New Jayhawks Album: “Paging Mr. Proust”

Paging Mr. Proust

News of a new Jayhawks album is always cause for celebration in my house. The band will be releasing Paging Mr. Proust this coming week on April 29, 2016, and from the first single, “Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces,” it sounds like the album will have the harmonies and catchy tunes we are used to hearing from the band.

The Jayhawk’s last album of new material was Mockingbird Time, released in 2011. That album saw Mark Olson rejoining Gary Louris and Tim O’Reagan on the album, but Olson soon departed again. The band has made some great music since it formed with Olson as well as bass player Marc Perlman, so I hate to see Olson’s departure again after an unhappy split.

But the Jayhawks historically have shown that the group can make great music without Olson too, as they did on albums like Rainy Day Music (2003), Smile (2000), and Sound of Lies (1997). So I am hoping the rest of the band pulls it off again.

In addition O Louris, O’Reagan, and Perlman, longtime Jayhawks member Karen Grotberg (vocals and keyboard) also returns on the new album. Below is the first single, “Quiet Corners & Empty Spaces.” Check it out.

Paging Mr. Proust was produced by R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, the Decemberists). R.E.M.’s Mike Mills contributed vocals to the song “Leaving The Monsters Behind.” Paging Mr. Proust hits stores and the Internet on April 29.

What is your favorite Jayhawks album? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Purple Rain: Prince at 2007 Super Bowl

    Prince Halftime

    Today, the world received the shocking news that Prince had passed away at the age of 57. Like so many others, I can think back to many times where his music was the soundtrack to my past memories going back around four decades.

    One of Prince’s memorable performances was at the Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show in February 2007. It was one of the most spectacular Super Bowl half-time shows of all time. Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated rank it the second-best of all time (only behind the emotional post-9/11 U2 show), while Billboard ranks Prince’s show at number one.

    At the 2007 halftime show, Prince’s setlist included “We Will Rock You,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Baby I’m a Star,” “Proud Mary,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Best of You,” and “Purple Rain.” Below is his performance of “Purple Rain” during a downpour of rain.

    Reportedly, before Prince went on the stage, organizers called him to ask if it was going to be a problem that it was raining. Prince responded, “Can you make it rain harder?” The video of the performance is not available for embedding but you may check it out with this YouTube link.  As we mourn his loss, this performance is a great way to remember how his music moved us. RIP.

    Additionally, an NFL video features clips and a discussion of his amazing performance. (Within 24 hours of Prince’s death, the NFL changed the policy on the video so it is no longer available for embedding, but you may watch it here.)

    Goodnight, our Prince.

    What is your favorite Prince memory? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Harriet Tubman and the $20 Bill

    Tubman

    After a period of speculation about who might replace Alexander Hamilton on the ten-dollar bill, the U.S. Treasury listened to Americans. What they wanted was to keep the founding father and recent Broadway star on the ten-spot and instead dump Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill. And the person they wanted to replace Andrew Jackson, a populist president who supported pro-slavery policies and is associated with mistreatment of Native Americans, was Harriet Tubman, a former slave who used her freedom to help other slaves escape, help the Union win the Civil War, and help other good causes such as women’s suffrage.

    Tubman was born Araminta “Minty” Ross to parents who were held as slaves around March 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She grew to adulthood as a slave, eventually in her late 20’s escaping from slavery on her own following a failed attempt with her brothers. Tubman then spent more than a decade helping other slaves escape through the Underground Railroad, often at great risk to herself. Frederick Douglass once wrote in a letter that he knew of nobody except John Brown who had put themselves at more personal risk in the fight against slavery than Harriet Tubman.

    When the Civil War broke out, Tubman gave her services to the Union, working in a variety of ways, including as a nurse and as a scout. Someone should make a super hero movie about her.

    For a short 7-minute bio of Harriet Tubman, check out the following video. Such a short video does not come close to capturing the extent of her life, but it is a decent overview.

    For a longer documentary about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad, check out the History Channel documentary Harriet Tubman & the Underground Railroad.

    The more you learn about Tubman, the more it makes sense to give her a national honor like putting her on the twenty-dollar bill. Looking back on her amazing life, though, it does raise one question. What took so long?

    Leave your twenty dollars in the comments. Photo via public domain.

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    Early Baseball: The Glory of Their Times

    Early Baseball After Ty Cobb died on July 17, 1961 in Georgia, Lawrence Ritter realized that the full story of early twentieth century baseball was dying with the people involved in the game during that era. So, he came up with the idea to document that era of baseball and began a trip across the United States interviewing many of the legends of the sport.

    Ritter published the first edition of The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It in 1966. The book included interviews with men like Sam Crawford, Joe Wood, Fred Snodgrass, Chief Myers, and others. Other players, like Ty Cobb, were not around to be interviewed but they are brought back to life through the stories of the men who knew them.

    I discovered Ritter’s work when I was a child and happened to catch a documentary he made of The Glory of Their Times, which was produced by him and Bud Greenspan in 1977. The documentary used audio from Ritter’s interviews, accompanied by photographs and film. I loved the movie. I even recorded it with my childhood hand-held tape recorder and listened to the cassette over and over again.

    I have not seen the documentary since I was a child, and it does not appear to be available on video (and I have since lost the cassette). But in 1966, Ritter did release a record that included audio of many of the interviews that he used in his book and that appeared in the documentary. Fortunately, it is available through YouTube. It is a fascinating look at another era. Check it out.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen “Shout” In Their Third Performance Together

    Shout Springsteen Seger

    Bob Seger recently joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on stage in Detroit during Springsteen’s current The River tour, which is promoting the release of The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. After playing some joyous tambourine on “10th Avenue Freeze-Out,” Seger also joined in on a performance of The Isley Brothers’ “Shout.” Although Seger-Springsteen collaborations are rare, it was not the first time Seger and Springsteen have performed together.

    Seger had first performed with Springsteen during the opening night of the original The River tour back in 1980, when Seger helped out on “Thunder Road.” Below is the audio of that performance.

    Although Rolling Stone reports that the two are good friends, after the 1980 concert Seger and Springsteen did not appear onstage together until December 2011 when Springsteen joined Seger’s concert for Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll.” Check it out.

    That brings us to the most recent collaboration on April 14, 2016. From the energy of the performance this week, it was worth the four-and-a-half-year wait to see the two together on “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and “Shout.” Hopefully we will see them together again soon.

    Although Bob Seger’s Ride Out Tour with the Silver Bullet Band ended in March 2015, Springsteen still has work to do. The current U.S. leg of The River tour ends April 25 in Brooklyn before heading overseas to Europe for the summer.

    What song would you like Seger and Springsteen to do together? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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