Every Monday morning. Music so good, it must be shared.
This week: “Stuck Between Stations” — The Hold Steady, off its 2006 album, “Boys and Girls in America.”
There’s been a lot of cool stuff coming out of Minnesota in the last week. This piece by Vikings punter/raging wordsmith Chris Kluwe. This rare interview with Al Franken. (The funniest member of the Senate is so invisible these days… I forgot he was in the Senate for like 18 months.) And then there’s Craig Finn, front man for the Hold Steady, Twins fan at heart. Game, Blouses.
“Born to Run” turned 37 last week. The Boss turns 63 next month, just a few weeks before he comes to Kansas City for his first show in four years. And this song, later covered and remembered mostly as a Manfred Mann song, was recorded by Springsteen 40 years ago. Even today, it still feels cool.
This is Speed Levitch, philosopher tour guide. Levitch first came on my radar about six years ago, when my brother rented “The Cruise”, the 1998 documentary that catalogued Levitch’s life as an eccentric tour-guide dude in New York City. Levitch’s persona is unforgettable — his nasally aphorisms leaving a mark in some bizarre, poetic fashion.
Here’s what I didn’t know six years ago. Levitch has Kansas City roots. Continue reading →
Let’s get this out of the way first: The Supreme Court and The NCAA is a “law” book. It is not a leisurely, let me sip a Miami Vice on this barcalounger while listening to New Edition, summer-time read. But summer is over. At least up here in Pennsylvania. It was sixty degrees this morning.
And as the temperatures get cooler, serious non-fiction becomes more appealing. I began reading this book as background for work but wanted to finish it because the author Brian Porto presents detailed portrayals of two landmark decisions that changed big-time college athletics, as well as what I consider the best argument for fixing the industry it has become.
Every Monday morning. Music so good… it must be shared.
This week: “I Will Wait” — Mumford & Sons, off their new, yet-to-be released album, “Babel”.
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Well, Mumford & Sons, the British folk/roots/stringy quartet, is just about six weeks away from releasing its sophomore album in America, and last week they revved up the hype machine by releasing this rollicking, “Let’s Go Run in a Field!” track that immediately generated all sorts of feedback in certain pockets of the internet.
On first listen, the song hits all the right spots.
And maybe that’s the thing: If I had to imagine what a new Mumford & Sons song would sound like, “I’ll Will Wait” would be more or less the exact song that I invented in my head. And I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
This is hardly an original thought, of course, but it feels true. The song is everything you want, from the banjo-filled everything, to the crescendo-building chorus, to the tent-revival lyrics.
But there’s also the feeling that you’re being sold something you already bought. Some folks have already proved that it’s pretty easy to rip off (and commercialize) this sound — yea, Phillip, you… — and maybe this just adds to the feeling that Mumford, for all its imagery about running and moving and criss-crossing the country via train, is having a pretty tough time figuring where to go. — Rustin Dodd
As long-time readers of this blog probably know, we champion a lot of causes around here. But there’s one that seems to unite us all — well, at least Mark and I — and that’s Johnson County tap water.
As you might know, Mark moved to State College, Pa., a few months ago and wrote this wonderful endorsement of Johnson County tap water.
It read, in part:
“I have no idea how Johnson County (Kansas) pulls off this feat, but it serves its customers the Cristal of tap waters. After living in Johnson County, even Fiji and Voss water taste like dirt. I know this endorsement sounds so pretentious, so Johnson County, but it’s so true.”
Every Monday morning. Music so good… it must be shared.
This week: “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” — Arcade Fire, covering Cyndi Lauper
(And when you’re done with the video, stay for the entire, ridiculous playlist, including some scenes (!!!) from the 80s movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Helen Hunt, Jonathan Silverman and Shannen Doherty.)
For what it’s worth, I’ve spent most of my 20s as a devoted Decemberists-head, coming in right around the release of Picaresque, staying for the genius The Crane Wife, working through the more difficult The Hazards of Love (“The Wanting Comes in Waves” is still epic) and experiencing that feeling of musical euphoria over The King is Dead, maybe the best album of 2011.
The Brew House 