http://gingermiss.wordpress.com/

No, not for your music, but for your decision to release your new album In Rainbows yourselves, and for the fact that you made it available for download at a pay-what-you-will price. I thunderously applaud the decision… not that the members of Radiohead are likely gasping for accolades. :)

Sometimes you may not like the artist, but you love their decisions. How truly enterprising.

“Write absolute music and let go of music for film because it can cause enormous delusions: if a film composer, who wants to do film, a real composer, is not called by anyone, the composer doesn’t exist. That is a very serious and sad situation.”

- Ennio Morricone

An interesting observation and probably excellent advice, although difficult to follow.

I went to see Nickel Creek with Fiona Apple in Central Park yesterday. I was generally impressed with the way the whole thing was set up other than the fact that, as a non-extremely tall person, it was very hard to see the performers. That killed me. I spent almost the whole time standing on my tip toes. I’ve wanted to see Fiona Apple perform ever since I got Tidal and part of the fun of seeing her perform is seeing her dance on stage - flailing about wildly, periodically hitting herself and pouring herself into the music.

Before going, I didn’t know the gist of the tour was that Nickel Creek and Fiona were performing together. When I first found this out, the idea seemed disappointing to me because I assumed it would minimize the amount of Fiona I got to see. Until last night, I also had never listened to Nickel Creek, despite being both a country and bluegrass fan.

This was one of the most entertaining and memorable shows I have ever been to. Nickel Creek is a warm, congenial band in which every member is a high caliber performer. There’s a sister/brother fiddler/guitar picker combination (Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins, respectively), the Mandolin player Chris Thile, and the current bassist Mark Schatz. Sara, Chris, and Sean all sing lead on different songs. I love bluegrass music and that love is amplified when the band on stage loves playing bluegrass music. They played their instruments expressively, they harmonized beautifully, and their whole show had the tone of a freewheeling, open experience while still having the edge of an incredibly professional performance. They played for 2 1/2 hours. I can now easily be considered an official Nickel Creek fan. They were great. There is no doubt in my mind that if the band members separate for good, each member will individually produce great music.

The way the show functioned in relation to Fiona Apple was like a special treat for avid Fiona Apple fans. Nickel Creek performed for about 45 minutes and then Fiona came out to join them. They performed a few of her songs before taking a short 20-minute intermission. Hearing Fiona Apple songs interpreted in a Bluegrass style - hearing the performers transfer each song to their string instruments from her standard piano - was fascinating and uniquely satisfying. Their last song before intermission was Limp from When the Pawn…. It may have been my favorite song of hers that they performed that evening. One of the aspects of that song that I always loved is that it’s so unapologetically angry. She sang it with significant anger and verve. I adore her.

Some of the other really popular Fiona songs they performed last night were Extraordinary Machine, Paper Bag, Waltz (Better Than Fine), Not About Love, Criminal, and Fast As You Can. She was, I can only assume, at the top of her game because every performance was treasurable. The covers were amazing. They closed the show with a priceless rendition of the 1926 song “Tonight You Belong to Me”. Favorite moment of the whole evening. Apparently you can see her sing this song with other people on the Extraordinary Machine dvd. You can also see it here.

Not only would I highly recommend every music fan buy tickets to this show, I would go so far as to say it’s one of those rare moments in music history when two bands come together to create a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon that transcends the normal quality of what fans get to see on a tour. I’m extremely glad I had the opportunity to see it. Go if you can.

Here’s another worthwhile cover from the club where they all hob-knob and play in L.A. Enjoy.
Fiona Apple performs “River, Stay Away From My Door”

Photos from their tour are available at the official Nickel Creek website.

The guy who took a lot of those photographs has an interesting website too: Acoustic Images Online

There are few people in the world that I would pay an exorbitant (or even a moderate) amount of money to see. Jack White is one of them.

I have seen the White Stripes in Orlando, Florida.

I have seen the White Stripes at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan.

Now I have seen the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden.

I hope to see them again many times in the future.

It’s difficult to articulate what I both expect and extract from a White Stripes concert, or why my devotion to them is so unquestionably fervent.

Most of the time, when people use the word “electric” to describe someone, the person in question does not live up to the images and feelings that word evokes.

In this case, that sentiment is not true. Jack White is electric; truly electric, in all the wild, beautiful, and vibrantly evocative glory of the word. It’s the best adjective to describe him; to describe the way he performs; to describe the way he makes the audience respond; to describe the way it feels to watch him and know that you’re that close to such a profoundly commanding personality.

I love Meg in a completely different way. The persona she adopts for the band is quiet, soft, and deliberately mysterious, so sometimes it’s difficult to see beyond her manufactured aura of fascination. Everyone makes a big deal about her being a mediocre drummer. Aside from that being untrue, I don’t feel the minimalist percussion themes in most of the White Stripes’ sets provide any valid basis to demean her contributions to the band. She strikes me as someone who would probably be wildly interesting if you were ever given the chance to know her. Of course I don’t actually know anything substantial about her, other than: it’s fun to watch her drum, she obviously motivates/inspires Jack, and the public/private relationship between her and Jack is fraught with intrigue.

I remember when I first discovered the White Stripes. It was late at night and I was watching M2. I was drawn to M2 originally because I was excited by the prospect of a music video channel that actually showed music videos. The Fell In Love With A Girl video came on; it was labeled a ‘breakthrough video’. It happened so fast. I was hypnotized. The combination of the music and the strange stop-action animation made a great, lasting impression on me. When the video was over, I heard the song over and over in my head, progressively becoming more attached to it with each passing repetition. I bought the album within the next few days. What I anticipate to be a lifelong romance bloomed within the first few seconds of aural exposure. Love at first sound.

I am irrevocably glad every time I get to see them perform. Some shows are better than others. At tonight’s performance, Jack played Little Ghost on an electric mandolin. Little Ghost is one of my favorite songs off the newer albums. I love bluegrass music and I love that Jack White loves bluegrass music as much as he does.

One day I would love to meet them, if only to make my life a little more magical. Until then I’ll keep going to their shows, thriving on the energy of the experience and cherishing the lingering aftereffects; especially once I’m forced to go home and live amongst those who have never felt the way I feel at a White Stripes concert.

NOTE: Title changed because I misquoted the song lyric I was referencing. How depressing.

Tuesday, at the Roseland Ballroom. The opening act was periodically acceptable while being mostly obnoxious.

I love Lily Allen’s new cd. The songs that she remembered the words to were great. My favorite performances were definitely Everything’s Just Wonderful and Knock ‘Em Out. Hearing the latter song was particularly amusing because some sketchy guy was hitting on me towards the beginning of the show. I was really looking forward to Alfie, and she performed it for the encore, but it wasn’t a high point. Her cover of Heart of Glass is better than Blondie’s original version.

Oh Jesus Christ almighty,
Do I feel alright? No, not slightly,
I wanna get a flat. I know I can’t afford it,
It’s just the bureaucrats who won’t give me a mortgage,
Well it’s very funny ’cause I got your fucking money,
And I’m never gonna get it just because of my bad credit
Oh well I guess I mustn’t grumble,
I suppose that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

No fucking kidding, Lily. :(

Just thought I would share the joy that is Sifl & Olly.

YouTube - Baby for Gravy

Sifl & Olly - vastly underappreciated bits of whimsical and musical genius.

Once the lead singer of a pop ska band, Gwen Stefani has become the queen of vapid radio play. It almost seems like you’re watching a different person, glancing back at the days when No Doubt was emerging as a mainstream rock band. Could this really be the same woman who is now prancing around in the Hollaback Girl video, shaking pom poms and spouting little bits of lyrical genius such as, “this my shit”? The same woman who once infused the mid 90’s rock single Just A Girl with a palpable sense of frustration and anger regarding feminist identity confusion? The same woman whose first popular single was a song about having an unwanted and uninvited male telephone stalker? It almost seems like a bad dream.

I know that I’m a little late on the curve here, but seeing Gwen Stefani as a guest instructor on American Idol reminded me of the subtle wave of sadness that washes over me whenever I hear one of her newer singles on the radio. Sure, she was far from a feminist icon to begin with, but she was the female lead singer of an immensely popular modern rock band who once had the initiative to write and perform a song like “Just A Girl” - a song that included feminist themes in the mainstream pop music setting.

I think part of the reason her transformation stands out to me is because of how radical the transformation was. Gwen’s original image, during her No Doubt days, was that of a rebellious punk (albeit still slathered in make-up and focusing an exhausting amount of attention on ‘relationship’ problems) who ran with the boys of rock and more than held her own. Her voice and performance projected both strength and vulnerability. Emotion. Power.

Her revamped image - the image that she began to shape at the end of her days with No Doubt and the beginning of her solo career - is drastically different. Now her music revolves around channeling an image of provocative girlishness; her reminiscence of and identification with her high school days; her fascination with boys and her various methods of enticing them; celebrating her status as a popular, well connected social butterfly; general emphasis on how awesome it is to dance at clubs, run with the in crowd, and be a sex symbol. Not to mention how monumentally stupid and lobotomizing the lyrics to most of her newer singles are…

And she ain’t the only casualty. How many times have I been betrayed by emerging female musicians who have decided to leave their human side behind to embody the boy-worshipped sex lovin’ party girl image - an image that has so affectionately and respectfully come to be known as the “pop tart”? Music that was once thoughtful, introspective, and reflective suddenly slides into oblivion, overtaken by something you get the feeling is being produced solely because some cracker jack said it was more “marketable”. Who Will Save Our Souls? becomes Intuition. I’m Like A Bird becomes Promiscuous. Spiderwebs becomes Wind It Up.

Why is there a digression taking place in the music of these women instead of a progression? Although we may still be plagued with the Fergalicious and Milkshake singles of the world, talented female artists are still managing to break through and achieve widespread notoriety and popularity without notably altering their music to match the tone of other recording label dream machines. Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, Lauryn Hill, Cat Power, Melissa Etheridge, K.T. Tunstall, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, and many, many others. Women can write about sex, female-male relations, and reveling in their social lives without coming off as thought-deficient morons. In some cases, their record sales are more modest. In other instances, these albums make just as much of a market impact (if not more of a market impact) as competing cash-induced releases do.

I guess the allure of the sell out is too great for some women. Not only will you make money, you’ll be admired, desired, and thrust up as an “empowered” woman by people who don’t know a fucking thing about empowerment (thank you Tyra Banks). Best of all, you’ll never have to worry about finding something to say again because someone else will be more than willing to say it for you.

Regardless of the reasons I can identify and the examples on both sides that jump to my mind, I know this tragic tale will continue to play out in the hearts and minds of those women who want to be celebrated musicians, celebrated actresses, celebrated authors, and celebrated anythings. I’m hoping the advent of satellite radio and it’s continually increasing popularity will help to stem the exodus of mainstream musical women from the professionally-aspiring-yet-soul-driven crowd. Money vs. morals is not a new problem, obviously, nor is it the only problem, but it does seem to happen an awful lot these days.

Ou sont des neiges d’antan, Gwen? Ou sont-ils?

I’m just a girl, what’s my destiny?
What I’ve succumbed to Is making me numb
I’m just a girl, my apologies
What I’ve become is so burdensome

Lyrics from Just A Girl, performed by No Doubt, 1995

Uh huh, it’s your moment
Uh huh, come on girl, you know you own it
Uh huh, you know your key is still tick-tockin’
Hell yeah, and you know they’re watchin’

Lyrics from Wind It Up, Gwen Stefani, 2006