It's always exciting to discover a band or style of music. One group I've recently discovered is Le Vent du Nord, who are a French Canadian band and play what they call "progressive folk" music. I was lucky to have been able to see them perform at Longwood Gardens on Aug. 24, 2014, and it was a great show. The band is a four piece that utilizes traditional folk instruments like accordion (both button and piano accordions), violin, guitar, bouzouki, piano, jaw harp (jew's harp), and hurdy gurdy. Here are a couple of pictures of the stage before the show started in which you can see the instruments.
Left side of the stage where you can see the accordions, bass, and hurdy gurdy.
Right side of the stage, with piano in the center, then bouzouki and guitar.
I was unfamiliar with the band before seeing them, but was intrigued by the description of "progressive folk" and of the instrumentation. I mean, how can you pass up a band that uses the hurdy gurdy? Sings in French? Well, why not, even if you don't speak the language (which I don't) just listen to the vocals as just another instrument. Needless to say, I was impressed by the show. The musicianship was top notch, the singing was great and you have to love a band where all of the percussion was provided by foot tapping/stomping. Also, I love when musicians play multiple instruments, and everyone in Le Vent du Nord played different instruments. Nicolas, the piano player, also played the hurdy gurdy and piano accordion.
Rejean played button accordion, bass, and jaw harp.
Simon played guitar and bouzouki,
and Olivier played fiddle...okay he also did all of the foot percussion,
plus they all sang.
Here are a couple of snippets of the show.
Instruments
Vocals
Hurdy Gurdy
Definitely worth checking out if you get the chance.
Here's a look at some more stuff at Todaro's Music. First, here's a guitar I would love to have if I had the money and the need for another guitar... well if I had the money... a Danelectro Convertible. (The tan one in the middle.)
I'm a big fan of these guitars. I really like the whole aesthetic of Danos. Cheaply made, consisting of a poplar frame with masonite top and back. If I had this one, I'd put a lipstick tube in the slot, and then set up a piezo pickup under the bridge. That way you'd get the Danelectro jangle and then have the option to get an acoustic sound. For more info on Danelectro guitars, check here for vintage, and here for current.
On to something a little more "out there." Some Harp guitars. Harp guitars were popular back in the early 1900s, and are making a comeback now. The first harp guitar I saw was the one Robbie Robertson played in the Last Waltz, which was a Gibson Harp Guitar.
The next one I remember seeing was The Dyer Harp Guitar that the late great Michael Hedges played.
Joe has two harp guitars in his store, one of which has a label of "Teodoro Fuso." This one is a ten-string on the guitar side with four bass strings on the harp side.
The other one doesn't have a label that I could see, but looks to have some age on it. It has a regular six string on the guitar side, with six bass strings on the harp side.
I recently took a trip down to Todaro's Music to see what cool instruments Joe had gotten in. The first thing I took a look at were the ukuleles. Joe had a bunch of cool ukes in. First up is the T.V. Pal.
The T.V. Pal uke is a plastic uke from the 1950s. Some of these ukes have a great sound, plus they look cool. This one has a nice marbled look in the plastic.
Next up is an early mainland uke. I couldn't make out a name from what's left of the label, but it has all of the signs that it's an early uke made on the mainland, probably by one of the big Chicago makers, Regal, Kay Harmony... I don't know for sure, but I really like the looks of these ukes.
Next up are some new ukes that Joe carries, here are some Makai, Diamond Head and Lanaiki ukes. Really nice looking, nice sounding ukes.
Check out the binding on this Makai. (check out that Koto in the background.)
Here are some of the Todaro Ukes that Joe has made for him. I have one of the early ones, and they are great sounding ukes. The new ones are looking and sounding even better.
These are all from the Sweetheart design of Todaro Ukes, or Akuleles.
While I was there, he also had a large shipment of charangos just in from Bolivia.
If you're not familiar with the charango, it's a Latin American instrument that is similar to the ukulele. It's strung with double courses and tuned like the ukulele g c e a with an extra set of e's on the top. (so its g c e a e) It's reentrant in the middle set of e's with a high and low e. If you play the uke or guitar, you owe it to yourself to checkout the charango.
That's it for now, I'll have more on Todaro's Music in the next post.
Which is as you would guess is a look into the “rivalry” of
the Beatles and the Stones. This has always been one of those false dichotomy
/artificial construct questions that is supposed to mean something, Beatles or
Stones? Flintstones or Jetsons? Ginger or Mary Ann? Star Trek or Star Wars? but
which mean nothing. Sort of like all of those stupid quizzes on facewastebook…What
cocktail are you… which punk icon are you… what house should you live in…what
FRIENDS character are you… what Disney Princess are you? gimmie a break!!! As I
was saying the book details the supposed rivalry of the two groups, how the
Beatles were all cutesy and the Stones were all tough. Which, as the author
points out, was the image developed by the managers, Brian Epstein and Andrew
Loog Oldham, and that actually, the Beatles all grew up as working class
troublemakers, and the Stones were very much middle class good boys, or as the
author puts it, “Gentlemen or Thugs?” If you look at the early pictures of the
Beatles, or know of the stories of their time in Hamburg, this is readily
apparent.
When
the Stones formed, Oldham originally wanted them to dress up and look nice,
but then
realized that by making the Stones look dirty and tough (much like the way the
Beatles looked in Hamburg), and by playing up the rivalry, they would stand
out. The image that the groups developed was based on how to gain popularity.
Without the Beatles paving the way for “pop” groups, the Stones would never
have developed their image as the antithesis of the Beatles.
Now let’s talk about the “rivalry.” By the time the Stones
came out, the Beatles had already “made it”. The Beatles already had hit
records and were in no way threatened by the success of other bands, as seen in
the book when the Beatles are asked about the Dave Clark Five. Also, there was
a connection between the bands’ managers. Oldham had briefly worked for Epstein
and actually used this fact to further his career and that of the Stones.
Besides that, the Beatles gave “I Wanna be your Man”
to the Stones to record, and later
sang backing vocals on the Stones song “We Love You.”
Not to mention that Mick was
at the broadcast of “All you Need is Love,” (see Mick at 2:37)
or that John Lennon and Keith
Richards performed together on the Rolling Stones “Rock and Roll Circus” as The
Dirty Mac (along with Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell).
Members of the Beatles and
the Stones often said that there was no rivalry and that they were friends, but
they did have an “artistic rivalry.” John Lennon stated several times, that
anything the Beatles did, the Stones did two months later. But you have to
remember, that anything the Beatles did, every
group did several months later. The Beatles were very much trendsetters in
that time and space.
To sum it up, it’s a good quick read on both the Beatles and
the Stones. If you’ve read anything on either group, including Keith Richards’ book,
“Life,” or any of the numerous books about the Beatles, you’ve probably come
across most of these stories, but it’s good to have them all in one place.
As for Beatles or Stones, I have to say that I am on the
Beatles side, mostly because they paved the way for later bands, and also
because of their creativity and the strength of their material. But that’s not
entirely true. Although I prefer the Beatles over the 1960’s era Stones, The
1970s were when the Stones really hit their stride, and much of the material
from “Beggars Banquet” through Goats Head Soup is top-notch. Maybe this is
because they no longer had to follow what the Beatles were doing, or because
they grew into their image and songwriting, or when you think about it, the
Beatles were together from 1957 (approx.) until they hit it big in 1962—that’s six
years. The Stones formed in 1962 (approx.) and didn’t hit their stride until
1968…that’s six years…hmmm.
But as I said, this whole Beatles/Stones is a false
dichotomy. What about all of the other groups? The Who? The Kinks? The Small
Faces? The Yardbirds? The Animals? And so on…If you ask my friend Paul this Beatles
or Stones question, he’d say “The Who.” He has said that pound for pound, The
Who are the Best Rock Group (or something like that…if you read this Paul, post
it in the comments)
But of course there are people who don’t like either band, and
then there’s this little dig from David Bowie as performed by Mott the Hoople:
“And my brother's back at home with his Beatles and his Stones We never got it off on that revolution stuff What a drag too many snags”
So who do you choose?
(Disclaimer - I do not own the right to any photos or videos posted here)
Okay so it's Valentine's Day today, but the song that came to my mind has nothing to do with love or any of that mushy stuff... more like slushy stuff...The first line of this song kept going through my head as I spent the morning out shoveling snow.... I'm a snowplow...I must now plow on...
Well, we 're snowed in here in PA., so I'm listening to some Dr. John to warm up. I just picked up the Dr. John Original Album Series, so I'm all set. This set contains five of the good Doctor's early albums: Gris -Gris, Babylon, The Sun Moon & Herbs, Dr. John's Gumbo, and In The Right Place. You can't beat some of that New Orleans funk to warm you up on a cold snowy day.
I don't see as many concerts as I did when I was younger, but I do try to go to as many as I can... when I can afford them. When my wife and I heard that John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett where coming to town and performing together, well we just had to go. We had seen John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett a couple of times back in the 1990s, but hadn't had the chance to seem them since. The last album of Hiatt's that I had purchased was Crossing Muddy Water from way back in 2000, and the last Lovett album that I bought was Live In Texas from 1999. Since John had put out eight more albums, and Lyle five since then, I was a little concerned that I wouldn't know any of the songs. I shouldn't have worried, the show was great, consisting mostly of their best known songs. The show was just the two of them sitting on stage, trading songs. John would play one, and then Lyle would. In between there was some banter back and forth. My wife felt the banter was the best part of the show. Usually Lyle would start out by asking John about the song he had just played, or by saying "Oh, were doing love songs now? Is this a theme show?" or "Did you ever write a song off an idea that someone gave you?" Although most of their songs were played separately, they did collaborate on some, such as Church and Thing Called Love, mostly John adding vocals or guitar leads to Lyle's songs, although Lyle did add vocals to some of John's songs, at one point in the show Lyle said that John was working harder than he was by playing on more of Lyle's songs than vice versa. Unfortunately cameras weren't allowed in the hall, so I didn't get any footage, but here's some video from other shows.
If I Had A Boat
Thing Called Love
Although the show was fantastic, there were a couple of things that I think would have made it a better show, one is that I wish they had done more songs together, the other I didn't realize until I looked for videos on line and saw that Joe Ely had done some shows with them. Man I would have loved to have seen that. The only time I saw Joe Ely was with the Flatlanders , back in 2002.
Drive South - A nice little bit of information John gave is that for Drive South, he tunes his G string down to E for this song.
My Baby Don't Tolerate
Have a Little Faith
And although Joe Ely wasn't at the show, I just have to add this.
Me and Billy the Kid
If you get a chance to see these guys together, I highly recommend that you go see them.
