It was always the name that got me. Kurt Vile. Got to be a punk, thrash metal guy right?
Turns out Kurt became a truly great singer/songwriter.
The voice is blue-collar but the songs and the way he sings them are unlike 99.9 % of the others.
He’s gone through the band phase with The War on Drugs. Then launched his solo career with a band of misfits called The Violators. Nice misfits mind you.
Dude has released a handful of albums and 18 EPS.
The latest is Sound, Speed, Lonely KV (EP)
It begins with a John Prine song and the second to last track is also a John Prine song, .WITH John Prine.
For people of a certain age…The Chicago 7 represents a disturbing time in
American History.
For those who were too young to have experienced the events all across
America, simply look around you today.
Large groups of protesters in the streets and parks.
Violence between police/militia and citizens. Politics at its center with
changes in cultures a close second.
Racism was a spark…Martin Luther King Jr had been assassinated months
earlier.
1000’s had died in the war in Vietnam and Richard Nixon was in the White
House.
The Democratic National Convention was in Chicago, along with the National
Guard, 12,00 Chicago Police Officers, and 10,000 demonstrators.
The demonstrators were lead by the Yippies (Youth International Party) and
their leaders were Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin along with Tom Hayden and
Rennie Davis. There was an 8th defendant Bobby Seale a founder of the Black
Panther Party.
The lawyers who represented the accused were perfect for this legal battle.
William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass. The action in the courtroom was so
wild, The 7 and their lawyers were charged with over 150 contempt’s of
court
It’s fair to say that the timing of this film and its subjects are perfect
for today’s audience which has been watching the Trump administration make
many of the same moves as Nixon.
Our guest is Aaron Sorkin, the writer, and director of The Trial of the
Chicago 7. (just premiered on Netflix this week)
You know him from The West Wing and Network. He wrote the screenplay for A
Few Good Men, Moneyball and won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
for The Social Network
This film ranks as one of his very best.
The audio was captured from a virtual press conference several weeks ago…
Enjoy Aaron’s great background on the story and the shoot. Makes the film
experience even better.
“I have music; I have a family, a house, a barbecue. I’ve got pants and a
hoodie, I got all kinds of whatever,” he says. “So that’s what I am
struggling with, this deeply internal thing. What are we doing here? We’re
just here on this rock for such a short time, and then we die.”
Afie Jurvanen’s comments from an article in American Songwriter
Afie Jurvanen is the creative spirit behind the artist known as Bahamas.
Afie has just released his fifth album – Sad Hunk
In Sad Hunk he writes and sings about – Forgiveness, dreams. belief, making
a living, family dynamics, cool/not cool,
Afie and his family moved from Ontario to Halifax and it’s reflected in his
spare, settled narration.
And music? His fans are going to love these tunes and it will win over
non-believers.
He’s the real deal..a Juno winning singer/songwriter who’ll be back at the
podium for next year’s awards.
Enjoy this Zoom interview with the funny and very direct Afie/Bahamas.
Maybe you’ve heard some of the songs he wrote and gave the World.
Twist and Shout. Piece of my Heart. Here comes the Night. Hang on Sloopy. Brown Eyed Girl. Under the Boardwalk. Cry To me.
He produced Solomon Burke. The Drifters. Ben E King. Wilson Pickett, LaVern Baker, Isley Bros, and Van Morrison.
Bert was the first American Producer to record British bands in London.
One was Them, featuring Van Morrison. Led Zeppelin recorded Baby Come on Home for their first album. Was released later in a box set.
He started his own label BANG. It featured artists like McCoys, Strangeloves, Neil Diamond. Van Morrison recorded his first solo album with Bang Records. It featured Brown Eyed Girl, the great TB Sheets, and the first-ever version of Madame George. Van has said “Bert Berns was a genius”
Berns was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He died in 1967 of childhood rheumatic fever at age 38. A lot of songs died with him.
This is an interview I did with his son Brett who was one of the directors and producers of Bang! The Bert Berns Story, a documentary on his father’s life.
The film is narrated by Miami Steve van Zant from the E Street Band. It’s an inspired choice as Steve is known for playing a mob gangster, which is exactly what Bert Berns was known for. Hanging around mafia guys when he wasn’t working.
Enjoy the story. I believe you can find this documentary on Netflix.
Like all great songwriters, Matt Quinn from LA band Mt Joy started all of his formal music training – in his bedroom in Philly
Even though Matt always had a desire to write and create music, he eventually started law classes.
He was deep into tort law class when he saw that his first release Astrovan had 60,000 plays in one day on Spotify.
So much for the law career.
The second Mt Joy album is called Rearrange Us
Matt describes the release as a “breakup album” with an ending that speaks to personal growth and progress in the face of sorrow and is filled with hits!
Kinnie Starr just co-wrote the powerful single, THE BEST, with Amanda Rheaume and is looking into the future with hope!
2020 will see the release of her soundtrack for the award-winning Edge of the Knife directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown and a follow-up podcast to Play Your Gender, the documentary film Kinnie released in 2016 on gender equity in the music industry.
September 4-5-6 Kinnie will co-headline with Buffy Ste Marie and Snotty Nose Rez Kids at 2RiversRemix, a live stream of Contemporary Indigenous Music
Normally it would have taken place in Lytton. BC but nothing is normal about 2020.
Kinnie and I talk about her thoughts on Nation Indigenous Day, her soundtrack for Edge of the Knife, and the 2RiversRemix event next weekend.
Kinnie Starr just co-wrote the powerful single, THE BEST, with Amanda Rheaume and is looking into the future with hope!
