Defy Domestication

After receiving critical acclaim for his work with Garry & The Moodswingers, Garry Segal is entering the realm of solo act, well, sort of. Taking Notes, his 2008 solo debut, is a collection of Segal’s original compositions, but he is accompanied on the album (and often in live shows) by the To Dye For Band. The band is a collaboration of friends Segal has amassed over his 25 year playing career, and the collective credentials are astonishing; to name a few: Jeff Pevar from Crosby Stills & Nash and Phil Lesh & Friends, Phil Rosenthal from Seldom Scene, saxophonist Collin Tilton from Van Morrison’s Moondance, and Grammy Award winning dobro player Stacey Phillips. Segal adds vocals and acoustic guitar for all the tracks on the album, along with a bit of his renowned harmonica playing on “Cartwheels” and “Everything’s Jake.”

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These unwanted acres of baron land are filled with the dry smell of dirt, drifting through each makeshift shelter with a cool breeze. As each year passes, hope of returning home is slowly overtaken by a more primal instinct: survival. The 86,000 refugees of Kakuma camp, located in the northern desert of Kenya, are forced to live with destitution. Even with the generous efforts of host communities and relief organizations the most basic of human needs are often in short supply. In a time of such heightened vulnerability wanting anything more seems inconsiderate. Yet, as time passes, the absence of mental stimulation and hope-lifting diversion begins to create a void. Social norms and sense of community erode away as the outside world becomes increasingly disconnected. For some, this is a life of displacement. For others, like children born in these camps, it’s the only life they’ve ever known.

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A few days ago, a friend gave me a “Grow A Buddha” she’d found in a little hippie shop in a seaside Rhode Island town. I must have spent hours marveling at the tan figurine as it grew to 600% its original size. So, it seems coincidental later that evening I would be reviewing – and listening to on constant repeat long after this critique was finished - a band called Red Plastic Buddha. Neither the toy or the record evoked any sort of religious experience but Sunflower Sessions, the bands debut record released on Spade Kitty Records, was a pleasant surprise.
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MTV Doesn’t Love You

On August 1^st 1981 at 12:15 a.m. death came for the radio star like a Darwinian matter of fate. Smiling with guilt, the transgressor, a new broadcast channel with a 24-hour music format, mockingly launched its station with a confession of the crime, iniquitously playing The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star.” The trailblazing music video, featuring Trevor Horn’s falsetto chiming and a backdrop of the moon mocking itself on the rippling water, was the catalyst for a new dimension in the music experience, MTV.

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