Michael Perry's Blog, page 405
December 16, 2009
Otis Redding
Started the morning with Pink Floyd's Meddle. Then Marvin Gaye. Every time I listen to Marvin Gaye I'm amazed anew at the lithe, searing, longing, angry sound of his voice. Beautiful and dangerous.
But then I pulled out the Otis Redding. And really, no one can touch Otis.
Sound here doesn't come close to doing him justice (the studio version slays), but you get the idea, and the segue into the Stones is a fine thing:
December 15, 2009
Yesterday's Radio Interview
Yesterday's radio interview is here: available here as an MP3.
Computer needed some tuning over the weekend. For nearly fifteen years now, my friend Krister has grown used to my panicked calls (frequently from a distant Super 8 motel). He always has the answer. Krister had the foresight to set me up with a website way back in the – gasp! – 1990s. Been goin' good ever since. He holds the keys to my universe, and he dang well knows it.
December 14, 2009
On the Radio Today
One morning in Madison, Wisconsin (after having a Teddywedgers pasty for breakfast) (ate it while sitting on the Capitol steps, no less) I sat down with Matt Rothschild of the The Progressive Radio Show for an interview that will be airing around the country today. List of participating stations here.
December 13, 2009
Bucksaw Tannenbaum
My wife and I and the bundled tots waded through deep snow all the way to the back side of the pole barn and cut the Christmas tree today. It's not bad. A spruce, somewhat gap-py and uneven but not a Charlie Brown, not by a long shot. Took it because it was beginning to grow into the path we use to put equipment in the pole barn. Spent time beside the fire decorating and stringing some popcorn (short strings!). Now it glows. Favorite moment: I was doing dishes while my wife was putting ...
December 12, 2009
And…Action!
My friend Billy and I were asked to participate in Scenic Route, a locally-shot short film by My Town Pictures. It was a good lesson for me…pulling off a character is much tougher than just yammering on in the character of me. Director Scott Thompson and actor Michelle Meyer were very patient. We sure had fun, though. You can view Part One here, and Part Two here.
If you're near Red Wing, Minnesota, the film will be shown in the Sheldon Theatre of Performing Arts next Wednesday (it will...
December 11, 2009
Volume One Live Webcast Tonight
From 1-4 p.m. today, the local gumptioneers at Volume One will be hosting a live membership drive. I'll be on there with a couple of interviews I taped before the concert last week. Also appearing: a whole series of fine musicians, my friend Frank (you've met him in my books), the infamous Mike Paulus, and local singer/songwriter/acorn magnate Justin Vernon.
December 9, 2009
Music Taking Shape
Producer/engineer Jaime and I up late (and phone/email conferencing with Long Beds guitarist Chris) mixing nearly-final versions of the songs for the new album. Won't be out until next March (seems a long time, but barring the apocalypse it'll roll around before you know it), but we've sure had fun concocting it. There'll be more news starting in January.
For now, we're just two guys up after dark on a cold, snowy night in a small apartment not far from my farm, two boxes of cold pizza...
Not In Front of the Children
Sent an email to my friend Jay Moore at Moose Country radio this morning (where the tagline is: If you [insert goofy jackpine knuckleheaded behavior here:] … yer one of us.
The next time I smack my shin on the trailer hitch, I may have to just shut up and take it, because I'm pretty sure I used up my full annual allotment of naughty language during the hour-and-a-half it took me to hook up my "easy-attach" snowplow.
If it's the blizzard of the decade and it STILL takes you longer to hook up...
Jake
He would have been five today.
Every time we hear an airplane…
December 8, 2009
When Chuck Speaks
If you follow the Long Beds, you know our bassist/secret-weapon-wielder Chuck is known not only for choosing his words carefully, but even more the spots in which he speaks them. Just now while listening to some raw footage from our recent Long Beds recording session, I heard myself make some reference to myself as "a machine." A few seconds pass, and then Chuck (quietly and slightly off-mic) intones: "Better a machine than a tool."
