The Thing About Things

The internet does weird things to me.

A few weeks ago, Amanda Palmer put up a sound only recording of a brand new song on her bandcamp website, I think it was.  She'd performed it for the first time at a live concert and someone there had recorded it, possibly on a cell phone, and made the recording available to her.

As you might imagine, that recording wasn't all that great.  Hardly ideal circumstances for such a thing.

But the song... the song grabbed me.  It's titled The Thing About Things.

Without specialized software it wasn't even downloadable... you could only listen to it on the website.  I really liked it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, maybe even a month.  I find out that now she's made it downloadable.  And that she has recorded - but not yet released - a better version of it in a studio.  I downloaded the concert version, and am waiting for the song to appear somewhere that I can actually get a good version, for which I will happily give her money.

Fast forward some more.  Today, on Amanda's blog - which is in my RSS reader - I see a new post.  It's the text of a speech she gave about writing.  She gave the speech after a poem she dashed off after the Boston bombing horror caused a kerfluffle, and I'd already watched the speech elsewhere.  It's quite good, and a reminder to me to keep creating, and that there are a lot of people in the world who judge without understanding.  Here's a link to it.  If you're an artist or creator of any sort, you really should watch it: http://vimeo.com/65681037.

Anyway, as I'd already watched - and been moved by - that speech, I just skimmed the blog post. But down at the bottom I found a link to a post by someone who runs Grub Street, which is the writer's organization that Amanda was speaking too.  Amanda said it was a good post, so I read it too.  And it was.  The author talks about some points Amanda raised - about how writers feel validated and who decides what you're doing is worthwhile.  Good stuff.  Chase that link too.

Now, in that post, there was an embedded video of Amanda playing her Ukulele Song, which is very funny, and worth a listen too.  I've heard it before, several times, and figured I'd listen again.  And it was worth it.  Again, chase the link.

Are you getting how my morning was going yet?

Anyway, the Ukulele song finished up and Vimeo handed me a list of other videos I might be interested in, and there was a link to Amanda playing The Thing About Things.  The first version I heard was Amanda and her piano, and despite being a bad recording it brought tears to my eyes.  This recording is Amanda and her ukulele, and once again, I cried.  It's a much better recording of the song, and she sings it with passion, which is her trademark in my mind.

And so, in my meandering way, with lots of diversions, here, finally, is the point of this blog post: Amanda Palmer's The Thing About Things, performed live at Grub Street in Boston.

May it bring you joy, and maybe a few tears as you remember someone, somewhere.

Peace.

Edit 6/25/13 - corrected the link to The Thing About Things... Not sure how it was wrong unless Vimeo changed it on me.

One From The Collection - Kaki King

The other day I posted a link to a performance of Comfortably Numb from Roger Waters's tour of The Wall to my G+ stream. That got me thinking about writing more posts about music I like.  In fact the thought kept me awake for a while, plotting what I might write about.

I'm not going to re-post that video here.  Please chase the G+ link above if you are curious about it (and you should be... it was a historic occasion, and the song is amazing).  Instead I am going to post something else I like.

---

Here I introduce you to Kaki King.  I think I heard about her some years back on NPR, but I am not sure of that.  Regardless, her work is amazing, and she is an astoundingly talented artist.

She's justifiably famous for her guitar playing, and there really is nothing to do but to listen to her playing something all by herself on an acoustic guitar to understand it.  She has an amazing style.  I guess you would call it finger percussion, but she plays the fretboard from above or below as needed, and she slaps, taps, and otherwise uses the body of the guitar as a percussive instrument.  Her style is generally upbeat and her first couple of albums were just about all instrumental songs.  YouTube can show you many of her works and give you a good idea of how she plays.

Her later work has included electric guitar, drums, and vocals, and I have enjoyed that just as much as her acoustic stuff.  The song I link to below is from her 2010 album, Junior, and while it is an instrumental, she performs it on an electric guitar.  It is titled My Nerves That Committed Suicide.

The gentle opening shows only a bit of her amazing skills, and avoids all the fret board flash that she is justifiably known for.  The song builds, though, and it gets loud.  It's simple, but powerful, and I really like it.

Here's a link to the original album version that I found on YouTube.

It turns out that she plays with this song a fair bit in concert, though.  Here's a link to two tracks: Doing The Wrong Thing  and  My Nerves That Committed Suicide, performed at Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC 4/30/10.  As with many amateur concert videos the audio quality isn't stellar, but you definitely get an idea of how she performs this one live, as well as the energy she puts out on stage.

Kaki King has several albums out and she is in the process of producing another one even as I write this.   I encourage you to listen to her work and see if it is your thing.  If so, please support the artist and buy the songs in some way.  I'm old fashioned and want the CDs in my hands, but you can buy from whatever source works best for you.  Just so the artist gets some support and can make more music.

Finally, please leave a comment here and let me know if more posts like this would interest you or not. Thanks!