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John Lennon |
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Viva Voce |
I was reminded of the 26th anniversary of the shooting of John Lennon this morning. I'm not a music critic, I'm an artist and it's difficult for me to put into words how profound his loss is to me even after all these years. I still get very emotional about it. Just finding the #9 Dream video turned on the waterworks.
Make some art today, or just turn it up really loud and all shine on.
I'd love to hear The Spin You're In in the comments section.
The Spin I'm In: A Superstar, Well Right You Are |
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Napster |
AMG |
| From the Devil Himself | Viva Voce |  |
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Eanie Meany |
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The Little Black Egg |
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Be My Angel |
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Walking With Jesus |
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Across the Universe |
The Beatles |
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Instant Karma (We All Shine On) |
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first?
chalk up a zed, pooch
Hang Pooch scores!
Sorry no podcast this week Firepups, Donita needs her voice for the studio this week! YAY! New Donita music!
winter’s finally here. i’ve been cozying up to alot of gillian welch (especially her album time (the revelator). good listenin…
hang ten (fka pooch — i like hang ten better) @
5
Ooooh fiiiiine choice there. I broke out my old A Very Special Christmas CD - the first one with Run DMC doing Christmas in Hollis.
It was December 24th on Hollis Ave in the dark
When I seen a man chilling with his dog in the park
I approached very slowly with my heart full of fear
Looked at his dog, oh my God, an ill reindeer
But then I was illin because the man had a beard
And a bag full of goodies, 12 o’clock had neared
So I turned my head a second and the man had gone
But he left his driver’s wallet smack dead on the lawn
I picket the wallet up then I took a pause
Took out the license and it cold said “Santa Claus”
Donita - if you’re here - ever hear of a band called the Textones?
Used to catch ‘em in clubs around L.A. - um, back in the day.
Was one of those bands that the other musicians in town tended to show up to hear.
Where is everybody? [tumbleweed rolls by]
Well, I’m here Fini - right near by here in Indy.
Caught some of your discussion the other day about the late, and very much lamented, Harrison Ullman.
Maybe I need to post more Christmas in Hollis lyrics. Yes. THATS what I should do!
A million dollars in it, cold hundreds of G’s
Enough to buy a boat and matching car with ease
But I’d never steal from Santa, cause that ain’t right
So I’m going home to mail it back to him that night
But when I got home I bugged, cause under the tree
Was a letter from Santa and all the dough was for me
D.M.C. :
It’s Christmas time in Hollis Queens
Mom’s cooking chicken and collard greens
Rice and stuffing, macaroni and cheese
And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees
Decorate the house with lights at night
Snow’s on the ground, snow white so bright
In the fireplace is the yule log
Beneath the mistle toe as we drink egg nog
The rhymes you hear are the rhymes of Darryl’s
But each and every year we bust Chrsitmas carrols
jayt @ 7
I don’t recall the Textones, though I was on the road all the time so I was a bit out of touch locally, you know?
jayt @ 9
Oh man! Another Hoosier progressive?!? We’ve doubled our population this year to 4!
Ullman was awesome, a true gentlemen of the written word. This town hasn’t been right since he died. Whereabouts are you in Indy? I’m in Irvington/Emerson Heights.
Free MP3s:
Santastic 2
Donita Sparks @ 11
fronted by Carla Olsen - god I loved that band.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 10
That is cute as hell. I’ve never heard it, but remind me to put it in the playlist in a couple of weeks. I’m not in X-mas mode yet, but getting there.
hang ten (fka pooch — i like hang ten better) @
1
Hi and congratulations on the zed. BTW, I like hangten better too.
Donita Sparks @ 15
It’s my absolute favorite Christmas song EVAR. Next is Rockin Around the Xmas Tree by that lady that did that song, you know, the one with the hair?
woh…mazzystar is nice and across the universe is my fav beatles song… good selection…
also I like Fiona Apple’s version of this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gLWTtlMwo4
by the way Donita, cool to hear you’re on studio… can’t wait to hear your new stuff… hum your email at your official website is working well? I’m trying to send you some pictures to you but it doesn’t work for me…and I think you can’t miss these pictures since are from your own camera…
anyway… rock on Donita!
Here you go Donita, enjoy Christmas in Hollis. This video makes it ten times better.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 17
Brenda Lee did Rockin’ Around The X-Mas Tree
Bruno @ 18
Hi Bruno!
Try writing to my site again. We were having some server problems, but it seems good now.
Today is Bodhi Day, and I’ve been planning to do something with that when we light our Advent candle as a family tonight. In the process, I found this…
I have arrived.
I am home.
In the here,
In the now.
I am solid.
I am free.
In the ultimate
I dwell.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Donita Sparks @ 20
Thank you, the brain fart from that was embarassing for me. Must have lost the brain cell with her name in it one night.
Other than being a man, John Lennon had virtually nothing in common with Dick Cheney.
Everythingseemssoneat @ 24
They had plenty in common! Both opposed the Vietnam War, both spent a lot of time on campuses in the 60s, they both had an overriding belief in goverment activism…albeit different takes sure but similar ideas.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 19
Oh my god, that is great. Definitely use that one for the post soon.
I loved Run DMC. Great look too.
Donita Sparks @ 21
ok just tried again… thanks
All Hail Fini FiniTOOBZ! The post looks really good this week. The linkage is happening too. Good job my man.
Anybody like tha Viva Voce song? It’s my current fave. That video is righteous as well. Is this mic on?
Donita Sparks @ 28
Thank you, couldn’t do it without your fabulous picks though.
I’m loving the Viva Voce tune. Aren’t they a latin boy band though?
Hi Donita, hi all,
This is my friend Steve’s musical Christmas card. A CD he sends out every year. Different selection every year, here’s some of this year’s:
Christmas in Jail by The Mighty Soul Deacons
Here Comes Santa Claus by Los Straitjackets
I’ll Make every day Christmas (For My Woman) by Joe Tex
hey, Donita! just dropping by briefly.
RIP, John Lennon.
HotFlash @ 16
busted…i don’t know what “zed” means
OT - fitz live on cnn
I used to do a CD to all my buddies for a Christmas card but I’ve pretty much over the years whittled my card list down to a handful of people who already know what I’m listening to anyway because I make them listen to my tunes in the car or when they come over. Old DJ habits die hard.
donita,
i had separated from my first wife and was living in one room on the second floor of an old rooming house in iowa. the landlord lived down stairs. he had his bed literally stacked with newspapers and magazines so that he had just enough room to lie down, and he smoked in bed. lennon had just released what would be his last album. double bummer.
haven’t been in l.a. in years. hung out at al’s bar (early eighties). i think it was there that i heard a band called “the broken homes”. i don’t have clue if al’s still exists. i would imagine that the band doesn’t.
Holy crap some guy was gonna grenade attack a mall?!?! I know the malls can get to a shopper this time of year but does the kid REALLY need that PS3 NOW?
John Lennon, RIP– he lived for far too short a time, but his flame burns bright in our home and hearts. His music and voice will never be forgotten.
twolf1 @ 33– be still my heart!
Pretty scary stuff though.
I cannot believe they cut the presser.
hang ten @ 32
it means bagging the first comment, which usually shows up as a zero. “zed” actually means the letter “z”, but someone* mistook it for ‘zero’ once, and it seems to have stuck
*(me, among others?)
Parliament/Funkadelic’s G. Clusterfunk
Owwweeee ;)
RIP John Lennon.
In honor of Bush admitting it’s “bad” in Iraq, here’s the spin I’m in today:
“Light Up Ya Lighter” by Michael Franti
Is there a Foley thread coming? People are already saying that “negligent” is a whitewash. I don’t see it that way. As a physician, “negligent” usually means a six-figure settlement. At least.
Well, I’m off to the studio everybody. Have fun.
Whoa. Foley Report is 89 pages long. Looking at the exec summary now.
Donita Sparks @ 42
I sleep through everything these days… Hope you’ll have a splendid time at the studio today, Donita!
Donita - Thanks for the ode to John Lennon. Will never forget him nor that horrible day in San Francisco when I heard the tragic news. My Mother was visiting, we both sat on the deck and and cried as the wind swept through the top of a lone palm tree in my backyard. She was an active minister at the time and imagine was a weekly favorite song during her church service.
I am not a fan of Christmas (since I don’t have any chitlins) but I walked into a music shop in New Orleans some fifteen years back only to hear James Brown’s Funky Christmas playin’ my instant favorite “Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto”!
always fashionably late
this weeks pein chez mack includes
miu sakamoto - harmonious (with parents ryuichi sakamoto and akiko yano, miu reneders the nature nurture argument moot - must nbe both, she is that talented)
wayne shorter - native dancer - featuring milton nasciemento - soprano vocals and saxiphone tropicalia jazz extrordinaire
this album has been a favorite for 25 years and still sounds
’so fresh and so clean’
tanya donelly - whisky tango ghosts
a deafening whisper of an album
scritti politti - white bread black beer
green garside has the honey smoothest white soul voice of all time
and it has grown stronger and sweeter with the years
a sleeper
lizzy mercier descloux - zulu rock
1984’s south african album reissued on Ze france
music to make you dance and cry simultaneously
rock on all
Here’s a send up of a popular Christmas Song. Feel free to play the joke on your friends. But you heard it here first. Enjoy!
Click
(edit of my above comment didn’t work - sorry for the redo)
always fashionably late
this weeks spin chez mack includes:
miu sakamoto - harmonious (with parents ryuichi sakamoto and akiko yano, miu reneders the nature nurture argument moot - must be both, she is that talented)
wayne shorter - native dancer - featuring milton nasciemento - soprano vocals and saxophone tropicalia jazz extraordinaire
this album has been a favorite for 25 years and still sounds
’so fresh and so clean’
tanya donelly - whiskey tango ghosts
a deafening whisper of an album
scritti politti - white bread black beer
green garside has the honey smoothest white soul voice of all time
and it has grown stronger and sweeter with the years
a sleeper
lizzy mercier descloux - zulu rock
1984’s south african album reissued on Ze France
music to make you dance and cry simultaneously
rock on y’all
Up to page 30 of the Foley report. So far, I can tell that they think Kolbe is a big fat liar.
Frank Probst @
49
URL for the pdf?
Gotta run for I am expecting plumbers. Have fun, play nice!
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 51
Mario and Luigi?
OT - WTF? Is Bush wearing shinguards?
Now kneepads, I could believe but I don’t get the shinguards…maybe his little nephews like him as much as we do and kick him every chance they get.
This is the best old-fashioned Christmas song you’ve probably never heard before - unless you’re from Duluth, Minnesota.
http://63.236.64.8/kbjr/christ.....ascity.mp3
This song has all the makings of a holiday classic, if only more radio stations would start playing it…
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 51
toobz clogged?
T- @ 53
soccer is big in Argentina
T- @ 53
Not shinguards. That is the presidential seal on his cowboy boots.
punaise @ 56
To learn more about things that are big in Argentina, visit your local library. Or ask Jenna.
dear donita
wow. you’re post took me back….i remember the day i found out. i boarded a subway train to work one morning and as i got on, everyone had their newspapers open and all the headlines read LENNON SLAIN. i was in shock for about an hour and then was inconsolable for quite some time.
watching that video certainly did turn on the waterworks.
peace & love,
nora
EvilDrPuma @ 58
meanwhile, Tom Waits is Big in Japan
I thought he was going to Paraquay…
Foley report: http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/im.....report.pdf
It’s damning. Scott Palmer is going to have to take a fall. Kolbe would’ve had to resign if he weren’t retiring. And I’m only halfway through.
Typical. Must be to remind himself how cool and tough and stuff he is. What a loser.
T- @ 61
Jenna Hooks Up with Unemployed Argentine Guy
The speen I’m een: Bad Religion
…y tambien:
!Viva Ciro Rodriguez!
Today ees the last day for los perritos del fuego to help the wonderful FDL Blue-America candidate Ciro Rodriguez weeth donations to hees GOTV effort.
The election, she ees on tuesday next, so today really ees the last opportunity for jour hard-earned dolares to make the difference een thees race.
As joo can see at the leenks above, (or my Homepage) Ciro ees closing the gap on hees opponent, the rubberstamping steenky-breetches republiculo, Henry Bonilla(R-Toady).
!Now he needs one final push from pipples such as joo to get heem over the top, and eento the House of Representatives!
Por favor, be generous. Even a small donation (5$, 10$) can help a lot when joo add them up.
Ciro ees truly the kind of candidate that the netroots can support 100%, and theenk what eet weel mean to have one more Representative who knows the importance of what sites like FDL & Blue America are trying to accomplish.
!Vamanos!
so.
punaise @ 64
Maybe he wants a pair of those kyyeewwl bootz.
for Ed*ard Teller:
Re Foley “Ethics” Report:
From page 4 of the report (page 6 of the pdf):
Aravosis has more at Americablog.
Also, Melanie Sloan at CREW seems to say, “Not so fast, Doc, on the ‘no rules were violated’ crap!”
Hi fini, hi Donita, missin’ my podcasty today, but John Lennon sure makes up for it. What could he accomplish today? Betcha he could get us outta Iraq faster than B/H-ISG. These tired octogenarians trying to rein in Junja for his disaster must think like I do: Impeach Cheney First!
Troops
Home
NOW
oooh, melanie sloan used an fdl commenter’s name in her press release. Three guesses whose handle made it into Melanie’s report!!
Guitar_Playing_Bastard linked to some tunes earlier today (I just am trying to play catch up) and this song by Vince Gill really got me in the gut.
“What you Give Away”
Now I have to go on over to iTunes to check out the entire new release and probably buy it for my newly won Video iPod.
new thread
TeddySanFran @ 69
Op99?
Punaise?
SporkIncident?
How silly of me! Of course - EGREGIOUS! woot!
jacqrat won a video ipod??
woohoo!
Frank Probst @ 62
Done. It’s a very narrow report, focusing only on whether or not anyone broke House rules. The conclusion is “no”, but there’s enough explosive stuff in there that I think it’s going to have legs, even though it’s a Friday news dump. Kolbe my be able to duck the media, since he’s retiring. Scott Palmer is going to go down in flames. Two people (Fordham and Trandahl) are saying that they met with him and that he subsequently met with Foley. Palmer says it didn’t happen. The only thing that can save him is if Foley himself comes forward and says the meeting didn’t happen, and Foley’s lawyer has to be telling him to keep his damn mouth shut.
And I don’t see how the media can NOT ask about Palmer and van der Meid’s sexuality at this point.
Jacqrat @ 72
No more guesses, j used ‘em all up. I was hoping egregious would be on this thread….
TeddySanFran @ 69
heh heh: “egregious”
still unclained as an FDL handle: “sordid”
TeddySanFran @ 73
details, please!
TeddySanFran @ 73
I know. I should go to Vegas this month. A video iPod from Comcast* AND an FDL teeshirt and autographed cheesecake photo of Jane W. from Donita and Fin!
Anyone want some lotto numbers?
*Comcast On-Demand ran some cheezy contest on their Free Movies/Independent channel thinger. All I had to do is watch some shorts, and then go to the website and rate them. I entered about 5 times. Maybe no one else entered?
TeddySanFran @ 69
looseheadprop
prof foley
guitar playin bastard *g*
wtg! jacqrat, congrats.
I painted a peace on the sky today.
I imagined it enveloped the earth.
I saw John smile.
Ok, I gotta share this Vince Gill Video. It’s rockin’ my world right now:
My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man
With the personality-challenged but fantastically talented Patty Loveless. (the music director at KSAN once told me she had the personality of a wet washcloth… but I *love* her singing. Guess she gives it all she has for that.)
whoever was in SanFrandisco when Lennon was killed can remember the remarkable candlelight vigil on Marina Green, with loudspeakers and boomboxes and love and shared sadness. As we felt the onslaught of that sinking feeling.
Hi Donita, I was so excited to hear Mazzy Star! I love Hope Sandoval!! That’s great to hear your in the studio!!
official grateful dead site-dead.net- finally has a tapers section yay- rhino records- this week’s gem- run run rudolph- w/pigpen 12/4/71- priceless, heh. this week’s deadhour feature- revolution ‘91- pretty slack but ok. beware the brown acid. out.
Egregious!
yay!
yeehaw?
Valid excuse! love Donita’s music. Please post on ITunes soon.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 4
I was 10 years old when he died. I was already a pretty big Beatles fan, as my grandma had turned me on to Yellow Submarine at a young age and as the years passed, I became more and more interested in the more complex stuff. The reality of it though is that up until that exact moment, I had never realized the power the music had over people in general and me in specific.
I remember when Elvis died, and what a big deal it was, but it wasn’t a big deal to me in a personal sense. Sure, I remember thinking that it was too bad, but I was 7 and it was just a thing that happened. When Lennon died, I found out from Granny Bettye, and I remember she was crying on the phone. I don’t know if it was her crying or me realizing at that moment how devestating that was to the world (probably a little of both), but it really shook me up.
I ran to turn on WNEW in NY just in time for Scott Muni to play “Watching the Wheels”. He could barley contain himself.
I sat and listened. REALLY listened. It may have been the first time I understood, for real, the true feeling of “getting it”. I remember hearing him say
People say Im lazy dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that Im doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Dont you miss the big time boy youre no longer on the ball
and how it struck me that he was actually saying something. It wasn’t just words and melodies set to music. It was feeling. It was “hey man, I’m doing alright”. And I cried. Mostly because I understood what he was saying, and how he felt when he said it, but that it was all gone. He was feeling peace in his life, and wanted to let everyone know that he was cool, and that was taken away from him.
So in some ways, the day the John Lennon was shot was the day that music died. But in many more ways, that was the day music was really born for me. And to this day, when I hear that song, I can immediately feel like a 10 year old kid in tears, lying on the ugly red shag carpet in my childhood home with a transistor radio listening to one of the greatest songwriters who has ever lived. And it’s not neccesarily a bad feeling.
So… now I work in the music biz… and since we’re talking about great music, I’d love to hear some opinions of my guys
Assembly of Dust — Honest Hour
I was in high school, one of four or five students with our black armbands on looking at each other and wondering why somebody would shoot a Beatle? #9 Dream has always been a fave and John’s last “new” stuff (Nobody told me there would be day like these/Starting over). I loved Steel and Glass and loved both his “How do you sleep?” and Paul’s “Too many people”. It’s funny calling them both by their first names like I knewknow them. I guess it’s also ironic that I still miss him and his influence.