Paul's Web Space 2.1

Spottiswoode Makes More Enemies on NPR

I had the distinct pleasure of listening to my good friend and former band-mate Jonathan Spottiswoode on NPR's Weekend Edition this morning. It was an entertaining and thoughtful interview, conducted by Susan Stamberg, the original host of the weekend edition of the most popular show on radio. He sang and played two of his songs live in the studio, and they played cuts from the two CDs that his band Spottiswoode and his Enemies recently released as part of their 10th anniversary celebration — it was awesome exposure for Jonathan, his band, and his music. (All four songs are available on the NPR Web site.)

Jonathan is truly a gifted songwriter; he wrote all the songs on the first CD by my band, the Oxymorons ("Meet the Morons," which Jonathan also co-produced, was released in 1993). Around that time, he co-founded the Zimmermans, which shared two other members with the Oxymorons, but soon after split off in its own, more serious direction. (The first Zimmermans music video, "Portuguese Woman," also received its premiere at the "Meet the Morons" CD release party.)

The Enemies share most members with the final line-up of the Zimmermans, and have been together now for ten years. In the interview, Jonathan mentioned that he considers himself lucky to have been able to work with such good enemies over the last ten years, and to have been able to make a living writing, recording and performing his music, regardless of his spotty success with the so-called "music industry." To celebrate their ten years of existence, the Enemies recently released not one, but two new CDs: "That's What I Like" and "Salvation." Watch the video of the title track from the first CD, directed by Andrew Blackwell:



When Susan asked Jonathan how he managed to put out two CDs simultaneously – the band recorded 33 tracks in six days in the studio, of which 28 were included on the released CDs – he remarked that five CDs would be too little, were it not so difficult to press, package, and distribute the music once it was recorded. Several years ago, he remarked to me that he had five new fully-formed and sequenced CDs all worked out in his head; all he needed was the money, label, record deal, or whatever it would take to pay for it. The enemies are on a bit of a media roll these days: Paste Magazine gave them a rave review for a recent show in Atlanta as they worked their way back north from South by Southwest, and the New Yorker made their 10th Anniversary show last weekend at Joe's Pub the lead pick in last weeks listings.

Labels: music, npr, spottiswoode

   Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89197132

¶ 11:58 AM | Permalink | | | Links to this post
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Guitar Heaven

A couple weeks ago, I had a busy musical weekend — sort-of an early birthday present.

First on Friday night I went to see Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk play a benefit for the Tipitina's Foundatation at the City Tavern Club in Georgetown. The funk was top-notch – the best I've heard in a while, and New Orleans agrees:

The New York Times recently declared "Dumpstaphunk is the best funk band from New Orleans right now." A huge overstatement from a respected but decidedly Yankee interloper? No, probably Two of the Big Easy's most respected music publications -- Gambit Weekly and Offbeat Magazine -- also selected Dumpstaphunk as the city's best funk band." (timesunion.com)

I would go see them if you've got the funk and you have the chance. The club was also really nice, and a lot of my New Orleans music fan friends were there.

Then on Saturday night, I went to see a show at the Deej (my friend's house concert series) that I've already blogged about — featuring Karl Straub, Eugene Chadbourne, and Jimmy Carl Black. The show lived up to the hype, but even better, I had totally forgotten what an amazing guitarist Eugene Chadbourne is. I've seen him over the years with his own punk/rockabily act Shockabilly, the low-fi noise-sters of Half Japanese, and play along with Karl at a previous Deej, but this time, his weird genius shone through brightly. He shredded many twisted numbers during Jack & Jim show, and then sat in on lead during most of Karl Straub's set - giving Jeff Beck a run for his money during an extended solo on "Shapes of Things" by the Yardbirds.

(The same night Julie took Fiona to see Arturo Sandoval close out the Silver Spring Jazz Festival. I couldn't be everywhere....)

On Sunday, the piece de resistance — the Meat Puppets played at the Black Cat. Reunited with his brother Cris on bass, Curt Kirkwood played like the old days, the amazing guitarist he has always been. (He's a multi-year Guitar Player award winner.) One of Nirvana's favorite bands, they played along during the MTV Unplugged show, which even included two Meat Puppets songs, including my favorite, "Lake of Fire":

Where the bad folks go when they die;
They don't go to heaven where the angels fly;
They go down to the lake of fire and fry;
Won't see them again 'til the fourth of July. (Curt Kirkwood)

So that capped off a week of guitar heaven. It would be made even more complete if I could go see John McLaughlin this Friday at Lisner Auditorium, but alas, I'll be at the beach preparing for a gig by my band, the Oxymorons — we're playing Dogfish Head in Rehoboth, DE on Saturday, September 29. I once wrote a term paper comparing John McLaughlin's and Charlie Christian's influence on jazz guitar. (While McLaughlin is great, there are very few with Christian's influence on jazz, period.)

Labels: guitar, music

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Make Some Noise

Here's something I stumbled upon over at MySpace - Make Some Noise, a project of Amnesty International to raise awareness and money to help them fight injustice and promote human rights around the world.

They're selling an album featuring various artists covering John Lennon tunes, and it sounds pretty good! Here's a widget to promote it (slow load, but the wait's worth it...chill):

Labels: amnesty, human rights, music

   Link: http://www.myspace.com/msnoise

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