Tag: Music
Saying Goodbye in the Sierra Madre
by Jeff Biggers | 01.23.07 | 1:00 PM ET
Photo by Carla Paciotto. Jeff Biggers was living among the Tarahumara in Mexico's Copper Canyon when he was invited to a funeral for a local woman. Amid the sorrow and song, he peeked at "the other side."
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Yahoo! BuzzJimmy Buffett at 60: Still Selling ‘Unsentimental’ Tropical Fantasies
by Jim Benning | 01.11.07 | 5:15 PM ET
As I’ve confessed before, I’m a sucker for Jimmy Buffett songs celebrating margaritas, hammocks and sailing odysseys in the tropics. How can you not love a guy who would name an album “Banana Wind”? So I was happy to read yesterday’s appreciation of Buffett in Slate. The sandal-shod singer-songwriter turned 60 last month, and he’s still touring and turning out new albums. Jody Rosen places Buffett in the long tradition of singers evoking tropical fantasies, from Bing Crosby to Don Ho. The difference with Buffett? He is, he writes, identifying something I think is key to his songs’ appeal, “unsentimental and journalistic.”
Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos on Fresh Air
by Michael Yessis | 01.09.07 | 8:14 AM ET
The frontman for Scottish band Franz Ferdinand sat with Terry Gross yesterday on the public radio show Fresh Air to talk about Sound Bites, Kapranos’s book about his gastronomic adventures on the road. The book is based on a food column Kapranos wrote for The Guardian. Food, Kapranos tells Fresh Air, has always played a big role in his life. He and bassist Bob Hardy hatched the idea for the band while working in a Glasgow restaurant.
R.I.P. James Brown
by Jim Benning | 12.26.06 | 5:14 PM ET
In honor of the Godfather of Soul, who died yesterday, we ventured deep into the World Hum archives and dusted off Anthem Soul, Rolf Potts’s dispatch about his encounter with “Sex Machine,” “Popcorn” and other Brown songs in a Syrian hotel. In its own modest, travel-centered way, we submit, it’s a fine little superbad tribute to Brown.
‘Airworld’: As Seen Via Cellphone Video
by Michael Yessis | 12.21.06 | 6:25 AM ET
YouTube's medford has put together a video composed entirely of cellphone footage taken at European airports and on airplanes. It really captures the spirit of Airworld. The Postal Service soundtrack sure helps, too.
Postcards from ‘The Edge’
by Michael Yessis | 12.04.06 | 8:31 AM ET
Apparently U2’s guitar player The Edge has been sending postcards to his mum since the band started. McSweeney’s recently posted excerpts, including this from 1996: “I am writing you this from Japan. The picture on this postcard is of a monastery. We went there to visit. Bono kept asking what things were called in Japanese. The monk would say a word and Bono would repeat it. Except poorly. And in this annoying reverential whisper. He thinks the monks are so serene, but what Bono doesn’t know is that they are, in fact, killing machines. Any one of them could crumple Bono’s windpipe with a single swift blow to the throat. Bono would stagger around gasping for air before he collapsed in a Zen rock garden, dead. And that would be ironic. Because Bono talks so often about how much he loves to ‘rock.’”
Compay Segundo House Opens in Havana
by Jim Benning | 11.20.06 | 9:04 AM ET
Ry Cooder’s 1997 Buena Vista Social Club album, and the Wim Wenders documentary of the same name, not only introduced millions of people to traditional Cuban music but launched thousands of visits to the island nation—and for good reason. The music on the album is at once haunting, playful and soulful. No song embodies this more, I think, than “Chan Chan,” written by Compay Segundo, the legendary Cuban musician featured prominently on the album and in the film. He died in Havana in 2003 at the age of 95, and now, his Havana home is being preserved as a tribute to him. It’s sure to become a pilgrimage site for Cuban music aficionados the world over.
The Decemberists Channel “In Patagonia”
by Michael Yessis | 10.10.06 | 6:44 AM ET
Looks like another beloved indie band is cribbing from a classic travel book. Last time around it was The Hold Steady. This time its The Decemberists. According to Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers, the band’s new album features “a rambling, 11-minute suite of watery horror stories, climaxing with the chilling pronouncement, ‘Go to sleep ... you’ll not feel the drowning.’” Songwriter Colin Meloy tells Powers: “I got that from ‘In Patagonia’ by Bruce Chatwin. There’s a great section about a 19th century sailor who had journaled all this stuff when he was a kid. At one point his boat is stuck in a squall and it looks like it’s going to capsize, and he’s down in his bunk with some of the older boys, and one says that to him. And it really struck me—wow, so harrowing.”
Rockers for Immigrant Hotel Workers’ Rights
by Jim Benning | 10.03.06 | 6:52 PM ET
It’s a rock-‘n’-roll-travel day here at World Hum. We’ve already reported on Dave Navarro and the sexiness of travel and Rush drummer Neil Peart’s travel-writing talk, and now comes word that Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello is down with the plight of Los Angeles immigrant hotel workers—so down, in fact, that he was one of 400 protesters arrested near LAX last week. Morello and his band are no strangers to the world of rock-travel news: Last year, Audioslave made history as the first American rock band to play Cuba in 26 years. News of Morello’s arrest was reported on the Web site of his lefty non-profit, Axis of Justice, which also offers music recommendations—French rocker Manu Chao, who sings in Spanish, Arabic, Galician and Portuguese, among other languages, makes the list.
Kelefa Sanneh on “The Hold Steady States of America”
by Michael Yessis | 10.02.06 | 3:02 AM ET
We mentioned last month that the title of The Hold Steady’s new album—“Boys and Girls in America”—comes from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The album comes out this week, and today New York Times music writer Kelefa Sanneh profiled the gruff, beery band from a great angle: He looked at the band as travelers and prowlers of America’s “shady neighborhoods.” Online, an interactive map of The Hold Steady’s America features clips from songs about cities across the country, including Chicago, Minneapolis and Ybor City in Tampa, Florida.
The World Hum Travel Zeitgeist: This One Goes to Eleven
by Michael Yessis | 09.22.06 | 7:34 AM ET
You, Bono, The Edge and Neil Peart really brought the rock this week. Where did you bring it? Miami, Barcelona, Madrid, New York, Las Vegas and China. Time to crank up the Zeitgiest and find out what’s been intriguing travelers and armchair travelers.
Best Selling Travel Book
Amazon.com (current)
Roadshow: Landscape With Drums: A Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Neil Peart
* Yes, that’s the drummer and lyricist from Rush. Here are some excerpts from “Roadshow.”
World’s Busiest Airline Route
OAG (September)
Barcelona-Madrid
World’s Sexiest City
Gridskipper (poll)
New York City
Most Viewed Video
Yahoo! | Current Traveler (this week)
“A Day in the life of The Edge: Part 1”
* Here are part two and part three.
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
New York Times (current)
Footloose and Boot Free: Barefoot Hiking
Top-Rated Travel Podcast
PodcastAlley (September)
The Strip
Most E-Mailed Travel Story
USA Today (current)
Condo-hotels create risks, opportunities for buyers
Most Viewed Weblog Post
World Hum (this week)
Oprah Takes a Road Trip, Pumps Gas For First Time Since 1983
* Oprah and Gayle? Not so rock ‘n’ roll. Their sing-along artist of choice on their road trip? Celine Dion.
Most Viewed Weblog Category
World Hum (this week)
China
No. 1 World Music Download
iTunes (current)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
The Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button Travel Zeitgeist Search
“Best Song About Travel”
* Hint: It’s not by Celine Dion. Or Rush. Or U2. Though A Sort of Homecoming should at least be considered for any list of great travel-themed songs.
Got something that deserves to be included in next week’s World Hum Zeitgeist? .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Liam and Noel Gallagher Plan Oasis-Themed Hotel Chain
by Michael Yessis | 09.06.06 | 7:15 AM ET
The famously mercurial brothers behind the band Oasis are reportedly pitching a hotel chain in the United States to be called Supernova Heights, which will feature rooms based on their songs. “All around the World,” for instance, might have a travel theme. And maybe the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” suite will allow visitors to make like Liam and Noel, drinking copious alcohol and having obnoxious spats with their traveling companions. As for what the “Wonderwall” room might look like, your guess is as good as ours. Life Style Extra reports that many of the brothers’ ideas are not sitting well with investors: “Their plan to install alcohol and cigarettes in every room of their New York hotel, in honour of their track ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ has gone down like a lead balloon because so many people are anti-smoking.” Look for the hotels by the end of 2007. Definitely maybe.
The Universal Language of Karaoke
by Michael Yessis | 08.31.06 | 8:23 AM ET
For immigrants in the United States, karaoke sounds like home. Today’s Washington Post has a fantastic story today about the immigrant karaoke scene around Washington D.C. “In the Washington suburbs, where this Salvadoran-Mexican restaurant sits next to a Vietnamese deli, karaoke transcends borders,” Karin Brulliard writes. “At hole-in-the-wall cafes and crowded bars, song lists come in Filipino and Korean and Spanish and Chinese, allowing laymen of all tongues to unleash their inner singers.” Drinks and laughter and bonding are the core elements of the experience, and Brulliard finds a theme in the songs a lot of immigrants choose. “Songs are steeped in memory and distance,” Brulliard writes. “And many are about heartbreak.”
National Geographic Debuts World Music Site
by Frank Bures | 08.24.06 | 6:10 AM ET
With apologies to Rob Fleming from “High Fidelity,” I admit a shameless love for world music—not just soukous, and not just whatever world music trend is trendy this week. I like it all, or at least I’m willing to give it all a try. That’s why I love perusing magazines like Global Rhythm and Songlines, and why I’m glad to see National Geographic has launched a world music Web site, complete with downloads, podcasts and good overviews of genres from around the world, from Rai to Reggae to Roma to Rumba. The site will be a fine addition to the Charlie Gillett show, which plays great stuff every week and which you can listen to online, and Afropop Worldwide, which you can only hear if you’re lucky enough to have a local station that carries it.
A Cross-Country Road Trip Captured in Time Lapse
by Michael Yessis | 08.22.06 | 7:29 AM ET
YouTube user vw86gti drove his convertible across the country and captured the journey on time-lapse video -- the trip from Los Angeles to New York City takes just four minutes.
The Hold Steady Pays Tribute to Kerouac’s “On the Road”
by Michael Yessis | 07.31.06 | 12:45 PM ET
The upcoming album from The Hold Steady will be called “Boys and Girls in America,” part of a line from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Lead singer Craig Finn told Billboard magazine, “The line goes, ‘Boys and girls in America have such a sad time together.’ Basically, the songs are about guys and girls, and love. It’s not a concept-type record like the last one—it’s more of a theme record.” The Hold Steady will likely be performing some of the new songs this weekend in Chicago at Lollapalooza. I’ll be there, and I’m looking forward to seeing the band for the first time. Via Syntax of Things.
New Road Music: Tom Petty’s “Highway Companion”
by Jim Benning | 07.25.06 | 11:00 PM ET
Tom Petty knows how to write a road tune. “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” from his 1990 album Full Moon Fever, featured an infectious guitar riff and celebrated the freedom and promise of a good road trip with verses like this: “I rolled on as the sky grew dark / I put the pedal down to make some time / there’s something good waitin’ down this road / I’m pickin’ up whatever’s mine.” Petty’s new album, released today, has a title that suggests it, too, will play nicely on the road: Highway Companion. Writes Rolling Stone in a review: “His songs are filled with images of motion, travel and the road; the sharpest writing appears in the cryptic, evocative ‘Down South,’ describing a journey that includes plans to ‘see my daddy’s mistress,’ ‘sell the family headstones’ and ‘pretend I’m Samuel Clemens / Wear seersuckers and white linens.’”
The Sound of Sunshine
by Frank Bures | 07.03.06 | 10:18 AM ET
Frank Bures was working for a boss he didn't like, spending too much time alone. It was a dark time. He found light in the bright, poignant music he first encountered in Africa: soukous.
Jimmy Buffett: Celebrating Changes in Latitudes
by Jim Benning | 04.28.06 | 3:45 PM ET
Last Saturday, on a drizzly Southern California evening, I took in my first Jimmy Buffett concert, joining thousands of rabid Parrotheads festooned with Aloha shirts, shark-fin hats and other tropical-inspired accoutrements. I invested in the requisite margarita. A couple of friends wearing grass skirts greeted me and my wife with offerings of plastic leis. And as Buffett launched into his classics—“Margaritaville,” “Coconut Telegraph,” “Volcano,” and my favorite, his cover of the Crosby, Stills & Nash song evoking a ruminative sailing trip to Papeete, “Southern Cross”—I was transported.
Library Card Tourism Hooks California Teen
by Michael Yessis | 04.28.06 | 2:23 PM ET
Every summer for the past six years, Cory Peterson and his mother embark on a road trip to visit libraries around the country and sign up for library cards. So far the 13-year-old library lover has accumulated 1,678 cards, and stands to gain more when he makes a planned trek through Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Nebraska this July. “I hope to grow it into the greatest collection of library cards in the world!” Peterson writes on his Web site, which features scans of all his cards. As with Bookstore Tourism, where I found out about Cory, this is a concept I can get behind.