Music Reminds Us
All of us have times in our lives that certain types of music remind us of and some songs put in "That Special Place." Gary P Nunn wrote and sang probably the best example with "London Homesick Blues." He waxes very eloquently for a Texan who is in London in the wintertime and is getting ready to go home to Texas.
Some music takes us back to younger days or makes us happy. Some of it makes us sad. "Roundabout" by Yes reminds me of my Mom because it was on the first album she ever bought for me and we listened to it together. "I grow my fingernails long so they click when I play the piano" by Joe Ely takes me to Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas in 1987.
Led Zepplin takes me back to High School as does "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac. I started thinking about all this because sometimes we rediscover bands and music that meant a lot to us and upon revisiting it we enjoy it even more. In my case it has been my reawakening of the music of XTC.
They were one of my favorite bands in the early and mid 80s. They never toured America and that crippled them. Had they done so they would have kicked "The Police" ass! I have recouped every CD they have put out and did so through their website at Idea Records.
Last time I was "Home" (I'll cover that thought in another post) I went to my nephew's birthday party at a club in Austin. There was this Hair Metal band playing and we were all busy trying to be the witty ones making snide comments but at one point the lead singer (Who by the way had a sweet air blower that kept his big hair flowing) acknowledged another musician in the audience who played in an XTC cover band. I could not see who he was but I asked my nephew to find out. He did and even gave me their website. They are called "The Dukes of Simpleton". The name is an inside joke to XTC fans.
I surfed their website and they even had some mp3 downloads. I have them all on my iPod as many of the songs they cover have never been performed live by XTC. The reasons and history are long and torturous but this bands existence means that I will get to hear these crafted tunes live one day.
I have been in email contact with one of the band members and he sent me this jpeg of a poster for a concert they play tonight. Man, I wish I were there! I would be swilling Newcastle Brown and nodding my head like a metronome.
Some music takes us back to younger days or makes us happy. Some of it makes us sad. "Roundabout" by Yes reminds me of my Mom because it was on the first album she ever bought for me and we listened to it together. "I grow my fingernails long so they click when I play the piano" by Joe Ely takes me to Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas in 1987.
Led Zepplin takes me back to High School as does "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac. I started thinking about all this because sometimes we rediscover bands and music that meant a lot to us and upon revisiting it we enjoy it even more. In my case it has been my reawakening of the music of XTC.
They were one of my favorite bands in the early and mid 80s. They never toured America and that crippled them. Had they done so they would have kicked "The Police" ass! I have recouped every CD they have put out and did so through their website at Idea Records.
Last time I was "Home" (I'll cover that thought in another post) I went to my nephew's birthday party at a club in Austin. There was this Hair Metal band playing and we were all busy trying to be the witty ones making snide comments but at one point the lead singer (Who by the way had a sweet air blower that kept his big hair flowing) acknowledged another musician in the audience who played in an XTC cover band. I could not see who he was but I asked my nephew to find out. He did and even gave me their website. They are called "The Dukes of Simpleton". The name is an inside joke to XTC fans.
I surfed their website and they even had some mp3 downloads. I have them all on my iPod as many of the songs they cover have never been performed live by XTC. The reasons and history are long and torturous but this bands existence means that I will get to hear these crafted tunes live one day.
I have been in email contact with one of the band members and he sent me this jpeg of a poster for a concert they play tonight. Man, I wish I were there! I would be swilling Newcastle Brown and nodding my head like a metronome.
If you get a chance drop by and see what's happening in their world. If you have never heard XTC I suggest the CD English Settlement. It is their best as far as I am concerned.
posted by flythemig29 at 5:25 PM
1 Comments:
THREADGILL'S; One of Austin's best music spots. Where Janis Joplin was a regular. Austin has many good music venues and artists. One of my favorites was a local named Calvin Russell (his music available from Waterloo Records). Calvin was a good afterhours, underground type blues player. For some reason he didn't catch on in Austin like I thought he would have but was popular in Ammsterdam of all places. He had one song that I have adopted as my theme song. 'Crossroads' talkes about life and choices. At the crossroads he knows that one path leads to paradise, one path leads to pain, one path leads to shame. And they all look the same.
For sure you have choosen the path of pain and hopefully will end up in paradise. For double sure you have not taken the path to shame. Calvin has some other good tunes on his CD but this one was my favorite.
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