From a current Salon interview with John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats:

I want to be introspective about whether I’m being a good person in my life and stuff, but I don’t wanna reflect too long or consider what the meaning is. There was a horrible commercial not too long ago where a child whispered, “These are the days …” It was the absolute worst thing you could possibly ever say, just to sit there and stop in the middle of a peak experience and reflect on how it was a peak experience. Good way to shoot the peak experience in the head. But my realization is actually life has way more peak experiences than we think, like multiples per day. We’re constantly confronted with this reality that has a great deal in it, that is awesome.

A Few Words from Bill Mallonee

July 10, 2013 By kellydeanjolley in music, Self-knowledge Tags: Art, Bill Mallonee, Maturity, music 5 Comments

Bill Mallonee–the centerpiece of Vigilantes of Love, recorder of 50-some albums–writes the following in a preface to the liner notes of his two new albums:

Maybe it takes years of doing something long & well before you “wake up” and realize that you’ve put your own style, or own imprimatur on it. Perhaps it took years of writing songs, recording albums & then laying the wares in front of folks every night for me to “spark;” to feel comfortable in my own skin.

Here’s where it went: Eventually, one comes to that (glorious, liberating) place as an artist where you can leave the hipsters to their hip-ness, be amused by the cultish-ness of the blogger/critics, and walk away from trends.

Eventually you can say: “Hey, this is what I do. Maybe not for everybody, nor is it meant to be. But, it’s good and it’s what I do.”

Maybe that’s how an artist is “born.”

Cover and Beyond

July 7, 2013 By kellydeanjolley in music Tags: Aztec Camera, Covers, Jump, Van Halen 4 Comments

My previous post was generated in part by conversations with my brothers and my son about music and about cover tunes. Here’s a cover that undresses and redresses the original, discovering something in it, something warm and real, that Van Halen could not have discovered. (The guitar solo at the end is done, I am convinced, with Roddy Frame’s guitar pick firmly in his cheek.)

Music Recommended: Tempting–Jenny Toomey Sings the Songs of Franklin Bruno

July 5, 2013 By kellydeanjolley in music Leave a comment

Here’s a terrrific album. Jenny Toomey singing Franklin Bruno tunes. A sample:

One of the songs Toomey covers (“Only a Monster”) has recently been covered by Molly Ringwald (no, really).

I Don’t Believe You (Video)

June 23, 2013 By kellydeanjolley in music Leave a comment

Maybe the greatest video of all time. Maybe. (Someone commented on it: “This video taught me how to love.”)

One of my favorite songs by Magnetic Fields. I particularly love the shifts from use to mention that begin and end the song, insisting on a distancing from language that mirrors the disbelief in the “lover’s” claims.