Two Unrelated Genres: Mingus and Five Finger Death Punch?

Two worlds colliding may not even describe the coming comparison - the two worlds might miss each other altogether.
Other than existing in the galaxy of music, the genres of heavy metal and jazz have nothing - reasonably speaking - in common. The chugging breakdowns of the former are about as far as one can get from the
smooth, laid-back trumpet solos of the latter. From what I've seen, jazz proponents laud the difficulty of "their" genre to master and the room for letting loose emotions as the reason for preferring jazz. Metalheads, on the other hand, are busy fending off misconceptions about the "dark" genre they love.
Somehow, I happen to be involved in both. I'm a long-time metal fan who's still trying to wrap his head around the complexities of jazz, as I recently picked up the trumpet to play in one of my school's jazz combos.

PCPL has got the "P"!

P. Funk, that is.

If you ever wondered just what P. Funk is all about, you can find out here at the library. Not only do we own a copy of Parliament's signiture album, Mothership Connection, but we also have two CD collections of P. Funk rarities to boot. If that ain't enough, Freegal has what is far and away my own personal favorite album of P. Funk available as well, Urban Dancefloor Guerillas by the P. Funk All-Stars. So get out your library card, and get ready to "blow the cobwebs out yo' mind."

Thanksgiving - Turkey, Football, and... The Last Waltz

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, time to pay homage to The Band, Martin Scorsese, and the numerous guest musicians who joined The Band for their final show on Thanksgiving in 1976.  While I have already written about The Last Waltz in a former blog, it is so good (and timely), it is time to recycle some of the praise.

A Musical Autobiography

Those of us of a certain age remember the good old mixtape...these days there are playlists. I've certainly created my share....mixes/playlists for parties, to commemorate ex boyfriends, to share stuff with friends I think they might like. I was reading Martha Stewart's latest book, Living The Good Long Life, and she wrote about creating your own autobiographical playlist and a light bulb went off in my head. What a fabulous idea! Think about it--songs that are about YOU, not songs meant for or about someone else (although if you've lived long enough, it's probably unavoidable that songs that mean something to you don't evoke memories of other people in your life.) I started making a list a few months back, and thought I'd share some songs with y'all and why they're such a big deal in my life...

Graham Nash: Howard Stern Interview

Last month I listened to a wonderful segment on The Howard Stern Show in which he interviewed Graham Nash to promote his new biography which the library now owns. For over an hour, Mr. Nash, w/ his guitar in hand, shared a very endearing lecture on the fantastic musical world that he lived in and witnessed. He played over 6 songs and talked about meeting The Beatles, to leaving The Hollies, to forming Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, to explaining why Joni Mitchell was the love of his life. This was one of the finest interviews I've heard in a long time. Keep reading to learn more.

Foxy Foxes

If you've turned on the radio in the past few months, there’s a good chance you've heard of Foxes. Under her omnivorous stage name, English singer Louisa Rose Allen soared into the international spotlight for her vocals on Zedd's smash hit "Clarity." You know the song: the booming electronic track that features Allen's lovelorn vocals over the heated chanting of an seemingly intense soccer match. It is a testament to Foxes' voice that her words are able to rise above the sonic bass and boom of the track.

On her own, Foxes has released a string of amazing singles on par with the best of Lorde,Florence & the Machine and Feist. Besides their amazing voices, Foxes shares many similarities with these other singers. Like Florence (of the Machine variety), Foxes' lyrics often drift into the realm of mysticism. In "Beauty Queen" Foxes muses, "There’s a house in the forest/Where her days are forgotten/By the lake, she dropped her dreams/Now they've sunk to the bottom." In Echo, "Running in a crypt of a thousand words/Hiding in the dark when violence starts."