Last night I accidentally discovered a whole new Teriyaki Donut called Gypsy Punk. It's a new musical movement out of the Russian area of New York that mixes Slavic styles of music with punk rock. The band that I hears play it is called Gogol Bordello. They opened for Primus in Berkeley.
Gogol Bordello is led by a tall, thin Romanian guy who wears green tights on stage and plays gypsy-style acoustic guitar. He's backed up by a full rock band, an accordion, a fiddle player and these two girls who occasionally run out on stage to sing back up while dressed in biker shorts and shirts and wearing skateboarding knee and elbow pad protection. They all dance a mix of the punk-style pogo stick and the line dancing that's often featured at Jewish weddings. Very strange to see.
The songs all have a heavy Slavic beat to it and use a mix of Romanian, Russian and English. The English is broken, as the lead singer has a very thick Romanian or Russian accent, but also sings with a Tom Waits-type grovel on top of it.
Lyrics include lines like "Upon arrivin' in the melting pot, I get penciled in as a goddamn white," "And you see brothers and sisters, all engaged in sport of help, making merry out of nothing like in a refugee camp," and "Start wearing purple for me now."
Oddly enough, the combination works really well. In some ways, they sound a bit like the early Pogues, which mixed Celtic and punk. They put on a heck of a show, although it's one of the strangest performances I have seen in a while.
Take the time to check them out. I purchased their album "Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike," which I absolutely have no idea what it means. But my daughter and I listened to the album twice on the way home and they can add us as their newest fans.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Dave Brubeck Institute Quintet 3
Yup, I'm still alive. Just been really busy. Of course, I had to post this. Yet another jazz musician playing live in downtown Modesto. Besides the fact that Jazz is a mish-mash of musical styled from all around the world, it's also somewhat of a Teriyaki Donut that the Brubeck Jazz Institute Quintet (possibly one of the finest young quintets in the nation) would play in a country town like Modesto, California and draw a standing-room only crowd. Country meets jazz. Go figure.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Bluegrass
I went to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco and captured some photos for this blog. So how does the American music of bluegrass fit in here?
Bluegrass is really the combination of three different types of music:
Irish music, blues and European folk. It came out of the Kentucky region originally, thus many people think that it's named after the famous grass from that area. But I recently had a music professor explain another theory - the name comes from the combination of Blues and grassroots or folk music.
Anyway, most of the bluegrass musicians I know also play Celtic and blues and most of the celtic musicians I know play blues and bluegrass as well. The styles really are similar.
Here is a punk rock girl playing bluegrass fiddle during the festival so she can earn some money.
One group I didn't get a photo of because it didn't occur to me until too late was The Pine Leaf Boys. They had a singer who played bluegrass but sang all his songs in traditional Creole - a mix of French, English and Spanish that's often only heard in Louisiana. That language alone is worthy of its own Teriyaki Donuts post.
Maybe another day, though.
Bluegrass is really the combination of three different types of music:
Irish music, blues and European folk. It came out of the Kentucky region originally, thus many people think that it's named after the famous grass from that area. But I recently had a music professor explain another theory - the name comes from the combination of Blues and grassroots or folk music.
Anyway, most of the bluegrass musicians I know also play Celtic and blues and most of the celtic musicians I know play blues and bluegrass as well. The styles really are similar.
Here is a punk rock girl playing bluegrass fiddle during the festival so she can earn some money.
One group I didn't get a photo of because it didn't occur to me until too late was The Pine Leaf Boys. They had a singer who played bluegrass but sang all his songs in traditional Creole - a mix of French, English and Spanish that's often only heard in Louisiana. That language alone is worthy of its own Teriyaki Donuts post.
Maybe another day, though.
Bluegrass punk
Famous British punk rocker Billy Bragg (started recording in the early '80s) performed a complete set of his folk songs at the festival. They fit right in since bluegrass draws heavily from folk. Bragg also threw in a country tune that he wrote as well as one from Johnny Cash.
Superstar
Gillian Welch performs her strict bluegrass set during the festival. She drew a huge overflow crowd. There must have been at least 10,000 people in her audience alone, even though there were five stages altogether.
Gillian Welch
Gillian Welch is a superstar in the bluegrass arena. She was promoted to that when one of her songs was picked for the soundtrack of "O Brother Where Art Thou?" She was then featured on the smach follow-up live album "Down From the Mountain." The crowd was so big for her, I couldn't get very close and had to use a zoom. Since light was quickly fading, it was difficult to get a good shot.
T Bone Burnett crossover
Here, Oscar-nominated and grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer T Bone Burnett plays a nearly rock-like set while backed up by virtually all bluegrass musicians. Because bluegrass essentially came from a hodgepodge of other music from Ireland, Europe and Africa, it's easy to switch between styles because they all follow basically the same formulas.
T Bone Burnett
As I said earlier, many bluegrass musicians easily cross over between styles. Here, T Bone Burnett (Grammy winner and nominated for an Oscar) plays an all-electric set of his Tom Wait's like folk songs.
Austin Lounge Lizards up close
This is one of the big acts at this year's Mostly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the Austin Lounge Lizards. They opened their set with a song called "Yet Another Stupid Song About Texas."
Austin Lounge Lizards
Like blues, bluegrass music sometimes can be irreverant. And one of the most irreverant groups out there is the Austin Lounge Lizards. Their latest album pokes fun at commercials, modern religion and the medical industry.
Dancers
As you can see, people of all ages still seem to enjoy Bluegrass. Here, they dance to a tune by The Stairwell Sisters.
The Stairwell Sisters
Here, The Stairwell Sisters perform a vocal-only or a cappella song during the festival. They were one of the few bands that stuck to almost all traditional bluegrass tunes.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
tenor sax
Jazz really has become a universal language. The Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific is hosting a visit by seven jazz players from Russia. The Russians will meet with Dave Brubeck and perform for him, perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in two weeks, visit Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland and play a concert at the university.
They arrived Wednesday night and met with the members of the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet, five boys agest 18 - 19 who are studying the language of jazz.
While few of the Russians could speak English, the Brubeck Quintet and the Russians were able to speak through the language of jazz.
Both groups were impressive and will be playing in a concert at the University of the Pacific in Stockton on September 19, at 7:30 pm.
Pictured here, Dmitriy Kondrashov blows a solo while baritone saxophonist Yevgeniy Voloshin waits his turn. They were playing for American musicians in the rehearsal hall at the University of the Pacific.
They arrived Wednesday night and met with the members of the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet, five boys agest 18 - 19 who are studying the language of jazz.
While few of the Russians could speak English, the Brubeck Quintet and the Russians were able to speak through the language of jazz.
Both groups were impressive and will be playing in a concert at the University of the Pacific in Stockton on September 19, at 7:30 pm.
Pictured here, Dmitriy Kondrashov blows a solo while baritone saxophonist Yevgeniy Voloshin waits his turn. They were playing for American musicians in the rehearsal hall at the University of the Pacific.
Russian piano
Russian guitarist Petr Malanov warms up before performing for the American 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet.
russian guitar
Russian guitarist Petr Malanov warms up before performing for the American 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet.
Russian band
The Russian musicians play for the Americans at the University of the Pacific. They are: TAleksey Chernakov, piano; Artem Fedotov, drums; Dmitriy Kondrashov, tenor and soprano saxophones and flute and clarinet; Konstantin Safyanov, alto sax; Petr Malanov, guitar; Vadim Mikhaylov, bass; and Yevgeniy Voloshin, baritone saxophone.
bari sax
Russian altosaxophonist Dmitriy Kondrashov blows a saxophone solo in the rehearsal hall at the University of the Pacific.
American pianist
This is the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet: trumpeter Brian Chahley; saxophonist Lucas Pino; pianist Glenn Zaleski; drummer Cory Cox; and bassist Chris Smith. They were playing for a group of visiting Russian musicians in the rehearsal hall a the University of the Pacific. You can see the Russians sitting in chairs in the background. They were awed by the impressive talent of these young musicians.
American band
This is the 2006 Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet: trumpeter Brian Chahley; saxophonist Lucas Pino; pianist Glenn Zaleski; drummer Cory Cox; and bassist Chris Smith. They were playing for a group of visiting Russian musicians in the rehearsal hall a the University of the Pacific.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
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