Mr. Hudson’s Neighborhood

Well, I was hoping to get a student-volunteered post for this week since those have been so popular, but, alas, none of you stepped up. If you would like to do the song of the week post for next week, shoot me an e-mail with the name of the song, the lyrics, and the reason you would like to do this song. If I choose it, be prepared to write the introduction to it and get it to me by Sunday night. Since no one volunteered, you’re stuck with my pick this week.

I decided to dig deep into the Hudson library of music for this week’s pick. I chose a band and song that was one of my favorites when I was around your age–Cake’s “The Distance”. The band is still around and working on a new CD, but it still makes me feel old that this song was popular so long ago.

I’ve always been a big fan of Cake (the band and the food!), and I’ve seen them in concert a couple of times. This was the very first song I heard by them, and it comes from their second album Fashion Nugget. When I was in college, a friend got me hooked on their first album (which remains my overall favorite), and I have remained a fan ever since. What I like so much about them is their unique sound. Much of this uniqueness comes from their use of distorted guitar sounds. In addition, they frequently use several instruments not commonly used in alternative music–the Moog, the trumpet (which is an instrument I hold near to my heart because I am a trumpeter–although not a very good one anymore), and–my personal favorite–the VIBRASLAP! (If you don’t know what a Vibraslap is, click here)

Another thing I admire about them is that they are very conservation-conscious. One thing they’ve done is made their studio where they record their albums completely solar-energy operated. Some of you expressed last week that knowing a little about the band helped you with understanding the song, so if you would like to read more about Cake, here’s a link you can use.
Cake Bio

So, hope you enjoy the song. It should be easy to discuss. It’s a great example of metaphor. If you would like to hear more, I can point you in the right direction.

tchrman

Listen:
02 The Distance

“The Distance”
Cake
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,
Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flags go up.
Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup.
They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank,
Fuel burning fast on an empty tank.
Reckless and wild, they pour through the turns.
Their prowess is potent and secretly stearn.
As they speed through the finish, the flags go down.
The fans get up and they get out of town.
The arena is empty except for one man,
Still driving and striving as fast as he can.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But hes driving and striving and hugging the turns.
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.

Hes going the distance.
Hes going for speed.
Shes all alone
In her time of need.
Because hes racing and pacing and plotting the course,
Hes fighting and biting and riding on his horse,
Hes going the distance.

No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine,
Hes haunted by something he cannot define.
Bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse,
Assail him, impale him with monster-truck force.
In his mind, hes still driving,still making the grade.
Shes hoping in time that her memories will fade.
Cause hes racing and pacing and plotting the course,
Hes fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup.
But hes striving and driving and hugging the turns.
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.

Cause hes going the distance.
Hes going for speed.
Shes all alone
In her time of need.
Because hes racing and pacing and plotting the course,
Hes fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
Hes racing and pacing and plotting the course,
Hes fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
Hes going the distance.
Hes going for speed.
Hes going the distance.

In the TZ episode we were watching on Wednesday, the author was able to bring any character of his to life just by describing them. There are a handful of wonderful literary characters that I would love to be able to bring to life. It would be fascinating to have conversations with them. So, for your second topic this week, choose one character from fiction (could be a novel, short story, movie, etc) that you would bring to life. Tell why you chose that character and also what kind of things you would talk to them about/ask them.

Paramore, an alternative band from Franklin, Tennessee, experienced their rise to fame after the release of their second album, “Riot!” Their instant success led them to began touring across the world. With sold out shows and chart topping singles, Paramore began to feel the pressure,
and get recognized. After “The Final Riot!” Tour, the band began to implode. They weren’t speaking to each other, and fought all of the time. Almost to a point of breaking up, they got together to produce the infamous song “Decode”. Although they made another famous song, they still hated each other. They met one last time, and began to talk it out. They said how they felt, and the next day, “Ignorance” was born. With lines such as “Don’t wanna hear your sad songs, I don’t wanna feel your pain” and “You treat me just like another stranger”, the world caught a glimpse of what they were feeling. The writing process brought them together, and they are now friends again. They made a new album, “Brand New Eyes”, which was just released recently, on September 29. “Brand New Eyes” is Paramore’s best work yet, and is very different from their past works. This week’s song is off the new album, and is called “All I Wanted”. It is an amazing song, and has already impressed fans and music critics. It shows how talented Paramore really is.

bne5

Listen here:
11 All I Wanted 1

Lyrics:
Think of me when you’re out, when you’re out there
I’ll beg you nice from my knees
When the world treats you way too fairly
It’s a shame, I’m a dream

All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you

I think I’ll pace my apartment a few times
And fall asleep on the couch
And wake up early to black and white reruns
That escape from my mouth

All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you

I could follow you to the beginning
Just to relive the start
Maybe then we’d remember to slow down
At all of our favorite parts

All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you
All I wanted was you

So, I told you yesterday about my angry “Of Mice and Men” parent last year. I have been teaching the novel for years, and this was the first complaint I had ever received about it. However, the fact is, that is not an uncommon occurrence with this particular book. OMAM is one of the most frequently challenged books in the country. Mainly because of the use of one particular word. I chose not to make a big deal about the use of the word in the book. In fact, I didn’t even mention it to you before you read it. In all honesty, I meant to warn you about it and it just slipped my mind that day. However, I feel like you guys are mature enough to understand how to look at things in context and understand that some things are not intended to be offensive in certain usages. That word is not the only complaint people have with the book (of course some people will complain about ANYTHING). Some say there is too much violence, too much sex, etc. Some even complain that the ending justifies euthanasia.

The truth remains that OMAM is a classic piece of American literature. It’s not meant to be offensive. Instead, it is meant to paint a realistic portrait of life in that time period while presenting themes and ideas that we can still relate to today. You can see that it generated some good discussion in class yesterday. I wish we had been able to discuss it for more than one day. Luckily, we have the blog so we can. I’m including a couple of links to a couple of real instances where the book has been challenged. Read them over, then weigh in with your opinion. Is it a book that should continue to be taught or should it be banned because of offensive content?

Here are the two articles:

http://www.erinoconnor.org/archives/2003/01/banning_steinbe.html

http://www.kmbc.com/education/17530918/detail.html

OK. I know I told you we were supposed to have a student post this week, but that has been postponed until next week. I had a hard time finding a song for this week. I wanted to post this before I left school today, so I had to use something that I already had on my computer. This is one you’ve probably never heard of, but that’s kind of my goal in this is introducing you to new stuff. I don’t think it would be interesting for you to write about a song you’ve heard 100s of times already.

This is by a band called Okkervil River. It’s the first song I ever heard by them and it made me want to look into them more. It’s called “Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe”.

It’s no secret that I LOVE movies. I mean, my DVD collection is even more out of control now than when I told you about it at the beginning of the year. (I’m about to hit 2100). I LOVE movies. But sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in our own little fantasy worlds that movies provide us with that we forget that real life is seldom like the movies. Things don’t always work out the way we plan them. We are not always the “star” we like to make ourselves out to be. Sometimes we need a reminder of that. That’s what this song does for me. Enjoy. Say something intelligent.

Listen. Hear:
01 Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe

Our Life is not a Movie or Maybe
Okkervil River

It’s just a bad movie, where there’s no crying
handing the key to me in this Red Lion,
where the lock that you locked in the suite says there’s no prying.
When the breath that you breathed in the street screams there’s no science.
When you look how you looked then to me, then I cease lying and fall into silence.

It’s just a life story, so there’s no climax.
No more new territory, so pull away the imax.
In the slot that you sliced through the scene there was no shyness.
In the plot that you passed through your teeth there was no pity.
No fade in: film begins on a kid in the big city.
And no cut to a costly parade (that’s for him only!).
No dissolve to a sliver of grey (that’s his new lady!)
where she glows just like grain on the flickering pane of some great movie.

It’s just a house burning, but it’s not haunted.
It was your heart hurting, but not for long, kid.
In the socket you spin from with ease there is no sticking.
From the speakers your fake masterpiece is serenely dribbling.
When the air around your chair fills with heat, that’s the flames licking
beneath the clock on the clean mantelpiece. It’s got a calm clicking,
like a pro at his editing suite takes two weeks stitching up some bad movie.

Since we’ve just been doing allusions presentations all week long, I couldn’t think of an actual topic to relate to what we were doing. So, I decided that for your second post this week, I would post a song based on one of the allusions you learned and presented. Some of you were saying that no one ever uses any of the allusions I gave you. This song is proof otherwise. This song is from the genre of southern rock. It’s by a band called Corrosion of Conformity and the title is “Albatross”.

It was either this or Maiden’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, but since we had already had Maiden and since that song is 14 minutes long (but 14 minutes of awesomeness!) I chose this one. When discussing the song, be sure to use what you learned about the meaning of albatross in our study of allusions. Also, please avoid the “I like this song better” or “I like the other song better” posts that we got during Beatles’ week. It’s not a competition. It’s two totally different songs with two totally different purposes for writing about them. Enjoy. The guitar solo near the end is particularly nice. This is a live version because I forgot to load the original on my computer before posting.

Listen here:
07 Albatross

“Albatross”
Corrosion of Conformity

Well I’m feelin’ left behind what a waste of time
They’re coming to get you, run on
How can I respect your crime
When all you criminals whine
They bought and sold you, run on, run on

You can call me crazy
You can call me wrong
Cause I was born a liar
Albatross fly on, fly on

My home is kind, man it pays to be blind
I promise to forget you run on
No swallowed pride, no conspiracy lined
Broken promise of the virtue, run on, run on

You can call me lazy
But I know where I belong
Cause I was born a liar
Albatross, fly on, fly on
With your trust in love from your God above…

I believe the Albatross is me

You can call me lazy
You can call me wrong
Cause I was born a liar
Albatross, fly on, fly on

I should have seen the signs
Now the memories far behind
It was no big loss,
Fly on, Albatross yeah

IMPORTANT!–Before we start this post, I want to discuss one thing. I’m glad you are enjoying the song of the week posts. However, some of you (not all of you–a lot of you are doing a great job) are getting lazy on the comments. The purpose of the song of the week is to discuss the song as a piece of literature. Like I suggested at the beginning–talk about what it means, talk about something it reminds you of, talk about an experience you’ve had that relates to it–treat it like something we would read in class. Some of you are just saying you like it or don’t like it and telling why. I’m ok with you telling if you like it or not, but you need to talk about more than just that in your comment. This week I will not be giving you full credit if you do not put effort into your comment. Now that that’s settled, this week we have our first student-chosen song of the week. If this is something one of you would be interested in doing, run a song by me and be willing to write the intro. Take it away, 6thsense!

tchrman

MGMT consists of Andrew Van Wyngarden and Ben Goldwasser and originates from Brooklyn, New York. The band changed its name from The Management shortly after discovering that title had already been taken by a well-known group in London. “Kids” is from their debut album Oracular Spectacular. The meaning of this song could be debated, but its most obvious interpretation speaks loudly of the stages of development among us all. Another theme apparent here is the simplicity and innocence of children. Perhaps this is overlooked sometimes when we think about younger kids we know.
What is it about children that make them so trouble-free? Is it ignorance to real-world “grown-up” concerns? Do they see these concerns, but choose not be bothered by them? Until when? Adults don’t give children enough credit sometimes. The line making mama so proud but your voice is too loud seems to hint at the idea that parents are so happy to call you their own when you’re making them look good… until you do something they consider frustrating or hysterical.
This is a work of art, this song. It makes a declaration to our generation and to generations to which we give birth. We are young and bright. We are influential yet easily influenced. Do something wise with it.

6th Sense

Listen Here:
Kids_ 1

Kids
MGMT
“You were a child
Crawling on your knees toward it
Making momma so proud,
But your voice is too loud
We like to watch you laughing,
You pick the insects off plants
No time to think of consequences
Control yourself
Take only what you need from it
A family of trees wanted
To be haunted
The water is warm
But it’s sending me shivers
A baby is born
Crying out for attention
The memories fade
Like looking through a fogged mirror
Decision to decisions are made
And not bought,
But I thought this wouldn’t hurt a lot.
I guess not”

Sorry it took me a while to post a second topic this week. I was having trouble finding an interesting article that you could write about. I think I’ve found one though. In light of recent events in the celebrity world (Kanye, Serena, etc.), CNN has posted an article about our increasing lack of manners and civility in society. Read it and tell me what you think is to blame for this increasing problem in the world today.

Civility: A Thing of the Past?

Because of all the positive comments, and because, like I told you, studio recordings just don’t do RR justice, I’m posting a second recording so that you can see what he sounds like live. This is an instrumental called “Uncle Ted’s Jam” .  If you like it, there’s a much longer and better version on the Live at the Wetlands CD I was telling you about.  Enjoy!

P.S.  This is just for fun.  You are welcome to comment, but it won’t count as one of your comments for the week.

Listen here:

04 Uncle Ted’s Jam 1

Next week, as a special treat, we will have our first ever student-posted song of the week. This week, I thought I would bring up the tempo a little bit. Some of you have been complaining about the slower songs.

In keeping with my effort to try and introduce you to new music/new genres, this week’s song is from Robert Randolph and the Family Band. If you have never heard of this band, I cannot highly recommend them enough. In fact, I would venture to say that when I saw them in concert at the Gibson downtown a little over a year ago, it was the second best concert I’ve ever attended (the number one spot has to go to AC/DC). His energy and talent is just phenomenal. You really have to see him live/hear a live recording to appreciate it. The studio recordings are great, but nothing like the live. Anyway, Robert Randoph plays the pedal steel guitar. He started at the age of 17 playing music in the tradition of sacred steel at his church. Sacred steel is a form of gospel music that was developed in the 30s in the House of God Which Is the Church of the Living God the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Without Controversy (whew, say that three times fast!) church when some members decided to replace the traditional organ with the pedal steel guitar. These churches and this style of music still exist today, but Robert Randolph is probably the most famous artist to be influenced by this type of music. His band is a secular band, not a gospel band, but the style comes very much from his sacred steel background.

I think this song is a good intro to the band. It’s very upbeat, very uplifting, and fun to dance to. It’s called “Going in the Right Direction”. Enjoy!

Click to listen:
01 Going in the Right Direction

Going in the Right Direction
Robert Randolph and the Family Band

I was lost
I thought the losing dice were tossed
I didn’t know where to go
I didn’t have no one to turn too
I’m glad I found you just in time
Won’t miss those things that I left behind

Cause now I’m going in the right direction
Cause now I’m going in the right direction

Now I’ve found
The road I need to travel down
I don’t know what tomorrow brings
Day by day, with you, I do the same thing
I’m so glad I’m standing on my own two feet
No more running to that dead-end street

Cause now I’m going in the right direction
Cause now I’m going in the right direction

Na na na na na

*Spoken*
I thought my life was over
I thought I was lost
I just knew that was the end of the road
But I know I’m going right now, I know I’m going in the right direction

You better get right or you’re gonna get left
You better get right or you’re gonna get left
You better get right or you’re gonna get left

Hey

You better get right or you’re gonna get left