Category: Listen

Musicians I’d Buy Anything From

I’ve been working on this post for a while, in fact I started this post in early 2007 but never feel it’s complete. I have been hesitant to publish it since I’m bound to leave someone off. I also keep putting this off because I want to put a nice long description after each artist. So this post has been stalled by ‘Perfection is the enemy of good enough’. This post has probably been ‘good enough’ for over 5 years. I’m pressing publish now before it gets even more out of date. At the time it was originally written I was living in Maine, organized concerts and was volunteering at WERU. I sadly can no longer can claim any of those things but instead of re-editing the whole thing I’m just publishing it as a flashback to me at that time.

But for the record, if you’re a musician who knows me who isn’t on this list, odds are I just forgot. You know I buy your stuff. Send me a reminder and I’ll do a custom blog entry just on you 🙂

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Since I host a monthly show on the local exponentially cool community radio station, WERU 89.9 FM, and also organize concerts on occasion, I’m often asked what musicians I’d recommend. Well that’s a big list, but I figured start with a list of musicians that I’d buy a new CD from before hearing a single note, ones where they’ve repeatedly earned my trust, and I know their worth it.

  • Mike Agranoff – The “modern folk musician” with a witty sense of humor, great ear for good songs and general geekiness about him that reminds me of my nerdy friends. Great songs and stories, and a nice guy too.
Me next to Pat Humphries & Sandy Opatow aka emma's revolution.
Me next to Pat Humphries & Sandy Opotow aka emma’s revolution.
  • emma’s revolution – Pat Humphries and Sandy Opotow. Great harmonies, great lyrics, great people. Who else could make political and topical music so amazingly beautiful?
  • Gaelic Storm – in the movie ‘Titanic’, you remember the irish ‘steerage band’ that was playing down below? That was this group. High energy, High Speed, High proof performers. Great covers of traditional tunes as well as fun originals. A ‘must see them perform live’ group, worth whatever the ticket may cost.
  • Great Big Sea – Newfoundland shanties & pop music. I prefer their more folky stuff, but regardless of the genre it’s all done with traditional instruments and is high energy and fun. Another ‘must see them perform live’ group.
  • Billy Jonas – Industrial recycled Re-percussion. Great music for kids & adults. Amazing to see perform live.
  • Joel Mabus
  • David Mallet
  • Jay Mankita
  • Red Molly
  • Darryl Purpose

Stanley-Allison-Stan-Rogers-November-29-1949-June-2-1983-celebrities-who-died-young-31765264-320-571

  • Stan Rogers – Though he died in a plane fire many years before I first head of him, his music is still amazing and they release some unreleased gems of his live recordings every now and then. I’d love to attend one of the StanFest festivals someday.
  • Schooner Fare – I first saw them open for Tommy Makem in Boston back in 1990 and have been a big fan ever since. I only got to see them once more after that, and even though I’ve been in Maine for 11 years I haven’t had a chance to see them since moving up here. One of the founding members, Dave Rowe, died a few years agobut the other two members still perform on occasion.
  • Pete Seeger – Do I need to explain this one?
  • David Wilcox – I’ll admit some of David’s more recent stuff hasn’t resonated with me, but since I’m still in love with his first few CDs I always give him a listen. I’ve written about him before in my blog https://matt.baya.net/david-wilcox/
  • Dar Williams

Modern Man – By George Carlin

Thanks to the wonders of bittorrent I downloaded and watched PBS special “George Carlin, The Mark Twain Prize” (http://www.pbs.org/marktwainprize)

What an amazing man he was, he was beyond funny, he was a genius who used humor as a tool to get his ideas and beliefs across. And, as Ani says, every tool is a weapon if you use it right… and he was a master.

The show ended with a recording of him doing the following performance. I’ve listened to it several times and it still blows me away.

“I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium, digital and smoke-free. A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist. Politically, anatomically, and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been uplinked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech lowlife. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bicoastal multitasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond. I’m new wave, but I’m old school, and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice-activated and biodegradable. I interface with my database, and my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive, and from time to time I’m radioactive. Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, riding the wave, dodging a bullet, pushing the envelope. I’m on point, on task, on message, and off drugs. I got no need for coke and speed, I got no urge to binge and purge. I’m in the moment, on the edge, over the top, but under the radar. A high-concept, low-profile, medium-range ballistic missionary. A street-wise smart bomb, a top-gun bottom feeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps, I run victory laps. I’m a totally ongoing bigfoot slam dunk rainmaker with a proactive outreach. A raging workaholic; a working rageaholic. Out of rehab, and in denial. I’ve got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant, and a personal agenda. You can’t shut me up, you can’t dumb me down. ‘Cause I’m tireless, and I’m wireless, I’m an alpha male on beta blockers. I’m a non-believer and an over-achiever, laid-back but fashion forward. Up front, down home, low-rent, high-maintenance. Super-size, long-lasting, high-definition, fast-acting, oven-ready, and built to last. I’m a hands-on, foot-loose, knee-jerk, headcase. Prematurely post-traumatic, and I have a love child who sends me hate mail. But I’m feeling, I’m caring, I’m healing, I’m sharing, a supportive bonding nurturing primary caregiver. My output is down, but my income is up. I take a short position on the long bond, and my revenue stream has its own cash flow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds, I watch trash sports. I’m gender-specific, capital-intensive, user-friendly, and lactose-intolerant. I like rough sex, I like rough sex, I like tough love, I use the F-word in my E-Mail, and the software on my hard drive is hardcore, no soft porn. I bought a microwave at a mini mall;I bought a mini van in a mega store. I eat fast food in the slow lane. I’m toll-free, bite-sized, ready-to-wear, and I come in all sizes. A fully-equipped, factory-authorized, hospital-tested, clinically-proven, scientifically formulated medical miracle. I’ve been pre-washed, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged, post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped, vacuum-packed, and I have an unlimited broadband capacity. I’m a rude dude, but I’m the real deal, lean and mean. Cocked, locked and ready to rock. Rough tough and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with the tide, I got glide in my stride. Drivin’ and movin’, sailin’ and spinnin’, jivin’ and groovin’, wailin’ and whinin.’ I don’t snooze, so I don’t lose. I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber on the road. I party hearty, and lunch time is crunch time. I’m hanging in, there ain’t no doubt. And I’m hanging tough, over and out.”