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National treasure Rickie Lee Jones raising money for new album on Pledge Music
01.09.2014
04:13 pm
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As I mentioned in the post yesterday about the great 1979 Tom Waits interview, at the moment I am all about Rickie Lee Jones. Her music is the only music I want to listen to lately. To the exclusion of all else. I’ve been working my way up to a longer, more considered post on Rickie Lee Jones, but that’s not for today—and there is a timely nature to this—so I will keep this one brief.

This morning, clicking around Twitter, I happened upon the news that Jones was raising money to make a new album on Pledge Music. She’s currently 73% of the way towards her goal—with some extremely good premiums like original paintings, house concerts and she was even offering some of her signature berets—with nineteen days left.

Rickie Lee Jones is one of the most important living American musicians, even if the vast majority of the nation doesn’t actually seem to realize this. She’s always been a notoriously difficult talent to describe, fitting into no easy genre or label. Unfortunately in our karaoke culture, a true original like Jones is going to fall through the cracks of what the music industry can do for her. Although I’m sure she must make a decent living touring, at her age, the normal channels won’t be open to her to create and promote new work, so she’s taking it to her fanbase directly.

I thank you in advance for your support, for going with me down this new road.

I think sometimes of the times of Amadeus and the prince or cardinal whose wealth supported him and his work. I’m so much luckier. I have you.

One thing that a deep-pocketed fan/benefactor might be interested in: For the sum of $10,000, the multiple Grammy award-winning musician will write a song about your life. Would make an extravagant, but memorable, wedding anniversary gift, too, I’d think…

Rickie Lee Jones on Pledge Music

Listen to this one time and try—just try—to get it out of your head. From her 2007 masterpiece, The Sermon On Exposition Blvd., here’s “Falling Up”:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.09.2014
04:13 pm
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Tom Waits on Rickie Lee Jones, his famous lasagna and wanting to be Castro in vintage interview
01.08.2014
02:31 pm
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FYI, that’s Cassandra Peterson AKA “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” in the background with the pasties

I’ve been on a Rickie Lee Jones bender for the past week—I don’t want to can’t listen to anything else at the moment—and I was poking around on YouTube for clips of her (not even her official YouTube channel has that much good stuff, sadly. And what’s up with there being not even a single decent version of the “Chuck E’s in Love” video on YouTube?). Expect a Rickie Lee Jones megapost here sometime soon…

I was also looking around for information about why she and Tom Waits split up. There is a lot of conflicting information about their iconic soulmate boho pairing on the Internet (surprise, surprise) and the version of the story I’d always heard, and thought was true (that she revealed her junk habit to him and he left for New York the next day and never spoke to her ever again) turned out to be apocryphal. Whereas Jones has reluctantly told her side of the story—she must get damned tired of being asked about a former boyfriend from over 30 years ago—Waits has been more tight-lipped about what went down between them.

This 1979 interview with Waits, taped at the Shryock Auditorium in Carbondale, Illinois, sheds some light on their relationship—among other topics, like Waits’ famous lasagna (“talked about all over town”), how you should never play pool with a guy named “Fats” and the exhaustion of incessant touring—which was then ongoing. He alludes to something without actually saying it, but the message is pretty clear when he’s talking about how she’s doing. (For those of you reading this who are too young to remember, Jones had a reputation in the early part of her career as the Amy Winehouse of her day, an image she struggled to shake for a long time after it had ceased to be in any way accurate.)

There’s a great moment when the interviewer, Phil Ranstrom asks “I was reading an article from Rickie Lee Jones, she was saying you have become that person…you became that character you talk about in your songs through living it, through having to live it as an artist.”

Waits: “She’s right! It’s a dangerous business, y’know?…It’s kind of like a photographer going to a wedding and ending up married…You’re bound to get a little on ya, if you go poking your nose down the wrong street. As far as being a character in my stories, in my songs, I remain in all the stories, but at the same time I think the creative process is like gumbo, it’s a combination of imagination, experience and memories.”

Ranstrom also asks Waits “Who is one historical figure you would have liked to be?” Waits thinks about this for a moment, then eventually comes up with “Castro maybe?” He then adds STP racing CEO Andy Granatelli (who died last week at the age of 90) to that short list.

Note: The longer version of this video can be seen at the Media Burn website (it autoplays, so I can’t embed it here). The part where Waits speaks about Jones isn’t in the YouTube clip below, but starts at approximately 9:16 during the Media Burn clip.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.08.2014
02:31 pm
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Tom Waits to Rickie Lee Jones ‘Rickie, just keep your goddamn feet outta my lap’ 1979
04.09.2013
04:04 pm
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I have no idea what the source is behind this clipping or quote. Who is “Jack”? Why is Tom Waits wearing “Jack’s” pants and not his own? Is he referring to Jack Kerouac? Why doesn’t Tom Waits want Rickie’s bare feets all over “Jack’s” pants?

So many burning questions…

Posted by Tara McGinley
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04.09.2013
04:04 pm
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Desiree: Sixties ‘baroque pop’ group Left Banke reform (and sound pretty f’ing amazing!)
01.04.2012
02:53 pm
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When I clicked on the email just now from my pal Chris Campion that was titled “Left Banke reform,” I duly hit “play” on the YouTube clip not really expecting much from a bunch of guys pushing 70, if not well past it.

Boy was I surprised and completely and utterly wowed by how gorgeous this is. Watch the “baroque pop” vocal group of the Sixties (best known for their hit “Walk Away Renee”) collaborating with the NYU All University Choir as the special guests at their “Drama Cantorum” performance on December 10, 2011.

This choral version of their “Desiree” number is simply breathtaking. Lush. Polyphonic Spree eat your hearts out.

Seriously, do check it out, it’s practically guaranteed to improve your day at least a little bit.
 

 
Bonus: Rickie Lee Jones doing a stunning cover of “Walk Away Renee” from her 1982 Girl at Her Volcano EP.
 

 
Via Chris Campion/David Arnoff

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.04.2012
02:53 pm
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