Grit in the Gears

I am the grit in the gears, the missing bolt, I am the poker of sticks into spokes. I like to know how things work, but sometimes when I take them apart and rebuild them, I have a few pieces left over. I am a man, so I tend to leave reading the instructions until after it goes wrong. And like all men I have a comprehensive mental map of the world and never need to ask directions. I never get lost, only sometimes I'm late, or end up in the wrong place entirely. It's what we do.

Saturday, 16 May 2009

down in the basement

Another Music Video.

I really like this, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I'm all for live music, and for people who sing, play, write.
People who have absorbed traditions, learned from the older guys, then taken what they've learned and made it their own. The Carolina Chocolate Drops come over as having done that, they're proud to be interpreting history, keeping a tradition alive. They talk of their music as embracing black history and experience, but say that the music grew out of other cultures and histories too, they're about pride, about self-knowledge, but not about separatism, not about racism, not about us and them, they are clever articulate, great!

Hit 'em Up Style was a big hit for Blu Cantrell, of whom I'd never heard... About five years ago.
The lyrics were by Dallas Austin Ha, ladies, it was written BY A MAN!

Rant: I'm really tired of all those "superstars" out there who go on stage and mime to their studio recording, which has been cleaned up and adjusted by the musical equivalent of photoshop.
And when it gets to the star's choreographer, personal trainer, hairdresser... We're missing the point these days, it's more about the on stage spectacle, the lights, the lasers the fireworks, the rotating stage, dry ice....
Stadium shows? Blargh... When I was a lad, etc.....
When I was a lad, the Rolling Stones played in the University dining hall.
So did David Bowie.
I prefer, if i go to see live music, which I do less and less these days, a band in a pub or bar, with at most a couple of hundred in the audience. I really can't see the point in being in a sea of people, so far away from the stage that you can't see the band direct, you have to look at a big video screen. Well, if I'm going to watch a video screen, I might as well save the ticket price and watch it at home. I like the repartee that develops with a small venue, between musicians and audience, when you find the acts queuing at the bar with the punters.

Anyway, all that was a digression. I really like this, what say you guys?

Carolina Chocolate Drops, check 'em out on their website and go listen more. http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com/