Sunny day, chasing the clouds away...

http://achangeoftune.blogspot.com/
Yes, this post is about Sesame Street, where the good music goes to relax and educate. Norah Jones and Leslie Feist are among those. I think this probably goes hand in hand with my love of covers.

I wonder a bit about how much a two year old really takes from these cameo appearance by great musicians and actors, but I forget that the target audience of Sesame Street is more than just young children. There are the parents and caretakers who watch too, myself included. I never expected that my nanny job to provide musical material for me to explore. This first video of Leslie Feist singing new lyrics to the hit from her 2007 release "The Reminder." The video for "1,2,3,4" was shot in a single take and featured in an iPod commercial the same year, rocketing her quiet indie status to a mainstream pedestal. I assume that's about where Sesame Street picked her up. She now takes her place among some of the greatest performers of all time, from Little Richard to Marilyn Horne.

When I first discovered these little pieces of pop culture crossing into other pieces of pop culture, I got so excited. I'm fascinated by the creative combinations
Feel free to explore on my new favorite Youtube channel SesameStreet.

"1, 2, 3, 4 penguins that went by the door..."
Just listen and enjoy.





Elmo is so precious.


Another recent sky rocketing from relative obscurity to world wide fame with Jason Mraz and his hit "I'm Yours." Now retitled, "Outdoors"



Marilyn Horne! One of my favorite voices of all time.


One bonus, non musical, celebrity appearance. Love this man.

Sharing the limelight: Ben Sollee

It was brought to my attention that, for a headliner, he shares the spotlight almost constantly. Whether the spotlight is shared with the cause of his choice, or with the musicians he's playing with, there is an air of graciousness about Ben Sollee's playing.

















Everything seems to be handcrafted to make each moment about something more than him. There were beautiful, transcendent moments like Try, Try, Try (featured below) and moments of pure hilarity, thanks to a cover of Tom Waits' of Chocolate Jesus.

Ben Sollee LIVE @ WFPK Live Lunch June 2008: Try (re-mastered in HD) from Keith Robbins on Vimeo.

I'm back! And obsessed with this song

Les Trois Cloches AKA The Three Bells
In it's English words, it's often called Jimmy Brown or Little Jimmy Brown.
I guess I originally heard this song sung by Edith Piaf in French on an Artists Choice disc, favorite songs by Joni Mitchell. It was a beautiful song, and one that introduced me to Piaf. The song never struck me as of importance until I recognized the tune listening to WNCW one afternoon. The English version, recorded by The Browns sounded strangely familiar as I drove. I couldn't place it, so I began to Google. At first I couldn't remember the title, but once I figured it out I realized where I knew the tune from.
Click here to watch Edith and her ensemble Les Compagnons de la Chanson.
You can watch the version by The Browns here, and then my personal favorite by Allison Krauss here

It's a sad song, but beautiful in both languages.
[Originally a French tune written in 1945]
[Original French words by Bert Reisfeld]
[Music by Jean Villard]
[English words added by Dick Manning]

There's a village hidden deep in the valley
Among the pine trees half forlorn
And there on a sunny morning
Little Jimmy Brown was born

All the chapel bells were ringing
In the little valley town
And the songs that they were singing
Were for baby Jimmy Brown
Then the little congregation
Prayed for guidance from above
Lead us not into temptation,
Bless this hour of meditation
Guide him with eternal love

There's a village hidden deep in the valley
Beneath the mountains high above
And there, twenty years thereafter
Jimmy was to meet his love

All the chapel bells were ringing,
Was a great day in his life
Cause the songs that they were singing
Were for Jimmy and his wife
Then the little congregation
Prayed for guidance from above
Lead us not into temptation,
Bless oh Lord this celebration
May their lives be filled with love

From the village hidden deep in the valley
One rainy morning dark and gray
A soul winged its way to heaven
Jimmy Brown had passed away

Just a lonely bell was ringing
In the little valley town
Twas farewell that it was singing
To our good old Jimmy Brown
And the little congregation
Prayed for guidance from above
Lead us not into temptation,
May his soul find the salvation
Of thy great eternal love

SXSE

WARNING: Shameless self-promotion in this post.

In my mind I've been thinking of offering my assistance to my familyfriends (these friends are family too, so henceforth, when i say family or friends i mean they are one entity). I have a small, but growing number of contacts in the Carolina music scene who I could share, along with a hung connection to encouraging my demographic to participate in a wonderful organization.

A brief description and video.

SouthxSoutheast Website

"The South by Southeast Music Feast is a local non-profit/charitable organization formed in 2003 by a group of Myrtle Beach, SC area music lovers and educators to preserve and promote American music not usually heard in traditional venues.

Our mission is to provide assistance and support to local music education programs, with our goal being to offset some costs associated with the musical education of young people in our area. In this time of budget cuts and strangulation of funding for the arts, our goal is to help young people in their pursuit of the joys of music."





My two cents.
I'd like to be the one to tap in to advertising and raising awareness through social media (as it is now being called) such as this blog, Facebook, and Myspace. We have a website, but it's not likely that it gets much traffic. I know that there going to be some changes in the way its run business wise that will hopefully keep us afloat, and Weekly Surge, a magazine in Myrtle Beach, recently published an amazing article telling our story and really promoting us well. View it here.

http://achangeoftune.blogspot.com

Chills

Thanks to Dr. Robbin's American Pop Music class junior year, I've been well acquainted with a version of "Hound Dog" that gives me chills. Yes. I know how could Elvis singing "Hound Dog" give me chills? How could just the song? There's nothing incredible moving or special about the song except for one woman.
The meaning of the song wasn't fully clear to me until I heard Big Mama Thornton sing it. It's incredible. On NPR today I discovered a video of her that I'd never seen before. I started listening and chills just moved through my body.

Check it out.

http://achangeoftune.blogspot.com/

Grace like rain

Part of being involved in arts education is being aware in greater detail than usual of the personal lives of those you are working with. And with that, seeing the accomplishments of students who have endured not only their daily artistic struggles but their own personal trials, both their deepest emtions and with their relationships with those around them.

I rarely find myself in tears during a classical music performance. However, when I do, there are is some amount of knowledge that is not obvious about the performer or the situation surrounding the event. Last week when the kids from the Academy program at the summer SC Governor's School for the Arts gave their recitals, I had the privilege of attending 3 out of the 4 music recitals. On Friday, I found myself wiping my eyes as one of the girls in my building sang her sweet, but broken heart out.

Prior to coming to Governor's school she had experienced a tremendous loss in her family, there were multiple deaths, including her mother. I watched her during those two weeks, struggle to find her place between her friends who cared for her and her deep sadness and depression. There were some difficult nights for her, but when the last night of the program came around, it appeared that she had gone through the program with no problem. She gave what was probably the best performance of her life.

My tears were a mix of being so taken by her talent and a level of pride in her victory. I was reminded in that moment of what makes it all worth it. My roll as a residential life counselor is perhaps not as important to her artistic development per se, but I think that the nurturing of the spirit, which falls in the realm of my duties, is essential to the nurturing of the artist. I love my job. I love being a part of the artistic growth of kids. I love working with kids in general, but to see them excell in the arts, and continue to impress me with their passion and professionalism, makes it so worth it.

I'm looking forward to that same feeling as I watch the Discovery program recitals next week.

Music+Camping=The Music Camp

Image credit: John Grubbs

The Duhks, the Belleville Outfit, the Infamous String Dusters, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Boombox, Donna the Buffalo, Casey Driessen, and many others came together for two days of incredible music and beautiful weather in the South Carolina foothills. The crowd braved the heat during the daylight hours finding seeting in the shade and keeping their cooler's close. But at night was when the real heat was turned on. The majority of the crowd, old and young, swelled toward the stage and the energy created by the music fed the crowd's dancing and singing. In turn, the bands truly responded to the excitement and festive spirit of the audience. Bathing suits, body paint, and beers were the name of the game along with swimming with friends in the river to keep cool and rinse of the dirt and sweat of the day after the music was over.

The low-key nature of the festival gave the musicians the ability to relax into the jovial atmostphere of the hot southern hills, frequently making guest appearances with one another during sets and dancing with festival goers during late night concerts. The bands, especially the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, encouraged audiences to be participatory, even calling them up on stage.

I spent the weekend at a fledgling music festival in Spartanburg called The Music Camp. The majority of attendees set up camp in the field and forest that surrounded the festival grounds. Tents and campers created temporary community of individuals dedicated to loving music and the outdoors.

Donna the Buffalo kicked off the night on Friday with their rollicking, exhuberant zydeco and Americana got the crowd dancing. The energy snowballed as The Duhks launched headlong into an incredible set. I happened to meet a little girl named Katie that had been seeing Duhks concerts since their first singer, Jessi. She sang along to all of the songs and new all about the band members. Luckily, her love of music has led her to take violin lessons. I hope to see her again.

After The Duhks played overtime, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band of New Orleans continued the French/American/Canadian/African connections. They invited Ms. Sarah Dugas of the Duhks to sing with them, and eventually several audience members to dance during a call and response style blues jam.

The Infamous String Dusters lead the crowd into the nighttime on Saturday, preparing the way for hometown favorites and organizers of the very special festival, the Belleville Outfit. The band features 3 members who are Spartanburg natives. Rob and Jeff took it upon themselves to use their connections to bring together the people and the bands. The crowd was incredibly appreciative of their hard work and their music. Heartfelt thanks were made and the audience really soaked up their amazing set.

A change of pace came for the last set of the festival. Even when Boombox was setting up, it was clear this would be a differnt set than those before it. Electronic music equipment filled the stage and only one guitar. No fiddles or banjos. The main lights went down and beat rose from an unseen instrument as the color filled the stage. The dancing changed and so did the mood. Everyone danced themselves into exhaustion until just around 2am before everything fell silent for the night.

It's safe to say that it was a hit and I think everyone's looking forward to seeing something just as spectacular next year.

Videos involving friends.

The first is of Ben Sollee's bike tour to Bonnaroo. His travel companions are a set of siblings I grew up with. They both now reside in California and flew out to KY to film and accompany Ben on his Oxfam Bike tour. One of my favorite parts of the clip is towards the end when Katie and Marty try Ale-8 for the first time. I love Ale-8. I was blessed with a roommate from Kentucky that introduced me to it. We had it at our junior recital reception rather than punch. Yum. 

On a more serious note, what Ben is doing should be something other musicians consider following. Taking up a cause to make the world a better place. The Duhks already have their Green Duhks campaign, and I would challenge others to act similarly. It's just as important as making beautiful music.

Ben Sollee bike tour day 1 - Lexington to Frankfort from marty benson on Vimeo.

Continuing with the local connections is a video featuring two guys who have a long time friendship, Jim and Charlie. They both play in a band with my uncle Sam Hannaford called The Chainsaws.  

You can read Randall Hill's blog and watch the video here. The blog is brought to you by our local news paper The Sun News.  

The offshoots of musicians who play in and with The Chainsaws have been instrumental in my development as a musician and as a person. Their passion and talent has inspired me, and it is with thanks that I am writing this blog in the first place. 

Overload

Tonight you can listen to or watch Dave Matthews Band on at least 3 different pieces of technology all at once. Hulu and Fuse have teamed up to bring their concert live online from The Beacon Theater in New York. For those lucky enough to have a large digital cable package, it can be watched on the Fuse channel. And finally for those that pay for radio, it is on Sirius on Dave Matthew's own Sirius Satellite Radio channel. Additionally, if you haven't gotten enough yet, you can get the iTunes Pass for the new album. Comes with lots of extras and automatic downloads. 

Falling off the wagon

I fell off for a bit.  Back now. 

I guess I can talk about what's been happening in my own musical life. 

For starters, I dreaded the day that I had to give a senior recital. An hours worth of music, all by myself. Second of all, I had no idea at the end of junior year what I wanted to be, or if I even wanted to sing anymore.  Over the summer last year I broke my arm working at Asbury Hills. It was so frustrating, not because I broke my arm, but because I felt like I was missing my opportunities of reaching kids at camp. Being away from Asbury made me appreciated being there even more, and then returning and finding myself in roles I had not anticipated, I began to explore my own spiritual growth and mission. In the final weeks I was called on to lead singing. I had only had a few days training and had only been back enough to have 2 weeks of campers.  

In the fall I decided I wanted to approach singing differently. I really learned over the summer, and in reflecting about my four years of experience in my church job, that I don't sing because I want to be a performer. I don't sing because I want to share interesting literature. Those are are just parts of what being a singer is to me. I've long believed that I experience my spirituality through music. And that my faith and my music are inextricable things. This lead me to choose an all sacred recital. 

My recital ended up truly being a culmination of many different aspects of singing. Especially when it came to those that attended. 

From camp there was Karl. He had been my closest co-counselor throughout the summer. 

Both my voice students that I teach were there along with their families, Kelly and Sha. 

Some of the girls from children's choir at church, the Dowlings, Shannon and Kara. 

Also from church were Brennan, my boss, and Rev. Roy Cole.