Here’s a pertinent high water mark from the new Wilco lp “Cruel Country.”
“The Universe
Wilco
Talk to me
I don’t want to hear poetry
Say it plain
Like how you really speak
The universe
For what it’s worth
Everything is listening
For what it means
Spit it out, every doubt
Poison flower
We can all agree
The universe
For better or worse
It’s the only place
To be
I’m serious
I don’t really care, I’m serious
I don’t really care about it
About a single thing
But everything is listening
For what it means
Everything is listening
For what it means
So talk to me
I don’t want to hear poetry
Just say it plain
Like how you really speak
The universe
Could be worse
It’s the only place
There is to be”
“Do you know who I am?” said Bill Haley
In a pancake house down near the Rio Grande
Well the waitress said, “I don’t know you from diddley
To me you look like one more tired old man”
Well he walked all alone down on Main street
Was a hot wind blowin’ up from the south
There were two eye’s starin’ in a pawnshop window
A whiskey bottle lifted to his mouth
There was no moon shinin’ on the Rio Grande
A truck of migrants pulled through town
The jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley’s comet hit the ground
Well he blacked out all the windows in his bedroom
He was talkin’ to the ceiling and the walls
Then he closed his eyes and hit the stage in 1955
And the screams of the women filled the hall
There was no moon shinin’ on the Rio Grande
A truck of migrants pulled through town
The jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley’s comet hit the ground
Well a cop walks in a pancake house in Texas
And he orders up two coffees to go
He tells the waitress, “Baby, we just found the body
Of someone who was famous long ago.”
There was no moon shinin’ on the Rio Grande
A truck of migrants pulled through town
The jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley’s comet hit the ground
When Haley’s comet hit the ground”
Thanks to my friend Bob Jordan and his band the Walking Antiques for unearthing this chestnut.
““Deserted Cities Of The Heart”
Upon this street where time has died.
The golden treat you never tried.
In times of old, in days gone by.
If I could catch your dancing eye.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love streams, yeah.
The street is cold, its trees are gone.
The story’s told the dark has won.
Once we set sail to catch a star.
We had to fail, it was too far.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love streams, yeah.
I felt the wind shout like a drum.
You said, “My friend, love’s end has come.”
It couldn’t last, had to stop.
You drained it all to the last drop.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams, yeah.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love streams, yeah.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love streams, yeah.
On this dark street the sun is black.
The winter life is coming back.
On this dark street it’s cold inside.
There’s no retreat from time that’s died.
It was on the way,
On the road to dreams.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love streams, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love streams, yeah.
Now my heart’s drowned in no love.”
pedal steel majestico Red Rhodes
A most majestic piece that could be played all afternoon at a picnic or legitimately at a funeral. From 1973.
“Velvet Hammer in a Cowboy Band”
No record like it. Never sheds its excellence! Mr. Rhodes was one of the shining members of Michael Nesmith’s First National Band
“Jeremy Steig
Clark Coffee House
January 1971
The coffeehouse at Clark University in the late 60’s through the early 70’s featured a weekly outstanding range of performers. The ones I can recall seeing include John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Doc and Merle Watson, James Taylor, Elvin Jones, Jerry Jeff Walker, Paul Siebel, David Ackles and the trio of Jeremy Steig, flute, Eddie Gomez, bass and Don Alias percussion.
Most performers played on both Friday and Saturday evenings. I attended both of the Steig Trio’s.
Puerto Rican bassist Gomez graduated from Julliard. He is most well known for his eleven years with Bill Evans that resulted in dozens of recordings, but he has also played and recorded with a very extensive list of musicians from Chick Corea, Joanne Brackeen and the Manhattan Jazz Quartet to about a dozen recordings with Jeremy Steig.
A native New Yorker, percussionist Don Alias was perhaps best known for playing congas and hand drums, but with Jeremy Steig he played the full drum kit. Alias recorded with Miles Davis, Carla Bley, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report and many others.
Jeremy Steig was born in Manhattan, the son of well-known New Yorker cartoonist William Steig and Elizabeth Mead, who was the head of the Fine Arts department at Lesley College. That must have been a fun commute. He recorded with Eddie Gomez over a period of more than 30 years. He died from cancer while living in Japan in 2016. In 2020 his memoirs were released, Get Me Out Of Here that also featured his drawings. The Pied Piper in the film Shrek Forever After was based on the character created by his father. Steig performed the role, of course on flute.
Witnessing these three masters from less than ten feet away was thrilling. The coffeehouse might have been able squeeze in 75 people, but there were only 25 or so on that Friday night. I spread the word as best as I could imploring other students to come on out (the performances were free to Clark students). This made a small difference as perhaps 40 showed up on Saturday.
Steig’s album Legwork is a good approximation of what I heard that night, but the musicians were less limited by time”
Humanist Maya Angelou
And another from the Monk Fedora Series