Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

Song of the Day: “If a Song Could Be President”

vote here As our U.S. readers go to the polls, listen to one of the more hopeful songs about presidents, “If a Song Could Be President.”  The Ohio band Over the Rhine featured the song on their album, The Trumpet Child (2007).

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist of Over the Rhine were inspired to write “If a Song Could Be President” after receiving an invitation to visit the White House in 2005.  The band accepted the invitation even though they disagreed with policies of President George W. Bush’s administration.

But, as they later wrote on Huffington Post, “we soon realized that what was so often missing from the current political climate in America were opportunities for folks who might have differing ideas to sit down face to face and actually engage in real conversation.”

Detweiler and Bergquist came away from the White House visit thinking about how “American music is one of the last remaining communal enterprises in this country. Music and songwriting still have the potential to bring incredibly diverse people together.”

They took the experience and put together a song that brought together a beautiful mix of American music.  They came up with a dream wondering what it would be like if a song could be president. Check out “If a Song Could Be President.”

If a song could be president,
We’d fly a jukebox to the moon;
All our founding fathers’ 45’s,
Lightnin’ Hopkins and Patsy Cline,
If a song could be president.

Happy election day.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Buy from Amazon

    The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris

    Emmylou Harris Tribute

    On January 10, 2015, a group of great performers came together at Washington, DC’s DAR Constitution Hall to honor Emmylou Harris. To celebrate Harris’s work, Rounder is releasing DVD and CD versions of The Life & Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration, created and produced by Blackbird Presents.

    The performers on the DVD and CD feature many of my favorite artists. The package includes music by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Vince Gill, Patty Griffin, Chris Hillman, Iron & Wine, Alison Krauss, Kris Kristofferson, Daniel Lanois, Martina McBride, Buddy Miller, Conor Oberst, Mavis Staples, Sara Watkins, Lee Ann Womack, and Lucinda Williams.

    Of course, the celebration would not be complete without Emmylou Harris. She performs “Boulder to Birmingham,” a song she co-wrote about Gram Parsons after he passed away. The song originally appeared on Harris’s 1975 album Pieces of the Sky.

    Below, Harris performs “Boulder to Birmingham” at the celebration concert with a little help from her friends. She begins singing the song alone before the others join her onstage. It is not much of a stretch to see the symbolism in the arrangement, considering how Harris must have felt so alone after Parson’s death. But her fans and colleagues, who in many ways are children of Gram Parsons, remind her that she is not alone. It is a beautiful song, and this performance is a nice arrangement.

    The Life & Songs Of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration will be released in various forms on November 11, 2016.

    What is your favorite Emmylou Harris song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “La La Land” Trailer Brings Back the Musical

    Musical Ryan Gosling
    One of the upcoming movies that has received a lot of buzz is La La Land. The movie is directed by Whiplash (2014) director Damien Chazelle and stars Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, and John Legend. Oh, and it is a musical.

    Featuring two of our current era’s most charming actors, La La Land follows the struggles of aspiring actress Mia (Stone) and jazz musician Sebastian (Gosling), both working to survive in modern day Los Angeles. Critics have already been singing their praises of the movie, which also won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    Check out the new trailer for La La Land.

    La La Land hits theaters on December 16, 2016.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Lydia Loveless: “Heaven”

    Heaven

    Today’s song of the day is Lydia Loveless’s “Heaven.”  Sometimes classified as alt-country, the Ohio-born young singer-songwriter has been releasing great music since 2010 that crosses borders around country, rock, and punk rock.

    I detect some Lone Justice-era Maria McKee with a little Natalie Merchant in Loveless’s music. But either way, as AllMusic notes, “At her best, she’s quite simply as good and as brave a singer and songwriter as anyone working today.”

    Loveless’s most recent album is Real, released in August 2016.  Currently, Blend is featuring a remix contest for listeners to remix Loveless’s song “Heaven” from Real.  For more information on the contest, head over to Blend’s website.

    Even if you are not up for the remixing challenge, though, you should listen to the heartbreaking lyrics accompanied by Loveless’s wonderful voice on “Heaven.”  Below,  she performs the song acoustically live at White Water Tavern in Little Rock, Arkansas.

    I thought I would be okay,
    But everything just happens;
    Everything is an accident, man;
    No one goes to heaven,
    No one goes to heaven.

    For more on Loveless, check out the documentary by filmmaker Gorman Bechard called Who is Lydia Loveless? The movie was released in April 2016.

    What is your favorite Lydia Loveless song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “The Last Hurrah” Short Film Captures the Spirit of Film Noir

    Film Noir Short

    K. Patrick Tutera‘s short film The Last Hurrah is a charming homage to film noir and an entertaining story in its own right.  The movie effectively tells an engaging tale through two characters with a past, spinning a narrative worthy of classic film noir movies.

    The movie clocks in at less than 18 minutes, but in that time Tutera tells a tight well-paced story that never feels rushed. Every shot is effective, beginning with the credits that quickly establishes the movie’s film noir pedigree.  The Last Hurrah‘s opening credits are accompanied by scenes that appear out of old film noir movies, such as shots of a winding road along the California coast and cars from the 1940s on city streets.

    Noir Short Quotes from William Faulkner and Picasso then appear on the screen, highlighting themes we will encounter. And a newsreel voice-over helps complete the setting. The short piece of news effectively confirms the time period as around the end of World War II. Thus, the astute viewer immediately knows The Last Hurrah is set in the same era as many classic film noir movies.

    The camera then follows a woman and a man to an apartment.  We see that Petra (Aleksandra Vujcic) and Samuel (Michael Bronte) are carrying bags that we soon discover contain money.

    The images are beautifully shot as the two climb the stairs and go to an apartment. Director of Photography Philip Hurn did an excellent job throughout the movie.

    Thus, before any conversation begins, the viewer recognizes the film noir setting. The black and white images combined with the sound of the rain evoke film noir so well that a vase on a mantle made me look twice to make sure it was not a maltese falcon statue.

    Almost all of the rest of the film occurs inside the apartment.  We learn how Petra and Samuel obtained their money, and, more importantly, we begin to learn about the past between the two characters.

    Noir Short To say more about the plot and what happens to Petra and Samuel would ruin the story.  But the filmmakers do an excellent job creating a short story in one setting through conversation, styles, images, and sounds reminiscent of film noir. And veteran actors Vujcic and Bronte also do a great job effectively capturing the appropriate mood.

    The entire movie, including the ending, makes viewers feel they are watching a movie from the classic film noir era. Even the music, with an outstanding score by composer David Frank, is perfect for the movie.

    Tutera directed and wrote the screenplay for The Last Hurrah, a film that was funded through a Kickstarter campaign. The ultimate result reveals how the fundraising platform can be used to create quality work.

    Watch for The Last Hurrah on the festival circuit to see an excellent short movie that takes you back to the time when Hollywood created beautiful film noir films.  Also, keep an eye out for the future work of K. Patrick Tutera.

    The Last Hurrah premieres on Saturday, December 10, 2016 at the Film Noir Festival in Albert, France.

    Leave your two cents in the comments.

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