BopShop

Here’s another post of mine from Larry Haley’s The Bop Shop.

New York City-based Leni Stern — singer/songwriter/guitarist (both she and her husband Mike Stern studied the instrument at Berklee) — collaborated with Larry John McNally (you’ll know his “The Motown Song”, a big hit for Rod Stewart) on this song of resignation and defiance. It’s based on the Roma (Gypsy) proverb of Manush Romanov: “Bury me standing. I’ve been on my knees all my life.”

Very nice Hammond B-3 work by George Whitty!

play Leni Stern’s “Bury Me Standing” (2002) on YouTube

Here’s another post of mine from Larry Haley’s The Bop Shop.

The too-brief 2012 collaboration between San Francisco guitarist Jane Woodman and cellist Zoë Keating (now a Burlington, Vermont resident) gave us this great Psychedelic Furs cover. Swooning flanged and layered guitars with cello slithering in and out, seasick lyrics — hothouse flower decadence for when you’re in that kind of mood…

play Jane Woodman & Zoë Keating’s “Sister Europe” on Bandcamp

My friend Larry Haley is running a music sharing project he calls “a virtual record haven” – The Bop Shop.
Every day Larry or another contributor posts a link to a favorite song, along with a short appreciation.

Here’s one I contributed:

Amanda Marshall, born in Toronto in 1972 to a mother from Trinidad and a Canadian father, has called herself “a woman who looks white but is actually black.” I don’t know how closely this song portrays her actual personal story, but it’s a powerful portrayal of a mixed-race kid in a racist society.

play Amanda Marshall’s “Shades of Grey” (1999) on YouTube