“Lucky Break” by Hank Dogs from “Bareback”
“The Dozens,” “Caroline Herring, “Golden Apples of the Sun.”
“These Sunday Nights, “Greg Trooper, “The Williamsburg Affair.”
“The Story I Heard,” Blind Pilot, “3 Rounds & A Sound”
The Guitar,” “Guy Clark, “Somedays the Song Writes You.”
“Decimate,” David Ford, “Songs For the Road.”
“Homecoming (Walter’s Song),” Vienna Teng, “Warm Strangers.”
“It Makes Me Wonder,” Blue Rodeo, “Small Miracles.”
“The Man Behind the Drums,” Robert Earl Keen, “The Rose Hotel.”
“You Can Be the Rain,” Randall Bramblett, “Thin Places.”
“True Colors,” Caroline Herring, “Golden Apples of the Sun.”
“Mississippi River Runnin’ Backwards, Tom Russell, “Blood and Candle Smoke.”
“Kingdom of Days,” Bruce Springsteen, “Working on a Dream.”
“Can’t Hardly Wait,” Justin Townes Earle, “Midnight at the Movies.”
“Stuck in the Middle,” Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Speed of Life.”
“Tales of the Islander,” Caroline Herring, “Golden Apples of the Sun.”
“Beautiful Road,” Kate Taylor, “Beautiful Road.”
“Dance Me To The End of Love (Live),” Leonard Cohen, “Essential.”
“Widescreen World,” Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey, “Here And Now.”
“I Don’t Want A Lover,” Texas, “Southside.”
“French Navy,” Camera Obscura, “My Maudlin Career.”
“Heavy Weather Traffic,” Katydids, “Katydids.”
“Turn On A Dream,” Box Tops, “Ultimate Box Tops.”
“O My Soul,” Big Star, “Big Star – #1 Record.”
“All I Want (Is Everything,” Boo Hewerdine and Darden Smith, “Evidence.”
“The Wolves (Act 1 & 2),” Bon Iver, “For Emma, Forever Ago.”
“The Kid From Spavinaw,” Tom Russell, “Modern Art.”
“Something That I Do,” Robert Earl Keen, “The Rose Hotel.”
“Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays,” The Baseball Project, “Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails.”
“December Skies,” Greg Trooper, “Floating.”
“Going Up The Country,” Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Speed of Life.”
“Standing Still,” Jeff Black, “Mining.”

Caroline Herring’s “Tales of the Islander.”

I just stumbled upon this on the I-tunes store and thought the previews sounded pretty great so I bought it. It’s from 2006 and it’s basically a compilation abum of some pretty great bands (a lot of which I have never heard of) covering some famous Christmas songs and some originals too. I love Christmas (maybe even more than I love Halloween) and while we are still a good two months away I really just had to have this! I don’t know there’s just something about Christmas that makes me feel so happy and peaceful. Anyways, here’s the tracklist and some samples:

1. Duels – “Do You Hear What I Hear?”

2. Iain Archer – “Little Drummer Boy”

3. David Ford – “Have Yourself A Bitter Little Christmas”

4. The Late Greats – “Sleigh Ride”

5. Ingo Star Cruiser – “Just Like Christmas” (feat. Gaby Fröden)

6. Amusement Parks On Fire – “The Day It Snowed” (feat. Leila Moss)

7. Duke Special and David Ford – “Of Whoredom and Falconry”

8. Emmy The Great – “Christmas In Prison” (feat. Lightspeed Champion)

9. 747s – “Blue Christmas”

10. Amazing Pilots – “White Christmas”

11. Swimming – “In Dulci Jubilo”

12. The Joseph and Mary Chain – “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

13. Minuteman – “Last Christmas”

14. Envelopes – “Pink Christmas”

15. El Perro Del Mar – “Oh! What A Christmas”

16. Electric Soft Parade – “The Friday Before Christmas”

17. Matt Harding – “Purple Snowflakes”

18. Sketches For Albinos – “Let It Snow”

Following the defection of Ian Parsley last Friday, more salt was rubbed into the Alliance wounds this morning with the Belfast Telegraph reporting the opinion of Mr. Parsley that the Alliance Party has no major influence.    

The Alliance Party was born out of the troubles which afflicted Northern Ireland, beginning as a pressure group within the Unionist Party.  Its core principle was then and remains that it is a cross-community party.  Is that all there is to the Alliance Party?   

Their website would seem to suggest this is the case.  On the page which describes their principles, the headline words are “delivering constructive opposition to the sectarian consensus.” This is followed by some general bullet-point political objectives on building a society free of segregation, a shared society, an economically independent society and a sustainable society.   

All of these objectives are laudible and certainly consistent with what the Conservatives wish to achieve for Northern Ireland.  On the other hand, you have to ask what sort of party the Alliance would be if there was not sectarianism in Northern Ireland ?  

The Conservatives and Ulster Unionists base their politics for the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on conservatism.  What “ism” does the Alliance Party have?   

There was a time when political commentators believed that their social and economic policies were based on a form of liberalism.  Alliance politicians have been invited to declare that.  David Ford will not say that.   

In raising these questions, one soon realises that this party can only exist as an opposition party.  They only exist because there is one big problem which all right thinking decent people also want to see an end to.  Once sectarianism goes, the raison d’être of the Alliance Party effectively disappears.

Last Friday, Ian Parsley, North Down Councillor and the Alliance Candidate for Northern Ireland at the European Elections joined the Conservative Party.  

 The comments made by the Alliance Party Leader, David Ford,  in reaction to the defection are delusional.  This is a very serious blow for the Alliance Party (more to be written about that later). 

Meanwhile, Mr. Parsley is to be congratulated and warmly welcomed by all conservatives.

David Ford @ Bloomsbury Theatre

It was with some trepidation that I entered the lofty expanse of the Bloomsbury Theatre on this cold autumnal Saturday night. Over the years, Ford’s music has provided me with a suitcase full of memories and his lonely laments offer a somewhat rose-tinted, kaleidoscopic soundtrack to my life. ‘To Hell With The World’, a song which unahamedly made me weep like a baby at the heavenly Union Chapel gig, only a year shy, failed to upset my steady camera hand. ‘Song For The Road’, a song too which drags me right back to my formulative London years, only served to remind me that Mr Ford’s songwriting trancends love – these are anthems for life.

Performing to an almost sell-out crowd (no mean feat considering the gig had zero promotion), performing songs from his beloved back-catalogue and using the space as a soundboard for songs from the as-yet untitled third album. The one-two suckerpunch of ‘Requiem’ and ‘Call To Arms’ was masteful, ‘Surfing Guantanamo Bay’ is a snarling, rockier Ford, like kicking your woman in the teeth after one too many sambucas. Raw and edgy.

Now, I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen ‘State Of The Union’, but tonight’s rendition could have been the first time. It was an amazing and effortless performance…

The closing moments will forever be etched in my memory. As the lights rose on the stage for the last time, Ford treated us to a stripped down, acoustic and vulnerable ‘Til The Day’, his band left to pack away instruments that lay scattered, like empty shells, depleted, after a great war. Ford left the stage to a standing ovation, leaving us all wondering just why the hell this man isn’t bigger.

Matt out x

David Ford @ Bloomsbury Theatre

David Ford @ Bloomsbury Theatre

David Ford @ Bloomsbury Theatre

David Ford @ Bloomsbury Theatre

What do these songs have in common?
Answers on a Postcard Please!

1. The Police – Every Breath You Take

2. David Ford – Katie
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3. Lady Gaga – Paparazzi

4. Pink – Please don’t leave me

Basics of poetry / lyric writing tonight. Please comment if you found this helpful.

Tracks played out tonight were:

? (Nonna Mordukova); Go to Hell (David Ford); Briu de La Craiova (Fulgerica & The Mahala Gypsies); There’s A Hole At The End Of The Tunnel (The Black Hakawati); Arable Boy (Astile featuring Cornye Westcountry); Lugendetektor Sein (Rupert Falsch); Summercat (Billie the Vision & The Dancers); Enniscorthy in a Bottle (The Bloody Irish Boys); Varsity Drag (The Revelers); Fitter Happier (The Found Sound Orchestra).

Belfast Custom House

Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club

Bell X1

Think day three was the least populated of the festival and was a little disappointed on behalf of Duke Special in his hometown especially as about two-thirds of the audience had gone by the time he arrived on stage at about 11.20! Also by that stage most people had gotten very messy – I thought us Dubs were bad on the drinking front but from what I saw on Saturday we are nothing compared to the Northerners! I don’t think Duke got the best reception – people were tired and drunk and not sure that his style of music suits a headline act at a festival. Not sure it translates to that outdoor environment – hard as he tried. My sister likened it to the end of a drunken wedding.

Duke Special

Photo: Kate Southall

They burst on stage with a new song about Guantanamo Bay with a slight jazz feel to it. This was followed by the oldie ‘I Don’t Care What You Call Me’ from his debut solo album which brought him so much attention ‘I Sincerely Apologise For All The Trouble I’ve Caused’. He certainly creates mesmerising music putting his heart and soul into every word. There was a new song he shared with us written for Steven Carroll, the Catholic police officer murdered by the Continuity IRA in Northern Ireland in March of this year, “Steven”. He said he was inspired after hearing his widow, Kate, talk on the radio about how her husband had been killed over a piece of land and how inane that was when you had lost someone. It was a beautiful and emotional song.

I love the way he builds every song right in front of the audience. It’s like watching a master at work and it is no more evident than when he sings “State of the Union” – who knew one man can make so much noise! He uses a ‘looping pedal’ allowing him to build up layers of vocals, guitars, percussion and keyboards to create extremely powerful and beautiful layers of sound. He also introduced the wind-up music box into one of his songs. He ended with a compulsory audience participation to the chorus of “Cheer Up You Miserable F*ck”. The gig was close to perfect. I’m looking forward to the third album.

Beforehand, I ate at Wagamama’s on Stephen’s Green. I love these fab, fun, affordable noodle bars where you share communal tables. They are all into positive eating and I do feel positively healthy eating there. Try their teriyaki steak soba, it’s my favourite.
For more location and menu choices, check out http://www.wagamama.ie/

Love this heartfelt singer-songwriter David Ford. He plays the Sugar Club tonight. This is the first single from his album ‘Songs For The Road’ out October 2007.

For more information, check out his website: http://www.davidford.mu/

Esse é sem duvida um dos videos mais criativos e bem feitos que já vi. O cara fica tirando uns sons com alguns objetos que ficam gravados em dois compassos em loop. Depois ele vai agregando mais instrumentos até formar uma música…

Muito bom mesmo!! Vale a pena conferir…
.

David Ford interviewed me and Nina Katchadourian about Our Subject is You for WFDD’s Triad Arts Up Close. You can listen and/or download this 2 part interview, which aired on July 2 and July 8, 2009,  by visiting:

WFDD Interview – Our Subject is You Part 1

http://wfdd.org/tauc.php/pl1246510800/cal1246424400/ts=

WFDD Interview – Our Subject is You Part 2

http://wfdd.org/tauc.php/pl1247029200/cal1246424400/ts=

incrível, esse vídeo foi melhor que um semestre de desenho de som na faculdade…

Una delegazione di Alliance guidata dal leader David Ford, ha oggi incontrato Sir Hugh Orde. I principali temi all’ordine del giorno sono stati: le crescenti minacce dei dissidenti repubblicani, e la garanzia di finanziamenti alle forze di polizia.
David Ford, ha dichiarato: “Tenuto conto della minaccia posta in essere dai dissidenti repubblicani, vi sono crescenti preoccupazioni sull bilancio di polizia. E ‘essenziale che la polizia possa contare su di un sostegno finanziario che le permetta di svolgere il suo impegnativo lavoro”.
“Per tutelare la pace, le forze di polizia devono poter disporre di risorse sufficienti. La miglior rassicurazione per la comunità è vedere gli agenti in pattuglia e i quali meritano il meglio in termini di strumentazione e sicurezza”.

Alliance delegation meets with Hugh Orde (Alliance Party)
Alliance Leader David Ford MLA today led a party delegation to a meeting with PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde. The main issues discussed at the meeting were the threat posed by dissident republicans and the need to ensure the protection of funding for policing.
David Ford said: “Given the threat posed by dissident republicans, there are increasing concerns over the policing budget. It is essential that police are given the financial backing they need to carry out their challenging work. For example, they need investment in relation to specialised vehicles and IT.
“To protect the peace we hold so dear the police need adequate funding. The best reassurance to the community is the sight of frontline police officers on patrol, and those officers deserve the best of equipment and backup.”

Esto es un músico: ALUCINANTE!!!

A friend of mine sent this ditty my way this morning and I thought it worthy of sharing here.  This is parody of Sixteen Tons sung by David Ford and was featured on the Lars Larson Show.  It pretty much sums up what I think about what is going on with our economic situation.

Wish I could write more, but it’s been a busy day.

DAVID FORD
Oran Mor, Glasgow, March 29 * *

It’s not easy being a singer/songwriter. The musical landscape is cluttered with troubadours trying to express a sentiment that’s already been expressed thousands of times before. The trick according to Eastbourne’s David Ford is to avoid sounding “samey”.
The idea of trying to be different was evident throughout tonight’s marathon show. Seats were laid on, an interval punctuated his two fifty minute sets while the stage was dressed in something approaching theatrical style.
Jumping between upright piano, drum kit and guitar, building layers of sound, Ford was enthusiastic enough but his music, a curious mix of Duke Special and Damien Rice, never really felt anything other than clichéd.
Songs which would easily find a home on US teen dramas came thick and fast – saccharine troubadour-fare dispensed with the help of a loop station. When loop pedals first appeared at the feet of singer/songwriters across the world they provided a novel solution to playing live, but the novelty has worn off and now, more often than not, they make performances feel gimmicky. That was certainly the case tonight.
In the end he may have avoided sounding “samey” but with derivative melodies and a delivery that lacked real soul it was to be a fairly forgettable evening all round at Oran Mor tonight.

Since I began blogging on 22^nd January, there have been three party conferences. Listening to the speeches of party leaders so far, the speech given by David Ford of the Alliance wins by a distance for the manner in which he has measured recent events and set out his party’s vision. 

His speech has been transcribed on Slugger O’Toole.  The blog which highlighted it has had only one comment before now.  It deserves more.  

I have been critical of Peter Robinson on this blog many times but I do agree with David Ford that he behaved like a First Minister should do following the murders of two soldiers and a police officer some two weeks ago.  

The passage of Ford’s speech which I would like to highlight particularly, concerns sectarianism.  This subject has been “like a brick wall” to the electoral progress of the Alliance Party for many years.  The problem of sectarianism represented a large part of his speech.  He said this:

But some parts of Northern Ireland have been left behind, and day-to-day community relations are as bad as they were at the height of the troubles.
The estates of Central Craigavon, where the murder of Stephen Carroll occurred, are such a place. In dozens of other estates across the region, too many people have seen nothing of any peace dividend, either economically or in terms of their ability to live their lives free from fear.

But progress can and has been made, even in places where the legacy of the past is at its most difficult. Just ask the women of Suffolk and Lenadoon, whose estates first hit the headlines in the early 1970s as a byword for intimidation and sectarianism. Suffolk is a tiny area, the last Protestant community along the seven mile stretch of road from Divis Street to Twinbrook. Its people have often felt isolated and vulnerable, have often been under attack.  Their neighbours in Lenadoon have also suffered more than their fair share – far more than their fair share – of violence.  You might expect them to be the last in Northern Ireland to agree to take their peace-line down.

But in reality, that peace line is the first to be coming down.  Through years of painstaking work, the people of Suffolk and Lenadoon, especially the women of Suffolk and Lenadoon, have built up confidence in one another.  They are taking their peace line down, fence by fence, little by little. No outsider asked them to do it.  For a long time they worked with no money, little outside help and little recognition.  But they have built a beacon for what Northern Ireland could and should be like.  Where they have led, it is the duty of all of us to follow.

And that’s too often the story of desectarianising Northern Ireland. Progress is being made every day – but too often it is made by ordinary people with politicians failing to show leadership, sometimes even undermining their work.  But building a shared society in Northern Ireland should be in everybody’s interest. 

Let me go back to the events at Massereene barracks two weeks ago.  For years, sectarian and tribal politicians have propagated the message that this is a society divided into two antagonistic and mutually exclusive groups, that everyone is either Protestant and Unionist, or Catholic and Nationalist. We in Alliance have always argued that this is a myth, but it has been an uphill fight. Until now.

The reaction in Antrim two weeks ago proves that the ‘two communities’ this is not only a perverse myth but is actually a complete falsehood. It is a lie.  Our people hold a variety of political and religious opinions, and are becoming more diverse in lifestyle and ethnicity.  But the murders in Antrim and Craigavon have made them more united than ever. 

Supposedly, the Catholic parishioners of Antrim belong to ‘the same community’ as the members of the Real IRA.  It didn’t feel like that as they crossed Castle Street to the security tape that Sunday morning.

Supposedly, the Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian congregations belong to ‘the other side’.  It certainly didn’t feel like that either as they joined us on the Randalstown Road.  As a representative of Antrim, as a citizen of Antrim, my sadness was tinged with pride in my community, my friends and neighbours. 

Unity in revulsion at murder is moving to recognition that unity is essential for a healthy, viable community.  Healthy and viable, economically, environmentally and socially. And for all of us, only a society that is truly made up by one community can face the economic and technological challenges of the twenty first century and succeed. 

This last fortnight, our political leaders have met the challenge of standing together against violence: will they now meet the challenge of standing together to build a shared future?

Building a shared future is both a top-down and bottom-up process.  It requires grass-roots action and a real determination of leadership to do more than chuckle together: politicians must give a real lead and provide the resources. That includes a willingness to take responsibility of every aspect of government locally, including the administration of Justice.” 
David Ford is right to point to improvement.  The reaction to the murders certainly represented progress. 

He is also right to point out that progress on this issue requires both “bottom up” and “top down” initiatives.  He is suggesting that politicians take initiative but he is not likely to be satisfied on that.  The DUP, Sinn Fein and the SDLP depend for their existence on voting along sectarian lines. 

David Ford did not mention the part of the Eames Bradley report which highlights the issue of sectarianism.  In the report, the Churches are singled out for criticism for not doing enough about Sectarianism.  So far, the Churches have got off lightly in this debate.  It is time to turn the heat on them.

Get your coat ‘cause the righteous are leaving,

‘Cause they can’t work out what the hell to believe in

David Ford – State of the Union

Where have all the heroes gone? Where are the golden halos and eagled wings that once illuminated the ominous alleyways? Replacing them are neon lights that glare with vulgarity and unashamed disease, leaving us disorientated, stumbling in every direction but home. Kill the last romantic and string him from the ramparts live on national television; there’s no place for him anymore. Replace him with more delinquent obscenities who set out to consume drugs and alcohol but end up being consumed by them.

Publicity simply means styled hair and whitened teeth, and when aesthetics lie so flagrantly, it only follows that words do too. Sentences spew like volcanic pus from every other mouth and gush over airwaves like an enraged plague. Soon the whole world will be covered and the only thing worth listening to will be the sound of the previously intolerable boasting, “I told you so.”

Hope is a word long removed from our vocabulary, ever since belief got in everyone’s way. Stars try to smother us, carving an earth-shaped hole in the sky and pressing delete. There is no counter-culture; no aspiring alternative to swoop down and snatch us from the bejewelled jaws of our own decaying failures. We’re stuck in the mud and we deserve to be where we are. Kill the last romantic and hang him from the cathedral Starbucks so we can condemn him with a warm beverage.

Who’d want to be a hero, a romantic, an optimist? Doomed with certain defeat, it’s only natural to take the tainted, fictional victory. The righteous have left long ago. They knew what to believe in, they knew it all too well, but they were sucked dry with every repulsive caricature humanity could throw at them. The only people worth knowing are fossils. Relics of a long-forgotten conviction that we could firework the night sky. But it remains dark.

I never made time,
You never made much sense
We never stood a chance,
If we’re honest.

You were not the first,
And I won’t be the last,
But if it makes it better,
Well you can call me what you will.

Get home late,
No one’s here.
Pace around the house
And sit in my chair.

And if you think of me,
It doesn’t mean a thing.
So why don’t you just tell me
What you really think again?

I don’t care what you call me
Because it won’t hurt any more.

I know I let you down,
And Christ, you let me know
Every time
And time again.

Just another afternoon
Get drunk and disappear
So call me what you will

Rain it on down.
What else can you throw at me
I haven’t heard before?

And tear me on down.
I am unforgivable.
So why don’t you just tell me
What you really think of me?

And scream me on down
I am so forgettable
Yes, I know.

And shoot me on down
Don’t you think this isn’t killing me?
But it’s no more than I deserve.

I don’t care what you call me.
Because it won’t hurt any more.