Star Spangled Banner (Jimi Hendrix)

It's finally here. My favorite holiday. The sun, the heat, the ocean, the sand, the kites, the people, the colors, the bikes, the fireworks, the hot dogs, the music....everything on this day is absolutely perfect. Out of all the holidays, I can't complain once about any of my 4th of Julys. There's just something about it. It's a day to celebrate our freedom. We don't really get anything in return on this day unlike Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The Revolutionary War has always been my favorite war to study simply because it was possibly the greatest successful anarchist movement in history. In order to get myself in the mood for some serious patriotic celebration, I engulf myself in everything I love about our nation. One of my favorite commercials of all time quotes one of my favorite poems, Walt Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pioneers".

Pioneers! O Pioneers





The History Channel featured a short series called "America: The Story of Us" a few months ago that I watched religiously. The title itself made me chuckle a bit. The six day series was insane. They covered every possible part of American history, starting with the Revolutionary War, going through western expansion, Civil War, industrial revolution, etc. Some of my favorite parts were when they talked about the development of the United States postal service and how we had the fastest system in the world (thanks to Benjamin Franklin). They also talked about the significance of mud, how we became an oil based country, and so forth. Despite all our problems in the world, I still love America. No matter what anyone says, we still are the land of opportunity. Here's the trailer that convinced me to watch the show:



Now, I don't know how you learned about American history, but I for one was a big fan of the "Whitest Kids U'Know". And this rendition of how American won the Revolutionary War could possibly be true:




Downtown Jacksonville 4th of July


Here in Jacksonville (Beaches), cars are just not possible on this holiday, bikes are the only mode of transportation. Here's a rundown of this glorious day: Wake up around 9am, put on my bathing suit, watch Nathan's Hot Dog eating competition, get all my "necessities" ready (since I will not be going back to my house until the next day), get on my bike, meet up with all my other friends on their bikes, do a toast, and just ride on the beach all day. Swim in the ocean, bike some more, meet new people, then start heading back south. At night, I meet up with my family at our friend's house, cook barbecue, play ping-pong, light some friendly fireworks on the beach. But after all that, I meet up once again with my friends for a very eventful night....starting it off with....The American Box.




The "American Box" was developed by my good friend Harry who decided to create the ultimate firework display. The "American Box" typically is a huge brown paper bag filled with every explosive Harry can get his hands on. Firecrackers, bottle rockets, sky rockets, missiles, flares, aerial shells, cherry bombs, saxons, fountains, basically you name it, it's in there. It's extremely illegal to say the least. And how Harry manages to cram all these explosives in one bag is simply impressive. But after he's filled the inside of the bag, he then pokes at least 50+ rocket fireworks all through the bag making it almost impossible to pick up.On the day of the "show", Harry invites all his close friends over to light it. We usually go to a field or park and place the "American Box" in the center. Harry douses the bag with gasoline and makes a trail leading to where he'll begin to light it. As he does this, we all light roman candles and fire them towards the box. Then, we run for cover and watch. This will be the "American Box 5" and every year Harry changes things up a bit. I'm excited to see what he has in store for us. After the "American Box", we'll probably play a classic game of baseball at the local baseball fields where every child in Ponte Vedra played at - whether you were a boy or a girl. Reminiscing in the baseball fields on July 4th is a must.



In order to get myself in the right mind set for this holiday, I typically get comfy, find an unoccupied tv and pop this classic in the tube:



Of course, no 4th of July would be complete without my Independence Day playlist. On this playlist I get very picky. I choose only American musicians, and only songs that I think best represent American music. You'd be surprised how many musicians are not American. If you have any of these songs on your ipod, I recommend making a playlist and just listen to it all day tomorrow wherever you are. It's pretty enjoyable:



So there it is, my 4th of July blog post and playlist. I wish you all a happy 4th and let me leave with the greatest speech in American history:

Pink Moon (Nick Drake)

British singer/songwriter Nicholas Rodney, "Nick Drake", is hands down one of the greatest musicians of all time. I will do my best to express in words just how incredible his music is, but ultimately you'll have to listen to find out for yourself. Only recorded three albums in his short life, Nick Drake's melancholy acoustic arrangements exemplified his simple, yet troubled life. His voice is haunting and beyond his years. In fact, the first time I heard him I thought he was a present artist (not one from the late sixties/early seventies). To me, his music teaches us how to slow down the rhythm of the world, pay attention to little things, colors, sounds, trees, tiny animals...everything that people tend to forget. He was an extremely shy person who probably could put Jesus to shame with his modesty and humbleness. However, despite being a shy and introspective individual, he rarely failed to leave a lasting impression on people. He goes deep into feelings but without sticky sentimentalism, asks some questions to life but without being aridly philosophical. He was a man who went deep into life, until it became too much, and the yearning for a better further place became too strong. Severe depression and insomnia lead to his unfortunate overdose of sleeping pills in 1974 (age 26).

This is my favorite picture of Nick Drake. I think I want it blown up in my room back in New Orleans. This photo, in my opinion, represents him the best. Paul Wheeler, friend of Nick, stated that "Your first impression of Nick was of incredible elegance. Only later would you notice his shabby lace-up shoes and ill-fitting jacket." In this photo the natural woods, guitar, book and especially his back turned away all encompass him and his music. When Nick would record, he would face the wall as to avoid glares from people watching. In fact, he only rarely performed live. There are hardly any photos of him, no footage other than of him as a young kid, and because of his introversion, interviews were hard to come by. This is what fuels his cult following. People who hear his music and learn his story want to engulf themselves in everything Nick Drake, but unfortunately they come to a dead end. At some point, his fans can look no further. I've currently hit this end, but his music still leaves much to be understood.


Nick Drake finally received the acclaim he deserved in 2000 when Volkswagen licensed the song "Pink Moon" for a U.S. commercial, leading to a large increase in record sales. I love this commercial not only because it uses a Nick Drake song, but because of the message behind the video. The commercial is basically selling the song because everything the song is about, is what the commercial is preaching. A group of kids drive in the night, roof down, enjoying the moon and as they drive up to the party, they realize they'd rather just go away somewhere quieter in the night.






Five Leaves Left (1969) was the first studio album of Nick Drake. Similar to his second album, but unlike his final album, accompanied orchestrations can be heard throughout. You can't fake these emotions; every poignant lyric, every aching guitar chord, and every weeping cello proclaim that this is the voice of a troubled and self-critical soul. This took him over a year to put it all together. "Cello Song" was covered by The Books (a great band that I will discuss in future posts) for the brilliant compilation album Dark Was The Night. I'm really struggling on how to describe this album. Just listen.




Bryter Layter(1970) is Nick Drake's sophomore album. "With a voice paradoxically feather-light and grave, [one] of the most beautiful and melancholy albums ever recorded." (Alternative Press 2001). Personally, though this album has some of my favorite Nick Drake songs, overall - I prefer his more acoustic works. One of my favorite lyrics is "Stay indoors beneath the floors, talk with neighbors only; the games you play make people say you're either weird or lonely...". Most people should recognize "One of These Things First" as it was featured on the Garden State soundtrack.



Pink Moon (1972) was Nick Drake's final studio album. Some people call this album an "English version of Robert Johnson's blues" - Not only do I love that comparison, but I couldn't agree more. This is my favorite studio album of his because it's simply just Nick and his guitar (with some piano sprinkled in here and there). The result is a bleak testament to melancholy and alienation that has a haunting and pristine beauty. The title track "Pink Moon" is a beautiful folk ballad, performed with just Drake's acoustic guitar playing and haunting vocals. Throughout the album you notice the depth of his lyrics and his guitar playing. Drake intended "Pink Moon" to be his final album, saying he had nothing left to record. When you lose yourself listening to these songs, you can actually convince yourself that this was true. The whole album is only 29 minutes, but that's all it takes. Nick Drake didn't need many words or songs to tell his story.



Made To Love Magic was an album released in 2004 of Drake's rare and unheard tracks. This was the first Nick Drake album I ever owned and contains the very first song that made me fall in love with his music. On the infamous mix cd that a friend of mine made for me a year or so ago, he put "Rider On The Wheel" on it. After that, I was hooked.


Heath Ledger/Nick Drake Connection

After the startling death of Heath Ledger, home-made videos of Heath Ledger became to reach the public eye. One of which featured usage of the song "Black Eyed Dog" by Nick Drake. In 2007, Ledger told the Venice Film Festival press conference "I was obsessed with Nick Drake's story and his music and I pursued it for a while and I still have hopes to tell his story one day. But it kind of died away, faded away, because I...He was a very mysterious figure and I felt like I would be taking too many liberties". The video was taken off of youtube, but this is all I could find from it: Heath Ledger Nick Drake video. The connection between the Drake and Ledger augmented when Ledger died almost the exact same way as Drake around the exact same age.


I have a list of certain unusual things I'd like to see/do before I bite the dust. In my top five things to do, one of them is to attend the Annual Nick Drake Gathering held every year in Tanworth-in-Arden (Drake's hometown and burial ground). Musicians from all over come and cover Nick Drake songs in his hometown. I've only heard one Nick Drake cover (The Books cover of "Cello Song"), but I'm sure the Drake organization is very picky about who they ask to pay tribute. Anyways, there's my little introduction into Nick Drake. I hope you take the time to listen to him, he really is unlike any other musician. I wish I could've met him.