THE SNOW FALLS TO MUSIC

What a pleasant surprise to return from the snowy north only to be blessed with more of it here at home.  The TV and radio were blasting the news of the approaching storm on Wednesday, repeated more loudly on Thursday, its arrival forecast for Friday.  So rather than deal with the snow packed roads and bad drivers, we took work with us and reviewed documents and responded to emails from home on Friday.

The snow began Thursday evening and did not let up until Saturday morning.  A total of about 16 inches fell around the house.  Late Friday afternoon I put on my ski gear and went for a hike through the woods behind the house, enjoying the quiet beauty of the snow covered landscape.  I did manage to take the climbing skins off to make a few turns before putting them back on to continue my journey.  Saturday was spent clearing the driveway enough to allow the vehicles to make it to the street, as well as shoveling a few other critical areas.  Then it was back down into the basement to print off 5 block prints of Mt. Hope near Leadville.  Sunday lounging around the house, with a break sledding on a nearby hill with my kids.  Fun time.  Some people dread the snow but I always welcome it.

Friday night started off with Cold Play performing at Austin City Limits in Texas on December 9, 2005.  Great recording of an excellent sow with their best songs at the time on the set list. Michael Stipe joined the band for two songs; R.E.M.’s “Nightswimming” and Joseph Arthur’s “In The Sun“.  What a beautiful performance to listen to while standing in the falling snow!

Someone in attendance at the show said:

Seeing Coldplay in the cozy confines of Studio 6-A was an incredible experience. I saw the band from a mile away at ACL Fest this summer and came away disappointed, but this time it proved impossible not to feed off Chris Martin and company's hyperkinetic energy.

Most of the set list was unsurprising, drawing heavily from X&Y ("Speed of Sound," "Talk," "Kingdom Come") but featuring a few earlier hits as well ("Yellow," "In My Place"). But there was one surprise — about a half-hour into the set, Coldplay brought Michael Stipe onto the stage to cover Joseph Arthur's "In the Sun" and REM's own "Nightswimming."

The music was good, but the banter was even better. Martin interacted with the 400 or so audience members between just about every song. He took special interest in a couple 10- and 11-year-old boys standing up front, dispensing advice for pre-adolescents, handing them lyrics sheets and occasionally self-censoring his cursing. He also jokingly called out a clearly embarrassed young man watching the band with arms crossed.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/music/article/concert-review-coldplay-delivers-in-austin/#ixzz1lfBgDP8L

Download it here:
http://bootlegtunzworld.blogspot.com/2008/04/coldplay-live-at-austin-city-limits_1334.html

Next up was Nirvana's Unplugged, a live album that features an acoustic performance taped at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993 for the television series MTV Unplugged. The album is chock full of original songs and covers, all played in a mellow acoustic style (hence the name "Unplugged"). When Nirvana's Unplugged was released it topped out the Billboard 200 at # 1, as well as topping the charts in a ton of other countries. It sold over 300,000 copies in the first week, which was Nirvana's best first-week ever. It is widely respected and known as one of Nirvana's greatest accomplishments -- and it survives as a final gift and sentimental reminder of how great Nirvana was, being released after Kurt Cobain's suicide and the break-up of the band.

In Wikipedia it says:

Reviewer David Browne noted that listening to the music in light of Cobain's death was "unsettling"; Browne added, "Beyond inducing a sense of loss for Cobain himself, Unplugged elicits a feeling of musical loss, too: The delicacy and intimacy of these acoustic rearrangements hint at where Nirvana (or at least Cobain, who was said to be frustrated with the limitations of the band) could have gone."

Go out and buy the CD or DVD.

I ended the night by watching the Clint Eastwood movie (stars in and directs) "Unforgiven," the one and only western I actually own the DVD for.   No clear lines drawn in this Western, where good and evil are intertwined.  Rent it and enjoy.

Only one concert Saturday night, Echo and the Bunnymen, a show I recorded in San Francisco at the Warfield Theater on May 19, 2011.  It is one of the best shows I taped, a fantastic recording of a great performance, Ian in top form and feeling very good about the city, the audience and the evening.  Over two hours of pure joy!  Read it here: http://whatatemper.blogspot.com/2011/05/bunnymen-play-san-francisco.html

Sorry its a Megauplaod link and I have yet to find a suitable substitute to post the music to for all to access.