nada, is that you?

Busy times, busy times, sorry, nothing today.

Digby in Nixonland

The redoubtable Digby has a review of a new book about America's cultural divide and its roots in the sixties. Like Digby, I lived through those times, and the book Nixonland looks like that rare thing: not just a fresh take on a familiar subject, but something of substance.

Steely Dan - Babylon Sisters (Live)

I never really got this song as a piece of music (as opposed to the lyrics) until I heard this version. It's all about the tension and release, I guess. Which mean it's one of those slow songs that you really need to listen to kind of loud.

The tempo is slow, but with a certain amount of tension, befitting the lyrics, which seem to be about a middle-aged man's anxieties about his relationship with a much younger girlfriend (I think--this is Steely Dan, after all). Then on the "Shake it" lines you finally get the release. At least, that's how I see it now. Maybe next week it'll be different.

Peter Laughner - Cinderella Backstreet

Another song written and performed by Peter Laughner. This is a solo performance, with Laughner singing and playing a twelve-string acoustic guitar, tuned down a whole-step (a detail for all you guitar freaks).

Sometimes I play this recording for people, and get a kind of, "Yeah, it's nice, but what's the big deal?," sort of response. Listen to it closely (and as with the last one, allow for the fact that this is an amateur recording). This is a well-crafted song and a masterful performance, with an attention to detail masked by a smooth and seemingly casual surface. Playing single notes under the line, "An ear for the one-note tune," may be something of a cliche, but it's a detail that would be unthinkable for a lot of performers. And the way he delivers the final lines in the last verse ("Denise she did my eyes...") is a lesson in how to deliver emotionally intense lyrics. Basically, you have to actually mean them.

This song, and Peter Laughner, deserve more attention than I'm able to give him here. There's a lot of information about him available on the Web, of varying value. It says something that his estate probably earned its biggest paycheck when Guns 'n' Roses covered one of his songs. Which just goes to show you.

Elvis Presley: Peace in the Valley

The precise center of an overwhelming cultural force, he was originally a Southern boy with very little money who loved his mama, his daddy, and Jesus.

Compulsory Cat Blogging

see more crazy cat pics

'Cause it made me laugh, that's all.

Peter Laughner - Dear Richard

Peter Laughner was, among other things, one of the founders of Rocket from the Tombs, the band in the YouTube clip I posted on Monday. He's not in the clip. He died in 1977, well before he turned thirty, and for those so inclined, became another one of the doomed Byronic heroes that populate so much of the history of rock and roll. I first heard of him from someone who had known him, and who saw nothing romantic or glamorous in his death, just tragedy.

His songs continue to be performed. Here's one that is not among his best-known, but is a good example of his gifts: intelligent and skilled songwriting, engaged and expressive singing, masterful but not showboat-y lead guitar, and absolute commitment. As with so much of his recorded work, it's basically an amateur recording, so allow for that when you listen. (Note: he takes the second guitar solo.)

Here's his AllMusic entry for more detail.