This just in from Ruth Eckerd Hall:
It was announced today that due to illness, Willie Nelson has unfortunately postponed his concert in Clearwater at Ruth Eckerd Hall scheduled for tonight at 8 pm. The concert will be rescheduled for October, 2009. The exact show date will be announced soon. Willie regrets any inconvenience to his fans.
A regular weekly bulletin on musical guests playing the five-nights-a-week late night talk shows (and SNL); set your TIVOs or DVRs.
The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS
Monday, February 16: Willie Nelson with Asleep at the Wheel
Tuesday, February 17: M. Ward (pictured)
Wednesday, February 18: Antony and the Johnsons
Thursday, February 19: David Sanborn with Sam Moore
Friday, February 20: Shemekia Copeland
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC
Monday, February 16: Lily Allen
Tuesday, February 17: Andrew Bird
Wednesday, February 18: Lisa Hannigan
Thursday, February 19: A.R. Rahman
Friday, February 20: Chris Isaak Read the rest of this entry »
Last night I was ready to announce “last call” when I put on Letterman to check out the music guest. There loomed Jamey Johnson, this truck-driving fella with a rich, burly voice. He recounted a conversation with his WWII-vet granddaddy … and I nearly had to wipe a manly tear from my eye. Titled “In Color,” the song is moving without being maudlin, and Johnson, who co-wrote the number, delivers the touching lyric with old-school, outlaw authority — and charm. Fatherly charm. Big brother charm. Two old pals with lots of battle scars sharing a bear-hug charm.
But “In Color” is not the most gripping song on Johnson’s breakthrough disc That Lonesome Song. That honor goes to the nearly six-minute long “High Cost of Living (Ain’t Nothing Like the Cost of Living High),” another original. Here’s this mainstream country singer — Johnson’s on Mercury — candidly singing about his past struggles with cocaine. The lived-in lyrics and the shackled-but-ever-present demons in his voice place the song on par with the best by fellow and former Nashville rebels Waylon, Willie, Hag and Cash.
Updated: Dec. 6, 2008:
Updated: Dec. 16, 2008:
This list of sad Christmas songs first ran as a feature in Creative Loafing, back when it was the Weekly Planet, in 2002. I then re-posted it here at TampaCalling last December.
Unfortunately, the list is again proving appropriate, even more this year than during any holiday season in my lifetime. So, I decided to revive the entire article that ran in the old Weekly Planet under the title “Blue Christmas: Songs to avoid (or wallow in) for the season.” Cheers.
Originally published 12.18.02:
As anybody living on this side of a Rockwell canvas already knows, the holidays aren’t always the happiest time of the year. If you’re strapped for cash, feeling lonely or disenfranchised, Christmas usually ushers in as much grief as joy. So, to help deal with the potential doldrums of this week of all Madison Avenue weeks, here’s a list of 12/25 songs from the past three decades that wittily reflect — in no uncertain terms — the occasionally grim realities of the season. (Such pre-rock classics as “White Christmas” harbor nearly as much melancholy as merriment, as well, but Jewish composers like Irving Berlin buried the sentiment a bit deeper in the subtext than today’s songwriters.)
The alphabetically listed tunes posted below range from poignant (”Pretty Paper”) and irreverent (”Fairy Tale of New York”) to humorous (”The Christians and the Pagans”) and morbid (”Brick”) — the overriding criteria for the selections being reality-based storytelling traditionally missing from the standard holiday fare. And although John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” made the cut, political songs with less universal emotional gravity — Steve Earle’s “Christmas in Washington,” Randy Newman’s “Christmas in Capetown” — were deemed unworthy. As was Elvis’ generic “Blue Christmas” and the well-intentioned but nauseating 1980s sap-fest “Do they Know It’s Christmas.”
Included after the artists’ name is the best budget album on which to find each title. This little perk is just in case you’re looking for that special depressing something to send your ex. You know, just to remind him or her of just how much misery they’ve caused you during this season of supposed Yuletide spirit.
“Brick” Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen The economically challenged protagonist rises at “6 a.m. the day after Christmas” to drive his young girlfriend to the abortion clinic. Now how’s that for holiday cheer? Killer Line: “They call her name at 7:30/ I pace around the parking lot/ Then I walk down to buy her flowers/ And sell some gifts that I got.”
“The Christians and the Pagans,” Dar Williams, Mortal City How about a little humor before blowing our brains out? In this astute comedic sketch from Williams, two related families polarized by religious differences come together for a holiday meal and try to agree that “Christmas is like solstice.” Killer Line: “The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal had gone without a hitch/ Till Timmy turned to Amber and said, “Is it true that you’re a witch?”
“Christmas in Prison,” John Prine, Sweet Revenge John Prine is one of few songwriters who could take such clichéd country-music terrain as prison, heartache and Christmas, and come up with something that smacked of true sincerity — no big surprises, but genuinely moving. Killer Line: “It’s Christmas in prison/ There’ll be music tonight/ I’ll probably get homesick/ I love you/ Goodnight.”
“Fairytale of New York,” The Pogues, If I Should Fall From Grace With God A homeless couple’s dialogue begins cheerily but by the end of this four-minute exchange, vile nastiness prevails. Killer Line: “You’re a punk/ You’re an old slut on junk … You scum bag/ You maggot/ You cheap lousy faggot/ Happy Christmas your arse/ I pray God/ It’s our last.”
Isn’t this the way the Internet works: Without even trying, you occasionally stumble upon something wonderful.
I’d never heard of or even heard Timi Yuro before today. But as I was perusing a Beatles set list from 1963 that had been posted online, I noticed a song titled “If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody” a version of which was recorded by James Ray, a soul singer who died shortly after finding some success in the early ’60s. While I sought out Ray’s version of the song, I happened upon a recording by Timi Yuro on YouTube.
I was duly impressed by Yuro’s brassy, soulful vocals, and so I ended up listening to her other recordings, many of which were standards of the day: “All Alone Am I,” “Cry,” “I’m Sorry,” to name just a few.
According to Yuro’s entry in Wikipedia, she was Morrissey’s favorite singer, and counted Elvis among her biggest fans.
Yuro released her last album in 1984, Timi Yuro Sings Willie Nelson, which was produced by Nelson. Take a listen to one of her lovely duets with Willie, “Did I Ever Love You.” Yuro died of throat cancer in 2004. If you don’t already know of her, take the time to discover a stunning talent.
WILLIE NELSON: “Angel Flying Too Close to the Groundâ€
Willie Nelson has become such an American icon that people tend to forget his sublime artistry. A distinctive singer with a jazz vocalist’s sense of timing, he’s also one of country music all-time great guitarists and songwriters (he’s penned “Crazy,†“Hello Walls,†and “Funny How Time Slips Away,†among others.) This clip finds Nelson at a concert in ‘92 performing another original, “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,†in which he expresses bitterness better than perhaps any pop scribe around.
