Not only do I adore this song, but I thought it was a perfect album to listen to in the evening sun driving back up to Portland after dropping my baby off after an exceptional eye-opening weekend in the wilderness. Scarlett had complained that we didn't play enough games while camping so after pulling into Eugene, I decided I would take her to a nearby park and pretend we were still camping while sitting on the grass playing Memory and Candyland for another couple of hours. At one point, I had a rush of emotion come through me and this happens sometimes when Scarlett and I are on the exact same page, having the exact same experience and I know the feeling is pure love. Like at its core. I told her I never wanted the day to end and I realized this was the truth. This song came into my head and I decided to sing it to her while holding her under a tree swaying in the gentle breeze. It was a beautiful moment.
Rocky Votolato is an interesting musician. He will remind you of many artists, some of whom you may love and some of whom you may feel bored with. I can't explain my likeness for him really, except that he is admired by many of my favorite musicians and also has interesting influences. I feel like he appreciates aspects of life that I feel are important and him and his wife star in the video above only to reveal what I feel is true about the man - he is down to earth, loves his wife of ten years and makes life look purposeful and meaningful. I really love the video. It makes me very happy to watch.
For those of you unfamiliar with Rocky Votolato, he is an American singer-songwriter. He is originally from Dallas, Texas but was moved to the Pacific Northwest as a teenager, which is where I feel his music fits so perfectly. His music sounds like the northwest. Because he left the South, he decided to change directions musically and decided to pick up a string guitar and start writing songs with a heavy folk influence, however his influences are mainly punk rock. In high school, he was very much drawn to punk rock culture and credits his favorite bands as Fugazi and Jawbreaker. The acoustic folk tunes did not start right away. He was still determined to play more hardcore punk music until later changing his focus.
Rocky formed an earlier band called "Lying on Loot" that eventually disbanded in 1996 where he then started playing under the name "Waxwing" and then Rocky's younger brother Cody soon joined the band on second guitar. They were signed with Second Nature Recordings and released their debut album For Madmen Only which showed elements of post-hardcore and created a strong local following. They released two more albums yet Rocky felt restless.
He began writing songs that did not fit this aggressive mold and wanted to write songs more appropo to working with musicians such as Damien Jurado, Small Brown Bike, The Get Up Kids, The New Amsterdams, etc. These musicians were excited to work with him and even some of Seattle's finest musicians appear on his albums such as Red Stars Theory, Sharks Keep Moving, The Blood Brothers, Death Cab for Cutie, Pedro the Lion, and Rosie Thomas from Sub Pop records. His producers for his work include a long A-list of contributors such as Matt Bayles (who produced Pearl Jam and Murder City Devils) and Chris Walla (who produces Death Cab for Cutie).
Rocky has eventually found his calling musically with his self-titled album released in 1999 called Makers where you see Votolato branch out recording almost all songs live and with a country sound and folk-esque musical combinations. It will be interesting to see what he does next. For now though, this song is my ultimate. "White Daisy Passing" is officially a song to commemorate my time with Scarlett, the most important person in my life, while living a moment that will pass and be stained with a quiet lullaby of Rocky Votolato.
IN OTHER NEWS: I was just informed by my beautiful friend, Amanda Aries-Alton, that the Doug Fir located on Burnside St. here in Portland has free Sunday concerts with a supposedly fantastic happy hour. What a wonderful experience! So if you have a free moment on a lazy Sunday, check it out and I am sure it will satisfy the Sunday blues.
Also, has anyone heard the new Jane's Addiction material? God love Perry Farrell but I'm not sure I would buy a new Jane's Addiction album and they are one of my favorites. I just feel Jane's Addiction without the addiction part of it, might be a white knuckled experience. I have heard about three tunes and it wasn't bad but it's not the feeling I have when I hear "Jane Says" or "Been Caught Stealing". Ah, the 90's. I know people want to replicate them but we just can't. As with all other times in our lives. The experience cannot be redone. I am the Queen of this concept. I have tried and tried and tried to give myself the same feeling - if I feel good, I want it again and again and again. And because of that, I became an alcoholic, a loser in the game of stable healthy relationships, and a desperate seeker of self dealing with existential crises almost daily heading full speed into my 30's.
DJ shadow is talking about doing a new album which is excited for all of you dubstep house music late night dancing-loving music lovers out there.
Also this week hopefully I will be reviewing Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks (Pavement frontman)'s Beck-produced album Mirror Traffic. I'm really excited to hear it and hope it lives up to its expectations in my head.
Speaking of Beck, he is celebrating his 15th year in the music industry trying on pretty much every hat there is to wear in the world of musical show biz. He has produced, directed videos, written songs, performed with some of the greats, collaborated with musical geniuses worldwide and has covered the gamut of musical emotion from the start of his first album through to the current selling millions upon millions of copies of each one, being recognized even back in 1997 for best album of the year with Odelay. Cheers to you, Beck! Also celebrating their 15th year of awesomeness is ?uestlove, drummer for The Roots. Also a fascinating story to read up on. Talented men fo sho. (yep, I just said that. Both of them make me want to use street slang when singing their praises).
Camping with Scarlett and Annie this weekend gave me a much needed sense of self and how un-important I am, how not special I am, how much I am a part of the bigger picture. I can't tell you how much I love watching waterfalls, the ever continuous flow of pressured water while knowing it will never quit. We will leave the falls, we will drive back home and it will continue to flow. Almost every cycle in this world is circular and I do not feel we emphasize that enough in our culture. Water being sucked from the earth into the sky only to be released back onto the earth to melt, return back to the bottom to be snatched up again by the sky. Beautiful. Something is happening to me. I'm just starting to get it. It will be a long time before it finally manifests itself inside of me but until then, I have alt-country, folky music telling stories of purpose and revealing secrets of time and experiences.
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