O que era pra ser apenas uma parceria em uma música, entre o talentoso Ben Harper e o premiado grupo Blind Boys of Alabama, acabou se tornando o disco “There Will Be A Light”.

Trata-se de um disco Gospel, com belas melodias e a impressionante atuação dos velhinhos Blind Boys of Alabama.

(faixa extraida do trabalho “Live At The Apollo”, fruto de uma turnê realizada em 2004 pelos músicos.)

Sexual Healing. La canción más conocida de Marvin Gaye (junto con What’s Going On) lanzada por el mítico sello de música negra Motown. Ben Harper cambia las bases ochenteras (la original fue lanzada en el 82) por un sonido más acústico, eso sí, manteniendo (aumentando en mi opinión) todo el sentimiento que tiene la canción.

Marvin Gaye.

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals. Live at the Hollywood Bowl (DVD indispensable en cualquier colección que se precie). Atentos a tres detalle: el traje de todos (Javi dice que se quiere casar con uno como el de Ben), los coros de Juan Nelson (el bajista para los no iniciados) y en el minuto 3:37, con esta canción de fondo, la conquista es segura.

Buen finde!!

Technology continues to make it so easy to experience what you may have missed. Example, if you didn’t see Austin City Limits this past Saturday evening (November 21, 2009), then check out the following:

http://video.pbs.org/video/1335500400/

You will love the Ben Harper segment! In case you don’t know who he is, he’s an excellent folk rock and blues musician!

Also, 10,000 photos went into making the following video of their appearance on ACL.

kenne

Rickie Lee Jones: Balm In Gilead (Fantasy 0888072317604)
A little break from jazz proper for some compatible folk-rock-country with swing overtones, and guest slots from Bill Frisell as well as Nashville types like Vic Chesnutt and Alison Kraus, and Ben Harper.

This is perhaps a more conventional album stylistically from Rickie Lee but a more consistent and comfortable set of songs than some of her other releases over recent years.

There’s some lazy swinging stuff in the Peyroux vein courtesy of The Moon Is Made Of Gold, written by Rickie Lee’s father, some slow, measured spiritual music in His Jeweled Floor, some pretty straight Nashville in Remember Me and some of the that Muscle Shoals-tinged R&B in Wild Girl.

The Blue Ghazel is an instrumental with some honking baritone saxophone, and the closer, Bayless St, could be a Celtic classic folk song were it not another Jones original.

It’s officially November. Now where’s that snuggie?
I’ve decide to minimize the formatting of Music for Moodies, not out of want but due to my lack of time to link pictures and what not. I know it’s not as aesthetically pleasing as past entries but I can promise that I will continue to deliver quality songs for your aural pleasure.

mp3: Two Tongues [The Swell Season]
“Two Tongues” embodies the harmonious sound of bittersweet disappointment from The Swell Season (Academy Award winners Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová from the movie “Once”). In a New York Times article about their new album “Strict Joy,” the duo was asked how it was working on a new album together after their fresh break-up. Markéta answered the question with her usual simple maturity by defining the organic purpose of all arts. “Like Glen always puts it, you live your life, and the residue of that life you lead becomes the music,” she said.

mp3: Boa Sorte/Good Luck [Vanessa da Mata and Ben Harper]
I was watching House the other day and a really beautiful song by Ben Harper came on (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZLp5oLHgvM) which I could not pirate yet due to its relative newness. However, I did come across this lovely bilingual acoustic duet by Ben Harper and Grammy Award winning Brazilian songstress (and former pre-med student) Vanessa da Mata.

mp3: Ms. Harmony [Robin Thicke]
Despite the seemingly emasculating (Sarah’s thoughts, not mine) high pitched tone Robin Thicke takes on for this low key guitar ballad, I still think he’s the man. It also doesn’t hurt that the song contains copious amounts of bongo playing.

O refrão diz:

It’s up to you now.
It’s up to you now.
Don’t want to be your broken dream
We’ve run out of fate somehow.
And it’s up to you now.

Translating

Cabe a você agora.
Cabe a você agora.
Não quero ser o seu sonho frustrado

Tenho o sonho de conhecer a ÁFRICA.

Essa música  me remete ao continente, é   um  dos sonhos, conhecer  as belezas e mazelas de lá.

Sinto que um dia vou por lá, pra alguma missão muito punk , e  essa música do Harper me faz sentir isso, posso fazer sempre mais do que faço, tanto aqui quanto na África.

Here’s the songs that are topping my playlist this week. As always, a couple of these will be used in the music round on Nov. 11. The link will take you to iTunes to hear a sample of the songs.

1. The “In” Crowd – The Ramsey Lewis Trio
2. Please Don’t Talk About Murder While I’m Eating – Ben Harper
3. Get My Drink On – Toby Keith
4. Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio
5. Fell On Black Days – Soundgarden
6. Suddenly I See – K.T. Tunstall

Uh. Oh. It’s happening already. WordPress is replacing my Facebook addiction (see entry below). I must restrain myself.

But with unfinished thoughts about being alone and experiencing solitude bouncing around in my head, I wanted to share the following two things, dichotomies in my journey toward wholeness (and probably in yours, too). So here is Ben Harper, singing eloquently about one side of being alone:

And here is Adrienne Rich on being alone:

“Song”
Adrienne Rich

You’re wondering if I’m lonely:
OK then, yes, I’m lonely
as a plane rides lonely and level
on its radio beam, aiming
across the Rockies
for the blue-strung aisles
of an airfield on the ocean.

You want to ask, am I lonely?
Well, of course, lonely
as a woman driving across country
day after day, leaving behind
mile after mile
little towns she might have stopped
and lived and died in, lonely

If I’m lonely
it must be the loneliness
of waking first, of breathing
dawn’s first cold breath on the city
of being the one awake
in a house wrapped in sleep

If I’m lonely
it’s with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it’s neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning.

POSTED BY : SKYWALkER

Hello DC! Just posted what’s probably have the most decent podcast thus far. Trust me — you’d be missing out if you didn’t jive on these jams. Good mix here, including DC’s fave jam from Phish’s Exile on Main Street cover at Festival 8. We also got some swamp rock, bone-in funk, and some more subtle numbers that totally seal the deal.

Click here to listen to and download the Decent Community Podcast.

The Community would also appreciate any feedback on these larries. Maybe some suggestions, or some jams you’re dying for other people to hear. Just give us a holler – DecentCommunity@gmail.com. We’d love to hear about what you’re listening to, ways to improve to the podcast, etc. Really hope you enjoy the podcast.

Ben gives us a tour of the Claremont Folk Music Center, the store founded by his grandparents in the 1950s. Ben grew up there, restringing guitars and learning about music genres from around the world. “It’s the start of my passion for music and specifically the slide guitar,” he tells us. He introduces his new band, Relentless7: Jason Mozersky on lead guitars, Jesse Ingalls on bass and keys, and Jordan Richardson on drums. Hear the band play “Shimmer & Shine” and “Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart).”

Current Music

Ahí va mi selección de canciones para esta semana…

Lunes: Los tipos duros no bailan (Ahora piden tu cabeza) – Ariel Rot

Martes: 1234 – Feist

Miércoles: Ash Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) – Elvis Perkins

Jueves: Jesus etc. (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) – Wilco

Viernes: Car wheels on a gravel road (Car wheels on a gravel road) – Lucinda Williams

Sábado: ¿Quién se acuerda de mí? a.k.a Desnudo e invicto (Mátame) – Le punk

Domingo: Forever (Welcome to the cruel world) – Ben Harper

- As a kid, Harper grew up playing music in his grandfather’s music store, which was a fertile music grounds frequented by many well-regarded musicians, and Ben had honed a distinctive, original guitar style by twenty.

- By twenty, the legendary Taj Mahal had swooped Harper up to record music with him, and tour.

- His music is wide-ranging and ever-evolving, arguably moreso than  any other artist, and he has been recording albums for over 15 years. 

“Forever” off Welcome to the Cruel World (1994)

“Better Way” off Both Sides of the Gun (2006)

“With My Own Two Hands” off Diamonds on the Inside (2003)

4:00 a.m. mi insomnio es evidente e insano, pero hay buenas razones para estar despierta aún, quizás mi lamparita de la mesita de noche es un buen motivo (o excusa, según se mire), pero cuando tengo tantas ideas dándome vueltas en la cabeza dormir es misión imposible.

Ya es noviembre y quizás es mi fascinación por los días “uno” como cuando inicias una nueva dieta, siempre dices éste lunes será ! y resulta que van pasando los lunes y tu dieta sigue consistiendo en azúcares y carbohidratos.

ya me perdí…

Pues sí, que hoy es el primer día de un nuevo mes que ya hemos vivido antes, pero es el primer día de muchos que están por venir, resignada, mentalizada, convencida quizás, apenas ayer era octubre 31 no ha pasado mucho tiempo para decir que todo ha cambiado, pero si para proponermelo.

ya basta de tantos azúcares y carbohidratos y que conste hablo metafóricamente por que justo hoy tengo una cena con amigos y no será precisamente  a base de lechuga y tomate.

Y en esos andares de la melancolía apareció en modo random de mi mp3 Ben Harper cantando with so many people to love in my life
why do i worry about one but you put the happy in my ness you put the good times in to my fun and it’s so hard to do and so easy to say but some times you have to walk away…”

i´m just walking away…

Lately I’m thinking…

I think I hurt my neck taking this photo

This is really interesting…

Apparently Pearl Jam likes to rock (likes to rock?). I walked out of there and my head was ringing. Fun show though! Ben Harper opened for them which reminded me of the time in college when I got into Ben Harper and also was listening to some Pearl Jam and I made a mix with both artists on it. I called it “Pearl Harper” and still think it’s one of my greatest creative accomplishments….

Shout out to…

Mikey and Nebel for a fun time time in Seattle

This is really interesting…

Joey got here yesterday and at 11:00 PM last night we hit the point where someone asks “what’s a good two person drinking game”. Tanner I’m pretty sure you know what the answer was

The Soapbox:

Sorry for the lack up updates this week. I’ll do better tomorrow. On a side note it’s the first 2 rounds of kickball playoffs tonight. We have a bye in the first and then have a potential matchup against the unicorns for the 2nd week in a row. click this link for some motiviation…GET UP!

Today, while working… I find my mind wandering to my friend Brian.  It’s been almost five months since the world lost one of the most amazing men it has or ever will see.  I did a lot of thinking last night and heard Brian’s genuine words of encouargement that I’ll never hear elsewhere.

When his wife was asked if there was anything we could do for the family, she simply said “continue to live well.”

In the back of my mind, I hear him.  Shine brightly.  Look ahead.  Don’t settle.

Continue to live well.  That’s what Brian did… and there’s something to be said for truly living.

And then I found this.

http://www.benharper.net/lifeline/

It reads:

Hey all,

Ben here.

Never a dress code, but just a head’s up. The IC’s and I are gonna dust off and dress up a little for this next tour, so feel free to do the same….only if you’re in the mood.

As much as this tour is focused around the kickoff of “Lifeline,” these upcoming theater shows are going to be an opportunity for us to play a lot of the songs that we haven’t gotten to as often as we’d like — especially songs that we feel fit well with “Lifeline.”

It will be a different musical experience, and I am excited for this — more of a sit down, acoustic show, some amplification as well, but a mixture of all this and hopefully some new covers too.

Let’s just dedicate this first tour of “Lifeline” to Brian and that eternal smile of his. I feel he’d be right up front for this one. You know what I’m saying.

From the IC’s and myself, thank you for the definition you give to the music we make.

-b