Music Tonight: After selling out the Southgate House last month for their combo album release show/benefit for Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the Mike Seeger Scholarship Fund (raising around $6,500 for the causes in the process), The Tillers appear in a more intimate setting tonight as they play The Comet in Northside as part of the club's ongoing, monthly residency showcase. The free show will certainly feature songs off of the popular Cincy Folk trio's remarkable new release, Wild Hog in the Woods, a collaborative project featuring area Bluegrass great Uncle Mike Carr. The band is warming up to play one of the final shows at the Southgate (in its current, longstanding state) — on Wednesday, Dec. 28, The Tillers will record their probable last performance at the historic house/venue in Newport. (The Blue Rock Boys, who only play sporadically since breaking up in 2007 — and once counted Tiller Mike Oberst as a member — are the band's special guest for the Dec. 28 gig.) Tonight's show is scheduled to kick off at 10 p.m. and there is no cover charge. Check out a clip of Oberst and bandmate Sean Geil talking about November's benefit show and their new album — and playing a tune — on Fox 19's morning show (apologies for the "double post" — the coding seems to have a mind of its own.). Read more about the band's latest here. —-
Momentous Happenings in Music History for December 6
On this day in 1997, Metallica appeared on Saturday Night Live and, for their second song, showcased an unusual duet partner, Marianne Faithfull . The collaboration on the song "The Memory Remains" (which appeared on Metallica's ReLoad album) was quite a bit more successful — at least in terms of fan reaction — than Metallica's more recent "duet," the trainwreck Lulu album recorded with Lou Reed, which seems well on its way to becoming one of the more disastrous musical teamings of all time.
Metallica - The Memory Remains feat. Marianne Faithfull (LIVE on SNL) from Metallica Ecuador on Vimeo.
Born This Day: Musical movers and shakers sharing a Dec. 6 birthday include: "College Rock" hero with The dB's, Chris Stamey (1954); multilingual Folk singer Tish Hinojosa (1955); "College Rock" super-hero, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck (1956); legendary Hard Rock guitarist Randy Rhodes (1956); musical mastermind behind Electronica pioneers Everything But The Girl, Ben Watt (1962); and Jazz legend Dave Brubeck (1920).
Brubeck's career has included remarkable mainstream success (in 1954, he became only the second Jazz musician to be featured on the cover of Time magazine) and revolutionary experiments with time-signatures, and it produced several Jazz standards. Brubeck wrote classics like "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke," but the pianist didn't write the song he's most associated with — "Take Five" was written by longtime cohort Paul Desmond, alto saxophonist in the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
"Take Five" first appeared on the Quartet's 1959 album Time Out. The track — memorable for Desmond's twisting sax melody and the unique 5/4 time signature utilized — made it to No. 25 on the Billboard singles charts upon release, but its legacy extended well beyond the composition's initial success. The recording (which was used as the Today show theme in the early ’60s) still appears regularly in films and TV shows, as well as numerous commercials.
But the only people making a mint on all that licensing is the American Red Cross — Desmond left all rights and royalties for "Take Five" (and his other compositions) to the organization when he passed away in 1977.
The song has been covered innumerable times. Below, check out the original, as well as a few of the more interesting reworkings.
