Bear With Me

So, I was visiting my friends A and B north of the border recently and made a new acquaintance:

He's the strong, silent type, as you can see. ;c)

And yes, that *is* snow on the ground, believe it or not. They received about a foot while I was up there, which was unusual even by Canadian standards. It was also bitterly cold during my entire visit, far more than usual for early-mid November. Fortunately I purchased the nifty red snow boots in the photo while I was up there, and wow, did they come in handy! (They're also really cute, which is a lovely bonus!)

In spite of the less-than-hospitable weather, I can't wait to visit the Great White North again - see you next spring (if not sooner)!

***

A few ursine-related tracks for your listening pleasure. First up, Grizzly Bear's "Yet Again," from their excellent 2012 album Shields:

Second we have one from a band *called* The Bears, featuring the amazing guitar work of Adrian Belew, who is best known as a long-standing member of King Crimson and for his work with Talking Heads (Remain In Light), David Bowie (Lodger), and Frank Zappa, to name just a few. This is "Fear Is Never Boring," from their self-titled 1987 debut.

This next one has absolutely nothing to do with bears, but it's such a cute song I wanted to include it anyway. The song is "Oh Daddy," from his 1989 album Mr. Music Head. The charming video features Adrian with his absolutely adorable daughter Audie (who introduces the song in this clip). Enjoy this one! :c)

The final song is "If She Knew What She Wants," written by Jules Shear of Jules & The Polar Bears and covered magnificently by The Bangles on their 1986 album Different Light. Check out these live harmonies!

Incidentally, he also wrote "All Through The Night," which Cyndi Lauper included on her debut album She's So Unusual.

Ciao 'til next time! :c)

Cassi-DJ: Today's Playlist (11.02.19)

Happy Saturday, all. Hope you're having a good weekend so far. Yours truly is enjoying the first day of a two-week vacation. I am pretty burnt right now (see the above photo, taken this morning), so this is a VERY welcome break. It's been a challenging year. I'm looking forward to some serious down time.

I started it off my sitting in with my friend Mike again on WMFO-FM's Mike on the Mic show this morning. We had a lot of fun, as we always do, and Mike was kind enough to let me program a set of my own. Here's what went down on the airwaves this morning. :c)

Leading off is the first track from The Dave Rawlings Machine's 2010 debut album A Friend of a Friend, "Ruby." Backing him up are his partner, Gillian Welch, as well as two members of Old Crow Medicine Show, Ketch Secor and Willie Watson (who has since left the band for a solo career and permanent membership in the Machine. Here's a lovely version recorded at KEXP-FM in Seattle; the wonderful baritone vocals are courtesy of Ketch. :c)

Next is a great song from Noel Gallagher & His High-Flying Birds 2011 self-titled debut album, "If I Had a Gun." Mike is also a longtime fan of Noel dating back to his days in Oasis; as Mike noted during the set, you recognize a Noel Gallagher song as soon as it starts. This is my favorite song from his three solo albums; one listen and I think you'll understand why:

Third song up is  Radiohead's "Daydreaming," a somber, hauntingly beautiful meditation that is believed to have written about the end of front man Thom Yorke's 23 year relationship with his long-term partner Rachel Owen. The song's video is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia); it is stunning, as you will see:

Filmmaker Rishi Kaneria made a fascinating short film about the video that examines the amount of though and effort that went into its creation; it is well worth watching if you are a fan of Radiohead or  Anderson.

Next is a tune from a band I adore that never received anywhere near the acclaim it deserved: Grant Lee Buffalo. This song, "Superslomotion," is a deep track (and a personal favoriteO) from what turned out to be their fourth and final album, Jubilee. Safe to say that they went out on a high note:

We had to cut my set short due to time constraints, but we nonetheless went out on a high note with another artist who is a favorite of both Mike and your humble blogstress: the pride of Ottawa Ontario, Miss Kathleen Edwards. "Change the Sheets" is from what looked for a number of years to be her final album, 2012's excellent Voyageur. This is a great live version on Late Night with David Letterman from 2012, shortly after the album was released:

Exhausted after years of unrelenting touring, she fulfilled a longstanding dream and opened a coffee shop, Quitters, in Ottawa. (I visited it last year and can vouch for both its coffee and delicious corn muffins. :D) Happily, she returned to the recording studio this summer to work on what will be her fifth album, hopefully out in 2020. Can't wait to hear it!