A daily almanac of events and people I admire and appreciate. All things, and the people who did things, that were WORTH DOING! Songs and Cartoons and near-insane ramblings by me, too.
I seem to be a tad off on my page count...and my story boarding at the end is a little rough (not what I would have said 16 hours ago)...I just have to push through and see what miracle I can pull out of m butt!
This first page of chapter 4 sounds a little like I'm about to take a right wing stance on things...trust me, quite the opposite...I'm a bare-footin', pot-smokin', porn-watchin' hippy from WAY back.
Stick with me, you'll see.
4 hours to go...so much work to be done.
I'm still havin' a bast. This is the most creative adrenaline I've had goin' in a loooooooooooong time!
While usually reserved for the last song in a set, I think it's apropos ANYtime...
That's Todd Snider in a nutshell. He hopes nothing but the best for you and hopes you'll wish the same to him. Be and let be. The golden rule at it's best.
You've heard me yammer on and on about the "Peace-lovin', porn-watchin', pot-smokin', bare-footin', folk-singin' hippy" from East Nashville by way of Austin-Memphis-Portland before...and you're gonna hear it again. And again. And again. Today's occesion being his new live album which came out yesterday.
I haven't gotten my pre-order copy just yet, I'm sure the "Snowlocaust" which is hitting a bunch of our country is slowing down the shipping lanes, but thanks to digital technology I was able to download and listen on the official release date anyway. You hear that "Snow"? SUCK it!!
To those of you who are unfamiliar with Todd, here's a couple of video and article links that I hope will hip you to the dip. Todd's stuff hits me beyond words so maybe I'll let his performances and the words of other speak for me.
It really is good stuff and good for you too. As Todd says, as he welcomes you into his world of eccentric characters, adventures and attitudes, "Welcome to East Nashville...we will steal you heart AND your lawn-mower."
First up, here's a bonus track from the new album which I got with my pre-order...a hint into why they call this album, and Todd, "The Stoyteller".
A clip from WNYC radio as he prepares to do a coupla shows in New York. These are from yesterday..."Flying Spaghetti Monster Bless" the WorldWideInnerWeb!
That's all I can do. Just trying to spread the word. If you like what you hear, find Snider here and if you're in the mood, follow any of the links to purchase. It's well-spent money you won't regret.
It's "Jeffy Sing-A-Song Monday Morning" again. Songs of inspiration, contemplation, damnation, subjugation and elation. Musical masturbation that won't be found on any other station.
I hadn't learned to play any one's songs in a long while and felt I needed to refresh my play list. This Todd Snider song about a vacation-gone-wrong to his Mom's house in Oregon with his newly acquired wife has been sticking in my head for years so I thought I'd give it a try.
May not be the kind of song you want to hear to start off your week, but I beg to differ. My job is making me feel a little trapped with no way out of late, and this song puts a little humorous spin on the idea of knowing you're where you might not want to be.
Welcome back to part 2 of Todd Snider's 2003 live album "Near Truths and Hotel Rooms"!
I yammered on long enough about Mr. Snider's talents last night. Hop on board...here's the rest of one of the best live albums available!
"Easy Money" - A love song about a couple of grifters...and about a lot of folks out there.
"Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" - The song that made Snider famous. Freshly lifted by Todd from Bob Dylan...who as everyone knows, lifted it from Woody Guthrie!
"Long Year" - 'it's been a long year, how did I get here?' ....good question.
"Typing gibberish" - Story and introduction to 'Side Show Blues'.
"Side Show Blues" - 'It's a circus out here Mama, your baby's got these side show blues!'
"Any requests" - A little chat with the audience.
"I Spoke as a Child" - 'I wish I could remember what I said.'
"Doublewide Blues" - A slice of life portrait if Norman Rockwell had lived in Frasier, Tennessee.
"Letter from Australia" - Story about the reaction to 'Broke' by one fan and introduction to the Australian version of same.
"Broke" - Ah, the things you can learn behind bars.
I hope you enjoyed it all and are Todd Snider fans like you should have been all along.
Yes it's time once again to say "goodbye" to another work week and ring in the weekend with some literate, poignant and funny singing and story-telling!
Over the past 3 weeks I've brought you my three favorite songwriters, John Prine, Guy Clark and Billy Joe Shaver. The Holy Trinity of songwriters as I like to call them. But if Shemp is the 4th of The Three Stooges, D'artagnon is the 4th Three Musketeer and Ernie Douglas is the 4th My Three Son...then Todd Snider is the 4th in the triumvirate of the songwriters in my heart and head!
I remind everyone again, I don't offer these mp3's as downloads. Todd Snider is a working artist and I hope to hip you to his talent with this little listening party. If you dig what you hear, please visit his website and glom on to more of the great work he brings us.
These songs I bring you are from his 2003 seminal live album "Near Truths and Hotel Rooms" from Oh Boy Records, his 6th record and the point when he graduated in my mind to singer/songwriter/storytelling herodom! If your unsure that you'll like this guy (seriously...why would you doubt me?) just give a listen to tracks 8, 11 and 12 as a sampler. I'll meet you back here when you decide to listen to the whole thing.
"Ladies and Gentlemen..." - Short intro...
"Tension" - '...it's all that I know"
"D.B. Cooper" - Just like folk singers of old, Todd tells the story of the bank robbers leap into popular culture from an airplane.
"Lonely Girl" - Story of his first meeting with his future wife...in the cafeteria of the rehab hospital they were both staying in at the time - '...have I got a lonely boy for you'.
"Hello.......sorry" - Todd's more direct introduction of himself.
"Beer Run" - 'All we need is a ten and a fiver, a car and a key and a sober driver!'
"Reading on the plane, writing on the phone" - Story and introduction to 'Statistician's Blues'.
"Statistician's Blues" - The opening verse says it ALL!
"Waco Moon" - The song Todd wrote after his friend Eddy Shaver's (we heard him here last week with his Dad) death.
"I Can't Complain" - A song we should all sing to ourselves every once in a while!
"The Story of the Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern" - The story I play for anyone who has never heard of Snider. I featured a different version of this story here a month or so ago...it's worth hearing again!
"The Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern" - The story about a failed trip to Luchenbach and good advice for us all. 'Fuck Luckenbach, drink with us!' has become a rallying cry for me wherever I go!
If you ain't hungry for more, I believe your listener must be broken. If you ARE...part two will be posted tomorrow night.
I've always been a little frustrated in my attempts to salute my musical heroes here on the blog, as I could never find a way to post audio files. Searching YouTube and other video sites was OK, but I was limited to find the versions of the songs I wanted to share with you, also I was frustrated with bad video/audio quality from the flip-phone videos or whatever source material that was available.
Now there's a solution (might have been one for a while, but I'm slow on the uptake) and here's a couple songs and stories you should hear...
"The Drink Hole Amphitheatre", right here in the cerebral cortex of "Jeff Overturf's Head" proudly features the songwriting and story telling talents of Todd Snider!
You've heard me speak of him in the past on these posts, but you really ought to hear and appreciate even more. I'm slapping up two of Todd's songs here from unreleased live shows done about 8 years or so ago. Both feature Todd's wry and witty storytelling before the wry, witty and inspirational songs. The first story takes place about 17 years into his career and the song he had up his sleeve that saved his sanity at a music festival, and the second story tells a little about how he got where he is in the first place.
Enjoy!
Todd Snider - "Vinyl Records" and the story of his heroes and priorities:
Todd Snider - "The Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern" accompanied with "The Story of the Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern". Sit back and enjoy, you WON'T be sorry:
Born this day in 1956, Robert Earl Keen Jr. turns 54 today!
Robert Earl is another one of those songwriter/storyteller heroes of mine who hails from Texas. I don't know if it's the air, the water, the soil, or what-all...but there's something there that nurtures the imagination...and we listeners are all the better for it.
Robert Earl is one of those modern wonders who's work appeals to traditional Country fans, alt.country, folkies and the frat boy crowd. He attributes this last segment of is fan base to the fact that, you can remember the words to his songs and sing along when you're drunk! Not a bad thing.
For the uninitiated, here's some Robert Earl Keen songs.
"Shades of Grey":
"Corpus Cristi Bay":
This is one of those artists I wanted to spotlight that YouTube let me down on...at least at first.
One of my favorite Keen songs is "The Bluegrass Widow" and the story he told on his live album about it. No such luck on YouTube...but I did find a couple of gems that are being added to my favorites list. Take a listen...you'll be glad you did.
"Phuck It!":
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"Is There Wireless in Heaven?":
And a special treat I found. Robert Earl, Bruce Robison and Todd Snider doing REK's signature tune, "The Road Goes On Forever":
Here it is the 8th of January. Statistics say most folks who make New Years Resolutions have given up on them by now and some are even feeling bad.
The deal is though, if you want to make a resolution, you don't have to wait until New Years Day to do it. If you want to lose a few pounds or quit smoking...and you've backslid a little since January 1st...make a January 8th resolution to start.
Don't feel bad about failing in any self-improvement you've attempted...just try again. Every success in the world usually only follows 100 or so failures.
Don't beat yourself up.
You'll never get there that way.
Keep doing what you do well. Try and get better at what you don't.
There will be pictures of my New Years Eve festivities coming soon (this weekend?) hopefully, we're having camera difficulties here at "Jeffy's Head" central. I hope you all had a happy, fun and safe get together with family and friends as well.
For now, here's a little Todd Snider ditty called, "Happy New Year". This is traditionally a time when we examine the past year and make resolutions for how to make the coming year better. Todd's reflection here is a little deeper than just pledging to quit smoking or lose a few pounds, he's more examining what we're all doing here and just hoping for understanding. It's one of the flip-phone videos from YouTube, but it's worth hearing, even with the poor quality:
And it's January 1st, that's Jerry Robinson's birthday! Born in 1922 Jerry turns 88 years old today!
Jerry Robinson began working in comics in 1939, working alongside Bill Finger as an assistant to Bob Kane on his new "Batman" feature. Shortly after Batman's success, Bill and Jerry were hired on at DC Comics as staffers, but still worked alongside Kane.
Jerry's contribution to the feature have been challenged by Kane and minimised as Bob Kane continued his own publicity, but Jerry's contributions to the comics industry are undisputed. His work for creators rights especially and most specifically championing Joe Shuster and Jerry Seigel gaining royalties and creator recognition for Superman in the 1970's.
Two points of contention between Kane and Robinson, were Robinson's contributions to the creation of both "The Joker" and "Robin, the Boy Wonder". Whoever is correct in the recollection, the iconic status of both these characters is immense.
In 1940, DC Comics was under pressure from parent groups complaining about Batman's dark nature. They wanted the comics to pussify him. The creative team of Kane, Robinson and Finger took the demands and turned it into something better. Adding a boy side-kick "Robin" to the Batman mythos, gave young readers a character their own age that they could identify with. They were able to put themselves right in the stories.
Batman stayed a bad-ass...Robin got to help...DC had their cake and ate it too.
Here's that first ever "Robin" appearance from Detective Comics #38 from 1940.
Lastly today, I want to leave you with a video from "Notebook Babies". These are short animations created by elementary teacher Tony Dusko to help get his students more involved and interested in class.
This one doesn't have much educational value...but it expresses what I hope for this brand new year of 2010 for all of us!
Last night myself and some friends and family ventured to Hollywood to catch Todd Snider at the El Rey Theatre, an original art deco little intimate place along The Miracle Mile. For more of my take on Todd, click my earlier post back in October here.
Todd's opening act was a surprise and delight whom I (the guy who knows every one that no one else ever heard of) had never heard of, Ashleigh Flynn. She was GREAT! More on her a little later.
The players in our little comedy are myself, my nephews Brian, and Scott Campbell.
And buddy's Frank Terando, Kelli King and Mark Crowley.
I have polluted their minds with Todd Snider for a long time and was excited for us all to get to go see him. I myself in 15 years of following him, had never seen him, and was extra excited.
I had hipped Kelli to him just in the last few months, Frank and Mark over the last 5 or 6 years and Scott and Brian at least 10 years ago. Scott even pointed out that last night was 10 years in the making.
From here on out, I'll let the videos we made tell the story.
First, the pre-show as I gauge the crowd's anticipation factor...Barbara Walters' got NOTHIN' on me!
We had a couple cocktails at Scott's apartment before heading out and had a pre-concert warm up. Brian is especially geared up:
Then after a quick dinner at Cantor's on Fairfax...
...Scott pitches the idea that we walk the short distance to the show. "It's only a 20 minute walk" he proclaimed, then subliminally spit out "20 minutes...after our first stop." We should have listened.
Our first stop at The Farmers Market. For more beer. AND to let the rain begin.
Yes. A 20 minute walk AFTER the first 20 minute walk. In the RAIN.
After arriving and before the show:
We then went inside and watched our new heroine Ashleigh Flynn (for whom Mark became more than a little enamored). Here's a YouTube video I found of her. Great voice, great guitar playing and solid songwriter. This one's for you Mark.
Then it happened. Somewhere between Ashleigh's set, our adjourning outside to smoke and Scottie's drunken schmoozing trying to get us into the VIP section (which were MUCH worse seats than the 4th row center ones we already had) it happened.
We returned to our seats to find Scotty had given away a couple, and by the time I asked what happened, the big giant bouncers came and escorted Scotty from the premises.
Ousted.
86ed.
Ejected, dejected and over all rejected.
A calm fell over the rest of us and an unspoken agreement that "We ain't missin' the show." and "Bye Scotty".
We were one man down, but it was still fun. Todd sang a bunch of our favorites and we all sang along.
After the show, we all expressed our opinions. Kelli and Frank of Todd Snider. Mark on his new crush of Ashleigh. And Brian on the management.
We got to see Todd finally. Or at least most of us did.
Scott has been wanting to see Todd for 10 years or better. He came within 10 minutes of doing so last night.
We'll get there Scotty. Todd still thinks you're an "Alright Guy".
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