Song Talk with Morry Campbell

World AIDS Day Concert

Hey kids,

This past weekend, my good friend Terry Christopher and I went up to contribute our talents to Newburgh, NY's World AIDS day event, organized by Markus Payne. Terry videotaped the event, and here is his (our) rendition of the song, Wade in the Water. Hope you enjoy it.

xo,

M

Amy Rocks

From last night at the Bitter End. Amy was dazzling. Photo courtesy of Rock Star Diary.

California Blues

I was certain that the mean-spirited, anti-everything that's decent and fair Proposition 8 would be overturned by the California Supreme Court. It seems pretty open and shut to me. Here's a revision of the California constitution, passed by a (slim) majority of Californians, that limits the rights of what the CA Supreme court has already declared a "protected class" of citizens. Which is unquestionably wrong. If the majority had been able to vote on the rights of African Americans in the '60s the Civil Rights Movement would have come to a much different conclusion.

But, judging from the reporting from the proceedings of the hearing, it sounds as if the CA justices are afraid of "overturning the will of the people." Well, that sounds cowardly to me. And I hope they surprise everyone and overturn this hateful amendment.

Songtalk Podcast now available on iTunes

You can now listen to and subscribe to Songtalk Podcast from the iTunes Store (for free, of course). Follow this link to see the original posting on my interview with the brilliant Dan Manjovi. You can read more about Dan and follow links to his music and pertinent websites there.

Songtalk Podcast: Dan Manjovi, Part 1

Well, as promised, here's the first installment of Songtalk Podcast. To download the podcast, right click with your mouse (or control-click on a Mac) and select "download linked file" or similar command, here for the mp3 file.

I'm taking the maiden voyage with the incomparable Dan Manjovi. In this first installment, we talk about Dan's evolution as a songwriter from his first CD to the second, harmonic vocabulary, writing a lyric as opposed to writing a poem (a good poem is not necessarily a good lyric, and visa versa), and the blues. Look for part two, and possibly part three, of our conversation in the coming weeks. It seems we had a lot to talk about!

You can visit Dan on the web and/or listen to and buy his music at his website, at CDBaby (Woke Up This Morning here, and the self-titled Dan Manjovi here), and on his MySpace page. His music is also available on iTunes, Emusic, Rhapsody and Napster. You can read more about Dan below the fold.

Terry Radigan at Rockwood Music Hall

Went out into the snow storm Sunday night to see Ms. Terry Radigan perform at Rockwood Music Hall. (The link is to a review of Terry's CD because she doesn't have a web presence of her own just yet. "But soon," she promised last night).

Now, Terry Radigan is an accomplished singer, and a superlative guitar player. That's reason enough to love her. But I think the reason I enjoy going out to listen to her when she performs is that she has succeeded in crafting a sound for herself that is unique, and perhaps trend-setting. Maybe if we're lucky.

Terry performs with an old Gibson electric hollow body, and a small Vox amplifier. It provides rich warm tone, and the ever-present hum of feedback throughout the performance. It's very consciously present. I'm not sure quite why, but it lends an irresistible authenticity and immediacy to her performance. Maybe it's because it creates the impression that the music is bigger than it is.  Maybe it's because it gives it a sense of space and dimension. Maybe it's because it's so refreshingly different from the flat, scrubbed-clean sounds so seemingly popular in today's music. But whatever the reason, the result is captivating and invitingly absorbing.

I also don't know of many songwriters currently out gigging with an accordion player. The combination of electric guitar and accordion is ear-catching and unusual, especially with one as gifted as Josh Camp. If you get a chance to go out and see her, take it.