Innocent Bystander

We (still) heart Jonatha Brooke...

One of our favorite artists, Jonatha Brooke, has a brand new album coming out on April 3. Brooke is an indie stalwart who has her own record company and one of the most amazing live artists ever. (Her Live in New York CD also includes a DVD capturing one of her great performances.) If you like music--period--here's a wonderful singer/songwriter who you may not have discovered, and here's your chance to support an artist well worth your attention. Visit her MySpace page or her website for more info. If you go to the former, turn on your sound and listen to her amazing new single, "Careful What You Wish For," a song that has great personal meaning to yours truly, even after only one listen. I totally recommend anything by her (I own them all, even some of her work with Jennifer Kimball when they were known as The Story), and I'm eagerly awaiting April 3 and something new from my favorite singer/songwriter EVER. I just hope she comes to San Diego on tour. I cannot recommend this woman more. She's the best. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO!

(To order the album directly from Jonatha, click here.)

You've got the music in you...

Thanks to the generous gift-giving of readers like you (in this case, my dear friends Kimberly and Laurel), I've had a nice little chunk of iTunes change to spend recently. I've been using it to rediscover some of my seminal faves from long ago.

In the Spring of 1974, when I was a second quarter student at the prestigious (ahem) Art Institute of Pittsburgh, I paid $3.00 to see Bruce Springsteen in concert at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh (where the Univ. of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon Univ. are both located, side by side). Richie Havens opened for him. Springsteen, at that time, was fairly unknown, and I was in possession of his second album, The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle. I loved that album. It was totally different than anything I'd ever heard. Wild and innocent, to be sure, but eclectic, passionate and daring, also. Springsteen's songs were long and complicated and didn't get a lot of radio play, even in that era when radio stations were much more prone to playing longish-cuts.

I remember Springsteen coming on stage after Havens' long, rambling performance. He walked out and went directly to the mic and leaned on the mic stand, his head on his arm, covering most of his face. He sang at least the first 2 songs that way. I don't think he talked until halfway through the 3-hour concert. Hell, he didn't even acknowledge the audience until then. He was in his own world, and he played songs from his forthcoming album, Born to Run,including Jungleland, and I remember this woman in a white dress coming out to play violin for that.

Well, Born to Run made sure everyone knew there was a new Boss in town. A week or so after the concert, Springsteen simultaneously appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek, the first time a non-news related person did that in the same week. Born to Run was ground-breaking, but to those of us who were listening to Springsteen from Greetings from Asbury Park on, we knew that. It was just a matter of time until everyone else caught up.

I bought Springsteen albums regliously up until Born in the USA or so, then kind of got tired of him. I still think he's one of THE major talents to come out of rock and roll music, a list that, for me, numbers 10 or so that are truly original, breakout talents. I like some of his later songs, particularly Tunnel of Love and Brilliant Disguise. But to me, Wild will always be the quintessential Springsteen album. His hits came later. His power came first.

Soundtrack...

I am constantly amazed at the way music moves and inspires me. This is an appreciation that has only come with age with me, and, to be honest, the iPod has made me appreciate music far more than I ever have. As the days of mindlessly chattering DJs dwindle (and inane formats like JACK continue to pop up, with program directors thinking we'll listen to the radio if it sounds like OUR iPods..only problem there is it isn't our iPod, it's THEIRS), the music gains focus and returns to being the important part of the message, not just selling stuff. Commercial radio is dead. Long live music!

I took a long walk today and for most of it, I was accompanied by Maia Sharp. It was a beautiful summer Sunday in San Diego, and my normal long walk route (up G Street to Seaport Village, through there to the Convention Center, all the way around to Harbor Drive and up Fifth Avenue), was packed with people, all looking sporty and sunny. The music blocked out my usual eavesdropping of snippets of conversation throughout my walk, and gave the whole jaunt a slightly surreal feel, like watching a movie with a soundtrack. A soundtrack I picked.

I was buoyed by the music. It lifted my mood, which is bogged down in work-related stress and constant thoughts of what is left to accomplish in the next week and a half or so. It reflected my feelings, made me feel creative and inspired, made me appreciate my life more. I know all of that on one walk sounds hard to believe, but it's true.

Music is universal. It appeals to us all in different ways and on different levels, but I think the one thing it does is give us a common ground. A lot of music is about love. All kinds of love: unrequited, ending, beginning, sad, glorious, painful, uplifting...you name it, there's a song for it. And when we feel down, there's more than likely a song that reflects exactly what we're going through at that particular moment.

I decided to start a playlist called Stress/Mantra. These are songs that I love that always make me feel better. There are only a dozen of them so far, and this may not work for anyone else, but it works for me. This is the playlist:

1. Red Dress (Maia Sharp)
2. Every Day Is A Winding Road (Sheryl Crow)
3. Climb On (A Back That's Strong) (Shawn Colvin)
4. Wishing Heart (Lisa Loeb)
5. Here With Me (Dido)
6. Not The Only One (Bonnie Raitt)
7. The Pretender (Jackson Browne)
8. Let Go (Frou Frou)
9. Thursday (Steve Cole)
10. You Get What You Give (New Radicals)
11. Ready To Go (Republica)
12. Stink (John Lurie)

This is NOT a meme. Do not send me your playlists...however if you have a song, ONE song, that has the same effect on you, please share it by posting a comment.

Each of us carries our own special soundtrack with us. It may be the music from Psycho, it may just as well be "It's A Small World After All." Whichever it is, it's ours and ours alone and it moves us and lifts us and keeps us going.

Words to live by...

This is my current favorite song. No, it does NOT mean I'm a transvestite. It's a metaphor. Pick your own red dress. It's also something to keep all the "fuckity shitbags" away.

Red Dress
You've gotta love this place.
Here conformity is king.
They'll wipe that smile right off your face.
Give you a list of songs,
you're allowed to sing.
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.
La-la-la-la-la-la-la.

Now you can say what's on your mind,
as long as it's on their minds, too.
'Cause it isn't in their hearts to find
a little room for some other point of view.
La-la-la-la-la-la-la.
La-la-la-la-la-la-la.

And anytime I think that I might drown
in all this standard-issue gray,
when I'm feeling small and pushed-around,
I close the door and draw the shades.
I put on my red dress.
I put on my red dress...
can't take my red dress away.

I learned to grit my teeth and smile.
Let 'em think they boxed me in.
Inside I'm still the problem child that I always was,
so I guess I win.
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na.
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na.

And any time I think that I might drown
in all this standard-issue gray,
when I'm feeling small and pushed-around,
I close the door and draw the shades.
I put on my red dress.
I put on my red dress...
can't take my red dress away.

Maia Sharp: Fine Upstanding Citizen. ©2005 respective copyright holder

The Sharp one...

It is an increasingly rare occurence in my life: I'm driving around and a new song plays on the radio and I not only wait in the car until it's over, but I wonder..."WHO is that?" It used to happen a lot more back when I lived in Pittsburgh, and had the wonderful WYEP at my fingertips. Now it happens once in a blue moon, and only then when I'm listening to KPRI.

It happened about a month ago. It was a Saturday and I was driving around, running errands, shopping, etc. I was driving towards UTC Towne Center and this song came on, which began:

I saw something wild.
It's innocence and freedom
knew no rules or boundaries,
did whatever it wanted to do.

I loved to watch it run.
It mostly kept its distance,
but whenever it came near me,
I felt wild, too.

And when it wasn't around,
all I felt was tame and doubt.

You're so beautiful from where I stood.
So I chased you down and held you as close as I could.
That's when the fire turned cold.
Maybe you're not supposed to hold
something wild.

And I said--say it with me--WHO IS THAT?

I was very pleasantly surprised to find out it was Maia Sharp, someone who I had heard before. Her excellent single "Willing to Burn" is a favorite of mine, although I wasn't real fond of the album it came off of. Well, I have GREAT news. Just about the entirety of Maia's new one, "Fine Upstanding Citizen," is WONDERFUL.

From the simple and plaintive "Red Dress," to the breakout "Something Wild," the opening lyrics which are reproduced above, this album is an absolute gem. In addition to the 2 stand-outs mentioned in the previous sentence, just about every song is great. "A Home," "The Reminder," "Plain Jane," "Flood," "Kinder Blues," "Firefly," "Wisdom," "Fall Like Margarite," and "Come Back To Me," are all wonderful in their each and own way. The one exception, "Come Back," is a little too wonky for my tastes, but that doesn't stop this from being my new favorite album, with a rich and diverse selection of tunes by this exciting "new" singer/songwriter.

Sharp is sometimes billed as a country artist, which I find confusing. She's about as much country as Shawn Colvin. I admit to not liking much country music, but Sharp did write for the Dixie Chicks, which have had crossover appeal into more mainstream music, so maybe she's country by association.

Whatever. You're probably not going to find Maia on mainstream radio anyway, unless they latch onto one song and play it to death, like they did a few year's back with Shawn Colvin's paen to arson, "Sunny Came Home," which was the weakest song on "A Few Small Repairs," Colvin's best album ever. "Something Wild" is something wonderful, with a one-time single voice/no music line ("You're so beautiful from where I stood") followed by a crank-it-up-boys repeat with the full band behind it that is just goose-bump-making--or so beautiful from where I listened--that it almost makes me cry each time I hear it.

My music skills are nil, so let me just quote one of my favorite artists, Jonatha Brooke, on Maia Sharp to end this entry:

"...her songs have the harmonic twists and turns that always kill me, her voice gets to my very heart and soul, and she still manages to deliver those classic, fabulous hooks."

[Visit Maia's website and hear the complete song, "Something Wild."]

A Valentine's Day song...

Brought to you by the ever-lovely Jonatha Brooke. Visit her website and buy lots of stuff. Jonatha calls "Full-fledged Strangers (from Plumb), "just a pretty, lonely pop ditty." We agree.

Cause you are there in my dreams and in my days
Like you've always been
I've got a river of kin, a footbridge of neighbors
The rest of my little world is
Full-fledged strangers, full-fledged strangers

But you think you know me
Think it's just a matter of time
'Til you make me see the depth of your sincerity
But I can't shake this

The way on is no longer clear
The bridge is out and the woods are dark and dear
And I could get lost for trying, all my fears in ambush on the way

'Cause they are there in my dreams and in my days
Like they've always been

I'm waiting and there's still no one to meet my train
I'm waiting and there's no one but myself to blame
I'm waiting and there's still no one to meet my train
Waiting, for you

Love is love – it could have gone either way
'Cause it is also love that walks away
And I'll take one step back and pull the wool back over your eyes
And I'll walk on

'Cause you are there in my dreams and in my days
Like you've always been
I've got a river of kin, a footbridge of neighbors
The rest of my little world is
Full-fledged strangers, full-fledged strangers

I'm waiting and there's still no one to meet my train
I'm waiting and there's no one but myself to blame
I'm waiting and there's still no one to meet my train
Waiting

I (heart) Lisa...

Okay, I confess. I love Lisa Loeb. I think she's another in the great list of semi-unrecognized female musical artists, up there with Holly Palmer and Jonatha Brooke. She has everything I like about a singer: Quirky, thoughtful, heartfelt writing; great guitar playing; simple, pleasing arrangements. Occasionally she rocks out, but most of her music is mellow, subtle and pop-oriented. I only have 2 of her early albums, Tails and Firecracker, but I love them both, and I'm soon going to get around to getting some of her later albums (I feel a trip to Amoeba Music in Hell-A coming on). She has a number of songs I love on these albums, including this one from Firecracker, "Wishing Heart."

No teacher to follow, no prophet to tell me how,
But I know what I want, I know what I want now.
Like water, it rushes,
it's the last thing you see when you close your eyes,
it's the one place you want to be.
But if it doesn't brush my shoulder, and it doesn't beat my heart,
that's not what I want, no, that's not where I will start.
I never kissed somebody so that they would break my heart,
that's not what I want.
You don't know what you're missing, cause you don't know where to start.
Follow your wishing heart.

For some reason I've been listening to her a lot lately. I think I'm trying to follow my own wishing heart.

The one and only...

My absolute all-time favorite musical artist is someone you've probably never heard of. Her name is Jonatha Brooke and I adore her. Years ago, she and Jennifer Kimball had a group called The Story and some minor success. Then they split up. Jonatha has since gone her own way, sans any record label contract and produces and markets her own albums. Her music is wonderful and she's hard to categorize, except to put her into one of those bittersweet boxes I love so much. She's alternative rock, technically, I guess, but her songs are thoughtful, well-written ballads with the occasional all-out rock-out.

The best thing about her is her live performances. I saw her 3 years ago at the Belly-Up Tavern, one of San Diego's best music venues, up in Solana Beach. I had also seen her twice before in Pittsburgh at Rosebud, down in the Strip District. She has a large lesbian following, and she confessed at one of the Pittsburgh concerts that this, indeed, baffled her, although she was grateful. But it seemed to revolve around one song, which people took to be about a girlfriend, when in fact the song was about Jonatha's dog.

Anyway, Jonatha has a little fund raiser of her own going on. I know if I had an extra $200 laying around I'd want to meet her and hang out at a soundcheck with her when she comes to San Diego again. I know this is kind of the music equivalent of prostitution, but anything that gets more Jonatha Brooke out into the world is okay-fine by me. Check out her website and check out her music. You won't be sorry.

A little Holly for Christmas...

During my trip to L.A. last weekend, I was lucky enough to find another copy of one of my all-time favorite CDs: the self-titled Holly Palmer. I bought this when it first came out in 1996 and have given copies to friends. It's fairly obscure, as Holly is, unfortunately. She has a new CD out (and had one last year). She does a lot of session/back-up work and she plays a lot of smaller club dates on both coasts. I'm not even certain what her music sounds like these days, 8 years down the road. But I know I love this CD madly. Holly has a most peculiar voice, throaty and sexy and little girlish at times and her phrasing and inflections are off-the-wall, but she's amazingly effective and at times absolutely moving.

I know next to nothing about music. Can't sing, can't play, but I'm a good listener. In the great "iBook Hard Drive Meltdown of Oct. 2003," I lost all my CDs. I had transferred them into iTunes for eventual iPod listening, but I also liked the idea of removing clutter from my life, and sold them all to a used music store or two. Holly was particularly hard to find. Not a best-seller, or even a mediocre one, not a lot of people have heard her. Amoeba Records had one promo copy of her first album.

As I said she has a new CD out, titled I Confess, and about the only place you can find it is here. She also has another one, Tenderhooks, from last year, also available on CDBaby.com. I haven't heard either, but I'm going to buy them. But the one I have heard and swear by is just titled Holly Palmer. I think it's amazing. Amazon supposedly has it (just hit the link). I can't tell you how much I love almost every song on this album. (Do we still call them albums? I do.) I don't even know how much of the music Holly actually writes, but here's one of my favorite refrains from a song called "Wide Open Spaces" written by Kenny White (and no, it's NOT the Dixie Chicks song):

So let me hear the echo of your footsteps
and let me feel your fingers through my hair.
I’m trying hard to fill these open spaces
and end up counting hours you’re not there.

When you hear this with Holly's quiet, little voice singing to you (especially on an iPod), it creeps into your head, just like she's singing to you, and ONLY you. That's why I love this album.

One other note: I discovered Holly Palmer in Pittsburgh thanks to an excellent radio station, WYEP-FM. My friends in Pittsburgh know this station. It's because of it that I discovered artists like Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan and my all-time favorite Jonatha Brooke. There are no radio stations like WYEP in San Diego. In fact, SD radio sucks so bad that some day, very soon, I will rant and rave like I've never ranted and raved before.