Damn. Crazy Year has culminated in such a Crazy Week that I forgot to put together my annual year end theater. Now I'm just a few minutes from jumping on a train to a graveyard (yeah, I'm a songwriter, but it's true). I hope I have time to reminisce.
First, I want to thank the members of this community for helping push my Youtube channel past the unbelievable 300,000-view mark. Y'all have been incredibly supportive of this odd hobby, and I know it. Thanks.
Started off on a low, low note, with this tasty cut with The Americanos about a trip gone wrong:
and jumped straight into what was to prove an all too prescient preview of the year:
Into a string of political vids, starting with a look back on an election night, and why it didn't matter
followed by a straight lift of one of Elizabeth Warren's best quotes ever, a rehash of an election year bit with my friend Joey, then a terrible butchering of a Satchmo standard inspired by (one of a zillion) stupid things said by Steve Stockman:
Three quick South Louisiana slice of lifers followed, a mutant crawfish, a snippet of the Golden Blades Mardi Gras Indians and a moment on the 10, racing the rainbow home.
May saw a return to straight music videos, with a public domain stock vid to a Hankish bit from the last record:
followed by a couple of shorts, an arty piece to check out some new editing software, "A Moment in Beth's Garden" and a pitch for my friend Grant's plea to save the New Orleans-Algiers ferry.
Back to the music, then, starting with this pro-smoking PSA for a track on which I was given much needed assistance by Sid Cox, Bob Rice and Bart Ramsey:
and a bit of reminiscence of my punk years, mostly knocking off Gordon Ramsey's incredible arrangement for "A Very Good Year":
Next, not my last video for my friend Clark Vreeland, but the last one he was able to see. He finally left us last week, I'm sad to say, but not without this wonderful goodbye:
Music vids continued with this commentary on hipster gentrification, starring my beloved home town:
and a flat-out, freakin' wierd travelogue featuring Sid Cox on Trumpet and Paul Longstreth on piano:
The Republican Government Shutdown inspired a couple of political ads, "R Means Retire" and "You're Voting for Him", before jumping back to music. (Hey, 'Pubs, it's supposed to be an off year! I'm trying to get some work done!), with the first cut from next year's release with The Moss Pickers:
and a chipper little reggae song about doom, gloom and apocalypse from an older record:
Next came a spittle-flecked rant against AT&T and what they've done to our corner in New Orleans, a video which has gotten a surprising amount of press in the Mid-City Messenger and the New Orleans Advocate:
and a funny holiday-themer that I'd promised my friend Gina Forsyth last Christmas:
a quick Christmas Message for my Republican Friends and, finally, a long-overdue videofication of a song from the "Nichevo" album about the cowboy Nate Champion, who'd never bow to the lords of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association:
Lord, that took so long just to list, I'm not surprised it took the whole year to make 'em.
Again, my deepest thanks to this community for watching these weird things. I'd probably make 'em anyway, but the thought that somebody's actually looking warms my heart.
See you all next year. Right now, I've got a train to catch.