SOUNDTRACK: MAVIS STAPLES-Tiny Desk Concert #72 (August 9, 2010).
Mavis Staples is a legend. She has been singing for decades. And her voice still sounds amazing.
For this Tiny Desk Concert, it’s just her singing and Rick Holmstrom playing guitar. Staples sings two songs from her then new album (recorded at Wilco’s studio). In fact, the first song she sings “Only the Lord Knows” was written by Jeff Tweedy. It’s a great bluesy number. And Staples hits notes all over the place–it’s great.
Before the second song, she calls Rick Holmstrom “Pops Jr.” and he says “I wish.”
Next she plays “You’re Not Alone.” There’s a funny moment after the first verse where she forgets the words–she shouts “don’t tell nobody.” She says she was busy looking at all the friendly faces and got lost. But she comes back and knocks the song out.
For a brief encore she does a few verses and a chorus of “I’ll Take You There.” And you can hear the disappointment in the audience when she sings, “And that’s all for today” after a chorus. She is happy and claps and does apologize saying “you all will make me hurt myself.”
It’s amazing how good Mavis sounds after all these years, and how she wins over the crowd in an instant.
[READ: July 15, 2015] Ayoade on Ayoade
Richard Ayoade is best known by me as Moss on The It Crowd. Probably the most frequently asked question by me about him is how the Rhell you say his last name. The book does not help with that, although online searches reveal eye-oo-WAH-dee to be pretty accurate.
Ayoade cracks me up whenever I see him. And he even starts the funny before you open the cover of the book. The cover sticker notes: “Once in every generation, a man writes a book. This is that book. I am a man.”
I knew that Ayoade had recently released The Double (I read the screenplay), but I wasn’t aware of his previous film, Submarine. (I have subsequently watched it and enjoyed it very much–it’s an unusually dark comedy about young love). And these facts, along with maybe one or two others are what I gleaned from this book. The rest is pure nonsense–a right silly lark, full of Ayoade’s outrageously self-deprecating wit and scathing comments about his own writing, acting and directing skills. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: ANDREW HEWITT-“A Boy Held Up with String” (2014).
I Just Read About That... 