Not long after I pulled over for the Bomb Squad van, I tuned into the Village, channel 15 on XM.
Last week, sick of fighting the rap wars, I had the epiphany I was only going to listen to folk music. Maybe country, that Wreckers album is really good. But is that really country? Do I want to listen to all those right wing shitkickers twanging to show their roots? No, maybe I should go where my roots are, in folk.
Yes, prior to the rock era, we even had folk TV shows. "Hootenanny!" being the biggest. Not that I watched that. But I sang a shitload of folk songs at summer camp. That's right, you can sing folk music. There are verses, and choruses, and certainly melodies. It's the basics. And rather than explain that not loving rap does not mean one is racist, I figured I'd just retreat. Into my own private backwater. Like the jazzbos. And the classical fanatics, even.
And the XM readout said Christine Lavin. Whom I distantly know as a singer herself. But beneath her moniker was that of one Jeff Daniels. Yes, Christine Lavin seemed to have her own show, she was INTERVIEWING Jeff Daniels.
Why, I couldn't figure out. Isn't Jeff Daniels an ACTOR?
But I listened. Because I've seen "Something Wild". And if you have, you love Jeff Daniels forevermore.
So, they're b.s.'ing, and it appears that yes, like every other celebrity with a profile, Jeff Daniels has made a record too. But he's not promoting it in the usual way. He's being self-deprecating. And then they spun a track. Entitled "If William Shatner Can, I Can Too".
Yes, we know from Rhino, William Shatner makes records. If you haven't heard Captain Kirk do "Mr. Tambourine Man", you're in for a treat. He's so bad, he's GOOD! Insiders love his music. And I must admit a fondness for it too. So I was intrigued.
Jeff's number cracked me up.
Turns out he can play the guitar. And even sing, too. And when he started making fun of Jennifer Love Hewitt I got the kind of smile on my face you get when you feel like you're just a little bit hipper than the mainstream. And that USED to be the essence of radio. In its free-format days. We're here, we're not burdened by the system, we're only interested in testing limits, being adventurous, FULFILLMENT!
And as I inched along the 405, I was transported. I no longer worried about my day slipping away.
Turns out Mr. Daniels has a theater in Michigan. Legit, not a movie house. Called Purple Rose something, like his breakthrough movie. And it's got a $500,000 budget. And to raise money, two weeks a year, he does shows every night. For 170 people.
He instructs everybody to shoot their photos in the first number. Then, he does a tune within which you're supposed to make your cell phone call. You know how everybody's talking at the show these days. Well, he'll just play in the background and let you do your business.
The insight, the sense of humor, I was ENRAPTURED!
And then, Jeff played a number live. About being shot by Clint Eastwood. How, to a man, being shot by Clint in a film is as good as sex. Christine said she and her distaff brethren didn't agree, but she wanted to hear the number anyway.
There was a whole story. About being phoned up by Clint. About one of them dying. The only problem was I was nearing my house.
If Felice wasn't picking me up for a trip to Malibu, I would have sat and listened for the rest of the hour. I lamented moving on. I don't feel this good hardly ever.
You can't buy Jeff's CD on Amazon, only on his Website. He's not working it. It's just cottage industry. Which accounts for the appeal. How very sixties. When it was about servicing the niche, and not breaking big. God, you broke big by ACCIDENT!
I don't know if I'm gonna become a folk music addict. All I know is trying to appear hip no longer works for me. And if this allows me to discover fulfilling music like that of actor Jeff Daniels, I'll be all the richer, all the HAPPIER, for it.
(Go to: http://jeffdaniels.com/songs.htm.Click and listen.)
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