Friday, February 26, 2010

They Say It's Your Birthday!



Happy belated (by 1 1/2 hours) birthday to my favourite Beatle, the late, great George Harrison.

Harrison brought the Indian music influence to the band (after falling in love with the sitar) and greatly increased Americans' awareness of Indian culture in the 60s (attn: Hare Krishna Movement). Acknowledged as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Harrison added the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" to "Eleanor Rigby." Where would that song be without that line?? He penned the beautiful Beatles tunes: "Here Comes the Sun," "Something," "I, Me, Mine," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," to name a few. Old George's awesomeness didn't stop there. In the 1980s he participated in the forming of the supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys. His bandmates included Jeff Lyne (of Electric Light Orchestra), Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. Yes, when I say "supergroup" I mean "SUPERGROUP!!!"

In honour (thank Britain!) of our beloved George, I give Harrison, along with the rest of the Fab Four, singing himself a birthday song:



And "Within or Without You," a song that represents a major influence on Harrison, which majorly influenced (in a beautiful, evolutionary way) the US through Harrison (get your sitar on, man!):



And I just can't leave of one of my favorite Beatles songs, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps:"



Happy birthday, Harrison. Thanks for the music.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Notables:

1. Jason Schwartman is amazing. Great actor & writer, as well as a great musician. Some were aware of his role as drummer in the band Phantom Planet, but his new solo project, Coconut Records, is a definite winner. In addition to the most excellent track, "West Coast" (as can be heard in the following video endorsing an excellent project called "Opening Ceremony" that you should look into):

non plus one final from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.



he also wrote the theme song for his HBO series, "Bored to Death." My lack of HBO has prevented me from watching the show, but the theme song is excellent!



2. I just learned (ridiculously late), that Johnny Marr, the guitarist of the Smiths, joined Modest Mouse in 2006, guitaring it up on the album "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," and touring with the band through 07. Go Marr! I love consistent awesomeness. He's currently the guitarist in the new band, the Cribs. I caught a couple tracks, which weren't bad. Still I have yet to form a strong opinion. It's nearing my bedtime, so the time is limited and the attention waning.



3. Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin), Jack White (of the White Stripes) and the Edge (of U2) have gotten together on a music documentary. I'm excited. To the Edge-haters out there, give the thing a chance. I can't imagine how this much greatness can end badly!