New MinnPost post at, er, MinnPost. Still waiting for my 19th-century style illo.
You can read an official, online version of Neil Gaiman's American Gods here.
Nominations for the Hugo Awards close March 1.
Torchwood continues to be up and down, but the latest show on the BBC (it'll be on BBC America in a few weeks) may be the best thing the show has ever done.
Lost just goes from strength to strength, as last night's moving Desmond-centric episode showed. Not only was the geek-centric back story explained a bit, but story held considerable emotional weight, which has always been the central appeal of the show.
In Dwarf news: the painting of the Warhammer ones is almost (finally!) done; while my WoW dwarf now gets to tool around the world on a tricked-out ram (not a Dodge Ram, just a... ram --the Dwarfs really got the short end of the stick as far as mounts go, didn't they?).
Right, music:
Shelby Lynne Just a Little Lovin’
Shelby Lynne has fought the Best New Artist Grammy curse all this decade, and may finally have found her breakthrough with a collection of songs made famous by another singular artist.
On Just a Little Lovin’, Lynne digs into the Dusty Springfield songbook, bringing nine classic hits (and one Lynne original) of moody pop music back to life for a new audience. She does a remarkable job, taking songs that are often quite familiar and recasting them in a way that is 1) completely her own but also 2) honors the memory and music of the late, great performer.
You can hear that on the best-known tracks, such as “How Can I Be Sure” or the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard “The Look of Love” or Randy Newman’s “I Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore.” Lynne’s own contribution, the folk-tinged “Pretend,” sits well, side-by-side with songs by some of the great pop songwriters of the last 40 years. And the efforts of Lynne’s talented band and legendary producer Phil Ramone only help to bring the songs back to life.
Willie Nelson Moment of Forever
Meanwhile, the red-headed (hmm, white-headed now I guess) stranger just soldiers on, issuing collection after collection of strong country music for his audience. Moment of Forever has the distinct Nelson touches that brings listeners back again and again to his musical well – dusty vocals as dry as the western deserts, well-played and arranged country-western of a style that may be out of vogue but certainly not out of style, and a collection of songs that reach deep into the mind and heart. You also have Nelson heading off in some unusual directions, such as an eight-minute reading of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” one of the songwriter’s signature songs from his born-again phase. It’s an engaging song, and Nelson’s delivery matches its moods and message better than Dylan’s nasal ever did.
American Music Club The Golden Age
I never could connect with American Music Club, and that somehow left me feeling inadequate. Mark Eitzel’s dark, brooding songs and the band’s synthesis of diverse strands of pop and rock music should have been in my musical sweep spot. Yet, I never got behind the music in more than a “that was nice to listen to, what’s next” sort of way. That’s changed on The Golden Age, which finds the band – recently relocated from San Francisco to Los Angeles and sporting a slightly retuned lineup – at a high point of their musical careers. And this time, I get the music. The sound fuses diverse elements that reminds me of the music Elvis Costello made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a sound that freely borrows from rock, pop, jazz, blues and other strains, but fuses them into a mature whole. Maybe the word here is mature – there is something about Eitzel’s weary delivery that connects with the older me that understands where he has always come from as a musician.
Shelby Lynne Just a Little Lovin’
Shelby Lynne has fought the Best New Artist Grammy curse all this decade, and may finally have found her breakthrough with a collection of songs made famous by another singular artist.
On Just a Little Lovin’, Lynne digs into the Dusty Springfield songbook, bringing nine classic hits (and one Lynne original) of moody pop music back to life for a new audience. She does a remarkable job, taking songs that are often quite familiar and recasting them in a way that is 1) completely her own but also 2) honors the memory and music of the late, great performer.
You can hear that on the best-known tracks, such as “How Can I Be Sure” or the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard “The Look of Love” or Randy Newman’s “I Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore.” Lynne’s own contribution, the folk-tinged “Pretend,” sits well, side-by-side with songs by some of the great pop songwriters of the last 40 years. And the efforts of Lynne’s talented band and legendary producer Phil Ramone only help to bring the songs back to life.
Willie Nelson Moment of Forever
Meanwhile, the red-headed (hmm, white-headed now I guess) stranger just soldiers on, issuing collection after collection of strong country music for his audience. Moment of Forever has the distinct Nelson touches that brings listeners back again and again to his musical well – dusty vocals as dry as the western deserts, well-played and arranged country-western of a style that may be out of vogue but certainly not out of style, and a collection of songs that reach deep into the mind and heart. You also have Nelson heading off in some unusual directions, such as an eight-minute reading of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” one of the songwriter’s signature songs from his born-again phase. It’s an engaging song, and Nelson’s delivery matches its moods and message better than Dylan’s nasal ever did.
American Music Club The Golden Age
I never could connect with American Music Club, and that somehow left me feeling inadequate. Mark Eitzel’s dark, brooding songs and the band’s synthesis of diverse strands of pop and rock music should have been in my musical sweep spot. Yet, I never got behind the music in more than a “that was nice to listen to, what’s next” sort of way. That’s changed on The Golden Age, which finds the band – recently relocated from San Francisco to Los Angeles and sporting a slightly retuned lineup – at a high point of their musical careers. And this time, I get the music. The sound fuses diverse elements that reminds me of the music Elvis Costello made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a sound that freely borrows from rock, pop, jazz, blues and other strains, but fuses them into a mature whole. Maybe the word here is mature – there is something about Eitzel’s weary delivery that connects with the older me that understands where he has always come from as a musician.
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