Inevitability

One of the links on the right side of the blog will no longer be providing new posts. Yes, that's right Katharine Mooney has hung up her golden gloves of caffeine induced web log posting to pursue a career in fine dining/writing/living away from the unhealthy glow of a macbook screen. So, what's a guy to do? I suppose you could skim the archives. Or, you could do the only thing that seems to make sense on a cold, blustery March afternoon and put up a special post to serve as the death knell to an occasionally fantastic read.

So, it's only right to offer some context first; Mooney often spoke highly of The Band, mistakenly referring to them as a quartet, but an aficionada nonetheless. Enough so to change the name of her blog's final incarnation to "Moondog Matinee"; late in the game, The Hawks released an album with the same name. For those in the know, The Band were a quintet composed of Levon Helm on drums/mandolin/vocals/guitar, Richard Manuel on Piano/Vocals/Drums/chugging Gran Marnier (wikipedia says around 6 bottles a day before cirrhosis won out), Rick Danko on bass/vocals/fiddle, J.R. "Robbie" Robertson on guitar/vocals (it's worth noting that the only song he sang lead on in their entire studio discography is "Till Kingdom Come" (obligatory pontification of the relation to Jay-Z/Coldplay and this song begins and ends NOW!) and Garth Hudson on Organ/Saxophone/Accordion/Piano (he plays that signature line on "The Weight"). Some serious fans consider producer/tuba player John Simon the "6th" member of the group; you can't deny his playing on "Rag Mama Rag" among other standout tracks. I forgot to mention that every single member took a turn on playing various auxiliary horns among other things, leading to a distinct sound (the breakdown in "Chest Fever" springs to mind most immediately).

In honor of the passing of a blog, and the broke as a joke nature of basically everyone I know (save the rich jews, I'm not kidding), I'm doing double time in posting a second album today. Also, I think Mooney eye fucked my older brother at commencement.

It's also worth noting that this album is composed entirely of cover songs; an odd juxtaposition to a group that produced some of the best original music of their time.



TB-MM