The Stranger Dance


Musicians and Drugs: Crack is Whack, But Boomers Are Funny

Will Oldham has been a personal favorite for a while (be it under Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Palace Music, Oldham or whatever name he’s adopted for the project at hand). He is a songwriter in the truest sense of the word. His music spans a wide range of genres from folk to experimental and can be challenging at times, but when he’s on, he can be one of the most rewarding musicians performing today.

Mr. Oldham participated in a documentary a few years ago that basically consisted of taking hallucinogenic mushrooms with independent filmmaker (and SF local) Caveh Zahedi and running around a ranch in Austin, TX.

“Tripping with Caveh” trailer

I really dig Amy Winehouse despite all of her well-chronicled issues with drugs (for chrissake, even Keith Richards is worried). While I’d hoped that she was on the up-and-up, she’s recently taken to taping videos with fellow British druggie and gossip rag favorite, Pete Doherty and posting them to YouTube.

This most recent clip is of the two, clearly out of their heads, playing with baby mice (or something). A quick view is enough to confirm that she’s still up to her old ways (note the ash on her hands).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdxBJyonNgw[/youtube]

For those keeping score at home:

  • Musicians on mushrooms = funny
  • Musicians Anyone on crack = not funny

MP3s:

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - I See a Darkness
Amy Winehouse - Me & Mr. Jones

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is Back

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 8 is coming back to Golden Gate Park October 3-5. This year’s lineup is as impressive as we’ve come to expect, featuring a good mix of bluegrass (Del McCoury Band, Earl Scruggs, Hazel Dickens, etc.), bluegrass-friendly (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Loudon Wainwright III, etc.) and distinctly non-bluegrass (Gogol Bordello) artists.

Personally, I’m excited to see a few of my favorite bluegrass musicians, as well as finally catch Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie and Greg Brown — two favorites that I’ve never seen live before (although I did literally bump into Will Oldham at the Cat Power show a few weeks ago).

(more…)

Kanye Hands

I’m not a big fan of Kanye’s rapping (I think I’m the only one out there that doesn’t like any of his albums), but the man is clearly one of the best producers out there.

Preferences aside, this is a damn cool video. Not only did he use a great sample from Daft Punk, he updated their fan videos:


Totally unrelated Kanye West story after the jump. (more…)

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