Thursday, December 13, 2012

RIP Ravi Shankar


And so it comes to pass: that waveform in the sea of life that we knew as "Ravi Shankar" has finally crashed onto the other shore.  On Tuesday, December 11, 2012, PAndit Ravi Shankar died at the age of 92 near his home in Encinitas, California.  

I never got to hear him in concert, but his music affected my life in many ways.  From his tutelage of George Harrison and its effect on The Beatles' music, and the consequent effect of that on me, to his de facto ambassadorship of so-called world beat music to the West, his artistry and creativity was an inspiration and a revelation.  There's been many a Sunday morning that started well for me with a morning raga, a tradition I never would have learned of if not for Pandit.

Gaté, gaté, paragaté, Pandit, parasamgaté.  

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Florence + The Machine



Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine) breaks up a fight in Scotland during a concert.  I started watching this expecting to be cynical and to say something derogatory about the Scots (I'm half Scottish myself), but I actually got a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye at the kindness and tenderness Florence exhibited.

According to eye-witness reports, the woman in the fight had to take one of her daughter's friends outside to be picked up by her mom because she felt really ill, and as she was trying to get back to her own kids some guy got pissed with her because he thought she was cutting in or something.  They argued and he threw a drink all over her, and Florence interrupted her set to sort it all out.  The girl that got hugged was apparently the daughter of the woman in the fight.  

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Seapony


Oh, look.  Seattle dream-pop band Seapony have released a new video for their song Be Alone.  



Seapony brightened the morning back on September 3, the most awesome day of Bumbershoot 2012, the same day M83 performed, among many others.  Seapony performed a set at 12 noon, just as the sunny Seattle sky was starting to warming up, the Labor Day crowd was arriving, and the realization of what a terrific day was ahead was just starting to dawn on your humble narrator.




Formed in Ohio in 2010, Seapony is longtime couple and songwriting duo Jen Weidl (guitars, vocals, lyrics) and Danny Rowland (guitar, lyrics, and Jason Schwartzman impersonations).  In Seattle, they teamed up with bassist Ian Brewer, Rowland's childhood friend and former bandmate, and drummer Aaron.  


Their LP Falling was released September 11, and is available here.




Monday, December 10, 2012

M83


You really have to hand it to the French electro-pop band M83 - a full year after their album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming comes out, they finally get around to releasing the video to what I consider to be the most beautiful song on the album, the lovely and understated Wait.  I don't understand a thing that's going on in the video, but it's still fun to watch.  



Here are some more pictures of M83 performing in Seattle at Bumbershoot 2012, where a riot almost broke out when the audience overran the security guards and bum rushed the open floor of Key Arena during M83's performance,





Sunday, December 9, 2012

Television (the medium, not the band)




Okay, maybe this post isn't about music, but it is about pop culture, so deal with it.  The point of this post is that I own a television primarily for the Sunday evening premium channel series, and as of this week, they're all on hiatus.  

Last Sunday was the finale for the first half of this season of AMC's The Walking Dead; the second half of the season doesn't begin until February 10, begging the distinction between a "season break" and a "new season."  Whatevs.

Two weeks ago was the season finale of HBO's Treme, a show I've come to like once I realized that it's about the only series on television about both the lives of musicians and the music that they make.  Can you imagine if they came up with a similar premise, but set in the indie rock world of, say, Brooklyn or Portland, and featuring many of the actual musicians in supporting roles, like Treme does?  Now there would be an interesting show.  It actually wouldn't be too far of a stretch for HBO's How To Make It In America (also between seasons right now) to do this, basically just change the central industry from the fashion designer profession to the music profession. I'd watch it, and I bet many other people would, too.

Boardwalk Empire aired it's season finale last Sunday, the same night as the last Walking Dead.  Except for the Richard Harrow character, the series hasn't really lived up to its potential in my humble opinion, but it does have the Richard Harrow character and that's more than enough to keep me watching and bemoaning it's current hiatus.

Sons of Anarchy, a Tuesday night outlaw-biker series on FX, also wrapped up for the season last week, concluding with a run of 90-minute episodes.  

Meanwhile, HBO's Game of Thrones doesn't start its third season until March 31.  True Blood is between seasons.  The HBO comedies Curb Your Enthusiasm, Girls, and Real Time with Bill Maher are all off the air right now. Even the difficult to love The Newsroom is off until next June.

And why the hell didn't FX ever bring back its show Terriers after its initial season?  

Note that if any of these shows were on the air right now, I would be watching them and not writing whiny posts like this.