Quick Saturday entry.  As I continue to fiddle with my new 6-string bass (actually it was slightly used), I have just discovered that three of bassdom's heaviest hitters - Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten - recorded an album called Thunder last year under the name SMV.  That's pretty much a bass player eargasm right there.

The title cut is on Der Tube von Du.  Have at it.

Hear "Thunder" on YouTube.

Man, I hope I get this entry in.  Our Intarweb connection is seriously wonky right now.  They said it's because of a recent lightning storm.  I have my doubts.  That just sounds like a convenient excuse.  In any case, it's been a while since I've posted a segment from a film score.  Other than my Star Wars week, I don't think I've posted any at all.  That seems odd, seeing as how I love movie scores.  So here's a piece from one of my very favorites.

Chicken Run (2000) is a stop-motion animated film made by those who brought you Wallace and Gromit.  Wonderful, wonderful piece of celluloid.  Sod those who say you can't make a G-rated film appeal to adults.  That's crazy talk.  I mean, there are about a million classic film references in this thing that the 5-year-olds just aren't gonna get.

In addition, the Harry Gregson-Williams/John Powell score is simply fantabulous.  I believe one reason I enjoy it so is that I hear an awful lot of Holst in it.  Which makes sense, seeing as how this is a British film.  It just does what all great movie music does:  it manipulates pretty much every emotion there is, it's not overly derivative or generic, and every note works within the context of the film.

And "The Chickens Are Revolting" is nothing short of goosebump-worthy.

Hear "The Chickens Are Revolting" on YouTube.

Much like yesterday, I wanted to post a particular group for the first time.  In this instance, I had a little help - William posted a song from the Gipsy Kings earlier today.  After that, my choice for today became obvious, because the Gipsy Kings are teh aWesomeZorZ.

I can't hear a piece like this without thinking of the guitar classes I used to take with Juan Serrano.  It's true, arguably the greatest flamenco guitarist who has ever lived taught at my university, and I had about 2 or 3 whole years worth of his classes.  Great teacher and one of the all time great guys.  He could humble the hell out of you as well.  One time before class I was messing around with some simple tapping type stuff, you know, where you fret a note with your left index finger and do the hammer-on/pull-off dealie with your left ring finger and your right middle finger.  Remember the intro to "Am I Evil?"  Right, like that.  Well, Juan comes in, sees what I'm doing, comes over, takes my guitar and does exactly the same thing - with his left hand alone.  He was doing the hammers and pulls with his left ring and pinky fingers.  It takes an insane amount of chops to, quite literally, pull that off.  He hands me back the guitar and I'm sitting there wondering why I'm even sitting there.

I ended up feeling kinda bad because there came a time where I was really engrossed in my other studies (and playing Metallica songs on a cheap bass) and my guitar playing wasn't progressing like it should have.  Midway through one semester I was tested on a "farruca", which is a Spanish dance.  It was a bit advanced for me at the time, but I was being bold and brave - and absolutely butchered it.  Towards the end of the semester, I was considerably less brave and tried the farruca again - and butchered it even worse.  I felt like he deserved better and that I was just wasting his time.

After graduation I pretty much put the nylon string guitar away for good.  Never became a flamenco or classical-type player, but the classes ended up being a big help when I tried to learn songs like "Dust in the Wind", "Blackbird" and "Classical Gas."  Before Juan Serrano, I don't think I had ever fingerpicked a guitar in my life, but playing those songs seemed pretty natural after taking his classes.  Those lessons helped my bass playing as well, I think I'd strictly be a pick bassist otherwise.  But I can finger a simple bass line fairly easily if I think the song calls for it.

I think he lives in Florida now.  Wherever you are, Juan, this one's for you.

Watch the video for "Bamboleo" on YouTube.

Wikipedia article on Juan Serrano

Today's goal was to post something from an artist I had never featured before.  That's been pretty difficult as of late, this thing seems to be getting more and more redundant by the week.  I knew this would happen eventually, that I would essentially run out of bands.  Good gravy, I've posted 15 Weird Al songs?  That seems like a lot for a blog that been in existence for less than two years.  I gotta tell you, it was a bit of a struggle.  I guess my exposure to the musical universe isn't that broad after all.  Then out of nowhere, I just happened to remember Tonio K.  Ah, another blog day in the can.

Tonio K (aka Steve Krikorian) came to modest prominence in the late 70s/early 80s as sort of a new wavey rocker in the Elvis Costello mold.  So, that ought to clue you in as to why I know about him.  Since then he's had a respectable career as a songwriter for more established performers.

Plus, he happens to be from my neck of the woods.  His cousin, Sharon Krikorian, was my 8th grade science teacher.  There was a huge Tonio K poster in her classroom.

Hear "The Funky Western Civilization" on YouTube.

Wikipedia article on Tonio K

I was a pretty big Peppers fan at one point.  As I've said here before, their Uplift Mofo Party Plan and Mother's Milk albums are big favorites.  They were favorites even back in 1991, when Blood Sugar Sex Magik came out.  Yeah, the one that really broke them as a band.  It had  "Under the Bridge" (meh), "Give It Away" (double meh) and "Breaking the Girl" (liked that one more).  Everyone else went nuts for that record, but honestly, I liked about half of it.  Some of the songs were pretty awful.

Then axeman John Frusciante left, and Dave Navarro came in.  Oh no, a band member switch!  That can so often be disastrous.  But surprisingly, I really liked the succeeding release, 1995's One Hot Minute.  I thought it had a great sound and Navarro was particularly good on it.  I'm like OK, I'm a Peppers fan again.  Then Frusciante got around to putting down the damned needle, rejoining the band and releasing Californication in 1999.  Guess what?  I hated that record.  Abruptly, I was essentially done buying RHCP music.

Then By the Way came out in 2002, and I heard it's title track.  I thought it had a significant rockingness factor, as well as a significant whininess factor.  But you know what?  I think the former outweighs the latter to the point where I really dig the song.  So here it is, one of the few (if any) recent Chili Peppers songs I will post.

Watch the video for "By the Way" on MySpace.  There are craploads of covers, remixes and live renditions of this song on YouTube, but the studio version is not to be found there.  Then it dawned on me - RHCP is signed to Warner.  Duh.

And another Memorial Day is upon us.  Don't know of any songs that deal directly with this holiday (read:  I'm too lazy to look for one, plus I have no desire to post anything lame like "God Bless the USA"), so here is a Big Country song about a similar one observed in many countries throughout the world.

Sure, sleeping in and having barbecues and such is nice.  But let's not forget (no, I'm not gonna post something putrid like "Have You Forgotten" either) why this day exists in the first place.

YouTube live performance of "Remembrance Day"

Great, great old Peter Gabriel song.  This one comes from the first of his several self-titled albums, released in 1977 and commonly referred to as "Car."  In all honesty, I've never been really keen on this business of eponymous album titles.  I figure you should just give your freaking record a name so we don't have to make one up.

Anyway, back to the point.  A very moving song, with some very inspired live performances.  I am including a link to one here, along with the studio version.

When I cut my first record, it will be self-titled, with a picture of a Polaroid on the cover.  People will come to call it the "Photo Album."

YouTube fanvid for "Here Comes the Flood"

Live performance from the Growing Up Live concert DVD

One of my absolute favorite Primus songs, also played with a 6-string bass.  Les Claypool has about a zillion basses, it makes sense that at least one or two of them would have six strings.  Hell, one of them even has one string.  That's just the kind of cat he is.

Watch the video for "DMV" on YouTube.