, but “Gin and Juice” is a local live favorite. Saw them do it live at the last ACL festival (ACL is shorthand for Austin City Limits, you watch it on TV. We live it.) What hooked me, absolutely, was their song about El Paso. That town’s a frequent destination, or has been, for the last decade. El Paso is just such a strange place for me. I’m used to desert, 7 years in Arizona. 2-3 years in New Mexico. But El Paso is Texas – sort of, anyway. Oftentimes neglected. Like the Gourds.
Music: response (1)
Hank III. Some of his bootlegs are even better than his slick production stuff. First show I saw, he opened, if memory is still good, with “7 Months, 39 days” – still a favorite piece from him. His hardcore whatever music is equally good, if not better. If you like that. Still reminds me of old school punk.
Music: response (2)
Another one that I can’t find, someone burned it off Napster for me, was one song from Rank & File, circa 1982. See: it was the video. It was the song. It was some of the earliest of the supposed “cow punk” coming out of Austin, back in the early 1980’s. Brings back memories. Rank & File isn’t even listed these days. Album is titled “Sundown” – I think.
Music: response (3)
The Top. ZZ Top. Call them what you want. If you don’t have Tres Hombres – simply put, you should. Personally, There’s a strange one I kept playing with, back and forth, last week, from two albums that were slammed by critics, ZZ Top’s “XXX Beatbox” back to back with Art of Noise Beatbox. It just made sense at the time and was rather entertaining. Plus, that Triple X (30) ZZ Top album ages well.
Music: response (4)
Lyle Lovett’s “Step Inside This House” was a turning point in my life. One year at Xmas time, I’d asked my sister for it. I just wanted to see her in a record store looking for obscure Texas artists. What evokes so much memory with that album is Fromholz’s “Texas Trilogy” (saw Steve himself sing it under the stars at Hill’s Cafe one night). The other disc in the set, has a couple of songs, Michael Murphey’s “West Texas Highway” song that has deep, personal significance to me. Plus, Lyle covers a classic Robert Earl Keen song, and I’ve been on that highway where the Tastee Freeze used to stand….
Music: response (5)
Robert Earl Keen, Capricorn, funny, droll, witty, and highly entertaining. His first live album has a couple of songs that should be classics. A little rough around the edges, but hey, it’s still all good. My all-time favorite, still, is Live #2. What did you expect? It has a an anthem about 5 pound bass.
Music: response (6)
Buffett. I came across a collection in the discount bin at a clothing superstore, which was a compilation of the first two of Jimmy Buffett’s first two albums. Country music, more or less. There was video, either at a concert or online, or buried on one of his many “greatest hits” CD’s, showed him in a yoke shirt and cowboy boots, just him and a guitar. Which, if I recall, was the way I first saw him a very long time ago, at an East Texas outdoor festival. Don’t even ask. Near as I can tell, seeing him onstage at the Jerry Jeff Birthday, one year, that one show was far more entertaining than a normal Buffett road show. He and Jerry Jeff sat and told stories, strummed guitars and sang a little bit. Amazing stuff. Favorite tune? Maybe “God’s Own Drunk,” off that first live album. Capricorn, too.
“Music that triggers some kind of response“?
Crystal Method. One album works for me, in fact, it’s just about two cuts off that one album. I was riding along in a car with an Aquarius driving and another Aquarius navigating. Seattle, of all places. They had that album on. Just rocked my world. There’s a sound, an instrumental refrain, I wonder what you call it when it’s a DJ sample/mix? Whatever it’s called, that musical refrain hit an inner chord. I think Ihad tyo end up paying retail for that CD.
Music response (1)
Who doesn’t hear “Die Walkure” and think about the scene from that movie? Still, after seeing the whole Ring Cycle live, and with an uncle’s expert tutelage, I came away from that less impressed with the flight of the large chested warrior chicks, and a lot more impressed with Seigfreid, the third opera in the cycle. Boy overcomes bad parenting (being raised by an ugly, mean-spirited dwarf), forges a swaord, slays a dragon, gets the girl. All set to live happily ever after, right? Sure. Until the next opera. Amazing orchestration, too.
Music response (2)
Pictures at an Exhibition was certainly a formative piece of music in its day. What is this now classified as, “art rock”? Regrettably, the rest of the ELP canon hasn’t fared as well. But I was trying to segue between rock and classical. Not sure it can be done. I should link something like “The Planets,” too.
Music response (3)
The Floyd. As in Pink floyd. I still find that Meddle can be listened to repetitively. Over and over. Time and again. I’m not as fond of the later work, although, there’s this really curious echo – with me – when I was riding in from Gatwick Airport on the train, passing in front of a familar image. Imagine that as an Album Cover (that would be 12 inches by 12 inches), instead of as a jewel case.
Music response (4)
“This is a public service announcement with guitars!” I’m still pissed that some crook made off with my 3-CD set. As a back up, though, this one’s almost as important.
I got what you want
ZZ Top sings about it on one album, “I heard it on the X” referring to, presumably, X-Rock 80, a station that was in Mexico, with enough wattage to reach most of the American Midwest, at one time. Or so the story goes. There’s another tale, too, on that same album, about “The Balinese,” and some recent scholarship shows this to have something to do with the Coastal Bend area, one of my favorite spots. Still, I can’t mention the Gulf without thinking about one more song from the 80’s: Mexican Radio. I was in rent car, on the beach, typing into a handheld, under deadline for copy, and Bubba had loaned me a tape of 80’s hits. It was music that moved me, what can I say?
I got what you need
Chemical Brothers. The lyrics. Bubba’s version of the show….
From their site:
Chemical Brothers
Music response (x5)
Music that triggers some kind of response
Music that triggers some kind of response (x2)
Music response (x6)
Music that triggers some kind of response
Music response (x4)
I got what you want
I got what you need
Two meat Tuesday.
Until the rest of my proofreaders get done with the text, the book’s not ready. Plus, I mean, I am an astrologer, I can’t launch it until the stars align. Big thunder boomers with lightening on Monday night. Meant Tuesday morning was a beautiful morning, cool enough to go with no AC, leave the door and windows open.
I had a great Tuesday. I worked for a spell – doing what I like to do – writing a horoscope, then I answered mail and the phone, and then, I had a sudden inspiration. I had three calls come in, all at the same time. Folks seem just a tad stressed. Blame Mars, blame the Moon, but don’t blame me.
I left the cell phone on its charger. No phone. No PDA. No pager. Made for an excellent afternoon.
I was intending to hike all the way over to the East Side, but I when I turned off the freeway, I looped back towards town, thinking about an espresso at The Hideout. I’m not sure how I did it, but one of the points to a pointless afternoon ramble is to have no definite destination. I was traveling light: I had a camera and $20 – that was it.
I missed that Scorpio at the coffee shop but I caught the Taurus, suffering from a hangover and an irate Virgo significant other. I feel your pain, brother. I asked for a little extra bitterness in the coffee, which he didn’t oblige with. However, I did finally get some good shots of what a perfect espresso looks like – the color of the airy foam on top, the rich texture of a dark, espresso roast.
I stepped back into the real world of downtown. The recent rain has left it unseasonably cool. Only made it up into the 90s. Didn’t feel at all like summer.
Went by the Post Office. No notices in the mail. Up and over the pedestrian bridge, quick plunge in the creek, then I stopped by for Tuesday’s special, Two Meat Plate, with fried okra and a salad – ranch dressing – and while I was reading the paper, up pops a former neighbor. The Neighbor.
We sat in the afternoon’s light, under the shade trees, shooing away flies and enjoying beers & briskets, and a few lies.
“When I lived at Shady Acres….”
Which was amusing, as the tale of improbable dimensions would end with, “True story, right Kramer?”
Right. Sure.
“Cousin” Gemini, “el Jefe” Cancer, “Jer-bear” Taurus.
Note: that’s my ice tea.
