power to the people

lennon wall

when i first saw the photos from our new catalog, i was immediately curious about the graffiti covered wall.  i did a little research and found out that it was named the lennon wall following the death of john lennon in 1980.  since then it has been covered with graffiti pertaining to lennon and his lyrics, as well as notions of peace.  during the period of communist rule in the late 1980’s in prague, western music by artists like lennon was banned. young people would write their grievances on this wall, eventually leading to a clash between them and police on the nearby charles bridge. this movement was referred to by the czech authorities as “lennonism.”

despite attempts to repaint the wall, the graffiti kept coming back and is now tolerated… right on.

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bottle it up

i am not a huge wine drinker but i would try these in a second! they are called “wines that rock,” a new line of wines by the mendocino wine company, that are based on iconic music. winemaker mark beaman took the words right out of my mouth: “i can’t believe that this is my job. i get to taste wine, listen to music, and think about how to put it all together in a bottle of wine that truly captures the essence of an album.”

i love the descriptions for each bottle of wine:
“to capture the intense, brooding character of the dark side of the moon he turned to a classic wine variety, cabernet sauvignon. a varietal with a deep, complex character that takes a relaxed environment to fully appreciate, cabernet sauvignon reflects the hauntingly dense, timeless character of pink floyd’s masterpiece album.”

“the music of woodstock celebrates community, individual expression, and breaking with the past. inspired by this message, winemaker mark beaman created a ‘naked’ style chardonnay. unlike other regions which grow more muted flavored chardonnays (which are then dressed up with oak and malolactic fermentation), woodstock chardonnay is an expression of pure fruit character and the land it was grown on…and as mark likes to say, “sunshine in a bottle.”

“to capture the essence of forty licks, the 40 tracks that cover the rolling stones’ career, winemaker mark beaman chose to work with merlot. this varietal captures the comfort of turning to a solid classic that stands the test of time. much like the band itself, mendocino county winemaking stays true to its roots with a consistent and confident character not caught up in fads or trends.”

for more info check out their website.

the adventures of one eskimo

One EskimO is a london band, who have actually been around for a few years, but are just getting noticed here in the US thanks to the single “kandi” off their debut album!  what’s interesting though, is that the band has teamed up with warner premiere to create a “visual album” consisting of ten videos in a series called “the adventures of One eskimO.” they are available for download on itunes.

if the animation looks familiar, its because the videos are produced by passion pictures, which also animated the gorillaz music videos.  each band member in One eskimO takes on a character — the singer is the eskimo, the drummer is a giraffe, the guitar player is a penguin and the bass player is a monkey.  i’m sorry, but that penguin is so cute!  check out a chapter in the animated series below, for the song “kandi.” what do you think about the idea of making “visual albums?”

for more on One eskimO check out their myspace page!

tunesday: bob dylan

this album came out a couple of months ago but i felt compelled to write about it now, since the timing is appropriate.   in a career spanning roughly 50 years (!!!) and 47 albums, bob dylan has finally recorded a christmas album, which comes as a surprise to some of his loyal fans.  first of all, he was raised in a jewish family, second of all, people assume something like this, coming from him, is meant to be ironic and not taken seriously.  but he is serious, and his straightforward approach to recording the songs (with background singers and traditional arrangements) is a measure of his appreciation for the music.  the album might not be for everyone but if you’re a fan of either christmas music or bob dylan, or both, definitely give it a shot.  plus, all proceeds from the album sales in the u.s. will be donated, now and in perpetuity, to feeding america, which guarantees that over 1.4 million families will be provided with meals this holiday season. proceeds from sales in the u.k. and worldwide will go to the charities crisis and the world food programme, respectively.

check out this really cute video, by painter/animator jeff scher, for bob dylan’s “little drummer boy”:

for more info, visit bob dylan’s website.

music really can change the world.

when edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, who i’ve posted about a couple of times, released their album up from below this year, they held a release party to raise money to help the gulu widows group of uganda so that they could start a farm to sustain their community. this group of incredible women have been widowed, abducted and abused as a result of the continuing warfare in northern uganda, southern sudan and eastern congo.

to thank the band, the women sang part of their song “home” after the first harvest on the farm…watch:

“home” in gulu from Voice Project on Vimeo.

the song is particularly meaningful, as most of these women have lost husbands and children who had to fight in the war.

i posted the band’s version not too long ago, here.

Read more about the voice project, which supports these amazing women in their efforts to reunite families in northern Uganda and live in peace, here.

pass it on.

musical ornaments

if i had a christmas tree, these are the kind of ornaments i’d put on it. i saw these on pitchfork and I think they’re so cool – they’re recycled christmas tree ornaments made by the glass casters union in oregon, and proceeds from the sale of the ornaments go towards helping homeless and low-income families in oregon. this year’s designs include modest mouse, blizen trapper and the decemberists (shown above). i also like some of the ones they’ve done in previous years:

best music of 2009

with today being “tunesday” and all, i thought it was a good time to ask everyone out there…what were your favorite songs and albums of the year? it’s been an awesome year in music, in my opinion, so there’s lots of great stuff to choose from. animal collective, black joe lewis & the honeybears, edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros and grizzly bear released four of my favorite albums this year.

send me your choices for the best songs and albums…i’ll compile a list and reveal the top ten at the end of the year!

you can leave them in the comments section or email me, jkeim@freepeople.com.