The best of East & West Culture

Pu La Deshpande

2007-10-30T20:01:00.001+05:30

The world's safest dress

2007-09-06T20:01:00.001+05:30

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Lou Reed and Various Artists: Perfect Day

2007-09-03T22:31:00.000+05:30

In 1997, the song "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed was featured by the BBC in a lengthy corporate advertisement of its own music coverage. The trailer was shown on BBC channels and in cinemas and won both awards and praise from commentators.

This version was eventually released as a charity single in November of that year for Children In Need. The charity version features a host of well-known singers and performers, with Reed himself opening and closing the song, and was the UK's number one single for two weeks, selling over a million copies.

J J Cale and Eric Clapton: After Midnight

2007-08-22T13:46:00.000+05:30

J.J. Cale (born John W. Cale on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American songwriter and musician best known for writing two songs that Eric Clapton made famous, "After Midnight" and "Cocaine", as well as the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit "Call Me The Breeze". Some sources incorrectly give his real name as "Jean Jacques Cale". According to keyboard player, Rocky Frisco, "The 'Jean Jaques' was created by a drunk French 'journalist' who got thrown out of the venue and made it up to pretend he had done an interview". In fact, a Sunset Strip nightclub owner employing Cale in the mid-1960's came up with the "J.J" moniker to avoid confusion with the Velvet Underground's John Cale.[1]

Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a very loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has often been described as "laid back", and is characterized by shuffle rhythms, simple chord changes, understated vocals, and clever, incisive lyrics. Cale is also a very distinctive and idiosyncratic guitarist, incorporating both Travis-like fingerpicking and gentle, meandering electric solos. His recordings also reflect his stripped-down, laid-back ethos; his album versions are usually quite succinct and often recorded entirely by Cale alone, using drum machines for rhythm accompaniment. Live, however, as evidenced on his 2001 Live album and 2006 To Tulsa And Back film, he and his band regularly stretch the songs out and improvise heavily.

Many artists, including Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Neil Young and Bryan Ferry, have noted Cale's influence on their music; several artists in addition to Clapton have made hits of Cale songs, and many more have covered them. Cale has often noted that he writes and records songs primarily so that other artists will cover them, but given the texturally spare but fine craftsmanship on his albums, this sentiment is far from universal. His most covered songs include "Call Me the Breeze", "Sensitive Kind", "After Midnight", and "Cocaine".

Cale is also well known for his longstanding aversion to stardom, extensive touring, and even continual recording. He has happily remained a relatively obscure cult artist for the last 35 years.

The release of his album, To Tulsa and Back in 2004, his appearance at Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, and the 2006 release of the film documentary, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J. J. Cale, have brought his understated discography and songwriting to a new audience. This mainstream exposure continued into late 2006 with the release of a collaborative album with Eric Clapton, The Road to Escondido.

Jimi Hendrix: Fire: Live at Woodstock

2007-08-08T15:07:00.000+05:30

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.

2007-07-02T19:06:00.000+05:30

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. This film by Robert Enrico is adapted from the story written by Ambrose Bierce. The short film does an excellent job of telling this great tale, about a man accused of trying to sabotage a bridge during the civil war. As the story begins, the man is about to be executed - by hanging from Owl Creek Bridge.

We enter the man's mind, as he imagines that the rope breaks - and he narrowly escapes the onslaught of bullets from the Union soldiers. Then he runs through an arched forest canopy - trying to return to his wife and child, who are waiting for him at his home. Most of the story takes place, during that brief few seconds, as he falls from his gallows - to the moment when his neck snaps. An incredible journey of mind.... look out, there's a sign post up ahead!

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Starring - Roger Jacquet, Anne Cornaly, Anker Larsen
Directed by - Robert Enrico

The Mystery of Picasso

2007-01-30T11:32:00.001+05:30

In 1955, French director, Henri-Georges Clouzot had the most amazing idea. He would film Pablo Picasso as he painted 20 artworks, ranging from quick sketches to widescreen color oil paintings.

The oils are mesmerizing and give a fascinating insight to the artist's spontaneous process.

Dr Money And The Boy With No Penis

2007-01-30T11:32:00.000+05:30

An experiment on nature versus nurture goes tragically wrong. On 22 August 1965 Janet Reimer was granted her dearest wish: she gave birth to twins. The two boys, Brian and Bruce, were healthy babies, but they would lead tragic lives, blighted by one scientist's radical theory.

Podcast: The Flying Saucer

2007-01-04T00:07:00.000+05:30

This is the first mash-up record from 1956, Flying Saucer by Dickie Goodman and Bill Buchanan.

Podcast: Trans Addiction

2006-11-23T14:59:00.000+05:30

"Trans Addiction" from the album CRAZED + DAZED by DJ Insane and The G-Man
on Delvian Records.

Dance like crazy!

Reproduced with kind permission of The G-Man.

Podcast: Amrita Rain

2006-11-22T01:57:00.000+05:30

Raga Amritavarshini with some Western beats and harmonics put together by three guys in a basement with mid level recording equipment and varying talents.

Eric Clapton: Layla

2006-11-07T13:21:00.003+05:30

Layla was written for Patti (Boyd) Harrison, who was married to George Harrison at the time.

Eric Clapton was the first white blues guitarist worthy of comparison to the great African-American blues greats such as B B King, Albert King, Freddie King, and Muddy Waters.

He has proven himself worthy of that comparison through his electrifying performances and recordings with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, and as a solo artist.

His searing solos on his Fender Stratocaster guitar /Marshall amplifier combination has been imitated but never surpassed.

Lou Reed: Take A Walk On The Wild Side

2006-11-07T13:21:00.002+05:30

Lou Reed’s song is about transvestites who come to New York City and become prostitutes. "Take A Walk On The Wild Side" is what they say to potential customers.

Reed's poem to sexual ambiguity and bohemian decadence broke new ground but “Walk On The Wild Side” wasn't banned by the BBC because the bosses didn't understand the lyrics.

Songs written about Pattie "Layla" Boyd

2006-11-07T13:21:00.000+05:30

Like a modern-day Helen of Troy, Pattie Boyd was the muse who was loved and lost, wooed, won and lost again by two of the rock heroes of the time - George Harrison married her, and his best friend Eric Clapton stole her away. In the course of these romances, Boyd had so many rock anthems written to her - Something, Layla, Wonderful Tonight - that the wealth of tributes bordered on profligacy.

With musicians' machismo, Harrison and Clapton once engaged in an all-night duelling guitar session for her hand. When Clapton won, she re-immersed herself in a fresh round of wild London parties and hectic foreign tours, until his drug and drink addictions eclipsed everything else in his life - and the spell broke.

Songs written about Pattie Boyd

by George Harrison:

"I Need You" - this was a love song for his new girl.

"Think For Yourself" - this was written when he was miffed at her.

"Something" - in interview he has credited Pattie as the inspiration to this song.

by Eric Clapton:

"Layla" - he expressed the pain of his unrequited love for Pattie with this classic song.

"Wonderful Tonight" - he finally got his 'Layla' and wrote this based on an evening they shared.

"Pretty Girl" - dedicated to his pretty girl.

"Never Make You Cry"

Songs sung by Pattie

Pattie provided backup vocals for the Beatles and when George went solo.

"All You Need Is Love" - on the Beatles 1967 LP Magical Mystery Tour.

"Birthday" - on the Beatles 1968 LP White Album.

"Yellow Submarine" - on the Beatles 1969 LP Yellow Submarine.

"Bye Bye Love" - on George Harrison's 1974 LP Dark Horse, also featuring Eric Clapton on guitar.

Fleetwood Mac: Rhiannon

2006-10-19T15:35:00.000+05:30

"I read the name [Rhiannon] of it in a ~ in a ~ just a novel and really liked it and thought, 'that's really a beautiful name." Sat down, tap, tap, tap...about 10 minutes later wrote Rhiannon. We think that she was, in fact, Queen and that her memory became the myth. I definitely feel that there's a presence."

~Stevie Nicks, interview video clip, circa 1970s

Dedicated to my angelic Shanaya (aka Rhiannon).

Jimi Hendrix: Fire live at Woodstock

2006-10-12T01:56:00.000+05:30

Jimi Hendrix playing "Fire", live at Woodstock.

George Harrison: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

2006-10-04T15:34:00.000+05:30

A beautiful acoustic version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by the quiet Beatle, George Harrison.

As gentle as the man himself.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from Los Angeles, California

2006-09-28T14:13:00.000+05:30

The Doors named themselves after Aldous Huxley's narrative about mescaline, The Doors Of Perception, which got its title from a quote by William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." Huxley took LSD on his deathbed and tripped to his death on November 22, 1963, the same day John F. Kennedy was shot.

On December 9, 1967, Jim Morrison was arrested at a concert in New Haven for breach of peace, resisting arrest, and indecent exposure. Police were called after he was seen backstage having sex with a young girl, and Morrison was angry that they were questioning him. The police arrested him when he exposed himself at the show, the first time a rock star was arrested in the middle of a performance. You can see him arguing with the police at the end of this video.

Without any further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, from Los Angeles, California (insert intro guitar riff)

The Boss, rooted

2006-09-24T21:59:00.000+05:30

The Boss’s fans could not have been ready for this latest release. There is not an electric guitar in sight. Like Eric Clapton some years back, the rocker has gone unplugged. Springsteen presides over a down-home, back-porch get-together recorded in his farmhouse living room in just three days without any rehearsals.

He plays an acoustic Gibson guitar and a harmonica, surrounded by the sounds of a five-string banjo, country fiddles, an accordion, an upright acoustic bass, and a horn and rhythm section composed of a tuba, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and drums.

This ensemble allows Springsteen to broaden the concept of folk music to show its intersection with traditional jazz and gospel music. And what irony: Folk purists and leftists, not least Pete Seeger himself, went ballistic when Bob Dylan “went electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, trading in topical songs for introspective rock.

It was a long road from “Blowin’ in the Wind” to “Like a Rolling Stone.” Now the Boss has moved in exactly the opposite direction, from rock to old folk, and we have come full circle.

Read the rest of Ron Radosh's review of Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.

Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA

2006-09-19T04:40:00.000+05:30

The Boss rocks on!

Lou Reed: Dirty Boulevard

2006-09-16T19:26:00.000+05:30

"Dirty Boulevard", Lou Reed's poignant tale of Pedro, an immigrant kid with nine siblings, living in a hovel and beaten regularly by his father, but Pedro remains optimistic and hopes to escape. He finds a book on magic in a garbage can, looks up at the cracked ceiling and says “at the count of three I want to fly...fly away”. Featuring arguably Reed's greatest chord progression since "Sweet Jane".

And back at the Wilshire,
Pedro sits there dreaming
He's found a book on magic in a garbage can
He looks at the pictures
And stares at the cracked ceiling
"At the count of 3," he says,
"I hope I can disappear"
And fly fly away,
From this Dirty Boulevard
I wanna fly... away...

Podcast: Original Stack O'Lee Blues

2006-09-05T02:05:00.000+05:30

Original Stack O'Lee Blues
by Long Cleve Reed & Little Harvey Hull in the songster tradition. Circa 1927.

The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil - Live at Altamont

2006-09-02T23:14:00.000+05:30

The Altamont Free Concert was a famous rock music festival held on December 6, 1969. The concert featured The Rolling Stones and other bands such as Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Jefferson Airplane. Approximately 300,000 people attended the concert, and some speculated it would be "Woodstock West." Filmmakers Albert and David Maysles shot footage of the concert, including the infamous killing, and incorporated it into a subsequent documentary film entitled Gimme Shelter.

Much of the film chronicles the behind-the-scenes dealmaking that took place to make the free Altamont concert happen. The action then turns on the concert itself, in which security was provided by the Hells Angels.

As the day progressed, with drug-taking and drinking by the Angels and members of the audience, the mood turned ugly. Fights broke out during performances by Jefferson Airplane (at one point lead singer Marty Balin was knocked out by a Hells Angel) and the Flying Burrito Brothers. By the time the Stones hit the stage, the crowd was especially restless.

It was during "Under My Thumb" that a gun-toting fan, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed to death by a member of the Angels. However, "Sympathy for the Devil" is most often associated with the incident.

Jefferson Airplane: White Rabbit

2006-09-02T16:03:00.000+05:30

White Rabbit is a psychedelic rock song from Jefferson Airplane's 1967 hit album Surrealistic Pillow, also released as a single, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in that form.

For Grace Slick and others in the '60s, drugs were an inevitable part of mind-expanding and social experimentation. With its enigmatic lyrics, White Rabbit became one of the first songs to sneak drug references past censors on the radio.

When President Nixon nearly tripped on LSD

2006-09-02T15:56:00.000+05:30

Grace Slick, lead singer of the psychedelic '60s band Jefferson Airplane, talks about how she almost put LSD in President Richard Nixon's cup of tea.

The Band and Eric Clapton: Further Up On The Road

2006-09-02T02:52:00.000+05:30

The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz, was held at Winterland in San Francisco in 1976. Guests from all periods of their career were invited to participate. The luminaries included Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, and Paul Butterfield. The four-hour performance was one of the most spectacular in rock history.

Here's The Band jamming up with Eric Clapton on Further Up On The Road.

Remember Shakti: Giriras Sudha

2006-08-29T22:06:00.002+05:30

Whether you are a fan of John McLaughlin (guitar), Zakir Hussain (tabla) V. Selvaganesh (percussion), U. Shrinivas (mandolin), Shankar Mahadevan (vocals), world music, Indian music or just want to hear several virtuoso musicians from around the world come to together to create high energy acoustic fusion, you’ll love Giriras Sudha by Remember Shakti.

Weather Report: Black Market

2006-08-28T22:34:00.001+05:30

A great jazz track "Black Market" by Weather Report, with Joe Zawinul (keyboards), Wayne Shorter ( tenor saxophone) , Jaco Pastorius (bass) and Peter Erskine (drums) . At Rockaplast, Stadthalle Offenbach, Germany, 1978.

Dr Rajkumar sings If You Come Today

2006-08-28T22:34:00.000+05:30

Dr Rajkumar (real name: Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Mutturaju (April 24, 1929—April 12, 2006) was one the most popular actor in Kannada film industry. He was an icon in Karnataka and was seen as a role model to millions of Kannadigas.

"Dr. Raj" or "Annavru" (big brother) to millions of his fans, he was sometimes called the John Wayne of South Indian cinema. He acted in more than 200 movies over 50 years in Kannada. He was also a well-known singer, as a playback singer as well as of devotional songs.

Here he sings and English song "If You Come Today" in his own inimitable style.

Hugely enjoyable.

The complete lyrics for interested souls.

If you come today, it is too early
If you come tomorrow, it is too late
you pick your time,
tick tick tick tick a tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick a tick tick tick tick
Daaarling!

If you come today, it is too early
If you come tomorrow, it is too late

Did you say morning? No NO its not good
Did you say evening? NO NO its too bad
Did you say noon? No No its not the time
What did you say? Hey What did you say?
Nothing? You pick the time...
tick tick tick tick a tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick a tick tick tick tick
Daaarling!

If you come today, it is too early
If you come tomorrow, it is too late

Million times beating my heart
Million dreams haunt my heart
Million desires swing in my heart
Million memories seize my heart
Million times beating my heart
Million dreams haunt my heart
Million desires swing in my heart
Million memories seize

Remember Shakti: Ma No Pa

2006-08-28T10:04:00.000+05:30

Whether you are a fan of John McLaughlin (guitar), Zakir Hussain (tabla) V. Selvaganesh (percussion), U. Shrinivas (mandolin), world music, Indian music or just want to hear several virtuoso musicians from around the world come to together to create high energy acoustic fusion, you’ll love Ma No Pa by Remember Shakti.