LETTERS FROM THE ROAD: Daniel Tashian
Here we go with another edition of LETTERS FROM THE ROAD, our guest post series where we invite musicians we love love love to take over and write whatever they like. 2 rules: it has to be in the form of a letter, it has to have something to do with music. This week featuring Daniel Tashian, lead singer of The Silver Seas, literally my favorite band in the world (next to The Police). I’m totally serious. We featured them like gangbusters on the DAILY DOSE a few months back. Perhaps that’s because I’m a shameless superfan. You think?
FYI, the new record, Château Revenge, drops today.
Take it away Daniel…
Dear Bob Marley,
Well you’ve been gone for a while.
I heard you used to get your news from the radio — you and your homeboys in soccer shoes, huddled around a Jamaican transistor, listening to the BBC world service, strains of R & B from New Orleans.
I don’t know why that matters to me — I guess because I don’t watch much TV (the bullshit hype of CNN adds more static to the overcrowded airwaves now). But brother, there’s a lot of stuff you would dig:
• The Wire; you would like some of the technology.
• Sampling; you would probably do something really cool with it, sample some oppositional politician and make a song out of him.
• The Black Eyed Peas; I think you would dig them.
I remember seeing a photo of you (I think it was in South Africa) bringing white and black leaders together on stage, makin’ ‘em shake hands. I don’t think, in the end, it really did all you hoped it would but shit, you knew that. But the thing it DID do was to let everybody see that strange things happen. Me, I’m like a little lion cub…tugging on your mane. You are a big, beautiful, stately creature. There’s no comparison, I’m not even in the same profession as you, in a way.
But one thing we do share is we both like love songs. The pop stuff, when everybody said you “sold out” (Could You Be Loved, Satisfy My Soul, Waiting In Vain). That’s fantastic music. And, it’s where the Marvin Gaye creeps in. The Romantic Lion. I don’t know, maybe you prefer Duppy Conqueror and I would understand.
But I think we need somebody. The world is probably no more crazy now than it was then but it seems like it is. But there’s nobody like you, to cut through the static. There’s a bunch of cubs but not many lions. Well, maybe Bono. Everybody’s got to make a living I guess. Plus, you know, now, the emphasis is more on the party. At least as far as I can tell. There’s this chick called Ke$ha, and her songs are about getting fucked up and giving guys head. She’s real popular. Lady GaGa is kind of a “performance” artist. Sort of like Fame on steroids. Seems to be building a mythology — “GaGa-ism” — but what’s at the core of it? A “don’t be afraid to dream big” kind of message maybe.
Well. I guess I should let you go. I miss you. I heard you got real serious before you died. Real quiet and didn’t want to talk to anyone much. I get that. And I hate hospitals too.
Main thing is, there’s never been anybody that had it all like that before… Soul, Politics, Rock, Jazz, Funk. Maybe Femi Kuti, nowadays, but he’s not as good a singer as you were. Well I guess we just got to keep going. I mean what are the options? I didn’t write you to bitch, that’s boring. I guess, I’m just conscious of the fact that I feel the emptiness sometimes. And I want to hear that battle cry, that roar for peace in the jungle. I bet you had a lot of anger. I’m sure of it and who could blame you? You used it as an energy, though. I guess your candle still burns. It still inspires, and lights the way. Problem is, nobody wants to go down that path because you were so fucking great.
“Who do I think I am?” Well. I’ll try not to be intimidated by your massive paw prints. I put my paw inside it and realize I could put twenty of mine in one of yours. But at least I’m here. Peace be with you wherever you are. Soul brother, big brother.
Love,
Daniel
www.thesilverseas.net
Tags: Bob Marley, château revenge, daniel tashian, ke$ha, lady gaga, the black eyed peas, The Silver Seas —
7/5/10
Categories: CUT THROUGH THE NOISE • KATE BRADLEY • LETTERS FROM THE ROAD
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