All posts by Jonathan

Ryan Adams: Follow The Lights

A few weeks ago Ryan Adams & the Cardinals released some new music, a seven song EP called Follow The Lights, which I have been listening to a LOT lately.

A perfect companion to their excellent disc Easy Tiger (released this past summer), Follow The Lights features two brand new songs, a great cover song, and four live studio performances of songs the band has been playing during their recent tour.

The two new songs, “Follow The Lights” and “My Love for You is Real” are ballads, the latter makes a beautiful statement without being too sweet.

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Red beans and rice

About once a week or so, I eat some version of beans and rice. Many years ago my friend Sharon gave me the following recipe and it’s one of my all-time favorites. It’s what I made for supper tonight. As I was eating, I thought this is such a good recipe, I should share it with the world.

This version of Red Beans and Rice has great flavor, it’s very filling, very heart-healthy (if you use olive oil to sauté), and best of all it’s easy to make. Have this with a salad, and you’ve got a great meal.

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Lucky Dube, 1964-2007

Very sad news in the music world today. South African reggae musician Lucky Dube was shot dead in an attempted carjacking.

Lucky Dube’s music was just a joy to listen to. His beautiful tenor voice singing along with those reggae rhythms was something special. True to reggae traditions, his songs often had a strong social message, singing against things like apartheid, social injustice, violence and crime, and the epidemic of AIDS. The folks who run Lucky Dube’s website wrote “the death of Lucky Dube leaves a great void in the music industry, as 25 years of music suddenly ends in tragedy.”

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The Nikon D40

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Many years ago, I had a film single lens reflex camera. SLRs are great for their flexibility, allowing you to change lenses, add filters, and manually adjust settings. For a while now, I’ve been wishing for some of that flexibility in a digital camera, and have been thinking about buying a digital SLR. Early last month, a local camera store was having a sale on the Nikon D40 — a deal I couldn’t pass up.

Rose

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Ryan Adams and the Cardinals in concert

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Ryan Adams in concert since I first heard his outstanding release, Gold back in 2001. Last night that six year wait was over, when Ryan Adams and the Cardinals played a sold-out show at Madison’s Barrymore Theatre.

The band started the concert with a amazingly tight version of “Goodnight Rose.” Toward the end of the song, they jammed a bit, started fading out and sang the word “goodnight” in an almost mantra-like manner. I expected the song to continue to fade out and finish, when the band crescendoed and launched into the final chorus of the song. Wow! This is going to be good, I thought.

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Neil Young, Chrome Dreams

For you Neil Young fans out there, That Truncheon Thing (an excellent music blog) has posted a bootleg of Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams.

Chrome Dreams is described as “one of those great lost albums, from the further reaches of rock history, that never saw the light of day, except to boot collectors.”

This particular bootleg also includes a “select batch of bonus cuts to give you a further taste of just how creative Neil was during this fertile period” (the mid 1970’s).

Definitely worth downloading. Share and enjoy.

Wilco’s live shows keep getting better

I’ve been to five concerts of the band Wilco, and every time I see them, they never disappoint. Perhaps my fondness for their music clouds my judgment, but with each concert I go to, they seem to get better and better. Last night, I was at Madison’s Overture Center where Wilco performed an outstanding show to a sold-out theater.

The band touched on every album from their career last night, playing more tunes from their back catalog than I expected. Some of the best songs of the night were older ones: “Too Far Apart” from their first album, A.M., and “I Got You (At the End of the Century)” from Being There. I also enjoyed the songs from my favorite Wilco disc, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” “War On War,” and “Jesus, Etc.”

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