It's true. The man practically begs to be made fun of. That bit about 'the best crowds ever' at the inauguration—seriously? His choices for cabinet members—an illiterate moron for Education, a climate change denier for the EPA, a freakin' banker-slash-Wall-Street-scammer for Finance—and his own son-in-law as 'Senior Adviser'! I mean, you can't make this stuff up. Any dystopian novel that included even a fraction of this goofed-up circus would be laughed out of even the most amateur of literary agents' offices. To quote Monsieur Cheeto himself: Unbelievable. And tragic. And—to put it mildly—worrisome. But a sense of humor is the hallmark of an educated mind, and if we can't see the hilarity in all of this, we're that much farther away from gaining the perspective we need to fight back.
Enter The Netherlands.
(Updated video, since original is 'no longer accessible'... Censured, perhaps? :D )
Got to love the Dutch. (Plus, Cheeto-man really hates to be laughed at, which makes the laughing all the more enjoyable. Thank you, dude, for elevating laughter into an instrument of resistance.)
I'm so sorry, gang... I've been missing too many battles lately. Yes, it's fast times here in Curaçao, but that's really no excuse—I'm sure you all have oodles of stuff to do, too, and yet you manage to post promptly, on time and regularly. So I apologize, and I hope you still love me.
This one was quick and dirty; Café Tacuba took the lead out of the gate, but Señor Guerra didn't let that stand for long.
Café Tacuba: 3
Birgit
Lee
Dixie
Juan Luis Guerra: 5
Cherdo
Michele
Jeffrey
Mike
John
I love the original, both for its musical integrity and for the lyrics, for Guerra's mastery of both craft and art, and for the subtlety of its lyrics, and it gets me dancing every time. But Café Tacuba's version gives me chills. Yes, of course it's related to my Mexican identity, to how the Son Jarocho speaks to my soul... Perhaps I can't be objective. Perhaps it's a myth to think we can judge any form of art objectively. So, with apologies to Señor Guerra, whom I admire deeply, my vote goes to the Mexican band. (Not that it makes any difference to the result... At least in that regard I can avoid the guilt.)
Loved hearing your take on this one, guys. Until next time! (And I promise I'll be on time... not just for posting my Battle but also for visiting yours. Missed too many this time.)
To close, I leave you with Bachata en Fukuoka, from Mr. Guerra's 2010 album 'A Son de Guerra' ("To The Beat of War", literally, though it's a wordplay on his name).
I'm not sure how popular bachata is in your corner of the woods, so in case you have no idea what it is, let me tell you it's a musical form originally from Dominican Republic (and still mostly popular there), a 4/4 beat that sounds deceptively simple but is incredibly complicated to dance to. Watch these guys:
Now you have something to keep you busy over the weekend :) Have fun!
I'm late to the party, I know... I apologize. I was on a deadline to deliver a short story, and I finally managed to send it in just a little while ago—two days late... ooops. So, with the "job" taken care of, let's hear some music!
This is one of those alternative Battles that sometimes find their way in. The song is Ojalá Que Llueva Café, by Juan Luis Guerra (1989), and we're pitting that original against a cover by an off-the-beaten-path band from Mexico called Café Tacuba (officially spelled Tacvba, the old Castilian way).
Sorry I'm late with the results, guys. (Not sure what happened to my Tuesday :D ) Because these two songs were so different not just from the original but from the Dobie Gray version we all (I think) know best, I expected the votes to be more evenly distributed. I even dreaded thought maybe we'd end up with a tie, which I'd be forced to break. Or make. Fortunately (for me, not for Ringo and his all-stars), after a rocky start—pardon the pun—the Stones managed to run away with the Battle.
Here's the breakdown:
Ringo & The Gang: 4
Debbie
Cherdo
Janie
John
Rolling Stones: 9
Dixie
Lee
Michele
Jeffrey
Stephen
Robin
Birgit
Mike
Yolanda
Much gratitude to everyone who came by to listen and vote, and share your thoughts on the music. It's always a pleasure to feel a part of this BoTB community.
To close, I leave you with another Stones cover... Well, it's semi-Stones, really. Keith Richards and Norah Jones sing Love Hurts. But, in spite of Norah's presence (and Mick's absence), I think it qualifies as appropriately cringe-worthy :D
Gimme the beat, boys, and free my soul I want to get lost in your rock n' roll and drift away...
All I've got to do is hum that chorus and my feet start tappin' and my soul starts liftin'. But I always wondered about one thing. It's very clearly a country song—maybe that's just the context I heard it in, or the context of the versions I knew: Dobie Gray, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, Garth Brooks—but the lyrics, also very clearly, say rock n' roll. For years it stayed one of those weird discrepancies people of my generation (i.e., who grew up without YouTube or Wikipedia or any such) learned to live with.
Until today.
Turns out Drift Away (written by Mentor Williams) may have been famous by Dobie Gray—his version stole the show in 1973—but the original was recorded in 1972 by John Henry Kurtz—and that version totally does sound rock n' roll-ish.
This song has been covered a lot (I mean, Michael Bolton? Really?), and most versions have the Dobie Gray country feel, but I managed to find two that (sort of) don't... And I'm not talking light-weights, either. The first is by none other than the Rolling Stones, an unreleased version that does not include Keith Richards in the line-up—which might explain the odd, not-quite-Rolling-Stone sound:
And to challenge that, we have another group of legends: Ringo Starr, Tom Petty, and Alanis Morissette, and Steve Tyler, with an arrangement that, to me at least, sounds straight-up Ringo (not a bad thing):
What do you think? Which version do you like better? Did the gritty uniformity of the Stones win you over, or did you prefer the color lent by the eclectic vocal choices of the Ringo version? Looking forward to your feedback! I'll be back next Wednesday to tally up the votes, cast my own, and tell you how it all went down.
In the meantime, hop on over to these blogs where more epic Battles are being fought. As always, much gratitude to host Stephen T. McCarthy for keeping the Battle hop not just going but roaring. (And yet, yes, we do miss you, FAE.)
A bit late, yes, but back nonetheless—and very, very happy about it. I apologize for abandoning this blog during April; the A2Z really took its toll this year. (Mainly because I, again, did not prewrite my posts. Why do I do that to myself? Why, why, why?) But it was a great month over at the dog blog... I'll get into that in a later post, though. For now, on to the main thing today: The Battle of The Bands!
I'm so pleased you liked this one, guys. And I do apologize for not replying to your lovely, lovely comments... The A2Z has taken over my life. I did make it to a few of your blogs before the voting closed, though, which makes me very happy.
Here's how the guitar vs cellos battle played out:
Guitar (Luca Stricagnoli): 9
Lee
Mike
Debbie
Michele
Dixie
Robin
Cathy
Jeffrey
Birgit
2Cellos: 3
Cherdo
Stephen
FAE
Yep... The guitar came out on top. Most of you had a hard time choosing (I'll take that as a compliment, thank you), which might mean that, in spite of the disparity in votes, these two version were well-matched after all. And which, really, means little. The point is you enjoyed it, and that's what it's all about.
As for my vote... Like you, I couldn't choose. The cello video really made an impression (those popped bowstrings—brilliant), and Luca's playing is truly virtuoso. How to choose? I'll go with the cellos, but I'm not sure if it's a pity vote :D
Thank you so much for playing, and for putting up with my silence. As a token of my gratitude, I leave you with another jewel of Luca Stricagnoli's guitar...
Music can be so versatile... as versatile, in fact, as the musician. And only as versatile as the musician. And these two take AC/DC's Thunderstruck to a whole new level.
Which of these two versions of Thurderstruck do you like most (or dislike the least)? Which of the two—guitar maverick Luca Stricagnoli or the rebels of 2Cellos—do you feel accomplishes the better musicianship? Are you a fan of classical crossovers? What do you think of that rumor making the rounds about Axel Rose replacing Brian Johnson as AC/DC's lead vocals? Cast your vote and share your thoughts in the comments, and come back next Friday to check which way the voting went.
And when you're done voting here, take a hop over to visit these other Battle of the Bands participants for more awesome musical face-offs. As always, a gratitude shout-out to hosts Stephen T. McCarthy and Far Away Eyes for keeping the BoTB going!
P.S. — I apologize upfront; due to the A-to-Z Challenge (which I'm participating in with the dog blog) I may be a bit late replying and visiting you back. But I will get there :) And if you're doing the A-to-Z this April, please let me know!
I'm back! The flu did me in for a couple of weeks, then life just... went a little wild. All's good though, and I'm happy to be back in the Battle of The Bands swing.
Got something a little different for you today. These aren't different versions of the same song, but rather different songs in similar covers. Perhaps you're familiar with the Rhythms del Mundo albums? As fundraising for Artists Project Earth, they create covers of pop songs in latin rhythms, very often with the original artists on vocals and some instruments. The first album, Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba, for instance, had none other than Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo (of Buena Vista Social Club fame) as main collaborators. The results were... well, pretty amazing, I thought. And now I'm curious to see what you think.
Instead of pairing the cover version with the original, I decided to showcase three of my favorite songs in their Latino incarnations and let you be the judge of which works best (or least worse) as an adaptation.
Ready?
First up is Coldplay, Clocks. (Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba, 2006)
The Killers with Hotel California... (Rhythms del Mundo: Classics, 2009)
And, finally, the weirdest (but good weird) cover I've ever heard of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. The fact that they kept Jimi's guitar (if not the vocals) just adds to the whole sense of unreality here. (Rhythms del Mundo: Classics, 2009)
So. What do you think? Which of these three sounds most like it was born to be Latino? Or, maybe, which one sounds least ridiculous doing the cha-cha? Let me know in the comments, and come back next Tuesday to find out how the votes played out. Also, take a hop over and visit the excellent battles being fought at these blogs, too:
Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom? A legend has left us behind. This is my mediocre way of paying tribute to a genius that changed the face of music with a career that spanned half a century.
In Bowie's own words (1997):
"That song for me always exemplified kind of how you feel when you're young, when you know that there's a piece of yourself that you haven't really put together yet. You have this great searching, this great need to find out who you really are."
Even if this battle wasn't too popular (only 13 votes), it was still very close.
Karen Souza: 6
Dixie
Mary
Stephen
John
Janie
Jeffrey
Aslan: 7
Michele
Mike
Birgit
Elliptical Man
Susan
Lee
Robin
Which brings us to my vote. I'm tempted to make this a tie... I really do like Karen's version and listen to it often, while Aslan's I'd never heard of until I found it for this Battle. And yet... Aslan really did blow me away. I think it was Robin who said their version was somehow sadder and more hopeful all at the same time — yes. Yes. There's something about that version that hits the spot for me in a way that Karen's, as interesting at it is musically, does not.
So. I vote for Aslan.
Huge gratitude to everyone that took time off from a busy start-of-the-year schedule to come by and vote (or just say hi) — loved seeing you here. I'm painfully behind on returning blog visits and in blogging generally, but I'll catch up in the next few days. Promise :)
You know that bit from the opening of The Miracle of Small Things,
"There's no stillness like the stillness of Curaçao on New Year's Day. Pointless tropical sun on deserted asphalt, every business shuttered, everything forlorn. Not even trash stirs: the wind is on furlough too. There's also no New Year's Eve like Curaçao's, which explains the stillness."
These are some of the reasons why.
Yes, January 1st is a quiet, quiet day.
Speaking of 1sts, the sign-up for the Lost & Found hop on Feb 1st is going on FIFTY participants since the linky went up on Monday. Which is great — yay! But I've also noticed a few people who disqualify themselves from participating because they feel they've been unlucky in love, and that is not good.
So let's get something clear: this is a hop as much about being in love as out of it. As much about the presence as about the absence. And — this is important, so I need your undivided attention — it's about love in general, so not only of the romantic kind.
Listen, it's okay if you don't want to participate. But don't think you can't participate because love hasn't treated you right recently (or, you know, ever). This is your chance to get back at it. Let your creativity loose and tell us just how dimwitted the lovelorn look to the innocent bystander. Tell us about that awkward sense of relief when a bad relationship is, finally, over. Or go wild and tell us about that weirdo who's in love with his car. (No, don't look at me like that. Stephen King built a career on that one; why not you?)
Seriously. This is a hop meant to gather, prism-like, all the different aspects of that "crazy little thing", and all the weird stuff we'll do for it (or to avoid it). Your contribution, in whatever form it comes, will be unique — and, because of that, will add something important.
"That's a beauty," he says at the end. Yes... yes, it is. Enjoy.
your life is your life don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission. be on the watch. there are ways out. there is light somewhere. it may not be much light but it beats the darkness. be on the watch. the gods will offer you chances. know them. take them. you can’t beat death but you can beat death in life, sometimes. and the more often you learn to do it, the more light there will be. your life is your life. know it while you have it. you are marvelous the gods wait to delight in you.
"There's no stillness like the stillness of Curaçao on New Year's Day."
So opens The Miracle of Small Things, a line reminiscent of U2's "All is quiet on New Year's Day..." No song more appropriate, then, to start off a new year of Battle of the Bands.
I wouldn't even dream of pitting the original against... well, anyone. This is a sacred song for me—for us. My dushi and I have been singing this together, at the top of our voices, thirteen New Years in a row, sometime around 7pm—midnight in Holland, and the first New Year's "bang" here in Curaçao: fireworks, hugs, phone calls, clinking of beer bottles, general uproar—and a fairly predictable playlist, whether by DJ or live band, that includes Auld Lang Syne and U2's New Year's Day.
We may not have a "world in white" here in the tropics, but...
So sorry to be late with the results, everyone. It's been crazy days.
I'm still processing this result. Honestly, I expected USA for Africa to win by a landslide. But I'm (very, very) pleased to announce that IT DIDN'T HAPPEN:
I'm still working through the whole gratitude thing...
The original belongs to Sam & Dave, American tenor and baritone (respectively) duo popular in the late 60's. I Thank You is from 1968, year that marked the beginning of the decline that ended with their split in1970.
ZZ Top covered it in 1979, to incredible success in spite of the change in genre. Show us how it's done, ZZ:
Bonus: this version comes with the lyrics.
And then, just last year, Paul Rodgers included it in his album The Royal Sessions, ten covers of soul, R&B, and blues (some good ones for future battles, y'all). Paul was named one of the top 100 singers by Rolling Stone (No. 55, to be exact), so I'm hoping he can give ZZ Top a good run for their money. Plus, Paul's version takes the song back to its soul roots...
Or this version, if the other one doesn't play (thanks for letting me know, Dixie!)
There you have it, folks. Who did it better? Who sucks less? Which of these would be more likely to find their way to your iPod? Which wouldn't you be caught dead listening to? Come back next Monday (7th) to check how the votes played out.
Thanks so much for the visit, all. Seriously.
You didn't have to love me like you did
but you did, but you did
and I thank you...
Enjoyed this? Go check out the other BoTB participants... Some epic battles being fought today. And thanks, as always, to FAE and Stephen for keeping the BoTB going.
"Who would you be, if the world never gave you a label? Never gave you a box to check? Would you be white, black, Mexican, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, Indian? No. We would be one. We would be together."
Labels are at the root of the world's worst evils today. And they need to stop.
The Mexican fascination — some would say 'obsession' — with death dates back to before the European encounter. Most pre-Columbine civilizations had beliefs based on the concept of duality (twins, for instance, were considered sacred, as were homosexuals and hermaphrodites in many of these cultures)... And nothing embodies the essence of duality like life and death.
Mictlantecuhtli, god of the underworld (or Mictlan). Sculpted in raw clay in life size. Found in a building dedicated to the cult of death at El Zapotal, La Mixtequilla, in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
Get your earplugs ready, turn the volume down—or up: a good, hard, punk rock song for today's Battle of the Bands!
Most of my generation knows The Saints Are Coming from the U2 / Green Day cover of 2006, recorded to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina relief. But the song is much, much older. It's an original of Scottish punk-rock band Skids, featured on their debut album back in 1979. In November 1978, when the single was first released, the song hit #48 on the UK charts. In 2006, the U2 / Green Day version went all the way up to #1. Was this a belated recognition to an until-then underestimated song? Or did Bono, Billie Joe, & Co. really do it so much better?
Today, YOU decide.
First up: the 2006 #1 hit by U2 and Green Day:
And here is the original Skids version:
It's been just over 10 years since the Katrina tragedy in New Orleans, and just under 17 years since the original single hitting its top spot at #48 on UK charts. Who does it better—or less worse? Is the U2/Green Day ensemble worthy of that #1 spot? Are The Skids deserving of only #48? What do you think? Leave a comment with your thoughts, and come back next week (22nd) to check the final results (along with my own vote).
Other epic Battles are being fought on these blogs. Take a hop over, get your music fix, help decide the face-offs with your vote!
