The College Crowd Digs Me

The College Crowd Digs Me Snowy White   (Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy) "It's funny how these things happen,  but they're pretty loose most of the time when they do." ~ Snowy White ~   Jamison Newlander  ( Alan Frog -  "The Lost Boys") "Kill your brother. You'll feel better." Jamison Newlander     Henry Lee Summer "I just always have played music.  For better   or worse, I banked my whole life on it." ~ Henry Lee Summer ~  Courtney Gains ( Malachai -  "Children Of The Corn") "It's an iconic line at this point.  People scream that to me still to this day." ~ Courtney Gains ~ A big thank you to everyone who dropped by The College Crowd Digs Me this year. Good stuff. Casey Chambers Follow Me On FACEBOOK    

"Head Hunters" - Herbie Hancock (1973 )      I'm not up too much on my jazz, but I do pick up some things here and there.  Herbie Hancock's "Head Hunters" is one of those albums I've had on my radar.  It's some early representations of jazz fusion and certainly one of the most successful.  At one time it was the largest-selling jazz album of all time.  One of the things that make the square so tasty is the seamless blend of funk that mixes into the jazz.  No big thing nowadays, I suppose, but back in 1973 the idea was almost blasphemous.  "Head Hunters" is jazz-whipped and funky. It grooves and trips and jazzes off in all the right places.  There are jazz improv breaks throughout the songs, for sure, so Herbie doesn't bite the hand that feeds him.  But he does gnaw on them a little bit.  Jazz purists might have been taken aback, but as for the rest... ...give me some more candy! I'm glad I waited until actually spinning the...

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (2012) Softcover, 486 pages   NO SPOILERS:      Author Daniel O'Malley takes a familiar trope and turns it the fawk on its noggin.   In The Rook , we meet Myfanwy (pronounced Miff-un-ee) Thomas, a member of a clandestine government of "special" agents, who discovers she has amnesia via instructions she left for herself to read should this circumstance ever occur.  With this premise quickly laid out, Myfawny takes the reader on a thrilling adventure that is grossly graphic and totally unpredictable.  Like a Scully/Mulder/Jason Bourne hook-up, The Rook is one coffee-spitting idea after another.   The main characters, good and bad, are easy to take a shine to.  The bombardment of ideas and sticky situations are non-stop.  And the clever web of mysteries Myfanwy finds herself caught in is both dangerous and amusing.  For an author's debut, Daniel O'Malley takes it to the house.   I...

"Red Hash" - Gary Higgins (1973 - Rei 2008) Gary Higgins's only album... "Red Hash" ...is a highly recommended folk-psych album that rubs shoulders a bit with loner-rock and together creates an aura of self-introspection that drifts and dips like a trail of incense.  Restlessness and loneliness are captured in the strangest of ways.  Familiar, yet not.  Flutes, cellos, and organs lightly drop in and out of songs, without ever taking over.  Seasoning the mood.  Haunting the rooms.  The lysergic vibes that wander around the square are hard to pin down, but when the needle lifts, it feels like we've taken a little trip.  Higgins , from the state of Connecticut, produced the album himself and it succeeds on every level Shortly before the album's release, Higgins was arrested for selling or possessing marijuana and was incarcerated for two years.  Friends distributed the album for him, less than a thousand got out, but all the necessary promotion ne...