An Appetite for Greater Things: the Coward Robert Ford

For whatever it's worth: I think Casey Affleck should have gotten the golden prize last night. I'm sure that Bardem was great in "No Country" (I have not seen NCFOM), but Affleck's performance in "Jesse James" was one of the best I've ever seen.

Let's Hear it For the Girl: Morland Needs a Kick in the Rear

(Photo by Rahav Seger via NYT)
As I mentioned a while back, I haven't been going to a lot of shows recently. I attribute this to the fact that I've stopped listening to music. And by that I mean I really haven't listened to a whole song for weeks now. It hasn't really been a conscious thing...I just find that I reach for my iPod less when I'm wandering around and finding myself listening to the city more. And while this might sound romantic and charming, at root I find it makes me depressed and sullen. I'm pretty sure that all this is just a phase but I'm also certain that this anti-music period in my life is something I'm going to have to dig myself out in a proactive like fashion.

In that vein, today I have purchased a ticket to see the Walkmen at Webster Hall in a couple of weeks. If they can't snap me out of it, I'm not sure who will. I've never seen them live but I've always meant to. So instead of making another excuse this time around I just bought a damn ticket. I have also spent a sizable amount of time today "discovering" new music to track down and listen to when I get home. Since a handful of the bands on my list are coming to town soon, hopefully I'll find something in there to get excited about.

I have also added a new feature to my blog, which you can see on the right hand side. This widget allows you, my dearest reader, to send me files directly. Specifically, I'd love some audio files. If you have a song you've been listening to over and over and can't get it out of your mind, I want to hear it too. Send it on over: click the add button, find the file, hit the drop button. Easy peasy.

Together, we can get this blog back on track!! Ha!

So Much For Consistency (and other thoughts)

So, I joined LinkedIn. And Facebook. And I promised that I'd write more. What do you want from me?! Ha. Anyway, I've completely zoned out over the Democratic primary elections such that any free time I get at work is spent surfing the web to get the latest polls, pundit's opinions and projections, and stump speeches. And all I can say is, isn't this exciting?!!

No doubt about it, I'd love to have the chance to vote in the first female or black President of the USA. And I'd *really* love to get a progressive liberal back into the White House. But, fundamentally, this election is exciting to me because people are getting involved after seemingly years of a serious decline in political engagement. Perhaps it's my optimism or wishful thinking, but I can't help sense that people are getting into the process this time around--I've had more conversations about politics with friends, workers and family than I can remember from previous election cycles (and the record numbers set at the primary polling stations around the country seem to support my feelings as well). And, as more and more States get the opportunity to be a deciding factor in the nomination, the more riled up and involved everyone (hopefully) will become. And that goes for the Republicans as well. And that's a good thing, no?

That said, it's a tricky balance for the Democrats. Roger Cohen has some interesting thoughts about this towards the end of his NYT OpEd today. Food for thought....and I'm looking at you, Washington...

Catching Up

So things at Morland have slowed down a bit. This blog was, ultimately, envisioned as a way to help me remember what I liked about different music shows that I was going to (those of you that know me well know I suffer from a TERRIBLE memory). After all, for the first half of 2007 it seemed as if I was going to a show at least once a week, sometimes more.

Problem is, when I'm going through a period of non-show-going (like now) I find that I don't have a lot to share. I don't have many shows coming up on the horizon either so Morland has the potential to look a little bleak. I'm not sure if I don't have shows lined up because nothing in particular is coming that excites me or I'm just not feeling it on a general level. In either case, I've been neglecting Morland. So here are some updates to catch up, and every effort will be made to post something more regularly, even if it's not of any musical bent. Promises made, yada yada yada:

-Clearly, a New Year has come and gone. Mine was spent quietly with the BF and a handful of our friends upstate. It was a great time and I look forward to 2008.

-I am now the proud owner of a Kindle, which I received for Christmas. And it's as awesome as I thought it would be. I do get stared at on the subway sometimes, which can be unnerving.

-Everyone is getting older: my sister and my friend ADS both hit that 30-year mark and released their hold on years of misguided youth. Heh. Here's to many more! I'll be seeing you there soon enough.

-My cat went blind.

-I haven't been listening to any new music. If you got something cool, clue me in.

-I have watched the first Austen installation on PBS that I mentioned below. Persuasion. It was terrible. I'm hoping the others will make up for it.

Goin' Commerical: Bishop Allen Clicks with Sony

As readers probably already know, I am very fond of Bishop Allen and have really enjoyed seeing them get more attention recently. I'm of two minds about music being used in commercials these days, but when I saw a new Sony digital camera ad on TV last night featuring BA's Click Click Click Click I couldn't have been more chuffed.

I went to YouTube today to find the commercial to share with you all, but when I found their video for the song I had to share that instead. Because it's awesome. So, enjoy:

All Austen, All the Time!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Morland is extremely excited to find out that adaptations of all six Austen novels are being trotted out by PBS' upcoming 2008 Masterpiece Theatre schedule. Apparently four of the six adaptations are brand spankin' new, to which we can only say hooray! Northanger Abbey, in particular, is in dire need of a fresh take (and we're not just saying that because of not-so-obvious reasons). So, it would appear that I am officially booked on Sunday nights from January 13th until, say, about mid-May. Yay!

As the Light is Long: Elvis Perkins in Deerland @ the Bowery 12/7

Last Friday, HT and I checked out Elvis Perkins in Deerland at the Bowery and had quite the enjoyable evening. Their performance was very tight, which should be expected since they appear to have quite a heavy tour schedule, and I was very happy to hear them experiment with some of their material, which has been around for a while and could use some new additions (hint hint).

The meat (and bones) of the show is the music presented on EPD’s album, Ash Wednesday, which is very heavy on the religious and metaphysical overtones.* And a quick overview of Perkins’ oft-cited back-story perhaps gives some insight as to why he would be so concerned with such topics: his father, Anthony, died from complications of AIDS when Perkins was still a teen and his mother was on one of the planes that crashed in 9/11. Part of me feels bad bringing up his back-story in this context because I don’t think EPD can be understood, nor approached, only from that particular angle. In fact, to cite my own personal experience, I saw EPD open for the Pernice Brothers at the Merc nearly-to-the-day a year ago and bought their album on the spot. It wasn’t until a couple of months later that I was enlightened as to Perkins’ personal history and I had already fallen in love with the lyricism and imagery of Perkins' writing. I find his lyrics to be as full of meaning as most Dylan tunes (to again, sigh, offer an oft-cited influence on EPD) and they could be interpreted in a myriad of ways…it’s not even clear to me that the common interpretations given of his songs in light of his personal back-story are as definitive as they are made out to be. [That said, let me offer my own opinion that the album’s title track is (intentionally or not) the best song about 9/11 I’ve heard.]

All of which is to say, given the religious overtones of the album, it was fitting that EPD started their set on Friday night with the ghostly “Good Friday”, which opened up like a hymnal calling us to church. The rest of the set was smartly constructed with build-ups leading to aching minimalist songs that were even more striking once the listener had been warmed up by more raucous tunes. I loved the energy projected on stage by Deerland—they too provide the relief by which a more somber Perkins is enhanced. EPD are a great band and I was happy to see them stretching themselves a bit—I look forward to their future efforts.

HT and I also managed to get to the show early enough to catch Bon Iver open for EPD and I thought he was great. It definitely motivated me to look into him some more and perhaps I’ll post a Listening post about him at a later date. As a quick summary: think Anthony and the Johnsons gone folk (with a little bit of—don’t laugh—Kenny Loggins sentimentality thrown in…and I truly mean that as a compliment and I say it mainly for the benefit of Boo).

*A quick clarification: the album is a solo effort recorded under EP, before the formation of EPD. A quick judgment: EP benefits as EPD, although the album is very good.

**Thanks to HT for the awesome picture too!!