my favorite song
-absolute music-

i have a lot of favorite songs.  ask me tomorrow & you will get another list.  i am this old punk who has been around, read a few books, watched a few movies & listened to a few bands.  i am neither expert nor an authority be it art, pop music, exploitation movies or poetry.  & yet, i have a little history in all these & a bit more.  several weeks ago i discovered what i think might be one of the greatest cover bands in the united states.  that statement is conditioned by my own limitations of time, exposure & human nature.  & yet, i do have an opinion that is predicated upon something similar to why the punk/poet john cooper clarke calls himself: dr john cooper clarke, even if he didn't finish secondary education.  it's because the poet/punk was not just awarded an honorary phd, that he calls himself 'doctor' because he has, 'read a few books & had a few thoughts.'  so i make my claim that the atlanta, ga based bar band, foxes & fossils, might very well be the greatest cover band this country has produced.  i say this because i've, in my 50 + decades on this planet have listened to a few bands & i have a few thoughts.

the bad news is that foxes & fossils is no longer a working band.  bummer. but  many of their performances have been preserved on youtube.  the setup is this, singer & arranger, tim purcell, has a fantastic ear for musicians & harmony.  he recruited two teenagers [one is his own daughter], as well as a cracker group of musician to make music that makes me glad to be alive.  i shit you not about that sentiment.

rather than write a fucking essay about why i think foxes & fossils might be the best bar band i've encountered i present you with a few of their songs.  the first is, at present, my favorite song.   but may i suggest a couple of things.  first, turn it up loud.  second, wear earphones.  really, really dig their vocal harmonies.  then dig their musical prowess.  this band is a proof [if we ever needed one] of the value of art in our late capitalist age.  here is a band of amateurs [meaning lovers in the root sense of the word, e.g. of music & voice] who make art because they love their art & because they can't help it.  art ain't a professional degree.  art is what we do to make a life.



and dig these harmonies



and 'landslide'



& this utterly gorgeous version of CSNs' 'helplessly hoping'



allow yourself to fall in love.

peace & love