Sunday Morning

I woke up with Sunday Morning by the Velvet Underground stuck in my head today. It got me thinking about how that “Sunday” feeling is a universal thing people have been considering for a long time. Even the term “Sunday scaries” is starting to catch on in our vernacular.

I think a lot of us can relate, whether we’re anticipating the impending work week or in the other case, trying to encapsulate that lingering hangover + anxiety or as I like to call it “hang-xiety”.

Many songs have been written about it but I think the Velvet Underground’s Sunday Morning and Kris Kristofferson’s Sunday Morning Coming Down were on the same wavelength when it came to capturing that feeling.

There’s a lot of mutual recognition within the lyrics here:

“Sunday morning, brings the dawning
It’s just a restless feeling by my side
Early dawning, Sunday morning
It’s just the wasted years so close behind..”

It captures that quintessential Sunday wistfulness and paranoia, similarly found in Kristofferson’s Sunday coming down:

“Then I crossed the empty street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin’ chicken
And it took me back to somethin’
That I’d lost somehow, somewhere along the way..”

The Velvet Underground’s song is more stripped down lyrically in an iconic rock n’ roll kind of way and Kristofferson is more on the side of poetic in his songwriting as he describes the scene as walking the streets of Nashville the next morning after flying too high that previous Saturday night.

Regardless of the artist’s approach or musical genre, both songs succeed in their attempt to reflect a mood we can all connect to.

✨Happy Sunday✨

Drifter’s Sympathy Podcast

This past month I started to delve back into Emil Amos’ Drifter’s Sympathy podcast. He just released some new episodes and I figured I would start back from the very beginning. I discovered Emil while listening to The Duncan Trussell Family Hour back in 2016. I figured if Duncan’s such a weirdo and they grew up together, as good friends Emil must be just as interesting of a person.

Being a music lover, I fell in love with the podcast immediately. In a way it reminded of listening to Little Steven’s Underground Garage when I was a kid, it used to play on the rock station Sunday nights when I was in high school. I would sit in my room with all my backlight posters glowing, soaking up every minute of the music and stories. I could always count on terrific music recommendations way before the internet was so accessible. For that, I’m forever grateful. Anyways, back to Drifter’s Sympathy…

The podcast delves into the idea of the Outsider or Loner archetype. How it emerged throughout history in music and movies, how we came to admire and relate to the myth ourselves. I enjoy the format of the podcast, not only because it highlights lesser known tracks by some often over-looked artists, but also how Emil’s own personal tales are woven effortlessly throughout the episodes.

Each episode has its own theme and as he chronicles music history it parallels his own experiences. I picture it almost as a fireside storytelling session. Unusual interactions and strange states of mind, what it was like growing up in the 90’s set to a killer soundtrack.

There are some seriously hilarious anecdotes he shares. Especially early on in the the podcast during the “Ron Trilogy”, a few episodes where he discusses his teenage guru Ron, an older gay Deadhead.

My favorite episode so far is probably Episode 19: Insidious Mind Control. I laughed myself to tears listening to these old prank call recordings from Emil and Duncan as they sow dissent amongst the general population of their small college town.

See the link below to check it out.

https://open.spotify.com/show/5FVtLnvzB84Fifso8V1DOD?si=bCaoUNSFQMCLEoG1LFoVCQ

Masayoshi Takanaka meets Santana💫

I recently discovered the music of Masayoshi Takanaka while browsing on YouTube. I wasn’t in the best mood so I played Brasilian Skies solely based on the cover art. This man looked like he was having the time of his life on a beach somewhere. The music was happy, ecstatic and upbeat. Then I realized something, you cannot feel sad and listen to Takanaka’s music at the same time, it’s just impossible. What a revelation..

Cover art from Brasilian Skies – 1978

More great album art from Takanaka’s All of Me – 1979

As I went further down the rabbit hole, I found out that Takanaka has an extensive discography ranging from the early 1970’s up until just a few years ago. After about a month solid of listening to these albums with no end in site, I came across the best video yet, the one that would totally blow my mind – Takanaka performing “Ready to Fly” w/Santana live in Japan. I’ve always been a big Santana fan but I had no idea they ever performed together. (My favorite Santana is of course the infamous Woodstock performance of “Soul Sacrifice”, but that’s a story for another time)

So in August of 1981 Santana did a brief tour of Japan with Takanaka called The Summer Live Super Session. This legendary performance at Yokohama Stadium has it all: two heavy hitting guitar masters, city pop synths and an OUT OF CONTROL percussion section driving it all home…it doesn’t get much better than this.