The Riptide

Red Meat, East Bay Grease, Porkchop Express, Burning Embers, Joe Goldmark and the Seducers, and the now-disbanded Plain High Drifters are among the locals.  Big Smith and Rancho Deluxe are among the visitors.  Several clips are from Anna’s Monday night open mics.

Having so much to choose from begs the question of where to start.  This rousing track from one of the Shut-Ins‘ shows, which includes members of the Celtish-punkish band Culann’s Hounds and dancers from the Hot Pink Feathers, is a good jumping off point.

Wikipedia named reader Steve Bern’s band Toolesboro Mound Group after a native-American burial site in Iowa.  His CD’s title comes from the quote “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of his freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way,” from Viktor E. Frankl who wrote Man’s Search for Meaning.

Rappotenstein is an area of Austria that Wikipedia chose for Wild Billy’s faux band’s name.  His CD’s title is from a quote attributed to the legendary Don Juan. “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything either as a blessing or a curse.” Billy wants HWS News readers to know that Rappotenstein, should it ever exist, will be a Yanni tribute band, which, considering how Yanni influenced John Tesh who was in Yanni’s band for awhile, does seem like more of a curse than a blessing.

Angie O. Plasty’s faux band Tap Tap is named after a Guitar Hero-type game for the iPhone.  Its title comes from romantic poet William Wordsworth, “That best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.”

Follow the links in this story’s first paragraph and you too can create a band and CD in no time.  The only thing missing will be your music.

HWS thanks Miss Vikki for this YouTube link to the amazing Ennio Marchetto who, in six highly entertaining minutes, plays the quick changing paper doll to just about every pop star and musical style in western civilization.

Don Burnham and his dog "20-20 Hindsight"

The Wall Street Journal has caught up with Hicks with Sticks News in describing the trend toward songs about the Great Depression of ‘09 (HWS News, 12/24/08).  A WSJ story of 2/6/09 missed Don Burnham’s “Apple and Google and Gold” but they did include Santa Cruz mountain man Neil Young’s “Fork in the Road” and Marin County satirical musician Roy Zimmerman’s “Buddy Can to Spare a Trillion” to the growing list of music for the fiscally impaired.  Play ‘em and weep.

Sting, Songsmith Victim

Microsoft’s Songsmith was meant to take a simple tempo like snapping fingers or clapping hands and the user’s voice to create an instant backing band and a song, at least that’s how Microsoft envisioned it.  But now users are feeding vocals from hit songs into the program, letting Songsmith re-invent the music, synchronizing the computer-modified tune to the band’s music video, and posting the results on YouTube.

Here’s a link to the Police’s “Roxanne” Songsmith style.  Links to the right of the YouTube page will point to Songsmith-modified hits from Oasis, the Beatles, Van Halen and even a Barack Obama campaign speech.