Re: Wedding Marches. (was: Re: Bad Companye)
At 19:36 27.04.99 -0500, you wrote: At the first of my first cousin's many weddings, this one held at the beautiful Paramus, New Jersey Steak Pit, the ceremony finished, the groom seemed to rush down the aisle, leaving her standing there. The fast thinking accordion player let loose with "What Now My Love, Now That You've Left Me". Actually, that would take 2 and a half years. That's beautiful, Barry. I think I detect a whiff of Guralnick in the prose? Sounds like Dixie realizing she's lost Elvis forever, even as he phones her from the Louisiana Hayride to tell her he loves her g. All this makes me think of weirdass wedding-music experiences. I've played a couple of weddings in the last year and I'm always kind of amazed that they don't mind that all we do is basically cheatin', drinkin' and car songs, etc And these were "nice" weddings, big budget jobs, etc. Just goes to show that very few people are really listening to the lyrics. I did "You Nearly Loose Your Mind" (ET), "Act Naturally" (Buck) and "Where Can She Be" (Ted The Talltops) in my own wedding, backed by The Derailers. It also took me half a year less than it took Barry's uncle before I could sing "What Now My Love, Now That You've Left Me". Tom E.
Re: info on Billy Jack Wills?
At 10:00 27.04.99 +, you wrote: I've been hearing some enthusiastic comments about a Western Swing CD re-release: Billy Jack Wills / "Crazy, Man, Crazy" / on Joaquin Records?? Although it's possible I've heard this guy on a compilation, the name of *this* Wills isn't ringing a bell for me. Anyone know about this? A California act, and apparently this recording is a radio transcription from the early 50s. --junior I'm cheating and clipping this review of the 1996 release "Billy Jack Wills His Western Swing Band" (also on Joaquin) from the Amazon.com web pages: Bob Wills's youngest brother had assembled a top-quality band of his own in the early 1950s, and these 19 radio transcriptions (from KFBK) certainly attest to the group's brilliance. Spearheaded by Wills (on vocals and drums), Bob's former Playboy Tiny Moore (on electric mandolin and vocals), and young pedal steel whiz Vance Terry, this band dominated the Sacramento Western swing scene with a typically diverse repertoire, dynamic arrangements, and fierce drive. Material came from classic old blues standards, RB, country, and jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman, as well as brother Bob's songbook. --Marc Greilsamer Tom E.
RE: single most influential, cont.
His Royness: Tom Ek. wrote: Of course. He single handedly made it all right not to know how to sing, not to know how to play Bob knew how to sing and knew how to play. Still does. Everything is true in some sense, false in some sense, meaningless in some sense, true and false in some sense, true and meaningless in some sense, false and meaningless in some sense, and true and false and meaningless in some sense. Seeing the sense in which Bob Dylan don't know how to sing shouldn't be too hard. Seeing the sense in which Bob Dylan don't know how to play harmonica should be a no brainer. Tom Ekeberg Oslo, Norway http://home.sol.no/~tekeberg/
Re: single most influential, cont.
At 15:26 24.04.99 -0500, you wrote: Tom Ekeberg wrote: Seeing the sense in which Bob Dylan don't know how to sing shouldn't be too hard. This is what I actually disagree with. Not being able to sing very well and not knowing how to sing are two different things. Okay. That's what I meant. I shouldn't have used the word "know". And I would like to point out that I didn't say whether not knowing how to/being able to sing was a good or a bad thing. I think Dylan made amazingly effective use of a very indifferent vocal apparatus, thus I think that he knows very well how to sing, he just doesn't have the larynx to pull it off very well. Like I said, true in some sense, false in some sense. Obviously Dylan knows what he's doing when he's singing. I agree with the examples Joe used in the rest of his post too. I would have to think closer about the Elvis part though. I sometimes feel that he doesn't sing as well as an Elvis should, but I have not tried to analyze what it is that gives me this feeling. But I still say that Dylan doesn't know how to play harmonica (in some sense). I hope this answers Roy's question too. Tom Ekeberg Oslo, Norway http://home.sol.no/~tekeberg/
Re: single most influential, cont.
Carl W.: As a footnote to our discussion, see the new issue of the Atlantic, including an article arguing that Dylan changed pop music more than any other single figure, "including Sinatra, Elvis or the Beatles." Of course. He single handedly made it all right not to know how to sing, not to know how to play and still be a big star. Tom Ekeberg Oslo, Norway http://home.sol.no/~tekeberg/
RE: Updates
But the larger point for me, to say it one more time, is the notion of blame. The conversations here (and Mr. Anonymous' assertion that sucky bands are a threat to the roots music movement) is like a bunch of restaurant critics suggesting that the sucky Malaysian restaurant should shut down before they ruin everyone's taste for the good stuff... This is where you lose me, Todd, because I haven't suggested, nor do I think Mr. Anonymous suggested, that some external authority ought to shut anyone down. I do think - and I'm speaking for myself, obviously, and not Mr. Anonymous, who may be making a different argument - that this is a fairly specific issue related to how these styles are perceived on first encounter. I'm not getting into this really, but from a rockabilly (and 50's rock'n'roll in general) point of view it has always been a problem that sucky bands create or confirm prejudice against the music among the general public (and No Dep. writers (oops)). And I think this is a point everyone who has the faintest interest, save maybe the worst Grease/nostalgia/swing dance/classic FM enthusiast, will agree with. The problem is, of course, that at least during some periods of time the alternative has been no bands at all. Anyways, I'm off to see the local excuse for a Western Swing band, and actually they don't suck too bad at all. See you all later. Tom Ekeberg Oslo, Norway http://home.sol.no/~tekeberg/
