Gentleman Agitator

Puff's Head is Bent in Sorrow

The Autumn mist is soon to visit us once again, but with the death of Mary Travers, her living voice will sadly no longer be with us. Their "Puff, the Magic Dragon" song is a beautiful childhood memory for me. As "Peter, Paul and Mary" their music not only hold for me childhood memories, but childhood lessons. 

Their versions of "If I Had A Hammer" and "Blowin' in the Wind" were to me the definitive interpretations of these songs. I knew that these were more than children's songs of fantasy like "Puff." There was a message there. They were trying to tell me something, something that was going on in the world. Something about what was right and what was wrong in the world. I felt that Peter, Paul and Mary's sound was like they were singing to children like me in whatever they sang. As boy who loved airplanes, a song like "Leaving on A Jet Plane," also held a special place for me.  

On NPR this morning I heard a clip of Mary talking about how far social justice had come, since the 1960s. She said that what had been accomplished was great, but that the work of social justice will never be done. That is so true. We must pick up our hammer and continue to learn and to teach about what is right and what is wrong in the world.

No, Mary cannot sing us a song any longer in this life, but her work will live. Like Puff's magic, we can still hear her sing to us, the children of the 1960s and the children of today and tomorrow. Click on Link to listen and watch.

"Puff, the Magic Dragon"

The Gentleman's Favorite Music Discoveries of 2008

This is a new feature on Gentleman Agitator. It is a list of my top 25 musical discoveries of 2008. Some of these did not come out this year, but all have come out this decade and most within the last five years. It is really hard to pick one favorite from all of these. I will say, the songs with the asterisks are my favorites on the list.

All I Want, Sally Dworsky * 

All My Stars Aligned, St. Vincent 

Be Ready to Sail, Clare Lynch*

Dancer, Xandria

Evening Of My Life, Gravy Train!!!! 

Feels Like Home, Chantal Kreviazuk * 

Free, Vanessa Renee *

Hallelujah, Allison Crowe *

In This Room, Leslie Tucker 

I Think It’s Going To Rain Today, Audra McDonald * 

I’m That Fool, The Irises

Love Again, Baxter 

Love Me Still, Louise Setara

Lullabye For A Stormy Night, Vienna Teng *

Piece Of It All, Jann Arden *

Roam, lijie *

Safe In A Crazy World, Corrine May *

Stolen, Julie Moffitt

The Long Way Round (Swimming Pool), Badly Drawn Boy

The Lovely Years, Fisher

Time Goes Away, Rosie Thomas * 

Today, Joanna McMeikan  

Wild Horses, Charlotte Martin * 

You And Me, Rosie Thomas

Your Key in My Pocket, Semiautomatic 

 I think my favorite group or singer of this year has to be Rosie Thomas. 

She has a gentle, thoughtful style of song making that has been sorely missing for a long, long time. Rosie’s myspace bio quotes her, ““Whether you are a musician, painter, or whatever, there is a passion that sometimes gets lost because all of the sudden you have to clock-in or have deadlines. I sort of wanted to get back to that time when I played music for nothing.”

The site describes her music as, "…Rosie’s music typically exists in the intangible realm of memory where childhood idylls meet adult expectations…”

Rosie also has a friend named Sheila Saputo. Sheila likes to perform stand up comedy. Oddly enough, though the two have been long time friends, they have never been seen together. Hmmmm.... Sheila describes herself as, “I'm a real fan of the I Love Lucy coffee table collection series. I collect dryer lint from various discount dryer machines on melrose avenue. I enjoy riding my bike in the evenings. I roller skate every thursday night with my church rollerskating group, skating for the high'er. I dream of one day living on my own chicken farm, with goats and sheep too. I'm an excellent driver.”

You can listen to Rosie, my other favorites and more by tuning into WC3PO Radio on the left side bar of Gentleman Agitator.  You can find Rosie on "Sarah, Vienna, Rosie and Other Angels" or "21st Century in Song".

An October Renaissance, Over the Rhine: Music from WC3PO

    I am a Pandora user. Pandora is an on-line music listening site that allows you to guide its search engine to music you like where you build “stations”.  I have a number of stations that I have built using their music genome project database as a guide. You begin a station with an artist or song you like. Oddly and frustratingly, you the song or piece that you first enter will not be played. The only explanation they offer is that their music licensing will not allow that. Byzantine rules no doubt about not being able to serve up music on demand. The Pandora search engine will look for music you like dependent not on that artist name or song title, but on the elements that make the music up such as the type of harmony, rhythm and tempo. Now, it will often come up with more music by the artist, composer or song you initially entered. It is just as likely other music that has similar qualities to that song you enter. Sound confusing? It is at first, but once you get used to it, your frustration will ease.  At any time, if you do not like a selection, you can give it thumbs down and off it goes to digital oblivion. If you like something new, give it thumbs up to keep it on the rotation. Building your station is like sculpting. You shape your station molding and fashioning it to what you want to hear. Let the site work for you, rather than let it control the listening. A little patience is involved, but I am quite pleased with what I have built so far. Best of all, listening is free!
    The station I am featuring today is called “An October Renaissance, Over the Rhine”. It is primarily dedicated to my all-time favorite group, Renaissance. They existed from about 1970 to the early 1980S, with a reunion album a few years ago. Led by lead singer Annie Haslam, this English group seemed to transcend genres and have a truly unique sound combining classical, folk and rock styling. When people have asked me to categorize their music I always reply that they are in a genre all their own. My older brother introduced me to Renaissance when I was a teen. Like him, I found that the music of Renaissance struck a chord deep in me, pardon the pun. Renaissance helped me through my growing years. They were a beautiful refuge in my soul. Their music will always be in my heart.
    The only group in my mind that has come close to Renaissance, since Renaissance was the American group of the late 1990s, October Project. Hence, October as part of the title of this station. October Project managed to capture for me some of the Renaissance magic offering a sweeping classically tinged sound, expressive lyrics and a great lead singer in Mary Fahl. Largely a corporate record company who pushed them to crank out a second album too soon all but killed October Project.  After being away for a while October Project came alive again in 2003. I am not sure as to future albums beyond 2003’s "Different Eyes."
    The Cincinnati, Ohio based group, Over the Rhine, that I discovered this decade, to me is in the same family tree as the other two, combining a powerful female lead singer with expressive folk and classical tonal sound with deep, poetic lyrics. OTR rounds out the sound I am looking for in this station. I have added some of my other favorite, more mainstream, (progressive) classical and folk rock sounds to the mix such as Kansas, the Moody Blues, Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, Sarah McLachlan, Alan Parsons Project and others. When I say others, it is the truth; with Pandora, you never know what new and interesting music will appear.
    Lastly, I created the montage artwork you see to represent this station. The scene is a 19th century illustration of the Over the Rhine district of Cincinnati, Ohio, for which the band was named. The two leads of Over the Rhine the husband-and-wife team of bassist/pianist/guitarist Linford Detweiler and vocalist/guitarist Karin Bergquist are top left. The center image is Renaissance (most well known line up): Annie Haslam, John Tout, Michael Dunford, Terry Sullivan and Jon Camp and to the right of the montage is October Project now made up of Julie Flanders, Emil Adler and Marina Belica. I am working on art to go with every station I have. Unfortunately, Pandora will not let you post it, but you can see it here at Gentleman Agitator and its sister site, the fictional Enigma Earth's radio station, WC3PO, in Symmzinnati, Ohio.
    I invite you to listen. I hope you enjoy "An October Renaissance, Over the Rhine".