music
-
We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years
The soundtrack to the 1995 documentary I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times consists mostly of new performances by Brian Wilson of songs recorded years earlier by himself and the Beach Boys. The sole exception is a demo of an obscure song from 1977, titled “Still I Dream Of It,” an uncommon ballad of loneliness… Continue reading
-
American Music
If you caught the halftime show on this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, I’d be curious to hear what you thought about it. In these days of cultural division, when people are increasingly unable to agree about the meaning of all the things that play out in front of our faces, I don’t want to take… Continue reading
-
Workin’ on a post
It’s winter here in the Pacific Northwest, and yesterday’s temperature peaked at 60 degrees Fahrenheit because the concept of “winter” is being drastically redefined in the Twenty First Century by climate change. All this unseasonable warmth has stirred something in me, and on an impulse I began working on a new musical project: assembling the… Continue reading
-
Let’s Make A List
I’d like to have a blog post up on Saturday morning, but it’s Friday evening and I’m simply not prepared for that. Mentally, I am just not there; my hamster wheels are slowing to a standstill, the hamsters themselves having reached their limits of exercise. You can see it in my metaphors, I’m simply out… Continue reading
-
The Horn
Jazz music is a misunderstood music, one of the load-bearing pillars of a culture that makes a habit of misunderstanding itself. Of all the kinds of music one commonly hears in America, it stands apart as the most human kind of expression—its cardinal virtue is improvisation, and it delights in the recreation of what was… Continue reading
-
Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band
My wife and I got tickets to see the core of the late Brian Wilson’s band perform in Lincoln City on October 4th, a decision I made pretty much as soon as I was made aware that such a performance was taking place. Although I have been a fan of Brian and the Beach Boys… Continue reading
-
How to Listen to the Beach Boys, Part 2
In Part 1, I discussed the art of listening to the Beach Boys, some of the historical context I find important to appreciating them, and some possible entry points in approaching their rather substantial discography. In this post, I will present two routes for getting into their music on a deeper level: listening to the… Continue reading
-
How to Listen to the Beach Boys, Part 1
In Part Two, I will discuss the Beach Boys’ albums in greater detail, and include a playlist of my most recommended tracks. When I was seventeen years old, I was ready to become totally absorbed in something legendary. I didn’t know this on a conscious level, but because I read magazines in the library during… Continue reading
-
Every conspiracy theory is bad, and so is the anecdotal pseudoscience woo that feeds it.
On Friday afternoon I was listening to music while I worked on revising my novel. I do that a lot, it’s not in the least bit noteworthy. However, I heard a song that I enjoyed very much. When I got up to use the bathroom a few minutes later, I searched for the song on… Continue reading
-
Ten songs by Brian Wilson and/or The Beach Boys
I have often thought about how I would memorialize Brian Wilson, who touched my heart with his songs and taught me much of what I know about art and music, on the day he passed away. Ever since his dementia diagnosis was made public last year, I assumed this day would come sooner rather than… Continue reading
Ink Tea Stone Leaf 