Tuesday, April 19, 2005
=================================================================
glisten: FAMILY VALUES TEN: AIN'T IT GRAND?
For more info about the FAMILY VALUES series, go here.
Richard Pryor - "Grandmother"
Dad: I never dug Pryor much. He's sure got lots of attitude, for whatever that's worth.
-
Mom: I think Richard is a sad, crazy, funny man. Nothing could slow him down until God spoke. His MS sure isn't too funny.
-
Sis: Pryor is no less than a great American genius. Although I wouldn’t call this an excerpt of his most important work, a little of Rich makes any compilation better.
===========================
Buy "Are You Serious?", an early concert from Pryor, from Amazon.
I would hold Richard Pryor's dick for him so he could take a piss, even if his ass was on fire (again), that's how much I love the man; he's the god.
I managed to cadge a cheap copy of "...And It's Deep Too!" some time ago and it's been a joyous companion since; no iPod should be without. If you ever happen upon the box with a thick wallet or a low price, jump up and bite!
-
Visit Rich's official website.
-
Read this classic Pryor anectdote and this brief bio.
-
Read this '04 interview with Pryor.
Q: What do you think of critics?
Pryor: I never met anybody who said when they were a kid, "I wanna grow up and be a critic."
=================================================================
Sergei Prokofiev - "Grandfather"
Dad: This is from "Peter and the Wolf," right?
Western classical music, as you know, isn't my bag any more than rap is. Maybe if I was born a couple hundred years ago, I would have been happy listening to Prokofiev but I was born in the middle of the twentieth century and what we had was folk and popular music. That suits me fine.
-
Mom: This evokes some childhood memories; my brother and I used to listen to this on the Victrola. I must have seen the cartoon as well; I have some visuals playing in my head while I listen.
-
Sis: Prokofiev is not somebody I know much of anything about and this isn't part of my usual listening routines. It’s pleasant.
===========================
There are about a zillion versions of "Peter and the Wolf" to choose from and they almost inevitably come backed with Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals". Luckily, both are enjoyable. Might as well buy the Leonard Bernstein version, from Amazon.
-
Visit the Prokofiev page, "all Prokofiev, all the time."
-
Listen (in MIDI) and read the story of Peter and the Wolf.
=================================================================
TALES FROM THE RED-HEADED STRANGER
FORKSCLOVETOFU SEZ: The Red Headed Stranger is the nom de plume of the Hut's country music scholar.
John Rich - "I Pray for You"
John Rich - "Old Blue Mountain"
Five years ago, John Rich looked like the unluckiest guy in Nashville.
In 1992, the Amarillo, Texas, native had helped to found the pop-country band Lonestar, in which he played bass and shared lead-vocal duties with Richie McDonald. But by 1998, Rich had either left the band or been forced out (depending on who you listen to), and the following year he watched helplessly as Lonestar went on to massive crossover success without him. The only thing standing between Lonestar and superstardom, apparently, had been John Rich. Things started looking up in 2000, when Rich scored a record deal of his own and recorded his solo debut, Underneath the Same Moon. The core of the album was a clutch of songs written with a new collaborator, "Big Kenny" Alphin, whom he had met in 1998. Rich's first solo single, "I Pray for You," was the second song the two wrote together. Then things started looking down again. "Pray" met resistance at radio, and Rich's record company never even bothered to release his album. The label dropped him via e-mail right around the time Lonestar was selling its three millionth copy of its first Rich-less album, Lonely Grill. Undaunted, Rich kept up his writing partnership with Alphin. They and a few songwriter pals began playing regular Tuesday-night gigs at a tiny Nashville club, the Pub of Love, just for kicks. A scene gradually began to cohere, dubbed "MuzikMafia." The buzz started buzzing.
Then, a break: country diva Martina McBride cut a Rich/Alphin song, "She's a Butterfly," on her Martina album, bringing the two to the attention of Warner Bros. Nashville -- which took a big ol' leap of faith and signed them up as a duo. Big & Rich promptly recorded Horse of a Different Color, perhaps the funkiest, strangest and most consistently entertaining album to emerge from the Nashville hit factory so far this century. With the flamboyant Big Kenny egging him on, Rich showed an eccentric, freewheeling side he could never have let loose in straight-laced, soccer-mom-friendly Lonestar -- and his Fu Manchu mustache suddenly looked hip and ironic instead of just anachronistic. Amazingly, Horse outsold the latest (horrific) Lonestar album by a million copies or so. It was in turn outsold by MuzikMafia moll Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party, about half of which (including "Redneck Woman") was co-written by Rich. Who's unlucky now?
Big Kenny's own long-buried 1999 solo album, Live a Little, was recently excavated by Hollywood Records to cash in on B&R's breakthrough. Rich's Underneath the Same Moon remains locked in the vaults, but if it ever sees release, Big & Rich fans might be surprised at how slick, radio-ready and Lonestar-like it is. These two tracks, both Rich/Alphin collaborations, are fairly representative of the album. "I Pray for You" is all heart-on-sleeve sentiment and Music City gloss, while "Old Blue Mountain" (listen for the gorgeous harmony vocal from Sara Evans) is a tad more adventurous, bringing in the bagpipes for an old-fashioned ode to the value of determination. He should know.
Buy Big & Rich's Horse of a Different Color or Super Galactic Fan Pak. Oh, and don't forget to love everybody.
-
Check out MuzikMafia "hick-hopper" Cowboy Troy. His album Loco Motive drops May 17, presenting a fascinating test of the country audience's tolerance of A.) rap and B.) African-Americans.
-
Learn about that other John Rich, "the father of English pantomime."
-
Keep track of the phases of the moon. Y'know, just in case.
-
If you'd like to pray for someone, you can always join the Presidential Prayer Team. This week, the PPT is urged to "pray for the ongoing Senate confirmation hearings for President Bush's nominees for U.N. Ambassador, John Bolton and National Intelligence Director, John Negroponte, that God will guide those meetings with His wisdom and power." Yep, I'm sure God has big plans for these two.
=================================================================
spiffy
Mari-a-capella
These guys are massive dorks, but the Tetris and the Zelda piece at the end is impressive.
-
House Gymnastics is the extreme sport you can play with your kids.
This impressive photolog of poses should give you some ideas to start with.
-
Mama Said KNOCK YOU OUT
-
They just don't make real album covers anymore... not the way that Harvey used to.
-
I love obsessives: Gibby's Game Room and The Complete Guide to GI Joe
-
The Fifty Funkiest Albums Ever Made
Tho' some of the choices are suspect (ZZ Top is the top ten?), it makes for interesting reading.
=================================================================
Labels: clicky, Family Values, music, Red Headed Stranger
