I like them.
Discovered their music the day AFTER they played in Milwaukee last week. Here are a few favorite tunes - "Poison and Wine", "Falling" and "Barton Hollow".
Did I say I like them? And to think, they had separate careers before they came together. ;)
Sahara Smith's (top) "The Real Thing". Pieta Brown's "Are You Free?".
Both have been featured on NPR. I heard one of their songs (not even sure if it's either of these songs). Looked up the playlists and I can't find the song I heard. Both have similar styles, I think. Driving me nuts. Which one do you like?
Can't say enough about Gordon Lightfoot - or "Gordo", as his fans call him. My brother, Uncle Fran, Cousin Gerry...all big fans. I've often thought Gordo the master storyteller - maybe the best of all. And "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" is a wonderful story about the Canadian Pacific Railway, commissioned by the CBC for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967, to start Canada's Centennial year. Got 7 minutes to spare? Listen to the "Walt Whitman" of song spin his tale.
This song will be performed in my staged play reading, "Reveille!". First time I heard it I fell in love with it and had to have in the play. I like the set-up of this video.
Love Gordon. And I love this song. The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank 34 years ago yesterday. If the song isn't directly on the top of my BlipFm list, just scroll down.
Alec Finn performs, "Lady Hamilton" , on the bouzouki, a Greek instrument akin to the mandolin. We visited with Alec and his wife, Leoni, at their home, Oranmore Castle, in Oranmore, Co. Galway, during our visit to Ireland.
I'm researching a period piece play that I'm going to begin writing once I'm back in Wisconsin and "Tambo & Bones" , performers in a 19th century minstrel show, will be featured in the play. "Bones" refers to the bones that guy in the video is rattling (they later used spoons).
(Pause the jukebox above.)
Gordo! Had the pleasure of seeing Gordon Lightfoot at The Canyon Club this past Saturday evening. What a treat! It was sold out. His music is a favorite among the likes of myself, my brother and my Uncle Fran - many nights around the fire during our fishing trips we've listened to Gordo spin his stories of mariners, cowboys, love and lost love, the outdoors, and other adventurous men in adventurous situations. I don't know of another singer/songwriter who writes and sings a song as if I were reading a book...he is the ultimate storyteller.
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", "Sundown", "Carefree Highway", "If You Could Read My Mind" - he sang all his hits. Sadly, he didn't sing my two favorite songs: "Pony Man" or "Cape Horn". But I'll forgive, Gordo - this one time. Click on READ MORE! for additional pix on the man called, "Gordo" - a Canadian treasure.
(WAIT! There's much more on Gordon Lightfoot!)
An old concert poster.
My ticket stub.
Commemorative stamp issued along with Joni Mitchell, Paul Anka and Anne Murray - all famous Canadians. They're out of print, but I just purchased some over Ebay.
A reissue of Gordo's best tunes that led to a revival of his career and that led to Gord's Gold #2.
These days, Gordo seems to be a shadow of the man he once was - physically. In 1972 he was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy. In 2002, Gordo had terrible stomach pangs that were the result of an abdominal aoertic annueryism (look it up). He was in a coma for a month and almost died. Had to have a tracheotomy as part of his treatment. Considering all that, he voice sounds wonderful and ohhhh...how it takes me away.
Gordo "today". His music has been covered by over 50 artists, including Elvis, Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash. He's considered a national treasure in Canada and has received the highest honors (equivalent to a knighthood in Great Britain). Bob Dylan commented of his folk colleague, "when Lightfoot sings a song, I never want the song to end."
Gordo "yesterday".
Just got back from the Gordon Lightfoot concert at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills. AWESOME! Look for my full post soon. What a treat. Gordon is truly the master storyteller.
By the way, that's Gordo in 1981...when he was as old as I am now. If you're not familiar with Gordo and his music, here's something you can let swim around in your brain for a bit: in an often-quoted tribute to his fellow songwriter, Bob Dylan once observed that when he heard a Gordon Lightfoot song he wished "it would last forever."
Torches lit up the path to the unisex privy (which was very nice for an outdoor bathroom) and off to the right of that is where Laura and her husband and two children live. Laura Mihalka accompanied Jennifer on cello and I gained a greater appreciation for the nuances the cello offers any bit of music. Candlelight, pillows, chocolates, wine - amazing ambiance. I would say 40-50 were there and we had a chance to chat with Jennifer afterwards. I likened the entire experience of being in The Barn and watching her perform to that of seeing the Giant Sequoias with my brother in June. "Wonderment". I could go on and on but why don't you read what others have said... "She speaks of the unspeakable, with great touch and skill in production, the arrangements and the songs. Jennifer Terran did show her nakedness on the beautiful pictures of The Musician, on Full Moon In 3 she is naked in the head of the listener. In my mind I give her a kiss. 5 STARS for FULL MOON IN 3." HEAVEN MAGAZINE (NL) " * * * * " (Four Stars for "The Musician") ROLLING STONE "I'd gladly trade in all my Tori Amos CDs for Jennifer Terran's 'The Musician'...a magnificant album." ***** (five stars and #1 BEST POP ALBUM of 2001 HEAVEN MAGAZINE (Holland) - Eric Scipio "The Musician is Terran's third album, but strangely enough it has the innocence of a debut. The compositions are fluent and playful, both rough and soft. Terran produced and mixed everything herself, but has succeeded in preventing that the spontaneity of her music was killed by perfectionism... At some point Tori Amos had that same gift, but in the meantime she has become a phenomena? Let's hope that Jennifer Terran will never become world famous." PLATOMANIA (HOLLAND) "Listening to Cruel was an orgasmic auditory experience. Sometimes Terran sounds like a spiritual pop-folk goddess, and at other moment she comes off like a wide-eyed town freak ....it always sounds beautiful. You've gotta listen to understand." The Fish Rap Live - Jenni Balsam
The Barn - off the beaten path somewhere in Santa Barbara. I saw this unique singer/songwriter Saturday night. Here's what the critics have said about her:
"Endowed with a voice or heartbreaking purity and melodic talent, Jennifer Terran will most likely rise rapidly to the level of the greats." TELARAMA (Paris, France)
"Breathtaking... timeless... pure... monumental.... Categorizing Jennifer Terran is impossible. Terran is a style of her own." OOR MAGAZINE (Netherlands)
"Jennifer Terran is an unusual, very unusual kind of artist and quite a woman! A truly magnificent Film Noire Diva and a world-class songwriter-singer. This woman is unique, captivating vocalist, pianist, tenderly rebellious songwriter, producer by raison d'etre and necessity, hip-hop dynamic instructor and dancer, story-teller, an existentialist philosopher, an emotionally and intellectually charged teaser and provocative presence and most certainly a daring-devil entrepreneur." HERALD TIMES PARADE (London, UK)
"...sounds a lot like, well, Jennifer Terran. Grade A." LA Times - Bill Locey
"Captivating...powerful voice and songwriting" Chris Douridas - KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic"
(WAIT! There's more...)
I took the Pacific Surfliner (Amtrak) from the 1929 art deco Union Station in downtown Los Angeles up to Santa Barbara, where I was met by my friend Val and her friend Cynthia. We had dinner at some outdoor Mexican cafe, then drove to a remote spot in Santa Barbara just north of the 101. The Barn is Jennifer's private music hall and recording, with the back opening up so that the crickets, the moon, and the air can all listen in to Jennifer's unique voice and music. The intimacy there was quite striking and added much to Jennifer's presence at the baby grand - her voice and her musicianship on the piano. Oh - and if you missed my photographic post on the piano just outside The Barn, you can see it here. 
"All of you wondering whether Kate Bush is going to release another album, or if Tori Amos will ever make another record as good as her debut, can stop bothering with such side issues. Here's the album you'v e been waiting for.... I don't think there's a duff track. Her voice is staggering. And you've got to love someone who can yell out a full-on, Springsteenesque '1-2-3-4!' to announce the arrival of a violin."Terran's." The Musician - #2 BEST ALBUM OF THE YEAR THE TIMES (London) 
Poster from Jennifer's European tour in Belgium, France and The Netherlands.
"FULL MOON IN 3 is a remarkable, beautiful and haunting album, an original, sincere and moving musical masterpiece. It also marks Jennifer Terran out as one of the most creative and distinctive singer/songwriters around at the moment. I will be surprised if anything released in 2006 will match this for its emotional intensity and sheer beauty." THE MUSICIAN (#1 Best Album of the Year), SHAKINSTIR (UK)
"Not everybody can be both scary and vulnerable; Jennifer Terran (pronounced tearin') can. The scary part is her voice, which spirals into regions so high you fear sh e'll disappear or crash, and lately it has acquired a diamond-dust edge that can saw through a stack of hearts, first of all her own." LA WEEKLY (USA)
Dell Computer television commercial, The America Song on Youtube, Grand Canyon on Youtube, and her website.
Taken outside at Jennifer Terran's studio in Santa Barbara. Check a couple posts above for a review of Jennifer's concert at The Barn.
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