Radical Transparency

(in case the other blogs need a friend)

Voyage of the Third-Rate Stiltsmen

Stiltsman_album_art

This post is for the people that just received an email that included this link. And for the people that want to click that link and download a mix that Lauren and I made for our mix of the month club. Since we didn't burn CDs this time, we figured we'd offer liner notes instead:

1. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) - Frank Wilson: Big thanks to Turkey Bowl for this one. Best end credits I've heard in a long time.

2. Sweet Louise - The Belle Brigade: Happy unrequited love. Rare.

3. It's Close, I'm Come Undone - Hoots & Hellmouth: How we hooked Axel on H&H. Or, rather, how H&H hooked Axel on H&H.

4. No Time for Dreaming - Charles Bradley: From the debut album of a 62 year old former James Brown cover singer.

5. Just Fine - G. Love: We heard him say that his new album is a return to his Delta Blues roots. Sounds like a return to the same old G. Love, which doesn't bother us.

6. Drunken Cowgirl - The Vaudeville Smash: Stealing Jon's thunder with this one. We should have left it for his next mix, but we couldn't resist.

7. Give It All Back - Noah and the Whale: "The performance was nervous and awkward, but the passion was real and profound." Love it.

8. Just One Kiss - Raphael Saadiq (and Joss Stone): A pop soul love duet, for snuggling.

9. Something in the Water - Brooke Fraser: Christian rocker from New Zealand goes secular, momentarily at least.

10. Down in the Valley - The Head and the Heart: I, too, often "wish I was a slave to an age old trade."

11. Settler - Balmorhea: Sledgehammered me the first time I heard it.

12. Truth - Alexander: We fell in love with Alex Ebert when he took his shirt off, asked us to sit down, and sang us a lullaby.

13. 928 Horn Jam - Trombone Shorty: We didn't predict that the PBS party would be the sweatiest of SXSW 2011. But we didn't know Trombone Shorty was going to be there.

14. Loud Love - Good Old War: The only completely non-SXSW-connected song on here. We saw them open for Guster in LA a couple of months ago. If listening doesn't move you, watch.

15. Beekeeper - David Wax Museum: We brought these guys out to see Hoots & Hellmouth in Austin, but they ran away during the last song. I'm convinced that Suz, the fiddle player, fell in love with someone on stage, and David, the lead singer, got jealous.

16. Keys to the Kingdom - Abigail Washburn: Imagine this song with a trumpet instead of a banjo. That's how she's performing it now.

17. EZ Pass - Har Mar Superstar: How can you not love a guy that looks like this?

18. L.O.V. - Fitz and the Tantrums: For all you baseball fans, this is the Rule 5 Draft Pick of this mix. Not gonna get much playing time right away, but something tells me Fitz and the Tantrums are a good long term investment.

19. Down the Burning Ropes - James Vincent McMorrow: No backstory. No special reason. No comment. Just sounds good.

20. Knockin' - Carolina Chocolate Drops (and Luminescent Orchestrii): Last minute addition to the mix. Threw it in for attitude. And non-traditional percussion.

21. Listen to the Darkside - Charlie Mars: "If you wanna come over, come over and MAKE PIE, we can listen to the Dark Side of the Moon." Just in case anyone needs G-rated alternate lyrics.

Among Other Things

Flew to Texas today.

Walked around, looked around, listened to this song, pitched a tent, and went to bed.

(download)

Why Is It So Hard is track 10 on No Time For Dreaming, 62-year-old Charles Bradley's debut album.

And He's Like, La La La

I had a little memory flash tonight about a tweet I posted from South By Southwest a few months ago....

"Do you guys know Billy Elliot? Yeah? This is a song written under the influence of that movie."

And I realized that I had (and still have) a responsibility. To the internets.

Sorry it took me so long.

(download)

Billy Elliot is track 4 on It Might Like You.

Forgiveness

Five of us stand at an Austin, TX bus stop. One in a hurry and waiting for the bus. The rest of us keeping him company and following the bus home on foot.

A stranger walks close - but not too close - and stops. And tries to get our attention. He's skinny, a little disheveled, and black.

We notice. And pretend not to.

He keeps trying.

We keep pretending.

Until he steps a little closer.

And we turn - hard, suspicious, sympathetic, polite, uncomfortable - and acknowledge him.

He asks for the time.

And we see ourselves, see what we've just done. And we force embarrassed smiles. And we tell him.

He says thank you and steps away to wait for his bus.

A bus approaches. And the four of us that aren't taking it realize we don't know exactly how to walk where we're walking. So we scramble, asking our bus-boarding friend - the only local among us - for directions. He does the best he can, but the bus wants to leave, and he has to leave with it.

And he's gone. And we're still a little confused. But we know we need to go north. So we start walking. And we pass the man without a clock.

And he gets our attention again. And tells us exactly how to get where we're going. And smiles.

And we thank him. And feel like crying.

I'll remember him - and wish I could thank him again - every time I ever forgive anyone for anything.

Grace As Grace

As Lauren mentioned earlier, we saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals rock out in bathrobes at 8 o'clock this morning.

They didn't sing about Alice, but we didn't need a cover to feel The Airplane's spirit.

(download)