SYNESTHESIA
THE OFFICIAL BLOGSITE OF DJ SAVAGE SCOTT-HOST OF SAVAGE RADIO AS BROADCAST ON WVMO 98.7 FM-THE VOICE OF MONONA
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
SAVAGE RADIO PLAYLISTS OCTOBER 2024
Sunday, October 20, 2024
JEFF TWEEDY w/ELIZABETH MOEN LIVE AT BARRYMORE THEATER MADISON,WI OCTOBER 18, 2024
w/ ELIZABETH MOEN
BARRYMORE THEATER
MADISON, WI
OCTOBER 18, 2024
As a longtime fan of the band Wilco and their bandleader, singer/songwriter/guitarist/author Jeff Tweedy, I believe that this evening's show was the best way to see him perform live for the very first time.
To provide some background and yes, to clarify, I have never seen Jeff Tweedy, either solo or with Wilco in a live setting before...and it was not for lack of trying as my home base of Madison, WI is a frequent tour stop. My love of Tweedy's musical legacy began fairly quietly as I remember being introduced to them via MTV's "120 Minutes" program circa the era of the band' s second release, the double album "Being There" (released October 29,1996). Despite songs that often reminded me of the likes of R.E.M., The Replacements and Big Star, for example, the more country leanings didn't reach me. But, I was intrigued enough to keep an ear to the ground.
While the sunshine psychedelia of "Summerteeth" (released March 9, 1999) pushed me closer, it was not until the masterpiece of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" (released April 23, 2002) where everything clicked for me and I was ALL IN with Wilco, making them a band I was ready to follow anywhere.
Which leads me as to why I have not seen Tweedy, either solo or with his bandmates until now. It is quite simple. With the Chicago based Wilco/Jeff Tweedy's proximity to Madison, a location where they are beloved, tickets sell out rapidly! Tour after tour over years, I would try to score a ticket and I would be gobsmacked by how quickly the show would receive a SOLD OUT notification. This became so prevalent, that I essentially stopped trying. Now, this also was occurring during a point where my love of Wilco and Jeff Tweedy was ebbing instead of flowing. Ever prolific, some releases just were not reaching me as emotionally as past releases and while I kept up, my interest waned.
This being said, my interest eventually picked up all over again. By the time of more recent Wilco albums like the excellent double album "Cruel Country" (released May 27, 2022)," "Cousin" (released September 29, 2023) and this year's EP "Hot Sun Cool Shroud" (released June 28, 2024), combined with his wonderful book releases, including his memoir, Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir Of Recording and Discording With Wilco, Etc. (published November 13, 2018) and his most recent, World Within A Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music (published November 7, 2023), it was more than enough to inspire me to revisit previous works that did not initially hit the mark for me.
When I received an email alert that Tweedy was returning to Madison for an acoustic solo performance, I thought I would try my hand again after not having done so for years. This time, to my surprise...paydirt!
Arriving on stage promptly at 8:30pm., Jeff Tweedy, bespectacled, adorned with his mane of greying hair and dressed in his trademark denim and surrounded by a collection of acoustic guitars (including one 12 string guitar that elicited a great mid set story time), was greeted with healthy applause and he quickly launched into a 90 minute, 21 song set of material that reached throughout a large swath of his songbook peppered copiously with his signature laconic self deprecating wit and superb storytelling.Sunday, October 13, 2024
SYNESTHESIA SINGLES: "NO MORE WATER: THE GOSPEL OF JAMES BALDWIN" MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO
featuring...
Meshell Ndegeocello: vocals, bass guitar, keyboards
Chris Bruce: guitars
Jebin Bruni: keyboards
Justin Hicks: vocals
Kenita-Miller Hicks: vocals
Josh Johnson: saxophone
Julius Rodriguez: keyboards
Abe Rounds: drums
Jake Sherman: keyboards
Paul Thompson: trumpet
Produced by Meshell Ndegeocello and Chris Bruce
Released August 2, 2024
"The American Negro" Adrian Younge (released February 26, 2021)
Sunday, September 29, 2024
SAVAGE RADIO PLAYLISTS SEPTEMBER 2024
Saturday, September 14, 2024
SAVAGE RADIO SESSION NOTES SEPTEMBER 2024: FROM ALBUMS TO SINGLES...
I don't tend to think in singles. I think in albums.
For me, a single is a way for the album to offer a salutation, a greeting, the moment the entire work offers a handshake, so to speak. Once the album arrives, the full conversation between the artist and their music with you the listener begins. At its best, is it a relationship that is formulated and one that never really ends but one that evolves over the time acquainted. Sometimes it deepens, sometimes, it is a relationship that is designed for a specific lace and time or sometimes, it is one that shifts its meaning and relevance as we all inevitably age...serving as warm nostalgia or even as a socking reminder of who we once happened to be and have now discarded.
Yet, I do not wish to discredit the relevance of the single because sometimes, that greeting IS the full relationship and is all that is needed between that specific listener and the art. All that needs to be said and understood is right there in that deceptively small encounter, for the best singles can last a lifetime.
It's weird but when I an crafting Savage Radio, I am thinking in terms of albums as far as the journey that I am hoping to take the listener upon. I imagine albums ides and such, trying to evoke that ephemeral feeling of travelling from one place and arriving in a new space emotionally. With Synesthesia, I also tend to think in albums, largely due to the length of the pieces as I do write long and with the feeling of trying to create the thing that I would love to read myself.
And furthermore, most importantly, I am compelled to give credit to my Mother, who was always so demanding and meticulous with my school report assignments. She would evoke to me time and again, "Anyone off the street should be able to pick this thing up and know exactly what you are talking about. There are no shortcuts so be thorough."
When I write, I try to think of absolutely everything that I wish to say for in my mind, I am writing this thing just once and so...accordingly, get it all in there. But, if you have ever visited this site, my output has slowed considerably since the pandemic and I really have no need to get into all of those explanations again as they exist here in past postings should you wish for more detail. That being said, I am not understanding that I am also getting in my own way, to a degree.
Now, everything I have written on this site has not necessarily been an "album." There are shorter pieces, especially when Synesthesia began. But, quickly over time, I became a bit consumed with this question if certain postings were "long enough." So, I would just add and add until I had an "album." Yet, over time, as I have held myself to that standard, the pieces that exist in my head never find themselves here on Synesthesia...and so, whatever hope for output slows to nothing.
So...I want to try to think a bit more in "singles" while not abandoning my "album" leanings. I want to try to write short pieces and get them out there for myself and for you while still finding the ways and the balance at being complete. I have one or two of these singles waiting patiently to be released.
So...I am going to try...again.