Monday, August 31, 2009

Feel Good Friday on Monday Night For You

I borrowed a CD from the library tonight entitled Cover The World: World Music Versions of Classic Pop Hits.

Track listing:

1. Albert Pla - "Walk On The Wild Side"
2. Mo' Horizons - "Hit The Road Jack"
3. Toure Kunda - "In The Air Tonight"
4. Tukuleur - "Africa"
5. Ladysmith Black Mambazo with Phoebe Snow - "People Get Ready"
6. Chris Ardoin and Double Clutchin' - "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher"
7. Les Go - "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
8. Angelique Kidjo - "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
9. Fatal Mambo - "In The Summertime"
10. Yannick - "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)"
11. Ladysmith Black Mambazo with Des'ree - "Ain't No Sunshine"
12. Nenes - "No Woman, No Cry"

It's a very fun CD and my four-year-old daughter immediately broke out into a crazy dance when "Hit The Road Jack" came on. I recommend that you borrow it from the library as well. Put in your request and I'll have it back at my branch in a week or so for you. Better yet, buy it from the good people at Putumayo. They do a great job of getting great music to our ears.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

On Adam Gopnik

The older I get, the more I find myself rereading the same books just for the pleasure of their beauty. Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon is the one that I go back to the most. My "moment of zen" today was a peaceful bath with opera on the radio and that very fine book in my hands.

Below is a clip of Adam Gopnik from Charlie Rose's green room: At the end he makes a very strong reference to the year 1910 ("such a strange moment in history").. I feel like I should know something about that but it went entirely over my head.

Demolition Derby

I've seen two demolition derbies in my life. The first one, my friend George who worked at the Mapco near my old record store on Nolensville Road, bought a car for cheap and entered it at the Nashville Fairgrounds. My buddies and I went to cheer him on for something different from our usual routine of going to 328 Performance Hall or Ace of Clubs to hear music followed by an hour or so dining at our favorite Waffle House talking about music.

Anyway, George's car never did start and he was pretty much toast from the beginning. As I recall, his car was eventually pushed up vertically against a tower of dirt until his car flipped over.and George spent the rest of the derby watching the goings-on while sitting upside down from the safety (?) of his vehicle. My friends and I (including George) had a great time, but for whatever reason we never went back for more.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the Wilson County Fair's demolition derby.









Wilson County Fair with the kids







Monday, August 10, 2009

Recognize the club?

The band is Josh Garrett and The Bottom Line. I saw a trailer with their name on it by my car yesterday afternoon and looked them up on YouTube. Good stuff for sure. I used to frequent this club maybe four or five nights a week back when I was a single man. It helped that the door person never charged me a cover.