[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Rainbow Connection.
Magnolia Memoir.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Pulling off the Perfect Crime (with Magnolia Memoir)
“Put your gun down and come out with your hands up. We have the building surrounded”. It’s like a scene from a Hollywood crime show. There’s a fire truck, cops with donuts, a loud-hailer, yellow plastic tape and a helicopter buzzing us overhead. Wow, this show has a big budget! Is that chopper part of the show or filming the show? Maybe both. It all looks so real. Then the coffee sinks in and your mind is clear again. This is Hollywood and word is, this one is being directed by reality.
So even when the police officer says you can not enter the studio and the entire block is closed off, you wouldn’t be surprised. This is Hollywood after all, where reality doesn’t look much different from television, and you can’t even get close to a movie set shoot.
Nearby in a discrete little warehouse we are waiting for you to come and rescue us, and then escort us back to our car before the parking warden tickets our vehicles for overstaying the meters. We’re here at an un-named studio talking with Magnolia Memoir and record producer Krish Sharma about how they pulled off the Perfect Crime. Apparently nearby, someone is surrounded by cops and hasn’t quite mastered that act yet.
In fact, we’re right in the middle of hearing from Krish (co-producer) of Magnolia Memoir’s forthcoming album ‘The Perfect Crime’, when a blaring megaphone interrupts him mid sentence. He stops stone cold for a while as we all absorb what is going down outside. Then he quickly recovers with “Welcome to Hollywood folks”. We all laugh and joke that this could possibly be one of the best Promo’s the band could have ever pulled off for their second album. Fresh off the recording press with a teaser released on August 30th, ‘The Perfect Crime’ will be the band’s first major label release after recently being signed to Peak Entertainment One. With the full album scheduled for release February 2012 and coming off the back of 2 sell out shows in London, things are looking up for Mela Lee and Alexander Burke of Magnolia Memoir. The bands profile along with their smiles have just had a big ‘up size me’. So life is sweet, and perhaps this is a taste of more to come.
Magnolia Memoir, a five piece ensemble. Led by singer/composer Mela Lee, with music direction by vibe and keyboard player Alexander Burke. It’s anchor is Gordon Bash on Bass, Aron Forbes on guitar, and Matt Lucich on Drums.
I first heard of Magnolia Memoir from a good friend of mine Danny McCrum back in NZ. A successful artist songwriter in his own right. Danny has led and fronted the Danny McCrum band through two self released albums, and a marathon of shows and support gigs for big name artists such as Eric Clapton, Simple Minds, and Jimmy Barnes just to name a few. Earlier in the year Danny was asked by MM to fill some big shoes and perform as lead guitarist for a gig at the Armageddon exhibition in Auckland. I remember him calling me at home after the show buzzing that this band was pure gold and I just had to check them out. “The lead singer’s voice is out of this world. She has a three and a half octave vocal range and, I think I have a crush”.
So a few months later it’s a beautiful day in LA and we are meeting Mela and Alex outside their house near Hollywood. They seem pretty happy with themselves and their warmth is infectious. They slip us a pre-release CD copy of their latest creation ‘The Perfect Crime’ and the next minute we’re back in our rental car playing ‘follow that car’ and speeding toward Starbucks for breakfast. We slip the CD into our car stereo and pump it.
Like all good music, it makes you want to drive faster. My leg starts tapping and my hand is slapping the steering wheel. Another hand starts slapping my other leg. It’s not my other hand though, it’s Maria’s, and she’s telling me to slow down.
I feel good. It’s a fresh sound. The music is full of soul. I’m hearing textures and colours. It’s got rhythm, it’s has warmth, and it’s pure, almost organic. The voice is rich, the grooves are contagious and I already know that I’ll be playing this again.
Three songs later we’re at Starbucks. We’re in, we’re out. Now we are entering the scene of the crime. Krish Sharma was there, along with Charles Goodan. Both of whom co-produced the album and witnessed Magnolia Memoir’s Perfect Crime. They had a few things to say about it.
Catch video segments of them in our next few posts along with an exclusive acoustic performance from Mela and Alex of Magnolia Memoir.
www.myspace.com/magnoliamemoir
JD
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
The 4 Minute Wedding.
Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Little Church of the West, open 8am to 11pm daily. Conveniently located between Mandalay Bay Casino and the world famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign, this was our first taste of a five minute wedding, and we were lucky enough to capture it on video. All four minutes of it.
We had arranged with the front desk to film a couple who were due to turn up shortly. While we waited we witnessed another couple turn up, pay the lady at the front office, get married and then walk back to their car casually, one walking several metres ahead of the other. No hand in hand, this was real love.
Half an hour later our couple were running very late. The Chapel closed at 11pm sharp and we were beginning to wonder if the alcohol was wearing off and they were getting their wedding day jitters. Finally, five minutes before close they did turn up, and The Little Church of the West raced them through the service, slapped a CD of their photos in their hand and turned off the lights. We were all left there standing in the dark while the couple’s friends struggled to get a few more photos, but with the flash, it was pointless. A truly romantic experience.
JD
‘I do’ in Vegas (‘Tacky’ does Vegas).
You’re in the lead but you’re running on ‘E’. You pull in for a fresh set of tyres and a full tank of gas. The pit crew have you up on the block as you look at the clock. Precious time is ticking. Finally there’s a thumbs up from the pit crew. You rev your engine and then bang, you’re off. In and out in 10 seconds. Not bad. Almost as fast as a Vegas wedding.
Short but Sweet.
Elvis is alive! You’ve heard it before. He’d be a very old man by now, but somehow he’s maintained his youth and he seems to get around a wee bit. Maria and I saw a very Fat Elvis in a white ‘Evil Kenevil’ type jumpsuit. He was on ‘The Strip’ of Las Vegas Blvd, right underneath the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign. A crowd had gathered to watch him marry a couple, but by the time he’d run all the way down the strip to where we were going, he’d managed to burn off all those burgers and had morphed into a trim 50’s looking Elvis. We met him at A Little White Chapel.
A Little White Chapel. Famous around the world as the place to be married or have your wedding vows renewed. Their website will tell you this is a charming, cozy little chapel that has pulled generations of happy couples, and they’d be right.
This place is the full package, and it offers happy couples everything from tux and wedding gown rentals, cakes and flowers, right through a drive-thru service, even Elvis himself.
A Little White Chapel is featured in movies and on television all around the world, and if your friends can’t make your wedding they can watch it on the net via the Chapel’s webcam.
One thing that intrigued me was the legendary Drive-Thru service. I couldn’t wait to find out if it really existed? But my god it does! It gets your mind wandering doesn’t it? One wonders if you might be able to double up with another couple. Perhaps you could get a combo? Perhaps you could drive on up to the order box, place your order, drive forward a foot, and have the ‘back set driver’ couple place their orders. Then you could all drive on up to the window (holding hands of course) to pick up your rings, and have your photo taken from the rooftop camera. Your wedding video may look like security camera footage, that could be cool right?! Maybe you could grab a happy meal too. If that ain’t a happy meal then I don’t know what is. Then you blast your car stereo for your grand exit music. And you know what? Maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of your new bride in the rear view mirror, she doesn’t like your music and you decide maybe she wasn’t quite what you wanted after all. You turn right, then right again and then once more for good measure and now you’re back in the Drive-Thru for your Drive-Thru divorce. For a Drive-Thru special rate of $40 US dollars, and at $3.43 a gallon, who cares right?! God Bless America!
JD
Trips for a Full Tank of Gasoline.
‘Looking for the perfect place to die of Heat Stroke’.
Setting: Northern Hemisphere Winter, 1986. Zabriskie Point, Death Valley, California National Park, USA. Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry Mullen Jnr. of U2 are freezing their arses off posing for Anton Corbijn in all U2 fashion, for a black and white photo that would go on to be the cover of debatably their most famous album, “The Joshua Tree”.
Just a few months later, and half a world away, Justin Devereux (10 years old at the time) is walking home from school singing a song that he can’t get out of his head. The song is ‘With or Without You’ and it is the beginning of an obsession with the band. Little did he know that 25 years later it would lead him to the United States with his girlfriend to find the ‘actual Joshua Tree’, and nearly kill himself of heat stroke trying to find the exact spot on which the band posed for the album.
Death Valley 10th July 2011. 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Miles from the nearest town, in the middle of nowhere. This is definitely not the place you want to run out of gasoline.
In Furness Creek RV Resort cold water comes out of the tap hot. In case you have no feeling in your body at all, a sign reminds you, Death Valley is the hottest place on the planet. At the neighbouring gas station, the price of gas makes your credit card slip out of your sweaty fingers. Down the road, the park ranger doesn’t know where the actual Joshua Tree is, but says you don’t want to be out in the sun anytime after 11am, and make sure you don’t breathe, just drink water. A mile away two men are taking a jog past the salt water badlands. You wonder if you’re seeing things and so you turn up the A/C. But wait! It’s already full blast.
5 minutes later it’s 10:15am and you’re still in the middle of nowhere, but you must be somewhere because just ahead there’s a car park full of cars to prove it. You see a sign. Zabriskie Point! So you find a park and you drink some water.
Then just like preparing to make a dash in the rain.
“You ready?”
“Yip”
You crack the door open and completely destroy the air-conditioned bliss. Camera’s in hand. U2’s Joshua Tree CD in the other. You’re making a small trek up the hillside. In your mind Darth Vader is telling you….”this is your destiny”.
An hour later, you’re in an ambulance, the veins in your arms have collapsed, you can’t talk properly, and your being rushed back to Arizona to the nearest hospital in a little town called Pahrump.
In Death Valley, wear sunscreen, wear a hat, wear suitable clothing, wear sunglasses, wear a bottle of water. Don’t wear yourself out and then…… just BE ware.
JD
1 night of 2-step.
Austin, Texas.
There she was in the dusty outskirts of Austin, Texas. The Broken Spoke claims to be the last of the true Texas dance halls and she didn’t disappoint. This place is nothing short of that ‘yeeha’ kind of a-mazing. She opened her doors in 1964 and since then has hosted the big name country stars like Willie Nelson, Bob Willis, George Strait, Ernest Tubb…ok, so I’ve got no idea who these ‘big name’ stars are either but hey, I’m not from around here right?
It was an evening of 2 step dancing, Shiner beer and Bobby Flores playing the kind of country music you find your left hand uncontrollably slapping your thigh to. That thigh slapping… well it soon leads to foot tapping and before you know it you’re signing up for 2 step lessons. It seemed everyone in The Broken Spoke (except us) could dance it and they made it look so darn easy. They smiled from ear to ear as they glided around the dance floor and I so very badly wanted to be in their dance shoes. So there we were, young and old, cowboys and cowgirls…and a couple of gob smacked kiwis. And that there my friends was a recipe for a good ol’ time.
MW
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Don’t Fence me in (the death of the Cowboy).
Fort Worth, Texas.
“Bang Bang! You’re dead”
“No I’m not! I’m wearing a bullet-proof vest”
For Christ Sake! It wasn’t this hard for John Wayne. Playing Cowboys and Indians on the school playground should have been so much easier.
In real life things weren’t so easy for our tobacco chewing gunslingers, and it wasn’t like television would have you believe. It certainly wasn’t a romantic crime spree throughout the mid-west. Sheriffs hot on your trail, Indians up ahead. It was actually a real profession, a cattle herding drive up the free frontiers of the west toward the railway line at Fort Worth, Texas. Cattle were then transported to the east coast to feed the mighty New York City. For a while there things were working fine, but then it all got real ugly. Enter the bad guy, the barbed wire fence.
People had started buying up land and no longer were the good guys able to just mosey on through somebody’s backyard. All of a sudden they were taking detours, taking the long way round. Slowly those detours started having babies, and before they knew it, Cowboys needed a map.
“Perhaps we should just cut that damn wire fence!”
“Hell yes!”
And so they did.
Ranch owners didn’t like that much though, enter the famous Cowboy shoot outs, exit the cowboy profession. It was all just too darn hard.
Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,
Don’t fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,
Don’t fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze,
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,
Send me off forever but I ask you please,
Don’t fence me in.
I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences
Don’t fence me in.
- Lyrics from ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR_cFwtxwig
Maria and I did The ‘token’ Tourist Stock Drive. We drove 20mins back to the Stock Yards to see 6 Bulls being driven down the Street. It was all over in 30 seconds. Well worth the Free Parking.
Check out the book, Don’t Fence Me In.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Fence-Me-Images-West/dp/0922029261
JD
The Southland (Where every town has a song written about it and every state has it’s own soundtrack).
Singing songs about the Southland. I miss Ol’ Bammy once again and I think it’s a Sin (yeah). – ‘Sweet Home Alabama’
In America music is rich. Music is a weapon. It gives people a voice. It gives people inspiration and hope, from the black slaves’ ‘Holler’ music that later added a guitar and became the Blues, through to the Freedom Singers of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s & 60’s. It gives people an identity. Something they can call their own. It’s personal and honest. The good stuff at least.
In Birmingham we bought an FM transmitter from an auto-store. We were dying to hear the song ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ from our ipod’s pumping on our stereo. We just had to hear the words:
“In Birmingham they loved the Governor
Boo hoo hoo, now we all did what we could do”
‘Sweet Home Alabama’ was released by Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1974. Some refer to it as the ‘response song’ to Neil Young’s song ‘Southern Man’. At that time, people here were experiencing the end of the black civil rights movement, things were still ripe, and it’s no surprise it was inspiring the music of the South.
Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s battle went something like this:
- Neil Young, taken from the song ‘Southern Man’ - 1970
Southern man, better keep your head
Don’t forget what your good book said
Southern change gonna come at last
Now your crosses are burning fast
Southern man
Lynyrd Skynyrd, taken from this song ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ – 1974
Well, I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down.
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don’t need him around anyhow.
JD
