Archive for the ‘ryan adams’ Category
*Showing My Hand: Early thoughts on Ryan Adams ‘Ashes & Fire’
Since my favorite musician/singer-songwriter has a new release & is streaming it entirely, I am posting it here. I’ve listened twice all the way through and a couple songs a few more times than that. I can’t tell how I really feel about the songs yet because I’m just so friggin excited the fella is back in action.
Ryan Adams and his former band The Cardinals performed my favorite blend of what I love in songs, both on studio tracks and live. When that broke, along with the sudden loss of Cardinals band-member Chris Feinstein (aka Spacewolf ~ RIP), I def didn’t even really understand what I was missing. Did I miss Ryan? Did I miss the Cardinals? Did I miss Chris? I guess it was all of that jumbled together. Perhaps someday, down down down the road the Cardinals will be back in some form, but that’ll be awhile, if ever. Chris is def gone for good (but NEVER forgotten). And now, Ryan returns with his pretty, mellow record that’s all lovey dovey. I’m not in love. I don’t much relate to the sweet songs so much. Glad for him, though. Don’t get me wrong, I love plenty of people & things & places.
And when I fast-forward to being in Big Sur a couple short weeks from now, I surmise I will become hypnotized again like I remember all those nights listening and watching him sing my favorite songs with that band I loved so much. I’m DEF excited about the solo shows and looking forward to the new tunes growing on me. So far, Invisible Riverside is my easy favorite on the album. Waaay early call. Need to hear the whole thing in my car ~ the best listening chamber!
Do you like Ryan’s new release so far?
A View of A View of Other Windows
Neal Casal’s photo book of Ryan Adams & The Cardinals, found here on Amazon, brings back a TON of great memories. Whether you LOVE or just like Ryan Adams and/or The Cardinals, it almost doesn’t matter because these photos are so engaging. Admittedly, it’s hard for me to find some words to describe how much this book & this band mean to me. Since Chris Feinstein left the physical world behind in December, this book just capsulizes so many feelings. There has to be a word for being so emotional that you simply observe all the bumps & bruises & elations when they are jarred, from something as beautiful as this book. Maybe the word is “present”.
Let It Go, Chris Feinstein.
Sweet, kind, spirited being and friend Chris Feinstein took his last breath today. The news came to me as a bludgeon to my heart, that still makes me shake when I think of what it really means. Alas, I’ve been thinking all day what he would want me to do? How would he want me to feel? As gentle and sensitive as Chris was, he was also as rugged and tough. A true gemini. I haven’t been able to really grip on anything all day. I want to wake up tomorrow to hear this was all a nightmare. My mind feels fragile. My psyche bruised. My heart heavy.
Dedicating this to Chris, with love and much light:
An Acoustic Evening with Tim Bluhm, Neal Casal & Fred Torphy :: October 8
Tim Bluhm is affectionately known in San Francisco for his major role in the California Soul rock band, The Mother Hips.
Neal Casal has charmed many in the U.K, Europe, & Japan regularly over the last two decades with his solo work, and has recently gained U.S. recognition with his role touring with Ryan Adams & The Cardinals.
Fred Torphy just wrapped Outside Lands & Wanderlust fronting his SF-based band Big Light.
These three exceptional singer-songwriters bring their solo tunes to the Make-Out Room for one special evening of acoustic music. Thank you for helping make it a night of music to remember.
$12, doors open at 7p, music begins at 7:30p sharp & will conclude by 9:30p.
About reapandsow>presents:
reapandsow>presents is a division of San Francisco-based digital music distribution company, reapandsow, inc. We book, produce and promote events in the SF bay area and beyond, including the Annual Golden Gate Gramble and the reapandsow Artist Showcase at South by Southwest 2009.
hiss golden messenger…again
i’m so into this HGM album & i urge you to buy it from this link that i’m providing to the iTunes store. i wrote a geeky review for the sucker on iTunes (i’ve NEVER done that) and this is what i said:
not easy to review this complex yet simple sounding album. i keep coming up w all these polar opposite ways of describing it: timeless but contemporary, vintage yet current, seemingly “less is more”-sounding but full at the same time. i find myself enjoying this album more every time i hear it. love when that happens.
and i’ll officially use that as a great intro to my new gig doing Artist Relations at reapandsow.com, a digital music distribution company based here in SF. i may never have heard this album if i wasn’t working at reapandsow. or maybe it just would have taken me a longer time. either way, i’m beyond excited at this new opportunity to work so congruently with what has obviously been a passion of mine for as long as i can remember. i almost credit peter gabriel, back in 1993, when i saw him on the US tour. or secret world. or whatever it was called. that show blew me away. it wasn’t long after that i started seeing ekoostik hookah in tiny little bars on the east side of cleveland, followed by phish, then the grateful dead…so that was really my trajectory. then lots more hookah and phish…until i smashed head first into ryan adams music…but i digress.
reapandsow is an awesome organization filled with passionate people who commit their lives to music. now i’m one of them. thx for being patient as my transition from being a Fashion Jewelry Designer sales rep clunkily landed me doing what i want to be doing: serving a purpose to both artists and fans by connecting the two. not unlike what i was doing before just a switch of atmosphere. yay!
hope you get to follow your dreams today…
everything about me you like…its already gone
dusted off this old 2005 chestnut. f*ck, that was four years ago! ridic.
There’s something in the way she eases my mind
And lays me across the bed till I close my eyes
Stirs me in the morning till I can ever be satisfied
I leave Carolina every night in my dreams
Like the girls that try to love me that I only leave
Rock me like a baby doll and hold me to your chest
But I’m always moving too fast
If I could find my way back home, where would I go?
When everything about me, I used to be,
Shivers in the sheets and the blankets of snow
Lost out in the woods were you’re looking for me
When, when will you come back home
No one leave the lights on in a house
Where nobody lives anymore
Loaded like the boxes up in the bedroom
Coming off the hinges like the door
The shadows dancing up in the window
They’re not who we are but who we were
And I’m not gonna break, but if I do
I’m gonna shatter like the glass I turned your heart into
I’m broken like the windos in the house where I used to live
And If I could find my way back home, where would I go?
When everything about me, I used to be,
Shivers in the sheets and the blankets of snow
I’m lost out in the woods looking for you
When, when will you come back home
No one leave the lights on in a house
Where nobody lives anymore
Everything about me you liked is already gone
Everything about me you loved is gone
When, when will you come back home
vipassana
on wednesday, i’ll be heading to a town south of yosemite, north of fresno called north fork. in that town is a vipassana center. i’ll begin a 10 day silent meditation, a method that aims to eradicate suffering, and to see things as they are. here is a link to check it out. if you scroll to the bottom, you can go to the homepage to read more of the ins and outs. vipassana
i didn’t go to hampton (phish). however you slice it and dice it, it wasn’t something i was “supposed” to be a part of it. painful reality for me. on the first night of the three night run, i applied to be on the wait list for vipassana. i was, in my mind, so unnecessarily tortured by not being at hampton, by my attachment to “just a band” that i literally surrendered to MY flow and chose to embark on this meditation journey.
i know, it sounds really silly. all i can attest to is that the music of phish, and soon after they ended, ryan adams, has moved me so deeply that IT HURT not to be a part of the phish comeback celebration. at first, i wasn’t ready to buy into all the hype of them coming back. by the time i realized how bad i wanted to be there, it was too late for me to make it happen. thus, vipassana was calling my name. i don’t know what or how that will end up going, but at this point in my life, THAT is what i need. a reset button.
i would then go on thru the month of march to find my mind up against yet another “DO NOT MISS” friggin concert: the fox theater ryan adams/cardinals final show. again, just couldn’t really rally for it. the month of march has been me facing my attachments and the struggle i have with them. this is more sharing than normal for me, here, and some people think, “its just music, its just a concert”, and rightly so, IT IS. but i’ve got this unique opportunity to really dig deep, about why i NEED to be a part of it. there is something DEEP in my heart that NEEDS that connection when live music is occurring. i can’t even care enough to try to type stupid words that would never justify it enough anyways.
and this vipassana is not NEARLY at all about missing some dumb concerts. my attachment to phish/cardinals/ryan/live music is just a vehicle i’m choosing to bring me nearer to acting from my heart. aligned with my heart.
i just ended my EIGHT year venture being self-employed. i haven’t decided what i want to do next. i am going to vipassana with an open mind, an open heart, and thoughts of healing whatever wounds that are keeping me from living the life that has me fully expressed and in love again. wish me luck!
feb recap
i’ve gotten really behind on this blog. i’ve seen some amazing music in the last couple months. at the same rate, there were some really mammoth shows that i didn’t see, painstakingly enough. i’ll do a quickie little recap, if not for my own little self-indulgence that i happen to share on the WWW. some “expected” great shows, some unexpected…
eagles of death metal, fillmore in early feb. didn’t realized i would enjoy that one as much as i did. mingled with that camp thru a friend i met during the 2007 ryan adams/cardinals tour who was tour managing the EODM. they were a very sweet bunch of people, who have all known each other for years, and i felt grateful to be included for a night of their mayhem. major family vibe.
michael franti & ALO fox theater in oakland, during its opening weekend. that theater is poised to see some seriously epicly life-altering music, i reckon. believe it or not, i get kinda bored with michael franti lately. i feel ashamed of that, to a certain extent. but hey, i love SO much music that for me, it feels good to know what i like, at least. and its not that i don’t like it. i dance, and my friends are there n stuff. it all just starts sounding the same to me at a certain point. whatevz really, i thought the part i caught of ALO was REALLY good. can’t say enough about how good i think dan lebowitz (guitar for ALO) is. SICK!
the white thighs, connecticut yankee: valentine’s day found me babysitting for my dear friends, then busting a move out to see my big light friends play w their original band the white thighs. it was a super silly fun time.
ALO & big light, the mystic in petaluma: my virgin run of the mystic. local faves both big light AND alo B R O U G H T I T. a stormy massively rainy drive up from the city north to petaluma brought a super fun night of music. GREAT way for me to see my first gig at that neato venue.
jackie greene band + phil lesh, bob weir, great american music hall (night one): i LOVE jackie’s music. LOVE. this show was two sets of his original tunes, with an acoustic set by jackie/bobby/phil. um, HELL YES. the middle acoustic set on night one was a little rusty, but who cared? it was still REALLY good.
jackie greene band + phil lesh, bob weir, GAMH (night two): LOVED night 2 much better than night one. third set was KOOKOO! sorry, can’t deal w the details right now, but that third set was FUN~ whew! couldn’t mingle too much after cuz i had an ER-ER-EARLY flight the next morning to catch my last cardinals shows…
the cardinals plus ryan adams, new haven: LONG day for me, espesh having just ROCKED out at the jackie shows two nights prior, but this new haven show was good. the music was GREAT, but i was pooped from my travel day and ryan was kinda annoying me, prolly cuz i was tyty. nonetheless, GREAT music and i was happy to skip boston so i could be fresh for MONTCLAIR!
the cardinals plus ryan adams, wellmont theater: as it stands, this would turn out to be my “last” cardinals gig. it was a worthy show for me to bid farewell (for now) to my mighty friends who play that heavenly music. this show was just ON. had some of my SERIOUSLY best friends at the gig, and couldn’t have asked for a better night of music/fun/mischief. just AWESOME. i can’t even deal with putting the link to the show here cuz if i don’t keep typing to get thru my recap, it will not happen.
again, this is all more for me than anyone, cuz i’m amused when i actually read some of this stuff back. i could try to put pix up n stuff along w it all but i don’t have the energy. sorrs.
Let Go Of The Worry

in case you folks out there haven’t seen this, its the announcement of ryan’s current decision to bail from the cardinals. its been a long time coming…the constant struggle to be in his skin was often lubed by his band of brothers, those angels called the cardinals, and now, ryan is finally feeling like fleeing the nest, to fly into skies of the unknown, without the safety net that the cardinals provided.
hopefully we’ll hear from him before too, too long. otherwise, its been amazing and a privilege to be a part of this incredible ride~ i really hope to catch some of this last tour, on a wing and a prayer…
Much Gratitude for The Cardinals & Ryan Adams
Goodnight Rose
We’re going to win
Put your troubles behind you
And go on to bed
Let go of the worry
There’s so much nobody understands
Don’t live your life in such a hurry
Life goes by us all so fast
And the sun will come up again
And I will be here
If you get scared just hold my hand
Tomorrow is yours and who knows
Maybe we’ll win the whole shabang
Goodnight Rose, goodnight, goodnight Rose
Good morning sunshine
A new day begins
And the hustle and bustle of the traffic greets you kindly,
I can tell because you’re smiling
C’mon give ‘em everything that the winning demands
Just one more ribbon Rose
Before the mantle place caves in
And the sun will come up again
And I will be here Rose
If you get scared just hold my hand
Get out of that dress
Go on to bed
The bar is closed…
Goodnight Rose, goodnight, goodnight Rose
Goodnight Rose, goodnight, goodnight Rose
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