Bringing Things to Make You Sing

Remember when the "M" in MTV stood for music? That responsibility is now YouTube's. Here are a bunch of live performances of songs I should have on my player.

• One of the prettiest, most unintelligible songs Pearl Jam ever did. But in Copenhagen, the crowd knows every word.
• In another life, Sananda Maitreya was known as Terence Trent D'Arby, and the man was phenomenal.
• Jack Johnson performs at Tower Records, which is no place to escape the sing-along groupies.
• Before he was a fat clown self-parody recycling his own songs for another dead blonde, Elton John had a funky side.
• Speaking of Elton John, some San Diego based guy named Jimmy Lewis nails Amoreena for a small crowd.
• Just three nights ago, someone in the crowd at the Greek Theater in LA captured Alison Krause and Robert Plant performing Battle of Evermore in the first of their two sold-out nights. (Good review here.)
• I feel bad for bands like Marcy Playground, who will never equal their debut success, captured here in Germany.
• Chances are that the modern Western music you listen to is rooted in and indebted to the music of Son House*, among others. Here is House performing John The Revelator a capella.

Yes, I did this once before.

* Trivia Note: If you visit my URL Where's My Jetpack?, you can find the picture of Mr. House (above) in the window.

You Better Get Back, Honky Cat.

“The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision.

Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span.”

- The Increasingly Irrelevant and Irritating Sir Elton John, quoted in yesterday's New York Times.

You know what would be an incredible experiment, Elton? You shutting up. While people do sit at home more than they did, they are far more in touch with each other than they've ever been. And as a result of this connection, they actually get out and meet each other now, too.

You know, Elton, it seems to me you lived your life like a gasbag in the wind.