A lot of the people I loved and kept a close eye / ear out for have shuffled off this mortal coil: David Bowie, Lou Reed, Kurt Cobain, Jim Croce, Bob Dylan. 1 And I've either failed to keep up with, lost track of, or abandoned quite a few others: Iggy Pop, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, The New York Dolls, Bob Geldof.
I still buy the occasional album, but usually for cheap used or from the Kickstarter or Noise Trade type things: Kansas Bible Company, The Holy Ghost Tent Revival, My Brightest Diamond, Matthew Perryman Jones, The Lonely Wild. That's the stuff that matters most to me these days, because as the music industry thrashes around in its death throes, I fear that one of its flailing flukes will capsize such small boats. And I want them to keep on sailing, ya know?
I had a very vivid reminder of how important buying music can be to the artists who produce it t'other day.
My #1☉ Jimmy recently moved to Vermont, and even more recently hooked up with a musician by the name of George Nostrand. I like to support anybody who's out there fighting the good fight, and double that if it's somebody who is in my son's company, so I went online to see what I could see about this George Nostrand. I found out that he was a professional basketball player who passed away in 1981, a resident of Bellows Falls, Vermont, who passed away in, 2016, and a Managing Partner at Law Offices of Salmon & Nostrand. And then I found a listing for an album on CD Baby.
It's a double album and it goes for a mere $12 + $3.63 shipping for a total of $15.63. And what do you get for your $15.63?
22 tracks, which weigh in at a total playing time of 56:15 + 64:28. That's over two hours of music, folks. Whottadeal.
The tracks being
Disc 1
1 Radio Songs
2 This Far
3 Paradise (J. Prine)
4 One Kind Favor (Traditional)
5 Enough
6 Dancin' in the Mud (L. Molinelli)
7 If You Only Knew
8 House of the Rising Sun (Traditional)
9 New Song
10 More Than You'll Ever Know (S. Muss)
11 Mexico
12 Griswold Drive
Disc 2
13 Drift
14 Ladder to the Moon
15 Bill's Jam
16 Blah
17 Dreamin in Your Window (M. Terricciano)
18 One Million & One
19 Broken String Jam
20 Can't You See (Marshall Tucker Band) /I Know You Rider (Traditional)
21 New Song Reprise
22 Sympathy for the Devil (M. Jagger / K. Richards)
Which is a pretty good chunk of music, huh? I don't know much about traditional music, but I assume that all of the songs not identified as "Traditional" or followed by a name are George Nostrand originals. If so, George writes with a nice sense of humor and whimsy, but knows how to tighten it down, too.
The musicianship here is good, solid stuff. And varied. Some pretty folkish stuff at the beginning, shifting over to some rockier terrain around halfway through the first disc. I was particularly fond of Isobel Nimtz's co-vocals, which were consistently delightful. I will mos def look to see if she has any solo stuff up and about. More news as it happens on that.
Anyway . . .
Last time I talked to #1☉ he asked me if I had purchased George's album. Which I thought was kind of strange, as I had not said anything to him about buying it and as he had not previously exhibited any signs of telepathic powers. I said that I had, and he told me that when he had last talked to him, George had excitedly told him that someone had bought his album. Is that super-de-dooper cool or what? How excited to do you think Mick Jagger gets about you buying the latest Rolling Stones malarky?
So hey, if you have a hard-to-buy-for person on your Christmas or Obligatory Birthday Present List, buy 'em this George Nostrand album from CD Baby. If they listen to it, they'll like it and have a good time. If they don't listen to it, well, what the hell, you still got that Christmas Present / Obligatory Birthday Present Monkey off of your back for less than $16, and you probably made George happy.
That's good enough, ennit? I mean, come on, people, now.
1 De facto, right?
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