Archive | music RSS feed for this section

Just Wondering …

22 Jan

* Is this what the Yankee fans felt like in 2004?

* When radio execs first heard the chorus of Fall Out Boy‘s cool new single, “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” why did they decide to silence the word “God” and not “Damn?”

* Is the first real snow of the season not the best part of winter? I mean, walking home, as it’s coming down, hearing the crunching of your steps as you push down on more of the finely-packed snow … there aren’t too many pleasures to be taken from this season, but that’s one of them. Hopefully we’ll get more of this soon.

* Are you on the list?

* Why did I go all the way to IKEA on Saturday for a DVD tower, when I found exactly what I wanted at Best Buy the very next day?

* Is it Friday yet?

Things I’ve Learned, vacation week edition

29 Dec

I could really get used to this “week off” stuff.

It’s nice for a few days to sleep in, roll out of bed sometime between 9:30 and 10, take my time getting ready, do what I want (or don’t do anything at all), and just relax.

Alright, sure I’ve spent plenty of time this week playing with my new computer, but I’ve also learned a couple things too: Continue reading →

And So This Is Xmas …

19 Dec

I knew after last year’s mix that A Very Marty Xmas 2006 had some pretty high expectations to live up to. Well, now that all the songs have been selected, the hard decisions have been made, the CDs have been burned, and the mix has been sent out and received, I thought I’d share for those of you lurkers out there what ended up on the mix. I think my seventh collection — that’s right, my seventh — is another winner, filled with classics both old and new, some oddities, the requisite jolly-ness, and even a pro-Hanukkah song thrown in for good measure. And of course, there are some surprises between the songs that are not listed. So without further ado, here’s the track listing:

The Killers — “A Great Big Sled”
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy — “Party for Santa”
Jimmy Buffett — “Christmas Island”
The Echelons — “Christmas Long Ago (Jingle, Jangle)”
The Ronettes — “Frosty the Snowman”
Darlene Love — “White Christmas”
Elliott Yamin — “This Christmas”
The Fray — “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
Barenaked Ladies with Michael Bublé — “Elf’s Lament”
Sufjan Stevens — “Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!”
Cyndi Lauper and Frank Sinatra — “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
The Pussycat Dolls — “Santa Baby”
Diana Krall — “Let It Snow”
James Taylor — “The Christmas Song”
Kelly Clarkson — “My Grown Up Christmas List”
Harry Connick Jr. — “Blue Christmas”
Sarah McLachlan — “River”
Aimee Mann — “Calling on Mary”
The LeeVees — “Goyim Friends”
The Chipmunks (with David Seville) — “Hang Up Your Stockin’”
Papa Don Vappie’s New Orleans Jazz Band — “Please Come Home for Christmas”
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and the New Orleans All-Stars — “Oh Holy Night” (from Studio 60)

If you’d like to compile your own version of A Very Marty Xmas 2006, nearly all those songs can be found on iTunes, or various music blogs (like HotstuffFiles.com or PodBop). The Studio 60 track can be found here.

Considering at one point I had enough songs to compile a double CD, you can be sure there will be a A Very Marty Xmas 2007 one year from now. Stay tuned … and of course, happy holidays!

Too Much Cheer?

7 Dec

Compilation of A Very Marty Xmas 2006 is now in full swing. I dipped into the “unusued holiday music” folder on my computer last night and found more than 200 tracks (!!!), so there is a lot to choose from — not to mention the new stuff I’m discovering this year. For example, this morning I found an MP3 of Elliot Yamin, my guy from American Idol, covering Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas, which is one my all-time favorite holiday songs. The Killers have a great new holiday song this year. And then there’s The Daily .Wav, which keeps putting up quick clips from the holiday episodes of old tv shows, and blogs like HotStuffFiles.com, which are counting down to the holiday with new tracks every day. Plus, I’ve already got Jamie Cullum singing “Let It Snow.” So I’ve got a conundrum this year in terms of narrowing down all my available options. Which of Harry Connick Jr.’s tracks will make the cut? (Right now I’m leaning toward “Blue Christmas.”) And do I include Diana Krall’s “Christmas Time Is Here” or “The Christmas Song” … or her version of “Let It Snow?” Do any of Jimmy Buffett’s songs go on the mix, and do I even bother opening Regis Philbin’s holiday CD, which I purchased in the bargain bin after last year’s Christmas, or uploading the others I’ve acquired this year (like Aimee Mann and Sufjan Stevens’ CDs)? I forgot how much work went into making this mix, and while I always like when a project like this keeps me busy, this year’s mix is proving to be a real challenge already.

Christmas Is Coming

27 Nov

Thanksgiving: a weekend that is simultaneously too short and too long. How is that possible?

But anyway, now that we’re over that hump, we can start the countdown to Christmas. I’ve begun the season by finding an MP3 of Jamie Cullum singing “Let It Snow” (thanks to Cullumography.com). You can bet that it will be on A Very Marty Xmas 2006. And this past weekend I purchased both Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas and Aimee Mann’s One More Drifter in the Snow. Songs from both albums will definitely make it onto my CD as well. I know I have a hard act to follow after last year’s mix, but I’m feeling up to the challenge, and looking forward to choosing songs.

Got any suggestions, or know of songs I’ve missed in year’s past? You can assume my mixes have already dipped into the classics; last year I wrote about a “best of the box” mix that would probably include most of the obvious candidates. So what else should I know about? I’m open to ideas.

And for the record, I will not be changing the name of my mix to A Very Marty Holiday. Unlike the city of Boston, I know what should be called a “Christmas” symbol and what should be a more generic “holiday” symbol. I can’t believe that after last year’s brouhaha, it seems the whole thing is about to start up all over again. It’s just silly, if you ask me.

People … People Who Throw Sodas

1 Nov

Is there anything funnier than seeing someone throw a beverage at Barbra Streisand?

Perhaps the only thing would be seeing this person hit her with the soda.

Ha!

All These Things That They’ve Done

26 Oct

To put it most simply, the Killers totally rocked the Orpheum tonight … and then they didn’t. Despite two albums’ worth of great material, the band only played for about 70 minutes (including one and a half encores) and left the audience wanting more.

Which I hope doesn’t overshadow the fact that the Killers did put on a great show. Sure, the sound wasn’t clear enough for me to really hear Brandon Flowers singing or talking, but damn, the one-two punch of “When You Were Young” and “Somebody Told Me” truly got the crowd going, as did the band’s other hits “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” and the new single “Bones” (which I totally love). And it was cool that they did “Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll” (off the re-issue of Hot Fuss), and that they closed with “All These Things That I’ve Done,” which left me on a real high. But I really wanted to hear “The River Is Wild” and “Andy, You’re a Star,” among others, so that was a bummer.

Some other thoughts: Flowers is a fun frontman to watch. He’s so straight-laced and earnest in his performance that you’re tempted to think he’s not enjoying himself, but then he does a variation on what Whitney called “the Dave Matthews jig” and it’s pretty fun. With his long sleeve shirt and vest, the guy had to be hot up there on the stage. Also, man, does the mezzanine of the Orpheum shake. We were in row B, and at various times during the show, I stopped bopping and still was vibrating. It’s pretty scary. Granted, the Orpheum has probably seen rowdier shows than the Killers, but damn … one of these days the mezzanine is going to come crashing down. I just hope I’m not there when it does.

So anyway, is it so wrong for a performer to leave its audience wanting more? I suppose that’s the mark of a good show, right? Still, I think in this case the concert would have been truly great had it been just 15 minutes and maybe three or four songs longer. Then the band would have truly, ahem, killed.

At Medium Volume

5 Oct

Three days after seeing High Fidelity and I’m still not sure what to make of the show.

My toes were tapping during many of the songs, and I had some good laughs, but overall, I just felt something was missing.

A spark.

A certain je ne sais quoi.

I don’t know exactly what.

Maybe it’s my chronic problem that I never seem to like seeing shows in Boston; they just don’t feel right if they’re not on Broadway. Or maybe I just had too high expectations.

Either way, High Fidelity felt like it was a bit lacking. Continue reading →

There’s Music in the Night

30 Sep

I told Pyles as the Jamie Cullum show was ending tonight that I should have guaranteed it, and promised to give her her money back if she didn’t enjoy it. That’s how much I love Jamie Cullum, and how strongly I can stand by his live shows. They’re just incredible, and tonight’s show at the Orpheum was no exception. No sense going into too many specifics, but from top to bottom, start to finish, I think this may have been the best Jamie Cullum show I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen him four times. It was another rowdy, fun time. The crowd was into it, despite some folks who just kept getting up to go out. Our seats were great. And the set list was spot-on: Jamie played his good stuff (including “Mind Trick, which was missing from the set list the last time I saw him) and he played some really cool covers really well, particularly Norah Jones’ “Turn Me On” (which, oddly, Jamie dedicated to his father, who was in the audience, because apparently it’s his favorite song) and James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” Jamie came into the audience a couple times, and he actually sang a cover of “Nature Boy” entirely in an aisle. Otherwise, “Photograph,” “Frontin’,” and “London Skies” were great, as were “These Are the Days,” the solo version of “All at Sea,” and, of course, my favorite of his songs, “What a Difference a Day Made.” Of course, there are songs I wish he’d played (like “My Yard”), but that’ll happen when I like most everything on his three albums.

Perhaps you don’t know Jamie, despite the fact that I’ve written about him before on this site. Well, for all you who don’t know him — and those who like a little soundtrack with your reading — check out the new widget I’ve added to the blog in the upper right hand column. Just click “play” and you’ll hear one of his songs, likely “Photograph.” And know that as nice as that song is, and as good as his albums are, they don’t compare to how good Jamie is live. As I said, I’ve seen him four times now and I’d see him anytime. I guarantee his shows as some of the best ones out there.

Listen Up, Everyone

27 Sep

It’s continually amazing to me that you can find nearly anything on the internets. For example, in a recent blurb in the “Sidekick” section of the Boston Globe, I read about a great Ryan Adams concert from 2003 that someone had heard. Finally got around to looking for the guy’s blog today and lo and behold, there it was: a posting with individual MP3s of the entire show. Too cool, and he’s right — it was an incredible show. Then I clicked around some more and found an awesome performance of “New York, New York” that Ryan did on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2001.

Anyway, about a half hour later, after going back to rbally.net, I had dug deep into the site and found MP3s of all kinds of live shows (from bands like R.E.M., the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jane’s Addiction, and Radiohead, among others), some current and some older (i.e.: from the last decade or so), and many of them worth a listen. I’ll be going back to check out more of the site. In the meantime, I’ve provided a link to rbally.net in the sidebar of this site for future reference.

While I’m on the topic, perhaps I should point out the two other music-related blogs I already have links to: Zeon’s Music Blog and Ali’s Blog. Zeon tends to have MP3s of his favorite songs, soundtracks, and artists, in addition to new stuff and rare covers and other cool tracks. Currently he’s got up a weird but cool cover of The Killers’ “Smile Like You Mean It” by, of all people, David Gray. For full, leaked new CDs (like the entire new Killers album, not out until next week) and hot singles, go to Ali’s site. That’s also where I found Justin Timberlake’s new CD a couple weeks early, if you’re interested. But because, well, it’s illegal to download these CDs at all, especially weeks before they’re publicly available, the links to them are only up for about 24 hours in most cases so Ali doesn’t get in trouble. Act quickly. (And by the way, if you want to hear a cool remix of the Killers’ “When You Were Young,” click here.)

Plain and simple, the web makes it fun to be a music fan. (No big news there, of course.) And for the record (no pun intended), I have gone out and actually bought some of the actual CDs after downloading them online. And thanks to hearing new artists on sites like these, I’ve been turned on to their music and have spent money on them in other ways. So there, record companies. Fan music sites do serve a good purpose. Just do me a favor, dear readers: if you become a frequent visitor of the sites like I am, don’t abuse them. Buy music too so “the man” doesn’t come and shut these folks down. (Stepping off the soap box now. Putting my headphones back on.)

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →