CNN's Larry King Live features a West Memphis 3 special Wednesday September 1st featuring Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines and more
Are You Hootenannying?
Written by Brandon Rector
Thursday, 02 September 2010 15:31
Well, someone is. Anna Knowlden has uploaded some rehearsal pictures to the Pearl Jam Official Flickr Page. If you're not attending the Hootenanny for a Healthy Gulf, you can still support clean up efforts at http://pearljam.com/oceans/.
Rival is another example of the brilliant job so much of Binaural does in establishing atmosphere. From the first moments of the song with the growling dog there is a pervading, ominous sense that something has gone very wrong, that the world is not the way it should be. The music almost has a demonic carnival quality to it—celebratory if not for the sharp, discordant notes that drive the song (especially the bridge and outro). Eddie’s double tracked vocals (especially his higher/strained notes) add to the sense of insanity running through the song. The music also does an excellent job inverting a fairly standard Pearl Jam formula that we see in songs like Unthought Known—where we see piano noodling, the high notes bursting with intensity, and brief inspirational solos designed to carry us someplace new and help us transcend the forces that hold us back. This is what Pearl Jam does best, and so it’s particularly striking to see this demented fun house mirror reflection of that aspect of the band. This is probably the most menacing song in their catalog.
Lyrically I think this is the strongest of all the songs penned by someone other than Ed (and it is better than a few of Ed’s lyrics). Not every line here is a slam dunk—and the call back parts are noticeably weaker than the main lyric (and some, like the well hung part, make me cringe a little bit) but there are enough provocative moments here (in particular I like the imagery in ‘I’ve been harboring fleets in this reservoir’, the clever shot at moral self-righteousness and small town piety ‘how will the man who made chemicals difficult’ and the bridge lyrics ) Although this song is ostensibly about the Littleton, CO school shootings it’s no more about that then Whipping is about abortion. There’s nothing in the lyrics to make that apparent and you’d never guess it if not for the liner notes. Instead, like Whipping, we have a series of individual snapshots of a person’s mood—their rebellion against a diseased society, although in Whipping we have a call for action and an attempt at restoration. Despite the presence of lyrics like ‘we all’ve got scars they should have em to’ or ‘don’t mean to push but I’m being shoved’ there’s still a sense of angry optimism in that song, or failing that, at least solidarity. Rival is not a passive song (there are too many intimations of violence), and so in some respects it makes sense that it follows a number like Grievance, but there is no optimism here. There’s no hope. Instead it’s largely defined by the song’s nihilism, its loss of faith that any of the problems that affect us so deeply can actually be addressed. The singer has seen the sticks raised and brought down one time too many, and he is far more pessimistic about discovering within American culture and American character any serious desire to really try and address the things that matter. We’d much rather lie to each other than confront it (how’s our father supposed to be told?) This nation may be about to explode, but no one seems to care. We’re fiddling while America burns (hence the festive undertones to the music)with no real hope of us coming together to fix it. The plea at the end of Grievance has largely fallen on deaf ears. There’s no solidarity here. We’re all rivals to each other, and divided there is no way for us to move forward. Rival makes clear that Grievance, at least in terms of the album (not the overall arc of the band) is an outlier--a temporary resurgence of principles no longer dominant.
To be fair, I don't have cable, so this is the first I've seen of the Larry King Live video. If this is incomplete, and anyone finds a more complete video, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy your four-minute clip!
If you go to antiquiet.com, you can listen to Lucky Man, a song from Ronnie Wood's new album, I Feel Like Praying. If you jam your earphones WAY into your ears while it's playing, you might just hear Eddie Vedder on backing vocals.
Other notable appearances on the album include Flea, Slash, ZZ Top guitarist, Billy Gibbons, Ian McLagan of Faces, and Bobby Womack.
There is an old adage that good things come in threes and that’s proven out on today’s podcast. ATS #65 takes a look at three trilogies over three tours spanning the band’s 20 year history. It’s pretty interesting to hear these songs uninterrupted and how they fit together thematically or in telling a larger story. With so much musical ground to cover, I also felt it appropriate to let the songs do most of the talking and went a little lighter than usual on the commentary.
Looking forward to the Hootenanny and the holiday weekend and beyond. As I deliberate making the trip to this year’s Bridge School Benefit, I took a little extra time recently to update the ATS Zazzle site with new gear featuring the new ATS logo designed by listener Igor Gruda. I think the new merch looks great and I already got my order placed! Check it out if interested. All proceeds to be donated to charity.
Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines, Lorri Davis and Dennis Riordan on Larry King Live Wednesday, September 1st:
Eddie Vedder, Natalie Maines, Damien Echols' wife, Lorri Davis, and West Memphis 3 attorney, Dennis Riordan, will appear on Larry King Live on Wednesday, September 1st at 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT (the program will also replay twice that same night midnight and 3:00 am ET).
The group was interviewed this past weekend while in Little Rock, Arkansas for the "Voices for Justice" rally in support of the West Memphis 3. Tune in to hear Larry King and the panel discuss the West Memphis 3 case and Damien Echols' upcoming September 30th Arkansas Supreme Court oral argument.
"Voices for Justice" Rally to air on SIRIUS XM on Saturday, September 4th:
"Voices For Justice," a historic concert and rally in support of the West Memphis 3, will air on SIRIUS XM’s The Spectrum (SIRIUS channel 18 and XM channel 45) this Saturday, September 4th at 7:00 pm ET. The program features acoustic performances by Eddie Vedder and Natalie Maines plus special guests Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Bill Carter, Lisa Blount and the first-ever broadcast of Fistful of Mercy, a new band featuring Ben Harper, Dhani Harrison and Joseph Arthur.
ESPN's Page 2 is reporting that Eddie Vedder and John Cusack are in talks to play Cubs in a film adaptation of Andy Van Slyke's book, The Curse: The Cubs Win! The Cubs Win! ... Or Do They? It's not exactly his acting debut, but then again, if you've seen Singles, you know that it might be.
