ACL Week: Top 5 Songs I Hope To Hear (but probably won’t)

Before I post of list of the things I’m excited about ACL, I decided to post a list of a couple of songs I PROBABLY won’t get to hear (they’ve only made it on these artists’ setlist a couple of times in 2009) … but here’s hoping …

5.   “Kingfish” – Levon Helm

Hands-down my favorite track off of ‘Electric Dirt’

4.   “Zombie” – State Radio

Cover of The Cranberries … but pretty rare …

3.   “The Privateers” – Andrew Bird

Just to hear the bass line that closes the song!

2.   “The Real Me” – Pearl Jam

Sure it’s another cover … but who cares?

1.   “Warehouse” – Dave Matthews Band

More on Dave later … but this is by far my favorite DMB live.

Santiago’s Father and fighting the good fight

Well, already nine pages into The Alchemist, and Paulo is already brining up one of the key idea from The Pilgrimage.  On page 9, Santiago details the exchange between with his father when Santiago tells his father of his desire to travel, which will mean Santiago will become a shepherd.  Santiago’s father tries to warn Santiago about the futility of his desires.  Thought Santiago notes, “The boy could see in his father’s gaze a desire to be able, himself, to travel the world — a desire that was still alive, despite his father’s having to bury it, over dozens of years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every night of his life.”

The description of Santiago’s father directly draw from The Pilgrimage where Paulo is told by Petrus about fighting the good fight.  Santiago’s father has lost the will to go into combat.

Re-reading ‘The Alchemist’

I finished The Pilgrimage about a week ago.  I just couldn’t keep up my blog notes while reading the book (I was that into it!)  My next book is going to be The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.  It is the follow-up novel to The Pilgrimage, during which he was actually inspired to write The Alchemist. As such, and also because I’ve already read The Alchemist, I plan to write much more frequently on here about my thoughts as a read with both books mind.

From ‘The Pilgrimage’

“Fans who lack the faith can make a team lose a game it is already winning.”

From ‘The Pilgrimage’

So, I’m reading The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho, and rather than keep personal notes to myself, I thought I’d keep track of quotes and thoughts I had on my blog as I read.  Here is the first:

“The good fight is the one that’s fought in the name of our dreams.  When we’re young and our dreams first explode inside us with all of their force, we are very courageous, but we haven’t yet learned how to fight.  With great effort, we learn how to fight, but by then we no longer have the courage to go into combat.  So we turn against ourselves and do battle within.  We become our own worst enemy.  We say that our dreams were childish, or too difficult to realize, or the result of our not having known enough about life.  We kill our dreams because we are afraid to fight the good fight.”

- The Pilgrimage, page 57

Twitter Updates for 2009-06-04

• is in a mean mood. #
• has lost his mean mood from the morning … and is just relaxed. #
• was a PHP rockstar today! #
• it’s my Sophomore year on Mix 100!! #
• is listening to Spike Dykes speak. #
• is saddened by all the tasamis in the world. #fb #

Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King [review]

GrooGrux is a made-up word used by several members of the Dave Matthews Band to describe the energy and “wild-sounding rhythms” when the band performed together.  Those terms certainly resonate on the band’s seventh studio album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. As a whole, GrooGrux is the most rock-focused DMB album to date, but to no ill effect.  Rather, it adds a driving force to the music which finally echos the pace of the band’s live shows.

As noted in the review by Rolling Stone, the band finally produced an album which accurately reflects their live sound.  There’s an energy and size to their sound which has never been present on their previous studio releases.  Stand-out track in this regard is “Shake Me Like A Monkey,” which is probably the hardest song the band has ever recorded for an album.  Credit should undoubtedly be given to producer Rob Cavallo, who previously produced albums for Green Day, the Goo Goo Dolls, and My Chemical Romance.  Seemingly absent from GrooGrux is the focus on one specific style, as has been typical of past Dave Matthews albums.  Instead, the album melds together the catchy melodies of Under the Table and Dreaming, the lyrical sweetness of Crash, and the jazz-tinged rock of Beyond These Crowded Streets.

Long-time DMB contributer Tim Reynolds is featured prominently on acoustic and electric guitar.  Another change from previous studio effort, Stand Up, is a resurgence of drummer Carter Beauford.  Back are his intricate rhythms and driving precision.  While I’m hesitant to call it the best Dave Matthews Band album so far, it is definitely the most well-rounded, and I suspect many of the songs on the album will be featured extensively in their many years of touring ahead.

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