Music

Haiti

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I’ve always found this song very haunting, but the devastation from the recent hurricanes in Haiti makes it even sadder. One way to help the people of Haiti is to support Partners In Health.

Ashley's Dakar Adventure

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One of my favorite people, Ashley Maher is leaving Monday for Dakar, Senegal to record her 5th album at Jimi Mbaye’s Studio Dogo.

Ashley bought Jimi a new Mac Pro for his studio to help pay for her studio time. Getting it there was quite a saga. Jimi was supposed to pick it up in Washington, DC when he was supposed to perform with Youssou N’dour, but he was randomly denied a visa. It ended up flying to Paris before finally arriving safely in Dakar. I’m sure Jimi will do some great work with it.

Ashley is a great dancer as well as a great singer. Her Sabar dancing skills have made her a star in Senegal. Her dance videos are some of the most popular at Seneweb.com.

On a related note, I finally watched Xala by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, one of the movies on my “bucket list”. Even though it was in French & Wolof, I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately in a few scenes the white subtitles were on a white background, making them difficult to read. The music was great, featuring Star Band de Dakar.

R.I.P. LeRoi Moore

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This story really hit me hard this morning. LeRoi Moore, the saxophonist & founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died suddenly yesterday due to complications from his ATV accident in June. According to the band’s site:

We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.

LeRoi was as essential to the band as Clarence Clemons was to Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. I can’t imagine DMB without him.

Enjoy one of his great performances here:

R.I.P. Isaac Hayes

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Just a day after Bernie Mac died, legendary musician Isaac Hayes died. Like many recent news stories, I found out about it first on Twitter, long before seeing it on the news or in the paper.

This song has a special place for me. The “Shaft” soundtrack was one of the first records I remember buying and I really loved the theme song because it sounded so different than anything I heard before.

Fired up & ready to go

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I really love this song.

‘Fired Up & Ready to Go’ is by Fojeba, a musician born in Cameroon now living in Canada. His song is a Central African makossa. Fojeba uses samples from Obama’s speeches in the music including his signature “Fired Up, Ready to Go” as a refrain.

Via Calabash Music’s blog, which also features other music inspired by Obama.

NIN gives away new album as a free download

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As a thank you to their fans for their continued support, NIN is giving away the new nine inch nails album free at nin.com. The music is available in several formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. Even better, the music is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license, allowing anyone to remix or share it for non-commercial use.

I downloaded the MP3 version. While I’m not really a NIN fan, Trent Reznor has earned my highest respect. He may be the only musician who truly understands online music distribution methods. For that reason, I will support all of his efforts.

Trent’s success is important for the entire music industry. By proving that an artist can continue to make music and profit from it without the benefit of a label will only hasten the overdue demise of the big labels. Today’s music labels are nothing more than parasites who claim to support musicians while paying them only a minimal amount as the companies themselves make a huge profit.

With online distribution there’s very little need for physical media. Even an individual artist can set up a web site and distribute his music just as effectively as any platinum-selling band.

Ruby Vroom: The Musical

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I just got the following email from Mike Doughty:

This summer, Mike Doughty makes his Broadway debut with Ruby Vroom: The Musical, a stage adaptation of the first Soul Coughing album, with book by Tim Rice and choreography by Twyla Tharp.

Ruby Vroom: The Musical tells the story of Ruby (Scarlett Johansson), a transgendered youth growing up in 1970s Chicago. After a botched, self-administered sex change operation, Ruby enters a series of ill-fated love affairs, all set to the musical backdrop of her caustic avant-punk trio, The 5% Nation. Convinced that one of her lovers is Satan, she travels from Chicago to Kansas, Detroit and eventually Los Angeles, where she is sidetracked by drugs, mad kidnapping plots and the tawdry allure of the Hollywood lifestyle. And just when she is about to succumb to bitterness, an older woman, Janine (Patti LuPone), enters her life and changes everything.

Press previews for Ruby Vroom: The Musical will begin in late June at the St. James Theater on West 44th St., with a public opening in mid-July. Says Mike, currently on tour with his band, “I am immensely excited about the opportunity to work with the fabulous Ms. LuPone. She is the bucket of shoes in my foyer.”

For ticket information, see http://www.rubyvroomtickets.com/.

Make sure you visit the website, http://www.rubyvroomtickets.com/.