Music-laneous Ramblings

This has been a good week for me, quite a few new items showing up in the mailbox at WTUL.  I’ll try my hardest to get some reviews up for you and let you know what’s come my way that is just out of this world.  One I look forward to is “Blue Moo” by Sandra Boynton.  Here is a retro kind of album featuring a wonderful cast.  Can’t wait to give it a listen.  Also got a copy of Tango Around The World off the Putomayo label, should be another winner.  More to come, quite a few unopened pieces of mail going on.  Catch up with you after the Turkey Day ends.

What better way could there be to spend a Saturday afternoon than relaxing on a blae of hay, eating festival food, and listening to Trout Fishing in America.  I was once again reminded of how much fun it is to sit back, relax, and enjoy these guys up on stage.  I think part of what makes them great is their ability to interact with the audience, not just on stage but before and after the show.  What you get when you interact with Keith and Ezra is the feeling of talking to the guys next door rather than some traveling musicians earning a living.

I sang along to ‘18 Wheels on a Big Rig’, had a party with my hair, and enjoyed counting down from 100 little ducks to zero.  Can you say “quack, quack, quack, uh uh uh”.  OK, so if that makes no sense to you, check them out live sometime.  An interesting twist on this day was a banjo, an electric banjo no less, and they played some really wonderful tunes (the 12 string guitar fell victim to Louisiana in November, e.g. it was one hot and humid day).  Folks around me wanted me to volunteer that it was my birthday when it came time for “My Best Day”, yet I’m not that person to announce that in a crowd. 

 Yes, at times I am too much an adult.

All in all, what a fantastic show, and I noticed many of the same family faces from last year.  Saturday would have been the beginning of the perfect weekend, however Sunday found me with the stomach virus to end all (which in turn made me a very grumpy individual) and as I type this my legs are still a bit shaky, but alas ’tis a story for another time.  For now, look for some new music coming my way in the next couple of weeks.  I’ll do my best to listen to all of it and give you some feedback.  Only problem is that the mail system for our station is somewhere between slow and never.  Ah well, cest la vie.

Ah I love this time of year most of all.  Here in Louisiana we have something like two seasons, summer and February.  Though there has been a bit of a nip in the air this past week and many locals are crying “cold” I have to say that all this does for me is perk my interest.  Tomorrow and Sunday here in town is the yearly festival at Destrehan Plantation, and as is the norm these days Trout Fishing in America will be playing tomorrow, Saturday November 10th.  It’s a show I always look forward to.

Keith and Ezra first crossed my radar about 5 years ago when I started putting together my show which at the time was on Sunday mornings from 6 to 8 (yes, can you think of a better time slot?).  I found one of their CD’s in the stacks at our station and thought the music sounded pretty cool (I also found They Might Be Giants using the same method back around 2003).  Since that time I have become a huge fan of theirs and I really look forward to seeing them live each year.  It’s an outdoor show and last year we all sat around on hay bales enjoying the weather and the music.  Hopefully this year will be more of the same.

I’ll drop a line in the next few days and let you know how it went. In the meantime you can ceck them out at http://www.troutmusic.com.  If you are not familiar with them navigate around the site a bit.  And if you want something really fun to look at visit the “treehouse slideshow” on the homepage.  What a blast!

Greetings to all.  Once more I let my Spam frustration kill my writing, but here I am again thinking I’ve got it licked.  We’ll see.  Hope to be back at you with some regularity in the very near future.  See you soon.