I am a Bold Deciever

Back to cool folk music, I chose one from 17th century Ireland.

Whiskey in the Jar was made famous, initially, outside of Ireland by the Dubliners in 1967.  This traditional song, also known as Kilgary Mountain, was also recorded by The Limeliters, Darby O'Gill, The Seekers, Peter Paul and Mary, the Grateful Dead, U2, Belle and Sebastian, Simple Minds, and most famously by Thin Lizzy, and Metallica.

The song dates back to the 17th century and probably inspired The Beggar's Opera by John Gay.  The lyrics sometimes change depending on who is singing it, as is true of most folk songs hundreds of years old, but essentially it is the same song.  The ballad follows a highwayman that robs an aristocrat (or high ranking military man.  this doesn't really matter, he's an important man with tons of money and power), but the thief is betrayed by his mistress and is jailed.  Below are the words, based mostly on the Thin Lizzy version, because it makes way more sense.

As I was going' over the far famed Kerry mountains
I saw Captain Farrell and his money he was counting
I first produced my pistol and I then produced my rapier
I said stand or deliver for I am a bold deciever

Musha ring dum a do dum a da.
Whack for my daddy-o, 
Whack for my daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar-o

I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny.
I took all of his money and I brought it home to Molly
She swore that she loved me, never would she leave me
But the devil take that woman,
for you know she tricked me easy

Chorus

I went up to my chamber, all for to take a slumber
I dreamt of gold and jewels And I never knew the danger, 
for about six or maybe seven, in walked Captain Farrell.
I produced my pistols, for she took my rapier,
and I shot him with both barrels.

Chorus

Now some men like the fishing and some men like the fowling,
And some men like to hear the cannon ball a roaring.
Me? I like sleeping especially in my Molly's chamber.  
But here I am in prison, here I am with ball and chain.

Lets Pretend the Last Four Didn't Happen

Blues Traveler

Suzie Cracks the Whip

2012, 429 Records

produced by SAM and Sluggo

John Popper - vocals, harmonica
Chan Kinchla - guitars
Tad Kinchla - bass
Brendan Hill - drums
Ben Wilson - pianos, organ, keyboards

singles-

• You Don't Have to Love Me

To see all the other Blues Traveler albums go here, and here...

Finally, Blues Traveler comes back with a record that doesn't suck. It seems that John Popper is over his post-Bobby Sheehan grief, at least enough to stop writing depressing, introspective, crappy songs and comes back with an album full of singable tunes. Writing with the great Ron Sexsmith has seemed to unlock the John Popper we used to know, the hearty harpoon player of old. We saw a glimmer of this in Truth be Told, and North Hollywood Shootout, but this album goes the distance. You can hear pieces of Traveler's and Thieves and Save his Soul in this album and it brings hope that the band has finally come back to stay.

Also, it appears that Ben Wilson has finally found his place in the group and has stopped enabling the miserable, pussified, emo John Popper monster and has contributed some good stuff. I'm sure part of this resurgence has to do with the collaboration with SAM and Sluggo, producers famous for work with Metro Station, and Coheed and Cambria.

Extended Play: Part Two

Awhile back I expressed my love for the Extended Play album format. I think the reason this appeals to me is the same reason it has begun to make a comeback, or a mainstream appearance: it is an exercise in band marketing. An EP is based on the 45 record, basically it is half a record, 30 minutes or less. This format is a good way to introduce a new band's sound, introduce a new direction for an already established band, or give fans a little something extra with a new single. Given the digital file format slowly killing the traditional idea of the LP album, the shortened EP may be the future of music publishing.

One Day as a Lion

One Day as a Lion.  

2008, ANTI-

produced by Mario C

Zach de la Rocha - vocals, keyboards

Jon Theodore - drums

This project brings together Zach dela Rocha, of Rage Against the Machine fame, with Jon Theodore, the one time drummer of the Mars Volta, and Mario C, famous for producing a few Beastie Boys albums. I call it a project instead of an actual band, because, even though they talk about it like it will be a long term career move, this has been the only release since their inception. The drum and simple keyboard sound matches well with the politically charged hip hop from everyone's favorite rebel rapper.

Gary Clark, Jr.  

Bright Lights EP  

2011, Warner Brothers

produced by Bob Cavallo and Gary Clark, Jr.

This is an example of an EP that showcases a new talent. Gary Clark, Jr plays the blues, in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Lenny Kravits. Bright Lights is a four track demo, half electric, half acoustic. This gives us a little window into Gary Clark, Jr's talent with a promise of a full length album with more rocking blues.

ZZ Top

Texicali

2012, Universal Republic

produced by Rick Rubin

Billy Gibbons - vocals, guitar, piano
Dusty Hill - bass
Frank Beard - drums

From the Texas powerhouse trio ZZ Top, comes a four song release, their first since 2003, produced by the legendary Rick Rubin. The first track, Gotsta Get Paid is essentially a cover of the hip hop song 25 Lighters by Fat Pat. The album attempts to bring ZZ Top back to the blues. It reminds me of their older sound when they recorded versions of Blue Jean Blues and Dust my Broom. Basically, Rubin has done it again by bringing a legend back to their roots.

Batman Returns to the Trilogy Meter

Remember this?

I wrote about film trilogies awhile back, focusing on Transformers, and the third and final movie in the series by Michael Bay.  According to me, the Transformers trilogy meter would have a bar much like the first Superman, Jurrassic Park, or X-men, the second bar would look like Jaws 2, and the third bar would look like Rocky 3, or the Lord of the Rings.

I saw the last Christopher Nolan Batman movie the other day.  Definitely not represented on the graphic above, the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy would mirror the Star Wars meter almost exactly.  

The trilogy follows the rules of a three act play perfectly.

The first act introduces characters, sets the stage for the other acts, and has an event that sets the rest of the story into motion.  In a New Hope, the event is the Death Star rescue, which culminates in the Death Star explosion.  In Batman Begins, the event is the attempted destruction of Gotham by the League of Shadows, which is foiled by the Batman.

The second act of a three act play, the middle of the story, sometimes called the rising action, and often the darkest of the three acts, finds the hero in distress.  The hero will come up against an obstacle and will end with the hero at his lowest point.  In Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo is frozen in carbonite, and Luke loses a hand after confronting his father and losing.  In The Dark Knight, Batman is challenged by his greatest nemesis, loses the girl he most cares about, and becomes a symbolic villain as opposed to the symbolic hero that he set out to be.

In the third act, the play reaches climax, resolutions are found, and the action falls to a close.  In Star Wars, the rebellion prevails, and Darth Vader turns back from the dark side.  In Rises, Batman once again becomes the symbol of heroism, hope, and justice, the League of Shadows is defeated again, and Gotham is pulled back from the darkness.

Up until now, Star Wars had been the poster franchise for the perfect film in three acts.  Unlike The Lord of the Rings which is based on books already written as a trilogy, and Back to the Future, which are essentially the same movie three times, Star Wars, is a unique story written as a three act screen play.  I believe that now it can share that distinction with Nolan's Batman.  Like Star Wars, it is a perfect example of what a film trilogy ought to be.

Megan Fox has nothing to do with this post

On my fascination with insects

I find insects and arachnids pretty fascinating, especially insects of the suborder apocrita (ants, bees, wasps). Even though I find these things pretty cool, they still can scare the crap out of me. I had this idea a long time ago about writing some sort of world building epic based on insects and war, basically because I remember the Army Ants toy line from the 80s, but then the movies A Bugs Life and Antz came out, and kind of killed the dream. But, sometimes I find myself reading about certain types of these insects and trying to fit them into the fictional world I created when I was 12.

Yesterday, I freaked out when I found the largest wasp looking things ever. They were the size of my thumb and they were everywhere. I took pictures.

I looked it up when I got home, and it turns out it is a wasp from the tribe Gorytini, and the genus Sphecius. The Cicada Killer Wasp is mostly harmless, which doesn't make its one to two inch size any less terrifying.

One of the pictures I took clearly shows the giant wasp holding onto a cicada. This particular wasp hunts cicadas and uses them to breed more wasps. So, I basically captured a Cicada Killer Wasp preparing to use a cicada to make more Cicada Killer Wasps. This is a pretty cool thing to witness, even though at the time, I couldn't fully appreciate it.