Monday, January 10, 2005
Not a Has Been
While doing my once-every-5th-Sunday dj'ing gig @ WVUD, I was searching the music library for some new-ish music. For the 3 hour early Sunday morning show, Morning After, I tend to start with quiet, but disturbing, music for the first hour. The second hour shakes out the weekend ending cobwebs by bringing in vocals and a spate of mid-volume drums, sax, or oud. The third hour concludes with sets for the fully awake. The first half of that last hour is usually filled with songs of sarcasm and wit.
You know. The usual suspects.
Loudon Wainwright III. Rev. Billy Wirtz. Greg Brown. Billy Bragg. Moxy Fruvous. John Lurie. And the Godfather, Tom Waits and his pal, Chuck E. Weiss.
Looking for any new "addition" for this part of the radio show, I was crossing my fingers that I might run across another gem, like
The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group's 1995 release, Oh Brother Where art Thou? (which has NOTHING to do with the Brother Coen's film...which came out in 2000). Songs like "My Bloody Yugo", "Mij Amsterdam", and "Oh Porridge" are rare indeed, but when they are sung in a catatonic delivery... Well, you've got a gem.
So, while Bill Evans and Jim Hall were playing selections from their 2002 cd release of a 1970 album, Undercurrent, I scooted over to the station's CD library and trolled for sarcasm.
Picking up Willam Shatner's
Has Been, I noticed that Ben Folds had produced the CD and had also sung and played on it. In addition, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins, Adrian Belew, and Joe Jackson had joined in the festivities in various capacities of singing, playing & writing. If anything else, this CD sounded like a cocktail filled evening party that was surreptiously (and excellently) recorded.
And then Nick Hornby's name came up. He had co-written one of the songs, "That's Me Trying", a sad & sordid song/story about a father and a daughter reunion. Listening to it leaves one feeling awkward, sad, and slimy simultaneously. (It also propelled me to seek out my daughter when I came home and hug her to within an inch of her life).
Now, dear reader, if you've been combing through this blogsite, you'd have noticed that I have a thing for Mr. Hornby. If I had any more affection, I'd either have a cease and desist order hanging around my neck or Mr. Hornby and I'd be co-habitating (well, at the very least I'd be lurking outside the back of his house behind some hedgerow).
So, seeing Mr. Hornby's name associated with this CD, a listen was definitely merited.
"I Can't Get Behind That", a duet Mr. Shatner performs (because he doesn't really...uhm...sing) with Henry Rollins, ended up being my choice for airplay yesterday. Great response from the selected listenership (the listening audience is painstakeningly sieved from a 20 question postcard sent out. The frequency, 91.3, is carefully guarded so as to keep the listenership to a minimum. What self-respecting volunteer radio station actually wants listeners!??), so the choice was vindicated.
You! Yes, you should step down from your "William Shatner is an utter fool" high-horse and give this cd a serious listen. Well, not serious. More like eyebrow-raised inquisitive. Seriously.
While doing my once-every-5th-Sunday dj'ing gig @ WVUD, I was searching the music library for some new-ish music. For the 3 hour early Sunday morning show, Morning After, I tend to start with quiet, but disturbing, music for the first hour. The second hour shakes out the weekend ending cobwebs by bringing in vocals and a spate of mid-volume drums, sax, or oud. The third hour concludes with sets for the fully awake. The first half of that last hour is usually filled with songs of sarcasm and wit.
You know. The usual suspects.
Loudon Wainwright III. Rev. Billy Wirtz. Greg Brown. Billy Bragg. Moxy Fruvous. John Lurie. And the Godfather, Tom Waits and his pal, Chuck E. Weiss.
Looking for any new "addition" for this part of the radio show, I was crossing my fingers that I might run across another gem, like
The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group's 1995 release, Oh Brother Where art Thou? (which has NOTHING to do with the Brother Coen's film...which came out in 2000). Songs like "My Bloody Yugo", "Mij Amsterdam", and "Oh Porridge" are rare indeed, but when they are sung in a catatonic delivery... Well, you've got a gem.
So, while Bill Evans and Jim Hall were playing selections from their 2002 cd release of a 1970 album, Undercurrent, I scooted over to the station's CD library and trolled for sarcasm.
Picking up Willam Shatner's
Has Been, I noticed that Ben Folds had produced the CD and had also sung and played on it. In addition, Aimee Mann, Henry Rollins, Adrian Belew, and Joe Jackson had joined in the festivities in various capacities of singing, playing & writing. If anything else, this CD sounded like a cocktail filled evening party that was surreptiously (and excellently) recorded.
And then Nick Hornby's name came up. He had co-written one of the songs, "That's Me Trying", a sad & sordid song/story about a father and a daughter reunion. Listening to it leaves one feeling awkward, sad, and slimy simultaneously. (It also propelled me to seek out my daughter when I came home and hug her to within an inch of her life).
Now, dear reader, if you've been combing through this blogsite, you'd have noticed that I have a thing for Mr. Hornby. If I had any more affection, I'd either have a cease and desist order hanging around my neck or Mr. Hornby and I'd be co-habitating (well, at the very least I'd be lurking outside the back of his house behind some hedgerow).
So, seeing Mr. Hornby's name associated with this CD, a listen was definitely merited.
"I Can't Get Behind That", a duet Mr. Shatner performs (because he doesn't really...uhm...sing) with Henry Rollins, ended up being my choice for airplay yesterday. Great response from the selected listenership (the listening audience is painstakeningly sieved from a 20 question postcard sent out. The frequency, 91.3, is carefully guarded so as to keep the listenership to a minimum. What self-respecting volunteer radio station actually wants listeners!??), so the choice was vindicated.
You! Yes, you should step down from your "William Shatner is an utter fool" high-horse and give this cd a serious listen. Well, not serious. More like eyebrow-raised inquisitive. Seriously.
Comments:
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Your praise of this album was the first of three I've encountered this week. I must admit I'm hesitant to pick it up: in my mind, Shatner occupies a temple of the strange that has become something of a museum of late. No reason why this shouldn't Swiffer the dust from the relics, I suppose.
I feel your hesitation. I'm not suggesting that Shatner's "Has Been" will be on your permanent CD carousel, whirling away to innundate you with his over-the-top spoken word concept. But...it is surprisingly good and I credit all of the musicians and especially Ben Folds, also acting as producer, for finishing a product that DOES sound good on the 2nd and 3rd run-through. Perhaps it's empathy for Shatner on my part, but this cd is worth a listen. He pokes fun at himself and at acting in general in a sly and witty way. And, yeah, I'm still a sap for that herky-jerky egomaniacal manner of speaking that he perfected on "Star Trek".
With the exception of Hornby - and who knows what fate lies in store for him since I didn't like the last book he wrote - I'd say everybody who appears on the disc is a "Has Been". Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course.
-stephenesque
-stephenesque
# opined by 
: 1:17 PM, January 15, 2005
: 1:17 PM, January 15, 2005
Ouch! Mr. Stephenesque, the milk of human kindness (and forgiveness) must be curdling in the icebox of your heart. Is 15 minutes the absolute time limit on fame in your book?
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