edmar castaneda: tiny desk concert : NPR

 Click this link to view and hear the NPR music video:

Edmar Castaneda: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR

Edmar Castaneda is the sort of musician who isn't afraid to challenge the established order. He's carving out a place for himself in Latin jazz on an instrument you don't often hear in his chosen genre: the Colombian harp. He's adapted intricate traditional fingerpicking techniques to play jazz melodies along with the Afro-Cuban tumbao (bass line). As you can see and hear for yourself in this Tiny Desk Concert, he can switch between rural Colombian dance music and jazz with a twist of his wrist. Literally.

His musical vision is so invigorating that he's gaining fans like NEA Jazz Master Paquito D'Rivera, with whom Castaneda has performed. His Web site shows him constantly on the road as a guest artist with other forward thinkers, or with his latest touring trio, which consists of Castaneda, a drummer and a trombonist.

Castaneda recently parked himself behind Bob Boilen's desk and crafted a transporting mix of tradition and improvisation. Chances are, you've never heard anything like it.

aaron neville - to make me who i am - the man is a genius and a national treasure ...

I've walked through this world sometime without a friend
My life has been up and down, been close to an end
I've been through the mill and I've paid my dues
Walked so many miles in different peoples shoes

But I've been through the fire and I've walked in the rain
I've felt the joy and endured the pain

Once I was a schemer but I always was a dreamer
But it took me who I was and where I've been
To make me who I am

I've met a lot of lost souls in the bowels of hell
Traveled some crooked roads and got some stories yet to tell
I've shot up with the junkie in piss stench halls
Broken bread with the devil, fallen on my knees to God

Some days I was blessed, some nights I was damned
But I always tried to lend a helping hand

Once I was a deceiver, now I am a believer
But it took me, who I was and where I've been
To make me who I am

Oh, I've seen the little children all strung out on dope
No one to care about them, living without hope
But I've been lucky that I always had a song
I'll sing it with compassion, to try to right the wrong

Once my life was wretched but why should I regret it
'Cause, it took me, who I was and where I've been
To make me who I am

This is dedicated to my friends in jail
For my brother Jake who had to ride the rail
For my friend Roonie and Melvin who were so dear
They were so misunderstood but I wish they were still here
To hear this song I sing from my heart
They're forever in my soul even though we had to part

Once I was a deceiver, now I am a believer
But it took me who I was and where I've been
To make me who I am

God said, "I forgive you, wipe away the scars
'Cause I know it took who you were
And where you came from to make you who you are
'Cause I know it took who you were
And where you came from to make you what you are"

frank zappa - stairway to heaven

the only chance i had to see frank zappa and the mothers of invention was in the fall of 1970. it was in dayton, ohio, and the show was festival seating. if you brought your mother, she got in for free.

i liked the fact that nothing was sacred to frank, not even this rock and roll classic by led zepplin.

i first heard stairway to heaven at a concert at the boston garden. my dad bought 3 tickets. one for me, one for a friend claude durham and one for himself. my dad always new a good show when he saw one, rock, jazz, classical, it didn't matter. during the break jimmy paige came out on the stage all alone, sat down in a folding metal chair with his 12 string, and said he wanted to play us a song he was fooling around with. it was stairway to heaven and it appeared on led zeps next album.

elton john @ the brian wilson tribute ocncert

the thing i like most about youtube is that i can think about an event or a song from the past and its there.

the beatles: as far as i am concerned, the greatest band there ever was, bar none ...

a friend sent me a list of links today that were compiled by a guy who is a beatles fan. this fanatic has taken the time and effort to find a video online to every beatles song every released (more or less), 214 titles in all. he has also gone so far as to include historical quotes, lyrics links and trivia about each song. here is the link to his home page, and here is the link to the complete list.

without the beatles, and their incredible talent and diversity, the music scene today would not be what it is. it might be safe to say that not a day goes by when you will not hear one of their songs, whether played by them, as a cover tune by another artist, background for a movie sound track or tv commercial, and even as muzak in an elevator.

i find the "about" for each song to be great. a perfect example is paul's quote about his song i'll follow the sun.

PAUL 1988: "I wrote that in my front parlour in Forthlin Road. I was about 16. There was a few from then-- 'Thinking Of Linking,' ever heard of that one? So 'I'll Follow The Sun' was one of those very early ones. I seem to remember writing it just after I'd had the flu... I remember standing in the parlour looking out through lace curtains of the window and writing that one. We had this hard R&B image in Liverpool, so I think songs like 'I'll Follow The Sun,' ballads like that, got pushed back to later."

right, he wrote that when he was 16 years old.

there is also a beatles radio station for those who want some streaming beatles.

this is another one of the sites where you find yourself still browsing an hour or two later.

taylor swift, country music has come a long way ... or has it?

i became a big fan of country music back in 1988 when i first heard lyle lovett, now i enjoy many different country artists. here is one that i have recently become found of. so here's taylor swift, enjoy - or not ...

teardrops on my guitar:



picture to burn:



i'm only me when i'm with you:



you belong with me:



you're not sorry:



mary's song (oh my my my) live bamboozle:




had enough? :-)