pic from Peter Case

(Guest blogged by Howie Klein)

Tonight's LNMC song is a Crooks & Liars exclusive, a brand new song, not even mastered yet, by Peter Case. It will be released on his next album later in the year. This song, "Underneath The Stars" was written after visits to a local park in Santa Monica. The song just tells the story of what was happening there. It's about the plight of "discarded people," older homeless people, not drug addicts or alcoholics, but just people who've gone over the edge of life for various other reasons.

Download | play MP4

Peter told us that he's felt concerned about the lives of homeless people after he himself lived without a home in San Francisco for a couple of years in the early 70s. "I climbed out of it, because I was young and strong. Some can't, due to age and other factors." The other voice on the song is Carlos Guitarlos, an incredibly talented musician and a former homeless person who gained some fame after playing with Tom Waits in Swordfishtrombones. This is one of my favorite Peter Case songs in years.

Bertis Downs is an old friend of mine; he's also R.E.M.'s manager and a Crooks and Liars LNMC fan. He sent me a cool, FUN video last week. The backstory is here. And the contest is for an autographed copy of Peter Clothier's fantastic new book, The Real Bush Diaries. I'll give 3 books away for the best list of R.E.M. covers-- in other words, your favorite R.E.M. songs performed by other artists. Entries to downwithtyranny@aol.com

(guest blogged by Howie)

Peter Case, who you might remember as the guy from The Nerves and The Plimsouls, has his 10th solo album coming out tomorrow (Tuesday), Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John. Yesterday's L.A. Times gave it a rave review and kept comparing him to Woody Guthrie. What more could any serious singer songwriter want? When his producer, Ian Brennan, played it for the CLLN Music Club staff last week, we asked for a YouTube clip. Peter did us one better and did a short film for us on Pico Blvd, after hours. It includes 3 of his new songs: “Ain’t Gonna Worry No More,” "Every 24 Hours," and "Getaway Blues."

(guest blogged by Howie Klein)

You know what happens when a band breaks up and the members start doing solo projects. Usually they're not as good, to put it mildly, as the original band.

The Smiths were on my label and they were an awesome band. I had some real anguish about Morrissey going out on his own. But how many years has it been? And he's still doing some of his BEST WORK EVER. Tonight's song is "First of the Gang To Die," although there are over a dozen incredible Morrissey solo songs that are better than anything that most songwriters ever get close to in a whole career.

And tonight's contest-- tell me your favorite solo artist who left a band and did great work. The winner will be someone who does more than just mentions Peter Gabriel or that drummer from his band. The winner will give us some good rationale why his or her answer merits the rare (not for sale) Bob Dylan Victoria's Secret LOVESICK compilation CD. Answers to downwithtyranny@aol.com

Not many people know of Marsh. He's a really fine tenor player who starred in Lenny Tristano's quintet. Peter Madsen has a nice article about him.

"Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh"

The great jazz singer Anita O'Day died on Thanksgiving morning at the age of 87. She was a dedicated artist, despite the fact that she claimed she took the stage name O'Day because "in pig Latin it meant dough, which I wanted to make."

She had musical chemistry with the great trumpeter Roy Eldridge, when they were both in Gene Krupa's band. You can get a sense of it in this "soundie" (soundies were early music videos meant to be played on special jukeboxes). It's a hokey medium, but you can feel the energy between them.

("Boogie Ride" always sounded like a play on words to me, but for what? It took me years to figure out they were probably riffing on the phrase "thanks for the buggy ride." Buggies weren't completely forgotten in the 40's, after all.)

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

(sorry, the video isn't the greatest, but it's the only one we could find)

With John Denver, Dick Kniss, Paul Prestopino

The Very Best of Peter Paul & Mary

I had featured him along with Stan Kenton's band in the CLLN Music Club...He has just passed away

Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, known for his soaring high notes and for his recording of "Gonna Fly Now," a hit version of the theme from the "Rocky" movies, has died. He was 78....read on

I saw a twin bill of Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich's big bands in Madison Square Garden back in the late '70's. That was a great experience for a young sax player trying to learn as much as he could about jazz. John Seery writes a nice piece about Maynard being a wonderful educator:

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C&L's Late Night Music Club with Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel's voice has always had a unique and penetrating quality that seems to tap into the human condition. His 1986 record "So," is one of my top twenty records of all time. With the help of Kate Bush's voice, "Don't Give Up," is a song that reaches out to the hardships we face and has inspired me for many years.

Wikipedia:
Gabriel founded Genesis in 1967 while a pupil at Charterhouse School with bandmates Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, and Mike Rutherford. The name of the band was suggested by fellow Charterhouse School alumnus, the pop music impresario Jonathan King. Genesis quickly became one of the most talked-about bands in the UK ...read on.

He just recently appeared on the PBS show "NOW": "Musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel is empowering people to document human rights abuses in their own backyards and bring them to the world's attention....read on

Here's the lyrics to the song and a link to his World Music site.