music is power

This morning on the bus, a young Somali woman (with a bright red headscarf) has was sporting a gray AC/DC hoodie.


I couldn't keep the grin from spreading on my face.

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Meanwhile, my iPod has been so fucking comforting (as always, I guess) on these rainy, gloomy mornings. I have been loving the latest Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings record, "100 Days, 100 Nights." She is dynamite and that band is so stellar--straight up James Brown, working crew of musicians--ellos en fuego. I kept wanting more after hearing their stuff on the Current. And then I read this piece about her in the Times. It got me *needing* the record. It's funky, soulful "throw-back" style R&B with a hint of gospel. They achieve that magic, though--that kind of magic that makes throw-back sound fresh. I so dig the record's packaging, too. Ms. Jones (former prison guard at Rikers Island New York), in all her short, packed, stacked glory is decked out in a 60s-style, gold lamé lookin' gown--striking a pose. The CD looks like vinyl and the astrological signs of each Dap-King are listed after stating which instrument they play. Love it.

Speaking of the beloved Current, Mary Lucia just had Dan Wilson on this week to play and promo his new solo record. The two of them sounded like ol' buds and he played one of my most favorite songs of the past year, "Easy Silence." I was lucky enough to see him play it in a very un-crowded Hoot, last spring. He introduced it as a song he "wrote with the Dixie Chicks" and I really didn't know what to expect. I dig the Chicks, actually, but didn't know what it was gonna be. I certainly didn't expect to cry like a 'little bitch,' which is exactly what I did. It was *so* intimate, *so* quietly powerful, it blew me away. It was partly those Chicks' lyrics, I guess--but I think what caused me to produce tears was the eloquent *melody,* it cut right to the bone. Dan Wilson has one of those rare, *perfect* pop voices that remains rich and full even in the most quiet circumstances. He also has a knack for writing ridiculously catchy, insidious hooks that latch themselves on to you immediately and stay there for-freakin'-ever.

This is another one of those--the melody is pretty, simple and infectious.


Easy Silence

by Dan Wilson, Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison

When the calls and conversations Accidents and accusations
Messages and misperceptions
Paralyze my mind
Buses, cars, and airplanes leavin'
Burnin' fumes of gasoline and
Everyone is running and I
Come to find a refuge in the

Easy silence that you make for me
It's ok when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay

Monkeys on the barricades
Are warning us to back away
They form commissions trying to find
The next one they can crucify
And anger plays on every station
Answers only make more questions
I need something to believe in

Breathing sanctuary in the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's ok when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay

Children lose their youth too soon
Watching war made us immune
And I've got all the world to lose
But I just want to hold on to the

Easy silence that you make for me
It's ok when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The easy silence that you make for me
It's ok when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay