| Issue
#38
June ‘02
In the post 9-11 world we are told how
everything
has changed – We watch, we listen, we understand the
outpouring for those whose lives
have been forever dismantled. If any good can be claimed by such a
horrible tragedy: it
should be noted that it was the overall compassion and selfless charity
of untold amounts
of people that helped at a time when all were helpless. There have been
tributes,
benefits, memorials and the like brought forth in the name and honor of
those lives lost
and for those family members left behind. Never can we overstate nor
underestimate how
those actions created the paths towards healing that were necessary for
the innocent
victims of this violence.
But, what of those whose lives were not
directly
connected? Those who sat by the radio,
the television, the internet and recoiled in shock as they wondered,
“What the hell
is going on?” For, they also are victims of this insanity.
How are they supposed to
continue on with their normal day to day lives? Where do they turn in
their fear, their
anger, their anxiety of a world gone mad? Who can understand and
console them, what
compassion is there for the everyday man of your hometown in the
everyday world? For, for
him/us even though everything has changed – it remains the
same.
Enter James Velvet
(singer/songwriter, rhythm guitar) and his band The
Mocking Birds – Johnny Java (bass), Dick Neal
(lead/slide/pedal steel
guitars, dobro, harmony vocals), and Jon Peckman (drums, percussion,
silly samples) –
and their new CD, “Still Here.”
Like a Presidential fireside
chat, the Calvary over the hill, and your mom telling you a bedtime
story as she tucks you
in at night all rolled into one – this CD tackles the issues
that have affected our
lives since last September. From the perspective of the everyday man,
it tells us that not
only is it OK to grieve and hurt, to hold anger and contempt, but also
to carry on with
the ins, outs, ups, and downs of everyday life just as we had been
accustomed to before -
and not to feel guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed because of it.
Opening with “I’m
Still
Here” a good time
pickin’ tune that crosses the country
twanggin’ / Rock backbeat line with the same ease that Buddy
Holly first did with
“That’ll Be The Day.” It tells the simple
story of a man trapped in the
same hometown. But as we listen to his tale of woe, we understand that
it is actually a
homage to the life and times he has loved, and still loves, shared with
cherished friends
and family. Even when dreamed of opportunities have been within his
grasp, he still finds
his comfort remaining where he is and with who he is. Taken in context
to the next level,
we understand how James Velvet and The
Mox are
addressing all of us from our personal local level, and also extending
this hometown
loyalty to a regional, national, and even global point of view.
Allowing for us to
understand that the simplest joys of life as told by an individual
everyday man in his
small, insignificant, everyday hometown can be applied to anyone,
anywhere, and that we
can all call the world our hometown.
Along with this lesson in social
consciousness is
the heartbreaking reality of “This
Blues” – a direct tale of
that fateful September day, and the
shock and horror brought to life in the minds of those of us whose
closest connection was
the television. It perfectly emphasizes how all the emotions brought to
the surface can
knock us to the ground. Here The Mocking Birds
achieve the only
expressive artistic outlet that can relate to the uncontrollable
situation that played out
in front of our eyes, one that eventually slinked down from the core of
our hearts to
settle in the pit of our stomachs; that of the Blues. Painstakingly
sung with a slightly
distorted/removed/stretched vocal (which lends the proper eerie aura to
the subject)
delivered over a classic blues bass and drum backbeat while using a
slow deliberate rhythm
build. Adding to the tension is a restrained slide guitar
that’s simmering just
underneath as our narrator subsides his pent up conflict with a call
for peace.
The same message is dished out again, yet
through
the twisted lens of the viewfinder on
the boardwalk as “Gas Masks And
Vaccines” pokes fun of
the latest fads. While the song may now sound a tad dated, it only adds
to the intended
humor of the absurd, as much as the distorted calliope enhances the
pitch of the Carney
Barker elevating the status of these collectibles to those of Pez
Dispensers and Beanie
Babies.
Not all of “Still
Here”
plays as inflicted reverence. The
Mox still turn it out and get down to a variety of tunes that affirm
their signature Roots
Rock style. “Honey Blonde”
and “Low
Bar” Rock the house with Link Wray
and The Kinks (respectively)
inspired drive, while “Melancholy Blue”
could have
easily been penned and performed in the Blues fashion of early Steve
“Guitar”
Miller.
Two standouts (in a record full of them) are
“I Like The Music”
and “Sail Away.”
The first is a fun loving New Orleans
Mardi Gras, Caribbean Carnival reggae romp that gives the green light
to anything that is
performed musically because “Nobody knows what is
right and what is wrong /
there’s no rules / it all comes down to whether or not you
like the song.”
It also name checks; Talking Heads, Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Kid Rock,
George Harrison,
and Bugs Bunny to the delight and joy of anyone who listens. It
acknowledges (in a sidebar
type of way) the peaceful beliefs of Hinduism (thus the George Harrison
reference) and
how, in a way, musical beliefs can reflect/mirror those of religion and
its/their ability
to bring together as well as tear apart.
Taken literally “Sail
Away”
shows itself to be a somber eulogy to a loved one. As the narrator
assembles the pieces of
their life together in their boat and lets it go, he stands and watches
as this
metaphorical funeral pyre sails away from him, As the oceans current
acts in the same
manner as time, he allows it to drift out of his life, even though it
will always be a
part of it. This returns us to the album’s underlying theme
of our changed post 9-11
world – With some of the most beautiful English Horns
extending smoothly over the
mourning - we ache, grieve, and weep for/with the narrators’
emotions. We connect the
dots to that of those lost in the WTC, and for that matter, those
everyday ideals lost to
us as we watched our television screens.
“Still Here”
concludes with “Freedom Ring”
– stripped bare of instrumentation except for a
sparse percussion track, it is a scathing political
commentary of the current
administration. Whether or not you choose to agree –
it’s still powerful enough
to get you to think.
Therein lies the beautiful reality of this
Disc
– A modern day concept/protest
album that elevates our senses to what has/is going on around us. A
call to recognize not
only our individual demons and ghosts resurrected by current events,
but to understand and
allot for the same being experienced by our neighbors – not
only those in our
hometown, but also our neighbors around the world as well. “Still
Here”
asks us to look around, drink in, and celebrate the present as we cast
an eye towards the
future without ever forgetting the past and the lessons learned.
Because, after all, we're
Still Here.
“Still
Here” by The
Mocking Birds.
Now available for: $9.98 +s/h*
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