This post on the Bad Plus’s awesome blog, Do the Math, includes a version of “Silence Is the Question,” one of my favorite Bad Plus tunes. With sax! I’ve become a collector of every version of this tune that I can find, in somewhat the same way that I’ve become a collector of versions of “Skokiaan.” (I still haven’t found the version that first introduced me to “Skokiaan” — the track at the end of Richard Linklater’s Slacker.) Sometime I’ll have to write up capsule reviews of all the versions I’ve heard.
In my research for my next post in the series about noncommercial radio that I’m writing for the Future of Music Coalition’s blog, I came across this website of a Christian radio network. (Be warned that following that link will cause Christian music to emanate from your speakers.) I’m finding it absurdly fun to mouse over the images repeatedly. Go, roller-coaster riders, go!
I was also amused that Googling “network of glory” brought up a page about, erm, the “network of glory holes.” (No link necessary.) How exactly are glory holes arrayed in a network of any kind, and do I really want to know?
Posted by nedlog at February 13, 2008 8:46 PM | TrackBackAccording to imdb, the Skokkian version in Slackers is by Louis Armstrong. Is that right, do you think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceG3Su5lSMs
Posted by: adriana on March 10, 2008 11:59 PMI'm pretty sure it's not. In fact, I now have a recording of the version that is in Slacker -- a guy in my mix CD club put it on his mix. It's called "Die Grasskop Polka" and it's performed by Nico Carstens, who appears to be a South African musician, based on some Googling of the name. This song is listed in the credits for Slacker, but I never would have guessed that it was the "Skokiaan" tune since it doesn't have that name. I wonder how it picked up that other name.
Posted by: Mike on March 11, 2008 10:20 AMSince I've never seen the movie, I really can't say either way but here's the soundtrack listing from imdb--http://imdb.com/title/tt0102943/soundtrack. It includes the song you mention "Die Grasskop Polka." Also, poking around, I read that Louis Armstrong recorded at least two versions, an instrumental and one with lyrics. The video link I sent you includes both. Nico Carstens son, Arno Carstens, is a big name singer in South Africa. Maybe you could get in touch with him to find out about that peculiar song title.
Posted by: adriana on March 11, 2008 12:27 PM