What's spinning on the iPod

Hey, what's up with the listening habits lately?

Juts can't get enough of Eliott Smith's "Basement on the Hill" disc, picked up a Sarah Harmer cd, going through a Beautiful South revival and totally addicted to Bob's "Kaya" album. Woods, really had a chance to listen to that You've Been Spiked!" disc and it has a permanent spot on the iPod as of late. Craving the Ben disc...

And if you guys haven't converted into Ricky Gervais fans, you gotta check out his podcast. They did 12 episodes and the are hilarious, Slip, this is definitely car communte material!

keep it real.

Smoked Maple Syrup Salmon

Slip, next time yer out in Van, you can pick up the best smoked salmon, just make sure it is the maple one! Here is where we got some...

Caper's Market

Next time we hook up, hopefully you will have a business trip shortly before, so you can get me some!

I thought this was funny.

Both Sides of the Gun...

Gentlemen - I ask you to harken back to the end of this summers Ben Harper concert. The emotionally charged ending to "With My Own Two Hands"...Ben and the crowd of 2200 musical-friends chanting "I Believe in a Better Way...I Believe in a Better Way". Fast forward to the present, Bens upcoming album will open with an equally charged song called "Better Way". I have an early version, and it sounds GOOD. Real Good. March 21st cant get here FAST ENOUGH. Heres a great interview with Ben about the album.
Enjoy - Woods.

Relix
February/March 2006

Reel Time

Rocking The Boat
With Ben Harper

By Daniel H. Brown

In a recording studio, in the middle of a boat, in the middle of L.A., Ben Harper is in the middle of a world at odds. But after being cooped in this place for over two-and-a-half months he has finished Both Sides Of The Gun, a two-disc album that weaves together a variety of old and new musical styles from his career, creating an auricular tapestry that is strangely cohesive. With soundman Danny Kaleb capturing the differnet moods of each song, Harper has been free to confidently explore any number of musings. Flipping the Lakers game on mute, Harper kicks back on the couch to chat about his newest work.

The Gist

My favorite records are the ones you half know what you're going to do, you half know what you're going to say, and you half have it exposed to you during the process. That's what this has been.
I started these songs the second I finished my last record. The way this one's built is for people who dig what I do. Ther's a lot of different shit people want to hear-funk, slide, ballads-but this way, with two records, I could represent the different things that interest me.
Each side is 32 minutes, the first side harder than the second. I kind of went by b.p.m.s organizing it. If something's moving with a certain force it's going to end up on the first record. Not that there's any less of a force on the second record, but it's just that it's a slower tempo on the whole. There's a difference between the two in the lyrical context as well. The discs are charged differently: that's why the album is titled Both Sides Of The Gun.

The Sound

I stumbled onto this electric xylophone in a pro drum shop and I was like, "This thing is magic." That was it: cool. The xylophone with the guitar gave it a new, almost haunting sound. And then on the instrument list, Jeezus! All types of amps, a baby grand piano, mumerous keyboards and melatrons... the percussion instruments go on for days-tablas, dumbecks, drum kits... On this record I went every place that I love to go and even places I've never been that came from the back of my distorted brain into the studio room through the mics. Luckily, Danny was there to capture the amazing sound of all the instruments. That man... He's a genius at recording.

The Tunes

We had to cut a couple of songs for time reasons but I did not need to abandon anything because I got hung up. I narrowed the tracks down to 18, and then "Black Rain" came along, which knocked another off. I wrote that song after watching that shit in New Orleans go down and straight-out put pen to paper and recorded it with various members of the ICs (Innocent Criminals).
On "Better Way" I just layered the shit out of the percussions-I don't even know what the shit is going on there, I just layered and layered. After that I laid down the bass, slide guitar and vocals, and there it was.
On other songs like "Serve Your Soul", I brought in a couple of friends of mine whose playing I've admired. I showed them the changes and how it went and we just jammed. The different musicians I brought in, well, look man: If I'm going to be bringing someone in on a song they'd better bring something to it that I can't on my own, otherwise I'll just play the shit myslef. So anybody I brought in, whether it's the string players on "Morning Yearning", my own band The Innocent Criminals on "Picture In A Frame", or the three cats from Austin, Texas, on "Serve Your Soul", it's because I know they bring a certain, special sound and energy to the process.

The Philosphy

You sounded more confident on this record.

Look man, I can't sit up here and agree with you, cause I don't. I don't have an unconfident record. Straight up, every time I've stepped to a note, on every single record, on every single song, it's been with the utmost confidence. Is there evolution reflected? Yes. Maturity? I hope so, but I'd like to think I've been in a state of "becoming" since the first record and I hope to still be there after this. I think the second you arrive somewhere and want to rest there, fucking stagnation sets in and then you constantly end up wanting to be that person time and time again. I don't want to ever do the same thing twice. I don't mind doing parts of the same thing, but I always want to be trying new shit and this record shows an extension of experimentation, for sure.
After you've been loved and loathed for a certain amount of time, the praise and criticism falls on deaf ears. I've never done it for that. I mean, do you do something for ego or because you have a soul calling? I hope, without sounding ethereally ridiculous, this is my shit. This is what I do. It gives my life meaning and if it connects through people I'm all the more fortunate.

Last Thoughts

I laughed in this record more than I've laughed on any other record. It's cabin fever, man, you're locked up in here from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day for three months. You get a little bit nuts. But in the process of this record, more than any of the others, I felt like I surpassed my expectations for myself. And man, I hope that translates to the way people hear it. *

Young Dads of the World Rejoice!

Just picked up Jack's Curious George movie soundtrack, "Sing-a-longs and Lullabies". Great set of tunes. Quite a intersting duet version of Ben's "With My Own Two Hands". Diggin' it!

Bob

Happy birthday, Mr. Marley. We hardly knew you.

www.warrenbrown.ca

I registered the domain: www.warrenbrown.ca

I am planning to get some of my personal work up on the web and see who looks! I am looking to choose a web hosting company for the a basic package. You guys have any thoughts or recomendations?

New Ray Bans - Predator 3212's

I just want to announce that I finally picked up my first pair of adult sun glasses. Sarah made good on a long over due birthday promise and bought me a pair of sunglasses this weekend.

Let me introduce you to my new goggles! - gunmetal frames with grey - green lenses. F'en smooth.

Ashes and Snow

Fellas,

I think this is an amazing website. It is of the photography and videography of Gregory Colbert. You may have seen his stuff before...

http://www.ashesandsnow.com

The Inaugural Moon Tower Poll!

Where is Lepos?

Have you seen lepos?

http://www.whereislepos.com/

Ree-dick-u-lous GOAL !!!

Alexander Ovechkin is seperating himself from Sid the Kid recently. Not sure if you have seen this goal, but its insane.
Enjoy.

C.

http://www.thebeerguy.ca/ovechkin/goal32.avi

(Dubby I hope you can see it.)

You HAVE to check this out!

I was playing around on the Internets just now, searching on "moon tower" on Google, and you'll never guess what I came across...


A band called, "Moontower"!!!!! If that wasn't enough, I started frickin' grooving in my seat to their tunes!

No shit. Here's the link: http://www.myspace.com/moontower

Make sure to check out their influences and you'll see why their name is so appropriate. They may very well be us in a parallel universe where we can actually play instruments and stuff.

*NEW* Moon Tower Features

In an ongoing effort to attain continuous improvement and spiritual enlightenment, I've added a few new features to the Moon Tower. On the left, you will see a new link, as well as a list of where the last 10 visitors came from. Don't know which one of you checked from South Roxton, Quebec, but we now know. The link (BF Stats) will take you to another page with, wait for it, more statistics. It's kinda interesting 'cause it tells you how people (other than the 3 of us jokers) find the Moon Tower. Apparently, we had two separate hits from people searching Yahoo with the term, "both sides of the gun ben harper", so Woods, you are creating traffic.

I also added a Google PageRank near the bottom of the left bar. We have a low (very low) page rank, which means we are not very important in the world of this internet thing based on searches and visits and links and stuff. BoingBoing and Yahoo have a 9 ranking... And since Google ranked us as "minuscule in the grand scheme of things", then fuck it, they are going near the bottom of the page.

Check you later!

Movies

Dudes,

Couple of movie rentals from the weekend that I think you've both seen, but I'll mention anyways. Its All Gone Pete Tong (was in a previous post), and the 40-Year-Old Virgin. Both were great movies.

2021 Draft Prep...

010306 025
Originally uploaded by Wooderson.

Had our first skate last week. Lots of fun. Sadly he enjoys falling more than skating...Brett, thus making him an early target for the Leafs.

New Ben Album !

Ben Harper Sees Both Sides

Singer-songwriter polishes off a disc of funk and a disc of ballads
Ben Harper will release a two-CD set, Both Sides of the Gun, on March 21st. While Harper released a collaboration with the Blind Boys of Alabama in 2004, this eighteen-track collection, divided into nine songs per disc, is the follow-up to his last solo effort, 2003's world music-inspired Diamonds on the Inside.

At an hour long, the new material would easily fit on one CD. But Harper wanted to give each disc a distinct sound, one harder and one softer, as he just "wasn't able to find that magic balance."

Among the tracks on Both Sides' harder-edged half is the title track, which melds funk with a Seventies soul vibe, and the blues and funk-driven "Black Rain," a song in response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In contrast, Both Sides' second half features the power ballad "Picture in a Frame," and the romantic closer "Happily Ever After in Your Eyes," a track Harper hopes will become "the ultimate wedding song." (Harper and longtime girlfriend actress Laura Dern actually chose holiday tracks for their recent wedding ceremony this December 23rd in Los Angeles.)

While the California singer-songwriter turned to his usual backing band and a number of L.A. "jazz-heads" for recording, he self-produced the album and, on several tracks, played all the instruments. Harper says of his very hands-on effort, "I feel confident there's not an ounce of filler."

With tour plans in support of Both Sides in the works for either February or March -- and a co-headlining slot for the Langerado Music Festival in Sunrise, Florida, on March 11th -- Harper finds himself itching to get out on the road. "I'm jumping out of my skin. I can hardly sit still. I just can't wait to get it out and play it."

Ho Ho Part 2

Here's that creepy sumbitch in all his Christmas splendour. I might sound like a Scrooge here, which couldn't be further from the truth, but this "thing" was a little disturbing. Like when you stare at strange patterns in the concrete and they begin to take shapes like minotaurs and clowns. 

Ho Ho Ho...

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Look! It's Santa!", but let me tell you that this "Santa" stood over 4 feet tall and wiggled to Christmas carols at my parents' house - and it was friggin' creepy. Luckily, we were kind enough to give Santa his own private Christmas gift... hohoho, if you know what I mean! 

Happy HoHo

Merry Christmas Gents...
All the best from London.

Warren - Gonna check out "Its All Gone Pete Tong."

Talk soon.
Woods.