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Tag: Erik Christensen

Play that Song Again || Like It Was Written In My Soul

BY ERIK CHRISTENSEN
November 2, 2016

Great year. Terrible year. A year that killed off several close friends and a handful of musical heroes (Prince, David Bowie, Guy Clark … the list goes on.) It’s also the year a skinny songwriter kid from Hibbing, Minnesota won the Nobel Prize. So let’s go positive and celebrate with a stack of musical books that I’ve read in the last year. Pull up a chair, pour a glass of your favorite beverage, and enjoy my 2016 Top Five Reading List.

1. “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen

The attraction: Always had a soft spot for Bruce. Although it’s a cliché, I revert to the typical music geek who says, “I liked him before he was famous, man! Before he sold out.” Instead of the fist-in-the-air Americana icon, gimme the pre-1975 Bruce, who was still a skinny street rat playing clubs. Of all the records I own, the stack of 1973-74-75 live bootlegs are my most cherished.

The surprise: In this brand new book, Bruce talks very frankly about struggling with depression. Inherited from his father’s side of the family, he says it’s the secret package in the Crackerjack box of his family tree. Strange to think that someone with 20,000 people screaming his name in adulation in a soccer stadium still needs medication and therapy. In some of the press for the book, it was mentioned that maybe it will lead to more folks seeking treatment. Thanks, for being so honest, boss.

Unsung hero: Best friend and Soprano-style sidekick Steve Van Zandt. Part sounding board, part evil twin, this beating heart of rock and roll keeps everyone around him grounded.

Favorite quote: “A lot of what the E Street Band does is hand-me-down shtick transformed by will, power and an intense communication with our audience into something transcendent. Sometimes that’s all you need.”

2. “Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink” by Elvis Costello

The attraction: One of the most literate of all pop songwriters, Elvis took me from sophomore year in high school (an amazing first album and terrible/wonderful appearance on “Saturday Night Live“) to the modern day (collaborations with Paul McCartney and a great 2016 solo tour). One of the great artists of our time.

The surprise: All the country and west-coast easy listening that Elvis spends pages and pages rhapsodizing over. For someone who became famous for angry punk rock, he spent his childhood listening to Joni Mitchell, Little Feat, CSN&Y, etc. Who knew?

Unsung hero: Elvis’ father, Ross McManus, was a big band leader and quite a well-known singer in his own right. Also, his grandfather Patrick played trumpet on the White Star Line cruise ships in the 1920s. Hmmm. Genetics.

Favorite quote: “There is no superior. There is no high and low. The beautiful thing is, you don’t have to choose. You can love it all. Those songs are there to help you when you need them most.”

3. “Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements” by Bob Mehr

The attraction: The champions of walking the line between drunken buffoonery and transcendent lyricism, I kind of looked forward to reading this like watching a car wreck in slow motion.

The surprise: Paul Westerberg, leader and songwriter, always spent time writing tender ballads, even in those early days of trashing hotel rooms and canceling gigs on account of inebriation. That might be the creative tension that made The Replacements great or doomed them to the almost-but-not-quite-successful scrap heap.

Unsung hero: Tommy Stinson, who joined as a 14-year-old delinquent, and grew up backstage and on the bus. As producer Jim Dickinson remembers, “Tommy Stinson may be my favorite musician I’ve ever worked with. People say Keith Richards is the living embodiment of rock-and-roll? I’m sorry, but I know Keith, and it’s Tommy.”

Favorite quote: “Yet like the others, he had an incredibly jaundiced view of the music business. ‘He was just like them,’ said Gary Hobbib, laughing. ‘He didn’t trust anybody, didn’t like anybody. He was born a Replacement.’ “

4. “I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen” by Sylvie Simmons

The attraction: This is the only book on the list that was not released this year. Like everyone, I just love the music—always an interesting mix of sacred and secular. My band plays “Hallelujah” at most of my shows, and I love the poetry in “Famous Blue Raincoat,” “Bird on a Wire,” and any other number of Leonard’s songs.

The surprise: I knew Cohen was a serious poet, and I even have several of his books, but I didn’t realize, until I read about his early life, that he was quite successful as a poet long before he even took up songwriting. He won several literary awards and was even the subject of a CBC documentary for his writing. True in the 1950s as now, poetry doesn’t really pay, so he picked up the Spanish guitar in earnest.

Unsung hero: We have a tie between poet/friend/mentor Irving Leyton and Joni Mitchell, sometime romantic partner and longtime artistic supporter, who got Leonard up on stage in many prestigious venues and pushed/inspired him as a musician.

Favorite quote: “…a version of the yin and yang, or any of those symbols that incorporate the polarities and try and reconcile the differences.”

5. “M Train” by Patti Smith

The attraction: “Just Kids,” which came out in 2010, was a wonderful insight into the NYC-bohemian-Robert Mapplethorpe artistic era of the 1970s. This book is far more personal on her relationship with her husband and his untimely death and her travels to pay respect to the ghosts of Genet, Frida Kahlo, and Alfred Wegener.

The surprise: Throughout the book, Smith mentions watching the Seattle-based murder mystery series “The Killing.” I thought, “Interesting…I’ve been meaning to watch that.” Then, several chapters in, without warning, she proceeds to give away the surprise ending! Jeez! Guess I won’t be watching it after all.

Unsung hero: Baristas. The common motif in this book is coffee shops, notebooks, and writing, writing, writing. She travels, she’s very introspective and thoughtful, but is always working, putting words to paper, and paying respect to the artists of the past.

Favorite quote: “I have lived in my own book. One I never planned to write, recording time backwards and forwards. I have watched the snow fall onto the sea and traced the steps of a traveler long gone. I have relived moments that were perfect in their certainty.”

As always, there were some honorable mentions: “Under The Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L. A. Punk” by John Doe and Tom DeSavia, and, in the non-musical categories: “You Must Change Your Life—The Story of Auguste Rodin and Rainer Maria Rilke” by Rachel Corbett, “Pretty Much Everything” by Aaron James Draplin, “Widow Basquiat” by Jennifer Clement, “The Lost Poems of Pablo Neruda” by Pablo Neruda, and “The Great Fires” by Jack Gilbert.

Get reading, boys and girls!

Erik Christensen teaches in Oak Harbor, writes songs and poetry, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and a notebook more than just about anything.

The Erik Christensen Band plays at the Oak Harbor Fleet Reserve from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, Nov. 5 and at Loakal Public House in Oak Harbor from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19.

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November 2, 2016
Play that Song Again || The Joy of the Mixtape: Practicing Safe Compilation

BY ERIK CHRISTENSEN
August 12, 2015

“Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts. First of all, you ‘re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.” —Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

* * *

As mentioned in my very first blog for Whidbey Life Magazine (April 2013, to be found here), I love a good mixtape. Although done on CDs now instead of cassettes, there is still magic in the mixing together of a great collection of songs.

I’m proud to have passed this on to my daughter, who makes compilation CDs with titles written in colored sharpie: “Hannah’s Mix,” “Fun Songs,” “Good Stuff.” Sometimes I worry about her wild, eclectic tastes; she listens to everything from hardcore rap to modern country and, because she grew up in my house, the Beatles.

Is it healthy for a kid to listen to “Eight Days A Week,” “F*** The Police,” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel” back to back to back? And—in the-apple-doesn’t-fall-far-from-the-tree, full-disclosure department, I listen to everything from Americana to blues, to old jazz, to bad pop music. When I hit the “shuffle all” button on my iPod, it goes from Chuck Prophet to the Staple Singers to Frank Sinatra to Ren + Stimpy to a Billy Collins poem.

Ah, well.

The real joy of the compilation tape is not knowing what song is going to come next, but knowing it’s going to be great. One song fades out, and I lean forward—literally and figuratively—waiting for the first notes of the next track.

I think this is important to me because I grew up listening to the radio. I anticipate on the mixtape because I used to do that in my room late at night with a small plastic Panasonic AM/FM. You never knew what was coming next. And, if you wanted to hear “Christine Sixteen,” brother, you had to wait. It was exciting, and a fleeting moment. The compilation tape takes me back to that feeling.

* * *

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention…then you got to take it up a notch. There are a lot of rules.” —Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

* * *

Sometimes pre-packaged mixes can do the trick. I would strongly recommend the 10 (dear Lord, 10!) CD package “70s Hit Explosion.” Also, the “Oxford American” literary magazine puts together a solid annual collection of southern music built around a theme.

And recently, I came across two absolute gems on the wonderful (and aptly named) collection, “Like, Omigod! The ‘80s Pop Culture Box (Totally). I had never given this compilation much thought, but after letting it play, I was floored by the crazy mix of music, and all the memories of that time in my life. Two songs I haven’t thought about in decades stood out:

First, “They Don’t Know About Us” by Tracy Ullman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9un119lq4c

We all know about how great “The Tracy Ullman Show” was; we all know that she debuted “The Simpsons” back in 1987. (That’s right, kids. No Tracy Ullman, no Simpsons. Oh, the humanity!)

But her cover of Kirsty MacCall’s “They Don’t Know About Us” is perhaps the greatest thing EVER. Pure bubblegum goodness: three minutes and one second of the best Phil Spector imitation you will ever hear. Bonus—Paul McCartney cameo in the video. This, my friends, is what music should sound like.

Next, “Cool It Now” by New Edition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZUq6N7Gx1c

More childhood fluff. The video is so cheesy, you could drizzle it on nachos. Still, it’s an instant time-capsule back to 1984. It conjurs up the sounds of summer and it even has a cornball spoken-word section near the end, like a bad 50s song. Click on the link above; you’ll be singing it for days.

Where else to find an interesting collection of music? On a hopeful note, the imminent death of good music on the radio has been greatly exaggerated. Back in the’80s, I listened to local hero Danny Holiday’s excellent “Rock and Roll Time Machine” without fail every Saturday morning. Sadly, Danny passed away in 2012, but if there’s an oldies jukebox in heaven, he’s got it covered.

These days, you can find great, eclectic stuff on NPR’s “American Routes.” (http://americanroutes.wwno.org) Someone described this show as “a mixtape made by your coolest friend,” and that just about sums it up perfectly. It’s an American music, history and culture education, two hours a week. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention “Little Steven’s Underground Garage,” found at http://undergroundgarage.com. Hosted by perhaps the coolest human being on the planet—former star of “The Sopranos,” “Lillyhammer,” and the E Street Band, Steve Van Zandt puts together an amazing collection of new and old rock and roll every week. Both shows have archived collections, and they are my go-to listening when I’m at my computer.

There is nothing like a personal, handpicked collection put together by someone who really cares. Whether it’s on cassette, CD, online, or whatever format is coming next, I’m always waiting and listening. Long live the mixtape.

* * *

“Anyway… I’ve started to make a tape… in my head… for Laura. Full of stuff she likes. Full of stuff that makes her happy. For the first time I can sort of see how that is done.” —Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

Erik Christensen teaches at Oak Harbor High School, writes songs and poetry, and loves a song with a spoken-word section in the middle.

Erik Christensen Band plays from 7-9 p.m. at The Taproom in Bayview Cash Store pm Tuesday, Aug 25 and The Evergreen State Fair in Monroe from 5:30-6:30 on Thursday, Aug 27 .

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WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

August 12, 2015
Play That Song Again: Love Songs for your Valentine

BY ERIK CHRISTENSEN
February 14, 2014

Valentine’s Day? St. Valentine was a martyr; as some historians report, he was a third century Roman priest who defied Emperor Claudius II’s attempted abolishment of marriage. Others cite the Hallmark-Card-like highjacking of the February pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Then there’s that hopeless romantic, Geoffrey Chaucer, who might have been the first to write about “St. Valentine’s Day” in his work “Parliament of Foules” around 1375.

Ok, so let’s forget Hallmark. Let’s forget those chalky candy hearts that taste horrible but are still irresistible. Let’s forget chocolate hearts, chocolate kisses and chocolate roses. Let’s get to—forgive me—the heart of the matter. Love is respect, and acceptance, and damn hard work.

We’re talking about a love that lasts.

So here’s my all-time, Top Five Love Songs for Valentine’s Day.

“My Funny Valentine”

Pick any of the hundred versions; for now, let’s go with Frank Sinatra. This Rogers and Hart musical number is simple and direct, with just the right amount of quiet confidence and realism. I will love you every day.

“But don’t change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine, stay
Each day is Valentine’s Day”

“Every Part of Me”

A song from 2011 by Texas songwriter/activist Steve Earle. A nakedly honest and open outpouring, not afraid to admit shortcomings:

“I love you with everything
All my weakness, all my strength
I can’t promise anything
Except that my last breath will bear your name”

“That’s the Way Love Goes”

A much-covered Lefty Frizzell country classic—one that always struck me as very honest about how the world works and graceful in its acceptance and resolve.

“Losing makes me sorry
You say, ‘Honey, don’t worry,
Because I love you, too.
That’s the way love goes.’

That’s the way love goes, dear
That’s the music that God made
To make the world to sing
It’s never old, it grows”

“Love Minus Zero/No Limit”

Bob Dylan has always spoken the deepest part of you, articulating your feelings that you didn’t even know you had. This guy has always spoken to the mysteries of your heart, and I don’t think there’s ever been a better opening to a song of pure admiration and enchantment:

“My love, she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She don’t need to say she’s faithful
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire”

Who in the world could’ve inspired such imagery? Who else could build on it and end the song with the following:

“The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows cold and rainy
My love, she’s like some raven
At my window with a broken wing”

“Elephant”

Jason Isbell is quickly shaping up to be the only serious contender for the next Bob Dylan title—someone who can shout rock and roll to peel the paint off the walls, and also write the most heartfelt, poetic ballads you’ve ever heard. “Elephant,” from last year’s “Southeastern” record, is the story of someone caring for a love who is dying of cancer. The “elephant” is, of course, death—the elephant in the room that they both try desperately to avoid. Real love sticks around during the good times and bad; real love hopes against all hope.

“She said, ‘Andy you crack me up,’
Seagram’s in a coffee cup,
Sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone.
When she was drunk she made cancer jokes,
Made up her own doctor’s notes,
Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone.

I’d sing her classic country songs
And she’d get high and sing along.
But she don’t have much voice to sing with now

We’d burn these joints in effigy,
Cry about what we used to be,
And try to ignore the elephant somehow.”

Hug the people you love this Valentine’s Day. Devote yourself to those who bring out the best in you. Give these songs a listen and maybe check out the honorable mentions: “Smile a Little Smile For Me” by Flying Machine, “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green, “In My Life” by the Beatles, “Chances Are” by Johnny Mathis, “All I Have To Do Is Dream” by the Everly Brothers (Rest in peace, brother Phil) and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” by The Stylistics.

Erik Christensen Band plays at Front Street Grill in Coupeville from 6-8 p.m on Wednesday, March 19 and at Blooms Winery in Bayview from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, April 20.

Erik Christensen teaches English at Oak Harbor High School, writes songs and poetry and, 23 years ago, copied those Bob Dylan lyrics in a note to his then-girlfriend, who was impressed enough to marry him. Thanks, Bob.

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WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

February 14, 2014