Dayna Kurtz >> Somewhere hearts are pounding

Dayna Kurtz - "Beside You" (Live)

(Deebles Music, 1997 / Kismet Records, 2002)

I bought this CD a few years ago on a whim at a thrift store on Highway 61 (we call it Airline Highway in Louisiana) for $2.  The cover shot of her face was starkly bold, apparently an homage to Joni Mitchell's Blue, and the title, Otherwise Luscious Life, was an obvious nod to the jazz standard "Lush Life."  It turned out to be a live album, with just Dayna accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, though the songs are full-sounding enough that the first few times I listened to it I didn't even realize there was no drummer, bassist, etc.  It was recorded live at Wintertide coffeehouse in Vineyard Haven, MA, on 7/18/97.  So: A solo performer on acoustic guitar, live at a coffeehouse... That doesn't exactly sound very promising as Blowtorch Baby material, but it so is.  This is heavy music.  This is heavier than anything that those pathetic pansies in Slayer, Wolf Eyes, or Converge could ever come up with.   She won the National Academy Of Songwriters’ award for Female Songwriter Of The Year in 1996, 1997, and 1998, while you were sitting around wasting your time listening to Guided By Voices, Stereolab, and Neutral Milk Hotel, respectively.

How great of a line is "Somewhere hearts are pounding"?  So vague, yet every interpretation of it is probably interesting.  DK has a very husky voice, probably quite influenced by Nina Simone; this is one of the few songs that she sings in her high, essentially falsetto, register.  The last name is presumably German, but she looks somewhat Native American.  I like this pic by an unknown photographer:

I recently got a 2004 promo EP of hers called The Beautiful Yesterday Sessions, but I dislike it.  She is playing here for Jazz Fest (the most inaccurately-named festival in the country) in a few weeks, and also has scheduled two little club gigs, so I might go see her.  She even named her 2006 album NOLA (hilariously spelled Nola on most websites) in honor of New Orleans, LouisianA.  I have a feeling she no longer plays any early, melancholic stuff, though.

I nabbed this from the Tumblr of super-negra a few months ago:

And then I just found this new, even more detailed one she had drawn for someone else:

...LOL

I'm missing Chairlift tonight, but will hopefully see them sometime, if only for their songs "Wrong Opinion" and "Cool As A Fire."  One reason I'm not making the hour-long drive to NOLA is that I don't like opening act Nite Jewel.  I do have tickets to this at Tipitina's on Friday, though:

Put your hack into it: Anonymous targets Monsanto

Egyptian cleric: No to Mother's Day

Planets with similar climates: Tracy Chapman - "For You" (1988), Maxwell - "Know These Things: Shouldn't You" (1998), Ani Difranco - "Sorry I Am" (1995), American Music Club - "Last Harbor" (1988), Suzanne Vega - "Small Blue Thing" (1985), Joni Mitchell - "Blue" (1971), Alicia Keys - "Butterflyz" (2001).


Currently eating or drinking: Cabot Seriously Sharp (white) Cheddar; Sunbelle blueberries; Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse oatmeal bread; Samuel Smith Imperial Stout; Rogue Chocolate Stout.