The Zen Arcade

Zen Arcade 3/31/09: The Playlist!

Thanks so much to Franz Nicolay for a great interview!  If you want to know more about his various bands, check out his web site.

Lots of new stuff, this week, too.

Tonight on The Zen Arcade: Franz Nicolay!

Don't miss tonight's Zen Arcade, where I'll be doing Three Songs with Franz Nicolay of The Hold Steady! He has a great new solo album called Major General; here's a track from that one done all acoustic-like.



I'll also have new stuff from The Decemberists, the Drones, the Harlem Shakes, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, and much more! Don't miss it!

The Juan Maclean - "One Day"

Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" dissected

A sound engineer has obtained the original masters for Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", in an effort to figure out just what the hell he was doing to that poor Clavinet. Turns out it was eight separate tracks.

Jerry Douglas, "Little Medley"

I bought a Dobro this weekend, so here's a bit from the generally accepted master of the instrument, Jerry Douglas. (I'm not quite this good, not yet anyway.)

Forecastle!

Louisville's Forecastle Festival has announced the headliners, and they're doozys--Widespread Panic, the Black Keys, The Black Crowes, and the Avett Brothers.

65 more bands are to be announced.

On the next ZA: Three Songs with Franz Nicolay!

Don't miss the next Zen Arcade, and the triumphant return of Three Songs!  On this segment, I ask a musician, writer, or other person of interest to give me three songs to play, and he or she calls in to chat about them on the air.

My guest next week will be Franz Nicolay!

As the keyboard player for The Hold Steady, Nicolay has proved the piano's rightful place in rock and roll like nobody else since Professor Roy Bittan. He also shows his range with the punk cabaret of World/Inferno Friendship Society, the deranged klezmer of Guignol, and a little of everything on his new solo album, Major General.

Here's Franz doing a solo take (with banjo!) on a great Drive-By Truckers tune. Sorry for the lousy sound quality, but this was too good not to post.

Neko Case, "People Got a Lotta Nerve"

Sorry I've been falling down on the Song of the Day front, but here's a great new video to make up for it. Stay tuned for a couple of big announcements about the next Zen Arcade!

Flight of the Conchords, "Petrov, Yelyena, and Me"

A bizarre and morbid little sea shanty, from what is probably the last episode ever of one of my favorite shows.

Cloud Hymn, "Wide"