This page renders best in Firefox (or Safari, or Chrome)
Cover Versions
Posts about Cover Versions
READIN
READIN started out as a place for me
to keep track of what I am reading, and to learn (slowly, slowly)
how to design a web site.
There has been some mission drift
here and there, but in general that's still what it is. Some of
the main things I write about here are
reading books,
listening to (and playing) music, and
watching the movies. Also I write about the
work I do with my hands and with my head; and of course about bringing up Sylvia.
The site is a bit of a work in progress. New features will come on-line now and then; and you will occasionally get error messages in place of the blog, for the forseeable future. Cut me some slack, I'm just doing it for fun! And if you see an error message you think I should know about, please drop me a line. READIN source code is PHP and CSS, and available on request, in case you want to see how it works.
See my reading list for what I'm interested in this year.
READIN has been visited approximately 236,737 times since October, 2007.
I compiled a video playlist of most of these songs on YouTube -- particularly recommend checking out the almost hallucinatory quality of the two The Byrds versions and the really striking fan video for the Rave-Ups' version. And the Venus 3 number, while it strays a bit from the theme of the playlist, fits in quite nicely and fits into a broader playlist theme of "Songs I would wish to cover". (Plus some bonus tracks added, if you listen to the end...)
At Norway's Cafe Mono, Robyn Hitchcock reminisces on his first visit to Norway, on tour with the Egyptians in 1982, and the years since then. Morris Windsor posts a cover of "The End", live in Oslo in '82, the "culmination of one of the weirdest tours ever" -- "The closing remarks contain the seeds of 2009's Goodnight Oslo."
Happy Birthday to Rex Broome! Broome is the singer and guitarist for Skates & Rays. On his 39th birthday last year he covered Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man"; today he covers his own tune "Pushing Forty". In between he has recorded one cover version for every day of his fortieth year of life, and/or leaned on friends to contribute their own cover versions. I'm impressed, and gratified to have played my own small part.
posted morning of March 20th, 2011: Respond ➳ More posts about Music
Thanks to Rex Broome and to neighbor Dan Rosen for introducing me to House. My recording with Dan of Saint Etienne's "Stoned, to say the least" will appear on Rex's 39-40 Covers project tomorrow. A lot of fun playing and recording this, it seems like almost the perfect music for me -- repetitive improvisation over a fixed beat is about my favorite violin activity...
What a fortuitous coincidence, to have connected with Dan at the same time Rex asked me to cover Saint Etienne! I met Dan last December, at Woody and Lisa's Solistice party; and two weeks ago we started taking the same train in to the city for work, and talking about music as we ride in. So it seemed like a natural thing to ask Dan for help with this cover; he came through in a big way!
(Update: Post #2500 for this humble blog! Halfway there, woo-hoo!)
posted evening of February 20th, 2011: Respond ➳ More posts about Fiddling
I am greatly enjoying New Year's mixes from Steve of Hot Rox Avec Lying Sweet Talk and from Tim W. of The Great Whatsit. Steve's is a mix of his favorite cover versions of the past few years. Mostly new listening for me, and most of the tunes are ones I'm familiar with. I always find it exciting to hear new takes on songs I love. And Tim's is a list of new songs from this year, almost none of which I've heard before or even heard of.
Here is my contribution to the disk-jockeying fray:
"Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" -- Bob Dylan
"I Know You Rider" -- The Grateful Dead
"Famous Blue Raincoat" -- Leonard Cohen
"Kanes Blues" -- The Kanek Hawai'ians
These are all songs I connect with discovering a new musical interest -- some quite recently, some in memory over the years as far back as high school. I hope everyone has a good, eventful year in 2011, gets to enjoy plenty of newly discovered and long-nurtured interests.
I haven't quite ironed out all the tagging issues with the mp3s of these songs. I will post a link in comments later on when I get the tape together.
posted afternoon of January 29th, 2011: 1 response ➳ More posts about Mix tapes
On the hot February morning when Beatriz Viterbo died ..., I noticed that the iron billboards in Plaza Constitución had been cleared of their advertisement for blonde cigarettes (or whatever it had been)... The matter caused me some pain, when I understood that the vast, incessant universe was detaching itself from her memory; this change would be the first in an infinite series.
The Apostropher's recent Holler mix tape includes Ray Wylie Hubbard's cover of "Choctaw Bingo" -- this is maybe the most affecting song on the tape, the strongest; it is a violent song, feels like getting punched in the gut.
Ellen and I watched Quiz Show tonight, and among other things it made me want to learn the song "Mack the Knife" which plays (Sinatra's version) over its credits. Here are some versions:
John and I played this 80-year-old song yesterday -- I thought I would link to a couple of source versions.
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (1977) rock right out. This might be my favorite version of the song, certainly the first one I think of when I think of this song. (Even though the version I first heard, I'm pretty sure, is that of The Rooftop Singers (1963) -- which I now find comparatively bland.) The original is Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers (1929) -- fantastically good, maybe more inventive play with the lyrics than in any of the covers I've heard. And the version that brought this song back into my conscious mind recently, off of a mix tape my brother made for me, is by Corey Harris and Cassie Taylor (2008), off of the record Recapturing the Banjo.
And suddenly the scales fall from my eyes! Practicing the tune this morning I realize it's another variation on the melody from "They're Red Hot!"
