Tag: playlist

On a dreary winter morning, while dining on scrambled eggs at The Bad Waitress, we noticed something about this South Minneapolis eatery: It has one of the best jukeboxes in town. Miles Davis, PJ Harvey, and early REM, to name but a few, were the perfect accompaniment to a slow-starting Sunday. So impressed were we by the eclectic mix, in fact, that we asked the man behind the jukebox, Christian Johnson, who also happens to be the owner of The Bad Waitress (and the Spyhouse Coffee Shop up the street) to share his personal playlist. Dubbing his mix “Seven Days in the Desert, Ten Albums Shotgun,” Johnson explains that these albums will provide the soundtrack to an upcoming road trip: “Every year I travel to the desert to get away, driving along deserted county roads and visiting small-town weirdness in the American Southwest. These albums inspire, and typify, the mystery surrounding those desert communities and their hauntingly beautiful landscapes.”

10. Depeche Mode, Violator (1990)
“Personal Jesus,” “Enjoy the Silence,” “Policy of Truth.” To me, it was their first heavy album with a lot less electronica, dance-type stuff.

9. The Cramps, Bad Music for Bad People (1984)
The track “TV Set,” produced by Alex Chilton, begins with cannibalistic drums and rants of debauchery; on “Garbageman,” engines thunder into a gothic rockabilly riff.

8. Bowery Electric, Lushlife (2000)
Formed in New York in the ’90s, this duo’s last album proved to be a cinematic soundtrack to a post-modern world; it’s filled with rich tones and futuristic qualities similar to Portishead and Massive Attack.

7. 120 Days, 120 Days (2006)
Hailing from Norway, this band produces a relentless and pulsating rhythm indicative of The Cure in the early ’80s, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine. Their ambient drone, rolling drums, and subtle, soaring vocals complement the synths and guitars on tracks such as “Lazy Eyes” and “Sleepwalking.”

6. Judas Priest, Point of Entry (1981)
I must confess, there is a metal band I still listen to. This underrated record was released between two monster-selling albums: British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance. With tracks such as the appropriately titled “Heading Out to the Highway” and “Desert Plains,” this album is perfect when departing the motel parking lot and hitting the road for another day of scorching heat and highway haunts.

5. The Clash, Combat Rock (1982)
It’s The Clash. Come on!

4. Gram Rabbit, Music to Start a Cult To (2004)
Former Minneapolis darling Jessica Von Rabbit fronts this dangerously disturbing pop assault of renegades now residing in Joshua Tree, California. Their first full-length album engages the listener from the murderous West with a soundtrack of brilliantly written pop anthems. Jessica’s voice floats above melodic rhythms of guitars, pianos, and synths, with a backbeat of go-go inspired tastes. My favorite tracks are their massive hit “Cowboy-Up,” “Land of Jail,” and “Cowboys & Aliens.” Imagine Madonna, Johnny Cash, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and The Jesus and Mary Chain all in the same Chevy Nova going 120 miles an hour and crashing into a van filled with bunnies.

3. X, Under the Big Black Sun (1982)
A classic album whether on the road or sitting in church. John Doe and Exene Cervenka deliver modest attitude and an electrified sound with great talent as songwriters and vocalists. John Doe’s solo albums are also a must for any trip.

2. The Cult, Pure Cult: The Best of the Cult
Just a great collection of American commercial rock songs from English blood.

1. Mark Lanegan, Bubblegum (2004)
The darkest and most urban album to date from Seattle’s Screaming Trees frontman. The tracks “Head” and “Hit the City,” with PJ Harvey, are explosive. “Driving Death Valley Blues” speaks of addiction with reference to the road. This bluesy album is full of depth, soul, and loss.

More than a composer, Mary Ellen Childs devised a neat trick to lure skeptical listeners to her contemporary chamber music concerts. The Northeast Minneapolis resident is known nationally in avant-garde music circles for supplementing cutting-edge sonic experiences with any number of visual hooks. With Dream House, for instance, which premiered at the Southern Theater in 2004, rhythmic music for live string quartet and innovative theatrical lighting played against time-lapse video of a demolition and subsequent construction at the site of Childs’s own home. Twin Citians haven’t heard (or seen) much from Childs in the intervening years, but she is presently putting the finishing touches on a retrospective for Crash, the “visual percussion” ensemble she has worked with for the past twenty years, whose members have backgrounds in everything from marching band to dance and tai chi. Drumming in Motion: Mixed and Remixed incorporates drummers on wheels, giant illuminated gongs, and a marimba powered by stationary bicycle. And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Childs performance without a collaborating video artist—in this case, Daniel Polsfuss. Hints of what inspires these irreverent and, at times, oddball creations can be found in this annotated list of Childs’s favorite albums:

1. Rivers and Tides, Fred Frith
Spare but perfect music written for a beautiful film about a fascinating subject. Every time I listen to it the images from the film come flooding back.

2. Accordion Tribe, Guy Klucevsek,
Maria Kaleniemi, Lars Hollmer, Otto Lechner, and Bratko Bibic
The accordion has always been one of my favorite instruments for which to write. And what could be better than one accordion, but five? The sound of these fine musicians playing together is nothing short of amazing.

3. Volver, Alberto Iglesias
I loved this Almodóvar film and was so enchanted by its sonorous and evocative music that I bought the CD the very next day.

4. Eislermaterial, Heiner Goebbels
For some this is an acquired taste. For me, I can’t tell you why I am so taken with Heiner Goebbels’s music except that it’s not quite like anything I’ve heard before. It has an ineffable “something” that completely captures my imagination.

5. The Essential Michael Nyman Band, Michael Nyman
Years ago an enthusiastic Michael Nyman fan introduced me to his music and I thought “So?” Recently, however, I listened again—and I’m riveted. This music goes straight to my heart.

6. Film Works Anthology, John Zorn
The range of styles and moods on this cross section of Zorn’s work is impressive and fascinating.

7. Livro, Caetano Veloso
What else can I say about Caetano Veloso except that he’s a master? I can listen to his voice, his songs, hour after hour.

8. Earbox, John Adams
I’m such a John Adams aficionado that one CD will not suffice. This is a ten-CD set, but if pressed to recommend just one piece, it’d be Fearful Symmetries. The virtuosic and emotional sweep of this orchestra piece gets to me every time.

9. Perfectly Frank, Tony Bennett
This is my favorite way to hear Frank Sinatra hits—sung by Tony Bennett.

10. Light, Ethel
I’ve worked with Ethel and these guys are simply the best. They’ve been called a string quartet that plays like a rock band—and it’s true.

Every year, sculptor John Hock invites a couple dozen fellow artists to come and do their thing at Franconia Sculpture Park, the road trip-worthy destination he co-founded near Taylor’s Falls. The sculptors, who range from established names based in far-flung metropolises to student interns from local art schools, sweat it out all summer; come September, there’s a huge day-long party to show off the fruits of their labor.

As the park’s artistic director, Hock attends to a host of duties besides making his own work, and music accompanies most all of them. Here are the songs that help him get the job, whatever it is, done:

1. “New York, New York,” Frank Sinatra
This makes the list for the obvious reasons: nostalgia and loneliness. Eight years in New York City, I was the shit magnet—people getting killed all around me. This was when Times Square was real! Before it became Dizzy World, middle class tourist Mecca. My first year out here (1993) I named my new dog after Frank. I also brought a copy of this song to my local pub, Romayne’s in Taylors Falls, for their jukebox. Frank helps me feel like my feet really grip the earth.

2. “Is That All There Is?” Peggy Lee
She makes you want to drink and smoke (the latter I gave up after thirty-four years), and question art and life. Sometimes I play this song for the artist interns at the sculpture park. They don’t get it. Youth is wasted on the wrong people. I still have a vice or two and Peggy makes three.

3. “Love Duet,” Madama Butterfly, Puccini
For me, this is (brain) yoga. It gets me all twisted up and sweaty with meditation and concentration (after all, I don’t smoke anymore); it helps me plan the day, make lists, see what will be truly unique today. Or say, “Is that all there is?”

4. “Stranded in the Jungle,” New York Dolls
This ditty from the original glam rock band was on the first album, Too Much Too Soon, I ever bought. It was the early ’70s, I was fourteen. My mother thought the Halloween makeup I was wearing was “very interesting”—but it was Easter. This song makes me smile—always has, always will.

5. “I’m Bored” (and “Tell Me a Story” and“Girls” and etc. etc.), Iggy Pop
I’m sick of kicks, stiffs, and dips. Load me into a cannon and shoot me into the butt of a rhino. Show me something new. Just don’t bore me.

6. “Ride of the Valkyries,” Die Walküre, Wagner
This is music for installing very large sculpture. You’re in Chicago, you’re up at five a.m.; you’re meeting the 120-ton crane at six, three semi trucks are rolling in, you have seven sculptures to install by three p.m. The meter maids and rent-a-cops are all bent out of shape. You show them your permit and drop on this song: Da-da-da-daaa-da.

7. “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” Beastie Boys
The first raucous dance experience for my son Zane was when this number came on 89.3 while we were babysitting each other (he was two at the time). Upon Momma Tasha’s return, she inquired what we had been up to. I said, “Reading books.” Zane said: “Don’t beweeve the hype.”

8. “Hot Rod,” Peaches
Really, almost that whole album, The Teaches of Peaches. That’s the way it’s supposed to be: not stuffy, locked up in some museum. Let it all hang out, play the trombone, challenge yourself, try something new.

9. “Sex Bomb (Baby Yeah!),” Flipper
This is a lot like Wagner but is about installing (or deconstructing) something else altogether. Go ahead and upset your audience. This was the 1980s: Ronald Reagan, then George Bush. Who wasn’t pissed off? Gritty, aggressive angst. Nowadays I can only listen to it once or twice a year. Baby yeah!

10. “Jesus Built My Hot Rod,” Ministry and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers)
When my energy is running low, this masterpiece (sort of like a twenty-first-century rendition of “Hot Rod Lincoln”) is just what the doctor ordered. This song keeps a sculptor’s paradise running on high octane. If things are slowing down, you’re not sure of your newest idea—screw it. Jesus built my hot rod. Try it, you’ll like it.

Franconia Sculpture Park’s fall arts and music festival takes place on September 15 with live music, dancing, bonfire, and tours of the new location. 29836 St. Croix Trail, Franconia; 651-257-6668.