Chicks on Bass: Britta Phillips

Let's get it out of the way upfront - Britta used to be the voice of Jem! If you don't know who that was (1) I don't blame you and (2) click here...She was also in Runaway with Justine Bateman and Liam Neeson back in the day. Dig IMDB's description:

"A couple of teenagers have a band, Mystery, with Jennie as the lead singer. They go to a bar on the coast and play during the summer. Jennie falls in love with the owner of the bar, Martin. They get an offer to play in Europe and perhaps become famous. But are they ready for it?"

Thrilling, no?

Sadly, I did see Runaway back in the day but Britta really got onto my radar screen the first time I saw Luna, shortly after she joined the band. She's got a real hip presence on stage and keeps the low end thumping along.

Britta and Luna frontman Dean Wareham are now married and have released a few albums and EPs on their own. Always exquisitely chill, their records use Luna as a staring point to create a loungey, indie pop sound.

Five tracks featuring Britta.

The albums that the songs in this download bundle appear on can be found here.

Airplane Reading

A few good articles I came across in flights to and from Vancouver earlier this week...

Geddy Lee's Caption: The Pain of Politics. by Evan Solomon, Globe and Mail, May 26, 2007. Only a preview is available online but this short interview is so worth reading...In the "caption" series the Globe and Mail gives a public figure a photo from the recent news, tells them nothing about the image and then asks them to create a caption based on their interpretation. There is then a brief interview to discuss the caption, how the person arrived at it, to reveal what the photo is of, etc. Geddy's parents were Holocaust survivors and the photo he was given was of a family saying goodbye to each other after the temporary meetings between relatives arranged by the governments of North and South Korea...All I can say is pay the 4.95 Canadian to access this piece online, it is really amamzing.

Digging Back Through the Stax: Dr. King, Isaac Hayes, a country fiddler named Jim, and the little label that could. By David Schimke, Utne Reader, June 2007. A nice capsule history, full article online.

The Sounds of Science: Computer-generated music moves out of the lab. by Alexander Gelfand, The Walrus, June 2007. This article starts by looking at laptop musicians and then puts the movement into the context of mid-20th century electronic/computer/avant-garde music. Only "300 of 2718 words" from the article appear online without registering but a free 10-day trial available at the end of the preview will unlock the whole piece....

All three of these periodicals are available through the Burning Dervish Amazon Store.

Bye Bye B.C.

Opening night, The Police Tour...the setlist is relentless, just one hit after another. The band had a very high energy level, as you might guess...Playing to a full room of 18 - 20,000 people took them to a different level than the few thousand at dress rehearsal the night before.

Sting's voice is strong and Stewart's drumming is over the top...Here is a video EPK the tour issued containing rehearsal footage, clips from the show, fan reactions and interview segments with the band...Not much more to say today...need to head off to the airport shortly for the flight back to NYC...

The Police Dress Rehearsal in Vancouver

So last night was the dress rehearsal show, which The Police opened to members of their fan club...I am not going to post the setlist yet, it is too fun to spoil before tonight's tour opening show. The band looks and sounds great. There is a pretty extensive discussion about the show going on here, on the band's official site.

I was in the ninth row, just off the left hand side of the row, which put me in front of Sting. I had a great vantage point for the stage and sound...

Here are some shots from flickr, which I did not shoot but thought you might want to see...

There were, as you might imagine, tons of folks shooting cell phone video. I managed to quickly find a few on YouTube shot from Andy's side of the stage...

The Police in Vancouver

So I am here, in gorgeous Vancouver...left Brooklyn this morning on a 7:20 flight outta JFK...tonight is the night before opening night and The Police have opened production/dress rehearsal to 2,000 members of their fan club. I am not a member, I am involved through my day job, so I will be there. In about 4 or 5 hours the band will be on stage...Having caught them at the Grammys and at the tour announcement the following day at the Whiskey, I have to say, I am psyched...

If you are here and see tonight's show or the two "official" ones this week, let me know. Looking forward to hearing what people think...In the meantime here are some videos from the rehearsals:

The Police - Tour Rehearsals Part 1 and Part 2

Soul Strut

I've been knee deep in the online equivalent of crate digging but instead of looking for rare vinyl I've been looking to track down sites offering mixes. I've found some great sites so far and have been posting about them here as well as adding them to our blogroll.

Today's score is a site called Soul Strut, which is devoted to "crate digging, DJ & hip hop culture". It's a great site. In addition to offering mixes as MP3 downloads, there are over 100 available in Real Media for streaming. Real's far from my favorite media player but if you do use it, you can access hours of great mix sets...Link to the directory of mixes here.

Beyond the music itself, there are some great community elements, including message boards, a terrific review section comvering vintage vinyl and best of all, a feature called "ISH", where collectors can show off nuggets from their own collections by submitting photos of labels and cover art, sound samples and the stories of how they unearthed their finds.

You'll definitely blow a ton of time over there.

Sea Never Dry

I have been holding off on posting about this blog because it doesn't seem to get updated very often but if you visit only for the tracks they have already posted your time would not be wasted...Dig their description:

"I love African vinyl, dug up in chicken coops, oily garages, or roadside stalls. After Mwanza, Kinshasa and Lagos, and working in various African cities, I once again live in Tanzania. Time to share music's polyrhythms..."

How do you not head over there right now?

Go. Shoo.

Fela Kuti

A guy here at work pointed this out to me...the description on YouTube says, "rare early footage (shot by Ginger Baker) featuring Fela & Afrika 70 performing in the rainy southeastern town of Calabar, shortly after the the Nigerian civil war".

In-frigging-tense.

Chicks on Bass: Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann and "bass player" are probably not synonymous but there it is, photographic evidence AND a wikipedia entry! Aimee Mann is in fact a bass player!

She's more known as a songwriter and arranger of intelligent pop music, and to some as no more than the singer from 'Til Tuesday...her music is almost always in the personal/"confessional" vein - writing about relationships, addiction and more in a very accessible, universal way.

Here are a few tracks to get you started....if you are up for hearing two very memorable guest appearances, look for her work on William Shatner's Has Been and Rush's Hold Your Fire...you will be convinced she can do anything - and please pick up the Magnolia: Music from the Motion Picture soundtrack - you get Aimee Mann and Supertramp!

Three Aimee Mann downloads

Vancouver Travel Tips?

I have to head out to Vancouver this weekend for work and have never been. Lots of people whose opinions I value tell me it's a gorgeous city but beyond some restaurant recommendations I really don't know what the "must-sees" are...If you have any thoughts about book or record stores I would love to hear them but am up for anything interesting.

Thanks.

Burning Dervish Vol 14

I posted twice in the past about Alice Coltrance (here and here) but an article in the New York Times this weekend made me realize I needed to share some music...The article was the Times' coverage of a concert and memorial service held this past week, the Alice Coltrane Ascension Ceremony, at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.

I did not attend, in fact was not even aware the event was happening. I will not repeat the details of the night as conveyed in the article, instead I am including a copy of it in the folder with the songs that make up this mix.

Originally I thought I would match the playlist to the memorial service's program but instead opted to create a memorial of my own, Burning Dervish Vol 14: Alice Coltrane. The tracks included here all feature Alice as a side person or bandleader.

1. Peace on Earth from John Coltrane's Live in Japan, 1966
2. Ogunde from John Coltrane's The Olatunji Concert - The Last Live Recording, 1967
3. Ohnedaruth from Alice Coltrane's A Montastic Trio, 1968
4. Mantra from Alice Coltrane's Ptah, the El Daoud, 1970
5. Isis and Osiris from Alice Coltrane's Journey In Satchidananda, 1970
6. Water from Joe Henderson's The Elements, 1973
7. Angel of Sunlight from Carlos Santana and Alice Coltrane's Divine Light, 2001
8. Translinear Light from Alice Coltrane's Translinear Light, 2004

The albums these tracks are on are all available in the Burning Dervish Amazon Store.

Please enjoy this and let me know your thoughts. Click here to download Burning Dervish Volume 14.

Thanks.

way-back machine v77: Micah Anderson and Bill Beckett

...in New Haven on this date in 1993...

This is the companion recording to way-back machine v76, consisting of the set from the other guys who played on the bill this night...

A little honk-ified country blues from the crossroads of New Haven...

Micah Anderson and Bill Beckett - their set
from Cheri's, New Haven, CT, May 19, 1993

Book reading event in Brooklyn

From one of our favorite local bookstores, Freebird Books & Goods:

Thursday, May 24th at 7pm, Rob Sheffield reading from his autobiography, Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time

Rob Sheffield is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, where he writes the "Pop Life" column. He has been a rock critic since Prince still had Wendy and Lisa in the band, starting with a review of Tiffany's second album for Spin magazine in 1988. His work has appeared in Spin, the Village Voice, MTV, VH1, and many other places. He lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. His memoir Love is a Mix Tape was published in January of 2007.

Click here for directions.

Terry Callier

Such an interesting career...from Wikipedia:

"Callier, a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield, began recording in 1963 but never reached stardom despite a series of regional hits in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1983, he gained custody of his 12-year-old daughter Sundiata and decided to retire from music to look for a steadier income. He took classes in computer programming and

landed a job at the Uni