Here Comes The Sun

This Saturday was UMW’s Multicultural Fair and I think that the best part of the whole festival was the array of music. There was a gospel choir that sang in front of Trinkle and they were my favorite. As people stood around and watched they couldn’t help but move. Everyone was clapping and swaying and those who knew the words sang along. The sun was war and bright and the sky was a brilliant blue and the voices of this choir were so clear and strong. You could still hear them half way down campus walk.

There was also a Chinese dragon dance performance. The movements of the large decorative dragon costume were responses to the music being played along with it. There was a drummer and two cymbal players. There were a lot of younger children running around the dragon during the performance. They were laughing and screaming as they danced around with the costume. I found it fascinating that the performers were so in-tune with the instrumentalists. Obviously this comes with much training and both sets of performers must do their part in order to give such an electric performance.

There were several other musical performers during the day. There was an African Tribal performances where people used Djembe Drums and gourd shakers that have the neatest tonal quality in their sound. I think Djembe’s are so amazing. It is such a small drum, but it produces so many different pitches.
There were several other musical performers during the day and all in all, Saturday was just a wonderful day for enjoying live music, good food, and unique people.

Hall & Oates song “Sara Smile”

Here is the song that Magan and I are presenting on tomorrow….Hope you all enjoy!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Red3R17Fl…

“I Gave Sarah A Piggyback Ride From Jefferson to Jepson”

This past Thursday, the Labor Rights Club hosted a live concert in Ball Circle on campus. My friends and I were walking back to our dorm when we stumbled upon the event. All the bands/artists who preformed were students at UMW and all of them were pretty good. The first band that played (Tzarina) was more of your standard “rock” band. Drums, electric guitar, and electric bass, lead singer, and back up vocals. I couldn’t really make out what the lyrics of their songs were because they didn’t have the instruments and vocals balanced very well, but what I did hear I enjoyed. Their sound reminded me of Coheed and Cambria.

The next act was just a guy and his guitar. I really enjoyed his performance. His sound was more of a folk influenced rock. He did a cover of the song “Wagon Wheel” which was really good. During his performance there were two younger boys with their mother who were listening to him sing and they made me smile. They knew all the words to these older songs that the artist was covering and they were purely enjoying the music.

The next act wasn’t so great. It was just a guy and an electric guitar and I just wasn’t really digging the way he used his voice. He held out his ending notes and tried to use his vibrato but just ended up throwing himself off key. The funny thing was, even though I didn’t like the way he sang, I really liked his lyrics. Now all of the things he said seem to escape me but just take my word on it, the lyrics were what made sitting there worthwhile.

The last group was by far my favorite. It was three guys, one played guitar, one played flute, and one just sang, well rapped more or less. Anyway, I found this group to be the most entertaining because what they did was completely ridiculous. They had one song called “I Gave Sara A Piggyback Ride From Jefferson to Jepson” which has been stuck in my head since Thursday. Basically, it was a story about the triumph in giving a piggyback ride for that long. The other song they sang was “I Been To Jail Y’all”. I got to enjoy a good laugh while they preformed and I thought it was a great closing act. The flute was probably the best part of their whole performance. haha.

So Thursday was a pretty good day. While sitting there on my blanket, studying, and soaking up some good music in the warm spring sun, I felt completely content. That whole situation made me feel like I was really at college.

Soiled It. Soiled It. Soiled It

This is by no means a post that will contain profound musical thought or discussion, but at any rate it does have to do with music and if feel it could present a good commenting opportunity. So, Guitar Hero III. My roommate brings it into our room and it has officially taken over my life. I beat the game on medium this weekend and was quite proud of myself until I came to the realization that what this success really translated into was a large waist of my free time over the past few days. At any rate, I have discovered a few things about the entrancing game. 1) It is the only video game I will ever be good at 2) Having heard the songs you play on the game previously really helps you play better 3) It is absolutely nothing like playing a real guitar in any way shape or form (I do play real guitar so I can make the comparison) and finally 4) It can completely RUIN songs that you love.
Because all of my roommate’s friends and my friends come over and play the game (often into the late hours of the night) I have heard the same songs over and over and over! For instance the song “Barracuda” by Heart. I used to really like that song. I even have it on my i-pod. Now when I hear that song I get rather irritated and turn it off, skip it, ect…There are other songs that have made my list of “no-longer-listenables” like “Black Magic Woman” by Santana or “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson, “Rock You Like a Hurricane” by the Scorpions, “Paint It Black” bye The Rolling Stones, and finally “Schools Out For Summer” by Alice Cooper. Now, I didn’t have a huge attachment to every song on this list prior to my Guitar Hero experience, but now there is simply no hope for any of these songs. I guess waking up at 2 am to “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” for the 3rd time in one night would make anyone hate that song, I’m just finding out first hand how easy it is to ruin something I once enjoyed.

Everywhere

The past few days of class we have been doing these presentations on various songs. Each group has to argue what they believe the songs Genre is. I do miss the some times heated discussions on Miller, Cohn, and Guralnick, but I really do like these presentations. Some of the artists of the songs we have been assigned are common names that I have heard over and over. But even though I have often heard them I still hadn’t really ever listened to The Rolling Stones, or the Kinks, or Monkies. All in all, I really have liked this saga of presentations. It’s been nice to hear peoples opinions on their songs, I feel like these projects have allowed us to hear from some people who have never actually spoken in class before. (I am aware that this was probably one of Cambell’s motives for having the class do these presentations.)

I also like these presentations because what I am learning is inspiring me to listen to new music, things I haven’t ever really thought of listening to or really just bothered listening too before. I have a new found appreciation for the Rolling Stones now that I have done my presention on the song “Tumbling Dice” and before hand, I would have proudly considered my self a supreme “disliker” of the Rolling Stones.

I really hope that these presentations get more interesting and more exciting. I think people like the project, I’m just not sure anyone is really overcome with inspiration.

Can I Get An Amen?

I would like to start of by saying that last week I was very sad that I had to leave class, after the AMEN-fest that started us off, I bet that the rest was rather entertaining. But, Tuesday didn’t leave me disappointed. Once again Prof. Campbell did his best to get the class to discover the true meaning of Soul music and the kind of energy and emotion that such music can evoke in an individual. Again, his choir of “amen’s” were less than soulful. At any rate we got to listen to great music.

Something we discussed Tuesday brought me back to a former discussion we have had. When artists like Sam Cooke would gear up the crowd before they sang, their audience would shout out heart felt “amen’s” that truly poured from their souls. These people really got in to it. Soul music is an obsession, an experience that takes over a listener’s entire being. And so just as the audience is moved, so is the artist. We watched a video of Otis Redding performing, and his body was truly controlled by the music. His body mimicked what the instruments behind him were doing. His movements got the attention of the audience and effected their reaction to his performance but unlike other performers trying to arouse the audience, he was not being provocative in this bodily movements. In class we talked about how some artists do insane things on stage to get a rise out of their fans. Jimmy Hendrix may lick his guitar, John Mayer gyrates, Elvis did what Elvis does, and if you’re Marylin Manson, you take a slightly less subtle approach. This is where the previous conversation comes in.

Once in class we talk about fan obsession and Prof. Campbell asked us if we ever were at a concert or were just listening to a song and thought that the artists was truly speaking to us, singing that song for only us. Well, one of my friends from high school truly fell under that obsessed fan category when it came to Marylin Manson. She was completely elated when she got tickets to go to one of his concerts in Buffalo. Her anticipatory excitement grew rather annoying but at any rate I was happy she was getting to go. She went, and when she came back, she shared a wonderful story about Manson’s stage acts. Mr. Manson had actually stopped singing in the middle of a song to walk to the front of the stage and pee on his audience. Yes, pee. I didn’t quite understand her excitement as she told this tale, but then again I’m not a big Marylin Manson fan (some of his stuff is okay). The climax to the tale was that she her self had partaken in the golden shower, kept the t-shirt she wore that night, put it in a plastic-bag, and wasn’t planning on ever washing it. That my friends is true obsession.

Night Drive.

So, Tuesday in class we discussed the importance of song lyrics. This was actually quite funny because an hour or so before a friend of mine and I were discussing the lyrics to Jimmy Eat World’s “Night Drive”. We had both listened to this song on several occasions but neither of us had ever really thought about the lyrics that much even though we both knew all the words. So, Erin had an epiphany on Monday night and filled me in during class Education class early Tuesday. She sat down and said to me, “you know that Jimmy Eat World song, I think it’s about rape”. I hadn’t ever though about it in that context before, but after going over the lyrics in my head it did kind of make sense.

Prior to this conversation, I had thought that the song was about a boy and a girl fooling around in the back of a car. They end up having sex and they are both kind of uneasy about the whole thing but its the girls first time and she freaks, wants to stop, and ends up breaking up with the guy. As a result the guy is crushed, angry, and confused. So he writes a song about it. At any rate, I’m looking for other people’s opinions on the meaning of these lyrics. Erin and I are trying to hunt down the bands interpretation, but thus far, we have failed miserably. Here are the lyrics….

Lay back baby and we’ll do this right
There’s blankets in back we can use
I’ll start the car, but we’ll stay in park
the cold can kill us before fumes
Now’s the right time for a good song
Got something to say what I can’t
Do you feel bad, like I feel bad?
pour us a road, we’ll both drink and drive

Kiss me with your cherry lipstick
Never wash you off my face
Hit me I can take your cheap shots
leave you with the love we made

Come alive on the driver’s side
So close I taste your breath
Your lips go dry, but they’re sweet inside
wine must go right to your head
It’d be easy if you get mad
But three fingers point back to you
We could stay here
Stay out all night
No one will know
Us and the moonlight

Kiss me with your cherry lipstick
Never wash you off my face
Hit me, I can take your cheap shots
Leave you with the love we made

I set my watch by a street-side clock
a Needle in echo groove
You pierce my heart like a willing arm
Your ticking makes my blood move
There’s no way out
This fade out
Be Happy to get what you do
Make him notice
With both fists
Cause’ quiting alone will never get you dry

Never get you dry

Give Me Everything You Got Now
I don’t feel a single thing
Drag me out into the cold rain
Let it hover over me
Kiss me with your cherry lipstick
Never wash you off my face
Hit me, I can take your cheap shots
Leave you with the love we made

Hit me, I can take your cheap shot
Leave you with the love we made

Hit me, I can take your cheap shot
Leave you with the love we made

90’s Party

So, this past Saturday UMW was hosting a 90’s Party in the Great Hall. My suit-mates and I decided to check it out because it was an excuse to dance to the Backstreet Boys, Nsync, the Spice Girls, Aqua, the Spin Doctors, and the Macarena with no shame. This turned out to be a very good decision. I had more fun Saturday night than I have had in quite a while. It was really nostalgic, as far as nostalgia goes for and eighteen year old, to hear all those songs again. What was even more interesting was that I still remembered the words to most of the songs. We got to dance terribly, like we did as tweens in the nineties, we got to listen to the music we listened to in the nineties, we got the games we played in the nineties (such as Hungry Hungry Hippos, Candy Land, and Jenga), and we even got to eat what we ate in the nineties (fruit roll-ups, CaprieSuns, and Cheetos…okay so the food groups haven’t changed much). One of my suit-mates really made me think about how important this music was to me between ages 9-13 (give or take).

Hannah lived in Korea during here elementary and middle school years (her family did missionary work), so she never really experienced the boy-band phenomena or any of the other things that so very much defined those years of my life. She was thoroughly confused from the begging of the night on. I sent her a text message reading “90’s party, we are going!, get ready and to kick off the evening SPICEWORLD”. Her response “what is SPICEWORLD”. This statement sealed her dire need for going to this party. So on the way the rest of my group and I explained Spice World to Hannah and the fact that most girls our age saw that movie numerous times after it came out, even though it could have never been nominated for an Oscar. Later on at the dance “If You Wanna Be My Lover” came blasting over the speakers in the Great Hall. Communally, everyone in the room jumped up and down in place and chanted, “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends…”. Hannah stood there watching us in amazement and laughed at the fact that everyone could recite the words. Once the song reached it end she asked us “what did they say at the end?”, and we all looked at her and said “zigga zigg ahhh”. Most of the evening continued on that way. A song came on, three of the four of us squealed in delight, and Hannah swayed to music that she didn’t know the words to.

All of that craziness, the flashy, tacky, simplistic, and sappy music helped to make me the person I am. This dance made me wonder, how happy am I going to be at age 67 when I here “If You Wanna Be My Lover” on the oldies station? I will always unconditionally love that music. I love the way it makes me feel, I love that I get a natural high from it, and I love that I got to be part of all of it. I wish Hannah could have been here to experience all of it too. I still have my boy-band teenybopper CDs and I will love them forever. It may not have been as revolutionary as the music of the 60’s, but at age 10, I venture I would have told you that the music I listened to effected my world.

Art?

Cohn brought up a question in his chapter regarding the Beatles. He struggled to answer, “What is Art?” This got me thinking about my Theatre class 1st semester. We spent a great deal of time in that class discussing this very same question. The illustration my professor always used was ” If I were to poop on my desk, could I call it art?” As one might imagine, this question resulted in a plethora of interesting reactions and responses. Many said, “Art can only be defined by its creator”. Others said that art had to evoke a feeling or thought in its audience, but then again what defines arts audience? The class was able to pick out the major art forms: theatre, sculpture, painting, writing, and music.

So Cohn asks “what, by definition, is so great about art?” I know that this may have been a rhetorical question, but to ask such a question seems idiotic frankly. Art is a release. An expression of things that words cannot explain, to be completely cliché, an “outlet to the soul”. Art is a way for people to connect on a level that is more personal and intimate than any other. I believe that that is why music appeals to so many people. Music is an art form that everyone can enjoy. You don’t have to be literate to enjoy music and you don’t have to know what makes up the composition of a good painting to enjoy music. Music enables artists to communicate this that are not easily said. Personally, I am no fan of the band Nickel Back, but one of their songs really speaks to this subject, “Hard to say it, Time to sing it”.

Cohn says that the Beatles hardly measure up to the standards and disciplines of the art of music, yet who is he to define such standards or disciplines? The Beatles defined the art-form in the eyes of many people. Art speaks, and I don’t think that anyone could argue effectively that the Beatles’ music, that their art, spoke to no one. Cohn can argue that certain bands surpass others in their “greatness” and their importance to the music genius or mythology of the sixties, but one thing he is unable to argue is that the Beatles were unable to measure up to the standards of their art.

Its A Wonderful Time To Be Here

So…I’m very behind in my “bloging” …to say the least. But, back on track, and attempting to be more diligent in this. Tuesday in class we talked about the Beatles Sgt. Peppers album. My proffesor brought in a vinal 1st edition of Sgt. Peppers. I was so fun to see certian people in the classroom light up. I have to admit, even I was taken a back by the shinny spectical that lay before me. Shinny, come to find out, simply because that particular edition of Sgt. Peppers was made and released in England it self. You know I never took time out to think about where what I listen to music on was made. Now, I listen to music on a white Ipod Nano, probably made in China, music cultivated from I-tunes or CDs that I have purchased. And those CDs infact may also be made in China. But that Sgt. Peppers album cotained much more character. We learned about the cerial number that existed between where the lable on the record began and the recording started. We learned that Sgt. Peppers was the first album to have the lyrics printed on the back. That is insane to me! I never really stopped to think about who it was or why it was that I have always had the privalage to read the the lyrics that I can’t quite understand or I want to read as a poem instead. Of course, it makes sence that the Beatles would be the first, inivators and all. I always read the lyrics from songs I like. To me, reading the lyrics is an important part of knowing what I am listening to. This may be a habbit I have attained as a result of my singing pieces of music in italian, french, protuguies, polish, german, you name it, I have probably had to sing in it. But, at any rate, no matter what the peice is, if its in a different language any good voice teacher will tell you, “find the translation, know it, thats the only way you can really sing this with true feeling”. Loving a song to me means really knowing what the words mean. Melodies are beautiful, and the complex layering of istruments and chords are what make you sway or hummm along, but every song can be a story. So I thank the Beatles for giving starting a “revolution”, all puns intended.