Happy birthday to faithful commentor Raven, and many more happy trips!
Musical news, possibly of interest to some readers, from the NYTimes:
One evening last fall, Teddy Thompson stepped onto the stage at the Purple Crayon, a cultural center in Hastings-on-Hudson, not far from New York City. The venue regularly attracts established pop-folk singers, the kind embraced by the public-radio-listening, Subaru-driving locals; Thompson loosely falls into that category, although he has the louche glamour of a heartbreaker, as well as the reputation (“I haven’t been invited on the Lilith tour,” he once dryly pointed out in an interview). Tall, fair, lean and British, he sang that night, with what one admiring critic has called his “keening tenor,” a series of songs about failed relationships in which Thompson, single at 38, was usually the bad actor: “I was born with a love disease/It’s known as chronic hard-to-please.”…
As he neared the end of the show, Thompson announced, “This is a song I wrote for my mother.”
The audience immediately hushed. Some might have even been there because they were fans of his mother, the singer Linda Thompson, and his father, the legendary guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson, who began their musical collaboration in 1974 with “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight,” an album considered a folk-rock masterpiece. Eight years later, in 1982, they released the album “Shoot Out the Lights,” which Rolling Stone deemed one of the 10 best of the decade. On it, Richard plays guitar with an exquisitely controlled rage, and Linda, with her clear alto, sings spare, timeless lyrics that catalog the implosions of their dying marriage. The couple separated that same year, when Teddy was almost 7….
Over the past 15 years, Teddy Thompson has sung and written songs about love, about sloth, about partying, about murder. On Nov. 18, his latest project will be released, a collaborative effort called “Family,” which both directly engages that topic and tries to engineer, through harmonies and technology and talent, a kind of musical reunion. His mother and father each contribute songs and music, as does his nephew, Zak Hobbs; his sister Kami Thompson; her husband, James Walbourne; and Richard’s son from his second marriage, Jack Thompson. “At first I just thought it would be something fun and easy,” said Teddy, who eventually realized his motivations were more complicated: “I definitely was trying to repair some kind of damage.”
Or possibly inflict some, Kami, also a songwriter, later suggested. “The whole album,” she said, “is like a family songwriting competition — it’s a bloody nightmare. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?”…
Four tracks from the album at the link, if you care to listen.
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What else is on the agenda, as we start a fresh week?
SiubhanDuinne
Happy birthday, Raven!
raven
Yikes, a front page shout out! Thanks ya’ll. As soon as the lady wakes up we’re going to load up the pups and drive up through the mountains to Chattanooga to see the sites!
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Happy B-Day, bud.
raven
This is one of my favorites by Linda and Richard.
Tongues talk fire and
Eyes cry rivers
Indian givers
Hearts of stone
Paper ships and
Painted faces
The worlds no place when
Your’e on your own
A heart needs a home
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yo!
TheMIghtyTrowel
Suffering through my annual bout of end-of-academic-year immune system collapse. The sinus infection portion is clearing up, but my throat still hurts like hell. Only 8 essays left to mark then it’s SUMMER!!!!
Tommy
@raven: That sounds like a good day, and I bet you won’t be hard pressed to find a good meal or two along the way.
Mustang Bobby
Happy birthday, raven, and many, many more.
Baud
@TheMIghtyTrowel:
Two weeks ago, you’d have to be quarantined because of Ebola fears. You should be thankful Republicans won the election.
raven
@Tommy: I have SO much of the Cuban chicken left over from last night I think we’ll be eating at on more than one scenic overlook!
JPL
@raven: Sounds like a good day. Enjoy!
raven
@Mustang Bobby: Thanks
Look at the card a friend posted on my FB. It’s a birthday Lil Bit!
raven
@JPL: We got a fleabag dog friendly room up there so we can just take our time and wander around,
Tommy
@raven: A roadtrip and a pinic. A good deay where I am from.
evap
One of the musical highlights of my life was standing a few feet from Richard Thompson while he played/sang A Poisoned Heart and a Twisted Memory. I hear Teddy inherited talents from both parents, I would love to see him someday.
PurpleGirl
Raven: Happy Birthday and best wishes for many more healthy ones.
JGabriel
Is there ever a time when Conservatives don’t agree that now is the time confrontation?
Edited to Add:
Translation: We WANT to shut down the government, we just need to find a reason.
Tommy
@raven: That is just the best. Something I used to do more of. Just drive around someplace and enjoy the area. I need to start doing it again. Pull over to read Historical Markers. Stop at that no name place for a meal.
JPL
@JGabriel: The GOP pays no price for lack of compromise.
Why not keep on keeping on.
BillinGlendaleCA
@JGabriel: Yup, when anyone will actually fight them.
Tommy
@JGabriel: All the “smart” people are telling me that now the Republicans are going to be “sane” and “govern.” I don’t think that will happen for a second. The tea party doesn’t want to govern. They dislike (insert hate) the very concept of government. I believe we’ll see us default on our debt limit. That to raise it they will ask for such massive changes not even Boehner can stomach it.
Elizabelle
Happy Birthday, raven! Enjoy your road tripping birthday. Sounds like a great way to spend a day.
NotMax
@raven
What? No fishing?
*gasp*
raven
@NotMax: We leave for the beach the 19th through Dec 1!
Baud
@Tommy:
I hope Obama puts his own face on the goddamn trillion-dollar coin.
Or better yet, his raised middle finger.
Tommy
@Baud: A little bit ago I watched the Young Turks show from Friday. They featured James Lankford. The new Senator from OK. He said he’d take a biblical approach to the debt (and you can watch it here):
When you take this kind of approach, this world view I don’t see any wiggle room on their end. It is their way or the highway. If they have to zero out the EPA or the Department of Eduaction in the process they won’t care.
I mean WTF.
Iowa Old Lady
@Tommy: I think people hear politicians say loony things all the time and then nothing bad happens, so people think it doesn’t matter. But it doesn’t matter only so long as you don’t elect enough loonies to put them in control, as Kansas, NC, and Wisconsin found out.
Hm. Maybe I have to rethink that, because Kansas, NC, and Wisc reelected the loonies, so maybe they want the horrible things to happen.
Yeah. WTF?
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@raven: Enjoy your day, dude.
MomSense
Happy birthday, Raven!
debbie
@raven:
Maybe I’m prone to moroseness, but this is my favorite:
This old house is falling down around my ears
I’m drowning in the river of my tears
When all my will is gone you hold me sway
I need you at the dimming of the day
You pulled me like the moon pulls on the tide
You know just where I keep my better side
What days have come to keep us far apart
A broken promise or a broken heart
Now all the bonny birds have wheeled away
I need you at the dimming of the day
Come the night you’re only what I want
Come the night you could be my confidant
I see you on the street in company
Why don’t you come and ease your mind with me
I’m living for the night we steal away
I need you at the dimming of the day
I need you at the dimming of the day
Happy birthday!
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
The real question why is EVERYBODY so gago over Loretta Lynch? Some obsculre fucknut on the internet said something ambivalent about her. Is he wrong?
gogol's wife
@raven:
Happy birthday, Raven!
Gene108
Happy B’day Raven
kdaug
A) Congrats on the orbit, Raven
B) A buddy wrote a book, it’s a free download tomorrow. Here. Check it out, spread the word, standard drill.
ETA: Free. And new. New and free.
geg6
Happy birthday, raven! And I hope it’s a wonderful day!
forked tongue
@evap: I have seen and heard Teddy Thompson a few times and I’m afraid they did not convince me that talent on that order is genetically transmissible.
Svensker
Happy birthday, Rave!
realbtl
Happy Birthday from one old fart to another.
shortstop
Love all things Richard, but Linda’s voice makes me want to put a bullet through my brain.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@raven:
Happy birthday, old man!
d58826
Sometimes something happens that makes you think there might be a god after all. At the Garth Brooks concert last night in Minneaoplis. from Huffington
julia
Happy Birthday, Raven! I have seen Richard Thompson twice on a music cruise I go on every year (Cayamo), and will be excited to see him back on the boat in January 2015! I didn’t think much of Teddy after reading in the article that he had trouble remembering lyrics and also couldn’t get a guitar chord right…seemed to spend a fair amount of time apologizing to the crowd. Couldn’t be a starker contrast to his dad’s shows, with virtuoso musical skills (voice, guitar playing, songwriter) displayed at the highest levels.