"Out Loud" by Dispatch...no no "The General" by Dispatch

I'm in Chicago for a work conference.  It was a cool (or make that a really cold) couple of days.  I've never been to Chicago, but I had these images in my mind about Al Capone style gangsters, deep dish pizza, and lots of wind. When I got a schedule I found out our training stuff ended early in the evening so I decided I was going to rent a car while I was in town to do a little exploring.  Last night I did experience some deep dish pizza from Gino's East, which is suppose to be one one the best spots around town, and I also experienced a lot of nasty wind when I was walking around the city taking in the views.  Chicago is a pretty beautiful city, but I probably wont really feel a strong need to come back in January.

Tonight I had a great time getting to see some old friends. I met Georgi and Lacy back in the summer of 2007 when I was working at Jackson Lake Lodge in Wyoming.  They are both beautiful spirits, that are filled with laughs, smiles, and dreams.  I haven't seen Georgi or Lacy since either late 2007 or early 2008, and it was a really wonderful opportunity to get to catch up with them and hear all about the path that they have been on for the last few years, and dreams about where they're headed in the near future.  I remembered how much I loved sending time with Georgi and Lacy because they are just happy people that love life.  Georgi and Lacy also met in the summer of 2007 back at the lodge and I remember when they started dating and I thought they were a perfect fit.  So as I'm back in the hotel room and writing this blog I feel really blessed by the opportunity to see some old friends, but I also haven't forgotten that this is a music blog.

Dispatch is a band that I first listened to when I was a senior in high school, but really got into when I was a senior in college.  I remember listening to the "Gut the Van" album a lot the summer that I was in Wyoming. "Out Loud" is an awesome Dispatch song.  It was the first song I heard from them when a girlfriend from high school put it on a mix cd for me.  I think that mix cd's might be too cheesy or outdated to be cool now, which is sad because I don't know if there is a gift I would rather receive from a friend than a heartfelt mix of songs.  So I love "Out Loud," and it would always be a great SOTD, but right now I am watching a documentary about the last dispatch concert, which is appropriately titled "The Last Dispatch."  On July 31, 2004 the band was going to perform a free concert as their last show in a park where they estimated somewhere around 10,000 to 20,000 people would show up, but on that day 110,000 people from all over the globe came to see Dispatch making it the largest independent music event in history. The last song that Dispatch played was "The General."  You can go ahead and start criticizing me for choosing their most popular song, but the truth of the matter is that there is a reason its popular, its a great song.

"The General" is really a great example of good jam band music.  It is light, fun, and good for bobbing your head to while you're listening.  When I listen to this song I think about those great warm summer nights with shorts, flip flops, and tie dyed shirts. So you should listen to the General, and you should check out Dispatch.  I am happy to be able to tell you that Dispatch decided to at least have one more dispatch, and is playing a few shows around the United States for the first time since their "farewell" show.

I would love to hear your favorite summer time music while we're all trying to feel a little warmer.

"Blue Beard" by Band of Horses

Im working out of the coffee shop today.  Writing some invitations to youth group, doing some reading for a meeting with my intern Jesse later, and doing some ordination reading.  I love an americano on a cold overcast January day. Something else I love on days like this is the music of "Band of Horses."

A few weeks ago Amazon was running a great deal on a bunch of albums from 2010 so I bought way too much music for one sitting and am just making my way into really giving the Band of Horses album "Infinite Arms" a good thorough listening.  A lot of times I like to listen to an album three or four times before I make an assessment to see what songs rise to the top because a lot of times I find the songs that initially catch my ear aren't necessarily the bands best work.

Band of Horses is a Seattle based band, which is no surprise when you give their music a listen.  They have the subdued personalities and introspective emotional song writing that we have come to expect with so many of the great bands coming out of the Pacific Northwest.  "Infinite Arms" is the third studio album from the band since they were formed by Ben Bridwell in 2004.  This album has received critical acclaim, and is nominated for the upcoming Grammy awards under the category of "Best Alternative Music Album."  I don't mean this to be critical of other bands, but I think one of the coolest things about this album is that the band wanted this to truly be their album so the project was self-funded and self-produced.  Certainly lots of bands out there fund and produce their albums, but a lot of them, especially early on in their careers, wouldn't produce anything close to music being considered for a Grammy.

The song "Blue Beard" begins with some of the trademark haunting vocals that BOH is known for, and moves into a cryptic story about someone the writer used to know. I like the way the falsetto harmonies back up Ben's vocals, and the way the determined drumming seems to match the singers quest to find what or who he is looking for, even if the banana peels are true.  Check it out, this video was made by the band, at least that's what YouTube says so it must be true.

"Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" by Elton John

*I wrote this last night, but I didn't take the time to find good pictures and the video link until this morning, so this might be my SOTY instead of SOTD.

I just finished typing my last ordination paper, and while I was typing I was watching a movie that has some killer music, and just as the movie is coming in to the climax of the story the song "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" by Elton John plays sweetly in the background.  It's the part in the story where a dream ends and the reality of loneliness sets in.

Forget the Elton John you think you know if you're in your twenties.  Im not talking about the guy who likes to rap with Eminem or wear big bedazzled sunglasses (ok, maybe keep the glasses, he's been rocking those for a long time, and in the video below he's wearing a sequins shirt).  A lot of us don't know how good Elton John is as a musician because of what his perception has been in our time. 

Rolling Stone wrote, "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" shows how much John can really do in the space of a single cut. Using minimal instrumentation and singing one of Taupin's most direct lyrics, John effortlessly reveals the myth beneath the myth of "... a rose in Spanish Harlem." He expresses his involvement with the city, his need for its people, and his final desire to be alone through one of his best tunes, simplest arrangements, and most natural vocal performances.

This song is the hit.  It has one of my favorite choruses of all time, and Elton does an incredible job of painting this picture about these people wandering around in New York City, all together and somehow all alone.

Give it a listen, you might just like Elton John more than you thought, and for more good Elton John cuts check out his 1971 album, "Tubleweed Connection."