Your Old CD's Can Help Autism Research

@RosanneCash brought to my attention CD Sweep.  According to Billboard Biz, CD Sweep founder Jason Roth got an idea from iPodmeister, which sends you an iPod, iPhone, etc in return for your old CD's.  His son was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome last year, leading Roth to come up with idea to donate the proceeds of old CD's to The Autism Science Foundation, which conducts innovative autism research and supports the needs of people with autism and their families.

It's almost too simple.  You let CD Sweep know how many CD's you want to send them.  They send you a prepaid Fed Ex shipping label.  He's the cherry on the sundae: they will also digitized your CD's and send them back on a DVD as MP3s for free.  Whew.  What a wonderful idea come to life.  Start packing up those old CD's this weekend.

Sound Bouncing Everywhere

Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal Performing Seventh Avenue

Last night's show, The Bottom Line Presents:  New York On My Mind, was moved from an outdoor show at Rockefeller Park to the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center (it rained), which was unfortunate.  It's a glass enclosed atrium with ceilings reaching to the sky.  Sound bounced everywhere.  Mojo Mancini was the house band.  Their dark (what other kind should there be?) arrangement of Summer In The City somehow cut through the acoustically challenged room.  I loved it.

Performers included Bottom Line staples: Garland Jeffreys, Christine Lavin, Willie Nile and Loudon Wainwright III.  I only saw Rosanne Cash at the Bottom Line once (it was a wonderful songwriters in the round night with the very talented Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter).  She too was a part of the evening and fully played out the New York theme by performing her own Seventh Avenue with John Leventhal on guitar and brought the band out to sing The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy).

Pete Fornatale hosted and Vin Scelsa read Walt Whitman (inaudible in the atrium).  At any given time, there was at least one DJ from WNEW-FM at the Bottom Line.  

My friend Sean and I left after Rosanne.  We had been there for over an hour at that point and couldn't deal with the cacophony. The show was intimate and should have been in an intimate venue.  Unfortunately the rain can't be stopped in NYC.

Oh my god. Who let me out of the house?

This exclaimed Rosanne Cash after finding some publicity photos of herself at age 20, 21.  At the time she was promoting her first record which initially came out in Germany.  Read full tweet.

I think we've all had that moment.   I look back on photos from 6th, 7th, 8th grade where my hair was all over the place or pulled back in a pony tail. It looks awful. I once asked my mother why she didn't insist on cutting my hair.  Her response, "I had to pick my fights."  

Here is the cover of Rosanne's first record.  She looks pretty amazing.  She's giving Linda Ronstadt a run for her money.

More About Ms Taylor

This just reaffirms what I was writing about yesterday.

Martha Frankel's piece in the Huffington Post describes an enchanting encounter with Elizabeth Taylor that should have never happened. 

Rosanne Cash on Twitter mentions that Ms Taylor sent a birthday telegram to her Dad every year on his birthday. 

The Pain In Living: Colbert, Kennedy and Cash

Stephen Colbert was a guest on The View today.  He was promoting the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.   Stephen questioned Barbara Walters on why he has never been one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year.  I think he convinced her by the end of his segment that he was fascinating.  He spoke about his father and two brothers dying in a plane crash when he was 10 years old (he's the youngest of 11 children) and how his mother was able to carry on with nine kids.  She told him, "If you can accept your suffering, you can understand other people's pain." What an impact that statement has. 



Ironically, Maria Shriver, who was the guest host on this episode of The View said basically the same thing about her uncle Ted Kennedy on Meet the Press,  He was the most compassionate,
empathetic man. And I think he was that way because he himself was wounded and he himself knew pain, he himself knew struggle, he knew abandonment. He knew all of the things that pain a human being. And so when he saw other human beings in pain, or where their character was questioned or where they had loss, he was always the first person to reach out. And nobody does that who hasn't felt that way themselves.  But this was a man, you know, who had fought a lot, who had struggled a lot, who had been through a lot, and he understood when other people also went through a lot.

Rosanne Cash's memoir Composed takes this full circle.  Her autobiography is filled with pain and suffering.  Losing four family members in a short period of time is traumatic, add to that brain surgery.  It gave her a different perspective on her life, but also revealed how it affected those around her.  She relays very touching moments on how her surgery impacted both her husband and young son.  I worked with Rosanne for 8 years and I've always known her to be both generous, understanding and open.  She is a rare songwriter who is able to convey reality in her songs, which are loosely biographical and always connect on a human level. 

Rosanne clearly states her disdain for her album Rhythm and Romance. It took one year to make.  She explains in her book, "At the end of that torturous year of recording, rerecording, mixing and remixing in three cities, with three producers, one executive producer and a lot of fighting, I found that I was suffering from a bizarre kind of trauma."  "I hated the process, I hated the record, I hated Eli Ball (her A and R man) and I did not even want to think about promotion and touring for the record, which for me had become nothing but a painful memory."   I love this record. It shows progression as a song writer.   The album is so easy to relate to.  She wrote I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me? after being nominated for a Grammy and losing.  The irony is she won the next year for this song.  I can't think of any female I know who can't relate to the following scenario she portrays:

It's the right time you know I feel fine tonight (I don't why you don't want me)
It's the right place I've got my new face tonight (I don't why you don't want me)
I'm in the right mind I've got my new shoes tonight (I don't why you don't want me)
I've got a new dress I couldn't care less tonight (I don't why you don't want me)

Second to No One is an emotional roller coaster,  one only Rosanne can put to music.

I don't know if this can last forever/ Cause I don't know what I can stand
I can love you like a man should be loved/ But I can't love half a man

Fast forward to her Rules of Travel album and the song September When It Comes.  The lyrics reflect a more mature view, but no less revealing. 

I cannot move a mountain now/ I can no longer run
I cannot be who I was then/ In a way,  I never was

Pain brings us closer to our own humanity, closer to the humanity of others. 

The Stones Exile in France

Ethan Russell has been photographing musicians since the late 1960's.  He followed the Stones for a few years and these photos, along with photos by Dominque Tarle are part of a new exhibit ("Soul Survivors" at La Galerie de L'Instant in Paris) and are included in the documentary film, Stones in Exile, which is available on DVD.  Ethan speaks very eloquently about The Rolling Stones in his Huffington Post piece.   I met Ethan at a Rosanne Cash photo shoot many years ago.

To quote him,  To this day -- especially this day -- I get irritated with photographs that scream (the photographer's head peaking out from behind) "Look At Me! Look at Me!" The value I believe that both Dominque and I were lucky enough to deliver is the experience of letting the viewer be there. 

His photos let the viewer feel like they are peering through a hole in the wall.  Ethan, much like Rosanne Cash is an artist who writes very poetically.  You want to read more. He's let you in on his secret. 

Rosanne Cash Composed At Barnes and Noble

When I was working in management, I was in awe of two of artists I worked with. I would accompany them on a press day, which essentially meant traveling from interview to interview to performance.    After a day of being asked, mostly the same questions, they were still so eloquent and interesting. They could take a mundane question and transform the answer into not only great sound bites, but also captivating answers.  Both of these artists are artists in the true sense of the word:  they write and perform music (their mainstay), they write prose and essays, they paint.  They are culturally well rounded. They are Louie Perez and Rosanne Cash.  Both have put out new material in the past two weeks.  Louie’s band Los Lobos released Tin Can Trust last week and Rosanne Cash released her memoir Composed yesterday.

 

Rosanne was at Barnes & Noble yesterday as part of their series Upstairs at the Square.  In an interview she talked about the difference between writing music (she uses poetic license) and writing a memoir (it has to be her “truth”).  She read an excerpt from her book about getting an assignment in the seventh grade to write a piece on metaphor and it excited her.  At the time she was writing music for The Wheel, her mother sent her a folder of her artwork and writings from her school days.  In it was this essay on metaphors in which she wrote the line The lonely road is a body guard, which made it’s way into the song Sleeping In Paris, which appears on The Wheel.  She always wanted to be a writer and then she wanted to be a songwriter, not necessarily a performer.  Her love of performing live came later. 

According to Rosanne, the book is organized thematically.  One recollection let to another in ways she wouldn’t have connected the events had she not been writing a memoir.  She talked about The List her father made for her of the 100 essential American songs she should know. This became the inspiration for her latest record The List. Her daughter Chelsea Crowell, a musician, asked her mom to make her a list. Rosanne said she’s still working on it’s as it’s a big responsibility. 

The icing on the cake of an enlightening evening was her performance of Seven Year Ache and two from The List which she performed with the accomplished musician/producer John Leventhal :  Sea of Heartbreak and Girl From the North Country. 

I’m looking forward to starting her book today.  She has an amazing command of the English language and I’m sure this book is sheer poetry.

 

Rosanne Cash Composed

Rosanne Cash is an artistic treasure.  She's an accomplished singer/songwriter. She has tackled the book publishing world with a few titles to her credit. She's also written insightful pieces for the NY Times' Measure For Measure blog.  August 10th she releases Composed, her autobiography.  If you are in NY this Tuesday, the 10th, go see her at Barnes & Noble at Union Square.  (sorry B&N, but you don't have a associates program that I'm aware of).  She'll be interviewed and perform a few songs.  Whether you are familiar with her music or not, make it a point to go.  It will be an enlightening evening.

Celebrating Johnny Cash

It's all Johnny Cash week.

He would have been 78 today. There's a Wear Black For Johnny Campaign in honor of his birthday.

His latest record American VI: Ain't No Grave was released earlier this week. It was produced by Rick Rubin.

Retired real estate agent Louie Sulcer 71, of Woodstock, Ga., won Apple's iTunes Countdown to 10 Billion Songs contest. He purchased Johnny Cash's 1957 single "Guess Things Happen That Way", which is the 10 billionth song downloaded from iTunes. He was rewarded with a a $10,000 iTunes gift card. The L Magazine reported he also received phone calls from Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Johnny's daughter, singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash, who had her guitarist husband, John Leventhal play the song for Sulcer over the phone.

The Greatest Female Guitarists

Elle magazine is celebrating the 12 Greatest Female Guitarists. The recently release documentary It Might Get Loud focuses on the guitar work of Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White. Obviously missing from this film is a female contributor, so Elle come in.
The list varies from Joan Jett, to ex-band mate Lita Ford to Nancy Wilson. New comers such as Orianthi are mentioned. She was slated to tour with Michael Jackson. I saw her perform with Carrie Underwood at Madison Square Garden and she stole the show from Carrie.

Being that I own a Gibson SG, it was interesting that so many of these women are shown performing with the SG. I've worked with a lot of women and most of them are very self depreciating when it comes to their guitar skills. They shouldn't be. They all add so much to music. Note: Rosanne Cash, Brandi Shearer, Gabby Glaser and Jill Cunniff.

Activism In Country Music

John Rich, the country singer was a big supporter of John McCain in last year's presidential campaign. This year he wrote a topical song, "Shuttin’ Detroit Down" (he has is posted on his myspace page) and rushed to include it in his recent offering, "Son Of A Preacher Man." The NY Times points out that country music is an unlikely genre for activism. I would tend to disagree. Having worked with Steve Earle and other alternative country musicians such as Rosanne Cash (listen to "Rosie Strikes Back"), they consistently wrote about the ills of society and made people aware of these circumstances.

John Rich writes

I see all these big shots whining on my evening news
About how they’re losing billions and it’s up to me and you
To come running to
The rescue

I think a good chuck of this country can relate to these lyrics, whether you're a country music fan or not.

Rosanne Cash's 1993 Inauguration Story

In the NY Times.

John Rich Claims to Know What Johnny Cash Would Do

Apparently John Rich is now throwing around Johnny Cash's name like he's been in touch with him recently. As an avid McCain supporter, he has stated that he knows Johnny Cash would support McCain also. How can you speak for someone who can no longer speak for themselves? Rosanne Cash was none too happy with the use of her father's name. Eloquent as ever, she had this to say on her website:

Regarding the Use of My Father’s Name To Further Political Agendas:
August 15, 2008: It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined, and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals, and even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation.
It is unfair and presumptuous to use him to bolster any platform. I would ask that my father not be co-opted in this election for either side, since he is clearly not here to defend or state his own allegiance.

Rosanne Cash