Jukebox jeopardy

Marimba's jukebox is in jeopardy.

I learned this morning that Apture, the service that I use to link to various audio/video/data files, no longer has a linking agreement with IMeem Music, which has been taken over by MySpace Music.

What this means is that, for the time being, I can only link to video files, such as YouTube, in the jukebox feature in the right-hand column.

There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but it's not what I had in mind when I first set up the jukebox. It's a personal preference, I realize. You see, I don't necessarily like to WATCH music, y'know? I just want to listen to it. I don't want someone else's video interpretation of a song stuck in my head after viewing a music video or somebody's pasted-together YouTube homage/collage.

So, we will see where this goes. As it stands now, the current jukebox may be the last to be offered for awhile. We'll see where, if anywhere, Apture goes from here with their audio sourcing.

'Til then . . . . . . .

A glitch (or a Grinch) in the jukebox

There appears to be a slight glitch in the jukebox this week. I've had to resort to using a larger than usual number of YouTube links for the songs because of internal connectivity problems between Apture and IMeem's audio files.

No biggie. Some of the songs may not show up with links right now but if you keep checking back, you'll probably be able to link to the tunes in the next 12-24 hours. Or so I'm led to believe. We shall see.

So, just a quick, rudimentary listing of the artists we're featuring:

From the 60s, we've got The Vogues, Leola and the Lovejoys (pictured at left), The Valentinos, The Radiants, the archetypal psychedelic sounds of Country Joe & The Fish and the hard-to-find vocal version of Cast Yr Fate to the Wind by Steve Alaimo (yes, there are lyrics to that tune).

Moving into the 70s, we have The Move, Graham Parker & The Rumour, Stiff Little Fingers, The Dwight Twilley Band, Harry Chapin, Exuma, Jackie Lomax and The Patti Smith Group.

There's only one song from the 80s, barely qualifying with a release date of early 1980 and it's by Pittsburgh's favorites, The Iron City Houserockers. There are no 90s releases represented today but we do have a few from the beloved 00s, tunes by Rodney Crowell, The Menahan Street Band, The Shake Russell Band and Pearl Jam covering a John Lennon classic, and I do mean classic.

Beyond all that, we round out the jukebox selections with a video selection featuring Louis Armstrong and Danny Kaye riffin' and scattin' and blowin' and tearin' down the house.

Hope you enjoy.

Marimba excused from jury duty

You choose the correct thought-bubble caption for the photo above:

A) F. Lee Bailey (left): "Well, that's a cool two million in the bank for me and if that clock up there is right, it looks like I still have time to catch 18 holes at Westchester."

B) Bobby Kardashian (2nd from left): "Sheeeeesh. He beat the rap. Unbelievable. What a farce. Well, now I guess I have no choice but to let my daughters grow up to be media whores."

C) Johnny Cochran (right): "We did it, son, we did it! I knew we could beat this thing. I had faith all along. Too bad you're as guilty as the night is dark but . . . we won!"

D) O.J. Simpson (you know which one he is): "Thank God that Marimba wasn't on this jury. He'd have seen right through my lies."

Dear Juris Prudence, won't you come out to play? (or One Angry Man)

Gotta go in for jury duty. I'm always getting called, never chosen. Have to show up today @ 1:15pm. Kind of an odd time to begin, if you ask me.

I'm all for doing my civic duty but I hope they decide that I'm not worthy of sitting on a panel this week. I have things to do, places to go, people to see. I'm a busy man.

Yeah, right.

Maybe I'll feign being hard of hearing. That might get me outa there quick today.

If they do manage to pick me, though, I can guarantee that they'll be 8.33% of the way toward 12 Angry Men.

The jukebox has been refilled

There's a new batch of tunes loaded into the jukebox this week.

Treat your ears to a little countrified folk and roll from Townes Van Zandt, Ray Wiley Hubbard, The Sisters Morales, Roger McGuinn and everybody's favorite Jewish Cowboy/Gubernatorial Candidate, Kinky Friedman.

The ladies are represented by the spot-on harmonies created by Petra Haden and her cohorts as well as a lascivious little dittie from The Sugar Twins who, trust me, are no artificial sweetener. Along with the aforementioned Morales girls, we've got an early Bangles number for ya.

Early Brit rocker Billy Fury is here. So are rockin' Rex Garvin, flash-fingers Eric Johnson, the ever eclectic Donovan and the always charming Captain Beefheart.

There's a little blues from Blind Willie McTell, a little soul from The Originals (one of about a dozen or more bands with this same name . . . not very original), some neo-garage-punk from The Hold Steady, a little retro-instro number from The Aqua Velvets, some 70s cheese from Blue Mink and one of the finest metaphorical song concepts in all of rock and roll from Walter Egan.

Hope you enjoy.

Fiomily rooOOOoolz, man!

Thank you, Camille Paglia.

In a recent column on the Salon.com website, the ever fascinating and always outspoken social critic/author/feminist, Camille Paglia mentioned her fondness for a pair of teenaged British sisters living in Germany who had become a bit of an internet sensation. The pair, Emily and Fiona, have numerous postings on You Tube as well as on their own MySpace or Facebook site. (I'm so old and out of it I don't know the difference between those 2 things.)

I had to check them out. Paglia, among her many talents and self-contradictory qualities, has a keen ear for music and once, in one of her columns, wrote such a thorough, analytical, detailed treatise on Disco Music of the 70s that I almost had to re-think my stance on that most abhorrent of all popular music forms, a musical side-category that almost single-handedly destroyed rock and roll as we knew it. If Camille enjoyed this pair, then I at least owed it to myself to form my own opinion.

The duo, known as Fiomily, sing and play along to a number of familiar tunes, mostly old sixties and seventies stuff from The Beatles, The Mamas & The Papas, Neil Young, Pink Floyd and Lynyrd Skynyrd as well as newer songs from the likes of Oasis and McFly.

I gotta tell ya . . . these girls have got it going on. I don't mean to sound like some lecherous, gray-haired Aqualung on a park bench but these young ladies are the coolest thing I've encountered, musically, in quite awhile.

Emily is the younger sister, by 2 years, and plays guitar. Fiona sings and does not play any instruments in the videos that they've made. Their harmonies are golden like the best of sibling pairings -- the brothers Everly, Wilburn, Delmore; the Collins Kids; the Jackson family, etc.

The girls play it ultra-straight and could probably stand to loosen up a bit. Some of their videos come off as mere karaoke performances but deep inside each of their little vids is a talent clawing to the front, begging for bigger things. Here's hoping they get the spotlight they deserve.

Check 'em out. In the embedded video herein, they sing a damned fine version of "Creeque Alley" by The Mamas & The Papas, a most improbable cover tune due to its autobiographical origins.