SOUNDTRACK: ALLEN STONE-Tiny Desk Concert #964 (March 30, 2020).
What’s worse? Liking someone’s personality and disliking their music or liking their music and thinking they are a bad person?
In this Tiny Desk Concert, I learned that Allen Stone is a super nice guy, sweet and funny. But boy do I dislike his music–and his singing voice.
Clearly I do not share the popular opinion about that.
His three graceful background singers L-r: Moorea Masa, Jessica Childress, Raquel Rodriguez) and piano player ( Michael Elson) provided the perfect compliment, but this set proved undoubtedly that his voice belongs right up front.
And yet, lyrically, “American Privilege,” which addresses his internal guilt about everything from materialism to being born white, is really powerful.
Between songs he is a delightful sweetheart. He says that playing Tiny Desk is a, “breath of fresh air that this is how people want to hear music. It’s not pyrotechnics, its stripped down songs in their purity.”
After this song he played
a trilogy of Building Balance songs dedicated to his wife (who he said he’s “face first in love” with)
He says he got married a year and a half ago. And he is still married, which is great.
“Give You Blue” (I don’t quite understand the metaphor) is played on an acoustic guitar with gentle piano and the backing singers providing a lot of the backing sounds.
He says say that being so in love has meant that he got a lot of great tunes out of it. Although “Brown Eyed Lover” seems a questionable title given the Van Morrison classic. Plus, it seems odd to dedicate a song to your wife that goes, “I’ve got a brown-eyed lover on the other side of town.”
I acknowledge that Stone has a strong, powerful voice–his vibrato is impressive. I just don’t care for it.
But again, he is so nice between songs. He says playing a big room is fun and so much energy but with ear monitors in your head you feel isolated. However, the best part of music is the people and this is so much fun for musicians.
He wrote “Consider Me” before he asked his wife to marry him. It’s a sweet song, but I’m surprised that a sweet, romantic song has this verse
If you’re looking for somebody who
Will put up with your shit
[READ: April 1, 2020] Hilo: Book 5
Book 5, the army is more intent than ever on finding Hilo. But because he is a child (and not from here) they can’t find any matches in any database.
It will also be hard to find Hilo because he has returned to his home planet Jannus (along with DJ who put on Hilo’s suit and ran through the portal at the least second).
Their absence means that Izzy needs to create replicas of the two of them. Which she does easily, although the first attempts are way too smart (hilariously so).
Meanwhile Gina has been practicing her magic and accidentally opens a a portal to let two giant dogs in the room. And they are not friendly dogs. (more…)
