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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

For the past few decades the idea of musician as celebrity has skyrocketed. From the days when John Lennon claimed the Beatles were as popular as Jesus to the spectacle of watching Lady GaGa fans line up in costume for any performance, the notion of performer as role model or idol has taken a firm grip in western culture.

The most innocent example of this is the fan who puts on a Beatles Costumes to go to a party. Then there are fans who form tribute bands and actually perform in character whenever they can. Singing along to a favorite performer on karoke night or when playing Guitar Hero are other examples of attempting to connect with music by assuming the identity of the original musician.

Some performers encourage this mimicry. They host look-a-like contests for their fans or schedule personal appearances with groupies who seem to be clones. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then it stands to reason that musical performers are grateful for this type of idol worship. This may explain their willingness to appear on talk shows, release videos direct to youtube, and even why they leak information about themselves to tabloid magazines and celebrity bloggers in order to keep the attention focused on their persona.

The town of Steamboat Springs is remote enough to convince anyone that getting away from it all is indeed possible in the world today. There are less than 10,000 locals, but plenty of visitors, drawn by the idea of a Steamboat Springs hotel , and a weekend of skiing. It’s hard to get away from skiing here, because the culture revolves around it. For about 100 years now, it’s been serving as a resort town, with snow bunnies and lots of fires to keep the company warm.

Though most will no doubt come to ski, or to watch their friends ski, there is also ska. Ski and ska might be the best companions, at least it seems that way in Steamboat Springs. Or perhaps it would only seem that way to fans of Five Iron Frenzy . Reese Roper, one of the locals who was also born here, was one of the eight young people who played in this indie band from the mid-90s until 2003.

Ska has never been an easy sell, but the band was never about selling. They remained dedicated to their indie roots until the very end, and didn’t break up for financial reasons. They quit because the members were all in their 30s, and it seemed like the time to move on. It’s a strategy that would work for any sport, including music.

Nashville will never be able to separate itself from its illustrious reputation in music, and maybe there’s no good reason to separate. There have been a number of really excellent acts who have passed through here, as well as a number of exceptional performances. There doesn’t seem to be any slowing down, either, and although the name is synonymous with country, there are plenty of other styles to be found in the city. Guest wanting to have a great musical weekend could check out these hotels and prepare to be amazed by all that the city has to offer.

History and the present often make strange bedfellows, but here they have to exist simultaneously because there is so much of each influencing the other. As much as a lumberjack at the end of a novel, no one can avoid thinking too hard about Bobby Dylan , and his rather precocious foray into the heart of country music when he released his Nashville Skyline album. Some of the work on it is still pretty stellar, by any standards, and at the time, it’s easy to see why this was a rather cheeky success. There are all the usual quality traits here that we can see in his earlier work, and all the rhymes that made him a darling in hiding.

At the same time, there is a rather stark quality to this. Even with the short duration, where it’s one of his shortest works, this isn’t as poppy as it seems to make you want to feel. We see the edges of Dylan coming through here, perhaps in spite of his own people, and he fights against the albums impulses to fall into anything easy. The vocals are smooth enough, because he quit smoking for a brief period before cutting the record, but the rest is haunting and rocky. It’s hard to gather on a first listen, but the clue of Johnny Cash is here from the start, making this an even work of remarkable complexity.