I'll take the river down to Stillwater and ride a pack of dogs...

I just stopped into my local today and picked up Joe Cocker's debut album "With a Little Help From My Friends". I'm already on my second listen. Everyone talks about how white folk can't sing soul or can't sing the blues. It's common ism that I'm devoting my life to debunking. It's so stupid because its basically the same as saying that black people can't play ice hockey (though one of the best players in the game right now is black), or that girls can't play baseball. White folk can indeed sing the blues. There are many examples to call upon. Stevie Ray Vaughn readily comes to mind. The Brits seem very good at churning out really really GOOD blues/soul musicians. I could just stop at Steve Winwood and I'd have proved my point, but I'm going to go on and include Rory Gallagher (who's live album I was actually looking for when I went into my local). Arguably superceding Steve Winwood in white soul is Joe Cocker. My gosh that guy can wail. The man could cover "Polly Wolly Doodle" and turn it into a top 10 single. As an old writing professor of mine once said, "For a guy who probably couldn't read, he sure could sing the blues." Ryan once said that listening to Al Green's "Love and Happiness" makes his stomach hurt. Listening to Cocker's rendition of "I Shall Be Released" does the same to me. Oh, and that's not including his version of "Feelin' Alright" a better cover of a song by one of my absolute favorite bands (Traffic) and that song from The Wonder Years.

I've had Joe Cocker in my head for a few weeks, but I think the seed germinated on Saturday when Will, Jayme and I went to Stillwater for the afternoon. Believe it or not, I'd never been there before (if you're not from Minnesota, just act surprised). It was pretty cool. We look at some shops (found a great antique book/map store), had a beer, played in a really big playgroud. Of course, as with most roadtrips, the actual riding-in-the-car part was the most fun. We listened to "Chicago II" which is an awesome album. Chicago is a lot like Weezer. You could release a Greatest Hits collection and it would pretty much be their first two albums. Then as we arrived back in the Cities we got a hankerin' for Joe Cocker, so we went back to Will's place and cranked the iTunes. Awesome. We then proceeded to dress in costume and go to a housewarming party. Not many costumes there, but very creative ones. I uploaded photos of the afternoon and some of the evening shots into the photos section.

I have also, as you probably noticed, updated the links section. Fun times in the country.