Cultural Sponge - The Joe Pagetta Blog

Caught this off of RT. 55 in Andalusia, Alabama.

I’m proud to report that as of this afternoon, I’ve completed my first “metric century” (62 miles/100 km) on my bike. It was part of the 2008 Harpeth River Ride. I felt pretty good through most of it, and as I sit here with a Red Hook ESB recuperating on the couch, I still feel pretty good. That may change at any moment. It was a great ride, and the Harpeth Bike Club folks truly know how to put on a bike tour. The rest stops were stocked with plenty of beverages and sustenance, and ample port-a-potties, and the route was well plotted and marked, with a good mix of straightaways, rolling hills and challenging ascents. My only regret is that I probably didn’t take the hills as strong as I should have, riding off my saddle a little too much, but there’s always room for improvement.

The best part of the ride, and any ride really when you get into the hills and farmlands outside of Nashville, is being reminded of just how beautiful it is in this area. There’s really nothing that gets tired about riding and coming across cows, deer, wild turkeys, mini-horses, regular-size horses, old barns and gorgeous wide-open fields. And there’s really no better way to see it than on a bike.

So this thing — biking — that started as a curiosity and a quit-smoking aid a year ago, has become a bit of a passion. Can my first century be far behind?

(Thanks to the Harpeth Bike Club for the above photo. More are on the club’s Flickr site.

I’ve been doing some blogging on the PBS blog, Remotely Connected. Check out pieces on American Experience: Walt Whitman and American Masters: Marvin Gaye.

It’s interesting to note what people hear when they listen to music. I always notice the lyrics first, and as a songwriter, tend to focus on the song structure. My friend Jonathan, however, an accomplished guitarist, engineer and producer, hears sounds (or at least he used too…we’ve been talking Dylan lyrics quite a bit lately). My wife Kathy, a singer, hears harmonies. If she’s singing along to a song, she’s likely singing the third or the fifth or some other harmony. I’ll always sing the melody or the lead. Meanwhile, I’m sure there are other people who don’t hear music in any of these ways, but instead take the whole song in emotionally.

I mention this, because every now and then I come across a song that when listened to in the way I tend to listen to music, is an aural feast. “Angels on a Passing Train,” on Marah’s new album Angels of Destruction!, has been an obsession since I picked up the record several weeks ago. Everything about the song is dramatically over-the-top, much like the band itself, and I can’t get enough of it. There’s nothing necessarily experimental about the way the song is structured. What’s unique is the way band gives you, the listener, what you want. They don’t make it easy, but they don’t make you work for it, either. They make you wait for it.

The song starts off simply enough, with an A minor chord played for four bars on acoustic guitar. Then the verse progression arrives with the full band. Already, things get interesting. The verse progression goes on instrumentally for 16 bars before the vocals kick in, even though the eighth bar ends with a build-up and drum fill, telling my ears and my chest the first verse is coming. But it doesn’t. I have to wait another eight bars before the vocals start, bringing with them these glorious lines: “Sunday morning sunlight/mixed with moonlight in your eyes from last night/Coffee tastes like birthday cake and we get older/ with every sip I take.”

So now we’re into it. An eight-bar verse? A 16-bar verse? How about 32-bars, and every eight of them ending with the build and drum fill and that feeling in your chest that something’s about to come crashing in (the best choruses always come “crashing” in). When the chorus does finally arrive, around 1:35 into the song, with “Here we go/it’s just around the corner!” it’s big and beautiful. The lyrics almost feel like an inside joke at this point, like the song is that friend you’re walking around with in the city, who keeps telling you he knows this great place to eat, and it’s “just around the corner.” He keeps telling you this at every corner, until, once you’re there, he says, “see, I told you, it was just around the corner.” I think Jonathan’s done this to me before.

So we get there, chorus and all, with the title-line hook. Now what? Eight-bar instrumental verse progression — like the beginning, only a little shorter. Time for the next verse? That would be too easy. Instead we get eight bars of everything broken down, just a little piano, bass and background noise. When the second verse does arrive, with the line “Welcome to the dog house,” it might as well be “Welcome to the fun house.” The band descontructs the verse progression we’ve already been introduced to, instead delivering it with a heavy, bouncy emphasis on piano, bass and accordion. You finally make it to the joint around the corner, and it’s crazy in there, filled with distorted mirrors and people walking on stilts. The wackiness continues for 16-bars before we’re rewarded once again with the chorus, delivered four confident times. The ending gives us one last taste of the carnival-like atmosphere as we march back out on to the street. It’s a rock song that works on every level it should: lyrically, structurally, sonically, and yes, emotionally.

This kind of approach to rock music isn’t new, of course, but it’s rare these days to hear a band go for it like that. Marah has always delivered live (I became a fan after seeing them in Nashville several years ago) and while I’ve read some critics declare that the band doesn’t deliver on record, I disagree. Even before this record, I thought they did. There’s no doubt, however, with this one.

I’ve had a beat-up, 25-year-old copy of William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow in my library for almost 15 years. I’m not certain where I got it, but I’m pretty sure it was from a street vendor in Greenwich Village, where I often picked up paperback books for fifty cents or a dollar. I was drawn to the title. Shortly after discovering it, I wrote a song called “Everything Turns to Pink” (performed frequently with the Joe Pagetta Band and recorded for our 1995 six-song demo) that started with the lines “So long/See you tomorrow/Farewell/I’ll see you again.” The weird thing was that I never actually read the book, until recently.

I like to think that sometimes I’m drawn to finally read books I own but haven’t read, or haven’t read in awhile, for a reason; that perhaps you have to be ready to read them. I wrote recently about how discovering a hard back copy of Ian McEwan’s Atonement in an antique shop in Lebanon, Tennessee spurred me to finally read the novel after owning a paperback copy for two years that I had always been meaning to get to. I’m glad I did. A couple of summers ago, it was The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. For years it sat there on my shelf, but for some reason that summer it called to me. Maybe it was the existential crisis I was going through (there is no better novel for such a thing). Last summer, I re-read Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

Which brings me to William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow. I read an item recently in the Tennessean about Nashville author Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, Run) and her favorite books. Newsweek had asked Patchett to name her favorites, and the Maxwell book was at the top of her list. I think Patchett is great, and her endorsement of the book was enough to send me into my library to track down that old paperback. It was time to read it.

So Long, See You Tomorrow is a slim novel that packs an enormous amount of emotion. Coincidentally, like Atonement, the book’s narrator is elderly, and by telling his story, trying to make amends for something he did, or didn’t do, in the past. In the case of So Long... the narrator has never forgiven himself for not reaching out to childhod acquaintance Cletus Smith and offering his sympathy and friendship after Cletus’ life takes a tragic turn. He attempts to atone for this by writing Cletus’ story, and the story of all those people whose lives were forever altered by the love affair of Cletus’ mother and the tenant farmer next door, Lloyd Wilson. The narrator has gone through so much in his own young life, including the early death of mother — so much that he had no control over and couldn’t change — that you wonder how one seemingly insignificant event, a chance encounter in a high school hallway, could weigh so heavily on his mind. He surely knows there was nothing he could have done about the fatal events surrounding Cletus’ mother’s affair, or the state of his parents’ marriage prior, but he truly believes he could have made a difference in Cletus’ life. Perhaps just by being a friend. Or by telling us the story, is he really trying to understand the course of his own life?

So Long, See You Tomorrow is really a coming-of-age story. It may seem to be about betrayal, but it’s also about growing up, and the failure, regret and chance that can accompany and consume our lives. How Maxwell gets all that into 150 paperback pages is as much of a mystery as the one that beckons the reader in the opening pages of the novel.

When I started reading the yellowed pages of my paperback, I thought it might be worthwhile to see if I could track down a hard copy. The first place I checked was the Nashville Library, which only has a couple of copies in circulation. Both were checked out. I checked Davis-Kidd Booksellers and Borders and neither of them had a copy either. I would have even settled for a nicer paperback copy. I did a little research online before discovering that So Long, See You Tomorrow is out of print, which is a shame. So if you’re interested, you may have to find your copy at a used bookstore or online. You might even luck out and find a nice hardcover copy that still has a dustjacket. It’ll be worth the investment.

BMI has been my Performing Rights Organization since I knew I needed one, and I remain proud to be an affiliate. The February edition of the podcast highlights several Nashville singer-songwriters, including me and the self-titled song off my EP OTHER PEOPLE’S NEWS. You can download the podcast at http://bmi.com/podcasts or through iTunes by searching podcasts for “BMI.” You’re also encouraged to vote for your favorite artist on the podcast, so if that’s me, by all means, please vote! Winner receives a CD manufacturing package.

From Performing Songwriter, January/February 2008

Quick Takes / EPs from DIY artists that caught our ears.

JOE PAGETTA
OTHER PEOPLE’S NEWS
From sizzling rockers (”Both Be Wrong”) to country romps (”Church or Train Station”) to sweeping ballads (”Back to the Sea”), troubadour Pagetta commands an authority and assurance that’s spellbinding throughout. This News is good news.

There’s a new personal essay up on the “writings“ page at joepagetta.com called “The Italian Stallion Would Like To Be Your Friend.”

The “writings“ page has become a depository for pieces both published and unpublished. “The Italian Stallion Would Like to Be Your Friend” was originally written for a Vanity Fair essay contest on the theme of “reality.” I really, really wanted to win the Mont Blanc pen. Oh, and the trip to Italy would have been nice, too. Though I didn’t win, I still like the piece and want people to read it. The essay is written in three parts and — here’s the disclaimer –you need to be familiar with how MySpace works (and have received a friend invite) to fully understand part two.

I recommend reading the .pdf version. It’s a little easier on the eyes.

Enjoy. As always, would love to hear your comments.

In no particular order, and for no particular reason, here are a few of my favorite things from the world of art and culture in 2007. By no means is it comprehensive. I’ve also kept it to things readily accessible nationally:

(Music) Bruce Springsteen - Magic: Contrary to popular belief, I don’t love everything Bruce does. Magic, however, is indeed extraordinary. The album lifts my spirits every time I listen to it. I’m nowhere near old, and it makes me feel young again.

(Music) Nicole Atkins - Neptune City: I discovered this artist on The Yellow Stereo blog and was immediately in love with her voice and her songs, and that was before I knew she hailed from New Jersey. The title track is haunting and beautiful at the same time. Her performance of “The Way it Is” on Letterman — available several places on You Tube — is jaw-dropping.

(Music) Stax 50th Anniversary Celebration: All the great stuff in a handy 2-disc set. The included booklet (which doubles as a flip book) explores the history of the Memphis label.

(Film) Respect Yourself: The History of Stax Records: Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon’s film gathers historic footage and new interviews in one of the best music documentaries in recent history.

(Music) The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America: It came out late in ‘06, so I only came around to it in ‘07. You know it’s going to be a good ride when the opening track quotes Kerouac.

(Music) Queen - Rock Montreal: Remixed and mastered, the band sounds incredible in this live concert from ‘81. They were in peak form here coming off the success of The Game. “Somebody to Love” sounds truly inspired.

(Film) Atonement: I’ve written here before of my affection for the novel, and the film adaptation, even with the twist at the end, is more than faithful. You’ll stop breathing for awhile during both the scene in the library and on the beach. Perhaps I have a haunting and beautiful theme going in this list. Everyone in it is outstanding, and man is that James McAvoy good.

(Book) Joshua Ferris - Then We Came to the End: The book is showing up on plenty of year-end lists, but why don’t I know more people that have read it? It’s a book for us and who we are now, with the emphasis on the we, even if we’ve never worked in an office. We have.

(Book) Michael Chabon - The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is one of my favorite books. Here, he takes on a completely different voice, hard-boiled and snappy, but with occasional moments of such overarching grandeur you need to stop and take a breath, as if you yourself were in Alaska trying to suck some oxygen out of the frigid air. All the while, we contemplate time and place and what it means when neither is certain.

(Film) I’m Not There: I think this was one of my favorite things of 2007, but my head hurts thinking about it. I’ll get it on DVD in ‘08, watch it a few more times and get back with you.

(Book) Jack Kerouac - On The Road: The Original Scroll: I got it for Christmas and haven’t finished it yet. I’m about halfway through and every moment is thrilling, especially trying to find my place every time I put it down. Published in honor of the novel’s 50th anniversary, it makes public with very little editing what Kerouac’s original version read like, without paragraph breaks or any of the names changed. It’s like taking the road trip all over again, only faster.

(Film) Once: I missed the opportunity to catch this in the theater during the brief window of opportunity I had, but the DVD was released just in time for an ‘07 viewing. A beautiful and precious film with big, immediately engaging original music. I loved it. Someone I watched it with said you can make up your own ending, and he liked that.

Happy New Year.

I’m proud to announce that I have a track on a new holiday compilation from Red Beet Records called Yuletide From the Other Side: More Music From East Nashville. It’s a festive 2-Disc collection put together by Eric Brace, the fantastic singer-songwriter and leader of Americana superband Last Train Home. Brace was the man behind the original East Nashville compilation The Other Side: Music From East Nashville.

The discs are available at outlets throughout the city, including The Art & Invention Gallery, Bongo Java East, the Family Wash, Sips, Alegria, Grimey’s, Katie K’s and many more. Proceeds (after manufacturing costs) from the sale of the CDs will go to the EarthMatters Networks, an environmental group based in East Nashville, that among other things, maintains the community garden and park at Lealand & Gayle, home to the Deford Bailey Tribute Garden. More on Earth Matters Networks at earthmattersnetworks.com.

There will be a special release show at the Family Wash on Sunday, December 9 from 4 to 8 p.m. Proceeds from the show will go to EarthMatters.

Here’s the track List:

DISC 1

1 Jon Byrd / Silent Night
2 Tom Mason / Little Drummer Boy
3 Last Train Home / Home For Christmas
4 Jennifer Niceley & the Downtown Wigs / Bringing in a Brand New Year
5 Kevin Gordon / Louisiana Snow
6 Elizabeth Cook / A Kiss for Christmas
7 Phil Lee / (I Wanna Spend My) Christmas Time With You
8 The Dean Martinis / Cool Yule
9 Soul Food / Silent Night
10 Sara Beck / Just Like Christmas Eve
11 Korby Lenker / Christmas Rain
12 Cerys Matthews / Y Corryn Ar Pry’
13 Joe Pagetta / Dominick the Donkey
14 Pru Clearwater / Christmas Kisses (With Kookaburras)
15 Ron Gomez / Santa’s on a Diet
16 Dawn McCoy / This Christmas
17 Diana Jones / Hark the Herald Angels Sing
18 Matt Combs / Greensleeves

DISC 2

1 Mark & Mike / Merry Christmas – Tighten Up
2 The Gypsy Hombres / Django Bells
3 Neilson Hubbard / End of the Year
4 Carol Ann Turney /Christmas Alphabet
5 Andy Scheinman / Holiday Season
6 Circus Dog Serenade/ Snow
7 Pete Finney w/ Guthrie Trapp / Away in the Manger
8 Ode Hazelwood / Black Friday Blues
9 Joshua Black Wilkins / It Ain’t Christmas
10 Duane Jarvis / Holiday Blues
11 Memphis in Orbit / Sleigh Ride
12 Chris Richards / It’s the Thought That Counts
13 Kimberley Quinn / My (One and Only) Christmas Song
14 Joe McMahan / Snowbound
15 Rich Gilbert feat. JudithAnn Winters and Jim Winters / Do You Ever Think of Me?
16 Meghan Hayes / Kosher for Christmas
17 Kenny Mullins / Talking Christmas Post-9/11 Anti-Terrorist Blues
18 Aynsley McLean / What Are You Doing New Years Eve?
19 The New Nashvillains / Peace in the Valley