But I really like the vino (who among you will catch this stupid song reference?).
I have a new thing with wine. I try to only buy stuff that is $10 or less a bottle. The vast majority of what I find in that range that’s good is Spanish (with one notable exception — Falesco Vitiano 2007, which is dynamite). The one I drink the most is Bodegas Ateca Garnacha De Fuego, which I get for only seven bucks. It’s nice fruit, with a lot of acidity, and goes great with food, a good house wine. The Bodegas Olivares Monastrell Altos de la Hoya (10 bucks, from the Tempranillo mourvedre grape) and Ludovicus Terra Alta (10 bucks from a blend of tempranillo, grenache, and syrah) are also excellent, definitely smoother and fruitier. I also really like Vinos de Arganza Bierzo la Mano Mencía Roble, in some ways the most interesting (for 8 bucks, from the crazy Mencia grape), but the store that has it is too far from my house so I’ve only had it a couple times.
Anyway, I don’t have too much to add about this, but you should try this wines if you’re also into paying less than 10 dollars a wine. Because they’re much better than other wine you can get for under $10.
One more alcohol note: that local rye I blogged about (McKenzie Rye Whiskey) is getting rave reviews (here; here) and I think it will go up in price (it’s around $40 now). So if you like that kind of thing, check it out. There was a bourbon I used to like — A. H. Hirsch — and now I can’t afford it. The McKenzie is the only other American whiskey I’ve had that I really liked. I’m seriously thinking of a buying case because I wish I’d bought a case of the Hirsch.
There probably isn’t too much point to this post, except that a few of you have emailed to say you like wine blogging and I’m tired of hearing about ginger and so on.
DougJ +5 or so
Update. If loving this is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Linkmeister
Three Dog Night
Yutsano
When it comes to Spanish wines for me, it’s Rioja Rioja Rioja. Spicy, assertive, strong, delicious! I will however go visit my local wine store and sample your suggestions.
DougJ
@Yutsano:
I love Rioja too. And, if I may, Lopez de Heredia, red, white, and rose! All great. All not cheap. But the real deal.
Mary G
Hoyt Axton rules!
Linkmeister
Now that was weird. I was going to edit that comment to say “Fer Gawd’s sake, it was written by Hoyt Axton. I wouldn’t have imagined that,” but I got an alarm saying I didn’t have permission to edit that comment.
Huh.
DougJ
@Linkmeister:
Yup!
But Elvis owned it in my book.
DougJ
@Linkmeister:
So I headed for Las Vegas, only got as far a Needles.
Yutsano
@DougJ: You realize this could degenerate rather easily into another cover thread? Oh and I’m gonna try to find that wine I had once from Turkey of all places that was so amazingly different I was the only one at the table to like it.
Linkmeister
@DougJ: I always liked Little Feat’s “Willin'” because of the lines “from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah.” Songs that name-check places I’ve been amuse me, I guess.
Ronstadt’s version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSbYE4H28zI
Cat Lady
Sangiovese blends are my new favorites, but good ones start around $10.00. Trader Joe’s has a couple of decent ones.
I’ve never been to heaven or Oklahoma.
DougJ
@Cat Lady:
The Falesco Vitiano is a sangiovese blend that is 8 or 9 (I get it for 8 but my store is cheap). Dynamite! A cut about the usual sangiovese blend.
Cat Lady
@Linkmeister:
I’ve been all those places, too, but it wasn’t until I saw the sign for Tonopah that I realized that’s what the song said. Growing up in New England doesn’t expose you to much trucking lingo.
Comrade Mary
Well, if we’re doing placename-check songs, we can get all emo with this, complete with a Canadian audience cheering being ready for death.
Yutsano
@DougJ: Sangiovese = Spanish version of the Sangenovese grape? Same grape different name? Two completely different fruits? Am I getting too oenophile here?
Comrade Mary
Ooh — thanks for the video, Doug. Elvis, like Pink Floyd, was a musical force I originally disdained and only came to appreciate in recent years.
Oz
Have you ever tried the cheaper French wines? I’ve found some great Burgundy, Beaujolais and Macon-villages for under $10. I also have a Vouvray that I’m aging a bit – I think it was $7. One thing about the cheaper French bottles is that they tend to be sold a bit young and need a year or two get to best flavor. On the other hand, they are still good the day you buy them.
Cat Lady
@DougJ:
Good to know. I’ll ask around for that, because I’ve really developed a preference for it. I’ve decided that I also want to go to Spain before I go to Italy, mostly because of the red wine. I also like the whole small plates thing, and husband would like to run into Claudia Bassols.
Yutsano
@Cat Lady: Barcelona is definitely high on the bucket list for me (so is Sydney) mostly because of this:
http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/index.php
You have to admire the spirit of a nation that will not let what is nothing short of a master work go unfinished regardless of political situation.
Tom Johnson
Not to be too much of a pedant, but Bodegas Olivares Monastrell can’t be tempranillo, because it’s Monastrell. Monastrell is a grape, the Spanish version of the French Mourvedre, and it’s worth noting that though France claims the grape as its own Spain had it first.
It’s been grown a long time along the Mediterranean coast of Spain and on the plains inland, and there are a lot of terrific $8 (or so) bottles of Monastrell on the market now. In fact, it’s hard to go wrong. Monestrell is one of the world’s great wine bargains.
There are decent value tempranillos, too. But Monestrells are bigger and heartier and feel like you’re getting more for your money.
No question: Spain delivers more per dollar spent than any other country.
DougJ
@Tom Johnson:
THANK YOU!
I didn’t think it tasted like tempranillo but I thought I read that it was. I hate to be wrong about this stuff, so thank you big time.
Egypt Steve
See, the ladies are insane there,
And they sure know how to use it.
They don’t abuse it,
Ain’t never gonna lose it,
I can’t refuse it!
Cat Lady
@Yutsano:
I’d love to see anything by Gaudi before my time is done here. What a visionary. I’m always reminded of this. Listening to the music of the spheres.
JGabriel
DougJ:
Well, if it’s the one I’m thinking of, I know TattooSydney and I both threatened GBear with heinous beyond-Gitmo levels of torture for posting a link to the same song just yesterday, so that makes three of us.
.
Yutsano
@Cat Lady: I may be crazy on this, but isn’t there a whole street in Barcelona that he more or less designed and has these amazing door frames and fascinating shaped buildings all down it? Or did he just inspire it? I’m trying to recall even though I’ve seen it on TV.
Michael D.
Always on the lookout for wines $10 and under. It’s surprising how many good ones are out there. I should make a list and post it here. Unfortunately, I never keep track. My Director at work keeps a small book with her to write down what she has when she’s on the road so she knows every nice wine she’s had. I need to do that.
Anyway, I’ll definitely look for each of these. Thanks!
JGabriel
@JGabriel: Oops, I just remembered that the narrator of that song probably had been to Spain, so that’s likely not it after all.
.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
So how is heaven? Do they have toilets like Spain? Is it a sausage festival? Why are you still here, did you piss god off?
General Egali Tarian Stuck
I always thought Engelbert Humperdinck was a cool name for a singer. But I was a Zagar and Evans fan, In the Year 2525.
Cat Lady
@Yutsano:
I’ve heard that Guell Park is pretty great. His buildings are all over Barcelona from what I gather. Some day….
burnspbesq
I’m on the verge of declaring this a 70s Music Night. Listening to Ry Cooder’s classic “Chicken Skin Music.” I’m glad I took good care of my records when I was in college.
eemom
well I never been to HEAVEN
but I been to Oklahoma
People tell me I was born there
but I really don’t remember
hmmm……DougJ, are you older than I think you are? Like as old as I am??
burnspbesq
@Cat Lady:
Sagrata Familia is without a doubt the strangest building I’ve ever seen. I am continually amazed that it was designed before the invention of LSD.
Yutsano
@eemom: I think we’ve tried to weasel his exact age out of him before, but he persists in being coquettish about that fact.
@burnspbesq: There are of course other methods of inducing a hallucinogenic state besides LSD.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
The 70s is the best decade for music. There are about 8 rock albums I really like, and I think 6 are from the 70s (fuck it, I’m drunk, I’ll list them all, there may be more than 8: Red-Headed Stranger, Astral Weeks, Exile On Main St., Beggars Banquet, I’m Still In Love With You, My Aim Is True, London Calling, Imperial Bedroom, What’s Going On, Ziggy Stardust, Blood On the Tracks, Rum Sodomy And The Lash, Never MInd the Bollocks, The Mekons Rock n’ Roll).
OriGuy
The Sagrada Familia is impressive, but only part of it is Gaudí’s vision. I prefer the Parc Güell and the Casa Batlló. Yutsano, I think the street you’re thinking of is the Passeig de Gràcia. Only some of the buildings are by Gaudí, but others are of the same era.
I was there in 1995. It’s been too long.
burnspbesq
@DougJ:
Not to mention that the five best live albums of all time are all from the ’70s:
Poco Deliverin’
Rock’n’Roll Animal
Live Bullet
Waiting for Columbus
The Last Waltz
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
Rock n’ Roll Animal reminds me I left out some VU from my all-time favorite list. I guess I’d have to put White Light/White Heat and the one with Pale Blues Eyes (titled VU also I think) in the all-time great list.
Lee
Yellowtail is pretty good and cheap. If you’re in to not good and cheap, however, Carl Rossi ftw.
Cat Lady
@burnspbesq:
Well, my guess is ‘shrooms – he was under the influence of something. No one else has made buildings look anything like that before or since. His buildings look like they’re sand drippings, or edible. Like they’d go with a nice bottle of Falesco Vitiano.
burnspbesq
Crap – the 70s earworm is taking over. I’m jonesing to hear some Raspberries or Todd Rundgren.
eemom
all those old “place” songs always make me wish I were a rock star…..or a trucker……or anything else that gets around a lot.
I went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma, Philadelphia, Atlanta, LA…..
From the Kentucky coal mines to the California sun….
Dallas, got a soft machine, Houston, too close to New Orleans, New York, got the ways and means…..
No one ever writes any songs about freakin Vienna, Virginia. : (
DougJ
@Lee:
It’s not that good for the price. It’s $6 and for $8 you can get something that’s good and distinctive.
DougJ
@eemom:
No one ever writes any songs about freakin Vienna, Virginia.
Is that where you’re from?
It’s not REAL VIRGINIA, you know.
asiangrrlMN
@Cat Lady: That looks like a gingerbread house!
Edoc
Spanish wine has been my favorite since the 90’s. Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Navarra, Jumilla, Bierzo, Montsant. If it’s from Spain, it’s probably pretty good, and reasonably priced.
Next try Portuguese wines– the reds, using douro grapes (the same used in port wine) are outstanding– like port wine without the sweetness. Start with the region Touriga Nacional.
burnspbesq
Then one night in the lobby of the Commodore Hotel
I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well
And as he handed me a drink, he began to hum a song
And all the boys there at the bar began to sing along
Cat Lady
RIP Lowell George.
That is all.
burnspbesq
@Cat Lady:
Amen.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
It doesn’t get better than that.
I am going to visit a friend near Memphis at some point and I am dying to title a post “I’ve seen the bright lights of Memphis and the Commodore Hotel”.
eemom
@DougJ:
fuck no, I’m not FROM here.
I’m a New Yawkah, I tell ya……born and bred……and I got the rudeness ta prove it….!
And yeah, I know this ain’t the REAL Virginia. One of McCain’s blonde flunkies said so……..long ago in the days of a happy, hopeful election.
Moesha
wtso.com
WInes til sold out. Just opened a temperanillo that I bought for $7.49 a bottle. Incredible.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Oddly enough, some lady commented on one of my Flickr photos today, and when I checked out her photostream there was this picture of a bridge in Spain, that I thought was fairly strange.
never been to a foreign country myself, except for Canada and Texas.
Tattoosydney
@Edoc:
This. Except, for the pedant in me, Touriga Nacional is a grape variety, which forms the basis of most Portuguese wines. Don’t buy anything that has JUST Touriga Nacional, because it tastes like ink.
However, with a little bit of another variety mixed in (particuarly Tinto Cão – tinted dog), it’s magnificent.
Areas to try in particular are the Dão and the Douro (same river as the Spanish Ribera del Duero), but the Alentejo is also up and coming.
If you see anything from Brites Aguiar, Quinta do Vale Meão Douro or Vallado, just buy it. For whites, try Quinta de Ameal.
DougJ
@DougJ:
A little worried I’ll run into Church Lady though.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@DougJ: Personally, I think Church Lady is a 6’6′ lumberjack from Minnesota. Or maybe Saskatchewan.
Cat Lady
@DougJ:
Wouldn’t that be…. special, hmmmmm?
asiangrrlMN
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Probably not from here. The dialect is not familiar to my ears.
Yutsano
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I think that bridge is in Barcelona but don’t quote me on that. And you are aware that your description does not preclude Church Lady still being a female.
burnspbesq
Let’s just cut to the chase.
IMHO, here are the ten best records of the 1970s, in no particular order.
Pieces of the Sky (Emmylou Harris)
Flyin’ Shoes (Townes van Zandt)
Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (Little Feat)
Milestone Jazzstars in Concert (Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Ron Carter, Al Foster)
Court and Spark (Joni Mitchell)
Abandoned Luncheonette (Hall & Oates)
J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos (Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter cond.)
The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (Bruce Springsteen)
More Songs About Buildings and Food (Talking Heads)
Bitches Brew (Miles Davis)
burnspbesq
Hey, eemom – did you hear about Cassie?
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Yutsano:
Nothing is off the table.
gbear
I wouldn’t go that far, but for some reason the 70’s stuff I hear seems less dated than 80’s music. The explosion of available sounds and affordable equipment kind of sent everyone over the cliff for a while.
(I get to say that because that’s the phrase that Robert Cristgau used to describe my band’s 1982 EP. He loved the first song though..)
schtum
Is it bad that this is the version that came to mind? (http://popup.lala.com/popup/360569470953223618)
Is it worse that I’d never heard any other version before?
DougJ
@gbear:
What was your band?
Cat Lady
@burnspbesq:
Exodus
Talking Book
Derek and the Dominoes
Blue or For the Roses instead of Court and Spark
and a lot of others.
eemom
@burnspbesq:
no, whuzzup?
mvr
Several things in no particular order.
That James Burton knows how to play guitar.
Which reminds me that any best of list for the 70s ought to include Grievous Angel. Not that there is anything else wrong with Doug’s list besides the VU problem, and a couple of other sins of omission.
Argentina used to be a very good source for cheaper great wine, but it has caught on lately. Still it does well.
One good thing about Spanish wines is that they don’t release them before they are ready to drink.
And Chicken Skin Music is great but I have a soft spot for Paradise and Lunch.
Like I said, somewhat random.
burnspbesq
@eemom:
Full ride to Princeton.
eemom
@burnspbesq:
AWESOME!!
burnspbesq
@eemom:
That kid deserves everything she gets. Talk about overcoming adversity …
DougJ
@mvr:
Forgot Gram Parsons too. One of my favorites ever. Though, Gilded Palace Of Sin is better (maybe not 70s).
gbear
Doug, the band was called Fine Art. That’s one of the things that Christgau slammed. The band knew it was cheeky when they came up with it (I joined after their first album came out).
I was just looking at my records to remember what I was actually listening to back then. Mott the Hoople, Badfinger, Roxy Music, older Stones, J Geils early albums, Free, and I’d already discovered and was falling hard for Richard and Linda Thompson and Fairport Convention. Bonnie Raitt was in there somewhere too.
burnspbesq
And lest we forget another one who was taken from us too soon:
Roland searched the continent for the man who done him in,
He found him in Mombasa, in a barroom drinking gin,
Roland raised his Thompson gun, he didn’t say a word,
But he blew Vanowen’s body from there to Johannesburg
DougJ
@mvr:
I like Argentinian Malbec. But they all taste the same in the same way that CA wines all taste the same. Blame it on the (lack of) rain, maybe.
DougJ
@burnspbesq:
Yeah, just bought “Genius”, his greatest hits. I’m embarrassed to admit I’d never heard Boom Boom Mancini or French Inhaler before. I bought it after I first heard Carmelita.
DougJ
@gbear:
Mott the Hoople
Very underrated nowadays. I need tv when I’ve got T-Rex?
hamletta
@DougJ: You definitely have to go to Graceland. It will change everything you think about Elvis.
Once we took our Australian friend on a road trip from New Orleans to Nashville. We stopped in Memphis and did Graceland. We were getting hungry, so we decided to go to the Rendezvouz, but we had to show him the lobby of the Peabody Hotel, since it was right across the street.
As it happened, the famous ducks were getting A Major Award from some hotel industry group and we got there just in time for the ceremony. How lucky can you get?
mvr
@DougJ:
Gilded Palace is great too, though I like it in a different mood than I like GA. You’re right, it was 1969.
burnspbesq
@DougJ:
I saw him play once when he was sober, in the old Ebbets Field club in Denver. Must have been the summer of 1976, not long after his first record came out. Un-freakin-real.
Sir Charles
DougJ,
Let me put in a plug for Russell’s Reserve Rye. Very, very good stuff. Also about $40 a bottle.
Jim Beam actually makes a decent much cheaper rye.
For all of those who want to go to Barcelona — definitely do it. It’s just a lovely, lovely, fun place. And the Gaudi stuff is amazing. See all of it. (And if you are in the least little bit a soccer fan, go see FC Barcelona — a great and storied team — “Mes que un club” as they say in Catalan.)
bayville
Zevon- Browne duet of Mohammed’s Radio – best duo song of the 70s.
burnspbesq
Hell, even Dan Fogelberg made good music in the 70s.
DougJ
@bayville:
I have to go with Gram and Emmy Lou doing “Love Hurts”.
bayville
I hadn’t heard Love Hurts in 20 yrs. awesome.
Emmy Lou’s never hit a bad note.
What’s the song she sang the Sopranos used as a fadeout in one of their later episodes? Can’t think of it. Anyone?
gbear
@DougJ:
Yes. The Mott album is still one of my top ten favorite records.
I remembered Fine Art has a myspace site. The first two songs are from the first lp and the next three are from the EP I was on.
edit: I’m listening to it now and it’s pure 80’s. So dated but a flood of memories. I sobered up about a year after quitting the band…
mvr
@DougJ: That’s why there’s a mood in which Grievous Angel can’t be beat.
But speaking of duets, one of the things I really do miss is male harmony singing on rock records. That got lost on Rolling Stones records after about 1980, and also with the ejection of Mick Jones from the Clash. Something not easily found.
apikoros
Ladies, Gentlemen, (and the rest of you, too), let me say this and nothing more (yes, I have no taste, but fuck it, I like it).
mvr
@burnspbesq:
Don’t you mean even Rod Stewart? (Though that ended in around 1975.)
DougJ
@mvr:
Yes, I agree.
For me, Mick Jones era Clash, Mick Taylor era Stones (he didn’t sing harmony but Keith sang more harmony when Mick was in the band) is up there in the pantheon.
mvr
@DougJ: Yeah, I recognized a certain kindred taste.
And, btw, the song references in the titles never fail to amuse me.
burnspbesq
@mvr:
“Every Picture Tells a Story” is genius from beginning to end. Sad that he never came close to that level again.
Cat Lady
@burnspbesq:
Warren Zevon played in the lobby of my office building at a lunchtime concert for a local Boston radio station in 2000. So did Todd Rundgren the year before. It was a little different than from the 70’s, which as they say if you remember you weren’t there. It’s not nearly as fun when you have to go right back to work.
burnspbesq
@DougJ:
So many Emmy duets to choose from. Love Hurts. We’ll Sweep Out the Ashes. Return of the Grievous Angel. Sweet Dreams. Green Rolling Hills. If I Could Only Win Your Love.
I always thought it was a shame that Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash only recorded one duet. Same for Kathy Mattea and Tim O’Brien.
mvr
@burnspbesq: Yeah, Every Picture is really great through and through. The others of that era were really fine too. If he’d quit then I’d have been convinced that the guy had the best taste ever. But he didn’t quit. And I’m left to wonder how someone could show such good judgment and taste mixed with self-effacing humor for such a stretch and then spend the next thirty years trying to make you want to forget about that.
gbear
@burnspbesq:
Yes. Pretty much everything that Rod Stewart/The Faces did up to and including that album was great. Too bad Rod lost it when he became a celebrity instead of a singer.
mvr
@burnspbesq:
Damn, you’ve got some fine taste as well. Seven Year Ache made country music AM radio in the early 80s worth wading through. And the fact that one of the co-writers had written it about the other made it even more delicious.
PanAmerican
You know I’ve smoked a lot of grass
O’ Lord, I’ve popped a lot of pills
Hoyt wrote some great stuff.
Dee Loralei
@DougJ: Doug, I’m in Memphis, when are you coming? Wanne have a drink? I’m mostly harmless.
I had typed a longer post but WP eated it and I’m not gonna retype the whole thing. Just assume it was witty. And FYWP!
The gist is, Spain’s a gorgeous country, go visit.
And my new fav wine is a shiraz from Chocolate Box and Aussie wine. But it’s costlier than $10, but less than $25. It’s very smooth and clean tasting, but not as spicy as some Merlot’s or Cabs. The owner of the liquor store suggested it, he said his wife makes him bring home 2 bottles a week just for her. And he also recommended a blush the winery was Cafe. And my guests loved it. I usually don’t drink blush, but it was not at all sweet.
And back to the song, I was born in Oklahoma.
And yea, let’s have a drink one evening. I know Church Lady and I are not the only Memphians who comment here.
burnspbesq
@mvr:
If you like good duet singing, a great recent example is “The Golden State” from John Doe’s most recent album. He duets with Kathleen Edwards. There’s also a version floating around that is a duet between Eddie Vedder and one of the women from Sleater-Kinney.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: BTW don’t know her personally but WOOT on Cassie!
mvr
@burnspbesq: Thanks for the rec! I’ve liked John Doe’s other stuff.
Carrie
Can’t believe you’d mention 70’s music without acknowledging Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
Dude, seriously.
Anne Laurie
@DougJ: Mr. Bad Example should’ve been the national athem during the Cheney Regency.
Dee Loralei
Ohhh Mott The Hoople, man I still love that band. First concert I ever saw, Mott The Hoople opening for Uriah Heep, I think Black Oak Arkansas opened for Mott. That may be two different concerts, it was the 70’s man, hazy memories and stuff. I still have an album from MtH and UH.
Also DougJ, even if you don’t go into Graceland, yes it’s as tacky as the 70’s styles we all loothe, you still need to go sign the fence. Folks from all over the world write some of the sweetest, funniest things on that fence.
Only a few years ago I finally went on the Sun Studios tour and it is not to be missed. Man the history in that small building is immeasurable. It’s like fucking sacred ground man. I’ve been told the STAX museum is just as good. And the Gibson Guitar factory tour and museum is supposed to be great too. There’s also a rock and roll museum at the Fed Ex Forum that’s supposed to be cool as well. Memphis is like the Mecca and the Medina of American music. Sun and Stax are both still working studios. And Sun is the only recording studio on the Nat’l Historic Record.
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
Cassie is Texas Betsy’s niece. To those of us who have made the journey from FDL to TRex to Relaxed Politics to here, she’s like family. And she is an extraordinary young woman.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: Fair enough, thanks for the clarification good sir. In that case DOUBLE WOOT!!
burnspbesq
Horrible video, but great duet singing by Mary Chapin Carpenter and Joe Diffie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8bJVBt0Mz4
DougJ
@Dee Loralei:
Probably in the fall.
Linda Featheringill
To dougj:
Thank you for the generous helping of Elvis.
Life is hard but music is cool.
Tax Analyst
DougJ:
As noted much earlier the song referred to was written by the great and lamentably late Hoyt Axton.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
The Shiba Inu puppies are currently on a rampage
Tax Analyst
@Linkmeister:
Aha, well the also lamentably late John Stewart wrote a whole ton of songs with name references in them. He favored California cities and locations – the references are almost to numerous to name, but you can count Barstow, Pomona, San Leandro, Santa Barbara, L.A., San Francisco, the Truckee River of the ones I can remember off-hand.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Sounds like the Pentagon shooter was a right wing nut after all. Though Malkin is having none of it. From his 2006 Manifesto.
DougJ
@Tax Analyst:
Ever heard the Robert Klein classic “The Bronx Is Beautiful”?
Tax Analyst
@DougJ:
Agreed, DougJ – On top of the ones you mentioned you’ve also got you can toss in Santana’s “Abraxas”, Dave Mason’s “Alone Together”, Spirit’s “12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, Elton John’s “Tumbleweed Connection, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”, Steely Dan’s “Can’t Buy a Thrill” just to name a few from the 70’s (mostly early 70’s). There are tons more of them, too – these are just a few of my favs that came to mind.
MikeJ
@Tax Analyst: Don’t forget #1 Record, and the rest of the Big Star canon.
Dee Loralei
@MikeJ: Big Star also from Memphis!
MikeJ
@Dee Loralei: Many of us are, and many of us had the sense to leave.
BTW, any other Seattleites going to the Posies show at the newly reopened Crocodile?
Tax Analyst
@DougJ:
Actually, no. He must have been under my somewhat stuperous radar settings at the time.
I’ll look him up at the allmusic.com site.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention Steve Stills “Manassas” double-album, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”, Dave Mason’s “Alone Together”…ok, I guess I should stop now.
Dee Loralei
@MikeJ: Dude I left Oklahoma and Buffalo, NY to get to Memphis. You may have had the good sense to leave here, but hell, for me it was clawing upwards to land in this place. Ya know?
PanAmerican
Hoyt’s mom Mae Boren (yes, those Borens) co-wrote Heartbreak Hotel, introduced Elvis to the Colonel and talked RCA into signing him. He was also a cousin to Arlo Guthrie.
Priscilla did a rehab on Graceland early eighties-ish. As funky as it is now it was trailer trash heaven before that.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
I would submit The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East (1971).
Yutsano
I figured as much. No less than TEN covers at least on YouTube. Even one by (I’m not making this up) HANSON. And the funniest part is the Hanson rendition isn’t really all that atrocious.
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Side 1 is epic. “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” is fine. Other than that, too much aimless noodling on simple blues changes.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
LOL! “Aimless noodling” hit a nerve. I had a friend whose go-to criticism of almost every jazz album I liked was “excessive noodling.” Coltrane–excessive noodling. Ahmad Jamal–excessive noodling. Bitches Brew would have gotten an excessive noodling with a side of jangling.
“In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” is my favorite Allman song. Have actually visited her grave in the Macon cemetery where Duane Allman and Berry Oakley are buried. Duane’s grave is impressive: a full-length stone slab with a guitar carved in it.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Twin Sons of Different Mothers is a minor classic. Great cover of the Hollies’ “Tell Me to My Face.”
petorado
Tres Picos Garnacha – under $10 and seriously good.
Santa Julia Torrontes is great if you’re in the mood for Spanish whites
W.L. Weller whiskey – 7 years old and very sippable. Probably the best deal in whiskey out there, thought it is getting more expensive.
2th&nayle
@Steeplejack: That’s funny. Last time I was in Savannah, I drove up to Statesboro just so I could have my picture taken leaned against the city limit sign. I always thought the Allman Brothers album, “Win, Lose, or Draw” was badly overlooked. The cover of “Can’t Lose What You Never Had”, and Dickie Betts’ 15 minute version of “High Falls” are both favorites of mine.
thatmichaelguy
So sorry to jump in here but I saw an early topic of good inexpensive wines and living in Washington state I can say first hand Washington wines are inexpensive, local and are quality appelations. We all love the California wine for getting us going and nows’ time the rest of the West Coast vine growing winos stand with them. Cheers!
thatmichaelguy
Steeplejack
@2th&nayle:
I need to bolster my Allman collection. Realized during this thread that I currently have nothing. Horrors. (Lost all my CDs a few years back and have not replaced very many.) Fillmore East wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
Win, Lose or Draw was uneven, but it had some gems on it. Love “High Falls.”
Yutsano
@thatmichaelguy: I suppose I should mention that I live with 50 miles of over 500 different wineries. And the vast majority of what you can get here is nothing short of amazing. They just tend to lean more towards the French grapes, and my tastes tend to run towards the Italian wines.
Edoc
@Tattoosydney
Thanks for correcting my Touriga mistake, and the Portuguese wine recommendations. The selection where I live (NE US) is somewhat limited, but I’ll definitely keep my eyes open for the wines you mentioned.
master c
Hoyt Axton!
Elvis did pick some great songs….He was so close to redemption in
68…..My brother brought over the 3 dvd set of the comeback special
with outtakes last night. We watched him do “Guitar Man” 12 different times and he was working so hard and lookin SO good….
If only he could have stayed on that path.
JoeC
Hi DougJ,
I will catch the stupid song reference, since “Never Been to Spain” by Three Dog Night was the first 45 rpm single I ever bought. RIP, Hoyt Axton.
JoeC
Hypnos
How are Italian wines priced in the USA? You can’t find any good ones below $10?
I lived a while in Spain and didn’t much like the wine there – and I visited Rioja as well.
Apparently, Spanish wines are generally aged in specific casks – called barriques – to give them an added flavour. Italian wine makers say they do it because the wood aroma hides the fact that the grapes don’t make such good wine. However, they seem to meet the New World’s wine taste, and most wines in California, Chile and Australia are aged the same way.
It seems Spanish wine exports are growing rapidly and taking market share from Italy’s, so that might explain the grudge.
Sangiovese is Italy’s widest grown grape variety – it’s used to make Chianti, among others.
Kevin
Sail Away, by Randy Newman. The song “Political Science” pretty much sums up the Republican world-view.
Tapestry, by Carole King.
Side One of the first Blue Oyster Cult album…every song a masterpiece.
10cc’s first two albums.
Ken
Thanks for the tips on wine, Doug.
Never been to Spain? Can’t go w/o Three Dog Night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lr0hV0CSzo&feature=fvw
2th&nayle
@Steeplejack: I agree that “W, L, or D” was less than a classic, but it definitely has a couple of gems. Besides the songs I’ve already mentioned, I’m also particularly fond of the title cut. Gregg definitely nailed the forloined feeling of being locked up and forsaken. Don’t know if your into complilation albums but I recently procured the double CD “Standback: The Anthology” from ’04. If you’re plumb out of AB’s music, I can recommend it as a restarter kit.
Sarah in Brooklyn
just this morning i bought at $10 bottle of Reisling, and finished Peter Guarlnick’s Elvis bio. so i thought i ought to say something in this thread.
Steeplejack
@2th&nayle:
Thanks for the tip. I was thinking an anthology might be a quick way to revitalize, and I know there are a ton of them out there. Will check out the one you mentioned.
2th&nayle
@Sarah in Brooklyn: Thank ya! Thank ya very much!
Smedley
@Yutsano:
Retsina??
waylon
thor is good too. don’t forget about thor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHxOi2ntKaU
and blondie. they’re a good 70’s band.
Yutsano
@Smedley: It wasn’t retsina, even though I had the wine at a Greek restaurant (the ironies sometimes write themselves, but I digress) and they offered a few. I know the grape was one I had never heard of before and was very peppery and tannic.
Phoebe
Loving that version is very right.
worn
@Steeplejack: I believe it was Charles Mingus who stated that most musicians, when improvising, don’t have a lot to say after taking a run through one full chorus. Coming from someone who has a real soft spot for “spontaneous composition” I think the more interesting question is which musicians do?
Right out of the starting gate I would nominate both Rheinhardt & Grappelli, both of whom never seemed to be treading water – even for a half bar – when improvising. In fact, every time I listen to Stéphane (for there are a lot more post-Hot Club recordings of him in existence) I amazed at how lyrical is his playing, so much so that his lines could so often constitute new song melodies all by themselves.
Steeplejack
@worn:
Django is one of my favorite guitarists, and his recordings with Grappelli are great. That leads me to Wes Montgomery, another of my favorite guitarists. Very different style, but I never get tired of listening to him–both the early Wes and the later, “commercial” Wes.
Edit: Also like saxophonist Booker Ervin, who played with Mingus and also did some great stuff on his own. Tex Book Tenor is a good album.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Replying to a comment of mine that dropped into moderation hell. WTF?! Cannot see the reason at all. FYWP.
Chris Andersen
Oh! My! God!
This has to be one of the weirdest cases of Serendipity I’ve ever had. I was just in my car listening to some music I just got on my iPod. Some of the songs were by Three Dog Night. As I was driving into the driveway, their version of this song was playing. I hadn’t heard it in years. I come in the door. Fire up the laptop and this is the first thing I see as I go on the web!!!