Cedar Staff Blog: The Politics of the Blues, the Wizard, Riff on the Rut and Aris San

In the "Who Knew" category:
I saw two of the yard signs in less than an hour the other day, so it must be true. Papa John Kolstad is running for mayor! The old school West Bank blues man (and father of Cadillac Kolstad, famous for the Sunday night Cadillac vs. Cornbread piano blowouts next store at Palmer's bar)
says

"Remember, I am running without party affiliation. I have the best interests of the people of Minneapolis in mind. Individuals across the spectrum of political thought are supporting me in my effort to bring clarity and honesty to Minneapolis city government."

Rock ON, Papa John!

Just in time for Halloween...
Comes this reminder of Halloween at the Cedar in 2008. Remember how tickled these guys were about their outfits, and that they had smuggled them in from Winnipeg?

You're not in Massachusetts any more, Crooked Still!

A month or two ago, I wrote a post about how ouds work and some groovin' recent tunes featuring that ancient instrument. Jules Gilchrist from Cannonball PR caught the blog and contacted the Cedar with some links and more info about Speed Caravan's disc Kalashnik Love . Thanks Jules! I am finally posting your stuff including this great interview with oud player Mehdi Haddab. In which, among many other things, he tell us:

The oud comes from the desert, where water is precious." Haddab's voice softens. "It looks like a water bowl. It's shaped like a teardrop. There is no instrument for me that is better." He flashes a grin. "Soft or loud," he says.

Jules liked this vid of the band at Womex 2008.

I like this vid of the band tearing up "Galvanize" in Cairo, even if the quality isn't as good. Yeah!!! Notice the Marshall tube amps?

Now, just for fun, I feel the need to riff on the Angel of Rock's rut playlist criteria of last week.

An album to dream to? Hmmmm. I don't fall asleep to music; I read myself to sleep. My sister did share her dreamy psychedelic mix with me on my recent visit down Milwaukee way, and I must say I am needing a daily listen to The Dandy Warhol's "Mohammed" ever since. Not my usual type of thing at all, and yet...

I still don't know this Portuguese language, but as stated last week, Os Mutantes are cheering me (and lots of other folks) up on these grey days. Yeah, it's a little goofy, bordering on cheesy sometimes, but I just close my eyes and picture them all singing those harmonies with their eyes closed. Then I want to sing along, too. In my non-existent Portuguese.

Cooking and cleaning music these last few weeks has definitely been Nigeria Special: 1970-76. Ooh, there is some fine stuff here plus it's a double album, so it just goes on and on while you keep sweeping. Take a listen here, if you like. Sterns Africa keeps up the great work.

Do I have any friends making albums? Huh. Well, I like the new Vasen disc a lot, and they are of course friends of the larger Cedar family, even if some of the band and I just got to the hugging stage rather recently.

How's that, A of R? Anybody else on the blog squad going to rise to the bait?

Last but never least, I downloaded some original Aris San tracks the other day. I thought, hey, I'm a big Boom Pam fan, and they were very much influenced by him, so what the heck?

Whee!! His classic"Dam Dam" is so great!! Get through the "opah" at the Greek restaurant section and you're in for several minutes of primo wanking. Oh yeah! There's not any video, but you can listen up here.

Then look what I found! It's Balkan Beat Box attacking "Dam Dam" at a concert last year in Tel Aviv! Again, not the greatest quality, but still. Love the vj's rotating Aris San heads in the background. Well played, guys. Nicely wanky solo by guest Berry Sakharof, here, too.