The Wonder Show of the World

New bonny bonny album is out... available from Drag City.
Stop by for a copy.
In the meantime, why not pick up a Billy-inspired cork as well?

Don't ask me, I just deliver the bonny news.

Bonnie & the Cairo Gang, Oakland

@ The New Parish
April 9th & 10th

The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant

Tell me Bruce Dern circa 1971 doesn't bear a striking resemblance to a young Will O (sans the schnoz).

Ladies' Night

Will Oldham, guest programmer @ Cinefamily L.A. January 7, 2010.

Holy Holy

Happy Birthday, Bonnie.

Thank You.

If You Listen to Me...

"THE EDITORS of this publication asked me to compile a list. They asked that I not be too esoteric, and I will try. . . . However, as most people are coming to realize, we as individuals are finding greater connections to smaller things; things smaller in scope and more specific to our tangible and imagined communities. I find that the music that transports me often has a community of admirers bound together only by the love of that music. When I take a look at the dominant music news and discover that, essentially, Bruce Springsteen = Radiohead = Yeah Yeah Yeahs = Madonna = Arcade Fire = Bat for Lashes, it compels me to turn away from the lot."

Read on for recommendations.
However, I believe the message here to be... find your own.

You Can That Heaven Here...

Frenz

Fleisher/Ollman Gallery's exhibit of works selected by Will Oldham.
It's called Frenz. With performance, too. Philadelphia, PA.

A Home in the World

"I can't consider any of that time as time away, because you don't want to spend half of your life being away or where you shouldn't be. I choose to think of all the time as being present. I'm always home."

Like the End of Something Wonderful

Were you worried Billy'd crossed over to the other side? Me too. I guess we were wrong. Today's New York Times sports a long-deserved and up-front review of the new album which is weirdly flattering and, at the same time, disparaging.

"Mr. Oldham’s persona is a little bit of a lonesome romantic and a lot of a fool. He sounds generally optimistic, even when he’s singing about treachery...He never flatters himself. He’s not special. His love is effortful and can be one-sided. He’s easily satisfied. He can’t be counted on... Something is always lost in translation with him."

My favorite is the last line in reference to breadth and depth of talent in his accompanying musicians, "There’s a sense here of smart people being made to focus on a strange project."
It's refreshing to see he can still make the critics stutter.

I Am Goodbye

New bonnie video from Drag City

Featured bonnie article from The Wire

And a picture gallery

He Who Would Be Prince

Bonnie's getting a lot of press lately, e.g. this boring interview. (Can I just ask, who is McLaughlin talking about when he says that "many" compare Oldham to Dylan? Jesus. Please.) Anyway, check it out simply for the ancient "Horses" video plucked from youtube.

Old Jerusalem

Fillmore Will

Bonnie "Prince" Billy at the Fillmore.
March 30th, 2009 - 8pm.
Tickets are for sale and still available.

The Pretender

Will Oldham transfigures American music.
by Kalefa Sanneh. Courtesy of The New Yorker, January 5, 2009.

A Bonnie Preview

The new Bonnie 'Prince' Billy album, Beware, due out on March 17th, has a welcome preview and interview here. Enjoy it. The new song is called You Can't Hurt Me Now. He also performs Palace/Music/Songs/Brothers favorite The Brute Choir. So nice.

In response to his thoughts about being quoted by writer Graeme Thomson, Will talks not only about the utility of death in music, but a bit about death, generally, as he sees it: "Sometimes you just want something to end so that you can go on, go free."

Beware

That's right... another Bonnie Prince Billy album is due to be released March 2009. Guests include Leroy Bach, Jim Becker, Jon Langford, Greg Leisez, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell and Azita Youssefi.

That news pretty much made my day.

Is it the Sea is a live album that was released in September, way more worthwhile than the "more accessible, less academic", Lie Down in the Light. I haven't officially reviewed it, basically because I was wildly disappointed.

Oh well, here's to a new album/ new year.

Will Says

"The first song that I remember dealing with death in a pretty direct way was "Ebony Eyes". When I was four or five, I listened to the Everly Brothers over and over again, acting out all the songs with the little plastic figurines I got for my birthday, and that was the last song on the record. I could tell that it was a sad song, but I didn't have any idea how sad. It's still something that I value a lot; music that gets in there. If I'm wondering about death and scared about life, then to find some song that addresses it is like, 'Well, if you feel that way the best thing might be to either obliterate consciousness, or to destroy yourself completely....' That's not the kind of music that I like to listen to. But if someone deals with the end of conscious existence in such a way that they're not just trying to ruin your day with it, then it can be pretty great."

and I will align myself with nothing...

I had been struggling with my clinical specialty until my community health clinical instructor who was been a L&D nurse for 10 years said to me, "I don't see the predicament. Sometimes, you can't tell the difference between a birth and a death. I've been at plenty of births where I was like 'was that a death?' and plenty of deaths where I was like 'was that a birth?'"

Drawing by Karlynn Jayne Holland.

...and I will enjoin my heart with no-one's
cause I was untried
when I was applied the light of birth.
- "Patience" Royal Stable Music 1997

I Keep My Horse At Stable Will's

After missing Bonnie Billy in Big Sur last weekend, we got a free shot today at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. We also ran up on him quite unexpectedly on our way out. Come to find out he's an artist in residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts. This means a chance to recompense for the lost concert. Anyway, thanks to Will for fulfilling expectations and being something quite other than a typical musician/ performer. Thanks for walking a different line.