Posted in Jutze 52 | December 25th, 2011 | Comments Off on Wrapping Up My 52-Second Song Project
A few minutes ago, I put my final 52-second song for 2011 online. By now, I have made 104 52-second songs – 52 in 2010 and now 52 in 2011. Thanks to everyone who listened to my 52-second songs and said encouraging things and shared my little tunes with their friends and had fun along the way. I certainly enjoyed the ride! I’ll update my music page in the near future. Meanwhile, check out the last two songs – each in an extended video version:
“I Won’t Be Your Mary Magdalen” is a homage to Dar Williams and Richard Shindell, whose music I love love love! The lyrics became kind of meta – and I think they provide a nice closure for my 52-second song project. I’m looking forward to write longer songs in 2012, for a change. Actually, I might elaborate on this song fragment with my band Manticess.
Posted in Jutze 52 | December 20th, 2011 | Comments Off on Omas Weihnachtsessen – Jutze live in Konstanz
Last Friday I played here in Konstanz at the Rheintorturm. Thomas and Suff-X played as well. It was a lot of fun. Here’s a first video from that evening, “Omas Weihnachtsessen” – a Paul and Storm cover.
The Green Note is a wonderful pub in Camden/London. Unfortunately, they didn’t serve any food this early, but the menu looked delicious. The staff was very friendly and made the stay even more enjoyable. There were maybe 50 people and the place was rather packed. (The evening show was sold out; this one possibly, too.)
There was a window in the roof, so the stage actually faced towards daylight. Richard pretended to be annoyed when he came on stage and remarked that he was practically a vampire. “Fishing” isn’t the happiest song in the universe, so the lack of visual gloom didn’t really matter. Richard talked a lot between songs. He told the story behind the guitar (from 1931, which he had bought from Stephen Bruton) in “Your Guitar”, a new song that has a somber feeling, sort of the atmosphere of “Abuelita” mixed with the rhythm of “State of the Union”. Some of the harmonies are pure gold. “Deer on the Parkway”, another new song, followed. He elaborated on the story of the original title (“Deer on the Saw Mill”) and that he didn’t like the implication: “Just… gore.” It sounds a bit like atmosphere of “Calling the Moon” mixed with the rhythm of “Parasol Ants”. I’m looking forward to hear a fully produced version.
“Abuelita” was the first real surprise. I really like how (so far) every Richard Shindell concert I attended featured a couple of songs I haven’t heard live before. I’m also fascinated that there appears to be a healthy mix of all studio albums in Richard’s setlists. In “Transit” he sang “Democrats and Republicans; but mainly Republicans”, which drew some laughter. The audience was “civil”, yet the closeness kept everybody attentive. “Get Up Clara” was groovy with its intricate finger picking and the dark atmosphere. In the middle part he inserted a talking bit that went like: “Here should be a bridge; but it would have to be an aqueduct.” He then promoted his “new” album, “Thirteen Songs You, Or May Not Have Heard Before”. He went on a detour about how it is not (yet) available in the U.S. – and how in the 80s people had always “gone to the UK” and then reappeared as rock stars. He translated this situation to his career in a hilarious way, saying that he’s hoping to raise his hipness factor by having a U.K.-only album – at least for another week before the U.S. release.
There was another unexpected song: “Canciòn Sencilla”. Once again, Richard spent almost as much time telling the story behind the lyrics as he spent playing the actual song. Did I mention that Richard was singing and playing fantastically? He took his time tuning and re-tuning his guitar, but apart from it was a great performance, technically flawless and still really intense. Between “Arrowhead” and “Reunion Hill” he recounted his encounters with civil war reenactors (that are attracted by his war songs) and how they asked him what kind of underwear the characters in his songs would have worn. Unlike the humorous chatter between songs, the actual song (“Reunion Hill”) was just sublime – so hauntingly beautiful! The encore was yet another surprise: “Mariana’s Table”, Richard’s favourite song off “Not Far Now”. He described his new home in Argentina at great length, suggesting that the seemingly endless pampa there would cause “horizontal vertigo”.
After the gig, Richard sold his CD and was, just like during the concert, very nice and talkative. All in all it had been a wonderful concert with many new songs, quite a few unexpected rarities, and some of the classical Shindell “hits”. Here’s the complete setlist:
Posted in Jutze 52 | November 11th, 2011 | Comments Off on Jutze im Vorprogramm von Phrasenmäher in Konstanz
Mein Auftritt im Vorprogramm von Phrasenmäher im Kulturladen hat Spaß gemacht! Meine Setlist sah ungefähr so aus:
Die wichtigen Fragen
Reis
Badreligion
Laundry Day
135 Zeichen
Lisa
Konrad
Der Speckgürtel von Paderborn
Fußball und Katze
A Mallful of Brains
Essen
Die Müllabfuhr der Seele
Einkaufszettel
I Wish Natalie Portman Was My Neighbour
Der Auftritt von Phrasenmäher war sehr kurzweilig. Ein, zwei Songs waren zu groovy und zu wenig rockig für meinen Geschmack – aber insgesamt klang das alles sehr ansprechend. Neben unterhaltsamen Liedern wie “Hochklappdings” und “Vater” gab es auch diverser improvisierte Einlagen, die für Kurzeweile (?) sorgten. Das Publikum, das bei mir noch überwiegend abwartend am Boden saß, war beeindruckend aktiv, springend, singend, divend und sogar joggend! Und nicht eine einzige Nase, die desinteressiert hinten stand. Schöner Konzertabend!
Obacht, es folgen Spoiler; ich werde also Bezug nehmen, auf das, was im Laufe des Romans “Der Hals der Giraffe” von Judith Schalansky passiert. Bereit? Es passiert praktisch nichts! Ja, gut, ein Bus geht kaputt, die präfontralen Gehirnfunktionenen der Protagonistin scheinen ein wenig nachzulassen, und die Jahreszeiten wechseln. In der Kurzbeschreibung am Anfang wird angekündigt, dass Inge Lohmark, um welche sich die ganze Geschichte dreht, am Ende vom Glauben an Gott Darwin abfallen würde. Selten wurden unangebrachtere Erwartungshaltungen erzeugt. Klar, im Verlauf der Geschichte geht die Selbstkontrolle der Hauptfigur zeitweise verloren – in dem Alter nicht ungewöhnlich. Aber ist das ein Grund, um von einem “antidarwinistischen Manifest” (FAZ) zu reden? Weit gefehlt. Ich finde es geradezu amüsant, dass zwischendurch der Zeitrahmen der (biologischen) Evolution behandelt wird. Jahreszahlen mit so vielen Nullen, dass man sie nur schwerlich fassen kann. Am Ende tappt der Roman selber in genau diese Falle, da die Entwicklungen im Leben einer Einzelperson offenbar als Scheitern der Evolution präsentiert werden sollen. Was natürlich keinen Sinn macht.
Das Buch lebt von dem gewandten, klaren Schreibstil, in dem schön mit Worten gespielt wird. Aber ja, eine Handlung wäre schön gewesen. Fast noch schöner wäre gewesen, wenn gegen Ende der Titel gebende Moment die Grundzüge der Evolutionstheorie korrekt dargestellt worden wären. Die Variation der Halslänge ist zufällig, die Halslänge (tendenziell) vererblich und die Selektion bedingt durch die Passung mit der Umwelt. Das Recken von Hälsen hat in dieser Hinsicht – anders als im Text dargestellt – keinen Einfluss auf die genetische Vererbung (und somit langfristig auf die Entwicklung der Spezies hin zur Langhalsigkeit). Die Parallele, die offenbar gezogen werden soll, zu Entwicklungen im Leben von Inge Lohmark, entbehrt vollkommen ihrer Grundlage, zumal die Anwendung auf Einzelfälle bestenfalls fragwürdig ist. Am ehesten noch wäre ein Ausflug in die Epigenetik sinnvoll. Doch davon findet sich nichts im Text, zumal vorher explizit erwähnt wurde, dass die letzte Fortbildung schon viele Jahre her ist und entsprechend sind solche Ideen an dieser Stelle im Erzählfluss wohl nicht plausibel. (Von Kulturvererbung, beispielsweise im Rahmen der Memetik, ist erst recht nicht einmal der geringste Ansatz zu entdecken.)
Handwerklich ist der Roman somit zwar sehr gelungen, aber gegen Ende dominierte bei mir zunehmend Enttäuschung das Leseerlebnis.
Exactly three years after my last solo album I’ve assembled a new collection of hits and misses, both old and new. It’s called “The Happiest Man” and I released to the digital world today! The first part (half?) of this album consists of happy songs, hence the title “The Happiest Man”. The second part is somewhat bittersweet, starting with “Frank” and “Lisa” – two songs sung in German. Finally, the third part is mainly loud. It features some more songs I made for the Song Fu songwriting challenge. Of course, the album ends with “A Happy Ending”.
Posted in Jutze 52 | August 22nd, 2011 | Comments Off on 52-Second Song Update
Heads up: I’ll be playing a solo gig here in Konstanz on December 16th, opening for Suff-X. I’m also hoping to line up one or two more shows. Meanwhile, here are the links to a bunch of my 52-second songs.
The most recent one is my attempt at a “Wedding March”, because a friend of mine, who likes ska, was getting married last weekend.
