Quote by Eirian Evenstar:

I feel that way about most bands and electric guitars. *L* It seems like everyone is a guy with a guitar...or in Jewel's case, a girl with a guitar. My solution to that was KT Tunstall. She's amazing. But yeah, quite a bit of their music can get repetitive.

 

Eir - OK, a month has passed, and I am finally picking up our conversation. I finally bought a copy of KT Tunstall's CD. It's good. Really good. It's got a jazzier, bluesier rock edge than I expected. I dig it. It's right down my alley. Her voice has that airy Sarah Harmer quality too. But, Tunstall growls! Much meatier than Harmer.

An excellent recommendation. Thank you.

 

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Free Cruise Clocks

I'm a huge blues fan and I love the Tunstall cd as well.  I describe her as a young version of Bonnie Raitt

 

 

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Sandy

NEW JOURNAL!

Check out Bob's latest Soundtrack journal - this time he writes about The Bothy Band!

Gorgeous song, Bobby.

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Great Big Stuff!


"I'm still in diapers, actually." - Ron Hynes

"Any people from Newfoundland? Whaddya doin' here?! Taking all the jobs?! REVENGE!" - Ron Hynes

"You're like Bob with tits." - Candace

NEW SOUNDTRACK JOURNAL!!

This time Bob writes about Canadian rockers 54-40!

Bob, I have this to say:

I remember that day in '99 at the wild Stardust Picnic in Guelph. The weather was fine early in the afternoon. And, a few of us were swimming in the lake nearby between bands; it was that nice! Throughout the afternoon the sky darkened. Then, just as 54-40 took the stage, it opened up.

Bob, you are right when you say 54-40 blew us away. We were expecting the inevitable announcement and a total cancellation. From where I stood in the second row, stage Darrel, I was hoping like (and here I'll spare ya'll the wildly inapproriate metaphor) that GBS would somehow make it on stage. We all just wanted the show to go on, no matter what, no matter how the weather battered the stage and crowd.  I remember that Darrel came out during 54-40's performance, and he stood in the wings to get pictures of the drenched crowd. He looked amazed. It was raining so hard and so sideways that people were shielding their eyes from the deluge in order to SEE the stage. I'm sure Darrell has pictures to this day. I thought the look on his face was priceless, totally cool. He was clearly amazed. It seemed like the harder it rained, the more we wanted the show to go on. Hell, you get only get so wet, right?

The audience was an utter mess. With mascara teeming, sopping pony tails that looked more like rat tails and dripping clothes plastered into place, we were without a doubt the most tenacious pack of mucky, joyous I-don't-give-a-crap energy that I have ever experienced at a show. The dye from my shorts was bleeding down my legs. My shoes were pretty much cemented to the mud, so I know what it's like to bounce up and down with your feet in cement blocks, yanno, should the need for such a talent ever arise (...just sayin').

Definitely, one of the best concert experiences of my life. Your description from behind the footlights is amazing to read. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Cheers! 

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Free Cruise Clocks

Reading Bob's account of that concert, I can only say... Bob is the only person who could write an account of that kind of experience and actually convince me that I wish I had been there.  I've been seriously rained on at outdoor festivals, but I was never PSYCHED about it.  Maybe it's because the bands at these occasions didn't show the balls that 54-40 had.  (But to be fair, it must be hard to feel good about completely destroying your valuable instruments and risking death by electrocution.)  Instead, those evenings I experienced fizzled like a damp firecracker.  Thanks for letting us experience it vicariously, Bob.  Another eloquent "Soundtrack."  Well done.

-Nancy 

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...long as the river still runs to the sea, hey lucky you, lucky me...

GBS Concerts: The most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Love, love, love the Bothy band! Good to see 'em get a mention on the Soundtrack. Now, I've never seen 54/40, but that account convinces me that I would love their show. That's amazing.

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"As long as I live I will have control over my being."

~Artemisia Gentileschi

There was another new Soundtrack from Bob today......

I can scarcely believe I (ME???) am the first one to comment on it?  That just doesn't seem right, does it?

Anyway, it was a good read about the influence of Ryan's Fancy on GBS.  The things I never knew....!

 

 

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Helen




I'm goin' Straight to Hell-On-Wheels!

Wow.  The roots of the sentiment Bob expresses here reach so deep they wrap around the core of the Earth itself.  You know, that thing in your ribcage?  Don't it always seem to go...  all the way back to the "Celtic twilight" concept of the living world having been sundered from the flow of light and continuity and wholeness, and kind of left on its own for no clearer reason than sheer indifference on the part of us topsiders.  We can dig it up and measure it and study it and hold it in the sun and say, "Here!  This is it!"  But until we can know in our hearts that it's ours, it's still just an artifact.  Until we can let the kids play with it and spill ketchup on it and fight over it with the dog, it's just a curiosity.

Love, Columbine 

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Here's a little tie-in courtesy of YouTube.  GBS introducing and Alan narrating a short bio of Ryan's Fancy at the 2004 ECMAs.  Unfortunately, the clip ends before Ryan's Fancy comes onstage. If the link doesn't work, just go to Youtube and type in Great Big Sea and Ryan's Fancy and it will come up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NKXcQpA2xk

Bob Says:

Many folk musicians see ‘preservation’ as a their goal. I disagree; if there is no longer any excitement, or energy, or meaning in the music, then why bother? Preservation for its own sake leaves the music in a museum, desiccated and ultimately of little use. Ryan’s Fancy grabbed Newfoundland music from its box in the back of the closet, where it lay almost forgotten, polished it and dressed it up, and by their inspired example made the rest of us realize how good it really was.

And for that I am grateful.

 

And, I am grateful to Ryan's Fancy that NFLD's rich musical culture was not only revivified but shared widely by GBS. Folk music is honest by nature and I have heard plenty of honest music, but I have never really experienced folk music that is hungry in the way that GBS performances are. That must come from the deep gratitude and love for the music. But, it is also minus the bling*bling*bullcrap affectations that so many pretentious celebrities develop.

And, after all these years, it's still folk music. The music of the people.

I know this is the topic of another thread, but I really want to see GBS on Canada's Walk of Fame. That much *bling* they have earned many times over, from shore to shore to shore and back again with no end in sight.

CHEERS TO RYAN'S FANCY!!

CHEERS TO GREAT BIG SEA!!

Hey, these virtual cocktails aren't half bad!
 

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Free Cruise Clocks

NEW SOUNDTRACK JOURNAL!!

This time Bob talks about Franz Ferdinand and The Killers!

SWEET!

 

Yeah Bob!  I became a fan of the Killers and Franz Ferdinand when they came to my attention as opening acts on the last U2 European leg...I got to see the Killers live last September at the Virgin festival -- yeah, somehow they waived the rules and let my friends and me attend.  I must admit I like Hot Fuss better than the new album and I love "Mr Brightside" -- such a seductive song, if you can get past the jealousy theme.   Everytime "Do You want To" by FF comes on my iPod I just want to dance, which can be a problem if I'm walking thru the grocery store at the time and and you just can't beat the lyrics to "Walk Away"

New Soundtrack!

This time Bob talks about the Barra MacNeils and the impact they've had on his life.

Check it out!