The Show Must Not Go On

I don't know if this ever came up at all over the course of this entire blog, but yes, this creepy head, used frequently as an avatar, is a self-portrait bust created in my only university art class. We were supposed to pair up and sculpt a classmate, but I suppose no one wanted to keep a disembodied head of someone else so we all ended up doing our own bust using a series of photos. Anyhoo...

I hope you all had fun with the Fong Songs 101 Cover Countdown. I want to give a huge thanks to Todd G who paid me the ultimate compliment by actually playing my Top 10 covers with commentary on his show The Shuffle, which airs on WFIT-FM, an NPR affiliate based out of Melbourne, Florida. It was very special for me, not to mention flattering, to listen to that and know that there are/were readers all over the globe taking note of my little ol' blog. With the above link, you can download hour 2 of the September 4th broadcast and listen to the portion embarrassingly devoted to me and Fong Songs. It was completely surreal to listen to myself being quoted with words I just haphazardly typed out at the last minute! Thanks again Todd!

...and very big thank you to all you readers out there! I started off writing for an audience of one (me) and ended off with hundreds of visitors a day. While some of those may have been robots and one-timers, I appreciate that I had a healthy number of regular readers, people I didn't even know repeatedly coming back for more... it still kinda boggles my mind and leaves me humbled.

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Just over a year ago, one of my favourite all-time bands Harvey Danger played their last ever show, which I was privileged to attend. The last song they ever played was, in fact, a completely new song. In another sense, it was indeed the last song they wrote. Now over a year later, they've finally mastered and released this last ever recording, fittingly titled The Show Must Not Go On. It is available on their site for FREE. In another generous gesture, they've also made available for a free download their Dead Sea Scrolls compilation that was only available at those final shows. In addition to collecting various rarities and demos, it includes their covers of Save It For Later (The English Beat), Maneater (Hall & Oates), and a live recording of Louisiana, 1927 (Randy Newman). Go get it!

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Now in a random confluence of favourite band news, The Dresden Dolls (i.e. Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione) are back on tour after a two-year hiatus in celebration of the band's 10th Anniversary!

OCT 31
10th Bandiversary Halloween Show
Irving Plaza
New York, NY
with Very Special Guests!

NOV 12
A special gulf oil spill relief-benefit for BTNEP, an organazation that is working to preserve, protect, and restore the Barataria and Terrebonne estuaries of Louisiana.
New Orleans, LA
Tipitina's
with Jason Webley

NOV 13
Atlanta, GA
The Buckhead Theatre
with Lille

NOV 14
Lexington, KY
Buster's Billiards & Backroom
with Chico Fellini

NOV 16
St. Louis, MO
The Pageant
with Sleepy Kitty
**coincidentally the last I have seen and heard of Sleepy Kitty was when they opened the final shows for Harvey Danger. Of course, Sleepy Kitty's Evan Sult was Harvey Danger's original drummer.

NOV 17
Chicago, IL
The Vic Theatre
with Mucca Pazza

NOV 19
Dallas, TX
Granada Theatre
with Girl in a Coma

NOV 20
Houston, TX
Fitzgerald's
with Girl in a Coma

NOV 21
Austin, TX
La Zona Rosa
with Girl in a Coma

Tickets for some shows are already on sale while the rest will be available to purchase soon... keep an eye on their facebook page for updates. Wish I could go!

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I'll leave you all with one last cover...

The Blind Boys of Alabama - The Last Time [EDIT: originally by The Rolling Stones Traditional]
Well, this could be the last time
This could be the last time
Maybe the last time
I don't know

My indefinite hiatus starts now!

Fong Songs 101 All-Time Covers: #82 to 78

=============================================
Just joining us?
I'm counting down 101 of my all-time favourite covers before packing this blog away in the attic.
Read my countdown preamble here.
=============================================
The 80s Set
82. Jaded Heart - Easy Lover [originally by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins]
I love how 80s metal never really went away in Germany. Jaded Heart really go to town on this Philip/Phil 80s classic and-- I can hardly believe I'm saying this-- they also do a really great cover of The Backstreet Boys' Larger Than Life.

81. Harvey Danger - Save It for Later [originally by The English Beat]
As one of my favourite all-time bands, I knew I had to work some Harvey Danger into this list. Up until the last minute, I was debating between this and their rousing organ-led cover of Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things. It's a toss-up, but I ultimately chose this one since it was one of the first Harvey Danger "rarities" I heard when I really started getting into the band. They were more or less tricked into recording the cover for the movie 200 Cigarettes. Asked to cover a 1981-82 era song, the band suggested Devo, Bowie, XTC, and Duran Duran, but the label insisted on an English Beat cover. They found out later that the label was re-releasing the English Beat catalogue and was using their cover as a sort of product placement in the movie. So they never played this cover live... except I DID actually get the privilege of hearing this live, once at their 10th Anniversary Show Spectacular (where I first heard this story) and also at their Last Show Ever. They also do a wicked cover of This Busy Monster's Underground on their second album King James Version (my fave), though I'm guessing very few of you know the original tune.

80. D-Sailors - We Built This City (feat. Wick Slick) [originally by Starship]
From the German cover compilation Punk Chartbusters, Volume 4, D-Sailors give Starship the ol' punk cover treatment without really any ironic winking and nudging, which I admire since I admittedly dig the original (gasp!). On Volume 5 of the same series, D-Sailors do an equally impressive take on Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning.

79. Brad Roberts - Bette Davis Eyes [originally by Jackie DeShannon; as made famous by Kim Carnes]
If you've ever heard the original honky tonk country version by Jackie DeShannon, you know no one is actually covering that version, but rather Kim Carnes' 1981 reincarnation (punny!) of the song. Crash Test Dummies frontman Brad Roberts covered this acoustically on his live solo album Crash Test Dude in all his baritone glory. His voice is absurd.

78. Lowry - Africa [originally by Toto]
I'm always reluctant to declare a cover better than its original since I often get caught up in the whole paradox of the cover not being able to exist without the original source, yet this cover accomplished something pretty rare in my books. I absolutely LOVE it despite the fact I do not really like Toto's Africa at all. This is from Volume 2 of the Guilt By Association compilation.

Tomorrow the Fong Songs 101 countdown continues with covers of MJ, Cat Stevens, and The Postal Service (though probably not the song you're thinking of). Also, my favourite 3 Disney covers!

In a Post-HD World

Normally when I wear my Harvey Danger shirt around, I'm mistaken for a staunch supporter of High Definition or, sometimes, hard drives. But for one glorious weekend, I could be readily identified by strangers as a fan of Harvey Danger. And perhaps it would be the only time in history I would run into somebody wearing that same shirt and we'd exchange silent nods of approval. In the Emerald City, this was literally the end of the yellow brick road for Harvey Danger, 17 years after forming at the University of Washington. I've mentioned before how the band has a relatively small but extremely passionate following and that was demonstrated in spades last weekend. At least a few superfans had attended multiple shows in different cities on this final tour, which went through Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles before swinging back to their hometown Seattle for three final shows: an all-ages show Friday, an early show Saturday, and the Last Ever. I met a mom who had flown in for the Friday show from Orlando with her 18-year old son for his graduation present (awesome!). Others had flown from as far as North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, the UK, and elsewhere to be at their last ever show. Me, I hopped on a train down from Vancouver to take in the festivities.

Sleepy Kitty, a two-piece band from Chicago/St.Louis, restored my faith in opening bands, which lately I've been entirely ready to do away with. Sleepy Kitty consists of original Harvey Danger drummer Evan Sult (on drums, naturally) and Paige Brubeck on guitar, keyboards, and harmonized vocals (looping pedals!). Ever since I've been addicted to their song Gimme a Chantz! from their $3 EP What I Learned This Summer. Check it out on their myspace site. They opened for two of the three shows and I enjoyed them so much I could've gone for a full blown gig. It was only their third (or fourth?) show ever, so hopefully we'll be hearing more from them soon. The early show on Saturday featured Can You Imagine? as the opener, a bubblegum pop/50's rock & roll band that includes one-time Harvey Danger producer Steve Fisk on keyboads and cartoonist Peter Bagge on guitar/vocals. Afterward, I was mentally forming a blog post about other comic book people who've released music... off the top of my head I could only come up with Robert Crumb and James Kochalka, so that might require some more diligent research.

For the uninitiated, I won't bore you too much with the details (there's another forum for that), but needless to say it's a little magical being in a room filled with people who know every single Harvey Danger song inside and out. At one point, Sean Nelson just stopped singing and let the crowd takeover for the first couple verses, which he really could have done for every song. Over the course of two days, Harvey Danger played well over 7 hours of music. Someone who wrote down the setlists tallied 77 songs total! The all-ages show at The Vera Project, a non-profit music/arts centre for youths, clocked in at almost 3 hours, which was probably the band's longest ever show... until they topped it the very next night. The format was the same for all the shows: ~1.5 hour set, followed by an "on-stage encore break", then Q&A/request free-for-all. In order to make a request, one had to raise their hand and ask the band an "interesting" question, which ranged from the uninspired ("What is the meaning of [insert HD song]?"), intriguing ("What was your creepiest encounter with a fan?"), painfully cliché (nearly anything pertaining to Flagpole Sitta), and random ("Do you love your father?"). Sean would usually pause before making a decision: "Uninteresting! NEXT!" or "Now that's an interesting question." Occasionally, the worthiness of the question would be decided by a gladiatorial thumbs up or down as determined by the cheers or jeers. If your question was answered, then your request was granted.

• For the last ever Flagpole Sitta, John Roderick of The Long Winters ran on stage to help sing the BA-BA-BAAA's. After the song ended, Sean said something along the lines of "We're going to take five seconds to appreciate the fact that we never have to play that song ever again", followed by a band toast.
  
• They played my all-time favourite HD song Loyalty Bldg. at the final show. Perfection.
  
• During the middle of what seemed like a record-breaking fifteen minute (Theme from) Carjack Fever, Sean gave each member of the band an extended introduction for the last time.
  
• Someone asked if they ever play Rock Band and if they do, do they play the instruments they play in real life. Sean went to each band member for their replies: "No." "Nope." "No." "No, but I'm buying that Beatles one."
  
• BNL's Steven Page was around somewhere but I didn't notice. @stevenpage: "Harvey Danger taking requests. No teleprompters, no binders of lyrics. Pretty impressive. Tho they only made 3 albums."
  
• The first two shows both ended with Radio Silence, which is a fitting last note to go out on. When this was played during the requests portion of the final show, we were left in suspense as to what would the last Harvey Danger song played would be. In a risky, but brilliant move, they capped off the night with a new song, the appropriately titled The Show Must Not Go On, which was followed by what may have been the first and last band hugs.

As with all the shows, the band came out after to chat with fans, sign things, take photos, etc. It speaks to their extreme generosity that they stayed until absolutely everyone had been taken care of. Personally, it was just wonderful to have the opportunity to say thanks for all the years of fantastic music.

On the covers front, they played a stunning cover of The Beatles' You Never Give Me Your Money at the Vera show. When asked later by a young fan what was his favourite song ever, Sean said probably that one. At the final show, Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things was the first request, saving me the trouble of requesting it myself! Another request was their almost never played cover of The English Beat's Save It For Later, here mixed with a snippet of Pearl Jam's Better Man. I overheard them playing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road during the soundcheck but that didn't crop up at the actual show. Their Dead Sea Scrolls rarities CD sold at the shows contains an unheard cover of Hall & Oates' Maneater and a live cover of Randy Newman's Louisiana, 1927.

Here's where I'd usually post some cover songs, but instead here are my two favourite HD originals from each album.

Harvey Danger - Jack the Lion [from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?]
Harvey Danger - Carlotta Valdez [from Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?]
Harvey Danger - Loyalty Bldg. [from King James Version]
Harvey Danger - The Same as Being in Love [from King James Version]
Harvey Danger - Moral Centralia [from Little By Little...]
Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise [from Little By Little...]

The latter two albums are both available on iTunes, while their debut album is more or less readily available as a physical disc (check Amazon or your local used CD shop). Of course, as it has been for the past 4 years, Little by Little... can be downloaded for free from the official site. When asked if that release tactic was regarded as a success, Sean said the fact that the room was filled with people singing along to every song from the album proves it was, though in hindsight they'd make the "donate" button more prominent, ha ha.

One last thing I want to tell you about is a stunning collection of live music housed at the University of Washington, one that you can only listen to IN-PERSON if you happen to be visiting Seattle. Between May 2002 and December 2007, audio engineer Jim Anderson recorded every (or pretty damn nearly every) show at the Crocodile Café before it closed down, re-opening in March of this year as The Crocodile. In October 2008, he donated this massive collection of digital recordings to the University of Washington's Ethnomusicology Archives. In total, this amounted to over 2800 HOURS of live music. It is not available online and can only be listened to at one of two terminals at the Libraries Media Center. Here are some of the gigs that caught my attention:

• Five full Harvey Danger shows and a handful of solo gigs by band members
  
• Andrew Bird 2003/06/12
  
• The Dresden Dolls 2004/08/22
  
• The Living End (!!) 2006/12/16
  
• Sam Roberts 2003/10/24
  
• Jon Brion 2004/12/18
  
• The Ditty Bops 2005/03/10, 2005/06/25
  
  For White Stripes-related fare:
  
• The Greenhornes 2002/11/13
  
• Brendan Benson 2005/11/08
  
• Blanche 2005/06/25
  
• Holly Golightly 2003/09/26, 2004/10/26
  
• The Kills 2003/09/26, 2004/12/04, 2005/03/25

And that just barely scratches the surface. In fact, the list is so dense it hurts my eyes reading through it. There are even recordings of Disney Cover nights!! In one recording, Sean Nelson performed some Mary Poppins, Pinocchio, and Winnie the Pooh tunes! I even heard a pretty decent punk rock cover of Oogie Boogie's Song. Disney cover jackpot! Take a look at the extensive list to see if your favourite artists are on there-- tons of indie blog faves I'm leaving off. I'll be back in Seattle in October for a Ben Folds + symphony show at Benaroya Hall, but I think I know where I'll be spending the afternoon...

In the Inbox and Feedbox 08/25/2009

I just need to clear my plate of a bunch of blogworthy things coming through my e-mail and RSS feeds. There are also a handful of half-formed posts that just going to have to wait including a Tarantino cover tribute ('twas to coincide with the release of Inglourious Basterds, alas) and an ABBA cover post that I owe a reader (soon!).

Jordan Galland Coverage:
My inbox is filled with a ton of PR stuff everyday and some folks are quite sneaky about pretending to read the blog, but every now and then someone actually takes to effort to actually send something relevant to what I usually post about and tailors the PR schtick enough for my personal benefit that I will ignore my little inner cynic and post about it. In my early blog days I would naïvely respond to most enquiries and now I sadly know better. Anyway, someone kindly asked me to give some blog love to Jordan Galland and I'm more than happy to oblige. Not only did he play piano and electric piano on Mark Ronson's Version (a Fong Songs cover fave), in July he contributed TWO great covers for the Cover Commissions series on over at Cover Me. If you somehow missed it, definitely go there to download his covers of Pulp's Bad Cover Version (HA!) and Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf. Not only is he a talented musician, but he's also a filmmaker with his debut feature film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead currently doing the film festival circuit. It stars Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin) and features an original score by Galland's longtime collaborator and childhood friend, Sean Lennon.

Speaking of Cover Me, he's got a logo design contest going on right now until Tuesday's midnight deadline (er, that'd be tonight). Prizes involved.

I Want More POZ-OR:
Nine months after my initial exposure to the PoZitive Orchestra's unique brand of recycled songs, I'm still loving it and was compelled Sunday to see if there were any updates to their website. No new covers I'm afraid, though they still play the occasional gig in Russia (d'oh!). Coincidentally, a review also popped up Sunday to reiterate that fact that everyone needs to listen to the PoZitive Orchestra. I wholeheartedly agree and you know what? So does Neil Gaiman, so there. To get my fix, I found the website of Gin-Tonic, another band lead by POZ-OR's vocalist/guitarist Cyril Kukharenko, and downloaded three-and-a-half albums of free music. It shouldn't be shocking that this music is pretty awesome too, all in Russian, and FREE. I'm currently listening to a bizarrely jaunty song about Osama Bin Laden called Враг №1 (Enemy No. 1). Go here for Gin-Tonic downloads!

Big List o' Covers
Reader John passed along this article he wrote for Esquire entitled 1,892 Cover Songs Men Could Listen To. I'm assuming women could listen to these cover songs too. While your brain might explode trying to peruse this list, he does offer takes on 10 of his favourites including one of my faves too: Lulu Hughes' rendition of Pink Floyd's Time.

All You Need is Ukuleles:
I hope you're all still keeping up to date with the astounding Beatles Complete on Ukulele project wherein all 185 Beatles songs are being covered and released once a week...for nearly three more years! How can you argue with that much great music for free? I'll admit I was skeptical when first hearing of the project with visions of amateur youtube ukulele players (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I've been continually blown away by the quality and diversity of the covers, which are all linked but not limited to the ukulele. Although they are arguably the most covered band of all time, good to great Beatles covers are in a minority. We're only 31 covers in and most of these are pretty fantastic, a few legitimately great. And you can't accuse any of them of being predictable. Adam Green's I Will is my favourite so far. The project is also having the side effect of exposing me to the incredible Beatles back catalogue, of which I'm fairly unlearned as it turns out despite considering myself a pretty big Beatles fan. If you're an artist, you can even look into joining the project for future unclaimed covers. Last year, project masterminds and arrangers, Roger Greenawalt and David Barratt performed all 185 songs live with guests at a 14-hour benefit show in New York. They're at it again this year, performing the entire Beatles catalogue on December 6th and 7th (All Lennon’s Eve) at Spike Hill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. If I was in the neighbourhood, I'd consider going for all 14 hours just for the experience.

Squirrel Nut Zippers Lost at Sea:
The Squirrel Nut Zippers have got a new album due October 27th, their first in nine years and first live album ever! Previously (I think) the only official live material came from a promo VHS tape I once found on eBay or bootlegs. These are mostly live versions of old favourites as recorded (I'm assuming) over the past two years of touring since their reunion, though I do see one track name I don't recognize.
1. Memphis Exorcism
2. Good Enough For Grandad
3. It Ain't You
4. Prince Nez
5. Put A Lid On It
6. Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter
7. Danny Diamond
8. Suits Are picking Up The Bill
9. My Drag
10. Happens All The Time
11. Bad Businessman
12. Hell
13. Ghost Of Stephen Foster
14. You Are My Radio
15. Blue Angel
16. Do What
17. Missing Link Parade

They're taking the tiered package approach: download only, download & CD, download & LP, and (DROOL.) a deluxe version that includes "extra tracks from [their] deep dark past along with exclusive video and photos all delivered to your computer". Superfans, myself included, will be able to buy the album early from their official website in September!

Last. Shows. Ever.
On Friday, I'm hopping on a train to Seattle to catch the last Harvey Danger shows ever. The past few weekends have been last shows in Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles and now they're back in their hometown Seattle at the Crocodile Club to finish it off basically where it all started. You might be thinking "who cares?" since, after all, they're widely known as a late-90's one hit wonder for Flagpole Sitta. Longtime readers of Fong Songs know that I am part of a small, very devoted group of Harvey Danger fans. I've said it many a time, but their commercial disaster and hiatus-inducing sophomore album King James Version is one of my favourite albums of all-time. Their third and final album Little By Little... is no slouch either, being available as a free download since its 2005 release coinciding with a physical release. I finally got the opportunity to see them live last year for their 10th Anniversary Public Spectacle where they played all three of their albums + b-sides/covers/rarities over the course of two nights. And now I'll be there to say my goodbyes and thanks to one of my favourite bands.

• you can read lead singer Sean Nelson blogging about the first couple tour stops on EW.com with presumably more to come
  
• Watch "famous minor television personality" John Hodgman introduce the band's last show in New York City
  
• at this past weekend's show at the Largo in L.A., Jon Brion was on hand to play lead guitar on Wine, Women, and Song and Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard (Mr. Deschanel, sigh) sang HD's Why I'm Lonely
  
• for the HD faithful, a very limited edition CD Dead Sea Scrolls consisting of unheard songs and other rarities was made just for the final shows (only 300 copies I think)
  
• There are three shows in Seattle: an all-ages show Friday at the Vera Project, an early show at the Crocodile, and The Last Show Ever
  
• Cartoonist Peter Bagge ("Hate") apparently has a band called Can You Imagine? and will be opening for Harvey Danger at the early Saturday show

That'll probably be it for this week. Later folks!

On the Summer Concert Plate: New bands, Old Bands, Anniversaries, and a Last Show Ever

My summer of concerts officially got underway in the last few weeks with gigs from Ellen McIlwaine and Danny Michel, but those were just the appetizers. I figured my concert-going in general might be on the decline as my concert bucket list is down to just one hand, though I guess I'm in trouble if Jack White keeps starting new bands. There are some major gigs coming down the pipeline, which makes me glad to be just a quick hop away from Seattle. Expect more on these shows later... but for now, a tasty preview of my summer lineup.

June 26 - The Lost Fingers
June 27 - Alice Russell
June 28 - Ndidi Onukwulu & José González
It'll be a busy concert weekend as I hit back to back to back shows during the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. First up, the Lost Fingers, the Juno nominated gypsy-jazz cover band from Québec I mentioned a few months ago. i (heart) music is still hosting mp3s of a live show recorded for CBC, which includes a cover of Belleville Rendez-Vous from The Triplets of Belleville and much more!

I caught British soul singer Alice Russell at Schuba's in Chicago when I visited in March. Since then, she was invited by David Byrne to sing on his and Fatboy Slim's forthcoming concept album (other singers on the album include Sharon Jones, Tori Amos, Santigold, and Martha Wainwright). She was so good I couldn't pass up seeing her gig here in Vancity!

Lastly I'm going to see local blues singer Ndidi Onukwulu who impressed me during her few songs at the Juno Songwriter's Circle a few months back. She's playing with Swedish indie folk artist José González, who I'm honestly rather indifferent towards even though he's certainly friendly on the cover front.

The Lost Fingers - Straight Up [originally by Paula Abdul]

Alice Russell - Crazy [originally by Gnarls Barkley]

The CBC Radio Orchestra with Ndidi Onukwulu - American Woman [originally by The Guess Who]
Full CBC Radio 2 concert streaming here.

José González - Love Will Tear Us Apart [originally by Joy Division]
Speaking of which, a local exhibition recently opened in Vancouver with a cover version of a different variety: Love Will Tear Us Apart being "sung" in sign language.


July 3 - Jason Webley & Friends
I'm heading down to Seattle for what's sure to be a fun-filled weekend, Jason Webley's 11-Year Elevanniversary Celebration and Camp Tomato 2009. Jason Webley's relationship to the number 11 is not unlike Jack White's obsession with the number 3, hence the unconventional anniversary. The cost? $11. Seriously, when was the last time you went to an $11 show? That's less than the fees from Ticketmaster! Tickets still available here.

Originally I was planning a trip to catch Jim Henson's Fantastic World, a traveling exhibition of Muppet mayhem created by the Smithsonian. As usual, I tried to coincide my visit with a show when I found an e-mail from Jason Webley lingering in my inbox with details on his big show. In Jason's words: "Come celebrate eleven years of screaming, stomping and squeezing across the planet. A one-night extravaganza featuring most all of the musicians and artists that I have worked with over these past eleven years." Then I got a nice surprise earlier this week when he revealed one-time collaborator Amanda Palmer would be joining the festivities. Another surprise yesterday when I read Ms. Palmer and Neil Gaiman are officially an item! And if I'm not mistaken, they were introduced to each other by Mr. Webley.... but that's enough geek gossip for this blog. Now that I think about it, I first heard Jason Webley when Neil linked to his music video for Eleven Saints about three years ago.

Jason Webley - Eleven Saints

Amanda Palmer - I Google You [lyrics by Neil Gaiman]

Neil Gaiman - Who Killed Amanda Palmer? [Neil's spoken word intro for her WKAP tour]

August 6 - 9 Edmonton Folk Music Festival
I figured it was time for a trip back home (my first since Christmas) and as a bonus, I pulled some work strings to head back for the Edmonton Folk Fest which is celebrating its 30th year. I also easily convinced my whole family to come for some or all of the festival. I was sold when I found out Danny Michel would be playing the 4-day fest. Of course I've seen him several times, but it'll be a thrill to see him mix it up at the daily sessions where anything goes. They just announced the full line-up last week and the E-Town folk fest organizers scored a major coup by booking Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings to headline Saturday night. WOO! Festival goers unfamiliar with them will be in for a huge treat when they takeover the Main Stage. Other performers include:

• Neko Case
  
• Kathleen Edwards
  
• Chumbawamba (a revelation when they played in '06)
  
• Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
  
• The Wailers
  
• Steve Earle (just realized that's him in The Wire! I'm into Season 5 now.)
  
• Iron and Wine
  
• Pavlo
  
• Loudon Wainwright III (heh heh, "Dead Skunk" for my dad! My mum hates that song.)
  
• Joel Plaskett
  
• Tift Merritt
  
• Boz Scaggs (Lido Shuffle!)
  

...and of course plenty, plenty more, many of whom I'm unfamiliar with. Another headliner is the no-longer-Barenaked Lady, Steven Page who's currently in the middle of mixing an album of his collaboration with the Art of Time Ensemble from last year, an all-covers affair (streaming here) that included one of my favourite incarnations of Paranoid Android. Curious if he'll play any of that stuff at the Folk Fest. Can't wait 'til August!

Chumbawamba - Her Majesty (live at Edmonton Folk Fest 2006) [riff on The Beatles]

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - This Land is Your Land (live from Radio City Music Hall [originally by Woody Guthrie]
From last month's Dark Was the Night benefit concert.   The end of the show featured most the night's artists including Feist, Dirty Projectors, Bon Iver, My Brightest Diamond, and others gathering to pay tribute to Pete Seeger with a goofily earnest rendition of This Land is Your Land.  That is, until Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings cut in and proceed to bring down the house. Google the youtube video... it's pretty priceless.  This crisp audio is from the NPR broadcast (whole show on iTunes).

August 21 & 22 - The Dead Weather
Vancouver was spoiled last year when the Raconteurs came through town twice last year, ostensibly on the same tour. And now we're being treated to back-to-back shows from The Dead Weather come August. Gee, Jack must love it here or something. The first White Stripes shows I ever saw were back-to-back Vancouver shows in 2005.

What I'm really pumped for is the film chronicling the White Stripes 2007 cross-Canada tour, titled Under Great White Northern Lights, which is expected by year's end on DVD and possibly even in theatres. Logic dictates that the main feature will be the epic Glace Bay show, for which yours truly was in attendance (gloat!), hopefully with footage from the secret shows performed in almost every city on the tour.

The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother
[File deleted, but get it free from the official site for the cost of a dummy e-mail]

August 28 & 29 - Harvey Danger
Though it was announced last week, I just found out the bombshell news last night that Harvey Danger are officially calling it quits with a handful of farewell shows. They've got shows planned for Schuba's in Chicago, the Largo in L.A., and two shows in their hometown Seattle. This just coming a year and a bit after their big 10th Anniversary brouhaha, which I was lucky enough to attend. While previously the band was on an indefinite hiatus for 4 years, the finality of this recent announcement is a bit of a gut punch. Their sophomore album King James Version, front-to-back is one of my favourite all-time albums. Though mostly known to the average joe for their one-hit wonder Flagpole Sitta in the 90s, they've got a small but intensely devoted fanbase that are already booking trips from across the US (and abroad!) to see what is 99% likely their final shows as Harvey Danger. Fortunately it's not much of a hassle for me to drag myself down to Seattle for the last two shows, an all-ages gig at the Vera Project (tickets here) and back where it all started at the Crocodile Club (tickets here). I've booked my tix, now to get off work...

Harvey Danger - Save it For Later [originally by The English Beat]
Harvey Danger - Oh! You Pretty Things [originally by David Bowie]

If you can handle Flac files, check out their New Year's gig from a few years back where they performed side 2 of Abbey Road straight through.

Nelson Sings Nilsson in L.A.

If you're in Los Angeles next-next weekend, I strongly urge you to go see Sean Nelson (of Harvey Danger) perform the songs of Harry Nilsson at The Largo's Little Room. The show is Saturday February 21 at 10pm, all ages, $15 at the door. It is literally a little room that holds less than 100 people, so you'd definitely be in for a treat. While there are lush arrangements on the finished but never released Nelson Sings Nilsson album, this'll be a stripped down guitar/piano/vocal show.

And if you're really lucky, maybe Jon Brion will jump out of the audience, scramble for a guitar, and play an impromptu solo. That's what happened during a cover of Maybe I'm Amazed when Harvey Danger played last year in the Little Room:

Nelson is also in L.A. because a film that he stars in and co-wrote called My Effortless Brilliance was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award! More precisely, it's the film's director Lynn Shelton up for the "Someone to Watch" Award and she's up against animator Nina Paley, who Roger Ebert's been championing here. Shelton has already garnered more attention when her follow-up film Humpday premiered at Sundance a few weeks ago to good reviews.

In Today's Harvey Danger news...

Some notable news from the world of Fong Songs fave, Harvey Danger:

If Rock Band 2 is your thing, Harvey Danger's Cream and Bastards Rise was released today as a downloadable track. That's pretty awesome. Last month on the HD forums, Harvey Danger guitarist/pianist/Microsoft employee Jeff Lin mentioned they had to provide seven different versions of the song to make up the final Rock Band track. I don't have the game nor envision getting it in the foreseeable future, but on a lark I downloaded demos of Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero Aerosmith just to see if it was possible to play with no guitar controller... though obviously not that satisfying in the rock star sense (imagine Keytar Hero), it's bizarrely entertaining and challenging, not to mention surprisingly intuitive. I was able to muddle 75% through Walk This Way (feat. Run DMC) on hard before getting slaughtered at the guitar solo.

Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise Reprise
The original Cream and Bastards Rise was from Harvey Danger's 3rd album Little by Little..., which has been available as a free download from their site since its release in 2005. This radically different version of the song appears on the bonus disc, which you got if you purchased the physical album. I'd love to hear more songs like this in Rock Band. Someone needs to make an Indie Rock Band or something.

Last week, it was also announced that Barsuk Records would be re-issuing Death Cab for Cutie's debut album Something About Airplanes as a deluxe 10th anniversary edition CD, which will feature "extensive liner notes" by Harvey Danger vocalist Sean Nelson. The set will also include a bonus disc with a "recently-unearthed" recording of DCfC's first ever show in Seattle. Harvey Danger happened to be the headlining act at that February 1998 gig at the Crocodile Café and Sean Nelson joined DCfC to sing lead vocals on a cover of The Smiths' Sweet and Tender Hooligan. That whole shaboodle is due out November 25th. Mark your calendars.

Finally, last Friday a stripped down Harvey Danger played a live show at Neumo's in Seattle that was recorded by Seattle radio station KEXP. It was just Jeff on piano and Sean on vocals, plus a couple special guests. Fortunately for our purposes, they also performed a couple covers including this one that surprised me:

Harvey Danger - Bone Machine (feat. Ryann Donnelly) [originally by the Pixies]
Sean Nelson is joined by Ryann Donnelly, lead singer of the Schoolyard Heroes on this piano & vocals Pixies cover. She sings the Kim Deal bits.

You're Not the Only Cuddly Toy Cover

Aimee Mann's notable cover of Harry Nilsson's One from the Magnolia soundtrack distinctly kicks off with a voice uttering "OK, Mr. Mix." This snippet actually comes from the beginning of another Harry Nilsson song, Cuddly Toy. Every now and then I'll be reminded of Nilsson's genius, inevitably when I discover a song that I love was originally written by him. This began with the Magnolia soundtrack and Aimee Mann's cover of One, also famously covered by Three Dog Night. Later on another Paul Thomas Anderson film scored by Jon Brion, Punch-Drunk Love, the wonderful song He Needs Me is used, which was originally from Robert Altman's 1980 Popeye film and sung by Shelley Duvall who plays Olive Oyl. As it turns out, Harry Nilsson wrote all the original songs for that film.

This trend reached a peak when Harvey Danger singer Sean Nelson started to work on his Nelson Sings Nilsson album of Nilsson cover songs, which ultimately has never been released in the 2 years since it's been completed, though I've been assured it'll come out "someday". There have been some great-sounding demos and tracks on myspace, which led me to check out all the Harry Nilsson albums from the library.

This latest instance came while listening to Toronto indie band The Bicycles' 2006 debut album The Good, The Bad and the Cuddly, which I bought recently. This is when I first heard Cuddly Toy and I really shouldn't have been shocked to find out the only cover from the album was written by Harry Nilsson. Despite its jaunty sound, I've read conflicting stories that it's about either a promiscuous girl or a victim of gang-rape(!).


Harry Nilsson - Cuddly Toy [Demo]
This demo was recorded in March 1967 as Nilsson auditioned material for The Monkees. Before the song starts, he says "I don't really have a title... I guess you can call it the Cuddly Toy Song, why not?" I got this from For the Love of Harry, an incredibly comprehensive blog archive of Harry Nilsson material.

The Monkees - Cuddly Toy [originally by Harry Nilsson]
The Monkees did end up choosing to cover Cuddly Toy for their 1967 album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., an early break for Nilsson who at the time was still held a job at a bank. The Monkees would also later cover Nilsson's Daddy's Song for their 1968 film Head.

Harry Nilsson - Cuddly Toy
Nilsson's own album recording of the song was also released in 1967 on Pandemonium Shadow Show.

The Bicycles - Cuddly Toy [originally by Harry Nilsson]
Here's the cuddly cover that inspired this post. More info on The Bicycles, their debut album, and hilarious DVD board game(!) can be found here.

Ben Gibbard & Nada Surf - Cuddly Toy (live) [orginally by Harry Nilsson]
A live cover from the Death Cab for Cutie frontman and Nada Surf taken from a benefit concert for Rogue Wave's drummer, Pat Spurgeon, in 2006.

I'm Amazed

A few days ago, Jeff Lin & Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger played an intimate acoustic set at the Largo Little Room in Los Angeles. The capacity is only 60 people (jealous!) and the set was stripped down piano (Jeff) and vocal (Sean) takes on the Harvey Danger catalogue plus some choice covers: Old Man On The Farm (Randy Newman), Hollywood Hopeful (Loudon Wainwright III), and Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney & The Wings).

Here's an awesome video for Maybe I'm Amazed with major kudos to taper innerturmoil and Sean & Jeff for allowing it.

When it's time for the guitar solo, this ragamuffin runs in from off-stage with an acoustic guitar to perform the solo. JON BRION. Yes, my mind was officially blown.

Code Monkey Cover

It's been approximately 569 days and counting, waiting in vain for that Harvey Danger cover of Jonathan Coulton's Code Monkey. Well, The Grammar Club beat them to it.

The Grammar Club - Code Monkey [originally by Jonathan Coulton]
Fairly straight forward cover until the, uh, much needed rap break? Whatever, the world can always use more JoCo covers. I've never heard of The Grammar Club either, but here's their website.

Seattle Wrap-Up

So last weekend I took a dreadfully long bus from Vancouver down to Seattle. Typically I think the drive should be 2.5 to 3 hours, but due to extraneous stops, a hold-up at the border, and arriving in Seattle in rush hour it was a long, stuffy 5 hours. I stayed at the lovely Green Tortoise Hostel (cheap, clean, convenient, free breakfast!), right across the street from the famed Pike Place Market. Even better was that the two Harvey Danger shows I was going to were at the Triple Door, just around the corner less than 2 blocks away. A quick recap: Harvey Danger was performing over the course of two nights all three of their albums in their entirety and a set of b-sides/rarities. Their sophomore release King James Version, which I bought for 99 cents several years ago in a HMV bargain bin, is one of my favourite albums of all-time.

It truly was a celebration of all things Harvey Danger, in honour of the 10th anniversary of their first album which spawned the hit Flagpole Sitta. The band came decked out in semi-formal attire with flowers on their lapels. They had a bevy of special guests singing back-up, a horn section at one point, and someone playing the funkiest electric cello. In total, I counted up to 15 individual guests just on the first night. A very cool moment: the dad of their former drummer Evan Sult (who's in another band in Chicago) played banjo on their cover of This Busy Monster's Underground, just as he did on the original album. The sound was excellent, though the venue had a surreal dinner theatre-like vibe. It's not often you sit at a candle-lit table at a rock show... They made a commemorative booklet "Harvey Danger's 10th Anniversary Public Spectacle" with liner notes from all the band members (and former drummer) reminiscing and telling stories about basically every song on every album and then some.

Cover-wise, my favourite moment was when the organ-intro from HD's cover of Bowie's Oh! You Pretty Things kicked in.... SWWWEEEEEeeeetness. They also played their cover of Save It For Later, which I found out that night they had never played live because they were tricked into recording it for the awful movie 200 Cigarettes. Basically they were asked to cover a 1981-82 era song, so the band submitted suggestions for Devo, Bowie, XTC, and Duran Duran, but the label demanded an English Beat cover. After the fact, they found out that the label was re-releasing the English Beat catalogue and their cover version, featured on the soundtrack and end credits, was intended to bring the English Beat to a new generation...? Something like that.

Harvey Danger - Save It For Later [originally by The English Beat]

After the 2nd show, I asked Sean Nelson about the status/whereabouts of his Harry Nilsson tribute album Nelson Sings Nilsson, which for a couple years has been limited to some myspace tracks and demos. "Oh, that's a long and painful story," he told me, but he assured me the project was not dead despite all signs to the contrary. Even if he has to put it up on his website, he said it will be released someday, somehow. Victory! GREAT things come to those who wait.

The opening group for both shows was a group who called themselves Alaska/Nebraska featuring Eric Howk and Jacob Hoffman from fellow Seattle-ites The Lashes. One's from Nebraska and one's from Alaska, hence the name which was informally chosen to grace the poster. Even though they ended up playing pretty much the exact same set both nights, we were simply treated to their beautiful folk ballads twice, captivating the crowd even though many of us were at both shows. As you can see in the photo, guitarist/vocalist Eric Howk was wheelchair-bound, a fact that I normally wouldn't think twice about, except that in summer 2006 I saw the Lashes open for The Living End in Toronto, a set particularly memorable to me because the Lashes' frontman Ben Clark jumped off the stage to dance, crushing my toes. When I got back to Vancouver, I was shocked to read that last May while at a party at a friend's house, Eric fell into a 12-feet deep hole left unsecured by the neighbouring lot which was under construction, an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Eric, who was named for guitarist Eric Clapton, has stayed in good spirits since the accident, happy to be alive and still able to play the guitar. He has said, "It's a life change, but not an attitude change." Remarkable. Most of the songs played at The Triple Door can be downloaded from his myspace site Palmer, AK. I've posted a couple of my fav's here, thus sparing you the mind-numbing process of downloading from myspace. "You must be logged in to download" + no login button + crazy filenames once downloaded = annoying.
Palmer, AK - Noelly
Palmer, AK - Goodtime

A couple days ago I stumbled on a treasure trove of cover songs celebrating Seattle. Last August was the centennial anniversary of the Pike Place Market and to celebrate, they organized a 4-hour concert featuring Seattle-based artists performing covers of Seattle-famous songs! Streamed and archived on Seattle Channel, I got all the songs here though I apologize for the somewhat low volume levels.

The "house band" called The Iconics was made up of Dave Dederer and Andrew McKeag, guitarists from the Presidents of the United States of America; Mike Musberger, drummer for The Posies and The Fastbacks; Jeff Fielder, bassist from Sera Cahoone; and Ty Bailie, keyboard player from Department of Energy. Throughout the night they were joined by other featured guests.

Download a zip of all the songs here. Um, except Angel of the Morning will have to be downloaded separately because it was hiding when I made the zip file...

The Iconics - Seattle [popularized by Perry Como]
(feat. Paul Jensen of the Dudley Manlove Quartet)

The Iconics - Tall Cool One [originally by The Wailers]

The Iconics - Angel of the Morning [originally by Merrilee Rush]
(feat. Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger)
As you might have guessed, my stumbling upon this concert was purely because of looking up something Harvey Danger-related.

The Iconics - Spoonman [originally by Soundgarden]
(feat. Artis the Spoonman and Rachel Flotard of Visqueen)

The Iconics - I Don't Like Your Face [originally by The Heats]
(feat. Paul Jensen of the Dudley Manlove Quartet)

The Iconics - The Witch [originally by The Sonics]
(feat. Evan Foster of the Boss Martians)

The Iconics - What'd I Say [originally by Ray Charles]
(feat. Patrinella Wright of the Total Experience Gospel Choir)

The Iconics - The Old Settler [traditional; written by written by Francis D. Henry]
(feat. John Roderick of The Long Winters)

The Iconics - The Day Brings [originally by Brad]
(feat. Shawn Smith of Brad and Mike McCready and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam)

The Iconics - Little Wing [originally by Jimi Hendrix]
(feat. Shawn Smith, Stone Gossard and Mike McCready)
It never occurred to me that Jimi Hendrix was from Seattle, having always associated him with... well, not Seattle in any case. But I found out from a Seattlelite that yes, Jimi was born here and buried in a Seattle suburb. During my visit I got to mess around with an electric guitar at the Frank Gehry-designed Experience Music Project and stop by this Hendrix statue near Broadway & Pine streets.

The Iconics - Spanish Castle Magic [originally by Jimi Hendrix]
(feat. John Roderick & Mike McCready)

The Iconics - Rock & Roll Pest Control [originally by The Young Fresh Fellows]
(feat. Chris Ballew of The Presidents of the United States of America)

The Iconics - Louie Louie [originally by Richard Berry]
(feat. Chris Ballew)

The Iconics - Barracuda [originally by Heart]
(feat. Choklate)

Mike McCready & Chris Friel - Star Spangled Banner [originally by Francis Scott Key]
I didn't know this until now but the American national anthem is set to the tune of an old drinking song. Very curious! Here, Mike McCready channels Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock incarnation of the anthem.

Chris Ballew - Peaches
An impromptu solo a cappella version of the hit for The Presidents of the United States of America.

Speaking of POTUSA, they just released a new album last week called These are Good Times People (with an aggressive internet marketing campaign). It's also got a nifty flip book music video for the lead single Mixed Up S.O.B. directed by Weird Al Yankovic, though it clearly wasn't meant to be watch on youtube or myspaceTV.

The Presidents of the United States of America - Froggie
My all-time fav POTUSA song.

Highlights of the weekend:

• I found out that a couple days ago Sean Nelson joined none other than Jonathan Coulton at the super-hyped SXSW festival on the Heather Gold show, playing a Billy Joel cover! They promise audio and video soon, but for now check out Heather Gold and JoCo covering Harvey Danger's Flagpole Sitta reading lyrics off an iPhone, heh heh. It's been over a year, but we're still waiting on Harvey Danger's cover of JoCo's Code Monkey...
  
• the session on a cruise that Sean Nelson performed with the Barenaked Ladies' Steven Page celebrating the solo music of Paul McCartney is on DIME as a DVD torrent!!! Brilliant. There were some special guests too like Sarah Harmer dropping by to perform Mull of Kintyre. If you have one of those elusive DIME accounts (like me, bwa ha!), then I definitely recommend that.

PlayRadioPlay! Giveaway! Yay!

I'm back from my Harvey Danger excursion. In a word: awesome. In many words: I can't even begin to describe and I'm pressed for time. I will probably post on that later this week. But right now, an old friend from Edmonton is in town (via Eindhoven) for a few days so blogging's on hold for a bit. Except for this swag giveaway!

I didn't realize March was a hotbed of album releases but there are a handful of albums coming out today or in the coming weeks that I'm eagerly awaiting. The Ditty bops, POTUSA's super comeback special, the latest from Fong Songs fav Danny Michel (more on that in a future post), and the Zooey Deschanel/M. Ward collab She & Him (I swear I will write this post someday!). And next Tuesday, PlayRadioPlay! has a new album.


Last week I posted PlayRadioPlay's cover of Mr. Brightside and at the time all I knew was that he was a one-man electronic band from Aledo, Texas (as opposed to the Five Man Electrical Band from Ottawa). A little googling and listening later, I learned the curious tale of the 18-year old Dan Hunter who went from Myspace phenomenon to playing at Warped Tour and touring with Fall Out Boy. There's lots more to this story, which reminds me of another Texan Ben Kweller who also signed on to a label while still in high school, but I really have to wrap this up and get back to not neglecting my house guest. And in case you're wondering like I was, the name PlayRadioPlay! is derived from the Smashing Pumpkins song I of the Mourning.

So, free swag! In conjunction with PRP's promotions people, we've got a PlayRadioPlay CD/poster package to giveaway to two lucky readers! And lest you think I've sold my soul for a doughnut, this is an artist I do support and have in fact pre-ordered his new album, aptly named Texas, from Newbury Comics (only $8.99 with a signed booklet for limited time). If you want to win the CD/poster package, send an e-mail with your name and contact info to fongobongo (at) gmail (dot) com or just leave a comment in this post. Whatever works for you. I'll pick winners on Sunday night.

Here's his new video for the lead single Madi Don't Leave, which is clearly inspired by the hand-crafted look of Michel Gondry's brilliant music videos.


Heck, you can download the song itself here

I also recommend you check out his youtube cover of The Zombies' The Way I Feel Inside.

Upcoming PlayRadioPlay! shows, touring with Yellowcard and Spill Canvas:

3/11 Chicago, IL Metro
3/12 Lansing, MIMac's Bar
3/13 Detroit, MI Majestic Theater
3/14 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
3/15 New York, NY Irving Plaza
3/16 Boston, MA Middle East
3/17 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
3/19 Baltimore, MD Recher
3/20 Greensboro, NC Green Street
3/21 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
3/22 Orlando, FL House of Blues
3/24 Tampa, FL State Theater
3/25 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
3/26 Tallahassee, FL The Beta Bar
3/28 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
3/29 Austin, TX Emo's
3/30 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
3/31 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theater
4/03 Boise, ID Big Easy
4/04 Seattle, WA El Corazon
4/05 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
4/06 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
4/08 Ventura, CA Ventura Theater
4/10 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
4/11 San Diego, CA House of Blues
4/12 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
4/13 Pomona, CA The Glass House
4/14 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theater

http://www.myspace.com/playradioplay
http://www.playradioplay.com

And the winner is...

Forget the Oscars, who won those Harvey Danger CDs? Taking a cue from Boyhowdy's approach to choosing a winner, but lacking a 5-year old child or even a dog at my disposal, I enlisted the help of a borrowed 4-year old turtle named Studwin (AKA Stupid AKA Soup). This was a much more involved process than anticipated as we stared each other down at opposite ends of the hallway for 5 minutes before he made finally a move towards one of the fated scraps of paper.

Praise!Rejoice! The winner of Harvey Danger's debut CD Where Have All the Merry Gone? is... non-responsive. Um, I advise perhaps checking your SPAM box for a potential win if your initials are KH. I sent another notice tonight, but if I don't hear anything in a few weeks someone else may win by default. Rock on.
**UPDATE! We have our winner... Kate H., your CD is on its way!

And Harvey Danger's third album Little By Little... goes to Tisa A. Your prize is in the mail courtesy of Canada Post. Cue orchestra, no speech for you! Thanks for participating, folks.

Eight more days to the big show(s)!

Harvey Danger coverage

I've got my next rock vacation lined up. Come March 6th and 7th, I'll be bussing down to Seattle to go see Harvey Danger play a 2-night stand at the 300-seat Triple Door. In the late-90's they attained one-hit wonder status with Flagpole Sitta from their debut album Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?. I remember hearing the song in a commercial and scouring the p2p networks trying to find it. Problem was I couldn't remember any of the lyrics and for some reason I thought it was Oasis (don't ask), two big detriments to my search progress. A year or so later I re-discovered the song in the middle of a Weird Al polka and frantically looked over the liner notes to finally find out the song's name and artist. Flagpole Sitta. By Harvey Danger. Gee, why didn't I think of that? And who is this "Harvey Danger" person?

Two founding members Jeff Lin and Aaron Huffman were classmates at the University of Washington with the band's name coming from some random graffiti written on the wall of the student newspaper office. The full story (rise/fall/resurrection) of the band is officially summarized here. I think I borrowed that first album from the library but barely listened to it before having to return it. In 2000, by which point I was actually working at the library, I picked up a brand-spankin' new copy of their 2nd album King James Version straight from cataloguing/processing. Admittedly, I borrowed it on a whim and a shiny case thinking "Oh yeah, I sure liked that Flagpole Sitta song". I still remember coming home and casually putting it in the CD player. Whatever I was planning to do, washing the dishes or something, I simply stopped and stood there in the kitchen listening to the rip-roaring opening track Meetings With Remarkable Men (Show Me the Hero). Than I sat on the couch with the liner notes and listened to the rest of the CD, reading along with the lyrics (which are phenomenal, by the way). I don't have too many big rock epiphanies, but this was one. I am Harvey Danger fan for life. Now 8 years later I am finally ready, geographically speaking, to see them for the first time.

In honour of the 10th anniversary of their first album Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?, over two nights they will be playing all three of their albums in their entirety. It'll be an epic doozy of a first live Harvey Danger experience. The big highlight for me will be hearing King James Version live, start to finish one of my favourite albums ever. Last year I saw Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety (amazing) and let me tell you I'm equally excited, if not moreso about watching/hearing/experiencing King James Version, not to mention the opportunity to hear them pull out rare tracks, b-sides, and covers. To quote lead singer Sean Nelson, "Indeed, it would be prudent to assume that some of these songs will be (unofficially) retired after these shows".

Last summer I was expecting to be in the Caribbean in January rocking it up on a cruise headlined by Ben Folds along with special guest Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls... a dream trip to be sure. I was all booked, rearing to go when it was unceremoniously cancelled last June. Somewhat ironically it's actually Harvey Danger of all people who ended up jumping on a ship with the Barenaked Ladies a couple weeks ago on a cruise to Jamaica put on by the same company, Sixthman. As much as I would have liked to, the cost would have been a bit too much, a sentiment shared by even hardcore fans. When asked by fans why they'd be participating in the cruise anyway, the answer was pretty simple: it was basically a paid vacation and the idea of playing on a cruise ship was appealingly ridiculous. Getting out of a frigid Seattle in January was a nice perk too. By all accounts it sounded like a great time. One enviable session to have attended was the Barenaked Ladies' frontman Steven Page teaming up with Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson for a 'Songs of McCartney' session. Gah! I'm told it was Steven who met Sean in Toronto recently and invited the band on board.

Pretty much since the inception of this blog, I've been repeatedly plugging Harvey Danger. Right now if you're not a fan already, you might need some convincing. In general, my cover song philosophy is that hearing a band you're unfamiliar with perform a cover is the most directly accessible way to digest their music. You can tell when there's more to the band than just the cover, which leads you to seek out their other music. Tainted Love was my intro to The Living End and Young Americans to Danny Michel, two of my favourite artists I've discovered through covers. I really can't say the same thing about, say, Alient Ant Farm or The Ataris (sorry!). Though for all I know those bands are like someone else's Harvey Danger. So let's get to some covers, shall we?

Harvey Danger - Save it for Later [originally by The English Beat]
Harvey Danger - Is There Something I Should Know? [originally by Duran Duran]
**song title corrected... thanks Kel]
Harvey Danger - Oh! You Pretty Things [originally by David Bowie]

Harvey Danger - I've Got a Feeling [originally by The Beatles]
On New Year's Eve 2006, Harvey Danger and guests played an epic show where they covered side 2 of the Beatles' Abbey Road from Here Comes the Sun to Her Majesty. Before jumping into that, they kicked it off with this Beatles gem from Let it Be.

Sean Nelson - Gotta Get Up [originally by Harry Nilsson]
Sean Nelson - Daddy's Song [originally by Harry Nilsson]
A great but unreleased album is languishing somewhere... Sean Nelson's tribute to Harry Nilsson called Nelson Sings Nilsson (the title in turn refers to Harry Nilsson's tribute to Randy Newman, Nilsson Sings Newman). There are some demos on Sean's site and some full versions on myspace. He played sold out Nelson Sings Nilsson shows and the 15-track CD was completed I believe in 2006. For some reason it never came out. Copyright issues? No publisher? No one seems to know. It's number 1 on my lost albums list because the quasi-released stuff is fantastic. At the very least, it introduced me to Harry Nilsson who had flown under my radar for years. Go here to watch a youtube video of Davy Jones dancing and singing ridiculously to Daddy's Song in the 1968 Monkees film Head. Stay tuned to the end of the video where Frank Zappa gives Davy some advice with his talking cow... and I should mention the film was co-written by Jack Nicholson. Those wacky Monkees!

Death Cab for Cutie featuring Sean Nelson - Fortunate Son [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival]
Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson sings lead on this CCR cover backed by Death Cab for Cutie. This comes from a Vietnam war benefit CD called Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again with lots of cover songs on it that I recently found in L.A.

Magnificent Tracers - Flagpole Sitta [originally by Harvey Danger]
Hairy Canary - Flagpole Sitta [originally by Harvey Danger]
(Just iTunes links for these ones! Listen to samples for a taste... but I recommend tracking down the original.)
There are not a lot of Harvey Danger cover songs around, though in a sense these are the very definition of cover songs: quick cash-ins on a popular hit put out by another company with the intent to mimic the original as closely as possible. In a horrible, bizarre twist of fate the Harvey Danger original is not even available on iTunes, but the preceding cover versions are. Yikes! The Magnificent Tracers-- even the band's name alludes to the fact that they are essentially "tracing" the song-- is from a K-Tel compilation called Extreme Sports. What's even more baffling is that the Hairy Canary version has a variety of techno, acapella, and percapella(?) remixes to go along with it. I was so tempted to buy the Hairy Canary "album", but I just couldn't bring myself to do it and I don't really encourage you to either. Probably the worst crime with these covers is that uninformed consumers actually believe these to be the original. I cringe when I've seen arguments such as "This is definitely I'm Not Sick but I'm Not Well by Hairy Canary!" or "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's actually the Magnificent Tracers!" or "No, no, no, it's definitely Harvey Dangerfield..."

The Lounge-o-Leers - Flagpole Sitta [originally by Harvey Danger]
Not a particularly great cover, but it'll have to do until a big Harvey Danger revival in pop culture consciousness leads to an influx of HD covers.

Unknown A cappella group The UNC Achordants - Flagpole Sitta [originally Harvey Danger]
Generally I don't like posting songs of unknown origins... but it's a Harvey Danger cover, proving once again that there's an a cappella cover of virtually anything. Presumably it's a college a cappella group. Who? I have no idea, so give me a shout if you can identify it.
**UPDATE: Thanks to an anonymous reader, we now know this is the UNC Achordants from their 2007 album High Stakes Old Maid, available from their website.

Weird Al Yankovic - Polka Party!
Thank you Weird Al for introducing me to Harvey Danger! Spice Girls, Beastie Boys, Matchbox 20, Marilyn Manson, Third Eye Blind, and more get the ol' Weird Al polka treatment from 1999's Running With Scissors.

FREE STUFF!
Everyone loves free stuff right? In this, my inaugural giveawway on Fong Songs, I would like to share my Harvey Danger passion with you. I have in my collection spare copies of Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? and Little by Little..., their 1st and 3rd albums. So first prize will be one CD and second prize will be, uh, the other CD. No guarantees as to the condition of the CDs (this is free, mind you). I will send these anywhere at my own expense, cheapest shipping possible. If you want in on this free stuff, no strings attached, leave a comment with your e-mail and I'll pick winners on Friday next week. If I get pie in my face and only one person comments, he/she will take both prizes. If no one comments, I will cry myself to sleep or donate them to the library, both excellent alternatives. Depending how this goes, I may actually give away actual CDs with COVER SONGS in the future... *cough* veiled threat *cough* Don't forget Harvey Danger's third album Little by Little can also be downloaded for free at their site. The physical edition comes with a bonus CD of demos, alternate cuts, and extra songs so there's your incentive to win or buy your own copy. First album is available on Amazon (though not iTunes). And the great, underrated King James Version can be bought on iTunes or as a used CD on Amazon.

In parting, one of my favourite Harvey Danger originals:
Harvey Danger - Loyalty Bldg.

Cover of Your Choice

If you're a rich cover lover, you have about an hour left to bid on The Presidents of the United States of America covering a song of your choice. It's part of The Stranger's Holiday Gift auction. Other artists offering charity covers are The Posies, Dina Martina, Visqueen, Erin Jorgensen, and Say Hi.

Last year Harvey Danger did the same thing and the winner chose Jonathan Coulton's Code Monkey... though as of yet they still haven't recorded it yet.

Peace on Earth

The blog Hard to Find a Friend is hosting a holiday charity album that you can purchase and download for $7. All of the artists involved recorded the songs on their own time and 100% of the proceeds are going to Toys for Tots. There are a few names I recognize: Canadian indie band Great Lake Swimmers, The Long Winters, Chris Walla (guitarist for Death Cab For Cutie)... If you're a Harvey Danger enthusiast (like me), the highlight on the track listing is The Long Winters covering an HD Christmas song. If you don't really like traditional Christmas carols (like me), this is a perfect remedy with some original tunes and non-ingratiating takes on x-mas classics, plus you get to discover some new artists. I'm digging this Quiet Company version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and methinks I spot a Charlie Brown Christmas cover in there.

Peace on Earth: A Charity Holiday Album
1. Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - Shepherd's Song
2. Quiet Company - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
3. Great Lake Swimmers - Gonna Make it Through This Year
4. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin / Sweetwater Abilene - The Wheels Are Off
5. Chris Walla - Coventry Carol
6. David Karsten Daniels - In The Bleak Midwinter
7. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
8. The Winston Jazz Routine - Through the Snow
9. Via Audio - My Boo
10. The Long Winters - Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)
11. TW Walsh - Drop the Bomb
12. Ohtis - American Christians
13. Aaron Robinson - End of the Year
14. The Cotton Jones Basket Ride (Michael Nau of Page France) - White Christmas
15. American Music Club - Please Please
16. Johnny Bertram - Merry Christmas (You Won't Get What You Want)
17. Rosie Thomas - Christmas Time is Here
18. Sleeptalker - This is Christmas

From the same blog I learned Okkervil River has a free covers EP for download featuring the likes of Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell, and Serge Gainsbourg among others, though I admittedly have never heard of any of the songs they're covering.