We Didn’t Start the Fire

Here’s a pretty cool little web video project that someone out there in Internet land created. Thia guy went out and tracked down great images for all the events and people referenced in Billy Joel’s 1980’s hit "We Didn’t Start the Fire"  It’s well done and worth a viewing.  Enjoy!

Click here to Watch Now.

Showtime in the Sahara – Update

Back in June I posted an article called "African Adventure" about a tremendous Adventure Travel article that appeared in the Africa issue of Vanity Fair – you can jump down and read that post if you like it’s Here ,but at the time, the article was not up on the VF website, (or I couldn’t find it) but it’s there now.

Seriously, it’s such a cool story – you have to go read it.  I bought the music collection "Tracks in the Sand" which was compiled by Youssou N’Dour as an introduction to West African music for those of us who are not West African, and am listening to it tonight as I composed this post.  It’s like an expert mix tape – and ALL revenue not some bogus "net proceeds"  – goes to the Global Fund.

This song, "Senegal Fast Food" by Amadou and Mariam (featuring Manu Chao) is from the collection. I can’t stop listening to it. Just click on the link below to listen or download – then go buy your own copy of the entire "Tracks in the Sand" Collection via itunes and support the Global Fund. Amadou and Mariam are a blind couple from Mali and Manu Chao produced their most recent album and wrote and sings this song.

Download amadou-mariam-senegal-fast-food.mp3

Virgin Festival 2007 Day 1 Part 6 – Sir Richard Branson

Branson_2 Chelsea and I were checking out the Eco exhibits in the Green Spot when I noticed a TV camera and a boom microphone and a small circle of people just a few feet away. At the center of that circle was Sir Richard Branson. Stunned, I turned to Chelsea and said "That’s Richard Branson!" She said "Who’s that?" "Mr. Virgin", I replied… "get a picture"

I walked over and reached out my hand and introduced myself and THAT was my favorite Rock Star moment of the weekend – and perhaps my life.  Chelsea snapped a couple of shots – but it was all so fast. This close up, she assures me was taken while he was shaking my hand.

Branson_1

Virgin Festival 2007 Day 1 Part 2

Amy Winehouse made it to the Festival… Just in time. I spoke to Rob Timm at WRNR who was supposed to interview her before her set, but she arrived so close to set time that there was no interview. So we will create one:

Rob: Amy, what’s in the flask?

Amy: It’s tea – HOT British tea, not that creepy iced Nestea crap you Yanks drink.

Rob: Earl Grey?

Amy: Johnny Walker.

Rob: ahhhh yes, wink wink nudge nudge know what cha’ mean, ‘deed I do, Luv.

Amy: Security!

It’s V-Fest Eve and All Thru The House…

Not a creature was stirring, except for Dad and his mouse.  We are all going to the Virgin Music Festival by Virgin Mobile at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore tomorrow. Even Mom! She scammed a press pass via her employer, a local newspaper and has promised to blog the experience detailing the different viewpoints on music and popular culture between a teen age girl and a 50 year old adult. Wow – what a great idea!

Of course, Mom and I are most excited to see The Police, one of the great bands I always admired, but never saw. I have seen almost everyone I ever wanted to see, I was living in Queens when The Police played Shea Stadium, but didn’t make the show. Shea sucks. Seriously. It was a terrible ballpark back in the early 80’s – I hope they did some renovation since then.

Anyway, Chelsea is excited to see Fountains of Wayne who go on first at high noon, when the temperature should have already passed 90 on it’s way to 95 with a decent chance of a thunderstorm.

The complete schedule is posted here – the worst conflict is The Police from 8-9:50 on the North stage and Modest Mouse from 8:45-10 on the South stage. Arrrrrgh. May have to skip the Encores and go see MM for a bit.

So, our planned itinerary is:

Fountains of Wayne

Cheap Trick – how the heck did they get on this bill anyway? We will most likely dash over to catch at least part of The Fratelli’s set.

AmyWinehouse – she wraps up at 3PM – we’ll skip Incubus and Paolo Nutinio and hit the Freak Lounge and other assorted diversions, and yes, I might be ready for a beer – or 12 – by then. Duffbeer

After that we’ll be running back and forth between stages the rest of the day… Peter,Bjorn and John, LCD Sound System, Ben Harper, TV on the Radio, Beastie Boys and then The Police and Modest Mouse. Man, I better go get some sleep.

By the way – after a really loooong day in the sun, The Police will hit the stage right at sunset and should  play "Bring on the Night" but it doesn’t appear that they have been doing that one at all on the tour. But they should, damn it!  It’s not too late!

Get me Sting on the phone!

Busybee_phone_pm123

"Excellent Idea! We’ll do it!"

Guess That Ringtone!

Payphones

While I was out of the car, Chelsea, Megan and Mom played an impromptu game of "Guess that Ringtone" 

What’s on your cellphone?

Do you have differnt rings for differnt callers? 

I have grown to love the audio caller id.

This is a short silly little podcast.

Download GuessThatRingtone.mp3

Enjoy!

African Adventure

There is an amazing story in the current issue of Vanity Fair, the July 2007 Africa issue which was guest edited by Bono and features 20 different covers shot by Annie Liebowitz.  This particular article is NOT online so   IS NOW ON THE WEB! READ IT!  I will quickly summarize and strongly encourage you to go buy a copy – or at least borrow  one or even stop in to your local library and read their copy. It is that cool a story.

"Showtime in the Sahara" by Tom Freston is the story of a group of music loving friends who travel, literally, beyond Timbuktu, to attend what’s billed as the world’s most remote music festival.  "The Festival in the Desert" is held at an Oasis in the Sahara desert. Many attendees arrive after a long trip by Camel.  Youssou

The group of friends includes Tom Freston, former CEO of MTV Networks, Jimmy Buffet, Chris Blackwell, legendary founder of Island Records (Bob Marley U@, Cat Stevens, dozens of African artists), veteran music journalist Bill Flanagan, Kino Bachelior, who has toured with Buffet for 30 years, and Jonathon Brandstein a manger of comedians who is also a world music nut and has been to Mali before.

The tale of the trip from Dakar, Senegal, to Timbuktu, Mali and then on into the desert is fascinating, exhilarating and inspiring.  There is a sidebar article where internationally renowned Senagalese singer Youssou N’Dour – who you have heard sing with Peter Gabriel on "In Your Eyes" offers up a list of 15 songs that give a nice overview and introduction to West African Music.  You can buy them all via iTunes and the proceeds – 100% of the proceeds go to The Global Fund.

Here’s the itunes link

Here’s Youssou performing with Peter Gabriel.

And here’s a link to a video of Annie and Bono working on the cover shoot.

Field Day

Here is a brand new Dad’s Car Radio podcast!

Download FieldDay_1_Final.mp3

This one was recorded during the last week of school and features Chelsea and Dad of course, but also special guest Megan. It was Field Day and in addition to that topic you will also hear Dad giving directions to a stranger, what the Spanish TMX Elmo is really doing, a story about Dad’s friend Franklin, a couple of tunes and a discussion about our favorite attraction on the road to school, Dead Kid Hole!

Promoted by it’s developers as Quarry Lake at Greenspring, but re-named by Chelsea in honor of the accident that is, sadly, certain to happen someday.

Quarry_lake_at_greenspring

Low fences, high cliffs, deep water, all surrounded by homes, offices and shopping. What could possibly go wrong? We’ll tell you when you listen to this episode of Dad’s Car Radio.

A Day in the World

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in June we loaded up the car with blankets, lawn chairs and various Chelsea_1 other supplies and went to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland to experience "A Day in the World"

This concert – starting at an extra early 5:30PM featured Thievery Corporation, Manu Chao, Bebel Gilberto and 3 DJ’s from ESL Music Ursula1000, Thunderball and Nickodemus.

When the show was announced, we decided that this was a Lawn show. At Merriweather they have a Pavilion and then an expansive lawn which can be heavenly or hellish depending on the weather and crowd around you. We also decided to wait until a few days prior to decide if we would go – wishing to avoid hell…

We lucked out.

A more perfect day could not be imagined for June 23rd in Maryland.  Chelsea was not so sure about this show – but we suggested she bring a friend and at worst they could make fun of people and at best they would love it.

As we arrived Bebel Gilberto was in mid set and her fine voice and the 21st century Samba beats floated over the lawn as we found our way to the top of the hill.  By the time we settled in her set was ending and one of the DJs took over… So it was a good time to go hunt for Food and Beverages.

We got in line behind this:

Backtatoo_2edit

THis was, without question, one of the most beautiful Tattoos I have ever seen. She said it was 4 months old and had taken 12 hours over 4 sessions.

Thievery Corporation’s set was wonderful.  They featured Drums, more drums, Violin, Sitar, Bass, Trumpet, Sax, Guitar, plus Rob Garza and Eric Hilton – the duo that creates the music and produces the records on keyboards, computers and turntables.

Tc_drums_dncrs_edit

On their albums they feature many famous guest vocalists. The last CD The Cosmic Game featured David Byrne, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Perry Farrell (Jane’s Addiction) Live, the lead vocals changed from song to song, the singers were from Columbia, Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, Washington DC and I don’t remember them all.  This band does not really tour – they are only doing this show and a festival in San Francisco this summer.  Last December they did 5 nights at the 9:30 club in DC.  If they do come to your town don’t miss it!

Tc_rob_crop

Rob Garza – Not a typical Rock Star.

Tc_belly2

Several Thievery Corporation songs featured a Belly Dancer.

Meanwhile, up on the lawn, we were dancing too…Gail_blissed_2

Manuchao_edit

We knew very little about Manu Chao before he and his band Exploded onto the stage, I had heard just a few samples of songs and knew it was an upbeat dance happy party groove, that he sang in several languages, often mising them up inthe same song and was a superstar in various parts of the world.

You know you are in for high energy when half of the band STARTS the set shirtless. None of this – "Oh, I am warming up and need to cool off now". They started out effectively saying saying "Yes, we are hot, now get up and dance!"  The crowd responded.  The music had elements of The Police "Cha! Cha!" Bob Marley "War in th East, War in the West…" Plus the shirtless funkified intensity of The Red Hot Chili Peppers – and dozens of other elements beats and grooves.  He won me over completely, but by this time – now about 10:30 all 3 girls were tired and we made a run for it.

Here’s a free legal MP3 sample Download RainininParadize.mp3

By the way, I took all of the band pictures with my little Canon digital camera shooting from our place on the top of the lawn – zooming in on the giant screen. Here is what the view looked like – un-zoomed.  But the sound was perfect!

Viewfromthetop

The Big Bright spot is the screen at the outer edge of the Pavilion, the little spots are the screens  on either side of the stage, and the little tiny light at the top of the picture is the Moon.

It was a beautiful night for A Day in the World.

Hershey Park – A new podcast

Hershey Chelsea and I made a few recordings over the past month and finally we’re getting them uploaded. Here is the first of a couple new podcast posts.  This one features a bit of discussion about a trip that day to Hershey Park and by Chelsea’s request, the Dead Milkmen and their classic "Instant Club Hit"  – Better known as "You’ll Dance to Anything".

It’s a short one – only 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Download HersheyPark.mp3  A little longer than a roller coaster ride…