Author Archives: Chris Moore

This “expletive” moment is brought to you by…

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By Chris Moore:

On the way to work this morning, I was mentally running through all the things I have to do today, seeing as how it is my first day back to school after the weekend.  Mondays are always tough like that…

And that’s when I realized it’s not Monday.

No, indeed, it is not Monday.  Which is complicated further by the fact that I spent ten minutes this morning donating to the Woody Guthrie Foundation so that I could, with a clear conscience, download and learn a song that I want to play for this week’s Chris Moore Monday.

Instead, as I was listening to the song on my way to work, I realized that I completely missed the boat.  But, rest assured, there will be a Chris Moore cover song this week… 

It just won’t be posted on a Monday. 

Things to look forward to later today:

– My post, edited with my administrative priviledges to look as though it had been posted yesterday.

– A brand-new song, recently released as a download-only track.

– At least one bad pun on the fact that I DIDN’T use my “memory” on “Memorial” Day. 

Until then…

“Joe DiMaggio Done It Again” (Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, Wilco Cover) – OPENING DAY DOUBLE HEADER 2 of 2

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For Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, & Wilco chords and lyrics, CLICK HERE!

By Chris Moore:

As promised, I’m up to the plate for the second time this evening, as I sonically celebrate New York Mets baseball opening day 2009!

For my next trick, I picked my familiar acoustic guitar up and learned a song from Mermaid Avenue, Volume II.  This album is comprised of songs whose lyrics were composed by Woody Guthrie, predominantly in the 1940s.  Then, in the mid to late 1990s, Billy Bragg and the boys of Wilco (Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Jay Bennett, and Ken Coomer) teamed up to write music to the words.  The result was Mermaid Avenue.  The first album is, in my opinion, a masterpiece.  In both individual tracks and the sequence of songs as a whole, the first album is amazing.  There’s something about the production quality and the combination of vocals — alternating between Bragg’s deep clarity and Tweedy’s roughness — and instrumentation is masterful.

The second collaboration is essentially a compilation of tracks left off the first release.  As Bragg and Wilco had had a falling out, I can’t imagine that there was much in the way of actual collaboration on the second album.  This is evident, and it perhaps accounts for why I have never really gotten into the second album as much as the first.  Still, there are some standout tracks, such as “Airline to Heaven” and “Someday Some Morning Sometime.”

Admittedly, “Joe DiMaggio Done It Again” is not a song I would, under normal circumstances, choose to record for a Laptop Session.  (And it’s a bit of an anomaly, as the music is written by Bragg, yet Tweedy sings it — a good decision, in my personal opinion!)  That being said, I couldn’t think of a more perfect track for today.  Although Joe DiMaggio was a player for the Yankees (and I’m a Mets fan!), I think DiMaggio belongs to an era of baseball history that is timeless.  There are certain players — Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, and others — that fans of all teams can appreciate.

It doesn’t hurt that the Mets won 2-1 over Cincinnati, led by the strong starting pitching of Johan Santana and a home run by Daniel Murphy to name a couple.  Even though I wasn’t home to watch the game, I was able to watch via live phone feed — um, I mean the internet connection to the Mets homepage on my iPhone.  As Mike texted today, “We’re back to iPhone scoreboard watching!”

As a final note, today is special for another reason…

It’s fellow Laptop Sessions contributor Mike Fusco’s birthday!  Here’s to the big 2-3, Fusc!  His birthday seems to come at the best time of the year for him — just as the weather is starting to turn warmer (not that you could tell from today’s weather!).  For those of you who don’t know, one of Mike’s favorite pastimes is going to the beach.  I was there this weekend, and let me tell you… it’s just about time!

Well, that’s about enough for one post.  I mean, two posts.  🙂  Have a great week and don’t forget to stop back regularly this week for more all-new cover song music videos and posts; the second installment of my “Together Through Life” article is coming this weekend…

See you next session!

Steven Page leaves the Barenaked Ladies!

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By Chris Moore:

In a post Wednesday on the official Barenaked Ladies website (titled simply as “A Message from Barenaked Ladies”), it was announced that Steven Page has officially left the band after two decades of writing, recording, and performing together with his bandmates.  The first paragraph of the message is as follows:

“By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies. Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies. Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall.”

For a band that is world-renowned for their candor and lightheartedness, this is quite the sanitized message!  It feels very formal, politic, and purposeful — for instance, the remaining band members are arranged alphabetically.  It seems that the natural response has been to wonder how much of this departure was precipitated by Page’s arrest for drug-related charges in July.  According to the Toronto branch of the AP, Ed Robertson has admitted that it was a “huge event” in their lives, but that Page’s departure “isn’t about that.”

While it isn’t entirely clear what it is about, his split from the band comes at a sad time, just as they were about to go back into the studio to release their first album since BnL turned twenty.  Fortunately for Barenaked Ladies fans, the AP also reported that the remaining members of the band — Ed, Kevin, Jim, and Tyler — will indeed be back in the studio in April to work on a new record. As for Steven Page?  “Solo projects including theatrical opportunities.”

It stands to be noted that the Barenaked Ladies are one of — if not the most — universally loved band around here at the Laptop Sessions, as if this wasn’t already made obvious by the fact that Jim, Chris, Mike, Becky, and Cliff have all participated in BnL cover song music videos over the past couple years — more than any other covered artist! (This record may be tied with the Beach Boys, but I’ll have to check…)

I was struck this morning by just how many of my favorite bands have been split by solo projects recently.  All my favorite nineties bands, to be certain — Rob Thomas first went the way of the solo artist, promising that Matchbox Twenty had not officially broken up and will return to the studio (although Thomas worked in 2008 on his second solo album, there are rumors of a 2009 Matchbox Twenty release!).

Rivers Cuomo released his home recordings under his name, but has continued to write, record, and perform with Weezer.

One by one, personnel change after departure, Jakob Dylan (although there still is officially a Wallflowers band) struck out on his own last year with his debut album Seeing Things.  Apparently Rami Jaffee (the only other original original member aside from Dylan) has still interacted with the band, as evidenced by the recent Rusty Truck performance on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, which featured both Jaffee and longtime Wallflowers bassist Greg Richling.  Jimmy Kimmel mentioned that Dylan had appeared on the Rusty Truck studio recording.  So, they’re still playing together, just not in the Wallflowers…

Over the past few years, other bands have been interrupted by solo projects.  Those projects include this year’s Dan Auerbach album (he’s one half of the blues rock group the Black Keys), as well as last year’s second Raconteurs CD (staffed by, among others, Jack White of the White Stripes).  While these projects have not broken up their main bands, the formation of Jack’s Mannequin in 2004 by Andrew McMahon led to his other band (Something Corporate) to officially go “on hiatus.”

So, interstingly enough, at a time when many people are clinging to their current jobs during a time of economic distress, popular musicians continue to branch out and make music on their own, either separating permanently or temporarily from their bands to work independently.

As Ed Robertson stated in the official message on the BnL website, “It’s the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here’s to the future!”

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards (2009) results that you care about!

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By Chris Moore:

Hey there, all you blog-reading rock music fans!  I just tuned in to the Grammy awards, and it’s a surreal experience.  After all, I haven’t watched the Grammy awards since Bob Dylan was up for a few awards in 2002, after releasing his Love and Theft album.  There’s really nothing quite as exciting as seeing your favorite musicians honored and – especially – peforming on national television.  I’ll never forget that Dylan performance of “Cry a While”…

But, back to this year.  I’m tuning in a bit late, in hopes of seeing rock music represent!  I bought a LOT of new music last year, and I’m very interested to see if any of my favorites actually get a Grammy nod.  In all honesty, I don’t expect many of mine to win, but I see some hope for rock in Coldplay, Radiohead, and others.

So, for those of you who missed the show or would like to take a second look, here are the results of the rock music-related Grammy’s…

Song of the Year: Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”

Say what you will about Coldplay, but this is a rock band with an amazing rock album if I’ve ever heard one.  And here, officially, they have received the “Song of the Year” nod!  That will be the first album I listen to after the show — the Viva La Vida (or Death And All His Friends) album really is one of the two or three best albums of the year for 2008.  But that award is up for grabs later…

Performance: Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus

While this really isn’t my cup of tea, I really can’t complain when I see a performance with just a singer or two and acoustic guitars.  It’s the Laptop Sessions business model, after all!  I see some hope for rock, or at least acoustic guitar music, in the pop music world when I see two young, attractive women playing a bare-bones, acoustic performance for a national television audience.

Pop Collaboration with Vocals: Robert Plant and Allison Krauss

Again, this is not music that I was excited for or even interested in last year.  I haven’t even heard the Plant and Krauss duets yet.  That being said, I think there’s a victory for rock music in here somewhere.  I think.

Performance: Stevie Wonder and the Jonas Brothers

I really don’t want to be excited about this performance.  And I’m admittedly watching it on mute so I can hear the TNA “Against All Odds” Pay-Per-View playing on the other television in the room.  But – and this is a significant BUT – I think it’s really cool to see the Grammy’s schedule a meeting between old and new, the past and present.  I never thought I’d see the Jonas Brothers rocking out on their guitars, standing shoulder to shoulder with Stevie Wonder on keyboards.  Wonder really has transcended all sorts of boundaries over the years, though, so I suppose it shouldn’t be that big a surprise.

Rock Album: Coldplay’s Viva La Vida (or Death and All His Friends)

Coldplay wins!  How many times have Chris Martin and his boys heard those two words?  Even a couple years ago, I would have happily jumped right on the “Coldplay is overrated” train, but after the release of this album in 2008 I have a newfound respect for this band.  Yes, they’re wearing the faux-Sgt. Pepper’s jackets.  Yes, I can’t understand why they are so univerally loved.  But this album is amazing.  From start to finish, it flows from song to song without losing momentum and building on a number of themes over the course of its ten tracks.  It reminds me of a classic Moody Blues album.  They’re not as good as the Moodies at crafting albums yet, but they have plenty more time to work on that painfully underrated art form.  (And, hey, if they WERE as good as the Moody Blues, then maybe they’d be just as obscure and under-appreciated as Justin Hayward and company are!)

Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”

I’ve reinforced several times that I love this album.  I like this song quite a bit, although perhaps not as much as the rest of the world.  But the real question here is – how many times can you win for one album and its title track??  Just had to ask.

Pop Instrumental Performance: Eagles’ “I Dreamed There Was No War”

I haven’t heard it, but now I’m very interested…

Morgan Freeman

I think it deserves a note that Morgan Freeman (a) looks better than ever, even after that car accident that made headlines a while back, and (b) is announcing a performance at exactly the same time as a match on the TNA Pay-Per-View between Abyss and Matt MORGAN.  Coincidence?

Well, yes, but I was excited.

Performance: Paul McCartney (“I Saw Her Standing There”)

Awesome.  The man still has it.  Of course, he has the same thing he’s had for forty years.  And, of course, I must rephrase my earlier question — how much mileage can you get out of one song?  As Jim mentioned, isn’t the credo of rock’n roll that “only the good die young”?  As for me, I’m not complaining.  It’s good to see McCartney out there showing all the younger acts how it’s done!

Male Pop Vocal Performance: John Mayer (“Say”)

Really?  Am I the only one who thought this song was really boring?  The chorus goes as follows: “Say what you need to say” repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, etc., etc…  I miss younger, short-haired John Mayer…

Solo Rock Vocal Performance: John Mayer (“Gravity”)

To be fair, I’ll include Paul McCartney (for “I Saw Her Standing There” from Amoeba’s Secret) in the following rant.  How can a live track, much less a live performance of a previously released song, make the “Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance”?  Isn’t that the beauty of the studio, that the rawness of a vocal performance and the controlled environment of the studio combine to bring the best of two worlds?  Even if you disagree, consider the competition — “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” a great Bruce Springsteen track from Magic, and “Rise,” a track from the great Eddie Vedder soundtrack for Into The Wild.  To be honest, I haven’t heard the Neil Young track.  But, really, John Mayer?  This smacks too much of a high school-esque popularity contest.

Rock Song: Bruce Springsteen (“Girls in Their Summer Clothes”)

I’m not really sure why this song became the flagship of the Magic tracks, but this is indeed a great song and I’m glad to see it getting some credit.  Moreover, I hope more people will check out Magic, the Springsteen album that this song originated from.  Truly an enjoyable album.  And, according to the Grammy’s, this is a great song — just not good enough to beat a live version of “Gravity” by John Mayer for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Alternative Music Album: Radiohead (In Rainbows)

I didn’t like this album nearly as much as everyone else who heard it, and I personally would have voted for Beck.  But, that being said, I really do appreciate what Radiohead is trying to do and I need to go back to In Rainbows this week to see what I missed…

Recording Package: Metallica (Death Magnetic)

Boxed or Special Limited Edition Packaging: Radiohead (In Rainbows)

I LOVE that there are still awards being given out for physical packaging.  There’s hope yet for the CD/vinyl/non-digital format!

Engineered Album, Non-Classical: Raconteurs (Consolers of the Lonely)

I’ll admit that I’m not exactly sure what this means, but I like the new Raconteurs album and it’s truly a great alternative rock album, so I’ll drink to this one!

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Rick Rubin

Hands down, this is THE choice for this category.  Why do I say this?  Four reasons.  Jakob Dylan’s Seeing Things.  Weezer’s Red Album.  Neil Diamond’s Home Before Dark.  Metallica’s Death Magnetic.  Enough said.

Short Form Music Video: Weezer (“Pork and Beans”)

An instant favorite on YouTube — this choice makes sense.

Long Form Music Video: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Runnin’ Down a Dream)

This really was a great documentary and will go down as perhaps one of the rock documentary essentials, if only for its wonderful treatment of the story of one of the all-time classic rock bands.

Video Montage: Tribute to those who have passed away this year

This was a really nice presentation and is indeed a perfect stage for this sort of tribute.

When all is said and done, I can’t say I’ll rush back for next year’s Grammy awards, but I am glad to see some of my favorites get some attention.  I apologize for any negative, ranting-like tones I may have adopted during this report, but there’s just so much music I heard last year that should have received more attention than it did.  The Counting Crows and Brian Wilson to start with, never mind R.E.M. and Weezer.  But this being said, have a great night and “viva la” rock!